In the Public Interest

The Newt Gingrich Gang in the House of Representatives had a particularly banner third week in September hijacking America on behalf of large corporations. Consider the following: 1. Gingrich is pushing to allow companies to raid their workers’ pension funds once they define them as overfunded. The Pension Rights Center warns that, given the serious…

It was a talk show host who recently said that “our culture is in decay.” When it comes to daytime national TV talk shows -­and there are seven more new syndicated ones this fall — there is ample evidence that they are falling all over one another in their imitative race to the bottom. There…

When Senator Bob Packwood (R-OR) decided to resign after the Senate Ethics Committee voted to recommend his expulsion, Committee Chair, Mitch McConnell (R-KY), assumed the role of the Prince of Ethics in denouncing the behavior of his colleague. To even use the word “ethics” in association with Mitch McConnell’s name is appalling. Better to use…

From the depths of Rep. Nancy Johnson’s House Ethics Committee has leaked the following news: the Ethics Committee staff has prepared a list of seven attorneys who might serve as outside counsels to investigate the charges against House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Finally. Gingrich is faced with an array of charges, including misuse of tax-deductible dollars…

September 6th is the day when Cal Ripken is expected to break what was long viewed as the most unbreakable record in sports (except for perhaps Joe Dimaggio’s 56 game hitting streak) — Lou Gehrig’s 2130 consecutive games played. The Baltimore Orioles shortstop is not close to Gehrig’s batting, runs driven in and home runs…

In Papua, New Guinea, the giant Australian multinational, BHP, has been operating a large copper mine for over a decade. Instead of building a tailings dam, as do most other similar mines in other countries, BHP has been dumping about 100,000 tons of mining waste every day into the OK-TEDI and FLY rivers. Aerial color…

The corporate shakedown of state and local governments had another perpetrator last week in Virginia — the giant IBM corporation, which brought the Toshiba company along for the deal. “Virginia promised IBM Millions to Get Chip Plant” was the headline in the Washington Post. To attract a new computer plant to Manassas, Virginia, both the…

Get ready for Mickey Mouse nation — a creation of two moguls, Disney’s Michael Eisner and Capital Cities — ABC’s Thomas Murphy in their recently announced $19 billion merger. The usual boilerplate rationale was given: companies have to be big to compete in the global marketplace. Other media moguls weighed in: “It’s an utterly great…

Haven’t you heard or seen the prideful announcements of Big Business: “Welcome to the information superhighway,” “the telecommunications Revolution is here and everyone wins.” One evening last week I called US Air to find out the arrival time for a plane from Washington, D.C. to Bradley Field in Connecticut. A new 1-800 number (part of…

The drive by Senator Bob Dole’s Republicans to take the federal cop off the business beat is encountering heavy weather. It seems the cruel ideologies of S. 343–designed to tie the hands of health and safety enforcement officials—are being taken apart by many citizen groups around the country. The issue is corporate law and order;…