In the Public Interest

After we released our report last week entitled “A Citizen’s Guide to Congressional Pay and Perks,” a caller on a radio talk show said: “With all these huge budget deficits and scandals, what’s the big deal about a few millions of dollars of Congressional nest-feathering? Sounds like a lot of much ado about peanuts to…

In large cities, keeping a community intact most often means the absence of crime. In small towns, what makes a community is the presence of neighbors. Such is the difference these days in the expectation levels of beleaguered city dwellers as compared with residents of small towns and villages. I am reminded of this distinction…

Here it comes! The Mexico-Washington-Wall St. propaganda juggernaut to push through Congress the North American free trade agreement (NAFTA) has hit the road. First come the op-ed columns by such revolving door lobbyists as Carla Hills (who negotiates the agreement as a Bush official, then heads a rich consulting firm representing foreign and domestic companies…

Ever notice that the local television news has become a local street crime news program, along with the prolonged weather report and sports. In city after city, inner city crime on the streets dominates the television stations’ endless appetite for violence, sex and addiction. But high up in the office building towering over the cities…

What is it that the whiskered tern — a 12 inch bird -­possesses that Congress does not have? Watch Appeal! We, the citizen watchers of Congress in Washington, D.C., can only shake our heads in awe at the pulling power of this little bird. Last month this gray and white feathered bird was seen at…

Those of you who have read about fraud, greed and mismanagement of many S&Ls, banks, insurance companies, brokerage firms and other hybrid financial institutions might have shared my amazement at recent hearings by the Senate Securities Subcommittee. The Subcommittee was not at all focused on strengthening the corporate criminal laws and reducing the legal roadblocks…

New technology often generates widely differing guesses of its impact on society. Not so with the widely available ultrasound scanner in China where married couples are prohibited by the government from having more than one or two children. As tens of thousands of these scanners, costing $1000 each, find their way to an emerging market…

“Many consumers have never heard of antitrust laws, but when these laws are effectively and responsibly enforced, they can save consumers millions and even billions of dollars a year in illegal overcharges. Most states have antitrust laws, and so does the federal government. Essentially, these laws prohibit business practices that unreasonably deprive consumers of the…

This is an open letter to President Bill Clinton. Dear President Clinton: In choosing which groups to speak before, and which individuals to meet with in the White House, Presidents send compelling signals about their character and their agendas. You have been President for almost six months and your meetings and audiences in Washington, D.C.,…

It happens almost every day all over the country at the local, state and national scenes. Americans banding together wish to communicate a cause or publicize a protest to a larger audience over the media. They have news conferences, put out a report or petition and try to be newsworthy. But little or no media…