Special Features

Your September 13, 2006 editorial “Earmark Showdown” correctly points out that Senator Tom Coburn’s (R., Okla.) Bill requiring the dollar amounts and recipients of all grants and earmarked contracts be placed in a publicly accessible database is an important step toward transparency. It is indeed the least that Congress should do. On January 6, 2000,…

September 15, 2006 President George W. BushThe White House1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NWWashington, DC 20500 Dear President Bush, We join with the thousands of Americans who are calling on you to intensify your efforts to end the slaughter in Darfur. This genocide unfolding before our eyes stands in danger of worsening drastically in coming weeks, if…

1. The Battle for the Soul of Capitalism by the legendary founder of the Vanguard mutual funds — John C. Bogle (Yale University Press, 2006). Hurling honesty and insight against the fraud and greed of mutual funds and the financial industry in general. He wants reforms. 2. The People’s Business — Controlling Corporations and Restoring…

June 30, 2006 Justice Antonin ScaliaSupreme Court of the United StatesWashington, D.C. 20543 Dear Justice Scalia, In January, we wrote you to “inquire as to how the application of Bill of Rights and related constitutional protections to the artificial creations known as corporations can be squared with a constitutional interpretation theory of ‘originalism.’” We have…

The Honorable Jennifer M. GranholmGovernorP.O. Box 30013Lansing, Michigan 48909 I am writing to urge you to veto SB 297, legislation repealing the all-rider motorcycle helmet law. Public opinion strongly favors all-rider motorcycle helmet use laws. Last week’s crash involving NFL star Ben Roethlisberger demonstrated the recklessness of not wearing a helmet and the crucial role…

On this day of infamy, an agrarian revival in the middle of urban impoverishment was stamped out by a developer whose price was met by the City of Los Angeles but whose obstinacy prevailed all the way to the bulldozers he hired to destroy the carefully cultivated little gardens. The developer has acquired a 14…

The Honorable Tim PawlentyGovernor of Minnesota Dear Governor Pawlenty: The Minnesota Twins’ stadium bill before you is an affront to taxpayers and voters, and I urge you to veto the legislation. Press coverage indicates that you will sign the bill into law prior to the Twins game on Friday. If you sign, not only will…

“I think a lot of people don’t exactly get where I’m at,” said Senator John McCain last month. So the G.O.P. candidate for President is going around the U.S. to loyal Republican gatherings to set them straight. “I’ve always been a conservative,” he told the New York Times. As the clear and active Republican front…

On March 15, 2006 Consumer Advocate Ralph Nader wrote to President Clinton asking him to try to expedite delivery of the 10,000 new trailers FEMA purchased for the displaced victims of hurricane Katrina that have been languishing at an airfield in Hope, Arkansas. President Clinton’s April 5, 2006 response and Mr. Nader’s letter follow. Nader…

Exxon Mobil reports that it is sending retiring chairman Lee Raymond off with one of the most lavish executive compensation and retirement packages in history — an estimated $398 million in total. This unconscionable windfall cannot be justified by any serious measure of Raymond’s performance, especially since the company’s record-breaking $36 billion annual profits last…