Are you over 18 and want to see adult content?
More Annotations
A complete backup of meerkat69.blogspot.com
Are you over 18 and want to see adult content?
A complete backup of supertransport.se
Are you over 18 and want to see adult content?
A complete backup of crea-y-recicla-un-mundo.blogspot.com
Are you over 18 and want to see adult content?
A complete backup of smartdoguniversity.com
Are you over 18 and want to see adult content?
A complete backup of bertsbigadventure.org
Are you over 18 and want to see adult content?
Favourite Annotations
A complete backup of electroyz.blogspot.com
Are you over 18 and want to see adult content?
A complete backup of semiramide90.tumblr.com
Are you over 18 and want to see adult content?
A complete backup of itsescarcega.edu.mx
Are you over 18 and want to see adult content?
A complete backup of binden.tumblr.com
Are you over 18 and want to see adult content?
A complete backup of hereticalideas.gr
Are you over 18 and want to see adult content?
Text
citizen-consumer.
REPORTER’S ALERT: PART V » CENTER FOR STUDY OF RESPONSIVE LAW Reporter’s Alert: Part V. by editor Posted on May 7, 2021. By Ralph Nader. May 7, 2021. Reporters at major newspapers and magazines are hard to reach by telephone. Today it is increasingly hard to converse with them about timely scoops, leads, gaps in coverage, and corrections to published articles. We started an online webpage:Reporter’s
THE OSHA MISSION
The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
REPORTER EXTRAORDINAIRE: THE PIONEERING PATHWAYS OF JAMES The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
CITIZENS’ UTILITY BOARD (CUB) » CENTER FOR STUDY OF Citizens’ Utility Board (CUB) The Citizens’ Utility Board, or CUB, is a model approach for bringing together large numbers of diffuse consumers into a voluntary organization, which can then pursue a common citizen/consumer agenda in banking, insurance, housing or dozens of other arenas. I call it the “silicon chip” for thecitizen
CSRL.ORG
INTRODUCTION – More coal miners have lost their lives from cave-ins and lung disease since 1900 than all the Americans who died in World War II. While federal regulations, espec THE CASE FOR THE CIVIL JURY The excellent order of trial by jury carries a much greater preponderation to discover the truth than any other trial whatsoever.* — Matthew Hale, Chief Justice of the King's Bench (1676) In the whole practice of law, there is nothing of greaterWWW.CSRL.ORG
www.csrl.org
AN OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA: DECISION TIME FOR Dear President Obama: On November 28, 2016, Jimmy Carter, the President who negotiated the peace agreement between Israel and Egypt in 1978, wrote an op ed for the New York Times titled, “America Must Recognize Palestine.” His urgent plea was directed to you to take “the vital stepto grant American diplomatic recognition to the state of Palestine, as 137 countries have already done CENTER FOR STUDY OF RESPONSIVE LAW Taft-Hartley is a wide-ranging, intricate paradise for union-busting law firms, corporatist legislators, and atavistic judges. It authorized states to enact so-called “right to work” laws or more properly named “right to shirk” laws, allowing workers to keep benefits of union contracts but not pay union dues. POSSIBLE LAW REVIEW TOPICS » CENTER FOR STUDY OF The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
REPORTER’S ALERT: PART V » CENTER FOR STUDY OF RESPONSIVE LAW Reporter’s Alert: Part V. by editor Posted on May 7, 2021. By Ralph Nader. May 7, 2021. Reporters at major newspapers and magazines are hard to reach by telephone. Today it is increasingly hard to converse with them about timely scoops, leads, gaps in coverage, and corrections to published articles. We started an online webpage:Reporter’s
THE OSHA MISSION
The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
REPORTER EXTRAORDINAIRE: THE PIONEERING PATHWAYS OF JAMES The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
CITIZENS’ UTILITY BOARD (CUB) » CENTER FOR STUDY OF Citizens’ Utility Board (CUB) The Citizens’ Utility Board, or CUB, is a model approach for bringing together large numbers of diffuse consumers into a voluntary organization, which can then pursue a common citizen/consumer agenda in banking, insurance, housing or dozens of other arenas. I call it the “silicon chip” for thecitizen
CSRL.ORG
INTRODUCTION – More coal miners have lost their lives from cave-ins and lung disease since 1900 than all the Americans who died in World War II. While federal regulations, espec THE CASE FOR THE CIVIL JURY The excellent order of trial by jury carries a much greater preponderation to discover the truth than any other trial whatsoever.* — Matthew Hale, Chief Justice of the King's Bench (1676) In the whole practice of law, there is nothing of greaterWWW.CSRL.ORG
www.csrl.org
AN OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA: DECISION TIME FOR Dear President Obama: On November 28, 2016, Jimmy Carter, the President who negotiated the peace agreement between Israel and Egypt in 1978, wrote an op ed for the New York Times titled, “America Must Recognize Palestine.” His urgent plea was directed to you to take “the vital stepto grant American diplomatic recognition to the state of Palestine, as 137 countries have already done REPORTS » CENTER FOR STUDY OF RESPONSIVE LAW The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
CORPORATE REFORMS AND SELF-INITIATORY POWERS FOR THE The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
GETTING STEAMED TO OVERCOME CORPORATISM! » CENTER FOR There is a broad consensus in our country that “corporations have too much power.” (Click here to purchase a copy of Getting Steamed to Overcome Corporatism)Are you rightfully steamed? If so, please check at which of four levels of serious mutual commitment, you will give or raise $100 (or more if you wish) a year and devote 100 (or more if you wish) volunteer hours a year. ALERT REPORTERS FACING THE VOID! » CENTER FOR STUDY OF The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
WHY DIDN’T SPEAKER PELOSI WANT WITNESSES? » CENTER FOR The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
CAN THE DECLINE IN LETTER-WRITING BE REVERSED? » CENTER The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
CSRL.ORG
INTRODUCTION – More coal miners have lost their lives from cave-ins and lung disease since 1900 than all the Americans who died in World War II. While federal regulations, especWWW.CSRL.ORG
www.csrl.org
THE CASE FOR THE CIVIL JURY The excellent order of trial by jury carries a much greater preponderation to discover the truth than any other trial whatsoever.* — Matthew Hale, Chief Justice of the King's Bench (1676) In the whole practice of law, there is nothing of greater STATE GOVERNMENT CONTRACT ASSESSMENT 2010 State Government Contract Assessment By Patrick Benton Introduction: In 2009, the Center for the Study of Responsive Law (CSRL) surveyedthe online
CENTER FOR STUDY OF RESPONSIVE LAW Taft-Hartley is a wide-ranging, intricate paradise for union-busting law firms, corporatist legislators, and atavistic judges. It authorized states to enact so-called “right to work” laws or more properly named “right to shirk” laws, allowing workers to keep benefits of union contracts but not pay union dues. HISTORY OF THE CENTER FOR STUDY OF RESPONSIVE LAW The Center for Study of Responsive Law was founded by Ralph Nader in 1968 as his principal office. Since then it has sponsored a wide variety of books, organizing projects, litigation and has hosted hundreds of conferences focusing on government and corporate accountability. One of the Center’s primary goals is to empower citizens. The Center CSRL BOOKS » CENTER FOR STUDY OF RESPONSIVE LAW Purchase a signed copy of Seventeen Solutions for $30.00 and help support the Center for Study of Responsive Law. The book was written to address the need for a comprehensive introduction to the inventing process for young people. Young Inventors is aimed at educators, parents, scout troop leaders, Big Brothers and Big Sisters, homeschoolers
POSSIBLE LAW REVIEW TOPICS » CENTER FOR STUDY OF The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
REPORTER’S ALERT: PART V » CENTER FOR STUDY OF RESPONSIVE LAW Reporter’s Alert: Part V. by editor Posted on May 7, 2021. By Ralph Nader. May 7, 2021. Reporters at major newspapers and magazines are hard to reach by telephone. Today it is increasingly hard to converse with them about timely scoops, leads, gaps in coverage, and corrections to published articles. We started an online webpage:Reporter’s
THE OSHA MISSION
The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
REPORTER EXTRAORDINAIRE: THE PIONEERING PATHWAYS OF JAMES The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
ALERT REPORTERS FACING THE VOID! » CENTER FOR STUDY OF The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
AN OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA: DECISION TIME FOR Dear President Obama: On November 28, 2016, Jimmy Carter, the President who negotiated the peace agreement between Israel and Egypt in 1978, wrote an op ed for the New York Times titled, “America Must Recognize Palestine.” His urgent plea was directed to you to take “the vital stepto grant American diplomatic recognition to the state of Palestine, as 137 countries have already done ДЕВЯТАЕВ СМОТРЕТЬ ОНЛАЙН В ХОРОШЕМ КАЧЕСТВЕ НА НАШЕМ … By Ralph Nader April 23, 2021 President Joe Biden likes to say, “I’m a union guy.” Unfortunately, as Vice President from 2009 to 2017, his boss, Barack Obama wouldn’t let Continue reading → CENTER FOR STUDY OF RESPONSIVE LAW Taft-Hartley is a wide-ranging, intricate paradise for union-busting law firms, corporatist legislators, and atavistic judges. It authorized states to enact so-called “right to work” laws or more properly named “right to shirk” laws, allowing workers to keep benefits of union contracts but not pay union dues. HISTORY OF THE CENTER FOR STUDY OF RESPONSIVE LAW The Center for Study of Responsive Law was founded by Ralph Nader in 1968 as his principal office. Since then it has sponsored a wide variety of books, organizing projects, litigation and has hosted hundreds of conferences focusing on government and corporate accountability. One of the Center’s primary goals is to empower citizens. The Center CSRL BOOKS » CENTER FOR STUDY OF RESPONSIVE LAW Purchase a signed copy of Seventeen Solutions for $30.00 and help support the Center for Study of Responsive Law. The book was written to address the need for a comprehensive introduction to the inventing process for young people. Young Inventors is aimed at educators, parents, scout troop leaders, Big Brothers and Big Sisters, homeschoolers
POSSIBLE LAW REVIEW TOPICS » CENTER FOR STUDY OF The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
REPORTER’S ALERT: PART V » CENTER FOR STUDY OF RESPONSIVE LAW Reporter’s Alert: Part V. by editor Posted on May 7, 2021. By Ralph Nader. May 7, 2021. Reporters at major newspapers and magazines are hard to reach by telephone. Today it is increasingly hard to converse with them about timely scoops, leads, gaps in coverage, and corrections to published articles. We started an online webpage:Reporter’s
THE OSHA MISSION
The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
REPORTER EXTRAORDINAIRE: THE PIONEERING PATHWAYS OF JAMES The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
ALERT REPORTERS FACING THE VOID! » CENTER FOR STUDY OF The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
AN OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA: DECISION TIME FOR Dear President Obama: On November 28, 2016, Jimmy Carter, the President who negotiated the peace agreement between Israel and Egypt in 1978, wrote an op ed for the New York Times titled, “America Must Recognize Palestine.” His urgent plea was directed to you to take “the vital stepto grant American diplomatic recognition to the state of Palestine, as 137 countries have already done ДЕВЯТАЕВ СМОТРЕТЬ ОНЛАЙН В ХОРОШЕМ КАЧЕСТВЕ НА НАШЕМ … By Ralph Nader April 23, 2021 President Joe Biden likes to say, “I’m a union guy.” Unfortunately, as Vice President from 2009 to 2017, his boss, Barack Obama wouldn’t let Continue reading → CONTACT US » CENTER FOR STUDY OF RESPONSIVE LAW The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
REPORTERS’ ALERT: LAUNCHING A NEW WEBSITE » CENTER FOR The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
NEW AUTO SAFETY REPORT DEMANDS BIDEN STRENGTHEN FEDERAL The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
CAN THE DECLINE IN LETTER-WRITING BE REVERSED? » CENTER The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
TRUMP’S FINALE FROM IMPEACHMENT TO CONVICTION » CENTER FOR The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
THE STRUGGLE INSIDE SENATOR MITCH MCCONNELL’S BRAIN The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
CAN JUSTICE FINALLY OVERTAKE TRUMP, ITS MOST DEFIANT Can Justice Finally Overtake Trump, Its Most Defiant Fugitive? Despite the many crimes Donald Trump regularly committed over four years, it took his blatant incitement of the mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, to put him on the road to prison. (See: Letter to vice President Mike Pence Re: Invocation of Amendment 25).PERFIDY MEETS PUTTY
The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
CITIZENS’ UTILITY BOARD (CUB) » CENTER FOR STUDY OF Citizens’ Utility Board (CUB) The Citizens’ Utility Board, or CUB, is a model approach for bringing together large numbers of diffuse consumers into a voluntary organization, which can then pursue a common citizen/consumer agenda in banking, insurance, housing or dozens of other arenas. I call it the “silicon chip” for thecitizen
THE CASE FOR THE CIVIL JURY The excellent order of trial by jury carries a much greater preponderation to discover the truth than any other trial whatsoever.* — Matthew Hale, Chief Justice of the King's Bench (1676) In the whole practice of law, there is nothing of greater CENTER FOR STUDY OF RESPONSIVE LAW Taft-Hartley is a wide-ranging, intricate paradise for union-busting law firms, corporatist legislators, and atavistic judges. It authorized states to enact so-called “right to work” laws or more properly named “right to shirk” laws, allowing workers to keep benefits of union contracts but not pay union dues. HISTORY OF THE CENTER FOR STUDY OF RESPONSIVE LAW The Center for Study of Responsive Law was founded by Ralph Nader in 1968 as his principal office. Since then it has sponsored a wide variety of books, organizing projects, litigation and has hosted hundreds of conferences focusing on government and corporate accountability. One of the Center’s primary goals is to empower citizens. The Center CSRL BOOKS » CENTER FOR STUDY OF RESPONSIVE LAW Purchase a signed copy of Seventeen Solutions for $30.00 and help support the Center for Study of Responsive Law. The book was written to address the need for a comprehensive introduction to the inventing process for young people. Young Inventors is aimed at educators, parents, scout troop leaders, Big Brothers and Big Sisters, homeschoolers
POSSIBLE LAW REVIEW TOPICS » CENTER FOR STUDY OF The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
REPORTER’S ALERT: PART V » CENTER FOR STUDY OF RESPONSIVE LAW Reporter’s Alert: Part V. by editor Posted on May 7, 2021. By Ralph Nader. May 7, 2021. Reporters at major newspapers and magazines are hard to reach by telephone. Today it is increasingly hard to converse with them about timely scoops, leads, gaps in coverage, and corrections to published articles. We started an online webpage:Reporter’s
THE OSHA MISSION
The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
REPORTER EXTRAORDINAIRE: THE PIONEERING PATHWAYS OF JAMES The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
ALERT REPORTERS FACING THE VOID! » CENTER FOR STUDY OF The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
AN OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA: DECISION TIME FOR Dear President Obama: On November 28, 2016, Jimmy Carter, the President who negotiated the peace agreement between Israel and Egypt in 1978, wrote an op ed for the New York Times titled, “America Must Recognize Palestine.” His urgent plea was directed to you to take “the vital stepto grant American diplomatic recognition to the state of Palestine, as 137 countries have already done ДЕВЯТАЕВ СМОТРЕТЬ ОНЛАЙН В ХОРОШЕМ КАЧЕСТВЕ НА НАШЕМ … By Ralph Nader April 23, 2021 President Joe Biden likes to say, “I’m a union guy.” Unfortunately, as Vice President from 2009 to 2017, his boss, Barack Obama wouldn’t let Continue reading → CENTER FOR STUDY OF RESPONSIVE LAW Taft-Hartley is a wide-ranging, intricate paradise for union-busting law firms, corporatist legislators, and atavistic judges. It authorized states to enact so-called “right to work” laws or more properly named “right to shirk” laws, allowing workers to keep benefits of union contracts but not pay union dues. HISTORY OF THE CENTER FOR STUDY OF RESPONSIVE LAW The Center for Study of Responsive Law was founded by Ralph Nader in 1968 as his principal office. Since then it has sponsored a wide variety of books, organizing projects, litigation and has hosted hundreds of conferences focusing on government and corporate accountability. One of the Center’s primary goals is to empower citizens. The Center CSRL BOOKS » CENTER FOR STUDY OF RESPONSIVE LAW Purchase a signed copy of Seventeen Solutions for $30.00 and help support the Center for Study of Responsive Law. The book was written to address the need for a comprehensive introduction to the inventing process for young people. Young Inventors is aimed at educators, parents, scout troop leaders, Big Brothers and Big Sisters, homeschoolers
POSSIBLE LAW REVIEW TOPICS » CENTER FOR STUDY OF The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
REPORTER’S ALERT: PART V » CENTER FOR STUDY OF RESPONSIVE LAW Reporter’s Alert: Part V. by editor Posted on May 7, 2021. By Ralph Nader. May 7, 2021. Reporters at major newspapers and magazines are hard to reach by telephone. Today it is increasingly hard to converse with them about timely scoops, leads, gaps in coverage, and corrections to published articles. We started an online webpage:Reporter’s
THE OSHA MISSION
The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
REPORTER EXTRAORDINAIRE: THE PIONEERING PATHWAYS OF JAMES The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
ALERT REPORTERS FACING THE VOID! » CENTER FOR STUDY OF The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
AN OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA: DECISION TIME FOR Dear President Obama: On November 28, 2016, Jimmy Carter, the President who negotiated the peace agreement between Israel and Egypt in 1978, wrote an op ed for the New York Times titled, “America Must Recognize Palestine.” His urgent plea was directed to you to take “the vital stepto grant American diplomatic recognition to the state of Palestine, as 137 countries have already done ДЕВЯТАЕВ СМОТРЕТЬ ОНЛАЙН В ХОРОШЕМ КАЧЕСТВЕ НА НАШЕМ … By Ralph Nader April 23, 2021 President Joe Biden likes to say, “I’m a union guy.” Unfortunately, as Vice President from 2009 to 2017, his boss, Barack Obama wouldn’t let Continue reading → CONTACT US » CENTER FOR STUDY OF RESPONSIVE LAW The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
REPORTERS’ ALERT: LAUNCHING A NEW WEBSITE » CENTER FOR The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
NEW AUTO SAFETY REPORT DEMANDS BIDEN STRENGTHEN FEDERAL The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
CAN THE DECLINE IN LETTER-WRITING BE REVERSED? » CENTER The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
TRUMP’S FINALE FROM IMPEACHMENT TO CONVICTION » CENTER FOR The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
THE STRUGGLE INSIDE SENATOR MITCH MCCONNELL’S BRAIN The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
CAN JUSTICE FINALLY OVERTAKE TRUMP, ITS MOST DEFIANT Can Justice Finally Overtake Trump, Its Most Defiant Fugitive? Despite the many crimes Donald Trump regularly committed over four years, it took his blatant incitement of the mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, to put him on the road to prison. (See: Letter to vice President Mike Pence Re: Invocation of Amendment 25).PERFIDY MEETS PUTTY
The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
CITIZENS’ UTILITY BOARD (CUB) » CENTER FOR STUDY OF Citizens’ Utility Board (CUB) The Citizens’ Utility Board, or CUB, is a model approach for bringing together large numbers of diffuse consumers into a voluntary organization, which can then pursue a common citizen/consumer agenda in banking, insurance, housing or dozens of other arenas. I call it the “silicon chip” for thecitizen
THE CASE FOR THE CIVIL JURY The excellent order of trial by jury carries a much greater preponderation to discover the truth than any other trial whatsoever.* — Matthew Hale, Chief Justice of the King's Bench (1676) In the whole practice of law, there is nothing of greater CENTER FOR STUDY OF RESPONSIVE LAW Taft-Hartley is a wide-ranging, intricate paradise for union-busting law firms, corporatist legislators, and atavistic judges. It authorized states to enact so-called “right to work” laws or more properly named “right to shirk” laws, allowing workers to keep benefits of union contracts but not pay union dues. HISTORY OF THE CENTER FOR STUDY OF RESPONSIVE LAW The Center for Study of Responsive Law was founded by Ralph Nader in 1968 as his principal office. Since then it has sponsored a wide variety of books, organizing projects, litigation and has hosted hundreds of conferences focusing on government and corporate accountability. One of the Center’s primary goals is to empower citizens. The Center CSRL BOOKS » CENTER FOR STUDY OF RESPONSIVE LAW Purchase a signed copy of Seventeen Solutions for $30.00 and help support the Center for Study of Responsive Law. The book was written to address the need for a comprehensive introduction to the inventing process for young people. Young Inventors is aimed at educators, parents, scout troop leaders, Big Brothers and Big Sisters, homeschoolers
POSSIBLE LAW REVIEW TOPICS » CENTER FOR STUDY OF The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
REPORTER’S ALERT: PART V » CENTER FOR STUDY OF RESPONSIVE LAW Reporter’s Alert: Part V. by editor Posted on May 7, 2021. By Ralph Nader. May 7, 2021. Reporters at major newspapers and magazines are hard to reach by telephone. Today it is increasingly hard to converse with them about timely scoops, leads, gaps in coverage, and corrections to published articles. We started an online webpage:Reporter’s
THE OSHA MISSION
The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
REPORTER EXTRAORDINAIRE: THE PIONEERING PATHWAYS OF JAMES The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
ALERT REPORTERS FACING THE VOID! » CENTER FOR STUDY OF The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
AN OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA: DECISION TIME FOR Dear President Obama: On November 28, 2016, Jimmy Carter, the President who negotiated the peace agreement between Israel and Egypt in 1978, wrote an op ed for the New York Times titled, “America Must Recognize Palestine.” His urgent plea was directed to you to take “the vital stepto grant American diplomatic recognition to the state of Palestine, as 137 countries have already done ДЕВЯТАЕВ СМОТРЕТЬ ОНЛАЙН В ХОРОШЕМ КАЧЕСТВЕ НА НАШЕМ … By Ralph Nader April 23, 2021 President Joe Biden likes to say, “I’m a union guy.” Unfortunately, as Vice President from 2009 to 2017, his boss, Barack Obama wouldn’t let Continue reading → CENTER FOR STUDY OF RESPONSIVE LAW Taft-Hartley is a wide-ranging, intricate paradise for union-busting law firms, corporatist legislators, and atavistic judges. It authorized states to enact so-called “right to work” laws or more properly named “right to shirk” laws, allowing workers to keep benefits of union contracts but not pay union dues. HISTORY OF THE CENTER FOR STUDY OF RESPONSIVE LAW The Center for Study of Responsive Law was founded by Ralph Nader in 1968 as his principal office. Since then it has sponsored a wide variety of books, organizing projects, litigation and has hosted hundreds of conferences focusing on government and corporate accountability. One of the Center’s primary goals is to empower citizens. The Center CSRL BOOKS » CENTER FOR STUDY OF RESPONSIVE LAW Purchase a signed copy of Seventeen Solutions for $30.00 and help support the Center for Study of Responsive Law. The book was written to address the need for a comprehensive introduction to the inventing process for young people. Young Inventors is aimed at educators, parents, scout troop leaders, Big Brothers and Big Sisters, homeschoolers
POSSIBLE LAW REVIEW TOPICS » CENTER FOR STUDY OF The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
REPORTER’S ALERT: PART V » CENTER FOR STUDY OF RESPONSIVE LAW Reporter’s Alert: Part V. by editor Posted on May 7, 2021. By Ralph Nader. May 7, 2021. Reporters at major newspapers and magazines are hard to reach by telephone. Today it is increasingly hard to converse with them about timely scoops, leads, gaps in coverage, and corrections to published articles. We started an online webpage:Reporter’s
THE OSHA MISSION
The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
REPORTER EXTRAORDINAIRE: THE PIONEERING PATHWAYS OF JAMES The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
ALERT REPORTERS FACING THE VOID! » CENTER FOR STUDY OF The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
AN OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA: DECISION TIME FOR Dear President Obama: On November 28, 2016, Jimmy Carter, the President who negotiated the peace agreement between Israel and Egypt in 1978, wrote an op ed for the New York Times titled, “America Must Recognize Palestine.” His urgent plea was directed to you to take “the vital stepto grant American diplomatic recognition to the state of Palestine, as 137 countries have already done ДЕВЯТАЕВ СМОТРЕТЬ ОНЛАЙН В ХОРОШЕМ КАЧЕСТВЕ НА НАШЕМ … By Ralph Nader April 23, 2021 President Joe Biden likes to say, “I’m a union guy.” Unfortunately, as Vice President from 2009 to 2017, his boss, Barack Obama wouldn’t let Continue reading → CONTACT US » CENTER FOR STUDY OF RESPONSIVE LAW The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
REPORTERS’ ALERT: LAUNCHING A NEW WEBSITE » CENTER FOR The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
NEW AUTO SAFETY REPORT DEMANDS BIDEN STRENGTHEN FEDERAL The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
CAN THE DECLINE IN LETTER-WRITING BE REVERSED? » CENTER The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
TRUMP’S FINALE FROM IMPEACHMENT TO CONVICTION » CENTER FOR The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
THE STRUGGLE INSIDE SENATOR MITCH MCCONNELL’S BRAIN The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
CAN JUSTICE FINALLY OVERTAKE TRUMP, ITS MOST DEFIANT Can Justice Finally Overtake Trump, Its Most Defiant Fugitive? Despite the many crimes Donald Trump regularly committed over four years, it took his blatant incitement of the mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, to put him on the road to prison. (See: Letter to vice President Mike Pence Re: Invocation of Amendment 25).PERFIDY MEETS PUTTY
The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
CITIZENS’ UTILITY BOARD (CUB) » CENTER FOR STUDY OF Citizens’ Utility Board (CUB) The Citizens’ Utility Board, or CUB, is a model approach for bringing together large numbers of diffuse consumers into a voluntary organization, which can then pursue a common citizen/consumer agenda in banking, insurance, housing or dozens of other arenas. I call it the “silicon chip” for thecitizen
THE CASE FOR THE CIVIL JURY The excellent order of trial by jury carries a much greater preponderation to discover the truth than any other trial whatsoever.* — Matthew Hale, Chief Justice of the King's Bench (1676) In the whole practice of law, there is nothing of greater CENTER FOR STUDY OF RESPONSIVE LAW Taft-Hartley is a wide-ranging, intricate paradise for union-busting law firms, corporatist legislators, and atavistic judges. It authorized states to enact so-called “right to work” laws or more properly named “right to shirk” laws, allowing workers to keep benefits of union contracts but not pay union dues. HISTORY OF THE CENTER FOR STUDY OF RESPONSIVE LAW The Center for Study of Responsive Law was founded by Ralph Nader in 1968 as his principal office. Since then it has sponsored a wide variety of books, organizing projects, litigation and has hosted hundreds of conferences focusing on government and corporate accountability. One of the Center’s primary goals is to empower citizens. The Center CSRL BOOKS » CENTER FOR STUDY OF RESPONSIVE LAW Purchase a signed copy of Seventeen Solutions for $30.00 and help support the Center for Study of Responsive Law. The book was written to address the need for a comprehensive introduction to the inventing process for young people. Young Inventors is aimed at educators, parents, scout troop leaders, Big Brothers and Big Sisters, homeschoolers
REPORTER EXTRAORDINAIRE: THE PIONEERING PATHWAYS OF JAMES The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
POSSIBLE LAW REVIEW TOPICS » CENTER FOR STUDY OF The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
THE OSHA MISSION
The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
ALERT REPORTERS FACING THE VOID! » CENTER FOR STUDY OF The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
CITIZENS’ UTILITY BOARD (CUB) » CENTER FOR STUDY OF Citizens’ Utility Board (CUB) The Citizens’ Utility Board, or CUB, is a model approach for bringing together large numbers of diffuse consumers into a voluntary organization, which can then pursue a common citizen/consumer agenda in banking, insurance, housing or dozens of other arenas. I call it the “silicon chip” for thecitizen
THE CASE FOR THE CIVIL JURY The excellent order of trial by jury carries a much greater preponderation to discover the truth than any other trial whatsoever.* — Matthew Hale, Chief Justice of the King's Bench (1676) In the whole practice of law, there is nothing of greater AN OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA: DECISION TIME FOR Dear President Obama: On November 28, 2016, Jimmy Carter, the President who negotiated the peace agreement between Israel and Egypt in 1978, wrote an op ed for the New York Times titled, “America Must Recognize Palestine.” His urgent plea was directed to you to take “the vital stepto grant American diplomatic recognition to the state of Palestine, as 137 countries have already done CENTER FOR STUDY OF RESPONSIVE LAW Taft-Hartley is a wide-ranging, intricate paradise for union-busting law firms, corporatist legislators, and atavistic judges. It authorized states to enact so-called “right to work” laws or more properly named “right to shirk” laws, allowing workers to keep benefits of union contracts but not pay union dues. HISTORY OF THE CENTER FOR STUDY OF RESPONSIVE LAW The Center for Study of Responsive Law was founded by Ralph Nader in 1968 as his principal office. Since then it has sponsored a wide variety of books, organizing projects, litigation and has hosted hundreds of conferences focusing on government and corporate accountability. One of the Center’s primary goals is to empower citizens. The Center CSRL BOOKS » CENTER FOR STUDY OF RESPONSIVE LAW Purchase a signed copy of Seventeen Solutions for $30.00 and help support the Center for Study of Responsive Law. The book was written to address the need for a comprehensive introduction to the inventing process for young people. Young Inventors is aimed at educators, parents, scout troop leaders, Big Brothers and Big Sisters, homeschoolers
REPORTER EXTRAORDINAIRE: THE PIONEERING PATHWAYS OF JAMES The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
POSSIBLE LAW REVIEW TOPICS » CENTER FOR STUDY OF The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
THE OSHA MISSION
The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
ALERT REPORTERS FACING THE VOID! » CENTER FOR STUDY OF The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
CITIZENS’ UTILITY BOARD (CUB) » CENTER FOR STUDY OF Citizens’ Utility Board (CUB) The Citizens’ Utility Board, or CUB, is a model approach for bringing together large numbers of diffuse consumers into a voluntary organization, which can then pursue a common citizen/consumer agenda in banking, insurance, housing or dozens of other arenas. I call it the “silicon chip” for thecitizen
THE CASE FOR THE CIVIL JURY The excellent order of trial by jury carries a much greater preponderation to discover the truth than any other trial whatsoever.* — Matthew Hale, Chief Justice of the King's Bench (1676) In the whole practice of law, there is nothing of greater AN OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA: DECISION TIME FOR Dear President Obama: On November 28, 2016, Jimmy Carter, the President who negotiated the peace agreement between Israel and Egypt in 1978, wrote an op ed for the New York Times titled, “America Must Recognize Palestine.” His urgent plea was directed to you to take “the vital stepto grant American diplomatic recognition to the state of Palestine, as 137 countries have already done CSRL BOOKS » CENTER FOR STUDY OF RESPONSIVE LAW Told You So The Big Book of Weekly Columns By Ralph Nader The column is the most natural literary form for a citizen’s advocate, and Ralph Nader may be its most robust and forceful practitioner. Told You So: The Big Book of Weekly Columns (Seven Stories Press, May 2013) presents a panoramic portrait of the problems confronting our society and provides examples of the many actions an REPORTER’S ALERT: PART V » CENTER FOR STUDY OF RESPONSIVE LAW Reporter’s Alert: Part V. by editor Posted on May 7, 2021. By Ralph Nader. May 7, 2021. Reporters at major newspapers and magazines are hard to reach by telephone. Today it is increasingly hard to converse with them about timely scoops, leads, gaps in coverage, and corrections to published articles. We started an online webpage:Reporter’s
REPORTERS’ ALERT: LAUNCHING A NEW WEBSITE » CENTER FOR The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
ALERT REPORTERS FACING THE VOID! » CENTER FOR STUDY OF The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
CITIZENS’ UTILITY BOARD (CUB) » CENTER FOR STUDY OF Citizens’ Utility Board (CUB) The Citizens’ Utility Board, or CUB, is a model approach for bringing together large numbers of diffuse consumers into a voluntary organization, which can then pursue a common citizen/consumer agenda in banking, insurance, housing or dozens of other arenas. I call it the “silicon chip” for thecitizen
TRUMP: LETTING BIG CORPORATIONS GET AWAY WITH WHATEVER The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
NEW AUTO SAFETY REPORT DEMANDS BIDEN STRENGTHEN FEDERAL The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
DEBATING TABOOS SERIES » CENTER FOR STUDY OF RESPONSIVE LAW The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
CAN THE DECLINE IN LETTER-WRITING BE REVERSED? » CENTER The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
THE CASE FOR THE CIVIL JURY The excellent order of trial by jury carries a much greater preponderation to discover the truth than any other trial whatsoever.* — Matthew Hale, Chief Justice of the King's Bench (1676) In the whole practice of law, there is nothing of greater CENTER FOR STUDY OF RESPONSIVE LAW By Ralph Nader May 14, 2021. This month is the 50th anniversary of National Public Radio (NPR). Knowing about my work back then with other advocates, to persuade Congress to pass legislation creating NPR and PBS, (which was opposed by most of the commercial radio/TV industry), a friend asked what I think of NPR now. HISTORY OF THE CENTER FOR STUDY OF RESPONSIVE LAWCENTER RESPONSIVE IMAGERESPONSIVE LEARNING CENTERRESPONSIVE CENTERS KC The Center for Study of Responsive Law was founded by Ralph Nader in 1968 as his principal office. Since then it has sponsored a wide variety of books, organizing projects, litigation and has hosted hundreds of conferences focusing on government and corporateaccountability.
CSRL BOOKS » CENTER FOR STUDY OF RESPONSIVE LAW Told You So The Big Book of Weekly Columns By Ralph Nader The column is the most natural literary form for a citizen’s advocate, and Ralph Nader may be its most robust and forceful practitioner. Told You So: The Big Book of Weekly Columns (Seven Stories Press, May 2013) presents a panoramic portrait of the problems confronting our society and provides examples of the many actions an POSSIBLE LAW REVIEW TOPICS » CENTER FOR STUDY OF The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
REPORTER EXTRAORDINAIRE: THE PIONEERING PATHWAYS OF JAMES The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
THE OSHA MISSION
The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
ALERT REPORTERS FACING THE VOID! » CENTER FOR STUDY OF The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
CITIZENS’ UTILITY BOARD (CUB) » CENTER FOR STUDY OF The Citizens’ Utility Board, or CUB, is a model approach for bringing together large numbers of diffuse consumers into a voluntary organization, which can then pursue a common citizen/consumer agenda in banking, insurance, housing or dozens of other arenas. THE CASE FOR THE CIVIL JURY The excellent order of trial by jury carries a much greater preponderation to discover the truth than any other trial whatsoever.* — Matthew Hale, Chief Justice of the King's Bench (1676) In the whole practice of law, there is nothing of greater AN OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA: DECISION TIME FOR Dear President Obama: On November 28, 2016, Jimmy Carter, the President who negotiated the peace agreement between Israel and Egypt in 1978, wrote an op ed for the New York Times titled, “America Must Recognize Palestine.” His urgent plea was directed to you to take “the vital stepto grant American diplomatic recognition to the state of Palestine, as 137 countries have already done CENTER FOR STUDY OF RESPONSIVE LAW By Ralph Nader May 14, 2021. This month is the 50th anniversary of National Public Radio (NPR). Knowing about my work back then with other advocates, to persuade Congress to pass legislation creating NPR and PBS, (which was opposed by most of the commercial radio/TV industry), a friend asked what I think of NPR now. HISTORY OF THE CENTER FOR STUDY OF RESPONSIVE LAWCENTER RESPONSIVE IMAGERESPONSIVE LEARNING CENTERRESPONSIVE CENTERS KC The Center for Study of Responsive Law was founded by Ralph Nader in 1968 as his principal office. Since then it has sponsored a wide variety of books, organizing projects, litigation and has hosted hundreds of conferences focusing on government and corporateaccountability.
CSRL BOOKS » CENTER FOR STUDY OF RESPONSIVE LAW Told You So The Big Book of Weekly Columns By Ralph Nader The column is the most natural literary form for a citizen’s advocate, and Ralph Nader may be its most robust and forceful practitioner. Told You So: The Big Book of Weekly Columns (Seven Stories Press, May 2013) presents a panoramic portrait of the problems confronting our society and provides examples of the many actions an POSSIBLE LAW REVIEW TOPICS » CENTER FOR STUDY OF The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
REPORTER EXTRAORDINAIRE: THE PIONEERING PATHWAYS OF JAMES The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
THE OSHA MISSION
The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
ALERT REPORTERS FACING THE VOID! » CENTER FOR STUDY OF The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
CITIZENS’ UTILITY BOARD (CUB) » CENTER FOR STUDY OF The Citizens’ Utility Board, or CUB, is a model approach for bringing together large numbers of diffuse consumers into a voluntary organization, which can then pursue a common citizen/consumer agenda in banking, insurance, housing or dozens of other arenas. THE CASE FOR THE CIVIL JURY The excellent order of trial by jury carries a much greater preponderation to discover the truth than any other trial whatsoever.* — Matthew Hale, Chief Justice of the King's Bench (1676) In the whole practice of law, there is nothing of greater AN OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA: DECISION TIME FOR Dear President Obama: On November 28, 2016, Jimmy Carter, the President who negotiated the peace agreement between Israel and Egypt in 1978, wrote an op ed for the New York Times titled, “America Must Recognize Palestine.” His urgent plea was directed to you to take “the vital stepto grant American diplomatic recognition to the state of Palestine, as 137 countries have already done CSRL BOOKS » CENTER FOR STUDY OF RESPONSIVE LAW Told You So The Big Book of Weekly Columns By Ralph Nader The column is the most natural literary form for a citizen’s advocate, and Ralph Nader may be its most robust and forceful practitioner. Told You So: The Big Book of Weekly Columns (Seven Stories Press, May 2013) presents a panoramic portrait of the problems confronting our society and provides examples of the many actions an REPORTERS’ ALERT: LAUNCHING A NEW WEBSITE » CENTER FOR The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
REPORTER’S ALERT: PART V » CENTER FOR STUDY OF RESPONSIVE LAW The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
ALERT REPORTERS FACING THE VOID! » CENTER FOR STUDY OF The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
CITIZENS’ UTILITY BOARD (CUB) » CENTER FOR STUDY OF The Citizens’ Utility Board, or CUB, is a model approach for bringing together large numbers of diffuse consumers into a voluntary organization, which can then pursue a common citizen/consumer agenda in banking, insurance, housing or dozens of other arenas. NEW AUTO SAFETY REPORT DEMANDS BIDEN STRENGTHEN FEDERAL The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
TRUMP: LETTING BIG CORPORATIONS GET AWAY WITH WHATEVER The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
DEBATING TABOOS SERIES » CENTER FOR STUDY OF RESPONSIVE LAW The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
CAN THE DECLINE IN LETTER-WRITING BE REVERSED? » CENTER The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of thecitizen-consumer.
THE CASE FOR THE CIVIL JURY The excellent order of trial by jury carries a much greater preponderation to discover the truth than any other trial whatsoever.* — Matthew Hale, Chief Justice of the King's Bench (1676) In the whole practice of law, there is nothing of greater CENTER FOR STUDY OF RESPONSIVE LAWSkip to content
* Home
* Video Links
* Reports
* History
* Books
* Sign Up For Alerts* Contact Us
* Donate
← Older posts
TO THE MEDIA: READERS NEED TO KNOW MORE by editor Posted on May 28, 2021By Ralph Nader
May 28, 2021
Reporters at major newspapers and magazines are hard to reach by telephone. Today it is increasingly difficult to converse with them about timely scoops, leads, gaps in coverage, and corrections topublished articles.
We started an online webpage: Reporter’s Alert. From time to time, we use Reporter’s Alert to present suggestions for important reporting on topics that are either not covered or not covered thoroughly. Reporting that just nibbles on the periphery won’t attract much public attention or be noticed by decision makers. Here is the sixth installment of suggestions: 1. China is where the Covid-19 pandemic originated and where the first casualties occurred. After a few weeks of blunders, lockdowns, and rigid quarantines, the Chinese economy and society seemed to recover. China has three times the U.S. population, but claims its fatality toll is about one percent of the U.S. fatality toll. Assume this is heavily undercounted. Even so, observers in China report the economy is bustling. Workers are back on the job, stores are filled with shoppers, and in-person schooling and meetings have resumed. Yet, the western press has not really reported in granular detail the difference in Covid numbers between the two countries. Just saying China is a command society is too facile. We have much to learn from the Chinese and by doing so we can establish the basis for closer cooperation between our two countries to prevent the next pandemic, whether from animals or a laboratory leak. 2. Have any reporters explained to us why over 300,000 Afghan soldiers and thousands of police, with modern U.S. equipment and training, plus U.S. naval and air cover, are losing ground almost everywhere to 35,000 Taliban with light weaponry and no air, naval, or radar defense systems? Americans have paid a heavy price for this forever war. They and the Afghan people, who have endured intense suffering, deserve detailed explanations of why the Taliban is such a challenge for foreign armies and the government of Afghanistan. Reporters need to go beyond the throwaway phrase “it’s the corruption.” Air cargo loads of $100 bills flown to Kabul from Washington often facilitate corruption, but there is far more to this story. 3. Media, explain this paradox: The Israeli government knows every street, alley, and building in tiny Gaza. It has this enclave under the most intense technological surveillance of any human population in history. It tracks who lives, works, moves, and the goods they buy. It collects DNA samples by family name and has loads of spies and informants. The U.S.-made Israeli aircraft pinpoint, with precision missiles, militants sleeping on known floors of apartment buildings. Yet, the Israeli military cannot locate in a timely manner the places where the garage-built, crude, inaccurate rockets are made and fired. Experts have said Israeli missile defense technology can respond to rocket launch sites in three to five seconds. What explains thiscontradiction?
4. The miasma of U.S. foreign aid programs merits media sunlight, especially given the lack of congressional oversight. This is an area of endless discovery. Enormous discretionary power regarding foreign policy has been given to the White House by Congress over the decades. What loans are quietly converted to grants at the insistence of lobbyists for foreign interests? How much of the foreign aid is used for purchases from U.S. companies and how much transfer of sensitive or top-secret technology slips through export restrictions under this rubric of foreign aid? The last and only GAO study on U.S. foreign aid to Israel was in 1978 and it revealed the astonishing latitude of pro-Israeli government administrations to give Israel specialtreatment.
A recent article by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace notes that “U.S. law is clear: all countries receiving U.S. aid must meet human rights standards, and countries violating these standards are liable to be sanctioned and ineligible for U.S. funding…” But “when it comes to Israel, additional conditions do not apply and general human rights laws are almost never adhered to.” (See: Bringing Assistance to Israel in Line With Rights and U.S. Laws, May12, 2021).
How many taxpayer dollars are going to fund unlawful activities in recipient countries? Whatever happened to Prime Minister Netanyahu’s 1996 declaration before a joint session of Congress signaling the end of prosperous Israel’s need for U.S. aid programs to the standing ovation of the solons? How have foreign aid priorities helped despots and ignored areas abroad that have incubated local epidemics of new viruses and bacteria which could spread around the world? 5. The vast proportion of NASA’s $24.7 billion budget is outsourced to corporate contractors. Each year, NASA is shrinking from the agency it once was – now corporatizing entire space programs and their crews to outfits run by Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and others. Soon it will so diminish its in-house technical capacity that it will largely become a dispensing and consulting agency with Congress listening to the “private” space industry’s commands and preferences. This is certainly worth a look-see. 6. Our country is increasingly being overrun by invasive species. Numerous reports have been written about what is happening in the Everglades and foreign beetles and other insects destroying billions of trees and Asian Carp in the Mississippi River. Southern ant colonies, killer bees, etc. send investigative alarms. How weak and underfunded are the sentinel agencies such as U.S. Customs and other agencies looking out for such invasions that already cost our economy tens of billions of dollars a year? 7. Getting through by telephone to your members of Congress, government agencies – local, state, and federal, and large corporations that boast about their customer service is beyond frustrating. It is a calculated blockade. Call a Congressional office and you get voicemail with options that go nowhere. This was the case even before Covid-19 gave them an excuse. As far as responding to substantive letters, forget it. Voicemail, instead of a receptionist operator, used to be a no-no a few years ago. At the budget-depleted IRS and most government agencies, it is so difficult to find a human being that many people tell me they don’t even try anymore. Once upon a time you could, at least, get a secretary to the CEO or President of large corporations. Try it now. As reporters, you don’t experience the frustration because as media you get through, though you may not like the reply. Getting through to public officials is exercising our constitutional right to petition our government. This problem is worse than before the internet age. An email is no substitute for person-to-person exchanges on the spot. I’ve suggested this story, with examples to numerous editors and reporters who invariably say it’s a great idea and then drift away. In fact, I’m making this encore proposal because the first time in this series it was suggested it produced no takers. Shutting out the people has another name in many foreign countries, doesn’t it? 8. Why are the majority of U.S. $100 bills circulating in foreign countries and not in America? How successful are North Korean and other counterfeiters in manufacturing them? Just how much is the export of $100 bills fulfilling official government policies or facilitating corporate crime. There used to be a $10,000 and $1000 bill which were discontinued in 1969 to fight undetected criminal transactions. Is cryptocurrency becoming the means of replacing expanding counterfeiting? What are the operating governmentcounterstrategies?
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on To the Media: Readers Need to Know More BIDEN: END YOUR CO-BELLIGERENT BACKING OF ISRAELI WAR CRIMES by editor Posted on May 21, 2021By Ralph Nader
May 21, 2021
As Senator, Vice President, and now President, your self-promoted/displayed empathy has a problem. You can’t seem to connect the Israeli military powerhouse’s occupation to the oppression and destruction of innocent Palestinian civilians, illegal seizure of Palestinian land/water, and daily violations of U.S. and international law. Israel’s military is deliberately bombing these families, the offices of American media, international medical facilities, and many local hospitals and water and electricity facilities with fighter jets and missiles made in America. To know about what is happening daily, you do not need to rely on the evidence compiled by the U.S. mainstream media or foreign reporters on the ground in Gaza or your own intelligence agencies, just take it from the Israeli media and Israelis themselves. Stop repeatedly mumbling the usual mantra to escape your presidential responsibilities for the military weaponry and political cover, including the U.S. Veto at the U.N. By your failure to act you have backed this Israeli-initiated aggression, as you have invariably favored prior illegal Israeli military attacks against U.S. ally Lebanon, and Syria and Iran in recent decades. Although the Netanyahu regime prohibits Israeli journalists from entering Gaza or the West Bank to report reality, enough of the Israeli media carries the horrific devastation in Gaza with casualties and critical property destruction hundreds of times greater than that inflicted by the primitive Hamas rockets, 90% of which are shot down by the U.S.-funded “iron dome” anti-missile systems. The rest, with very few random exceptions, fall onto the desert floor, sometimesback into Gaza.
Israel needs these feeble, homemade rockets as the pretext for its massively greater attacks again and again against the civilian population during the past fifteen years. How else can it engage in such slaughter of entire extended families asleep in their crowded homes, destruction of schools, health clinics, media offices – against what the Israeli newspaper Haaretz has called a wholly defenseless, captive people? Israel is just defending itself, you keep saying, ignoring the imperial racist premise in that statement. As Representative Cori Bush (D-MO) declared this week: “These atrocities are being funded by billions of our own American tax dollars while communities like mine in St. Louis are hurting and are in need of life-affirming investment here at home.” The expanding Jewish Voice for Peace, whose views represent a larger polling of American Jews than does AIPAC, joined over 70 U.S. advocacy groups in support of a Congressional resolution opposing your latest $735 million weapons shipment to Israel. You know federal law prohibits U.S. weapons delivered to a foreign country from being used for offensive purposes – a law continually and openly violated by Israel with impunity. Having such precision instruments of war, and because it has Gaza under the strictest, most intrusive surveillance of any encircled, besieged territory in history, Israeli destruction of critical civilian infrastructure – electricity, water, sewage, and medical facilities – can be considered deliberate. The Israeli military knows about every street, home, apartment building, business, and government site, including who moves inside this tiny enclave. They have embedded spies, informants, a 24/7 electronic watch, and even updated Palestinian DNA samples. Indeed, Israeli government spokespersons boast about giving warnings to the occupants of some of the targets, such as those in the 14-story building housing AP, Al Jazeera, many residential apartments, and doctors’ offices, before turning it into rubble. They know exactly what they are striking – warnings or no warnings. So far, half of the fatalities are children, women, and those sick from the raging, Covid-19 pandemic, who have little or no access to vaccines. You have two dozen Democratic Senators demanding a ceasefire and you still will not come out strongly for a transition toward a vigorous peace process leading to your stated two-state solution. You have none of President Eisenhower’s steadfastness who in 1956 declared a firm stop to the aggressive Israeli, French, and British bombing of Suez inEgypt.
You know full well what started this latest round of hostilities. Read this excerpt from the New York Times: “…it was the outgrowth of years of blockades and restrictions in Gaza, decades of occupation in the West Bank, and decades more of discrimination against Arabs within the state of Israel, said Avraham Burg, a former speaker of the Israeli Parliament and former chairman of the World Zionist Organization. ‘All the enriched uranium was already in place,’ he said. ‘But you needed a trigger. And the trigger was the Aqsa Mosque.’” Mr. Burg was referring to the Israeli police invasion of the 8th century Aqsa Mosque – Islam’s third holiest site – during Ramadan, tear gassing and wounding over 300 praying faithful with stun grenades and rubber bullets. Together with Israeli street gangs in East Jerusalem and the intensifying displacement of Palestinian families there, the provocations proved to be the tipping point for panicked Palestinians. You know this and much more from your confidential briefings. Still, you are hesitating. You are intimately aware of why Prime Minister Netanyahu timed and choreographed these bloody, brutal assaults. It is to position himself more successfully in forming a governing coalition of extremists to avoid a fifth election and ward off an ongoing prosecution for corruption by Israeli law enforcers. He provoked, for his political ambitions, the terrifying of the country he leads. I am attaching an open letter I sent to President Obama on December 19, 2016, asking him to adopt Jimmy Carter’s urgent plea for you to take “the vital step – to grant American diplomatic recognition to the state of Palestine, as 137 countries have already done, and help it achieve full United Nations membership.” As you know, Mr. Carter negotiated the peace agreement between Israel and Egypt. He referenced President Obama’s support of the long-standing United Nations Resolution 242, which called for a “complete freeze on settlement expansion on Palestinian territory that is illegal under international law.” In 2011, President Obama also made clear that “the borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines” as twostates.
In dire contrast, your Administration has been signaling a diplomatic withdrawal from this conflict to focus on China and East Asia. You’d be well advised to generate some residual fortitude, and empathy, and uphold the legal responsibility to reverse your total support for whatever Israel has done since you began your Senate career in 1973. Enclosed: An Open Letter to President Obama: Decision Time For Israeli-Palestinian Peace – December 19, 2016. Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Biden: End Your Co-Belligerent Backing of Israeli WarCrimes
NPR AT 50 – STRAYING FROM ITS CIVIC MISSION? by editor Posted on May 20, 2021By Ralph Nader
May 14, 2021
This month is the 50th anniversary of National Public Radio (NPR). Knowing about my work back then with other advocates, to persuade Congress to pass legislation creating NPR and PBS, (which was opposed by most of the commercial radio/TV industry), a friend asked what Ithink of NPR now.
A few observations, drawn from listening to NPR largely over the WAMC station in Albany, New York during a Covid-19 year, are in order. 1. I find the features and the collaboration with other investigative groups, such as Pro Publica, very enlightening. One piece about Amazon’s warehouses was especially memorable. Moreover, Scott Simon and David Brancaccio are so capable as to be consideredunder-challenged.
2. NPR’s top-of-the-hour news amounts to little more than three minutes. It is repetitious and basically a minor headline service. This mimicking of commercial network radio news is not what we envisioned 50 years ago. The prolonged 6:15 pm evening weather forecasts on WAMC are often longer than the evening news briefs at6:00 pm.
3. There is just too much weather forecasting throughout the day. On WAMC, around mid-day, they’ll tell you about the weather in California and the mountain states before you hear the forecast for the local listening region. They even promote the weather forecasts. So obsessed are they that they repeat the forecast over the four adjoining regions they service preceded by an overall forecast. Think of the additional local news that could be reported instead. 4. The public radio/TV legislation from Congress did not envision advertisements. Public funding, audience, and foundation donations were seen as the way to reduce commercial pressure over this public institution, inspired in part by the more extensive BBC and CBC in theUK and Canada.
5. What started as a “just a little bit of commercial sponsorship,” when Congress got tight some years ago, has now gone wild. Do we really need to be reminded that “support for this station (or for NPR) comes from x, y, z contributors,” about thirty times an hour? Mind-numbing, hour after hour! NPR makes sure to identify corporate sponsorship such as Facebook or Amazon when they are doing reports affecting these companies. But top NPR management defiantly refuses to monitor the corporate character or respect for the law of these and other companies before they give them NPR’scredibility.
The Corporate Crime Reporter provided NPR management with a list of law violations, such as those by Raymond James, an NPR “sponsor” pursuant to asking about any of NPR’s Ad monitoring. NPR boss, the usually incommunicado John Lansing, essentially blew off the inquiry, saying there is no need for a filter to protect the audience. 6. A key reason for Congress creating NPR was to have its affiliates fill local news gaps, largely neglected by the commercial stations. WAMC has spent good money hiring local reporters in upstate eastern New York, western Massachusetts, and Vermont who know and stay on the beat. But national NPR has spent far too much time on entertainment subjects and interviews and not enough time on civic events, reports, and movements, aside from issues of race, gender, and police violence being covered by the mainstream media. Even NPR’s daily birthday announcement almost always features entertainment or professional sports figures. National civic, labor or educational leaders arescarcely noted.
7. More civic news suffers not for lack of time. NPR and affiliates offer plenty of hours for music. Forget about Saturday and Sunday evenings. At some NPR affiliates, 6:00 pm on weekends is sign-off time in favor of entertainment time. 8. NPR often describes the personal plight of people in poverty or suffering from other deprivations, but rarely probes the structural causes or the role of concentrated corporate power in creating the problems. Increasingly, corporate power is shaping an evermore dominant corporate state that allows mercantile values to seriously weaken the social fabric and moral norms of our society. Not many NPR reporters use words like “corporate crime,” “corporate welfare,” or cover the corporate capturing of agencies, the vast unaudited military budget, or many other realms of American life controlled by “corporatism.” But then what can one expect when they ignore credible civic groups, who have timely evidence of such domination, and keep on interviewing one another inserting four-second sound bites to academics and consulting firms? NPR’s practice during election periods of having the anchors interview its reporters, who are often youngish, inexperienced, and bland, instead of skilled, fact-reliable outsiders is disappointing. NPR’s election postmortems too often are superficial and lack rigor. Just recently, an NPR report on the most recent ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline continued its repeated omission of how victims of hackers actually pay in ransom or why such payments can’t be traced. And NPR’s reporting on why our secretive government seems helpless in protecting towns, cities, hospitals, and others who have been hit by ransomware attacks is anemic. 9. Last month to the dismay of some NPR journalists, there was no national obituary on Ramsey Clark, former Attorney General and early civil rights and human rights leader. NPR did devote five minutes remembering a Rockstar. 10. NPR’s blunders are well-known to local affiliates. WAMC, a mid-size station, pays NPR a million dollars a year. But on January 6, 2021, NPR Washington was AWOL – over an hour late in feeding its affiliates reports on the insurrection, which started getting reported by CNN around 2:00 pm. WAMC reporters were furious, and I was told this wasn’t the first time NPR messed up. There is an omnipresent air of smugness about NPR, such as their constant display of confident ignorance on Congress’ constitutional authority, and Presidential/Executive Branch lawlessness. This shortcoming was especially troubling during Trump’s impeachments. Where are you, Supreme Court reporter Nina Totenberg, to give tutorials to your younger colleagues who need to be more sensitive to these issues and to their in-house ageism over the years? 11. Then there are the daily irritations. The interlude music is often inappropriate and too long. Marketplace at night with hyper-Jumping Jack, Kai Ryssdal has music as noisy background while he is giving the brief stock market numbers. Unlike its commercial competition, NPR and PBS’s News Hour start their news programs with ads, something commercial NBC, CBS, and ABC do not do. NPR has puzzles during prime-time evening news time, this itself is a puzzling fillip. NPR has long had a Public Editor on staff. They almost always respond to listeners’ substantive complaints by saying these are not matters within their jurisdiction. The new Public Editor is Kelly McBride. She insisted on not being on staff but instead on contract from St. Petersburg, Florida. This is the link for the public editor: (https://help.npr.org/contact/s/contact?request=Ask-the-Public-Editor-about-ethics) to protect her independence. After a few tries, she actually returned my calls and reassured me that she is looking out for the listener’s best interest. We’ll see. It would be good if listener feedback to NPR was made easier and more regularly structured. WAMC has lots of listener feedback on issues chosen daily by its Roundtable and other interview shows. But as one might expect some questions, as about top management salaries and bad advertisers lunching off WAMC’s credibility, seem out of bounds. I have started a Reporter’s Alert suggesting many kinds of stories that are not covered or only nibbled at by the media. You can see them aggregate at https://reportersalert.org/ and of course, this resource is available for perusal by NPR’s editors and reporters. There is so much more to learn about NPR. Since NPR gives plenty of time to conservative politicians, an educational bipartisan Congressional hearing and report would be a good way to celebrate the 50th anniversary. It’s just not productive to give NPR a pass simply by comparing it to the rancid competition spoiling our public airwavesfor free.
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on NPR at 50 – Straying from Its Civic Mission? REPORTER’S ALERT: PART V by editor Posted on May 7, 2021By Ralph Nader
May 7, 2021
Reporters at major newspapers and magazines are hard to reach by telephone. Today it is increasingly hard to converse with them about timely scoops, leads, gaps in coverage, and corrections to publishedarticles.
We started an online webpage: Reporter’s Alert. From time to time, we will use Reporter’s Alert to present suggestions for important reporting on topics that are either not covered or not covered thoroughly. Reporting that just nibbles on the periphery won’t attract much public attention or be noticed by decision-makers. Here is the fifth installment of suggestions: 1. Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JP Morgan Chase, has just reported staggering quarterly earnings. This achievement, no doubt assisted by policies of the Federal Reserve, makes the following statement by him on January 21, 2021, a wonderful opportunity for reportorial followup:
“I’ve been to a lot of meetings with presidents and prime ministers and senators and congressmen, and the selfishness and parochialism with the business folks is just absolutely outrageous.” (https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/19/business/dealbook/trump-globalism.html) What did Mr. Dimon mean by such a judgment of his peers in the business world? He is known to be outspoken. There might be a provocative story should he choose to elaborate. But first, he has tobe asked.
2. The scrutiny of Internet advertising is much less than the attention formally given to print advertising before the Internet. The major trade journal, Advertising Age, led by the legendary columnist, Stanley Cohen, was often very critical of the advertising industry. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) even required, at one time, specific advertising claims to have substantiation filed with the agency. Today, the giant’s Google, Facebook, and other masters of the Internet rely heavily on ad revenues, their Achilles Heel. How effective are these ads? Is their fine-tuned targeting based on privacy invasions? What is Google et al. doing in their backrooms? 3. Speaking of corruption, what safeguards are being placed over the trillions of dollars streaming into all corners of the country from Washington legislation? In the $31 billion proposed for the reservations of the First Nations, there is also $5 million allocated to oversee disbursements. What is being done to catch and punish any waste, fraud, and abuse on what is spent inside and outside the US? Wherever there are government contracts, grants, and loans, there must be consistent media digging and reporting. 4. Billions of dollars of imported foods are coming to the United States labeled as “organic.” How is this claim being verified? What does the U.S.D.A. do to assure its labels are truthful? Any inspectors? What evasions have been uncovered? The temptation to sell the organic label but not the real organic fruits, vegetables, and other foodstuffs are everywhere. Are any of the major environmental or consumer groups (Greenpeace, NRDC, Friends of the Earth, Consumer Reports) monitoring this situation? Is the Customs Bureau doinganything?
5. It is increasingly difficult, especially in an Internet Age, to quit your vendor. Some of these obstacles are due to complexities in the relationship. For example, compare banks today with banks in the 1960s. But much of this lock-in is deliberate – sometimes with penalties for leaving – requiring consumers to go through hoops. Try getting out of your Amazon Prime “Membership.” See how leaving Amazon compares to your one-click purchases from Mr. Jeff Bezos. Moving from brokerage and credit card firms is needlessly bureaucratic – after one spends hours trying to get through to the right persons (forget about one-stop quitting in an era of much-touted one-stopshopping).
Then there are the “dark moments,” where corporate coercion sells you stuff you didn’t ask for or know about. There are also vendor tricks for upgrading your sales category. This is a controlling mechanism by vendors which also dilutes the effects of competition – a kind of barrier to the mobile choice of vendors. There is much to investigate here that is sometimes rooted in the pits of the omnipresent fine print contracts. 6. Just who are those state legislators in the GOP brazenly harassing certain categories of voters? How dare they do such a thing in plain sight – after their right-wing corporate attorneys do the devious drafting of the bills? Creating crazy hurdles to block voters (such as difficult IDs, requiring notarized signatures, and many more obstacles reported often in the media) is over-regulating, harassing, intimidating, and purging voters. So too are bills in Florida and Texas criminalizing or entrapping free speech street protests. Profile these incinerators of democracy, these closeted bigots, and venomous beasts of prey who target the most vulnerable and discriminated against wannabe voters. Do specific state laws provide criminal penalties for officials implementing these shredders of voting rights? If not, why not? Are private remedies too onerous or non-existent? These abuses should get at least as much opprobrium, censorship, and demands for resignation as “no-touch” sexual harassment receives. 7. During meetings or telephone conversations with newspaper editors, I urge them to do random surveys of how difficult it is for ordinary citizens to simply get through to their government agencies at the local, state, and federal levels. Editors immediately praise the suggestion and then do nothing. Many zillions of hours are wasted waiting on the phone for government officials (e.g., the budget-strapped IRS). But apart from any budget excuses, for many agencies, avoiding calls or not responding to callers has become part of the culture at many government departments. Some agencies simply leave their phones off the hook for hours at a time. This occurred before the Covid-19 pandemic. Reporters may not experience this distress because they can get through more often, though they may not like the nature of the response non-response. Media surveys should be conducted by “ordinary people” with ordinary questions, for starters. Getting through to corporations and their so-called “customer service” departments can offer similar hurdles. Telephone, insurance, and utility companies, for instance, all avoid talking to their customers. Emails are also easily dismissed and, anyhow, emails are not like two-way telephone conversations. Hope all the above and the prior four Reporter’s Alert lists help stimulate some reporting on these important topics. Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Reporter’s Alert: Part V TIM COOK, APPLE, AND RUNAWAY LIMITLESS CORPORATE GREED by editor Posted on May 1, 2021By Ralph Nader
April 30, 2021
David Gelles, the New York Times reporter, likes to report about corporate plutocrats raking it in while stifling or endangering their workers. We’ve all seen those large advertisements by big companies praising the sacrifices of their brave workers during this Covid-19 pandemic. When workers ask for living wages, most of these bosses say “No” but take plenty of dough for themselves. Gelles reports that Boeing, after its criminal negligence brought down two 737 MAX planes and killed 346 people, went into a corporate tailspin. The company laid off 30,000 workers and its sales and stocks plummeted as it reported a $12 billion loss. No matter, the new Boeing boss, David Calhoun, managed to pay himself about $10,500 an hour, forty hours a week, plus benefits and perks. “Executives are minting fortunes, while laid-off workers line up at food banks,” writes Gelles. Carefully chosen Boards of Directors rubberstamp lavish compensation packages, as they haul in big money themselves for attending a few Board meetings. It gets worse. Hilton Hotel had many rooms empty due to the Covid-19 pandemic. But CEO Chris Nassetta made sure his pockets weren’t empty. He was paid $55.9 million in compensation in 2020 or more than a million dollars a week! Gelles goes on to report that with “the cruise industry at a standstill…,” the Norwegian Cruise Line, “doubled the pay of Frank Del Rio, its chief executive, to $36.4 million.” That is more than $700,000 per week. He must have worked overtime counting emptyships and red ink.
T-Mobile’s merger with Sprint got government antitrust approval with the assurance that more jobs would be created with cost savings. Instead, they’re starting layoffs while awarding CEO Mike Sievert over a million dollars a week. Sometimes, CEOs make more dollars from their company than the entire company itself makes in profits. Companies that lay off workers pay their top executives huge amounts, and still have the avarice to demand and get federal stimulus grants. On March 22, the New York Times reported a new analysis by IRS researchers and academics about tax evasion by the richest 1% of U.S. households. Taken as a whole, these super-rich don’t even report a fifth of their income, according to this study. The ultra-wealthy get away with this heist by offshoring to tax havens and pass-through businesses. Adding to this unlawful evasion is their upper-class power over Congress to rig the tax laws so they can avoid even more taxes. The Republicans, by starving the IRS budget and audit staff over the past decade, have aided and abetted enormous tax evasions. Curiously, the cowardly Democrats have not made this an issue in their campaigns against the GOP. Hundreds of billions of dollars a year are at stake. Trump, of course, made matters worse. ProPublica found the IRS audited the poor at around the same rate as the richest Americans. Big Corporations make out like no mere individuals. Earlier this month, the New York Times told its readers that The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) study revealed: “55 of the nation’s largest corporations paid no federal income tax on more than $40 billion in profits last year.” These companies even received $3.5 billion in rebates from the Treasury Department, so zany are the fine-print tax bonanzas. Twenty-six corporations paid no federal income taxes since 2017, according to the ITEP study. These included Nike and FedEx. Corporations get lots of these tax breaks by arguing before Congress that they need them to invest and create jobs. Repeatedly, these promises turn out to be false. Some have called them lies, citing profits totaling over 7 trillion dollars in the past decade being shredded in buybacks of the companies’ own stock. Apple, whose quasi-monopoly reaps huge quarterly profits, just announced another $90 billion in stock buybacks. Apple doesn’t know what to do with its cash from vastly overpriced computers and iPhones. Apple, not surprisingly, pays very little in federal income taxes to Uncle Sam – despite the U.S. being the land of its birth and source of ample R & D corporate welfare paid for by U.S. taxpayers. CEO Tim Cook, arguably the most miserly CEO plutocrat in America, turns a deaf ear to health, labor, and environmental specialists pleading with him to address the solid waste of its junked electronic products and pay its serf-labor in China a living wage. These two expenditures would not consume 10 percent of Apple’s enormous profits. To which, Emperor Cook says no dice. Testifying before the Senate Finance Committee, Kimberly A. Clausing, a U.S. Treasury official, said according to the Washington Post, that while other wealthy nations typically raise roughly 3 percent of GDP through corporate taxes, in the United States that share fell to just 1 percent following the 2017 Trump tax cut−all while corporate profits, as a share of U.S. GDP, were setting records. The usual progressive members of Congress issue denunciations of this whole corporate, ultra-rich tax escape racket. Nearly 7 in 10 Americans believe corporations pay too little in taxes, according to Gallup polling. Unfortunately, nothing happens in Congress to addressthis injustice.
When are the American people going to move on to Congress and their Big Boy paymasters? When the plutocratic class evades taxes, either there are fewer public services, more public deficits, or higher taxes on the middle class. As Joe Biden says – they must pay “their fair share.” People, use your civic muscle to make your members of Congress act and do it, now! Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Tim Cook, Apple, and Runaway Limitless Corporate Greed IF BIDEN IS A “UNION GUY” – GO AFTER THE TAFT-HARTLEY MONSTER! by editor Posted on April 24, 2021By Ralph Nader
April 23, 2021
President Joe Biden likes to say, “I’m a union guy.” Unfortunately, as Vice President from 2009 to 2017, his boss, Barack Obama wouldn’t let him be a “union guy.” Even with large Democratic majorities in Congress and control of the White House, worker needs went unmet. Setting records for raising Wall Street campaign cash, Obama reneged on his 2008 promise to raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $9.50 per hour by 2011. He reneged on a promise to the AFL-CIO to push for “card check” to facilitate workers wanting to form a union. He did nothing to preserve traditional earned worker pensions provided by corporations while bailing out Wall Street crooks whom he refused toprosecute.
Obama stubbornly blocked an eager Biden from going to speak at a massive workers’ rally in Madison, Wisconsin at the critical time when Democrats were challenging corporatist Governor Scott Walker’s anti-union “budget repair bill.” One would think after eight years of biding his time, a liberated Joe Biden would be the most pro-union labor president since Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He probably is by default, due to the cowardliness of his predecessors who would have lost some of their own elections without union support. The question now is: Given the entrenched deprivations of workers and abandonment of labor to serf-labor countries abroad, is President Biden pro-union-labor enough, apart from the temporary Covid-19 relief? The answer has to be a qualified, NO. He has dropped into limbo the long-overdue $15 federal minimum wage from his legislative priorities. He did give strong verbal support to the Amazon workers union-organizing drive at a warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama. However, when the workers lost, Biden did not assail the extreme union busting tactics by Amazon that exploited weak labor protection laws. He has finally nominated the new head of OSHA – the under-funded, Trump-wrecked job safety agency that is in shambles. What he has done is come out strongly for the Congressional Democrat’s latest version of labor law reform – the Protecting the Right to Organize Act (PRO Act) that passed the House on March 9, 2021, with a 225-206 vote. The problem with the PRO Act, like its legislative predecessors over the past 60 years, is its faint-hearted attempt to chip away at the unmentioned, gigantic, anti-union TAFT-HARTLEY ACT OF 1947 – a devastating anti-organizing and union representation law. The Taft-Hartley law was so extreme that its principal author, Senator Robert Taft (R-OH), offered to amend some of its sharpest claws in the late 1940s. His offer was rejected by outraged unions who wanted a more significant repeal. That, astonishingly, was the last major bellow by the large unions and the AFL-CIO against this stifling chokehold over the union movement. Union membership in the corporate sector is at 6.3 percent. Overall union membership regularly hits newlows.
Even mentioning the repeal of Taft-Hartley by unions and Democratic candidates has become taboo. When campaigning for president in Detroit at a labor hall in 2004, a retired UAW worker came up to me with tears in his eyes. He said, “I never thought I would hear getting rid of Taft-Hartley from a presidential candidate.” On the 50th and 60th anniversaries of Taft-Hartley’s passage by a Republican Congress – that is 1997 and 2007 – I strenuously urged the AFL-CIO and the largest unions to hold public demonstrations of protest. (Does anybody think big business would have allowed such handcuffs without battling year after year for repeal?) The union leaders wouldn’t inform the public of this pernicious law with a national event against this tragic curtailing of worker’s freedoms to band together and bargain together in major workplaces such as Amazon, Walmart, and McDonald’s. No other western country allows such draconian anti-labor restrictions. Unions are waiting on the Democratic Party to lead while the Democrats are waiting upon big business. Biden should make ending the anti-worker, anti-union, and pro-employer union-busting, Taft-Hartley Act the battle cry for the Republic. The PRO Act doesn’t come closeto this objective.
Taft-Hartley is a wide-ranging, intricate paradise for union-busting law firms, corporatist legislators, and atavistic judges. It authorized states to enact so-called “right to work” laws or more properly named “right to shirk” laws, allowing workers to keep benefits of union contracts but not pay union dues. This provision vastly decreases union membership and increases employer leverage to resist union organizing. Taft-Hartley gives employers all kinds of ways to block union certification elections, harass workers with demands for obstructionist hearings on what is an “appropriate bargaining unit,” permits aggressive anti-union organizing, and outlaws the “closed shop” for union solidarity. One of the most damaging provisions defines “employees” so as to exclude supervisors and independent contractors. This greatly diminished the pool of workers eligible to be unionized. For example, years ago AT&T widely expanded the number of “supervisors” to both deplete the union membership numbers and use their “supervisors” as management control tools. Taft-Hartley has other pro-management provisions, including controls over pensions, disclosure of information, and workplace time for unionpurposes.
Once Taft-Hartley was on the books, its restrictions were strengthened by the courts and the National Labor Relations Board (whose last pro-corporate general counsel was just fired by Biden). With the expansion of the “gig economy,” by Uber, Lyft, Airbnb, and other companies whose business model is built on having no employees, the challenge for American workers is nothing less than displacing anti-labor dictates with a comprehensive worker’s human rights law. The PRO Act is decidedly not anywhere near Biden’s recent recognition that “Nearly 60 million Americans would join a union if they get a chance …. They know that without unions, they can run the table on workers – union and non-union alike” (Statement by President Joe Biden on the House Taking Up the PRO Act, March 9,2021).
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on If Biden is a “union guy” – Go After the Taft-Hartley Monster! REPORTER’S ALERT: PART IV by editor Posted on April 17, 2021By Ralph Nader
April 16, 2021
Reporters at major newspapers and magazines are hard to reach by telephone. Today it is increasingly hard to converse with them about timely scoops, leads, gaps in coverage, and corrections to publishedarticles.
We started an online webpage: Reporter’s Alert. From time to time, we will use Reporter’s Alert to present suggestions for important reporting on topics that are either not covered or not covered thoroughly. Reporting that just nibbles on the periphery won’t attract much public attention or be noticed by decision-makers. Here is the fourth installment of suggestions: 1. Among the many reports on the defeat of workers trying to form a union in Bessemer, Alabama’s Amazon warehouse, there was little inquiry into why labor – after a strenuous effort by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) – lost by about a two to one margin with about half the workers not voting. A postmortem would be fascinating regarding: a. the reasons why workers did not vote; b. why the labor strategies and tactics didn’t work, in spite of very positive media coverage and endorsements by prominent politicians and celebrities; and c. what different strategies or alternative approaches, in retrospect, might have worked better. 2. After the November elections, there were rumors that the Trumpsters were going to destroy documents, correspondence, and emails that could be incriminating. You will recall the noise Trump made from 2016 on about Hillary’s “missing” emails. Have you read any reporting about what the incoming Democrats, agency by agency, department by department, have discovered about the shredding of digital and paper records? Given Trump’s habit of lawlessness, the dismantling of regulatory programs by and for his cronies, and the sheer corruption of the Trump regime year after year, the soil was fertile for the wholesale destruction of evidence. Looking for emails by government lawyers – e.g., Office of Special Counsel – advising Trump not to have political campaign events on federal property and not to give campaign-enhancing orders to federal employees, in clear violation of The Hatch Act, should be an inviting reporting initiative. 3. Some in New York State claim that higher state taxes on the super-rich will encourage wealthy people to make Florida their residence, because Florida, like some other southern states, has lower taxes. Curious reporters may sense a story here. What price do Floridians specifically pay because the state collects less revenue – lesser social welfare and other public services, poorer infrastructure, less health care for the indignant, poorer schools and colleges in the public sphere, etc.? We often read about how southerners pay lower taxes, especially business taxes, but there are societal costs to the vast majority of the people that need to be revealed in a comprehensive manner. 4. A more general suggestion: Great stories have exposed problems, followed by the promises of reform by government officials or companies. Where is the follow-up to see if the announced investigation or corrective action ever resulted in any change? Over the decades, for example, the New York press would expose “sewer service,” a terrible assault on the poor who are sued by creditors. “Sewer service” happens when the party suing intentionally fails to provide service of process to a party in a lawsuit to prevent the party from having a chance to respond or even know about the lawsuit. Sometime later, these assaults would quietly resume after the investigations and/or the news coverage. Such reprehensible practices often resume when the headlines fade. Some recidivist habits or promises need the rays of the sun, as Justice Louis Brandeis once wrote, “sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants”. Reviewing a list of past “investigations” to see, what if anything, was truly resolved by these declared investigations may produce worthy news. FOIAs may be especially useful here. 5. There is much talk these days among the high officials in Washington about restoring or strengthening “international order.” Historically, treaties have been a major way of securing international order. Why then, regardless of which party has been in power, are there so many treaties signed onto by almost every country in the world, yet not ratified by the Senate nor even signed by the President, and sent to the Senate for approval? It is easy to see a list of treaties and other international agreements on the State Department website: https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/TIF-2020-Full-website-view.pdf. Some of the international agreements that have, inexplicably, been opposed or ignored by the U.S. include the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the International Criminal Court, the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Treaty, and the Convention on Cluster Munitions. Why? One of the reasons for such American “exceptionalism” is that the world’s most powerful Empire wishes not to be so restricted by the rule of law because it can exert the “Rule of Power.” Hardworking civic organizations are frustrated with the lack of media coverage of the many variables involving foreign, military, and corporate policies on a global scale. Prolonged official “inaction” often dulls the media’s sense of newsworthiness. Reporters, with few exceptions, need to wake up and report on the ongoing consequences of such disengagement, immunities, and lawlessness. Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Reporter’s Alert: Part IV ALERT REPORTERS FACING THE VOID! by editor Posted on April 12, 2021By Ralph Nader
April 9, 2021
Let’s contemplate on good reporters. If you are a regular reader of prominent newspapers like The New York Times and The Washington Post (and the dispatches by AP and Reuters), do you ever get the feeling that reporters who write great stories of corporate greed and crime are writing into a void? Their reports accumulate on the road to nowhere – no impact, no consequences for the culprits. Again and again, with a few luminous exceptions, their exposés fall on the inattentive ears of those who are supposed to be doing something about these abuses. Patricia Cohen of The New York Times just wrote about the “Dozens of Big Companies Paid Zero in Federal Taxes.” I’ve read this same story for years. Nothing happens. All are plunged into the void. The situation keeps getting more abominable. Jason DeParle has been writing rigorously on poverty and hunger in America for years in The New York Times. Poverty persists, including child hunger, while the GDP expands big time. It took Covid-19 for Biden to send Congress some temporary alleviation of child poverty. “Wage Theft Often Targets Low-Income Workers. Here’s How Police Can Fight It,” writes Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva in The Washington Post. I read about this special non-prosecuted crime in law school decades ago. “Appalling Lack of Public Toilets in the U.S.” reads another headline in The New York Times. How many years have we been told about this exceptional American deprivation among Western nations? People still have to hold it. “Don’t Fall for Trump’s Latest Grift,” reports The Washington Post’s Molly Roberts. What difference would it make if we don’t? Trump has gotten away with widely reported lawlessness for decades, especially during his four years in the White House. There is yet another wave of investigative articles and books on Amazon’s drive for domination. Amazon keeps getting more dominant. Same for Apple, Google, and Facebook. Sarah Kliff of The New York Times writes regular exposés of staggering medical billing gouging of patients. Nary a ripple from the enforcement authorities wallowing in a weakened democracy. Hundreds of stories on the climate crisis while carbon buildup continues to set records. Most of these stories do not mention or probe Congress – the one powerful institution that can turn the country around. Just 535 of them in Congress and we know their names. Get their reactions! In the April 8th New York Times, David Leonhardt writes a story titled “A Dirty Little Secret – Corporate Tax Rates and the Very Rich.” Not secretive at all. That narrative has been written from many angles again and again by the Times’s past reporters, such as David Cay Johnston. It is because they all ended up in the Void that Mr. Leonhardt could make it look like a fresh dispatch. The Void nevertakes a holiday.
The great reporters do not stop with their first reporting. Their definition of newsworthiness expands to reporting about who is trying, officially and civically, to do something about the abuses, but is lacking public visibility. The reporter moves from writing a feature to following an ongoing dynamic begging for more public coverage. More details and evidence emanate from these quests. More legislators see the need for public hearings and more enforcers wake up to their duties. Without media giving legs to their first story, they meet the ever-patient Void repeatedly. Sometimes, editors aren’t interested in the follow-up. They’ve got their exposé to submit for the journalistic prizes they crave. Enough making waves already. Unfortunately, there is for most of these reportorial fact-tellers, a peculiar satiety, a self-narrowing of their roles, a sense that they’ve done their job and it’s for others to give their findings “legs.” That attitude is an aborted sense of “newsworthiness.” Often, moving beyond the initial byline is not easy. The indefatigable, ground-breaking military affairs reporter for The Washington Post, Walter Pincus, would try to have a follow-up for his revelations of the military-industrial-Congressional complex over the decades. He was met with internal disinterest and external cowardly resistance, especially in Congress where he once worked. Alas, on a good many topics, we are in a golden age of muckraking exposés and whistle-blowing documentaries. All mostly meet the Void – perpetuated by a stubborn plutocracy daily subjugating our deteriorating democracy. Sometimes, I’ve tried to help reporters give legs to their stories. For official source journalists, like those in the Times and Post, who “cover” or dittohead the declarations of Federal Reserve Chairman, Jerome Powell, they don’t break stories for them to have legs in the first place. Try getting them, for example, to write a story about near-zero interest rates depriving over 150 million savers, while the Fed ignores the gouging interest rates by pay-day lenders, student loan creditors, and unpaid credit card balances. For other reporters, it’s more puzzling why it is so hard to elevate the expectation levels for their good work. Because we’ve done considerable work years ago on the computerized billing fraud epidemic in the U.S., I’ve tried several times to contact Sarah Kliff and share our knowledge for widening her reportorial impact. To no avail. For reporters who are frustrated – try comparing notes with yourreaders!
See Reporter’s Alert. Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Alert Reporters Facing the Void! CAN THE DECLINE IN LETTER-WRITING BE REVERSED? by editor Posted on April 5, 2021By Ralph Nader
April 2, 2021
When Cornell University Press sent me an early copy of my sister, Laura Nader’s book: Letters To and From an Anthropologist, a collection of correspondences compiled over fifty-five years, I wondered whether such print letter-writing exchanges assembled in books were nearing extinction. My impression preceded young parents relating remarks from their little children asking, “What’s a letter?” or “Where do you put the stamp, Mom?” Certainly, the Internet Age is not conducive to sitting down and writing a personal letter exclusive to its recipient. It is quicker to send an email or a text message. But as we know when we receive a thoughtful letter these days, amidst the avalanche of digital messages, filters, and clutter, it is not, by a long stretch, the same sort of impactful communication. Years ago, I read some of the vast number of letters that Thomas Jefferson wrote week after week, including some exchanges with John Adams. The book of letters between Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. and Harold J. Laski was especially absorbing to anyone interested in political philosophy, government, and law writ large. A few weeks ago, I perused a translation of personal letters by the great composer Ludwig van Beethoven, starting with the prodigy’s letter at age 11 in 1781, dedicating three piano sonatas to the Prince Elector of Cologne, Max Friedrich. In a preface, the translator J.S. Shedlock writes: “letters offer a unique biography, for studying the man in relations to his times, while such works as the Eroica and Choral symphonies certainly reflect them outwardly.” Without such letters (handwritten using quill pens) by both famous people and the common folk, much of what is captured with ink on paper would be entirely lost to history. Fortunately, until the 20th century, masters of letter-writing enriched our knowledge with such uncensored observations, in addition to probing the depths of their own personal feelings. The trials and horrors of war were personally conveyed in battlefield letters from soldiers to their families and friends from the Civil War, World War I, World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. They provided invaluable primary sources that pierce the “fog of war” and its propaganda. A new virtual Museum of American War Letters just opened on Sunday, March 28, 2021, “showcasing extraordinary correspondences from the American Revolution to the present day.” Letters are the writers’ exclusive media, written without external censorship, editing, or abridgement. With the arrival of the telephone and the Internet, letter writing became a luxury less and less indulged. As one of Laura’s students observed several years ago: “The only letters my generation gets are bank statements, credit card bills, or letters from colleges.” Even many of these messages are now delivered digitally. The U.S. Postal Service has reported a dramatic decline in First Class Mail, now left mostly to requests for donations, subscriptions, and gracious acknowledgement of birthdays, anniversaries, and holidays. Sadly, for the work of consumer advocates, the fading of print letters has included consumer complaints, often with documentation, that once provided a rich lode of important fresh information that Laura used in her book, No Access to Law: Alternatives to the American Judicial System (1980). Such letters have led to mass recalls of defective products, important litigation, and legislation. Laura’s collection of letters and her responses cover much broader ground. Here you can read the felt concerns and observations of students, scientists worrying out loud, agitating scholars, military officers, prisoners, politicians, reflective workers, lawyers, and feminists. They were drawn to corresponding with Laura because of her prodigious, diverse output as a leading anthropologist and teacher who focused her discipline on controversial subjects such as global power that shaped and controlled local living. She always insists on answering the question: “Knowledge for what and for whom?” Laura became known for her irreverent, contrarian insights because she expressed them early before they became accepted or commonplace. Her struggles over the University of California’s (Berkeley) decades-long, shocking pay inequity between male and female professors is but one of many examples of challenges to accepted norms leading to debate and change. It is her hope that this collection of correspondences “will inspire both young and old to experience the privacy and freedom communication affords…when pen is put to paper, or when pen is put down toponder.”
Since the book came out late last year, a culture too frantically “internetting” barely noticed. Despite Princeton University Professor of Anthropology John Borneman saying, “Her range of fields is amazingly bold…,” or how Yale University Professor of Anthropology Erik Harms described as her letters revealing “…the dignified role that disagreement can play in democratic and scholarlydiscourse.”
Literary journals and magazines, who received the book from Cornell University Press, greeted this testament to the societal treasures flowing from letter-writing with editorial indifference. This is not surprising. Of my scores of timely, policy-focused letters to Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, regarding what they were doing, not doing, or should be doing, 99% received no response or even an acknowledgement from them, their staff, or their departmental appointees. I collected these letters in a volume titled, Return to Sender: Unanswered Letters to the President, 2001-2015 (Seven Stories Press, 2015). Thousands of other ignored citizen correspondents to Presidents and members of Congress weren’t so fortunate. I have recently taken to writing print letters to thoughtful practitioners of the fourth estate – including friendly acquaintances – asking them about their practice for replying to letters. So far no responses! Do you ever hear anybody saying these days – “I’m catching up with my correspondence.”? Last month, I wrote to New York Times Book Review editor and touted podcaster, Pamela Paul, wondering if she would have a thoughtful broad-gauged writer contribute an essay on the state of letter-writing within the historic traditions of this genre. Paradoxically, the Letters-to-the-Editor space is among the most read section in newspapers and magazines. Just this February, John Stewart, an English teacher at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia received a terrific response when he asked his students to write a letter to President Biden or Vice President Harris. He called their words “heartfelt, insightful, acute and achingly beautiful.” In the midst of Covid-19 pandemic pressures, he “couldn’t be moreproud of them.”
What’s that saying? “Hope Springs Eternal”. Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Can the Decline in Letter-Writing be Reversed? REPORTER’S ALERT: PART III by editor Posted on March 26, 2021By Ralph Nader
Reporters at major newspapers and magazines are hard to reach by telephone. Today it is increasingly hard to converse with them about timely scoops, leads, gaps in coverage, and corrections to publishedarticles.
We just started an online webpage: Reporter’s Alert. From time to time, we will use Reporter’s Alert to present suggestions for important reporting on topics that are either not covered or not covered thoroughly. Reporting that just nibbles on the periphery won’t attract much public attention or be noticed by decision-makers. Here is the third installment of suggestions: 1. Over the past decade the subordination, on a grand scale, of revenue-based spending to debt-incurring spending, has steadily evolved. In recent months, the pace has quickened. This kind of spending has become an increasingly bipartisan practice. Since the Covid-19 pandemic started the federal government has approved spending nearly five trillion dollars relating to pandemic rescues and stimuli expenditures. This outlay was entirely deficit-financed. The Republicans primarily objected to the amount of spending, while the Democrats avoided any serious effort to restore the immense Trump tax cuts for the super-wealthy and mega-corporations – notwithstanding Joe Biden’s rhetoric in a major pre-inauguration address. This kind of spending imposes grotesque economic burdens on future generations. The children and grandchildren will pay later for deficit-financing of the $300 per month being granted to children today. Shame on today’s Congressional “adults”! Has increasing or restoring revenues become a taboo for both Parties? The more Members of Congress get away with such spending, the more they’ll keep increasing the red ink numbers. Reporters should be alert to history, logic, and arithmetic. Spotlight the sugar-daddy consequences now and later. 2. Why are all those lawsuits against Trump – tort and criminal cases – taking so long to mature? Obviously, Trump’s lawyers are stonewalling and delaying; but the judges who control these adjudications need to keep the legal process moving. Trial lawyers shake their heads at how long it is taking for the legal challenges to Trump to move forward. James D. Zirin has written a book on the 3500 lawsuits brought by and against Trump in his long career (Plaintiff in Chief: A Portrait of Donald Trump in 3,500 Lawsuits). Even, he is having some difficulty explaining the extraordinary delays. Reporters – dig in and help us understand. If Trump could delay all cases for at least four years or more, what does this say about rule of law? 3. New York State is grappling with large deficits due to reduced revenues from the pandemic’s effects. There is nothing especially new here. What is unique about the Empire State is that it has, since 1982, collected and rebated approximately $350 billion in “stock transfer taxes.” The money rebated just last year is about what this year’s state deficit is expected to be. This minuscule sales tax on stocks, bonds, and derivatives transactions amounts to about, on average, 5 cents per $100 in sales – a tiny fraction of one percent. Compare this to the 8% sales tax New Yorkers have to pay on their purchases of necessities and wants. This stock transfer tax is a “progressive” sales tax since the upper-income rapid traders wouldpay the bulk of it.
Governor Andrew Cuomo has been asked about this obvious need to keep, not rebate, the tax (which NY State kept from early 1900 to 1982). Cuomo shrugs it off. Opponents of the stock tax make the ridiculous claim that Wall Street would move to New Jersey to escape a tax, the likes of which Japan, the UK, Kenya, and other countries were or arecollecting.
Why isn’t there yet serious reporting on this timely and important issue in The New York Times? Other major media covering New York (Tom Precious of The Buffalo News, Michael Gormley of Newsday, and Rachel Silberstein and Claire Bryan of the Albany Times Union, have at least made an effort to alert the public about this debate). This is more than a one-day story, far from it. A new Zogby Poll just out shows strong majorities of New Yorkers favoring this stock sales tax and provides additional positive results when questions suggest infrastructure uses for the money. For more information, you can contact Jim Henry (globalhavenindustry.com), Assemblyman Phil Steck (nyassembly.gov), and NYPIRG’s Blair Horner (nypirg.org). 4. On a lighter side, what’s happening to comedy in the time of sudden politically correct terminations? It would be interesting to hear from the writers, performers, artists, and others about their views, experiences, and positions on obliterating past “infractions” throughout comedic history. What are the writers and performers self-censoring within a free medium where “anything goes?” What does the creative class think about the attacks on provocative cartoons, comic strips, stand-up comedy, ethnic joke books (which used to be wildly popular), and even political satire? What about “Saturday Night Live” and “The Late Show with StephenColbert”?
Reporters could pursue this story in many surprising directions and uncover surprising dissenting views from the conventional sanctions which presently are in the ascendancy. Remember, some dictators have been known to go into their greatest rages against the “cartoon” part of the media. Charlie Chaplin’s “The Great Dictator” made Hitler squirm. Do you wonder why? “In humor there is truth.” Satire has a long history of exposing the flaws of political leaders with less censorship than other forms of criticism. 5. Government guarantees are regularly used to prop up corporate capitalism. Government guarantees for corporations go beyond the usual corporate welfare of direct subsidies, handouts, giveaways, and bailouts. Many hundreds of billions of dollars in outstanding loan guarantees expand a stealth form of “corporate socialism” where the privatization of profit and the socialization of risks and misconduct displaces capitalist canons. Normally, but not always, authorized by Congress without clear standards or open administrative processes, these loan guarantees from Uncle Sam are granted for everything from huge cost overruns in nuclear power plant construction (e.g., Georgia and South Carolina) to the customers of U.S. exporters(e.g., Boeing).
Many federal departments and agencies participate in this cushy guaranteed-loan racket that has had bipartisan support and almost no Congressional oversight. Whether corporations are too big to fail, corrupt, or mismanaged, but politically connected, or too averse to traditional acceptance of business risk and market verdicts, their CEOs and their banks are happy to take loan guarantees and still complain about the federal government. This arena offers options for enormous multidirectional media pursuits. The secrecy here needs to be subjected to FOIAs, exposed by whistleblowers, and examined through rigorous Congressional hearings. (See: goodjobsfirst.org). Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Reporter’s Alert: Part III← Older posts
*
SEARCH
Search for:
*
BREAKING THROUGH POWER A historic 8 day civic mobilization.*
ABOUT US
The Center for Study of Responsive Law is a nonprofit Ralph Nader organization that supports and conducts a wide variety of research and educational projects to encourage the political, economic and social institutions of this country to be more aware of the needs of the citizen-consumer. The Center publishes a variety of reports on a number of public interest issues. If you are interested in Center for Study of Responsive Law Books, visit our Book Page .*
CENTER BOOKS
Ralph Nader Presents: A listing of books available from the Center for Study of Responsive Law*
PROJECTS
* Shareholder Respect * Consumer Project on Technology * Privatization Watch * Government Purchasing Project * Resource Conservation Alliance * Freedom of Information Clearinghouse * Debating Taboos Series * DC Library Renaissance Project* League of Fans
*
RESOURCES
* The Case for the Civil Jury* Model Laws
* Citizen's Utility Board (CUB) * Suggestions for Law Review Articles * Taming the Giant Corporation: A National Conference on CorporateAccountability
* Ralph Nader Presents Books Worth Reading*
LINKS
* The Nader Page
* Essential Information* Public Citizen
* Citizen Works
* Public Interest Research Groups * The Center for Auto Safety Center for Study of Responsive Law Proudly powered by WordPress. Details
Copyright © 2024 ArchiveBay.com. All rights reserved. Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | DMCA | 2021 | Feedback | Advertising | RSS 2.0