Ralph Nader's Blog, page 57
October 11, 2011
Rumble from the people
Inside the barricading bubbles surrounding the Wall Street plutocrats and the Washington oligarchs who service them, there must be worry. After three years of disclosed "lying, cheating and stealing" as one prosecutor put it, with nary a visible stir from the masses, suddenly the barricades are beginning to quiver.
Could this "Occupy Wall Street" challenge in New York City that is spreading to hundreds of communities from Prescott, Arizona to Hartford, Connecticut, be the real thing they have dreaded? Could this be the revolt of the multitudes, the "reserve army of the unemployed?"
Continue reading "Rumble from the people"
Could this "Occupy Wall Street" challenge in New York City that is spreading to hundreds of communities from Prescott, Arizona to Hartford, Connecticut, be the real thing they have dreaded? Could this be the revolt of the multitudes, the "reserve army of the unemployed?"
Continue reading "Rumble from the people"
October 10, 2011
Letter to CISCO CEO John Chambers
October 10, 2011
John Chambers, CEO
Cisco Corporation
170 West Tasman Drive
San Jose, California, 95134-1706
Dear Mr. Chambers:
Now that your quarterly report and forward prospects, together with the press briefing on September 13, 2011, are behind us, the following points need to be made:
Continue reading "Letter to CISCO CEO John Chambers"
John Chambers, CEO
Cisco Corporation
170 West Tasman Drive
San Jose, California, 95134-1706
Dear Mr. Chambers:
Now that your quarterly report and forward prospects, together with the press briefing on September 13, 2011, are behind us, the following points need to be made:
Continue reading "Letter to CISCO CEO John Chambers"
Why is Bill O'Reilly Afraid of Bruce Fein?
FOR RELEASE:
October 10, 2011
Remarks by Ralph Nader:
For weeks Bill O'Reilly's producer Jesse Watters has been saying that his boss does want to have Bruce Fein on his show to talk about the unconstitutional and unlawful overseas aggressions of the Obama Administration, much like those of the Bush Administration but extended. It has not happened. It never seems to be the right time, despite the lurid headlines of ObamaBush.
On his cable show, Bill O'Reilly is not the Bill O'Reilly I knew and worked with years ago at Inside Edition. There, he was considered a genial working class type New York liberal. He is a different Bill O'Reilly now. His theatre is one where he sharply draws the line with many of his guests, often bullying and overtalking them, before he dismisses them. So he has to disagree with Bruce Fein, but he knows that Mr. Fein, a high official in the Reagan Justice Department, a constitutional scholar and litigator who has testified over 200 times before Congressional Committees, knows how to respond and rebut. He can't be bullied. And he speaks quickly and persuasively from his deep historical and contemporary knowledge of American legal history.
Bill O'Reilly has a practice of calling out guests who are invited but decline to go on his show as being "afraid of coming on the Bill O'Reilly Show." He has made this assertion more than a few times. Well, Bill, Bruce Fein is decisively not afraid to go on your show. One-on-one! It would be a show much viewed. But there is one precondition. Bill O'Reilly has to find the guts to stop procrastinating and invite him.
October 10, 2011
Remarks by Ralph Nader:
For weeks Bill O'Reilly's producer Jesse Watters has been saying that his boss does want to have Bruce Fein on his show to talk about the unconstitutional and unlawful overseas aggressions of the Obama Administration, much like those of the Bush Administration but extended. It has not happened. It never seems to be the right time, despite the lurid headlines of ObamaBush.
On his cable show, Bill O'Reilly is not the Bill O'Reilly I knew and worked with years ago at Inside Edition. There, he was considered a genial working class type New York liberal. He is a different Bill O'Reilly now. His theatre is one where he sharply draws the line with many of his guests, often bullying and overtalking them, before he dismisses them. So he has to disagree with Bruce Fein, but he knows that Mr. Fein, a high official in the Reagan Justice Department, a constitutional scholar and litigator who has testified over 200 times before Congressional Committees, knows how to respond and rebut. He can't be bullied. And he speaks quickly and persuasively from his deep historical and contemporary knowledge of American legal history.
Bill O'Reilly has a practice of calling out guests who are invited but decline to go on his show as being "afraid of coming on the Bill O'Reilly Show." He has made this assertion more than a few times. Well, Bill, Bruce Fein is decisively not afraid to go on your show. One-on-one! It would be a show much viewed. But there is one precondition. Bill O'Reilly has to find the guts to stop procrastinating and invite him.
2011 Callaway Awards
THE SHAFEEK NADER TRUST FOR THE COMMUNITY INTEREST PRESENTS THE ANNUAL JOE A. CALLAWAY AWARD FOR CIVIC COURAGE ON TUESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2011 at 6 p.m.
The awardees are:
Harry Kelber
Grassroots labor organizer and reformer, pamphleteer and author
In recognition of his 75 years of union participation and criticism of trade unions to fight harder for workers, to democratize their leadership and his refusal to excuse moribund union leaders from more energetically confronting the dire crisis of sharply declining union membership.
Concepcion Picciotto
Peace and Justice Activist Extraordinaire
In recognition of her unique 30-year, 24/7 antinuclear, peace and justice vigil directly across the street from the White House, arguably the longest continual civic-political protest in US history, setting the highest standards for testing the authenticity of free speech protection under the Constitution.
Continue reading "2011 Callaway Awards"
The awardees are:
Harry Kelber
Grassroots labor organizer and reformer, pamphleteer and author
In recognition of his 75 years of union participation and criticism of trade unions to fight harder for workers, to democratize their leadership and his refusal to excuse moribund union leaders from more energetically confronting the dire crisis of sharply declining union membership.
Concepcion Picciotto
Peace and Justice Activist Extraordinaire
In recognition of her unique 30-year, 24/7 antinuclear, peace and justice vigil directly across the street from the White House, arguably the longest continual civic-political protest in US history, setting the highest standards for testing the authenticity of free speech protection under the Constitution.
Continue reading "2011 Callaway Awards"
October 8, 2011
Ralph Nader Encourages #OccupyWallStreet
Consumer Advocate Ralph Nader Encourages #OccupyWallStreet Protesters to Challenge Wall Street Abuses
Statement by consumer advocate, Ralph Nader October 8, 2011
The frustration seen in the protests on Wall Street over the past few weeks demonstrates a widespread and growing citizen discontent with the two political parties in Washington, D.C. and with a political system that is dominated by corporate interests.
It is time for citizens to push their elected officials to break the corporate stranglehold on our economy. Congress should start by enacting a financial speculation tax that would help curb the wheeling and dealing on Wall Street and that could raise hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue to help with the our country's economic recovery.
Congress has done more to bail out Wall Street than Main Street. Wall Street crooks have avoided penalties and prosecution and continued to receive bonuses and excessive compensation while pensions and savings have been looted.
Wages have remained stagnant while the largest corporations and executives have seen record profits and bonuses year after year. Congress has done little in the face of a staggering - and growing - income inequality in this country, where the top 1 percent of the population has financial wealth equal to the combined financial wealth of the bottom 95 percent of the people.
And Congress has done nothing either to disclose or stem the flow of millions of corporate dollars into the electoral process. Corporate Political Action Committees are corrupting the electoral process and blocking the voices and concerns of millions of people.
These are not the signs of a healthy democracy. Those taking part in the "Occupy Wall Street" protests and in similar protests cropping up across the country are working hard to make their voices heard. It is way overdue for the President and Congress to listen.
Statement by consumer advocate, Ralph Nader October 8, 2011
The frustration seen in the protests on Wall Street over the past few weeks demonstrates a widespread and growing citizen discontent with the two political parties in Washington, D.C. and with a political system that is dominated by corporate interests.
It is time for citizens to push their elected officials to break the corporate stranglehold on our economy. Congress should start by enacting a financial speculation tax that would help curb the wheeling and dealing on Wall Street and that could raise hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue to help with the our country's economic recovery.
Congress has done more to bail out Wall Street than Main Street. Wall Street crooks have avoided penalties and prosecution and continued to receive bonuses and excessive compensation while pensions and savings have been looted.
Wages have remained stagnant while the largest corporations and executives have seen record profits and bonuses year after year. Congress has done little in the face of a staggering - and growing - income inequality in this country, where the top 1 percent of the population has financial wealth equal to the combined financial wealth of the bottom 95 percent of the people.
And Congress has done nothing either to disclose or stem the flow of millions of corporate dollars into the electoral process. Corporate Political Action Committees are corrupting the electoral process and blocking the voices and concerns of millions of people.
These are not the signs of a healthy democracy. Those taking part in the "Occupy Wall Street" protests and in similar protests cropping up across the country are working hard to make their voices heard. It is way overdue for the President and Congress to listen.
October 3, 2011
Putting the Lie to the Republicans
Masters of the repeated lying sound byte, the craven Congressional Republicans are feasting on the health and safety of the American people with gleeful greed while making the corporate and trade association media swoon. "Job-killing regulations," exudes daily from the mouths of Speak John Boehner, his Wall Street-licking side-kick Eric Cantor and Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell.
Then all the way down the line, the Republicans are on cue bellowing "job-killing regulations" must be revoked or stopped aborning over at OSHA (protecting workers), EPA (protecting clean air and water), FDA (safer drugs and food), and NHTSA (making your vehicle safer). Imagine how much more civil servants could do to accomplish the statutory missions of their respective agencies if they could get the Republicans and their corporate pay masters off their backs.
Continue reading "Putting the Lie to the Republicans"
Then all the way down the line, the Republicans are on cue bellowing "job-killing regulations" must be revoked or stopped aborning over at OSHA (protecting workers), EPA (protecting clean air and water), FDA (safer drugs and food), and NHTSA (making your vehicle safer). Imagine how much more civil servants could do to accomplish the statutory missions of their respective agencies if they could get the Republicans and their corporate pay masters off their backs.
Continue reading "Putting the Lie to the Republicans"
September 26, 2011
As The Drone Flies...
The fast developing predator drone technology, officially called unmanned aerial vehicles or UAVs, is becoming so dominant and so beyond any restraining framework of law or ethics, that its use by the U.S. government around the world may invite a horrific blowback.
Continue reading "As The Drone Flies..."
Continue reading "As The Drone Flies..."
September 22, 2011
Nader Says Postal Service Financial Problems Manufactured, Time to Stop Closing Post Offices
Consumer Advocate Ralph Nader Calls the U.S. Postal Service's Financial Problems a Manufactured Crisis
Calls on Congress to Take Quick, Easy Action to Prevent Further Service Cuts, Post Office Closings, and Job Cuts
In a letter to Senator Joseph Lieberman and Congressman Darrell Issa, Mr. Nader proposed simple solutions to fix the U.S. Postal Service's financial hole. Mr. Nader noted, however, that the financial "crisis" facing the USPS was completely manufactured.
Mr. Nader identified several drains on the U.S. Postal Service's financial resources, including a Congressional mandate that the USPS prefund its future retiree health benefits for the next 75 years by 2016 and $82 billion in overpayments that the USPS has made to federal pension systems which have yet to be refunded.
Mr. Nader points out that the $103.7 billion prefunding mandate is something that, "no other government or private corporation is required to do and is an incredibly unreasonable burden." He continues by revealing that without this onerous prepayment provision, "the USPS would not have a net deficiency of nearly $20 billion, but instead be in the black by at least $1.5 billion."
Mr. Nader ended by calling on Congress to take action that would have a minimal impact on the patrons of the USPS and prevent further post office closings, deterioration of service, or job cuts.
Mr. Nader ended with a simple reminder to "Remember Ben Franklin's vision"
Click here for a full copy of the letter.
Calls on Congress to Take Quick, Easy Action to Prevent Further Service Cuts, Post Office Closings, and Job Cuts
In a letter to Senator Joseph Lieberman and Congressman Darrell Issa, Mr. Nader proposed simple solutions to fix the U.S. Postal Service's financial hole. Mr. Nader noted, however, that the financial "crisis" facing the USPS was completely manufactured.
Mr. Nader identified several drains on the U.S. Postal Service's financial resources, including a Congressional mandate that the USPS prefund its future retiree health benefits for the next 75 years by 2016 and $82 billion in overpayments that the USPS has made to federal pension systems which have yet to be refunded.
Mr. Nader points out that the $103.7 billion prefunding mandate is something that, "no other government or private corporation is required to do and is an incredibly unreasonable burden." He continues by revealing that without this onerous prepayment provision, "the USPS would not have a net deficiency of nearly $20 billion, but instead be in the black by at least $1.5 billion."
Mr. Nader ended by calling on Congress to take action that would have a minimal impact on the patrons of the USPS and prevent further post office closings, deterioration of service, or job cuts.
Mr. Nader ended with a simple reminder to "Remember Ben Franklin's vision"
Click here for a full copy of the letter.
September 19, 2011
Imagining Obama Dressing Down the Big Boys
Imagine a private meeting between President Barack Obama and 25 mega barons of U.S. business at the White House Indian Treaty Room.
President Obama: "Gentlemen and Lady, I've invited you here today to give you a preview of an address I will deliver in a month before the national convention of the National Association for Community Economies in Kansas City, Kansas. Before I do that, let's have some frank talk:
Earlier this year, Warren Buffett wrote an opinion article in The New York Times where he chided Congress for coddling wealthy people and urged higher taxes on under taxed people like him.
Continue reading "Imagining Obama Dressing Down the Big Boys"
President Obama: "Gentlemen and Lady, I've invited you here today to give you a preview of an address I will deliver in a month before the national convention of the National Association for Community Economies in Kansas City, Kansas. Before I do that, let's have some frank talk:
Earlier this year, Warren Buffett wrote an opinion article in The New York Times where he chided Congress for coddling wealthy people and urged higher taxes on under taxed people like him.
Continue reading "Imagining Obama Dressing Down the Big Boys"
September 16, 2011
Ralph Nader: Response to Bill McKibben
How easy it is to miscommunicate. I did not ask to speak at the rally opposing the Keystone XL devastator. On Friday, I went to the area in front of the White House to express my support for this extraordinary demonstration. Assistants to Bill McKibben asked me to return on Saturday and address the rally. If there was an arrest criterion for the speakers, it was not communicated to me when a few hours later they disinvited me. All this is to clarify the record - no big deal.
The other point brother McKibben makes is to equate criticism with a plea or a demand by over 1200 non-violent, civil disobedient arrestees before the White House that President Obama reject the pipeline project when it comes to his desk. They declined to, in their formal speeches and declarations, to criticize Mr. Obama even though on the second to the last day of the two-week demonstration, Mr. Obama rejected the EPA's key pollution control standard regarding ozone. This was preceded during the two weeks of McKibben's group protest by the State Department's Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) that claimed the pipeline would have minimal environmental impacts.
There was no criticism of Obama by these White House protest leaders, who understandably, chose to position themselves in a way that conveyed to Obama and the media that they supported Obama and hoped he would adopt their position against the pipeline. (Some of the protestors, including McKibben even wore Obama pins or Obama t-shirts.)
We know how environmental groups "position" themselves whether dealing with deregulation of electricity years ago or with their differing stands on nuclear power. All we ask is not to muddle the language and equate demands for future decisions to be equated with criticisms.
The other point brother McKibben makes is to equate criticism with a plea or a demand by over 1200 non-violent, civil disobedient arrestees before the White House that President Obama reject the pipeline project when it comes to his desk. They declined to, in their formal speeches and declarations, to criticize Mr. Obama even though on the second to the last day of the two-week demonstration, Mr. Obama rejected the EPA's key pollution control standard regarding ozone. This was preceded during the two weeks of McKibben's group protest by the State Department's Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) that claimed the pipeline would have minimal environmental impacts.
There was no criticism of Obama by these White House protest leaders, who understandably, chose to position themselves in a way that conveyed to Obama and the media that they supported Obama and hoped he would adopt their position against the pipeline. (Some of the protestors, including McKibben even wore Obama pins or Obama t-shirts.)
We know how environmental groups "position" themselves whether dealing with deregulation of electricity years ago or with their differing stands on nuclear power. All we ask is not to muddle the language and equate demands for future decisions to be equated with criticisms.
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