We applaud the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) for publicly acknowledging what most educated observers have been saying for months: Wall Street speculators are reaping unconscionable profits by exploiting and manipulating the unregulated energy trading markets.
Commodity traders have pushed oil prices far higher than what can be explained by basic supply and demand. Under mounting [...]
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Check out this report on ABC News about the unfairness of the private arbitration system forced on consumers by credit card companies and other businesses. I’ve posted about mandatory binding arbitration but this report has an unbelievable example of how stacked the system is against consumers. These binding arbitration clauses are included in the fine [...]
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Photo from Flickr / [Framing] Insights
Industry generates pollution. A lot of pollution. In 2006, it emitted an estimated 3.4 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide. These aren’t just fuzzy numbers we’re talking about; those 3.4 metric tons account for 57 percent of America’s total carbon dioxide emissions.
Numbers startling you a bit? They startled Congress, too, [...]
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From Craig Holman @ Watchdog Blog: In a major victory for those who believe in free and fair elections, Hans von Spakovsky – a Republican nominee for commissioner on the nation’s elections agency – has withdrawn his nomination. Von Spakovsky’s nomination has been so contentious and volatile that it shut down the Federal Election Commission [...]
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There’s some buzz about our win this week against Autodesk and its attempt to keep entrepreneur Timothy Vernor from selling second-hand copies of its software on eBay. A federal judge refused to dismiss Vernor’s lawsuit against Autodesk and in doing so made it pretty clear that Vernor had a right to sell legally obtained, copyrighted [...]
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Posted in Activism, tagged M*A*S*H, Mike Farrell on May 22, 2008 | No Comments »
Photo from Flickr / polizeros
You may know him as “that guy from M*A*S*H.” Or you may know him from his efforts to speak out against human rights abuses and the death penalty. Regardless of how you may recognize actor and activist Mike Farrell, in his latest autobiography, he asks everyone to just call him “Mike.” [...]
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Posted in Activism on May 22, 2008 | No Comments »
My fellow public citizens, we are living at a momentous point in history. Alarmed and disgusted with President Bush and his wrongheaded policies, which threaten the very foundations of our democracy, people throughout the country are calling for sweeping and substantive change – a call that hasn’t been this urgent for many years. This presidential [...]
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Posted in Internet, Litigation on May 21, 2008 | 3 Comments »
When Seattle resident Tim Vernor put a used copy of software for sale on eBay, the software’s maker, Autodesk, demanded that eBay cancel the listing. Although Vernor was selling an authentic, original copy of Autodesk’s software, the company pointed to a “license agreement” contained in the software’s box that prohibited anyone from selling or giving [...]
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A federal bill effectively creating a “market” for pollution? A new U.S. fuel economy proposal that lags behind the rest of the world? These are just some of the topics we address in the latest issue of Public Citizine, an online sampling of articles from Public Citizen’s member newspaper, Public Citizen News. Take a look!
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Journalist and blogger Ed Brayton (left) was a little curious after the U.S. government struck a deal with the European Union and other countries that compensates them in exchange for the U.S. passing online gambling laws that interfere with international trade as governed by the World Trade Organization. Brayton, who also happens to be an [...]
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