If you think it’s difficult to read about the way America is wasting lives in Iraq, it’s just the beginning. In an article entitled "The Economic Consequences of Mr. Bush," Vanity Fair has examined the ways in which the Bush Administration has wrecked the American economy. There is lots of…
Whenever we take the time, we are better able to see that all issues are anchored by deep issues. That’s the kind of day it was for me today.
I’m in Washington D.C., attending the Consumer Rights Litigation Conference sponsored by the National Consumer Law Center. NCLC is an invaluable resource for those of us who advocate and litigate for consumer rights. At one of the afternoon sessions today, I had a chance to hear a panel of consumer advocates discuss recent developments in federal law regarding consumer rights.
It’s quite depressing, for the most part. You see, well-monied corporate financial interests own Congress. Consumer rights are on the ropes. Many industries are free to lie, cheat, steal and to impose onerous terms on consumers, thanks to the best federal laws money can buy. They do this through corporate immunity, preemption and the imposition of mandatory binding arbitration before biased arbitrators. All of these were gifts from Congress in return for huge amounts of money contributed by lobbyists.
I’ve been to Washington D.C. several times before, and I’ve always reveled in the history and the architecture.
Now, I can’t help but feel ambivalent. It’s a city awash in immense amounts of corrupt money.
We are a country that preaches that the People are the government, but that is less true than ever. If you don’t believe me, just try to call your Congressional representative, mentioning that you are a concerned citizen. See if you can get five minutes with him …
My son’s cat “Spock” just jumped up onto my desk, commanding attention. As required by the International Declaration of Feline Rights, I immediately stopped what I was doing and petted Spock, telling him what a great kitty he was and thanking him for the gift of his love to my…
I needed to change the battery in one of our smoke detector tonight. This reminded me of an incident that occurred in 2001. It’s an illustration of the value of smoke detectors. The story also has a nice twist at the end. Afer the incident, I wrote the following email to friends and family.
…I’m writing today because I’m alive and able to do so because of an incredibly important and inexpensive gadget: a smoke detector.
Yesterday morning, at about 5:45 am, I was awakened from a deep sleep by the Battery-powered smoke detector located in the 2nd floor hallway, outside of the bedroom. It was only after being awakened that I smelled the smoke. I blasted out of bed and scrambled to find a fire in the upstairs hallway bathroom we are renovating. The bathroom is only 10 feet down the hall. I was home alone (JuJu and Anne have been out of town while the bathroom is being renovated).
I grabbed a fire extinguisher and sprayed the fire (the fire was the size of a roaring campfire when I hit it the first time. The flames were the only thing I could see in the bathroom—all else was thick black smoke. I ran downstairs to call 911, then grabbed a second extinguisher, which turned the fire into a small glowing area. The fire department showed up a five minutes later and helped figure out (through lots of smoke) that an old permanently-installed bathroom space heater was the problem.
Here’s an excerpt from Paul Krugman’s Common Dreams essay, “Wobbled by Wealth.” One of the saddest stories I tell in my book is that of Al Smith, the great reformist governor of New York, who gradually turned into a narrow-minded economic conservative and bitter critic of F.D.R. H. L. Mencken…