NewsTrust - Lobbying - Most Recent Stories: Opinion

The real reason Obama is not making much progress

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

The Independent - By Johann Hari - Nov. 20 (Opinion) - So far, Obama has tried to co-opt the corporations into his agenda by ensuring they will profit from any changes, but this inevitably waters down the proposals, often to the point of uselessness. The Cap and Trade legislation before Congress, for example, will barely limit carbon emissions at all because it has been gutted to please the polluters.

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High noon in Washington, D.C.

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 23:05:22 -0800

Minneapolis Star Tribune - Nov. 18 -

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Citizens left out in cold

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Indianapolis Star - Nov. 18 (Editorial) - State Rep. David Wolkins isn't shy about what he likes: golf, basketball and football. As ranking Republican member and former chairman of the Indiana House Environmental Affairs Committee, he's in a position to indulge his interests thanks to the very companies he's supposed to help regulate.

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Obama Nominates Pesticide Executive to Be Chief Agricultural Negotiator in the Office of the US Trade Representative

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - By Marcia Ishii-Eiteman, Amy Goodman - Nov. 17 (Interview) - President Obama’s nominee for the Chief Agricultural Negotiator in the office of the US Trade Representative, Islam Siddiqui is currently a vice president at CropLife America, a coalition of the major industrial players in the pesticide industry, including Syngenta, Monsanto, and Dow Chemical.

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Climate Rage

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Rolling Stone - By Naomi Klein - Nov. 11 (Opinion) - With Copenhagen now likely to begin before Congress has passed even a weak-ass climate bill co-authored by the coal lobby, U.S. politicians have dropped the superhero metaphors and are scrambling to lower expectations for achieving a serious deal at the climate summit. It's just one meeting, says U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu, not "the be-all and end-all." As faith in government action dwindles, however, climate activists are treating Copenhagen as an opportunity of a different kind. On track to be the largest environmental gathering in history, the summit represents a chance to seize the political terrain back from business-friendly half-measures, such as carbon offsets and emissions trading, and introduce some effective, common-sense proposals — ideas that have less to do with creating complex new markets for pollution and more to do with keeping coal and oil in the ground.

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Newsweek And Oil Lobby Team Up To Host Climate Change Event With Lawmakers

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Talking Points Memo - By Zachary Roth - Nov. 05 (Opinion) - Newsweek magazine is teaming up with an oil-industry lobbying group to host an event on climate-change and energy issues involving lawmakers, just as the Senate gets set to take up legislation on the subject. The panel discussion, entitled "Climate and Energy Policy: Moving?," will feature Jack Gerard, CEO of the American Petroleum Institute, and, as moderator, Newsweek columnist Howard Fineman, according to an email invitation sent by a Newsweek business staffer and obtained by TPMmuckraker. "Newsweek is pleased to be co-hosting this panel discussion with API," says the email, which adds that "notable members of the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate" have been invited. The event is scheduled to be held December 1 in a Senate meeting room.

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Newsweek And Oil Lobby Team Up To Host Climate Change Event With Lawmakers

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Talking Points Memo - By Zachary Roth - Nov. 04 (Opinion) - Newsweek magazine is teaming up with an oil-industry lobbying group to host an event on climate-change and energy issues involving lawmakers, just as the Senate gets set to take up legislation on the subject.

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Send your medical bills to Max Baucus

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Comedy Central - By Stephen Colbert - Oct. 09 (Comedy News) - Senator Max Baucus will pay for your medical bills from the $3.2 million he's received from the health care industry.

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Health Care and the 'Predator State'

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Wall Street Journal - By Thomas Frank - Oct. 07 (Opinion) - In June 2008, I used this space to call on then-Sen. Barack Obama to add economist James K. Galbraith's book, "The Predator State," to his reading list. As an account of the capture of government by private interests, I thought it would make a far more useful guide to contemporary political economy than the market-glorifying texts that were still in fashion in those days.

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The Washington Post Writers Group

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

postwritersgroup.com - By Michael Bugeja - Sep. 17 (Opinion) - For months now we have heard about another impending pandemic and the frantic production of vaccines to prevent it. Apart from that, we know little else. Reporters covering the H1N1 flu typically recite what health officials tell them without investigating obvious questions. ...

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FTC Stresses Need to Consider Competition and Consumer Protection in Developing National Broadband Plan

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

ftc.gov - Sep. 08 (Press Release) - The FTC’s comments question whether there is significant competition within the broadband arena. To evaluate that competition and tailor appropriate regulatory policies, the FTC suggests that the FCC use some of the analytical tools used by the FTC and DOJ in antitrust cases.

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Shilling on the Corporate Dollar

Sun, 31 May 2009 00:00:00 -0700

In These Times - By Art Levine - May. 31 (Opinion) - Testifying before the Senate labor and health committee hearing in March, economist Anne Layne-Farrar of the corporate consulting firm LECG warned about the horrendous impact of the Employee Free Choice Act. Its potential to increase union membership from between five and 10 percent, she said, “would result in an increase in the unemployment of around one and a half to three percentage points. These are sizable effects for the U.S. economy.” Earnest and well-prepared, Layne-Farrar cited her study that concluded that 600,000 jobs would be lost in the first year after the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) became law. Fox “Fair and Balanced” News, naturally, in its TV report neglected to mention that her “research” was funded by the corporate-friendly, anti-union “Alliance to Save Main Street Jobs.”

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At OpEdNews: Why Unions Have Failed, and Obama Should Let Them

Fri, 22 May 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Op Ed News - May. 22 (Editorial) - God, Guns and Gays - Unions

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The credit card pound of flesh

Mon, 18 May 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Salon - By Andrew Leonard - May. 18 (Comment) - Every time a customer uses a credit card to purchase something, the retail merchant pays an interchange fee to the credit card issuer. Levitin reports that in the U.S. total interchange fees added up to $48 billion last year. He theorizes that lowering the maximum interchange fee allowable would provide a "nice" stimulus to the economy -- without adding to government expenses.

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Four reforms for a better Legislature

Sun, 10 May 2009 00:00:00 -0700

St. Petersburg Times - By Howard Troxler - May. 10 (Opinion) - "I'm tired of hearing it said that democracy doesn't work. Of course it doesn't work. We are supposed to work it." — Alexander Woollcott How bad is the Florida Legislature these days? It's historically bad — the worst since the infamous "Pork Chop Gang" that was in charge of our state during the 1950s and 1960s. The Legislature of recent years is simply incapable of governing Florida wisely. It lacks the intellectual horsepower, the will, even the desire. It's a machine for collecting laundered campaign money, paying back that money with favorably written laws, and getting itself re-elected.

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CREW Releases Analysis of Credit Card Execs' 2008 Electoral Cycle Political Giving

Mon, 04 May 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Common Dreams - By Naomi Seligman - May. 04 (Press Release) - On April 23, 14 credit card company executives met with President Obama "to discuss the impact of the current crisis on consumers." CREW's study found that the attendees - only one of whom is a registered lobbyist - personally donated roughly $50,000 to federal candidates, while employees of their companies contributed $14.5 million, and their companies' political action committees contributed $8.6 million. In addition, during the first quarter of 2009 alone, these companies spent almost $15.5 million on lobbying fees in an effort to influence legislators.

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First 100 Days: Obama's two biggest promises

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0700

PolitiFact - By Bill Adair - Apr. 29 (Editorial) - For the final installment in our coverage of President Barack Obama's first 100 days, we decided to look at the 514 campaign promises in our Obameter database and choose two -- one Kept and one Broken -- that we consider the most significant because they illustrate the early accomplishments and setbacks of his presidency.

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What's wrong with Obama's order barring lobbyists from his administration?

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Slate - By Jacob Weisberg - Apr. 21 (Opinion) - Obama knows it's going to take some strong garlic to ward off the vampires on his side of the aisle and restore a sense of integrity in government. Unfortunately, his intended reform is driving stakes through the hearts of innocent bystanders only. The problem isn't that his rules are too strict. It's that they miss the crucial distinction between the kind of lobbying that's good for democracy and the kind that perverts it.

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Why Obama and Gates need Ike to trim the military

Fri, 10 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Christian Science Monitor - Apr. 10 (Editorial) - The secretary is actually up against a vast industrial-congressional complex, with intertwined and entrenched interests. Over the decades, the defense industry has spread into so many congressional districts that it's virtually impossible to shut anything down without a Hooah! battle cry from key lawmakers. The targeted F-22 fighter jet, for instance, is assembled with components built in 44 states.

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Prophet and Loss

Sat, 04 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0700

stanfordalumni.org - By Rick Schmitt - Apr. 04 (Review) - Speaking out for the first time, Born says she takes no pleasure from the turn of events. She says she was just doing her job based on the evidence in front of her. Looking back, she laments what she says was the outsized influence of Wall Street lobbyists on the process, and the refusal of her fellow regulators, especially Greenspan, to discuss even modest reforms. “Recognizing the dangers . . . was not rocket science, but it was contrary to the conventional wisdom and certainly contrary to the economic interests of Wall Street at the moment,” she says.

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No Lunch Left Behind

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800

New York Times - By Alice Waters, Katrina Heron - Feb. 20 (Opinion) - THIS new era of government bailouts and widespread concern over wasteful spending offers an opportunity to take a hard look at the National School Lunch Program. Launched in 1946 as a public safety net, it has turned out to be a poor investment. It should be redesigned to make our children healthier.

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HuffPost Breaks Huge Corruption Story -- And We Must Do Something About It

Wed, 28 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Huffington Post - By Lawrence Lessig - Jan. 28 (Comment) - Not only are some of the most non-trusted companies in America blatantly trying to buy off Congress, but they're using our bailout money to do it. Enough!

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The Generals’ Second Careers

Sun, 25 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

New York Times - By Clark Hoyt - Jan. 25 (Opinion) - Last April, The Times published an investigation of a Pentagon public relations program intended to win favorable coverage of the Bush administration’s war on terror through retired officers working as military analysts on television. The report, “Behind TV Analysts, Pentagon’s Hidden Hand,” revealed a program that gave the analysts talking points and unusual access to top officials — contacts, the article said, that some of the officers hoped would benefit military contractors with whom they had ties.

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