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This site is a member of WebRing. To browse visit here. Monday, December 08, 2003 I've added the Toledo Blade newspaper website to my list of political sites. I don't know anything about the paper other than the columns I've been reading lately, but I applaud their courage in asking difficult questions and their persistence in finding out the answers to many of them. This is the kind of investigative reporting newspapers used to be known for. Oh, and one other thing in their favor: my partner Kate grew up in Toledo, the daughter of a union worker in the years when Toledo used to be a steel town (and the US used to be a steel exporter). And I took off the Amish Tech Support site, as another day's reading makes it plain this is not primarily a political site. I enjoyed reading today's posts, agree with all of them or not, but it doesn't belong where it is, so it has moved down to the "Other" section. In the interest of fairness, I then moved "Buttermilk and Molasses" up to the political section. The amount of political content in John's blog has gradually increased, and I think he deserves more exposure. The Toledo Blade is currently running a series of articles about Ohio Congressman Mike Oxley, a key player in the deregulation of American corporations. A short excerpt:Over the veto of President Bill Clinton and the objection of SEC Chairman Levitt, 230 Republicans in the House were joined by 89 Democrats in passing a law that made it much harder for investors to prove they were defrauded by corporations, Wall Street firms, and auditors. Investors who had filed a lawsuit used to be able to review a firm's records to find proof of fraud - a key step to getting back the money they had lost. But the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 changed the rules: Investors now had to establish they had been defrauded before gaining access to corporate records - a burden critics said was impossible to meet in most cases. And even if investors met that challenge and won their lawsuits, the new law made it harder for them to collect on their losses. Supporters of the new law, including Mr. Oxley, argued that many of the lawsuits had little merit, and only the lawyers were getting rich. But San Diego securities lawyer William Lerach cautioned Mr. Oxley during one hearing about what would happen. "While you claim to be taking a swing at the lawyers, you are going to end up hitting your constituents in the nose," Mr. Lerach testified in 1995. Seven years later, a congressional investigation identified the 1995 litigation reform law as one of the culprits in the Enron collapse.We hear a lot nowadays about increased secrecy in government. Looks to me like the process started earlier than most of us realized, with publicly traded corporations. An oft-repeated question, in various forms, is, "If you have nothing to hide, why be afraid of government scrutiny of your life?" Perhaps our largest corporations should take that question to heart. If you have nothing to hide from your investors, from the folk who sank their life savings into your company, why do you need to hide your records? posted by Liz @ 9:43 AM | The template is set to display 10 posts. To see all the posts for this month, click on the month name in the Archive section RSS Feed PERSONAL Send email toliz at life-as-a-spectator-sport.com Home I'm a mother, grandmother, a computer professional, Democrat, Christian. I welcome politely worded comments and email, my spam filter throws the rest away, so don't bother to flame me WHY 'LIFE AS A SPECTATOR SPORT' "If you're lucky not to live in the gutters of a slum, but still can't afford to take vacations in the Alps, you're part of that enormous middle class who lives life through the medium of the television, further separated from "real" life by air conditioner, by automobile, by dishwasher, microwave and ice-in-the-door refrigerator, by automatic washer and dryer, and all the other appliances and conveniences that make it possible for America to live life at second hand. I'm not sure why Americans decided that televised drama was better than the real thing, that cardboard microwave food containers were an adequate substitute for real dishes, and their contents for real food, or that cooking, dishwashing and face-to-face conversation wasn't worth the effort and time it required. Someone fed this nation a plastic crate of out-of-season tomatoes and told us it was life and we took them at their word, and we're so much the poorer for it that it's hard to know where to start to list the shortcomings." I wrote this a couple of years ago, but I have to admit it's much less amusing than I thought it would be to see the artifical construct falling apart. THE NON-ELECTRIC HOME Cleaning, 1 Cleaning, 2 Cleaning, 3 KNITTING BLOGS Extravayarnza Knitting Heretic Mind of Winter Pie Knits Persistent Illusion See Eunny Knit The Keyboard Biologist Taleweaver's Ramblings TECHnitting Wendy Knits FINISHED PROJECTS -------FINISHED IN 2006------- Peruvian Cap Tutti-Frutti Socks Shelley's Socks Carol's Socks -------FINISHED IN 2007------- Chain Link Socks Baby Surprise Jacket Valerie & Friend Baby Bonnet Rainbow Baby Socks Girls Pixie Hood Mitred Square Heart Red & White Socks Coffee Cup Pot Holder Nubbins Dishcloth Garterlac Dishcloth Suede Booties Kate's Socks Norwegian Sweet Baby Cap Half Thumbless Mittens Red Mittens for Akkol -------FINISHED IN 2008------- SELF-RELIANCE AND THE FUTURE -- Blogs and websites -- Causubon's Book Club Orlov Food Storage Made Easy From the Wilderness In the Wake Listening to Katrina Survival Topics The Modern Homestead The Oil Drum Notes from a Hillside Farm -- Mailing Lists -- 12vdc Power Living on the Land Rainwater Refrigeration Alternatives Old Ways of Living POLITICAL BLOGS and SITES The political sites have moved BOOKS I'M READING How to Grow More Vegetables, etc. Small Scale Grain Raising ARCHIVES February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 August 2008 July 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 April 2002 March 2002 February 2002 Feedjit Live Blog Stats
I've added the Toledo Blade newspaper website to my list of political sites. I don't know anything about the paper other than the columns I've been reading lately, but I applaud their courage in asking difficult questions and their persistence in finding out the answers to many of them. This is the kind of investigative reporting newspapers used to be known for. Oh, and one other thing in their favor: my partner Kate grew up in Toledo, the daughter of a union worker in the years when Toledo used to be a steel town (and the US used to be a steel exporter). And I took off the Amish Tech Support site, as another day's reading makes it plain this is not primarily a political site. I enjoyed reading today's posts, agree with all of them or not, but it doesn't belong where it is, so it has moved down to the "Other" section. In the interest of fairness, I then moved "Buttermilk and Molasses" up to the political section. The amount of political content in John's blog has gradually increased, and I think he deserves more exposure. The Toledo Blade is currently running a series of articles about Ohio Congressman Mike Oxley, a key player in the deregulation of American corporations. A short excerpt:Over the veto of President Bill Clinton and the objection of SEC Chairman Levitt, 230 Republicans in the House were joined by 89 Democrats in passing a law that made it much harder for investors to prove they were defrauded by corporations, Wall Street firms, and auditors. Investors who had filed a lawsuit used to be able to review a firm's records to find proof of fraud - a key step to getting back the money they had lost. But the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 changed the rules: Investors now had to establish they had been defrauded before gaining access to corporate records - a burden critics said was impossible to meet in most cases. And even if investors met that challenge and won their lawsuits, the new law made it harder for them to collect on their losses. Supporters of the new law, including Mr. Oxley, argued that many of the lawsuits had little merit, and only the lawyers were getting rich. But San Diego securities lawyer William Lerach cautioned Mr. Oxley during one hearing about what would happen. "While you claim to be taking a swing at the lawyers, you are going to end up hitting your constituents in the nose," Mr. Lerach testified in 1995. Seven years later, a congressional investigation identified the 1995 litigation reform law as one of the culprits in the Enron collapse.We hear a lot nowadays about increased secrecy in government. Looks to me like the process started earlier than most of us realized, with publicly traded corporations. An oft-repeated question, in various forms, is, "If you have nothing to hide, why be afraid of government scrutiny of your life?" Perhaps our largest corporations should take that question to heart. If you have nothing to hide from your investors, from the folk who sank their life savings into your company, why do you need to hide your records?
Over the veto of President Bill Clinton and the objection of SEC Chairman Levitt, 230 Republicans in the House were joined by 89 Democrats in passing a law that made it much harder for investors to prove they were defrauded by corporations, Wall Street firms, and auditors. Investors who had filed a lawsuit used to be able to review a firm's records to find proof of fraud - a key step to getting back the money they had lost. But the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 changed the rules: Investors now had to establish they had been defrauded before gaining access to corporate records - a burden critics said was impossible to meet in most cases. And even if investors met that challenge and won their lawsuits, the new law made it harder for them to collect on their losses. Supporters of the new law, including Mr. Oxley, argued that many of the lawsuits had little merit, and only the lawyers were getting rich. But San Diego securities lawyer William Lerach cautioned Mr. Oxley during one hearing about what would happen. "While you claim to be taking a swing at the lawyers, you are going to end up hitting your constituents in the nose," Mr. Lerach testified in 1995. Seven years later, a congressional investigation identified the 1995 litigation reform law as one of the culprits in the Enron collapse.
The template is set to display 10 posts. To see all the posts for this month, click on the month name in the Archive section
RSS Feed
PERSONAL
WHY 'LIFE AS A SPECTATOR SPORT'
"If you're lucky not to live in the gutters of a slum, but still can't afford to take vacations in the Alps, you're part of that enormous middle class who lives life through the medium of the television, further separated from "real" life by air conditioner, by automobile, by dishwasher, microwave and ice-in-the-door refrigerator, by automatic washer and dryer, and all the other appliances and conveniences that make it possible for America to live life at second hand. I'm not sure why Americans decided that televised drama was better than the real thing, that cardboard microwave food containers were an adequate substitute for real dishes, and their contents for real food, or that cooking, dishwashing and face-to-face conversation wasn't worth the effort and time it required. Someone fed this nation a plastic crate of out-of-season tomatoes and told us it was life and we took them at their word, and we're so much the poorer for it that it's hard to know where to start to list the shortcomings." I wrote this a couple of years ago, but I have to admit it's much less amusing than I thought it would be to see the artifical construct falling apart.
THE NON-ELECTRIC HOME
Cleaning, 1 Cleaning, 2 Cleaning, 3
KNITTING BLOGS
Extravayarnza Knitting Heretic Mind of Winter Pie Knits Persistent Illusion See Eunny Knit The Keyboard Biologist Taleweaver's Ramblings TECHnitting Wendy Knits
FINISHED PROJECTS
SELF-RELIANCE AND THE FUTURE
POLITICAL BLOGS and SITES
BOOKS I'M READING
How to Grow More Vegetables, etc. Small Scale Grain Raising
ARCHIVES
February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 August 2008 July 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 April 2002 March 2002 February 2002
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