FEC Unanimously Approves Internet Rulemaking

Mar 27, 2006 by Guest Blogger

From Bob Bauer's blog:

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Questioning QALYs and CEA

Mar 27, 2006 by Guest Blogger

Merrill Goozner of CSPI has a blog with an entry helpfully going through Quality Adjusted Life Years: Medical economists conduct these cost-benefit studies to determine if a new drug, medical device or surgical procedure is worth its pricetag. But how do they determine benefits? Over the years, the profession has developed a tool for measuring medical value known as the quality adjusted life year, or QALY. One year of perfect health gets a score of one QALY. If a patient is bedridden and in constant pain for that entire year, it might be considered a .3 (three-tenths of a year) QALY.

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FEC Draft Internet Rules

Mar 24, 2006 by Guest Blogger

Commissioners Lenhard and Weintraub provide a summary of the FEC draft Internet rules published today. The summary is available at www.moresoftmoneyhardlaw.com

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So the End of Recess Comes...

Mar 24, 2006 by Guest Blogger

Another end to another recess. What awaits us next week? The FEC is supposed to take up the Internet rulemaking on Monday. We'll see if that happens. Reportedly, the House is supposed to take up this issue as well on Wednesday, with the Hensarling bill making another showing. On the Senate side, looks like more lobby reform. Originally, Frist and Lott were quoted as saying they wanted to get through lobby reform tomorrow - with a vote in the early evening - but that is looking more and more unlikely.

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Support Grassroots Lobbying Disclosure!

Tell the Senate to keep the grassroots lobbying provision in S.1 for the strongest reform bill possible. This measure contains a provision that would require disclosure of federal grassroots lobbying, but only for groups already registered under the Lobby Disclosure Act because of their direct federal lobbying expenses or firms that spend over $25,000 in a quarter conducting such campaigns on behalf of clients. There has been some incorrect information spreading regarding the provision, such as the claim that it will silence many small groups. We must correct this myth.

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Sign-On Letter in Support of Grassroots Lobbying Disclosure

A group of 28 national, state and local organizations signed onto a letter supporting grassroots lobbying disclosure. Would your organization like to sign on? If so, email ombwatch@ombwatch.org.

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Krugman Responds to Secretary Snow's Assertions

Mar 24, 2006 by Guest Blogger

Following up on yesterday's post regarding income inequality, Paul Krugman has an op-ed in today's NY Times in which he challenges Secretary Snow's recent comments on income inequality going down between 2000 and 2003. As Krugman points out, even though the economy grew fast in 2004, few families saw the benefits of this growth. Instead, the rich got richer. As he says, "Forbes tells us that the compensation of chief executives at the 500 largest corporations rose 54 percent in 2004." Most others he says, have not seen their incomes rise. He says:

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Another Way of Looking at Public Protections

Mar 24, 2006 by Guest Blogger

From the latest issue of Rachel's Democracy & Health News: What is government for? It is to protect the commons, all the things we own together and none of us owns individually, such as air, water, wildlife, the human gene pool, the accumulated human knowledge that we each inherit at birth, and more. Can protecting the commons be expressed in a simple set of guidelines? Here's a start... Read Carolyn Raffensperger, Ten Tenets: The Law of the Commons of the Natural World, Rachel's Democracy & Health News, No. 847, Mar. 23, 2006

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The Debate on Income Inequality

Mar 23, 2006 by Guest Blogger

The Treasury has measured that the income gap has grown narrower between 2000 and 2003, with Secretary John Snow telling reporters yesterday, "There has been a decline in the inequality." This statement is based on the fact that in 2003, the top 5 percent of Americans earned earned 15.4 percent of the nation's after-tax income in 2003, down from 19 percent in 2000. The bottom 20 percent earned 2.5 percent of all U.S. after-tax income, up from 2.3 percent in 2000. The Treasury data also shows, however, that the gap was larger in 2003 than it was in 1990.

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Great Article on Environmental Astroturf

Mar 23, 2006 by Guest Blogger

An article in Environemental Science and Technology Online details a "grassroots" effort to "reform" the Endangered Species Act. It is worth a read.

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