Politics

Sustainable Development: Rest In Peace!

by Laura Miller — September 3, 2002 - 10:00pm

"Sustainable Development is dead. Its demise came, ironically, at the World Summit on Sustainable Development," CorpWatch's Kenny Bruno writes in his report from the UN meeting in Johannesburg. "It's not that the phrase wasn't invoked. It was, ad nauseum. But it was hardly discussed. Instead, sustainable development was deemed to be whatever compromise governments happen to reach on trade, subsidies, investment and aid, and whatever projects corporations see fit to finance. 'Sustainable Development' is now officially meaningless."

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CorpWatch.org, September 4, 2002

Fat Cat Hotel Still Open For Business

by Sheldon Rampton — August 21, 2002 - 10:00pm

A recently-released list of overnight guests at the White House shows that George W. Bush is following the precedent of Bill Clinton and inviting major political donors to sleepovers at the White House. The list of guests at the Bush White House includes six "pioneers" -- Bush supporters who raised more than $100,000 for his presidential campaign.

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Center for Public Integrity, August 22, 2002

The Price of Power in Canada

by Sheldon Rampton — August 12, 2002 - 10:00pm

A fundraising letter from the Liberal Party in British Columbia, Canada, is "inviting people who work in public relations to donate $10,000 apiece at the same time that the provincial government is assessing contract proposals from the industry," reports the Globe and Mail, one of Canada's national newspapers. In addition to making direct cash donations, the letter invites PR firms to "build a fund-raising effort around an event or two -- events where we can invite clients or others for an intimate lunch or dinner with a key cabinet minister."

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Globe and Mail (Canada), August 13, 2002

The Watchdog Didn't Bark

by Sheldon Rampton — July 15, 2002 - 10:00pm

According to Harold Evans, the real mystery surrounding the president's shady stock dealings with Harken Energy is "why the watchdog media didn't bark during the 2000 presidential election, when new unflattering evidence emerged in the month before the vote. ... During the presidential election, a more thorough investigation was carried out by a group of journalists at a time when Bush was saying he would run the White House like a business corporation.

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Salon.com, July 16, 2002

Spinsanity's Inanity

by Sheldon Rampton — July 9, 2002 - 7:40pm
  • Topics: Human Rights, International, Politics

    • The Spinsanity.org website has on occasion published insightful commentaries on misleading uses of political rhetoric in the United States. In July 2002, however, Spinsanity itself published a deceptive attack on the media watchdog organization Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR). After FAIR criticized U.S.

    Canada Fires the Messengers

    by Sheldon Rampton — June 27, 2002 - 10:00pm

    Canada's Liberal government in British Columbia has fired its entire communications division - 300 unionized civil servants - and replaced them with 180 non-union political appointees in order to ensure that government information providers are "committed to the goals of the Liberal administration." Union president George Heyman says Premier Gordon Campbell is "using reorganization as an excuse to lay off workers and replace them with political hacks.

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    Canada.com, June 28, 2002

    Social Insecurity and "The Fear of All Sums"

    by Sheldon Rampton — June 20, 2002 - 10:00pm

    "During the 2000 election campaign, George W. Bush was able to get away with the nonsensical claim that private accounts would not only yield high, low-risk returns, but save Social Security at the same time. For whatever reason, few reporters pointed out that he was claiming that 2-1=4," notes New York Times economist Paul Krugman. "But when it came time to produce concrete plans, the arithmetic could no longer be avoided. Sure enough, the plans laid out by Mr.

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    New York Times, June 21, 2002

    Mayors Ignore DuPont's Dirty Past

    by Laura Miller — June 17, 2002 - 10:00pm

    During the recent meeting of the US Conference of Mayors, DuPont received special attention as a partner with the mayors in Cities United for Science Progress (CUSP).

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    Madison Independent Media Center, June 18, 2002

    The Big Guys Work for Carlyle

    by Sheldon Rampton — March 18, 2002 - 12:00am

    Fortune magazine recently spent six weeks investigating the Carlyle Group, the secretive investment firm with ties to the Bush administration that invests heavily in military contracting. Carlyle employs a raft of former government officials, including the Bush the senior as well as former Secretary of State Jim Baker, former Secretary of Defense Frank Carlucci and former British Prime Minister John Major.

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    Fortune, March 18, 2002

    Enron Lobbyist Strategized Against Democrats

    by Laura Miller — February 11, 2002 - 12:00am

    "While the Bush administration was drafting its national energy policy, a leading lobbyist for Enron Corp. was plotting strategy to turn the plan into a political weapon against Democrats, according to a newly obtained memo," the Los Angeles Times writes. Washington-based lobbyist Edward Gillespie of Quinn Gillespie & Associates in a confidential April 2001 memo to energy companies and industry groups offered advise on how to paint a dour pictures of the Democrats and their energy policy.

    Main Source: 
    Los Angeles Times, February 11, 2002
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