1 Dec 2010

The First Internet: The Post Office and the Public Interest

by | Date: 1 Dec 2010 | posted in: information | 1 Facebooktwitterredditmail

In the beginning, there was the post office. Before the Internet, before cable, before TV, before radio, mail delivery was our major means of mass communication. The founders of the United States understood its importance and deemed that it must be a public institution. Article I, Section 8, Clause 7, of the U.S. Constitution states, “Congress shall have Power to establish Post Offices and Post Roads.”

Congress wanted the U.S. Post Office to be a monopoly, but the Post Office still had to deal with private companies that found loopholes in these rules.

… Read More
15 Oct 2010

Every Justice is a ‘Judicial Activist’

by | Date: 15 Oct 2010 | posted in: From the Desk of David Morris, governance, The Public Good | 1 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Right-Wingers Just Don’t Like the Ones Who Don’t Agree with Them.  In 1787, writing in the Federalist Papers in support of state ratification of the Constitution, Alexander Hamilton argued that the proposed Supreme Court “will always be the least dangerous to the political rights of the constitution.” As for judicial activism, “contraventions of the will of the legislature may now and then happen; but they can never be as extensive as to affect the order of the political system.”… Read More
27 Jul 2010

ACORN deserves an apology, too

by | Date: 27 Jul 2010 | posted in: equity, From the Desk of David Morris, The Public Good | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Shirley Sherrod has her job back and a presidential apology. ACORN is still waiting. The cases are remarkably similar. Both Sherrod and ACORN were demonized by highly edited videos appearing on right-wing websites and widely publicized by Fox News and conservative radio hosts. In both cases the mainstream media and the federal government rushed to judgment … Read More
1 May 2010

8 Words That Could Save Our Country

by | Date: 1 May 2010 | posted in: From the Desk of David Morris, governance, The Public Good | 2 Facebooktwitterredditmail

A rogue Supreme Court seems hellbent on establishing a corporate oligarchy. Congress can’t stop it. Every time Congress or state legislatures tries to curb the power of billionaires or mega corporations the Court slaps them down. Citizens United v. FEC, the recent Supreme Court decision that allowed corporations to spend unlimited sums of money to influence elections is only the most recent step in this process. There will be more. But the shocking decision may be sufficient to galvanize a political movement that can change the rules and ensure our democracy.

We can save our country by adding eight words to the fundamental law of the land, the US Constitution. "Corporations are not persons." "Money is not speech."… Read More
15 Apr 2010

Why Are the Feds Giving $900 Billion in Tax Breaks Every Year?

by | Date: 15 Apr 2010 | posted in: equity, From the Desk of David Morris, The Public Good | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

With April 15 upon us, I’d like to talk about taxes. Not about the part of the tax code that generates revenues. You’ve already heard enough about the taxes you pay to last a lifetime, and the election campaign has just begun. Instead, I’ll focus on the less visited topic of the taxes we don’t pay, … Read More
29 Jan 2010

Instead of Cap and Trade, Cap and Dividend

by | Date: 29 Jan 2010 | posted in: Energy, From the Desk of David Morris, The Public Good | 1 Facebooktwitterredditmail

A new and vastly improved climate change policy has come out of nowhere to capture the imagination of state and national policymakers: "Cap and dividend." It works like this: Step one, impose a carbon cap. Step two, auction off all carbon allowances. Step three, return most of (if not all) the revenues generated to all households on a per capita basis.… Read More
5 Jan 2010

A New Outside-the-Beltway Climate Bill Deserves Support; Why Won’t Enviros Get Behind It?

by | Date: 5 Jan 2010 | posted in: Energy, Energy Self Reliant States, From the Desk of David Morris, The Public Good | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Cap and Trade is one approach for limiting our global warming pollution but there is a different climate change proposal in Congress called the CLEAR Act. It’s simple, deserves to be looked at closely and looks to be the start of a winning alternative to the complicated system of cap and trade.… Read More
4 Dec 2009

Two mistakes, 30 years apart

by | Date: 4 Dec 2009 | posted in: From the Desk of David Morris, The Public Good | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

It is fitting that President Obama announced his decision to send more troops to Afghanistan on the 30th anniversary of Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev’s decision to do the same. The two events are joined at the hip. In 1978, the Afghan army overthrew the existing government and made the head of the country’s Communist Party president. … Read More
10 Nov 2009

On Energy Questions, State’s Leaders Should Listen Better

by | Date: 10 Nov 2009 | posted in: Energy, From the Desk of David Morris, The Public Good | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

How many times do the people have to be proven right before their political leaders listen to them? The recent cancellation of Big Stone II by its investors brings that question to mind. Back in 2006, seven Minnesota utilities asked the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission for permission to build a large coal fired power plant … Read More

1 … 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 … 62