Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader has been serving people in the U.S. for many years. As Money Talks: Corporate PACs And Political Influence by Dan Clawson, Alan Neustadt and Denise Scott recalled in 1992:
“In the early ‘60s auto safety was presented as depending entirely on safe drivers. Ralph Nader raised the heretical idea that perhaps cars were also a cause of accidents—and had the data to prove it…
“Did Ralph Nader’s campaign totally transform U.S. society and the power of business? No. Did it have any real effect on people’s lives? Absolutely. In 1965, for every 100 million miles driven, 5.3 people died in automobile accidents. If that rate had still applied in 1988, an additional 50,000 people would have died in auto accidents.”
(Downtown/Aquarian Weekly 7/10/96)
Nader In 1974: `Review Corporate Tax Privileges Annually’
As long ago as 1974, independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader was fighting to cut government corporate welfare grants to transnational corporations. As Power Inc. by Morton Mintz and Jerry Cohen observed:
“…Commenting in late 1974 on the failure of tax bonanzas for the wealthy and private corporations to produce benefits for society as a whole, Nader said:
“`Given this unrequited subsidy, which directly burdens the small taxpayers why is there not an annual evaluation by the congress or the treasury of such special corporate tax privileges? The small taxpayers should be informed about what they are not receiving in return for their subsidizing of these companies through the tax system…Corporate executives are once again telling the White House that they need even more `tax incentives,’ as they call them, or `welfare payments’ as they should be described…’
“Nader…has touched on something that the newspapers, magazines, and radio and television networks seldom make truly clear to the broad public: tax `subsidies,’ `incentives,’ and tax breaks for corporations are giveaways and handouts on a lavish scale…”
(Downtown/Aquarian Weekly 7/31/96)
Prez Candidate Nader vs. Union Carbide Historically
For many years, independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader fought against the abuse of power by transnational corporations like Union Carbide. As the 1980 edition of Everybody’s Business: An Almanac recalled:
“In the late 1960s and early 1970s Union Carbide was virtually Environmental Enemy No. 1. Environmentalists called their Alloy, West Virginia, iron-alloy plant `the smokiest factory in the world.’…When Carbide threatened to lay off 625 workers in Ohio to offset the cost of pollution control, Ralph Nader called it `environmental blackmail.’”
(Downtown/Aquarian Weekly 7/24/96)
Nader Warned Of `Downward Trend’ In Air Safety
In the 1994 book which he co-authored with Wesley Smith, Collision Course: The Truth About Airline Safety, [2008] independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader observed:
“Despite the official denials of the Federal Aviation Administration [FAA] and the airline industry…aviation safety is threatened on many fronts…Collectively, they pose a clear and present danger to existing safety levels. These issues include:
“…Pressure from the airline industry to increase capacity, which has caused the FAA to approve compromises in safety procedures…The aging of our domestic aircraft fleet…The growth of commuter airlines that fly smaller planes with less safety equipment…The need to…upgrade the crash survivability of…transport jets…Problems with…management…that adversely affect safety…The need to improve ground control technology to prevent accidents…while planes are on the ground…The underfunding of the FAA that has…rendered it unable to…perform its legal mandate.”
Nader also asserted that “consumers are going to have to exert their power as citizens and customers to reverse the downward trend in safety levels” and proposed “the creation of a broad-based consumer organization dedicated solely to advocating for airline safety,” the Coalition of Airline Passengers.
As long ago as 1973, Nader “asked federal district court in Washington to prohibit the FAA’s use of X-ray security checks at airports” because the FAA had failed to consider the environmental impact of such an operation, had failed to set minimum standards for X-ray machines, and had failed to allow an adequate period for public comment,” according to Consumer Protection 1976.
(Downtown/Aquarian Weekly 8/21/96)
Friday, December 5, 2008
ReplyDeleteSome Americans once trusted failed FAA Acting Administrator “Bobby” Sturgell to act like he was a regulator and prevent Americans from flying in cracked, dangerous planes. Then, after many months of FAA intimidation seeking to silence those desirous of telling the truth, the ram broke the dam. Whistle-blower courage and Congressional and FBI probe forced “Bobby” Sturgell and his FAA to admit that their malfeasance allowed hundreds of thousands and perhaps even millions of passengers to fly in cracked and defective Southwest and other aircraft. Bobby Sturgell’s defense, was denial – he continued to self-tout that he led the “Safest Period In Aviation History”. Yet approximately 3,500 souls and climbing have died on “Bobby” Sturgell’s own FAA “watch”. The NTSB statistics are here:
http://indictsturgell.blogspot.com/2008/10/failed-faa-pilot-bobby-sturgell-racks.html
Trust “Bobby” Sturgell just as much as you ever trusted Baghdad Bob, Chemical Ali, and Saddam Hussein. The men are each other's moral equivalent. Bobby Sturgell has the same credibility as Baghdad Bob, the same respect for the sanctity of human life as Chemical Ali, and the same political future as Saddam Hussein. And now, each have been thankfully kicked to their governments’ respective curbs. I call THAT justice.
John J. Tormey III, Esq.
Quiet Rockland
http://www.bobbysturgell.net
Agree about failure of FAA to adequately regulate airline industry on behalf of consumers. Regarding pretext for morally disastrous (and destabilizing) decision by Bush-Cheney administration to send u.s. military into Iraq in 2003 in order to change its previous repressive (and often deceptive) regime: On the issue as to whether or not Iraqi government actually possessed "weapons of mass destruction" in 2003, the former Iraqi government officials apparently told the truth when they denied they had "weapons of mass destruction." And the Bush-Cheney administration (including former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell) and the New York Times apparently were inaccurate in their pre-2003 attack on Iraq claim that the previous Iraqi government still possessed "weapons of mass destruction."
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