Top Ten Corporate Outrages
Moveon.org
You might have heard this: BP is so well connected in Washington that even after being cited for 760 different safety and environmental violations, the company still got environmental waivers for the Deepwater Horizon rig that’s now destroying the Gulf.1
But BP’s not alone in using its DC influence. Check out the list below of other companies’ outrages—then pass it along. And be sure to sign our new Fight Washington Corruption Pledge to support 3 key measures that will protect our democracy from corporate lobbyists!
http://fightwashingtoncorruption.org/?id=21534-331193-d6ffL8x
1. Exxon Mobil made billions in profits, and yet paid not one dime in federal income taxes in 2009.2
2. The 2005 energy bill had a little known provision, commonly called the Halliburton Loophole, which exempted natural gas drilling from the Clean Water Act. The result? Water so contaminated that you can light it on fire.3
3. Massey Energy was cited more than 2400 times for safety violations in its mines, but chose not to fix potentially lethal problems because low penalties meant it was cheaper to simply keep paying the fines. This spring, 29 miners were killed in an underground explosion at a Massey mine in West Virginia.4
4. Michael Taylor was the FDA official who approved the use of Monsanto’s Bovine Growth Hormone in dairy cows (even though it’s banned in most countries and linked to cancer). After approving it, he left the FDA—to work for Monsanto. Until last year, when he moved back to the government—as President Obama’s “Food Safety Czar.” No joke.5
5. Internal Toyota documents outline how the company was successful in limiting regulators actions in the recalls last year—saving hundreds of millions while the death toll continued to climb.6
6. GE and its lobbyists—including 33 former government employees—have successfully lobbied Congress to override Defense Department requests to cancel a GE contract to work on a new engine for the Joint Strike Fighter jet. GE will need $2.9 billion to finish the project.7
7. Top executives at 9 top banks including Citibank, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley paid themselves over $20 billion dollars in bonuses just weeks after taxpayers bailed them out to the tune of 700 billion dollars.8
8. During the waning days of the Bush administration, officials responded to a long-term lobbying campain by pre-empting product liability lawsuits for dozens of whole industries. They bypassed Congress entirely and rewrote rules ranging from seatbelt manufacturing regulations to prescription drug safety.9
9. Sunscreen manufacturers including Johnson & Johnson and Schering-Plough, in the interest of profits, are opposing an FDA proposal requiring full reporting on sunscreen labels. The New York Times just confirmed that current SPF ratings don’t even measure sun rays that cause cancer.10
10. BP—a company with a record of 760 drilling safety and environmental violations—was granted safety waivers in order to operate the deepwater drilling rig that ultimately created the worst environmental disaster in US history.1
Mad yet? Sign the pledge here and we’ll pass your name on to your member of Congress, and ask them to Fight Washington Corruption too.
http://www.fightwashingtoncorruption.org/?id=21534-331193-d6ffL8x
Thanks for all you do,
–Ilyse, Robin, Milan, Amy and the rest of the team
Sources:
1. “BP’s latest plan succeeding, but may make spill worse,” Newsweek, June 2, 2010.
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=88880&id=21534-331193-d6ffL8x&t=2
2. “GE, Exxon Paid No U.S. Income Taxes in 2009,” ABC News, April 6, 2010
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=89262&id=&id=21534-331193-d6ffL8x&t=3
3. “Why is Dick Cheney Silent on the Oil Spill?,” Newsweek, June 10, 2010
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=89263&id=21534-331193-d6ffL8x&t=4
4. “Other Massey Mines Showed A Pattern Of Violations,” NPR, April 13, 2010
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=89264&id=21534-331193-d6ffL8x&t=5
5. “Monsanto’s man Taylor returns to FDA in food-czar role,” Grist, July 8, 2009
http://www.grist.org/article/2009-07-08-monsanto-FDA-taylor/
6. “Toyota tried to cut costs on recalls,” Los Angeles Times, February 22, 2010
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=89265&id=21534-331193-d6ffL8x&t=6
7. “GE vice chairman openly challenges Gates over F-35 fighter jet engine,” The Hill, June 17, 2010
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=89266&id=21534-331193-d6ffL8x&t=7
8. “Bankers Reaped Lavish Bonuses During Bailouts,” The New York Times, July 30, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/31/business/31pay.html
9. “Bush Rule Changes Curtail Rights of States, Consumers,” Wall Street Journal, October 15, 2008
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=89267&id=21534-331193-d6ffL8x&t=8
10. “UVA Reform: It’s Not PDQ,” The New York Times, June 23, 2010
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=89268&id=21534-331193-d6ffL8x&t=9
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FROM ACLU:
A lot has changed since 1986.
Why hasn’t our privacy law?
Few people realize that the law designed to protect the privacy of our electronic communications hasn’t been updated since 1986.
Think about it. In 1986, mobile phones were bigger than your head and the Internet as we know it didn’t even exist.
The longer our privacy law remains out of date, the more your privacy is at risk.
We need you to change that. Tomorrow, Congress turns its attention to updating this law as the House of Representatives holds hearings on how cell phone records reveal and track our location. Now’s the time to let Congress know Americans want them to update the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) and protect our privacy.
Tell Congress you want our electronic privacy law updated.
Many activities that have become commonplace since 1986—writing email, searching online, using your cell phone—don’t have adequate privacy protections, leaving your personal information vulnerable to abuse by the government.
The threat is real. Sprint, for example, received 8 million demands for mobile location data about countless people in just a little over a year. In the absence of a good electronic privacy law, government agencies—from the NSA to local police departments—are essentially going on surveillance shopping sprees for our data. And what’s even more shocking is that in many cases government agencies claim they don’t even need a warrant to access your personal information.
But cell phone tracking is just the tip of the iceberg. Threats to your privacy are very real as private companies are building vast databases about who you are, where you go, and what you do. They’re looking at everything from web chats, to GPS devices, to eReaders and video sites and using this outdated privacy law to easily access your private information. You can change that.
Tell Congress to protect our privacy by updating ECPA today.