May 5, 2008

Media Shield, A Weapon against Business

Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) argues for passage of a federal media shield law in today's Washington Post, challenging a recent column by Attorney General Michael Mukasey, who contends a shield law would place reporters above the law. Last week, Politico carried a thorough update on the pending legislation in the Senate, S. 2035. The White House is resisting the legislation, arguing that it may protect bogus journalists and Internet provocateurs who disseminate national security and intelligence secrets.

Yet in Senator Specter's column, the op-ed by Mukasey, and Politico's story, no mention is made of business' troubles with the legislation. The issues being examined all deal with national security and classified intelligence.

Business observers are seriously concerned that the media shield will free from accountability disgruntled employees, unethical attorneys, criminals and others who will be able to steal or otherwise illicitly acquire important, confidential data, release it to a "journalist" -- whatever the definition -- and do great damage without any public interest being served (beyond satisfying idle curiousity).

Consider this post-media-shield scenario: A popular blogger with mainstream media experience has declared a campaign against Company X for what he views as its record of pillaging the environment. Developing an obsession, the blogger decides to burglarize the CFO's home when the family is away for the weekend, breaking into the personal safe and stealing the CFO's laptop. What a wealth of intriguing, damaging information: Employee records, including Social Security numbers, trade secrets, competitive information and financial numbers, even computer passwords.

To punish the company, the blogger posts all this data on his website, causing terrible financial damage not just to the company but to scores of employees. All in the public's interest, supposedly.

Queried by law-enforcement authorities and then a judge hearing the company's lawsuit (years later) against the blogger, the blogger says, "Sorry. This information was given to me by a source to whom I promised confidentiality. I cannot in good faith release the identity. To do so would undermine the First Amendment and chill the media's robust information-gathering that is critical to an informed public and America's democratic freedoms."

The blogger escapes responsibility. Editorialists and the Electronic Frontier Foundation cheer his brave commitment to the Constitution. Russian-made knock-offs, developed with the revealed trade secrets, flood the market. Company X files bankruptcy in the face of numerous class-action lawsuits prompted by the release of information.

Too theoretical? A former reporter turned blogger would never commit a crime? Well, consider other possibilities. An anti-business activist steals the information and just gives it to the reporter after eliciting the promise of confidentiality. Or a reporter, sensing a scoop, buys the information from a site on the Internet.

Well, unfortunately, that IS price we have to pay for freedom, you respond. Corporations need to factor the risks of freedom into their costs of doing business.

Reverse the scenario then: A pro-business blogger steals confidential files from a large environmental organization, revealing enough information about its activities to justify a civil RICO suit by some of its targets. Up on the web it goes. "Who are your sources?" "According to the federal media shield, I don't have to identify them."

A shield cannot assess a reporter/blogger/citizen journalist's motivation, the circumstance of the revealed information, or the public interest that's being served. For that you need a judge, one who is able to apply a balancing test. As the former New York Times' columnist Anthony Lewis wrote, "Congress should pass legislation that makes clear the public interest in journalists' confidentiality but leaves it to judges to weight that against other social necessities...a statute will have to leave the balancing of interests to be done by judges, case by case."

We don't suggest that the Senate is being cavalier about these business-related issues, but it is troubling to see the entire public debate about the legislation focus on the national security and intelligence issues, without addressing the significant threats a media shield could pose to business and the economy.

Balancing and business...two priorities that the media and the Senate should give much more thought to when debating the media shield law.

Posted by Carter Wood at 9:05 AM | Click here to comment | Send to a Friend

May 4, 2008

Judicial Questionnaires: Why Not?

Family News in Focus' weekend radio program broadcast the best round-up we've heard of the legal issues involved in voters guides and questionnaires for judicial candidates. (Download audio file.)

Granted, it's an advocacy piece; conservative Christian groups like Focus in the Family want more transparency in state judicial elections because they believe it benefits candidates who are rule-of-law judges (as opposed to liberal activists). State business groups tend to agree.

The report brings more info to bear on a national issue being played out in the states than we've encountered anywhere else. Did you know that the James Madison Center has organized the Judicial Accountability Project to end laws and rules that prevent judges from answering questionnaires? Legal efforts are under way in eight states.

As John Stamberger of the Florida Family Policy Council says: "All judges have views. The only question is [whether] they express those views when they write a decision, when they do a dissent, or when they rule from the bench. The question is, does it serve the interest of a robust democracy for us to know those views before they’re elected or learn those views after they’re elected. "

The soundfile linked above is the full 5:30 interview broadcast this weekend. A shorter version was broadcast on April 28th; here's the transcript.

Posted by Carter Wood at 4:16 PM | Click here to comment | Send to a Friend

May 2, 2008

Class Action Advertising

Trial lawyer-funded think tanks churn out "studies," major media promote the supposed dangers, politicians react to "protect the children" or at least gain attention, and then the inevitable...

NEW YORK, NY -- 05/01/08 -- Yesterday, April 30, 2008, Rights For America attorneys, Robert H. Weiss and Stephen Murakami, along with two prominent Class Action law firms from Missouri (Scharnhorst Ast & Kennard, P.C.) and Kansas (The Hodges Law Firm), filed a billion dollar consumer class action lawsuit against the leading baby bottle manufacturers (Avent America, Evenflo, Gerber, Handi-Craft (Dr. Brown's) and Playtex) for their use of Bisphenol A in polycarbonate plastic baby bottles and toddler training cups. The lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri pursuant to Missouri Consumer Protection Laws on behalf of the infants and children of Missouri and the United States who were unknowingly exposed to BPA through their use of plastic baby bottles and training cups.

You can shuffle the order, of course. Often the trial lawyers are there at every stage.

In the meantime, anxiety spreads -- "Later on down the road what if something happened to him and I didn't take the precautions to give him a different bottle" -- and even panic.

Oh, and take a look at all the advertisements on the webpage with the lawyers' news release: Lawsuit settlement cash, safe baby bottles, acne medication lawsuit, etc.

It's an industry, the lawyer-media-think-tank-panic complex.

UPDATE: (9 a.m.): The class-action lawsuit was filed as an alleged violation of Missouri consumer protection laws. Guess the lawyers had to move fast, as the Legislature is being asked to reform the laws to discourage frivolous lawsuits.

Posted by Carter Wood at 7:10 AM | Click here to comment | Send to a Friend

April 28, 2008

Just a Regulator, Just a Scientific Report

(Adapted from a post at PointofLaw.com. See also this entry.)

Nearly every time a conservative think tank expert is quoted on a subject -- think global warming -- journalists are quick to identify the funding of the group: "Which has oil company support..." That kind of thing. But what about when the group has other leanings?

The Washington Post front-paged a story on Sunday sympathetic to activists' claims the FDA relied too closely on studies funded by the chemical industry to determine that an ingredient in some consumer plastics, bisphenol A, or BPA, is more dangerous to the health than regulators would have you believe. It was more of the "politicization of science" thesis that Post editors and reporters consider a valid, IMPORTANT story. (See this post on another Page One story about Vioxx.)

Left out of the Post's reporting was the dominant role that the trial lawyers have played in publicizing the claims about BPA's supposed health threats and the related lawsuits being filed in another round of "jackpot justice." (Such as this one, filed last week in California.)

And the identification of one of the chief sources in the story was woefully inadequate.

"Tobacco figured this out, and essentially it's the same model," said David Michaels, who was a federal regulator in the Clinton administration. "If you fight the science, you're able to postpone regulation and victim compensation, as well. As in this case, eventually the science becomes overwhelming. But if you can get five or 10 years of avoiding pollution control or production of chemicals, you've greatly increased your product."

A federal regulator, so he must have a valid insight, right? Except as his bio notes, Michaels was a Department of Energy official, responsible for the health and safety of those who come in contact with the nation's nuclear weapons labs. Not quite as relevant, we think.

We learn further down in the story that Michaels "runs the Project on Scientific Knowledge and Public Policy at George Washington University and wrote the book 'Doubt is Their Product,' which details how various industries have used science to stave off regulation."

The Project on Scientific Knowledge and Public Policy's homepage is www.defendingscience.org. There's a recent paper on the studies of BPA by Sarah Vogel, entitled, "Battles Over Bisphenol A," which makes the basic argument accepted as the thesis in the Post story.

For decades, industry trade associations and their lawyers staved off the regulation of unsafe products like tobacco, lead and asbestos by arguing that scientific uncertainty precluded government action. [41] Similarly, the plastics and chemical industries seek to deny, delay, and dismiss the low dose research on bisphenol A.

The story does not make clear who is financing the Project on Scientific Knowledge and Public Policy, aka SKAPP. To its credit, the group explains:

Funding: Major support for SKAPP is provided by the Open Society Institute and the Common Benefit Trust, a fund established pursuant to a court order in the Silicone Gel Breast Implant Products Liability litigation. The opinions expressed on the DefendingScience website are ours alone. We do not provide our funders advance notice or the opportunity to review or approve the content of this site or any documents produced by the project.

So that's who's paying for this anti-industry "science": George Soros' Open Society Institute (www.soros.org) and some of the cash thrown off in class-action lawsuits against silicone breast implants -- i.e., the largess of the trial bar.

A major point raised in the Post's story is that the chemical industry finances studies, a notable if not objectionable conflict of interest. And when a left-wing billionaire and trial lawyers finance counterstudies, that doesn't warrant a mention?

Posted by Carter Wood at 9:31 AM | Click here to comment | Send to a Friend

April 24, 2008

NYT: Free Speech for Some, Not Others

From today's New York Times editorial page, "Dragging Big Business to Disclosure":

Resisting every inch of the way, the powerful National Association of Manufacturers has finally agreed to follow Congress’s new ethics law and disclose which of its members have been funding its lobbying operations on Capitol Hill.

Welcome to the sunshine club. Like other lobbying groups, the trade association must disclose to Congress and the taxpayers which of its 11,000 members have been essential to developing lobbying strategies or contributed payments of $5,000 or more each quarter to the effort. Until this week, N.A.M. has refused to do so, arguing that such disclosure somehow violates its privacy rights and its rights to free speech.

Tracking the quid pro quo money flow in Washington is an urgent priority and long overdue. Last year, Congress tightened disclosure requirements for lobbyists’ war chests — but only after a raft of scandals. It is encouraging that the courts have so far rejected N.A.M.’s arguments. The law was plainly written to smoke out stealth lobbying organizations, not to protect Washington insiders.

From a New York Times editorial, April 24, 1995, "Protecting Anonymous Speech":

Acting in its free-speech tradition, the Supreme Court has upheld the right of a lone pamphleteer to distribute anonymous political campaign literature. It struck down an Ohio election law and called into question similar laws in other states, but probably only to the extent that the states threaten the rights of gadflies like Margaret McIntyre.

Mrs. McIntyre, a constant critic of fiscal practices in the Westerville, Ohio, school district, was fined $100 for passing out unsigned leaflets opposing a school tax increase. She opposed the fine in every available court, and after she died last year her husband took over her appeal.

The high court caught her spirit, finding her anonymity "a shield from the tyranny of the majority," honored by the Founding Fathers themselves when they didn't sign their right names to the Federalist Papers. The Court thus protects unpopular people who might not voice their views if forced to identify themselves.

Our emphasis. Seems like a principle that warrants consistent First Amendment application.

Posted by Carter Wood at 2:19 PM | Click here to comment | Send to a Friend

Anatomy of a Beltway Takedown

"Catalyst," the magazine of the Union of Concerned Scientists, published a story in its spring issue, "UCS Ends One Official's Corrupt Tenure." (Scanned copy.) Written by Francesca Grifo, director of the Scientific Integrity Program, the article details the environmentalist group's attacks on Julie MacDonald, former assistant secretary of the Department of Interior, who disagreed with some of the career staff at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

More of the usual huffing and puffing about the politicization of science, but then Grifo reveals a little too much about how activists use reporters in their campaigns to destroy a person's career over policy disagreements.

Because this was a complex story to relate, we decided to entrust it to Juliet Eilperin, an experienced Washington Post reporter with whom we had worked extensively in the past. While she interviewed scientists and officials both inside and outside the agency, my staff and I headed to Capitol Hill to alert key members of Congress to the situation. As a result of our meetings, Congress was ready to act when Eilperin’s story broke in the Post.

Representative Nick Rahall (D-WV) ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee promised oversight hearings on the misuse of science at FWS.

"We decided to entrust it." You can interpret the thought behind that phrase any number of ways: "Who do we think will take this issue seriously and give it a fair hearing?" or..."Who is sympathetic to our cause and will generate a big story we can use for our purposes?"

In either case, an effective strategy.

Eilperin wrote a page A3 story on October 30th, 2006, "Bush Appointee Said to Reject Advice on Endangered Species." It seems like a fair article, your basic charge/countercharge story, with a lead that captures the underlying policy disagreements well enough.

A senior Bush political appointee at the Interior Department has rejected staff scientists' recommendations to protect imperiled animals and plants under the Endangered Species Act at least six times in the past three years, documents show.

Which is the way the system is supposed to work. Scientists' recommendations aren't holy writ.

To her credit, Eilperin is upfront about the origins of the story.

Two advocacy groups, the Union of Concerned Scientists and the Center for Biological Diversity, provided the documents to The Washington Post. Francesca Grifo, who directs the union's scientific integrity program, said MacDonald's actions are "not business as usual but a systemic problem of tampering with science that is putting our environment at risk."

For the Union of Concerned Scientists, the piece did the trick. Activists need the imprimatur added by a major newspaper to transform policy disagreements into "scandal," generating the maelstrom of congressional hearings, breathless media coverage, outraged news releases and investigations. (BTW, note that Grifo's article fails to mention the Center for Biological Diversity. Stealing all the credit, eh?)

So MacDonald got a working over in the traditional, ugly Beltway fashion, including an investigation into her personal business. Rep. George Miller (D-CA) directed investigators to look into MacDonald's farm in California because it might be in territory involving a potentially endangered species.

The Interior Department's Inspector General eventually issued a report, "Investigative Report on on Allegations against Julie MacDonald Deputy Assistant Secretary, Fish, Wildlife and Parks." The key findings:

Through interviewing various sources, including FWS employees and senior officials, and reviewing pertinent documents and e-mails, we confirmed that MacDonald has been heavily involved with editing, commenting on, and reshaping the Endangered Species Program’s scientific reports from the field. MacDonald admitted that her degree is in civil engineering and that she has no formal educational background in natural sciences, such as biology.

While we discovered no illegal activity on her part, we did determine that MacDonald disclosed nonpublic information to private sector sources, including the California Farm Bureau Federation and the Pacific Legal Foundation. In fact, MacDonald admitted that she has released nonpublic information to public sources on several occasions during her tenure as Deputy Assistant Secretary for FWS.

She admitted to being a civil engineer. Shocking.

And that's it? That's enough for congressional hearings and outraged campaign of personal and professional attacks, ginned up by an environmentalist group using a sympathetic reporter?

The proper response to MacDonald's offenses: "Julie, tone it down. And try to be more careful about those documents." And we wonder how many career staff were investigated for their sending of e-mails to friends and allies on the outside.

But in Washington you destroy people's careers over policy disputes. A group's effectiveness is measured by the heads it takes. No doubt wisely, MacDonald got out before the process could reach its next abusive step -- criminal investigations -- resigning in May 2007.

All in a good cause, right? Responding to the political heat, the Fish and Wildlife Department backed off on some of the Endangered Species decisions (as recounted by another big-government advocacy group, OMB Watch). And the Union of Concerned Scientists goes on its merry way, launching yet another attack on an agency's leadership this week for "politicized science."

WASHINGTON (April 23, 2008) — An investigation of the Environmental Protection Agency released today found that 889 of nearly 1,600 staff scientists reported that they experienced political interference in their work over the last five years. The study, by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), follows previous UCS investigations of the Food and Drug Administration, Fish and Wildlife Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and climate scientists at seven federal agencies, which also found significant administration manipulation of federal science.

"Our investigation found an agency in crisis," said Francesca Grifo, director of UCS's Scientific Integrity Program. "Nearly 900 EPA scientists reported political interference in their scientific work. That's 900 too many. Distorting science to accommodate a narrow political agenda threatens our environment, our health, and our democracy itself."

Goodness, an anonymous survey of scientists, some who dislike it when their managers disagree with them. Let's see how this one becomes a scandal.

Posted by Carter Wood at 10:37 AM | Click here to comment | Send to a Friend

April 14, 2008

Defending the First Amendment

U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly has ruled against the NAM's lawsuit challenging provisions of the 2007 statute, the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act, as a violation of the constitutional rights of speech, association and petitioning the government for redress of grievances. It's not a lightning bolt surprise, by any means, and the process continues. The NAM will seek a stay to prevent the law from going into effect. As NAM President John Engler said in a news release:

We remain convinced that many of the law’s burdensome and intrusive disclosure requirements will have a serious chilling effect on the Constitutional rights of our members. Public debate is not served by undermining the rights of business – employers and employees alike – or when laws limit speech, association and the public’s ability to petition the government.

We are committed to protecting the rights of everyone in this country, including those who work for manufacturers, to freely associate and to exercise their First Amendment rights without the government interfering with or chilling them.

The NAM's briefs in NAM v. Taylor are available here, and the judge's ruling is here as a .pdf file. The CQ Politics story is told straight.

Posted by Carter Wood at 4:56 PM | Click here to comment | Send to a Friend

April 7, 2008

Congrats to Michael Ramirez on the Pulitzer!

This is great. We were looking for a copyright-respecting rationale to post this cartoon and here it is: The cartoonist, Michael Ramirez of Investor's Business Daily, has just won a Pulitzer for editorial cartooning. Not since Charles Krauthammer in 1987...

His archive at IBD is here.

Wonder if the Los Angeles Times regrets letting him go a few years ago.

(Hat tip: Michelle Malkin.)

UPDATE (2:45 p.m. Tuesday): A Ramirez interview in E&P.

Posted by Carter Wood at 5:24 PM | Click here to comment | Send to a Friend

March 20, 2008

If Only We'd Thought of That

We've obviously been all wrong around here with our PR strategy. Forget the press releases, the news conferences, the phone calls and web updates.

We should have been blocking traffic at intersections, throwing red paint at buildings, disrupting government business, even dressing up in silly costumes. More crimes, less schmoozing.

After all, look at all the uncritical coverage the anti-war protesters received in this morning's Washington Post. A front page photo, and then a full package on the front of the Metro section, with a jump inside: A photo spread with seven photos (!) and more than 800 words of reporting, with only one negative quote, that of an inconvenienced commuter. And the reporters didn't even mention the more outrageous rhetoric, the demands for impeaching Bush and Cheney, the cursing.

We have to change our strategy. Where's the red paint?

Posted by Carter Wood at 8:56 AM | 1 comment; click here to read it or submit your own! | Send to a Friend

March 13, 2008

Manufacturing Careers in Manufacturing

Congratulations to Ron Bullock, an NAM board member, and all the good people at Bison Gear and Engineering for drawing the attention of CBS Evening News this week.

The issue? Skills gap, the lack (and lack of interest) of prospective employees to fill the many open positions in the high-tech manufacturing sector.

CBS News Correspondent Cynthia Bowers visited Bison's facility in St. Charles, Illinois:

Employees at Bison Gear and Engineering makes motors for everything from dialysis machines to ice-cream makers. The company has all the orders it can fill. What it can't fill is jobs.

"We have about a half-a-dozen openings right now," said Bison owner Ron Bullock. "The business is there, and we have the capacity to expand it."

Bison isn't alone. With half the nation's 14 million manufacturing workers nearing retirement, 90 percent of America's manufacturers say they are short qualified workers.

CBS and Bison both highlight the steps manufacturers are taking to address this shortage -- no passivity and complaining, but action. From Bison Gear and Engineering:

As a result of Bullock's concern with the quality of secondary education and the shortage of skilled entry-level workers in manufacturing, in 2007 Bison Gear announced its Skilled Workforce Initiative. In the initiative, manufacturing leaders, educational institutions, economic and workplace development organizations came together to create a talent pool of better qualified employees with plans to offer long term stable employment.

Again, congrats and thanks for spreading the word. And congratulations also to Ron for becoming the new chairman of the Illinois Manufacturers' Association.

Posted by Carter Wood at 9:24 AM | Click here to comment | Send to a Friend

March 11, 2008

Eliot Spitzer, the Newspaper Headlines

Tough time for Eliot Spitzer's family. Good time for newspaper headline writers.

The following links go to .pdf files of newspaper front pages. Courtesy the Freedom Forum, which has a story on newspaper coverage of the Spitzer scandal.

Albany Times-Union: Prostitution sting puts Spitzer's future at risk

Hoy: Ilegal

New York Daily News: Pay for Luv Guv

Newsday: Eliot & The Call Girl

New York Post:Ho no!

New York Times: Spitzer, Linked to a Sex Ring As a Client, Gives an Apology

The Wall Street Journal, well versed in Spitzer's predations, sums up the sentiments here in its lead editorial, "Spitzer's Rise and Fall."

In our system, citizens agree to invest one of their own with the power of public prosecution. We call this a public trust. The ability to bring the full weight of state power against private individuals or entities has been recognized since the Magna Carta as a power with limits. At nearly every turn, Eliot Spitzer has refused to admit that he was subject to those limits.

The stupendously deluded belief that the sitting Governor of New York could purchase the services of prostitutes was merely the last act of a man unable to admit either the existence of, or need for, limits. At the least, he put himself at risk of blackmail, and in turn the possible distortion of his public duties. Mr. Spitzer's recklessness with the state's highest elected office, though, is of a piece with his consistent excesses as Attorney General from 1999 to 2006.

He routinely used the extraordinary threat of indicting entire firms, a financial death sentence, to force the dismissal of executives, such as AIG's Maurice "Hank" Greenberg. He routinely leaked to the press emails obtained with subpoena power to build public animosity against companies and executives. In the case of Mr. Greenberg, he went on national television to accuse the AIG founder of "illegal" behavior. Within the confines of the law itself, though, he never indicted Mr. Greenberg. Nor did he apologize.

Excerpts from past WSJ editorials, columns.

UPDATE (11:25 a.m.): Walter Olson examines the "structuring" offense that prosecutors may be focusing on, working up the financial transactions in a way to evade bank reporting requirements or other scrutiny.

Posted by Carter Wood at 11:15 AM | Click here to comment | Send to a Friend

March 7, 2008

Once an Apprentice, now a Political Technomage

Great to see Dave Kralik interviewed in today's Investor's Business Daily. Kralik, who once labored here at the NAM in pseudonymous obscurity as the Blogger's Apprentice, is now director of Internet strategy at American Solutions for Winning the Future, Newt Gingrich's forward-thinking outfit. From IBD:

Kralik: We realize at American Solutions that what we want to accomplish cannot be done without embracing the latest technology. That includes social networking and online learning and collaboration and mobile technologies.

We opened an office here in Silicon Valley to embed ourselves with the technology sector, to learn from the best.

That's part of my mission being here, to connect with the tech companies that made Silicon Valley the center of innovation.

IBD: But are you looking for best practices in technology or looking instead to hear what concerns the executives in Silicon Valley have?

Kralik: It's both. We want to play a strong advocacy role. We want to understand the issues that are important to Silicon Valley executives and employees.

For instance, it's utterly silly that we have to extend year after year the R&D tax credit and for some reason we can't make it permanent. Why can't we raise the level of H-1B visas (for foreign workers)? We want to be out here to advocate for those issues.

Nice write-up, Dave. Best of luck on the advocacy.

Posted by Carter Wood at 12:23 PM | 1 comment; click here to read it or submit your own! | Send to a Friend

March 5, 2008

What Other Countries Learn About Our Elections

Should either candidate fail to land a knock-out punch in Pennsylvania or in equally populated North Dakota on May 6th, this nerve-wracking game could adjourn until the Democrats' nominating convention in September.

That's from a report about yesterday's primaries at T-Online, the biggest Internet provider in Germany and a business unit of Deutsche Telekom, which offers lots of news and other services -- think AOL News.

North Dakota held its caucuses on February 5th and has about 640,000 inhabitants.

Posted by Carter Wood at 8:24 AM | Click here to comment | Send to a Friend

March 4, 2008

BizCentral.org, Lowering Barriers to Blogging Entry

Congratulations to Pat Cleary, former NAM vice president and founder of Shopfloor.org, who has set up a new site that allows trade associations to enter the world of blogging, BizCentral.org.

From his introductory post:

Welcome, everyone, to BizCentral.org, the first-of-its-kind business association community blog. What's that mean? It means that it's a blog with a dozen or so contributors drawn from the business association community -- and one wannabe. If you click on the link at the right that says, "Who's blogging," you'll see who is part of our initial band of merry pranksters. Click on a blogger's name below to see all their posts.

It's hard to believe that there's any gap in a universe of blogs that Technorati estimates at over 90 million, but there is. There are blogs for just about every group and interest but until now there's not been a blog for business associations. And, we figure our timing is good, if this Reuters story is accurate, that 70% of Americans believe that "traditional journalism" is out of touch and are turning to the Internet for their news. We're figuring this Internet thing is gonna catch on.

We hope through our humble efforts here to grow the business voice in the blogosphere. We are capitalists, are generally pro-trade, free market folks who create jobs by the millions and power this economy. You'll hear from the bloggers about their issues and about some of the things they are doing. We invite feedback, hope you'll mark us as a "favorite," hope you'll check back from time to time to see what's buzzing in the business world.

Welcome to BizCentral.org.

Also -- nice, nice profile in Politico. That's quite a list of contributors: Business Roundtable, American Trucking Associations, American Petroleum Institute, CTIA — The Wireless Association, National Association of Chain Drug Stores, National Electrical Manufacturers Association, Nuclear Energy Institute, Organization for International Investment, Personal Care Products Council, Salt Institute and the U.S. Telecom Association.

Good idea, good luck, and welcome to all our association blogging compatriots.

Posted by Carter Wood at 11:01 AM | Click here to comment | Send to a Friend

February 27, 2008

William F. Buckley, RIP

From The National Review Online:

William F. Buckley Jr. (1925-2008) [Kathryn Jean Lopez]

I’m devastated to report that our dear friend, mentor, leader, and founder William F. Buckley Jr., died this morning in his study in Stamford, Connecticut.

He died while at work; if he had been given a choice on how to depart this world, I suspect that would have been exactly it. At home, still devoted to the war of ideas.

As you might expect, we’ll have much more to say here and in NR in the coming days and weeks and months. For now: Thank you, Bill. God bless you, now with your dear Pat. Our deepest condolences to Christopher and the rest of the Buckley family. And our fervent prayer that we continue to do WFB’s life’s work justice.

02/27 11:13 AM

Our favorite WFB book: "The Unmaking of a Mayor."

From The New York Times obituary, recalling President Ronald Reagan's tribute at the magazine's 30th anniversary celebrations:

“You didn’t just part the Red Sea — you rolled it back, dried it up and left exposed, for all the world to see, the naked desert that is statism,” Mr. Reagan said.

“And then, as if that weren’t enough,” the president continued, “you gave the world something different, something in its weariness it desperately needed, the sound of laughter and the sight of the rich, green uplands of freedom.”

UPDATE (2 p.m.): A statement from the editors of The National Review.

Posted by Carter Wood at 11:55 AM | Click here to comment | Send to a Friend

February 21, 2008

Kudlow's Money Politics

Our favorite opportunity optimist, Larry Kudlow, has a new home for his blog, Kudlow's Money Politics. It's now part of Blow Row at National Review Online:

http://kudlow.nationalreview.com/

Kudlow promotes and discusses his CNBC program, Kudlow & Company, opines on the political scene, and provides both analysis and prescriptions for the U.S. economy. Always a good read.

Posted by Carter Wood at 11:27 AM | Click here to comment | Send to a Friend

Question for Washington Post's Editorial Writers

From the second editorial in today's Washington Post, "A Victory for Workers."

THE SUPREME Court during recent terms has relied on cramped legal analysis to deny fairness to workers and criminal defendants in several notable cases.

Question: Is that what the court is supposed to do, determine and distribute "fairness?"

Silly us. We thought it was to interpret the law.

Posted by Carter Wood at 8:44 AM | Click here to comment | Send to a Friend

February 12, 2008

Reversing FOIA Reforms a Step Backwards

President Bush's FY09 budget proposal undermines a key provision of S. 2488, the Openness Promotes Effectiveness in our National (OPEN) Government Act, which the President signed into law less than two months ago. The National Association of Manufacturers supported the bill (and its predecessor, S. 849, of which the NAM wrote a letter of support to Congress), believing its provisions to expedite Freedom of Information Act requests would serve information-seeking companies and the public well.

The bill created a formal FOIA ombudsman in the National Archives, a position which the President's budget proposes to move to the Department of Justice. A Cox Newspapers blog, The Secrecy File, notes the consternation this move has caused among what reporter Rebecca Car calls the "open government community."

The Sunshine in Government Initiative, a coalition of ten media groups dedicated to open government issues, wrote to lawmakers today objecting to the action.

“Asking the Justice Department to perform the responsibilities creates an inherent conflict of interest,” the letter to lawmakers states. “We encourage the Congress to fully fund the Office of Government Information Services within the National Archives. This reflects the plain language of the statute and intent of Congress in passing the OPEN Government Act. The money should follow the law.”

“For the first time, Congress created an independent ombudsman in the federal government to help the public,” said Rick Blum, coordinator of SGI. “Why quit the experiment after only 35 days?”

And THAT is a very good question, even if the activists oversell the importance of the ombudsman in relation to the rest of the bill.

Also expressing their opposition to the budget move are the original sponsors of the bill, Sen. Pat Leahy (D-VT) and Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX). They sent a joint letter to OMB Director Jim Nussle.

All in all, a curious and unproductive move, one not likely to withstand the budget process.

(A pet peeve: The "open government community?" What community? Any group that includes such disparate characters as Rep. Jim McDermott [NAM 109th Congress voting record -- 4 percent], the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies, and the NAM is most definitely not a community. We simply share similar views on a single issue.)

Posted by Carter Wood at 7:42 AM | Click here to comment | Send to a Friend

Journalistic Hagiography

A $20 admission fee for the Newseum? (Just a ways down Pennsylvania Avenue from the NAM.) This is very disappointing.

Of all the slow-moving targets that bleed profusely when you hit them, can there be a fatter, slower, juicier bull's-eye to sight your scope on than the $450 million Newseum, the four-years-in-the-building, seven-story, steel-and-glass monument to journalistic vanity just a nine iron away from Washington, D.C.'s National Mall?

And a three-level Wolfgang Puck restaurant? With innovative cuisine? Oh, how far they've come, these ink-stained wretches.

Imagine what reporters and opiners would say if, for example, a chemical, energy, or widget/gadget manufacturing company built their own, similar kind of shrine near the National Mall. They'd get creamed.

Addendum: The Newseum's daily selection of front pages from around the world is really great. But that's online.

Posted by Carter Wood at 6:59 AM | Click here to comment | Send to a Friend

February 8, 2008

Vodcast: Representative Zach Wamp

In this week's video highlights of "America's Business with Mike Hambrick," we hear from Rep. Zach Wamp (R-TN), an outspoken advocate of expanding nuclear energy in the United States as part of a multifaceted strategy of achieving energy security. Wamp argues:

"Let’s lead on this issue. Let’s advance nuclear, let’s solve the problems of the world. Let’s build energy technologies out of this country and export them to the world. Frankly, let’s lead on energy in the next 20 years the same way we lead on information in the last 20 years and we will preserve our way of life. But it means technology, not regulation."

Wamp also has some sharp criticisms for members of Congress who respond to America's energy challenges with the heavy hand of government, taxation and regulation.

In our second segment, we hear from Garrett Graff, author of The First Campaign, a look at how new technologies have reshaped the world of campaigning, politics and policy.

For more on the full radio program and podcast, be sure to visit www.AmericasBusiness.org.

Posted by Carter Wood at 1:17 PM | Click here to comment | Send to a Friend

Congratulations, Mark

Quite the honor.

WASHINGTON (Map, News) - Mark Tapscott, editorial page editor of The Washington Examiner, will receive the Conservative Political Action Conference’s journalist of the year award today for producing what American Conservative Union Chairman David A. Keene called a “consistent, conservative, articulate editorial page.”...

Cited as a special accomplishment the Examiner series of reports that Tapscott led, Lawyers Gone Wild, detailing the plaintiff's bar excesses and economic damage.

We cite The Examiner frequently here at the Shopfloor.org blog because it highlights many issues not given adequate attention by other newspapers, and it editorially defends individual rights and the free market. So congratulations, Mark, and keep it up.

Posted by Carter Wood at 8:52 AM | 1 comment; click here to read it or submit your own! | Send to a Friend

January 10, 2008

Big Improvements at WSJ's Opinion Page

Starting with Thursday's page, the Wall Street Journal has made its entire editorial page and online content available for free at www.opinionjournal.com as well as www.wsj.com/opinion. Editorials, columns, Best of the Web feature, other content.

The Journal explains the changes here. We hope -- and assume -- that the added free content is the first step toward making the entire paper available online without subscription. In any case, we're delighted with the expanded content and say thanks a lot. Very welcome.

Posted by Carter Wood at 12:04 AM | 1 comment; click here to read it or submit your own! | Send to a Friend

January 8, 2008

Sorry We Missed the Meeting

Posted by Carter Wood at 7:30 AM | 1 comment; click here to read it or submit your own! | Send to a Friend

January 2, 2008

FOIA Improvements, Government Openness

President Bush on Monday signed S. 2488, the Promotes Effectiveness in our National Government Act of 2007, to improve the speed and accountability of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The bipartisan legislation was sponsored by Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and John Cornyn (R-TX), and Sen. Cornyn's website has a statement on the bill's passage, saying the legislation will:

Restore meaningful deadlines for agency action under FOIA;

Impose real consequences on federal agencies for missing FOIA’s 20-day statutory deadline;

Clarify that FOIA applies to government records held by outside private contractors;

Establish a FOIA hotline service for all federal agencies; and

Create a FOIA Ombudsman to provide FOIA requestors and federal agencies with a meaningful alternative to costly litigation.

Most people associate FOIA with the federal government meeting the demands of the media, but business also uses the law to gather information and hold government accountable for its decision making. As NAM President John Engler wrote in a June 21st letter to the Senate on an earlier version of the bill, S. 849:

The NAM appreciates that FOIA allows its members to obtain information that should be publicly available, even as it protects the release of information that is truly confidential and proprietary. Far too often, businesses need to resort to the FOIA process for a variety of reasons, including complying fully with federal laws and regulations, obtaining information needed for an investigation or a legal proceeding and understanding the reasoning behind agency decisions.

Good legislation. Congrats to those who got it done.

Posted by Carter Wood at 2:31 PM | Click here to comment | Send to a Friend

December 22, 2007

Not Cool Stuff Being Made: Pathe Xmas

We'll resume our Cool Stuff Being Made with the new year with even more cool stuff when the manufacturing videos return.

In the meantime and in the spirit of the season, here's Warner Pathe's 1950 newsreel trip around the world wishing everyone Merry Christmas and happy holidays.

That's George Dorsey (left), Washington bureau manager for Pathe, in the inset photo along with his crew in front of the White House. Santa shows up, too.

Posted by Carter Wood at 8:01 AM | Click here to comment | Send to a Friend

December 15, 2007

The Media’s Top 10 Economic Myths of 2007

Another well-done year-end review from the good people at the Business and Media Institute, a compilation of the media's top 10 economic myths. Here's the list, and for a more complete item-by-item summary, go here.

The Media’s Top 10 Economic Myths of 2007
Compiled by the Business & Media Institute

10. Airlines are solely to blame for the unfriendly skies.
Media myth: Blame the airlines for all those flight delays; never mind the obsolete government-run agency creating the gridlock.

9. Consumer spending is the be-all, end-all of the economy.
Media myth: Without excessive consumer spending – especially at Christmastime – the U.S. economy will collapse.

8. The stock market is trouble, whether it goes up or down.
Media myth: One day the stock market can’t sustain growth; the next, we’re just one drop away from another crash.

7. Anyone who ‘denies’ global warming shouldn’t be taken seriously.
Media myth: Global warming could cause a ‘century of fires,’ just as it has created allergies and ended winter fashion. If we don’t do something now (i.e. spend hundreds of billions of dollars), it’s only going to get worse.

6. You’d better not eat/drink that!
Media myth: Forget the right to eat as you please; the nanny-state knows better.

5. Most Americans are losing their homes.
Media myth: Americans everywhere are losing their homes to foreclosure, and the housing bust is going to ruin the economy.

4. “Going Green” is good for America and business.
Media myth: Businesses are much better off if they go green, and that’s what people really want anyway.

3. Lenders are responsible for everyone’s debts.
Media myth: Drowning in red ink isn’t your fault; blame the guy who loaned you the money.

2. Free health care would be great!
Media myth: To save our children and the 47 million uninsured Americans, and to keep up with the rest of the world, we must have government-run health care.

1. The U.S. Economy is in recession.
Media myth: The U.S. economy is nearly in, or is in, a recession.

Good list, although we might have ranked the global warming auto de fe a little higher. As for No. 1, right on. The commentariat will talk us into recession if they have their way.

Posted by Carter Wood at 9:22 AM | Click here to comment | Send to a Friend

December 14, 2007

The New York Times' World View

The headline on the New York Times' story today about Senate passage of energy legislation:

Industry Flexes Muscle, Weaker Energy Bill Passes

Removed from the bill were multi-billion-dollar tax increases on the oil industry and government mandates requiring all private utilities to produce 15 percent of their electricity from renewable fuels.

So here's how the Times sees the world: Lower taxes + less government control of the economy = weakness.

And, logically: Higher taxes + more government control of the economy = strength.

Very succinct.

Posted by Carter Wood at 8:59 AM | Click here to comment | Send to a Friend

WaPo's Pearlstein Salutes NAM Effectiveness

Here's what business columnist Steven Pearlstein had to say about the National Association of Manufacturers in today's Washington Post:

Their relentless crusade against taxes and regulation has damaged financial markets, weakened the economy, poisoned the political atmosphere and eliminated any possibility of effectively representing their members' interest with a Democratic Congress or White House.

A relentless crusade against taxes and regulation? We couldn't have said it better ourselves. Unlike Pearlstein we believe that those two things will damage financial markets, weaken the economy and hurt employers and employees alike. And you can expect the NAM to continue that crusade -- regardless of who controls the Congress or the White House. Why? Because that is exactly how we effectively represent our members' interest.

Posted by Dena Battle at 8:30 AM | 1 comment; click here to read it or submit your own! | Send to a Friend

December 7, 2007

A Little Poesie for the Season

From The Blog at the Legal Times, one of our daily reads:

NAM Manufactures Holiday Poem For the Press
'Tis the season for invitations in rhyme.

Hank Cox, vice president of media relations for the National Association of Manufacturers, spread the holiday cheer around with a lighthearted parody of "'Twas the Night Before Christmas," painting a heartwarming picture of often-at-odds "flacks" and reporters enjoying a carefree outing together at the National Press Club.

"Come sit down beside us/the NAM flacks cried/As the thirsty reporters gathered inside/They spoke not a word about issues or care/But rather of football and holiday cheer," Cox wrote.

One of the more creative invitations The BLT has received this year. We love it, even if it does end a little ominously:

"And joyful were all who assembled that night/But woe to the others who remained home and out of sight."

We're cool with "flack," or even "flak," for that matter. Football's another matter.

Posted by Carter Wood at 9:00 AM | Click here to comment | Send to a Friend

November 30, 2007

The Single Worst Journalistic Cliche

Hackneyed, lazy, overused...

"An early Christmas present..." As in, "X got an early Christmas present Tuesday when Y did Z."

And they start so early. Here's The Boston Herald on October 30th: "The developer of a new Hub tower complex yesterday gave beleaguered Downtown Crossing an early Christmas present, saying he will delay demolition of part of the landmark Filene’s retail complex until after the holiday shopping season."

Still, hackneys aside, what a wonderful early Christmas present for satirists and Schadenfreude-ists is today's story in The Washington Post. The American Association for Justice, formerly the Association of Trial Laywers of America, is suing a new group, The American Trial Lawyers Association, or TheATLA.

The name defines who we are and what we do," said J. Keith Givens, TheATLA's main founder and a senior partner in the national law firm founded by the late Johnnie Cochran, of O.J. Simpson fame. Givens, a well-known Alabama plaintiff's lawyer, asserted that AAJ abandoned the name ATLA last year, freeing up its use. Besides, he said, his group is TheATLA, which is different.

AAJ disagrees. Two weeks ago, it filed suit in federal court in Minneapolis to force TheATLA to drop the name, contending it was confusing AAJ members and infringing a trademark AAJ has held since 1976 on the acronym ATLA. In typical trial lawyer fashion, the suit also demands that AAJ get any profits that TheATLA collects, as well as damages, "trebled where permissible," and attorneys' fees.

A separate organization, the Irvine, Calif.-based American College of Trial Lawyers, also went to federal court this month in Montgomery, Ala., to prevent the Givens group from calling itself the American Trial Lawyers Association, a name, it says, is too close to its own.

Actually, we tend to side with those who claim the new group is infringing on their trademark, established after years of hard work and spending millions of dollars of other people's money.

Except...doggone it, ATLA really wanted to shed its "trial lawyer" title because the term carries a bad connotation. If you want to be an American Association for Justice, why, by God, then go be the American Association for Justice.

In any case, ho, ho, ho.

Posted by Carter Wood at 9:07 AM | Click here to comment | Send to a Friend

November 29, 2007

Gotta Love NPR

From the promo for the hourlong news magazine, "Talk of the Nation," broadcast Wednesday:

Talk of the Nation, November 28, 2007 · Francis Wheen, biographer of Karl Marx, argues that as long as capitalism endures, Marx's masterwork, Das Kapital, will be required reading.

First published in 1867, Marx's influential critique of capitalism laid the groundwork for thinkers and revolutionaries to follow.

In his "biography" of Marx's treatise — the latest in the Grove/Atlantic Books That Changed the World series — Wheen writes that Marx describes "a world in which humans are enslaved by the monstrous power of inanimate capital and commodities."

The biography sheds light on Marx's childhood, his experience of alienation, and his 20-year struggle to complete his unfinished masterpiece.

Especially liked this: "Marx's influential critique of capitalism laid the groundwork for thinkers and revolutionaries to follow."

Yes, and it also laid the groundwork for the 100 million dead that followed. Guess the book was influential, at that.

As long as Marx endures, the Black Book of Communism will be required reading, one would hope.

Posted by Carter Wood at 2:00 PM | 1 comment; click here to read it or submit your own! | Send to a Friend

November 21, 2007

Guess Now We'll Really Have to Write Something

From Reuters:

HOUSTON – Executives at large oil companies often say that the U.S. public – unnerved by high gasoline prices – does not understand or appreciate how expensive it is to keep the nation's engines running.

And now in a first, two big energy companies and the American Petroleum Institute (API), the U.S. oil industry's main lobbying group, have reached out to a conservative band of bloggers to tell their story.

“We recognize here that there are many different channels of communications that exist today,” Jane Van Ryan, new media advisor at API, said. “We've been looking into the blogosphere for the last several months, and there were a few people who seemed to be a little more knowledgeable about oil and gas.”

Fantastic, informative trip, starting with an afternoon briefing in Houston Thursday at Chevron HQ on seismographic exploration, technology and alternative fuels, and then a tour Friday of the Blind Faith platform being constructed in Corpus Christi. When completed, the platform will be towed to a point in the Gulf of Mexico 160 miles southeast of New Orleans, where it will bring up oil from the seabed 7,000 feet below. The project — jointly owned by Chevron and Anadarko — initially targets daily production of 30,000 barrels of oil and 30 million cubic feet of natural gas starting in 2008.

More details Friday.

Bloggers' posts on the tour:

Ed Morrissey from Captain's Quarters.

Bruce McQuain at The QandO Blog.

Brian Westenhaus at

Posted by Carter Wood at 9:25 PM | 1 comment; click here to read it or submit your own! | Send to a Friend

What do Commies, David Broder Have in Common?

They apparently both buy labor's line that organized labor proved decisive in defeating Kentucky Governor Ernie Fletcher in his bid for re-election.

From the People's Weekly World:

Unions flexed their muscles in off year election campaigns that ended in victories Nov. 6. Thousands of union members combed neighborhoods, button-holed people at worksites, and operated phone banks to rack up wins for labor at the polling places.

Nowhere was this truer than in Kentucky where incumbent Republican Gov. Ernie Fletcher is now job hunting. “This was payback time,” said Bill Londrigan, Kentucky’s AFL-CIO president. Fletcher was hated by labor because he had cancelled collective bargaining rights for state workers. He had privatized Medicaid and had advocated wage roll backs for state workers.

David Broder:

In Kentucky, labor had battled Republican Gov. Ernie Fletcher over his campaign to pass a right-to-work law in the state Legislature and block an increase in the state's minimum wage. As part of that 2006 fight, Working America went into the state and signed up 40,000 members.

Last week, when Fletcher sought a second term against Democrat Steve Beshear, labor leaders claimed that 350,000 people from union households -- including the Working America contingent -- voted, or about one-third of the overall turnout.

Both Broder and the Communist propagandist cite a poll by Peter D. Hart Research Associates that showed Kentucky voters deciding on the basis of the economy or "worker issues."

Right. You mean the Peter D. Hart Research Associates' election-night survey paid for by the AFL-CIO? That's certainly unbiased. (PowerPoint presentation here.)

Fletcher lost primarily because his Administration was ethically tainted, with allegations and indictments leaving an image of corruption, fairly or not. To omit that critical factor from the discussion of the Kentucky elections is to accept the AFL-CIO's spin without question. Boo.

P.S. David Broder is a gentleman and fair-minded, hard-working journalist. (If only he had taken that job in Williston, why, North Dakota journalism would have changed forever.) We just thought it remarkable that the union spin worked both with the People's Weekly World and the "Dean of Washington Columnists."

(Hat tip: Jim Gray.)

Posted by Carter Wood at 11:45 AM | Click here to comment | Send to a Friend

November 15, 2007

The Death Tax Kills a D.C. News Service

A reporter friend passes on this story from San Diego, chronicling the demise of Copley News Service and its Washington, D.C. bureau (among others). Copley is the parent company of the San Diego Union-Tribune:

Copley News Service’s Washington bureau began the year with a staff of 10. It will end it with three or four (the final numbers were still being worked out), and they will be absorbed by the Union-Tribune. Mexico City correspondent Lynne Walker, a Pulitzer finalist, will also join the Union-Tribune staff, as will the two-person bureau in Sacramento. The Los Angeles bureau of Copley is closing down altogether. The news syndicate part of the business will continue, but what else will remain of Copley News Service isn’t clear.

The news service was established to serve the company’s chain of newspapers, but almost all of those papers have been sold off to pay owner David Copley’s estate taxes. The death of Copley’s mother, Helen, in 2004 left her only child with a staggering debt to the IRS. (Estate taxes are sometimes blamed for killing off family-owned newspapers in America.)

Faced with insufficient resources to pay the bill, Copley probably had little choice but to sell off the company’s dailies in Ohio and Illinois this year with the goal of hanging on to the flagship Union-Tribune.

So the death tax has helped reduce the number of journalistic outlets that help hold power and politicians accountable. A shame.

BTW, Frank Blethen, publisher and CEO of the family-owned Seattle Times, has always been a forceful advocate for ending the death tax in part because of the threat it poses to the newspaper, founded in 1896.

Posted by Carter Wood at 9:10 AM | Click here to comment | Send to a Friend

October 29, 2007

WaPo on Media Shield: Thanks for Noticing

The Washington Post on Sunday editorialized in strong support of a federal media shield law, i.e., Free Flow of Information Act, shocked that, "Journalists have had to lawyer up ..." Well, welcome to U.S. society, circa 2007.

Still, it's a reasonable editorial, noting the two versions of the legislation.

The House bill that passed 398 to 21 would compel the disclosure of sources in federal court only to prevent bodily harm or death, to identify a person who unlawfully revealed a business trade secret or "nonpublic personal information," or to prevent a terrorist attack on the United States or harm to national security. The Senate bill applies to confidential sources except if they were eyewitnesses to crimes or if disclosure would prevent a terrorist attack or bodily harm. While there are other distinctions between the two proposals, we support both of them. The Washington Post Co. continues to lobby actively for a shield law.

Our emphasis.

Thank you, editors, for acknowledging the business and trade secrets element in the House legislation. We had barked at the Post for a self-absorbed attitude about the legislation, focusing only on the impact on journalists. This editorial recognizes the broad scope of these issues.

And, on balance, it looks like the House bill is preferable on that basis.

Posted by Carter Wood at 1:21 PM | Click here to comment | Send to a Friend

Marlin Steel Wire: Small, but Savvy with the Media

Marlin Steel Wire Products is a small company, with just 18 full-time workers.

But President Drew Greenblatt is an expert at getting his company big play in the press.

Greenblatt and his company have recently been spotlighted in Washington Post Magazine, Fortune Small Business Magazine, and on the front page of the Baltimore Sun business section.

Greenblatt, whose Baltimore-based company manufactures made-to-order wire and hook products for Toyota, Chrysler and other customers, said other NAM members can easily duplicate his media savvy.

Many companies fear the press, thinking they are a bunch of sharks out to do a “gotcha” expose, a gregarious Greenblatt said after I visited his business recently.

“They think you’re Dan Rather from ’60 Minutes’ with a dorsal fin,” he said.

However, Greenblatt, whose company’s logo sports a leaping marlin fish, said it’s easy to hook reporters. Here’s how:

When reporters come calling be honest and forthright about your business prospects. “A lot of reporters find that refreshing,” he said.

Use real-person stories when playing up your company in the press. For instance, Greenblatt demonstrated Marlin Steel Wire Products is family-friendly by telling the story of one employee who is able to bring her child to work.

Develop long-term relationships with reporters. Greenblatt was able to get a story on his company in the August 19 Washington Post Magazine because the reporter had already done a story on the company. Greenblatt called her to talk about his company’s resurgence and ended up getting another story done on Marlin Steel Wire Products.

Posted by Greg Wright at 9:56 AM | Click here to comment | Send to a Friend

October 26, 2007

From AirCongress, Video Statements and Podcasts

A new site comes to our attention, thanks to it picking up the NAM vodcast today with Rep. Eshoo, highlighting her support for a permanent moratorium on Internet access taxes.

AirCongress.com

AirCongress is the online voice of Capitol Hill, the one place where people can go to hear and see the latest news of, by and about Congress. Much of the content here is directly from lawmakers themselves — the video clips they post from floor debate, the podcasts they create on various topics and more.

The site also highlights audio and video content about federal policy from other sources, including the executive branch, trade associations, advocacy groups, government watchdogs, journalists and bloggers. Plus there are plans for original AirCongress content.

The site is run by K. Daniel Glover, who in his day job produces the National Journal's Technology Daily, and he follows blogging's impact on politics at Beltway Blogroll.

Looks like a great resource. And thanks for the link.

Posted by Carter Wood at 11:19 AM | Click here to comment | Send to a Friend

October 24, 2007

Counterfeit Drugs, Killing

Many compelling reasons present themselves to oppose the spread of counterfeit drugs. Fakes represent theft of millions upon millions of dollars of value, undermine international protection of intellectual property, and its damage often redounds -- unjustly -- to pharmaceutical companies.

And counterfeits kill. This article in The American, the magazine of the American Enterprise Institute, documents the death that counterfeits spread throughout the developing world. Author Roger Bate, an AEI fellow, focuses on the harm afflicting Nigerians, especially those suffering from malaria. Not only do their diseases go untreated when they buy fake drugs, adulterated or diluted pharmaceutical dosages help diseases build drug resistance, endangering entire populations.

Many of these products con­tain no active ingredients at all—one survey in Cambodia showed that over 90 percent of the fake antima­larials seized there contained nothing more potent than chalk. Most of the products tested in Africa do contain some antimalarial compounds, but in many cases not enough to prevent disease—the patient isn’t cured but the parasite has a chance to build up the ability to resist the therapy and pass on that resis­tance to new generations of parasites. Weakened versions of real malaria drugs can do a great deal more harm in the long term than totally fake ones.

Researchers estimated that 86 percent of understrength medicines analyzed in Kenya and Congo came from India and China. Who makes the bad drugs? Some are deliberate perpetrators, faking the packaging and relabel­ing aspirin or chalk as an antimalarial. But other culprits are legitimate firms that are simply slack in their operations; with more effort, they might make a perfect copy of a malaria drug. Sometimes the entire firm is operating to unacceptable stan­dards; other times rogue employees work after hours to increase production and sell the drugs to criminal networks.

Bate also details how international aid organizations, such as WHO and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis, engage in practices that in effect encourage the spread of counterfeits. With U.S. taxpayers accounting for 35 percent of the Fund's financing, Bate suggests it's time for accountability, and he reports on successful anti-crime initiatives in Nigeria. In the process, Bate hits another reason for fighting fakes -- they're increasingly made and distributed by organized crime.

We point to this article for several reasons:

It's a good reminder of the personal costs of fake drugs -- death and misery.

It raises rarely mentioned reasons for fighting the spread of counterfeit pharmaceuticals.

In highlighting the endemic nature of fakes -- mostly made in China and India -- it provides a counterargument to those who contend importing drugs into the United States is a safe way to reduce health care costs.

It's just one of many very interesting articles in "The American," a high-quality and informative, pro-market magazine about news and policy. (We hadn't seen it before this month.)

Finally, the article serves as a good peg for us to link to the NAM's Oct. 23 news release, "NAM Joins USTR, Other Business Groups in New Intellectual Property Rights Initiative."

Posted by Carter Wood at 7:42 AM | Click here to comment | Send to a Friend

October 17, 2007

House Shields Reporters & Sources, but Business?

The House on Tuesday passed H.R. 2102, the Free Flow of Information Act, known in the vernacular as the media shield law. The vote was 398-21.

Most states have a form of reporter protection under the theory that a qualified privilege serves a free press and a free society; the perceived need for a federal statute rose among the media with the stories based on leaks and subsequent subpoenas of reporters on the Iraq war. The Bush Administration has threatened a veto based on national security concerns (Statement of Administration Policy).

This San Francisco Chronicle story is a good summary of the issue, with the baseball steroid angle thrown in.

Business worries that shield legislation will also protect people who steal things like trade secrets -- potentially worth millions of dollars -- and then provide them to the media. We can well imagine a disgruntled employee, no doubt sanctified as a "whistleblower," stealing a recipe for anti-malarial drug, for example, and leaking it to an alternative newspaper to wreak revenge on the employer. Such plain and simple theft of property should not be made off-limits by merely giving the information to a protected class of journalist.

The House bill attempts to protect business with this language in Section 2, Compelled Disclosure:

“(a) Conditions for Compelled Disclosure- In any matter arising under Federal law, a Federal entity may not compel a covered person to provide testimony or produce any document related to information obtained or created by such covered person as part of engaging in journalism, unless a court determines by a preponderance of the evidence, after providing notice and an opportunity to be heard to such covered person—“

…and then this paragraph:

C) disclosure of the identity of such a source is necessary to identify a person who has disclosed--
(i) a trade secret, actionable under section 1831 or 1832 of title 18, United States Code;
(ii) individually identifiable health information, as such term is defined in section 1171(6) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1320d(6)), actionable under Federal law; or
(iii) nonpublic personal information, as such term is defined in section 509(4) of the Gramm-Leach-Biley Act (15 U.S.C. 6809(4)), of any consumer actionable under Federal law;….

The NAM has worked with the sponsors of both the House and Senate versions of the bills and believe good progress has been made in addressing business' concerns. Still, you can anticipate litigation as some point if the bill is ever enacted. We picture some thief of a company's intellectual property cloaking his crime with claims of "public interest" and journalistic rights. It will not be an edifying occasion for journalists, lawyers or business.

Posted by Carter Wood at 9:47 AM | Click here to comment | Send to a Friend

October 16, 2007

Blogging in China, A Growth Market

Debbie Weil, author of the clear and useful "The Corporate Blogging Book," is making her first foray into China, marking the book's release in Mandarin. You can follow her tour, talks and discoveries at her "China Blogging Tour" blog.

Debbie's trip coincides with the interesting announcement from ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, that it's going to test Internet domain names in 11 languages other than English. From PCWORLD:

ICANN made the evaluation possible by the insertion into the root of the 11 versions of .test, which means they are alongside other top-level domains such as .net, .com, .info, .uk and .de at the core of the Internet, according to the statement.

Beginning Monday, Internet users around the globe will be able to access wiki pages with the domain name example.test in 11 test languages: Arabic, Persian, Chinese (simplified and traditional), Russian, Hindi, Greek, Korean, Yiddish, Japanese and Tamil. The languages were selected based on the Internet communities that had the most interest in moving the project forward.

Yiddish? But those are Hebrew characters, right?

Posted by Carter Wood at 10:22 AM | 1 comment; click here to read it or submit your own! | Send to a Friend