Consumer Watchdog Blog

DOJ letter shows Google anti-trust probe is serious

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:41:00 PDT

The U.S. Justice Department is serious about probing the Google Books settlement for possible anti-trust violations. Consumer Watchdog was one of the first organizations to ask the department to investigate.

How oil bucks lubed climate bill

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:46:00 PDT

Here's a great explanation, copublished by Greenwire and the New York Times online, of how the oil and energy industries steadily weakened the big climate change bill in Congress, and why they expect even more energy-friendly goodies from the Senate. All it took was tens of millions of dollars worth of lobbying, and uncountable millions more in advertising greenwash.

Pickens is back for your bucks

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:59:00 PDT

I choked on my black-bean enchilada when an e-mail alert popped up about a new bill in the Senate. Oklahoma oil and natural gas billionaire T. Boone Pickens, who failed miserably last year at picking Californians' pockets, is now reaching for the wallets of all Americans. Sens. Mark Pryor of Arkansas and James Inhofe of Oklahoma have introduced a bill to put federal subsidies for natural gas-fueled vehicles on steriods. Taxpayers would shell out tens of billions of dollars to the great benefit of Pickens' own fueling stations, and much cleaner vehicles would lose sales.

Chevron's $27-billion liability sticks. Again.

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 10:19:00 PDT

Chevron keeps throwing money against the lawsuit by Ecuadoran peasants whose land and water were spoiled by oil drilling's toxic leftovers. But the U.S. oil giant lost again in a Supreme Court ruling yesterday refusing to force Ecuador's national oil company to join the suit and share the liability. The ultimate bill to Chevron shareholders may be as much as $27 billion, which makes me wonder why the company's stock rose yesterday.

Is Congress deaf? Or does insurers' money just speak louder?

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 16:37:00 PDT

Congress is taking a holiday week off, heading home to wave flags and eat hot dogs. Some listening is in order, too. The latest national poll tells us that a whopping 70-plus percent of Americans want a health reform choice that lets them snub the giant insurance conglomerates that miserably abuse their customers.

A one-cheer climate victory

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 16:18:00 PDT

I'm not a big fan of the House energy and climate bill that received a fake debate and a mini-filibuster before passing 219-212 in the House of Representatives today, but I felt a twinge of sympathy as the afternoon passed. Opponents called the bill "a twisted desire of the Democrat party" and "economic suicide" and even supporters who were still holding up Rep. Henry Waxman at near gunpoint for more pet concessions. You'd think Waxman was asking to outlaw electricity and make us huddle in the dark while China and India achieved robot-assisted world domination. No, wait. Was that the Transformers movie?

Thanks for the bailout, suckers

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 10:54:00 PDT

The big banks just launched a supposedly 'grass-roots' campaign to try and rehabilitate their image.

Said Americans United for Change today: “What are they going to call it? The ‘Thanks for the Bailout, Suckers - Now Quit Whining’ Tour?”

Stem cell agency's chief science officer quits

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 15:36:00 PDT

Dr. Marie Csete has resigned as chief science officer at California's stem cell agency effective Aug. 1 after a little more than a year with the organization. I'd say her departure after such a short tenure -- and with no clear indication of where she is headed next -- speaks volumes about CIRM's management. Or should I say, mismanagement.

CIGNA exec puts wind in health care reform sails

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 15:32:00 PDT

Nebraska's Democratic United States Senator Ben Nelson is one of the holdouts on national health care reform. He had a hard time resisting the testimony of the former CIGNA executive who went to Congress today to tell of the industry's less than honest practices.

More red flags flying on Mass. health care plan

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 08:40:00 PDT

Massachusetts, where all citizens must prove they have health insurance or pay a $1,000 average fine, continues to scale back health coverage for the lowest-income residents who receive state subsidies for private insurance...

Reality check on oil prices

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 15:37:00 PDT

Nothing changed in the real world today--economy still shrinking, gasoline consumption near 10-year lows. But speculators who doubled the price of crude oil and sent prices at the pump shooting up got some kind of extraterrestrial message today. The price of crude oil dropped about $2.50 a barrel, to around $67, and gasoline started inching downward a few pennies. Sigh of relief? Not yet.

DC Dispatch: Health insurance cancellations

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 11:21:14 PDT

Most of us don't sit around waiting to catch our health insurance company in the act of being evil. And 99.99% of Americans did not tune in to the congressional hearing I attended on Tuesday when

25 Cal Republican Lawmakers Urge Supreme Court to Help Safeco Insurance

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 13:33:00 PDT

In a stunning show of fealty to insurance giant Safeco, 25 Republican lawmakers have asked the California Supreme Court to overturn an appellate ruling that Safeco Insurance has to disclose the names of policyholders it may have cheated...

Let's break a couple of rules

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 11:33:00 PDT

Yeah, I know that some things are now shunned in the consumer end of the health reform debate: Don't mention Canada because it's been demonized as some kind of socialism (and it's full of foreigners, eh?). And ditto for so-called single payer or "Medicare for All" because it's dead in D.C. Here's a blatant violation, however, for the sake of excellent myth-busting.

'Heavy oil' = Heavy pollution

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 09:38:00 PDT

Chevron's evasions about its "upgrade" of a Northern California refinery to process dirtier, heavier oil got in well-deserved trouble with a state judge recently, thanks to unrelenting pressure from people who live near its already-dirty Richmond refinery (see poster below). Areas with less-organized citizens--including rural Mississippi and northern South Dakota--risk being mowed down by the oil industry's shift to tar-like heavy oil, for instance from Canadian tar sands.

DC Dispatch: Reining in mortgage, bank account and credit card abuses

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 09:13:00 PDT

The administration releases its financial reform plan in just a few minutes (download it here.) The devil will, of course, be in the details, but it’s a good start on one crucial piece for consumers - making financial products safer...

HMO execs' 'Seven Dwarfs' moment

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 03:43:00 PDT

Democrats in Congress who want strong reform should strive for a repeat of yesterday's fireworks. It's time to put the health insurance executives on the spot and give patients who have been victimized by company policies a spotlight.

DC Dispatch: Busting the banks - a real voice for reform

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 14:51:00 PDT

It’s time the financial industry stopped calling the shots in Washington. That’s why Consumer Watchdog has joined a broad coalition of reformers -- calling on Congress and the administration to rein in Wall Street greed and protect the financial future of real Americans...

Save the Arctic, or drill it?

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 14:37:00 PDT

What if man-made clouds could save the melting Arctic icepack? What if global warming also made it easier to drill for oil and natural gas in the most frozen parts of the Arctic? Who would win--Exxon or polar bears? It's a real question. In The Wall Street Journal today, a future-is-now OpEd (free access for now) rationally describes the possibility of man-made particle or cloud cover over parts of the Earth to slow climate change. On the other hand, a federal survey finds that the melting polar ice cap will make it easier to get at substantial oil and gas reserves.

Health insurer rescinds policy because of chronic gravititis

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 12:10:00 PDT

Is evil a pre-existing condition?

Stem cell chairman to step down at end of term

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 17:09:00 PDT

Bob Klein, chairman of California's stem cell agency oversight board, plans to step down at the end of his six-year term in 2010.

He made his plans clear during...

"Health insurance mafia" -- Or is it pirates?

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 16:04:00 PDT

Blogger and multimedia guy Bob Cesca doesn't pull his punches when he talks about how much he hates health insurance companies, especially the one that rhymes with "Screw Costs." If you like his story (below), you'll love this goofy Austin Lounge Lizards cartoon and song about health insurance pirates, titled "Go Ahead and Die." It's a couple of years old, yet totally current.

'Blue Dogs' stand in circle, pull 'trigger' over health care option

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 15:39:00 PDT

The 50 or so moderate/conservative House Democrats called Blue Dogs announced last week that they all support the health insurance industry's proposal to essentially kill any option to private health insurance. The Blue Dog "plan" was little more a cut-and-paste of insurance industry desires. But the backlash was fast, and not-so-united Blue Dogs started backing way, way off from the group's position.

Doctors' lobby attack on health reform seeks malpractice caps in Obamacare

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 04:25:00 PDT

The American Medical Association has proven again that the greed of the medical insurance complex is the chief obstacle to health care reform in America.

Price roller coaster redux

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 12:32:00 PDT

Oil prices hitting close to $70 a barrel today are a speculator's paradise. Their party, of course, is being paid for by consumers at the pump and struggling businesses. Gasoline is averaging $2.62 a gallon nationally and California is within a dime of $3.00 at the pump. Haven't we been here before? The NY Times gets to the story today, telling us "high gas prices could slow recovery."

Insurer Pals in Congress "Cut and Paste" Industry Demands

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 16:28:33 PDT

TOSback: Keeping tabs on the Web's fine print

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 16:01:00 PDT

Among the most frustrating things about online services and Internet companies are the "terms of service" policies governing how the businessses interact with you and use your personal information.

Internet companies claim...

Insurer pals in Congress "cut and paste" industry demands

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 15:17:00 PDT

I'd rather trust Grandma's pearls to a guy with a mask and a crowbar than let insurance companies control national health reform. In Friday's New York Times, columnist Paul Krugman distills the case against these bandits. But conservative Democrats are still acting like health insurers are the solution, not the problem. And they're so lazy they can't even write their own ultimatums.

Natural gas catch-22

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 14:34:00 PDT

Twist this one around in your brain. An industry demands that you prove it is contaminating your water. But the same industry also refuses to say what chemicals it's injecting deep underground, which keeps you from getting the proof. That's the gist of a contentious hearing today in Congress over new techniques of chemically assisted deep drilling for natural gas, and a spate of poisoned groundwater in the same areas at the same time. Here's the gist of the story by Abrahm Lustgarten of ProPublica:

Meet Joe the Mechanic 2012 -- The Video

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 17:26:00 PDT

This powerful video, from the new Kaiser Health Network, of a Massachusetts mechanic who says he cannot afford the state's mandatory health insurance is a look into the future for President Obama about the political danger he faces embracing mandatory health insurance.

'Biofueled' electric cars? Not yet

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 11:22:00 PDT

The best use of biofuels like ethanol is not in the tank, but in making electricity to fuel all-electric cars, says a new study in Science magazine (free abstract, subscription pdf). I expect that's right from a pure science view, but let's start by using biofuels directly in hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles--what OilWatchdog suggests in its "Road to Cleaner and Cheaper" report.

Personal responsibility for health insurance but no legal accountability for insurers?

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 10:37:00 PDT

If Americans are going to be personally responsible for purchasing a health insurance policy, what will Congress do to make health insurers legally responsible for how they process claims. Remarkably, all the Congressional outlines of reform legislation leave out the HMO patients' bill of rights measures the same Democrats championed 10 years ago but never succeeded in passing.

Oil guys just make it up. Again.

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 17:47:00 PDT

The investigative journalists of the nonprofit ProPublica are dogged (and mostly alone these days) in following the oil industry's push to get natural gas out of shale. How do they do that? With unregulated "hydraulic fracturing, a process in which water and chemicals are pumped underground at high pressure." Now that the chemicals are polluting underground water, shouldn't this be federally regulated for safety? Naw, says the petroleum lobby. We know it's safe.

Does Congress have the guts?

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 18:44:05 PDT

Oil companies have ruled in Washington for a couple of decades, paying lower federal fees than in any other developed country. There's a shimmer of a hint that situation might change. CQ.com (subscription barrier) reports that a bill is floating around to raise the royalties paid for oil and gas leases on federal lands and in the Gulf of Mexico. Here's hoping it has a better chance than an oil extraction tax in California.

Chevron vs. sick babies

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 18:16:00 PDT

Chevron is spending a little now to save a lot later. California children, state parks and the disabled can pick up the tab instead. The oil giant just threw another $250,000 in donations to Gov. Schwarzenegger, reports the LA Times. Given the timing of the contribution, after the Gov's failed election package, Chevron's aim has to be protection from an oil production tax, something every other oil-drilling state collects.

The Rush Limbaugh of health care hires oil industry hit man

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 10:57:00 PDT

Gene Randall's name popped out of the news reports about a 30-minute fake-news infomercial that aired on the NBC station in Washington yesterday. A disgraced billionaire who intends to kill national health reform paid for it and hired former CNN correspondent Randall, the "reporter" who also hosted a 30-minute hit piece for Chevron exonerating its deadly pollution in the Amazon.

Can Kennedy stick to his guns?

Fri, 29 May 2009 12:14:00 PDT

Every new report on Massachusetts' effort to create universal health care entirely through private insurance raises the red flag higher--the insurers keep finding new ways to undercut affordability. Even so, a leaked plan by Sen. Ted Kennedy to model national reform on the Massachusetts effort contains--maybe--a saving grace.

Truth in greenwashing

Thu, 28 May 2009 15:42:00 PDT

Instead of just making fun of Chevron's fake environmentalism, what if someone made them tell the truth? Jeff Grubler of InsaneReagan actually did it, producing the biting "Honest Chevron" series:

Massachusetts, "model for national health care reform," cracking under cost pressures

Thu, 28 May 2009 08:11:00 PDT

Despite the fact that more Massachusetts residents have health insurance, many of them can't actually use that "insurance" to get health care. That's what the ...

Arnold's Hummer vs. kids' health

Wed, 27 May 2009 11:01:00 PDT

Is Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's vanity-green hydrogen fuel project worth the loss of health insurance for thousands of California children? Ah, I didn't think so, either. Yet Schwarzenegger is out today touting his $14.4 million state subsidy to build seven hydrogen fueling stations for a nonexistent fleet of fuel-cell vehicles that almost no one (except for the governor) can afford. Hydrogen is glamorous, futuristic--and a really poor choice for a "cheaper and cleaner" transportation future. See Consumer Watchdog's "Road to Cleaner and Cheaper" report for the reasons.

A deafening -- and embarrassing -- $ilence

Tue, 26 May 2009 16:45:00 PDT

Los Angeles Times business columnist Michael Hiltzik has just explored the situation thwarting noncommercial neural...

A tar sands mole gets whacked

Tue, 26 May 2009 15:16:00 PDT

05-27 update: The NRDC has agreed to remove itself from the "advisory committee" for the pro-oil sands study described below and at least dispute the study's findings. An e-mail sent this morning by an NRDC attorney said: "Just to let you know that NRDC is off the Advisory Committee on all electronic versions of the report. We are working on a public criticism of the report which we were doing in any case and a formal withdrawal from the Advisory Committee."

What do the coal industry and the tar sands of southwestern Canada have in common? Good friends in high places, gigantic lobbying budgets and greenwashed slogans (like "clean coal"). Both industries are pushing a national-security argument that filthy, destructive fuels produced in North America are better than buying oil from OPEC. It's a false choice, forcing the argument away from conservation, efficiency and renewable power.

Can Chevron take a joke?

Tue, 26 May 2009 11:38:00 PDT

Organized protest has come a long way from crude cartoons and thrown-together "white papers." For tomorrow's annual meeting at Chevron's San Ramon, CA, headquarters, a loose environmental and activist coalition has produced an alt-version of the annual report and (even more fun) its own take (pdf) on Chevron's greenwashed "Will You Join Us" ads. Protests expected, too. Here's the gorgeous website, with a slideshow of the fake ads, the alternative annual report, and info about tomorrow's events. Festivities begin at 7 a.m.

NYT editorializes against federalization of insurance regulation

Fri, 22 May 2009 16:55:00 PDT

We've been posting a lot about big insurers' plot to win deregulation as part of the federal financial overhaul. Now the New York Times has, quite succinctly, made the case against this play for federalization.

Campaign scofflaws fined - 3 1/2 years too late

Fri, 22 May 2009 13:09:00 PDT

Vail Drilling - an oil company and one of Arnold Schwarzenegger's largest donors - had to pay a $6,500 fine this week for failing to disclose a $500,000 contribution it made to the governator's campaign fund... in 2005.

DC Dispatch: Baucus ducks public questions about real health reform, again

Thu, 21 May 2009 06:35:00 PDT

Senator Max Baucus ran from questions this morning about why he refuses to hear arguments for removing the profit and greed of the health insurance industry from American health care at a media event at the Kaiser Family Foundation. He pulled up ready to park on the street and go in the front door - but turned his car down a back alley and parked in the iron-gated service entrance to avoid the protesters waiting to ask him questions out front...

Give Google your data or die

Wed, 20 May 2009 17:24:00 PDT

Believe it or not, Google's co-founder Larry Page says that the Internet giant needs to retain your search data more than six months in order to save lives.

Is credit card reform real?

Wed, 20 May 2009 15:50:00 PDT

I spent a half hour on Larry Mantle's popular Los Angeles Air Talk Show this morning going through the pro's and con's of the credit card reform President Obama is expected to sign this weekend. Bottom line: consumers come out way ahead.

Send a 'cleaner, cheaper' fax

Tue, 19 May 2009 13:27:00 PDT

Just in time for President Obama's decision to boost mileage standards for cars and light trucks, Consumer Watchdog has a blueprint for getting there without heaping unnecessary costs on consumers. We grade possible solutions from A to F, thusly: Hybrid and electric cars, A. Ethanol and biodiesel, B. Natural gas fuel, C. Hydrogen cars, D. Fuel from coal, F. Learn more here. Or just click here and send a free fax to your own members of Congress. Urge them to take the consumer-friendly path to a cleaner Earth.

New Analysis By Our Legal Team On Tobacco II Case

Mon, 18 May 2009 18:16:00 PDT

The corporate attack on California consumer protection laws suffered a setback today. The California Supreme Court rejected the tobacco industry’s attempt to gut consumers’ ability to bring class actions under one of the...