April 24, 2009 by citizensarah
According to a Bloomberg article this morning, San Antonio Representative Charlie Gonzalez has joined
a group of Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee (who) want to give utilities free permits for all their existing carbon emissions, according to people familiar with a plan sent to the committee’s chairman.
A few days ago, we told you about Public Citizen’s annual ranking of state medical boards – including a list of the six states with the worst-performing boards: Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi and New Hampshire.
When doctors make mistakes, they must be held accountable, which is why we’re urging you to take action and contact the six worst-performing boards.
Simply visit our Web page with a list of the six states, and click on a state to submit a letter to that state’s medical board.
Nothing is more valuable than your health, and state medical boards must serve the public by consistently doling out and enforcing serious disciplinary actions for doctors’ serious violations.
Demand these boards do a better job today!
Our friends at Public Citizen’s Texas office have been mighty pushing the public and Texas legislature to make the Lone Star State a leader among solar states. They’ve launched an ad campaign along with Environmental Defense Fund and Environment Texas to make their case.
Check it out:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynmERFZzHLg]
I had a conversation with a reporter this afternoon who remarked that the news release we put out today about doctor discipline sounded a lot like the one we put out last year, or the year before. Part of that is true: states, overall, are still doing a lousy job disciplining bad doctors. In fact, two of the largest states, California and Florida, are doing so bad that they’ve slipped into the bottom 10 states when it comes to keeping the public safe from incompetent, unscrupulous or unqualified physicians.
But as a D.C. resident, there is one positive change in there that should be noted: the nation’s capital is doing a much better job of holding doctors accountable than it once did. In the rankings Public Citizen released for 2003, D.C. ranked 42 out of 51. The 2008 rankings have D.C. ranked 23, an impressive move up and one that can be attributed directly to the public pressure brought by public interest advocates, such as Public Citizen, and the Washington Post.
As revolting as a prank YouTube video featuring two Domino’s pizza employees defiling food products for delivery was, it should not have been pulled down so quickly.
A New York Times story today about the prank stated, the video was removed from YouTube “because of a copyright claim from Ms. Hammonds” (one of the two employees). In the meantime, Domino’s posted a response YouTube video, apologizing for its employees’ actions.
While Domino’s has the right to protect itself from libelous comments – the employees have since said it was not actually food for delivery – doesn’t the public have a right to know that the controversy is happening? At the moment, the public can only see Domino’s side of the issue.
If Hammond was the one who complained, that means she did not post the video herself; otherwise, she would be able to take it down on her own. Shouldn’t the video poster be able to respond before YouTube removes the video in question?
This situation reinforces the need to change the DMCA so that takedowns don’t happen without notice and an opportunity to respond.
Note: the videos are still available on the always reliable Consumerist.
Read more at Public Citizen’s Consumer Law & Policy blog.
