This week, The New York Times editorial board called on Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) to give up a Committee Chairmanship, while allegations of unpaid taxes are investigated by the House ethics committee. Adding to the embarrassment, the panel Rangel oversees is the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, which writes the nation’s tax laws. Clearly, Rangel is now faced with some taxing problems. Initially, the Congressman’s response to the crisis was as unusual as it was brilliant. ... Read More

Yesterday, the Yale School of Medicine released a study that once again raises questions about the safety of a chemical commonly found in everyday plastics.   The potential dangers associated with Bisphenol A, or BPA, have long been the subject of debate among regulators, scientists, consumer groups, and the manufacturers that produce nearly 7 billion pounds of BPA each year. But with the revelation that exposure to EPA-accepted levels of the chemical has caused brain function and ... Read More

Critics of the food industry, including the Center for Science in the Public Interest and The San Francisco Chronicle, are questioning the Food and Drug Administration’s recent decision to allow irradiation of lettuce and spinach following devastating outbreaks of food-borne illness connected with those raw foods. The naysayers are scoffing at the idea of using irradiation, saying that it’s a distraction from what they see as the real problem – a lack of adequate resources ... Read More

With the Democratic Convention in full swing, I’m reminded of a New York Times op-ed published by Michael Kinsley a few weeks back that gently pokes fun at the empty words and doublespeak found in political party platforms. Kinsley’s criticism is aimed at politicians, but it should be taken seriously by anyone facing a high stakes communications challenge. We let politicians get away with this kind of “spin” in part because we no longer hold them ... Read More

In an opinion piece published in yesterday’s Washington Post, environmental lawyer Dusty Horwitt proposed the idea of a “progressive” tax by which energy prices would be “kept at a consistently high level” in order to “make the technologies that overproduce information more expensive and less widespread.” Why is an environmental lawyer making a tangential case for new energy taxes by targeting information technologies? Because, as Horwitt opines, an information overload created by blogs and other online ... Read More

Say it ain’t so! Whole Foods Market, the top U.S. organic foods retailer, has announced a recall of all the fresh ground beef it sold between June 2 and August 6 due to potential E. coli contamination. This significant event threatens to undermine the promise of the Whole Foods brand – that is, consumers may pay more for its products but can expect food that is fresher, healthier, and safer in return. Whole Foods said the ... Read More