Insurance

So Much Cash, So Few Votes — Less Corporate Money, More Voters;

October 10, 2006  ·  Jamie Court

<h3>Proposition 89 would loosen corporations' stranglehold on elections, a major factor in keeping turnout low.</h3><p class="source">The Los Angeles Times</p> <p>Proposition 89 would start restoring sanity in political spending, and not just by reforming the financing of ballot measures. It also would provide for public funding for candidates willing to forgo private fundraising from special interests, which is likely to reduce overall candidate advertising. Ironically, the voters who would benefit most from the reform are the ones most likely to stay home, discouraged and disgusted by the power of money. The question is whether they will see past the blitz of deceptive, negative advertising to find out what the power of one more vote could be.</p>

Proposition 89

October 8, 2006  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">Contra Costa Times (California)</p> <p>Proponents say a public financing system (Prop 89) would free elected officials to pursue the needs of regular Californians rather than big business or labor benefactors, and also allow elected officials to spend less time fund-raising.</p>

U.S. Patent Office To Reexamine Stem Cell Patents

October 5, 2006  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">The Washington Post</p> <p>Patent examiners said in recent rulings that the claims by the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights and the Public Patent Foundation raise substantial questions about whether the patents are valid.</p>

Poizner Says He’s A ‘Reformer’

October 5, 2006  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">The Sacramento Bee (California)</p> <p>Jamie Court, president of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, said: "It's pretty telling when you have a newcomer to politics who has virtually unlimited resources saying that it's very difficult to operate in this big-money climate." But Court expressed disappointment that Poizner does not support public financing. Court's organization supports Proposition 89, the public financing initiative on the Nov. 7 ballot, as does Bustamante. </p>

Insurance Chief Candidates Like Night and Day;

October 5, 2006  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>MONEY, EXPERIENCE DIFFER IN RACE PITTING POLITICO VS. ENTREPRENEUR</h3><p class="source">The Sacramento Bee (California)</p> <p>The candidates back Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi's decision to prohibit auto insurers from basing rates mainly on a driver's residential ZIP code, rather than a driving record. Doug Heller with FTCR noted, however, that in the Assembly, Bustamante supported unsuccessful legislation, backed by a campaign donor, that would have reduced premiums for good driving records and given greater weight to ZIP codes.</p>

Cautious stem-cell outlook;

October 5, 2006  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>INSTITUTE REPORT SAYS USABLE TREATMENTS ARE YEARS AWAY</h3><p class="source">San Jose Mercury News (California)</p> <p>The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, a Santa Monica-based group that has been critical of the institute in the past, said the agency's plan "shows refreshing honesty" about how long it will take to make stem-cell treatments.</p>

U.S. government to scrutinize U. Wisconsin stem cell patents

October 5, 2006  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">The Daily Cardinal - University Wire</p> <p>The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, which owns the patents that control the five stem cell lines grown at UW-Madison and the methods used to propagate the cells, is allegedly restricting research in other states, according to the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, a California-based organization.</p>

Patents for stem cells get new look;

October 4, 2006  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>Agency's assessment could affect research OK'd by state voters</h3><p class="source">The Sacramento Bee (California)</p> <p>The nonprofit groups -- the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, of Santa Monica, and the New York-based Public Patent Foundation -- maintain that the patents should not have been issued in the first place. They asserted, in a complaint that was filed in July, that UW researcher James Thomson simply modified techniques used earlier to isolate embryonic stem cells in other mammal species.</p>

CUSTOMS TO STOP SEIZING LOW-COST IMPORTED DRUGS

October 4, 2006  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida)</p> <p>"The U.S. should be importing Canadian drug policy, not Canadian drugs, so seniors don't have to cross the border or rely on fly-by-night Internet pharmacies to buy their prescription drugs," said Jerry Flanagan of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights.</p>

U.S. to allow drugs mailed from Canada;

October 4, 2006  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>Customs vows to stop confiscating small shipments.</h3><p class="source">Orlando Sentinel (Florida)</p> <p>Jerry Flanagan of FTCR said the government still has not done anything about the underlying problem: the high price of U.S. drugs. His group thinks the federal government should adopt a Canadian-style approach to drug-cost management and negotiate with the drug industry to buy U.S. medicines in bulk. "If Congress and the Bush administration were serious about lowering prescription-drug costs, they would adopt policies that allow American people to buy cheaper drugs at the stores in their own neighborhoods. We certainly think people should have the option of buying from Canada, but the point is, they shouldn't have to."</p>

Federal agency to re-examine U.S. stem cell patents

October 3, 2006  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">The San Jose Mercury News (California)</p> <p>Patent examiners said in recent rulings that the claims by the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights (FTCR) and the Public Patent Foundation (PUBPAT) raise substantial new questions about whether the patents are valid. "We take that as a positive thing," said John Simpson of the California-based FTCR. "We obviously would like to see them completely revoked because the way they are being asserted right now is an impediment to research."</p>

Prescription Drugs From Canada Not the Solution: U.S. Should Import Canadian Drug Policy

October 3, 2006  ·  Jerry Flanagan

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