Money & Politics

It all comes down to Florida. Despite winning the popular vote by an estimated 220,000 votes, Democratic candidate Vice President Al Gore may yet lose the presidential election, based on a handful of absentee ballots in Florida and the turnout of Green Party voters. Read More

I cast the vote that dare not speak its name: so shoot me, I voted Nader. But my shame is not in electing George W. I'm more nagged by an unflattering parallel between Nader's campaign and the 1988 run for President by that Bible-banging, sticky-fingered televangelist Pat Robertson. Read More

Former EPA Administrator William Reilly testified on Tuesday that a top Gore aide encouraged him to issue a trial-burn permit for the WTI incinerator located in East Liverpool -- despite Gore's promises not to before the people of the Ohio River Valley. Read More

Being a columnist is hardly the influential position it's cracked up to be. For weeks I've been trying to convince Ralph Nader voters that they have an obligation to vote for Al Gore or risk right-wing domination of government's three branches. For me, it's a no-brainer since George W. Bush has named Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia as his role models for the three to five Supreme Court appointments he's likely to make. Read More

Since Dick Cheney became a candidate for Vice President, many journalists have focused on his mixed financial record as CEO of Halliburton, and his enormous retirement package. Few have investigated Dick Cheney's role in influencing foreign policy for the benefit of the company. Read More

While the comment came in a light-hearted exchange with his Democratic opponent Joe Lieberman, Cheney's reply left out how closely Dallas-based Halliburton's fortunes are linked to the U.S. government. The world's largest oil services firm is a leading U.S. defense contractor and has benefited from financial guarantees granted by U.S. agencies that promote exports. Read More

Lawyers for Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader sought on Thursday to toss out corporate financing of the presidential debates, arguing before a federal appeals panel that such funding was illegal. Read More

If the race for the White House was won by whoever drew the biggest crowd there would be no contest. The next president would be a gaunt man in a crumpled suit who travels on discounted senior citizen's tickets and delivers long, rambling speeches. He is Ralph Nader, the consumer advocate turned Green Party presidential candidate. Read More

A Texas based oil conglomerate and four of its employees were indicted last week on 97 counts of violating federal clean air and hazardous waste laws. The charges come less than one year after the company was slapped with the largest civil penalty ever levied under federal environmental statutes. Read More

Halliburton, the oil services giant Dick Cheney headed until his selection as vice presidential candidate, has provided services to two controversial pipelines in Burma known for the violent human rights abuses associated with their construction. Read More