Demos in the News

Please note: We are currently upgrading Demos.org and will not be posting full archival content until our fall 2007 relaunch. For information about recent media appearances, please contact press@demos.org.

Publications

"Lawmakers feel the spector of the Supreme Court hanging over campaign finance legislation"
Burlington Free Press
April 30, 2007
Brenda Wright, a lawyer who helped Vermont defend the 1997 law, told the committee last week that the limits in the Senate version are higher than those in a few other states.

"Cheaters testing patience of professors"
The National Post
April 27, 2007
David Callahan, author of "The Cheating Culture", says students cheat because they see cheating on the rise all around them, in business, in sports, in popular culture.

"MIT dean resign over falsified college degrees"
Inside Edition, CBS
April 27, 2007
David Callahan is the author of "The Cheating Culture," and told INSIDE EDITION, "If you don't have a college degree in this economy you are in big trouble so if you don't have a degree people are willing to lie in order to get that advantage."

"Bankruptcy among seniors rising faster"
The Associated Press, Businessweek
April 26, 2007
Senior researcher Jose Garcia, who examines consumer finance trends at New York-based Demos, said rising costs for housing and health care, especially prescription drugs, have made older Americans more dependent on credit. This, in turn, makes them more vulnerable to financial rough spots.

"The cheating life"
Mason City Globe Gazette
April 22, 2007
Author Callahan says Americans have learned that success comes faster to those who cut corners - and that is all the justification some people need to disregard rules, laws and values.

"Unhealthy system"
San Francisco Chronicle
April 19, 2007
Cohn, who has covered health insurance for the New Republic since the '90s, has written a book that explores the human cost of a convoluted, confusing and mismanaged system. "Sick:The Untold Story of America's Health Care Crisis - and the People Who Pay the Price" unwraps the problems in U.S. health care by looking at people and their families. Cohn found people who would be indicative of some of the larger issues.

"Suffering situations"
The American Spectator
April 16, 2007
Of all the books I've read in the last few years knowing I'll probably disagree with the author's conclusions, Jonathan Cohn's new book Sick is easily the most enjoyable. Cohn writes clearly and with compassion - one cannot help but feel for the people whose struggles with the American health care system Cohn so masterfully chronicles.

"Crime, punishment, and vengeance in the age of mass imprisonment"
Alternet
April 14, 2007
In the U.S., over 2.13 million people are incarcerated. Sasha Abramsky's new book, American Furies, explores the bloated prison system and its tremendous financial and moral cost to our society.

"Pending election reform in Congress doesn't give citizens right to sue"
Alternet
April 13, 2007
"There is no new private cause of action," said John Bonifaz, a noted voting rights attorney who is now a senior legal fellow with Demos, a New York City-based progressive think tank that focuses on numerous pro-democracy issues, speaking of the bill proposed by Rep. Rush Holt, D-N.J

"Venice clinic presents author"
The Santa Monica Mirror
April 12, 2007
Jonathan Cohn, a senior editor at The New Republic magazine, proclaimed, "We [Americans] do have a dysfunctional health care system." But he said, speaking to the Venice Family Clinic, "This place is fully functional."

"Our cheating culture"
KING5.com
April 12, 2007
"Our culture's very cutthroat, very focused on money, our economy creates big rewards for the winners on top and insecurity for the people who don't get to the top," said David Callahan.

"Libya transforms under Khadafy's watchful eye"
San Francisco Chronicle
April 12, 2007
At the March 2 debate between Khadafy, British sociologist Anthony Giddens, American political scientist Benjamin Barber and moderator David Frost, Khadafy described his country as a place where "there is no dictatorship, there is no injustice" - yet a leading dissident was in prison for protesting his regime.

"Enough tinkering"
TomePaine.com
April 10, 2007
Kudos to Jonathan Cohn for his important new book. One of the reasons we are talking about what's the right approach - or the most politically feasible approach - to insuring all Americans is that millions of Americans are telling pollsters and politicians that the health care system is in crisis.

"Cohn and health care"
The National Review Online
April 10, 2007
Cohn's piece on France's health care system reads like a sort of outtake to his new book on health care, Sick. I read it recently, and I think it may be the first book on health-care policy that might accurately be described as "a good read."

"How small groups promote social change"
The Chronicle of Philanthropy
April 10, 2007
In a study of 16 organizations, Carol Chetkovich and Frances Kunreuther detail the goals, leadership, resources, and organizational structure characteristic of small, local social-change organizations.

"Credit cards companies rethink fees"
The Austin American-Statesman
April 10, 2007
"It depends on how you define universal default," said Tamara Draut, director of the economic opportunity program at Demos, a New York-based public policy group.

"A 'Sick' health care system"
Newsweek
April 10, 2007
America's way of providing health care is failing, too, Cohn writes, and its problems also won't go away on their own. He spoke with NEWSWEEK's Mary Carmichael about how to cure an ailing system.

"Electric Boogaloo"
The American Prospect
April 9, 2007
As John Bonifaz, a voting rights attorney with the Demos advocacy group, points out, "Adding a paper trail to a DRE won't provide the kind of security our elections deserve," noting that you can't divine voter intent from a print-out from a machine that could be flawed.

"Mismanaged care"
The New York Times Book Review
April 8, 2007
In "Sick," Jonathan Cohn, a senior editor at The New Republic, lucidly shows how America's system for financing medical care helps determine who gets proper medical attention - and who doesn't.

"It's a chronic condition"
Newsweek
April 8, 2007
Jonathan Cohn has studied health care for more than a decade, and in that time he's heard hundreds of grim tales-people who skimp on doctors' visits and skip medications so they can make the rent; patients who died because, as he writes in his new book, they "literally could not afford" to fall ill"

"Proceed to checkout"
The New York Times Book Review
April 8, 2007
...the messages contained in "Consumed" are important. Barber makes points that need to be made - about the excesses of consumer capitalism, the pernicious effects of creeping libertarianism and the cheapening consequences of omnipresent branding.

"Buyer beware"
The Washington Post
April 8, 2007
In Consumed, Barber argues that shopping is pretty much the only common purpose Americans have left. For two generations, consumerism and citizenship have been battling it out for America's soul. And consumerism has won.

"Lay Off, Suze Orman!"
TIME Magazine
April 5, 2007
As Tamara Draut, author of Strapped: Why America's 20- and 30-Somethings Can't Get Ahead, says, "We are still holding on to the idea that women's problems are emotional."

"A drop in the bucket isn't enough"
Marketplace.com
April 5, 2007
The bottled water industry makes $10 billion per year in sales. Commentator Benjamin Barber says that money is better off in the hands of Third World countries that don't have the convenience of a sink.

"Why progressives should be fighting for Election Day registration"
The Huffington Post
April 4, 2007
Demos, a leading a non-partisan public policy research and good government advocacy organization recently found that EDR increases turnout by 10-12%.

"Pitfalls of private health insurance"
The New York Sun, American Enterprise Institute
April 4, 2007
The economic forces that were set in motion by these policy decisions led to fragmentation of care, cost escalation, and ultimately an underperforming health care system that fails the rich and poor alike, according to Jonathan Cohn in his highly readable "Sick: The Untold Story of America's Health Care Crisis - and the People Who Pay the Price"

"Election registration bill headed to Culver's desk"
The Charles City Press
April 2, 2007
By eliminating the deadline, Iowa could join other states that are enjoying higher ballot counts since passing a similar bill, Appel said. According to a study done by the policy group Demos, states allowing election-day registration have an average voter turnout of 70.3 percent, while other states have a 54.7 percent turnout.

"Promising practices"
Harvard Family Research Project
April 1, 2007
Allison H. Fine is a senior fellow at Demos, a network of action and ideas based in New York City. She writes and speaks on increasing civic participation by harnessing the power of digital technology. Here she answers questions regarding her book "Momentum: Igniting Social Change in the Connected Age."

"Senate passes election-day voter registration"
Mason City Globe Gazette
March 27, 2007
Demos, a Washington D.C.-based advocacy group, issued a report Tuesday that says Iowa would have had 4.9 percent higher turnout in the 2004 general election if Election Day registration had been in place. Iowa set a turnout record in 2004, with more than 1.5 million ballots cast, which was roughly two-thirds of the voting-age population.

"Cheers mate! The BBC is the future of your paper. Maybe.
The Village Voice
March 27, 2007
Robert Kuttner, the American Prospect co-editor who wrote the barely upbeat CJR essay that inspired the panel, whipped up a consensus that newspapers could save themselves by getting all Sumner Redstone on Google's ass. Newspapers should join the legal battle against unauthorized online distribution of their storiesor at least make a better deal. "The search engines," he said, "are taking too big a cut of our content."

"Seniors choose plastic over money"
The Pittsburgh Tribune Review
March 26, 2007
"The big story is that credit card debt has grown among seniors," said Tamara Draut, director of the economic opportunity program at Demos, a nonpartisan advocacy and resource center in New York. "And the credit card debt has gotten much higher."

"From the mirage of middle-class life to the slavery of debt"
Alternet
March 24, 2007
Every day brings news of the potential scope of the emerging "sub-prime" loan scandal - what Robert Kuttner called "deregulation's latest gift" - and new indicators that the housing market that's driven so much of the economy for the past five years is a bubble that's begun to burst right before our eyes.

"Consumed with consumption"
Marketplace
March 22, 2007
Author Benjamin R. Barber says the American economy has taken a wrong turn toward encouraging consumption - and that's not what capitalism was supposed to be about. He talks with Kai Ryssdal.

"Stepping on the dream"
The New York Times
March 22, 2007
Ms. Draut, director of the Economic Opportunity Program at Demos, a public policy group in New York, got to the heart of the matter in her recent testimony before a U.S. Senate committee looking into higher education costs.

"Credit card firms rethinking fees"
Detroit Free Press
March 22, 2007
"It depends on how you define universal default," said Tamara Draut, director of the economic opportunity program at Demos, a New York-based public policy group.

"House OKs voter registration on Election Day"
Des Moines Globe-Gazette
March 21, 2007
In the election last November, states with Election Day registration had 49 percent turnout, compared to 38 percent in all other states, according to Demos, an advocacy group that works for greater voter participation.

"Don't cry for Reagan"
The New York Times, The Argus, The Kansas City Star
March 20, 2007
In 1993 Jonathan Cohn - the author, by the way, of a terrific new book on our dysfunctional health care system - published an article in The American Prospect describing the dire state of the federal government. Changing just a few words in that article makes it read as if it were written in 2007.

"Qadhafi talks up 'direct democracy'"
US News & World Report
March 19, 2007
The unusual "conversation" among Qadhafi, Giddens, American political scientist Benjamin Barber, and the British interviewer David Frost was an effort to show the world a Libya in transition from socialism to free markets and from dictatorship to something--perhaps one day less than dictatorship.

"Senate committee ready to pass campaign finance fix"
Burlington Free Press
March 19, 2007
Brenda Wright, a lawyer who represented VPIRG in defending Vermont's 1997 law and who helped write this year's proposed legislation, told the Senate committee this week that Vermont needs to enact new contribution limits.

"'Election fraud' cry useful tool for the GOP"
The Baltimore Sun, TomPaine.com
March 18, 2007
If election fraud were a serious problem, such abuses might have a shred of legitimacy. Yet the documented cases of deliberate illegal voting are minuscule. For its 2003 report "Securing the Vote," the think tank Demos conducted a national study seeking documented evidence of fraud.

"A short history of health care, Jonathan Cohn shows us how we got here"
Slate
March 13, 2007
Each chapter of Cohn's book is devoted to one or two patient narratives that illuminate a particular dysfunction of the present medical system, and the chapters are arranged in such a way that the dysfunctions appear more or less in the order in which they first became significant national problems.

"Group urges legislators to approve vote day registration"
Iowa Radio News
March 13, 2007
The leader of a national group is urging Iowa legislators to allow Iowans to walk into the polls and vote, without registering days in advance. Stuart Comstock-Gay, director of the Demos' Democracy Program, says it's a reform that encourages more people to vote.

"Capitalism put on trial, Buffett eats: new nonfiction"
Bloomberg.com
March 13, 2007
Megacorporations are as much in the business of manufacturing "needs," Barber argues, as of products or services for a population of emotionally stunted consumers.

"Who will lead nonprofits? Sector worries over future"
City Limits Weekly
March 13, 2007
"When you ask them what they're going to do next, it tells you more about what they think of their job now," said Frances Kunreuther, the (baby-boomer) director of the Building Movement Project, a New York-based organization that supports other non-profits, during the panel discussion.

"Great care - but not for all"
Newsday
March 10, 2007
Among working and middle-income families, the research organization Demos reported in January, medical bills are piling up heavy debts on credit cards. Families with medical debts owe on average $11,623, compared to average credit card balances of $7,964.

"My chat with the colonel"
The Guardian
March 9, 2007
Libya has a small population. But what happens there could have an impact in North Africa and across the Middle East. How far is Gadafy's change of direction real? What are the chances of effective reform? It was to explore these questions that I went to Libya with David Frost and Professor Benjamin Barber, a celebrated theorist of democracy, to engage him in debate.

"2 big credit-card firms in spotlight ease terms"
Bloomberg News, The Baltimore Sun, The Sun-Sentinel
March 8, 2007
Credit-card debt among U.S. consumers is about $9,000 per household, according to Tamara Draut, program director at Demos, a public-policy group. About 40 percent of cardholders pay off their balance each month and don't incur interest charges or late fees.

"Eyewitness: dialogue in the desert"
BBC News
March 7, 2007
The precise forum was a dialogue involving the Leader, as he is known, alongside Anthony Giddens, together with University of Maryland professor and political scientist Benjamin Barber, all under the chairmanship of the veteran journalist Sir David Frost.

"The second shift"
New York Post
March 5, 2007
The average college graduate hits the work force with $20,000 of debt, notes Tamara Draut, author of "Strapped: Why America's 20- and 30-Somethings Can't Get Ahead." Meanwhile, when adjusted for inflation, entry-level wages have actually declined in the past 30 years.

"College grads enter workforce saddles with debt"
NY 1 News
March 5, 2007
A study by Demos - a New York think tank - found that in 2003 more than 25 percent of college graduates had more than $25,000 in student loan debt, up from seven percent in 1992.

"Longer work weeks and less family time"
The Times-Gazette
March 5, 2007
To show my point, here is a quote from a United States senator's staff member, that Tamara Draut (director of the Economic Opportunity Program at Demos) obtained when she was discussing the child care problems of today's families. The senator's staff member, to show that she understood the child care problem, said, "I know, my husband and I can barely afford the $35,000 a year for our nanny."

"Hip-hop stars sell good money sense"
The Houston Chronicle
March 4, 2007
Draut said she thinks the public far too often blames youth for their money woes. Rising costs that don't keep up with incomes force many young people to take out loans and rack up debt, she said.

"Raft of bills voted out of Assembly's Election Law Committee"
The Amherst Times
March 2, 2007
By law, former offenders should be registered by elections officials in the same manner as everyone else, but the survey found that nearly one-third of all counties illegally required documentation before registering eligible voters with felony convictions; moreover, many illegally refused to register individuals on probation.

"Group seeks change in voter registration laws"
The Hartford Courant
March 2, 2007
Miles S. Rapoport, a former Connecticut secretary of the state who now runs a national group that promotes participation in public life, said research shows that Election Day registration is the surest way to boost turnout.

"Talk show is new forum for Gaddafi push for ties"
Reuters
March 2, 2007
"The past is over. Today we have a new age of globalization," Gaddafi told the debate, sounding a favorite theme of his talk with U.S. political scientist Benjamin Barber and British sociologist Anthony Giddens.

"Gadhafi: It's time Libya opened to the world"
The Associated Press, The Washington Post
March 2, 2007
In the debate, held earlier Friday in front of a group of Western journalists, American political theorist Benjamin Barber and British social scientist Anthony Giddens politely--sometimes deferentially--pressed the man known here as "Brother Leader" on the need for reform.

"How to fix our democracy"
The Nation
February 28, 2007
The Democracy Protection Act--developed by the New Democracy Project, the Brennan Center for Justice, Demos and The Nation--can help us recover from Bush's assaults as well as fix structural flaws that have long diminished our democracy and frustrated majority support for progressive reforms. It identifies five key areas calling out for popular reform.

"Western democracy is ill-suited to Africa--Gaddafi"
Reuters, The New York Times
February 28, 2007
Gaddafi's speech came at the start of a public debate on democracy which included U.S. political scientist Benjamin Barber and British sociologist Anthony Giddens.

"Report finds medical debt increasing"
CQ Healthbeet News
February 27, 2007
Patients are turning to credit cards to meet rising out-of-pocket medical expenses and are accruing heavy medical debt as a result, according to a new report by advocacy groups Demos and the Access Project.

"Panel confronts 'lie of black inferiority'"
The New Haven Register
February 25, 2007
Other panelists were Derrick Gordon, psychiatry instructor at Yale School of Medicine; Algernon Austin, director of the Thora Institute; Makana Ellis, director of the Dixwell-Yale University Community Learning Center; and Minister Alisa Anderson.

"Learn to get in touch with your community"
The Northern Star
February 23, 2007
Is this simply American culture? Murals on buildings in Iran display American flags, but really show anger toward what Rutgers political scientist Benjamin Barber called in 1992 "McWorld," the homogenous supra-culture of McDonald's and Britney Spears that threatens to encroach upon traditionalist societies of the developing world.

"Senate panel tackles college affordability 'crisis'"
Diverse Issues in Higher Education
February 19, 2007
This imperfect system takes its highest toll on low-income students, who may deal with unfair loan terms or simply fail to apply for college. In one year alone, about 400,000 students with a quality academic record failed to attend college due to their low family incomes, said Tamara Draut, director of economic opportunity at Demos, a nonpartisan public policy organization.

"Is plastic the Rx for high medical bills?"
The Oregonian
February 18, 2007
"It's a dangerous path to go on, especially if you have outstanding balances on your credit cards," said Mark Rukavina, director of the Access Project in Boston and an author of the credit card survey that was co-sponsored by the advocacy group Demos.

"N.H. ranks near top for credit cards"
The Boston Globe
February 17, 2007
Tamara Draut, who often writes about debt for the advocacy group Demos, also was surprised by Experian's findings. Credit card debt often rises in areas where there are big job losses, but that wouldn't seem to account for New Hampshire's or New Jersey's credit card totals.

"Latino consumers need stronger protections to navigate the credit card market"
The Times-Record News
February 16, 2007
A recent Demos study on household debt showed that while 7.3% of all respondents were "maxed out and can't use [their cards]" and 12.7% characterized their debt situation as "burdensome and not enough money to pay down [the balance]," 11.4% of Hispanics reported they were "maxed out and can't use [their cards]," and 19.3% of Hispanics described their situation as "burdensome and not enough money to pay down [the balance]."

"Study finds patients paying with credit, medical costs pummeling middle class"
The Argus Leader
February 16, 2007
Medical expenses contributed to credit card debt for 29 percent of low- and middle-income households in 2005, according a study by Demos, a nonpartisan public policy group, and The Access Project, a health care community action organization.

"As medical bills mount, so does credit card debt"
NBC Nightly News
February 7, 2007
Cindy Zeldin works for Demos, a nonprofit research and advocacy group. She says even the insured are not immune from this growing trend.

"Older, but not necessarily wiser"
The Dallas Morning News, The Sun Herald, The Columbia Daily Tribune
February 4, 2007
A 2004 study by Demos, a New York-based research institute, found that consumers within 10 years of retirement are spending an average of one-third of their income on debt payments.

"When the medical debt starts piling up"
Urbana/Champaign News-Gazette
February 4, 2007
A new report shows medical debt has become a significant part of credit card debt for insured and uninsured patients alike. That trend may grow as more employers switch to high-deductible, smaller-benefit health plans.

"The credit trap"
Greensboro News-Record
February 4, 2007
Unless federal regulations get stronger, Americans will have little defense against powerful and aggressive card companies, says Tamara Draut, of the nonpartisan advocacy and research group Demos.

"Saving for retirement early a good plan"
The Bloomington Pantagraph
February 4, 2007
In 2005, 18-to-34-year-olds with credit card debt reported an average balance of $8,182, according to Demos, a public policy research and advocacy organization in New York.

"Credit cards: many go deep in debt for health care"
Bankrate
January 30, 2007
"Too many working people are piling up debt on high interest credit cards and risking financial security simply because they have the misfortune of getting sick," says Mark Rukavina, one of the authors of the study, "Borrowing to Stay Healthy: How Credit Card Debt Is Related to Medical Expenses," by the nonpartisan public policy advocacy group Demos.

"Young adults are right to complain, author says"
The Seattle Times
January 28, 2007
"Most young people aren't having crises of self-actualization," said Draut, director of the Economic Opportunity Program at Demos, a think tank in New York.

"Generation debt: Today's college grads face piling bills, job struggles"
South Coast Today
January 28, 2007
"Today, for kids with a bachelor's, it's an average debt of $19,000. With the cost of health care, housing market, add in student loans and it becomes much more difficult to meet all those payments," said Ms. Draut, a frequent television commentator on the Today Show, ABC World News Tonight and CNN.

"Why you should pay an annual credit-card fee"
CNN Money
January 26, 2007
Tamara Draut, director of economic opportunity programs at Demos, noted that customers who may be a day late or even an hour late in their payment are often hit with the same $35 late fee as customers who might be three months' late.

"Health reform plan is springing leaks"
The Berkshire Eagle
January 24, 2007
Last week, Access Project, a nonprofit medical consumer advocacy group, and Demos, a public policy research organization, revealed a study concluding that Americans are now resorting to credit cards to pay health care costs that are increasing as employers shift more expenses to workers.

"News from nowhere"
The Socialist Alternative
January 23, 2007
As the titles suggest, the high cost of housing, healthcare, education, and childcare plus stagnating or declining wages and growing debt are creating lower living standards. The author of the series, Tamara Draut, also wrote "Strapped: Why Americas 20- and 30-Somethings Cant Get Ahead."

"Debt crushing retirees as well as the young"
The Arizona Republic, USA Today
January 22, 2007
Among households 65 and older, the average amount of credit card debt more than doubled from 1992 to 2004, to $4,907, according to Demos, a New York think tank. Seniors' debt levels are catching up to those of younger people.

"Credit cards now paying medical bills"
The Miami Herald
January 22, 2007
Americans are increasingly relying on credit cards to pay for medical expenses, according to a new report from Demos, a nonpartisan public policy advocacy group; and such debt is putting families at financial risk.

"Your MasterCard or Your Life"
The New York Times
January 22, 2007
The report, released last week, was jointly compiled by Demos, a public policy group in New York, and the Access Project, which is affiliated with a health policy institute at Brandeis University and is trying to broaden the availability of health care in the U.S.

"Patients piling medical costs on credit cards"
The Boston Globe
January 22, 2007
The Access Project/Demos analysis said medical debts should not be used to tarnish an individual's credit rating, and that doctors and hospitals should be discouraged from marketing credit cards to patients.

Book Review: American Furies by Sasha Abramsky
Publisher's Weekly
January 22, 2007
Few would find much to argue with as Abramsky depicts the recent growth of, and violence in, American prisons; he presents alarming statistics on the rise in government spending on punishment in the past 25 years, even as a "less government is more" ethos has ruled.

"Cashing out: more homeoowners are refinancing to tap equity"
MarketWatch
January 21, 2007
Overall, borrowers also need to be honest with themselves before tapping their home equity, especially if the reason for the cash-out isn't a one-time cost, said Jennifer Wheary, a senior fellow at Demos

"The Price of Health: Paying Medical Bills with Plastic Can Really Sting"
US News & World Report
January 18, 2007
The balances of medically indebted households were on average 46 percent higher than those without medical debt-$11,623 versus $7,964according to the survey of 1,150 adults by the Access Project, a consumer health advocacy organization affiliated with Brandeis University, and Demos, a public policy research organization.

"Illness can bring credit card pain"
The St. Petersburg Times
January 17, 2007
Medical debts are a problem for one in five low- and middle-income families carrying credit card balances, according to a report released Tuesday. Demos, a public policy research group in New York, and the Access Project, a Boston center working to improve health care access, teamed up on the report, which analyzed data from a survey conducted by the Center for Responsible Lending in Durham, N.C.

"More and more medical bills paid on credit"
The News Journal
January 17, 2007
"Borrowing to Stay Healthy," a joint project by public policy groups Demos and The Access Project, says 29 percent of low- and middle-income households with credit card balances attributed part of that debt to health care.

"Report: People who charge health-care expenses getting in debt trouble"
The Kansas City Star
January 17, 2007
Demos analyzed data from a 2005 national survey done in conjunction with the Center for Responsible Lending. The survey consisted of 1,150 phone interviews with low- and middle-income households whose incomes fell between 50 percent and 120 percent of the local median income.

"More Americans Paying Their Medical Bills With Credit Cards"
Health Day, Washington Post, Forbes
January 16, 2007
"Medical costs were key factors in higher credit-card balances among households," said Tamara Draut, director of the Economic Opportunity Program at Demos.

"Retirees sliding into debt"
Dallas Morning News
January 15, 2007
A 2004 study by Demos, a New York-based research institute, found that consumers within 10 years of retirement are spending an average of one-third of their income on debt payments.

"Schwarzenegger stirs up national politics"
The Mercury News
January 14, 2007
In the New Republic, senior editor Jonathan Cohn, made a similar point: "If a Democrat proposed something like this, Republicans would have a field day, calling him a radical, a socialist, or worse."

"FIRST STEPS: For shame? Moving home can help establish financial footing"
The Times-Dispatch
January 13, 2007
An analysis by Tamara Draut, the author of "Strapped: Why America's 20- and 30-Somethings Can't Get Ahead," found that the average person now leaves home at age 24 and that almost half of all adult children return home at least once after moving out.

"Will state ever admit to voter ID law's real intent?"
The Tribune-Star
January 13, 2007
Spencer Overton, a law professor at George Washington University, is one of a few dozen Americans who actually have studied voter fraud instead of using the specter of it to make political hay. His research and that of the federal U.S. Election Assistance Committee strongly indicate that strict voter ID laws such as Indiana's are, at best, an antidote in search of a poison.

"Young dream-seekers strapped by debt"
Christian Science Monitor
January 11, 2007
Sixty percent of young adults between 18 and 34 are struggling for financial independence, says Draut, now the director of the economic opportunity program at Demos, a think tank in New York. She is also the author of a new book, "Strapped: Why America's 20- and 30-Somethings Can't Get Ahead."

"Clever Econ, Vonnegut vs. Bush, Hershey Empire: New Paperbacks"
Bloomberg News
January 10, 2007
"Strapped: Why America's 20- and 30-Somethings Can't Get Ahead" by Tamara Draut. A bracing look at the economic challenges young professionals face when entering the job market and establishing careers.

"The Deficit Trap"
The Washington Post
January 10, 2007
The Democratic dilemma is starting to attract some attention on the left. American Prospect editor Robert Kuttner says of the pay/go plan: "The rules preclude tax cuts, unless paid for by other tax increases or spending cuts. This is mostly a good idea - but unless Democrats get serious about repealing Bush's tax cuts for the rich, the result could be further cuts in social outlays for the regular people whom Democrats supposedly champion."

"It's time to make a spiritual attack"
Sydney Morning Herald
January 9, 2007
The author of Jihad versus McWorld, Benjamin Barber, makes a similar point. He says the forces of "integrative modernisation and aggressive economic and cultural globalisation" mean the trivialisation of religion and the displacement of ethics and values from the centre of life.

"First Person: Innocent Lies?"
Baptist Press
January 4, 2007
In the book "Cheating Culture: Why More Americans Are Doing Wrong to Get Ahead," author David Callahan wrote, "A 1997 study by a company that does pre-employment screening found that 95 percent of college-age respondents were willing to lie in order to get a job -" and that 41 percent of the students had already done so."

"Credit card debt weighs down older Americans"
Ventura County Star
December 31, 2006
Demos, a public policy group, reports that the average credit card debt for Americans between 65 and 69 years old rose a shocking 217 percent between 1992 and 2001.

"Why consumers may show more discipline in 2007"
Christian Science Monitor
December 31, 2006
US mortgage debts now total about 46 percent of all US home values. That percentage has more than doubled since the 1950s. "Homeownership is now much more precarious," says Tamara Draut of Demos, an advocacy group in New York worried by America's high consumer debt levels.

"Coalition Paper Ballot Call Spares Vote Villains"
Scoop Independent News
December 18, 2006
An impressive coalition of election fraud-election integrity groups signed an open letter to the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives calling for paper ballots as the only standard for voting in the United States.

"Xerox Boss was from Halifax"
Chronicle Herald
December 18, 2006
In the book Kindred Spirits: Harvard Business School's Extraordinary Class of 1949 and How they Transformed American Business (2002), a study of the careers of such innovative capitalists as Mr. McColough, author David Callahan says the grads of '49 were, by all accounts, an extraordinary bunch.

"Recommended Reading"
Wall Street Journal
December 17, 2006
With credit card debt and student loans a hard reality for many twentysomethings, the need for financial planning has never been greater. In fact, young people today face greater financial challenges than their parents and most previous generations, argues Tamara Draut, the director of the economic opportunity program at Demos, a public policy center based in New York City.

"Embellishing truth will taint your resume"
The Morning Call Online, Chicago Tribune, Orlando Sentinel, Hartford Courant
December 17, 2006
"I think there's a lot more employment insecurity among twentysomethings today, where the good-paying jobs with good benefits are more difficult to come by, " said David Callahan, author of "The Cheating Culture: Why More Americans Are Doing Wrong to Get Ahead." "

"The economics of moving back home"
Washington Date Line, Winston-Salem Journal
December 14, 2006
"An analysis by Tamara Draut, the author of "Strapped: Why America's 20- and 30-Somethings Can't Get Ahead," found that the average person now leaves home at age 24, and almost half of all adult children return home at least once after moving out."

"Nostalgic About 1974?"
Human Events Online
December 14, 2006
"This index of "fluctuations of income around its overall growth path" has become another ritualistic chant among New York Times writers. "According to a measure of volatility constructed by Jacob S. Hacker," wrote Daniel Gross, "income volatility rose 88 percent between 1978 and 2000." "According to a recent series of papers by Jacob Hacker," wrote Noam Scheiber, "while incomes have been rising, so has the degree to which those incomes fluctuate. ... Between the early 1970s and the early '90s, the index of income volatility he devised rose by a factor of 5."

"White-Collar Workers Unite"
In These Times
December 14, 2006
"UP's mission is simple: "to protect and preserve the American middle class, now under attack from so many directions" Specifically, the group is organizing two related yet disparate types of workers: recent college graduates and middle-aged workforce veterans. "It is important to align the two groups [of workers]," says Tamara Draut, a UP Advisory Board member and the author of Strapped: Why America's 20- and 30-Somethings Can't Get Ahead."

"Internet cheating clicks with students"
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
December 13, 2006
The Internet only partially explains the situation. Other forms of cheating are becoming more common as well, noted David Callahan, author of "The Cheating Culture." "It's not that you just find a spike in Internet-related cheating and not in crib sheets or getting help from a friend," Callahan said.

"U.S. should enlist Libya's help"
Marketplace
December 11, 2006
Commentator Benjamin Barber has a proposal to simplify America's energy problems. After meeting with Libyan leader Moammar Qaddafi, he came away thinking we might just be able to make a deal.

"College equals mounting debt and stress for Gen Y"
The Shreveport Times
December 10, 2006
"This debt-for-diploma system is strangling our young people right when they're starting out in life," said Tamara Draut, author of "Strapped: Why America's 20- and 30- Somethings Can't Get Ahead." She added, "It's creating a sense of futility that no matter what they do, they're not going to be able to get ahead. It's a sense of hopelessness."

"A generation falls behind parents' standard of living"
Kansas City Star
December 10, 2006
Young adults today are feeling the deep impact of a shift from an industrial to a technology- and service-based economy, said Tamara Draut, director of the Economic Opportunity Program at Demos, a New York-based consumer think tank. They face higher costs in starting and sustaining families, building careers, finding affordable health coverage and growing assets, said Draut, author of Strapped: Why America's 20- and 30-Somethings Can't Get Ahead.

"Bitter Medicine"
American Spectator
December 4, 2006
While drug-makers and free-market advocates are revolted by the prospect of government-mandated distribution policies, there will always be a liberal cheering section. Enter Jonathan Cohn of the New Republic, one of this group's loudest cheerleaders.

"Young Debt"
Fox 6 News San Diego
December 4, 2006
A new study, by Demos, a national nonpartisan public policy center, is revealing some startling facts about these economic changes. Today's young adults are deep in debt, facing a massive shift in the focus of the U.S economy. These young people are no longer able to start and sustain a family, build a career and grow assets in the same manner as the previous generation.

"At Stake, 'The Value of Our $60,000 Degree'"
The New York Observer
December 4, 2006
David Callahan wrote in his book "The Cheating Culture" that the obsession about advancing in the world "can easily justify the dishonest means." A plagiarism slip here, a source fabrication there--factor in a curmudgeonly professor for a required class and you may acquire a case of cheating on a take-home final.

"US is said to probe Bay State elections"
Boston Globe
November 30, 2006
Boeving is planning to inquire about the state's failure to comply with the federal Help America Vote Act, which requires that every polling place have at least one machine that allows disabled people to vote privately and independently, said Brenda Wright, managing attorney at the Boston-based National Voting Rights Institute. Wright received a call from a Department of Justice lawyer Tuesday.

"Cheaters never prosper"
State Press
November 30, 2006
David Callahan, author of "The Cheating Culture: Why More Americans Are Doing Wrong to Get Ahead," says students feel more pressure than ever to succeed. "Students can feel that the deck is stacked against them, and that can provide a rationalization for cheating," Callahan says. "Today, tuitions are higher and many students work to make ends meet. Grades are more important because many undergrads plan to go on for advanced degrees or depend on grants and scholarships that require maintaining a certain GPA."

"The money gap"
Canon City Daily Record
November 29, 2006
"Poor black people did not develop a culture of success in 1993, then abandon it for a culture of failure in 2001," wrote economist Jared Bernstein of the liberal Economic Policy Institute and sociologist Algernon Austin in a recent op-ed.

"Generation I.O.U., the Economics of the Young"
NPR
November 29, 2006
Roughly two-thirds of young people have some form of debt, and the extra financial burden has made it harder for young people to save for retirement. Guests discuss why some eighteen to thirty-four year olds are financially biting off more than they can chew. Guests: Liz Pulliam Weston, Columnist for MSN Money; Author of Your Credit Score and Deal With Your Debt; Tamara Draut, Author of Strapped: Why America's 20 and 30 Somethings Can't Get Ahead

"Florida (And Who Else?) Botches Another Election"
Bloomberg.com
November 27, 2006
"There is no meaningful way to conduct a recount in that process," says John Bonifaz, founder and general counsel of the National Voting Rights Institute in Boston. "We had meltdowns in many jurisdictions across the country with respect to the use of these machines."

"It's Harder for Your Generation"
Washington Post, Miami Herald, Cleveland Plain Dealer
November 26, 2006
Tamara Draut does not think frustrated young adults are "whiny." Or "lazy." Or "spoiled." Or any of the other insults that are routinely tossed at them by their elders these days. "Most young people aren't having crises of self-actualization," said Draut, director of the Economic Opportunity Program at Demos, a think tank in New York. "They're having crises of 'how am I going to put food on the table and support my family and still better myself through education?'" Where many pundits, career coaches and authors see an epidemic of entitlement, Draut sees a completely justifiable sense of unease. "The path to adulthood for today's young adults is a full-blown obstacle course of loop-de-loop turns and jagged-edge hurdles," she writes in "Strapped" (Doubleday, $22.95), her effort to explain why things are so tough for young adults today and what we could do to fix it. To her, the problems are institutional, not personal. "Far too often, social critics place the blame squarely on our shoulders, maligning everything from our work ethic to our spending habits. If only it were that simple."

"At SEC, Cox has right focus"
The Seattle Times
November 22, 2006
Cox's assumption of that role is a refreshing rebuke to those who tried to spoil his nomination a year and a half ago. They tagged Cox, a Reagan Republican, as a friend of business--which he was. Public Citizen argued that he would be "a disaster for investors." Liberal writer Robert Kuttner warned that he "could be Bush's single-most-destructive regulatory appointee."

"A holiday budget now can prevent shock later"
Contra Costa Times
November 22, 2006
"It is a holiday that's wrought with temptation," said Tamara Draut, author of "Strapped: Why America's 20- and 30-Somethings Can't Get Ahead." "We are constantly bombarded with the message to spend money....You can start out with the best intentions and still wind up spending more money than you had budgeted."

"Did voting machines steal a Democratic victory?"
Salon
November 22, 2006
"A handful of private voting technology companies have made millions off of selling states these touch-screen voting machines as a result," says Bonifaz of the National Voting Rights Institute. "Now, we're faced with this predicament: Millions of federal dollars have been spent on a product that appears to be seriously flawed."

"Young people struggle to deal with kiss of debt"
USA Today, Florida Today, Indianapolis Star, WBIR-TV Knoxville, WZZM 13 Grand Rapids
November 20, 2006
"This debt-for-diploma system is strangling our young people right when they're starting out in life," said Tamara Draut, author of "Strapped: Why America's 20- and 30-Somethings Can't Get Ahead."

"Twenty-Somethings Drowning in a Sea of Bills"
ABC News
November 18, 2006
Tamara Draut, author of "Strapped: Why America's 20- and 30-Somethings Can't Get Ahead," says those who are heading to college need a reality check right now. "I think three decades, four decades from now, we're going to look back and remember this generation as either the generation that saved the American dream or the generation that lived through its demise."

"Groups Call for Revote in Florida Congressional Race"
The NewStandard
November 17, 2006
"Public confidence in the vote-counting process is a bedrock principle of any democracy," wrote DEMOS, a public-interest advocacy group, and the National Voting Rights Institute (NVRI) in a joint statement. "In Florida's 13th Congressional District, it is clear that only a revote with the option of hand-recorded paper ballots will ensure that voters in that district can trust that their votes will be properly counted."

"Voting blunder puts Florida in spotlight again"
Stateline.org
November 17, 2006
"People are being much too complacent about this," said Miles Rapoport, the former Connecticut secretary of state and the president of Demos, a New York-based nonpartisan voter advocacy group. "There were in fact many, many problems of several kinds on Election Day and it's only because they didn't affect the outcome of the control of the House or Senate that they haven't gotten the kind of attention that they might have."

"Ad Council's talking pig saves young adults' bacon"
DM News
November 17, 2006
Public policy researcher Demos reports that young Americans now have the second highest rate of bankruptcy after those aged 35 to 44.

"Political activist launches show"
North Adams Transcript
November 16, 2006
A third installment, "Illegitimate Election 2004," about the presidential election that year in Ohio, will air sometime in January and feature John Bonifaz, founder of the National Voting Rights Institute, as the guest speaker. Zasloff traveled to Boston to interview Bonifaz, who once won a MacArthur award and who works as an activist lawyer. He advocated a recount in Ohio in 2004.

"'Testing the waters' helps hopefuls keep powder dry"
CNN.com, Forbes, Guardian Unlimited, Journal Gazette & Times Courier, Fort Wayne Journal Gazette
November 15, 2006
"When candidates are looking at figures like $50 million by the end of 2007 to be considered serious, that puts so much pressure on fundraising. It's a signal the wealth primary has begun," said Brenda Wright, the National Voting Rights Institute's managing attorney.

"A New Twist on Equal Opportunity"
The Chronicle of Philanthropy
November 13, 2006
In an era when people around the world interact with one another through Web sites, chat rooms, cellphones, iPods, and other gadgets and gizmos, nonprofit leaders must adapt to a new mind-set, argues Allison H. Fine in her new book, Momentum: Igniting Social Change in the Connected Age. Instead of leading in a top-down fashion, nonprofit groups must give donors and volunteers meaningful roles in shaping social-change movements, she says. And no longer will the organizations with the biggest coffers necessarily be the most successful.

"Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes"
Ventura County Reporter
November 9, 2006
Voting, a process we used to consider rather straightforward, has been completely tainted. For proof, take a look at Sasha Abramsky's story, "Try voting here," on Page 9. You'll be shocked by how far some people have gone to rig elections and disenfranchise voters.

"US Elections: More Voting Irregularities Identified"
Voice of America
November 8, 2006
The president of Demos, Miles Rapoport, talked with VOA English to Africa Service reporter Angel Tabe, who asked him to describe some of the problems. He said, "Problems which need to be investigated and prosecuted are specific and conscious attempts to discourage voting by putting up misleading information, calls to people's houses [and] persistent reports of that throughout the country, throughout the day."

"Voting problems widespread"
Desert Morning News, Indianapolis Star
November 8, 2006
"If elected officials who are in charge of the system or are very familiar with how things work have problems, how can ordinary citizens be expected to negotiate the system?" asked Brenda Wright with the National Voting Rights Institute.

"ELECTION 2006: AMERICA VOTES Glitches, but overall voting goes smoothly"
Los Angeles Times
November 8, 2006
"The problems that we are seeing today ... are systemic and across the country," said Brenda Wright, managing attorney with the National Voting Rights Institute, part of a coalition of groups monitoring the elections. "We have got to do a better job of making voting accessible to everyone."

"Reports of dirty tricks, glitches with e-voting"
The Toronto Star
November 8, 2006
Brenda Wright of the National Voting Rights Institute said many problems could be attributed to election workers who are overworked and underpaid.

"Everyone on lookout for voter complaints, irregularities"
The Journal News
November 8, 2006
"It sounds as if the poll worker became incensed when one of the voters insisted that he was in fact registered," said Steven Carbo, a lawyer who was overseeing complaints about New York that were coming in to a volunteer hotline at the offices of Kirkland & Ellis law firm.

"Snafus strike across country"
Detroit Free Press
November 8, 2006
"If elected officials who are in charge of the system or are very familiar with how things work have problems, how can ordinary citizens be expected to negotiate the system?" asked Brenda Wright of the National Voting Rights Institute.

"Amid high turnout, glitches in this election"
The Stamford Advocate, The Greenwich Times, Orlando Sentinel
November 7, 2006
Brenda Wright, managing attorney with the National Voting Rights Institute, part of a coalition of groups monitoring the elections, said, "The problems that we are seeing today & are systemic and across the country. We have got to do a better job of making voting accessible to everyone."

"E-voting glitches give election watchers pause"
GOVEXEC.com
November 7, 2006
The organization helped lead an effort by the nonpartisan Election Protection coalition to monitor and report e-voting problems throughout the country. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, National Voting Rights Institute and People for the American Way also were part of the effort.

"Election 2006: Resisting The Voting Rights Rollback"
New York City Independent Media Center
November 7, 2006
According to a July 2005 report by the advocacy groups Demos, Project Vote and the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), virtually no states are complying with NVRA.

"Let the recounts begin"
MSNBC/National Journal
November 7, 2006
Demos, a New York City-based group that focuses on election issues, reports [PDF] that 31 states and the District of Columbia don't count provisional ballots cast in the wrong precinct. Demos calls ballots that election officials allow to be cast but have no intention of counting "placebo" ballots. "Many provisional voters think they are being given the vote, when in fact they are receiving a false promise," a Demos report warned.

"Voting for Dollars"
Business Tennessee
November 7, 2006
Despite Tennessee's reluctance, there's at least one person, independent of both Arizona and Tennessee, in favor of a Voter Reward Act. Miles Rapoport, a former Secretary of State for Connecticut who is president of Demos, a think tank "committed to building an America that achieves its highest democratic ideals," says America's electoral system puts up barriers that discourage people from voting. A properly implemented monetary incentive, he says, may be a creative way to get people to the polls.

"Levers and lawyers: NY-based legal line is new Election custom"
Newsday
November 7, 2006
At Manhattan's Kirkland & Ellis call center, Missouri was generating many calls as of midday Tuesday. The hotline's Missouri chief, Lisa Danetz of the National Voting Rights Institute, said multiple callers reported balky electronic voting machines, requests for more or different forms of identification than state law requires and problems locating registered voters on precinct rolls.

"Study Warns of Voter Suppression, Intimidation"
Crosswalk.com
November 5, 2006
"When you have 14,000 Latino residents in Orange County getting a letter warning them that it may be a crime for them to go to the polls - and that's just one instance - obviously, you have the potential for disenfranchising a lot of citizens with these tactics," she told Cybercast News Service. Wright also highlighted misinformation campaigns in Milwaukee, where African American voters were told if they voted more than once in a year they could face jail time or a fake advisory in Franklin County, Ohio telling Democrats to vote the day after Election Day "due to high voter registration."

"Three new books offer the Democrats a path to the White House"
Austin American-Statesman
November 5, 2006
According to David Callahan in "The Moral Center," all this nit-picking over geography and media strategy misses the point. The problem is not procedural, he insists, but moral. Callahan, a fellow at the public policy center Demos, hammers away at what he identifies as a conceptual problem at the core of contemporary Republican politics.

"Election Day"
The New York Times, International Herald Tribune
November 5, 2006
Fourth -- and here it starts to get darker -- there is the purposeful use of tools like registration laws and the distribution of assets like voting machines to discourage certain voters and potentially change the result. These abuses are the subject of "Stealing Democracy: The New Politics of Voter Suppression," by Spencer Overton, a professor at George Washington University Law School.

"The price of glory for Rutgers"
NorthJersey.com
November 5, 2006
Robert H. Frank, an economics professor at Cornell, studied the revenue potential of Division I-A programs for the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics. "If you're a school that has a history -- a University of Michigan, a University of Texas -- there are some built-in advantages," said Frank. "For somebody coming in from the outside hoping to crack that circle, it's almost certainly a losing proposition."

"As Vote Nears, Parties Prepare For Legal Fights"
The New York Times, Amherst Times
November 4, 2006
Demos, a nonpartisan organization that studies election issues, calls ballots that election officials allow to be cast but have no intention of counting placebo ballots. The group predicts that in close elections the rules for counting provisional ballots could lead to legal cases.

"Taking a closer look"
Terre Haute Tribune Star
November 4, 2006
"Contrary to the claims of Carter-Baker Commissioner Molinari," Overton writes, "the law enforcement task force did not find that the Wisconsin election was 'decided by illegal votes.' Even in the improbable event that all 100 alleged fraudulent votes and 200 improper felon votes were cast for John Kerry, Kerry's lead in the state would be reduced from 11,000 to 10,700 & The U.S. Attorney explicity stated: 'We don't see a massive conspiracy to alter the election in Milwaukee, one way or another.'"

"Home of the Cheats?"
The Kansas City Star
November 4, 2006
"The carrots for winners are bigger, the middle class are more insecure, and the spoils of the rich are in their face all the time," Callahan said. "When the rewards for cheating are larger than they used to be, it just makes sense that people will take more risks to get those rewards. And if wealth is equated with virtue, as it is in society today, then the invirtuous ways you got that wealth, you know, who cares?"

"In America, Black Voters say Their Votes are Stifled"
Voice of America
November 3, 2006
"Politicians use gerrymandering and a variety of other barriers to the ballot, to determine who votes and whose vote counts. Voters don't always choose politicians, but sometimes politicians choose voters." Overton says the practice of gerrymandering occurs across the United States. Politicians redraw political districts to add loyalists, take out non-loyalists and assure themselves big wins. "In 2004, Congress had only a 40% approval rating and yet 98% of incumbent congressmen returned to Washington, DC; they won their elections&. Here in the United States we've got a conflict of interest where politicians are in charge of rules for their own elections."

"The Republicans Will Play Solitaire"
The New York Sun
November 2, 2006
"If the GOP does tumble into the abyss, the Democrats will still be left with the unenviable task of figuring out exactly what it is they stand for (other than not being the Republicans). Into that gap rushes David Callahan, co-founder of the liberal think-tank Demos and author of "The Moral Center: How We Can Reclaim Our Country From Die-Hard Extremists, Rogue Corporations, Hollywood Hacks, and Pretend Patriots""

"Rights Groups: Jumble of State Laws Could Disenfranchise Voters"
The New Standard
November 2, 2006
"Scott Novakowski, policy analyst with DEMOS, said vague language in HAVA has given states wide latitude in determining how provisional ballots will be counted. Novakowski told The NewStandard that many voters may falsely believe that just by casting a provisional ballot, their vote will be counted."

"Unemployment Decline: real or imagined?"
The New York Amsterdam News
November 2, 2006
"Algernon Austin, scholar and founder of the Thora Institute, a New Haven, Conn.-based social science organization that serves Black Americans, offered some practical explanations concerning the new findings of the Pew Hispanic Center report."

"Vote Fraud Fears Fewer, Yet Some Back Voter IDs"
SignOnSanDiego.com
November 1, 2006
""The disenfranchisement of voters through antiquated voting systems, system error and improper management of registration databases, as occurred in Florida in the 2000 election, is a far bigger problem than traditional forms of election fraud," the report concludes."

"No Penalty for Voting Systems Lapse"
Washington Post, Yahoo! News, MSNBC, Journal Gazette & Times Courier, Detroit News, The Barre Montpelier Times Argus,
October 31, 2006
States like New York and Connecticut, with a number of competitive elections that could decide which party controls the U.S. House, still use lever ballot machines that generally have a higher error rate than other machines, said George Washington University law professor Spencer Overton.

"Hispanic, Asian, Native Citizens Face Voting Barriers"
The New Standard
October 31, 2006
"Anti-immigrant sentiment in this country, unfortunately, is a reality on the political scene right now," Wright told The NewStandard, "and I think it does result in some of these instances of discrimination and non-enforcement that you see."

"Our Cheating Hearts"
The New York Daily News
October 30, 2006
"David Callahan's book "The Cheating Culture" argues that Americans are not only cheating more, they're feeling less guilty about it. Inflamed by envy, they seek to keep up not with the Joneses but with those who are much better off than the Joneses. "

"It's Still The Economy Stupid"
Marketplace by American Public Media
October 30, 2006
"Once again, the quest for endless profits. No folks, no matter how you slice it, it's still the economy, stupid."

"All of New Jersey to vote electronically on Nov. 7"
Newsday, WCBS 880 New York, Bridgewater Courier News, Courier-Post
October 29, 2006
"Even after all those hoops have been gone through, there is still an issue of whether there will be machine malfunctions," said Miles Rapoport, a former Connecticut Secretary of State and election reform advocate who participated in the forum. "We've got a lot of problems to watch for."

"Young adults squeezed"
The News and Observer
October 29, 2006
The ads send the wrong message to the many young adults who aren't spending frivolously, said Tamara Draut, author of the book, "Strapped" which looks at why young adults have trouble getting ahead. "What that says to people who aren't buying those things is that they've got nothing they can cut back on," Draut said. "It makes them feel like they are doing something wrong."

"In Credit Card Rates, Trust but Verify"
The New York Times
October 28, 2006
"Always make a call," Ms. Draut said. "Always look over your bill carefully. If you see a change, get in touch right away."

"State hopes ballot system will help avoid confusion"
Augusta Chronicle
October 27, 2006
"For over half of the voters who voted on provisional ballots, it was really a placebo ballot," said Miles Rapoport, president of Demos"

"Democrats Fear Disillusionment in Black Voters"
The Amherst Times
October 27, 2006
"Voter suppression is a real threat," Mr. Overton said, "but Democrats can't invest so much into voter protection that they don't have adequate resources to turn out their voters to the polls in the first place."

"Despite Laws, Disabled Voters Face Barriers at Polls"
The New Standard
October 27, 2006
"The basic requirement of having the polling place itself be accessible--in other words you can get into it in a wheel chair, that's been part of [federal law] for some time now," said Brenda Wright, managing attorney with the National Voting Rights Institute. "Although& it's not been fully complied with everywhere, so it's an ongoing struggle to achieve full compliance with these laws that are out there to provide these protections."

"More Likely To Die Than Be Kicked Out of Office"
Amherst Times
October 26, 2006
Our comments were well received, and echoed by groups including NYPIRG, Demos, and the Voting Rights Consortium. The hearings also saw members of non-partisan commissions like Steven Lynn, the Chairman of Arizona's Independent Redistricting Commission.

"Few Felons Taken Off Voting Rolls"
Palm Beach Post
October 26, 2006
Florida is one of 13 states that prohibit a citizen from voting after he or she has been convicted of a felony, according to Scott Novakowski, a policy analyst who studies the issue for Demos, a New York City think tank.

"Why Democrats are losing the culture war"
USA Today
October 26, 2006
As David Callahan points out in his book The Moral Center, "When the right complains about the media's descent into tawdriness, it puts them on the side of most Americans."

"Staff Shortages and Training Expected to Create Problems Nov. 7th"
AxcessNews
October 25, 2006
"Regrettably, the role of poll workers in our elections is often overlooked and under-supported," said Miles Rapoport, President of Demos. "During each election, states squeak by with a bare minimum of poll workers, many with inadequate training for an increasingly complex task. New reports and widely covered problems with recent primary elections have illuminated just how grave this problem is."

"Major Cities Balk Over Voter ID Laws"
Axcess News
October 24, 2006
n Boston, where City Councilman Jerry McDermott proposed a voter ID program, Stuart Comstock-Gay, Executive Director of the National Voting Rights Institute said, "We oppose the call for new voter identification requirements in Boston because such requirements threaten to disenfranchise perhaps tens of thousands of eligible voters who lack government-issued photo ID, particularly the elderly, people with disabilities, the poor and people of color."

"Pol pushes for ID'ing at polls"
Boston Herald
October 23, 2006
Stuart Comstock-Gay, executive director of the National Voting Rights Institute, said voter ID proposals are cropping up. "They keep people away from voting," said Comstock-Gay. "We have a solution for a problem that doesn't seem to exist, and that solution causes other problems."

"Top 5 Issues That Motivate Young Voters Today"
WireTap
October 23, 2006
Over the last ten years, tuition costs have not only outpaced inflation, but left it in the dust. At the same time, Pell Grants, the federal financial aid for lower-income students, no longer cover three-quarters of college costs as they once did in the 1970s, Tamara Draut writes, author of Strapped: Why America's 20- and 30-Somethings Can't Get Ahead. Today, Draut says, the maximum Pell Grant award covers just one-third of tuition. So now, on top of classes, reading, assignments, and activities, many students are in a time crunch because of the need to hold down jobs.

"The game of lie"
Purdue Exponent
October 23, 2006
One author thinks people today are more competitive and comfortable with lying. David Callahan, author of "The Cheating Culture: Why More Americans Are Doing Wrong to Get Ahead," said this generation, college students or not, is influenced by culture. "I would not single out college students as being especially bad. It's just a big part of our culture right now and college students are growing up in this culture and they take their cues from other people," said Callahan.

"Old election glitches lead to new worries"
The Herald-Sun
October 23, 2006
Miles Rapoport, president of the New York state think tank Demos and Connecticut's former secretary of state, said states actually can limit voter turnout by closing registration before Election Day. Rapoport was among four former state and election officials who spoke last week to journalists in a conference call. Demos has said that turnout for the 2004 elections in the six states that allow voters to register on Election Day was about 12 points higher than the national average.

"A call for Election Day registration"
The Daily Targum
October 23, 2006
A panel on Election Day Registration spoke last Thursday at Trayes Hall on the Douglass Campus to address the benefits of EDR. The New Jersey American Civil Liberties Union, the Eagleton Institute of Politics and New Jersey Policy Perspective Demos sponsored the event in an effort to raise awareness on the subject.

"Marie Antoinette, Citoyenne"
The New York Times
October 22, 2006
Robert H. Frank, the Cornell economist whose books include "Luxury Fever: Why Money Fails to Satisfy in an Era of Excess," says that although the gap between the rich and the rest of us has only widened over the last 35 or 40 years, "Americans aren't known for great class resentment toward the wealthy. "It's not that the extra spending of the rich hasn't caused problems for the middle class-- it has, particularly in the housing market," Professor Frank says.

"Credit card truth is in fine printt"
Deseret Morning News
October 22, 2006
Cindy Zeldin, a federal affairs coordinator for Demos, a public policy and research organization, said credit card fees and penalties deserve more scrutiny by lawmakers. "More and more Americans are turning to credit cards to serve as a safety net in terms of financial emergencies," Zeldin said. "The lending industry is able to take advantage of that situation with penalty fees and retroactive rate increases for relatively minor infractions."

"Credit: The way out means new way of life"
Greensboro News-Record
October 22, 2006
"I think were reaching a tipping point," said Tamara Draut, director of the economic opportunity program for the Demos think tank in New York. "Consumers are increasingly concerned about debt."

"06 vote under tight scrutiny-- maybe too tight"
Daytona Beach News-Journal
October 22, 2006
Nationally, one-third of the nearly 2 million provisional ballots were rejected in the 2004 general election, according to Demos, another policy research institute.

"Celebs Ignore 'Green' Wal-Mart's Worker Oppression"
AlterNet
October 20, 2006
Cindy Zeldin's story tracked the latest leaked memo, detailing "plans to limit its 2007 health insurance options for new hires to two choices, both high deductible plans, in an effort to squeeze benefit costs." Zeldin is not hopeful for the health of future Wal-Mart employees and their families, calling the plan "a dagger through the heart of the very concept of insurance."

"Experts warn of foul-ups with new voting machines"
Pittsb