Mark grew up in New York City but went to college in Bethany, WV - a campus and town with a total of 500 people. After earning a B. S. in physics, he relocated to the Washington DC suburbs where remained until his recent retirement. He spent his first decade professionally developing sophisticated computer models optimizing the allocation of U. S. nuclear weapons to targets. Realizing the evil nature of this work, for the next decade he served as an energy-environmental consultant to the Department of Energy and the Carter White House. He also completed his graduate work in public law and served 2 terms as president of Common Cause Maryland. The third and final phase of his career was spent running his own organization development firm, The Dorlester Consultancy, exclusively helping non-profit national associations serving challenged children and adults.

Blog Entries by Mark Dorlester

Coalition Launches National Campaign: President Obama, Get FISA Right!

Posted November 25, 2009 | 05:14 PM (EST)


Wednesday, November 25, 2009 -- A large group of Obama supporters and civil libertarians yesterday posted a national open letter to the President and companion petition asking for presidential action to press Congress to revise the Patriot Act and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Anguish in the...

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Guaranteed Health Care In Iraq - But Not For You

60 Comments | Posted September 9, 2009 | 11:19 AM (EST)


You'd better sit down, folks.

Article 31 of the Iraqi Constitution, drafted by your right-wing Bushies in 2005 and ratified by the Iraqi people, includes state-guaranteed (single payer) healthcare for life for every Iraqi citizen.

Article 31 reads:

"First: Every citizen has the right to health care. The State shall...

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Health Care: It's Not About The Money - It's about POWER

16 Comments | Posted September 6, 2009 | 01:34 AM (EST)


Just a few years ago, Republicans were in control of everything in Washington, having augmented their power by amoral deceit if not criminal conduct. As a result they lost everything. Their well-earned but involuntary demise must be devastating to them.

Recoiling, they have desperately been trying to regain power by...

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Ted Kennedy: A Reason To Rejoice

Posted August 29, 2009 | 12:19 PM (EST)


Much is said today, as Senator Ted Kennedy is memorialized, about his extraordinary service to our nation, and I too rejoice in that. But I have an entirely different reason to celebrate today, even as we all mourn the passing of this remarkable man.

It was 1980, when Senator Kennedy...

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Sotomayor's Right-Wing Judicial Philosophy?

17 Comments | Posted July 16, 2009 | 03:12 PM (EST)


Judge Sonia Sotomayor has apparently never been exposed to the factual (vs. case law) history of the Constitution. In response to a question July 15 on judicial philosophy from Sen. Hatch, she said with no hesitation: "The Constitution creates the rights. It's immutable. The right [sic] that the Constitutions [sic]...

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