by Isaiah J. Poole | Apr 25, 2007 | Blog
In little more than a decade after President Lyndon Johnson declared a “war on poverty,” President Ronald Reagan led the nation in the equivalent of a helicopter evacuation from the epicenter of the fight. Reagan and his band of conservatives also so...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Apr 25, 2007 | Blog
Celebrities spewing racist drivel get the headlines and the outrage, but largely out of the public eye the Bush administration has been doing something far more damaging to victims of discrimination than the utterance of a few vile slurs. In its classic Grover...
by Bill Scher | Apr 25, 2007 | Blog
Today, New York Times columnist Tom Friedman tries to press the presidential candidates to engage in a serious debate over energy policy, giving a shout out to the new GreenPrimary.org and citing a recent poll from Center for American Progress showing most Americans...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Apr 25, 2007 | Blog, Minimum Wage
In little more than a decade after President Lyndon Johnson declared a “war on poverty,” President Ronald Reagan led the nation in the equivalent of a helicopter evacuation from the epicenter of the fight. Reagan and his band of conservatives also so...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Apr 25, 2007 | Blog
Celebrities spewing racist drivel get the headlines and the outrage, but largely out of the public eye the Bush administration has been doing something far more damaging to victims of discrimination than the utterance of a few vile slurs. In its classic Grover...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Apr 24, 2007 | Blog
The rate at which infants are dying has begun to creep upward in several Southern states. This is an entirely predictable—and deadly—outcome of a systematic squeezing of federal and state health programs under conservative rule. The report in The New...
by Bill Scher | Apr 24, 2007 | Blog, Minimum Wage
Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, is whining that the new minimum wage compromise doesn't have enough tax favors for business. From CQ Today (subscription required): “The Senate package was barely adequate,” [Grassley] said in a statement. “I called it...
by Bill Scher | Apr 24, 2007 | Blog, Minimum Wage
Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, is whining that the new minimum wage compromise doesn't have enough tax favors for business. From CQ Today (subscription required): “The Senate package was barely adequate,” [Grassley] said in a statement. “I called it...
by Bill Scher | Apr 24, 2007 | Blog, Minimum Wage
Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, is whining that the new minimum wage compromise doesn't have enough tax favors for business. From CQ Today (subscription required): “The Senate package was barely adequate,” [Grassley] said in a statement. “I called it...
by Bill Scher | Apr 24, 2007 | Blog, Minimum Wage
Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, is whining that the new minimum wage compromise doesn't have enough tax favors for business. From CQ Today (subscription required): “The Senate package was barely adequate,” [Grassley] said in a statement. “I called it...
by Bill Scher | Apr 24, 2007 | Blog, Minimum Wage
Yesterday, I noted that Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, is whining that the new minimum wage compromise doesn't have enough tax favors for business. From CQ Today (subscription required): “The Senate package was barely adequate,” [Grassley] said in a statement. “I...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Apr 24, 2007 | Blog
The rate at which infants are dying has begun to creep upward in several Southern states. This is an entirely predictable—and deadly—outcome of a systematic squeezing of federal and state health programs under conservative rule. The report in The New...
by Bill Scher | Apr 24, 2007 | Blog
With our annual Take Back America event less than two months away, we've just launched a brand new website, including our initial list of speakers and agenda. And it also features the OurFuture CyberCafe, which you can create an account for whether or not you've...
by Bill Scher | Apr 23, 2007 | Blog
The maverick image of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., has taken a beating, thanks to his support for escalating our military involvement in Iraq, his demonstrably false comments about the security of Baghdad, and a myriad of flip-flops. But he is clinging to one maverick...
by Bill Scher | Apr 23, 2007 | Blog
Tiap manusia tentunya memiliki keahlian yang berbeda-beda sebab segala orang dibuat dengan unik dan terampil dalam berjenis-jenis hal. Sejak lahir kita tentu tidak mengetahui akan jadi apa kita sesudah besar nanti. Sesudah beranjak dewasa dan kita telah bisa melakukan...
by Bill Scher | Apr 23, 2007 | Blog, Minimum Wage
Congressional leaders took a big step toward fulfilling a campaign pledge late Friday, reconciling House-Senate differences in their minimum wage bills. The two chambers split the difference on the size of business tax breaks, ending up at $4.8 billion. The ideal...
by Bill Scher | Apr 23, 2007 | Blog
None of the Sunday show hosts posed our Weekend Watchdog questions drilling down to the heart of the Prosecutor Purge matter—how names actually got on the purge list. But guests Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., worked in answers that kept...
by Bill Scher | Apr 23, 2007 | Blog
None of the Sunday show hosts posed our Weekend Watchdog questions drilling down to the heart of the Prosecutor Purge matter—how names actually got on the purge list. But guests Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., worked in answers that kept...
by Bill Scher | Apr 23, 2007 | Blog
None of the Sunday show hosts posed our Weekend Watchdog questions drilling down to the heart of the Prosecutor Purge matter—how names actually got on the purge list. But guests Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., worked in answers that kept...
by Bill Scher | Apr 23, 2007 | Blog
None of the Sunday show hosts posed our Weekend Watchdog questions drilling down to the heart of the Prosecutor Purge matter—how names actually got on the purge list. But guests Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., worked in answers that kept...
by Bill Scher | Apr 23, 2007 | Blog
None of the Sunday shows hosts posed our Weekend Watchdog questions drilling down to the heart of the Prosecutor Purge matter -- how names actually got on the purge list. But guests Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., worked in answers that kept the...
by Bill Scher | Apr 20, 2007 | Blog
Every Friday in our Weekend Watchdog feature, we post suggested questions for scheduled Sunday guests. You can add your own questions in the comment thread. We'll also include contact information for the shows, so we can let them know what their viewers want asked....
by Bill Scher | Apr 19, 2007 | Blog
Video highlights of today's Senate hearing with Attorney General Gonzales is up at PoliticsTV and TPMmuckaker. Thorough liveblogging is up at Firedoglake and The Gun Toting Liberal. McJoan at DailyKos says Gonzales "decided that claiming incompetence is the way to...
by Bill Scher | Apr 19, 2007 | Blog
As noted below, several Republican Senators have been not willing to provide political cover for Gonzales. And this afternoon, Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., called for Gonzales' resignation at the end of his questioning. Further, CNN White House reporter Suzanne Malveaux...
by Bill Scher | Apr 19, 2007 | Blog
Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., nailed Gonzales with a basic disconnect in his story, telling him, "You can't really say with certainty" that no one was purged for "improper reasons" if "you didn't know then, and you don't know today, how each of these people actually...
by Bill Scher | Apr 19, 2007 | Blog
Asked what he would have done differently, Attorney General Gonzales said when delegating to Kyle Sampson the compilation of the prosecutor purge list, he would have told Sampson who exactly to consult with and what criteria he should use. A few minutes later, he...
by Bill Scher | Apr 19, 2007 | Blog
I can't keep up with all of Alberto Gonzales' "I don't recall"s, in defiance of Sen. Chuck Schumer's attempt at prevention. But he just made a couple of big ones. Under questioning by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., Gonzales said he doesn't recall the origins of the...
by Bill Scher | Apr 19, 2007 | Blog
After Kyle Sampson's testimony, Talking Points Memo noted that Sampson was very murky about how prosecutor's names got onto the purge list. Today, Gonzales is generally characterizing the list as something he asked Sampson to compile and put before him. That still...
by Bill Scher | Apr 19, 2007 | Blog
In advance of today's Gonzales hearing, ABC News had flagged a contradiction in his prepared testimony and the recently released emails: Gonzales said that during the months that his senior staff was evaluating U.S. attorneys, including [Carol] Lam, "I did not make...
by Bill Scher | Apr 19, 2007 | Blog
Senate Environment and Public Works Chair Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., delivered a speech on global warming Wednesday, and announced a key development that she deemed a "breakthrough": I have been informed ... by Senators [Tom] Carper [D-Del.], [Lamar] Alexander...
by Bill Scher | Apr 19, 2007 | Blog
Senate Environment and Public Works Chair Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., delivered a speech on global warming Wednesday, and announced a key development that she deemed a "breakthrough": I have been informed ... by Senators [Tom] Carper [D-Del.], [Lamar] Alexander...
by Bill Scher | Apr 19, 2007 | Blog
At the start of today's Senate testimony of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., warned Gonzales to limit his use of "I don't recall" when responding to questions. After questioning began, it took Gonzales 1 minute and 11 seconds to say, "I...
by Bill Scher | Apr 19, 2007 | Blog
Senate Environment and Public Works Chair Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., delivered a speech on global warming Wednesday, and announced a key development, which she deemed a "breakthrough": I have been informed ... by Senators [Tom] Carper [D-Del.], [Lamar] Alexander...
by Bill Scher | Apr 18, 2007 | Blog
The pharmaceutical lobby joined forces today with the Senate's conservative minority and killed legislation empowering Medicare to negotiate for lower drug prices, which would have saved us $30 billion a year. Fixty-six senators tried to carry out the will of 85...
by Bill Scher | Apr 18, 2007 | Blog
The pharmaceutical lobby joined forces today with the Senate's conservative minority and killed legislation empowering Medicare to negotiate for lower drug prices, which would have saved us $30 billion a year. Fixty-six senators tried to carry out the will of 85...
by Bill Scher | Apr 18, 2007 | Blog
Today, the pharmaceutical lobby joined forces with the Senate's conservative minority and killed legislation empowering Medicare to negotiate for lower drug prices, which would have saved us $30 billion a year. Fixty-six senators tried to carry out the will of 85...
by Bill Scher | Apr 17, 2007 | Blog
Yesterday's headline from the Associated Press read: "EPA chief: Bush climate policy working." And why is that? Says the AP: The head of the Environmental Protection Agency said Monday the growth of greenhouse gases by less than 1 percent in 2005 shows the...
by Bill Scher | Apr 17, 2007 | Blog
CQ Today reports that Senate leaders remain "just short" of the 60 votes needed to break the drug lobby-backed filibuster of legislation empowering Medicare to negotiate for lower drug prices. The key vote to cut off the filibuster is still expected tomorrow....
by Roger Hickey | Apr 16, 2007 | Blog
The following is a part of the TPMCafe Book Club group discussion of the new book "Sick: The Untold Story of America's Health Care Crisis -- and the People Who Pay the Price" by Jonathan Cohn Several participants have rightly insisted on focusing us on a large order...
by Bill Scher | Apr 16, 2007 | Blog
According to CQ Today, a Senate vote is expected Wednesday to try to break a planned filibuster against a bill empowering Medicare to negotiate for lower drug prices. And Senate leaders are hunting "for a final few votes" to get to the needed 60. Meanwhile, Bob Geiger...
