by Bill Scher | Apr 6, 2007 | Blog
The abuse of the recess appointment perhaps isn't President Bush's most egregious attack on our Founders' carefully crafted system of checks and balances, since others before him have exploited this constitutional loophole. But the implicit reasons behind each of the...
by Bill Scher | Apr 5, 2007 | Blog
Yesterday, President Bush made three significant recess appointments, installing officials without Senate confirmation during the congressional recess. The abuse of the recess appointment perhaps isn't Bush's most egregious attack on our Founders' carefully crafted...
by Bill Scher | Apr 5, 2007 | Blog
Over at TomPaine.com, I have a piece tying together my last several posts on the Medicare prescription drug battle, Fighting the Pharma Goalith. Enjoy!
by Bill Scher | Apr 4, 2007 | Blog
This afternoon, Sen. Debbie Stabenow (MI) joined the authors of the new Institute for America's Future report, "The Waste and Inefficiency of the Bush Prescription Drug Plan" for a news conference urging the Senate to empower Medicare to negotiate for lower drug...
by Bill Scher | Apr 4, 2007 | Blog
Today, Roger Hickey and Jeff Cruz of Institute for America's Future, in cooperation with economist Dean Baker, released a new report:
by Bill Scher | Apr 4, 2007 | Blog
The free market is the engine of our economy, conservatives like to say, so be quiet and let corporations take us for a ride. But the reminders are piling up that blind reliance on the private sector doesn't lead to a strong economy that works for everyone. Today, NY...
by Bill Scher | Apr 4, 2007 | Blog
The free market is the engine of our economy, conservatives like to say, so be quiet and let corporations take us for a ride. But the reminders are piling up that blind reliance on the private sector doesn't lead to a strong economy that works for everyone. Today, NY...
by Bill Scher | Apr 4, 2007 | Blog
A report released today concludes: "Allowing Medicare to negotiate for lower drug prices would bring around $30 billion in savings that can help American seniors and taxpayers." That finding was in a new report released today by Roger Hickey and Jeff Cruz of...
by Bill Scher | Apr 4, 2007 | Blog
A report released today concludes: "Allowing Medicare to negotiate for lower drug prices would bring around $30 billion in savings that can help American seniors and taxpayers." That finding was in a new report released today by Roger Hickey and Jeff Cruz of...
by Bill Scher | Apr 4, 2007 | Blog
The free market is the engine of our economy, conservatives like to say, so be quiet and let corporations take us for a ride. But the reminders are piling up that blind reliance on the private sector doesn't lead to a strong economy that works for everyone. Today, NY...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Apr 3, 2007 | Blog
A coalition of activists leading the opposition to the war in Iraq is refusing to give an inch to President Bush, who today unleashed more venom at Democrats for doing what a majority of voters want: a responsible withdrawal from Iraq. One member of that coalition,...
by Bill Scher | Apr 3, 2007 | Blog
On Sunday, the Center for Public Integrity released a new report finding the pharmaceutical lobby flooded Washington with $155 million from January 2005 to June 2006, employing a stunning 1,100 lobbyists. One public health advocate rightly said, "we are up against an...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Apr 3, 2007 | Blog
A coalition of activists leading the opposition to the war in Iraq is refusing to give an inch to President Bush, who today unleashed more venom at Democrats for doing what a majority of voters want: a responsible withdrawal from Iraq. One member of that coalition,...
by Bill Scher | Apr 3, 2007 | Blog
In the wake of yesterday's important Supreme Court ruling on climate change, we can't forget that the global warming deniers still have friends in the White House. Remember that last year, the Supreme Court told the White House to respect the Geneva Conventions. The...
by Bill Scher | Apr 2, 2007 | Blog
Since President Bush has made it clear he will not sign any universal health insurance plan into law, the short-term goal of congressional leaders is to get coverage to more of the 8-9 million children uninsured in America. But Mr. Compassionate Conservative will...
by Bill Scher | Apr 2, 2007 | Blog
President Bush's Environmental Protection Agency claimed that, despite the Clean Air Act, it didn't have the authority to combat the greenhouse gases that cause global warming. And even it did, it didn't feel like it. Bush's Supreme Court justices John Roberts and Sam...
by Bill Scher | Apr 2, 2007 | Blog
Presidemt Bush's Environmental Protection Agency claimed that, despite the Clean Air Act, it didn't have the authority to combat the greenhouse gases that cause global warming. And even it did, it didn't feel like it. Bush's Supreme Court justices John Roberts...
by Bill Scher | Apr 2, 2007 | Blog
Presidemt Bush's Environmental Protection Agency claimed that, despite the Clean Air Act, it didn't have the authority to combat the greenhouse gases that cause global warming. And even it did, it didn't feel like it. Bush's Supreme Court justices John Roberts...
by Bill Scher | Apr 2, 2007 | Blog
On Friday, we introduced "Weekend Watchdogs," raising the questions the Sunday talk show hosts should ask their scheduled guests. So, how'd they do? On NBC's Meet The Press, host Tim Russert did not ask Sen. Orrin Hatch how he could say there is "no evidence" of...
by Bill Scher | Mar 30, 2007 | Blog
Do you ever find yourself watching the Sunday morning talk shows, tearing your hair out because the host isn't asking the most pertinent questions? Let's see what we can do about that. Every Friday in our Weekend Watchdog feature, Common Sense will post suggested...
by Bill Scher | Mar 30, 2007 | Blog
The conservative movement has long been split on immigration. Nativist conservatives fear diversity and want to keep immigrants out. Corporate conservatives fear paying fair wages and want cheap immigrant labor. As neither camp cares about the well-being of workers on...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Mar 30, 2007 | Blog
Another Bush administration official has been caught fixing scientific reports for the benefit of White House cronies and ideological soul mates. The culprit this time is one Julie MacDonald, the deputy assistant secretary for the Fish and Wildlife Service in the...
by Bill Scher | Mar 30, 2007 | Blog
It's a tough question for this White House: which scandal to focus on today? Today, they're going for Walter Reed, as President Bush is slated to tour the military hospital. With the Prosecutor Purge scandal getting hotter and hotter, the ploy is to shift attention to...
by Bill Scher | Mar 29, 2007 | Blog
Much of the focus of the Senate's questioning of Kyle Sampson, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' former chief of staff, is on how Sampson's story squares with other Justice Department and White House officials, especially because Sampson and others risk being busted...
by Bill Scher | Mar 29, 2007 | Blog
Much of the focus of the Senate's questioning of Kyle Sampson, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' former chief of staff, is on how Sampson's story squares with other Justice Department and White House officials, especially because Sampson and others risk being busted...
by Bill Scher | Mar 29, 2007 | Blog
After the first round of Kyle Sampson's testimony, what's the news so far? ThinkProgress finds Kyle Sampson making Attorney General Gonzales appear to be a liar. Gonzales had claimed Sampson didn't share key information about the Prosecutor Purge to him and his...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Mar 29, 2007 | Blog
There is more evidence today that the Bush administration’s economic policies are widening the gap between the rich and the poor. University of California at Berkeley professor Emmanuel Saez and Thomas Picketty of the Paris School of Economics released two studies...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Mar 29, 2007 | Blog
There is more evidence today that the Bush administration’s economic policies are widening the gap between the rich and the poor. University of California at Berkeley professor Emmanuel Saez and Thomas Picketty of the Paris School of Economics released two...
by Bill Scher | Mar 29, 2007 | Blog
The Senate's questioning of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' former chief of staff Kyle Sampson is underway. (Watch it on C-Span 3, or online. TPMmuckracker and Firedoglake are liveblogging.) In his opening statement, he said the reasons for purging eight U.S....
by Bill Scher | Mar 29, 2007 | Blog
If memory serves, back in 1995, right after the Republicans took over Congress, a pre-Fox News Dennis Miller looked at footage of a sea of grumpy white men sitting on their hands during a Bill Clinton State of the Union address, and remarked: It's the elders from...
by Bill Scher | Mar 29, 2007 | Blog
If memory serves, back in 1995, right after the Republicans took over Congress, a pre-Fox News Dennis Miller looked at footage of a sea of grumpy white men sitting on their hands during a Bill Clinton State of the Union address, and remarked: It's the elders from...
by Bill Scher | Mar 28, 2007 | Blog
If memory serves, back in 1995 right after the Republicans took over Congress, a pre-Fox News Dennis Miller looked at footage of a sea of grumpy white men, sitting on their hands during a Bill Clinton State of the Union address, and remarked: It's the elders from...
by Bill Scher | Mar 28, 2007 | Blog
President Bush, desperately trying to tamp down the rising tide of public pressure against the war, is seeking to misframe the Iraq bill he will soon veto. Realizing he can no longer win the argument about the war itself, he is maligning the bill's backers as playing...
by Bill Scher | Mar 28, 2007 | Blog
President Bush, desperately trying to tamp down the rising tide of public pressure against the war, is seeking to misframe the Iraq bill he will soon veto. Realizing he can no longer win the argument about the war itself, he is maligning the bill's backers as playing...
by Bill Scher | Mar 28, 2007 | Blog
President Bush, desperately trying to tamp down the rising tide of public pressure against the war, is seeking to misframe the Iraq bill he will soon veto. Realizing he can no longer win the argument about the war itself, he is maligning the bill's backers as playing...
by Bill Scher | Mar 26, 2007 | Blog
Some reactions to Saturday's presidential candidate forum on health care from around the blogosphere. Taylor Marsh and Eteraz.org say Sen. Hillary Clinton had the strongest presentation, while Nevada Today's Hugh Jackson (link via Nevada Caucus 2008) talks up former...
by Bill Scher | Mar 26, 2007 | Blog
The following analysis of Saturday's presidential candidate forum on health care is excerpted from the full essay written by Prof. Jacob S. Hacker of Yale University. Hacker is the author of "The Great Risk Shift," as well as the “Health Care for America” proposal...
by Bill Scher | Mar 26, 2007 | Blog
After watching Saturday's presidential candidate forum on health care, and judging the candidates using Roger Hickey's five health care questions, I'm left with key questions for each Oval Office aspirant. To former Sen. John Edwards: your plan sets up competition...
by Roger Hickey | Mar 26, 2007 | Blog
At Saturday’s health care forum for presidential candidates, John Edwards was bold, detailed and specific—but didn’t diagnose the problem. Barack Obama was vague—but stressed that no president can do it without the people. Dennis Kucinich diagnosed the problem, and...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Mar 25, 2007 | Blog
Former Alaska senator Mike Gravel proposed a single-payer system of sorts, but under his system each American would get a health care voucher that they would use to purchase their choice of five or six private insurance plans. “Everyone gets the same product. If you...
