The past few days have not been kind for those who would combat climate change. On Sunday, it was announced that the goal of an international treaty is being postponed from next month's Copenhagen conference to maybe next year's Mexico City summit, never mind the looming scientific tipping point. [...]
GOP Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and Democratic Senator Jim Webb of Virginia unveiled bipartisan legislation aimed at doubling nuclear power in 20 years and increasing funding for research into low carbon sources of energy. Their bill, introduced on Monday, would provide $100 billion in loan guarantees for carbon-free electricity [...]
Fox News analyst Charles Krauthammer was as the Fox News Special Report Host Bret Baier noted "fired up." The Fox analyst tore into the President not so much for bowing to the Japanese Emperor but more rather for having declared himself America's "first Pacific President" by virtue of [...]
New Zealand, Denmark, Singapore, Sweden and Switzerland are the top five least corrupt nations according to a new survey released today by the NGO Transparency International. The United States with a 7.5 (out of ten) score ranked 19th just behind the United Kingdom and Japan. Somalia, Afghanistan, Myanmar, the [...]
Senator Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III of Alabama who back in 2005 called the filibustering of judicial nominees an "affront to the Constitution" today did just that on the nomination by the President of Judge David Hamilton to the Chicago-based 7th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Sessions, a nominee to the [...]
Part 3 in a series on voices of faith and climate change.
On Friday, I wrote about statements and actions from the leaders of the world's three largest Christian denominations on climate change. On Saturday, I posted eight faith-based videos from Repower America (including my own). Today's' [...]
The progressive netroots movement has always been about the populism of getting people involved with political activism. "The Rise of People-Powered Politics" was part of the subtitle of Crashing The Gate; the election wave of victories in '06 Moveon.org capped the slogan "People Powered Politics" atop the historic' [...]
It has been perplexing that the world press has paid such scant attention to the unfolding usurpation of power by Daniel Ortega and the Sandinista party down in Managua. Today, thankfully, the New York Times finally published a long overdue story. The assault on Nicaragua's democracy has been ongoing [...]
End of the last week, beginning of the next. What have you got planned?
BTW, awesome music below the fold.
Since Jonathan posted the Simpsons on his last open thread, I'm going with Bela Fleck. Seriously, greatest arrangement of anything ever. (Music starts at 0:35.)
While Utah no longer wears the crown of America's reddest state and despite some minor Democratic inroads, the Beehive state remains a hotbed of conservatism. The state is also emerging as one of the more improbable battlegrounds for the future of the GOP. To some on the rabid right, [...]
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From WPTV in Boca Raton, Florida:
Hundreds of people sat inside the Mizner Amphitheater, paying close attention to the presentation, but outside, it was a different story.
A large group of protesters gathered just steps away from where former Vice President Al Gore was speaking.
"If you" [...]
Big news from the President's trip to Asia. I find this simultaneously hopeful and sobering. The New York Times is reporting that world leaders, including President Obama, have decided to make next month's Copenhagen conference on climate change a goal-setting conversation rather than a treaty-forging game changer.
President Obama [...]
Governor Chet Culver (D) has gone through a couple of very tough months, with a film tax credit scandal breaking in September and low revenue projections prompting a 10 percent across-the-board budget cut in October. Selzer and Co. polled Iowans for the Des Moines Register last week, [...]
NBC News is commemorating the fall of the Berlin Wall by sending Tom Brokaw back to Berlin and posting his entire broadcast from November 9, 1989, as well as some documentary clips, on its website. Here is the first of twelve clips from and about that astonishing night.
Visit [...]
I am in NYC this evening. I wound up, purely through Priceline happenstance, staying in room 1208 at the Hilton Millenium, which is directly above the former WTC 9/11 location; at this time of night, it is full of construction trucks-- still excavating with the haunting blowhorn going off intermittently.... [...]
In a surprise, Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell announced that she will not seek re-election next year. Governor Rell, a former lieutenant governor, has been governor since 2004, when Governor John G. Rowland resigned in a corruption scandal. He served 10 months in prison after pleading guilty to corruption charges. [...]
I wrote last night about the 24 House Democrats who not only voted against health care reform but had previously voted against cap-and-trade, as well. Today, Domenico Montanaro at First Read made a great point about such observations: For all the talk about vulnerable Democrats who voted AGAINST [...]
After the release of the October unemployment data that reported a steeper than expected rise to 10.2%, I decided to revisit an old college text, The Zero Sum Society: Distribution and the Possibility for Change, the seminal work of MIT economist Lester Thurow. Written in 1979 and published in 1980, [...]
Disclosure: I'm proud to be working with the American Association for Justice to protect patients' rights.
With the passage of Health Care Reform in the House, the stakes are rising by the day. As we saw this weekend with the adoption of the Stupak-Pitts amendment, changes to the bill can [...]
The Club for Growth has already gone after Charlie Crist in the Florida Republican Senate primary, making more difficult the path to the GOP nomination for the once-popular more moderate incumbent Governor. Now the group is officially staking its position behind Crist's opponent, Marco Rubio.
The Club [...]
I can understand Democrats who don't support the stimulus. I can understand Democrats who don't support health care reform or the public option. I can even understand Democrats who don't support clean energy legislation. I cannot abide Democrats who oppose all three. I am not a purist and do not' [...]
I've read the speculation about the planned troop increase that Obama is supposedly going to propose, but who knows who is telling that an increase is going to happen on the order of 20-80,000 more troops in Afghanistan.
I sure hope not. What a disaster this is becoming.
I' [...]
Dolting Joe certainly had himself a memorable Sunday morning, one that none of us should ever forget. On Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace, the independent Senator from Connecticut said "If the public option plan is in there, as a matter of conscience, I will not allow this bill to" [...]
Two clips for your enjoyment, both skewering Fox News.
The first is Saturday Night Live's take on how Fox News covered Tuesday's election results. If it can make both Jonathan Singer and a conservative West Point friend of mine laugh, you know it's got something goin' for it. (Joe Trippi,' [...]
The netroots have given Larry Kissell $485,795 (via OpenLeft), over the past couple of cycles. He voted no on this healtcare reform bill. He says it was to "protect medicare" which seems like a bizzare explanation.
Here's the list of those Democrats that voted against it, and they all' [...]
There are no words that can adequately express this moment. From the bottom of my heart thank you. Today we take the first step towards a more egalitarian, fairer, more sustainable America.
From the New York Times:
Handing President Obama a hard-fought victory, the House narrowly approved a [...]
Bumped.
The House of Representatives is debating HR 2962, the Affordable Health Care for America Act today. In a nice touch, Representative John Dingell (MI-15) is presiding over the chamber. He was one of the architects of the original Medicare bill. President Barack Obama went to the [...]
The President went this morning to meet with members of the Democratic caucus of the verge of a historic vote. Thankfully, he seems to have abandoned his bi-partisan baggage.
From the Huffington Post:
In a final push to get health care reform through the House of Representatives, President [...]
Enjoy.
The Tide is Turning in the Fight to Close Guantanamo. (Sharon Kelley)
John Garamendi in CA-10: Sworn in and Looking forward to Voting on Health Care Reform.
Tuesday's election was about governing, not politics writes John Russonello.
For those not currently watching C-SPAN, which is recommended watching at present, the Republicans are trying to turn the House of Representatives into a zoo in an effort to impede debate over healthcare reform. At present, they are interrupting every short speech by a group of Democratic women legislators. [...]
Earlier in my post on US Unemployment Reaching a 26-Year High, I said this about the U-6:
Among all groups, the U6 underemployment rate -- a broader measure of the jobs shortfall which includes people whose hours have been cut, those working part-time for lack of full-time work, [...]
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, the left-leaning Independent who caucuses with the Democrats, today introduced legislation that would give the government the power to identify and break up financial firms that are "too big to fail."
The story from Reuters:
An independent U.S. senator on Friday introduced a bill that [...]
Congressman Michael McMahon, the first term Representative from the NY-13 Congressional District that covers Staten Island and parts of Brooklyn, will vote against the historic Democratic healthcare legislation that the House leadership intends to bring to floor as early as this weekend.
From Staten Island Live:
Rep. [...]
Former Vice President and Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore has given an interview to the UK Guardian in which he expresses his optimism that the US will enact meaningful climate legislation.
He notes that "I was in China two days ago, and the premier of China asked" [...]
Per the San Jose Mercury News:
Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein said Thursday she will base a decision on whether to run for California governor next year largely on the solutions the announced candidates put forward to deal with the state's fiscal problems.
Polls indicate she would be a [...]
We're still waiting for the video to be clipped, but folks watching MSNBC earlier this hour saw what will undoubtedly be an instant Youtube classic: Markos hitting Tom Tancredo so hard in response to Tancredo's attacks on the Veterans Affairs department that Tancredo scampered off set. Here's what Markos' [...]
The Bureau of Labor Statistics released its October 2009 unemployment report. The numbers were worse than expected.
The unemployment rate rose from 9.8 to 10.2 percent in October, and nonfarm payroll employment continued to decline (-190,000), the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The largest job [...]
Writing in the Investor's Business Daily, conservative political pundit Charles Krauthammer finds that "the most important effect of Tuesday's elections is historical." According to Krauthammer, the results from these but two state elections in New Jersey and Virginia demolish "the great realignment myth of 2008."
In the aftermath [...]
The US-brokered Guaymuras deal that was reached to restore the ousted Manuel Zelaya to the Honduran presidency for the duration of his term has hit a snag.
Under the terms of the agreement, which works off of an earlier proposal by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, a national unity [...]
At least one gunman and perhaps up to three gunmen have shot and killed 12 soldiers wounding 31 others in a deadly rampage Thursday afternoon at Fort Hood, the nation's largest military base, in Texas. Authorities have killed the gunman, who has been identified as Malik Nadal Hasan, an Army [...]
Despite a Republican boycott of the proceedings, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee chaired by Senator Barbara Boxer approved climate change legislation today. If you think the healthcare debate was contentious, you ain't seen nothing yet. This battle promises to be far uglier. Brace yourselves for stormy weather.
Eleven' [...]
Take a gander:
The Club for Growth has been one of the most successful entities in the nation in electing Democrats to Congress. Whether it was helping force Bill Sali (Idaho) and Tim Walberg (Michigan) through GOP primaries in 2006, only to see both lose reelection bids in [...]
After being driven to "despair" at the prospects of Americans receiving healthcare, Representative Bachmann called on her Tea Party constituency to “scare” members of Congress into killing healthcare reform. “Republican organizers are planning for activists to go into the House office buildings and the U.S. Capitol and confront members directly.” [...]
The cause of healthcare reform receives a huge boost today:
Today AARP announced its endorsement of the Affordable Health Care for America Act (H.R. 3962) and the accompanying Medicare Physician Payment Reform Act (H.R. 3961). The Association's support follows nearly two years of work with lawmakers on both sides [...]
Last year, 23-year-old Rashida Hill watched the presidential debates, visited the college political party meetings and put a Barack Obama bumper sticker on her townhouse door. She voted for Obama because she felt like the election was about "being a part of something."
But on Tuesday, the Virginia Commonwealth University [...]
Not a huge surprise, but the Republicans' healthcare amendment would do literally nothing to decrease the percentage of Americans without coverage, per the CBO (.pdf):
By 2019, CBO and JCT estimate, the number of nonelderly people without health insurance would be reduced by about 3 million relative to current' [...]
A lot didn't go well for the Democrats last night. But that doesn't mean that Democratic successes last night should be overlooked, as some like Michael Barone do.
The 2009 election results are certainly not going to make it easy for Speaker Nancy Pelosi to round up [...]
MSNBC talk show host Chris Matthews had Robert Gibbs, the White House Press Secretary, on his show today. Here's what Matthews asked:
"It seem like this President has had to go to alot of fundraisers lately, he's played alot of golf lately, he's hung around with Geithner and Summers" [...]
Oh this is too good to be true. A failed CEO wants to run for the United States Senate even as she admits that she has "not always been engaged in the electoral process." Translation: I don't vote. Way to go there Carly.
At any rate, Carly Fiorina, the former' [...]
Iowa Governor Chet Culver's campaign started running its second television commercial yesterday:
Like the commercial Culver ran last month, this ad emphasizes that the governor cut spending and his own salary in order to balance the state budget during this recession without raising taxes. I think the ad is [...]
The paranoid spokesman sees the fate of conspiracy in apocalyptic terms--he traffics in the birth and death of whole worlds, whole political orders, whole systems of human values. He is always manning the barricades of civilization. He constantly lives at a turning point. Like religious millenialists he expresses the anxiety [...]
Part of Repower AmericaÂ’s efforts to fight climate change is gathering videos and statements from thousands of Americans explaining why they support clean energy legislation. These videos are part of a really cool web project called the Repower Wall. The wall, launched earlier this week, is a video montage [...]
In yesterday's Wall Street Journal Karl Rove presented a thoughtful opinion piece on how to read the results of elections to be held Tuesday in Virginia, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. Regardless of Rove's projected outcomes in these elections, he makes the mistake [...]
Even if this were perhaps foreseeable, it's nevertheless surprising.
Dede Scozzafava, the Republican and Independence parties candidate in the 23rd Congressional District, is suspending her campaign and releasing her supporters.
The state Assemblywoman has not backed either of her two opponents in the race, Doug Hoffman or Bill Owens.
[...]Enjoy.Details from Restore Fairness of How Immigration Enforcement Has Interfered with Workers' Rights.
Joe Trippi hears what voters are really saying in Rove's Misread of Tuesday's Elections.
Facts are too often replaced with indignation writes Forgiven in Birds of a Feather.
The four month long Honduran crisis is inching towards a negotiated conclusion that would restore the ousted Manuel Zelaya to the Presidency of the small poor Central American nation. The essentials of the deal struck are those negotiated earlier by Costa Rican President Óscar Arias and other Latin American leaders [...]
The US Census Bureau released its annual report for 2008 which found that the nation's poverty rate climbed to 13.2 percent last year, up from 12.5 percent in 2007 and matching an eleven year high. Given the economy, next year's report should find an even higher rate.
According [...]
Reading a couple new polls showing Republican Chris Christie either losing his lead or only leading within the margin of error against New Jersey's incumbent Democratic Governor Jon Corzine -- a race that features a third party candidate drawing significant support -- NRO's Jim Geraghty opines that [...]
Check this out - Rep. Wilson is trying to turn last night's immaturity parade into a fundraising moment! Talk about no sense of shame. And speaking of no shame, this video juxtaposing Glenn Beck and Joe McCarthy is pretty spot-on.
What else is on your mind?
Roughly 24 hours ago, Republican Congressman Joe Wilson of South Carolina took the unprecedented and despicable act of heckling the President of the United States. In the time since, Wilson's challenger Rob Miller has raised more than $600,000 from 17,000 supporters. This is the way our democracy is [...]
South Carolina Republican Chairman Karen Floyd and the state party's executive committee announced late today that it was time for Governor Mark Sanford to go and called on the Governor to resign.
The story from the Palmetto Scoop:
The tide of support from his own Republican Party officially [...]
Okay, enough about Joe Wilson. Now that it's up on YouTube, here's the actual substance in case you missed it. (Although I will go ahead and say - Rob Miller's total haul is now over $400,000 since the speech.)
Markos tweets:
R2K/dKos weekly poll, Obama faves: Tues: 52/40. Wed: 62/36. Can't wait to see tonight's numbers. Nightly sample size 733, MoE 3.62%
It's always worth taking one-night polls with a grain of salt, because of the inherent difficulties of getting a reliable sample (indeed, this is why R2K' [...]
In the time since the despicable heckling of the President by Republican Joe Wilson, the Congressman's 2010 opponent Rob Miller has been fundraising like gangbusters. When I first looked at his Act Blue page last night, he had pulled in a couple thousand dollars; at present, Miller has [...]
I'm very pleased to let you know that Democratic Congressman Joe Sestak, candidate for U.S. Senate from Pennsylvania, will join us at Senate Guru today (Thursday, September 10) at 5pm Eastern Time for a live blog session. I'm sure he will update us on how his campaign is [...]
Despicable...
Congressman Joe Wilson (R-SC), shouting "You lie!" at the President of the United States
Democratic pollster Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research tested focus groups during the course of President Obama's healthcare address to the Congress tonight, the results of which indicate that the speech played extremely well with the public. (For reference, the panel did track with the 2008 vote, with 54 percent identifying' [...]
If you live in the district of Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC), please contact him to let him know that you believe the floor of the House of Representatives should be a place of dignity and respect, and that you have no tolerance for immaturity or childish behavior. (For those unaware, [...]
Tonight I'll be Twittering President Obama's address to Congress @jonathanhsinger for those interested. What are your thoughts?
My quick take: Fantastic, historic, game-changing speech. Expectations were astronomical, but amazingly met and exceeded.
Cross-posted from Blue Moose Democrat.
Reading up on Van Jones last night, I said to myself, "I need to write a post on right-wing outrage about Obama's `czars.'" I guess great (fairly decent?) minds think alike; today's Center for American Progress "Progress Report" e-mail was titled "Crazy Czar'" [...]
From the Salon War Room, the Center for American Progress is giving Van Jones an office:
The New York Daily News reported Wednesday that Jones, who'd served as an advisor on green jobs, was heading to a job at the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank run' [...]
Camille Paglia is a pretty good barometer of the cultural class opinion, and here's her opinion on Afghanistan:
Which brings us to Afghanistan: Let's get the hell out! While I vociferously opposed the incursion into Iraq, I was always strongly in favor of bombing the mountains of Afghanistan to [...]
Jason Linkins has the story for the Huffington Post:
Louisiana Rep. Charles Boustany will be delivering the GOP response to President Obama's address to a joint session of Congress tonight. The Washington Post says that it's a "somewhat surprising pick in that he is little-known nationally and not" [...]
Enjoy.
New Report Documents Rampant Labor Law Violations. (The Electrical Worker)
The Presidency casts a long shadow, writes John Russonello in a Warning to Senate Blue Dogs: Going it Alone can be Dangerous.
In Some Thoughts on Labor Day, btchakir reminds us of the dynamics that made [...]
Jonathan Weisman and Janet Adamy have the story for The Wall Street Journal:
President Barack Obama, in a high-stakes speech Wednesday to Congress and the nation, will press for a government-run insurance option in a proposed overhaul of the U.S. health-care system that has divided lawmakers and voters for [...]
Big scoop from Politico:
Sen. Chris Dodd is expected to remain chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, two Senate insiders told POLITICO.
Dodd is expected to make the announcement Wednesday, according to sources in Connecticut and Washington.
A decision to stay at the banking panel [...]
Still impressive and still awesome:
Lots of things are discouraging these days - but Al in the Senate sure ain't one of them.
Labor Day cookouts. Obama's AFL-CIO speech. Civilians killed by us in Afghanistan and by terrorists Iraq. Pick a topic or make up a topic, but whichever you choose, don't talk with your mouth full.
With Vicki Kennedy having already made it clear to Governor Patrick that she has no interest in her late husband's Senate seat, we can now say that the Kennedy dynasty really is coming to an end. From the Associated Press:
Former Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy II, the eldest son [...]
I just read the pre-released text of the speech President Obama plans to deliver to our nation's schoolchildren tomorrow, and I am APALLED. Wait until you get a load of this socialist claptrap. That commie plans to tell our nation's children, of all things, that they should actually take [...]
So reports New York Times health correspondent Robert Pear:
The proposal is the culmination of more than a year of work by the chairman, Senator Max Baucus, Democrat of Montana. A similar fee was proposed by several liberal Democrats in July. In making it part of his proposal, Mr. [...]
Earthjustice is taking mountaintop removal mining to the Supreme Court, arguing that four Army Corps of Engineers-approved permits violate the Clean Water Act. Whether you call it the planet, creation, Earth, the environment, nature, or just plain home, this video is worth a look.
Let's say I'm trying to sell my house, and I have an interested buyer. I could tell the buyer one of two things:
1. The minimum offer I'll consider for this house is $300,000.
2. This house is worth at least $300,000. Compared to the house down the street that [...]
Let's say I'm trying to sell my house, and I have an interested buyer. I could tell the buyer one of two things:
1. The minimum offer I'll consider for this house is $300,000.
2. This house is worth at least $300,000. Compared to the house down the street that [...]
It's not that I'm a Van Jones fan, but the way that the Obama administration buckles to the rightwing nuts over a few statements the environmentalist made. I can't help but see it in light of how, in the face of actual substantial issue (not paying taxes) that Timothy Geithner [...]
Over the past week in the right wing media, there has been an orchestrated campaign against Van Jones, the point person on green jobs in the Obama Administration. As if it were a spitting cobra, the right wing has spared not a dram of vitriol in its viciousness spreading lies. [...]
Kid oakland has a simple request for those who supported Barack Obama's presidential campaign:
This Labor day weekend, I would like to invite you join me in a very simple, direct project in support of comprehensive healthcare reform.
I'd like to invite you to write personal letters to the' [...]
Delayed by travel, but, as always, worth the wait. Enjoy.
National Nurses Movement explains The Real Death Panels: Insurers Deny 22% of Claims.
It's been a bad month for Rep. Lynn Jenkins, and Mike Nellis has it all on VIDEO: Rep. Jenkins caught lying again, Ms. Smith speaks [...]
I can't tell. Seems compromise is a goal in and of itself:
A variety of reports suggest that, during a conference call this afternoon, President Obama probed House progressives to see just how flexible their demands are.
A source familiar with the call tells TPM that Obama asked the' [...]
Yesterday I estimated that thousands, and perhaps tens of thousands, of Facebook users posted a strong message of support for healthcare reform that read something like this:
No one should die because they cannot afford healthcare. No one should go broke because they get sick, and no one [...]
The Democratic National Committee is firing back with a new ad aiming to dispel some of the misconceptions and flat out lies that various Republican politicians are peddling in this current debate over healthcare reform. The ad, entitled Republicans Want to End Medicare, will air on cable [...]
Yesterday I estimated that thousands, and perhaps tens of thousands, of Facebook users posted a strong message of support for healthcare reform that read something like this:
No one should die because they cannot afford healthcare. No one should go broke because they get sick, and no one should [...]
It perhaps took some prodding but in the end the Obama Administration is honoring one of its key and not insignificant campaign promises - that of government transparency. After an internal review, the Obama Administration will make publicly available the visitor logs to the White House with certain national security [...]
Reports like this are baffling (via Sullivan):
Under the House proposal, people receiving government subsidies could still end up spending 20 percent or more of their annual incomes on premiums, deductibles and co-insurance, according to estimates prepared by the House Committee on Ways and Means and obtained by [...]
Take it with a dose of caution but Senator Max Baucus of Montana today told Senate colleagues that he would soon submit a proposal for a sweeping overhaul of the nation's health care system. The story in the New York Times:
The chairman, Senator Max Baucus, Democrat of [...]
