Uncommon Sense Archives - 03/2007
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., is a domestic progressive with a hankering for international trade agreements. And despite considerable opposition to any new agreements, the House may just approve a series of bilateral pacts with Peru, Colombia and Panama. The House may further approve the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement when it finishes negotiations. And, perhaps, most controversial of all, Rangel might grant President Bush an extension of the hotly-debated “fast track” authority. [more]
--Alec Dubro | Friday 9:43 AM | Permalink
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 for misleading Congress, and folks are looking to save themselves and shift blame. [more]
--Bill Scher | Thursday 2:25 PM | Permalink
There is more evidence today that the Bush administration’s economic policies are widening the gap between the rich and the poor. [more]
--Isaiah J. Poole | Thursday 12:50 PM | Permalink
It is odd that health care in the United States is so expensive. The U.S. is not an especially expensive advanced industrial nation, and most consumer items here cost less than in Europe, East Asia or Australia. But health care, as we know, costs at least 50 percent more here than elsewhere, continues to rise at two to three times the rate of inflation, and fails to reach many who badly need it. [more]
--Alec Dubro | Thursday 10:21 AM | Permalink
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: [more]
--Bill Scher | Thursday 8:20 AM | Permalink
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. [more]
--Bill Scher | Wednesday 10:47 AM | Permalink
The health care goals and plans of seven presidential candidates, all Democrats, are being laid side by side for the first time Saturday as the Center for American Progress and Service Employees International Union host the "New Leadership On Health Care" presidential forum in Las Vegas. (You can comment on the debate here.) [more]
--Bill Scher | Saturday 4:34 PM | Permalink
A $124 billion war funding supplemental bill is scheduled for a vote in the House of Representatives today, and progressive anti-war members are, for the most part, planning to hold their nose and vote for it. [more]
--Isaiah J. Poole | Friday 9:35 AM | Permalink
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales isn't the only Bush cabinet official worrying about his job. [more]
--Bill Scher | Thursday 1:46 PM | Permalink
Former vice president Al Gore testified before both House and Senate congressional committees on Wednesday, giving both houses and both parties time to consider his "inconvenient truths" about global warming —and forcing members to choose between action and obfuscation. [more]
--Bill Scher | Wednesday 3:26 PM | Permalink
This week will bring the first binding vote in the 110th Congress seeking to bring an end to the Iraq War. Right now, the vote on the $124 billion Iraq war supplemental spending bill is scheduled for Thursday, although Democratic leaders may postpone it until Friday in an effort to secure the 218 votes it needs to pass. But even if House Speaker Nancy Pelosi gets a majority, there is only a slim chance the bill will then pass in the Senate. And absolutely no chance it will be signed by the president. [more]
--Alec Dubro | Wednesday 2:41 PM | Permalink
Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards today is putting forth what he is calling an “aggressive but achievable” energy plan, elements of which mirror the kind of bold energy initiative that the Apollo Alliance has been urging presidential candidates to adopt. [more]
--Isaiah J. Poole | Tuesday 12:26 PM | Permalink
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is lowering expectations regarding planned global warming legislation, the Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire blog reported Friday. Pelosi, D-Calif., prompted concerns last week when an aide said a climate-change and energy-independence bill might not be ready by Pelosi’s June 1 deadline. [more]
--Bill Scher | Monday 10:19 AM | Permalink
Sometime in 2008 , Bank of America, the country’s largest commercial bank, will open the doors of its new 52-floor, 2 million-square-foot office building in Midtown Manhattan. No ordinary 945 foot-tall, 1billion-dollar hulk, the Bank of America Tower will be as green as it can be. [more]
--Alec Dubro | Thursday 4:05 PM | Permalink
Recognizing that its political purge of eight U.S. attorneys was about to reach critical mass—particularly because of the appearance that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales lied to Congress about it—the White House is now running its script to beat back the media interest. [more]
--Bill Scher | Wednesday 11:15 AM | Permalink
Every five years the farm bill comes up for renewal. The United States Department of Agriculture has now made public its recommendations for the 2007 Farm Bill and begun presenting those recommendations to Congress. The actual bill will then be crafted and adjusted in accordance with budget hearings later this spring. [more]
--Alina Hoffman | Tuesday 12:30 PM | Permalink
I was at Walter Reed Army Hospital last week on a matter unrelated to the recent news. I went inside three buildings, unescorted, and drove around the grounds. Everything I saw was a bit dreary, but in no way scandalous. From what I heard there, the residents consider it, well, an army base, better than some, worse than others. [more]
--Alec Dubro | Tuesday 11:20 AM | Permalink
In honor of International Women's Day, which also happens to be Blog Against Sexism Day (funny how that works out), I bring you some good news: [more]
--Ethan Heitner | Thursday 1:36 PM | Permalink
“We do not issue these reports because we think ourselves perfect, but rather because we know ourselves to be deeply imperfect,” said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice yesterday . The occasion was the release of the State Department’s annual human rights report. Doubtless, Rice was referring to Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, admitting what is too well-documented to deny. [more]
--Alec Dubro | Thursday 9:55 AM | Permalink
Last month, the Bush administration began to spin, with the help of The Washington Post, that the Medicare prescription drug plan—which does not allow Medicare to negotiate for lower drug prices—was doing great because the private insurers were already negotiating for lower prices. [more]
--Bill Scher | Wednesday 10:57 AM | Permalink
When President Bush flies off to Latin America later this week, you can bet your huarachas that he won’t be stopping off in Venezuela. George Bush has made no secret of his distaste for the socialist regime of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. [more]
--Alec Dubro | Tuesday 11:42 AM | Permalink
In the 19th century, inventors and engineers were noticing a peculiar phenomenon: As machines in general became more efficient, they used more fuel, not less. That was because efficiency brought the cost down and more people than ever bought them, and used them more often. [more]
--Alec Dubro | Thursday 4:55 PM | Permalink
