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.  [more]

--Isaiah J. Poole | Tuesday, April 3, 2007 2:32 PM | Permalink

Bush Loses, Earth Wins

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 and Sam Alito agreed, along with veteran conservative activist judges Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas.  [more]

--Bill Scher | Monday, April 2, 2007 1:02 PM | Permalink

Not Quite Fair Trade, But Fairer

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, March 30, 2007 9:43 AM | Permalink

Politics Over Performance

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, March 29, 2007 2:25 PM | Permalink

Income Inequality Worsens

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, March 29, 2007 12:50 PM | Permalink

Be Careful Cutting Health Costs

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, March 29, 2007 10:21 AM | Permalink

Let The Kids Dance

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, March 29, 2007 8:20 AM | Permalink

Funding Failure Is Not An Option

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, March 28, 2007 10:47 AM | Permalink

Dems Debate Health Care

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, March 24, 2007 4:34 PM | Permalink

War Funding Family Argument

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, March 23, 2007 9:35 AM | Permalink

Another 'Heck Of A Job'

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales isn't the only Bush cabinet official worrying about his job.  [more]

--Bill Scher | Thursday, March 22, 2007 1:46 PM | Permalink

Gore And An Uncomfortable Congress

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, March 21, 2007 3:26 PM | Permalink

Stopping The War...Eventually

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, March 21, 2007 2:41 PM | Permalink

Edwards' 'Aggressive' Energy Plan

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, March 20, 2007 12:26 PM | Permalink

Dems Go Lukewarm on Global Warming

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, March 19, 2007 10:19 AM | Permalink

Wrong Shade Of Green

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, March 15, 2007 4:05 PM | Permalink

White House Runs Scandal Script

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, March 14, 2007 11:15 AM | Permalink

Debating The Farm Bill

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, March 13, 2007 12:30 PM | Permalink

Where Walter Reed Looks Pretty Good

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, March 13, 2007 11:20 AM | Permalink

Blog Against Sexism Day: Feminism Works

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, March 8, 2007 1:36 PM | Permalink

Deeply Imperfect Abuse

“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, March 8, 2007 9:55 AM | Permalink

Hiding From Plain Oversight

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, March 7, 2007 10:57 AM | Permalink

Colombia Bueno, Venezuela Malo

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, March 6, 2007 11:42 AM | Permalink

Green, Efficient Excess

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, March 1, 2007 4:55 PM | Permalink

Deadly Denial of Dental Care

It is hard to make the travesty of 12-year-old Deamonte Driver’s death more plain than reporter Mary Otto did in Wednesday’s story about him in The Washington Post:  [more]

--Isaiah J. Poole | Wednesday, February 28, 2007 11:14 AM | Permalink

Energy Blast On Capitol Hill

The Apollo Alliance Summit took its campaign for energy independence and good jobs to Capitol Hill on Tuesday, meeting with members of Congress and their staffs and pressing for increased government support of renewable energy.  [more]

--Bill Scher | Tuesday, February 27, 2007 5:57 PM | Permalink

Back On The Chain Gang

Recently, the British labor federation, the TUC, announced that February 23 would be Work Your Proper Hours Day. It is “the day when the average person who does unpaid overtime finishes the unpaid days they do every year, and starts earning for themselves.”  [more]

--Alec Dubro | Tuesday, February 27, 2007 4:58 PM | Permalink

Everyone Loves Keith Olbermann—Except Me

I got hooked on Keith Olbermann after coming upon a clip of his in October 2005. He was using Michael Chertoff's slip of the tongue—Chertoff had called Louisiana a city—as a jumping-off point for a magnificently righteous tirade about the Bush administration's mishandling of Katrina. "...The current administration," he said, "did not merely damage itself—it damaged our confidence in our ability to rely on whoever is in the White House." By the end of it, my respect for this man was cemented.  [more]

--Sandi Burtseva | Friday, February 23, 2007 11:27 AM | Permalink

Union States Of America

The House of Representatives probably hadn’t seen such a pro-labor lineup of speakers since the Kennedy administration. It wasn’t actually House business; it was a morning panel put on by the labor-backed Economic Policy Institute. But it filled the caucus room of the Cannon House Office Building with a determinedly union-boosting crowd.  [more]

--Alec Dubro | Thursday, February 22, 2007 5:25 PM | Permalink

Rabid Fox Gets Bitten Again

Prolific and incisive filmmaker Robert Greenwald today launched the FoxAttacks website and unveiled an online video  exposing Fox News’s efforts to smear Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama as he is being introduced to voters nationwide.  [more]

--Bill Scher and Isaiah J. Poole | Thursday, February 22, 2007 11:42 AM | Permalink

Jet Not-So-Blue

Uh-oh. Nice guy airline JetBlue got itself in a tub of icy water this past week when its tightly-wound, just-in-time operation came unraveled. Amid freezing conditions, JetBlue managed to strand thousands of passengers on runway tarmacs, and left many more—some for days—in the hellish limbo where unwanted fliers wait, patiently or not.  [more]

--Alec Dubro | Thursday, February 22, 2007 9:19 AM | Permalink

A Specter Haunting America

When the House of Representatives began debate earlier this week on a measure popularly known as the War Resolution (H. Con. Res. 63), one member in particular stood out amid the posturing, pontificating and just plain speaking: House Minority Leader John Boehner. The impeccably-coiffed Ohio Republican castigated the defeatists among us, and left no doubt about his position. It’s worth a look at the entire passage:  [more]

--Alec Dubro | Thursday, February 15, 2007 10:56 AM | Permalink

In The Name of Democracy

What do the former German Democratic Republic, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace have in common?  [more]

--Alec Dubro | Thursday, February 15, 2007 9:01 AM | Permalink

Bush's Blow-Up With Iran

When asked today if the U.S. were preparing for war with Iran, President Bush continued his doublespeak. He reiterated his claim that explosive devices being used in Iraq against U.S. troops are connected to the Iranian government. While saying that he is going to “do something” about it, he also denied that he is trying to provoke a war  [more]

--Isaiah Poole | Wednesday, February 14, 2007 1:20 PM | Permalink

A Billion Here, A Billion Where?

The Defense Budget was released last week, along with the other components of the FY 2008 request. In case you’re wondering, it’s a lot. The Bush administration wants $481.4 billion for the Department of Defense, a 62 percent increase over the pre-9-11, 2001 budget.  [more]

--Alec Dubro | Tuesday, February 13, 2007 11:34 AM | Permalink

Explosively Formed Distractions

Well, the long-delayed other shoe has finally dropped. The U.S. government has for months been promising "slam-dunk" evidence that the Islamic Republic of Iran is providing weapons to militias attacking American troops in Iraq, a causus belli that would at least justify whacking Iranian targets in Iraq, if not direct strikes against Iran. Either way, it's sure to do only two things: start a much larger war and unify the Iranian people around their leaders.  [more]

--Ethan Heitner | Monday, February 12, 2007 9:02 AM | Permalink

Energy Research For All

In late 2005,  Rep. Bart Gordon, D-Tenn., introduced a bill that would establish the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Energy (ARPA-E), modeled after the Defense Department’s DARPA. He was looking to create an agency that would fund and coordinate research to change the nature of America’s energy use. His goal was "to reduce the amount of energy the United States imports from foreign sources by 20 percent over the next 10 years.” But Gordon was at that time merely a ranking member of the Science Committee, and the bill died.  [more]

--Alec Dubro | Thursday, February 8, 2007 2:13 PM | Permalink

Finally, A Hot Seat For Bremer

The Associated Press story could hardly have made it more plain: “The former U.S. occupation chief in Iraq on Tuesday defended the way he haphazardly doled out billions of dollars in Iraqi funds after the U.S. invasion as Democrats began a two-year effort to scrutinize fraud, waste and abuse under the Bush administration.”  [more]

--Isaiah J. Poole | Tuesday, February 6, 2007 6:33 PM | Permalink

Undermining Workers Again

Apparently, the Bush administration is having money troubles. In order to shovel $624 billion to the military and maintain generous tax cuts, the White House has to skimp on a few other items, like Medicaid and Medicare.  [more]

--Alec Dubro | Tuesday, February 6, 2007 10:38 AM | Permalink

A Tough-As-Steel Workers' Champion

George Becker rose from the floor of the steel mill to the presidency of the Steelworkers Union (now United Steel Workers), in the process facing some of the union’s most difficult conditions since its founding in the 1930s. He is being remembered today for helping guide the organization through consolidations and mergers, keeping it one of the nation’s strongest industrial unions and a vital voice for working people.  [more]

--Alec Dubro | Monday, February 5, 2007 2:40 PM | Permalink

A Disastrous 2008 Budget

President Bush’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2008 reveals once again his disregard for what a majority of the American people asked for in the 2006 elections and his pathological inability to level with the public about the public policy choices the administration and Congress must make together.  [more]

--Isaiah J. Poole | Monday, February 5, 2007 1:33 PM | Permalink

Asking The Wrong Questions About Iran

The United States is preparing its third rush towards war in six years, and experts are already warning that by hyping up the tension between U.S. occupying forces and Iranian diplomatic forces on the ground in Iraq, the U.S. is risking a situation similar to "August 1914 all over again." At that time in Europe, an unwillingness to back down produced a situation where a single misread signal caused a conflagration, dragging the entire region into mutual devastation due to interlocking alliances.  [more]

--Ethan Heitner | Monday, February 5, 2007 8:50 AM | Permalink

Who Are We Fighting Again?

The week began with news of a startling battle outside the Iraqi city of Najaf, a battle that left 250 dead "militants" on one side, 25 dead Iraqi soldiers and a couple of dead Americans from a downed helicopter. It was the largest single battle  since the American invasion, and was immediately characterized by U.S. commanders and politicians as a victory for Iraqi troops over "insurgents," proving their military mettle with only air support from the U.S.  [more]

--Ethan Heitner | Friday, February 2, 2007 9:01 AM | Permalink

Bush On Makin' Money

George Bush delivered his State of the Economy address  Wednesday, appropriately enough, on Wall Street. He noted that, “The Dow Jones has set new records 26 times in the last four months,” and pronounced the economy healthy. Certainly healthy enough for Wall Street, but how about the rest of us?  [more]

--Alec Dubro | Thursday, February 1, 2007 11:51 AM | Permalink

Crippling Our Civil Service

Bill Scher blogs for Campaign for America's Future.  [more]

--Bill Scher | Wednesday, January 31, 2007 11:12 AM | Permalink

Bush To Earth: Drop Dead

Let’s get one thing clear: George Bush and his friends wouldn’t combat global warming, even if the atmosphere were on fire. His plan, announced at the State of the Union, was basically that we would cut down a little on imported petroleum and supplement it with a silo of corn liquor. That’s not a plan. It’s a case of nothing. As the saying goes, half measures don’t produce half results, they produce no results.  [more]

--Alec Dubro | Tuesday, January 30, 2007 1:22 PM | Permalink

Invoking Tom Paine To End The War

The latest effort to apply the principles of Thomas Paine to our contemporary world comes from journalist and Denver talk show host Judah Freed . His book, Global Sense, uses the spirit of Paine’s revolutionary rhetoric as, in Freed's words, “a perfect vehicle for talking about how global thinking empowers us for freedom.” Freed was recently featured on C-Span's Book TV and was part of a commemoration earlier this month in Philadelphia of the 231st anniversary of Paine's Common Sense. Since we’re celebrating Paine’s 270th birthday this week, I asked Freed his thoughts on what Paine might think of the antiwar demonstrations this past weekend, the congressional lobbying that took place on his birthday Monday, and the state of our democracy.   [more]

--Isaiah J. Poole | Tuesday, January 30, 2007 1:09 PM | Permalink

The Senate Anti-Worker Caucus

Voters in November had a simple request: They wanted an increase in the federal minimum wage. They voted for Democrats who promised to make an increase in the federal minimum wage a top priority. And what does the U.S. Senate do? They not only turn a simple bill into a gaudy mess, but some Republicans—including at least three likely presidential candidates—voted against a federal minimum wage, period.  [more]

--Isaiah J. Poole | Friday, January 26, 2007 11:39 AM | Permalink

Speaking Truth To Powerlessness

The January 25 issue of The New York Times reported a recent study on the costs of child poverty. According to the study’s authors, child poverty also incurs costs to society as poor children age: they earn less money, commit more crimes and have more health-related expenses. Not exactly surprising, but the documentation is nearly irrefutable.  [more]

--Alec Dubro | Friday, January 26, 2007 11:17 AM | Permalink

We Gave War A Chance

The morning after the State of the Union speech, the Washington Post headline ran—apparently without irony—“Bush Urges Congress, Nation, To Give His Iraq Plan A Chance.” Too bad John Lennon is dead, he could have sung it.  [more]

--Alec Dubro | Thursday, January 25, 2007 9:37 AM | Permalink

A Speech Bordering On Criminal

There ought to be a law against presidents delivering State of the Union addresses that contain the number of fallacies, inconsistencies and duplicitous statements that President Bush’s address to Congress contained last night.  [more]

--Isaiah J. Poole | Tuesday, January 23, 2007 11:08 PM | Permalink

Keep The Wage Bill Minimal

[UPDATE: A Senate vote midday Wednesday to close off debate on a "clean" minimum wage bill, identical to one the House passed earlier this month, fell six votes short of passage. The vote was 54-43.]  [more]

--Isaiah J. Poole | Tuesday, January 23, 2007 5:14 PM | Permalink

The High Cost of Denial

Turkish-Armenian editor Hrank Dink was shot to death last week, apparently by a teenager infused with anger and Turkish nationalism. Dink had been one of the loudest voices in Turkey to insist on recognition of the 1915 genocidal massacres of Armenians.  [more]

--Alec Dubro | Tuesday, January 23, 2007 10:51 AM | Permalink

Blog For Choice, A Day Late And A Dollar Short

While out on our afternoon constitutional, TomPaine operatives noticed the streams of anti-choice crowds emerging from seemingly every subway station in downtown D.C. They were gathering for the annual rally against reproductive rights, held on the anniversary of the court decision that affirmed that women have the right to control their own bodies.  [more]

--Sandi Burtseva and Ethan Heitner | Monday, January 22, 2007 10:51 PM | Permalink

Proof That Progress Is Possible

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is winning plaudits for completing an ambitious 100-hour legislative agenda in just 42 working hours, and deservedly so. In just a two-week period, the Democratic leaders of the House of Representatives did more to legislate meaningful change in the public interest than their Republican predecessors could muster in their years of domination.  [more]

--Isaiah J. Poole | Friday, January 19, 2007 10:00 AM | Permalink

Non-Binding, Slightly Chafing

An exasperated George Bush demanded just two days ago that critics, if they’re so goshawful smart, come up with a better plan for Iraq. It doesn’t rank up there with “Bring ‘em on” as dumb challenges go, but, too bad for him, at least two better plans were unveiled on the Hill on Wednesday. One gets the suspicion that pretty much anyone could come up with a better plan than Bush’s, but for now we have both House and Senate resolutions.  [more]

--Alec Dubro | Thursday, January 18, 2007 9:45 AM | Permalink

Doublespeak On Student Loans

The House is expected to pass legislation today that will cut some student loan rates in half, saving the average student $4,420 without costing taxpayers a dime.  [more]

--Bill Scher and Isaiah J. Poole | Wednesday, January 17, 2007 12:39 PM | Permalink

These Colors Won't Leave

“Sen. Joseph Biden, a Democratic presidential hopeful joining fellow Sen. Christopher Dodd at Martin Luther King Jr. holiday events (sponsored by the NAACP), said Monday he thinks the Confederate flag should be kept off South Carolina's Statehouse grounds.”  [more]

--Alec Dubro | Tuesday, January 16, 2007 5:40 PM | Permalink

'We Have To Tell The Story Ourselves'

Veteran journalist Bill Moyers on Friday challenged 3,000 progressive activists and communicators to take back the telling of America’s story at the National Conference of Media Reform in Memphis. He put his finger squarely on the deep vein of discontent with the way mainstream media is ill-serving American democracy.  [more]

--Isaiah J. Poole | Friday, January 12, 2007 2:16 PM | Permalink

Driving The Hearse Blindfolded

In case you missed it the other night, George Bush took no responsibility for plunging the U.S. and Iraq into a catastrophic war from which there seems to be no exit. To some observers, he appeared to shoulder the onus, but he didn’t.  [more]

--Alec Dubro | Friday, January 12, 2007 10:56 AM | Permalink

Maximizing The Minimum

Bill Scher blogs for Campaign for America's Future. This blog originally appeared in The Huffington Post.  [more]

--Bill Scher | Friday, January 12, 2007 9:30 AM | Permalink

Health Care For All: Let's Get It Started

The Democrats are committed to a toe-to-toe battle over the Medicare prescription drug benefit with pharmaceutical companies and the Bush administration, but that is just the first round of the health care fight.  Full victory is universal coverage. Thursday, a progressive coalition officially rang the bell on that fight.  [more]

--Isaiah J. Poole | Thursday, January 11, 2007 11:44 PM | Permalink

Pushing Palestine Over The Brink

The one thing George Bush apparently agreed with the Baker-Hamilton commission about is the need to jump-start the Israeli-Palestinian peace process in order to bring resolution to the rest of the Middle East (it took him long enough to figure out). But even as Condoleezza Rice prepares for yet another of her pointless and ineffectual jaunts to the Middle East, as usual our actions belie our words. Evidence suggests that the American government is actually trying to spark a civil war in the occupied Palestinian territories.  [more]

--Ethan Heitner | Thursday, January 11, 2007 10:26 AM | Permalink

'Hell, No' To The Surge

President Bush reached a new low of disregard for the will of the American people, and disrespect for the lives of the people who are fighting and dying under his command, in his speech Wednesday night calling for more troops to Iraq. There is only one correct response to this plan: “Hell, no.”  [more]

--Isaiah J. Poole | Wednesday, January 10, 2007 11:41 PM | Permalink

A Brilliant Heat Stroke

"For almost two decades, the few of us working on climate change f