From Rolling Stone’s Secret and Lies of the Bailout: Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat from Ohio, remembers a call with Paulson and Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke. “We need $700 billion,” they told Brown, “and we need it in three days.” What’s more, the plan stipulated, Paulson could spend the money however he pleased, without…
Whereas Senator Rodney Tom ran as a Democrat in 2010 in the 48th Legislative District; and Whereas Senator Tom received over $25,000 from the State Democratic Party and $44,000 in in-kind donations from the Senate Democratic Caucus in 2010, and additional support and resources from the 48th District Democrats; and Whereas Senator Tim Sheldon ran…
Rep. Adam Smith voted against the budget deal, saying, it make “getting to a reasonable ten-year plan far more difficult by making permanent 90 percent of the Bush Tax Cuts. By not allowing those tax cuts to expire, and then making them permanent, we took $3.5 Trillion of revenue off the table. This will lead…
The Wall Street Journal points out that by retaining tax cuts for incomes up to $400,000, “Democrats aren’t just accepting, but embracing and extending, at least 98% of the 2001 Bush tax cuts.” Throughout the run-up to the budget deal, I received emails from the White House emphasizing the reasons why the President would have…
I’m reading Top Secret America: The Rise of the New American Security State, by Dana Priest and William R. Arkin. The book catalogs the mind-boggling number of secret and semi-secret government agencies and programs that have proliferated since the 9/11 attacks. (“Code names linked companies and agencies and activities, and the number of locations doubled…
I have been engaged in an ongoing edit war concerning the Wikipedia article on Chuck Hagel, whose name is being mentioned as a possible nominee for Secretary of Defense. Hagel is coming under criticism from Republicans and neocons who are unhappy with Hagel’s statements such as “[t]he Defense Department, I think in many ways, has…
Cenk Uygur of the Young Turks says, in Obama Will Ride to the Rescue … for Republicans: The Republicans have put themselves in a holy mess with this Plan B debacle. They now have less than zero leverage. They are a national laughingstock. A majority of the country now thinks they are “too extreme.” They…
“Chris died because of craven, irresponsible politicians and the NRA. They talk about gun rights but what about Chris’ right to live? When will this insanity stop?” — Richard Martinez, father of 20 year old victim Chris Martinez. “If you go back, you can see Wayne LaPierre, who runs the NRA, testifying in front of…