Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett may be the most adept politician in America. With the nation focused upon the union-busting Tea Party-backed Scott Walker in Wisconsin, Corbett has snuck in a plan to mine the state’s resources, increase employment, reduce educational problems, and whack unions upside the head at the same time. Miraculously, the public sector [...]
There are a lot of ironies in the Wisconsin fight between the Republican-dominated legislature and the working class. On Tuesday, Feb. 22, the State Senate unanimously passed a resolution to honor the Green Bay Packers for winning the Super Bowl. Every one of the players is a member of a union. Of course, only the [...]
Lara Logan, CBS News chief foreign affairs correspondent, was beaten and sexually assaulted, Feb. 11, while on assignment in Cairo to report on the revolution that concluded that day with Hosni Mubarak resigning as president. Logan, according to an official CBS announcement, was attacked by a group of about 200 Egyptians and “suffered a brutal [...]
Chinese President Hu Jintao’s visit to the United States this past week has been met by both praise and political posturing. Hu, an intellectual with a strong sense of culture, hopes he is leading what he wishes to be “a Harmonious Society” with peaceful development. To that end, Hu said his government was prepared to [...]
Just about anything that could be said about the murders in Tucson have been said. We know that Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) was holding a “Congress on the Corner” meeting outside a Safeway grocery store. We know that a 22-year-old named Jared Lee Loughner is in FBI custody, and has been charged with one count [...]
Almost all children hear a set of conflicting statements from their parents, relatives, and friends. They’re told if they study hard, if they work hard, they can achieve whatever they want. It’s the “American Dream.” But they’re also told that life isn’t always fair. Looking for internships or jobs, America’s children learn that no matter [...]
One of the reasons for the increase in spending is that the conservative wing of the Republican party has launched an all-out assault to once again take over Congress. Another reason is that they got a supreme assist in January. The Supreme Court, by a 5–4 vote along party lines, decided in Citizens United v Federal Election Commission [130 S.Ct. 876] that the First Amendment applies to corporations, which now would enjoy the same protections given to citizens and associations of citizens. The decision essentially obliterated the gains made by the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (known as the McCain–Feingold Act) and a Supreme Court decision (McConnell v. FEC; 540 U.S. 93) a year later that ruled most of the Act constitutional.
A federal grand jury last week indicted retired pitcher Roger Clemens on charges he lied to Congress. In February 2008, Clemens, a seven time Cy Young winner, voluntarily met with a House committee and testified he didn’t knowingly use steroids or human growth hormones. The only evidence against Clemens appears to be the testimony of [...]
The Obama administration is a welcome change from the Bush–Cheney years. Against severe Republican opposition, President Obama has kept campaign promises to reform health care, curb Wall Street excesses, create a federally-funded stimulus program to help bring the nation out of the recession, and to remove American troops from the needless Iraq war, which has already cost Americans more than $740 billion and 4,400 lives. He has also pledged to eliminate the Bush–Cheney tax cuts for the rich, while not raising taxes on the middle- and lower-classes.
Millions of Americans had pleaded with basketball superstar LeBron James to leave the Cleveland Cavaliers and come to their city when he became a free agent. Bloggers, media pundits, and reporters of every kind seemed to devote much of their lives to figuring out what team James would be a part of for the 2011 [...]
