It’s bad enough when a crooked corporation screws the public; it’s so much worse when the crooked corporation’s employees get caught on tape bragging about it. And yet that’s exactly what’s happened to Bush’s top corporate contributor, Enron. CBS obtained a tape of Enron energy traders “gloating and praising each other as they helped bring […]
It was pretty obvious by the end of the Clinton presidency that the proposed balanced budget amendment to the Constitution was dead. The nation was enjoying its largest surpluses ever, we were on track to pay off the entirety of the national debt within the next decade, and no one from either party was anxious […]
Speaking of Bush’s faith-based initiative (see below), James Towey, head of Bush’s faith-based office, probably told the LA Times yesterday more than he intended. It was a mistake that could further hinder Bush’s beleaguered initiative. The administration, and the president in particular, has insisted from the outset that Bush’s faith-based plan has been about helping […]
There are so many things wrong with Bush’s renewed interest in his so-called “faith-based” initiative, it’s hard to know where to start. Let’s focus on Bush’s speech to the first-ever White House National Conference on Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. The president made it quite clear that he’s not only willing to fudge facts about his […]
Fortunately, there weren’t any real surprises yesterday at the polls, just plenty of good news. The big winner is the House’s newest member, Rep. Stephanie Herseth (D). It was a nailbitter (51-49) and wasn’t officially called until late last night. Herseth says, “We knew it was going to be close. We knew it was going […]
It’s hard not to notice that Attorney General John Ashcroft is just about out of friends. Bush already leaked word a couple of months ago that he was displeased at the way in which Ashcroft tried to smear 9/11 Commission member Jamie Gorelick. It was a rare public rebuke for Bush, who usually praises his […]
Bush’s Medicare scheme has quickly become the biggest domestic debacle of his presidency. There’s the illegal bribe offers to lawmakers, the illegal silencing of administration officials, and the probably illegal refusals to share relevant cost information with Congress. And now the Center for American Progress has discovered more bad news. In a report published today, […]
It didn’t generate a lot of headlines last week, but the Bureau of Labor Statistics released a discouraging report about the future of job growth in the U.S. [T]he jobs that will be most in demand in the coming years require specific skills that aren’t necessarily tied to a bachelor’s degree, according to the U.S. […]
Ralph Nader is still struggling to qualify for state ballots as an independent presidential candidate, but Oliver at The Liquid List noticed one Nader coordinator who is too clever by half. While most signature-gatherers have been hitting vegan restaurants and bookstore cafes, Jim Polk is turning the approach on its ear. Nader’s Virginia campaign coordinator, […]
The controversy surrounding Sen. James Inhofe’s (R-Okla.) breathtakingly dumb comments last month about the Abu Ghraib abuse scandal continues to reverberate. In case you’ve forgotten, Inhofe shocked a Senate Armed Services committee hearing three weeks ago by attacking human rights watchers, Democrats, Rumsfeld critics, and everyone else who believes the Abu Ghraib scandal is a […]