News
HAITI EARTHQUAKE LIVE BLOG: Who to Follow and What to Read for Breaking Developments
Here is the link to Thursday's live blog. Please check the page regularly for updates.
7:45am PDT: The BBC has a disturbing first hand video report from a hospital in Port-au-Prince where, last night, injured people waiting for treatment slept amongst dead bodies.
Senate Passes Jobs Bill With Bipartisan Vote
Washington - The Senate Wednesday passed a $137.9 billion package aimed at helping jobless people get more benefits and businesses to hire more workers, but only after controversy about the bill's cost and impact. The rare bipartisan vote was 62 to 36.
Some experts hailed the measure as an important stimulus.
"We're starting to talk real money," said Chad Stone, chief economist at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a liberal research group.
House Rejects Call for Withdrawal From Afghanistan
WASHINGTON - The House on Wednesday soundly rejected an effort by anti-war lawmakers to force a withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Afghanistan by the end of the year.
The outcome of the vote, 356-65 against the resolution, was never in doubt. (click here for the roll call) But the 3 1/2 hours of debate did give those who oppose President Barack Obama's war policies a platform to vent their frustrations.
Sweeping victory for SEIU reformers
Meanwhile, in the middle of the state, reformers in SEIU Local 521 captured a number of seats on the local's executive board after an uphill fight. The Voices of the Members slate had to battle an army of paid union staff. The reformers were unsuccessful in winning any of the officers' positions, but their gains, coming alongside the win in Local 1021, signal growing dissatisfaction with the SEIU's bureaucratic methods.
Land Grabbing in Latin America
Right now communities in Latin America, as around the world, are suffering a new kind of invasion of their territories. These invaders are not the descendants of the European conquistadores, who appropriated land, gathered slaves and plundered their colonial domains.
At Senate Hearing, Lawmakers Deconstruct Citizens United Ruling
The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing Wednesday about possible legislative responses to the Citizens United case, which struck down several longstanding prohibitions on corporate political contributions.
Many senators at the hearing expressed frustration with what they perceived to be an overruling of legal precedent and infringement upon the right of Congress to determine how elections can be financed.
Patrick Kennedy: Press Corps Is 'Despicable' for Not Covering Afghanistan War Resolution
Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.) excoriated the national press on Wednesday during a debate over the war in Afghanistan, charging reporters with shirking their duty to cover the issue and instead focusing on the peccadillos of former Rep. Eric Massa (D-N.Y.).
"There's one, two press people in this gallery," he thundered. "We're talking about Eric Massa 24/7 on the TV. We're talking about war and peace; $3 billion; 1,000 lives and no press! No press!"
Jim Hightower | Stiffening the Backbones of Democrats
You know what we need to juice up the performance of our weak economy? Viagra.
Yes, America needs a new Viagra, specifically targeted to stiffen backbones -- in particular, the limp backbones of Barack Obama's team, as well as the flaccid spines of Democratic congressional leaders. Where's the drug industry when we really need it?
Mississippi Faces Suit Over Children's Mental Health
The Southern Poverty Law Center Mississippi Youth Justice Project , the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law and local civil rights attorney Rob McDuff are suing the state in an effort to improve the mental health system for children, according to a news release from the Youth Justice Project.
Connie Schultz | Sarah Palin's Novel Life
When Sarah Palin was a little girl, her family crossed the border from Alaska into Canada for the quality health care they couldn't get back home.
This was in the 1960s, when her parents boarded a train from rural, small-town Skagway, Alaska, and headed for capable doctors in Whitehorse, the capital of the Yukon.
How do we know this?
Here's an excerpt from her speech delivered last weekend in Calgary, Alberta, and reported by The Associated Press:
Obama Administration Shifts Gears on Iran Sanctions
With Congress moving inexorably toward passage of new US sanctions on Iran, the Obama administration is changing its tack: In place of an earlier desire to stall passage while it sought international sanctions, the administration is now seeking to modify measures Congress is considering that could make international support for UN sanctions more remote.
Beck, Coulter and Limbaugh: Avatars of Julius Streicher
Making fun of demagogues like Glenn Beck, Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh has become a kind of parlor game, an escape valve to let out some of the frustration of impotent rage. This was brought home again when I read "Defying Hitler" by Sebastian Haffner. Writing between 1933 and 1939, he came of age during Hitler's rise to power. His observations are so searing it's still hard to believe that someone could see this clearly while the spirit of his times was morphing into a broad and deep spirit of evil.
House to Vote on Pullout From Afghanistan
WASHINGTON - In a test of congressional support for President Barack Obama's new Afghanistan strategy, lawmakers are set to vote on Wednesday on a resolution that would direct him to pull U.S. forces out of the war.
The resolution by liberal Democratic Representative Dennis Kucinich is not expected to pass. But it could be an important indicator of how Obama's Democrats feel about the war, particularly ahead of November congressional elections in which Republicans are expected to make gains.
A Third of World's Jailed Journalists in Iran
NEW YORK - A third of the world's jailed journalists are imprisoned in Iran, the Committee to Protect Journalists said on Tuesday after the number of reporters held in the Islamic Republic rose to at least 52 in February.
China was next after Iran with 24 jailed journalists and then Cuba with 22. The number of journalists held in Iran was the highest recorded by the New York-based CPJ in a single country since 78 cases were documented in Turkey in 1996.
Welcome to the World's First Murdochracy
Adelaide is Australia's festival city. Its arts festival is currently in swing. Polite debate, aesthetics and high-octane wine are putting the world to rights. With one exception. Adelaide is where Rupert Murdoch began his empire. The voracious trail starts here. No statue stands; his is a spectral presence, controlling the only daily newspaper, even the printing presses. Across Australia, he owns almost 70 percent of the capital city press and the only national newspaper and Sky Television and much else. Welcome to the world's first murdochracy.
United by Hard Times: Workers Organize Across Race Lines
I'm feeling relieved. For a while it seemed like the historic election of our first African American president would give legitimacy to the idea that we live in a "post-racial" America. The idea that race is no longer a part of people's daily experience is not merely false. It's potentially dangerous when a majority of people are struggling to understand what's happening to them economically.
Sebelius Demands Health Insurance CEOs Explain Rate Hikes
As part of the White House's final push on health care reform, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on Monday called for health insurance executives to publicly explain why they are raising premiums.
"It's time for these insurance company CEOs to do their part to make the system more transparent for the American people," she said in a formal letter. "If insurance companies are going to raise rates, the least they can do is tell us why."
Sorry About the Intervention
As Australia marks two years since its historic apology to the indigenous population, the emergency measures in the Northern Territory may be giving the government something else for which to say sorry.
Canada Urged to Seek Nuclear-Free Arctic Zone
Calling for the creation of a nuclear-weapons-free zone in the Arctic is not alarmist, says an academic report as foreign ministers of the world's Arctic nations prepare for a summit in Canada later this month.
While the threat of nuclear-weapon use in the Arctic may be nebulous now, the ground should be prepared for potential future confrontations over competing claims for sovereignty, power and resources in the region, say co-authors Michael Wallace and Steven Staples.
Immigration Reform Meeting Postponed to Sharp Criticism From Advocates
A meeting among President Barack Obama and Sens. Charles Schumer (D-New York) and Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) on immigration reform, scheduled to take place Monday, has been postponed due to a canceled flight from South Carolina - Senator Graham's.
The meeting, intended to make a plan for introducing bipartisan immigration legislation this spring, was the second one canceled since reform came on the table formally at a White House summit hosted by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano in August 2009.