by Linda Beale The Countermajoritarian Difficulty and Congressional Ethics–Ending the Shutdown [Edited to add Marcotte article on role of fundamentalism in Tea Party politics.] We have seen congressional ethics probes of Congressmen for exacting quid pro quo bribes from businessmen or for conflicts of interest or apparent failure to pay personal taxes. What about failing […]
The Way to Stop Discrimination on the Basis of Race Is To Stop Discriminating on the Basis of Race. — Chief Justice John Roberts, Jun. 28, 2007, writing for a four-justice plurality in Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1. Given that statement of his own belief, and his concomitant […]
Just want to pass along this video from The Daily Conversation on the GOP changed a standing rule of the House to prevent the government from opening… This happened on October 1st… Link to video… What is happening to democracy…?
Recent article by AFP cites an IMF report suggesting that countries fighting deficit spending should simply “Tax the Rich” in income more. in its Fiscal Monitor report, subtitled “Taxing Times”, the Fund advanced the idea of taxing the highest-income people and their assets to reinforce the legitimacy of spending cuts and fight against growing income […]
Late posted, but still relevant: by Linda Beale The GOP Default Enthusiasts The New York Times has a story today about those in the GOP who don’t think the government of the USA defaulting on its debt for the first time in history is a big deal. Weisman, Many in G,O,P. Offer Theory: Default Wouldn’t […]
by Linda Beale Economic Terrorism: the Tea Party/GOP’s Hostage Taking Plan (Tom Tomorrow’s “Giant Killer Robots”) As the New York Times reported on Saturday: Stohlberg, A Federal Budget Crisis Months in the Planning, New York Times (Oct. 5, 2013), the current fiscal and political crisis was planned as a manuver to get their way by […]
And from Naked Capitalism: Debt Ceiling Chicken and Trench Warfare – Yves Smith – In the US, despite all the media frenzy over the Federal shutdown, the attention of the insiders has already moved to the real cliffhanger: the debt ceiling impasse, which starts to bind on October 17. Treasury is already fulminating how putting […]
Lifted from Robert’s Thoughts Obviously the main chance is that Boehner is bluffing and that he will bring a clean debt ceiling increase bill to the floor of the House and it will pass mostly with the votes of Democrats. He would then probably lose the gavel to some new Speaker which will make us […]
From Policymic on the incremental re-instating government services: http://www.policymic.com Why You Shouldn’t Expect a Compromise On the Government Shutdown Anytime SoonDon’t get your hopes up about a compromise on the government shutdown anytime soon. The Pentagon has decided to bring 350,000 employees back to work and the House has votedunanimously (no, I’m not kidding) […]
From the Los Angelos Times comes this article on Social Security Disability and reporting: Is it possible for a major news organization to produce a story about the Social Security disability program without interviewing a single disabled person or disability advocate? That’s the experiment “60 Minutes” conducted Sunday. The result was predictably ghastly. The news […]