Archive

Arizona voters, polled after last week’s election, said they voted to recall Arizona Senate President Russell Pearce because of his divisiveness and because they want Arizona’s legislature to focus more on the economy and job creation and less on immigration. “Our research clearly shows that Arizona voters want their politicians to work together to focus on practical solutions for improving the state’s economy,” said Jill Hanauer, President of Project New West , which conducted the poll. “Russell Pearce’s decision to focus on extremist immigration policies played a role in his defeat, and could do so for more Arizona Republicans if they continue to ignore the priorities of voters.” Among voters who did not support Pearce, 38 percent cited either his divisiveness, fanaticism, rigid ideology, or issue platforms

President Barack Obama (Pic by The White House, via Flickr) President Obama announced today that $50 million in additional funds will be going toward treatment and care for people living with HIV/AIDS in the U.S. Obama said during “The Beginning of the End of AIDS,” an online conference organized by ONE International , “a grassroots advocacy and campaigning organization that fights extreme poverty and preventable disease, particularly in Africa”: Today, I’m announcing some new commitments. We’re committing an additional $15 million for the Ryan White program that supports care provided by HIV medical clinics across the country

In a surprise, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) decided to call today’s vote to end debate on Sen. Chris Dodd’s (D-Conn.) financial regulatory reform

Protecting public lands can be a boon for the private sector, attracting companies and workers to the communities that border them, more than 100 economists wrote in letter to President Obama this week. Thompson Divide The letter (pdf) urges the president to invest in the nation’s public lands infrastructure and establish new wilderness, parks and monuments that can create jobs and jump-start the businesses around them.

Senate Democrats, back to business this week, are blasting out some snazzy graphics regarding the Bush tax cuts. Here’s one from today: The grist for the

Unlike the Republicans, who adopted the strong conservative position of resisting almost every Democratic reform proposal from the start, Democratic leaders ruled out the liberal single-payer proposal early in the debate.

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) just announced that she will block the nomination of Jack Lew to be the Obama Administration’s new Office of Management and Budget

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announces in a U.S. Department of Justice press release that President Obama has ordered the department to cease future

James Gordon, the former director of operations for the North American branch of ArmorGroup -- the State Department contractor accused of physical and sexual

Today, the Rockefeller Foundation and Jacob Hacker, a Yale professor, launched the Economic Security Index -- a measure of not just unemployment or income, but

A softened-up alternative to the Employee Free Choice Act, pushed by Costco, Starbucks and Whole Foods, is turning out to be something incredible: a

Up at his ranch near Sedona, Sen. John McCain must be fuming. After everything he’s done for President George W. Bush’s campaign efforts -- the endorsement

Planned Parenthood Federation of America President Cecile Richards briefly joined a debate on WAMU’s Diane Rehm Show Wednesday, where she refuted the notion

The Federal Housing Finance Agency filed suit Friday against 17 national and international banking giants for their roles in the toxic mortgage securities scandal that led to the current housing crisis. The banks include Bank of America, Citigroup, Countrywide, JP Morgan Chase and others, according to a press release from the agency. The release explained the suits: These complaints were filed in federal or state court in New York or the federal court in Connecticut.

Via Wonkette, which is going to war against a PUMA (the Party Unity My Ass anti-Obama Democrats) blog, I see that Harriet Christian wants to be appointed to

Let’s unpack a claim about the Guantanamo detainees, as summarized by Marc Ambinder: It had been the hope of administration legal advisers that a majority of

Poverty has increased substantially in Colorado and across the country, according to preliminary state Census Bureau figures released today . Roughly one in every eight Coloradans was living in poverty in 2009 and 2010, including 192,000 Coloradans who fell into poverty since 2000.

Kansas officials are planning to move forward with another set of rules aimed at abortion clinics in the state. Recently, a court blocked the state’s efforts to shut down two of the last three remaining clinics. However, officials say that the court’s ruling gives them latitude to move forward with other rules.

Oh, Daphne. How right you were. How wrong this post was. Julian Barnes at The Los Angeles Times reports: The Obama administration will announce Friday that it

WATERTOWN, N.Y. -- On a Sunday evening conference call with conservative bloggers -- where he was joined by former Dede Scozzafava campaign manager Matt Burns

Congress returns today to kick off its lame-duck session. Here’s a rundown of the legislative battles to come.

Colorado Congressman Jared Polis wasted no time in taking advantage of his appointment to the Judiciary Committee. Thursday Polis sat down with Attorney General Eric Holder and asked whether the Ogden memo was still in effect. Holder said the memo–which said that the Justice Department would be unlikely to prosecute people on federal drug laws if they were in compliance with individual state’s laws regarding medical mnarijuana–is still in effect.

Personhood USA has been taking its cause outside of the country lately. The group, which works to criminalize abortion and some forms of birth control, recently applauded Hungary for adopting a new constitution (.pdf) that it says “goes further in protecting the personhood rights of all humans by protecting humans from trafficking, medical experimentation and human cloning.” # In a press release , Personhood USA cofounder Keith Mason said that the country’s constitution should be “an example to the entire EU and to us here in the USA.” # According to the release, Personhood sought to establish a similar constitution in the Dominican Republican in 2009, teaming up with San Jose-based group Live Action. According to its website , Personhood petitions are currently active in all 50 states.

The American Legislative Exchange Council ( ALEC ) is a non-profit organization that brings corporations together with state lawmakers to create and advocate for model legislation. Minnesota experts on lobbyist disclosure say ALEC’s activity here requires the group to register as a lobbyist under state law. ALEC denies that the organization lobbies state legislators.