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One warrantless surveillance mystery solved. My friend Marcy Wheeler beat me to this: George W. Bush personally ordered White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales and

Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-Minn.) is addressing an Republican National Committee meeting in San Diego right now, which so far has featured some of the less successful

Democratic leaders in the House are holding a press conference shortly on their sweeping $1.2 trillion proposal to revamp the nation’s health care system. As

Curious about how Vice President Joe Biden, formerly one of Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s biggest supporters, came to oppose an expansive state-building

The League of Conservation Voters is criticizing Rep. Dan Benishek (R-Crystal Falls) for his recent claim that the heavily-subsidized oil industry pays enough in taxes. At a public forum in Petoskey this week Benisek said that while it’s important to close tax loopholes, he feels that oil companies pay enough

State Rep.

When states debate medical marijuana laws, one of the issues sure to come up is whether legalizing marijuana for medical uses sends the wrong message to young people. Does legalizing medical marijuana create an atmosphere of permissiveness regarding marijuana? Does legalizing medical marijuana make it easier for kids to get their hands on dope

Litigation stemming from the massive Gulf oil spill will be consolidated in a federal court in New Orleans, a judicial panel decided today. The panel also

Sen.

Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm hopes so.

Fred Bartlit, chief counsel for the national oil spill commission, chided reporters today, arguing they misinterpreted one of his key preliminary findings about

A new report commissioned by the Center for American Progress finds that oil industry contracts with universities to conduct energy research may not adequately

Source: Jay Finneburgh, San Francisco Bay Area Independent Media Center A former Marine who served two tours of duty in Iraq was critically injured in Tuesday night’s police crackdown on Occupy Wall Street protesters in Oakland, Calif. Scott Olsen, 24, who was originally from Wisconsin according to the Guardian newspaper, is currently in critical but stable condition at Highland Hospital in Oakland. The Huffington Post reports that he’s been sedated and is on a respirator.

Advocates for financial regulatory reform must be shaking their heads today after watching Rep. Melissa Bean’s (D-Ill.) efforts to weaken a comprehensive

Today, the Obama administration announced it will spend $3 billion more to help jobless homeowners. First, the Department of Housing and Urban Development is

The consensus seems to be growing that, despite his oft-repeated desire to “look forward rather than backward” when it comes to the Bush administration’s

No real surprise that progressive Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) would be appalled by the inspectors general report on warrantless surveillance, but this is news

Jane Norton, the former lieutenant governor of Colorado whose Republican campaign for Senate there has been going well, becomes the latest member of her party

No, really. Via Yves Smith at Naked Capitalism, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports that more and more people are being picked up and tossed in jail to satisfy