Congress

Video: Robert Thurman on why the Norquist Pledge is treasonous

by News Sources 12.04.2012
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Somebody in government finally asks a taxing question about the next war

by News Sources 06.21.2012

Walter Pinkus writes: At last, after 11 years of the United States at war, a few minutes of public discussion of a tax to pay for the fighting. But that would be for the next war. “What would be the impact of going to war again without committing to pay for that war with up-front [...]

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Congressmen seek to lift propaganda ban

by News Sources 05.20.2012

Michael Hastings reports: An amendment that would legalize the use of propaganda on American audiences is being inserted into the latest defense authorization bill, BuzzFeed has learned. The amendment would “strike the current ban on domestic dissemination” of propaganda material produced by the State Department and the Pentagon, according to the summary of the law [...]

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What chance for diplomacy in defusing tension between the U.S. and Iran?

by News Sources 01.03.2012
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The NDAA’s historic assault on American liberty

by News Sources 01.02.2012

Jonathan Turley writes: President Barack Obama rang in the New Year by signing the NDAA law with its provision allowing him to indefinitely detain citizens. It was a symbolic moment, to say the least. With Americans distracted with drinking and celebrating, Obama signed one of the greatest rollbacks of civil liberties in the history of [...]

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Book examines America’s turn from science, warns of danger for democracy

by News Sources 12.28.2011

McClatchy reports: Americans have trouble dealing with science, and one place that’s especially obvious is in presidential campaigns, says Shawn Lawrence Otto, who tried, with limited success, to get the candidates to debate scientific questions in the 2008 presidential election. Otto is the author of a new book, “Fool me twice: Fighting the assault on [...]

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With indefinite detention bill, has Congress also expanded rendition of U.S. citizens abroad?

by News Sources 12.22.2011
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Big Oil and Canada thwarted U.S. carbon standards

by News Sources 12.17.2011

Salon reports: When President Barack Obama decided in early November to delay a decision on TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline until after the next election, America’s environmental movement celebrated one of its biggest victories in recent memory. And no doubt the news came as a blow to Alberta’s tar sands industry, and to Canada’s oft-stated dream [...]

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U.S. Senate passes ‘indefinite detention’ bill

by News Sources 12.17.2011

Glenn Greenwald writes: Condemnation of President Obama is intense, and growing, as a result of his announced intent to sign into law the indefinite detention bill embedded in the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). These denunciations come not only from the nation’s leading civil liberties and human rights groups, but also from the pro-Obama [...]

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AIPAC posterizes Obama in Senate, 100-0

by News Sources 12.09.2011

Philip Weiss writes: If you want to understand the pressure that Obama is under from the Israel lobby, consider this greasy story: Last week three high Obama officials urged Senators not to pass an amendment to the huge Defense Authorization Act that would apply far stiffer sanctions to Iran’s central bank than the Obama administration [...]

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Prepare for war: The insane plan to outlaw diplomacy with Iran

by News Sources 12.06.2011

Dominic Tierney writes: Working its way through the congressional digestive tract like a poison pill is one of the worst ideas in modern legislative history: a bill that would make it illegal to conduct diplomacy with Iran. In an almost unprecedented move, the Iran Threat Reduction Act of 2011 (H.R. 1905) includes a clause that [...]

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Senate votes not to vote on indefinite detention on Americans

by News Sources 12.02.2011

Adam Serwer writes: Can Americans be indefinitely detained by the military on suspicion of terrorism if arrested on American soil? Thursday evening the Senate added a compromise amendment to the defense spending bill that states: Maybe. Specifically, it says the bill does not alter current authorities relating to detention, leaving either side free to argue [...]

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Senate bill grants power to imprison Americans indefinitely without trial

by News Sources 11.30.2011

The New York Times reports: Defying the Obama administration’s threat of a veto, the Senate on Tuesday voted to increase the role of the military in imprisoning suspected members of Al Qaeda and its allies — including people arrested inside the United States. By a vote of 61 to 37, the Senate turned back an [...]

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Does smaller government create more jobs?

by News Sources 11.28.2011
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How Occupy stopped the supercommittee

by News Sources 11.23.2011

Dean Baker writes: Those who want lower deficits now also want higher unemployment. They may not know this, but that is the reality – since employers are not going to hire people because the government has cut its spending or fired government employees. The world does not work that way. While this is the reality, [...]

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Will 50% cuts “hollow out” the military?

by News Sources 11.23.2011
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Lobbyists plan to defend Wall Street and attack the Occupy movement

by News Sources 11.21.2011

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy MSNBC reports: A well-known Washington lobbying firm with links to the financial industry has proposed an $850,000 plan to take on Occupy Wall Street and politicians who might express sympathy for the protests, according to a memo obtained by the MSNBC program “Up [...]

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Vilifying rival, Wall St. rallies for Senate ally

by News Sources 11.19.2011

The New York Times reports: The warning has ricocheted around the financial world in recent weeks, in conversations at Midtown restaurants and Washington fund-raisers, carrying urgent appeals for money from financial executives around the Northeast: The battle to re-elect Senator Scott P. Brown, the Republican from Massachusetts, just got a little more interesting. “Senator Brown [...]

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Rep. Deutch introduces OCCUPIED constitutional amendment to ban corporate money in politics

by News Sources 11.19.2011

Zaid Jilani reports: In one of the greatest signs yet that the 99 Percenters are having an impact, Rep. Ted Deutch (D-FL), a member of the House Judiciary Committee, today introduced an amendment that would ban corporate money in politics and end corporate personhood once and for all. Deutch’s amendment, called the Outlawing Corporate Cash [...]

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Will Congress vote to crash Iran’s civilian aircraft?

by News Sources 11.16.2011

MJ Rosenberg writes: The Republican candidates for president are not the only politicians who use Iran and its nuclear program as a magnet for campaign dollars. The same dynamic is at play in Los Angeles, where two Democratic House members, Howard Berman and Brad Sherman, are trying to out-hawk each other on Iran in preparation [...]

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Congress for sale

by News Sources 11.11.2011
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Israel’s diplomatic bankruptcy

by News Sources 11.06.2011

An editorial in The Observer says: Iran’s acquisition of nuclear weapons is seen as a threat for reasons partly of Israel’s own making – foremost its absolute reliance on a policy of military supremacy and deterrence to underpin security. A nuclear-armed Iran would hole that policy below the waterline, making it far more difficult, for [...]

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Senators predict massive U.S. withdrawal from international organizations

by News Sources 11.01.2011

The Cable reports: Following the State Department’s announcement that it had cut off U.S. funding from UNESCO in response to its overwhelming vote in favor of accepting the Palestinian bid for full membership, senators from both parties predicted the United States would cut funding or even withdraw from several other international organizations the Palestinians seek [...]

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How the austerity class rules Washington

by News Sources 10.21.2011

Ari Berman writes: In September the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB), a bipartisan deficit-hawk group based at the New America Foundation, held a high-profile symposium urging the Congressional “supercommittee” to “go big” and approve a $4 trillion deficit reduction plan over the next decade, which is well beyond its $1.2 trillion mandate. The [...]

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