Isn't it wonderful that Congress can fall over themselves to modify the sequester when it causes people to be inconvenienced by long airport lines? Meanwhile, vulnerable ordinary Americans who are homeless or trying to survive on starvation wages -- and can't afford airplane tickets -- are losing the vouchers they use to help pay their rent ( Read more... )

Frontline, on PBS, is airing a report tonight called Top Secret America, tracing the rising trend of government secrecy from 9/11 all the way up to the recent Boston Marathon bombings. It's just the latest example of how the media seems to be paying more attention to exactly what the government is doing in the name of "national security" and how ( Read more... )

I just heard about a new documentary that I felt it was important to pass along. It's called War on Whistleblowers: Free Press and the National Security State and it's available as a free DVD on the website. Get it. Watch it. Show it to your friends.

I read, watch, and listen to news and information from a variety of different sources, each offering different perspectives. Of course, the conventional wisdom is that Americans are hopelessly divided on every political issue. Last night I had an experience that underscores how that's not necessarily the case ( Read more... )

Over the past few days, I've heard some of the details of the immigration compromise bill developed by the "Gang of 8" leaking out in various news reports. I like most of what I've heard, though I'm planning to reserve judgment until the final bill is introduced and made public. If the final bill is similar to what's been in the press, it could ( Read more... )

You have to love how President Obama is bending over backwards to appease the Republicans with his budget proposals. Republicans are not even bargaining in good faith, because they've shown that they won't accept any plan which doesn't give them everything they want. You would almost think they won the election ( Read more... )

The old joke about the South and other Republican-leaning states was that they were too wrapped up in wishy-washy "social issues" -- guns, gays, and God -- and not concerned enough with matters of actual public policy. But what have I heard dominating the national conversation ever since President Obama got re-elected ( Read more... )

Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) just yielded the floor after holding it for over twelve hours on the issue of the president's power to order drone strikes on American soil ( Read more... )

I'll be the first to admit that the Obama Administration has a horrible record on the issue of civil liberties. But it's also true that for eight years of the Bush Regime, Congress -- Democrats and Republicans alike -- stood by and did nothing as civil liberties were trampled and the Constitution was shredded. So you'll have to forgive my ( Read more... )

The top 1% in a nutshell: Since the 1970's, their income has skyrocketed, their share of the nation's total wealth has steadily increased, and their tax "burden" has effectively gone down. Meanwhile, for a large percentage of Americans, real wages have remained stagnant.

It should surprise exactly no one that the poor are the ones who get ( Read more... )