Social Security advocates fear payroll tax cut

Obama's Backyard Chats Aim To Connect With Voters
President Obama made headlines with his splashy outdoor rally in Wisconsin that drew more than 20,000 People on Tuesday. But most of Obama's campaigning this week has been in more intimate settings, talking with just a few dozen People gathered in a neighbor's yard. Obama held two more of these "backyard conversations" on Wednesday — in Iowa and Virginia. The seemingly informal sessions are carefully staged, but sometimes they do give voters a more personal glimpse of the president. The...

Schneiderman-Donovan battle: Wednesday edition x2
Earlier in the week Democratic and Republican Attorney General Candidates Eric Schneiderman and Dan Donovan battled over the Abortion issue, today it’s the Schneiderman camp’s questions about Donovans ties to the GOP machine in his ethically challenged home turf of Staten Island, which is thoroughly tilled in what the Dem terms a “bombshell” story by the Village Voice. “Why would anyone believe he will root out Public Corruption in Albany, when he has failed to do...

Tea Party vs. War Party
This means Spending must be slashed. But to Cut the Budget to 20 percent of GDP, where it was before George W. Bush and Barack Obama, requires Spending Cuts of an astronomical $700 Billion a year. Even then, the 2011 Deficit would be $700 Billion. As interest on the Debt must be paid, or we default, there are only two places you can find that kind of money. The first is the major entitlement programs — Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security — and Social Spending for education, Veterans...

Obama, the Midterms, and Civil Liberties
It is inexcusable for any Democrat or progressive right now to stand on the sidelines in this Midterm Election. There may be complaints about us not having gotten certain things done, not fast enough, making certain legislative compromises. But right now, we've got a choice between a Republican Party that has moved to the right of George Bush and is looking to lock in the same policies that got us into these disasters in the first place, versus an administration that, with some admitted warts,...

Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan arrives in Australia
Cindy Sheehan: Well, I didn't just decide to do it in August of 2005. A couple of months after Casey was killed I started going around the country speaking out against the war, and it was pretty visible and well-known in the progressive peace movement in the United States, but not known by mainstream Americans, or internationally known, until I camped out. And what made me do it is because 14 Marines were killed in one day; George Bush went on the TV and said they died for a noble cause and that...

Crossroads, sticking around
Claire McCaskill, debating the Disclose Act on the Senate floor, asked of the new Republican groups like Crossroads GPS: "How many people think these organizations will be around after November? Really? How naïve are you?” In fact, though, the group and its sister, American Crossroads, appear likely to be around for a while -- or at least while the winds of politics and Campaign Finance are favorable to the groups, which have relied on large contributions for individuals -- to...

Mayoral race: Ald. Fioretti in, Ald. Waguespack out
A pair of Chicago aldermen who were among the first to consider entering the mayoral sweepstakes have finalized their plans and its a mixed verdict. One of them is in. The other is out. Scratch Ald. Scott Waguespack (32nd). Add the name of Ald. Robert Fioretti (2nd), whos forging ahead, even though Mayor Daleys political Retirement has paved the way for a parade of better-known contenders. Fioretti said hes already gathered 5,000 signatures 40 percent of the amount needed to get on...

Is America really "center-right"? What does that even mean?
Since the election, Conservatives have consoled themselves with the idea that Obama may have won, but America is still a "center-right nation." But the phrase is tossed around with little evidencepossibly because there is none.Even if there were evidence

We poll for a reason
Politicians are often derided for their Poll-tested messaging, accused of putting their fingers up in the air to see which way the wind is blowing. If only Democrats were that beholden to the Polls, perhaps they wouldnt be in such difficulty this year. Immigration Reform is wildly popular Polls consistently show support for Reform near the 80s, and its equally popular among all political leanings. A May Poll by Lake Research for Americas Voices found that Democrats and...

The Twister of 2010
On a recent trip to Omaha, Neb., I found a note prominently displayed in my Hotel Room warning of the possibility of "Extreme Weather" including "tornadic activity." The clunky euphemism was no doubt meant to soften or obscure what they were obliged to communicate: There may be a tornado, look out. That's what's going on nationally. Tornadoes are tearing up the political landscape. Everyone talks about the tensions between the Republican establishment, such as it is, and the Tea-party-leaning...

Congress punts tough choice until after election
Washington — A deeply unpopular Congress is bolting for the Campaign Trail without finishing its most basic job — approving a Budget for the government Year that begins on Friday. Lawmakers also are postponing a major fight over taxes, two embarrassing ethics cases and other political hot potatoes until angry and frustrated voters render their verdict in the Nov. 2 Elections. As Congress moved toward a messy end to a session fraught with partisan fire, President Barack Obama...

Vacancies Whittle Away Right's Hold On Key Court
Four years ago, Judge Diana Gribbon Motz challenged the Conservatives who dominated the federal appeals Court in Richmond, urging her colleagues to reverse a decision backing the Bush Administration's detention of a U.S. Citizen as an "Enemy Combatant." She called the ruling unprecedented and "chilling." Her arguments went nowhere. In June, Motz, the leader of the Court's moderate-to-liberal wing, gave her views the force of Law, ruling against President Bush in another...

Going Home: House adjourns without voting on Bush tax cut extension
Related Articles In a narrow vote Wednesday, the House agreed to adjourn until after the Midterm Elections without voting on whether to extend the Bush Tax Cuts. The House voted 210-209 to end the session, with 39 Democrats joining Republicans who have demanded a vote on the Tax Cuts for the past few weeks. In a rare move, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was forced to cast the tie-breaking decision. House Minority Leader John Boehner took to the House floor shortly before the vote to urge other...

House puts off vote on Bush-era tax cuts
Washington (Reuters) - Democratic leaders in the House of Representatives bowed to political reality on Wednesday and delayed a vote on extending Bush-era Tax Cuts until after the November 2 election. With division within their ranks and anxiety about the election, House Democrats followed the Senate's lead and agreed to hold the vote in mid-to-late November or December. Representative Chris Van Hollen, a member of the Democratic leadership, noted that Senate Republicans were lined up to block...

Dems Skip Town To Campaign, Leaving Americans To Worry About Looming Tax Increases
The New York Times writes today, Congress on Thursday adopted a stopgap spending measure to finance the government through Dec. 3 as lawmakers dashed for an earlier-than-expected exodus from Washington and headed home to focus on the Midterm Elections. . . . The last day of the brief September session was as notable for what did not get done as for what did. Neither chamber voted on the expiring Bush-era Tax Cuts as Democrats skipped a politically treacherous debate and Republicans...

US Senate Briefing, Thu 9/30/10: Goodbye
Posted by Clyde Middleton on Sep 30 2010 Filed under News & Opinion , Politics . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 . You can leave a response or trackback to this entry The New York Times writes today, Congress on Thursday adopted a stopgap spending measure to Finance the government through Dec. 3 as lawmakers dashed for an earlier-than-expected exodus from Washington and headed home to focus on the Midterm Elections. . . . The last Day of the brief...

Fascism is coming to the USA... Literally (no kidding)
© Unknown I thought twice before using the word "fascism" in the title of this post, because by now the word "fascism" and "fascist" have become degraded into simply all purpose terms of abuse without any concrete meaning, except disaproval: so perhaps it might be a good thing to go straight to how fascism is defined by former Columbia University Professor Robert O. Paxton in Wikipedia 's article on the subject and see how it fits with some of what we are looking at today: Fascism may...

"Republicrats"- Party Identification Challenging for Conservative Democrats
In an opportunistic election year, some Democrats are running from their accomplishments and turning their backs on the manifestation of the long awaited change that Americans across the nation have been clamoring for. The Bush Tax Cuts are set to end this year. A senior White House official signaled to the conservative Democrats, known as the Blue Dogs, “I don’t think there is any Blue Dog Democrat that is coming out against extending Tax Cuts for people up to $250,000 a...

Record gains for US poverty with elections looming
Washington— The number of people in the U.S. who are in Poverty is on track for a record increase on President Barack Obama's watch, with the ranks of working-age poor approaching 1960s levels that led to the national war on Poverty. Census Figures for 2009 -- the Recession-ravaged first year of the Democrat's presidency -- are to be released in the coming week, and demographers expect grim findings. It's unfortunate timing for Obama and his party just seven weeks before important...