NewsTrust - U.S. Congress - Most Recent Stories: Opinion (Independent)

Power and Money in America (Noam Chomsky)

Wed, 09 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Informed Comment - By Noam Chomsky, posted by Juan - May. 09 (Opinion) - The Occupy movement has been an extremely exciting development. Unprecedented, in fact. There’s never been anything like it that I can think of. If the bonds and associations it has established can be sustained [...]

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Why We Should Stop Giving Handouts to Oil and Gas Companies

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Mother Jones - By Bill McKibben - Apr. 05 (Opinion) - Along with "fivedollaragallongas," the energy watchword for the next few months is: "subsidies."

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The Sad Race for Bottom on the Loony Right

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

AlterNet - By Robert Reich - Feb. 28 (Opinion) - even if they lose the presidency on Election Day they’re still likely to be in charge of at least one house of Congress as well as several state legislators and governorships. That’s a problem for the nation.

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"Gasland" Director Josh Fox Fires Back at Republicans After His Unfair Arrest

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

AlterNet - By Ed Schultz - Feb. 02 (Interview) - Gasland director Josh Fox, ... was arrested this week, in violation of his first amendment rights, while covering a Congressional hearing on fracking. In the interview, Fox fires back at the Republicans who have been targeting him

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Why Aren’t More Arab Americans Working in Mainstream Journalism?

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Columbia Journalism Review - Jan. 31 - There are anywhere between 3.5 and 5.1 million Americans of Arab descent, according to figures from the Arab American Institute, yet relatively few work in journalism full time. While meaningful estimates aren’t known, as journalism scholars that conduct demographic research in American newsrooms do not typically tally newsmakers of Arab descent, the National Arab American Journalists Association counts around 250...

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Gerry Hudson: We Must Win Back the American Dream for the 99% In 2012

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Huffington Post - By Gerry Hudson - Jan. 17 - As we honor Dr. King's legacy this year, we must remember that working families deserve economic justice, including America's 13 million unemployed, the long-term unemployed and the 24 million people looking for work.

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Fact-checking in the Echo Chamber Nation

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

PolitiFact - By Bill Adair - Dec. 23 (Opinion) - At a Republican campaign rally a few years ago, I asked one of the attendees how he got his news. "I listen to Rush and read NewsMax," he said. "And to make sure I'm getting a balanced view, I watch Fox." My liberal friends get their information from distinctly different sources — Huffington Post, Daily Kos and Rachel Maddow. To make sure they get a balanced view, they click Facebook links — from their liberal friends. This is life in our echo chamber nation. We protect ourselves from opinions we don't like and seek reinforcement from like-minded allies. The paradox ...

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Robert Reich: The Defining Issue: Not Government's Size, But Who It's For

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Huffington Post - By Robert Reich - Dec. 20 (Opinion) - "Big government" isn't the problem. The problem is big money is taking over government.

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Sen. Tom Udall: Amend the Constitution and Overturn Citizens United

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Huffington Post - By Sen. Tom Udall - Nov. 14 - Our constitutional amendment will stop the growing corrosive influence of big business on our elections and on our government, but it won't pass unless the American people speak out and demand it.

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Jon Stewart Rips Congressional GOP's 'In God We Trust' Debate: 'You're Doing It To Be D*cks' (VIDEO)

Fri, 04 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Jon Stewart - Nov. 04 (Comedy News) - Whenever you ask a congressperson, a Presidential candidate or just about any political pundit what the most important thing this country needs right now, it's jobs, jobs, jobs. Immigration and war reform, sure, but jobs are key.

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Republic, Lost (my favorite version)

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

YouTube - By Lawrence Lessig - Oct. 26 (Opinion) - In an era when special interests funnel huge amounts of money into our government—driven by shifts in campaign-finance rules and brought to new levels by the Supreme Court in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission—trust in our government has reached an all-time low. More than ever before, Americans believe that money buys results in Congress, and that business interests wield control over our legislature.

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Something More Than Polarization

Tue, 25 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Lawrence Lessig - Oct. 25 (Opinion) - We can't afford to simply indulge the passion of our differences. Not anymore. The challenges we face as a nation are just too great. It is time for us to practice a politics that doesn't fit the business model of Fox v. MSNBC.

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HuffPost Goes Deep On Google : CJR

Tue, 27 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Columbia Journalism Review - By Greg Marx - Sep. 27 (Editorial) - The Huffington Post trio of Ryan Grim, Zach Carter, and Paul Blumenthal dropped their 6,800-word take on “Google, Microsoft, and the War for the Web” Sunday night, and like all of HuffPost’s deep dives, the piece was chock-full of good reporting. Among the nuggets of news large and small: • Google’s influence-buying spree has pushed the number of lobbyists in its employ up to ninety-three, spread across eighteen firms. (An antitrust investigation of the company led by the Senate Judiciary Committee is jokingly known as the “Leahy Full Employment Act,” after committee chairman Pat Leahy.) And the company’s new commitment to bipartisanship means that not only GOP-aligned lobbying shops but conservative think tanks like Heritage Foundation and AEI are now getting Google cash.

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'People Are Close to Revolt'

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

readersupportednews.org - By James Fallows - Sep. 12 (Opinion) - I've never actually written to a journalist before, but I was one of the 1,252 people arrested this weekend in front of the White House. I also live in the rural Midwest and your source is right. People are close to revolt. I think it will be a five year process of movement building, but even my very conservative staff of library assistants all cheered me on when I told them what I was doing. The people I interact with here and the ones I met in DC are all fed-up at a deep and fundamental level.

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Bachmann isn't even an effective lawmaker

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Monthly - By Steve Benen - Aug. 15 (Opinion) - When making the case against Republican presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann, her critics tend to focus on her policy positions and agenda: she’s an oft-confused extremist on so many issues, Bachmann has few rivals in Washington. But what sometimes goes overlooked is the fact that Bachmann, after six years as a state legislator and five years as a congresswoman, just isn’t good at her job.

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The 'Super Congress' Is a Scam Designed to Force Cuts To Popular Programs and Keep Taxes On The Rich Low

Fri, 12 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Joshua Holland - Aug. 12 (Opinion) - The way this deal ends is fairly easy to predict – it's a set-up that will result in fairly deep cuts to domestic spending, won't raise taxes on the wealthy and will leave “defense” spending largely untouched – a process that will force cuts to important public services.

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Tea Party Rep: Bank Should Have Known I Wouldn't Be Able To Repay $2.2 Million Loan

Thu, 11 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Talking Points Memo - By Jillian Rayfield | - Aug. 11 (Opinion) - Tea Party aligned Georgia Rep. Tom Graves (R), who castigates Washington for fiscal irresponsibility, reached an out of court settlement Wednesday after he was sued for defaulting on a $2.2 million loan -- which his attorney argued is the bank's fault for lending him the money in the first place.

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Slouching Toward a Double-Dip, for No Good Reason

Mon, 08 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Robert Reich - Aug. 08 (Opinion) - Imagine your house is burning. You call the fire department but your call isn't answered because every fire fighter in town is debating whether there will be enough water to fight fires over the next ten years, even though water is plentiful right now. (Yes, there's a long-term problem.) One faction won't even allow the fire trucks out of the garage unless everyone agrees to cut water use. An agency that rates fire departments has just issued a downgrade, causing everyone to hoard water. While all this squabbling continues, your house burns to the ground and the fire has now spread to your neighbors' homes. But because everyone is preoccupied with the wrong question (the long-term water supply) and the wrong solution (saving water now), there's no response. In the end, the town comes up with a plan for the water supply over the next decade, but it's irrelevant because the whole town has been turned to ashes.

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Study Shows Growing Number of Ethnic Elders in Financial Crisis

Sat, 06 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0700

New America Media - By Were Not Noted. - Aug. 06 (Advocacy) - SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.—In a dismal week when the most positive economic news for the United States was Friday’s federal data showing anemic employment gains, the plight of ethnic elders looks “even worse than we thought it would be,” according to Henoch D

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Keith Olbermann's Debt Ceiling Special Comment: 'Our Government Has Now Given Up The Concept Of Right And Wrong' (VIDEO)

Tue, 02 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Kieth Olbermann - Aug. 02 (Opinion) - Keith Olbermann excoriated Washington for the debt ceiling deal it struck over the weekend--and called for a protest movement to rise up against it. In a Special Comment on his Monday show, Olbermann did not mince words about the deal, which passed the House on Monday and is headed for a vote in the Senate.

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Section 4 Of The 14th Amendment Was Designed To Stop Boehner

Fri, 01 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

New Republic - By Jonathan Chait - Jul. 01 (Opinion) - Balkin does not suggest, nor do I, that the legal merits are open and shut. It's certainly risky to take a flyer in the middle of a debt crisis. But if we do reach h-hour, we're probably better off if the Treasury simply announces it's going to continue to pay the bills and dares Republicans to take them to court than repudiating the debt, right?

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Glenn Greenwald: Why Was Rep. Weiner Forced to Resign While Bush and Cheney Walk Free?

Mon, 20 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Jun. 20 (Interview) - Former Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) resigned Thursday after House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi and others said the scandal he created by sending lewd photographs of himself over Twitter had caused a distraction to Democrats preparing for the 2012 election. “He was forced out of office over—it wasn’t even rising to the level of a sex scandal,” says our guest, Salon.com political blogger Glenn Greenwald. “The Democratic leadership ... all acted to force him out of office. And yet, throughout the Bush years, when you had torture and illegal eavesdropping and the war in Iraq, that left hundreds of thousands dead, Nancy Pelosi said impeachment is off the table.” [includes rush transcript]

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Object Lesson 9,568 on the Corrupting Effects of Power

Sun, 19 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

sensen-no-sen.blogspot.com - By Pbi - Jun. 19 (Opinion) - By continuing to maintain American military involvement in Libya without the approval of Congress, President Obama is arrogating powers to himself that the foundational laws of this country do not grant him and violating his oath of office.

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Medicare Saves Money

Mon, 13 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

readersupportednews.org - By Paul Krugman - Jun. 13 (Opinion) - 'And here's what you need to know: Medicare actually saves money - a lot of money - compared with relying on private insurance companies. And this in turn means that pushing people out of Medicare, in addition to depriving many Americans of needed care, would almost surely end up increasing total health care costs.' Paul Krugman, The New York Times

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The Patent Bill is Unconstitutional

Mon, 13 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

eagleforum.org - By Phyllis Schlafly - Jun. 13 (Opinion) - Seven scholarly law review articles have examined this issue and concluded that first-to-file is unconstitutional. No scholarly review proves otherwise.

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