Working Life

   Yesterday, Arlen Specter declared on the floor of the Senate that he would not vote for cloture–meaning, for you’all not as familiar with the lingo of the Senate, that he would not vote to end a filibuster, which requires 60 votes to stop–on the Employee Free Choice Act. Oddly, this got very little play […]

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  If you look back at virtually every large fraud uncovered in the past two decades (and probably more) you can find a direct link between the theft and political corruption–meaning, campaign contributions. The same is true with the massive investment fraud perpetuated by Allen Stanford.   In today’s Wall Street Journal there is this […]

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    I would have put a "BREAKING" on this title but, in some ways, this is not a new story–just another twist to the same-old political as usual. I’m all for the cap on executive compensation announced by the president. But, the culture of Washington is not changing–and it’s getting worse.   Today, the Center […]

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   Well, whatever happens today, I’m off early to do my citizens duty. in the meantime, I feel like I’m watching the Wizard of Oz. You have liberals joining with people like Robert Rubin saying "we really are so very much the same" and saying almost in unison we won’t tax the rich–in a serious […]

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   This is a modest observation that comes from an optimist–my friends say delusional optimist–that an Obama landslide is coming. Here’s the question: if it happens, will too many Democratic-inclined voters stay home in the three Western states and cost Democrats some close, important races?     A few initial thoughts: The Obama campaign, if […]

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   Though I mentioned this yesterday in the posting of the newest, latest version of the Democratic Party platform, this bears repeating: you can’t have the private insurance industry mucking around with health care. It is really painful to watch a kind of cognitive dissonance playing out here. Watch this, on page 22, in the […]

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   Where does a politician, or a political party, draw the line in the willingness to sacrifice principles for a few bucks? When we talk about the need to "change" the political environment and the culture of money and politics, isn’t there some place where you can say, "right here, this is the perfect example […]

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    This is what makes me weep that I am a Democrat (from yesterday’s National Journal’s CongressDailyPM): House Speaker Pelosi today offered some hope for passage of a free trade agreement with Colombia, but said it would fail if the White House tries to jam the deal down Congress’ throat. "Perhaps we can get some […]

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    Here are a few things that caught my eye.     #1: Good riddance, Tom Tancredo–but do the Democrats understand the political implications of immigration in 2008? So, Tancredo, the odious member of Congress, is apparently dropping out of the presidential race, having registered barely a blip in the pretty weird and crazy Republican field. […]

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    Here are a few things that caught my eye.     #1: Good riddance, Tom Tancredo–but do the Democrats understand the political implications of immigration in 2008? So, Tancredo, the odious member of Congress, is apparently dropping out of the presidential race, having registered barely a blip in the pretty weird and crazy Republican field. […]

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