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May 4, 2011 7:28 pm | By Brian
Religious Right Groups And Chamber of Commerce Fail To Block District Court Nominee
Cross-posted on Right Wing Watch Religious Right and pro-corporate groups failed today to block President Obama’s nominee for U.S. District Court in Rhode Island, John McConnell, from receiving an up-or-down vote in the Senate. The Senate invoked cloture on McConnell’s…
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May 4, 2011 4:14 pm | By Paul Gordon
Attorney General Disappoints on Faith-Based Issue
Question: When does a law saying "do not discriminate" really mean "discrimination is allowed"? Answer: Now, since Attorney General Holder yesterday refused to repudiate the Bush Administration’s seemingly deliberate misreading of federal law in the context of grants to faith-based…
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May 3, 2011 10:09 pm | By Justin
Issa Suddenly Concerned About Capturing Presidential Records (Created After 1/20/2009 Only)
Rep. Darrell Issa, chairman of the House Oversight & Government Reform Committee, waving an iPad in front of senior White House technology officials earlier today, demanded to know whether administration staffers were flouting the Presidential Records Act by conducting work-related…
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May 3, 2011 2:55 pm | By Miranda Blue
The GOP’s Not-So-Awesome Spring Break
Last month, just before adjourning for spring recess, the House passed Rep. Paul Ryan’s 2012 budget proposal. The budget, which was supported by all but four Republican House members, decimates Medicare and Medicaid, makes deep cuts to education programs and…
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April 28, 2011 10:40 pm | By Miranda Blue
At Smithsonian Forum, Hide/Seek Curators Fiercely Defend Controversial Exhibit
On Tuesday night, I sat in on the first session of the Smithsonian’s two-day forum on what it called “Flashpoints and Faultlines: Museum Curation and Controversy.” The forum, despite its somewhat vague title, centered on the particular controversy of curation…
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April 28, 2011 10:31 pm | By Miranda Blue
Lear, Vanden Heuvel, Gopnik, Bronson, Barrie and Keegan Discuss the Smithonian Censorship and the “New Culture Wars”
Earlier this month, PFAW held a panel discussion in New York to discuss the censorship of the Smithsonian’s Hide/Seek exhibit. PFAW founder Norman Lear, art critic Blake Gopnik, artist AA Bronson, PFAW president Michael Keegan, art museum director Dennis Barrie…
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April 28, 2011 10:20 pm | By Justin
Issa Deregulates While the Troops Get Evicted
“Support our troops!” rings the familiar battle cry of many Republicans in Congress. However, a new post by Courage Campaign calls attention to how, when talking about supporting the troops, they sometimes do not (literally) put their money where their…
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April 28, 2011 8:30 pm | By Ben Betz
Tea Party Bemoans “Government-Corporate Cronyism” … Really???
Tea Party groups have been busy protesting companies that support eco-friendly and other progressive policies or help Democrats … they’ve even been protesting GE, NOT because the company exploits loopholes and tax credits to avoid paying any U.S. taxes, but…
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April 28, 2011 4:20 pm | By Justin
ALEC to Hold Summit in Cincinnati
ALEC, a little known but enormously influential shadow right-wing policy organization, will be holding a summit in Cincinnati, Ohio today. Don’t be surprised that you didn’t know about it—unless you’re a top representative of a deep-pocketed corporation, you probably weren’t…
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April 28, 2011 2:14 pm | By Paul Gordon
The Corporate Court Strikes Again: By 5-4, Supreme Court Undermines Class Action Consumer Protection Suits
Yesterday at the Supreme Court, the five conservative Justices on the Corporate Court handed corporate interests even greater control than before over Americans' daily lives. In AT&T v. Concepcion, a narrow 5-4 majority used a federal arbitration law in a…
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April 27, 2011 10:26 pm | By Justin
Issa Not a Fan of Disclosure if it Means His Actions Must Be Disclosed
The Obama Administration is floating a proposal that would bring a little more transparency to the political process by requiring government contractors to disclose their campaign contributions over $5,000. Rep. Darrell Issa, Chairman of the House Oversight & Government Reform…
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April 27, 2011 5:16 pm | By Brian
GOP Attempt To “Defund The Left” Paying Dividends
The Republican drive to eliminate workers’ rights and bust unions has always been a partisan campaign to “defund the left” cloaked in language of ‘fiscal responsibility.’ Wisconsin State Senate Leader Scott Fitzgerald, one of the champions of his state’s anti-union…
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April 26, 2011 8:59 pm | By Justin
Executive Order to Slightly Lessen Citizen’s United Damage
An executive order is in the works that would alleviate, albeit very slightly, the severe damage caused by the Supreme Court's decision in Citizen’s United . The Obama Administration plans to require government contractors to disclose their political donations in…
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April 26, 2011 7:38 pm | By Justin
Boehner to Consider Ending Subsidies to Big Oil
House Speaker John Boehner has finally acknowledged what Americans have known for a long time yet Congressional Republicans don’t seem to understand: the immensely profitable energy industry really doesn’t need federal subsidies, particularly when eliminating these needless giveaways would save…
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April 26, 2011 4:15 pm | By Paul Gordon
Prop 8 Supporters Seek to Vacate Case They Lost
Proponents of California's Proposition 8 are making another assault against the trial court decision they lost and have appealed. This time, instead of addressing the merits of the case, they are attacking the judge who wrote the opinion. As reported…
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April 26, 2011 3:19 pm | By Miranda Blue
10 Ways to Talk About Censorship
Tonight, the Smithsonian will begin a two-day forum on censorship in public museums. The forum comes as a (belated) response to the controversy that erupted after the Smithsonian removed a work of art from a National Portrait Gallery exhibition celebrating…
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April 25, 2011 4:59 pm | By Justin
Firm Hired to Defend DOMA Drops the House
King & Spalding, the top-tier law firm hired by the House of Representatives to defend the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), has backed out of the agreement. Although a statement on behalf of the firm declined to specify exactly why…
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April 21, 2011 4:42 pm | By Justin
Big Pharma, Little Regulation
Congress may be in recess this week, but that doesn’t mean policymakers are taking a break from cozying up to corporate campaign contributors. Today at a field hearing in California, the House Committee on Oversight & Government Reform is inviting…
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April 20, 2011 9:07 pm | By Miranda Blue
Citizens United Freed Corporations to Politically Pressure Employees
The Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United v. FEC, which allowed corporations to spend unlimited amounts of money on politicking, has caused ripples of sometimes unexpected consequences – from the toppling of long-established state laws to the rise of secretive…
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April 20, 2011 3:20 pm | By Dave
From Wisconsin: Palin Echoes the Right’s Lies in Madison Speech
On Saturday in Madison, some of the right wing’s favorite puppets rallied along with an estimated 1,000 Americans for Prosperity “Patriots” and 5,500 counter protesters at the Capitol.As the former Governor of Alaska took the stage to chants and drums…