Washington, DC is not a popular place. That's not really new. For years I have been told that people "inside the beltway" are disconnected from the ordinary, hard working Americans that live outside of it. New polling data released this week shows Congress' approval rating ...read more
The Daily Banter Headline Grab (from Mercury News): Gay marriage rights were supported by popular vote on Tuesday in Maine and Maryland, and Washington state joined Wednesday afternoon, making it the first time gay men and lesbian rights were approved at the ballot box. In ...read more
By Bob Cesca: I'd like to preface today's column by making this abundantly clear: I'm not here to smack the McRib sandwich out of anyone's chubby, butter-slicked fingers. However, when it comes to food and food reform, I'm admittedly pretty radical. Above average, at least. ...read more
North Korea acknowledged in a noon announcement broadcast on state TV that a satellite launched hours earlier from the west coast failed to enter into orbit. The U.S. and South Korea also declared the launch a failure. World leaders were swift to denounce the launch, calling ...read more
James Kwak of the BaselineScenario does an interesting analysis of his quest to purchase long term care insurance on the private market, and concludes the only way to prevent its exorbitant costs and inability to comprehensively cover the elderly is to have the federal ...read more
The trench warfare between Democrats and Republicans in Washington occurs over a very small piece of land, and the Democrats have been retreating off of it for about 30 years. Little by little, the Democrats have ceased to represent working people and now only offer up tidbits ...read more
The big lie in modern politics is that tax cuts for the rich creates jobs. This lie has been repeated over and over again for the past 30 years and has led to one of the most unequal societies in history. Republicans (and many Democrats) cynically describe tax cutting legislation ...read more
Paul Krugman outlines why the debt ceiling deal being proposed in Washington may temporarily save the economy from the abyss, but won't do anything to address the deep structural problems that have seen years of economic stagnation: We currently have a deeply depressed ...read more