January 2011
197 posts
Happy New Year!
2010 was the year I started liberal-lad, and the beginning of my journey into *novice* political journalism. I hope to continue blogging throughout 2011 :)
I’d like to take a moment to thank all of my readers who have helped this blog grow into what it is now. I hope 2011 brings joy and success to you all.
Sincerely,
Tyler
EPA Set to Regulate Greenhouse Gases
President Obama may have skirted Congress by ordering the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate greenhouse gases, but Texas has something to say about the new rules. The state has filed a legal challenge against new regulations set to take effect on Sunday, citing infringement on states’ rights. The EPA saw the court battle coming—and has made attempts to navigate a moderate course—but...
December 2010
173 posts
GOP to Roll Back Reconciliation Rules
A look at the GOP’s proposed rules for the House reveals some fine print to their deficit-cutting plan. Back in 2007, Republicans used budget reconciliation, a process immune to filibuster, to pass the Bush tax cuts and raise the deficit, two things reconciliation wasn’t meant to be used for. When Democrats took Congress, they changed House rules to prevent such a move being made again. But the...
Palin Staff Delays Release of Emails
Maybe they’re hoping that eventually people will just forget about the whole thing. For the 15th time, Sarah Palin’s former staff from her time as governor of Alaska has asked for a delay in the release of official emails. The 25,000 emails were sent by the governor, her husband and her staff. In 2008, Palin got into trouble after it was revealed she had been conducting official business from her...
New Justices Give Court Liberal Voice
The tenor of debate at the Supreme Court has changed since two justices, appointed by President Barack Obama, have joined the nation’s highest judicial body. For the first time in 20 years, there are liberal voices to stand up to the questions of Justice Antonin Scalia who is sometimes caustic and always conservative. In the past, the views of the left were given voice by soft-spoken...
Year in Crazy: The Top 10 →
greenstate:
true stories. all true stories.
First Lady Answers Kids' Christmas Calls
Some children received a pleasant surprise Christmas Eve when they called into a government “Santa hotline”: an unexpected chat with the first lady herself, according to the White House. Yes, while President Obama and daughters Sasha and Malia soaked up the sun in Hawaii, FLOTUS stayed behind, and for forty minutes, answered calls from children who dialed into NORAD, a U.S. and...
White House Preps Staff Overhaul
President Obama is spending his holidays reviewing plans for the new staff he’s expected to announce in early January, which advisers say will be “significant” if not “wholesale.” Obama’s campaign manager, David Plouffe, will replace David Axelrod as the president’s top adviser. Gene Sperling and Robert Altman are top contenders to replace Larry Summers as...
Obama's Views on Gay Marriage Shift
President Obama keeps hinting that he might become the first sitting U.S. president to support same-sex couples and their effort to get married. The president said his views on gay marriage are “evolving” and noted that he knows that, for supporters, civil unions aren’t “enough.” Still the president’s change of heart doesn’t mean the White House is likely...
“The United States is off the spectrum of the main tradition in this respect:...”
– from Chomsky on libertarianism and Murray Rothbard (via thenoobyorker)
Dems to Take Up Filibuster Reform
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is working on a filibuster-reform plan, to be implemented when the Senate sets its new rules next year. Already, the entire Democratic caucus has signed on to urge Reid to change the rules. “They are already talking it through and devising a plan,” an aide tells Greg Sargent. Republicans used a record number of filibusters in the last conference.
greenstate:
How vital is reducing the deficit?
It certainly matters, because the public is saddled with the debt. As Karl Marx pointed out, “The only part of the so-called national wealth that actually enters into the collective possessions of modern peoples is their national debt.”
But the deficit, defined as the yearly addition to the accumulated national debt, doesn’t outweigh all other...
McConnell Tries And Fails To Undermine Don’t Ask,... →
technipol:
“This morning before a jubilant audience, President Obama signed the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell repeal bill into law. At the ceremony, Obama said, “We are not a nation that says ‘don’t ask, don’t tell.’ We are a nation that says ‘out of many, we are one.’ We are a nation that welcomes the service of every patriot. We are a nation that believes all men and women are created equal. Those are...
"Fox News blatantly lies about 9/11 health care... →
Obama accomplishes 85% of First Term Agenda in 2... →
thirdworldlatte:
squee-gee:
“It would be easy to blame his supporters and the American people for not paying attention, but that isn’t an accurate portrayal of what’s going on here. The problem is that Obama is not interested in victory laps, and publicly taking credit for his accomplishments. Obama wants to get things done, but the President has hopefully learned the hard lesson that if...
“The repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” put a stop to the practice of government...”
– Susan Bevan (via corruptpolitics)
“This is a staggering scandal for the media. I have yet to see a straightforward,...”
– William Greider (via azspot)
Three great things that happened today:
President Obama signed DADT Repeal,
the Senate ratified New START,
and the Senate passed the 9/11 health bill.
Senate Passes 9/11 Health Bill
In what may well be the last bill of the 111th Congress, the Seante passed the 9/11 health bill Wednesday after a last-minute breakthrough. Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), nicknamed “Dr. No” for his frequent blocking of legislation, had been holding up passage of the bill due to his objections over the cost of the measure and the way it had been passed through Congress. Negotiations led by Sen. Chuck...
Senate approves nuclear arms pact with Russia →
msnbc:
From AP: Ratification marks a third recent major political victory for Obama, even though his Democratic party was trounced in last month’s congressional elections. In recent days he won passage of a bipartisan tax deal and a vote ending the ban on gays openly serving in the military.
Well, that was a productive week.
“I am just overwhelmed. This is a very good day.
No longer will our country be...”
– PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA, in remarks delivered to U.S. servicemembers and others before he signed the repeal of Don’t Act, Don’t Tell into law. He warned that while the repeal will not go into effect immediately, he has directed military leadership to implement it as soon as possible, adding “We will...
Obama Team Plots New Gitmo Order
The Obama administration is preparing an executive order to allow indefinite detention at the prison at Guantanamo Bay—and administration officials insisted this is part of the plan to close the prison forever. The White House has long supported creating prolonged detention for some of Gitmo detainees—preferably at a facility in the U.S.—but the plan could be crippled this week if Congress bans...
Congress Ekes Out Budget Bill
Just hours before the federal government would have run out of money, Congress hustled to pass a temporary budget bill that will keep Washington funded through March 4. In the Senate, even Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell joined 24 of his GOP colleagues to vote for the bill—although the House voted along more strictly partisan lines. The funding measure freezes all government cabinets at...
START Treaty Breaks Filibuster
liberalsarecool:
The Senate just voted to break the GOP filibuster of the START Treaty, with a critical 67 votes. That suggests, though nothing is ever guaranteed in the Senate, that the treaty should muster the 2/3 required for passage.
via talkingpointsmemo.com
Another score for Obama. Suck it, Republicans.
FCC Passes ‘Net Neutrality’ Rules
The Federal Communications Commission passed the Internet’s first-ever access regulations Tuesday, designed, commissioners said, to promise equal access to all legal Web content for home Internet users. The FCC’s two Republican members voted against the rules, while the three Democrats on the commission voted for them. Republicans have promised both legislative and legal challenges to the new...
Senate Set to Pass START Treaty
Against all expectations, the lame-duck Congress continues to get things done: The Senate appears set to ratify the new anti-proliferation START treaty with Russia, as nine Republican senators have announced they plan to vote in favor of the measure—giving the Democrats more than the 67 votes they need for ratification. GOP Senators Richard Lugar, Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins, George Voinovich,...
Watchliberalsarecool:
$2 trillion municipal bond debt crisis could bring down 100 US cities, analyst warns
“A new disaster is looming, according to a prominent market research analyst.
Meredith Whitney, a financial analyst who runs her own consulting firm and correctly predicted the major debt fallout of Citigroup, warned in a little-reported on interview Sunday that as many as 100 US cities ...
“With even [right-wingers] warning that the GOP is taking a big political risk by...”
– Dems enlist a new face in push for 9/11 bill: Bush (via ryking)
Lame Duck Session? Dems PWNAGE Of The GOP
greenstate:
liberalsarecool:
thesmithian:
‘…the Democrats are starting to rack up a pretty sizable number of successes in what was at one time expected to be a quiet and largely uneventful lame-duck session. There was the tax-cut deal, which included an extension of unemployment benefits, then the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” and soon, it appears, even the long-stalled James Zadroga...
Vote Democrat for the GLBT Community →
GOP Takes Aim at START
After Senate Republicans failed to amend the new START treaty Sunday, caucus leaders Mitch McConnell and Jon Kyl announced they would vote against the treaty. Still, Vice President Joe Biden and Democratic leaders were optimistic they’d have the votes needed to pass the measure—two-thirds of the Senate, in this case, since it’s a foreign treaty. Debate will continue at least through Tuesday. The...
“I don’t know what’s going on in Senator McCain’s life that this is a sad day for...”
– Nancy Pelosi, re: repeal of DADT (via defy-gravity)
John McCain’s Bizarre Closing Rant On “Don’t Ask... →
Dana Milbank sums up John McCain’s inexplicable behavior as the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy was being repealed.
McCain’s statement on the floor was roughly one part argument, four parts tantrum. “So here we are about six weeks after an election that repudiated the agenda of the other side,” he said, and those who would repeal don’t-ask-don’t-tell “are acting in direct repudiation of the...
Senate Rejects START Treaty Fix
A minor but crucial hurdle for the START treaty was cleared in the Senate on Saturday, as the chamber voted not to adopt an amendment written by Arizona’s John McCain. The fix, which would have removed language that links offensive and defensive weapons, would have caused the Obama team to go back to Russia to renegotiate the final wording of the treaty. Now, the Senate is ready to start debate....
Chris J Gavin: DADT repeal looks to pass →
chrisjgavin:
liberal-lad:
chrisjgavin:
I don’t think this is right. Especially during wartime. There are more straight soldiers than gays and lesbians and more and more people are joining the military just for the benefits meaning they are using the military as a means of education than the actual purpose behind joining. And more gays…
Yet another ignorant, bigoted Conservative.
Let me...
Chris J Gavin: DADT repeal looks to pass →
chrisjgavin:
I don’t think this is right. Especially during wartime. There are more straight soldiers than gays and lesbians and more and more people are joining the military just for the benefits meaning they are using the military as a means of education than the actual purpose behind joining. And more gays…
Yet another ignorant, bigoted Conservative.
Let me address your flawed...
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Policy REPEALED
Just weeks before single-party rule comes to an end in Washington, and 17 years after the policy was enacted into law by the Clinton administration, Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell has been repealed. With 65 votes on Saturday, the policy prohibiting gays from serving openly in the military was effectively abolished. The move fulfills one of Obama’s key campaign promises, delighting gay rights activists who...