Featured Stories
Recess is for kids, Congress doesn’t need a vacation
July 22, 2009
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: This country is facing the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression and is engaged in two wars overseas. Structural economic problems that have not been addressed for decades have come due and need to be fixed. This is a time for bold action. But Congress is worried about taking its August
The face of the anti-compassion conservative
July 22, 2009
by David SafierRep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tennessee. "Let's agree that we're going to have PAYGO enforcement. That we're not going to cry 'emergency' every time we have a Katrina, every time we have a Tsunami, every time we have a need for extra spending, that we don't go call for a special appropriation that allows us
The can’t-do attitude of Blue Dogs
July 22, 2009
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: "We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is
Attention Blue Dogs
July 22, 2009
by David SafierThis says it well. If President Barack Obama succeeds in signing a major health care reform bill into law – one that provides a public plan for people currently priced out of the system – he will achieve what at least three presidents before him had hoped for, and failed to do. And
Health insurance lobby cherry-picks data in effort to defeat health care reform
July 22, 2009
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: The Washington Post reports on the maxim “lies, damn lies, and statistics” used by the health insurance lobby to cherry-pick data in its effort to defeat healthcare reform and maintain the status quo. The article debunks point by point the inconsistencies and half-truths by insurers in their efforts to defeat healthcare reform.
The Accidental Governor floats a trial balloon to Democrats
July 22, 2009
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: At her Tuesday press conference, the Accidental Governor floated a trial balloon to Democratic legislators. She said that she might allow the state property tax to go back on the books this fall if doing so would result in Democratic support for a ballot referral to raise the sales tax. Brewer, Democrats
UPDATE: More navel-gazing at the Legislature
July 21, 2009
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: On Monday the Legislature convened for the third week of the Special Session, but could not muster a quorum. Only 26 members of the House and 12 members of the Senate showed up. No quorum? No big deal, lawmakers say They held some discussions on the budget impasse, and agreed to reconvene
I regret the error
July 21, 2009
by David SafierI wrote a post about tax hikes, estate taxes and Tea Partiers. In it, I approximated the amount an estate has to be worth before it's taxed at $1 million. A reader corrected me. A single person's estate has to reach $3.5 million before it's taxed. For a couple, it's $7 million. The
