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“It’s Not a Cliff”
Chris Hellman is communications liaison at the National Priorities Project and specializes in the military budget. Mattea Kramer is senior research analyst there, and lead author of A People’s Guide to the Federal Budget. They recently wrote the piece “Washington’s Cliff Notes” for TomDispatch. It states: “Ignore the sound and fury. While prophecy is usually…
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Lame Duck Will Put Democrats to the Test
Solomon’s article in the current edition of The Nation magazine is titled “How to Build a Grassroots Power Base.” He said today: “A profound question hovering over the lame duck session is whether Democrats in Congress will push back against White House pressure for a ‘grand bargain.’ Medicare and Medicaid are headed to the chopping…
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After Petraeus
Veteran CIA analyst Ray McGovern wrote the article “Pundit Tears for Petraeus’s Fall,” which states: “As commander in Afghanistan, Petraeus was able to elbow the substantive intelligence analysts in Washington off to the sidelines. … As for winning hearts and minds, it was Petraeus who shocked Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s aides by claiming that Afghan…
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House Republicans Keep Majority Due to “Structural Bias”
Rob Richie is the executive director of FairVote. He said today: “Representative democracy demands a level playing field, but U.S. House elections do not have one. Today there is a significant structural advantage for the Republican Party grounded in elections relying on single-member district, winner-take-all voting rules.”
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Election Results: The Asian American Vote
Miriam Yeung is the executive director of the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum. Addressing the election turnout, she said: “According to exit polls, Asian American and Pacific Islander support for President Obama increased to 73 percent from 61 percent in 2008. This increase was foreshadowed in the recent National Asian American Survey that found…
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Election Results: The Income Divide
Thomas Ferguson is professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, senior fellow of the Roosevelt Institute, and contributing editor at AlterNet. He said today: “Now that it’s over, it’s time to take stock. All counts are incomplete, but something like 116 million votes were cast. The presidential election alone cost about $2.6…
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Ballot Initiatives * GMO Labeling * Marijuana Legalization
Michele Simon is a public health lawyer, president of Eat Drink Politics and author of Appetite for Profit: How the food industry undermines our health and how to fight back. She said today: “Prop 37 was attacked by a massive disinformation and propaganda campaign waged by the likes of Monsanto and PepsiCo, who out-spent the…
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Election Day: The Attack on Voting Rights in the South
Chris Kromm is the executive director of the Institute for Southern Studies and publisher of Facing South/Southern Exposure. He said today: “Three big themes are emerging in the South this election. One, the battle over the right to vote is reaching a fever pitch. Changes in voting laws in Florida, Tennessee, Virginia and other states…
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“Is Occupy Wall Street Outperforming the Red Cross in Hurricane Relief?”
Peter Rugh has been writing for Waging Nonviolence. He said today: “Since the storm, thousands of volunteers have stepped up to provide food, water, blankets, medicine, medical treatment, housing and comfort to New Yorkers where basic social infrastructure has collapsed. Many of those hardest hit by Sandy are those who have already been hit by…
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Environmental Degradation: “How the 1% Created a Monster”
Chris Williams is author of Ecology and Socialism: Solutions to Capitalist Ecological Crisis and a professor of physics and chemistry at Pace University. He recently wrote the piece “Frankenstorms and Climate Change: How the 1% Created a Monster.” He said today: “In point of fact, the whole reason why the candidates don’t want to discuss…