GWENDOLYN MINK, wendymink at gmail.com Available for a limited number of interviews, Mink is co-editor of the two-volume Poverty in the United States: An Encyclopedia of History, Politics and Policy and author of Welfare’s End. She said today: “The debt deal certainly is better than the Boehner Bill, and better still than the Tea Party…

THOMAS FERGUSON, thomas.ferguson at umb.edu Ferguson is professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts, Boston and a senior fellow of the Roosevelt Institute. He said today: “Even by American legislative standards, this deal is a turkey and it’s totally appropriate that the new bipartisan Congressional committee should have to report at Thanksgiving. The…

Saturday is the 46th anniversary of Medicare. MARGARET FLOWERS, M.D.,  mdpnhp at gmail.com Flowers is congressional fellow for the 18,000-member Physicians for a National Health Program. She has written recently: “Medicare Is the Answer, Not the Problem. Both Democrats and Republicans are missing the point by putting the emphasis on controlling Medicare and Medicaid costs…

DAVE JOHNSON, djohnson at ourfuture.org, @dcjohnson Johnson is a fellow at Campaign for America’s Future. He said today: “Poll after poll shows that the public gets it. People understand that our deficits were caused by tax cuts for the wealthy, wars and increases in military budgets and the effects of the recession, and they want…

Reuters reports: “An environmental activist was sentenced to two years in prison on Tuesday in a federal court in Salt Lake City for defrauding the U.S. government by posing as a bidder for oil and gas drilling rights on Utah public lands. Tim DeChristopher, 29, had submitted the phony bids to derail an auction of…

STACY SANDERS, ssanders at wowonline.org, @wowonlinewow Sanders is the director of the Elder Economic Security Initiative, a branch of Wider Opportunities for Women. She said today: “With a decline in employer-based pensions and losses in personal retirement plans due to the recession, older Americans are struggling to make ends meet. Health care costs are a…

ALI GHARIB, agharib at americanprogress.org Gharib is a national security reporter for Think Progress. He wrote “Suspect in Custody for Norwegian Terror Attacks Allegedly an Anti-Islam Right-wing Extremist” and co-wrote “Right-wing Pundits Jumped to Blame Muslims and ‘Jihadists’ for Norway Attacks.” He cites Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post, Michelle Malkin, Andrew Breitbart, the Wall…

DEVIN BURGHART, dburghart at gmail.com Burghart is vice president of the Institute for Research & Education on Human Rights and just wrote the piece “Norway Terror Suspect Described as Far-Right Nationalist Islamophobe.” Burghart tweeted: “UPDATE: Looks like the Norway terror suspect is a fan of the Tea Party’s favorite Islamophobe, Pam Geller.” Burghart has toured…

President Obama recently stated: “We have a Democratic president and administration that is prepared to sign a tough package that includes both spending cuts, modifications to Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare that would strengthen those systems and allow them to move forward, and would include a revenue component.” NANCY ALTMAN, njalt at aol.com Altman is…

AP reports: “‘Somalia is facing its worst food security crisis in the last 20 years,’ said Mark Bowden, the U.N.’s top official in charge of humanitarian aid in Somalia. ‘This desperate situation requires urgent action to save lives … it’s likely that conditions will deteriorate further in six months.'” JAMES JENNINGS, jimjennings at earthlink.net Available…