Politics

Anniversary of stimulus met with praise and scorn

Thursday, February 18 2010 08:34 | By Christopher Flavelle |

A year ago, Congress passed one of the biggest-ever attempts to spend the United States out of an economic maelstrom. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act stands as one of President Obama's signature initiatives - a mix of tax cuts, financial aid and infrastructure projects worth some $800 billion.

Has the stimulus lived up to its promise? As we've reported before, where you stand depends on where you sit.

The White House is marking today's anniversary with a stimulus progress report (PDF), which claims the Recovery Act has created or saved 2 million jobs; extended unemployment benefits for almost 20 million Americans; and cut taxes for more than 95 percent of working families. The administration says that by the end of last month, the combination of tax cuts and obligated funds came to a total of $453 billion.

How the Senate will nix the public option -- with Joe Lieberman's help

Monday, November 09 2009 05:00 | By Greg Campbell |

Health Care Reform

If you rejoiced at the news that the U.S. House of Representatives passed a health-care reform bill over the weekend that includes a low-cost-premium government-run insurance plan, don't start scheduling your long-overdue medical procedures just yet. Sen. Joe Lieberman, the wild card of the U.S. Senate, will probably cast the deciding vote that will keep insurance in private hands, at least for the immediate future.

Take the Poll: Did Gov. Arnold mean to say 'F*ck You' to California legislators?

Thursday, October 29 2009 08:16 | By D. Scriber |

Gauging Opinion

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's office says the "F*ck You" phrase that cryptically appeared in a letter to California lawmakers was a mere coincidence.

But math geeks say the odds that the phrase would appear the way it did are astronomical. What do you think:

Which church shall be the nuttiest, most hating-ist?

Tuesday, September 08 2009 14:40 | By Greg Campbell |

T-Shirt Sale

It seems that Rev. Fred Phelps might have some competition when it comes to leading one of the nuttiest congregations in America.

Phelps is the pastor of the Westboro Baptist Chuch in Westboro, Kan. His claim to fame is in disrupting services for the the dead — Westboro members made the news for protesting the funerals of fallen servicemen, even if they're hetrosexual, by holding signs that say “God Hates Fags” and “Thank God for IEDs (improvised explosive devices).”

It would seem hard to knock this bigot and his gaggle of followers from their pedestal, but a church in Florida is having a go at it.

The full text of President Obama's stay-in-school remarks, which will be delivered tomorrow

Monday, September 07 2009 10:13 | By D. Scriber |

Learning and Stuff

We just received via the White House a draft of the remarks President Barack Obama intends to deliver tomorrow to convince kids to work hard and stay in school -- the remarks that led some parents to threaten to pull their kids out of schools to protect them from the liberal/socialist agenda. The White House decided to release the remarks a day early to help quell the controversy over the planned webcast. Smart move: After reading the remarks, we couldn't find any rational reason to compare the president to Karl Marx or Kim Jong il.

What we did find, however, is that Obama really seems to care about the quality of education in the United States. After all, some school kid out there will one day be president. "I’m working hard to fix up your classrooms and get you the books, equipment and computers you need to learn," Obama will tell kids, according to the remarks. "But you’ve got to do your part too. So I expect you to get serious this year. I expect you to put your best effort into everything you do. I expect great things from each of you. So don’t let us down -- don’t let your family or your country or yourself down. Make us all proud. I know you can do it."

Makes you wonder if all the fuss from school districts in places like Colorado Springs was necessary. One newspaper headline read, “Area schools ponder how to handle Obama’s ’stay in school’ speech.” By doing what? Encouraging the other point of view -- that dropping out to avoid liberals is a good idea? Come on!

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