A budget pact reached on Capitol Hill would give an endorsement to President Barack Obama‘s agenda by his 100th day in office while putting off a series of difficult decisions on health care, global warming and taxes.
House-Senate negotiators on Monday night announced the agreement on a $3.5 trillion budget outline for 2010, with votes expected in the full House and Senate by Wednesday.
An ethics complaint filed Monday against Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin claims the legal defense fund formed last week to challenge such claims is an ethics violation itself.
The complaint filed with the attorney general’s office seeks an investigation by the state personnel board for violations of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act. The complainant, Kim Chatman of Eagle River, claims Palin is misusing the governor’s office for personal gain by securing unwarranted benefits and receiving improper gifts.
It was supposed to be a photo op that captured images of an Air Force One plane with a majestic Statue of Liberty in the background. Instead, it turned into a public relations nightmare that led to recriminations from the president and mayor and prompted thousands other to ask, "What were they thinking?"
Just before the workday began on Monday, an airliner and supersonic fighter jet zoomed past the lower Manhattan skyline. Within minutes, startled financial workers streamed out of their offices, fearing a nightmarish replay of Sept. 11.
America is ambivalent about torture. To generalize: our country is populated with two types of people, those who reject torture and those who do not.
But the distinction between the two is vague. Many of us– me, for example — condemn torture categorically but cannot predict with certainty how we would behave if we found ourselves in the well-worn time-bomb scenario, the hypothetical philosophical circumstance in which a little torture applied to the right person could prevent thousands of deaths.
It would be hard to measure the potential divisiveness of one of those full-blown, razzamatazz, in living color, months long Congressional inquiries into the past torture of terrorist suspects. Not only is it doubtful that such an exercise would produce new revelations, it also would put politics above the national welfare — something the leadership of the current majority seems anxious to accomplish no matter the cost.
The Drew University professor and minister was a spiritual mentor to a young Hillary Rodham Clinton, first meeting her when she was a high school freshman.
Florida lawmakers have refused to move a bill to expand unemployment eligibility in order to accept $444 million in federal stimulus aid.
Five members of Congress have been arrested while protesting the expulsion of aid groups from Darfur in front of the Sudanese Embassy in Washington.
A battle over the slogan “Choose Life,” available on plates in 19 states, may be headed to the Supreme Court.
Political aides counseled Rep. Patrick Kennedy not to mention the incident when he was campaigning for reelection in 2006. “Don’t bring it up,” they insisted, as Kennedy recounts their reaction. “Everybody already knows about it.” Talking about it only reminded Rhode Island voters of other Kenned…