House Populists pushing Wall Street transaction fee bill
Members of the House Populist Caucus, chaired by Representative Bruce Braley (IA-01), held a press conference on Thursday to endorse a bill that would "assess a small fee on Wall Street day traders to...
View ArticleBraley, Michaud want "Buy American" provisions in jobs bill
Populist Caucus Chairman Bruce Braley (IA-01) and House Trade Working Group Chairman Mike Michaud (ME-02) wrote to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer today, urging them to...
View ArticleTwo tax votes reveal Republican priorities
The House of Representatives approved the Tax Extenders Act of 2009 on Wednesday by a vote of 241 to 181. As you can see from the roll call, all but ten Democrats voted for the bill. All but two...
View ArticleFederal judge halts ban on ACORN funding (updated)
UPDATE: MyDD user Steve M directed my attention to the Center for Constitutional Rights site, where you can download a pdf file containing the judge's ruling.Hot off the internets at The Hill's blog:
View ArticleHey, DSCC: Quit whining about Republican obstruction
I have had it with e-mail blasts like the latest from J.B. Poersch of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee:Republicans tried every trick in the book to block us, but Senate Democrats scored...
View ArticleIA-Gov: Another prominent conservative backs Vander Plaats
Former Governor Terry Branstad plans to officially declare his candidacy next month. Since he started campaigning for governor in October, I've been hoping that Bob Vander Plaats could capture the...
View ArticleChristmas cooking and political haiku
Merry Christmas, Kossacks! Although my family doesn't celebrate the holiday, I do enjoy listening to Oy to the World, the klezmer Christmas album by the Klezmonauts (samples here). Their arrangements...
View ArticleAn early look at next year's campaign messages on health care
Assuming the House and the Senate pass whatever health insurance bill comes out of the conference committee, Republicans and Democrats are likely to highlight the reform during next year's campaigns....
View ArticleGood news for workers in 2010
Since few media outlets have a reporter assigned to the labor beat anymore, we've heard little this year about one of President Obama's best cabinet appointments: Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis.Tracy...
View ArticleLegislator scorecards don't tell the whole story
One of my pet peeves is when interest groups release rank legislators according to how they have voted on a few key bills. These scorecards can be helpful as a general guideline, but some lawmakers...
View ArticleNew year's resolutions thread
Clem Guttata at West Virginia Blue is pledging to reduce his carbon footprint by 10 percent and gives you 10 ways to reduce your own carbon emissions in 2010.Jill Richardson at La Vida Locavore...
View ArticleYear in review: Iowa politics in 2009 (part 1)
I write mostly for the Iowa progressive community blog Bleeding Heartland. I expected 2009 to be a relatively quiet year in Iowa politics, but was I ever wrong.The governor's race heated up, state...
View ArticleYear in review: Iowa politics in 2009 (part 2)
I do most of my writing for the Iowa progressive community blog Bleeding Heartland. Following up on my review of news from the first half of last year, I've posted links to Bleeding Heartland's...
View ArticleIA-Gov: Could Vander Plaats pull off an upset?
I've been assuming for the past few months that there's no way Bob Vander Plaats can defeat Terry Branstad in this year's Iowa Republican gubernatorial primary. Branstad's statewide connections from...
View ArticleThoughts on raising altruistic children
Miep Gies, the last surviving protector of Anne Frank's family, died last week at the age of 100. During the Nazi occupation of Holland, Gies risked her life on a daily basis to keep the Franks and...
View ArticleSome great news slipped under the radar last week
I'm tired of thinking about the Massachusetts Senate race. Here's some good news from last week that drew little media coverage.It confirmed my view that Transportation Secetary Ray LaHood will turn...
View ArticleIA-Sen: Roxanne Conlin releases fundraising numbers
Roxanne Conlin's campaign for U.S. Senate released partial fundraising numbers today, and they are impressive:Total cash raised (Nov. 2 - Dec. 31): $603,575.44Cash on hand: $502,832.84Total individual...
View ArticleIA-03: GOP primary developments
Seven-term Representative Leonard Boswell is only the 64th most vulnerable Democrat in the House of Representatives, according to Crisitunity's "vulnerability index" at Swing State Project, but Iowa...
View ArticleReflecting on sixth-grade hopes and dreams
A few weeks ago, a long-lost elementary school classmate scanned our entire sixth-grade yearbook from May 1981 and posted the contents on Facebook. In addition to the usual goofy photos, we all...
View ArticleNew Iowa poll: Gay marriage not worth legislature's time
More than 60 percent of Iowans think gay marriage "does not deserve the Legislature's limited time" this session, according to the latest poll conducted by Selzer and Associates for the Des Moines...
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