No matter where you stand politically, this fact is not subject to debate: when people have access to health care and medical services, they live longer, better and more productive lives. When it isn’t available or the cost is prohibitive, mortality rates are higher; people don’t live as long; and the quality of those lives, … Continue reading »
![Newt and Callista at Auschwitz: Smiles, Everyone! [VF.com]](http://momfy.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/new-gingrich.jpg?w=160&h=120&crop=1 "Newt and Callista at Auschwitz: Smiles, Everyone! [VF.com]")
The Atlantic unearthed a picture of Newt Gingrich and his third wife, Callista, posing arm in arm in front of Auschwitz. “Newt is wearing his default smirk,” the magazine observes, and says “there is something distinctly off about these tourist-style shots in front of the Nazi death-camp.” It’s not actually that strange: exhaustive research reveals that the … Continue reading »
This morning, I received what looks like a robo-response email from Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) in response to a letter I sent two days ago urging her to vote NO on SOPA and NO on PIPA. I appreciate the prompt reply from her staff (and the robot responder in her office), but unfortunately it appears … Continue reading »
The STOP SOPA / NO on SOPA / NO on PIPA movement has become an unprecedented online show of solidarity, demonstrating to Congress that individuals working together are just as influential as well-funded corporate interests when we put our minds to it. If you know about SOPA or PIPA but don’t know how you can make … Continue reading »
This is a letter I sent to Senator Al Franken on 12 January 2012. I live in Minnesota, the state for which Franken is a senator. In 2008, I was a campaign activist for Al Franken’s senate campaign, operating volunteer call operations on behalf of his campaign and canvassing door-to-door to solicit votes on his … Continue reading »
“Republicans complaining about the households not paying enough who also want to cut taxes overall are asking the poor to subsidize a tax cut for the rich…” Here’s a fresh quote from the latest non-Romney front-runner in the GOP presidential race: “This dividing of America [between] 99-1,” Rick Santorum said this morning in New Hampshire, “It’s anybody that … Continue reading »
Conservative opinion writers are competing in something of an arms race to see who can describe Newt Gingrich, whom most of them despise, in the most apocalyptic terms. Here’s a list, from The New Yorker, of ten of the most over-the-top takedowns from the right of the former Speaker of the House and current Republican … Continue reading »
Here’s an interesting hypothetical scenario to posit toward folks who claim that regulations are evil, bad for business, job-killing, useless… and whose demise should be a national priority: Ask the regulation-hater to imagine him- or herself on the 20th floor of a building, standing before two elevators. The elevator on the left was built using parts … Continue reading »
In the war of rhetoric that has developed in Washington as both sides blame each other for our economic mess, one argument has been repeated so often that many people now regard it as fact: ‘Rich people create the jobs.’ Specifically, entrepreneurs and investors, when incented by low taxes, build companies and create millions of … Continue reading »
