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Don't Listen to Ethics Naysayers
Tweet Share on Facebook July 30, 2007 CommentDemocrats' hoped-for summer legislative swan song will be a package of ethics reforms that, it goes without saying, won't clean up Washington; nor will it please the naysayers and perfectionists. But if these changes become law, they will give the public more information about the way Washington works nonetheless.
The bills would "provide for increased disclosure requirements for lobbyists who serve as hubs, or conduits, for bundled campaign donations."
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Americans Are Demanding Fuel Efficiency
Tweet Share on Facebook July 27, 2007 CommentThe American public is coming around to demanding a more fuel-efficient homegrown fleet. The Pew Campaign for Fuel Efficiency released a poll this week of almost 4,000 likely voters in seven U.S. states showing that almost 90 percent of "likely voters surveyed favor requiring the automobile industry to improve fuel efficiency...and...favored a 35-mpg standard over 32 mpg and said the changes should take effect by 2018," according to the Detroit News.
The Pew Campaign for Fuel Efficiency, by the way, describes itself as a Washington-based interest group that supports higher fuel-efficiency standards.
This is a turnaround of such historic proportions that we should sit down and take note. Our Hummer-loving, SUV-driving, speed-boat-hugging American public actually supports a law that would require more of us to drive fuel-efficient cars? And that unctuous, oil industry denizen of a president of ours even directs the federal government to consider higher fuel efficiency standards for new cars (which he did in May)? Is this Mars or the good old U.S. of A.?
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U.S. Carmakers Catch Wind of Global Warming
Tweet Share on Facebook July 25, 2007 Comment (1)Droughts in the Southwest and mid-Atlantic United States. Floods in Texas, southern England, China, Pakistan, Colombia, and, of all places, Sudan.
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First Woman President . . . in India
Tweet Share on Facebook July 23, 2007 CommentIndia's selection this past weekend of Pratibha Patil as its first female president was a landmark of sorts and a reminder of another sort.
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Family-Values Politics Loses Its Value
Tweet Share on Facebook July 20, 2007 Comment (1)The beginning of the end of family-values politics? As sex scandals plague top Republicans, Democratic presidential candidates promise attacks on antiabortion and abstinence-only funding, and more states reject federal dollars to teach abstinence-only in public schools, one wonders whether all this put together signals the beginning of the end of family-values politics.
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When Ecoterrorism Is Almost Justifiable
Tweet Share on Facebook July 18, 2007 CommentHummers shouldn't be vandalized, but why should we all have to pay more for gas because some must drive a screaming symbol of American excess?
While I've never been a fan of ecoterrorism or terrorism of any sort, this news item is bound to make the environmentalist in each of us react by thinking some version of, "If ever a car owner deserved it..."
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The Market Mercifully Scotches Women-Only Hotel Floors
Tweet Share on Facebook July 16, 2007 Comment (2)Sometimes the free market really does work for the betterment of society. One such example is Marriott's recent decision to scrap plans for a women-only floor at a luxury hotel the chain will open in September in Grand Rapids, Mich.
Marriott took note of the surge in female business travelers (now more than 40 percent of the business travel market) and thought it would mimic the setup it launched 2 1/2 years ago in Bloomington, Minn.
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Moms' Preference for Part-Time Work
Tweet Share on Facebook July 13, 2007 CommentA study out this week showing that more working mothers prefer part-time work drew a lot of media attention.
The Pew Research Center reports that 60 percent of working moms prefer part-time jobs over staying home or working full time, 12 points higher than a decade ago.
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Solving the Inflation Mystery
Tweet Share on Facebook July 11, 2007 CommentI've often wondered why inflation is so clearly rampaging well beyond levels reported by the federal government. Case in point: On a fairly regular basis, I buy 10-pound bags of carrots at my local Harris Teeter grocery store. When I started buying them two summers ago, a 10-pound bag was retailing for $3.99. It is now selling for $5.99.
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Parties Offer Lessons on How to Guarantee Losing
Tweet Share on Facebook July 9, 2007 CommentWhich party is better at eating its own young, the Democrats or the GOP? Sometimes it's hard to tell.
President Bush has done a stupendous job of making it well-nigh impossible for another Republican to win the White House for the greater part of the next two decades. Let's put it this way: With his public approval ratings in the Nixon zone (high 20s), he has set up a florid target for Democrats to run against and defeat for decades to come—better, in fact, than any affirmative action or policy stance Democrats have taken recently to win public favor.
Then there's Cindy Sheehan.
