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Study Shows Paid Sick Days Help Contain Deadly Diseases Like Flu
Tweet Share on Facebook June 17, 2013 CommentOne of the supposedly central tenets of Republican ideology is that local control trumps nearly everything. Education: Leave it at the local level. Transportation policy: Ditto. "Our Founding Fathers devised a system of government unique in all the world – a federation of sovereign states, with as much law and decision-making authority as possible kept at the local level," said modern conservatism's patron saint, President Ronald Reagan.
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Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback Wants to Eliminate the State Income Tax
Tweet Share on Facebook June 13, 2013 CommentKansas Republican Gov. Sam Brownback has presided over one of the most rightward lurches of any state in the nation, on issues such as health care, abortion and education. But the crown jewel of his administration has been a package of cuts to Kansas' income tax – the latest of which was signed into law today – part of Brownback's avowed goal to eliminate that tax in his state altogether.
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House and Senate Farm Bills Cut Food Stamps
Tweet Share on Facebook June 12, 2013 CommentEarlier this year, Congress only managed to extend the expired farm bill – which includes a host of agriculture and nutrition related programs – as part of the deal to avoid the so-called "fiscal cliff." That move funded the bill's programs through September. Now, determined to avoid a repeat performance, it seems, both chambers are moving their own respective bills forward again.
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Poll Shows Most Americans Think Gay Marriage Is Inevitable
Tweet Share on Facebook June 7, 2013 CommentElection night 2012 was a huge one for the gay rights movement, as Maryland, Washington and Maine all legalized gay marriage, while Minnesota thumped a gay marriage ban. Minnesota then followed through by formally legalizing gay marriage this year, as did Rhode Island and Delaware.
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Study: Rejecting Obamacare Medicaid Expansion Costs GOP Governors Money
Tweet Share on Facebook June 4, 2013 CommentWhen Texas Republican Gov. Rick Perry announced that he would reject the Medicaid expansion included in the Obamacare health law, he claimed that the decision was for budgetary reasons. "It would benefit no one in our state to see their taxes skyrocket and our economy crushed as our budget crumbled under the weight of oppressive Medicaid costs," Perry opined.
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John McCain Finds Trouble With Possible Syrian Kidnappers
Tweet Share on Facebook May 31, 2013 CommentSen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who has seemingly never missed an opportunity to call for the United States to become embroiled in whatever conflict is currently underway somewhere in the world, has been leading the push for the Obama administration to do more to aid Syria's rebels. Syria, of course, has been the setting of a more than two-year conflict between the dictatorial regime of President Bashar Assad and a loose coalition of rebel groups.
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How to Change the Washington Redskins’ Racist Name
Tweet Share on Facebook May 29, 2013 CommentA group of lawmakers on Capitol Hill, as U.S. News' Lauren Fox reports, is calling on Washington, D.C.'s National Football League franchise – unfortunately called the Redskins – to finally change its name. In a letter to owner Dan Snyder and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, the 10 lawmakers, including the co-chairs of the Congressional Native American Caucus, write, "Native Americans throughout the country consider the term 'redskin' a racial, derogatory slur akin to the 'N-word' among African-Americans or the 'W-word' among Latinos … Washington's NFL football team profits from a term that is equally disparaging to Native Americans."
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Obama Commerce Nominee Penny Pritzker’s Tax Problem
Tweet Share on Facebook May 24, 2013 CommentObama's nominee to be the next head of the Commerce Department, Penny Pritzker, faced her Senate confirmation hearing on Thursday. Surprisingly, the members of the Senate Commerce Committee did not grill her on an area that seems ideal for criticism: her family's storied history of tax dodging.
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E.W. Jackson Proves the Tea Party Learned Nothing
Tweet Share on Facebook May 22, 2013 CommentYou'd think the conservative base would have learned its lesson in 2010, when, in a fever pitch of epic magnitude, it nominated Christine O'Donnell, Ken Buck, Sharron Angle and Joe Miller to run for the U.S. Senate. Suddenly, what looked like a prime opportunity for Republicans to flip the upper chamber and send Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., packing turned into an example of a party letting its base lead where the rest of America dared not follow. Or perhaps in 2012, when Indiana Senate nominee Richard Mourdock was sunk by an extremely ill-advised and incorrect rape comment.
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Coburn Wants Oklahoma Tornado Aid Offset With Budget Cuts
Tweet Share on Facebook May 21, 2013 CommentA massive tornado ripped through Moore, Okla. and surrounding cities yesterday, leaving scores of Americans dead. Photos from the scene show complete and total devastation, nothing but dirt and timber where once whole neighborhoods stood.
Pat Garofalo
Pat Garofalo is assistant editor for opinion at U.S. News & World Report. Follow him on Twitter at @Pat_Garofalo or email him at pgarofalo@usnews.com.
