The Nation

Where's the Clean Energy? | The Nation.

Cecille Isidro — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:30:00 -0500

"You can't really look at renewables in a vacuum, though," says Terry Tamminen, a climate change expert at the New America Foundation. ...

Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission Kicks into High Gear | The Nation.

Cecille Isidro — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:00:00 -0500

On Friday, FCIC Chairman Phil Angelides was in DC to deliver a keynote address at a New America Foundation conference on financial reforms, jobs, housing, ...

Pro-Choicers Backing Down? Fat Chance | The Nation.

Cecille Isidro — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 07:56:00 -0500

"If you want to rebuild the American welfare state," Peter Beinart writes in the Daily Beast, "there is no alternative" than for Democrats to abandon ...

Did Republicans Rally the Stock Market? | CNBC

Erin Drankoski — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:11:00 -0500

What Ails the Senate

Erin Drankoski — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:05:00 -0500

In 1994, after Democrats lost control of the Senate, Senator Joe Lieberman called a press conference with his colleague Tom Harkin to announce their plan to reform the filibuster. "[People] are fed up--frustrated and fed up and angry about the way in which our government does not work," Lieberman said. "And I think the filibuster has become not only in reality an obstacle to accomplishment here, but it is also a symbol of a lot that ails Washington today." Lieberman and Harkin's proposal to weaken the filibuster came to a floor vote and was

Meet the Hazzards

Erin Drankoski — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 08:46:00 -0400

As we mark the end of the first year of the financial bailout, the public seems to regard the government's actions with a toxic combination of rage and confusion. People are pissed off but too bewildered to know what to do with that anger. The confusion isn't an accident. The government hasn't exactly been forthcoming about how it's made buckets of money available to the banking sector. When it does disclose some information--such as in July's SIGTARP report from the Treasury or the Federal Reserve's weekly balance sheet--it's in the form of intimidating

ACORN and Accountability

Erin Drankoski — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 08:40:00 -0400

With the notable exception of handing over $700 billion to Wall Street last year, the United States Congress is not known for quick, decisive action. But recently, in a resounding bipartisan vote, members of both houses voted to deny federal dollars to the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. Over the past fifteen years, ACORN and its affiliates have received on average about $3.5 million a year from the government, or approximately one-millionth of this year's budget.

Tuesdays With Rahm

Erin Drankoski — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 05:29:00 -0400

If you've spent time in progressive circles these last nine months, you've certainly heard the "make me do it" story. The details bounce around, even the name of the president who allegedly said it (sometimes it's Johnson, most often it's Roosevelt), but the basic tale is this: the president is meeting in the Oval Office with an activist, a union president or a civil rights leader pushing a progressive cause. At the end of the meeting the president says, "OK, you've convinced me. Now go out and make me do it." The moral is a good one: change comes only

Climate Change: Off the G-20 Agenda? | The Nation.

Cecille Isidro — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 17:17:00 -0400

Sherle R. Schwenninger: The economic crisis was caused by world trade imbalances just as much as by domestic problems. ...

Green Shoots in New Orleans

Erin Drankoski — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 09:28:00 -0400

Margarine, margarine, 'I Can't Believe It's Not Butter.'" Poppy Tooker recalls the months of food shortages after Hurricane Katrina ripped the Gulf Coast apart. "I could not believe there was no butter." According to the New Orleans native, one unfortunate but little-noticed repercussion of the storm was the demise of dairy. As a food activist, she understood the heavily industrial process of butter churning, preservation, shipping and storage. But in light of her city's rich culinary history--fresh collards, crawfish étouffées and