Compromised Principles—When is a compromise not a compromise? When one side gets almost everything it wants and the other is left high and dry. That’s what happened in the recent debate over the Bush administration’s “anti-terrorism” interrogation powers. On one side were a trio of Republican senators led by John McCain (R-AZ), who was in […]

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In the 1980s Chevrolet proclaimed itself the “Heartbeat of America.” Today, many would say that the American auto industry barely has a pulse. Last November, General Motors (owner of the Chevy brand) announced that it was cutting 25,000 jobs and closing up to 12 factories by 2008. The news came one month after auto-parts giant […]

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Repealing the Paris Hilton Tax—A dozen or so protesters gathered outside the Senate in early June, dressed as the grim reaper: black robe, white mask, scythe. “Bury the Death Tax,” their signs read. The invocation of death and taxes, they hoped, would prove particularly lethal. The movement to abolish a long-standing tax on inherited wealth, known as […]

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In case you missed it—and the Bush administration was certainly hoping that you would—the federal government’s operating deficit for 2005 was $760 billion, or a whopping 138 percent higher than the much more widely reported budget deficit of $319 billion. The Bush administration hailed the lesser amount when it was announced last October by the […]

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Money is choking our democracy to death. Our elections are bought out from under us and our public officials are doing the bidding of mercenaries. So powerful is the hold of wealth on politics that we cannot say America is working for all Americans. The majority may support such broad social goals as affordable medical coverage […]

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