Guns and Butter—Amount spent on U.S. operations in Iraq and Afghanistan since the invasion of the latter in October 2001: $947 billion, including Obama’s $106 billion supplemental appropriation. Cap the Senate Finance Committee imposed on health-care reform expenditures for the next ten years: $1 trillion. Maxed Out—The Center for Responsive Politics has analyzed Senate Finance […]

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Republicans Are Revolting—Limbaugh, O’Reilly, Hannity, Beck et al. grabbed their pitchforks and set out after Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano in April after she released a report on the resurgence of right-wing extremism. No news there; they’re paid to incite audiences. But Rep. Peter King (NY) led the House Republican rant over […]

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The View from the Oval Office “When they were in the Senate both Senator Biden and Senator Obama were both very strong critics of the state secrets privilege. Since assuming office, the administration has used the privilege in at least three cases of which we are aware.” —Andrew Grossman of the Heritage Foundation “These are […]

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Say It Ain’t So, Joe “It’s no secret that I’m a skeptic. I don’t—I don’t believe that mankind is the primary cause of climate change. I do accept that CO2 levels are rising. I think it’s a debatable proposition whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing. But, in any event, to put some […]

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Torture at Guantánamo? “On a couple of occassions [sic], I entered interview rooms to find a detainee chained hand and foot in a fetal position to the floor, with no chair, food, or water. Most times they had urinated or defacated [sic] on themselves, and had been left there for 18-24 hours or more. On […]

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