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U.S. Politics

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Maxed out?

The push to establish a credit card ceiling
Rhode Islanders have grown accustomed to a certain amount of silliness in the General Assembly. It was only a few months ago that members of that august body were debating the merits of an official state ice cream.
By CHRISTOPHER COLLINS  |  July 08, 2009
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Robert McNamara, RIP

Memories of Vietnam should speed Obama's exit plans for Iraq and Afghanistan
As secretary of defense under President Lyndon B. Johnson, Robert McNamara prosecuted the Vietnam War on a day-to-day basis, just as Donald Rumsfeld orchestrated the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq for George W. Bush.
By EDITORIAL  |  July 08, 2009
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The Iquitarod

Sarah says 'no mas.' Plus, the United States of Goldman Sachs.
Phillipe and Jorge wish they could claim to have coined that headline about professional loony Sarah Palin's resignation as governor of Alaska prior to her first term being completed, but full points go to Geoffrey Dunn of The Huffington Post .
By PHILLIPE & JORGE  |  July 08, 2009
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Benign neglect?

It's time Obama moved vigorously to advance gay and lesbian rights
If you are gay or lesbian, or if you care about realizing social justice, you must be wondering when Obama is going to turn his attention to the fact that one in 10 of the nation's more than 230 million adults are second-class citizens.
By EDITORIAL  |  June 24, 2009

Human rights watch

Acknowledging, and punishing, torture
Last week, on the heels of anti-torture panels and protests in Portland, Washington DC, and elsewhere, the Justice Department told the nation that it would have to wait a few more days before information about American torture policies and practices is made public.
By DEIRDRE FULTON  |  June 24, 2009

My aim is true

Talking Politics
I believe in having clear and achievable goals.
By AL DIAMON  |  June 24, 2009

Supreme court

Maine senators playing major role in Sotomayor confirmation
Next month, Congress will begin confirmation hearings to decide the fate of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, the 55-year-old Bronx native whom President Barack Obama nominated last month to fill retiring Justice David Souter's spot on the nine-member bench.  
By DEIRDRE FULTON  |  June 17, 2009

Under attack

Civil liberties' limits grow
Recent decisions by President Barack Obama and Maine Governor John Baldacci have dampened progressive hopes that the Republican-inspired war on civil liberties might be winding down.
By JEFF INGLIS  |  June 10, 2009
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Having it Both Ways

Should we blame Baldacci now?
 For years, Democratic Governor John Baldacci, governors before him, and many legislators have made job creation their loudest mantra. “Jobs!” echoes under Augusta’s State House dome as the rationale for cutting taxes and expenses (services) and increasing corporate tax breaks to make Maine more “business friendly.”
By LANCE TAPLEY  |  June 03, 2009
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Sotomayor's mixed message on free speech

Freedom Watch
Minutes after President Barack Obama announced that he was nominating appellate judge Sonia Sotomayor for the vacant seat on the Supreme Court, battle lines were drawn on the pre-scripted questions of "post-racial" America.
By HARVEY SILVERGLATE  |  June 03, 2009
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Right-wing terror

The murder of Dr. George Tiller
Conservatives scoffed in April when the Department of Homeland Security warned that the United States could face another wave of homegrown attacks.
By EDITORIAL  |  June 03, 2009

Judging the judge

Facing the facts of the Sotomayor nomination
Women may not yet have full equality, but Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to the US Supreme Court proves we can compete with the big guys now. It also means that women accepting patronage (and every political appointment is patronage) have an equal shot at getting pounded in the process.
By Mary Ann Sorrentino  |  June 03, 2009

Stickin' it to the poor

Right wing celebrates state budget
The Maine Heritage Policy Center, a right-wing Portland think tank, has been bragging in news releases about how state leaders have followed its advice, approving a two-year state-government budget that, among other cuts, slashes school aid, programs for the needy, and state-employee pay.
By LANCE TAPLEY  |  June 03, 2009
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Female Trouble

A shocking dearth of Republican female pols should have the party in a panic. So why doesn't it care?
Conventional political wisdom says that for a party to oppose a woman — or a women's issue — it's best to send out a female spokesperson.
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN  |  June 03, 2009
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On Sotomayor

A noble pick that highlights a political flash point. Plus, California's shame.
There is a pleasing symmetry to President Obama's nomination of federal appeals court judge Sonia Sotomayor to the United States Supreme Court.
By EDITORIAL  |  May 27, 2009

Out of office

Just because nobody pays attention doesn't mean a guy can't make a royal mess of things.  
It's only fitting the news media seem to have missed James J. Walsh's death. Even when Walsh was alive, the rare instances when he attracted publicity never worked out too well for him. The only reason he had any kind of political career was because he mostly flew so far below the radar that he had to pick earthworms out of his teeth.
By AL DIAMON  |  May 27, 2009
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Legalize pot now

With support from the unlikeliest circles, this could be marijuana's moment
The Obama administration, already overtaxed with two foreign campaigns, made headlines this past week when the White House's newly minted director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy called for an end to the "War on Drugs."
By MIKE MILIARD  |  June 01, 2009

Fascism in the eye of the beholder

Letters to the Boston editor, May 22, 2009
You claim that Dick Cheney was George W. Bush’s number-one thug. But I would argue that Bush was Cheney ’s thug.
By BOSTON PHOENIX LETTERS  |  May 20, 2009
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Regarding President Obama's Supreme Court pick

Idiot Box
Women in the court
By MATT BORS  |  May 13, 2009
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Is the party over for the GOP in RI?

A disastrous election in '08. A depleted war chest. Dismal approval ratings for the outgoing governor. Yet the faithful see hope for a Republican revival
In a state known for its political obsessions, there is remarkably little in the way of rabid protest here.
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG  |  May 13, 2009
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Men plus money equals mess

The financial crisis is a man-made problem. And it might not have occurred if we had listened to women.
Since Iceland is something of the epicenter of the global financial crisis — its government being the first to essentially go belly up — it's probably not surprising that the Icelanders have come up with the most novel and interesting theory as to what caused the meltdown. And they may be right.
By STEVEN STARK  |  May 14, 2009
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Warming up to a green revolution

Action speaks!
President Obama's push for a green revolution has inevitably drawn comparisons to President Kennedy's famous call, 48 years ago, for a moon landing.
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG  |  May 13, 2009
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Despot for attention

Plus, vote for Passoni
Former vice-president Dick Cheney has taken his torture tour all over the place in the past few weeks, waging an ongoing campaign to defend what the Bush administration called "enhanced interrogation."
By EDITORIAL  |  May 13, 2009

They said what?

Republican lawmakers sound off on global warming
GOP leaders have a reputation for shunning science in favor of politics: on stem-cell research, evolution, and of course, climate change. As the global-warming battle heats up, so has their often-nonsensical rhetoric.
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN  |  May 06, 2009
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Arlen the Family

Will Specter the Defector trigger a Democratic domination, or is his jump the sign of a growing moderate revolution?
So, Arlen Specter is now a Democrat. That's old news.
By STEVEN STARK  |  May 11, 2009

Labor Pains

Action Speaks!
With an economy in free fall, and popular anger mounting over bailout-mania, one might expect the labor movement to be front and center. But the streets are relatively quiet. And the nation seems as ambivalent as ever about unionism. There is, in short, plenty of fodder for discussion.  
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG  |  May 06, 2009
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Generation Green

Once derided as tree huggers, eco-friendly youth are now the nation's most powerful (and feared) voting bloc. So why isn't the GOP listening?
Republicans have a lot to say about the immorality of saddling the next generation with our national debt. But when it comes to leaving them a wrecked, depleted, and rapidly warming planet, they are taking the exact opposite line.
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN  |  May 11, 2009
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Hemp — the law, the musical

Dept. of Really Strange Bedfellows
When liberal congressmen like Barney Frank begin co-sponsoring bills with libertarians like Ron Paul, there must be something funny in the air.
By CHRIS FARAONE  |  April 29, 2009
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Spare Change?

At the 100-day mark, Barack Obama still doesn't have a clear mandate for sweeping reforms
A tension lies at the heart of the Obama presidency. After 100 days in office, the public still seems uncertain how to interpret the historic nature of the election last November.
By STEVEN STARK  |  April 28, 2009
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King Wilkie | King Wilkie Presents: The Wilkie Family Singers

Dead Oceans (2009)
Today, "risk" is less popular than George W. Bush, but this former Virginia band — now in NYC — are rolling the dice hard.
By TED DROZDOWSKI  |  April 28, 2009

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