httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aquaNj9J0l0&feature=player_embedded
Politics/Economy
Campaign to Save Ivor van Heerden’s Post at LSU
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6Bd6vgtjBQ Click this video to see testimonies to the critical work of Ivor van Heerden by such experts and friends as John Barry, Dr. Marc Levitan, Harry Shearer, Sandy Rosenthal, Mtangulizi Sanyika, Jed Horne, and Dr. Oliver Houck....
Obama Sends Wall Streeters to “Reform School”
[ Ed. note: The following account of President Obama’s remarks on Wall Street reform yesterday are not, strictly speaking, part of Levees Not War’s usual portfolio (we do have many interests!), but then again it’s not every day that we get to personally attend a...
“Something Called ‘Volcano Monitoring’ ”
[cross-posted at Daily Kos] “[The Democrats’ stimulus] legislation is larded with wasteful spending. It includes . . . $140 million for something called ‘volcano monitoring.’ Instead of monitoring volcanoes, what Congress should be monitoring is the eruption of...
Tax Day: How Much Have You Paid for the War?
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTPKxjgw5N4&feature=player_embedded Most likely you’ve paid $7,334 of the $1.05 trillion that has gone to the Afghan and Iraq wars since 2001. Here is Tom Englehardt’s compelling introduction at TomDispatch.com to a piece (below the...
“Kill the Bill” vs. “Stop the War”: A Tale of Two Protests
[cross-posted at Daily Kos] Has anyone besides us found it kind of odd that there’s been so much “fire and brimstone” about the health care reform bill compared to Bush’s Iraq War? The first thing we’ll say about the violence and threats following Congress’s passage...
Welcoming Committee Second-Lines for Louisiana’s State Hospital & Public Education System
While the GOP convenes in New Orleans with nary a mention of Katrina (who? that Nation editor?), here’s an event we’re sorry we missed, but we’re “retro-promoting” it a day late, for the message remains true: From the Southern Republican Leadership Conference...
Infrastructure, Baby, Infrastructure!
A Defense of Stimulus Investments
Joe Conason, a stalwart defender of infrastructure, has written a strong column defending the stimulus money dedicated to repairing America’s aging roads, levees, bridges, transit systems, schools, and other essential components of our nation’s physical...
U.S. Employment Grows by Highest Rate in Three Years
Bloomberg reports recovery from worst recession since 1930s is “broadening and becoming more entrenched” Some good news on the employment front: The U.S. Labor Department reported Friday that while the unemployment rate held at 9.7 percent, the national economy added...
Senator Vitter “Friends” Levees Not War,
Files to Repeal Health Care Reform Law
Just when we were trying to get our attention back on flood-protection infrastructure and coastal restoration . . . We try to get along nice with everyone, but still we were surprised to receive a “Dear Friend” e-mail from Louisiana’s Republican senator David Vitter...
John Boehner: “Hell No You Can’t!”
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0oWzRnnLTg
Health Reform: Feeling Better Already
“. . . what we face is above all a moral issue; that at stake are not just the details of policy, but fundamental principles of social justice and the character of our country.” —Senator Edward M. Kennedy to President Obama “We will go through the gate. If the gate is...
Back on the Blog
Did you miss us? We apologize for a longer-than-usual absence, but there was a family medical emergency involving coronary intensive care that showed us all too dramatically (as though we didn’t already appreciate it) the life-or-death urgency of access to good health...
Health Care Summit Shows Sharp Contrast in Political Philosophies
We’ll soon have more to say about Thursday’s health care reform summit, but first wanted to share some good observations written by Ezra Klein of the Washington Post (a sharp, gifted young blogger-reporter who knows policy like a wonk but explains it in plain...
Health Reform Chronicles: Reconciliation Is “Nuclear Option” When Democrats Do It
Scare Tactics Unlimited: From “Death Panels” to “Nuclear Option” On the eve of the health care reform summit convened today by President Obama, Republican senators, echoed by their chorus of Beck, Limbaugh, Drudge, et al., are smearing as a “nuclear option” the Senate...
Mr. President, Press Senate for Public Option Through Reconciliation
An open letter to President Obama on the eve of the bipartisan health care reform summit: February 24, 2010 Dear President Obama: I am writing to you as an Organizing for America volunteer to thank you for calling Thursday’s health reform summit, getting the ball...
“Dr. No” Hearts Senate Gridlock
“I love gridlock. I think we’re better off when we’re gridlocked because we’re not passing things.” —Sen. Tom Coburn, M.D. (R-OK) Commenting on this remark by the good doctor in a town hall meeting over the weekend, Chris Hayes, Washington editor of The Nation, said...
Department of Corrections:
About That John Edwards Endorsement
Mardi Gras has come and gone, and Ash Wednesday too, and now it is Lent: “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” Speaking of dust and repentance . . . Two years ago we endorsed John Edwards for president. That was before we realized how far...
Tickets to Ride: Obama, Biden on Track with High-Speed Rail Projects
As train-lovin’ infrastructure freaks, we applaud Friday’s announcement by President Obama and Vice President “Amtrak Joe” Biden that the administration will dedicate $8 billion of stimulus funding for high-speed rail projects in 13 major rail corridors in 31 states...
“We don’t quit. I don’t quit.”
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1PWQtCDaYY&feature=featured “To Democrats, I would remind you that we still have the largest majority in decades, and the people expect us to solve problems, not run for the hills.” —President Obama, Jan. 27, 2010 That was our...