A longtime Washington journalist Helen Thomas announced on Monday she is going to retire. The 89-year-old press lady was the dean of the White House press corps. Helen Thomas is well known for her outspoken nature, for her direct questions and objective articles. Thomas’s retirement comes after a recent video showing the White House dean [...]
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar will suspend – at least for the time being – all exploratory oil drilling in the Arctic for this year, being afraid of a disaster comparable with the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, said an anonymous source inside The White House. This means that the Beaufort and Chukchi seas [...]
The Arizona House of Representatives, on Tuesday, approved a bill that would involve more local communities in the fight against illegal immigration, despite the arguments of his opponents that would not increase public safety. The bill would create a new figure of a misdemeanor in the state: Do not display or carry an identification document [...]
82.7 percent of Americans support a presidential veto of legislation containing unnecessary Congressional spending The Council for Retirement Security (CRS), a program of the nonpartisan, nonprofit grassroots citizens organization Our Generation, has released a survey that found that 82.7 percent of respondents support a presidential veto to prevent Congress from spending money from the Social [...]
Health and Development Groups Applaud Clinton Speech; Call for Action A broad coalition of organizations representing millions of Americans applauded statement by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that the United States unequivocally supports the worldwide consensus that achieving universal access to reproductive health is critical for individual health, family well-being, broader economic development and a [...]
President Obama and the EPA are gearing up to put the nation on a low-carbon diet and their strategy would do Weight Watchers proud: Count first, cut later. The counting begins on Jan. 1, 2010 when some 10,000 companies and other entities, including municipalities and even some universities, must start measuring their greenhouse gas (GHG) [...]
What was the biggest scandal of 2009? Blagojevich trying to sell a Senate seat? Senators, governors, and their mistresses? Allegations that lobbyists were lining up defense earmarks in exchange for straw donations? No, the biggest scandal of 2009 was that the entire pay-to-play system that dominates Washington and occupies Congress’ time and attention sidetracked bold [...]
AARP urges families to review phone bills over the holidays The holidays are a time of hustle and bustle – and now AARP is urging Illinoisans to add another critical item to their holiday to-do lists. As families come together for the holidays, AARP is urging people to review their phone bills, particularly bills of [...]
Investments Have Boosted Economy, Saved and Created Jobs Along with boosting the economy and preserving jobs, seven provisions of the federal economic recovery act are also keeping about 189,000 Pennsylvanians from falling into poverty this year, according to a new study from the Washington, DC-based Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. The American Recovery and [...]
but Are Skeptical Healthcare Will Improve in 2010 A majority of Americans support a “public option” in healthcare reform legislation, but most lack confidence that the cost, quality, value or accessibility of medical care will improve in the next year, according to a survey released today by Thomson Reuters. Sixty percent of survey respondents said [...]