Attack of the Global Pirate Bankers
James S. Henry : Banks & Banking
For decades, the world's largest banks have been helping wealthy Americans steal billions in unpaid taxes. What are we going to do about it?


James S. Henry : Banks & Banking
For decades, the world's largest banks have been helping wealthy Americans steal billions in unpaid taxes. What are we going to do about it?
John Nichols : Progressives, Liberals, & The American Left
Minnesota Senate candidate Al Franken has won wide support among voters--and conservatives are getting scared.
When Max Baucus, chair of the Senate Finance Committee, is every lobbyist's best friend, is economic reform possible?
Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel is more forthright about what's wrong in Iraq than any Democratic candidate so far.
When senators leave office, voters should choose their replacements.
Jeffrey Chester : Internet & New Media
If Senator Ted Stevens defies mounting public opposition and succeeds in killing net neutrality, expect the free flow of online content to be replaced by lowbrow corporate infotainment.
John Tester's populist politics and country style make him the perfect
candidate to unseat Senator Conrad Burns. Next step is for the progressive
Montana farmer to win the June 6 primary.
Robert Casey Jr.'s endorsement of Samuel Alito could cost him the support of Pennsylvania Democrats and illustrates the perils of early intervention by DC Democrats in Senate races.
The House Ethics Committee has been defunct for a year: If now is not
the time for both parties to get serious on Congressional ethics, when
will it be?
If the Alito confirmation hearings were a test of Democratic strategy, the Alito vote to come is a test of moderate Republican integrity and mettle.
Samuel Alito and his handlers have crafted a disingenuous campaign that reeks of ethical compromise, bending Senate rules, bending the truth and compromising the confirmation process.
Cleaning up Congress after the Abramoff scandal involves far more than limits on gifts and perks. It requires barring the 'legalized bribery' of major campaign contributions.
Samuel Alito's blunt testimony on international law revealed the extremity of his judicial philosophy and carried profound implications for rulings he might make.
Emily Biuso : Democratic Party
Evidence is mounting that Connecticut Democrats are dismayed by Senator Joseph Lieberman's support of President Bush and the Iraq War, giving impetus to assertions that voters are ready to dump him.
A significant credibility gap opened between Samuel Alito's radical judicial record and his self-portrayal as an open-minded jurist before the Senate Judiciary Committee on his second day of testimony. Senators have reason to scrutinize a recent peer evaluation of Alito's rulings by Yale Law School, which locates him somewhere to the ideological right of Antonin Scalia.
On his first day of testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Samuel Alito was purely political, focusing on his blue-collar roots and the accomplishments of his immigrant family. But Democratic Senators focused on his judicial record on abortion, voting rights and conflicts of interest.
There ought to be a law about bribery in America, but there isn't--not a real one. Bribery is so central to our political culture that it's virtually impossible that any politician ensnared in the Abramoff scandal will actually be convicted of the corruption that makes Washington work.
House Republicans rammed through a budget bill in December that cuts $40 billion from domestic programs. Is there anyone of conscience in the Senate to defeat this?
Calvin Trillin : George W. Bush
Chastised by Russ Feingold for extrajudicial spying, the President who would be king invokes the divine right of kings.
Eugene McCarthy was a pure original, a great and good man, whose fundamental historical achievement was to be the standard-bearer for a moral and philosophical campaign against the Vietnam War.
Undoing the savage inequalities of the Bush era will require a titanic fight, but the new-found courage of GOP moderates hints that significant changes are in the wind.
Most Americans want immediate action to pull out of Iraq, but Senate Republicans passed a measure today that essentially lets the White House off the hook.
Jeremy Brecher & Brendan Smith : War on Terrorism
The Senate last week approved a measure that would allow government officials to essentially bypass the courts and lock up people suspected of terrorism without trial. Will cooler heads prevail?
Top oil execs were asked numerous questions at a Senate hearing on spectacular profits earned in the wake of tropical storms. But they had no real answers about how to ease the burden on ordinary Americans.
As the Senate opens hearings this week calling energy execs to account for their windfall profits on gasoline and natural gas, the question must be asked: Is this price-gouging or just good old-fashioned capitalism?
The nomination of Judge Samuel Alito to the US Supreme Court forces the debate the President and the Senate have tried so mightily to avoid: whether the Court should shift decisively and radically to the right.
War crimes are the darkest expression of the moral degradation that permeates the White House. Bush's threat to veto the Senate's anti-torture measure frames a crisis of law and legitimacy.
David Sirota : Republican Party
Three senators caved and supported the
nomination of John G. Roberts Jr. as Supreme Court Chief Justice. But
one lawmaker, banking on the public's cynicism of the oil industry,
wants to tax its windfall profits.
Max Blumenthal : Conservatives & The American Right
He's a far-right baby doctor. His own chief of staff says he's clueless about the law. Meet Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn, who'll help shape the US Supreme Court.
Alexander Cockburn : Democratic Party
The Senate should abandon its comical pretensions to being a body reflecting any democratic mandate.
: Presidential Appointments & Nominations
Democrats must continue the fight to preserve an independent judiciary.
Judd Legum & Christy Harvey : The Courts
Debunking GOP myths about the filibuster.
John Nichols : Progressives, Liberals, & The American Left
Her votes thrilled supporters and put some backbone into Senate Democrats.
John Nichols : Democratic Party
He can help mount an effective opposition.
John Nichols : Democratic Party
The Democratic Party is poised to regain the majority.
The sprawling intelligence-gathering apparatus that existed pre-9/11 likely will survive unscathed.
It's often hard to discern the difference between Texas Tough and Texas Stupid.


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