While Nancy Pelosi can probably pass whatever she wants in the House—she’s already written the Blue Dogs off as losers in November—the real tax action this fall will be in the Senate. That’s where Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is working to gather enough votes to block a tax increase on capital gains, dividends and anyone making more than $200,000 a year. (more)
The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), one of the nation’s largest trade associations, launched a multi-state campaign Wednesday to oppose increasing energy taxes. (more)
WASHINGTON — Tony Podesta is one of the best-connected rainmakers in the nation’s capital, with a web of personal contacts stretching back 42 years and six Democratic presidential candidates. His brother John was Bill Clinton’s White House chief of staff and an adviser on President Barack Obama’s transition team. (more)
Watch out, Wall Street. Back off, Big Oil. You’re getting muscled off the top of “Government’s Most Wanted” list by a pair of tycoons on opposite ends of the country, and they’re doing it all before bedtime. (more)
Faced with a crisis more than a decade ago in which thousands of people were sickened from salmonella in infected eggs, farmers in Britain began vaccinating their hens against the bacteria. That simple but decisive step virtually wiped out the health threat. (more)
President Obama wishes everyone would stop talking about the oil spill. His federal government’s response has been incompetent at best, malevolent at worst. Yet, lacking any evidence of a credible response, Obama still sent Carol Browner to the Gulf on a victory lap last week after oil stopped appearing on beaches and the water’s surface. But while the Obama administration is doing victory laps, more news of their botched efforts are coming to light. (more)
My favorite part of the uproar over First Lady Michelle Obama’s “private vacation” to Spain is what I heard on MSNBC Saturday morning, August 7th. (more)
Sacrifice is something that many Americans are becoming all too familiar with during this economic downturn. It was a key theme in President Obama’s inaugural address to the nation, and he’s referenced it numerous times when lecturing the country on how to get back on its feet. (more)
Using the classic Washington fib that “It’s paid for,” Congress is spending an extra $26-billion to bail out state governments (who already got the lions’ share of last year’s failed $787-billion “stimulus” bill). (more)
A $26 billion measure to help states and local school boards with their severe budget problems faces a make-or-break vote Wednesday as Senate Democrats try one last time to advance their faltering jobs agenda. (more)
Judge Susan Bolton ruled on the federal government’s motion to enjoin enforcement of the Arizona immigration law, commonly known as S.B. 1070. She split the baby — most of the law will still go into effect, but its most controversial provisions will be enjoined. She concluded that these controversial provisions are likely to be preempted by federal law. (more)
Washington (CNN) — President Barack Obama on Monday criticized Republican opposition to a Senate campaign finance bill, calling it partisan gamesmanship that threatens to give special interests undue influence on U.S. elections. (more)
Journolist update: Liberals wished death on FOX News, Rush Limbaugh — Targets of Journolist respond with disproportionate maturity — Democrats will add billions to the deficit today — Maine solves the public pension problem (not really) — Umpteenth bad poll comes out showing Washington is getting a helluva makeover in November — The USDA’s disastrous image problem (more)
Despite a near uprising within the conservative blogosphere, it turns out Bo, the White House dog, didn’t get his own plane for the family vacation.
President Obama’s trip to Bar Harbor, Maine did cost the small airport where the president landed hundreds of thousands of dollars in estimated lost revenue over the weekend, Hancock County Bar Harbor Airport Manager Allison Navia told The Daily Caller. She added, however, that it was typical of a presidential visit and they hoped to make up the lost funds with the publicity. (more)
Does anyone think there might be something suspicious behind the timing of President Obama’s quick family vacation to Maine this past weekend? (more)
If Apple chief executive Steve Jobs and President Obama have anything in common, it’s that neither one of the formerly all-but-infallible media darlings seems to have much control of his message anymore. (more)
Heritage Action for America, the Heritage Foundation’s grassroots advocacy spin-off, is urging congressional leaders to sign on to Iowa Rep. Steve King’s discharge petition, aimed at repealing Obamacare. (more)
President Obama promised on May 14 that he would let nothing distract him from finding a solution to the devastating Gulf Coast oil spill, which has now continued for over eighty days and caused incalculable economic damage to the region.
“I’m not going to rest or be satisfied until the leak is stopped at the source, the oil in the Gulf is contained and cleaned up, and the people in the Gulf are able to go back to their lives and their livelihoods,” he said.
President Obama has since golfed on numerous occasions, hosted a Beatles legend at the White House, and met with U2 star Bono — even as his administration criticized BP’s CEO for spending a single day yachting during the crisis.
Reports WCVB in Boston:
(more)The first family’s summer vacation plans will include a trip to Maine.
The White House says the Obamas will travel next Friday to Mount Desert Island, which is home to Acadia National Park. There will be no public events for the president during the three-day trip.
The Obamas also spent time in national parks last summer, visiting Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon.
Last year the Obamas vacationed on Martha’s Vineyard.
