Politics

It sometimes strains the mind to adapt to the “new normal” that constitutes our contemporary legal framework since the advent of the so-called war on terror. In just 10 years, terms like “indefinite detention” and “torture” no longer describe crimes per se — at least not to many former and some current government lawyers, sitting…

Signing into law the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act (pdf) will naturally not go down in history for President Barack Obama the way the latest tax compromise has. It’s not that hot kind of news — although it will likely have more effect on children’s daily lives than modest tax cuts. This new bill requires food…

By the time U.S. policymakers in Haiti are finished playing with Haiti, they will have hung President René Préval out to dry; ignored an election process that was not inclusive, not fair and not free, even before one ballot was cast; and ignored the fact that most of the candidates asked for the (s)election to…

The Associated Press is reporting that a federal judge declared the foundation of President Barack Obama’s health care law unconstitutional Monday, ruling that the government cannot require Americans to purchase insurance. The case is expected to end up at the Supreme Court. In his order, U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson said that he will…

Today President Obama signed into law the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010. The president and first lady Michelle Obama delivered remarks at Harriet Tubman Elementary School located in Washington, D.C. President and Mrs. Obama were joined by administration officials and members of Congress, as well as teachers, students and parents from Harriet Tubman Elementary…

At 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, before a crowd of about 150 lawmakers from both parties, African-American activists and Native American leaders, President Barack Obama brought to a close decades of government-sponsored racial injustice — or at least two chapters in a lengthy book. Standing in the White House’s South Court auditorium, the president signed into…

If you need proof that President Barack Obama got what he absolutely had to out of the tax-cut deal he made with congressional Republicans, listen to the sound of silence coming out of Sarah Palin’s Twitter feed. That she and Republicans couldn’t find anything to immediately blast Obama for explains why he took the ass…

When you have lived long enough, you realize your mama’s wisdom: that you truly have only one life to live. The question then is, how will you live your life? I ask myself some version of this question out loud at the start of every year. I find myself asking it early this go-round, urged…

The Washington Post is reporting that Democrats are hopping mad with President Obama over the temporary extension of Bush-era tax credits to the wealthy. President Obama defended the deal his administration has struck with Republicans, including extending tax cuts for all income levels, saying the concessions are necessary to avoid a tax increase for nearly…

Nowadays it’s popular to apply the “bad poker player” analogy to President Barack Obama and Democrats when it comes to their failure to match wits with Republicans on expiring tax cuts. The New York Times’ David Leonhardt has a “Kenny Rogers Theory“: Democrats can’t figure out when it’s time to hold ’em or fold ’em.…