Articles > April 2010
April 2010
Health Reform: A Small Step Forward
So we didn’t win the Public Option.
Chileans Seek Change: Interview with the Pres. of the Communist Party of Chile, Guillermo Teillier
Editor's note: On December 13, Chile held elections, with four candidates for President: billionaire center-right candidate Sebastian Pinera, (44 percent), Eduardo Frei (30 percent), from the center-left Concertacion, which has governed in Chile since the end of Pinochet’s dictatorship, Marco Enriquez Ominami, (19 percent), an independent who has attracted a large vote due to his criticism from the left of the failures of the Concertacion, and Jorge Arrate (six percent), the candidate of “Juntos Podemos,” a coalition that included the Communist Party.Since no candidate received more than 50 percent of the vote, there will be a runoff election on January 17.As notable was the historic election of three Communists to the Congress, for the first time since 1973.
Obama Scores Points for Transparency
The Obama administration has scored high marks for curbing lobbyist influence and transparency, says a new report by a group of government watch dogs.According to the report jointly authored by Common Cause, Democracy 21, the League of Women Voters and US PIRG, "The cumulative effect of the administration's actions has been to adopt the strongest and most comprehensive lobbying, ethics and transparency rules and policies ever established by an administration to govern its own activities."The report covered seven areas, of which the administration earned "A's" or "B's" in six.First, the president changed the rules governing the ability of former administration officials to find jobs as lobbyists.
Trumka: Political Courage Needed to Handle Jobs Crisis
Remarks by Richard L. Trumka, President of the AFL-CIO, National Press Club, Washington, D.C.January 11, 2010Good morning and thank you, Donna (Lienwand). I am delighted to be here at the National Press Club. I want to thank the officers of the Press Club for the invitation to be with you today, especially President Lienwand and speakers’ committee member Bob Carden. Ten days into the new decade, and one year into the Obama Administration, our nation remains poised between the failed policies of the past and our hopes for a better future.
Obama Admin. Announces Investments in Green Manufacturing
As new government data show the economy shed an additional 85,000 jobs in December, President Obama this week announced funding for tax credits to promote new job growth in the clean energy manufacturing sector.Over 180 companies will receive about $2.3 billion in tax credits to directly create 17,000 jobs.
The Big Push: Final Passage of Health Reform
As Congress prepares its final push to pass health reform, a coalition of congressional progressives, the labor movement and health reform advocates are calling for some major tweaks to several key provisions in the finished product.
The Big Minus
…Kind ladies and kind gentlemen... Once I was very prosperous There was nothing I did lack I had fourteen carat gold, in my mouth, and silver on my back But I did not trust my brother I carried him to blame Which led me to my fatal doom To...
