In the absence of meaningful action from law makers, communities within the United States that are acutely vulnerable to climate change are turning to the courts for help.
Here is a NYT’s article which discusses how the Inupiat Eskimos of Kivalina, Alaska have brought a lawsuit against two dozen utility companies which they blame for accelerating [...]

Supreme Court allows corporate takeover of politics
It’s a shame this story is being buried by the Massachusetts special and also Haiti, both important, but Matt and I would argue that this decision should carry similar weight. It was a 5-4 ruling, and I’m sure you can guess who voted which way. EJ Dionne describes it [...]

It’s Reconciliation
Just as Bush used reconciliation to pass some of his crucial measures (i.e. tax cuts), Nancy Pelosi says that the same method will be used to pass health care, potentially avoiding a filibuster in the senate as only a simple majority is required. This may be the best option with Pelosi claiming she does [...]

Scott Brown is more liberal than Olympia Snowe, and now he’s pivotal, too.
So a professor at the University of Chicago, not a pundit mind you, has found that Scott Brown will now become the most liberal member of the Senate. That means Olympia Snowe will lose all her power, and I’m not sure if that’s [...]

Fools on the Hill
An irate Paul Krugman yells at members of the House to just do it – pass the Senate bill as it stands that is. Once people see it in action, they will not want to lose it. Krugman calls the Democrats wimps and tells them to grow some metaphorical balls to show [...]

You can take a great deal of meaning out of the result of yesterday’s Massachusetts special election in many different ways. For someone of my leanings, most of it is pretty grim. One thing would be false to infer, however, is that it was a failed referendum on health care reform. In the grand scheme of things, I really don’t see this election as a “game-changer” so to say. True reform of the system to cut costs is something that cannot be achieved through legislation alone, and remains unaffected by Scott Brown’s victory.

It doesn’t take a genius to realize that Haiti will need more than a little push from the outside world if they ever are to sustainably climb out of poverty. But out past efforts at providing aid for development have failed. Thus, I hope that we take the opportunity that this tragedy has provided to rethink our approach to tackling global poverty. It’s high time for some new ideas.

James Ridgeway explains how Bush-Cheney policy “screwed” Haiti. To be concise, while the Bush administration was so focused on “democracy building” in Iraq and Afghanistan it virtually ignored “democracy building” right under our nose in Haiti.
http://motherjones.com/mojo/2010/01/us-policy-helped-keep-haiti-chaos

For all the criticism Obama has been getting lately, evidence suggests his stimulus package has saved nearly 2 million jobs and spurred a substantial part of the economic growth we’ve experienced during the last 2 quarters.

This week the media will, like usual, focus on individual personalities in Washington D.C. and elsewhere in politics. They will try to tell you whose up and whose down — without focuses on the substance of real issues and global problems.
In the wake of the devastating earthquake that hit Haiti yesterday, however, I am preparing [...]