An estimated 700,000 Americans died in the Civil War, one of the bloodiest times in our nation’s history. It’s hard to imagine anything quite measuring up in this day and age — but Jesse Jackson can. On Thursday’s “Martin Bashir” on MSNBC, Jackson, the founder and president of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, said the budget battle on the Republican side represents an effort to make the... 

America’s gaping budget deficit could lead to a crisis that would “dwarf” the meltdown of 2008 — and to get the country out of its fiscal mess, the government must slash spending substantially, according to 10 former members of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers. The economic experts — former chairmen and chairwomen of the council serving both Republican and Democratic administrations... 

Living in a home with four kids and two dogs, one child’s “clean” can mean “unacceptable” to an adult — think barely visible shower scum or machine-washed plates without phosphates. And necessary energy levels and types mean different things to different people: A back-to-nature maiden who practices what she preaches needs much less than a multitasker who watches... 

Unable to repeal President Barack Obama’s health care law, Republicans are trying to oust the official who is quarterbacking the overhaul of the nation’s medical system. In a letter released Thursday, 42 Republican senators asked the president to withdraw the nomination of Dr. Donald Berwick as Medicare administrator, saying his experience isn’t broad enough and past statements... 

via Senator Rand Paul’s website WASHINGTON, D.C. –Senator Rand Paul (Ky.) released the following Dear Colleague letter to his fellow Senators this morning regarding the renewal of the USA PATRIOT Act. Dear Colleague: James Otis argued against general warrants and writs of assistance that were issued by British soldiers without judicial review and that did not name the subject or items... 

Barack Obama did it. With Congress in recess, the United States president confirmed the appointment of several ambassadors, including the ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford, whose approval had been held up by the Senate. The decision is not only bound to anger Republicans, who now hold a majority in the House of Representatives, it also happens to be remarkably foolish. Let’s go back to one of the... 

From HOTAIR: When voters sent 63 Democrats in the House and six more in the Senate packing in the midterms, the message seemed fairly clear.  Voters had become disgusted with the progressive agenda forced through Congress by Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, spending most of the year taking over the American health-care system while the economy stagnated and unemployment rose to post-WWII records. ... 

(In the first half of this essay, Gerrymandering 101, I explained how gerrymandering works and why it’s so ubiquitous. Here in the exciting conclusion I name and shame the ten most gerrymandered districts of the current 111th Congress — plus 20 bizarre bonus districts not mentioned in the title.) (10.) North Carolina-12 This is what most people imagine when they think of a gerrymandered district... 

The Tea Party movement is not a party and in theory it does not have a candidate. Yet it has had more impact than the official Republican Party From the UK Daily Mail… Populism is an important part of the American political tradition, in a way it has not been in England since the mid-19th Century, with the Chartist demand for a more democratic constitution. The Tea Party movement, which has... 

While Republicans and Democrats fight for control of Congress, a behind-the-scenes budget fight is brewing over an omnibus appropriations bill that lawmakers may need to consider quickly upon their return after the midterm election. Lobbyists and congressional aides say Democratic appropriators are mulling a 12-bill omnibus to fund the government in 2011 after the current stopgap measure expires...