Missing from Occupy Wall Street: Barack Obama
Flickr/_PaulS_ This story originally appeared at MotherJones.com. At Zuccotti Park, the shoebox-shaped spit of land in lower Manhattan that for three weeks Occupy Wall Street has called home, there are signs everywhere—strewn on the ground, taped to trees, thrusted skyward, hand-painted on the bulging belly of a pregnant mom. Their messages run the gamut: “We Are the 99%,” “Jesus Is With The 99%,” “Get Wall St. Off Welfare,” “Corporations... Read More
OBAMA vs. THE WASHINGTON INFLUENCE MACHINE
That’s the title of my new piece published at TomDispatch.com, a dive into the onslaught by lobbyists and their special interest clients to derail the Obama administration’s legislative agenda. The piece looks at the vast amount of money being spent on lobbying, the growing numbers of lobbyists working on K Street and Capitol Hill (six health-care lobbyists for every one member of Congress), and the close ties between lawmakers and these lobbyists (see: Max Baucus). The... Read More
Energy Secretary Steven Chu looks to get green stimulus spending rolling—and efficiently, too
Chris Good at The Atlantic has a good post about Energy Secretary Steven Chu’s plans to reform how the Dept. of Energy spends its money—especially the $38.7 billion alloted to the DoE in Obama’s stimulus package. Photo by Flickr user rebuildingdemocracy Much to Chu’s credit—who, so far, has only impressed as Energy Sec.—he wants to streamline how the stimulus money is spent so as to put that nearly $40 billion into action as soon as possible. As The Atlantic‘s... Read More
