Several sources are reporting that Rep. Gabrielle Giffords will attend her husband’s Endeavour space shuttle launch at Cape Canaveral on Friday—a launch that President Obama and the first family are also expected to attend. This would be the first time that Giffords is allowed to travel since she was flown from Tucson to Houston more than three months ago to recover from her injuries sustained in Tucson. An...

This is not at all a new concept, but still it does not get talked about as much as it should, so I’m thrilled to see Paul Krugman, among others, picking it up:

More commentary from Paul Krugman on the current game of “Our budget proposal is thoughtful, generous, bipartisan, and statesmanlike; and your response to our budget proposal is rude, mean, nasty, uncivil, and poisonously partisan” that House Republicans and their supporters in the media are playing with Democrats at the moment:

The Washington Examiner‘s editorialist joins in on the chorus of complaining that began after Pres. Obama’s Tuesday fiscal speech at George Washington University and shows no signs of stopping. Up until now, the editorial whines (emphasis is mine):

Paul Krugman notices a shift in media spin regarding Paul Ryan’s Medicare and Medicaid-dismantling budget plan:

On that dreadful Saturday afternoon in January, I along with many others started blogging on the tragedy in Tucson and updated the story at first every few minutes, then every few hours. Then, after the political and finger-pointing comments abated, I started updating the story almost daily, via comments, focusing on the miraculous recovery of Representative Gabrielle Giffords. From the number of “views”...

They did it. House Republicans passed a budget plan that eliminates Medicare and Medicaid while giving the military a pass and handing huge tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans.

Benjy Sarlin at TPMDC explains why private companies might not be eager to insure Americans who are currently covered by Medicare under a voucher program such as the one Paul Ryan is proposing:

Another Left-Handed post.

Brian Beutler reports on an amazing political coup that House Democrats came within a hair’s breadth of pulling off:

There is a new poll out from Public Policy Polling that is bad news for Republicans:

It is indeed a great irony: Two days before the massive 9.0 earthquake struck Japan, one of FEMA’s senior officials during Hurricane Katrina was in Japan to warn of the danger of careless and uncoordinated disaster response planning. According to this article from Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun, his warnings seem to have fallen of deaf ears. For Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun, reporter Fumi Igarashi writes...

Frank Buckles, the last surviving U.S. veteran of World War I — of nearly 5 million Americans who served during that war — died last month at age 110. Buckles, who served in England and France, was a member of a steadily aging and shrinking group of heroes from our “early” major wars — where I am also including World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War — the Veterans...

Is it time for all sane people to conclude that the “war on drugs” is a failed, self-destructive enterprise? With Mexico descending into drug-fueled anarchy, columnist Jorge Carrillo Olea of Mexico’s La Jornada writes that it’s time for the Mexican people to rise up and reject U.S. involvement, President Calderon, and the notion that drugs can be eradicated by military force. With no...

Could it be that the escalating violence in Mexico is a sign of ‘success’ for that nation’s ongoing war on drugs? According to this incredulous editorial from Mexico’s La Jornada, the fact that U.S. officials have been making such a claim is yet more evidence that the U.S. is calling the shots in that war, and to admit how badly things are going would be to show the failure of its own...

It seems that Paul Ryan’s proposal to cut the deficit by privatizing Medicare and eliminating Medicaid doesn’t sit too well with his constituents. Obviously, Ryan isn’t overly concerned by that. And why should he be? He’s a monopoly in his district:

I’ll probably regret wading into this morass but since my other post subjects are still being developed, I’ll put my useless two cents into this bizarre debate that still obsesses far too many Americans. Where was Barak H. Obama born? These musings were prompted by finding a copy of my birth certificate indicating that I born in New York City at Colombia Presbyterian Hospital in the Borough of Manhattan....

Pres. Obama is speaking as I type. And CBS’s Chip Reid is now saying that the rider eliminating funding for Planned Parenthood is OUT of the bill. Thank God! EDITOR’s NOTE: My earlier post was mistakenly deleted. I am adding it here since it will provide some context. This is copied off of Google since it still appears on search engines. JOE GANDELMAN National Journal: White House Is Reviewing...

I do not insert myself in the community forum after I post articles on TMV for a variety of reasons. The last time I participated in the forum was in August 2009 when I got into a needlessly nasty tussle with former conservative TMV contributor Jazz Shaw over healthcare reform. Disgusted with myself I even stopped writing anything for TMV for several months as a result of it. I believe TMV readers have a...

Brian Beutler reports at TPMDC that Republicans have said privately that they will drop the rider defunding Planned Parenthood in exchange for more spending cuts. But as Pat Garofalo of Think Progress points out (and shows, graphically), the Democrats have gone more than halfway to meet Republicans’ spending cut demands:

The current budget impasse threatening a government shutdown appears to revolve around highly controversial federal funding for Planned Parenthood and its ancillary provision of legal abortions. Republicans want to eliminate all Federal Funds of around $360 million per year and Democrats are fighting to keep the funding. I support the Republican position in this fight. This position might surprise some TMV...

So, just how much does electing women – no matter their policy positions but rather just because of their gender – really help women? Turns out, not so much. In the Senate: The three veteran Republican women, Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins (both Maine) do not want to defund Planned Parenthood. They know what’s really going on. Veteran and retiring Kay Bailey Hutchison...

Recent days have seen numerous analyses of the budget and tax plan put forth by Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan. Until now I’ve largely stayed out the discussion, viewing most opinions as primarily partisan in their approach. No more. After a bit of independent research into the impact this plan will have on issues that matter to me, and should matter to all Americans, I’ve come to my conclusion. The...

You know when things are really bad when Tom Coburn is the voice of restraint, moderation, and common sense:

Jacob Weisberg calls Rep. Paul Ryan’s proposed budget plan “brave, radical, and smart.”