WASHINGTON – Any time the Obama administration touches issues related to the Roman Catholic Church, it seems to get itself caught in a rhetorical and moral crossfire that leaves all involved wounded and angry. This is what’s happening in the battle over how contraception should be covered under the new health care law. Partly because it mishandled the issue at the outset, the Obama team seems...

DC as ATM: Newt, the Ultimate Beltway Swindler by Michael Winship You maybe should think twice when even Jack Abramoff thinks you’re beneath contempt. Not that Newt Gingrich cares. Abramoff, America’s favorite convicted influence peddler, told NBC’s David Gregory that presidential candidate and former Speaker of the House Gingrich is one of those “people who came to Washington, who had public service,...

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The euro currency crisis is sliding from bad to worse. The gloom is likely to deepen on Wednesday when Europe’s executive body has its say on the feasibility of issuing special bonds to refinance government debt. European failure to restore confidence in its economic soundness and solvability will have unpredictable negative consequences for the US and other major countries because all have significant trade...

In his first TV ad of the 2012 presidential campaign, Mitt Romney inserts a voice clip of Obama mocking his 2008 presidential campaign opponent, John McCain, for not wanting to talk about the economy. What Obama said during an Oct. 16, 2008 speech at a Londonderry, N.H., campaign stop, was this: “Senator McCain’s campaign actually said, and I quote, ‘If we keep talking about the economy, we’re...

President Barack Obama, reacting to the spectacular political belly-flop by the Supercommittee (which proved to be anything but) has announced that he will veto an attempt to remove the automatic domestic and defense spending cuts that will kick in now that Congress has failed to deliver with the Supercommittee. Here’s his full statement so you can analyze it for yourself: Visit msnbc.com for breaking...

WASHINGTON — No, the sun didn’t rise in the west this morning. No, Republicans on the congressional supercommittee didn’t offer meaningful concessions on raising new tax revenue. And no, “both sides” are not equally responsible for the failure to compromise. As usual, the two parties began with vastly different ideas of what it means to negotiate. Democrats envisioned meeting...

The failure of the deficit reduction supercommittee — so fundamental that the panel could not even agree on what should be in play let alone why it failed — was foretold. It was a bi-partisan failure in every sense, although much of the blame goes to Republicans, five of six whom would not consider tax hikes for the wealthiest Americans and instead demanded tax cuts for them. In the end, the Democratic...

British and German heads of state met this week to bridge the gap between them and “tried to paper over divergent views on European policy that have sparked a war of words between politicians and media in both countries.” For someone who lived through World War II, the picture of David Cameron entreating Angela Merkel conjures up Neville Chamberlain trying to appease Hitler—-and failing to stop the slaughter...

The juxtaposition on The New York Times homepage of a shocking story that the Census Bureau has found that 51 million Americans have incomes less than 50 percent above the poverty line and the latest frothings from Little Ricky Santorum was in all likelihood unintentional, but made a big point. Two, in fact. Point One is that the number of new near poor in the U.S. as the lingering effects of the Bush...

It was one hundred years ago that the United States Supreme Court ruled that Standard Oil company was too big and had to be broken up into smaller elements. The decision was based on the idea that Standard Oil controlled too much of the market and that it was not healthy for them to have such a monoply, especially in such a critical industry. Almost thirty years ago a settlement of a similar legal proceeding...

Kap, La Vanguardia, SpainFaced with a recession that has largely undone decades of Franco-era and post-Franco era prosperity, angry Spaniards booted out the Socialists and gave conservatives one of the biggest election victories in Spain in 30 years – raising expectations and bringing a warning from the man who’ll be sworn in as Prime Minister next month that miracles won’t occur overnight. Popular...

BOSTON — Everyone on the left side of American politics, from the near end to the far end, has advice for Occupy Wall Street. I’m no exception. But it’s useful to acknowledge first that this movement has accomplished things that the more established left didn’t. The problems of growing economic inequality and abuses by the masters of the financial world have been in the background...

Some of us who were drawn and captivated by Obama’s soaring rhetoric and by his “incandescent” charisma during the 2008 presidential elections may feel somewhat disappointed by what we have seen in the past three years. The gentleman in this 6-minute video, Jake Lamar, tells us quietly, plainly and succinctly why he is not disappointed in President Obama and why he believes that Obama will be more like...

In the past week President Obama has taken several opportunities to stand up to the Chinese and reassert American dominance. This BBC article describes the past weeks events in three Acts. In Act One the US moved swiftly to advance the Transpacific Partnership, which would create a free trade area among major countries in the Pacific Rim, but for now would exclude China. While China was told the door was...

Bob Englehart, The Hartford Courant During a town hall meeting in Ottumwa, Iowa Friday afternoon, Rick Santorum argued that Americans receive too many government benefits and ought to “suffer” in the Christian tradition. If “you’re lower income, you can qualify for Medicaid, you can qualify for food stamps, you can qualify for housing assistance,” Santorum complained, before adding, “suffering...

The blame in Spain falls mainly on the Socialists.. And now a tangible consequence Europe’s ailing economy: as Spaniards head to the polls today the country’s conservatives are expected to win big amid the country that was long pointed to as the epitome of economic health is reeling amid high unemployment and other ills: Bowed by a 21.5-per cent jobless rate, economic stagnation and deep spending...

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Would any of us disagree? Photo from the WSJ’s Kelly Evans… The cringe-worthy promo was given out to reporters attending last night’s 69th Annual Financial Follies Dinner and Entertainment event put on by The New York Financial Writers Association. Via.

As powers-that-be sweep away the Occupy movement, where does the animating spirit go now? With apologies to generations who have lodged “99 percent” into the American vocabulary, this will come as unwanted advice for those whose have made visible hidden rage against a financial system that brought the economy to its knees and still keeps profiting while the rest of us suffer. Even so, as a retiree, I can...

NEW YORK — Occupy Wall Street may not occupy Zuccotti Park anymore, but it refuses to surrender its place in the national discourse. Up close, you get the sense that the movement may have only just begun. Demonstrators staged a “day of action” Thursday, following the eviction of their two-month-old encampment earlier this week. The idea was, well, to occupy Wall Street in a literal sense...

Two dozen millionaires from Patriotic Millionaires for Fiscal Strength lobbied congress and gave them this message – raise our taxes. Fink tells it like it is: Kate Bolduan: One argument that many Republicans make is that taxing the job creators will hurt job creation. Charlie Fink: I think that’s a lie.  Every consideration regarding an employee had to do with demand for our product. ...

Two Southwestern stars of the GOP, the Governor of Texas and the Senator from Oklahoma, are riding off in opposite ideological directions. Rick Perry, who keeps falling off his horse in the Republican debates, has now mounted a bucking bull by proposing a radical and, in some respects, clearly unconstitutional tearing down of the federal government, which includes making Congress work part-time with half pay...

Get Real: Dealing With Illegal Immigration by Robert A. Levine The influx of undocumented aliens into the United States has recently slowed, mainly the result of two factors. 1) Economic conditions here have reduced job opportunities in construction and other industries that employ large numbers of immigrants. 2) Enhanced monitoring of the nation’s southern border and other entrance portals has increased...

WASHINGTON — Here is a surefire way to cut $7.1 trillion from the deficit over the next decade. Do nothing. That’s right. If Congress simply fails to act between now and Jan. 1, 2013, the tax cuts passed under President George W. Bush expire, $1.2 trillion in additional budget cuts go through under the terms of last summer’s debt ceiling deal, and a variety of other tax cuts also...