Tag: Congress

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Yes, Why Do We Keep Choosing Ineffective Urban Interventions?

From the article…

Last week, the NAACP released a report with a blunt, but sadly accurate, title — Misplaced Priorities. I could not help but think about this title in terms of the House of Representatives’ proposed zeroing out of YouthBuild.YouthBuild has been rigorously evaluated and justifiably acclaimed for its success in turning around the lives of troubled youths, many court-involved, most of color, living in urban centers across the country.

…

All for $16,000 per youth — what we might call a bargain. Even before any cuts, almost 20,000 youths are turned away from YouthBuild each year because of lack of funding. If the House gets its way, YouthBuild programs across the country will be decimated. The result: more crime, more poverty, more joblessness, more substance abuse, more fractured families, less state revenue, more despair. Misplaced Priorities hardly captures the astonishing myopia of the House’s proposal. As Woody Guthrie once sang, “Some rob you with a sixgun, some with a fountain pen.”

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Health Care Plan Comparison

The Wall Street Journal did a nice job summarizing the various health care plans floating around in Congress.  Here’s the summary.

Note the completely useless options offered by House Republicans on most of the major issues.  They do nothing to reduce either healthcare inflation or the rising numbers of uninsured who lack access to high quality, affordable medical care.

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Wall Street Wins Again?

Coming off the news of the latest Wall Street ripoff scam, federal regulation to reign in Wall Street is foundering in Congress.  Hopefully the regulators, Administration, and Congress can get their act together to put through meaningful reform so banks don’t create multi-trillion dollar holes they need to be bailed out of again, all while making sure the individuals become filthy rich.

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This is Judicial Activism?

Wow, my head hurts.  How exactly is the following the work of an “activist” judge?  Recent Supreme Court decisions by those “beacons” of restraint, Chief Justice Roberts and his “conservative” court, are far more activist than this.

“The duty of the judge is to follow the law,” Judge Sotomayor wrote, “not to question its plain terms. I do not believe that Congress wishes us to disregard the plain language of any statute or to invent exceptions to the statutes it has created.”

“I trust that Congress would prefer to make any needed changes itself,” she added, “rather than have courts do so for it.”