The Washington Independent

Commentary

ACLU, AU to host ‘Faith, Family and Freedom’ rally to counter Perry’s ‘Response’

By | 07.27.11 | 4:40 pm

Billed as an “alternative” to Gov. Rick Perry’s prayer and fast event “The Response,” the ACLU of Texas and Americans United for Separation of Church and State announced today they will be hosting a gathering of their own the evening before Perry’s, to promote the diversity they say is missing More…

Jobless Numbers Show No Evidence of a Post-Racial America

By | 04.06.10 | 6:00 am

High unemployment among African-Americans, Latinos

In the giddy, post-electoral haze in 2008, many people hoped and believed that the election of President Obama would herald a new, “post-racial” America. But a look at some recent economic statistics tells a different story.

While overall employment in March stood at 9.7 percent, some 16.5 More…

Only 16 Executives Changed Companies After Pay Caps

By | 03.23.10 | 4:22 pm

After months of whining, a resignation letter delivered on the op-ed page of The New York Times and warnings of a massive corporate brain drain, only 16 executives have left bailed-out companies amid pay caps in the past two years. Pay Czar Kenneth Feinberg set pay More…

Romney’s ‘No Apology’ Outlines Foreign Policy for Fantasy World

By | 03.02.10 | 4:53 pm

Mitt Romney’s just-published book, “No Apology: The Case For American Greatness,” is a bid to bolster the former Massachusetts governor’s nonexistent national-security and foreign policy portfolio ahead of a possible 2012 presidential run. But a glance through the remarkable conflation of conservative shibboleths, paranoid global fantasies and deterministic myopia in More…

What’s Next for the CRA?

By | 01.18.10 | 6:00 am

foreclosure-new-house

An ambitious plan to update the Carter-era Community Reinvestment Act that supporters hope to see signed into law in 2010 comes amid charges that this legislation was responsible for nothing less than the subprime crisis and the resulting collapse of the residential real estate market.

The plan, sponsored by More…

A Taxing Challenge

By | 12.14.09 | 4:13 pm

A decade’s worth of cuts in federal aid combined with states moving to copy Bush administration tax cuts have led to states filling revenue shortfalls with regressive tax policies that disproportionately affect the poorest Americans. According to “Who Pays?” a report issued in November by the Institute on Taxation & More…

Can the Death Penalty for Terrorists Fuel Violence?

By | 11.25.09 | 8:25 am

When Attorney General Eric Holder announced earlier this month that the suspected plotters of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks would be tried in civilian court, he also promised to seek the death penalty for all of them. But the heated debate that followed over the supposed dangers of trying “the More…

Long-Term Job Losses Demand Large-Scale Fix

By | 11.23.09 | 6:00 am

not hiring

While the national unemployment rate of 10.2 percent is a sobering reminder of the depth of this recession and the protracted timeline a recovery will take, the challenges posed by long-term unemployment are far greater.

“We are breaking every record post-Great Depression on long-term unemployment,” said Heidi Shierholz, an More…

Obama Legacy: A Parallel Justice System?

By | 10.29.09 | 6:00 am

In signing the Defense Authorization Act, which, among other things, amends the laws governing military commissions, President Obama confirmed Wednesday that he plans to keep the controversial military commissions alive. The effect is to deny at least some suspected terrorists — now called “unprivileged enemy More…

Are We Facing a Jobless Recovery?

By | 10.13.09 | 6:00 am

Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke announced last month that the recession was “likely over” and that the economy was in the early stages of a recovery. The problem is, many Americans don’t look around and see a recovery due to the still-abysmal unemployment rate. What’s scarier is that those numbers More…