Monday, August 9, 2010

McClatchy Washington report 8/9

  • These summer days are crucial times for politicians to press their cases in a congressional election year that remains volatile and unpredictable, with only one thing certain: "Voters are sour on everybody," said Peter Brown, the assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.
  • While some Democratic candidates nationally are keeping their distance, Washington Sen. Patty Murray is welcoming President Barack Obama later this month to the state even as his poll numbers have faded and Republicans call the visit a sign her campaign is desperate.
  • While some Democratic candidates nationally are keeping their distance, Washington Sen. Patty Murray is welcoming President Barack Obama later this month to the state even as his poll numbers have faded and Republicans call the visit a sign her campaign is desperate.
  • Today's older adults were children and teenagers when President Franklin D. Roosevelt changed the face of aging on Aug. 14, 1935, when he signed the Social Security Act into law. They also remember their parents' fears that Social Security amounted to socialism. Yet on the edge of the program's 75th anniversary, most of them can't imagine retirement without the small cushion of funds and dignity that Social Security provides.
  • At the urging of President Barack Obama, Congress passed a $787 billion economic stimulus bill on Feb. 10, 2009, to get federal dollars flowing into the U.S. economy. Eighteen months later, an examination by McClatchy and the Medill News Service has found that some parts of the country have benefited far more than others have, that some sectors of the economy are benefiting far more than others are, and that it's difficult to detail exactly where all the money has gone.
  • There's a third candidate in the South Carolina U.S. Senate race — nationally known environmental activist Tom Clements of Columbia — who, right now, is struggling to gain name recognition equal to that of Democrat Alvin Greene.
  • The twin brother of one of the 10 medical volunteers killed in Afghanistan last week spoke out Sunday about the nature of his brother's work, saying there was no element of Christian proselytizing.
  • Implementing the health-care overhaul bill passed earlier this year makes her one of the most powerful bureaucrats in the country, with one of the toughest jobs. How important is her role? Forbes magazine last year ranked her the 57th-most powerful woman in the world.
  • Agents at North Carolina's State Bureau of Investigations have cut corners, bullied the vulnerable and twisted reports and court testimony when the truth threatened to undermine their cases, a Raleigh News & Observer investigation of the SBI's work, policies and practices reveals.
  • The Pakistani government's poor response to the worst floods in the country's history has damaged its fragile democracy, while the powerful military establishment has gained stature with its emergency relief work, analysts said.
  • Samuel Dusengiyumva was 13 years old in the spring of 1994, when more than 800,000 Rwandans were slaughtered in a 100-day killing spree of unthinkable proportions. His family — mother, father, siblings — was wiped out by the Rwandan genocide. Dusengiyumva put his life back together through education — finishing school and studying to become a lawyer — and that decision led him to his current role: country manager for a computer program that aims to put a laptop in the hands of every school-age child in Rwanda.
  • Future historians will have plenty to argue about as they analyze today’s politics through the lens of time. One debate might be about whether 2010 was the year conservatism died.
    In the days of Dwight Eisenhower and Nelson Rockefeller, conservatives were those who wanted limited government and low taxes, but still found room to accommodate a range of beliefs under their tent. And they even had a degree of tolerance for those who were outside it. Now intolerance is in and anyone violating any of the core conservative beliefs is branded a heretic.

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