A favorite Republican talking point lately is that the businesses are not creating jobs because they are “hamstrung by uncertainty.” According to this argument, the specter of taxes and regulation is paralyzing companies, and if only Congress would preserve the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy and promise to not produce any new regulations, a flood of business […]

As ThinkProgress noted yesterday, Deficit Commission co-chair Alan Simpson recently started a political firestorm by complaining that veterans benefits allocated for servicemembers exposed to Agent Orange run “contrary to efforts to control federal spending.” He even went as far as to say that “the irony” is that “the veterans who saved this country are now, […]

National tea party organizer and profiteer Eric Odom recently launched Liberty.com, a conservative website meant to “eclipse the influence of MoveOn.org in campaigns across the country.” Partnering with an umbrella group, the site launched with a formidable $700,000 budget and 70,000 members, and has the “intention of becoming an all-encompassing conservativ […]

A mile-long oil sheen is now reportedly visible where an offshore oil and gas platform exploded this morning in the Gulf of Mexico. The Vermilion Oil Rig 360, owned by Mariner Energy — which was recently purchased by Apache Corp. — was producing about 58,800 gallons of oil and 900,000 cubic feet of gas per day. As ThinkProgress noted, just yesterday Mariner […]

Outgoing Minnesota governor and potential Republican presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty appeared on Fox News and Fox Business last night to defend his recent executive order prohibiting the state from applying for grants provided by the new health care law. Pawlenty’s ban could cost the state $1 billion or more in federal funds, but in his national TV tour […]