The New Republic

How does the class of 2010 stack up against its lunatic predecessor, of 1994? There are the well-known data points—Rand Paul’s alleged kidnapping of a college classmate; Sharron Angle’s assertion that there are “domestic enemies” in Congress—that suggest we’ve reached a new zenith of crazy, making Newt Gingrich’s bunch look like sensible establishmentarians by comparison. READ MORE >>

Of course, driving isn't much fun without functional, safe roads and bridges. America's infrastructure is in bad shape--the American Society of Civil Engineers gives it a grade of "D" and says we need to invest $2.2 trillion over the next 5 years to bring it up to snuff. Doing so might be good policy on its own merits, but with our economy still struggling, the case becomes even stronger. Every dollar spent on infrastructure generates between...   READ MORE >>

Today, I wandered down to Glenn Beck's "Restoring Honor" rally. Here's a visual chronicle of my experience:   The Mall was packed. I won't get into the pseudo-science of crowd estimation, but as you can see above, the crowd was quite large, generally filling the space from the Lincoln Memorial to the World War II Memorial. More people spilled out onto the area around the Washington Monument, but by then, the crowd had begun to thin.   READ MORE >>

The rhetoric in the debate over extending the Bush tax cuts for high-earners is confusing at best and disingenuous at worst. Plenty of politicians--generally Republicans, but some Democrats as well-- favor extending the cuts because raising taxes during a recession hurts the economy. They're correct, but if their main concern is generating economic activity, extending tax cuts for the wealthy isn't the way to go. READ MORE >>

Extending the Bush tax cuts for high-earners would cost an additional $680 billion over 10 years. I've taken a look at some of the sweet stuff millionaires could buy with the average $128,000 they would save each year. But what if the government didn't cut taxes for millionaires and spent the money on state aid instead? Each millionaire's higher tax bill could pay for...   READ MORE >>

U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth threw embryonic stem cell research into chaos Monday when he ruled that federal funding for the research was illegal. Citizen Cohn talked to Nina Mendelson, a professor of administrative law at the University of Michigan Law School. Here’s a condensed and edited version of our interview: READ MORE >>

For baseball's millionaire fans, a full-on extension of the Bush tax cuts could prove beneficial. Each year, the $128,000 an average millionaire would save enough on his or her taxes is enough to buy about...   350 good seats at a READ MORE >>

Yesterday, I took a look at how many Big Macs an average millionaire could buy if the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy are extended. Clearly, no one in their right mind would want more than 30,000 hamburgers. But what if they wanted something a little fancier? With the $128,000 an average millionaire would save, he or she could buy... READ MORE >>

U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth made headlines yesterday for ruling that President Obama’s program providing funding for embryonic-stem-cell research is illegal. Here are four things you should know: READ MORE >>

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