The New Republic

Over the past few years, large polluters have become pretty adept at blocking climate legislation in Congress. But there are still plenty of individual states out there trying to put limits on carbon emissions. So what's a poor oil or coal company to do? Why, bring the battle to the states, of course. Back in 2006, California passed AB32, a law that would set up a cap-and-trade system and cut the state's emissions 15 percent by 2020. READ MORE >>

Washington—If the midterm elections were held now, Republicans would likely take control of the House of the Representatives. It's as hard these days to find a Democrat who's not alarmed as it is to find a Cleveland Cavaliers fan who's cheering for LeBron James. READ MORE >>

[Guest post by Noam Scheiber:] Mike Allen reports in his "White House Mindmeld" today that Obama is settling into a "choice election" strategy for November (i.e., trying to make it as much about the other guys as you) rather than a "referendum election" strategy (i.e., making it solely about you): READ MORE >>

David Jungerman of Raytown, Missouri has attracted attention for a large sign by the highway calling Democrats the "party of parasites": The Kansas City Star reports that Jungerman himself falls into the parasite category: READ MORE >>

Last week on this blog, I riffed about one of the more interesting findings to emerge from our State of Metropolitan America report—that demographically, our nation’s major metropolitan areas didn’t always look very much like their geographic neighbors.  READ MORE >>

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Champ Village, Missouri is currently the champ of Census 2010 participation. Eighty percent of its residents have already returned their questionnaires. Okay, so only 17 people live there, but still they reign supreme (at least for today) on the “Take 10 Challenge Map.” And if those three hold-outs would send in their forms, they might be the first place to reach 100 percent participation. READ MORE >>

Care for the sick. Serenity for the fearful. Those are the simple, elegant terms Lyndon Johnson used to describe Medicare on July 30, 1965, the day he signed it into law. READ MORE >>

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You may have heard or read about the ugly scenes on Capitol Hill yesterday, when a few conservative activists shouted racial and homophobic epithets at Democratic lawmakers. Today the conservative activists are back. And so is the ugliness--only this time, a few Republicans were actually encouraging them. That's an incendiary charge, I know. But let me describe what just transpired here inside the House of Representatives: READ MORE >>