The Hollywood Liberal

Obama administration weighing ex-Yemen president Saleh’s request to enter U.S.

HONOLULU — The Obama administration is reviewing a request from Yemen’s former president to enter the United States to receive medical treatment, a senior administration official said Sunday.

Ali Abdullah Saleh, who relinquished power to his vice president Friday, told reporters over the weekend that he was planning to come to the United States to relieve tension after nine people were killed by government forces during mass protests related to the end of Saleh’s 33-year reign.

Read full article >>

Growing wealth widens distance between lawmakers and constituents

BUTLER, Pa. — One day after his shift at the steel mill, Gary Myers drove home in his 10-year-old Pontiac and told his wife he was going to run for Congress.

The odds were long. At 34, ­Myers was the shift foreman at the “hot mill” of the Armco plant here. He had no political experience and little or no money, and he was a Republican in a district that tilted Democratic.

Read full article >>

Ron Paul’s House record marked by bold strokes, and futility

The passage of H.R. 2121, in fall 2009, unfolded without drama. It allowed for the sale of a customhouse in Galveston, Tex. The House debate took two minutes, and the vote took eight seconds. The ayes had it.

But something historic was happening. On his 482nd try, Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.) had authored a bill that would become law.

Read full article >>

Mitt Romney’s Secret Money

Bipartisan Plan Could Rescue a Doomed Program

Economic Slide Took a Detour at Capitol Hill
Eric Lichtblau, NY Times
WASHINGTON — When Representative Ed Pastor was first elected to Congress two decades ago, he was comfortably ensconced in the middle class. Mr. Pastor, a Democrat from Arizona, held $100,000 or so in savings accounts in the mid-1990s and had a retirement pension, but like many Americans, he also owed the banks nearly as much in loans. A one-stop destination for the latest political news "” from The Times and other top sources. Plus opinion, polls, campaign data and video. Today, Mr. Pastor, a miner’s son and a former high school teacher, is a…

Job Creation Is Price for New U.S. Health Law
Andrew Puzder, Bloomberg
Illustration by Ethan Buller I am not an expert on health-care policy, but I do know something about job creation. So when a House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee asked me to testify about the effect on employers of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, sometimes known as Obamacare, I thought I could offer some insights. As I told the committee in a July 28 hearing, it is critical that Congress does a good job of balancing the benefits of new legislation against the costs of that legislation. That process begins with recognizing that laws like Obamacare come at a price….