As I hoped (and predicted), the effort by Republicans to force President Obama to make a rush decision on issuing a permit for the Keystone XL pipeline has backfired. The State Department Wednesday will reject the Keystone XL pipeline, multiple sources following the project tell POLITICO. The formal announcement is expected at 3 p.m. from Deputy Secretary of State William […]

There were some interesting revelations in statements made to day by Jay Carney, President Obama’s Press Secretary relating the Keystone XL oil pipeline. Recall that in the bill to extend the middle class income tax break, Republicans put in a requirement that he give his ruling on it by next month. Follow me over the orange squiggledegibbet for what went […]

Today the Obama administration announced that it is updating the formal definition of rape. This move will help many rape victims who were previously unaccounted for achieve justice against their perpetrators and will more accurately reflect the extent of the problem of sexual crimes in our country. Attorney General Eric Holder today announced revisions to the Uniform Crime Report’s (UCR) […]

Scarily believable (unlike New Hampshire Republicans sponsoring a bill requiring that new legislation reference the fucking Magna Carta): PITTSBURGH—Citing three years of exhausting partisan politics, constant gridlock in Congress, and an overall feeling that the entire nation has “completely lost it,” President Barack Obama openly asked a campaign-rally crowd Tuesday why he’d want to serve another term as president of […]

Yesterday, I wrote about President Obama giving recess appointments first to Richard Cordray as Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and then to three National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) members. In a blockquoted piece from Talking Points Memo was this tidbit: On the unprecedented nature of the appointment, McConnell and Boehner have a decent case. Both parties have […]

As I predicted earlier this morning, President Obama has made three recess appointments in addition to Richard Cordray to be Director the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. All three are to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB): Sharon Block, Member, Terence F. Flynn, and Richard Griffin. These appointments are extremely important because without them, the NLRB cannot act. On anything. The […]

Oh, waa-aah. Cry me a goddam river, you obstructionist piece of dog poo. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is very upset at President Obama’s recess appointment of Richard Cordray to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Although the Senate is not in recess, President Obama, in an unprecedented move, has arrogantly circumvented the American people by ‘recess’ appointing Richard Cordray […]

In the lastest edition of “We Can’t Wait” or, as I have come to think of it, “Screw you, Republican obstructionists”, President Obama today made a recess appointment of Richard Cordray to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. In a defiant display of executive power, President Barack Obama on Wednesday will buck GOP opposition and name Richard Cordray as the nation’s […]

In a rare act of bipartisanship, both the House and Senate recently passed H.R. 2845, the “Pipeline Safety, Regulatory Certainty, and Job Creation Act of 2011. According to the White House, “this bill doubles the maximum civil penalties for violations of Federal pipeline safety laws, authorizes the Transportation Department to issue various regulations related to leak prevention and detection’ and […]

This morning, President Obama signed an Executive Order establishing a National Action Plan on Women, Peace, and Security. You can read the Executive Order HERE (pdf) and the comprehensive plan itself HERE (pdf). This is the part of the Executive Order that is most compelling for me: Sec. 2. National Action Plan. A National Action Plan shall be created pursuant […]

Now this is a fine-looking First Family: The photo was taken by White House super-photographer Pete Souza. The last one was taken by photographer Annie Leibovitz two years ago. My, my, those two kids are growing like weeds. They’re going to be a couple of very beautiful women, just like their mom. So proud. [From the White House blog]