An old college friend recently asked me what my connection was to Van Jones, since I work at the Center for American Progress and he was a Fellow here prior to taking his post at the White House. I told him that, while we had not interacted at work, I...

Seems like everybody is talkin' 'bout the problems with health reform (just "seems" like it, really, most people really do want health reform). But how many of the naysayers really know how the proposed reforms would affect their lives and their small businesses (if they have them)? Seems like an...

Launched yesterday (8/23/09), TweetProgress.us, already has nearly 1,200 registered progressives and counting. Created by Jim Gilliam (@jgilliam), Tracy Viselli (@myrnatheminx), Jon Pincus (@jdp23) and Gina Cooper (@ginacooper) as a directory for progressives on Twitter, TweetProgress.us is the newest phase in our...

The problem is simply stated on the homepage of Citability.org. "Government websites are ever changing and cannot be cited. Content changes without notice or accountability." The solution has a simple starting point: create permanent, date stamped URLs for each paragraph of every federal document posted to the Web....

How many people are losing health insurance in your state? In my current home of Virginia, it is 330 people losing coverage every day. In Maine, where I grew up, it is 70. In Massachusetts, where I went to college, it is 430. Want to find out how bad your...

You can tell a lot about who advertisers think is watching TV shows by where they choose to advertise. Just think about what programs get the Viagara commercials... sports. And the Sunday morning talk shows are no exception.

While I caught one ad this morning in support of the Employee...

I Am Progress and MomsRising.org recently wrapped up the first phase of our Out of the Way of Fair Pay campaign with President Obama signing the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act into law. Passing the Ledbetter Act is an important step towards creating real pay...

I see a recurring theme that everyone is living beyond their means. People are over-extended on their credit cards and mortgages. The government runs in deficit and the national debt is huge. The U.S. auto manufacturers has too much overhead and is losing money like crazy. The investment banks have...

Anthony Downs taught us that the candidate closest to the median voter, with respect to their positions, always wins (An Economic Theory of Democracy, 1957). But contrary to popular belief, the median voter model doesn't require candidates to move to the center. Candidates can also move...

Americans have lost nearly $2 trillion dollars from their private retirement accounts in the past 15 months, a 20 percent drop in value. Thankfully, Social Security benefits are not subject to market whims. If they were, a new analysis from the Center for American Progress Action...

The coming of age of the Millennial Generation, the first civic generation since the GI Generation (dubbed the Greatest by Tom Brokaw), is converging with the arrival of the most civic-friendly communication technologies we have ever seen. And with this convergence, American politics is being reshaped. That was the message...

Let's leave aside completely which party you prefer. Let's just look at the rhetoric. Is it my imagination, or does Sarah Palin keep referring to a "Palin and McCain Administration?" I swear I just heard her do it again on CNN.

Is it misleading for her to speak in...

There is always lots going on in the world of internet advocacy and this is the place to see some of the best. The Internet Advocacy Roundup is an occasional newsletter I have written for the past few years. Starting today, it will be a semi-regular feature here. So let's...

Sometimes I forget that the big oil companies are not really American companies. Sure, many of them are incorporated in the USA, but face it, these are multinational corporations, each bigger than many countries (economically, of course ... the 68 million acres they already have are only leased, not owned)....

In response to the green light given by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, Customs and Border Protection just released its new policies for searching and seizing laptops at the border. While the new policies require that CBP destroy copies of content seized if nothing illegal is found, according...

Why do 67 percent of Americans favor drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf? According to Rasmussen Reports, 64 percent expect it will lower gas prices. But according to the Department of Energy's Energy Information administration, whatever insignificant impact such drilling might have won't happen until 2030,...

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals reaffirmed its ruling on USA v Arnold this past Friday that Customs and Border Protection agents are free to seize your laptop at the border without probable cause. On July 10 the 9th Circuit denied the petition...