Wednesday, November 25, 2009 -- A large group of Obama supporters and civil libertarians yesterday posted a national open letter to the President and companion petition asking for presidential action to press Congress to revise the Patriot Act and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Anguish in the...

PHOENIX, AZ -- With one of the worst budget crises in the nation, Arizona lawmakers have had a particularly stressful job this year. Arizona Governor Jan Brewer even called the capitol a "hell hole." On Monday, the stress was too much for one Arizona lawmaker who launched into a strange...

PHOENIX, AZ -- Former Congressman J.D. Hayworth might just be Arizona's next senator. The local radio personality has publicly toyed with the idea of running against Senator John McCain in the Republican primary, but on Monday he took the first serious step toward a possible run by asking...

The public option is the most contentious issue the Senate will debate about in its health care reform bill. Viewpoints go the length of the spectrum, from Roland Burris (D-Il) declaring he won't vote for a bill that does not include a strong public option, to Blanche Lincoln (D-AR), vowing...

By Dawn Teo and Alex Brant-Zawadzki

The current consensus among pundits and politicos is that the Tea Party movement will fail in 2010 unless a national leader or organizational structure emerges. These predictions are based on fierce infighting and turf wars that have broken...

PHOENIX, AZ - How ironic is it that the attorney responsible for successfully introducing the concept of Miranda rights to the U.S. Supreme Court would become a retired Arizona Supreme Court Justice who has now handed down a draconian ruling that homeless and poor individuals can't eat pancakes before...

The debate over health care reform often takes place in a haze of numbers, cost curves and acronyms. Lamar Alexander lifted the fog for a moment on the Senate floor Saturday evening as the third-ranking Republican lambasted the health care bill for opening up Medicaid to millions more Americans.

The...

PHOENIX, AZ -- Rasmussen announced a new poll on Friday showing Senator John McCain may be in trouble at home where a polarized electorate has him facing constant criticism from both the left and the right.

The poll shows McCain tied with former Congressman and current talk radio host...

Unions and other left-leaning organizations typically oppose the big-business policies hawked in the halls of Congress by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. However, the U.S. Chamber is now being harshly criticized on the record by some unlikely sources: small businesses, medical professionals, and several of their own local chambers of...

With the introduction of the Senate's health care reform bill, we have two legislative packages, one (from the House) that has a weak version of the public option, and one from the Senate that provides an opt-out option for states. According to the CBO scoring of the House version, 30...

Lexicographers at the New Oxford American Dictionary have selected teabagger as one of the runner-ups to unfriend for 2009 Word of the Year.

The definition of teabagging, according to Oxford, is "a person who protests President Obama's tax policies and stimulus package, often through local demonstrations known...

Saturday, anti-immigration Tea Parties were held in cities across the country to protest the upcoming comprehensive immigration reform bill. In Minnesota, Tea Partiers were punked by one speaker who got the crowd cheering about evicting European immigrants who "stole" this country.

Robert Erickson (reportedly an alias) used language...

The results of a little-publicized survey were released this week by Senator Richard Durbin, the Senate Majority Whip. The survey asked 83,954 participants which form of the public option they preferred: a 50-state public option, an opt-out public option, an opt-in public option, an option with a "trigger"...

Tea Partiers tussled with counter protesters during at least two of the nationwide anti-immigration Tea Party rallies on Saturday.

In Ft. Lauderdale, several Tea Partiers brawled in the street with counter protesters from the Florida Chapter of Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER).

The video, which was...

Stamford, CT -- More than 400 Connecticut residents, health care reform advocates, and clergy attended an evening prayer vigil that began at Senator Joe Lieberman's Alma Mater, Stamford High School. The vigil transformed into a candlelight march to the senator's condo building, where participants sang "This Little Light of Mine."...

Freshman representative Mark Schauer (D-MI) had a grueling schedule last week. He held four town hall meetings in two days to discuss the House's health care reform bill and to answer questions from his constituents. Schauer, who narrowly defeated the very conservative...

By Alex Brant-Zawadzki and Dawn Teo

If you thought the Tea Partiers screaming on your television set over the summer were obnoxious, wait until they're screaming into your phone in 2010 via robocalls -- that is, if the Federal Election Commission sides with Tea Partiers' bigwig beltway lawyers. Conservative operatives...

The House health care overhaul bill passed not because Democrats prepared a good proposal but because Republicans showed an amazing inability to present a viable alternative.

In particular, young and healthy people tend to not buy health insurance. However, without their contributions, any health insurance system cannot work. Democrats...