Not Richistan

Judy Daloz is the nurse at St. Johnsbury Elementary School. Every day she sees children who show up for school hungry. She knows parents who dread eye exams because they cannot afford to take their kids to see eye doctors, let alone buy them glasses. She knows some families have trouble scraping together the $15 fee for a birth certificate needed to enroll each of their children in the Dr. Dynassaur program. Nurse Daloz talked about her experiences at a town meeting on poverty that Senator B

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Flush on Iraq, Flinty on Children

Days after he vetoed a children’s health insurance program, President Bush asked Congress for almost $196 billion that the Pentagon says is needed to keep combat troops in Iraq and Afghanistan for another year. The president says, “Our men and women on the front lines should not be caught in the middle of partisan disagreements in Washington, D.C.” Well Mr. President, neither should America’s children.

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Sanders Opposes Attorney General Nominee

Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said today he will vote against confirmation of Michael B. Mukasey to be attorney general. President Bush’s choice to head the Justice Department, Sanders said, holds views on the sweeping powers of the presidency that are at odds with what the framers of our Constitution intended. The nominee also demonstrated at Judiciary Committee confirmation hearings a

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The Lesson of Blackwater

It is time to rethink the privatization of the United States military. In Iraq alone, there are roughly 180,000 private contractors working for American government agencies, including about 30,000 heavily-armed guards. The most notorious contractor, Blackwater USA, has been embroiled in controversy over the deaths last month of 17 Iraqis. A State Department contract with the private security firm, which escorts U.S. diplomats traveling outside the heavily protected Green Zone in Baghdad, expire

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