http://www.theittlist.com/ The ITT List is a weblog run by the editors and staff of In These Times magazine. en erinrosa@null.null 2010-03-11T16:05:04+00:00 http://www.theittlist.com/ittlist/ind/weekly_diaspora_immigration_opponents_take_turn_for_worse/ As grassroots support for the pro-immigration reform March for America grows, anti-immigration groups and their allies are trying to use racial tension to stop the momentum. Opposition groups like NumbersUSA and the Americans for Legal Immigration PAC announced plans this week to partner with Tea Party activists in response to the event, which is expected to draw as many as 100,000 people to the National Mall on March 21. Their hope? To scare the public into opposing a pathway to citizenship for the estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States. NumbersUSA, a mainstream group that was instrumental in… Erin Rosa, Media Consortium blogger 2010-03-11T15:05:04+00:00 http://www.theittlist.com/ittlist/ind/weekly_pulse_massa_backs_of_healthcare_conspiracy_beck_apologizes_to_entire/ By Lindsay Beyerstein, Media Consortium blogger Former Rep. Eric Massa (D-NY) punked conservative talk show host Glenn Beck yesterday by recanting his earlier allegations that House Democrats forced him out of office because he refused to vote for healthcare reform. Massa resigned on Monday amidst allegations that he sexually harassed one or more male staffers. Adele Stan has a nice recap of the implosion of Massa's political career at AlterNet. Massa initially said he was stepping down because he had cancer. Then the news broke that the House Ethics Committee was probing allegations that Massa sexually harassed a male staffer. Beck… Lindsay Beyerstein 2010-03-10T15:58:31+00:00 http://www.theittlist.com/ittlist/ind/weekly_audit_doomsday_for_consumer_financial_protection_agency/ By Alison Hamm, Media Consortium Blogger Just when the Democrats need to be tougher than ever on financial reform, Senate Banking Committee Chair Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT), seems to have given up completely and put the proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA) at risk. Last fall, Dodd called the Federal Reserve's regulatory efforts an "abysmal failure." And yet, on March 1, he proposed housing a consumer protection agency within the Fed instead of establishing the CFPA as its own independent entity. This drastic change in strategy has left many Democrats shaking their heads. WTF, Senator Dodd? A change in focusAs Andy… Alison Hamm 2010-03-09T15:25:39+00:00 http://www.theittlist.com/ittlist/ind/weekly_mulch_new_bills_and_old_money/ By Sarah Laskow, Media Consortium blogger Climate legislation is returning to the Senate's docket, and leaders on Capitol Hill are hoping that this version, a compromise bill spearheaded by Sens. John Kerry (D-MA), Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Joe Lieberman (I-CT), can pass without getting caught in the morass of money and politics that has delayed action so far. A long, long time ago... Remember, there was a time when Congress was going to pass climate legislation before the international climate change negotiations in Copenhagen. President Barack Obama was going to show up with a bill in hand and lead the world… Sara Laskow 2010-03-05T15:59:36+00:00 http://www.theittlist.com/ittlist/ind/weekly_diaspora_rallying_the_grassroots/ By Erin Rosa, Media Consortium blogger Ed. Note: After a brief hiatus, the Diaspora is back! We're very excited to have Erin Rosa on board for this project. Please stay tuned for a the latest developments on the immigration reform front every Thursday morning. Fed up with Congress and frustrated with President Barack Obama's brief mention of immigration reform in the State of the Union address, immigrant rights supporters are now organizing around the clock to push legislators to move on reform in 2010. It will not be an easy feat. Congress is already bogged down with health care reform and… Erin Rosa, Media Consortium blogger 2010-03-04T20:54:12+00:00 http://www.theittlist.com/ittlist/ind/why_jim_bunning_is_a_genius/ When he was pitching for the Phillies back in the back in the ‘60s, I thought Jim Bunning was a dumb-butt because he kept shaking off signs relayed from Manager Gene Mauch, arguably one of the brighter minds in baseball and the first skipper to call balls and strikes from the dugout. And I thought Kentucky Jimbo was certifiable for throwing high hard ones at batters for automatic balls when he could throw strikes almost at will. Now he’s gone and aimed a beaner at millions of unemployed American workers, and I think he’s a freakin’ genius: he’s found a way… Ray Abernathy 2010-03-03T17:06:59+00:00 http://www.theittlist.com/ittlist/ind/weekly_pulse_obama_to_push_for_reconciliation/ By Lindsay Beyerstein, Media Consortium blogger Today, President Barack Obama will deliver a speech to Congress outlining his plan to move forward on health care reform. The president is expected to advocate the use of budget reconciliation. Art Levine of Working In These Times warns that some centrist Democrats are already getting cold feet on reconciliation. Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND), chair of the Senate Budget Committee, went on TV to declare reconciliation impossible. These guys just don't get it. It's reconciliation or defeat. There is no other way. Without reconciliation, the bill dies. Without a bill, the Democrats get massacred in… Lindsay Beyerstein 2010-03-03T16:13:35+00:00 http://www.theittlist.com/ittlist/ind/weekly_audit_does_the_gop_hate_jobs/ By Zach Carter, Media Consortium blogger Through inaction and timid legislative negotiations, Congress just keeps letting the U.S. sink deeper and deeper into the economic abyss. Last week, Congress denied relief to the jobless and is currently poised to undercut a proposal that would rein in predatory lending. With unemployment out of control and banks pillaging citizens' pocketbooks at every turn, the economy is in dire need of serious financial reform and a major jobs package. More than one million have lost unemployment benefits As James Ridgeway emphasizes for Mother Jones, over a million people receiving unemployment benefits ran out of… Zach Carter 2010-03-02T15:39:51+00:00 http://www.theittlist.com/ittlist/ind/weekly_pulse_obama_to_promote_health_plan_at_summit/ By Lindsay Beyerstein, Media Consortium blogger On Monday, the White House released its plan for health care reform, which resembles the Senate bill with additional concessions for liberals and labor unions. Tomorrow, President Obama will hold a televised health care summit. Obama is billing the summit as a last-ditch attempt to solicit Republican ideas for health care reform. In fact, he's hoping to give the GOP enough rope to hang itself. It takes two... As Katrina vanden Huevel argues in the Nation, bipartisanship takes two parties, but the Republicans have refused to negotiate unless health care reform starts over from scratch.… Lindsay Beyerstein 2010-02-24T16:05:55+00:00 http://www.theittlist.com/ittlist/ind/weekly_audit_the_global_economic_crisis/ By Zach Carter, Media Consortium Blogger Over the past thirty years, Wall Street has waged a steady war against governments around the globe, convincing policymakers of various ideological stripes that whatever raises profits for bankers and traders will be good for the rest of society. It's a very simple and appealing portrait of how the world works. Unfortunately, it's completely wrong. Profiting from hunger In an interview with AlterNet's Terrence McNally, economic luminary Raj Patel explains the connection between widespread global poverty and wild Wall Street profits. Markets are defined by a set of rules—if those rules completely disregard social welfare,… Zach Carter 2010-02-23T16:30:38+00:00