" "No one in the U.S. government could ever imagine a 10-year plan to ensure U.S. leadership in solar power or batteries or anything else," Joseph Romm, a former Department of Energy official who now writes the blog Climate Progress, told me. "It's just not possible, so nobody even bothers to propose it." "

" As the House begins to debate legislation to limit abortion coverage and deny funding to family planning clinics, virtually no one believes these measures will find their way into law. "

" What’s important here is the maneuvering and the messaging. Senators who oppose abortion want to win favor with like-minded interest group advocates, spark a national debate and force Democrats to take politically sensitive votes on the issue. "

" When the process of governing is incomprehensible, manipulation and propaganda thrives. The strange stories that Glenn Beck creates with his chalkboard gain traction with Americans, who are made anxious by the large changes that have overtaken the United States, "

" NPR spent the past several months analyzing hundreds of pages of campaign finance reports, lobbying documents and corporate records. What they show is a quiet, behind-the-scenes effort to help draft and pass Arizona Senate Bill 1070 by an industry that stands to benefit from it: the private prison industry. "

"At least eight submissions of written evidence have come from medical professionals who have not disclosed their membership of Christian groups opposed to abortion on faith grounds."

"Merck quietly lobbied conservative groups to rein in their opposition. ... After the vaccine was approved, however, Merck immediately began pushing for state legislatures to mandate it, contrary to the regular... practice"

"Increased funding for embryonic stem cell research brings the promise of finding cures and treatment for life-threatening diseases and conditions such as diabetes, Parkinson’s, spinal cord injury, and heart disease."

"But since it doesn’t look like Bush is willing to budge, we should start thinking seriously about how to keep the science advancing now. Jonathan Moreno and Sam Berger of CAP’s Progressive Bioethics Initiative make these suggestions:"

"Think-tanks, long recognised for their independent analysis [chuckle snort], are now at risk of losing their credibility and independence as they get drawn into and polarised by this conflict."

N.B. the difference. Klein, all by his lonesome. ("He said it took so long to produce because "I've been working on a lot of other issues."") Shaw, subsidized by prepackaged proposals and arguments from Cato, Heritage, NAM, etc.

"Even as the donors pour millions into a new political infrastructure, however, problems have emerged that mirror many of the problems of the Democratic Party today and the progressive movement in general."

SSA Chief Actuary Stephen C. Goss's analysis of the Ferrara Social Security reform plan.

"Under his [Ferrara's] approach, ... personal accounts would average 6.4 percentage points of the 12.4 percent Social Security tax, considerably more than Bush's proposed 4 percentage-point diversion."

"The Finance Committee – made up of 11 Republicans and 9 Democrats – spoke with five Social Security experts, several of whom have made proposals to achieve "sustainable" solvency in Social Security with and without individual investment accounts."

"The plan shifts huge sums from the Social Security Trust Fund to private accounts and then backfills the Trust Fund with extraordinarily large general revenue transfers from the U.S. Treasury."

"Instead, Mr. Ferrara backs a plan that would permanently guarantee all future promised Social Security benefits in perpetuity. ... His proposal is, by far, the most expensive of all the major Social Security reform plans being considered."

"Under the [2003] Ferrara plan, Social Security recipients would be held harmless. If they did not want to switch to private accounts they would be guaranteed the benefits for which they are now eligible."

"Some in the AFL-CIO say pension changes are driven less by pension envy than by conservative groups such as Americans for Prosperity, Americans for Tax Reform and the Heritage Foundation. [also] Wall Street money managers"

Raj Chohan, take note: "Privatization would offer a choice -- to stay with Social Security or participate in an alternative retirement plan. No one would be forced to leave Social Security, but everyone would be allowed to."

"Mr. Cardin ... wants workers to have an easier time putting money into private retirement accounts to supplement Social Security. ... he helped draft plans in 2002 and in 1998 that would have diverted FICA taxes to private accounts or market investments"

"directing more than $50 million in the past nine months to liberal think tanks and advocacy groups in what organizers say is the first installment of a long-term campaign to compete more aggressively against conservatives."

"you have a huge and expensive public relations campaign denying that scientific consensus. This campaign is largely financed with money from energy companies... which is then lightly laundered through "think tanks"... or through industry front groups."

"Americans do not need... some version of the private accounts... Rather, they need a way to continue sharing the all-too-real risks families bear as parents across the country attempt to raise kids in a new economy that provides them no margin for error"

Conservative lobbying organization and media outlet, offshoot of the Club for Growth. Advocates "personal retirement accounts".

Extremely conservative think-tank and media outlet. Backing from various foundations, refuses to discuss corporate funding at all; see SourceWatch. Prone to ad hominem. Advocates "personal accounts" and has testified before Congress.

"Congressional candidate Carol Shea-Porter held a press conference this morning to speak about the Bush administration's plans to privatize S. S.. ... stated that the S. S. program can be put on solid financial footing by making small changes."

Progressive think-tank. "EPI was established in 1986 to broaden the discussion about economic policy to include the interests of low- and middle-income workers." Opposes Social Security "privatization".

"The Mountain View search-engine company joins a sizable club of corporate titans that have established major political operations in Washington in hopes of influencing legislation and votes."

Includes Social Security as an "entitlement" program in a unified federal budget (as if it draws meaningfully from general revenues) rather than leaving it aside as a separate, self-supporting program.

"features US Representative Paul Ryan, a ranking member of the House Ways and Means Committee, ... will be filmed and featured in a DVD movie which will be included in AFP Foundation's educational project on Social Security... to kick off in late Nov 06"

The Social Security project of the conservative think-tank National Center for Policy Analysis. Interestingly for a think-tank, is sponsoring student mobilization activities. Advocates "personal retirement accounts".

Argues that the Bush Social Security plan would reduce benefits for 7 out of 10 workers, and that it would impose further benefit reductions on workers who opt for private accounts.

"The Federal Communications Commission ordered its staff to destroy all copies of a draft study that suggested greater concentration of media ownership would hurt local TV news coverage, a former lawyer at the agency says."

Project of the National Association of Manufacturers, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Business Roundtable, National Federation of Independent Business, Hispanic Business Roundtable, Pfizer, and others. Advocates "personal retirement accounts".

Subsidiary site of COMPASS; accordingly, advocates "new voluntary personal retirement accounts for younger workers".

American Institute for Full Employment site advocating "the choice to put a portion of their payroll taxes into prudent diversified investments." The AIFE was founded and is funded and run by industrialist Richard L. Wendt; see SourceWatch.

Project of the Financial Services Forum, National Association of Manufacturers, National Retail Federation, National Restaurant Association, Business Roundtable, Chamber of Commerce, NFIB, and others. Advocates "personal savings accounts".

Cato Institute's site advocating the option of investing half of one's Social Security designated payroll tax.

Compares estimates of retirement income - in the extreme long term, 2040s and beyond - under assumptions that render Bush's plan favorable by comparison.

The Club for Growth's blog "advocating personal accounts for Social Security".

"While these papers do an admirable job covering the nuts and bolts of the legislative process, including how big business influences policy-making, they have actually become part of the influence game itself."

"If more academics deigned to work toward reforms, they might contribute ideas about taxes, education, trade, employment, investment, foreign policy, and security from jihadists. But the academic left is too busy guarding the flame of nullification."

"NCSL claims that term limits result in "legislative brain drain." How dismissive of lawmakers and voters alike! In fact, many citizens have the knowledge and skills required to be legislators — and to be voters."

"The staff migration - a repercussion of term limits passed in 1990 - has strengthened the influence of interest groups in crafting laws but weakened lawmakers' ability to obtain the objective advice and institutional knowledge..."

"In addition to conflating Social Security and Medicare as “entitlements” that will pose problems, the column also has a few other standard scare tactics. ... [and] never discusses health care reform as something that should be on the national agenda"

"Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) and Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio) have put forward a proposal that ... would create a bipartisan commission with a broad mandate to examine long-term fiscal challenges. All policy options would be on the table."

"At a recent AEI conference, three former policymakers introduced their plan for bipartisan SS reform." Jeffrey Liebman (former Clinton advisor), Maya MacGuineas (former McCain advisor), & Andrew Samwick (formerly of Bush’s C.E.A.)

"Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney ... says there have been suggestions that the Social Security should issue be turned over to a panel similar to the one that recommended military base closings."

"Most of the most scathing critiques of the administration from erstwhile supporters are being expressed within think tanks and in journals and op-ed pages followed by a foreign policy elite in Washington and New York."