Topic: U.S. Politics
Top galleries, list articles, quizzes
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Barack Obama: How well do you know America's 44th president?
Test your knowledge of the man currently in the Oval Office with this quiz on notable events – both large and small – from the Obama presidency.
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Election 101: What's the Republican primary calendar for 2012?
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Herman Cain's 9-9-9 plan: What would your sales tax be?
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Six things you probably didn't know about Ayn Rand
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Political hair apparents. It's a head game!
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Finally, tough love for US ally Pakistan
With nuclear missiles and a hotbed of terrorists, Pakistan is one of the most dangerous countries in the world. Washington's aggressive new approach toward insurgent groups in Pakistan, particularly the Haqqani network, is crucial.
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Mitt Romney and GOP quest for anyone but him
Mitt Romney has run an impressive presidential campaign by most traditional measures. But he is struggling against the tides of the tea party. Republicans want a revolutionary, not a realist.
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Herman Cain joke? Electrified fence on the US-Mexico border
Herman Cain's comments about an electrified barbed-wire fence (and alligators, too) on the US-Mexico border are not new. But they're getting fresh attention.
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Letters to the Editor – Weekly Issue of October 17, 2011
Readers write in with context for a Monitor story on Wisconsin teachers retiring en masse, a suggestion for political commentary, and a protest against the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline.
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Herman Cain's 9-9-9 plan: What would your sales tax be?
Herman Cain has vaulted into the top tier of GOP presidential candidates with his 9-9-9 tax plan, which would create a new 9 percent federal sales tax. But consumers would have to pay that sales tax on top of existing state and local sales taxes. Here are figures from the nonpartisan Tax Foundation that look at the total sales taxes in every state, adding up the state sales tax, a statewide average of the various local sales-tax rates, and the 9-9-9 federal sales tax.
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Rick Perry has the money, but Herman Cain has 9-9-9 momentum
The Herman Cain campaign raised $2.8 million in the last quarter, compared with Rick Perry's $17 million and Mitt Romney's $14 million. But Cain's poll numbers are rising with voter interest in his '9-9-9' tax plan.
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Six things you probably didn't know about Ayn Rand
Nearly 30 years after her passing, Ayn Rand is experiencing a renaissance as the economy sputters and government efforts to spur growth fall short. With over 25 million copies of her books in print, including “Atlas Shrugged” and “The Fountainhead,” Ms. Rand had a history of engaging groups of dedicated followers on her small government, free market, and individualist philosophy. Now, she's gaining fans among tea party activists and others worried about the spread of government. Here are six things even her fans probably didn’t know about her:
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Florida firing squads? What has death penalty supporters all riled up?
Heated rhetoric over the death penalty just got hotter with a proposal, in Florida, that firing squads replace lethal injections. Some see this as a sign that death penalty supporters are insecure.
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Government suspends home-care provision of health-care reform law
The CLASS act, a provision in the heath-care reform law designed to help the disabled and elderly cash to receive care at home, could not be both voluntary and budget-neutral, say health officials.
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Herman Cain 9-9-9 sticker shock? 18% sales tax possible in some states.
Under the Herman Cain 9-9-9 tax plan, a new federal sales tax would be added on top of existing state and local sales taxes. That means 9-9-9 could yield large sales taxes in some places.
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LRA leader Joseph Kony: Why Obama sent US troops to Uganda to get him
The feared group LRA is responsible for the murder and rape of thousands in Central Africa. Siding with interventionist advisers, Obama sent the US troops to help remove Joseph Kony from the battlefield.
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Obama raises $70 million. Is that a lot?
President Obama raised $70 million in this quarter of the year, more than any single GOP candidate, and possibly more than all of GOP candidates combined.
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What's new in the GOP jobs plan?
Republicans are countering President Obama's jobs plan with a GOP jobs plan. But how much of the GOP jobs plan is really new?
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Alabama immigration law blocked by federal appeals court
Alabama immigration law: The 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals also blocked a part of the law that allows authorities to charge immigrants who do not carry documents proving their legal status.
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Deficit 'super committee' flooded with ideas. Will any of them work?
Friday is the deadline for congressional committees to submit ideas to the deficit 'super committee.' But there's little indication that any of the ideas signal an openness to compromise.
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When dogma overtakes discussion
The American public doesn’t want or need to hear “representatives” from the so-called right or left. It wants insight into what’s best for America. Yet over and over again — on the radio, on TV, in print, in the blogosphere, and all over Washington — political ideology is substituting for thought.
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Political hair apparents. It's a head game!
Do appearances matter? Sometimes. In the 1960 John F. Kennedy-Richard Nixon debate, those who watched on TV said Kennedy won. Those who heard it on the radio, said Nixon won, according to one study. Sen. John Edwards' $400 haircuts became campaign fodder in 2007, as did a $2,500 coiffure bill among Hillary Clinton's campaign expenses in 2008. What do you think, did these US politicians get their money's worth – and can you identify them?
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The Monitor's View: Go easy on free trade as top security concern
Obama and Romney see trade as the main issue in foreign policy, which helps explain why three free-trade pacts just passed Congress. But trade isn't always a matter of security. Its main purpose is creating wealth and expanding the economic pie.
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'Drill, baby, drill': Rick Perry's answer to '9-9-9' tax plan?
Rick Perry is touting domestic energy production as a way to kick-start the US economy. His hope may be to match Herman Cain's '9-9-9' tax plan for voter appeal – and revive his presidential campaign.
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Gallery: Repeat contender: Mitt Romney
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Solyndra: Did Energy Department break the law?
Solyndra loan restructuring might violate federal law, Treasury worried, according to released e-mails. House panel aims to determine Energy Department's culpability in aiding Solyndra investors ahead of taxpayers.
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In Pictures: Before Occupy Wall Street: American protests
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Obama campaign raises $70m as Republicans spar
Obama campaign: Obama has been faced with declining poll numbers and a weakened economy during the summer, prompting the president to recently call himself the 'underdog' in the presidential race.
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Assassination plot: US seeks to label Iran an international outlaw
As US diplomats show allies evidence that Iran was behind an assassination plot, they are also laying the groundwork for pursuing Iran as an international outlaw that violated a treaty.
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Bipartisan support for fixing our schools
The Historic Schools Rehabilitation Tax Credit offers developers, states, and school districts a federal tax credit to enter into public/private partnerships to help pay for modernization of schools that are on the National Register of Historic places. But is the plan too limited in scope?
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