The Stimulist: Weekly Roundup
Editor's note: With all the bad news out there, why not bid farewell to the week with a easy-to-digest roundup of our favorite forward looking and generally optimistic stories from the fine folks at The Stimulist. We're just getting the series started, and would love to hear your feedback, good or bad. Email feedback@takepart.com to let us know what you think.
While the world turned its eyes to the Staples Center for Tuesday's touching MJ sendoff (which was more spectacle than memorial if you ask Carlos Watson), you can bet that the Ayatollahs in Tehran were happy to be out of the spotlight. Despite a new round of Iranian protests and crackdowns, it doesn't look like the #iranelection Twitter revolution is going to result in a non-virtual one—for now. Revolutions are not built in a day, and Iran's last great revolution in 1979 took more than nine years to come to fruition.
Up north in Alaska, Sarah Palin was attempting a revolution of her own. The would-be vice president raised eyebrows by declaring her independence from the governor's mansion a day before the Fourth of July, leaving politicos to ponder her motives. Whether you think Palin is gunning for a 2012 presidential bid or a spot in the Conservative pantheon, there's no doubt that she's going to be making major bank with book deals and endorsements on the horizon, not to mention the estimated $1 million in lawyer fees she'll save by dodging the executive ethics lawsuits that were coming her way.
Palin will likely use her new-found freedom to take some potshots at the Democratic health care plan from her perch atop the Republican pulpit. The Obama administration has been taking heat from the Right in recent weeks for the hefty price tag attached to his health care plan, which has resonated with the public, particularly during the ongoing recession. The Stimulist's Sean Braswell suggests the White House kill two birds with one stone by easing immigration restrictions in order to expand the tax base and the cash-strapped Treasury. With millions of immigrants waiting at (and indeed already within) our borders, why not open our doors and have them contribute to public health care?
Although the approval (or disapproval) of his health care plan may be months down the line, Obama has been making good on his campaign promise to clean up government finances. This week, the White House introduced www.usaspending.gov, a web site that tracks government spending. The site has not been fully populated with the financial data yet, but the new IT Dashboard is helping watchdogs keep an eye on how the government is spending its $70 billion IT budget—and it's asking citizens for suggestions on saving strategies.
(photo courtesy .faramarz's Flickr photostream)
