In Brief - January 22nd, 2006

Here is today's quick news digest:

• A new coalition of progressive interest groups called They Work For Us has been formed to instill discipline in congressional Democrats. The coalition includes SEIU, the United Steelworkers, MoveOn, the American Association for Justice, and Kos Media. It will target renegade Democratic lawmakers whose priorities are out of step with their constituents with primary challenges. As organizer Steve Rosenthal put it, "our PAC will encourage Democrats to act like Democrats - and if they don't - they better get out of the way."
• Puget Sound Energy has been fined to the tune of nearly $1 million for illegally selling customers' private data to an outside marketing firm. The utility admitted in a settlement earlier today that it transferred 65,000 plus phone calls from new or relocating customers to company that then attempted to sell them telephone service, lawn care, or newspaper subscriptions.
• P-I columnist Joel Connelly's column this morning (Sexism's alive and well on the right) is a must read and surely one of Joel's finest. Using a plethora of examples, he observes that prejudice is a favorite weapon of the Republican Noise Machine, a weapon that's unlikely to be laid down anytime soon.
• The Washington Post's Peter Baker and Jon Cohen have an analysis of the political mood going into tomorrow's State of the Union address. The second headline of their article cryptically reads "Iraq Overshadows Domestic Outreach". The article sifts through the results of a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, which say Bush's approval rating is at is lowest level ever and that most Americans no longer trust him to provide leadership in a time of crisis. It's no wonder the public is unhappy. The conservative agenda has been exposed very clearly as nothing less than a complete disaster and we're paying the price - not just figuratively, but literally too.

Finally, don't forget to check out NPI's improved homepage.

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