Wednesday, November 30, 2011

U.S. Collects Third-Lowest Tax Revenue In Developed World

U.S. Collects Third-Lowest Tax Revenue In Developed World: pDespite Republicans’ constant protestations that the U.S. has “a spending problem, not a tax problem,” the U.S. actually collects the third-lowest amount of tax revenue as a percentage of GDP in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. According to the OECD’s latest data, “Mexico (18.7% in 2010) and Chile (20.9%) have the lowest tax-to-GDP [...]/p

It Takes People Power to Make Clear That Corporations Are NOT People | Common Dreams

It Takes People Power to Make Clear That Corporations Are NOT People | Common Dreams

Medical Pot Under Attack: CA Federal Judge Rules Against Effort to Protect Legal Dispensaries | AlterNet

Medical Pot Under Attack: CA Federal Judge Rules Against Effort to Protect Legal Dispensaries | AlterNet

Study: States That Legalize Medical Marijuana Reduce Traffic Fatalities

Study: States That Legalize Medical Marijuana Reduce Traffic Fatalities: pOpponents of marijuana legalization often suggest that legalization would lead to an increased number of vehicle accidents. However, a new study from the Institute for the Study of Labor finds that states that legalized medical marijuana have seen a decline in traffic fatalities, the “leading cause of death for Americans age 35 and under.” According [...]/p

Josh Fox: Are We About to Witness the Liquidation Sale of New York and its Drinking Water? | Water | AlterNet

Josh Fox: Are We About to Witness the Liquidation Sale of New York and its Drinking Water? | Water | AlterNet

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Oxfam: Extreme Weather Has Helped Push Tens of Millions into “Hunger and Poverty” in “Grim Foretaste” of Warmed World

Oxfam: Extreme Weather Has Helped Push Tens of Millions into “Hunger and Poverty” in “Grim Foretaste” of Warmed World: pClimate Change Endangers Food Security Worldwide “Extreme weather like the droughts in Russia, China and Brazil and the flooding in Pakistan and Australia [in 2010] have contributed to a level of food price volatility we haven’t seen since the oil crisisof 40 years ago. Unfortunately, this could be just a taste of things to come [...]/p

Another Day, Another Unconstitutional Proposal From Newt Gingrich — This Time On Immigration

Another Day, Another Unconstitutional Proposal From Newt Gingrich — This Time On Immigration: pFew candidates in modern American history have shown deeper contempt for the Constitution than GOP presidential frontrunner Newt Gingrich. He began his campaign with an appeal to tentherism — the radical belief that most of the last 100 years violates the Constitution. Gingrich believes that he can simply ignore court decisions that he disagrees with, [...]/p

GOP Willing To Raise Payroll Taxes On 113 Million Households To Spare 345,000 Millionaires From Tiny Surtax

GOP Willing To Raise Payroll Taxes On 113 Million Households To Spare 345,000 Millionaires From Tiny Surtax: pSenate Democrats yesterday introduced legislation — as they’ve been promising to — that would extend a soon-to-expire payroll tax cut, and pay for it by implementing a surtax on income above $1 million. Republicans, of course, are opposing the plan, reviving their false claims that taxing the very wealthiest Americans will hit small businesses and [...]/p

Does the U.S. Have the World's Best Health Care System? Yes, If You're Talking About the Third World | Common Dreams

Does the U.S. Have the World's Best Health Care System? Yes, If You're Talking About the Third World | Common Dreams

Monday, November 28, 2011

College Students Across Florida Rally Against Gov. Rick Scott’s ‘Relentless Attack On Higher Education’

College Students Across Florida Rally Against Gov. Rick Scott’s ‘Relentless Attack On Higher Education’: pThroughout this week, Florida college students will hold rallies to protest Gov. Rick Scott’s (R) hostility to higher education and proposed tuition hikes: Across the state this week students at seven college campuses will gather to protest what they call a “relentless attack on higher education” by Gov. Rick Scott. Scott has been a vocal [...]/p

Voting Rights Advocate Held At Gunpoint By SWAT Team With No Warrant

Voting Rights Advocate Held At Gunpoint By SWAT Team With No Warrant

Mastermind of $850,000 Smear Campaign Against Occupy Wall Street Co-Hosting Mitt Romney Fundraiser

Mastermind of $850,000 Smear Campaign Against Occupy Wall Street Co-Hosting Mitt Romney Fundraiser: pTwo weeks ago, a leaked secret memo written by a Republican lobbying firm, Clark Lytle Geduldig & Cranford, outlined an $850,000 plan for the American Bankers Association (ABA) to combat the growing resonance of the Occupy Wall Street movement’s message — that we need an economy that works for everyone, not just the wealthiest 1 Percent. (The [...]/p

Why Your Water Bill Must Go Up

Why Your Water Bill Must Go Up

GOP Sen. Kyl Pushes Raising Payroll Taxes On Middle Class But Refuses To Raise Taxes On Millionaires

GOP Sen. Kyl Pushes Raising Payroll Taxes On Middle Class But Refuses To Raise Taxes On Millionaires: pIn a clear display of misplaced priorities, congressional fiscal super committee member Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) entirely dismissed the idea of extending the payroll tax cut for middle class families yesterday, even though failure to do so “would reduce GDP growth by 0.5 percent and cost the economy 400,000 jobs.” “The payroll tax holiday has [...]/p

Affordable Care Act Lowering Prescription Drug Costs For Seniors

Affordable Care Act Lowering Prescription Drug Costs For Seniors: pSeniors — the demographic most skeptical about health care reform — are already benefiting from provisions in the Affordable Care Act, the Associate Press’ Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar reports, as the law gradually closes the doughnut hole in Medicare Part D. The coverage gap is the result of a political compromise in the Medicare Modernization Act of [...]/p

Saturday, November 26, 2011

PERRspectives: CBO Gives Thanks to the Stimulus

PERRspectives: CBO Gives Thanks to the Stimulus

The First Amendment Upside Down. Why We Must Occupy Democracy | Common Dreams

The First Amendment Upside Down. Why We Must Occupy Democracy | Common Dreams

Berkeley Faculty: No Confidence in Chancellor Over Campus Police Violence | Common Dreams

Berkeley Faculty: No Confidence in Chancellor Over Campus Police Violence | Common Dreams

Hunger In America, By The Numbers

Hunger In America, By The Numbers: pLast year, 17.2 million households in the United States were food insecure, the highest level on record, as the Great Recession continued to wreak havoc on families across the country. Of those 17.2 million households, 3.9 million included children. On Thanksgiving Day, here’s a look at hunger in America, as millions of Americans struggle to [...]/p

7 Things Fox Viewers Are Wildly Misinformed About | Media | AlterNet

7 Things Fox Viewers Are Wildly Misinformed About | Media | AlterNet

Corporations Are Patenting Human Genes and Tissues -- Here's Why That's Terrifying | Personal Health | AlterNet

Corporations Are Patenting Human Genes and Tissues -- Here's Why That's Terrifying | Personal Health | AlterNet

The Shocking Truth About the Crackdown on Occupy | Common Dreams

The Shocking Truth About the Crackdown on Occupy | Common Dreams

The Under-Examined Story of Fallujah | Common Dreams

The Under-Examined Story of Fallujah | Common Dreams

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

United States Still Number 1 … In Health Care Spending

United States Still Number 1 … In Health Care Spending: pA new Health at a Glance 2011 report finds — to nobody’s great surprise — that the United States is leading the world in health care costs, spending some $7,960 per person in 2009 or 2.5 times the average of the 34 other countries studied: The report attributes the difference to higher than average prices [...]/p

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Monday, November 21, 2011

With 50 Million Americans In Poverty, David Vitter Proposes Gutting Food Stamp Program

With 50 Million Americans In Poverty, David Vitter Proposes Gutting Food Stamp Program: pA record number of Americans have fallen into poverty since the financial crisis sparked a deep recession in 2008, but that hasn’t stopped House and Senate Republicans from targeting the poor on their crusade to slash federal spending. In September, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul (R) declared that “the poor are getting richer even faster” than [...]/p

Seymour Hersh: Propaganda Used Ahead of Iraq War Is Now Being Reused Over Iran’s Nuke Program | AlterNet

Seymour Hersh: Propaganda Used Ahead of Iraq War Is Now Being Reused Over Iran’s Nuke Program | AlterNet

Bank Lobbying On Track To Reach Record High This Year

Bank Lobbying On Track To Reach Record High This Year: pAs the Occupy Wall Street protests have highlighted the outsize influence financial institutions wield in politics, banks’ spending on lobbying is on track to reach an all-time high this year. Lobbying expenditures by the five biggest spenders among commercial banks are up 12 percent so far this year compared to 2010, according to an analysis [...]/p

Washington Lobbyists Crafted $850,000 Secret Plan For Bank Lobbyists To Undermine Occupy Wall Street

Washington Lobbyists Crafted $850,000 Secret Plan For Bank Lobbyists To Undermine Occupy Wall Street: pThis weekend, the MSNBC show Up! With Chris Hayes broke a stunning story about how Washington lobbyists are scrambling to undermine the protesters on Wall Street and across the country. Hayes’ report, which can be viewed here, details how the Washington, D.C.-based lobbying firm Clark Lytle Geduldig & Cranford (CLGC) compiled a secret plan to [...]/p

I Questioned the Legitimacy of the Saudi Regime and Was Suspended From theNational Press Club | Truthout

I Questioned the Legitimacy of the Saudi Regime and Was Suspended From theNational Press Club | Truthout

Saturday, November 19, 2011

What Would TJ Do?

What Would TJ Do?

House Science Cuts Don’t Make the Cut

House Science Cuts Don’t Make the Cut

The Constitution: A Love Story

The Constitution: A Love Story

1914 Déjà Vu in the South China Sea | Common Dreams

1914 Déjà Vu in the South China Sea | Common Dreams

Karl Rove Calls #OccupyBaltimore Protesters Fascists After They Interrupted His Speech at Johns Hopkins

Karl Rove Calls #OccupyBaltimore Protesters Fascists After They Interrupted His Speech at Johns Hopkins

Gingrich: Secularism Is Responsible For ‘All The Problems We Have’

Gingrich: Secularism Is Responsible For ‘All The Problems We Have’: pNewt Gingrich said that America’s problem are the result of the country’s growing secularism, telling the FAMiLY Leader’s Thanksgiving Family Forum, “A country that has been now since 1963 relentlessly in the courts driving God out of public life shouldn’t be surprised at all the problems we have. Because we’ve in fact attempted to create [...]/p

Idiot

Chris Hayes: Occupy Wall Street And Lobbying Firm Memo To Undermine It

Occupy Oakland: Police Beat War Vet, Vet Hospitalized

Banks, Pentagon and Academic Pusillanimousness | Common Dreams

Banks, Pentagon and Academic Pusillanimousness | Common Dreams

Dear Republican Party

Dear Republican Party

Republican candidates gather for 'family issues' hatefest forum

Republican candidates gather for 'family issues' hatefest forum

Former JPMorgan Banker: Exploiting Consumers Is ‘The Purpose Of The Banking Organization’ | | AlterNet

Former JPMorgan Banker: Exploiting Consumers Is ‘The Purpose Of The Banking Organization’ | | AlterNet

Rep. Paul Ryan Votes Against Balanced Budget Amendment Because It Doesn’t Ruin The Constitution Enough

Rep. Paul Ryan Votes Against Balanced Budget Amendment Because It Doesn’t Ruin The Constitution Enough: pEarlier this afternoon, just 261 members of the House voted in favor of a balanced budget amendment — far fewer that the two-thirds majority necessary for the amendment to move forward. One somewhat surprising “no” vote was House Budget Chair Paul Ryan (R-WI). Ryan is the House GOP’s chief Chicken Little on the deficit — [...]/p

Police Attack Peaceful UC Davis Students With Pepper Spray

Police Attack Peaceful UC Davis Students With Pepper Spray: pYesterday, a group of students at the University of California Davis staged a sit-in to protect their occupation encampment and demand the release of those who had already been arrested. Police dressed in riot gear approached the peaceful group of students and began attacking them with peppy spray, forcing them to cover their faces. Many [...]/p

99% vs 1% The Data Behind The Movement

Thom Hartmann: Blood Sucking Leeches vs Single Payer

Thom Hartmann: How A City Thrives Or Dies

The Party Of Know Nothing

The Root Of Newt's Scammed Loot

Caught on Camera: 10 Shockingly Violent Police Assaults on Occupy Protesters | Occupy Wall Street | AlterNet

Caught on Camera: 10 Shockingly Violent Police Assaults on Occupy Protesters | Occupy Wall Street | AlterNet

Consensus

Video Spreads of UC Davis Cops Pepper Spraying Occupy Students | Common Dreams

Video Spreads of UC Davis Cops Pepper Spraying Occupy Students | Common Dreams

Occupy Oakland: Footage Shows Police Beating 'Peaceful' Iraq War Veteran | Common Dreams

Occupy Oakland: Footage Shows Police Beating 'Peaceful' Iraq War Veteran | Common Dreams

CLGC Lobbying Firm's Memo Spells Out Plan to Undermine #OWS: Chris Hayes

CLGC Lobbying Firm's Memo Spells Out Plan to Undermine #OWS: Chris Hayes

Occupy Wall Street: Media Spin

Key Republican backed loans to failed solar energy firm

Key Republican backed loans to failed solar energy firm

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Smear Campaigns Fuel Shutdowns of Occupations Across Country | Truthout

Smear Campaigns Fuel Shutdowns of Occupations Across Country | Truthout

CHART: Median Income For Young Adult Males Has Dropped 10 Percent Since 1980

CHART: Median Income For Young Adult Males Has Dropped 10 Percent Since 1980: pThe unemployment rate for teens and young adults under age 24 is a staggering 16.7 percent, and recent polls have shown that young adults are pessimistic about their financial future. Today, Demos released a chart showing even more bad news for young adult males. According to this chart, the median annual income for young adult [...]/p

Report: Health Reform Could Save Families $2,161 Annually By 2020

Report: Health Reform Could Save Families $2,161 Annually By 2020: pHealth insurance premiums for employer-sponsored coverage increased by 50 percent from 2003 to 2010 and will “rise 72 percent by 2020, to nearly $24,000″ if Congress repeals the Affordable Care Act, a new report from the Commonwealth Fund concludes. Over the last seven years, premiums outpaced income growth in every state, as employees contributed an [...]/p

Fox Nation: ‘God Bless Income Disparity’

Fox Nation: ‘God Bless Income Disparity’: pPolls show that Americans are increasingly concerned with growing income inequality in the country, but conservative news outlets and think tanks are pushing back with their own reports praising the widening gap between the rich and everyone else. The Heritage Foundation, for instance, argued on their blog that “economic inequality is not necessarily an injustice, [...]/p

The Balanced Budget Amendment Isn’t Just A Terrible Idea, It’s A Terrible Idea For Conservatives

The Balanced Budget Amendment Isn’t Just A Terrible Idea, It’s A Terrible Idea For Conservatives: pLater today, the House is expected to begin debate on a balanced budget amendment, with most of the amendment’s supporters hoping that it will impose sweeping and permanent austerity upon the United States. As ThinkProgress reported, if this amendment actually succeeded in balancing the budget entirely through spending cuts, it would “throw about 15 million [...]/p

Not Just Freddie Mac: Newt Gingrich’s Long History Of Influence Peddling For His Corporate Clients

Not Just Freddie Mac: Newt Gingrich’s Long History Of Influence Peddling For His Corporate Clients: pCaught flatfooted in the CNBC debate when a moderator asked about his past work for Freddie Mac, Newt Gingrich has since twisted and turned, making up every excuse under the sun to obscure his post-politician career as a K Street operator. Despite the revelation that he was paid at least $1.6 million by the troubled [...]/p

Michael Bloomberg: The Villain Occupy Wall Street Has Been Waiting For | Common Dreams

Michael Bloomberg: The Villain Occupy Wall Street Has Been Waiting For | Common Dreams

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Another incident of domestic terrorism thwarted; another Fox News connection

Another incident of domestic terrorism thwarted; another Fox News connection

Bill Moyers: Our Politicians Are Money Launderers Not Too Different from Tony Soprano | Occupy Wall Street | AlterNet

Bill Moyers: Our Politicians Are Money Launderers Not Too Different from Tony Soprano | Occupy Wall Street | AlterNet

Thom Hartmann: As World Population Reaches 7 Billion, What Will Save Us From Ourselves? | Activism & Vision | AlterNet

Thom Hartmann: As World Population Reaches 7 Billion, What Will Save Us From Ourselves? | Activism & Vision | AlterNet

The Right Wing's Insurrectionist Mindset

The Right Wing's Insurrectionist Mindset

Budget cuts slash childrens' programs across the country

Budget cuts slash childrens' programs across the country

With People in the Streets, 1 Percent Congress Continues to Push Austerity | Truthout

With People in the Streets, 1 Percent Congress Continues to Push Austerity | Truthout

Mitt Romney Promises to Raise Retirement Age, Privatize Medicare and Slash Government Jobs at Koch Brothers Event

Mitt Romney Promises to Raise Retirement Age, Privatize Medicare and Slash Government Jobs at Koch Brothers Event