Monday, October 31, 2011
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Friday, October 28, 2011
Radical Sheriff Arpaio Has Secret Birther Plan To Keep Obama Off 2012 Ballot
Radical Sheriff Arpaio Has Secret Birther Plan To Keep Obama Off 2012 Ballot: pThe birther movement, thought dead by multiple debunkings and the release of President Obama’s actual birth certificate, was thrust back into the national spotlight this week when Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R), a former frontrunner in the race for the GOP’s presidential nomination, called birtherism “a good issue to keep alive” and claimed he wasn’t [...]/p
CHART: Typical Hourly Wage Went Up Just $1.23 In The Last 36 Years
CHART: Typical Hourly Wage Went Up Just $1.23 In The Last 36 Years: pOur guest blogger is Laura Pereyra, special assistant for communications at the Center for American Progress Action Fund. In a speech yesterday, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) claimed that President Obama created “class resentment” by calling for slightly higher taxes on the wealthiest Americans. At the same time, Occupy Wall Street protesters continue [...]/p
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Perry Ditches Idea That Social Security Is Unconstitutional, Adopts Privatization Plan The Public Already Rejected
Perry Ditches Idea That Social Security Is Unconstitutional, Adopts Privatization Plan The Public Already Rejected: pTexas Gov. Rick Perry’s (R) views on Social Security have been well-chronicled since he jumped into the Republican presidential primary in July. In the past, Perry has called Social Security unconstitutional and a Ponzi scheme, and in his first debate appearance, he called it a “monstrous lie.” Perry’s assertions were obviously incorrect, and he drew [...]/p
In Two Charts: Why Repealing Health Reform Increases Health Care Spending
In Two Charts: Why Repealing Health Reform Increases Health Care Spending: pA new report from the Government Accountability Office shows that budgetary spending on health care would rise significantly in the long run if Obamacare were repealed. The law contains several cost-containing mechanisms — the excise tax on high cost plans and the Medicare savings — that would “slow the growth in federal health care spending [...]/p
Monday, October 24, 2011
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Saturday, October 22, 2011
CHART: How Income Inequality Skyrocketed And The 1 Percent Profited From The Decline Of Unions
CHART: How Income Inequality Skyrocketed And The 1 Percent Profited From The Decline Of Unions: pThis evening, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) will give a speech at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business about how to address income inequality, likely trying to capitalize on the 99 Percent Movement he once derided as unruly “mobs.” Although exactly what policies Cantor will suggest to deal with this social problem [...]/p
Big Banks Keep Paying A Pittance To Settle Fraud Charges
Big Banks Keep Paying A Pittance To Settle Fraud Charges: pThis week, Citigroup announced that it had settled with the Securities and Exchange Commission over charges that the mega-bank misled investors in a derivatives deal and then bet against them. Under the terms of the settlement, Citi agreed to pay $285 million. Citi is not the first bank to settle these sorts of charges with [...]/p
Iraq By The Numbers: The World’s Costliest Cakewalk
Iraq By The Numbers: The World’s Costliest Cakewalk: pThe Obama administration’s announcement of a withdrawal of all U.S. forces from Iraq by the end of the year offers the possibility of a definitive conclusion for the U.S. military’s involvement in Iraq. But while the return of all U.S. service men and women by Christmas is a cause for celebration, the costs of the [...]/p
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Climate Ethicist: Why Should People in the Future Pay to Clean Up Our Mess?
Climate Ethicist: Why Should People in the Future Pay to Clean Up Our Mess?: pThe global challenge of climate change poses a perfect moral storm — by failing to take action to rein in carbon emissions, the current generation is spreading the costs of its behavior far into the future. Why should people in the future pay to clean up our mess? by Stephen Gardiner, in a Yale Environment [...]/p
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Cain’s 999 Tax Cut For The Richest 1 Percent: $210,000 Per Year
Cain’s 999 Tax Cut For The Richest 1 Percent: $210,000 Per Year: pSeveral analyses have pointed out how Herman Cain’s much-ballyhooed 999 plan would raise taxes on low- and middle-income Americans while cutting taxes for those at the very top of the income scale. According to a new analysis by Citizens for Tax Justice, if 999 was in effect today, “the richest one percent of taxpayers would [...]/p
Supreme Court To Hear The Mother of All Corporate Immunity Cases
Supreme Court To Hear The Mother of All Corporate Immunity Cases: pThe Roberts Court is rightly mocked for its seemingly single-minded willingness to immunize corporations from the laws intended to protect ordinary Americans, but the question presented in a corporate immunity case the justices just agreed to hear is so stark that a decision granting such immunity would verge on self-parody. Or, at least, it would [...]/p
Monday, October 17, 2011
How Herman Cain’s Social Security Privatization Plan Would Cause The Nation’s Debt To Explode
How Herman Cain’s Social Security Privatization Plan Would Cause The Nation’s Debt To Explode: p2012 GOP presidential hopeful Herman Cain — when he’s not mangling the details of his own 999 tax plan — has been singing the supposed benefits of “the Chilean model” of Social Security privatization. Using the right-wing buzzword “personalization,” (instead of “privatization”) Cain claims that this model will provide a better deal for workers. As [...]/p
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Requiring Privately Owned Public Spaces Is A Recipe For Bad Public Spaces And Too Few Buildings
Requiring Privately Owned Public Spaces Is A Recipe For Bad Public Spaces And Too Few Buildings: pThis is of course not the main issue in Occupy Wall Street, but over at The Atlantic Cities, I have a post about the Privately Owned Public Spaces regulation scheme that lets property owners get a “density bonus” if they create a private park that’s open to the public. My preference, as I’m sure you [...]/p
Friday, October 14, 2011
Thursday, October 13, 2011
NEW ANALYSIS: The Three Things You Need To Know About Herman Cain’s 999 Plan
NEW ANALYSIS: The Three Things You Need To Know About Herman Cain’s 999 Plan: pOur guest blogger is Michael Linden, Director of Tax and Budget Policy at the Center for American Progress Action Fund. Herman Cain’s 999 plan was the star of the GOP’s primary debate this week, and with the increased attention has come increased scrutiny. Cain has been slow to let the details of his plan dribble [...]/p
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
House GOP Proposes So-Called ‘Let Women Die’ Bill That Lets Hospitals Deny Life-Saving Care
House GOP Proposes So-Called ‘Let Women Die’ Bill That Lets Hospitals Deny Life-Saving Care: pIn their latest assault on women’s health, this week House Republicans will take up HR 358, the ironically titled “Protect Life Act.” Opponents have rechristened the measure the “Let Women Die” bill because it would allow hospitals that receive federal funds to turn away a woman seeking an abortion in all circumstances, even if an [...]/p
Monday, October 10, 2011
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Conservative Writer Admits ‘Infiltrating’ 99 Percent Movement To ‘Mock And Undermine’ It
Conservative Writer Admits ‘Infiltrating’ 99 Percent Movement To ‘Mock And Undermine’ It: pAn assistant editor with a right-wing magazine admitted in a column Saturday evening to posing as part of the 99 Percent Movement in D.C. “in order to mock and undermine” it. Patrick Howley, an assistant editor for the American Spectator, was committed enough to his deception to be at the vanguard of a demonstration that [...]/p
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Newt’s Awful Speech Part II: Newt and Slavery
Newt’s Awful Speech Part II: Newt and Slavery: pThe following is the second in a multi-part series on former Speaker Newt Gingrich’s speech to the Values Voter Summit. Part I of this series is available here. Newt Gingrich opened his speech to religious conservative convention yesterday by attacking a Supreme Court decision holding that segregated southern states actually had to obey Brown v. [...]/p
Avid Racist Newt Gingrich.
Avid Racist Newt Gingrich.
99 Percenter Rebukes Corporate Fronts Like FreedomWorks, But Welcomes Regular Tea Party People
99 Percenter Rebukes Corporate Fronts Like FreedomWorks, But Welcomes Regular Tea Party People: pThis week, the 99 Percent Movement arrived in Sacramento as crowds gathered in Cesar Chavez Park. Dubbed OccupySacramento, the rally swelled to several hundred in a scene reminiscent of recent events from as far as Orlando, Boston, and Wichita. ThinkProgress spoke to several participants at the OccupySacramento rally. Mark Bradley, a local resident holding a [...]/p
Friday, October 7, 2011
Despite 14 Straight Months Of Public Job Loss, Republicans Continue To Block Obama’s Jobs Plan
Despite 14 Straight Months Of Public Job Loss, Republicans Continue To Block Obama’s Jobs Plan: pHopes were not high today for this month’s jobs report after the economy appeared to net exactly zero jobs in August. While the numbers beat expectations, the story behind them reveals a pervasive trend in public sector job loss that Republicans seem committed to ignoring. In August, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the [...]/p
11 Facts You Need To Know About The Nation’s Biggest Banks
11 Facts You Need To Know About The Nation’s Biggest Banks: pThe Occupy Wall Street protests that began in New York City more than three weeks ago have now spread across the country. The choice of Wall Street as the focal point for the protests — as even Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said — makes sense due to the big bank malfeasance that led to [...]/p
Obama’s Food Safety Law That Republicans Fought Could Have Prevented Tainted Melon Outbreak
Obama’s Food Safety Law That Republicans Fought Could Have Prevented Tainted Melon Outbreak: pEighteen people have now died from cantaloupes contaminated with listeria, in the deadliest food outbreak in a decade. But legislation President Obama signed into law earlier this year might have prevented their deaths if it were fully implemented, as it would give regulators the power to head off outbreaks before they even occur, as the [...]/p
Thursday, October 6, 2011
$78 Million
$78 Million: pThat is roughly how much Cook County in Illinois, which includes Chicago, spends each year to prosecute those arrested for marijuana possession. The Chicago Reader crunches the number to reach the estimate by totaling how much time and money police and courts spend on these cases. At the same time, city and county officials face [...]/p
Ron Paul: Greater Access To Birth Control Makes A ‘Mockery’ Of Christians
Ron Paul: Greater Access To Birth Control Makes A ‘Mockery’ Of Christians: pBirth control is quickly becoming the new frontier in the Republican war on women’s health as more and more anti-choice activists seek to make prevention of pregnancy impossible and possibly illegal. After the Obama administration accepted an expert panel’s recommendations that health insurance plans cover birth control with no co-pays, conservatives quickly slammed the decision [...]/p
Just another stupid and disgusting remark from Mr. Paul. So now its contraceptives that they are looking to ban
Just another stupid and disgusting remark from Mr. Paul. So now its contraceptives that they are looking to ban
Tea Party Senator Proposes Permanent Tax Giveaway To Multinational Corporations
Tea Party Senator Proposes Permanent Tax Giveaway To Multinational Corporations: pTea Party Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) — when he isn’t badly mangling the U.S. Constitution — wants to take a hatchet to the federal budget, proposing a program that “would require slashing every government program that’s not defense or Social Security (Medicare, Medicaid, veterans affairs, education, and so on) by 89.6 percent.” But at the [...]/p
Really? Where were all the signs from those fake "grassroots" Tea Party events that said give away everything to corporations? Oh, that's right, that was the actual agenda of the people who funded the Tea Party. This corrupt Tea Partier has really bad timing. Either that or his handlers in the corporate world wanted one last con/ripoff before the country really gets pissed at Wall Street and their corporate pals
Really? Where were all the signs from those fake "grassroots" Tea Party events that said give away everything to corporations? Oh, that's right, that was the actual agenda of the people who funded the Tea Party. This corrupt Tea Partier has really bad timing. Either that or his handlers in the corporate world wanted one last con/ripoff before the country really gets pissed at Wall Street and their corporate pals
Media Bias: Solyndra v. Keystone XL
Media Bias: Solyndra v. Keystone XL: pIn recent weeks, email communications between Obama administration officials and corporate executives at energy companies have come to light. Television coverage of the Solyndra photovoltaic company’s bankruptcy has been wall-to-wall, with over 190 mentions and 10 hours of coverage (led by Fox News) between Aug. 31 and Sept. 23. Meanwhile, emails from the permitting process [...]/p
Topeka, Kansas City Council Considers Decriminalizing Domestic Violence To Save Money
Topeka, Kansas City Council Considers Decriminalizing Domestic Violence To Save Money: pFaced with their worst budget crises since the Great Depression, states and cities have resorted to increasingly desperate measures to cut costs. State and local governments have laid off teachers, slashed Medicaid funding, and even started unpaving roads and turning off streetlights. But perhaps the most shocking idea to save money is being debated right [...]/p
Health Insurance & Drug Company Lobbyists Pledge $3 Million ‘Grassroots’ Health Reform Repeal Effort
Health Insurance & Drug Company Lobbyists Pledge $3 Million ‘Grassroots’ Health Reform Repeal Effort: pRoll Call reports that a new group called “Partnership for America” has announced a $3 million campaign to repeal health reform. The stated goal is to “‘freeze, investigate and replace’ the health care law known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.” The website for the group describes itself as a “grassroots” uprising to [...]/p
Follow The Money: 10 Republicans Opposing Consumer Protection Nominee Received $31 Million From Wall Street
Follow The Money: 10 Republicans Opposing Consumer Protection Nominee Received $31 Million From Wall Street: pThe Senate Banking Committee today — on a party-line 12-10 vote — approved the nomination of former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray to be the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, sending the nomination to the full Senate. Senate Republicans, of course, doubled down on their refusal to approve a nominee — any nominee [...]/p
Rep. Rehberg: Eliminating Access To Health Insurance Is ‘Most Common Sense Path’ To Reduce The Deficit
Rep. Rehberg: Eliminating Access To Health Insurance Is ‘Most Common Sense Path’ To Reduce The Deficit: pRep. Denny Rehberg (R-MT) is encouraging the Super Committee to reduce the national deficit by eliminating access to health care for lower-income families and significantly increasing costs for families earning between $29,000 and $44,000 a year. In a letter to the committee, Rehberg singles out the Affordable Care Act’s expansion of the Medicaid program and [...]/p
Gov. Walker: Wall Street Greed Has Nothing To Do With “ Real Issues“
Gov. Walker: Wall Street Greed Has Nothing To Do With “ Real Issues“
This, coming from the corrupt tea Party gov in Wisconsin. This man sold out his state on behalf of the wealthy libertarian funders of the Tea Party, the Koch brothers.
This, coming from the corrupt tea Party gov in Wisconsin. This man sold out his state on behalf of the wealthy libertarian funders of the Tea Party, the Koch brothers.
Meet The 99 Percent: After Being Laid Off Twice From Same Company, Mother Decided To Join Protests
Meet The 99 Percent: After Being Laid Off Twice From Same Company, Mother Decided To Join Protests: pThinkProgress filed this report from the Occupy Wall Street demonstration in New York City. Today, thousands of New Yorkers and other 99-Percenters marched in solidarity with more than a thousand Wall Street citizen occupiers in Zuccotti Park in New York City. While much of the media has sought to tar these demonstrators as extremists, the [...]/p
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
REPORT: Corporations That Benefited Most From 2004 Tax Break Then Slashed More Than Half A Million Jobs
REPORT: Corporations That Benefited Most From 2004 Tax Break Then Slashed More Than Half A Million Jobs: pA cadre of multinational corporations have been pushing for the revival of a tax repatriation holiday, which would allow companies to bring money that they have stashed overseas back to the United States at a dramatically lower tax rate (rather than the standard 35 percent corporate tax rate). The idea has been endorsed by many [...]/p
Lawsuits Challenging Illegal Voter Disenfranchisement Laws May Have To Wait Until It Is Too Late
Lawsuits Challenging Illegal Voter Disenfranchisement Laws May Have To Wait Until It Is Too Late: pIn preparation for the 2012 election, GOP state lawmakers launched what former President Bill Clinton described as the most determined voter disenfranchisement effort since Jim Crow. The centerpiece of this effort are so-called “voter ID” laws, which could prevent millions of voters from casting a ballot in 2012. Moreover, because the voters disenfranchised by voter [...]/p
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Pam Geller Group Board Member Calls For Mass Murder Of Congressmen, Muslims, Liberals And Journalists
Pam Geller Group Board Member Calls For Mass Murder Of Congressmen, Muslims, Liberals And Journalists: pThe anti-Muslim activist John Joseph Jay has issued a call for the mass murder of the leadership of both parties in Congress, the governors of seven states, and prominent academics, along with a demand to “burn all mosques. period.” Jay is a founding board member anti-Muslim activist Pam Geller’s group American Freedom Defense Initiative. AFDI [...]/p
German State Minister: We Can Decarbonize With Renewables Because “We Don’t Have the … Koch Brothers”
German State Minister: We Can Decarbonize With Renewables Because “We Don’t Have the … Koch Brothers”: pA state in Germany’s industrial heartland is moving quickly to replace nuclear power with renewable energy, a transition that supporters say could be applied in the United States to reduce our reliance on coal. The state of Baden-Württemberg, home to Mercedes-Benz and a strong manufacturing sector, faces abrupt changes to its energy systems as Germany [...]/p
Fox News Host Admits Network Is Trying To Build Public Enthusiasm For Health Care Repeal
Fox News Host Admits Network Is Trying To Build Public Enthusiasm For Health Care Repeal: pFox News host Bill Hemmer suggested that the conservative network was trying to build support for the repeal of the Affordable Care Act in an interview this morning with Rep. Steve King (R-IA). During a segment about the public’s waning enthusiasm for eliminating the law, King expressed concern that Americans were “making accommodations” to the [...]/p
Memo To The Media: It’s Not ‘Anti-Capitalist’ To Protest An Industry That Was Saved By Trillions Of Taxpayer Dollars
Memo To The Media: It’s Not ‘Anti-Capitalist’ To Protest An Industry That Was Saved By Trillions Of Taxpayer Dollars: pThe occupation of Wall Street has now entered its third week and protests are spreading like wildfire throughout the country. As the protests continue to grow, the media is increasingly taking notice. Yet many of these media outlets are insisting on referring to the protests as “anti-capitalist.” Here are just a few examples: – The [...]/p
Public Support For The Supreme Court Plummets
Public Support For The Supreme Court Plummets: pA new Gallup poll shows rapidly declining support for the Supreme Court: The poll also contains somewhat conflicting data regarding how the public views the Supreme Court’s ideological positions. Although the Supreme Court enjoys rising support among Republicans and rapidly falling support among Democrats, more Americans believe the Court is “too liberal” than believe that [...]/p
Monday, October 3, 2011
Top 5 Reasons Why The Occupy Wall Street Protests Embody Values Of The Real Boston Tea Party
Top 5 Reasons Why The Occupy Wall Street Protests Embody Values Of The Real Boston Tea Party: pIn recent years, the Boston Tea Party has been associated with a right-wing movement that supports policies favoring powerful corporations and the wealthy. As ThinkProgress has reported, lobbyists and Republican front groups have driven the current manifestation of the Tea Party to push for giveaways to oil companies and big businesses. However, the Occupy Wall [...]/p
Bloomberg’s Bombshell Report on “The Koch Method”: How to Steal, Cheat and Lie Your Way to the Top
Bloomberg’s Bombshell Report on “The Koch Method”: How to Steal, Cheat and Lie Your Way to the Top: pPrice fixing; bribery; safety failures; investigation cover-ups: These are just a normal part of business at Koch Industries, according to a detailed investigative report released yesterday by Bloomberg News. Koch Industries — the biggest funder of climate science denial and anti-clean energy causes — has a long history of illegal or borderline-illegal behavior that has [...]/p
Fox News Offers Wall Street Protester An Interview But Doesn’t Air It After He Slams Fox
Fox News Offers Wall Street Protester An Interview But Doesn’t Air It After He Slams Fox: pAs the occupation of Wall Street enters its third week, the New York Observer points out that the notoriously right-wing Fox News has been doing its best to dismiss the protests. Fox has had its producers try to “prank” demonstrators, and the network has aired edited video interview footage to try to mock protesters. Yet [...]/p
Has Corporate America Achieved Total Judicial Victory Over American Consumers?
Has Corporate America Achieved Total Judicial Victory Over American Consumers?: pOne of the most surprising developments during this new Supreme Court term is the relative absence of blockbuster cases that could provide corporate America with broad new immunities from laws protecting consumers and other ordinary Americans. To be sure, corporate immunity is far from absent from the Court’s docket — sub-prime credit card companies could [...]/p
The Interview That Fox News Doesn't Want You To See
Great interview conducted by the hacks over at Fox News. Naturally the right wing propaganda channel never aired it.
The Affordable Care Act Case Is Probably Only The Second Most Important Health Care Case This SCOTUS Term
The Affordable Care Act Case Is Probably Only The Second Most Important Health Care Case This SCOTUS Term: pThe Supreme Court is very unlikely to strike down the Affordable Care Act. Several of the most conservative justices have joined or authored opinions that are wholly inconsistent with meritless arguments against health reform. And, while the Roberts Court shows no lack of enthusiasm for cutting back people’s rights, they typically do not do so [...]/p
How Unequal We Are: The Top 5 Facts You Should Know About The Wealthiest One Percent Of Americans
How Unequal We Are: The Top 5 Facts You Should Know About The Wealthiest One Percent Of Americans: pAs the ongoing occupation of Wall Street by hundreds of protesters enters its third week — and as protests spread to other cities such as Boston and Los Angeles — demonstrators have endorsed a new slogan: “We are the 99 percent.” This slogan refers an economic struggle between 99 percent of Americans and the richest [...]/p
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Bloomberg News Investigation: Koch Industries Bribed Foreign Officials, Sold Petrochemical Equipment To Iran
Bloomberg News Investigation: Koch Industries Bribed Foreign Officials, Sold Petrochemical Equipment To Iran: pA new article by Bloomberg News reporters Asjylyn Loder and David Evans profiles decades of corporate crimes at the petrochemical and commodity speculating giant Koch Industries. Some of the examples, like a pipeline explosion that killed two teenagers and a cover-up of heightened benzene releases in Corpus Christi, have been well-documented. However, the report outlines [...]/p
Why There Are Protests On Wall Street: Their Actions Impoverished More Than 60 Million People
Why There Are Protests On Wall Street: Their Actions Impoverished More Than 60 Million People: pToday, over a thousand demonstrators began protests as a part of a campaign they are calling “Occupy Wall Street.” The protesters intend to engage in long-term civil disobedience to draw attention to Wall Street’s misdeeds and call for structural economic reforms. CNN Money covered the start of the campaign. Watch it: As demonstrators converged on [...]/p
Occupy Boston: Iraq Vet Fought For His Country Overseas, Now Fighting For His Country By Protesting The Banks
Occupy Boston: Iraq Vet Fought For His Country Overseas, Now Fighting For His Country By Protesting The Banks: pThe streets of Boston’s financial district are usually empty and silent on Saturday night. But this weekend, Dewey Square Park, a plot of greenery in the shadow of the Boston Federal Reserve and the State Street Bank headquarters, has turned into a small city in less than two days, filled by 75 tents and hundreds [...]/p
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