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

Romney: Cut Health Care for the Poor, Not Defense Spending

Romney: Cut Health Care for the Poor, Not Defense Spending

Former AIG CEO Sues Claiming Taxpayers Need To Pony Up $25 Billion More

Former AIG CEO Sues Claiming Taxpayers Need To Pony Up $25 Billion More: pFor many years, insurance behemoth AIG was so poorly managed that the American taxpayer eventually had to invest nearly $70 billion in the incompetently run company to prevent its collapse from taking the entire U.S. economy along with it (much of this money has since been repaid). Former AIG CEO Maurice Greenberg, however, thinks that [...]/p

The Ethical Thing To Do | Common Dreams

The Ethical Thing To Do | Common Dreams

Disgusting!

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