“The Christmas Spirit”.
Yes, it happens every year; it can’t be escaped. The Christmas Spirit sneaks up and grabs our Scrooge sour disposition and takes us into that breathtaking transformational world of hope, promise, kindness, and charity.
It is the time of giving and receiving, a time for forgiving, and a time for consideration and compassion for others. This is the time to remember it is about love and good will and opening our hearts.
The Christmas Spirit is the enchanted world of possible dreams and promising visions. During the holidays we are brought back to a childlike state of wishful minds and the carefree faith of childhood, enfolded into optimistic innocence, simplistic warmth and untainted courage and strength.
The carefree confidence of childhood is where the goodness of the human spirit resides; it is the goodness of humanity.
The goodness of humanity will always be Love; it is the unique, everlasting phenomenon of life. We may not be able to touch it, smell it, or quite understand it, and we may even at many times be confused by it. But it is real, just as the Spirit of Christmas is real.
As we grow from childhood to adulthood, we leave behind the belief of Santa but the belief of love lives on. The Spirit of Christmas, that boundless sincerity of love, the giving of one’s self, is never outgrown and always lives within us. We just have to reach in, grab it and live it.
And if, somehow, the remembrance of the fundamental meaning of Christmas is overlooked, forgotten or fades, and sometimes even fought over. Do not fear all you Hum Buggers out there like me, for each year, we are renewed again.
The true meaning of Christmas will forever be a communal celebration of Love.
We do possess the knowledge to keep Christmas well.
For the spirit of Christmas fulfills the greatest hunger of mankind. ~Loring A. Schuler
Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.
Susan Thur
The Spirit of Christmas- My Take On It - SusanThur - Open Salon
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Friday, December 16, 2011
Friday, December 9, 2011
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Bomb Buried in Obamacare Explodes - Hallelujah!
That would be the provision of the law, called the medical loss ratio, that requires health insurance companies to spend 80% of the consumers' premium dollars they collect - 85% for large group insurers - on actual medical care rather than overhead, marketing expenses and profit.
Bomb Buried in Obamacare Explodes - Hallelujah!
Bomb Buried in Obamacare Explodes - Hallelujah!
Monday, December 5, 2011
Forget Hope. Obama Has A New Strategy For 2012
The new theme: "everyone engages in fair play, everyone does their fair share, and everyone gets a fair shot."
In a word: Fairness.
Forget Hope. Obama Has A New Strategy For 2012
In a word: Fairness.
Forget Hope. Obama Has A New Strategy For 2012
Friday, December 2, 2011
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Bush tax cuts for the top 1% are greater than the income of the rest of America
Bush tax cuts for the top 1% are greater than the income of the rest of America: As the Occupy Wall Street protests continue to grow by the day across the country, the reality is that nothing is being done about it in Washington. The "
Friday, November 25, 2011
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Friday, November 18, 2011
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Friday, November 4, 2011
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Leslie H. Gelb Argues That Neocons Like Bill Kristol Are Back to Warmongering - The Daily Beast
They’re back! The neoconservatives who gave America clueless, unpaid-for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, plus a near doubling of military expenditures, during the Bush years have risen from their political graves. Someone, maybe a media tiring of President Obama’s interminable plight, pulled the stake from their heart. Now they’ve returned to the op-ed pages, the talk shows, the think-tank discussions, and the advisory ranks of Republican presidential candidates.
Leslie H. Gelb Argues That Neocons Like Bill Kristol Are Back to Warmongering - The Daily Beast
Leslie H. Gelb Argues That Neocons Like Bill Kristol Are Back to Warmongering - The Daily Beast
Cenk Uygur: How To Regain Our Democracy
Our politicians are bought. Everyone knows it. Conservatives know it just as much as liberals do. And libertarians have probably known it all along. The Democrats are bought and the Republicans even more so. They don't represent us. They represent their donors. We have taxation without representation. Our democracy is in serious trouble.
Cenk Uygur: How To Regain Our Democracy
Cenk Uygur: How To Regain Our Democracy
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Occupy Wall Street-How I see it Also as a 99%
My college age daughter is attending the Wall Street Protest in New Orleans. Her eyes are open to what is happening to our Democracy, along with the other young people in her college group.
Since I can't go to the New Orleans Protest and I feel I should do my part-- I will do what I like to do best---Write.
Here is ---How I see it and what I have seen for a while now.
Occupy WallStreet October 2011
The financial chaos in 2008 began with Wall Street. However, this did not happen overnight. It took years of policies (under Democrats & Republicans) that has led us to where we are today by changing the basic structures of banking. There used to be a very well-defined division between commercial banks and investment banks. The biggest political decision and banking reform was in 1999, when parts of the Glass-Steagall Act were repealed. Now we have big banks which are too big to fail and rich hedge fund managers gambling with the money. They gambled big in the years up to 2008 and lost big. The American people (99%ers) bailed out the banks, many people (99%ers) lost their homes, many of us (99%ers) lost money in our IRA’s & 401k’s, and big business lost money and started firing workers (99%ers). The bubble burst in 2008 and the American economy went with it.
The figures in 2009, state, 400 Americans have more wealth than half of all Americans. Much like in Cairo, and in London, and in Athens-the protests are about too many Have Nots.
The problem is NOT –I repeat--- The problem is NOT the Teachers or Laborers, or the Unions, or the Poor, or Immigrants, or the Working Class with their earned income credit, or spending on Entitlements, it is not the Middle Class or your mom on Social Security or your grandfather on Medicare. Money and most important the Political power in the hands of the few is the injustice. It is not the 99%ers that are in charge but the 1%ers. The middle class continues to shrink, and the number of poor has grown.
The Haves have the money, has the power, and have too much political power to buy our politicians and our Democracy. Is anyone asking why nothing gets done in Washington? Because the HAVES like it that way! Until there is Banking Reform, Tax Reform and Trade Reform, nothing in America will change. And I don’t think the Haves want large and sufficient modification in Banking Reform, Tax Reform and Trade Reform. Big corporations sit on $2 Trillion holding back the money as they wait for the 2012 elections, while the American economy slows and the 99%ers suffer.
Until we get the money out of politics nothing will change. And things are only going to get worse. The Supreme Court ruling of Citizens United is an awful ruling, which will put more money into politics and elections. In the election of 2012--the 99%ers will not even know who is giving money to whom.
Billionaire Warren Buffett recently remarked that the class war is already over; his class won. They win elections, they win getting their way, they win with the tax code, they win with weak banking rules and they win the politicians. They employ successful Lobbyist to keep the rules in their favour, hence the repeal in 1999 of the Glass-Steagall Act and the recent Supreme Court ruling of Citizens United.
In America we have a very resilient and robust Wall Street; and a downcast and depressed Main Street. And the object of the game is to keep the downcast Main Street (99%ers) ignorant to what is going on. They keep the low information voters busy with the stupid stuff, the crazy political issues that are not real issues at all. Instead of doing their political homework they inadequately attempt to entertain and persuade with simplistic talking points and slogans and misinformation email forwards. This is an intellect insult to the ones that know better -- the ones doing their political homework. But more importantly, unbeknownst to the unaware, it is an intellect insult to them too.
It takes a lot of work to be politically savvy—to be in the “know” – with each informative magazine & article read, with each intelligent TV Program watched, with each rational and sensible Political Talk show viewed, with each illuminating newspaper read-- gathering more and more information is needed to figure-- What THE HELL is going on! Don't think you can do it watching one political News Cable Channel. If you think so--you are deceiving yourself. This unfairness taken place is to ourselves and to our country.
And now finally we see the protest on Wall Street and in many other cities around the country attended by many of our young people. This new generation is showing us the way. By their demonstrations and protests they obviously see the dilemma. Finally, the real problem will come out of the darkness and the young will lead us into the light.
The protest called Occupy Wall Street is not about begrudging the rich. Although, I have seen and heard recently, many people begrudging the poor. This is not about beating up on capitalism. This is about fairness and injustices. It is about American’s Democracy eroding away for the 99%ers. It is about losing our Democracy to Corporate Governance.
The Government is not the root of the illness, its infection of dysfunction is the symptom. Through the years, our governmental systems, our politicians, and the office of the Presidency is held hostage to big money- rich special interest- corporate bought system. Pay to Play is the norm. They are caught in this system with no way out until the 99%ers apply the pressure needed to change the process.
"At the root of America’s economic crisis lies a moral crisis: the decline of civic virtue among America’s political and economic elite. A society of markets, laws and elections is not enough if the rich and powerful fail to behave with respect, honesty and compassion toward the rest of society and the world." ~ Jeffrey Sachs -The Price of Civilization
The media (Corporate Media) for far too long have not informed the people well and kept us pretty much in the “unknown” for a reason. I am sure we will hear the media reporting the protesters are young people, lazy and don’t want to work, or they are hippies, or their arresting them because they are trouble makers. Don’t believe it! Don’t be fooled!
These are the people conscious and responsive to what is going on in America. They see the damages of inequality--they have done their homework. They know the root of the breakdown IS not and WERE not the results of the 2008 Presidential election, which immediately and quickly spurred protest with vitriol anti-government rhetoric.
It is this young generation, the ones that care, the ones with their eyes open to what is really happening in the world, these are the ones that will change the things that need changing.
Change does not happen from the Top--they change from the Bottom---from the people----the 99%ers!
There would be no Honey without the Bees.
SusanThur A 99%
Go 99%ers, I am with you in Spirit
Since I can't go to the New Orleans Protest and I feel I should do my part-- I will do what I like to do best---Write.
Here is ---How I see it and what I have seen for a while now.
Occupy WallStreet October 2011
The financial chaos in 2008 began with Wall Street. However, this did not happen overnight. It took years of policies (under Democrats & Republicans) that has led us to where we are today by changing the basic structures of banking. There used to be a very well-defined division between commercial banks and investment banks. The biggest political decision and banking reform was in 1999, when parts of the Glass-Steagall Act were repealed. Now we have big banks which are too big to fail and rich hedge fund managers gambling with the money. They gambled big in the years up to 2008 and lost big. The American people (99%ers) bailed out the banks, many people (99%ers) lost their homes, many of us (99%ers) lost money in our IRA’s & 401k’s, and big business lost money and started firing workers (99%ers). The bubble burst in 2008 and the American economy went with it.
The figures in 2009, state, 400 Americans have more wealth than half of all Americans. Much like in Cairo, and in London, and in Athens-the protests are about too many Have Nots.
The problem is NOT –I repeat--- The problem is NOT the Teachers or Laborers, or the Unions, or the Poor, or Immigrants, or the Working Class with their earned income credit, or spending on Entitlements, it is not the Middle Class or your mom on Social Security or your grandfather on Medicare. Money and most important the Political power in the hands of the few is the injustice. It is not the 99%ers that are in charge but the 1%ers. The middle class continues to shrink, and the number of poor has grown.
The Haves have the money, has the power, and have too much political power to buy our politicians and our Democracy. Is anyone asking why nothing gets done in Washington? Because the HAVES like it that way! Until there is Banking Reform, Tax Reform and Trade Reform, nothing in America will change. And I don’t think the Haves want large and sufficient modification in Banking Reform, Tax Reform and Trade Reform. Big corporations sit on $2 Trillion holding back the money as they wait for the 2012 elections, while the American economy slows and the 99%ers suffer.
Until we get the money out of politics nothing will change. And things are only going to get worse. The Supreme Court ruling of Citizens United is an awful ruling, which will put more money into politics and elections. In the election of 2012--the 99%ers will not even know who is giving money to whom.
Billionaire Warren Buffett recently remarked that the class war is already over; his class won. They win elections, they win getting their way, they win with the tax code, they win with weak banking rules and they win the politicians. They employ successful Lobbyist to keep the rules in their favour, hence the repeal in 1999 of the Glass-Steagall Act and the recent Supreme Court ruling of Citizens United.
In America we have a very resilient and robust Wall Street; and a downcast and depressed Main Street. And the object of the game is to keep the downcast Main Street (99%ers) ignorant to what is going on. They keep the low information voters busy with the stupid stuff, the crazy political issues that are not real issues at all. Instead of doing their political homework they inadequately attempt to entertain and persuade with simplistic talking points and slogans and misinformation email forwards. This is an intellect insult to the ones that know better -- the ones doing their political homework. But more importantly, unbeknownst to the unaware, it is an intellect insult to them too.
It takes a lot of work to be politically savvy—to be in the “know” – with each informative magazine & article read, with each intelligent TV Program watched, with each rational and sensible Political Talk show viewed, with each illuminating newspaper read-- gathering more and more information is needed to figure-- What THE HELL is going on! Don't think you can do it watching one political News Cable Channel. If you think so--you are deceiving yourself. This unfairness taken place is to ourselves and to our country.
And now finally we see the protest on Wall Street and in many other cities around the country attended by many of our young people. This new generation is showing us the way. By their demonstrations and protests they obviously see the dilemma. Finally, the real problem will come out of the darkness and the young will lead us into the light.
The protest called Occupy Wall Street is not about begrudging the rich. Although, I have seen and heard recently, many people begrudging the poor. This is not about beating up on capitalism. This is about fairness and injustices. It is about American’s Democracy eroding away for the 99%ers. It is about losing our Democracy to Corporate Governance.
The Government is not the root of the illness, its infection of dysfunction is the symptom. Through the years, our governmental systems, our politicians, and the office of the Presidency is held hostage to big money- rich special interest- corporate bought system. Pay to Play is the norm. They are caught in this system with no way out until the 99%ers apply the pressure needed to change the process.
"At the root of America’s economic crisis lies a moral crisis: the decline of civic virtue among America’s political and economic elite. A society of markets, laws and elections is not enough if the rich and powerful fail to behave with respect, honesty and compassion toward the rest of society and the world." ~ Jeffrey Sachs -The Price of Civilization
The media (Corporate Media) for far too long have not informed the people well and kept us pretty much in the “unknown” for a reason. I am sure we will hear the media reporting the protesters are young people, lazy and don’t want to work, or they are hippies, or their arresting them because they are trouble makers. Don’t believe it! Don’t be fooled!
These are the people conscious and responsive to what is going on in America. They see the damages of inequality--they have done their homework. They know the root of the breakdown IS not and WERE not the results of the 2008 Presidential election, which immediately and quickly spurred protest with vitriol anti-government rhetoric.
It is this young generation, the ones that care, the ones with their eyes open to what is really happening in the world, these are the ones that will change the things that need changing.
Change does not happen from the Top--they change from the Bottom---from the people----the 99%ers!
There would be no Honey without the Bees.
SusanThur A 99%
Go 99%ers, I am with you in Spirit
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Government Private Contractors Hinder Fight on Terrorism - The Daily Beast
New reports of the shocking number of private contractors working on secret U.S. government programs challenge the belief that they save money—and mock transparent government. Reporter Dana Priest says we need a full accounting if we’re going to continue to fight terrorism successfully.
Government Private Contractors Hinder Fight on Terrorism - The Daily Beast
Government Private Contractors Hinder Fight on Terrorism - The Daily Beast
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Phony Fear Factor - NYTimes.com
The good news: After spending a year and a half talking about deficits, deficits, deficits when we should have been talking about jobs, job, jobs we’re finally back to discussing the right issue.
Phony Fear Factor - NYTimes.com
Phony Fear Factor - NYTimes.com
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Whatever Happened to the American Left?
To paraphrase the labor martyr Joe Hill, the left should stop mourning its recent past and start organizing to change the future
Whatever Happened to the American Left?
Whatever Happened to the American Left?
Is the GOP a Religion?
If you ask why I remain such a strong Obama supporter, it is because I see him as that rare individual able to withstand the zeal without becoming a zealot in response, and to overcome the recklessness of pure religious ideology with pragmatism, civility and reason.
Is the GOP a Religion?
Is the GOP a Religion?
Friday, September 23, 2011
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
FOCUS: America's Lost Decade
The sad truth is that the past decade has been the worst for this country in 100 years.
FOCUS: America's Lost Decade
FOCUS: America's Lost Decade
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Friday, September 16, 2011
Monday, September 12, 2011
Who owns America? Hint: It's not China – Global Public Square - CNN.com Blogs
Here's a quick and fascinating breakdown by total amount held and percentage of total U.S. debt, according to Business Insider:
•Hong Kong: $121.9 billion (0.9 percent)
•Caribbean banking centers: $148.3 (1 percent)
•Taiwan: $153.4 billion (1.1 percent)
•Brazil: $211.4 billion (1.5 percent)
•Oil exporting countries: $229.8 billion (1.6 percent)
•Mutual funds: $300.5 billion (2 percent)
•Commercial banks: $301.8 billion (2.1 percent)
•State, local and federal retirement funds: $320.9 billion (2.2 percent)
•Money market mutual funds: $337.7 billion (2.4 percent)
•United Kingdom: $346.5 billion (2.4 percent)
•Private pension funds: $504.7 billion (3.5 percent)
•State and local governments: $506.1 billion (3.5 percent)
•Japan: $912.4 billion (6.4 percent)
•U.S. households: $959.4 billion (6.6 percent)
•China: $1.16 trillion (8 percent)
•The U.S. Treasury: $1.63 trillion (11.3 percent)
•Social Security trust fund: $2.67 trillion (19 percent)
So America owes foreigners about $4.5 trillion in debt. But America owes America $9.8 trillion.
Who owns America? Hint: It's not China – Global Public Square - CNN.com Blogs
•Hong Kong: $121.9 billion (0.9 percent)
•Caribbean banking centers: $148.3 (1 percent)
•Taiwan: $153.4 billion (1.1 percent)
•Brazil: $211.4 billion (1.5 percent)
•Oil exporting countries: $229.8 billion (1.6 percent)
•Mutual funds: $300.5 billion (2 percent)
•Commercial banks: $301.8 billion (2.1 percent)
•State, local and federal retirement funds: $320.9 billion (2.2 percent)
•Money market mutual funds: $337.7 billion (2.4 percent)
•United Kingdom: $346.5 billion (2.4 percent)
•Private pension funds: $504.7 billion (3.5 percent)
•State and local governments: $506.1 billion (3.5 percent)
•Japan: $912.4 billion (6.4 percent)
•U.S. households: $959.4 billion (6.6 percent)
•China: $1.16 trillion (8 percent)
•The U.S. Treasury: $1.63 trillion (11.3 percent)
•Social Security trust fund: $2.67 trillion (19 percent)
So America owes foreigners about $4.5 trillion in debt. But America owes America $9.8 trillion.
Who owns America? Hint: It's not China – Global Public Square - CNN.com Blogs
GOP and Obama's jobs plan: Do Republicans oppose the president's economic policies for ideological reasons or political ones? - By Jacob Weisberg - Slate Magazine
You can't stop President Obama from reaching out to Republicans; it's what he does. In Thursday night's speech, he tried two separate maneuvers—reminding them of their support for stimulus measures in the past and accepting the good faith of their opposition. "Now, I realize that some of you have a different theory on how to grow the economy," he said. "Some of you sincerely believe that the only solution to our economic challenges is to simply cut most government spending and eliminate most government regulations."
GOP and Obama's jobs plan: Do Republicans oppose the president's economic policies for ideological reasons or political ones? - By Jacob Weisberg - Slate Magazine
GOP and Obama's jobs plan: Do Republicans oppose the president's economic policies for ideological reasons or political ones? - By Jacob Weisberg - Slate Magazine
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Speculators swamping oil, grain markets
In the sharpest criticism yet of excessive speculation in oil markets, the head of a key regulatory agency presented data Thursday showing that almost nine in 10 traders betting that oil prices would rise were financial speculators, not actual end-users of oil
Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/06/09/115551/key-regulator-speculators-swamping.html#ixzz1VudJA9gc
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/06/09/115551/key-regulator-speculators-swamping.html
Corporate Power Decried By Former Lawmaker
Because [corporations] have become so international and global in nature, it's highly questionable whether governments can actually control corporations to a sufficient degree to prevent them from controlling governments,"
Corporate Power Decried By Former Lawmaker
Corporate Power Decried By Former Lawmaker
"What Was Really Great About The Great Society" by Joseph A. Califano Jr.
Without such programs as Head Start, higher-education loans and scholarships, Medicare, Medicaid, clear air and water, and civil rights, life would be nastier, more brutish, and shorter for millions of Americans.
"What Was Really Great About The Great Society" by Joseph A. Califano Jr.
"What Was Really Great About The Great Society" by Joseph A. Califano Jr.
Concerns About the Religious Right Are Not Overblown | Psychology Today
In a Washington Post On Faith column a few days ago, Lisa Miller, a senior Newsweek religion writer, makes a rather puzzling argument, saying that concerns of secular progressives about the influence of conservative religion in presidential politics are overblown. "Here we go again," she complains. "The Republican primaries are six months away, and already news stories are raising fears on the left about 'crazy Christians.
Concerns About the Religious Right Are Not Overblown | Psychology Today
Concerns About the Religious Right Are Not Overblown | Psychology Today
Monday, August 15, 2011
TIME: Fareed Zakaria-The Pragmatic President
Obama’s temperament was eloquently expressed by the late Bart Giamatti, a former president of Yale and former baseball commissioner, when he urged students not to fall prey to ideology from the right or left and to celebrate the democratic process that balances the two extremes. “My middle view is the view of the centrist,” he said, before quoting law professor Alexander Bickel, “who would ... fix ‘our eyes on that middle distance, where values are provisionally held, are tested, and evolve within the legal order derived ... from the morality of consent.’ To set one’s course by such a centrist view is to leave oneself open to the charges, hurled by the completely faithful of some extreme, of being relativistic, opportunistically flexible, secular, passive, passionless ... Be of good cheer ... To act according to an open and principled pragmatism, to believe in the power of process, is in fact to work for the good.”
TIME: Fareed Zakaria
TIME: Fareed Zakaria
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Is Standard and Poor’s Manipulating US Debt Rating to Escape Liability for the Mortgage Crisis? | Firedoglake
Whatever S&P’s agenda, it has nothing to do with avoiding default risks or putting the US on sound fiscal footing. It appears to be intertwined with their attempts to absolve themselves from responsibility for their role in the 2008 financial crisis, and they are willing to manipulate not only the 2012 election but the world economy to escape the SEC’s attempts to regulate them.
It’s time the media and Congress started asking Standard and Poors what their political agenda is and whom it serves.
Is Standard and Poor’s Manipulating US Debt Rating to Escape Liability for the Mortgage Crisis? | Firedoglake
It’s time the media and Congress started asking Standard and Poors what their political agenda is and whom it serves.
Is Standard and Poor’s Manipulating US Debt Rating to Escape Liability for the Mortgage Crisis? | Firedoglake
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Oh, you want a dictatorship! | Norbrook's Blog
The far Left and the far Right both have some things in common. They both have an innate belief that they, and only they, know the “truth” and want to “save the country.” The other thing they have in common is a complete inability to understand the Constitution, although they’re more than willing to use it as a convenient justification. Virtually everything they say circles around it. Read them, and you hear the same things. The President should have “forced” Congress to do something, the President should “demand” they do this, the President should have “done” that by Executive Order. He needs to be strong and forceful. Reading all those comments, either in favor if their party is in the Presidency or worrying about it if their party isn’t, just tells me one thing: They don’t want the system of government we have.
Oh, you want a dictatorship! | Norbrook's Blog
Oh, you want a dictatorship! | Norbrook's Blog
Thursday, August 4, 2011
The Tea Party, the debt ceiling, and white Southern extremism - War Room - Salon.com
The debt ceiling crisis is the latest case in which the radical right in the South has held America hostage until its demands are met. Presidents Andrew Jackson and Abraham Lincoln refused to appease the Southern fanatics. Unfortunately, President Obama and the Democrats in Congress chose not to follow their example and instead gave in. In doing so, they have encouraged the neo-Confederate minority in Congress to find yet another opportunity in the near future to extort concessions from America's majority by sabotaging America's government.
The Tea Party, the debt ceiling, and white Southern extremism - War Room - Salon.com
The Tea Party, the debt ceiling, and white Southern extremism - War Room - Salon.com
The Crisis in Washington: Where We Are and How We Got Here - Jared Bernstein, The Atlantic - NationalJournal.com
But mostly, it's a story of destructive ideas (self-regulation, supply-side economics) amplified by powerful political forces to claim an ever-growing share of national output, such that by the end of this period, the share of income held by the top one percent--over 20 percent--was more than double its level before this brief history began. And this is, of course, a zero-sum calculation. Their gains in share were the bottom 99 percent's losses.
The Crisis in Washington: Where We Are and How We Got Here - Jared Bernstein, The Atlantic - NationalJournal.com
The Crisis in Washington: Where We Are and How We Got Here - Jared Bernstein, The Atlantic - NationalJournal.com
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
The Willful Ignorance That Has Dragged the US to the Brink | Common Dreams
The Tea Party version of the American Revolution is not just fundamentalist: it is also Disneyfied, sentimentalized, and whitewashed. It rests on a naïve, solipsistic and exceptionalist faith that for America it will all work out in the end, because America is "the greatest nation in the world". They take solace in tautology: America is great – this they know – because Fox News tells them so.
The Willful Ignorance That Has Dragged the US to the Brink | Common Dreams
The Willful Ignorance That Has Dragged the US to the Brink | Common Dreams
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Monday, August 1, 2011
Debt Deal: How Obama Helped Himself in 2012 Campaign - The Daily Beast
Disenchanted liberals may eventually think better of Obama, especially if the next stage of the deficit deal produces some of that 'shared sacrifice.'
Debt Deal: How Obama Helped Himself in 2012 Campaign - The Daily Beast
Debt Deal: How Obama Helped Himself in 2012 Campaign - The Daily Beast
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Deficits: There never was a surplus | The Economist
The Bush tax cuts did the opposite: $3 trillion worth of tax cuts were predicated on the premise that we were returning the people "their" money. As it turned out, the money wasn't there to return. Even without the tax cuts, the wars, or anything else, the government would have entered 2011 with $1.3 trillion in debt, not $2.3 trillion in savings. Basically, in the grip of careless enthusiasm about the economic future, we borrowed $3 trillion from bond markets and handed it out to citizens in rough proportion to how rich they already were. In the middle of a recovery. This is not a useful thing for the government to do.
Deficits: There never was a surplus | The Economist
Deficits: There never was a surplus | The Economist
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Friday, July 29, 2011
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
How to Turn Republicans and Democrats Into Americans - Magazine - The Atlantic
An insider’s six-step plan to fix Congress
How to Turn Republicans and Democrats Into Americans - Magazine - The Atlantic
How to Turn Republicans and Democrats Into Americans - Magazine - The Atlantic
Friday, July 22, 2011
Does Washington have a spending problem or an income problem?-FactCheck.org
Does Washington have a spending problem or an income problem? FactCheck.org: http://bit.ly/p3H1cZ
Fiscal FactCheck | FactCheck.org
Fiscal FactCheck | FactCheck.org
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Worst Is Yet to Come for News Corp.
The emotional supercharge of 9/11 in the US is many times greater than Milly Dowler in the UK - and look what happened here.
Commentators have compared the crisis to Watergate; Carl Bernstein, the former Washington Post reporter whose revelations helped depose a US president, says it is evident to him the events of the past week "are the beginning, not the end, of the seismic event".
To coin a famous Murdoch newspaper headline: will the last person to leave News Corporation turn off the lights?
Worst Is Yet to Come for News Corp.
Commentators have compared the crisis to Watergate; Carl Bernstein, the former Washington Post reporter whose revelations helped depose a US president, says it is evident to him the events of the past week "are the beginning, not the end, of the seismic event".
To coin a famous Murdoch newspaper headline: will the last person to leave News Corporation turn off the lights?
Worst Is Yet to Come for News Corp.
Friday, July 15, 2011
IT'S OFFICIAL: The Whole World Thinks Republicans Are Dangerous Maniacs Threatening Everyone
Yes, the rest of the world is watching this embarrassing debt ceiling nonsense, and it is growing dismayed.
Der Spiegel has a roundup of commentary in German newspapers about the fight, and the universal message is this:
The US is holding the entire world hostage, and it's the Republicans that are playing with fire.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/its-official-the-whole-world-thinks-republicans-are-dangerous-maniacs-2011-7#ixzz1SCJ8FzLA
IT'S OFFICIAL: The Whole World Thinks Republicans Are Dangerous Maniacs Threatening Everyone
Der Spiegel has a roundup of commentary in German newspapers about the fight, and the universal message is this:
The US is holding the entire world hostage, and it's the Republicans that are playing with fire.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/its-official-the-whole-world-thinks-republicans-are-dangerous-maniacs-2011-7#ixzz1SCJ8FzLA
IT'S OFFICIAL: The Whole World Thinks Republicans Are Dangerous Maniacs Threatening Everyone
The Sun Sets on a Media Empire
But Murdoch’s political power can never return. He used Macchiavelli’s maxim, that it is better to be feared than loved, to dominate British politics. Even those who got closest, including Blair, privately bemoaned the Faustian pact. Almost nobody now regrets his fall. But, as the British political class now emerges blinking into the sunlight, many remain astonished that this most dreaded of media moguls should suddenly be friendless in Westminster.
The Sun Sets on a Media Empire
The Sun Sets on a Media Empire
Thursday, July 7, 2011
The Mother of All No-Brainers - NYTimes.com
But we can have no confidence that the Republicans will seize this opportunity. That’s because the Republican Party may no longer be a normal party. Over the past few years, it has been infected by a faction that is more of a psychological protest than a practical, governing alternative.
The members of this movement do not accept the logic of compromise, no matter how sweet the terms. If you ask them to raise taxes by an inch in order to cut government by a foot, they will say no. If you ask them to raise taxes by an inch to cut government by a yard, they will still say no.
The Mother of All No-Brainers - NYTimes.com
The members of this movement do not accept the logic of compromise, no matter how sweet the terms. If you ask them to raise taxes by an inch in order to cut government by a foot, they will say no. If you ask them to raise taxes by an inch to cut government by a yard, they will still say no.
The Mother of All No-Brainers - NYTimes.com
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
How Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes Failed at Setting Up a Strong Republican Candidate for 2012 -- New York Magazine
This is a very revealing, and honest, article of what really goes on behind the scenes at Fox News.
How Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes Failed at Setting Up a Strong Republican Candidate for 2012 -- New York Magazine
How Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes Failed at Setting Up a Strong Republican Candidate for 2012 -- New York Magazine
Friday, May 20, 2011
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Obama Shifts to Speed Oil and Gas Drilling in U.S. - NYTimes.com
The president noted in his address that the Justice Department had formed a task force to look into potential market manipulation or excessive speculation in oil, and he repeated his call for a repeal of the $4 billion a year in tax incentives the oil industry receives.
Obama Shifts to Speed Oil and Gas Drilling in U.S. - NYTimes.com
Obama Shifts to Speed Oil and Gas Drilling in U.S. - NYTimes.com
Friday, May 13, 2011
Statement: Robert Greenstein, President, on the 2011 Medicare Trustees' Report — Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Thanks to last year’s health reform legislation (the Affordable Care Act, or ACA), Medicare’s cost outlook remains less troubled than before that legislation’s enactment.
Statement: Robert Greenstein, President, on the 2011 Medicare Trustees' Report — Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Statement: Robert Greenstein, President, on the 2011 Medicare Trustees' Report — Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
The “Border Security First” Argument: A Red Herring Undermining Real Security
The final argument the “border security first” crowd raises is that President Obama’s Department of Homeland Security demonstrates a lack of commitment to immigration and border enforcement that undermines public confidence in any changes to immigration law. The numbers tell a different story.
The “Border Security First” Argument: A Red Herring Undermining Real Security
The “Border Security First” Argument: A Red Herring Undermining Real Security
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
The Paranoid Style in American Politics
American politics has often been an arena for angry minds. In recent years we have seen angry minds at work mainly among extreme right-wingers, who have now demonstrated in the Goldwater movement how much political leverage can be got out of the animosities and passions of a small minority. But behind this I believe there is a style of mind that is far from new and that is not necessarily right-wind. I call it the paranoid style simply because no other word adequately evokes the sense of heated exaggeration, suspiciousness, and conspiratorial fantasy that I have in mind. In using the expression “paranoid style” I am not speaking in a clinical sense, but borrowing a clinical term for other purposes. I have neither the competence nor the desire to classify any figures of the past or present as certifiable lunatics., In fact, the idea of the paranoid style as a force in politics would have little contemporary relevance or historical value if it were applied only to men with profoundly disturbed minds. It is the use of paranoid modes of expression by more or less normal people that makes the phenomenon significant.
Of course this term is pejorative, and it is meant to be; the paranoid style has a greater affinity for bad causes than good. But nothing really prevents a sound program or demand from being advocated in the paranoid style. Style has more to do with the way in which ideas are believed than with the truth or falsity of their content. I am interested here in getting at our political psychology through our political rhetoric. The paranoid style is an old and recurrent phenomenon in our public life which has been frequently linked with movements of suspicious discontent.
The Paranoid Style in American Politics
Of course this term is pejorative, and it is meant to be; the paranoid style has a greater affinity for bad causes than good. But nothing really prevents a sound program or demand from being advocated in the paranoid style. Style has more to do with the way in which ideas are believed than with the truth or falsity of their content. I am interested here in getting at our political psychology through our political rhetoric. The paranoid style is an old and recurrent phenomenon in our public life which has been frequently linked with movements of suspicious discontent.
The Paranoid Style in American Politics
Sunday, May 1, 2011
How conservative greed and corruption destroyed American politics - Republican Party - Salon.com
Fantastic misgovernment of the kind we have seen is not an accident, nor is it the work of a few bad individuals. It is the consequence of triumph by a particular philosophy of government, by a movement that understands the liberal state as a perversion and considers the market the ideal nexus of human society. This movement is friendly to industry not just by force of campaign contributions but by conviction; it believes in entrepreneurship not merely in commerce but in politics; and the inevitable results of its ascendance are, first, the capture of the state by business and, second, all that follows: incompetence, graft, and all the other wretched flotsam that we've come to expect from Washington.
How conservative greed and corruption destroyed American politics - Republican Party - Salon.com
How conservative greed and corruption destroyed American politics - Republican Party - Salon.com
On road to surplus, U.S. detoured into debt
The biggest culprit, by far, has been an erosion of tax revenue triggered largely by two recessions and multiple rounds of tax cuts.
On road to surplus, U.S. detoured into debt
On road to surplus, U.S. detoured into debt
Saturday, April 30, 2011
How Goldman Sachs Created the Food Crisis - By Frederick Kaufman | Foreign Policy
Commodity traders employed by the banks that had created the commodity index funds in the first place rode the tides of profit.
How Goldman Sachs Created the Food Crisis - By Frederick Kaufman | Foreign Policy
How Goldman Sachs Created the Food Crisis - By Frederick Kaufman | Foreign Policy
Top Climate Scientist on the Monster Tornadoes: It Is Irresponsible Not to Mention Climate Change | Truthout
The fact remains that there is 4 percent more water vapor–and associated additional moist energy–available both to power individual storms and to produce intense rainfall from them. Climate change is present in every single meteorological event, in that these events are occurring within a baseline atmospheric environment that has shifted in favor of more intense weather events.
Top Climate Scientist on the Monster Tornadoes: It Is Irresponsible Not to Mention Climate Change | Truthout
Top Climate Scientist on the Monster Tornadoes: It Is Irresponsible Not to Mention Climate Change | Truthout
Friday, April 29, 2011
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Why Obama shouldn't have had to 'show his papers'
For the first time in recorded history, a sitting president of the United States found it necessary to produce his original birth certificate for public inspection. Not once, in 235 years, have we ever demanded proof that our president was born on American soil.
Why Obama shouldn't have had to 'show his papers'
Why Obama shouldn't have had to 'show his papers'
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Thursday, April 21, 2011
The House Republican budget adds $6 trillion to the debt in the next decade yet the GOP is balking at raising the debt limit.
Remember that great scene in the 1980 film classic, “The Shining,” when the wife comes upon the typewriter of the Jack Nicholson character, who’s supposed to have been working night and day for months on his novel? To her horror, she finds thousands of pages on which Jack has typed, “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy,” formatted in countless, crazy ways. Suddenly his suspected madness becomes all too frighteningly real.
Well, debt limit mania has driven me to a similar frenzied state. If my wife came across my manuscript it would read, “The House Republican budget adds $6 trillion to the debt in the next decade yet the GOP is balking at raising the debt limit. The House Republican budget adds $6 trillion to the debt in the next decade yet the GOP is balking at raising the debt limit
‘The Shining’ — national debt edition - The Washington Post
Well, debt limit mania has driven me to a similar frenzied state. If my wife came across my manuscript it would read, “The House Republican budget adds $6 trillion to the debt in the next decade yet the GOP is balking at raising the debt limit. The House Republican budget adds $6 trillion to the debt in the next decade yet the GOP is balking at raising the debt limit
‘The Shining’ — national debt edition - The Washington Post
Ryan’s Muddy Medicare Claims | FactCheck.org
Rep. Paul Ryan’s claim that Medicare will be "bankrupt in nine years" goes too far. The trust fund that primarily supports one part of Medicare is projected to be exhausted come 2020, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The Social Security and Medicare Boards of Trustees said it might not actually happen until 2029. That still doesn’t mean the system will be "bankrupt," though.
Ryan’s Muddy Medicare Claims | FactCheck.org
Ryan’s Muddy Medicare Claims | FactCheck.org
Monday, April 18, 2011
The Gospel according to Ayn Rand :: Faith in Public Life
The Gospel according to Ayn Rand :: Faith in Public Life
Ever since Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) put out his draconian budget proposal that slashes essential programs for the poor and gives big tax breaks to the rich, Ryan's attachment to the works of Ayn Rand has been in the spotlight. Jonathan Chait, in the pages of Newsweek, calls out Ryan for launching a "War on the Weak" and explains "How the GOP came to view the poor as parasites -and the rich as our rightful rulers." The success of this idea that the rich have the right to rule and the poor don't have any right to their help, is due to the popularity of the philosophy of Ayn Rand on the far right. According to Chait, Ryan is "a Rand nut...Ryan once appeared at a gathering to honor her philosophy, where he announced, 'The reason I got involved in public service, by and large, if I had to credit one thinker, one person, it would be Ayn Rand.' He continues to view Rand as a lodestar, requiring his staffers to digest her creepy tracts."
...
Conservative Christians who support the Ryan version of radical conservatism based on the atheist individualist philosophy of Ayn Rand have some serious questions to ask themselves and these questions are long overdue. The political alliance between Christian evangelicals and the tea party has already been analyzed by pollster Robert Jones as a "shotgun marriage."
Ever since Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) put out his draconian budget proposal that slashes essential programs for the poor and gives big tax breaks to the rich, Ryan's attachment to the works of Ayn Rand has been in the spotlight. Jonathan Chait, in the pages of Newsweek, calls out Ryan for launching a "War on the Weak" and explains "How the GOP came to view the poor as parasites -and the rich as our rightful rulers." The success of this idea that the rich have the right to rule and the poor don't have any right to their help, is due to the popularity of the philosophy of Ayn Rand on the far right. According to Chait, Ryan is "a Rand nut...Ryan once appeared at a gathering to honor her philosophy, where he announced, 'The reason I got involved in public service, by and large, if I had to credit one thinker, one person, it would be Ayn Rand.' He continues to view Rand as a lodestar, requiring his staffers to digest her creepy tracts."
...
Conservative Christians who support the Ryan version of radical conservatism based on the atheist individualist philosophy of Ayn Rand have some serious questions to ask themselves and these questions are long overdue. The political alliance between Christian evangelicals and the tea party has already been analyzed by pollster Robert Jones as a "shotgun marriage."
Barack Obama Is Now The Biggest Tax Cutter In American History
In fact, most Americans have no idea that Barack Obama has lowered taxes. According to a 2010 CBS News/New York Times Poll, only 12% of Americans knew that Obama has lowered taxes. 53% thought that he kept taxes the same, and 24% believed that Obama has raised taxes.
Not surprisingly, only 2% of Tea Party supporters knew that Obama had lowered taxes. 44% of them thought that the President has raised their taxes.
The right believes this because they got the idea from Fox News and talk radio. Four days ago, Fox News.com ran a story claiming that Obama is going to raise taxes. The tax increase boogeyman is a favorite of the right, because it is easy to put out there and it motivates their base every time.
Barack Obama Is Now The Biggest Tax Cutter In American History
Not surprisingly, only 2% of Tea Party supporters knew that Obama had lowered taxes. 44% of them thought that the President has raised their taxes.
The right believes this because they got the idea from Fox News and talk radio. Four days ago, Fox News.com ran a story claiming that Obama is going to raise taxes. The tax increase boogeyman is a favorite of the right, because it is easy to put out there and it motivates their base every time.
Barack Obama Is Now The Biggest Tax Cutter In American History
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Friday, April 15, 2011
Why Gas Is So Expensive Today (Hint: It’s Not Libya) - Chris Peterson
The current spike in gas prices is not primarily a result of anything to do with the freedom fighters in the Arab world. Nor is it a result of OPEC’s production levels, which would suggest a far lower $/gallon than can be found on the open market.
Rather, the spikes are primarily a result of the speculative market on oil. This speculative market is driven by the practices of the biggest banks, who have special exemptions to treat commodities like a casino, who have zero incentive to appropriately hedge their bets, who do not provide the liquidity they were designed to provide, and who generally provide nothing of value to society except to push prices of things higher and higher so that very rich people will continue to invest with them.
Why Gas Is So Expensive Today (Hint: It’s Not Libya) - Chris Peterson
Rather, the spikes are primarily a result of the speculative market on oil. This speculative market is driven by the practices of the biggest banks, who have special exemptions to treat commodities like a casino, who have zero incentive to appropriately hedge their bets, who do not provide the liquidity they were designed to provide, and who generally provide nothing of value to society except to push prices of things higher and higher so that very rich people will continue to invest with them.
Why Gas Is So Expensive Today (Hint: It’s Not Libya) - Chris Peterson
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
The blessing of a secular government: David E. Crosby | NOLA.com
Next time you lament the separation of church and state, ask yourself if you would prefer a Muslim government in Egypt over a secular one. The word "secular" means "of this world." It describes a government that confines its rules and regulations to matters of this world rather than matters of the spirit, worship and eternal salvation.
Wise government officials have no interest in regulating, recommending or even defining proper religious practices for their constituents. They are not empowered to do so, nor competent to do so.
Sometimes deeply religious people, lamenting what they perceive as the moral erosion of their culture, seek to harness the power of government in an effort to bring the Kingdom of God and make people more Christian.
Laws that require religious behavior make people hypocrites, not Christians. We have a duty as Christians to participate in our democracy, but we should never focus on government over worship and prayer in the effort to effect cultural change. Government is far too weak when it comes to transforming the hearts of people. Only faith and love can do that.
The blessing of a secular government: David E. Crosby | NOLA.com
Wise government officials have no interest in regulating, recommending or even defining proper religious practices for their constituents. They are not empowered to do so, nor competent to do so.
Sometimes deeply religious people, lamenting what they perceive as the moral erosion of their culture, seek to harness the power of government in an effort to bring the Kingdom of God and make people more Christian.
Laws that require religious behavior make people hypocrites, not Christians. We have a duty as Christians to participate in our democracy, but we should never focus on government over worship and prayer in the effort to effect cultural change. Government is far too weak when it comes to transforming the hearts of people. Only faith and love can do that.
The blessing of a secular government: David E. Crosby | NOLA.com
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Improving Care for People with Medicare | The White House
Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today released proposed new rules to help doctors, hospitals, and other health care providers better coordinate care for Medicare patients through Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs). ACOs are designed to create and support a team of health care providers who treat individual patients by working together across care settings.
Improving Care for People with Medicare | The White House
Improving Care for People with Medicare | The White House
Friday, March 25, 2011
Time for a Little Education - Truthdig
I’m a retired teacher and I’m pissed. No matter what form of media I look at, I’m confronted with constant references to the various budget crises. The federal government has a deficit. States have budget problems. Cities face massive shortfalls. And school districts are on the edge of bankruptcy. The crises are real, but the search for culprits has degenerated into a hypocritical attempt to score political points.
Time for a Little Education - Truthdig
Time for a Little Education - Truthdig
Tribes With Flags - NYTimes.com
Is the battle for Libya the clash of a brutal dictator against a democratic opposition, or is it fundamentally a tribal civil war?”
This is the question because there are two kinds of states in the Middle East: “real countries” with long histories in their territory and strong national identities (Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Iran); and those that might be called “tribes with flags,” or more artificial states with boundaries drawn in sharp straight lines by pens of colonial powers that have trapped inside their borders myriad tribes and sects who not only never volunteered to live together but have never fully melded into a unified family of citizens. They are Libya, Iraq, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Bahrain, Yemen, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. The tribes and sects that make up these more artificial states have long been held together by the iron fist of colonial powers, kings or military dictators. They have no real “citizens” in the modern sense. Democratic rotations in power are impossible because each tribe lives by the motto “rule or die” — either my tribe or sect is in power or we’re dead
Tribes With Flags - NYTimes.com
This is the question because there are two kinds of states in the Middle East: “real countries” with long histories in their territory and strong national identities (Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Iran); and those that might be called “tribes with flags,” or more artificial states with boundaries drawn in sharp straight lines by pens of colonial powers that have trapped inside their borders myriad tribes and sects who not only never volunteered to live together but have never fully melded into a unified family of citizens. They are Libya, Iraq, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Bahrain, Yemen, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. The tribes and sects that make up these more artificial states have long been held together by the iron fist of colonial powers, kings or military dictators. They have no real “citizens” in the modern sense. Democratic rotations in power are impossible because each tribe lives by the motto “rule or die” — either my tribe or sect is in power or we’re dead
Tribes With Flags - NYTimes.com
G.E.’s Strategies Let It Avoid Taxes Altogether - NYTimes.com
The company reported worldwide profits of $14.2 billion, and said $5.1 billion of the total came from its operations in the United States.
Its American tax bill? None. In fact, G.E. claimed a tax benefit of $3.2 billion.
That may be hard to fathom for the millions of American business owners and households now preparing their own returns, but low taxes are nothing new for G.E. The company has been cutting the percentage of its American profits paid to the Internal Revenue Service for years, resulting in a far lower rate than at most multinational companies
G.E.’s Strategies Let It Avoid Taxes Altogether - NYTimes.com
Its American tax bill? None. In fact, G.E. claimed a tax benefit of $3.2 billion.
That may be hard to fathom for the millions of American business owners and households now preparing their own returns, but low taxes are nothing new for G.E. The company has been cutting the percentage of its American profits paid to the Internal Revenue Service for years, resulting in a far lower rate than at most multinational companies
G.E.’s Strategies Let It Avoid Taxes Altogether - NYTimes.com
Five myths about why the South seceded - The Washington Post
One hundred fifty years after the Civil War began, we’re still fighting it — or at least fighting over its history. I’ve polled thousands of high school history teachers and spoken about the war to audiences across the country, and there is little agreement even about why the South seceded. Was it over slavery? States’ rights? Tariffs and taxes
Five myths about why the South seceded - The Washington Post
Five myths about why the South seceded - The Washington Post
Monday, March 21, 2011
Today's Social Security Propaganda Rebuttal Post | OurFuture.org
Marketing works. If you put a lot of money into repeating a marketing message over and over and over, eventually people's brains absorb the message. Conservatives have put a lot of money and effort into convincing people that there is something wrong with Social Security, and that effort is paying off.
Today's Social Security Propaganda Rebuttal Post | OurFuture.org
Today's Social Security Propaganda Rebuttal Post | OurFuture.org
Kill Public-Employee Unions; Erase the Middle Class
But there is something more sophisticated at work here than merely the efforts of talk-show hosts, demagogues and right-wing politicians to stir up or even just reflect, an angry, agitated and hostile populace. That is, there is a plan at work here - let's call it, "the Plan" - and that plan is designed to accomplish the following goals:
Kill Public-Employee Unions; Erase the Middle Class
Kill Public-Employee Unions; Erase the Middle Class
Friday, March 18, 2011
Crushing the Democrats' Base
Put simply, Republicans are conducting a radical attack on the Democratic Party, aimed at the roots of Democratic power and sustenance. The battle is occurring in Washington and around the country, and even if the right doesn't succeed completely, the fight will almost certainly leave Democrats weakened and defensive.
Look at the targets conservatives have taken aim at in the last couple of years: access to the ballot box, unions, organizations representing the poor, organizations protecting reproductive rights, and more. The assault is not just on ideas or policies (though there's plenty of that, too) but on the institutions that undergird the Democratic Party and the progressive movement.
Crushing the Democrats' Base
Look at the targets conservatives have taken aim at in the last couple of years: access to the ballot box, unions, organizations representing the poor, organizations protecting reproductive rights, and more. The assault is not just on ideas or policies (though there's plenty of that, too) but on the institutions that undergird the Democratic Party and the progressive movement.
Crushing the Democrats' Base
Debt, Austerity and How to Fight Back
Editor's note: On Tuesday, April 5, hundreds of schools and community groups will participate in a teach-in on debt, austerity and how people are fighting back. From 2–3:30 pm (EST) a national teach-in will be streamed live from New York City, followed by local teach-ins and strategy discussions around the country. Read the call to action by Frances Fox Piven and Cornel West, check out the organizing guide and join the movement by attending or hosting a teach-in near you. Please see http://www.fightbackteachin.org for more information.
Wall Street Banks, American corporations and their political allies have declared a one-sided war on the American people. This war is being waged at our schools and colleges, the workplace and in our communities.
Today, Americans are working harder and earning less while corporate profits soar. As homeowners, consumers and students we see our wealth being stripped away by banks. Our government plunges into debt waging trillion-dollar wars. Meanwhile, our infrastructure erodes and climate change proceeds unchecked. Schools, daycare centers, senior citizen facilities, clinics, parks and firehouses are starved for funds so that corporations and the rich can get billions in tax breaks!
Debt, Austerity and How to Fight Back
Wall Street Banks, American corporations and their political allies have declared a one-sided war on the American people. This war is being waged at our schools and colleges, the workplace and in our communities.
Today, Americans are working harder and earning less while corporate profits soar. As homeowners, consumers and students we see our wealth being stripped away by banks. Our government plunges into debt waging trillion-dollar wars. Meanwhile, our infrastructure erodes and climate change proceeds unchecked. Schools, daycare centers, senior citizen facilities, clinics, parks and firehouses are starved for funds so that corporations and the rich can get billions in tax breaks!
Debt, Austerity and How to Fight Back
Saturday, March 12, 2011
The $110 Billion Question - NYTimes.com
When one looks across the Arab world today at the stunning spontaneous democracy uprisings, it is impossible to not ask: What are we doing spending $110 billion this year supporting corrupt and unpopular regimes in Afghanistan and Pakistan that are almost identical to the governments we’re applauding the Arab people for overthrowing?
The $110 Billion Question - NYTimes.com
The $110 Billion Question - NYTimes.com
Governors are Proposing Further Deep Cuts in Services, Likely Harming Their Economies — Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Forty-two states have released their initial budget proposals for fiscal year 2012 (which begins July 1 in most states), and, for the fourth year in a row, these budgets propose deep cuts in education, health care, and other important public services — in many cases, deeper than previous cuts. [1] These cuts will delay the nation’s economic recovery and undermine efforts to create jobs
Governors are Proposing Further Deep Cuts in Services, Likely Harming Their Economies — Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Governors are Proposing Further Deep Cuts in Services, Likely Harming Their Economies — Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Monday, March 7, 2011
Reality Check: Who's Afraid of Reforming Wall Street? - TIME
Joe Klein --a way to dramatize the complicated issues at the heart of regulatory reform. The President should appoint Warren. The Senate should be forced to vote on her, so the public will know who really wants to clean up Wall Street and who doesn't.
Reality Check: Who's Afraid of Reforming Wall Street? - TIME
Reality Check: Who's Afraid of Reforming Wall Street? - TIME
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Richard (RJ) Eskow: The United States Isn't a Company and It Isn't a Family -- It's a Country.
Let's begin with a multiple choice test. The United States of America is:
a) a for-profit corporation;
b) a family, like the typical American family in a 1960's sitcom;
c) a nation -- with a national economy and nation-sized problems.
If you answered "c," there's good news and bad news. The good news is that you answered the question correctly. The bad news is that you probably have no future as a pundit, where recycling bad metaphors is an essential job skill. (On second thought, that's probably good news too. You undoubtedly have better things to do with your time.)
Richard (RJ) Eskow: The United States Isn't a Company and It Isn't a Family -- It's a Country.
a) a for-profit corporation;
b) a family, like the typical American family in a 1960's sitcom;
c) a nation -- with a national economy and nation-sized problems.
If you answered "c," there's good news and bad news. The good news is that you answered the question correctly. The bad news is that you probably have no future as a pundit, where recycling bad metaphors is an essential job skill. (On second thought, that's probably good news too. You undoubtedly have better things to do with your time.)
Richard (RJ) Eskow: The United States Isn't a Company and It Isn't a Family -- It's a Country.
War, debt and democracy - Opinion - Al Jazeera English
Moreover, the US is paying for these wars with debt. The government funded World War II partly with war bonds, but it also instituted the first general income tax in American history, increasing tax revenue from $8.7bn in 1941 to $45bn in 1945. This would have been impossible for an unpopular war. To finance today’s wars, by contrast, the US government has not only avoided raising taxes, but has actually cut them on an enormous scale, with the Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 now extended at least through 2012.
War, debt and democracy - Opinion - Al Jazeera English
War, debt and democracy - Opinion - Al Jazeera English
George F. Will - Mike Huckabee, Newt Gingrich and the spotlight-chasing candidates of 2012
If pessimism is not creeping on little cat's feet into Republicans' thinking about their 2012 presidential prospects, that is another reason for pessimism. This is because it indicates they do not understand that sensible Americans, who pay scant attention to presidential politics at this point in the electoral cycle, must nevertheless be detecting vibrations of weirdness emanating from people associated with the party.
George F. Will - Mike Huckabee, Newt Gingrich and the spotlight-chasing candidates of 2012
George F. Will - Mike Huckabee, Newt Gingrich and the spotlight-chasing candidates of 2012
ThinkProgress » REPORT: Five Things Unions Have Done For All Americans
Over the past few weeks, right-wing legislators have unleashed a torrent of radical legislation upon the American electorate designed to gut collective bargaining rights and attack the middle class. As these conservatives have launched their assault, a Main Street Movement consisting of ordinary Americans fed up with living in such an unequal country has fought back.
Conservatives have sought to malign this movement by claiming that it is simply defending the parochial interests of labor unions, who they claim are imposing huge costs on taxpayers with little benefit. Yet the truth is that America’s public and private unions have been one of the major forces in building a robust and vibrant middle class and have fought over the past century to improve the lives of all Americans in a variety of ways. ThinkProgress has assembled just five of the many things that Americans can thank the nation’s unions for giving us all:
ThinkProgress » REPORT: Five Things Unions Have Done For All Americans
Conservatives have sought to malign this movement by claiming that it is simply defending the parochial interests of labor unions, who they claim are imposing huge costs on taxpayers with little benefit. Yet the truth is that America’s public and private unions have been one of the major forces in building a robust and vibrant middle class and have fought over the past century to improve the lives of all Americans in a variety of ways. ThinkProgress has assembled just five of the many things that Americans can thank the nation’s unions for giving us all:
ThinkProgress » REPORT: Five Things Unions Have Done For All Americans
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
gulfnews : Yemeni describes bloody siege on Al Qaida
A doctor who treated wounded Al Qaida fighters in Afghanistan's Tora Bora has said Osama Bin Laden was at the mountain as coalition troops attacked.
gulfnews : Yemeni describes bloody siege on Al Qaida
gulfnews : Yemeni describes bloody siege on Al Qaida
Federal Eye - Government overlap costs taxpayers billions, GAO reports
"The president has made it a priority to reform government and make it more effective and efficient for the American people, which is why his budget reflects a commitment to streamlining government and saving taxpayer dollars," White House spokeswoman Amy Brundage said in response to the report.
Upon taking office, Obama quickly appointed a chief performance officer, a new position meant to tackle government organizational issues.
Federal Eye - Government overlap costs taxpayers billions, GAO reports
Upon taking office, Obama quickly appointed a chief performance officer, a new position meant to tackle government organizational issues.
Federal Eye - Government overlap costs taxpayers billions, GAO reports
The Liberal Media Strikes Again
If I hear one more person talk about the "liberal media" in America, I will probably vomit on them. It was a stupid and ridiculous thing to say last week - take a long look at which mega-corporations own which news networks, and you won't find a "liberal" entity anywhere on the list - but the events in Wisconsin have further underscored the absurdity of the statement.
The Liberal Media Strikes Again
The Liberal Media Strikes Again
Monday, February 28, 2011
PolitiFact | Whitehouse says richest 400 taxpayers are taxed at a lower rate than a $29,000-a-year worker
According to calculations by Whitehouse’s office -- which match our own -- when you include Social Security and Medicare taxes, the effective tax rate for the wealthiest 400 Americans would have been 16.72 percent in 2007; the tax rate for a worker earning $29,000 a year would have been 16.79 percent.
PolitiFact Rhode Island | Whitehouse says richest 400 taxpayers are taxed at a lower rate than a $29,000-a-year worker
PolitiFact Rhode Island | Whitehouse says richest 400 taxpayers are taxed at a lower rate than a $29,000-a-year worker
Friday, February 25, 2011
What You Need to Know About the Assault on NPR and PBS -- In These Times
Congressional attacks on public media seem to come as regularly as NPR fundraising drives. Every year, as the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) pleas for federal funding, some members of Congress denounce public media altogether, while others quietly vote to shave off another sliver of subsidies, rather than eliminate all funding. In the end, the CPB limps away still intact, but wounded.
What You Need to Know About the Assault on NPR and PBS -- In These Times
What You Need to Know About the Assault on NPR and PBS -- In These Times
tax.com: Really Bad Reporting in Wisconsin: Who 'Contributes' to Public Workers' Pensions?
When it comes to improving public understanding of tax policy, nothing has been more troubling than the deeply flawed coverage of the Wisconsin state employees' fight over collective bargaining.
Economic nonsense is being reported as fact in most of the news reports on the Wisconsin dispute, the product of a breakdown of skepticism among journalists multiplied by their lack of understanding of basic economic principles.
tax.com: Really Bad Reporting in Wisconsin: Who 'Contributes' to Public Workers' Pensions?
Economic nonsense is being reported as fact in most of the news reports on the Wisconsin dispute, the product of a breakdown of skepticism among journalists multiplied by their lack of understanding of basic economic principles.
tax.com: Really Bad Reporting in Wisconsin: Who 'Contributes' to Public Workers' Pensions?
Why Are Americans So Ill-Informed about Climate Change?: Scientific American
What is shrinking is the reportorial component of our culture in which people go out and find things and verify things," he said. Truth has little chance to make itself known in the new narrow and shallow public square.
Why Are Americans So Ill-Informed about Climate Change?: Scientific American
Why Are Americans So Ill-Informed about Climate Change?: Scientific American
Rolling Stone: Another Runaway General as Army Deploys Psy-Ops on U.S. Senators | Common Dreams
The U.S. Army illegally ordered a team of soldiers specializing in "psychological operations" to manipulate visiting American senators into providing more troops and funding for the war, Rolling Stone has learned – and when an officer tried to stop the operation, he was railroaded by military investigators
Rolling Stone: Another Runaway General as Army Deploys Psy-Ops on U.S. Senators | Common Dreams
Rolling Stone: Another Runaway General as Army Deploys Psy-Ops on U.S. Senators | Common Dreams
Back home, GOP freshmen find fiscal responsibility can be tricky business
As they return to their districts after the budget debate, Guinta and many of his fellow Republicans are discovering that fiscal responsibility can be a tricky business. Many federal programs reside in a vast gray zone, somewhere between worthy and wasteful. And while pledging to rise above local interests can establish a candidate as a principled outsider, for a member of Congress, it's often a quick way to guarantee a short career.
Back home, GOP freshmen find fiscal responsibility can be tricky business
Back home, GOP freshmen find fiscal responsibility can be tricky business
No unions: Government by the rich, for the rich - CNN.com
Let's be clear what is going on. Only three of the top 10 spenders in the most recent elections were unions. Among the others were organizations representing business interests, such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and individual corporations themselves. Both corporations and unions were unleashed by the Citizens United decision.
If unions can be broken in the public sector, this will further tilt the political playing field on behalf of corporate interests and their Republican allies. This will also silence one of the few remaining vehicles that advocate on behalf of ordinary people in this country.
No unions: Government by the rich, for the rich - CNN.com
If unions can be broken in the public sector, this will further tilt the political playing field on behalf of corporate interests and their Republican allies. This will also silence one of the few remaining vehicles that advocate on behalf of ordinary people in this country.
No unions: Government by the rich, for the rich - CNN.com
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Simply the Worst -What Rummy didn’t know could fill his book. NYTimes.com
On biological weapons: “We cannot confirm the identity of any Iraqi facilities that produce, test, fill, or store biological weapons,” the report said, adding: “We believe Iraq has 7 mobile BW agent production plants but cannot locate them ... our knowledge of how and where they are produced is probably up to 90% incomplete.”
On chemical weapons: “We cannot confirm the identity of any Iraqi sites that produce final chemical agent.” And on ballistic missile programs they had “little missile-specific data.”
Somehow that was twisted into “a slam-dunk.” You go to war with the army you have, but the facts you want.
Simply the Worst - NYTimes.com
On chemical weapons: “We cannot confirm the identity of any Iraqi sites that produce final chemical agent.” And on ballistic missile programs they had “little missile-specific data.”
Somehow that was twisted into “a slam-dunk.” You go to war with the army you have, but the facts you want.
Simply the Worst - NYTimes.com
Monday, February 14, 2011
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Droughts, Floods and Food - NYTimes.com
We’re in the midst of a global food crisis — the second in three years. World food prices hit a record in January, driven by huge increases in the prices of wheat, corn, sugar and oils. These soaring prices have had only a modest effect on U.S. inflation, which is still low by historical standards, but they’re having a brutal impact on the world’s poor, who spend much if not most of their income on basic foodstuffs.
Droughts, Floods and Food - NYTimes.com
Droughts, Floods and Food - NYTimes.com
Taxes (As A Percentage Of Economy) Drop To Lowest Level In 60 Years
And for the third straight year, American families and businesses will pay less in federal taxes than they did under former President George W. Bush, thanks to a weak economy and a growing number of tax breaks for the wealthy and poor alike.
Taxes (As A Percentage Of Economy) Drop To Lowest Level In 60 Years
Taxes (As A Percentage Of Economy) Drop To Lowest Level In 60 Years
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Why Glenn Beck is So Dangerous: His Poison is in the System | AlterNet
Glenn Beck's TV show has dropped to #5 among the top-rated cable news programs, and his viewership is 40% lower than it was a year ago. But I'm not sure it matters -- his viewership is still much greater than, say, anything in MSNBC's prime-time lineup. And as Richmond Ramsey, a writer for David Frum's Web site, noted a couple of days ago, he's making his elderly viewers monomaniacal and crazy (hat tip: Jonathan Chait):
Why Glenn Beck is So Dangerous: His Poison is in the System | AlterNet
Why Glenn Beck is So Dangerous: His Poison is in the System | AlterNet
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Liberals don't want to 'silence' conservatives -- they'd just like to have an honest democratic debate | Crooks and Liars
Right-wingers seem to have a problem understanding how this whole free-speech thing works. They seem to believe, for instance, that it's perfectly acceptable for them to say the most outrageous things imaginable as part of their rights to free speech -- but if someone stands up and exercises their free-speech rights by criticizing what they said, then by God, they're trying to take their rights away!
Liberals don't want to 'silence' conservatives -- they'd just like to have an honest democratic debate | Crooks and Liars
Liberals don't want to 'silence' conservatives -- they'd just like to have an honest democratic debate | Crooks and Liars
Health Care Law Benefits in 2011 and Years to Come, Efforts to Repeal Reform
here's your at-a-glance guide to the health care law provisions in effect now, as well as some still to come, and what they may mean for you.
Health Care Law Benefits in 2011 and Years to Come, Efforts to Repeal Reform
Health Care Law Benefits in 2011 and Years to Come, Efforts to Repeal Reform
Five Things To Understand About The Egyptian Riots | The New Republic
It takes some hubris to write about events unfolding as fast as the protests in Egypt, especially when it’s clear that nobody saw this coming. Mubarak is preparing to address the nation, and it's unclear what will follow. Here are five points that American observers should keep in mind whatever comes next, while consuming the blog posts, Tweets, and TV coverage of their choice.
Five Things To Understand About The Egyptian Riots | The New Republic
Five Things To Understand About The Egyptian Riots | The New Republic
Obama's Reagan
In May 2010, Barack Obama invited a small group of presidential historians to the White House for a working supper in the Family Dining Room. It was the second time he'd had the group in since taking office, and as he sat down across the table from his wife Michelle, the President pressed his guests for lessons from his predecessors. But as the conversation progressed, it became clear to several in the room that Obama seemed less interested in talking about Lincoln's team of rivals or Kennedy's Camelot than the accomplishments of an amiable conservative named Ronald Reagan, who had sparked a revolution three decades earlier when he arrived in the Oval Office. Obama and Reagan share a number of gifts but virtually no priorities. And yet Obama was clearly impressed by the way Reagan had transformed Americans' attitude about government. The 44th President regarded the 40th, said one participant, as a vital "point of reference." Douglas Brinkley, who edited Reagan's diaries and attended the May dinner, left with a clear impression that Obama had found a role model. "There are policies, and there is persona, and a lot can be told by persona," he says. "Obama is approaching the job in a Reaganesque fashion."
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,2044579,00.html#ixzz1CSQ9pO5KSusanThur's Blog
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,2044579,00.html#ixzz1CSQ9pO5KSusanThur's Blog
Friday, January 28, 2011
Social Security- Raising False Alarms
The demagogues would have the public believe that Social Security is unsustainable, that it is some kind of giant contributor to the federal budget deficits. Nothing could be further from the truth. As the Economic Policy Institute has explained, Social Security “is emphatically not the cause of the federal government’s long-term deficits, since it is prohibited from borrowing and must pay all benefits out of dedicated tax revenues and savings in its trust funds.”
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Sunday, January 9, 2011
Media Noise: The Year of Living Predictably
By Joe Klein Wednesday, Dec. 29, 2010
Excerpt: And yet, if you watched the news — especially the epileptic seizure that passes for news on cable television (and in certain precincts of the blogosphere) — you'd think that we were facing Armageddon, Sodom, Gomorrah and the last days of Pompeii all at once. This was especially true of Fox News, which emerged in 2010 as a full partner and funder of not just the Republican Party but also of that party's loony-tunes conspiratorial extreme. On the other side of the barricades, MSNBC's Keith Olbermann had more than a few moments of solipsistic self-righteousness (and his contributions to political candidates were no less questionable than Rupert Murdoch's, if not nearly as large). Even modest, moderate CNN continued its descent into breathless irrelevance, overwhelmed by a thundering horde of hoary political consultants, overanalyzing every quotidian hiccup and microscopic movement in the polls.
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,2039920,00.html#ixzz1AZE3d8jj
Excerpt: And yet, if you watched the news — especially the epileptic seizure that passes for news on cable television (and in certain precincts of the blogosphere) — you'd think that we were facing Armageddon, Sodom, Gomorrah and the last days of Pompeii all at once. This was especially true of Fox News, which emerged in 2010 as a full partner and funder of not just the Republican Party but also of that party's loony-tunes conspiratorial extreme. On the other side of the barricades, MSNBC's Keith Olbermann had more than a few moments of solipsistic self-righteousness (and his contributions to political candidates were no less questionable than Rupert Murdoch's, if not nearly as large). Even modest, moderate CNN continued its descent into breathless irrelevance, overwhelmed by a thundering horde of hoary political consultants, overanalyzing every quotidian hiccup and microscopic movement in the polls.
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,2039920,00.html#ixzz1AZE3d8jj
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