Posts
Really interesting discovery available directly through the Gallup Polls, themselves - I believe it's safe to consider Gallup a somewhat dependable news source, that, if anything, I thought had a tendency to lean a bit right... Well, here's a story that has been a long time in coming and could significantly alter one's worldview (if one were open to such things in the first place...)
Head on over to Gallup and read more on how [The] Chinese [are] Struggling Less Than Americans to Afford Basics
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Chinese Struggling Less Than Americans to Afford Basics
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Poster: 51 Ways to Spark a Commons Revolution
From the fine folks over at "YES! Magazine" we get this article - a poster, really - showing 51 ways to spark a "commons" revolution.
For those not familiar with the term, here is a Wikipedia article about a (the!) classic essay dealing with the topic, entitled "Tragedy of the Commons"
As for the rest of you? Head on over to:
Poster: 51 Ways to Spark a Commons Revolution @ YES! Magazine
Sunday, October 2, 2011
A Report from the Frontlines: The Long Road to #OccupyWallStreet and the Origins of the 99% Movement
Been watching & waiting before discussing this, but I need to address the issue at *some* point - might as well be now! I'm still planning on getting to *one* of the "occupied zones" - be it NYC, Boston, Providence, Hartford, or even my old hometown of New Haven...
Meanwhile...
Given the delay in posting this, why don't we start with a summary of how things led to "Occupy Wall Street" and the "Occupy Together" "Occupations" around the country, Canada, (ex: Toronto, Vancouver) and other nations around the world!
Here's an article from http://ampedstatus.org that should do the job nicely: A Report from the Frontlines: The Long Road to #OccupyWallStreet and the Origins of the 99% Movement @ AmpedStatus
Friday, September 23, 2011
Freedom to die
From the article: "Despite the existence of charity care and county hospitals, though, the human cost of uninsurance persists. The best estimate I am aware of is that 45,000 people die every year because of their lack of insurance.
But, f**k them, because I've got mine. Am I right? They're lazy, irresponsible, poor, probably black, certainly unwashed and they have nice cell phones, so they are subhuman pieces of shit who deserve what's coming to them. And an individual mandate is an unconscionable impingement on my personal liberty.
This is, as best I can tell, the libertarian take on the ongoing crisis of the uninsured. We are all free, and some lucky duckies are free to die."
Read the whole story at the "Movin' Meat" blog: Freedom to die
Obama to GOP: If this is `class warfare,’ then get ready for a very long fight...
"The other day, Obama threw the charge of “class warfare” back in the GOP’s face, arguing that Republicans were the ones waging class warfare on behalf of the wealthy" Today he calls them out by name, and is ready for a long fight..."
Read the rest at "The Washington Post" Obama to GOP: If this is `class warfare,’ then get ready for a very long fight
A low in jobs, mobility, marriage for young adults
New 2010 census data show the wrenching impact of a recession that officially ended in mid-2009. It highlights the missed opportunities and dim prospects for a generation of mostly 20-somethings and 30-somethings coming of age in a prolonged slump with high unemployment.
Here is the story from the Associated Press: A low in jobs, mobility, marriage for young adults
Live Coverage: Occupy Wall Street
From "Reader Supported News'" we have a "live" feed from the financial district... Live Coverage: Occupy Wall Street
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia Says Executing An Innocent Man Is Not Unconstitutional
This little number comes to us via @Being Liberal and @Kelly Glover “This Court has never held that the Constitution forbids the execution of a convicted defendant who has had a full and fair trial but is later able to convince a habeas court that he is “actually” innocent. Quite to the contrary, we have repeatedly left that question unresolved, while expressing considerable doubt that any claim based on alleged “actual innocence” is constitutionally cognizable.” So, who cares that they may be innocent, they are sentenced to die so kill them."
Here's the back-story at "Addicting Info" Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia Says Executing An Innocent Man Is Not Unconstitutional
Mainstream media’s failure to cover Wall Street protests
Whomever controls the media controls the people... But, no, *our* (corporate-owned) networks would never engage in any coverage blackouts or partisan censorship...
Here is Will Bunch, author of ‘The Backlash,’ on mainstream media’s failure to cover Wall Street protests from the "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" show: Mainstream media’s failure to cover Wall Street protests
U.S. Justice System Murders Troy Anthony Davis
Recanted testimony, no DNA match, no real evidence to speak of, and still, they go ahead with the execution of a man most likely innocent...
Read more at "Addicting Info" U.S. Justice System Murders Troy Anthony Davis
Sunday, September 18, 2011
House GOP Rejects Tax Cuts For Middle Class
Well, we may be witnessing a seemingly contradictory and rather unusual tax turnabout amongst our elected officials. It seems that the Republican Party managed to find a tax cut that *they* don't like - most likely because the intended beneficiaries aren't going to be their longtime BFFs - the super-wealthy or multinational corporations. (You may still want to check outside for the arrival of flying pigs...)
The article from ThinkProgress goes on to say, "Republicans finally found a tax cut they didn’t like in the payroll tax holiday. What’s unusual about the payroll tax, which funds Social Security, is that cutting it almost entirely affects middle- and working- class people. Because the tax only applies to the first roughly $100,000 a person earns someone who makes $200,000 or $300,000 gets the same tax cut as someone making $100,000."
Read the rest of this amazing "feel-good" story (just kidding)
OK... read the rest of the article describing yet another Republican Party attack on the middle-class and working poor in its long-standing war against the working classes in: House GOP Rejects Tax Cuts For Middle Class @ ThinkProgress
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Monday, September 5, 2011
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Hello Corporate Profits, Goodbye Worker Pay
"Since World War II, there's never been a worse recovery for jobs and worker pay. And never a better one for corporate profits."
Read more from the Curious Capitalist blog at Time: Hello Corporate Profits, Goodbye Worker Pay - The Curious Capitalist - TIME.com
The final nail in the supply side coffin
Taxes are low and corporate profits are high, but nothing is trickling down to the American worker.
Read more at Salon: The final nail in the supply side coffin - How the World Works - Salon.com
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Sharia my aching arse...
I would ask anyone who thinks there is a threat of Sharia Law being instituted ANYWHERE in this country to explain, using small words and visual aids, their justification for that contention.
Oh...There are some caveats:
a) Since we have a constitution and it contains some very SPECIFIC limits on church/synagogue/mosque influence over the state, what is happening in other countries, under other legal strictures is IRRELEVANT.
b) Any presumption that we are a "Christian nation" or that western religion is somehow inherently superior to, or more correct than, Islam is unsupportable, and IRRELEVANT.
c) There is no proof that ANY religion is correct in assuming there is a god - much less that the god in question is any more the correct one than was RA, Zeus, Yaweh, Jesus or the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
d) If your religion has a history that includes gratuitous violence, insurrections against the government, crusades, inquisitions or other horrors, you don't get to assume Islam won't become just as spineless and civil as the others did when exposed to Denim jeans, Coca Cola and Rock and Roll and pot.
Now, let's hear some reasoned arguments...
[ crickets.......................................... ]
I thought so.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
What 52 Years Of Tax Cuts For The Wealthy Looks Like
"Why has the federal tax burden on the nation’s 400 highest annual incomes decreased by two-thirds, while the median American family’s is on the rise?"
See the infographic from MoveOn: What 52 Years Of Tax Cuts For The Wealthy Looks Like @ MoveOn.Org
Wal Mart v. Dukes and the Matter of Size
"Tomorrow the Court will hear arguments in one of the most important civil rights cases in the country’s history. Their decision will pave the way for further progress or stop it dead in its tracks. In Wal-Mart v. Dukes, one million employees take on the largest public corporation in the world in a case that could cost the company $1 billion. But this case is about something much bigger than $1 billion; it is about whether or not any American citizen will have the ability to try to stop illegal bias in the workplace. In David v. Goliath, the Supreme Court will decide who gets the slingshot."
"Consider this — it is infinitely cheaper to pay off one employee (or bury her in legal fees) and to continue the illegal pay disparity than it is to pay all employees what they should have been paid all along. By limiting the ability of similar individuals to act as a group, the Court will diminish the individuals’ power to challenge a bigger (and richer) wrong-doer. It is only the ability to challenge illegal bias as a group that renders the action economically viable for the plaintiffs (and yes, for the lawyers who work for them). Similarly, it is only the threat of action by a group that makes illegal bias economically un-viable for a corporation.
As it happens, in matters of law and money, size does matter.
If the Supreme Court upholds the Ninth Circuit and agrees that “mere size does not render a case unmanageable,” regular Americans will be able to challenge illegal bias in the workplace. If the Supreme Court strikes down the Ninth Circuit’s decision, they won’t."
Read the article at Truthout: Wal Mart v. Dukes and the Matter of Size
We Are One - April 4th
On April 4, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, where he had gone to stand with sanitation workers demanding their dream: The right to bargain collectively for a voice at work and a better life. The workers were trying to form a union with AFSCME.
Beginning with worship services over the April 1 weekend, and continuing through the week of April 4, unions, people of faith, civil and human rights activists, students and other progressive allies will host a range of community- and workplace-focused actions.
Join us in solidarity with working people in Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana and dozens of other states where well-funded, right-wing corporate politicians are trying to take away the rights Dr. King gave his life for: the freedom to bargain, to vote, to afford a college education and justice for all workers, immigrant and native-born. It’s a day to show movement. Teach-ins. Vigils. Faith events. A day to be creative, but clear: We are one.
Visit the website at: We Are One April 4
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Why Are Republicans Frightened of Poor People and Students?
"The GOP’s legislative assault on everything and everyone that it doesn’t like continues unabated. The midterms ensured that the GOP will be able to push through changes that attempt to fundamentally change the political paradigm in this country. This is nothing new, Republicans are quite good at using government and the legislative process to proscribe political power and win elections."
"These proposals are nothing but a partisan ploy to depress the turnout of people whose peers tend to vote for the other side. Students, low-income Americans, and ex-felons are watching their rights and their voice, their political power, be legislated away. It’s time for all of us to stand up and say no."
Read the rest of the story at: We Are Now.org
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Someone got me started... Teachers' Unions (Are Good!!)
In response to a thread on Facebook that was discussing Teacher's Unions...
Somebody said something along the lines of "If you think teachers unions care about the "kids," I got a bridge for sale ..."
Well... Here's a reply!
Teacher's Unions aren't *meant* to care about the children - they are *meant* to care about the teachers...
That's what unions are supposed to do - represent workers.
Insure a fair wage in a safe workplace, with insurance and other benefits...
Make sure that they get paid for extra hours or extra days...
Insure that the idea of "weekends" doesn't just disappear...
Make sure that there is "just cause" and a paper-trail prior to terminating someone's employment, rather than a shift in the political winds, or having irritated the wrong person...
The unions are the *only* remaining defense against the "New Robber Barons" and the workplace atrocities of years gone-by (or still here, in the Third World) - that must be it!!!
Wait! I've got it!
These people are secretly Communists looking to drag us down to create equality with our sisters and brothers in the Third World!!!
How could I have missed that for so long???
They've been saying, "The Union People should have to do "X" like "we" do..."
Always bringing the unions down to their level and never questioning why they should not be *elevated* to the Union level....
Tax cuts to the wealthy, giant loopholes for corporations, yet these same people insist that Union members should tighten their belts because other members of the working class are getting a raw deal!
OK... we shall all meet at the bottom, then!
Ah... wait.... I have to change my answer....
There is no way in hell that I would be willing to throw my entire way-of-life out the window until I see a *very* big pile of castoffs from those one-percenters who have 99% of the wealth in the entire world (Many, not *all*, but many, are people that were born on Third Base and think they hit a Triple!) They never seem willing to give up on anything, or tighten any belts...
Tell ya what - Let's fix the folks getting the raw deal, and not defame the rare few whom have managed to hang on to one of the last shreds of worker protection in the USA.... These people are not getting anything better for you, but *without* them, you'll never get anything better...
And like you may have seen posted elsewhere today, here are some words to the wise:
A unionized public employee, a member of the Tea Party and a CEO are sitting at a table. In the middle of the table there is a plate with a dozen cookies on it. The CEO reaches across the table and takes 11 cookies, looks at the Tea Partier, and says,"Watch out for that union guy. He wants a piece of your cookie."
For a great look at why unions are essential, see
http://prorev.com/unions.htm
Don't drag them down... get yourself elevated, and get the greedy, filthy paws of the *rich* out of your pockets!
---- ALSO ---A JEFFERSON WEEPS EXCLUSIVE---ADDITIONAL CONTENT------
Just because it applies to the "Teachers' Union" discussion, here is another piece via Facebook that addresses the plight of our teachers... (May Be A Repost, But It Is Still Good Info!)
TITLE:
This is great... Read this if you appreciate or even hate teachers.
BY:
Eedroj Remier on Thursday, February 17, 2011 at 4:42pm
Are you sick of high paid teachers? Teachers’ hefty salaries are driving up taxes, and they only work 9 or 10 months a year! It’s time we put things in perspective and pay them for what they do - baby sit! We can get that for less than minimum wage.
That’s right. Let’s give them $3.00 an hour and only for the hours they worked; not any of that silly planning time, or any time they spend before or after school. That would be $19.50 a day (7:45 to 3:00 PM with 45 min. off for lunch and plan — that equals 6 1/2 hours).
Each parent should pay $19.50 a day for these teachers to baby-sit their children.
Now how many do they teach in day…maybe 30?
So that’s $19.50 x 30 = $585.00 a day.
However, remember they only work 180 days a year!!!
I am not going to pay them for any vacations.
LET’S SEE…. That’s $585 X 180= $105,300 peryear. (Hold on! My calculator needs new batteries).
What about those Special Education teachers and the ones with Master’s degrees? Well, we could pay them minimum wage ($7.75), and just to be fair, round it off to $8.00 an hour.
That would be $8 X 6 1/2 hours X 30 children X 180 days = $280,800 per year.
Wait a minute — there’s something wrong here!
There sure is!
The average teacher’s salary (nation-wide) is $50,000.
$50,000/180 days = $277.77/per day/30 students=$9.25/6.5 hours = $1.42 per hour per student!
(A very inexpensive baby-sitter AND they even EDUCATE your kids!)
*
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Hundreds rally at Iowa Capitol over labor laws
"The Protests Continue To Spread"
Read the article: Hundreds rally at Iowa Capitol over labor laws @ The Raw Story
It's the Inequality, Stupid
"Eight charts that explain everything that's wrong with America."
Facts and figures in handy chart form can be found at: It's the Inequality, Stupid @ Mother Jones
Wisconsin and Beyond: 8 Things All Working People Need to Know
"Working people did not create the recession or the budgetary crisis facing Washington or state or local governments, and there can be no more concessions, period. "
Wisconsin and Beyond: 8 Things All Working People Need to Know @ AlterNet
Signs of the Times: The Best Signs and Slogans of the Wisconsin Protests
"In Madison, Wisconsin, public workers—and their supporters—have been protesting by the tens of thousands, night and day, at the state's capitol building. They're hoping to block a proposed bill that would curb workers' wages, benefits, and bargaining rights."
"Sign, Sign, Everywhere A Sign..." (Five Man Electrical Band)
Signs of the Times: The Best Signs and Slogans of the Wisconsin Protests @ Yes Magazine
5 Ways You Can Fight "Citizens United"
("This [is the] decision [that] effectively grants corporations the same First Amendment Free Speech protections granted to real live people.")
Here are some things you can do: 5 Ways You Can Fight Citizens United by Annie Leonard and Allison Cook @ Yes Magazine
Corporations to Government: Give Us More, Tax Us Less
"If corporations paid taxes proportionate to the benefits they get from government and/or to what individuals pay, most US citizens would finally get the tax relief they so desperately seek. "
Read the rest at: Corporations to Government: Give Us More, Tax Us Less @ Truthout.com
How the middle class became the underclass
Here's more on the war against the Middle Class...
Even CNN talks about the challenges facing the Middle Class in their story: How the middle class became the underclass @ CNN Money
Tennessee teachers fight bill to end collective bargaining | The Raw Story
More "Union-Busting" behavior on display, as the "divide-and-conquer" attack on the Middle Class continues unabated...
Read the story (Thank You, Reading Teachers for making this possible!) at: Tennessee teachers fight bill to end collective bargaining @ The Raw Story
Two Libyan Fighter Pilots Defect Rather Than Bomb Protesters
While not necessarily "Jeffersonian," this was still note-worthy:
Read more of the story: Two Libyan Fighter Pilots Defect Rather Than Bomb Protesters @ Truthdig
Capitalism at Its Finest: Pizza Solidarity for Union Workers
Just a reminder of how people from all over the world are calling in Pizza Orders to Madison, WI area restaurants and having them delivered to the protesters at the Capitol!
See more (or place an order) at: Capitalism at Its Finest: Pizza Solidarity for Union Workers @ They Gave Us a Republic
A Facebook Post About Teacher Salaries
This is great... Read this if you appreciate or even hate teachers.
by Eedroj Remier
Are you sick of high paid teachers? Teachers’ hefty salaries are driving up taxes, and they only work 9 or 10 months a year! It’s time we put things in perspective and pay them for what they do - baby sit! We can get that for less than minimum wage.
That’s right. Let’s give them $3.00 an hour and only the hours they worked; not any of that silly planning time, or any time they spend before or after school. That would be $19.50 a day (7:45 to 3:00 PM
with 45 min. off for lunch and plan — that equals 6 1/2 hours).
Each parent should pay $19.50 a day for these teachers to baby-sit their children.
Now how many do they teach in day…maybe 30? So that’s $19.50 x 30 = $585.00 a day. However, remember they only work 180 days a year!!! I am not going to pay them for any vacations.
LET’S SEE…. That’s $585 X 180= $105,300 peryear. (Hold on! My calculator needs new batteries).
What about those special education teachers and the ones with Master’s degrees? Well, we could pay them minimum wage ($7.75), and just to be fair, round it off to $8.00 an hour. That would be $8 X 6 1/2 hours X 30 children
X 180 days = $280,800 per year.
Wait a minute — there’s something wrong here! There sure is!
The average teacher’s salary (nation wide) is $50,000. $50,000/180 days = $277.77/per day/30 students=$9.25/6.5 hours = $1.42 per hour per student–a very inexpensive baby-sitter and they even EDUCATE your
kids!)
Paul Craig Roberts: A Tool for Class War
"Too many Americans have been brainwashed to believe that America is in trouble because of its poor and its retirees."
Read more of: Paul Craig Roberts: A Tool for Class War @ counterpunch.org
Debunking Tea Party Talking Points in Wisconsin
"In typical Tea Party fashion, the talking points are filled with pejorative terminology like egregious violators, strong-arming, absurd contract, bullying, plush benefits, lavish contracts, extravagant health benefits, and bloated pension. They are designed from the top down to give the illusion of a common voice among conservatives about this issue, and like all propaganda, when the points are actually examined in detail, the whole charade begins to unravel."
Read more of: Debunking Tea Party Talking Points in Wisconsin @ newsjunkiepost.com
Like weekends? Thank Wisconsin unions.
Here's an unusual twist - a video post here at Jefferson Weeps...
Take a couple of minutes and watch: MSNBC video: Like weekends? Thank Wisconsin unions.
The Wisconsin protests and the re-emergence of the American working class
"The financial aristocracy that rules America is every bit as removed from and hostile to masses of working people as the dictatorial regime that was headed by President Hosni Mubarak in Egypt. In the face of the worst economic crisis in generations—as millions lost their jobs, homes, and incomes—no measures were taken to help working people. Instead, trillions of dollars in public funds were handed over, no questions asked, to Wall Street and a financial elite whose reckless speculation had triggered the crisis in the first place."
Read more of:The Wisconsin protests and the re-emergence of the American working class @ wsws.org
Richard Trumka: This Isn't Deficit Control. It's Assault.
"No job safety inspections while inspectors are furloughed for up to three months. No food safety inspections while inspectors are off the job for more than a month. Ten thousand teachers and aides cut from struggling schools and 7,000 special education teachers and staff gone. State and local job training and employment services phased out for up to 8 million workers. Medicare and Social Security operations crippled. Fewer local police officers. Wall Street reform stymied. Policing of the financial practices that sank our economy gutted. More than 340,000 transportation jobs killed."
"This isn't "fiscal responsibility" or "deficit control." It's about the most bald-faced assault on America's middle class I've ever seen -- and clear political payback to CEOs who poured millions into the 2010 elections. CEOs don't like job safety regulations, so the politicians they elected are trying to cut the funding and fire the inspectors. CEOs don't want environmental safeguards, energy improvements or curbs on health insurance companies, so their politicians are pushing to just defund the programs.
The team of Wall Street CEOs and the politicians they support dug a massive deficit hole by tanking the economy and handing massive tax cuts to the very rich. Now they're throwing the middle class into that hole and shoveling on the dirt."
Read more of: Richard Trumka: This Isn't Deficit Control. It's Assault @ Huffington Post
A Jefferson Quote
From a friend on Facebook...
Bill O'Neill
“I hope that we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations, which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country.” - Thomas Jefferson, 1816
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Fact-checking Obama's State of the Union speech
Looks like President Obama did a nice job with his State-of-the-Union Speech. And his talking points seem to have stood up to independent fact-checking. See just how well the President did at: St. Petersburg Times' (2009 Pulitzer Prize Winner) PolitiFact
Friday, January 21, 2011
Group: Supreme Court justices ‘participated in political strategy sessions’ before Citizens United
Remember the "Citizens United" case where the Supreme Court gave corporations the same rights as individuals? It's back...
Read more at: Raw Story
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Obama Ignores Eisenhower at Country's, World's Peril
"On January 17, 1961, President Dwight D. Eisenhower issued his prophetic warning about the military-industrial complex, anticipating the increased political, economic, military and even cultural influence of the Pentagon and its allies. Several weeks earlier, he had privately told his senior advisers in the Oval Office, 'God help this country when someone sits in this chair who doesn't know the military as well as I do.' Several months after his inauguration in 1953, he warned against warfare that had 'humanity hanging from a cross of iron.'"
Read more about this prescient statement at: Truthout
Thursday, January 13, 2011
What an Originalist United States Might Look Like
More fun discussing Justice(?) Scalia...
"Justice Antonin Scalia, the court’s leading originalist, has agreed to address the House Tea Party caucus on the separation of powers. He has also delivered speeches recently outlining his original understanding of the Constitution in areas like sex equality and the death penalty."
Hear more about Justice Scalia from Jeffrey Rosen, a law professor at George Washington University and the legal affairs editor of The New Republic in NYTimes.com "Week in Review"
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Republican Jesus
“Looking for Mr. Theocracy” or “How I Learned to Stop Thinking for Myself and Just Trust Republican Jesus.”
By Justin “filthy liberal scum” Rosario (Ed. note: *his* words, not ours...)
"When I was a kid, I was taught that the Pilgrims fled to the New World to escape religious persecution. Somewhere in there, I learned that we don’t have a national religion and people were free to practice whatever religion they wanted. That was kind of it as far as religion went in my history classes and overall education."
Read more about the *mysterious ways* of "Republican Jesus" at: addictinginfo.org
Friday, January 7, 2011
Republican Representatives Miss Swearing In, Vote Anyway
Two Republican congressmen missed the House swearing-in ceremony today because they were at a party. But they decided to cast some votes anyway, even though that's *against the Constitution.*
Read more on Republican hypocrisy at: Gawker.com
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Dennis Kucinich Challenges Republicans On Finding Government “Waste” Everywhere But Bloated Military Budget
"The GOP wants to slash a few hundred billion dollars in spending. Dennis Kucinich wants to know why they aren't looking squarely at the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan."
(from CAMPAIGN CORNER: A HOME FOR PROGRESSIVE POLITICAL CAMPAIGNERS)
More details at: SunState Activist
House GOP Ends Floor Voting Rights For Delegates
One of the first acts of the new Republican-controlled House is to take away the floor voting rights of six delegates representing areas such as the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam and American Samoa.
Five of those delegates are Democrats, while one, from the Northern Marianas Islands, is an independent.
Read more at: Huffington Post
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Scalia: Women Don't Have Constitutional Protection Against Discrimination
"The equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution does not protect against discrimination on the basis of gender or sexual orientation, according to Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia"
Read the rest of what this misogynistic meathead has to say at Huffington Post
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Major Health Care Reforms Take Effect January 1
"...two of the new health care law's most significant reforms take effect..."
"Starting on New Year's Day, insurance companies will have to spend at least 80 percent of the revenues they receive from premiums on actual health care. Not on salaries or overhead."
"Senior citizens -- a demographic that's skeptical of the bill -- will see real benefits. In 2011, the law will begin to close the Medicare Part D coverage gap -- the infamous 'donut hole.' "
Find out more at: Talking Points Memo
Saturday, January 1, 2011
2011: Calling Time on Capitalism
"Recent decades have seen a massive redistribution of wealth, imposing the cost of successive crises on the poorest. Enough!"
"...recovery noise distracts from a more basic failure of our economic system: its fundamental instability. Recurring "downturns" – which neither private nor government actions have ever managed to prevent – impose massive costs on society. They plunge millions of effective, productive workers into unemployment and resulting personal, family and community disasters. Governments tap the collective purses of their nations chiefly to rescue just those private capitalists who were major contributors to the crisis and whose wealth insulates them from the crisis' worst effects.
Then, governments turn on their people to impose austerities (cutbacks in social programs, social security, etc) needed to restore government budgets busted by that rescue's huge costs. Like someone convicted of murdering his parents who demands leniency as an orphan, corporate America demands conservative government and austerity on the grounds of excessive budget deficits. Mainstream media and politicians take those corporate demands seriously, reminding us who controls whom."
Read the entire article at: Common Dreams
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