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

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

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

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

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"

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

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

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

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