1. Muslims do not recognize Jews as God's chosen people.
2. Jews do not recognize Jesus as the Messiah.
3. Protestants do not recognize the Pope as the leader of the Christian World.
4. Baptists do not recognize each other at "Hooters."
Monday, April 22, 2013
What Jesus wouldn't do
1. Muslims do not recognize Jews as God's chosen people.
2. Jews do not recognize Jesus as the Messiah.
3. Protestants do not recognize the Pope as the leader of the Christian World.
4. Baptists do not recognize each other at "Hooters."
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
The New American Confederacy
Max Eternity, Truthout | Op-Ed
16 April 2013
Max Eternity argues that the continuity between the Bush and Obama administrations is evidence of a new American confederacy - a conspiracy against the American people.
Truth often shows up at the most inopportune times, especially for politicians. "You have to hand it to Barack Obama when it comes to having it both ways" writes the publisher of Harpers Magazine, John MacArthur, in a recent article, entitled "Obama's Real Political Program."
For "[n]ever has a leading American Democrat" done so little, MacArthur says, "in support of less-privileged people while getting so much undeserved credit for 'trying' to help them."
Truly, what a strange and bitter pill to swallow.
An article I wrote 2 years ago, titled "Obama's Right Wing Success: Silencing Black America and the Left," then quoted a young, progressive veteran named Evan Knappenberger, who wrote poignantly about this painfully odd dilemma in an editorial, entitled "Obama's Betrayal of Generation Hope."
It's worth mentioning again here, because it is so heartfelt and lays bare what Knappenberger sees as Obama's cruel hypocrisy:
16 April 2013
Max Eternity argues that the continuity between the Bush and Obama administrations is evidence of a new American confederacy - a conspiracy against the American people.
Truth often shows up at the most inopportune times, especially for politicians. "You have to hand it to Barack Obama when it comes to having it both ways" writes the publisher of Harpers Magazine, John MacArthur, in a recent article, entitled "Obama's Real Political Program."
For "[n]ever has a leading American Democrat" done so little, MacArthur says, "in support of less-privileged people while getting so much undeserved credit for 'trying' to help them."
Truly, what a strange and bitter pill to swallow.
An article I wrote 2 years ago, titled "Obama's Right Wing Success: Silencing Black America and the Left," then quoted a young, progressive veteran named Evan Knappenberger, who wrote poignantly about this painfully odd dilemma in an editorial, entitled "Obama's Betrayal of Generation Hope."
It's worth mentioning again here, because it is so heartfelt and lays bare what Knappenberger sees as Obama's cruel hypocrisy:
READ IT ALL:Most disappointing of all to the youth, though, is Obama's betrayal of their values. Particularly, his extensions of Bush policies and war-mongering. Obama's "dumb war" theory (i.e. that some wars are just and some are just "dumb") is, to us, a complete abomination of the concept of peace. By evoking the Reverend Doctor King in his Nobel acceptance speech while in the same breath dismissing nonviolence, Obama has bastardized the concept of peace and alienated us, antiwar youth permanently from his politics."
Sunday, April 14, 2013
NPR story on Texas construction industry highlights GOP hypocrisy, harm
JerryNA | dailykos.com
11 April 2013
A two part news series on NPR by Wade Goodwyn displayed the Texas construction industry as harmful to itself and its workers. Worker injury and death is much higher than the national average and twice California's average. People are treated as disposable, with no repercussions.
Construction booming in Texas but many workers pay dearly.
Texas contractors say playing by the rules doesn't pay.
(One quibble- what they call "playing by the rules" I call "following the law".)
The reporter completely missed two natural followups: 1. How the GOP plays a part in this massive illegal tax evasion and exploitation of undocumented workers by an entire industry. Texas government (i.e. Texas GOP) prides and promotes itself on how "business-friendly" it is, and how few regulations an industry has to follow. Tax evasion and illegal employment (and exploitation) of undocumented workers cannot take place on an industry-wide scale without collusion by the state regulatory agencies.
The NPR reporter quoted or played recordings of construction company owners saying that for 15 or more years they have been hiring workers as "contractors" instead of employees in order to pay wages below industry norm, even below living wages, and as a way to evade paying Social Security and workers compensation insurance. One owner said he did not believe his contractors paid taxes, and did not think more than a fraction were in the country legally. No wonder he did not want his last name quoted- he was admitting on the radio to several felonies. (Want to bet how he votes? There is a better than 57% chance it is for the GOP. This is Texas, though, so in some counties it's much much higher.)
Texas is a "right to work" state, so the laws are deliberately lax, but it's even worse for 'contractors' than for employees. The reporter touched on but did not elaborate on the fact that these 'contractors' got no other benefits as well- no overtime, no health insurance, no sick leave, no vacation time, no freaking nothing except for the right to be worked to death for subsistence wages, all so Texans can buy cheaper houses.
Furthermore, the GOP both promotes and benefits from this illegal activity. The GOP blocks minimum wage increases. The GOP blocks a path to citizenship- a path to paying taxes for both employees and employers. The GOP keeps these workers "illegal" so the workers are afraid to make legal complaints about being exploited, and their families cannot take legal action for the people killed. The GOP underfunds or actively cuts state and federal regulatory agencies, stopping from having the resources to raid businesses which break the law. The GOP promotes and exploits the fear of undocumented workers, but their campaign contributors and voters actively exploit those same workers. There is a lack of empathy in all of this exploitation which seems inhuman to me.
READ IT ALL:
11 April 2013
A two part news series on NPR by Wade Goodwyn displayed the Texas construction industry as harmful to itself and its workers. Worker injury and death is much higher than the national average and twice California's average. People are treated as disposable, with no repercussions.
Construction booming in Texas but many workers pay dearly.
Texas contractors say playing by the rules doesn't pay.
(One quibble- what they call "playing by the rules" I call "following the law".)
The reporter completely missed two natural followups: 1. How the GOP plays a part in this massive illegal tax evasion and exploitation of undocumented workers by an entire industry. Texas government (i.e. Texas GOP) prides and promotes itself on how "business-friendly" it is, and how few regulations an industry has to follow. Tax evasion and illegal employment (and exploitation) of undocumented workers cannot take place on an industry-wide scale without collusion by the state regulatory agencies.
The NPR reporter quoted or played recordings of construction company owners saying that for 15 or more years they have been hiring workers as "contractors" instead of employees in order to pay wages below industry norm, even below living wages, and as a way to evade paying Social Security and workers compensation insurance. One owner said he did not believe his contractors paid taxes, and did not think more than a fraction were in the country legally. No wonder he did not want his last name quoted- he was admitting on the radio to several felonies. (Want to bet how he votes? There is a better than 57% chance it is for the GOP. This is Texas, though, so in some counties it's much much higher.)
Texas is a "right to work" state, so the laws are deliberately lax, but it's even worse for 'contractors' than for employees. The reporter touched on but did not elaborate on the fact that these 'contractors' got no other benefits as well- no overtime, no health insurance, no sick leave, no vacation time, no freaking nothing except for the right to be worked to death for subsistence wages, all so Texans can buy cheaper houses.
Furthermore, the GOP both promotes and benefits from this illegal activity. The GOP blocks minimum wage increases. The GOP blocks a path to citizenship- a path to paying taxes for both employees and employers. The GOP keeps these workers "illegal" so the workers are afraid to make legal complaints about being exploited, and their families cannot take legal action for the people killed. The GOP underfunds or actively cuts state and federal regulatory agencies, stopping from having the resources to raid businesses which break the law. The GOP promotes and exploits the fear of undocumented workers, but their campaign contributors and voters actively exploit those same workers. There is a lack of empathy in all of this exploitation which seems inhuman to me.
READ IT ALL:
Saturday, April 13, 2013
Bill Moyers: living in the United States of Inequality
"Marching in lockstep beneath a banner that now stands for “Guardians of Privilege” -- GOP -- Republicans refuse to raise revenues, while Democrats have a president whose new budget contains gimmicks that could lead to cuts in Social Security. Social Security! The one universal safety net -- and a modest one at that – and yet the main source of purchasing power for millions of aging Americans.
"This, from a Democrat – the heir of Franklin Delano Roosevelt who pulled us to our feet when the Great Depression had America on its knees. But those were the days when our political system rallied to the defense of everyday Americans. Now a petty, narcissistic, pridefully ignorant politics has come to dominate and paralyze our government, while millions of people keep falling through the gaping hole that has turned us into the United States of Inequality."
"This, from a Democrat – the heir of Franklin Delano Roosevelt who pulled us to our feet when the Great Depression had America on its knees. But those were the days when our political system rallied to the defense of everyday Americans. Now a petty, narcissistic, pridefully ignorant politics has come to dominate and paralyze our government, while millions of people keep falling through the gaping hole that has turned us into the United States of Inequality."
Friday, April 12, 2013
Sen. Whitehouse speaks out against Chained CPI
April 11, 2013 — At the Budget Committee Hearing on the President's
Budget, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse lets OMB's Acting Director know that he is
committed to fighting against Chained CPI and preserving Social Security
benefits for seniors.
Thursday, April 11, 2013
The Daily Show | Jimmy Carter part 2
Former President Jimmy Carter explains why the United States never signed a peace treaty with North Korea.
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Health coalition swipes family-planning funds from State of Texas
Federal government bypasses state agency, awards Title X grant to Women’s Health and Family Planning Association of Texas.
Carolyn Jones
25 March 2013
Some family-planning funding in Texas will soon be under new management.
The federal government announced today that it would no longer give a large slice of federal family-planning funds to the state of Texas. Instead, the feds will award the $6.5 million grant to the Women’s Health and Family Planning Association of Texas, a coalition of providers led by Fran Hagerty, to distribute to clinics for birth control, wellness exams, STD screenings and other family-planning services.
The Observer reported in November that the coalition would apply directly to the federal government for the grant—called Title X (Title 10)—one of three federal funding streams that pay for family-planning services in the state.
Before today, the sole grantee for Texas’ Title X funds had been the Texas Department of State Health Services. The health department had in turn distributed the grant money to family planning providers statewide.
But the 2011 Legislature slashed the $111-million family-planning budget by two thirds, causing more than 60 clinics to close. The loss of clinics resulted in the number of Texans receiving services through Title X to drop by 50 percent, according to an annual review by the Texas Department of State Health Services.
The collateral damage wrought by the budget cuts has been widespread. Many of the providers in Hagerty’s coalition had lost state family-planning funds and are struggling to stay open.
READ IT ALL:
Carolyn Jones
25 March 2013
Some family-planning funding in Texas will soon be under new management.
The federal government announced today that it would no longer give a large slice of federal family-planning funds to the state of Texas. Instead, the feds will award the $6.5 million grant to the Women’s Health and Family Planning Association of Texas, a coalition of providers led by Fran Hagerty, to distribute to clinics for birth control, wellness exams, STD screenings and other family-planning services.
The Observer reported in November that the coalition would apply directly to the federal government for the grant—called Title X (Title 10)—one of three federal funding streams that pay for family-planning services in the state.
Before today, the sole grantee for Texas’ Title X funds had been the Texas Department of State Health Services. The health department had in turn distributed the grant money to family planning providers statewide.
But the 2011 Legislature slashed the $111-million family-planning budget by two thirds, causing more than 60 clinics to close. The loss of clinics resulted in the number of Texans receiving services through Title X to drop by 50 percent, according to an annual review by the Texas Department of State Health Services.
The collateral damage wrought by the budget cuts has been widespread. Many of the providers in Hagerty’s coalition had lost state family-planning funds and are struggling to stay open.
READ IT ALL:
Friday, March 22, 2013
Gov. Perry’s water board still won’t acknowledge climate change as Texas faces dire drought in 2013
Stephen C. Webster | The Raw Story
22 March 2013
AUSTIN, TEXAS — Two top environmental officials in the state of Texas told Raw Story this week that not only is the state ill-prepared to face a summer this year even hotter than the record-breaking drought of 2011, it has largely neglected to begin planning for the unprecedented drought conditions forecast for the next several decades by the U.S. government’s 2013 National Climate Assessment.
The situation is so dire that if fundamental changes are not made to how water is conserved in Texas, the clashing trends of climate change and population growth threaten to utterly strangle the Texas economy over the coming 20-30 years as water costs soar, and activists warn that Gov. Rick Perry (R) is doing nothing but making the problem worse.
“Because the folks on the Texas water board are appointed by Rick Perry, they tend to fall in line with what Rick Perry believes when it comes to climate change,” Alyssa Burgin, executive director of the Texas Drought Project, told Raw Story. “There are many people whose jobs are on the line when it comes to talking about climate change. A mention of it did appear in the most recent state water plan, but any discussion given to it was rudimentary and symbolic, as if they didn’t wish to be accused of being ignorant as scientists… Most of our reservoirs are already in dire need and we’ve not even begun the really hot months. Taken together, it’s going to look like the dust bowl of Oklahoma.”
READ IT ALL:
22 March 2013
AUSTIN, TEXAS — Two top environmental officials in the state of Texas told Raw Story this week that not only is the state ill-prepared to face a summer this year even hotter than the record-breaking drought of 2011, it has largely neglected to begin planning for the unprecedented drought conditions forecast for the next several decades by the U.S. government’s 2013 National Climate Assessment.
The situation is so dire that if fundamental changes are not made to how water is conserved in Texas, the clashing trends of climate change and population growth threaten to utterly strangle the Texas economy over the coming 20-30 years as water costs soar, and activists warn that Gov. Rick Perry (R) is doing nothing but making the problem worse.
“Because the folks on the Texas water board are appointed by Rick Perry, they tend to fall in line with what Rick Perry believes when it comes to climate change,” Alyssa Burgin, executive director of the Texas Drought Project, told Raw Story. “There are many people whose jobs are on the line when it comes to talking about climate change. A mention of it did appear in the most recent state water plan, but any discussion given to it was rudimentary and symbolic, as if they didn’t wish to be accused of being ignorant as scientists… Most of our reservoirs are already in dire need and we’ve not even begun the really hot months. Taken together, it’s going to look like the dust bowl of Oklahoma.”
READ IT ALL:
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Rick Perry's $487 million corporate slush fund doesn't need your stinkin' audit
The Texas governor doesn't agree that his corporate-handout
fund needs an audit—because he and two other GOP pols already monitor
it.
Dana Liebelson | Mother Jones
20 March 2013
snip
Perry maintains that the fund gives Texas a competitive edge and has brought more than 56,000 new jobs to the state and generated more than $14.7 billion in capital investment. But the watchdog group Texans for Public Justice found that by the end of 2010, companies getting cash from the fund were only creating about 37 percent of the number of jobs promised. The administration has lowered standards in the past so that companies could create fewer jobs than they had promised, and it has canceled contracts after criticism over companies such as Bank of America's Countrywide, which continued to be an Enterprise grantee as it collapsed and laid off thousands of workers nationwide.
snip
"Perry's office is basically accommodating a process by which taxpayer money is transferred to corporations, not invested in state infrastructure," says Matt Angle, the director of the Lone Star Project, a political action committee devoted to strategic communications and research for Democrats. He would like to see Enterprise funds start going to education, family planning, and roads. (In 2011, Perry cut $5.4 billion in state funding from public schools, and he is turning down $100 billion to expand Medicaid while also shuttering 53 family planning clinics.)"
READ IT ALL:
Dana Liebelson | Mother Jones
20 March 2013
snip
Perry maintains that the fund gives Texas a competitive edge and has brought more than 56,000 new jobs to the state and generated more than $14.7 billion in capital investment. But the watchdog group Texans for Public Justice found that by the end of 2010, companies getting cash from the fund were only creating about 37 percent of the number of jobs promised. The administration has lowered standards in the past so that companies could create fewer jobs than they had promised, and it has canceled contracts after criticism over companies such as Bank of America's Countrywide, which continued to be an Enterprise grantee as it collapsed and laid off thousands of workers nationwide.
snip
"Perry's office is basically accommodating a process by which taxpayer money is transferred to corporations, not invested in state infrastructure," says Matt Angle, the director of the Lone Star Project, a political action committee devoted to strategic communications and research for Democrats. He would like to see Enterprise funds start going to education, family planning, and roads. (In 2011, Perry cut $5.4 billion in state funding from public schools, and he is turning down $100 billion to expand Medicaid while also shuttering 53 family planning clinics.)"
READ IT ALL:
The Spectacular Rise and Fall of Jamie Dimon
More than just a tawdry tale, Dimon’s demise is a critique of the American Dream.
Lynn Stuart Parramore | Alternet
March 19, 2013
They called him a hero. The most esteemed banker of his time. The captain who could steer the ship while others foundered. The handsome, charismatic CEO of JP Morgan Chase, he of the silver hair and golden tongue, beloved by presidents and praised by pundits.
Now the truth is out, and Wall Street’s golden boy, Jamie Dimon, has fallen to earth with a thud.
Why did it take so long? Why did the American media treat him with kid gloves? In a populist moment, how did he manage to escape the scorn heaped on his colleagues?
To understand this, you have to follow the yellow brick rode all the way back to the beginning, back to when the gold-plated American Dream was forged in the smithy of the Puritan soul.
READ IT ALL: http://www.alternet.org/economy/spectacular-rise-and-fall-jamie-dimon-wall-streets-golden-boy
Lynn Stuart Parramore | Alternet
March 19, 2013
They called him a hero. The most esteemed banker of his time. The captain who could steer the ship while others foundered. The handsome, charismatic CEO of JP Morgan Chase, he of the silver hair and golden tongue, beloved by presidents and praised by pundits.
Now the truth is out, and Wall Street’s golden boy, Jamie Dimon, has fallen to earth with a thud.
Why did it take so long? Why did the American media treat him with kid gloves? In a populist moment, how did he manage to escape the scorn heaped on his colleagues?
To understand this, you have to follow the yellow brick rode all the way back to the beginning, back to when the gold-plated American Dream was forged in the smithy of the Puritan soul.
READ IT ALL: http://www.alternet.org/economy/spectacular-rise-and-fall-jamie-dimon-wall-streets-golden-boy
Saturday, March 09, 2013
Anti-union, pro-fossil fuel forces are the real reason the Post Office is struggling
“As the second -largest employer in the United States, behind Wal-Mart, which is not unionized, they’re the largest union employer in the United States. And ever since 1981, when Ronald Reagan declared war on union workers, the Republican war against unions has been relentless,” Hartmann says.
SOURCE:
Crying won't fix your state, voting will
Vince Yanez | thebigslice.org/
7 March 2013
Every once in a while we post a story on The Pragmatic Progressive Page about a certain state or region, and inevitably, we get people who start stomping their feet or crying or threatening to leave because they were offended. We might point out that Texas voters are idiots, the Deep South is full of morons or that Arizona is a bunch of racists. And the cry will always go up….’But I AM NOT a racists, therefore, you are WRONG!’
So here’s the deal. You and I both know that every type of person lives in every type of region, and anyone with a brain knows that when someone says ‘Texas voters are idiots’ - we are talking about the majority of those voters, because as elections go, majority always wins. When they do documentaries in the Deep South and show toothless, bible-thumping inbred-types spouting off their hatred for ‘that Muslim’ and waving around their Confederate Flag – yes, we realize that isn’t everyone, but as someone who has travelled to the Deep South many times – that isn’t hard to find. In fact, it’s too easy to find; whether it’s the front desk of a Motel 6, the waitress of a Waffle House or any of the half-a-billion Wal-Mart dotting the landscape. Let’s not pretend otherwise.
You see, I’m from Arizona. And when people say, ‘Arizona is a bunch of racists!’ – I don’t cry and scream and defend my state by pointing out that I, in fact, am not a racist. I think about the fact that we put through bills like SB1070, that we vote into office people like Arpaio, Brewer and McCain, or that we have a ton of uneducated Minute-Men on our border with guns strapped to their sides and some misguided vigilantism keeping them peering into the desert day in and day out. I think about the fact that my state will vote in these morons time and time again, so if my state appears racists to everyone else in America, how is my crying helping the fact that actions speak louder than words?
At the end of the day, we can either say that Arizona is full of racists or we can say that the racists in Arizona are the only ones that care enough to vote…while all those lazy, apathetic non-racists are just sitting around crying they are being called racists. We can say that Texas voters are idiots, or we can say that the idiots are who care enough to vote in Texas, and all those lazy, apathetic non-idiots are being given a bad rap. We can make a blanket statement that the Deep South is full of a bunch of freaks, or we can just admit that we were only basing that on every person we met, every time we stopped at any rest stop, gas station or Cracker Barrel…and all the cool people just don’t leave their houses much.
Remember, though all forms of ‘prejudice’ may not be true, they are usually based on something that isn’t exactly a fairy tale, so let’s start being honest with ourselves.
Or…we can try harder. If you don’t like that your state is being seen as a major problem in America, then get out there and vote, and get those who are like you (who you claim there are many) to vote as well. THAT is how you change things. But to just stomp your feet every time someone points out a fact that everyone seems to agree on…that isn’t how you fix things. It never has been.
I come from a racist state, with weirdos AND idiot voters. I’m not going to pretend otherwise. I’m not going to cry and stomp and threaten to leave your page/club/house when you point that out. Instead, I’m going to either decide that is not the state for me and leave, or I’m going to try to fix the problem – but one thing I do know, tears and/or anger have never carried the same weight as a vote at the ballot box. Ever.
And if you are saying I’m trying to change things!!! – good for you, try harder, those of us who don’t have blonde hair and white skin want more places to travel in this damn country of ours without fearing for our lives every time we get a freakin’ flat tire.
SOURCE:
7 March 2013
Every once in a while we post a story on The Pragmatic Progressive Page about a certain state or region, and inevitably, we get people who start stomping their feet or crying or threatening to leave because they were offended. We might point out that Texas voters are idiots, the Deep South is full of morons or that Arizona is a bunch of racists. And the cry will always go up….’But I AM NOT a racists, therefore, you are WRONG!’
So here’s the deal. You and I both know that every type of person lives in every type of region, and anyone with a brain knows that when someone says ‘Texas voters are idiots’ - we are talking about the majority of those voters, because as elections go, majority always wins. When they do documentaries in the Deep South and show toothless, bible-thumping inbred-types spouting off their hatred for ‘that Muslim’ and waving around their Confederate Flag – yes, we realize that isn’t everyone, but as someone who has travelled to the Deep South many times – that isn’t hard to find. In fact, it’s too easy to find; whether it’s the front desk of a Motel 6, the waitress of a Waffle House or any of the half-a-billion Wal-Mart dotting the landscape. Let’s not pretend otherwise.
You see, I’m from Arizona. And when people say, ‘Arizona is a bunch of racists!’ – I don’t cry and scream and defend my state by pointing out that I, in fact, am not a racist. I think about the fact that we put through bills like SB1070, that we vote into office people like Arpaio, Brewer and McCain, or that we have a ton of uneducated Minute-Men on our border with guns strapped to their sides and some misguided vigilantism keeping them peering into the desert day in and day out. I think about the fact that my state will vote in these morons time and time again, so if my state appears racists to everyone else in America, how is my crying helping the fact that actions speak louder than words?
At the end of the day, we can either say that Arizona is full of racists or we can say that the racists in Arizona are the only ones that care enough to vote…while all those lazy, apathetic non-racists are just sitting around crying they are being called racists. We can say that Texas voters are idiots, or we can say that the idiots are who care enough to vote in Texas, and all those lazy, apathetic non-idiots are being given a bad rap. We can make a blanket statement that the Deep South is full of a bunch of freaks, or we can just admit that we were only basing that on every person we met, every time we stopped at any rest stop, gas station or Cracker Barrel…and all the cool people just don’t leave their houses much.
Remember, though all forms of ‘prejudice’ may not be true, they are usually based on something that isn’t exactly a fairy tale, so let’s start being honest with ourselves.
Or…we can try harder. If you don’t like that your state is being seen as a major problem in America, then get out there and vote, and get those who are like you (who you claim there are many) to vote as well. THAT is how you change things. But to just stomp your feet every time someone points out a fact that everyone seems to agree on…that isn’t how you fix things. It never has been.
I come from a racist state, with weirdos AND idiot voters. I’m not going to pretend otherwise. I’m not going to cry and stomp and threaten to leave your page/club/house when you point that out. Instead, I’m going to either decide that is not the state for me and leave, or I’m going to try to fix the problem – but one thing I do know, tears and/or anger have never carried the same weight as a vote at the ballot box. Ever.
And if you are saying I’m trying to change things!!! – good for you, try harder, those of us who don’t have blonde hair and white skin want more places to travel in this damn country of ours without fearing for our lives every time we get a freakin’ flat tire.
SOURCE:
Friday, March 08, 2013
Wealth Inequality in America
Published on Nov 20, 2012
Infographics on the distribution of
wealth in America, highlighting both the inequality and the difference
between our perception of inequality and the actual numbers. The reality
is often not what we think it is.Sunday, February 17, 2013
Rick Perry shows his love for corporate welfare queens
Libby Shaw | Texas Kaos
11 Feb 2013
Now that we know the Governor's political appointees have turned the state's taxpayer funded cancer prevention institute (CPRIT) into a cash cow for themselves and their cronies in the medical and pharmaceutical fields, state legislators want to take a hard look at two of Rick Perry's pet projects. This is especially necessary now that CPRIT is under criminal investigation.
These funds would be none other than the Texas Enterprise Fund and the Emerging Technology Fund. These funds were created as a means by which to attract businesses to the state as well as to advance various technologies here.
But both have been shrouded in secrecy with little oversight or accountability. Since the Governor controls these funds and knowing what we know about CPRIT, one has to wonder if their prime motive is to merely serve as corporate welfare programs or as slush funds from which Rick Perry can reward his campaign donors.
READ IT ALL:
11 Feb 2013
Now that we know the Governor's political appointees have turned the state's taxpayer funded cancer prevention institute (CPRIT) into a cash cow for themselves and their cronies in the medical and pharmaceutical fields, state legislators want to take a hard look at two of Rick Perry's pet projects. This is especially necessary now that CPRIT is under criminal investigation.
These funds would be none other than the Texas Enterprise Fund and the Emerging Technology Fund. These funds were created as a means by which to attract businesses to the state as well as to advance various technologies here.
But both have been shrouded in secrecy with little oversight or accountability. Since the Governor controls these funds and knowing what we know about CPRIT, one has to wonder if their prime motive is to merely serve as corporate welfare programs or as slush funds from which Rick Perry can reward his campaign donors.
READ IT ALL:
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Tea Parties planned years ago by Koch Brothers and Big Tobacco
Far from a genuine grassroots uprising, this astroturf effort was curated by wealthy industrialists years in advance.
Brendan DeMelle
11 Feb 2013 | Huffington Post
A new academic study confirms that front groups with longstanding ties to the tobacco industry and the billionaire Koch brothers planned the formation of the Tea Party movement more than a decade before it exploded onto the U.S. political scene.
Far from a genuine grassroots uprising, this astroturf effort was curated by wealthy industrialists years in advance. Many of the anti-science operatives who defended cigarettes are currently deploying their tobacco-inspired playbook internationally to evade accountability for the fossil fuel industry's role in driving climate disruption.
snip
The two main organizations identified in the UCSF Quarterback study are Americans for Prosperity and Freedomworks. Both groups are now "supporting the tobacco companies' political agenda by mobilizing local Tea Party opposition to tobacco taxes and smoke-free laws."
Freedomworks and Americans for Prosperity were once a single organization called Citizens for a Sound Economy (CSE). CSE was founded in 1984 by the infamous Koch Brothers, David and Charles Koch, and received over $5.3 million from tobacco companies, mainly Philip Morris, between 1991 and 2004.
READ IT ALL:
Brendan DeMelle
11 Feb 2013 | Huffington Post
A new academic study confirms that front groups with longstanding ties to the tobacco industry and the billionaire Koch brothers planned the formation of the Tea Party movement more than a decade before it exploded onto the U.S. political scene.
Far from a genuine grassroots uprising, this astroturf effort was curated by wealthy industrialists years in advance. Many of the anti-science operatives who defended cigarettes are currently deploying their tobacco-inspired playbook internationally to evade accountability for the fossil fuel industry's role in driving climate disruption.
snip
The two main organizations identified in the UCSF Quarterback study are Americans for Prosperity and Freedomworks. Both groups are now "supporting the tobacco companies' political agenda by mobilizing local Tea Party opposition to tobacco taxes and smoke-free laws."
Freedomworks and Americans for Prosperity were once a single organization called Citizens for a Sound Economy (CSE). CSE was founded in 1984 by the infamous Koch Brothers, David and Charles Koch, and received over $5.3 million from tobacco companies, mainly Philip Morris, between 1991 and 2004.
READ IT ALL:
Saturday, February 09, 2013
Monday, February 04, 2013
The NRA vs. America | RollingStone.com
How the country’s biggest gun-rights group thwarts regulation and helps put military-grade weapons in the hands of killers
Tim Dickinson
31 Jan 2013
Eleven days after the massacre, Wayne LaPierre – a lifelong political operative who had steadied the National Rifle Association through many crises – stood before an American flag and soberly addressed the nation about firearms and student safety: "We believe in absolutely gun-free, zero-tolerance, totally safe schools. That means no guns in America's schools, period," LaPierre said, carving out a "rare exception" for professional law enforcement. LaPierre even proposed making the mere mention of the word "guns" in schools a crime: "Such behavior in our schools should be prosecuted just as certainly as such behavior in our airports is prosecuted," LaPierre said.
This speech wasn't delivered in an alternate universe. The date was May 1st, 1999, at the NRA's national convention in Denver. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold's rampage at Columbine High School in nearby Littleton, Colorado, had just killed 13 students and teachers, shocking the conscience of the nation.
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The disconnect between the NRA chief's conciliatory address on that day 14 years ago and his combative press conference in the aftermath of the slaughter of 20 first-graders in Newtown, Connecticut, could hardly be more jarring. In his now-infamous December 21st tirade, LaPierre ripped the gun-free zones he once championed as an invitation to the "monsters and predators of this world," advertising to "every insane killer in America that schools are their safest place to inflict maximum mayhem with minimum risk."
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The shift in LaPierre's rhetoric underscores a radical transformation within the NRA. Billing itself as the nation's "oldest civil rights organization," the NRA still claims to represent the interests of marksmen, hunters and responsible gun owners. But over the past decade and a half, the NRA has morphed into a front group for the firearms industry, whose profits are increasingly dependent on the sale of military-bred weapons like the assault rifles used in the massacres at Newtown and Aurora, Colorado. "When I was at the NRA, we said very specifically, 'We do not represent the fi rearm industry,'" says Richard Feldman, a longtime gun lobbyist who left the NRA in 1991. "We represent gun owners. End of story." But in the association's more recent history, he says, "They have really gone after the gun industry."
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Sunday, January 27, 2013
Paul Krugman explains the keys to our recovery | BillMoyers.com
January 11, 2013
Nobel Prize-winning economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman argues that saving money is not the path to economic recovery. Instead, he tells Bill, we should put aside our excessive focus on the deficit, try to overcome political recalcitrance, and spend money to put America back to work. Krugman offers specific solutions to not only end what he calls a “vast, unnecessary catastrophe,” but to do it more quickly than some imagine possible. His latest book, End This Depression Now!, is both a warning of the fiscal perils ahead and a prescription to safely avoid them.
Nobel Prize-winning economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman argues that saving money is not the path to economic recovery. Instead, he tells Bill, we should put aside our excessive focus on the deficit, try to overcome political recalcitrance, and spend money to put America back to work. Krugman offers specific solutions to not only end what he calls a “vast, unnecessary catastrophe,” but to do it more quickly than some imagine possible. His latest book, End This Depression Now!, is both a warning of the fiscal perils ahead and a prescription to safely avoid them.
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