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thinkahol *

Bushonomics, The Meltdown's True Villain - 0 views

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Bushonomics The Meltdown's True Villain

shared by thinkahol * on 09 Aug 11 - No Cached
  • thinkahol * on 09 Aug 11
     
    The Boston Globe ran a chart last Sunday that I'd buy billboard space to reproduce in every decent-size city in America, if I were running the Democratic National Committee. The premise of it was very simple: It showed how many trillions each president since Ronald Reagan has added to the nation's debt. The debt was about $1 trillion when Reagan took office, and then: Reagan, $1.9 trillion; George H.W. Bush, $1.5 trillion (in just four years); Bill Clinton, $1.4 trillion; Obama, $2.4 trillion.Oh, wait. I skipped someone. George W. Bush ran up $6.4 trillion. That's nearly half-44.7 percent-of the $14.3 trillion total. We all know what did it-two massive tax cuts geared toward the rich (along with other similar measures, like slashing the capital gains and inheritance taxes), the off-the-books wars, the unfunded Medicare expansion, and so on. But the number is staggering and worth dwelling on. In a history covering 30 years, nearly half the debt was run up in eight. Even the allegedly socialist Obama at his most allegedly wanton doesn't compare to Dubya; and Obama's debt numbers, if he's reelected, will surely not double or even come close as we gambol down Austerity Lane.
thinkahol *

House Bill Means Fewer Children in Head Start, Less Help for Students to Attend College... - 0 views

www.cbpp.org/...index.cfm

House Bill Means Fewer Children in Head Start Less Help for Students to Attend College Job Training and Funding Clean Water - Center on Budget Policy Priorities

shared by thinkahol * on 06 Apr 11 - No Cached
  • thinkahol * on 06 Apr 11
     
    Some 157,000 at-risk children up to age 5 could lose education, health, nutrition, and other services under Head Start, while funds for Pell Grants that help students go to college would fall by nearly 25 percent, under a bill passed by the House that would cut current-year non-security discretionary funding by an average of 14.3 percent.  The bill (H.R.1), which would fund the government for the rest of fiscal year 2011, now must be considered by the Senate. [1] H.R. 1 also would kill a program that helps low-income families weatherize their homes and permanently reduce their home energy bills, cut federal funds for employment and training services for jobless workers and for clean water and safe drinking water by more than half, and raise the risk that the WIC nutrition program may not be able to serve all eligible low-income women, infants, and children under age 5.  In addition, it would cut funds for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention by 10 percent, for the Food and Drug Administration by 10 percent, and for the Food Safety and Inspection Service by 9 percent. The House bill does not apply its overall 14.3 percent cut on an across-the-board basis.  Some cuts, such as the 6.0 percent reduction in funding for House of Representatives staff salaries and expenses, would be smaller.  But many important programs, including some of the ones listed above, would be cut much more to make up the difference.  (The table on the next page shows the average size of the cut for programs within the jurisdiction of each subcommittee.) At the same time, H.R. 1 would increase overall funding for security programs (those funded by the Defense, Homeland Security, and Military Construction-Veterans Affairs appropriation bills) by a little less than 1 percent. Also, the 14.3 percent figure is a bit deceiving.  To achieve that level of overall cuts for non-security programs for the entirety of 2011, funding for those programs will have to fall on average by nearly one
thinkahol *

Thank George W. ... Again - 0 views

readersupportednews.org/...6089-thank-george-w--again

Tax Cuts Wars Account For Nearly Half Of Public Debt by 2019

shared by thinkahol * on 31 May 11 - No Cached
  • thinkahol * on 31 May 11
     
    "Tax Cuts, Wars Account For Nearly Half Of Public Debt by 2019" 
Muslim Academy

burma today-What is Happening Now - 0 views

muslim-academy.com/urma-and-what-is-happening-now

burma today burma muslim killing burma news

shared by Muslim Academy on 30 Dec 12 - No Cached
  • Muslim Academy on 30 Dec 12
     
    In the midst of fast-moving events in Syria and in the shadows of tyranny, oppression, lethality and massacres practiced by the Syrian regime, the Nation of Islam has been stabbed once again. Another waterfall of Muslim blood has been shed without any humanity. These stabs have been hurting the Muslim nation often and raise many questions about our disbanding and enemy's plots and plans from all sides. In the past weeks, Muslim advocates have been exposed to a gruesome massacre after being attacked by a Buddhist group that killed many Muslims. The media have posted terrible images of the victims of this massacre. The Myanmar government turned a blind eye, and it seems that they agree with the criminal killers. Things did not stop at this massacre but transcended to burn homes and farms of a large number of Muslims and killed dozens by fire. All this happened with the help of police junta Buddhism. On July 10, 2012 a curfew was imposed on villages that was inhabited by the Muslim minority, then the Buddhist groups covered by the Myanmar government started a campaign of ethnic cleansing and religious preference that killed 100 Muslims and injured about 300 people and burned nearly a thousand homes. Also, in this awful campaign they have been targeting scientists, doctors and intellectuals. Away from these events and tension, the main thing that everyone knows is that the Muslims there have been suffering for decades from the oppression and persecution of Buddhists via systematic violations. The group of Buddhists are committed against the Muslims there at different intervals, and force displacement, removal of citizenship, and the sophistication in the torture and "ethnic cleansing." Unjust arrests and the demolition of mosques and Islamic schools have deprived Muslims from the lowest human rights.
thinkahol *

Daily Kos: I See What Occupy Vancouver Did There...And It's Brilliant - 0 views

www.dailykos.com/...ver-Did-ThereAnd-Its-Brilliant

Daily Kos: I See What Occupy Vancouver Did There...And It's Brilliant

shared by thinkahol * on 27 Dec 11 - No Cached
  • thinkahol * on 27 Dec 11
     
    The media's latest attempt to undercut the message of Occupy movements all across the globe is by touting the "cost" of these protests. Many sources are reporting that Occupy movements are costing cities hundreds of thousands of dollars in police overtime because apparently it takes an entire precinct to make sure that 50 people don't sleep through the night. When an internal city memorandum stated that Occupy Vancouver had cost its city nearly a million dollars in taxpayer money, the organizers did something brilliant: they broke down the cost of what they were doing for the city of Vancouver.
Muslim Academy

Bilawal Bhutto in love with Hina Rabbani Khar? - 0 views

muslim-academy.com/in-love-with-hina-rabbani-khar

Bilawal Bhutto in love with Hina Rabbani Khar Pakistan affairs Hina Ribani kher Bilawal Bhutto zardari

shared by Muslim Academy on 28 Sep 12 - No Cached
  • Muslim Academy on 28 Sep 12
     
    Time and again Pakistan has known by the violence in all sectors of its country. Be it wars or terrorism, Pakistan has always made high news on the world map. Recently, the rumor doing the round in Islamic country is the famous link-up between Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari son Bilawal Bhutto is seeing Pakistan foreign minister Hina rabbani khar. World is aghast at knowing this news a sits nearly impossible to believe such thing. We have huge respect for both the parties and the age difference is apparent between them. Hina rabbani khar is 35 years old lady who is also married to a business man and has two daughters whereas Bilawal Bhutto zardari is 24 years old. We being Muslim should not indulge ourselves into the rumors doing rounds with anyone's personal life. The news was broken by a Bangladeshi tabloid that apparently claimed to have an ongoing Affair between the Pakistani foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar and chairman of Pakistan people's party Bilawal Bhutto zardari.
thinkahol *

Ted Koppel: Nine years after 9/11, let's stop playing into bin Laden's hands - 0 views

www.washingtonpost.com/...AR2010090904735.html

shared by thinkahol * on 15 Sep 10 - No Cached
  • thinkahol * on 15 Sep 10
     
    The attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, succeeded far beyond anything Osama bin Laden could possibly have envisioned. This is not just because they resulted in nearly 3,000 deaths, nor only because they struck at the heart of American financial and military power. Those outcomes were only the bait; it would...
thinkahol *

How Corporations Buy Congress | BuzzFlash.org - 0 views

blog.buzzflash.com/11756

How Corporations Buy Congress | BuzzFlash.org

shared by thinkahol * on 17 Sep 10 - No Cached
  • thinkahol * on 17 Sep 10
     
    With the November elections quickly approaching, the majority of  Americans will be thinking one thing: "Who cares?" This apathy isn't due  to ignorance, as some accuse. Rather, working people's disinterest in  the two party system implies intelligence: millions of people understand  that both the Democrats and Republicans will not represent their  interests in Congress.  This begs the question: Whom does the two party system work for? The  answer was recently given by the mainstream The New York Times, who  gave the nation an insiders peek on how corporations "lobby" (buy)  congressmen. The article explains how giant corporations - from  Wall-mart to weapons manufacturers - are planning on shifting their  hiring practices for lobbyists, from Democratic to Republican  ex-congressmen in preparation for the Republicans gaining seats in the  upcoming November elections: "Lobbyists, political consultants and recruiters all say that the  going rate for Republicans - particularly current and former House staff  members - has risen significantly in just the last few weeks, with  salaries beginning at $300,000 and going as high as $1million for  private sector [corporate lobbyist] positions." (September 9, 2010) Congressmen who have recently retired make the perfect lobbyists:  they still have good friends in Congress, with many of these friends  owing them political favors; they have connections to foreign Presidents  and Kings; and they also have celebrity status that gives good PR to  the corporations. Often, these congressmen have done favors for the corporation that  is now hiring them, meaning, that the corporations are rewarding the  congressmen for services rendered while in office, offering them million  dollar lobbyist jobs (or seats on the corporate board of directors)  that requires little to no work.  The same New York Times article revealed that the pay for 13,000  lobbyists currently bribing Congress is a combined $3.5 bil
thinkahol *

t r u t h o u t | US Slides on Corruption Index - 0 views

www.truth-out.org/s-slides-corruption-index64689

t r u h o | US Slides on Corruption Index

shared by thinkahol * on 03 Nov 10 - No Cached
  • thinkahol * on 03 Nov 10
     
    New York - Iraq and Afghanistan rank near rock-bottom in an index of corruption in 178 countries that found that nearly three- quarters of the countries surveyed showed serious corruption problems.
Skeptical Debunker

Obama, Republicans clash at heated health summit - Yahoo! News - 0 views

news.yahoo.com/...us_health_care_overhaul

health care summit rancor

shared by Skeptical Debunker on 25 Feb 10 - Cached
  • Skeptical Debunker on 25 Feb 10
     
    "We have a very difficult gap to bridge here," said Rep. Eric Cantor, the No. 2 House Republican. "We just can't afford this. That's the ultimate problem." With Cantor sitting in front of a giant stack of nearly 2,400 pages representing the Democrats' Senate-passed bill, Obama said cost is a legitimate question, but he took Cantor and other Republicans to task for using political shorthand and props "that prevent us from having a conversation." And so it went, hour after hour at Blair House, just across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House - a marathon policy debate available from start to finish to a divided public. The more than six-hour back-and-forth was essentially a condensed, one-day version of the entire past year of debate over the nation's health care crisis, with all its heat, complexity and detail, and a crash course in the partisan divide, in which Democrats seek the kind of broad remake that has eluded leaders for half a century and Republicans favor much more modest changes. With Democrats in control of the White House and Congress, they were left with the critical decision about where to go next. Obama and his Democratic allies argued at Thursday's meeting that a broad overhaul is imperative for the nation's future economic vitality. The president cast health care as "one of the biggest drags on our economy," tying his top domestic priority to an issue that's even more pressing to many Americans.
  • Skeptical Debunker on 25 Feb 10
     
    Of course the "we" in "We can't afford this" is the big health care monopolies (pharma, insurance, etc.). Supposedly, the country and people can afford the continued gouging by those special interests (up to 40% in some places this year alone!). Too, if the government were to find a way to "afford it" (disregarding that Medicare and Medicaid savings might pay for it altogether!), that would probably be on the "back" of the richest 5% and by reducing corporate and business subsidies (like those to oil companies, the military industrial complex, "big finance" bailouts and sweetheart Federal funds rates and "liquidity" pumping, non-risk underwriting for things like coastal flood insurance, etc., etc., etc.). Since that is the "invisible hand" that feeds most "conservatives" and Republican politicians, that would never do.
Skeptical Debunker

Radical Anti-tax Groups Growing Threat, Say Law Enforcement - Local News | News Article... - 0 views

www.foxnews.com/...0,2933,586904,00.html

Joseph Stack manifesto anti-tax IRS

shared by Skeptical Debunker on 22 Feb 10 - Cached
  • Stack's manifesto offers insight into his personal journey as a tax protester - and into the large and growing movement that attracted him. Passages of Stack's manifesto suggest that he was involved in a notorious home church scheme that was popular in the part of California where he lived before he moved to Texas, MacNab said. Stack wrote that he was part of a group who held tax code readings and "zeroed in on a section relating to the wonderful 'exemptions' that make institutions like the vulgar, corrupt Catholic Church so incredibly wealthy." He said they had "the best high-paid experienced tax lawyers in the business." MacNab said Stack likely was referring to a notorious scheme run by lawyers William Drexler and Jerome Daly. It was based on the idea that citizens could establish themselves as a church and gain the same tax exemptions afforded to religious institutions. The scheme didn't work, and Drexler and Daly were disbarred and imprisoned. If this was the operation Stack was referring to, it may have been a turning point in his life. He wrote: "That little lesson in patriotism cost me $40,000+, 10 years of my life, and set my retirement plans back to 0. It made me realize for the first time that I live in a country with an ideology that is based on a total and complete lie." This inspired him to take action, write to politicians and meet with likeminded anti-tax protesters. He wrote: "I spent countless hours on the L.A. freeways driving to meetings and any and all of the disorganized professional groups who were attempting to mount a campaign against this atrocity." His anti-tax and anti-government beliefs may also have been fueled by Section 1706, an obscure and relatively unknown change in the tax code that focused on his industry and went into effect in 1986. Section 1706 essentially removed technical workers like software engineers from a safe haven classification of "self-employed consultant," making it easier for the IRS to challenge how Information Technology companies classified their employers. An association of IT companies and industry professionals, now called TechServe Alliance, was created to protest the changes in tax law that it says singled out the industry. "It made the whole business riskier for people using independent contractors because it favored the so-called employment business model," Mark Roberts, TechServe CEO, told FoxNews.com. "It created havoc on a number of folks." Roberts was quick to condemned Stack's behavior as "an act of a very, very sick individual." "I don't see a long-term lasting effect, just a troubled wayward person acting in response to a legitimate issue. But I don't think that actually impacts the issue," Roberts said. Noting that Section 1706 was passed years ago, he added: "We still resent the fact that it singles out the industry, but folks have basically learned to adapt. It's kind of been awhile since this was a burning issue in the industry."
  • Skeptical Debunker on 22 Feb 10
     
    Joseph Stack, the 53-year-old software engineer who crashed his small plane into a seven-story office building in Austin, Texas, was part of a growing, violent anti-tax and anti-government movement that has become increasingly alarming to law enforcement agencies.\n\nStack, who torched his home Thursday morning before setting out on his suicide flight, was fueled by his hatred of the Internal Revenue Service, which had offices and employed nearly 200 workers in the building.
thinkahol *

A "Pledge of Resistance" to Defend Social Security (and Defund the Empire) - 0 views

www.truth-out.org/ecurity-and-defund-empire66591

A Pledge of Resistance to Defend Social Security (and Defund the Empire)

shared by thinkahol * on 07 Jan 11 - No Cached
  • thinkahol * on 07 Jan 11
     
    For the third time in the last 20 years, establishment voices with high-profile slots in traditional media are trying to convince the public to accept cuts to Social Security by endlessly claiming such cuts are necessary, without giving coherent evidence to justify the claim. Twice, under former presidents Clinton and George W. Bush, these voices were defeated - but they didn't give up. And now they are in striking distance of their goal: the fact that Republicans have taken over the House, combined with the fact that the president appointed a deficit reduction commission which nearly recommended a cut in Social Security benefits - and might well have done so if Representative Schakowsky hadn't worked to undermine the co-chairs' plan - means that one can't be complacent; some reports have suggested that the president may indicate support for cuts to Social Security in his State of the Union speech. Of the two principal Washington political actors who will shape the outcome - the Republican leadership and the president's team - one is a determined adversary of the public interest, the other a very uncertain ally. The most successful anti-poverty program in US history is again in grave danger.
thinkahol *

Republicans Aim Info-War at Obama - 0 views

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Republicans Aim Info-War at Obama

shared by thinkahol * on 05 Jan 11 - No Cached
  • thinkahol * on 05 Jan 11
     
    Finally, Congress appears ready to hold some high-profile hearings - except they won't be about the most important scandals of the past decade, like how the United States was misled into the Iraq invasion, how the Afghan War was bungled, how torture became a U.S. practice, or how bank deregulation and Wall Street greed nearly destroyed the economy.
thinkahol *

Study finds N.J. day laborers are victims of assault, wage theft | NJ.com - 0 views

www.nj.com/..._finds_widespread_abuse_a.html

Study finds N.J. day laborers are victims of assault wage theft | NJ.com

shared by thinkahol * on 12 Jan 11 - No Cached
  • thinkahol * on 12 Jan 11
     
    Nearly half of all day laborers in New Jersey have not been paid for their work at least once in the last year, according to a report released today by Seton Hall Law School that outlines widespread worker abuse around the state. Researchers interviewed more than 100 day laborers around the state and found the workers are routinely underpaid for their work and denied overtime. More than a quarter also reported being physically assaulted by their bosses.
thinkahol *

The Myth of 'American Exceptionalism' Implodes | CommonDreams.org - 0 views

www.commondreams.org/...18-2

The Myth of 'American Exceptionalism' Implodes | CommonDreams.org

shared by thinkahol * on 20 Jan 11 - No Cached
  • thinkahol * on 20 Jan 11
     
    One aspect of "American exceptionalism" was always economic. US workers, so the story went, enjoyed a rising level of real wages that afforded their families a rising standard of living. Ever harder work paid off in rising consumption. The rich got richer faster than the middle and poor, but almost no one got poorer. Nearly all citizens felt "middle class". A profitable US capitalism kept running ahead of labor supply. So, it kept raising wages to attract waves of immigration and to retain employees, across the 19th century until the 1970s.
thinkahol *

Mubarak Steps Down, Ceding Power to Military - NYTimes.com - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...12egypt.html

Mubarak Steps Down Ceding Power to Military - NYTimes.com

shared by thinkahol * on 11 Feb 11 - No Cached
  • thinkahol * on 11 Feb 11
     
    CAIRO - Egypt erupted in a joyous celebration of the power of a long repressed people on Friday as President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt resigned his post and ceded control to the military, ending his nearly 30 years of autocratic rule.
thinkahol *

US Uncut -- a Grassroots Uprising Against Corporate Tax Deadbeats | | AlterNet - 0 views

www.alternet.org/...gainst_corporate_tax_deadbeats

US Uncut -- a Grassroots Uprising Against Corporate Tax Deadbeats | AlterNet

shared by thinkahol * on 23 Feb 11 - No Cached
  • thinkahol * on 23 Feb 11
     
    The IRS estimates that individuals and corporations currently hold $5 trillion in tax haven countries. Nearly two-thirds of corporations pay no taxes at all, and the great vampire squid, Goldman Sachs, which received $10 billion dollars in taxpayer money during the bailout, negotiated their tax rate down to one percent. The entire tax haven scam costs taxpayers as much as $100 billion per year.
thinkahol *

The Need for Greed - 0 views

readersupportednews.org/...5974-the-need-for-greed

The Need for Greed

shared by thinkahol * on 21 May 11 - No Cached
  • thinkahol * on 21 May 11
     
    The bet was audacious from the beginning, and given the miserable, low-down tenor of contemporary politics, not unfathomable: Could you divide the country between greedy geezers and everyone else as a way to radically alter the social contract? But in order for the Republican plan to turn Medicare, one of most popular government programs in history, into a much-diminished voucher system, the greed card had to work. The plan's architect, Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, drew a line in the actuarial sand: Anyone born before 1957 would not be affected. They could enjoy the single-payer, socialized medical care program that has allowed millions of people to live extended lives of dignity and decent health care. And their kids and grandkids? Sorry, they would have to take their little voucher and pay some private insurer nearly twice as much as a senior pays for basic government coverage today. In essence, Republicans would break up the population between an I've Got Mine segment and The Left Behinds. Again, not a bad political calculation. Altruism is a squishy notion, hard to sustain in an election. Ryan himself has made a naked play for greed in defending the plan. "Seniors, as soon as they realize this doesn't affect them, they are not so opposed," he has said. Well, the early verdict is in, and it looks as though the better angels have prevailed: seniors are opposed. Republicans: Meet the Fockers. Already, there is considerable anxiety - and some guilt - among older folks about leaving their children worse off financially than they are. To burden them with a much costlier, privatized elderly health insurance program is a lead weight for the golden years.
thinkahol *

The Good News in Wisconsin That the Media Isn't Covering | Common Dreams - 0 views

www.commondreams.org/...08-8

Good News in Wisconsin That the Media Isn't Covering | Common Dreams

shared by thinkahol * on 13 Jun 11 - No Cached
  • thinkahol * on 13 Jun 11
     
    This week in Madison, Wis., has seen the largest protests since a "budget repair bill" virtually outlawing collective bargaining proposed by Gov. Scott Walker inspired an occupation of the state capitol building and massive street protests this past winter. Now, thousands are protesting Governor's Walker drastic cuts to the social safety net and workers' rights, contained in his 2011-2013 budgets. The budget would cut education funding by $824 million and Medicaid by $466 million. Walker is making these cuts despite giving away nearly $320 million in tax cuts to big corporations
thinkahol *

Look Out, Here Comes the 'Feral Underclass' - 0 views

inequality.org/feral-underclass

Look Out Here Comes the 'Feral Underclass'

shared by thinkahol * on 16 Aug 11 - No Cached
  • thinkahol * on 16 Aug 11
     
    Why this absence of political ambition? What explains the rioters' genuflection at the altar of "crude materialist, market-driven hedonism"? To zone in on the answer, we need to step back and remind ourselves how strikingly unequal distributions of income and wealth impact how we interact with "things." In relatively equal nations, societies where minor differences in income and wealth separate social classes, people typically do not obsess over "things," the baubles of modern life. The reason? If nearly everyone can afford much the same things, things overall tend to lose their significance. People in more equal societies will be more likely to judge you by who you are than what you own. The reverse, obviously, also holds true. "As inequality worsens," as Boston College economist Juliet Schor has explained, "the status game tends to intensify." The wider that gaps in income and wealth go, the greater the differences in the things that different classes can afford. In markedly unequal societies, things take on ever greater significance. They signal who has succeeded and who has not. In London, the developed world's most unequal city, these signals may dominate daily life as ferociously as anywhere else on Earth. Their incessant repetition drowns out the socially cohesive signals that people see and hear and feel in more equal societies, the sense that "we're all in this together." "Let this week be a wake up call," London's Compass think tank observed right after the heaviest rioting. "There is more to clean up than broken shop windows."
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