So-called deficit hawks steer clear of the elephant in the room: The Bush tax cuts

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So-called deficit hawks steer clear of the elephant in the room: The Bush tax cuts

Opinion: The Politics of Global Warming

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Opinion
J. B. Burke

For those of us who were the geeks that watched science and nature channels as a kid I remember listening to scientists say at the time that due to a lack of a accurate working global models it's impossible to know for sure what the results of global warming would be (Not that they have a completely accurate model now but this is 30+ years ago as well), But one of the things they thought was a probable outcome of the future was that the scientists thought there could be is more extreme weather patterns. That's higher highs and lower lows and fiercer conditions in general. Because not only could Global Warming bring this on by itself but the earth is bound to exit this climatically and geologically speaking calm period in the planets history eventually. No body claimed to know when the calm period (which has allowed mankind to flourish in) would end, but that sooner or later that it would end and that could cause the same conditions as they feared global warming could have. And what if the two factors could compound each other? This could be catastrophically bad for all of us. And that even if they were wrong wouldn't it make sense to take precautions? What were these precautions? Reduce our use of fossil fuels. That's it. And even still politicians, and people are fighting this because it's become a political issue. Not based in anything other than what some lying politician says. But here is the deal, even if every scientist IS wrong about it, or even if they are right about it and even if we get the mathematically near impossibility of having the greater forces cancel each other out, and even if the first glacier I ever saw isn't there anymore (which it isn't), and even if all this shit we pump into our air and water turns out to be good for that planet. Even if all that is true, how is finding and using alternatives to fossil fuels a bad thing? Because in the end an oil well runs dry, the coal vein runs out and in the end, it will run out. It may be now and it may be in 50 years. But it will happen happen all the same and, that is just common sense. And in the end we will have to find alternatives. And in the end, how many of our sons and daughters are we willing to sacrifice just to postpone the inevitable?

Corporate America's Plan to Loot Our Pensions Is the Latest Battle in Decades-Long Assault on the Middle Class

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While the safety net is being withered by attrition, record corporate profits are deemed off-limits for discussion about closing the budget gap.

The New Tax Deal: Reaganomics Redux

by Robert Reich

More than thirty years ago, Ronald Reagan came to Washington intent on reducing taxes on the wealthy and shrinking every aspect of government except defense.

The new tax deal embodies the essence of Reaganomics.

It will not stimulate the economy.

A disproportionate share of the $858 billion deal will go to people in the top 1 percent who spend only a fraction of what they earn and save the rest. Their savings are sent around the world to wherever they will earn the highest return.

The only practical effect of adding $858 billion to the deficit will be to put more pressure on Democrats to reduce non-defense spending of all sorts, including Social Security and Medicare, as well as education and infrastructure.

House Passed Bill Which Closes the "Offshore Outsourcing" International Corporate Tax Scheme | The Economic Populist

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Hmmm, why isn't the media talking about this? OH, that's right,it isn't in their parent companies interest.
Gee, no
* News Corp. (Fox News Channel, FX, FUEL TV, others)
* General Electric (NBC, MSNBC, CNBC, Telemundo, USA, Bravo, others)
* National Amusements (CBS Corp. and Viacom)
* Comcast Corp. (G4, E!, others)
* Time Warner (CNN, TBS, Cinemax, TNT, Warner Bros./CW, others)
* Walt Disney Co. (ABC, ESPN, others)



House Passed Bill Which Closes the "Offshore Outsourcing" International Corporate Tax Scheme | The Economic Populist

Genetically Engineered Salmon: Coming to a Plate Near You?

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by Paula Crossfield

The genetically modified salmon called AquAdvantage was discussed on Monday in front of the Veterinary Medicine Advisory Committee, which will help the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) decide whether or not to approve the fish for commercial production. The meeting comes after an unusually short 14-day period of public comment on the “new animal drug.”

That’s right: the first potentially approved genetically engineered animal is being considered just like a pharmaceutical, instead of as a precedent with significant implications for the environment, other species, and human health, which would usually require a 60-90-day comment period to enable the public to go over the 255-pages of recently released technical information from the FDA.

Unlike clones, which are copies of an animal and which the FDA has already ruled safe to eat (and are also being sold without a label), genetically modified animals are those which have had their genetic code altered. The AquAdvantage salmon, for example, mixes a gene for producing a growth hormone from the Chinook salmon and a gene that encourages over-production of that hormone from an eel-like fish called the ocean pout.

Elizabeth Warren In Office - But Not In Power

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Banksters Cheer Tepid Rules on Anniversary of Lehman's Fall

by Danny Schechter

Hooray, Elizabeth Warren is to become a Special Assistant to President Obama in charge of setting up the Consumer Protection Bureau that she conceived. Alas, it is not to be the independent agency she wanted but a bureau within the Federal Reserve Bank, a branch of government that is really run by big banks which and did virtually nothing to protect consumers when they needed help the most.

For the Obamacrats, this is a good move in political terms because the White House had been battered by the Democratic base to appoint the outspoken Warren to the job. Asked about the issue at his recent press conference, he was his usual coy and cautious self. He said he hadn't decided.

Now he has-but not to appoint her to the job she deserves but to a post in the Executive Branch under his control and with oversight by Tim Geithner, Larry Summers, and Rahm Emanuel et al. (The White House worries that they could not win a protracted confirmation battle.)

So she's in, but hardly in charge, or able to be an independent force. Remember that quote from the Godfather taken from Chinese military strategist Sun Tsu: "Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer."

The usually on-target blog, Naked Capitalism, suggests that the Warren appointment was just a way to sideline her, not put her in a position of real power. In any event, the new Bureau's rules will not be in effect until 2012, if then. So much for urgency!

Bush'd again? New Orleans, Mr. O and Mr. Go

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What really flooded New Orleans
Bush'd again? New Orleans, Mr. O and Mr. Go

Subliminal Sex Messages and Pornography in Advertising & Cartoons - BlackListed News

Subliminal Sex Messages and Pornography in Advertising & Cartoons - BlackListed News

Something Controversial ( 9/11 )