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Today in America 50% of the White have $67,000 in total assets, the Hispanic $8,000 in total assets, and the Blacks $5,000; while 1% of the population owns 90% of all the wealth in America. How can America prosper with such inequality. The Oil Industry Is Gauging Us

The current rules that govern the Senate are hurting our democracy.Obscure rules like secret holds and filibusters allow individual Senators to hold the nation's work hostage while cutting backroom deals. They give preference to the special interests that fund and further their careers.In order for our legislative branch to once again become part of a functioning democracy, the Senate’s rules must be updated. Let the Senate know that national interest comes before self-interest. Join us and sign the petition to Fix the Senate Now. Fix the Senate Now | Sign the Petition Now Blogged with the Flock Browser

John G. Roberts Jr. was originally nominated by President George W. Bush in 2005 to be an associate justice of the Supreme Court succeeding Sandra Day O'Connor, who was retiring. But the sudden death of Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist that September prompted the president to name Mr. Roberts to the chief justice's position. He was confirmed by a vote of 78 to 22 after an uneventful confirmation hearing, in which Mr. Roberts stressed his philosophy of judicial modesty and respect for precedent. John G. Roberts Jr. News - The New York Times Blogged with the Flock Browser

Following the first election since the Supreme Court has struck down limits on election-related advertising, a new poll finds that 9 in 10 voters said that in the 2010 election they encountered information they believed was misleading or false, with 56% saying this occurred frequently. Fifty-four percent said that it had been more frequent than usual, while just three percent said it was less frequent than usual, according to the poll conducted by WorldPublicOpinion.org, based at the University of Maryland, and Knowledge Networks. Voters Say Election Full of Misleading and False Information - World Public Opinion Blogged with the Flock Browser

What will the senior and disabled eat, and how are they going to pay their bills; they’ll need to move-in with relatives to share the facilities and the living expenses in order to survive. Senior and the disabled will need to (Eat Cat Food) to survive. They will need to live with their children because they won’t be able to afford rent. It will like it used to be when senior and the disabled lived in closets, and they were invisible. Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

I am totally opposed to tax breaks to millionair ­es and billionair ­es; please stand with Senator Bernie Sanders to filibuster the President’ ­s deal with the Republican ­s. This is a bad deal and this will widen the gap between “THE RICH And THE POOR“, this will increase the national debt by 1 Trillion, and some states could go bankrupt. We’ll need to borrow 400 Billion from China who already own us. We’ll need to cut the safety net to pay for this welfare to millionair ­es and billionair ­es this will kill jobs. I am done with Obama; and I am done with any Democrat who votes yes on this irresponsi ­ble tax deal. Finally, cutting Social Security Taxes by 2% is unacceptab ­le. What’s next privatizin ­g Social Security? Where does this end up? Killing this program altogether ­. Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Has Obama become a trader turning his back on his own party; what will happen in 2012 when he’s up for reelection will the Democrats support him? Has Obama become a Republican? Money really changes people surrounding himself with “Wall Streeters” has really changed him. Standoff with Obama makes villain out of Schumer Blogged with the Flock Browser

Senator: Fed's priorities misplaced

The measure would extend tax cuts for those who make less than $250,000 a year. Republicans, who want the lower rates for all income levels, vote against the measure. Meanwhile, a bipartisan group is working on a compromise. Bush-era tax cuts: House OKs extension of tax cut - latimes.com Blogged with the Flock Browser

(Written by an American expat living in the European Union).It wasn't until I left America that I started to realize how badly the American plutocrat owned media lies to the American people through its disinformation campaign.Well today for a span of at least this one Daily Kos diary, you will get to see what the American plutocrat owned media never wants you to see, and that is how Europe in particular and the world in general has come to see America as a country in decline, whose people are so badly misinformed by the media, they actually don't realize that America is the only major industrialized nation in the world that by right of law does not offer universal medical access, paid sick leave, paid maternity leave and paid annual leave. It just seems almost impossible to get that word out to the American people. Even diaries on that subject at the Kos top out at just over 2,000 views. Let's please remember the purpose of the plutocrat owned commercial media isn't so

Unless Congress acts to extend programs for those who have exhausted regular state unemployment benefits, millions of jobless workers may soon be phased out of emergency unemployment benefits [1].Unemployment benefits from states typically last for 26 weeks, but since 2008, Congress has on four occasions [2] passed emergency provisions that use federal funds to extend benefits for jobless workers by up to 73 weeks [3], depending on the state’s laws and unemployment rate. These benefits are set to expire tomorrow unless lawmakers intervene. With Federal Benefits Set to Expire, Unemployed Workers Face Shrinking Safety Net - ProPublica Blogged with the Flock Browser

Does Obama think that freezing wages for federal employees will improve the economy which is in a depression ­? If anything it will prolong the pain and suffering for workers and small business. Why didn't Obama go after Wall Street, The Health Industry, and the Pharmaceut ­ical Companies who are robbing us all. Because they paid him off. Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

By a vote of 348-79, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the "Currency Reform for Fair Trade Act" on Wednesday afternoon, a bill that threatens trade sanctions against China if the country does not sharply revalue its currency upward. But here's something that Republicans and Democrats itching to start slapping tariffs on Chinese imports might want to consider: Exports of made-in-the-USA cars to China are suddenly booming. Congress to China: Let the trade wars begin! - How the World Works - Salon.com Blogged with the Flock Browser

For the past 50 years, American manufacturing has dominated the globe. It turned the tide in World War ii, and hastened the defeat of Nazi Germany; it subsequently helped rebuild Europe and Japan; and it enabled the United States to outlast the Soviet empire in a Cold War. Concurrently, it met all the material needs of the American people. The Death of American Manufacturing | theTrumpet.com by the Philadelphia Church of God Blogged with the Flock Browser

The United Steelworkers recently filed a petition with the U.S. Trade Representative, accusing China of illegally stimulating and protecting its producers of green technology exports, ranging from wind and solar energy products to advanced batteries and energy-efficient vehicles. After the USTR opened an investigation, EPI International Economist Robert Scott submitted the attached comments outlining how Chinese trade practices "pose a direct threat to the recovery of U.S. manufacturing." Comments on the USTR investigation of China’s subsidies to green industries Blogged with the Flock Browser

Since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was signed in 1993, the rise in the U.S. trade deficit with Canada and Mexico through 2002 has caused the displacement of production that supported 879,280 U.S. jobs. Most of those lost jobs were high-wage positions in manufacturing industries. The loss of these jobs is just the most visible tip of NAFTA's impact on the U.S. economy. In fact, NAFTA has also contributed to rising income inequality, suppressed real wages for production workers, weakened workers' collective bargaining powers and ability to organize unions, and reduced fringe benefits.NAFTA is a free trade and investment agreement that provided investors with a unique set of guarantees designed to stimulate foreign direct investment and the movement of factories within the hemisphere, especially from the United States to Canada and Mexico. Furthermore, no protections were contained in the core of the agreement to maintain labor or environmental standards. As a r

Thirty years of Reagan, Bush, Clinton, and Bush economic policies. Has put us in this economic ditch “America is looking like a third world country.” By stripping workers of their civil rights, breaking worker unions, deregulation, tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires. The conspiracy of the SUPER RICH and Multinational Corporations to rob workers of their dignity and their financial independence. To paralyze them emotionally and financially. To take away their political power. To prevent them from mobility. To take away their voice. To make them invisible. By stealing their homes, by stealing money from their bank accounts, and by getting them deeply in financial debt. As a result, states have lost tax revenues. States have had to raise sales taxes, cut services, and layoff workers. This has affected local communities; it has affected small business because they rely on the locals to spend money for their survival, and community based organizations which all rely on states f

WASHINGTON -- Some progressive organizations have been making a push in recent days for incoming congressional Republicans to drop their government-sponsored health care on the grounds that keeping the plans would be hypocritical. The incident started after incoming Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.) complained loudly during freshmen orientation that his coverage wouldn't start immediately upon taking office. It took a new turn when Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Penn) and Bobby Schilling (R-Ill.) both said they would, in fact, forgo the coverage. It escalated even further when White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs called out Harris for the "irony," and the municipal workers union AFSCME applied a similar charge to the whole GOP shortly thereafter. Republicans Could Save $2.4 Million A Year By Forgoing Their Health Care Blogged with the Flock Browser

THE PRE-PRESIDENTIAL PAC MAN: With about 23 months still to go until the next national contest, you'd be forgiven for thinking it's a bit early to start talking about presidential elections. But hey, we're not the only ones doing it; and it's pretty clear that some GOP hopefuls are in a White House state of mind. Mitt Romney's Creative PAC Strategy, Making Nice with the Chamber and More in Capital Eye Opener: November 23 - OpenSecrets Blog | OpenSecrets Blogged with the Flock Browser

Ah yes, nothing like some good old inside the beltway Villager wisdom from the likes of the PBS Newshour's Mark Shields and David Brooks . Mark Shields thinks that the Democrats should commit political suicide by making cuts to Social Security because the public will buy into his nonsense that if they do it, it will be less painful than anything the Republicans might do later. David Brooks Compares Raising Social Security Retirement Age to Having Wisdom Tooth Removed Blogged with the Flock Browser

In an exclusive interview on "This Week," Warren Buffett, Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, told Christiane Amanpour that the rich should be paying more taxes and that the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthy should be left to expire at the end of December. Warren Buffett: Read My Lips, Raise My Taxes - ABC News Blogged with the Flock Browser

We must change our course before it's too late. No Dirty Energy - Dirty Energy Blogged with the Flock Browser

china-high-speed-rail-plans-economic-stimulus.jpg (JPEG Image, 465x281 pixels) Blogged with the Flock Browser

The greatest crime ever committed against the American Taxpayer; our political leader were in on this they were on the take this is bank robbery by another name.

The Internet has a lot of information for people wanting to better the quality of their lives. Sometimes it is difficult to know what to believe and what to be wary of. I am trying to look at human issues from the perspective of scientific psychology and its practical applications. Helping you find ways to live life at its most richest is my intention. I want to share with you the exciting developments in psychology that you can use as personal tools for your life journey. Enjoy! The Worry Free Life Blogged with the Flock Browser

The House failed to pass an extension unemployment insurance benefits for another three months Thursday afternoon. The vote was 258 to 154, short of the two-thirds needed for passage. House Republicans Block Unemployment Benefits Extension - NYTimes.com Blogged with the Flock Browser

The tax cuts enacted in 2001 and 2003, known as the Bush tax cuts, are set to expire Dec. 31, and the fight over what to do is increasingly heated. Should the tax cuts expire, as some Democrats have said? Should they be extended, as most Republicans maintain? Or does the answer lie somewhere in between, as the Obama administration, led by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, has argued in recent weeks? Five myths about the Bush tax cuts Blogged with the Flock Browser

Cutting defense is controversial, yet necessary. Our military spending is greater than the rest of the world combined. The largest organization of military air power is the U.S. Air Force. The second largest is the U.S. Navy. U.S. no longer needs large defense budget | desmoinesregister.com | The Des Moines Register Blogged with the Flock Browser

In an abrupt reversal, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Monday endorsed a moratorium on earmarks that GOP conservatives are seeking to send a signal that the Republican Party is serious about curbing federal spending. Now that Mitch McConnell is aboard, how much would earmark ban save? - CSMonitor.com Blogged with the Flock Browser

Let me be clear upfront: From a policy standpoint, the case for allowing the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans to expire is very, very solid. (Heck, the policy case for allowing all of the tax cuts to expire isn't that bad, either, when you consider that the savings could be used to, say, extend unemployment benefits or shore up Medicare -- not that this idea is on the table.) Ending the Bush tax cuts: Riskier than you think - War Room - Salon.com Blogged with the Flock Browser

(CBS) President Barack Obama is in Cleveland Wednesday to launch a program offering tax breaks for business investment and to call for the extension of middle class tax cuts. David Axelrod: End GOP Tax Cuts for Millionaires - The Early Show - CBS News Blogged with the Flock Browser

House liberals are urging Democratic leaders to let the George W. Bush-era tax cuts on the country's highest earners expire.Reps. Raúl Grijalva (Ariz.) and Lynn Woolsey (Calif.), co-chairs of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said extending the tax breaks for those earning more than $250,000 a year represents "a giveaway" to wealthy Americans that would saddle the country in unnecessary debt. Liberal Democrats urge Pelosi to stand firm in debate over tax cuts - The Hill's Blog Briefing Room Blogged with the Flock Browser

Dane Edward Rossman, 23, and Bryan Wayne Reavely, 24, were arrested for throwing rocks at police officers at the National Socialist Movement march, according to Sgt. Tommy Thompson with the Phoenix Police Department. Neo-Nazi march interrupted by riot in downtown Phoenix Blogged with the Flock Browser

Seven companies involved in the oil industry -- including Transocean (RIG), the company that owned the Deepwater Horizon oil rig that exploded and leaked oil into the Gulf of Mexico for three months earlier this year -- will pay the U.S. government a total of $236.5 million to settle charges that they bribed overseas officials to lower customs duties, extend drilling contacts and streamline permitting for oil-drilling rigs, among other things. Shell, Panalpina, Five Other Companies Fined $236.5 Million for Alleged Bribes - DailyFinance Blogged with the Flock Browser

If you look at the polls, Charlie Crist's U.S. Senate campaign is poised for a beating Tuesday. If you look at Crist campaigning across Florida in recent days, he's as upbeat as any frontrunner. Shrugging at Senate race polls, Crist remains upbeat Blogged with the Flock Browser

Liberals are a useless lot. They talk about peace and do nothing to challenge our permanent war economy. They claim to support the working class, and vote for candidates that glibly defend the North American Free Trade Agreement. They insist they believe in welfare, the right to organize, universal health care and a host of other socially progressive causes, and will not risk stepping out of the mainstream to fight for them. The only talent they seem to possess is the ability to write abject, cloying letters to Barack Obama—as if he reads them—asking the president to come back to his “true” self. This sterile moral posturing, which is not only useless but humiliating, has made America’s liberal class an object of public derision. Liberals Are Useless | CommonDreams.org Blogged with the Flock Browser

This month, Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) began airing a race-baiting anti-immigrant campaign ad that the local Hispanic Chamber of Commerce found to be “totally abhorrent and shocking.” The ad targets the immigration stance of Rep. Charlie Melancon (D-LA), Vitter’s opponent: the narrator says “Thanks to him, we may as well put out a welcome sign for illegal aliens,” as footage of dirty, goofy-looking Latino men slipping through a hole in a fence displaying a neon welcome sign runs across the screen. The men step into a limo with a giant government check they defiantly hang out the window as they zoom away. “I’m going to use the ‘R’ word and say racist,” said the spokeswoman for the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. “We are saying you owe us an apology, we are offended, we expect an immediate apology and we expect this ad to be yanked from the airwaves immediately,” she continued. Cornyn Refuses To Denounce Vitter’s Race-Baiting Anti-Immigrant Campaign Ad Blogged with the Flock Browser

During the past two years, Congress  passed a total of $509 billion in tax cuts for American families and small businesses. The tax burden on Americans is now at its lowest level in 60 years, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities . The most significant single change was a decrease in income taxes by up to $400 a year for individuals and $800 for married couples. Who knew? In a recent New York Times/CBS News Poll, fewer than one in 10 respondents knew that taxes were lowered for most Americans. A third even thought that their taxes had gone up. "We did a magnificent job of selling this tax break," Sanders deadpanned at an event last weekend in Hardwick, Vt., where he mentioned the poll. Taxes at Lowest Level Since 1950 Blogged with the Flock Browser

— which are scheduled to expire at the end of the year — will actually be good for the country’s bottom line, as the economic growth that results will more than offset the trillions of dollars in lost revenue. “ By extending tax cuts you pay down the deficit , you grow the economy by giving people more money,” said Colorado Republican Ken Buck. Today, on Fox News Sunday, Pennsylvania’s Republican Senate nominee Pat Toomey joined this club, telling Fox’s Chris Wallace that “ it’s not clear ” that extending the Bush tax cuts — while also lowering the corporate tax rate — would increase the deficit: Toomey: ‘It’s Not Clear’ That Extending Bush’s Tax Cuts Would Increase The Deficit Blogged with the Flock Browser

On Tuesday, nearly four dozen outside groups spent a staggering $38.2 million on independent expenditures across the country. It's one of the largest single influxes of outside money flowing into political ads this year, according to an analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics. Outside Groups Spend Millions of Dollars on Messages Targeting Embattled Congressional Candidates - OpenSecrets Blog | OpenSecrets Blogged with the Flock Browser

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is so extreme that he makes the rest of the Justices on the Supreme Court seen like moderates. This man has a twisted mine and he should be impeached because of his extreme interpretations of the law; he has no legal right to impose his political views on us. His’ interpretation on the Citizen United decision “That Corporations Are People, And That Money Equals Speech.” How ridiculous is this kind of thinking. This guy is KOOKY, and SO CRAZY. Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Latinos for Reform (LFR), a conservative group that advocates for Latino concerns, is airing an ad that discourages Latinos from voting in the upcoming midterm elections.LFR says in the Spanish version of the ad that there is “no excuse” for the lack of action on immigration reform from the current Congress. It attacks “both Democrats and Republicans,” going as far as to call them “traitors” for “playing with our future.” The ad has both an English and Spanish version, with the key difference between the two versions being that the English version singles out Democrats while the Spanish version targets all politicians as having betrayed Hispanic voters. Latinos for Reform ad urges Latinos not to vote - Yahoo! News Blogged with the Flock Browser

- In recent years Democrats and Republicans have tried to pass laws that balance the humanitarian reasons to allow immigration with the fact people are committing a crime when they come here without permission from the U.S. government. - Many Latinos strongly seek reform, and their vote or lack thereof could swing crucial states in 2010. - A comprehensive immigration reform bill introduced by President George W. Bush failed, and President Obama has also made little progress on the issue. - Liberal Democrats have pushed for a new effort to give undocumented workers "a path to citizenship" without leaving the country. - Republicans in Congress have said they will never again consider such a bill until the border between the United States and Mexico is safe and secure. What You Need to Know: Immigration and the Elections Blogged with the Flock Browser

T he stories ProPublica is publishing today on the pharmaceutical industry are part of a broader effort to expand the possibilities of collaborative journalism. The data were painstakingly assembled by Dan Nguyen, a ProPublica web developer whose talent for writing computer code is matched only by his persistence. Two ProPublica reporters, Charles Ornstein and Tracy Weber, tracked down the doctors identified as the biggest earners and vetted their backgrounds . Weber and Ornstein uncovered hundreds who had been disciplined by state boards or lacked credentials as specialists, calling into question the pharmaceutical companies’ assertions that they hire only the best and the brightest. Read more » Editor’s Note: Dollars for Docs Blogged with the Flock Browser

The telephone call came 19 years later, nearly to the day after one of America's most riveting scandals played out on national television. On Oct. 9, Virginia Thomas, wife to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, called Anita Hill at her office at Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass. Virginia Thomas asked Hill for an apology that she felt was nearly two decades overdue. Anita Hill call restirs Clarence Thomas hearing emotions - USATODAY.com Blogged with the Flock Browser

For 18 years in the House of Representatives, Dick Armey fought tirelessly for lower taxes, less government, and more freedom. In 2003, he joined FreedomWorks to lead the same political revolution at the grassroots level. Weak Tea? Conservatives Need a 'Tea Party Makeover' Blogged with the Flock Browser

Speaker Pelosi pointed to three studies showing that the plan for Social Security preferred by Republicans – both privatization and progressive price indexing, a feature that the deficit commission has reportedly toyed with – would slash benefits for middle-income retirees. Chief Actuary of Social Security: Republican Plan Would Slash Benefits Blogged with the Flock Browser

The Tea Party Express kicked off its fourth bus tour of the U.S. on Monday with a rally in Nevada hosted by none other than Sarah Palin, the movement's de facto figurehead. The former vice presidential candidate rallied crowds with one of her trademark stump speeches, telling Tea Partiers they couldn't "party like it's 1773" until they took over Washington D.C. Will the Tea Party Express tour help broaden the movement's appeal ahead of the election? ( Watch Palin's bus tour speech ) Tea Party Express: The 2010 election tour - Yahoo! News

French protesters engaged in a sixth day of nationwide demonstrations and continued strikes against President Nicolas Sarkozy's unpopular pension reform as the government tapped on emergency reserves to offset a growing fuel shortage. France24 - More than a million join protests in latest pension reform push Blogged with the Flock Browser

Amazingly enough, Christine O'Donnell has an ad in the Delaware Senate race that isn't about addressing her apparent history of witchcraft and poor personal finances. Instead, it attacks her Dem opponent, New Castle County Executive Chris Coons, on the purely local issue of taxes. Scary O'Donnell Ad: 'Shame On You, Chris' For Raising Sewer Tax (VIDEO) Blogged with the Flock Browser

Those likely to vote on Nov. 2 have a more unfavorable view than the general public. … half of likely voters view healthcare reform unfavorably Blogged with the Flock Browser

In spite of all that voluminous airspace on Fox News that was devoted to promoting and then reporting on the 'Tea Parties' on April 15, I'll be willing to wager that they won't ever include this in their reports: Oklahoma Man Arrested for Twittering Tea Party Death Threats Fox News' 'Tea Party' hysteria really did whip up the far-right nutcases Blogged with the Flock Browser

Last week, ThinkProgress broke the news that both senatorial candidates Sharron Angle (R-NV) and Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) used the same racially-tinged image in separate attack ads against their opponents and described the subjects in the photo as “illegal aliens.” Besides invoking offensive anti-Latino stereotypes, the photographer of the photo, Chris Floyd , later informed the Washington Post that the “illegal aliens” in the picture were actually Mexicans still in Mexico. Vitter And Angle Ads Featuring Race-Baiting Image Removed From YouTube, Photographer Speaks Out Blogged with the Flock Browser

In June, Fox News’ parent company News Corporation gave a $1 million donation to the Republican Governors Association. This evening, IRS disclosures reveal that News Corporation gave another check, time for $250,000, bringing his total donation amount to $1,250,000. Other donors include Bill Koch, who donated $100,000, Swift Boat-funder Bob Perry, who gave $3.5 million, and right-wing casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson, who gave $1 million to the Republican campaign group. Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation Donates Again To The Republican Governors Association: $250,000 Blogged with the Flock Browser

We need to raise income taxes on the top 2% earners in the USA  progressively from 35% to a  maximum of 74%. These very people own 90% of the all of the wealth in the USA. So where’s the equality? There isn’t any, only the rich get equality. These very same people are investing in stocks in these transnational corporations who send our jobs overseas they’ve caused the economic chaos. This has put 50,000,000 people unemployed, and 60,000,000 on food stamps. So where does leave the rest of us working in fast food, retail, and the service industry jobs that doesn’t pay a living wage. As a result, our infrastructure, our roads, and our bridges are collapsing and crumbling because they need urgent maintenance many of these structure are unsafe, and can lead to death. Finally, we need fair trade, not free trade, and we need worker unions as an equalizer for fairness. The History Of Progressives And The Progressive Brand | The New Republi c Blogged with the Flock Browser

The shameless US Chamber of Commerce is receiving PAC money from transnational corporations to continue outsourcing American jobs; this is squashing small businesses and hurting community based organizations putting millions of Americans out of work. There's 84,000,000 Americans living in poverty this according to the 2010 Census, and everyday that passes the numbers increase. This organization is Un-American it's selling off America one piece at a time to the highest bidder. This is treason disloyal to small businesses and hurting non-profit organizations. US Chamber of Commerce | OpenSecrets

Which D.C. Rally Drew More People? AP Gives Nod To Glenn Beck's Blogged with the Flock Browser

The plot to limit our freedom in the USA. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvyXuANtSH4

How we got to where we are Neo Conservatism the politics of elusion, fear, and false beliefs. http://www.archive.org/details/ThePowerOfNightmares