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Who Lost Egypt: Not Obama for Sure - By Aaron David Miller | Foreign Policy "If we're lucky this time around, we'll avoid the who-lost-Egypt debate. Mubarak's decision to step down has pre-empted a catastrophic crisis for Egypt and for American interests. We may not be adept at manipulating Middle Eastern politics; but we're sure experts at beating ourselves up. Commentators and analysts have argued forcefully that Barack Obama's administration failed to anticipate the current crisis, blew an opportunity by failing to push President Hosni Mubarak to make significant reforms during the early days of the upheaval, and risks being on the wrong side of history by not being assertive in trying to force Mubarak's removal. But the administration was smart to keep its distance from this crisis. - Sent using Google Toolbar"

As Long-Term Unemployment Deepens, 99ers Look for Answers | The Washington Independent "For 23 years, 58-year-old Cindy Paoletti of Salina, N.Y., worked in the corporate accounting division of J.P. Morgan Chase, balancing payroll accounts in an upstate office of the Wall Street bank. In December 2007, Paoletti was let go in a wave of layoffs that eventually shuttered the entire Syracuse operations center. “My job went to India,” she sighs. [Economy1] Soon after, she started collecting unemployment benefits and severance while searching for a job in earnest. “I apply for everything out there,” she says, estimating she has applied to hundreds of positions over the past 30 months. “But 95 percent of the time, the company you send your resume to does not even acknowledge that they’ve received it. The majority of the time, if you do get an interview, they tell you that you are overqualified. It seems like as soon as they find out your age, everything goes down after there. The age disc...

Riot Police Guard Against Anti-Billionaire Protesters in Rancho Mirage. John Amato is on the scene | Crooks and Liars : "This is live video sent back from the Quarantine the Kochs rally in Rancho Mirage about an hour and a half ago. John Amato is on the scene and has called me a couple of times with updates. There are about 1500 people or so there, peacefully protesting the convocation of billionaires at the Rancho Las Palmas resort. The purpose of the meeting is to figure out how to impeach Obama and take over our government in order to preserve their wealth, justice, and liberty at the expense of ours. Glenn Beck was the keynote speaker last night, and Eric Cantor was also on the guest list. (Full list here (PDF)) - Sent using Google Toolbar"

ThinkProgress » California Lawmaker Receives Racist Death Threat Warning ‘Rush Limbaugh Will Kick Your Ch-nk Ass’ "Yee’s call for civility did not sit well with one Limbaugh fan, who responded by sending several racist death threats to Yee’s office this week. “Rush Limbaugh will kick your chink ass and expose you for the fool you are,” the faxes read, threatening him with “death” (warning, contains racial expletives): - Sent using Google Toolbar"

Obama, You Had Me At 'Doubling Our Exports by 2014' | The Nation "The biggest problem, at least for liberals and close listeners, was the logical holes in Obama’s tax talk. He mentioned “tax cuts” twice: Once to claim credit for fattening paychecks with the tax compromise, and once to criticize the thought of making that same tax plan permanent. He vowed to eliminate the 'billions' of tax benefits that oil companies currently receive, and then, after bemoaning the deficit, called for cutting 'the corporate tax rate for the first time in 25 years.' Two of the three biggest corporations in America are oil companies, by the way, so those reforms might cancel each other out a bit. Now guess which one the Republicans will act on first. - Sent using Google Toolbar"

MetroPCS sues to block FCC's net neutrality rules - FierceWireless "MetroPCS (NASDAQ:PCS) followed Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) and filed a lawsuit to block the FCC's recently approved net neutrality regulations for wireless and wired networks. The suit comes on the heels of criticism from consumer groups that MetroPCS' LTE data plans violate the rules. The flat-rate carrier filed its suit with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, which is where Verizon filed its lawsuit. It's also the same court that in April struck down the FCC's authority to sanction Comcast for blocking subscribers from using a file-sharing service. - Sent using Google Toolbar"

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

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

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