I have to admit this up front. From the time I was a kid, I had a sweet tooth. I LOVED sugar, the way it tasted, its texture, how it looked on top of cereal, everything. I once got my butt beat when my mother caught me with a mouthful of sugar I stole from the jar in our apartment. She hit me upside my head, and sugar flew everywhere! Over the years, I have always liked things sweet. Maybe that's why now, late in life, I have Type 2 diabetes. No matter. My love of sugar had me checking out very closely NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg's proposal to ban large sugary drinks like soda from restaurants, movie houses, and even street carts.
The mayor's plan would ban sugary drinks larger than 16 oz., and already it's drawn the wrath of the trade group that represents soda manufacturers. They were successful is turning back an attempt to restrict the sale of sugary drinks through a state tax. In addition to the people who bring you sugary drinks, some just plain folks are upset as well. New Yorkers don't like being told what to do, and the moniker "Nanny Bloomberg" is gaining new traction. For his part, Mike Bloomberg and his folks in the City Health Dept. point to some alarming statistics about how many New Yorkers are suffering from obesity.
He's got a point there. My own anecdotal observations around the city reveals an extraordinary number of people walking around with large amounts of extra weight. If you don't believe me, stand outside your average fast food joint, and watch who comes in and out, and how much food and drink they're carrying. And therein lies the problem. Naysayers will argue that sugary drinks are but one item in a collection that can lead to obesity, and they're right. But why not start when and where you can? The other issue is tougher to pinpoint. Sugary drinks, and specifically soda, are in this culture's DNA. It's readily available, and cheap. At the supermarket where I shop, soda is on sale in one form or another, every week of the year. If you think about it, that's why you often see kids walking around with large drinks that look as big as they are. We love sugary drinks, and the real question is whether limiting their size will alter that love.
While the jury may be out on that, I must say this is one time I find myself in agreement with Mayor Bloomberg. I thought he was dead wrong abnout smoking, and that a ban in bars would mean the end of nightlife as we knew it. I was wrong, and New Yorkers' average lifespans have gone up a year. In this case, I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt and say he's right on this big sugary drink ban. He may act like a nanny sometimes, but there are times when even a nanny is right.
Voter Purge by Randi Rhodes,posted May 31 2012 3:16PM
Florida Governor Rick Scott is systematically trying to purge voters who might vote Democratic. Rick, Florida voters already elected you—just how dumb do you need them to be? Actually, Rick Scott has been purging potential Democratic voters from Florida for years—by making Florida so nightmarish to live in that anyone with progressive views will move away.
Mitt Romney is touting a constitutional requirement that the president of the United States has to have spent at least three years working in business. Under such restrictions, Dwight Eisenhower and Teddy Roosevelt would not be eligible to be president... but Tony Soprano would be. Mitt thinks that his experience throwing people out of work and raiding pension funds makes him more fit to be president than Eisenhower’s experience leading the Allied forces over the Nazis in World War II. I don’t think Eisenhower could have beaten Hitler with a leveraged buyout.
Between Rick Scott’s voter purge and Mitt Romney’s business experience requirement, you can see where we’re headed—a world where only conservatives can vote, and where only businessmen run.
Mitt is lying about President Obama’s stimulus program. How can you tell? Because Mitt Romney is talking about President Obama’s stimulus program. A new Romney ad tries to portray the stimulus program as crony capitalism. Of over $800 billion in stimulus money handed out, only about one one-thousandth of one percent has been found to be fraudulent. You can tell the stimulus program wasn’t administered by Republicans. For Republicans, any program that has a fraud level that low isn’t worth administering.
The billionaire GOP mega-donors are getting annoyed at the attention being paid to them. What is this country coming to when a handful of billionaires can’t buy an election without some pesky do-gooders asking questions? Idaho billionaire Frank VanderSloot says his privacy has been invaded. It would be more accurate to say that his plans have been exposed. It’s not against the law to point out what the billionaires are doing... yet.
Listen to me Monday through Friday 6 PM to 8 PM on WWRL AM 1600.
As CNN reports – wage theft complaints have increased 400% over the last decade – with over 7,000 lawsuits alleging wage and hour violations against employers filed just in 2011. The complaints center on workers accusing their employers of not paying them for all the hours they worked or not paying overtime that they were entitled to. Some of the companies that have had suits filed against them are Walmart, Starbucks, and Bank of America.
This is yet another consequence of our corporate capitalism model – where executives are rewarded for squeezing whatever profits they can out of a company – including nickel and dimeing their workers – or outright stealing from them – just to hit quarterly profit goals. Time to bring back business in the public interest.
Listen to me live Monday through Friday 3 PM to 6 PM on WWRL AM 1600.
Bad Romance by Randi Rhodes,posted May 30 2012 5:15PM
Yesterday Mitt Romney clinched the number of delegates needed to win the Republican nomination. Mitt clinched! But it’s kind of hard to picture Mitt clinching anything... unless he’s giving it an involuntary haircut.
On his big day, Mitt decided to share the spotlight with Donald Trump. Well, when you share anything with Trump, Trump usually ends up with most of it. Here’s a little advice, Mitt—never share the stage with someone more charismatic than you are. Oh wait, that would be everybody. Trump spent the day giving interviews in which he spewed birther crap. Every time Donald Trump raised questions about the President’s birth certificate, it just raised more questions about Mitt Romney’s judgment. Who Mitt Romney stands with says a lot about what he stands for. That’s true enough in this case—Romney stands for nothing, and Donald Trump is a big nothing.
Yesterday, Romney also met with billionaire super-donor Sheldon Adelson. That, more than anything, is the real reason Mitt was in Las Vegas. It sure wasn’t for the buffets. Mitt had a different kind of free buffet in mind. On the maps in Romney headquarters, Las Vegas is probably just called “Adelson.”
The Romney campaign misspelled the word “America” as “Amercia” on its iPhone app! Before you guys take advantage of all this new technology, you should familiarize yourselves with some older technology... like spellcheck. Mitt Romney can’t spell America? How did he ever function as Governor of Massachusetts? It’s even harder to spell!
Rush Limbaugh says he is a bigger jobs creator than Obama and Romney put together. If Rush Limbaugh created any jobs, it was for sweatshop workers in Indonesia making polo shirts in size XXXXXL. Rush says he created jobs, and still kept his job. He said “I did not cannibalize myself.” Rush, you’re in Florida... you should know to avoid the term “cannibal” right now.
There’s new news on the face-eater. The drug he was on wasn’t a new form of LSD, as was reported. It may have been mephedrone, which is often called “bath salts.” Great. Yesterday I was afraid to ever take LSD. Now I’m afraid to ever take a bath.
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Anyone who doubts the United States has been in an economic free fall for the last three decades should check out the new United Nations Children’s Fund report on child poverty. Of the 34 wealthiest nations looked at by UNICEF – the United States has the second highest child poverty rate of all of them – with a staggering 23% of all American children living in poverty.
Only two nations – the United States and Romania have child poverty rates above 20%. That number would be even higher except for federal life lines like food stamps – which reduced the number of children in extreme poverty by half last year. Unfortunately – with unemployment benefits expiring around the nation – and Republicans gutting the food stamp programs – things could get a lot tougher for children in America.
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The National Employment Law Project is reporting that another 70,000 Americans will be cut off from unemployment insurance next month. Already – nearly half a million Americans have lost their unemployment benefits this year thanks to austerity measures demanded by Republicans in Congress – and rubber-stamped by Democrats and President Obama – that cut unemployment insurance down from 99 weeks to 79 weeks in states that haven’t seen their unemployment situations get worse. That even includes states like Florida, Nevada, and Illinois that all have unemployment rates above the national average.
So what does this mean? Aside from the moral crisis of pushing families into desperation – it’s also bad for the economy as money is being taken out of the hands of Americans who would normally spend it and stimulate the economy. Republicans have been pushing policies that will crash the economy – just so they have a better chance at beating President Obama in November. And unfortunately Democrats are letting them get away with it.
Listen to me live Monday through Friday 3 PM to 6 PM on WWRL AM 1600.
Check out a new report by the Associated Press today – showing that average CEO compensation topped $9.6 million in 2011 – the highest mark since the AP started looking at compensation numbers back in 2006. Meanwhile – wages for working people have barely budged – and it would now take the typical American worker 244 years just to make what their CEO makes in one year.
And among Fortune 500 CEOs – it’s even worse - they make 380-times more than their average worker. So are Wall Street banksters, oil barons, and corporate executives really worth that much money? Should they be paid hundreds of times more than doctors, scientists, or even teachers? This is what neo-feudalism in America looks like – and if Paul Ryan and the Republicans who are pushing austerity for working people - and trillions of dollars in tax cuts for corporate CEOs - if they win big in November – it’ll only get worse.
It’s time to rethink corporate capitalism altogether – and find ways to democratize the economy with worker-owned cooperatives, and business models like unions that look out for workers, the community, and the environment.
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Big Lies by Randi Rhodes,posted May 24 2012 5:28PM
Republicans keep talking about a massive spending increase under President Obama. In reality, federal spending is rising at its slowest pace since the 1950’s under Dwight Eisenhower. But Republicans don’t spend much time in reality. The amazing thing is that President Obama brought spending under control while he was forced to spend money to fix the disasters that George Bush caused with his spending. Republicans always spend more. Somebody should look into how much the Republicans are spending to portray President Obama as a big spender.
Colin Powell has questioned Mitt Romney’s foreign policy advisors. That’s good—I get the impression that Mitt Romney never questions his foreign policy advisors about anything. Mitt’s foreign policy team is made up of neoconservatives from the Bush administration. That’s not a team with a winning record!
The policy field where Mitt Romney shows the least amount of knowledge is education. And he’s probably not even aware of the irony. Do you really want our national education policy being made by a guy who went to an elite boarding prep school—let alone a guy who went there and bullied the less elite kids? The way that little Mitt Romney treated the less-than-rich students at boarding school is exactly how he would treat all students if he was in charge of education. If Mitt Romney becomes president, our education system is going to get an involuntary haircut!
Every time Mitt Romney turns his attention to a different problem, all it does is highlight just how unqualified Mitt Romney is to handle that problem. Mitt called education “the civil rights issue of our era.” Great—as he’s shown with his stance on gay marriage, Mitt opposes the other civil rights issues of our era! Romney also vowed to take on the teachers. Of course, Mitt has a long track record of taking on the teachers—like at his prep school when he walked the blind teacher straight into a door. All these big plans for education, but Mitt told a private gathering last month that he would eliminate the Department of Education! Mitt must think we’re stupid. And under his education policies, we would be!
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The pharmaceutical industry is the single biggest defrauder of Americans taxpayers in the country – surpassing the Defense Industry for the first time. A new Public Citizen report finds that over the last twenty years the pharmaceutical industry has accounted for 25% of all violations of state and federal law when it comes to the False Claims Act.
Among the infractions include illegally promoting drugs for purposes not approved by the FDA – which is a criminal offense since it can lead to patients suffering serious illnesses – and even death. Also the pharmaceutical industry routinely overcharged federal programs like Medicaid for their prescription drugs – bilking taxpayers out of billions of dollars. Since 1991 – over 165 pharmaceutical settlements with state and federal governments has led to $19.8 billion in penalties.
According to Taxpayers Against Fraud – pharmaceutical companies are expected to pay out another $9 billion in fraud settlements this year. This is the consequence of a for-profit health care system in America – drug companies who are supposed to be manufacturing products to help us live longer and be healthier – are ACTUALLY more focused on screwing us than our well-being. It's time to join the rest of the developed world – create a non-profit healthcare system – and kick the money-changers out of our hospitals.
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There is a new pro-Obama ad with Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry, and a whole Fox News rogues’ gallery of conservatives ripping Romney over Bain. It looks like one of those feeding frenzies where the sharks start to eat each other. Too bad politicians don’t get residuals for appearing in political ads—Newt Gingrich would make so much money in anti-Romney ads that he could pay off his campaign debt! The one-two punch of Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry is amazing to watch. It’s pompous and doofus! It helps a lot that all of the Republicans in these ads attacking Romney truly despise Mitt Romney. Their sincerity really comes through. Republicans look a lot more sincere attacking Mitt Romney than they do when they’re endorsing Mitt Romney while an elevator shuts on their face.
Joe Biden ripped into Mitt Romney yesterday by saying “we will not go back to the 50’s.” Mitt Romney was so shocked he almost dropped his hula-hoop. In fairness to Mitt, at least he just wants to go back to the 1950’s. There are other elements of the Republican Party that want to go back to the 1850’s, not to mention the 1450’s.
Biden also said that working in private equity “no more qualifies you to be president than being a plumber.” At least if a plumber was president, they would be used to dealing with big loads of crap causing obstructions... and that would prepare them to handle John Boehner. Working in private equity might not qualify you to be president, but it certainly qualifies you to run for president—it makes you ruthless, cruel, and dishonest. OK, I shouldn’t say that Mitt Romney’s work in private equity made him ruthless, cruel, and dishonest. Mitt was already that way when he started in private equity—just look at his years at prep school.
Well, Rush Limbaugh has gotten busted, but not in the way that he deserves. He actually got busted in the opposite of the way that he deserves. A bust of Rush is now in the Hall of Famous Missourians in the Missouri Capitol building. In a photo, the bust doesn’t look very lifelike at all. Oh wait, that’s Rush’s actual head. It’s a good it’s a bust instead of a full statue. There isn’t enough bronze in the world to make a full-body statue of Rush Limbaugh.
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Let me say at the outset that I don't agree with everything Barack Obama has done as president. Yet I've never in my life agreed with everything any president has done. For that matter, I didn't agree with everything my mom and dad did! From both a pragmatic political and idealistically progressive standpoint, however, there's no doubt this president should serve another four years. I have heard from progressives I respect about their disappointment with aspects of his time in office. It's time to get realistic about what Barack Obama has done as president, and what four years of Mitt Romney will mean for those already struggling (and who progressives are and speak for).
How about we start with President Obama's appointments to the US Supreme Court. I know most voters don't pay attention to this, but think for a moment who John McCain might have appointed, and who Barack Obama actually did. Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan are both solid jurists. The alternative would likely have been a 6-3 conservative court rather than the 5-4 we now have. Oh yeah, and when before in US history have three women sat on the highest court in the land together?
How about we take a look at the Affordable Care Act? Was it perfect? Nope. Yet when all is said and done, double digit millions of Americans will be covered by health insurance. Also, that habit the insurance companies had of dropping your coverage when it suited them is now gone. Plus, parents can keep their kids on their plans to age 26. But here's the most important thing. Barack Obama took the first step in taking us down the road to universal healthcare. That would be where everyone is covered. The first president who tried to get healthcare legislation passed in this country was Teddy Roosevelt. None of us remember him. It's time to stop carping about whether that's the first thing Barack Obama should have done, and whether it's good enough.
It is.
Political pragmatism is something it seems Republicans do better than Democrats. When the time came to try to gut this president's agenda, they stood together. It's time for us to stand together the same way. Barack Obama has governed well, and those who those who think this country should be run like an investment firm know this. In the days, weeks, and months ahead, we'll be bombarded with polls, ads, responses to the ads, talking heads, gasbags, and wannabees. Know this. The man to bring this country back to some semblence of economic normalcy isn't Mitt Romney. The man to do that has already sits in the White House. As we move forward, we'll be writing about other things Barack Obama has accomplished for you, me, my kids, and this country. Let the naysayers do their best.
This election year, the Chamber of Commerce is looking to confirm it. At a meeting in Washington, Chamber President Tom Donohue told members that his organization is, “planning on having a good year,” and will spend more money this election than they did in 2010, when they spent more than $30 million catapulting corporate shills calling themselves Tea Partiers into Congress.
The Chamber is eyeing at least 12 Senate races and 37 House races with their corporate war-chest. Already the Chamber has dumped $3.4 million into this year’s election. As for the goal – the Chamber’s National Political Director summed it up like this, saying, “Our strategy is to protect the pro-business majority in the House and advance our interests in the Senate.”
That’s similar to the campaign platform of Warren Harding who in 1920 called for “more business in government and less government in business.” Nine years later – the economy crashed. And less than nine years after our first MBA President, George W. Bush, put in place basically the same policies – the economy crashed again. And yet, here’s the Chamber of Commerce promising to do it all again.
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Why It Matters by Randi Rhodes,posted May 22 2012 5:23PM
President Obama says “When you’re president, as opposed to the head of a private equity firm, then your job is not simply to maximize profits” (video below). I think Romney is going to be shocked to find out that the United States has citizens instead of investors. Mitt would probably like to rearrange our whole electoral system. Instead of everybody voting, he would have a system where only certain people get “voting shares.” In Mitt’s perfect world, the more of America you owned, the more voting share you would get. That way, the 1 percent could actually become the 99 percent.
The Republicans overplayed their hand with Cory Booker. Can you blame them? They haven’t been dealt any good hands in this election. And that’s odd, because they dealt the Mitt Romney hand to themselves. The RNC website featured a petition asking people to “Stand With Cory.” Cory Booker made it clear to Republicans that “Standing with Corey” means standing with President Obama—I don’t think most Republicans would find much standing room there. Evidently the RNC thought they could tell people to “Stand With Cory” while lying about where Cory was standing... not a very good strategy.
Romney campaign adviser Eric Fehrnstrom says that Romney created “well in excess of 100,000” jobs while at Bain. How did the Romney people arrive at the figure of 100,000? Well, first they drew a “1.” And then they added five zeros after it. That’s how job creation math works in the Mitt Romney campaign. Fehrnstrom called the 100,000 jobs figure a “rough back-of-the-envelope estimate.” I guess when you’re making things up out of thin air, the back of an envelope is as good a place as any to work.
A laboratory vial with blood from Ronald Reagan has been put on auction. The vial contains dried blood from the day that Reagan went to the hospital after being shot. A laboratory worker evidently took the vial that day, hoping they could make money off of it. At least they sound like a Republican. I remember Reagan had a colonoscopy while he was in office. They removed several polyps from his colon. So you hardcore Reagan lovers might want to wait until those come on the market.
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Meet Wall Street billionaire – Pete Peterson – the man trying to destroy Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid as we know it. According to tax documents – between 2007 and 2011 – Peterson has given nearly a half-billion dollars to his Peter. G. Peterson Foundation to run ads and lobby Congress warning that federal safety net programs are going broke and need to be drastically cut or privatized.
And last Tuesday – Peterson hosted a “fiscal summit” with power plays like Bill Clinton, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, Paul Ryan, and John Boehner on reducing the deficit by cutting Social Security and Medicare. Senator Bernie Sanders was also at the meeting – though he wasn’t invited. He was there to protest - and we should all be doing the same to stop Pete Peterson from destroying our social safety net.
Cory Booker, the Mayor of Newark, New Jersey sharply criticized Obama campaign attacks on Bain Capital. Cory Booker is described as a “surrogate” for the Obama campaign. With surrogates like this, who needs surrogates? Booker said “I’m not about to sit here and indict private equity.” Nobody is asking you to, Mayor. They want you to indict Bain, which under Romney was more vulture capitalism than “private equity.” According to Booker “It’s a distraction from the real issues.” No Cory, it is the real issues. This bizarre episode from you is a distraction. And now we have to deal with it and ignore the real issues. Cory Booker may be trying to cultivate Wall Street donors for a run for Governor of New Jersey. And the best way to cultivate any crop is to lay on the manure very thickly.
Geraldo Rivera is still obsessed with the hoodie that Trayvon Martin was wearing when he was killed. Geraldo said “he’s dressed in that thug wear...” Geraldo, I know it’s good for your job at Fox News to sound like a white guy, but do you have to sound like a 70-year old white guy? Nobody has more to fear from actual thugs than convenience store clerks, and the clerk in this video doesn’t seem bothered by Trayvon’s hoodie at all.
At a town hall event for Tea Party lunatic Congressman Joe Walsh, a woman went off on a rambling diatribe against President Obama. In what seemed like one very long breath, the woman called President Obama seditious, socialist, communist, and Nazi. If she didn’t have to inhale again, I’m sure she could have worked in Muslim, terrorist, and Arab. I would say it was a rambling, stream-of-thought diatribe, but obviously, thought had nothing to do with it.
Jon Lovitz went off on an anti-Obama rant over Obama’s efforts to get the rich to pay their fair share of taxes. Jon, you don’t pay any taxes if you don’t have any income. And from what I know of your post-SNL career, you don’t have any income. Jon Lovitz, Victoria Jackson... what is up with Saturday Night alumni going all rightwing crazy? I guess that’s just what happens sometimes when white people get old. This all just proves that SNL needs more minority cast members.
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Protesters bring the message of anti-war/anti-austerity to world leaders at the NATO summit in Chicago
Tens of thousands of activists stormed Chicago to protest against war and inequality while the city hosts the annual NATO convention. Today is day two of the summit and more protest demonstrations are planned. At least 45 people were arrested during peaceful marches and rallies over the weekend. While some are applauding the Chicago Police Department’s professionalism in dealing with protestors – others are pointing to repeated law enforcement abuses against citizen journalists and heavy-handed crowd control tactics.
Several journalists were arrested in Chicago over the weekend with little justification, and others were intimidated, detained, and interrogated without any probable cause. For today – demonstrators plan to march to Boeing’s headquarters in downtown Chicago to protest against the defense company’s role in our ongoing wars abroad. Keep an eye on this.
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A pro-Romney super PAC came up with a plan to run racially divisive ads attacking President Obama over Reverend Jeremiah Wright. As though there were any racists in America who weren’t already firmly against President Obama! When asked about it, Mitt Romney repudiated the plan, but he did so very tepidly. If you don’t know what “tepidly” means, it means “the way Mitt Romney does everything.” Then, when asked about a time he referred to Reverend Wright, Mitt said he didn’t remember, but “I stand by what I said, whatever it was.” “Whatever it was”!!! Could Mitt Romney tell you any more clearly that he doesn’t give a damn about the things he says? To Mitt, the things he says are meant to be any more permanent or continuous than whatever clothes he is wearing. He’ll change them according to the situation.
Police reports concluded that the killing of Trayvon Martin was “ultimately avoidable” if George Zimmerman had not pursued him. If Zimmerman didn’t go after him, it was more than “ultimately avoidable”—it was practically impossible. It wasn’t even a question of Zimmerman having to take steps to avoid killing Trayvon. He had to go out of his way to kill Trayvon—way out of his way.
The police report says the killing would have been avoided “if Zimmerman had remained in his vehicle and awaited the arrival of law enforcement.” The problem is that Zimmerman was convinced he WAS law enforcement. The report also says Zimmerman could have “identified himself to Martin as a concerned citizen...” To be totally honest with Martin, he should have identified himself as a paranoid vigilante.
Trayvon Martin had small amounts of THC, the active ingredient in marijuana in his system. And that means that conservative pundits are going to try and turn this into a sequel to Reefer Madness. The THC could have been from 30 days ago. THC stays in person’s system for a long time. It’s still in your bloodstream for days after you stop thinking that Dane Cook is actually funny. The amount of THC in Trayvon Martin’s system was far too little to affect his behavior. Let’s put it this way—there is no way he was nearly as high as George Zimmerman was on Adderall and Temazepam.
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All eyes are on Chicago this weekend – where an annual NATO Summit is going up against the Occupy Movement. Tens of thousands of demonstrators are expected to attend this weekend’s marches and rallies, calling for peace and economic fairness. Chicago police have already spent more than a million dollars on riot gear and high-tech crowd dispersal technology like long-range acoustic devices to use against the peaceful Occupy demonstrators.
Already – in the lead up to this weekend’s actions – twenty people have been arrested – including some for protesting outside President Obama’s re-election headquarters on Monday. So keep an eye on Chicago where the big question is: Will First Amendment rights be honored – or will we see another violent crackdown by law enforcement against patriotic Americans?
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Details of the investigation into the Trayvon Martin killing are coming out. According to his family doctor, George Zimmerman had a broken nose and two black eyes. That just proves that Trayvon Martin managed to fight back a little before he was killed. All I know is, if George Zimmerman hadn’t have pursued Trayvon against the instructions of the police dispatcher, he wouldn’t have gotten a broken nose... and Trayvon Martin wouldn’t have gotten killed. The bottom line is that Trayvon Martin’s autopsy report definitely proves one thing—Trayvon Martin was the one who needed an autopsy.
If George Zimmerman was stalking Trayvon, and Trayvon did manage to give him a broken nose and black eyes, wouldn’t Trayvon’s reaction be thoroughly justified under Florida’s Stand Your Ground Laws? Or do Stand Your Ground Laws only apply to people who shoot other people? Or should I say non-black people who shoot black people?
The House has passed a Republican version of the Violence Against Women Act. As you would expect, it does a lot more to protect Republicans than it does to protect women. President Obama says he would veto the House version. That tells you how bad it is—women need to be protected from the Republican House bill to protect women.
The wacky anti-gay activist who said President Obama might be gay has given an interview. Dr. Paul Cameron is the chairman of the Family Research Institute. It really makes you question who should be able to use the terms “doctor” and “institute.” It’s not clear what made Paul Cameron think Obama is gay, but after hearing this interview, you’ll realize Paul Cameron has no idea who is gay or not... starting with himself.
Finally, Ben Stein says that President Obama is not really very smart. Ben said this on the Bill O’Reilly show. Ben, you can’t really question somebody’s decision-making ability when you’ve obviously made the decision to spend time talking to Bill O’Reilly.
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The highly-controversial indefinite detention provision signed into law by the President at the end of last year has been ruled unconstitutional by a U.S. District court judge in New York. The provision allows the military to detain anyone indefinitely if they are suspected of associating with terrorists – whether they realize it or not.
But that law was challenged by a group of journalists and whistleblowers – including Chris Hedges, Noam Chomsky, and Daniel Ellsberg – who argued the law violated the First Amendment – since journalists often come in contact with terrorist organization and thus under the law could be subject to detention. On Wednesday night, Judge Katherine Forrest agreed with the plaintiffs in the case, ruling that the law is unconstitutional – violating the First Amendment rights of the press and the Fifth Amendment right of due process.
Meanwhile, as a new version of the NDAA is being debated in Congress, brave members on both sides of the aisle are arguing that there should be no indefinite detention provision in it, invalidating the previous NDAA. We need to return to the values our nation was founded on, which include bravery and due process – and not fear and medieval imprisonment techniques.
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The old Chestnut "The Greatest Love of All" starts with the phrase, "I believe that children are our future". Now, in the future that song referenced, we as adults would do well to ask ourselves if we really believe that anymore. Recent developments, locally and in DC, conspire to make us appear to be the most hypocritical grown folks in a very long time. If we look at the facts, we really have no intention to teach our kids well and let them lead the way. Consider the cold hard facts, the inconvenient truth.
Last week I wrote about the hostage taking of American college kids by a Congress seemingly best on reducing the national debt on their backs. Turns out that was only the beginning. Look closely at the debt reduction deal that House Republicans voted on after welching on the original, and you might notice a cut in the food stamp program. That cut would mean that 300,000 children would lose access to the program. That's 300,000 children who, last I checked, didn't do anything to John Boehner and his Fools on the Hill. While this is a serious blow to poor children, it's not the only one.
Here in New York City, our mayor has decided to balance the budget on the backs of kids to the tune of 30,000 day care slots lost. Oh, and did I mention that after school programs have been cut as well? Maybe it's because children don't vote, and the people who run corporations do. After all, corporations are people, even if we treat kids like they're not. And the icing on the cake, as if we needed any, if what's happening to young black and Latin men in good old NYC. The NYPD's Stop and Frisk program has managed to nail over 168,000 young black men aged 14-24 last year. Trouble is, there are only 158,000 young black men living in the city. You do the math.
Now every adult in America is a screaming hypocrite when it comes to children and young people. President Obama has done his level best to put aside federal dollars for summer youth jobs. He's also got commitments from the private sector to create a decent number for this summer. He's leading the fight to keep higher education affordable for those depending on it for a better life. Yet he can't do it alone. It's time for those of us who have been around long enough to push back against the gutting of our kids' future. The food stamp cutters, higher education impeders, stop and friskers, and day care slashers can't be allowed to do their work unimpeded.
I for one don't want my 15 year old daughter to look back at this time and ask herself, what were the adults thinking? Do you?
Agent Orange by Randi Rhodes,posted May 16 2012 5:37PM
John Boehner has thrown down the gauntlet! Either that or he dropped it. When you drink as much as John, sometimes it’s hard to hold on to your gauntlet. Boehner vowed to block the next increase in the debt ceiling unless it’s offset by spending cuts larger than the increase. John is getting very combative. Somebody take him home before he ends up punching a parking meter. Make no mistake—these debt ceiling dramas damage the full faith and credit of the United States. But then damaging the United States is exactly what the Republicans want to do before the election.
Boehner’s remarks on the debt ceiling were coordinated with an attack by Mitt Romney on President Obama over the national debt. The theme of Romney’s debt speech was a prairie fire—a rather appropriate metaphor, seeing as how all the facts got obscured in a thick veil of smoke. Romney said that “A prairie fire of debt is sweeping” across America. That’s bad news, since Republicans have cut funding for basic services like fire-fighting.
George W. Bush has finally endorsed Mitt Romney, in the most unenthusiastic endorsement since... well, since the last person endorsed Mitt Romney. Bush endorsement consisted of him muttering “I’m for Mitt Romney” as a pair of elevators doors slid closed on him. Going down, Mr. President? That endorsement couldn’t have looked any weaker if Bush had actually been holding his nose when he said it. Bush doesn’t intend to campaign for Romney. Too bad, Bush and Romney deserve each other—the worst president who ever was, and the worst president who never will be.
James Lipton of “Inside the Actors Studio” has some advice for Mitt Romney on “how to act human.” Unfortunately, Mitt simply isn’t convincing as a human being. Lipton says that Mitt’s laugh is not believable. I’m actually a little relieved by that, seeing as how the things he’s laughing about are things like beating up a gay kid, or the time his dad shut down that factory. According to Lipton, Mitt Romney exhibits what performers call “flop sweat.” In the case of Mitt Romney, it should be called “flip-flop sweat.” Lipton’s final advice to Romney is to just be who he really is. Hey, if Mitt comes off as an insincere phony, maybe that’s who he really is.
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House Republicans plan to vote on House Resolution 568 – which calls on the President to take our nation to war should Iran even become capable of building a nuclear weapon - without building one. The resolution also takes containment – like sanctions and diplomacy – off the table as an adequate response to a nuclear Iran – leaving military action as the only possibility.
So, despite U.S. and Israeli intelligence agencies determining that Iran is NOT building a nuclear weapon – Republicans in the House want to drag an already war-weary nation and stretched-thin military into another war. And the Congressional watchdog group – United Republic – has found that lobbyists working on behalf of the Israeli lobbying group AIPAC – are the ones primarily pushing this bill. So far this year – AIPAC has hired seven lobbyists and spent more than $700,000 pushing several pieces of legislation, including this one calling for war with Iran.
If Bush’s two-failed wars taught us any lesson – it’s to be skeptical of those calling for more war. So why is it legal for foreigners to write our laws?
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You're So Bain by Randi Rhodes,posted May 15 2012 4:44PM
President Obama is out with a tough new ad about Mitt Romney’s time at Bain Capital. The ad focuses on a steel company in Kansas City that Bain took over and drove into bankruptcy... after charging the company a hefty fee for the ride. The ad is called “Steel,” as in “steel company.” But it’s really about Bain Capital liking to “Steal,” as in “steal the company’s assets.” It features testimony from former employees of the steel company. That highlights Mitt’s big problem—this country is full of people who are “former employees” of somebody that Bain took over and destroyed. One ex-worker says Bain is “a vampire. They came in and sucked the life out of us.” And corporations, like vampires, live forever... as long as they can find fresh blood. Actually, a vampire is a perfect comparison for Mitt Romney. He’s good looking, he dresses well, and he’s got that slicked hair. The only thing missing is the cape.
At the Kansas City steel company, 750 workers lost their jobs, while Bain made big profits from the deal. Vultures don’t eat unless something dies. The workers lost their severance and their health insurance. Their pensions were cut, and the pension fund had to be bailed out by... a federal agency. That’s what government does. It steps in when a disaster strikes—a disaster like Mitt Romney. In fairness to Mitt, I’m sure he didn’t plan on sticking the federal government with the bill for the worker’s pensions. He would have been just as happy to leave those workers with nothing. I’m sure Mitt’s attitude was “let the workers go bankrupt.” The Romney campaign responded quickly to the Obama ad. I’m sure they were ready for it. More than anyone, they know the things that Mitt Romney has done wrong. Heck, they might even know more things than most people.
Politico is reporting that Mitt Romney is intentionally going to pick an “incredibly boring white guy” for his VP. As a Republican, he has a lot to choose from. Romney doesn’t want to make the same mistake that John McCain did with Sarah Palin. The problem for Mitt is that the Republican Party is full of boring white guys who are just as extreme and just as dumb as Sarah Palin. Bob McDonnell’s communications director joked “Hey, we resemble that remark.” McDonnell doesn’t mind being thought of as boring, because it’s better than being knows as “that crazy vaginal probe guy.”
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The organization Common Cause filed suit today against the United States Senate claiming current filibuster rules are unconstitutional. In a statement released today – Common Cause President Bob Edgar said the abuse of the filibuster by minorities on both sides of the aisle – especially Republicans – is, “an affront to our democracy and not the way the Senate was supposed to work.”
Citing a previous Supreme Court decision ruling that the Senate’s rules cannot conflict with the Constitution – Common Cause’s lawsuit alleges that the Constitution ONLY calls for a super-majority requirement in special cases like overriding a Presidential veto or ratifying a treaty – and does not require a super-majority to begin debate, approve judges, or pass routine legislation - as it's used today. Several Members of Congress are plaintiffs in the lawsuit.
For the last few years - led by Mitch McConnell – who boasted that his number one goal is NOT to create jobs for Americans but instead to put President Obama out of a job – a Republican minority has shut down an entire branch of government by abusing the filibuster. This is not what democracy what looks like.
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Europeans stocks are tumbling and investors around the world are keeping a close eye on Greece as the Euro crisis enters a new phase. On the heels of elections that ousted the pro-austerity government in Greece – new anti-austerity parties have – so far – been unable to form a coalition government. Greek President Karlos Papoulias is desperately trying to bring together party leaders for a meeting today in hopes of finding a coalition government. But, far-left SYRIZA Party leader – Alex Tsipras – is refusing to attend the meeting alongside other parties that support austerity.
Neither austerity nor anti-austerity parties won enough seats in the last election to form a coalition government – meaning the President will likely have to call for a new round of elections in the coming weeks. If so, the far-left SYRIZA party will likely pick up even more seats in Parliament – making an anti-austerity coalition government a real possibility just before Greece runs out of money as early as next month. When Greece goes broke – if the new government refuses to sign on to the IMF and EU-backed austerity and bailout – then Greece will default and likely be forced out of the Eurozone. Thanks to the worldwide economic meltdown and trickle-down austerity response – the Greek economy has been in recession for the last five years. At least now – an end might be in sight – although it could get very, very painful.
Meanwhile in Germany – Chancellor Angela Merkel saw her Conservative Party get crushed in state elections in the North Rhine-Westpahlian – the biggest state in Germany. Merkel has been leading the charge for austerity around Europe – but now finds herself vulnerable as support for her Party plunged to 26% - its worse result since World War 2.
Everywhere you look – the supporters of trickle-down austerity are getting hammered by voters. Let’s help Americans get the message – and kick the Republicans, pushing their own trickled-down austerity here, to the curb.
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Look through the Washington Post article at the pictures of young Mitt at Cranbrook. They look like stills from a horror movie: “Willard Goes to Boarding School”! At least there aren’t any pictures of Mitt gripping money in his teeth. I guess the Cranbrook yearbook editors didn’t feel they were appropriate. Mitt made a call to Brian Kilmeade’s radio show to discuss the Post article. Kilmeade was a good choice. Something tells me that when the cameras aren’t rolling at “Fox and Friends,” Kilmeade bullies Steve Doocy in order to try and score points with Gretchen Carlson.
At first Mitt said he didn’t recall any such incident. Then he apologized for it anyway... you know, because other people remember it. Mitt said “As to the teasing or taunts that go on in high school, that’s a long time ago.” We’re familiar with “teasing and taunts,” Mitt, and they don’t involve having to hold somebody down. Mitt says he doesn’t believe that he “thought the fellow was a homosexual… That was the furthest thing from our minds in the 1960’s.” No, Mitt—the furthest thing from your mind in the 1960’s was Vietnam. You knew it was the working class shmucks who had to go there, not you.
The Romney campaign was fishing around for old classmates of Mitt’s who would offer “supporting remarks” to counter the story of Mitt’s gay-bashing. If they’re anything like Mitt, their supporting remarks will be things like “It was great!” A classmate described Mitt’s behavior in the dorms as “like Lord of the Flies.” And I’m sure that a Mitt Romney presidency would be every bit as brutal and dysfunctional as the society created by those schoolboys in Lord of the Flies. Remember what happens in Lord of the Flies—they all turn on each other, and end up killing Piggy. That doesn’t bode well for a Romney presidency... especially if the vice president ends up being Chris Christie.
In any case, we don’t want Mitt Romney in the White House. I can just see him storming down the Mall to the Capitol with his posse, ready to cut off Lindsey Graham’s hair.
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Last week – the Vermont House and Senate passed legislation outlawing the controversial practice of hydraulic fracturing, which poisons ground water and leads to earthquakes. Democratic Governor Peter Shumlin is expected to sign the bill into law when it reaches his desk.
The George W. Bush administration – chock-full of energy barons like Dick Cheney – exempted fracking from federal environmental regulations – meaning it’s up to the states to take action to protect their populations from fracking chemicals. So far – New York and Maryland both have moratoriums on fracking in place.
And overseas – fracking has been outlawed in France, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, and Germany. Let’s help Vermont’s bold actions trigger other states to “get the frack out.”
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On the same day that President Obama and the nation took a major step forward toward marriage equality – Republicans in the House of Representatives tried to drag the nation backward. Hours after the President’s endorsement of marriage equality – House Republicans passed a measure in support of the discriminatory Defense Against Marriage Act – known as DOMA – which is a federal ban against same-sex marriage.
The Republican measure also forbids the Department of Justice from using taxpayer funds to oppose DOMA. Even though Wednesday was a historic day for the nation – with the President of the United States coming out in support of marriage equality for this first time in history – it’s clear that this will be a long battle before the LGBT community finally gets the civil rights it deserves.
And we’ll need the President’s leadership – and grassroots pressure on all lawmakers until victory is achieved.
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In North Carolina, they voted to ban gay marriage... which was already prohibited in the state. I think they just enjoy banning gay marriage. In some states, they enjoy rodeos or barbecues. In North Carolina, people unwind by preventing lesbians from having a wedding. The gay marriage ban was approved by a margin of 61 to 39 percent. We get it, North Carolina—you don’t like gay people. Please stop before you ban dinner theater throughout the state.
The language of the ban is very vague, as it usually is with these anti-gay laws. It’s very difficult to put the sentiment “I hate homos” into proper legal language. The way the law is worded, it also strips rights away from straight couples in domestic partnerships. Great, in their haste to punish gays, they’re including those heterosexuals who just have a hard time committing.
50 percent of Americans support gay marriage. That’s a very high number when you consider that a certain percentage of people won’t support the idea of marriage for anyone. And most of those people are married. As recently as 1996, only 27 percent supported it. But back in 1996 people had all kinds of crazy beliefs—like balanced budgets. Even today, only 22 percent of Republicans support gay marriage. Those Republicans are living in 1996. I bet they don’t like it—Bill Clinton is still president!
Voters have taken down one of the longest-serving and most respected Republicans in the Senate. And I don’t have to tell you that they were Republican voters. Dick Lugar was the longest currently-serving Republican Senator, with 36 years of service. He knew what he was doing. And there’s no place for that in today’s Republican Party. Lugar was an expert in foreign policy and excelled at getting things done. But Tea Party Republicans want Senators who are experts in filibustering and preventing anything from getting done. On top of everything else, Richard Lugar was 80 years old! Kicking him out of the Senate just demonstrates impatience. Republican extremists got rid of an old man because they thought he was no longer useful. And they say Obama has death panels!
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No more war! That’s the message the American people are sending as approval for the Afghanistan war has now dropped to an all-time low. A new AP poll shows that only 27% of Americans support the war – that’s a ten-point drop from one year ago.
On the flip-side two-thirds of Americans are opposed to the war – and 40% say they are “strongly opposed” to the war. So far – 1,834 U.S. soldiers have died in Afghanistan – and the conditions don’t seem to be getting much better over there. French President-Elect Francois Hollande has promised to remove all troops from Afghanistan by the end of this year. I think it’s time we do the same.
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The signs are everywhere, from North Carolina to Indiana to the hallowed halls of Congress. Those who want to take America back to the 19th century are girding their loins for the battle ahead. Their endgame is obvious, and has been for some time. The question that remains is whether those who call themselves progressives are ready to put aside their differences and prepare to "throw hands" (metaphorically, you understand). The stakes are as follows. If we want to have any hope that the more than 12 million Americans currently out of work will ever have decent jobs again in their lifetime, we're going to have to play politics to win.
That won't be easy for progressives. We pride ourselves at being somehow better, more high minded than our opponents. We won't engage in certain tactics that they take for granted to win elections. Maybe we don't have to. But we do have to have a clear idea of what we want to accomplish this and every election cycle. And yes, we may have to be ruthless in order to get it done. For the sake of our kids, if ruthless is what it takes, so be it. Our political aim should be threefold. You may not think he's done everything he should have, but electing Barack Obama to a second term is essential. So too is widening the margin of the Democratic majority in the Senate. The third priority is to turn just 25 Republican seats in the House to Democrats.
Why are these three goals important? The GOP minority in the Senate just killed (for now) a bill to freeze the interest rate on college student loans. In Indiana, a decent, long serving Republican US Senator just got his head handed to him by a Tea Partry Neanderthal. In North Carolina, a referendum just passed defining marriage as between a man and a woman. These are three recent reasons progressives must be ready to stand and fight this election cycle. Another will be evident to anyone who has passed over or under a bridge, an overpass, train trestle, whatever. Folks, our infrastructure is falling apart. The same people who think corporations are people tell us we're too broke to fix our roads. How many able bodied Americans could be trained and put to work creating the steel that upgrades these structures so central to our lives? Who will mix and lay the concrete that replaces the foundations that have rotted away from years of neglect?
Oh yeah, and before I forget. Right now the nation's unemployment rate stands at 8.1%. If it ever got back down to where it was when Bill Clinton was president (3.9%), we'd all breathe a sigh of relief. I want to go one better. I want every able bodied American who wants to work to have a job. Then those don't will have to come up with a really good reason why they can't work like the rest of us. And while I'm at it, I want universal health care, quality education for all Americans, and the end of the mess that has become our immigration system.
The President dropped his "to do" list on Congress the other day. You've just read mine, and what progressives need to do to reach these lofty goals.
What's your "to do" list? Can progressives get it done?
Mitt Romney is now claiming that he deserves “a lot of credit” for saving the auto industry. Amazing! Mitt Romney is scared to death to say anything that might alienate a supporter, but he’s absolutely fearless when it comes to telling lies. Mitt said “I pushed the idea of a managed bankruptcy, and finally when that was done, and help was given, the companies got back on their feet.” Mitt, you didn’t want the auto companies “back on their feet.” You wanted them on their knees. Mitt’s “managed bankruptcy” idea wasn’t meant to serve the auto companies. It was meant to serve them up on a platter for other vulture capitalists like Mitt Romney.
Then Mitt said “So, I’ll take a lot of credit for the fact that this industry has come back.” Wow! What chutzpah! Or as Michele Bachmann would say, “What choots-paw!” Mitt didn’t even say “I deserve a lot of credit.” No, he said “I’ll take a lot of credit...” There’s Mitt’s privileged, entitled attitude in a nutshell! It’s not “Please give me credit.” He knows he can’t ask, because he doesn’t deserve it! He just says “The credit is mine, and I will take it now. Have it packaged and delivered to my California mansion. On the double!”
The auto industry was saved by a bailout, which was nothing like the “managed bankruptcy” that Mitt was calling for. The bailout was a lifeline. A managed bankruptcy was a death sentence. If Mitt deserves any credit for saving the auto industry, it’s because his crazy call to “let Detroit go bankrupt” woke people up to the fact that something had to be done before Mitt got his way! The extent of Mitt Romney’s lying on this one is simply amazing. In terms of lying, Mitt has crossed the line from pathetic to pathological.
Rick Santorum finally endorsed Mitt Romney... in an email sent out to supporters... at 11pm... in the 13th paragraph of the email. Yeesh, Rick, why didn’t you just post it on MySpace... or Friendster, for that matter? Rick, this “endorsement” couldn’t have been more obscure if you had just posted it on a handbill that you put up on a few telephone poles and lampposts like somebody looking for a lost dog. Santorum didn’t say if he plans to campaign for Romney. I’m sure Rick will be campaigning for Mitt—just as soon as Rick conquers his gag reflex.
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Americans are getting screwed at the gas pump. But it has nothing to do with supply and demand or instability in the Middle East. Instead – it has to do with corruption. As investigative reporter Lee Fang at the Republic Report uncovered – a slew of lobbyists are working on behalf of Wall Street to shoot down regulations intended to curb oil speculation.
Bart Chilton, a commissioner with the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, said that as much as $14 in every tank of gas you fill up in your truck is a result of excessive oil speculation. That comes out to a $750 a year tax on all drivers courtesy of Wall Street banksters.
Unfortunately for Americans who can’t afford these inflated gas prices – the top Republican financial watchdog in Congress – Representative Spencer Bachus –believes that his job is not to regulate the banks, but instead “regulators are there to serve the banks.”
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This weekend President Obama officially kicked off his reelection campaign in the swing states of Ohio and Virginia. The President’s appearances were amid banners with the campaign slogan “Forward.” The right wing has been trying to poison the minds of Americans against that slogan, kind of like they’ve been trying to poison the minds of Americans against the candidate himself. I can see why rightwingers dislike the term “forward.” It does highlight just how backward they are.
President Obama schooled Mitt Romney over Mitt’s assertion that “corporations are people.” Obama said “Corporations aren’t people. People are people.” Mitt Romney knows some people who would disagree, but I think those people are corporations. Corporations are not people, but we all know some people who act more like corporations—like Mitt Romney, for instance!
In this weekend’s elections, Europe has become even more what the Republicans like to call “European.” Elections in France and in Greece both showed voters clearly rejecting the economic strategy of recovery through austerity. Trying to recover from a recession through economic austerity is like trying to recover from malnutrition with a starvation diet. Austerity isn’t working in Europe. I’m surprised they went for it. They had tried it once before... I think they called that “The Dark Ages.” At least the current brand of austerity doesn’t include mass starvation, plagues, and rampaging barbarians—but I’m sure those were all on the conservatives’ list to try.
There’s a group out there trying to “swift boat” President Obama, who call themselves “Veterans for a Strong America.” Swift boating involves attacking a candidate for their strongest point. And Mitt Romney is basically immune—he has no strong points! The original swift boaters attacked John Kerry for being a war hero. These new swift boaters are attacking President Obama for getting Osama bin Laden. Well, now we know the things you have to avoid doing to avoid being attacked by swift boaters—don’t serve your country, and whatever you do, don’t remove terrorist threats.
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In votes across France and Greece over the weekend – Europeans sent a very clear message to the technocrats and banksters choking them with trickle-down austerity. That message was, “No more!” In France – Socialist candidate Francois Hollande – who campaigned against austerity – defeated Conservative President Nicholas Sarkozy in elections on Sunday. In his victory speech, Hollande told the French people that “austerity can no longer be the only option” and that his mission is to now, “give the European project a dimension of growth, employment, prosperity…and a future.”
Already – Hollande’s pro-growth agenda has received support from other European leaders and could signal the beginning of the end of German-induced austerity in Europe. The same is the case in Greece, where the two ruling parties supporting austerity only won 32% of the Sunday’s vote – as the Greek people instead opted for far-left and far-right parties that were opposed to more trickle-down austerity and bailouts.
Now – the future of Greece and the Eurozone is once again uncertain – as the Greek Parliament is unlikely to sign off on another round of bailouts next year to prevent Greece from defaulting and leaving the Eurozone. Financial analysts in Europe are now putting the odds of a Greek exit from the euro at 75%. Stay tuned – the battle between democracy and technocracy is just beginning.
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If you don't think Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law is unfair to victims, it turns out that it can be unfair even to those attempting to use it... depending on whom they are. It seems to come down to whose ground is being stood. Marissa Anderson fired a warning shot to scare off her abusive husband who had her cornered, and a judge ruled that she couldn’t use the Stand Your Ground law as a defense. Does Florida’s Stand Your Ground law have some sort of “two strikes” provision that we don’t know about? The message is clear—if a woman is being attacked by her husband and fears for her life, she should go track down a random unarmed black teenager and shoot him dead.
Ted Nugent is back in the news. Ted gave a bizarre, rambling, profanity-laced tirade, or as it is called when you’re dealing with Ted, an interview. Ted said “I’m an extremely loving, passionate man...” OK, this is getting creepy. Ted, can’t you issue some threats, so that we’re not all so scared? Ted told the man who interviewed him that if he can find someone who has been screened more thoroughly, then Ted would perform oral sex on the man. Yeesh, Ted. First you threaten the President, and then you proposition your interviewer. Can’t you find a nice middle ground? Ted told the guy interviewing him “I will BLEEP your BLEEP.” It’s very clear what he said. Besides, I doubt they would have bleeped it if he had said “I’ll shake your hand.” Evidently, Ted got nervous that that sounded too gay, so he then turned to a female producer and said “Or BLEEP you, how does that sound?” Still pretty threatening, if you ask me, Ted. I’m sure Ted wouldn’t really have performed oral sex on the interviewer—after all, it was a guy. And I’m sure he wouldn’t have really had sex with the female producer. After all, she was of legal age.
A sign in front of a bar in Georgia refers to President Obama with the “n-word.” It’s hard to believe that this could happen in today’s day and age in America. Oh wait, it happened in Georgia, not America. The sign in front of the Georgia Peach Oyster Bar says “I do not support the n-word in the White House.” The only surprising thing is that everything is spelled correctly… including the n-word. This is a real embarrassment for Georgia. They certainly don’t need this, especially so soon after voting for Newt Gingrich in the Republican primary.
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American manufacturers are screwed. House Democrats sent a letter to President Obama on Thursday asking him to reconsider a new free trade agreement in the works that would blow up “Buy America” provisions that give priority to American manufacturers. Since the 1930’s – a “Buy American” law has been on the books that gives preference to American manufacturers bidding for government contracts. But the new Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement would essentially end the preferential treatment – giving no edge to American manufacturers over foreign manufacturers.
The letter – signed by 68 House Democrats and one Republican – warned the President that this trade agreement could, “result in large sums of U.S. tax dollars being invested to strengthen other countries' manufacturing sectors, rather than our own." Unfortunately – like every President since Reagan – President Obama is drinking the so-called free trade Kool-Aid, even though the evidence is clear: we've lost 50,000 manufacturing jobs every single month over the last decade.
We need to ditch free trade and tune out the globalists like Tom Friedman who are carrying the water for big transnational corporations. And then we need to get back to protecting our domestic manufacturing base, like we did for 200 years, based on Alexander Hamilton's 11-point plan that was put in place under President George Washington and then ditched by Reagan, the Bushes, and Clinton.
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Hate and Guns by Randi Rhodes,posted May 3 2012 5:28PM
Rightwing anti-immigrant lunatic J.T. Ready evidently shot and killed four people at a home in Arizona before turning the gun on himself. If you didn’t see that coming, you weren’t looking. J.T. Ready was a neo-Nazi immigrant-basher, or as they are known in Arizona, a “moderate.” Ready headed up a self-styled “Border Guard” of militia nuts. Gee, I wonder who’s safeguarding the border now? Ready also converted to Mormonism. Great—a neo-Nazi who is also a Mormon. In fact, the freak behind Arizona’s SB1070, former GOP Sen. Russell Pearce, even ordained him an ‘elder’ in the church. The only remotely comforting thought in all of this is that at least it didn’t happen in Florida.
Speaking of which, Florida Governor Rick Scott has denied a request by the city of Tampa to ban concealed weapons outside the Republican National Convention. I guess when you think about it, you realize that most of the gun nuts are going to be inside the convention anyway. Scott said “it is unclear how disarming law-abiding citizens would better protect them from the dangers and threats posed by those who would flout the law.” I think the governor just said that people should just shoot it and see who wins.
Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett says that forced ultrasounds are good because they could “convince somebody maybe to carry that baby to term and give it up for adoption.” Hey Tom, you know what might make a lot of women choose not to have an abortion? Not being pregnant! But that would require giving them access to birth control.
It seems that Mitt Romney’s campaign refused to let openly gay foreign policy spokesman Richard Grenell speak, even about foreign policy... which rather undermines the position of foreign policy spokesman. Richard Grenell is an extreme neoconservative who is completely wrong on every foreign policy issue imaginable. What more do Republicans want? Yet Mitt Romney was unwilling to publicly back up Grenell. Mitt Romney is afraid of the Christian right—and all that does is convince that Christian right that he is not really one of them.
The rightwing is obsessed that the Obama campaign slogan of “Forward” is some kind of communist rallying call. It seems that socialists, communists, and fascists have used the word “forward” in political slogans. Maybe that’s because “forward” makes a good slogan for everything from political movements to constipation cures!
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Most weeks, I try to do a blog entry on Wednesday. Today I'm truly glad I waited 24 hours. This day had so many noteworthy stories, it was hard to get all of them into the show from 6 to 9AM (shameless plug). Since I couldn't really focus on one to qwrite about, I decided to say a little about several.
Item.....NFL icon Junior Seau dead after apparent suicide.
Seau was on of those warrior athletes so celebrated in the NFL. He dished out hard hits, and he took as hard as he gave. He lasted the better part of 20 seasons in the NFL, an extraordinary feat given the physical demands of the game. So what would possibly cause him to take his own life at the age of 43? It's tragic to note that of the 1994 San Diego Chargers team that Junior Seau lifted to the Super Bowl, eight players are dead, all under the age of 45. They died of various causes, but certainly Junior Seau's passing ought to at least give momentary pause to those of us who watch and revel in this game. I guess it's simple. What price NFL glory? RIP Junior.
Item.....Right wing militia fanatic massacres four, then kills himself.
His name was JT Ready, and among other things, he was a coward. Does Arizona really think its biggest problem is immigration? Or is it a lunatic who advocated mining the border between the US and Mexico, and killing illegals wherever and whenever he deemed it necessary. He belonged to the Minutemen, as well as the US Border Guard and a Neo-Nazi group. Some piece of work. Among his victims was a 16 month old child. That's where the coward part comes in. Oh, did I mention he was friendly was the former head of the Arizona State Senate, and planned to run for Pinal County Sheriff? Law enforcement in the Phoenix suburb where Ready shed all this blood say they don't think his motive was political. I guarantee one of his anti immigrant, Neo-Nazi pals will call this scum a great American, and opine this is so unlike him. Whatever. He was a child killer.
Item......College kid "lost" by the DEA, kept in holding cell for four days.
Alrighty then.....Who at the DEA falls on their sword for this one? 23 year old UC San Diego student Daniel Chong was swept up in a drug raid at a friend's house. Despite being told he wouldn't be charged, Chong was left in a holding cell for four days without food or water. The cell had no sink or lavatory, and he was only given a blanket. He began hallucinating after a time, and thought he would die in the cell. No one came to check him out despite his screams for help. The DEA's official explanation? They "accidently" left him in the holding cell. This is a pretty heavy price to pay for trying to celebrate 4/20 with a joint. There are those who argue that something like this should lead to the demise of the DEA. Don't get your hopes up. The Doper Industrial Complex is way too powerful, and there's way too much money at stake in the War on Drugs. Right?
Item.....NYPD Warrants Squad targets Occupy Wall St.
This one is more than a little strange. The Warrants Squad of the NYPD goes after people who don't show up to court when charged with virtually any type of violation, from bank robbery to violating the City's open container law. There are now allegations that the Warrants Squad actually went after people with those really minor outstanding warrants, and then questioned them about this past Tuesday's May Day actions on the part of OWS. Is this standard operating procedure for the Warrants Squad? Or is this taking proactive policing a bit too far? Methinks the latter. The NYPD has already admitted they've been surveilling OWS almost since the first tents went up in Zucotti Park last fall. Spy on them all you want, use the Warrants Squad all you want, but the central question around all this remains. Is Occupy REALLY all that dangerous?
Just a few things to think about on the first Thursday in May. There are others, but They're gonna have to be for another post on another day. Got anything to say? Hit me back.....post a comment.
Florida Governor Rick Scott thinks it’s a good idea to arm up the Republican National Convention in Tampa later this year. With an eye on safety, the city of Tampa has banned foreign objects like crowbars, water guns, and string.
However, an attempt by the Mayor of Tampa to also ban handguns during the RNC was shot down by Governor Rick Scott his week. A 2011 law passed in Florida prevents cities from regulating firearms, and Governor Scott refused to offer an exemption in this case, arguing that it would violate the Second Amendment.
So get ready for this year’s RNC – where Occupy protestors can be arrested for carrying string or water guns – but Republican delegates are encouraged to stick a .38 in their pants.
Listen to me LIVE Monday through Friday from 3 PM to 6 PM on WWRL AM 1600.
Last Thursday Night’s show started with a bang! An intimate group of friends, including celebrity stylist Damion West and myself, had just wrapped up a birthday day celebration for the man of the hour, Clay Cane. Great dinner conversation and even better wine played a key part in the loose lips and thick tongues we brought onto the airwaves at 11pm EST—we were all the way live!
As we all know, the core of most conversations lead down one of three roads: Michael Jackson, Beyoncé, or relationship dilemmas. Seeing that some are taking a break from Michael (may he rest in peace) and most need a break from Beyoncé (wishing she would simply stay at home and rest with Baby Blue), our conversation whipped around to love. The great relationship debate followed us into the sound booth and we all took turns sharing stories and lessons learned over the course of our relatively short life spans, yet long and arduous dating lives.
Loyal Clay Cane Live listeners and poor souls polite enough to ask me the routine yet rhetorical “How are you doing?” know that I am on an ongoing quest to find my “first husband.” Whenever in the presence of an individual saddled with the status of married, divorced, “settled into something” or still looking, I bend their ears and pick their brain about the: “Why haven’t I landed an everlasting love?” Clearly, I am not the only lovelorn lady wandering around in dizzying circles of “not quite right” relationships.
The box office hit "Think Like a Man" proves my point with the millions of women who are seeking any form of higher learning in the game of love. Steve Harvey offers up the 90-day rule (no sex for three months) as one way of finding our “happily ever after.” Tyler Perry films, whether he is in or out of drag, all share a reccurring theme, as Clay explains, “If you find Jesus, you will lose weight and land a man!”
We could all get lost in a mountain of theories by stumbling into the relationship section of any Barnes and Noble. I have some friends who frown upon my willingness to entertain the ideals of “false prophets of love" dolling out their “pearls of wisdom” on film or in books. I believe that knowledge is power, even if I simply discover that the advice given is not my cup of tea and will not work for me, it is still a lesson learned.
What I have learned to be true is that you should not change the way you love. If you chose to dismiss Steve Harvey’s 90-day rule by throwing caution to the wind (along with your clothes to the floor) after having spent an amazing nine hours with Mr. Right Now, do you. If Tyler Perry's teachings are lost on you and the only time “religion” rolls off of your tongue is when you scream out “Jesus, Mary, and Joseph” while whirling around within the throws of passion, that’s just fine. As for me, I will continue to go into relationships with fingers crossed and the optimism that I already have all of the tools needed to build a solid partnership while holding on to my own belief that if there is a me, there has got to be a “He!”
Tune in tonight to Clay Cane Live and help Clay and I celebrate our six-month anniversary of being on the air. Talk about a perfect partnership: If only Mr. Cane were “buying” what I’m “selling”... it would be “ovah!”
Hard Truths by Randi Rhodes,posted May 2 2012 5:07PM
Yesterday the President went to Afghanistan. In the middle of an election where his opponent claims to have easy answers, this President isn’t afraid to turn the spotlight on a problem that doesn’t have an easy solution. While Mitt Romney tries to say things that will make everybody happy, Barack Obama is not afraid to say things he knows won’t make anybody happy. What the President said yesterday isn’t likely to satisfy anyone, which indicates he was probably telling you the truth. Afghanistan is called the “graveyard of empires.” You can’t turn a graveyard into anything else. All you can do is clean it up a bit, and try to get out before night falls.
Mitt Romney’s openly gay foreign policy advisor has been hounded from the job after less than two weeks. You really have to question the judgment of an openly gay person who chooses to be a Republican. And yes, I believe that being Republican is a choice. I know that there are those who think you are born that way. But how good of a foreign policy advisor can a person be if they are openly gay and still choose to be a Republican? I don’t trust someone to figure out the nuances of foreign policy when they don’t seem to be aware that the people they work for hate them for what they are.
Newt Gingrich is leaving the campaign today. Of course, Newt is merely “suspending” his campaign. It’ll be preserved like a pickled ham... and kind of like Newt himself. Doesn’t Newt look like a leader of a communist nation whose corpse was embalmed and put on public display? That’s essentially the story of Newt Gingrich, except that Newt is still alive. For the past few months, true believers have been filing past the living Gingrich like people filing past the body of Lenin on display in Red Square. He looks so lifelike!
Newt will formally endorse Romney in a few weeks. Newt realizes that will be the last time there will be cameras pointed at him... unless he gets married yet again. He said he has no regrets about his decision to run. But then, if Newt had the ability to feel regret, he would never stop hysterically crying. After today, we won’t have Newt Gingrich to kick around anymore. That’s OK—it’s turning out to be a lot of fun kicking Mitt Romney around.
Listen to me Monday through Friday 6 PM to 8 PM on WWRL AM 1600.
Exacerbated by trickle-down austerity, the Eurozone unemployment rate has risen to 10.9%
The European economy is tanking – and trickle-down austerity is to blame. New unemployment numbers show the 17-nation Eurozone now has its highest unemployment rate ever, at 10.9%. And, the two nations with the highest unemployment rates – Spain and Greece – just so happen to be the ones most hooked on austerity.
In Spain, budget cuts and massive government layoffs have driven up the unemployment rate to the Eurozone high of 24.1%. And Spanish youth unemployment is even worse – at a staggering 51.1%. And in Greece – the poster child of European austerity, the unemployment rate stands at 21.7% with more than half of all Greeks under 25-years-old unemployed. Another austerity-bitten nation – the United Kingdom – just officially sank into another recession.
Clearly – austerity – which involves taking money out of working people’s pockets – forcing them to spend less and contribute less in revenue to the government – is making the economic situation in Europe far worse. But the banksters and billionaires pushing austerity don’t care – just as long as they can squeeze the last bit of wealth left in Europe into their own pockets. But with Nicholas Sarkozy going down in France, the Dutch government collapsing, and civil unrest in the streets from Madrid to London to Athens – then austerity might be breathing its last gasp. Let’s hope.
Listen to me LIVE Monday through Friday 3 PM to 6 PM on WWRL AM 1600.
It’s been a year since the leader and founder of Al Qaeda was killed, but the fight goes on... mostly over the credit for killing the leader and founder of Al Qaeda. Republicans are irate at Obama’s campaign for suggesting Mitt Romney would not have gone after bin Laden. They’re not the first ones to say that—Mitt was the first one to say that! Mitt, if you don’t want people saying you wouldn’t have gotten bin Laden in Pakistan, maybe you shouldn’t have said you wouldn’t go after bin Laden in Pakistan.
Yesterday, Mitt Romney said “even Jimmy Carter would” have made the call to go in after bin Laden. I find it amusing that Mitt tries to slam Jimmy Carter. Jimmy Carter is a frail old man. And Mitt Romney would still be afraid to say that to his face. When Carter ordered the raid on Iran, he made one bold and gutsy call... which is one more bold and gutsy call than Mitt Romney ever made in his life. What were the bold calls of your career, Mitt? “Yes! Buy it! And dismantle it! Put the profits in my Cayman Islands account! Make it happen!” Mitt Romney would never have made a decision that risked his entire presidency. He won’t even make decisions that risk his own money.
Today, Romney said “any thinking American would have ordered exactly the same thing.” Not if they think like you do, Mitt! If they think like you, they would be too worried about what would happen to them to take any sort of decisive action. Mitt wants us to believe he would have taken decisive action on getting bin Laden. This is a guy who can’t even take a decisive stand on an issue... ANY issue! Hey Mitt, if you want us to believe you would have taken a decisive stand against bin Laden, how about taking a decisive stand on whether or not you would have signed the Liddy Ledbetter Act.
Today, after attacking President Obama for “politicizing” the bin Laden killing, Mitt Romney is spending the anniversary of the killing with Rudy Giuliani—a man who did everything short of trying to trademark the term “9/11.” President Obama’s actions in bringing down bin Laden show sharp and intelligent decision-making. The biggest decision Rudy Giuliani made prior to 9/11 was to put the emergency command center in the World Trade Center.
Listen to me Monday through Friday 6 PM to 8 PM on WWRL AM 1600.
May Day: A Day Without the 99% - Occupy General Strike In Over 135 US Cities
Workers of the world are uniting in a global day of action to commemorate International Workers Day. In hundreds of cities across America and around the world in London, Barcelona, Toronto, Kuala Lampur, and Sydney – there are calls for a general strike with no working, no shopping and no banking. The Occupy Movement here in the United States is branding it as a day without the 99%.
In response – Wall Street banks are coordinating with each and with the police to monitor today’s marches and rallies around New York City. While the banks haven’t disclosed exactly how they plan to deal with the protests, one security adviser compared to Occupy demonstrators to “wolves.” Since the Occupy movement began last year – more than 2,100 demonstrators have been arrested in New York City and still not a single bankster has been convicted of crimes on Wall Street.
That’s why today is so important – as working people around the world fight back against abuses of power and the corporate takeover of our democracy and economy.
Listen to me Monday through Friday LIVE 3 PM to 6 PM on WWRL AM 1600.
Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives have made their point – they hate Obamacare. And, just in case anyone didn't get the message the first 36 times they made that point, they're about to waste even more taxpayer...
It turns out the IRS was investigating conservative organizations seeking tax-exempt status. Duh! And the TSA has been looking at people seeking to get on airplanes. None of the conservative organizations that the IRS was "targeting" were...
The Associated Press has accused the Justice Department of "massive and unprecedented intrusion." That's according to one of the AP's top executives, after learning that the government secretly acquired two months of the news...
It seems that the Republicans won't stop until their attacks over Benghazi are as vicious as the attack in Benghazi. The Republicans would have you believe that the Obama administration altered the talking points on Benghazi out of political...
According to the U.S. Supreme Court, Monsanto has the right to control our food supply. In a unanimous ruling released this morning, the nine Justices sided with the agricultural giant, and held that an Indiana farmer violated Monsanto's...
Yesterday, Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives postponed all floor votes so they could hold their ninth hearing about Benghazi. Instead of working on any number of pressing issues effecting Americans, Republicans spent nine...
Oh, you crazy Americans! Here you are, obsessed with guns, thinking you need them to stop some leering thug from invading your home and taking everything you have. Truth be told, you don't have to worry about that nearly as much as, say, 20...
Now the abducted women are back with their families. Maybe now people will stop thinking of Cleveland as the butt of jokes and start thinking of it as a really weird and creepy place. This is a story straight out of… wow, I don't think...
Treasury Secretary Jack Lew appears to have the right ideas. But, it doesn't seem like any of our elected leaders are listening. On Monday, Secretary Lew sent letters to members of the House financial services committee, urging them to...
Last year, five major U.S. Banks and 49 state attorneys general agreed on a $25 billion settlement to compensate victims of abusive bank practices and foreclosure fraud. But, according to New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, the...
If you don't think Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law is unfair to victims, it turns out that it can be unfair even to those attempting to use it... depending on whom they are. It seems to come down to whose ground is being stood. Marissa Anderson fired a warning shot to scare off her abusive husband who had her cornered, and a judge ruled that she couldn’t use the Stand Your Ground law as a defense. Does Florida’s Stand Your Ground law have some sort of “two strikes” provision that we don’t know about? The message is clear—if a woman is being attacked by her husband and fears for her life, she should go track down a random unarmed black teenager and shoot him dead.
Rightwing anti-immigrant lunatic J.T. Ready evidently shot and killed four people at a home in Arizona before turning the gun on himself. If you didn’t see that coming, you weren’t looking. J.T. Ready was a neo-Nazi immigrant-basher, or as they are known in Arizona, a “moderate.” Ready headed up a self-styled “Border Guard” of militia nuts. Gee, I wonder who’s safeguarding the border now? Ready also converted to Mormonism. Great—a neo-Nazi who is also a Mormon. In fact, the freak behind Arizona’s SB1070, former GOP Sen. Russell Pearce, even ordained him an ‘elder’ in the church. The only remotely comforting thought in all of this is that at least it didn’t happen in Florida.
Item.....Right wing militia fanatic massacres four, then kills himself.
Item.....NYPD Warrants Squad targets Occupy Wall St.
Florida Governor Rick Scott thinks it’s a good idea to arm up the Republican National Convention in Tampa later this year. With an eye on safety, the city of Tampa has banned foreign objects like crowbars, water guns, and string..jpg)
Last Thursday Night’s show started with a bang! An intimate group of friends, including celebrity stylist Damion West and myself, had just wrapped up a birthday day celebration for the man of the hour, Clay Cane. Great dinner conversation and even better wine played a key part in the loose lips and thick tongues we brought onto the airwaves at 11pm EST—we were all the way live!
Yesterday the President went to Afghanistan. In the middle of an election where his opponent claims to have easy answers, this President isn’t afraid to turn the spotlight on a problem that doesn’t have an easy solution. While Mitt Romney tries to say things that will make everybody happy, Barack Obama is not afraid to say things he knows won’t make anybody happy. What the President said yesterday isn’t likely to satisfy anyone, which indicates he was probably telling you the truth. Afghanistan is called the “graveyard of empires.” You can’t turn a graveyard into anything else. All you can do is clean it up a bit, and try to get out before night falls.
I have to admit this up front. From the time I was a kid, I had a sweet tooth. I LOVED sugar, the way it tasted, its texture, how it looked on top of cereal, everything. I once got my butt beat when my mother caught me with a mouthful of sugar I stole from the jar in our apartment. She hit me upside my head, and sugar flew everywhere! Over the years, I have always liked things sweet. Maybe that's why now, late in life, I have Type 2 diabetes. No matter. My love of sugar had me checking out very closely NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg's proposal to ban large sugary drinks like soda from restaurants, movie houses, and even street carts. 
Florida Governor Rick Scott is 
Yesterday 
Anyone who doubts the United States has been in an economic free fall for the last three decades should check out the new United Nations Children’s Fund report on child poverty. Of the 34 wealthiest nations looked at by UNICEF – the United States has the second highest child poverty rate of all of them – with a staggering 23% of all American children living in poverty.
The National Employment Law Project is reporting that another 70,000 Americans will be cut off from unemployment insurance next month. Already – nearly half a million Americans have lost their unemployment benefits this year thanks to austerity measures demanded by Republicans in Congress – and rubber-stamped by Democrats and President Obama – that cut unemployment insurance down from 99 weeks to 79 weeks in states that haven’t seen their unemployment situations get worse. That even includes states like Florida, Nevada, and Illinois that all have unemployment rates above the national average. 
Check out a new report by the Associated Press today – showing that average CEO compensation topped $9.6 million in 2011 – the highest mark since the AP started looking at compensation numbers back in 2006. Meanwhile – wages for working people have barely budged – and it would now take the typical American worker 244 years just to make what their CEO makes in one year. 
Republicans keep talking about a massive spending increase under President Obama. In reality, federal spending is rising at its 
The pharmaceutical industry is the single biggest defrauder of Americans taxpayers in the country – surpassing the Defense Industry for the first time. A new Public Citizen report finds that over the last twenty years the pharmaceutical industry has accounted for 25% of all violations of state and federal law when it comes to the False Claims Act.
There is a new pro-Obama ad with Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry, and a whole Fox News rogues’ gallery of conservatives 
Let me say at the outset that I don't agree with everything Barack Obama has done as president. Yet I've never in my life agreed with everything any president has done. For that matter, I didn't agree with everything my mom and dad did! From both a pragmatic political and idealistically progressive standpoint, however, there's no doubt this president should serve another four years. I have heard from progressives I respect about their disappointment with aspects of his time in office. It's time to get realistic about what Barack Obama has done as president, and what four years of Mitt Romney will mean for those already struggling (and who progressives are and speak for).
This election year, the Chamber of Commerce is looking to confirm it. At a meeting in Washington, Chamber President Tom Donohue told members that his organization is, “planning on having a good year,” and will spend more money this election than they did in 2010, when they spent more than $30 million catapulting corporate shills calling themselves Tea Partiers into Congress. 
President Obama says “When you’re president, as opposed to the head of a private equity firm, then 
Meet Wall Street billionaire – Pete Peterson – the man trying to destroy Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid as we know it. According to tax documents – between 2007 and 2011 – Peterson has given nearly a half-billion dollars to his Peter. G. Peterson Foundation to run ads and lobby Congress warning that federal safety net programs are going broke and need to be drastically cut or privatized. 
Cory Booker, the Mayor of Newark, New Jersey sharply 
Tens of thousands of activists stormed Chicago to protest against war and inequality while the city hosts the annual NATO convention. Today is day two of the summit and more protest demonstrations are planned. At least 45 people were arrested during peaceful marches and rallies over the weekend. While some are applauding the Chicago Police Department’s professionalism in dealing with protestors – others are pointing to repeated law enforcement abuses against citizen journalists and heavy-handed crowd control tactics. 
A pro-Romney super PAC came up with a 
All eyes are on Chicago this weekend – where an annual NATO Summit is going up against the Occupy Movement. Tens of thousands of demonstrators are expected to attend this weekend’s marches and rallies, calling for peace and economic fairness. Chicago police have already spent more than a million dollars on riot gear and high-tech crowd dispersal technology like long-range acoustic devices to use against the peaceful Occupy demonstrators. 
The 
The highly-controversial indefinite detention provision signed into law by the President at the end of last year has been ruled unconstitutional by a U.S. District court judge in New York. The provision allows the military to detain anyone indefinitely if they are suspected of associating with terrorists – whether they realize it or not.
The old Chestnut "The Greatest Love of All" starts with the phrase, "I believe that children are our future". Now, in the future that song referenced, we as adults would do well to ask ourselves if we really believe that anymore. Recent developments, locally and in DC, conspire to make us appear to be the most hypocritical grown folks in a very long time. If we look at the facts, we really have no intention to teach our kids well and let them lead the way. Consider the cold hard facts, the inconvenient truth.
John Boehner has thrown down the gauntlet! Either that or he dropped it. When you drink as much as John, sometimes it’s hard to hold on to your gauntlet. Boehner 
House Republicans plan to vote on House Resolution 568 – which calls on the President to take our nation to war should Iran even become capable of building a nuclear weapon - without building one. The resolution also takes containment – like sanctions and diplomacy – off the table as an adequate response to a nuclear Iran – leaving military action as the only possibility. 
President Obama is out with a 
The organization Common Cause filed suit today against the United States Senate claiming current filibuster rules are unconstitutional. In a statement released today – Common Cause President Bob Edgar said the abuse of the filibuster by minorities on both sides of the aisle – especially Republicans – is, “an affront to our democracy and not the way the Senate was supposed to work.”
Europeans stocks are tumbling and investors around the world are keeping a close eye on Greece as the Euro crisis enters a new phase. On the heels of elections that ousted the pro-austerity government in Greece – new anti-austerity parties have – so far – been unable to form a coalition government. Greek President Karlos Papoulias is desperately trying to bring together party leaders for a meeting today in hopes of finding a coalition government. But, far-left SYRIZA Party leader – Alex Tsipras – is refusing to attend the meeting alongside other parties that support austerity.
Look through the Washington Post article at 
Last week – the Vermont House and Senate passed legislation outlawing the controversial practice of 
On the same day that President Obama and the nation took a major step forward toward marriage equality – Republicans in the House of Representatives tried to drag the nation backward. Hours after the President’s endorsement of marriage equality – House Republicans passed a measure in support of the discriminatory Defense Against Marriage Act – known as DOMA – which is a federal ban against same-sex marriage. 
In North Carolina, they 
No more war! That’s the message the American people are sending as approval for the Afghanistan war has now dropped to an all-time low. A new AP poll shows that only 27% of Americans support the war – that’s a ten-point drop from one year ago. 
The signs are everywhere, from North Carolina to Indiana to the hallowed halls of Congress. Those who want to take America back to the 19th century are girding their loins for the battle ahead. Their endgame is obvious, and has been for some time. The question that remains is whether those who call themselves progressives are ready to put aside their differences and prepare to "throw hands" (metaphorically, you understand). The stakes are as follows. If we want to have any hope that the more than 12 million Americans currently out of work will ever have decent jobs again in their lifetime, we're going to have to play politics to win.
Mitt Romney is now claiming that he 
This weekend 
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It’s been a year since the leader and founder of Al Qaeda was killed, but the fight goes on... mostly over the credit for killing the leader and founder of Al Qaeda. Republicans are irate at Obama’s campaign for suggesting Mitt Romney would not have gone after bin Laden. They’re not the first ones to say that—Mitt was the first one to say that! Mitt, if you don’t want people saying you wouldn’t have gotten bin Laden in Pakistan, maybe you shouldn’t have said you wouldn’t go after bin Laden in Pakistan.
Workers of the world are uniting in a global day of action to commemorate International Workers Day. In hundreds of cities across America and around the world in London, Barcelona, Toronto, Kuala Lampur, and Sydney – there are calls for a general strike with no working, no shopping and no banking. The Occupy Movement here in the United States is branding it as a day without the 99%. 