01-30-09
- Class Warfare: 400 richest Americans’ incomes doubled under Bush (thinkprogress - bloomberg) - "Capital gains made up 63 percent of the richest 400 Americans’ adjusted gross income in 2006...." This is why Republicans are always screaming to lower tax rates. Enrichment of the rich. This is what it is all about for them. Obama has spoken of raising the capital gains rate, however “My guess is that Obama still will not rush to do anything on this” because of likely negative reactions from Republicans and the stock market, Dean Baker said. “We’re talking late in the year or early next year.” - In other words, because Obama is too timid to take strong, decisive action that might bring criticism. Sounds like a Democrat and sounds like Obama so far to me.
- RW Evangenital Hypocrisy Watch:
- The Whitewashed Ted Haggard (huffingtonpost) - Actually it was a year's salary of $138,000 severance, not $100,000, but who's counting?
- Bail bondsman says he has uncovered seven cases of sexual misconduct by Haggard (gazette) that occurred before he was forced to resign over a sexual relationship with a male prostitute. Brown says he's close to going public on some of the cases.
- Roy Zimmerman Song: 'Ted Haggard Is Complexly Heterosexual' (youtube) - Don't miss this one.
- Viewing the Matrix - "National Interests" - What We Weren't Told in School:
- John Perkins discusses the history and reasons we are at war in the Middle East, corporate globilization efforts in Central and South America, and successful campaigns to change the goal of global domination to one of global cooperation.
- YouTube: "Confessions of an Economic Hitman" (youtube Part 1 - Part 2)
- 'Keynote' Video: Creating a Sustainable, Just, and Peaceful World (freespeech)
- United Police State of America:
- Project Censored's # 6 story for 2009: The Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act (projectcensored) - Keep the Prozac coming, folks. Under the guise of fear of radical local Islamist radicalization inside the US, legislators recognize the growing anger of Americans over the government's contempt for the Constitution. More and more they fear violent citizen uprising. What a disruption to business profits that would be! Now that the moneyed oligarchy that rules behind the scenes is viciously raping the country even beyond it's cruelest earlier fumbles, the legitimate anger of ordinary Americans has every reason to turn to rage. Fortunately, the election of a so-called liberal Democrat, Barack Obama, to the nation's top post has at least somewhat temporarily mitigated that anger, though for how long remains to be seen. Multi-millionaire Rep. Jane Harman of Harman International Industries pushed through the passage of the House bill in 2007 that has thrown civil rights advocates into apoplexy, who see it as a precursor to greater limitations on individual civil freedoms in the US. Reports of the legislation's demise in the Senate are considerably overblown. - "This is the latest round of official conflation between terrorists and activists in the US. Is there a proven link between these aforementioned groups? No, there is not. But that didn’t stop people from simply saying so on the public record while providing no evidence. And Jane Harman, Democratic cosponsor of the bill, didn’t ask for any, nor did she invite rebuttal." - How far will President Obama go to nudge our adolescent U.S. police state along on its way to maturity? - See also my entry 01-26-09 (United Police States . . .)
- Governments across Europe tremble as angry people take to the streets (guardian.co.uk) - "Europe's time of troubles is gathering depth and scale. Governments are trembling. Revolt is in the air."
- U.S. May Not Be Far Behind (npr)
- NGC 1579: Trifid of the North (apod)
