Michael Moore: 75 Years Ago Today, the First Occupy

Michael Moore: 75 Years Ago Today, the First Occupy: "On this day, December 30th, in 1936 -- 75 years ago today -- hundreds of workers at the General Motors factories in Flint, Michigan, took over the facilities and occupied them for 44 days. My uncle was one of them.

The workers couldn't take the abuse from the corporation any longer. Their working conditions, the slave wages, no vacation, no health care, no overtime -- it was do as you're told or get tossed onto the curb.

So on the day before New Year's Eve, emboldened by the recent re-election of Franklin Roosevelt, they sat down on the job and refused to leave. "

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The Housing Bubble and the Big Lie | Mother Jones

The Housing Bubble and the Big Lie | Mother Jones: "So this is how the Big Lie works.

You begin with a hypothesis that has a certain surface plausibility. You find an ally whose background suggests that he’s an “expert”; out of thin air, he devises “data.” You write articles in sympathetic publications, repeating the data endlessly; in time, some of these publications make your cause their own. Like-minded congressmen pick up your mantra and invite you to testify at hearings."

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Nullification Makes a Comeback | Mother Jones

Nullification Makes a Comeback | Mother Jones: "Republicans are refusing to allow votes on President Obama's nominee to head the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and on his nominees to fill vacancies on the National Labor Relations Board. In both cases, the Republican refusal is explicity aimed at shutting down these agencies. In the case of the CFPB, it's because the law that created it gives certain powers to its director, and without a director those powers can't be exercised."

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For Georgia to have a fair tax structure, income tax on the wealthiest should increase | SaportaReport

For Georgia to have a fair tax structure, income tax on the wealthiest should increase | SaportaReport: "The income tax “is the biggest detractor to bringing jobs to Georgia,” according to Senate Finance Committee Chairman Bill Heath (R-Bremen). This narrative is as common as it is incorrect.

Economic evidence simply doesn’t support such a claim. For one thing, Georgia is a low tax state to begin with – 49th in per person tax share nationwide – yet Georgia has lost more jobs than almost any other state. Two states that have no personal income tax – Florida and Nevada – were among the hardest hit by the Great Recession, while supposedly“high tax” states such as Minnesota and Vermont fared much better."

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SOPA is the end of us, say bloggers - Tim Mak - POLITICO.com

SOPA is the end of us, say bloggers - Tim Mak - POLITICO.com: "“The dynamic is clear. Once SOPA — and its Senate counterpart, Protecting IP Act, or PIPA — became high-profile among the Internet community, the lazy endorsements from companies and various hangers-on became toxic. And now, those supporters are scrambling, hollowing out the actual support for the bill. Suddenly, a bill with ‘widespread’ corporate support doesn’t have much support at all,”"

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Archbishop queries bankers' bonuses - UK, Local & National - Belfasttelegraph.co.uk

Archbishop queries bankers' bonuses - UK, Local & National - Belfasttelegraph.co.uk: ""Can it be right that public sector workers, and those who work in British industry, face losing their jobs when those high earners in the banking sector who helped cause the economic crisis not only keep their jobs but rake in massive bonuses?

"We have created a situation where many people live in relative poverty while others have far more than they can ever hope to spend.

"In fact, the divide between the wages of the rich and the poor is growing in nearly all of the world's leading economies."

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Andy Ostroy: What Our Young Folks Need to Know About Ron Paul

Andy Ostroy: What Our Young Folks Need to Know About Ron Paul: "folks need to go back and read the Ron Paul Political Report and the Ron Paul Survival Report from about 1989-1994 to gain further insight into the radical extremist mind of the candidate who's winning their hearts. Here are some examples of his incendiary remarks:

-"Given the inefficiencies of what D.C. laughingly calls the `criminal justice system,' I think we can safely assume that 95 percent of the black males in that city are semi-criminal or entirely criminal."

-"If you have ever been robbed by a black teen-aged male, you know how unbelievably fleet-footed they can be."

-"Order was only restored in L.A. (after the riots) when it came time for the blacks to pick up their welfare checks."

-"We don't think a child of 13 should be held responsible as a man of 23. That's true for most people, but black males age 13 who have been raised on the streets and who have joined criminal gangs are as big, strong, tough, scary and culpable as any adult and should be treated as such.""

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Robert Reich: The Defining Issue: Not Government's Size, But Who It's For

Robert Reich: The Defining Issue: Not Government's Size, But Who It's For: "The defining political issue of 2012 won't be the government's size. It will be who government is for.

Americans have never much liked government. After all, the nation was conceived in a revolution against government.

But the surge of cynicism now engulfing America isn't about government's size. It's the growing perception that government isn't working for average people. It's for big business, Wall Street, and the very rich instead.

In a recent Pew Foundation poll, 77 percent of respondents said too much power is in the hands of a few rich people and corporations."

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Financial Transaction Tax Sparks Hopes That Obama Will Play Robin Hood In 2012

Financial Transaction Tax Sparks Hopes That Obama Will Play Robin Hood In 2012: "WASHINGTON -- Advocates of a tiny but lucrative tax on financial transactions are increasingly hopeful that President Barack Obama's need to more firmly establish himself as the Main Street candidate in 2012 will lead him to back the measure.

The tax -- though nearly inconsequential on a per-trade basis -- would reap billions in revenue from Wall Street's most rapacious institutions while also cutting down on their incentive to engage in the high-stakes, lightning-fast gambling that has proven particularly lucrative for them, at the expense of others.

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) introduced legislation last month that would impose a 0.03 percent fee on financial transactions, an amount so small that its sting would only be felt by speculators who rapidly move vast sums in and out of trading positions.

But because of the enormous volume of transactions, the new tax would still raise $350 billion in next 10 years, according to nonpartisan congressional scorekeepers."

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The 10 Most Memorable Moments Of The 'Occupy' Protests [PHOTOS]

The 10 Most Memorable Moments Of The 'Occupy' Protests [PHOTOS]: "It's perhaps the protesters' tenacity that's given them the most recognition. They continued to spread their message -- and ramp up occupations across the country and around the world -- in the face of initial skepticism, ultimately netting endorsements from a variety of politicians and unions.

The occupiers have also faced injuries and arrests along the way. When a video surfaced in September of New York Police officers pepper-spraying a group of young women during a protest in Union Square it launched the movement into the spotlight. The arrest of more than 700 protesters on the Brooklyn Bridge a few days later only heightened the focus on the movement."

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Walmart Edit Of Union Story On Internal News Wire Reveals Tactic That Could Spell Trouble

Walmart Edit Of Union Story On Internal News Wire Reveals Tactic That Could Spell Trouble: "Although the headline and the first sentence remained the same, the 3,861-word story was edited down to two paragraphs, in part by combining phrases from different sections in the article to strengthen Walmart's anti-union message.

Selectively edited news summaries are not unusual. And some public relations experts describe the practice as widespread.

"While this type of selective editing isn't exactly straight-shooting, it's done by corporations, institutions and journalists all the time," said Eric Dezenhall, a communications strategist in Washington, D.C., who worked in the White House for President Ronald Reagan."

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Classified documents reveal US military mindset at time of Haditha massacre - The Irish Times - Sat, Dec 17, 2011

Classified documents reveal US military mindset at time of Haditha massacre - The Irish Times - Sat, Dec 17, 2011: "The 400 pages of interrogations, once closely guarded as secrets of war, were supposed to have been destroyed as the last US troops prepare to leave Iraq. Instead, they were discovered by a reporter at a junkyard outside Baghdad.

The documents – many marked secret – form part of a military investigation and confirm much of what happened at Haditha, a Euphrates river town where Marines killed 24 Iraqis, including a 76-year-old man in a wheelchair, women and children, some just toddlers. Haditha became a defining moment of the war, helping cement an enduring resentment that not a single marine has been convicted. That is one of the main reasons that all US combat troops are leaving."

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Christopher Hitchens Dies at the Age of 62 | NewsFeed | TIME.com

Christopher Hitchens Dies at the Age of 62 | NewsFeed | TIME.com: "“Violent, irrational, intolerant, allied to racism and tribalism and bigotry, invested in ignorance and hostile to free inquiry, contemptuous of women and coercive toward children: organized religion ought to have a great deal on its conscience.”"

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U.S. CEO Pay Jumps Minimum Of 27 Percent Last Year, Survey Finds

U.S. CEO Pay Jumps Minimum Of 27 Percent Last Year, Survey Finds: "The survey's findings may resonate with Occupy movement activists, who have been railing against income inequality since the protests first started. Indeed, CEO pay by itself exceeded the amount that his or her corporation paid in income taxes in at least 25 cases last year. And in the year before America's highest-highest-paid corporate chief netted more than $145 million, U.S. median income fell to below $27,000, meaning half of all earners made less than that."

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Robert Reich: An Offer to the President

Robert Reich: An Offer to the President: "Mr. President, we heard what you said last week in Kansas -- about the dangers to our economy and democracy of the increasing concentration of income and wealth at the top.

We agree. And many of us are prepared to work our hearts out to get you reelected -- as long as you commit to doing what needs to be done in your second term:

-- Raise the tax rate on the rich to what it was before 1981. The top 1 percent has an almost unprecedented share of the nation's wealth and income yet the lowest tax rate in 30 years. Meanwhile, America faces colossal budget deficits that have already meant devastating cuts in education, infrastructure, and the safety nets we depend on. The rich must pay their fair share. Income in excess of $1 million should be taxed at 70 percent -- the same rate as before 1981."

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Capitalism Is the Enemy of Democracy

Capitalism Is the Enemy of Democracy: "Excluding people from having a say over what happens to the wealth we create is the first and the most fundamental way that any capitalist system undermines democracy. We are fundamentally disenfranchised in the places we work. Wealth owners control the levers of investment and, thus, the "needs" of capital trump those of workers when it comes to making decisions about what gets produced, how and for whom.

Beyond this, neoliberal capitalism goes further - it uses the value you and I create to enforce a virtual dictatorship by wealth in the political sphere. The most obvious manifestation of this dictatorship by wealth is the unlimited corporate financing of our elected representatives.
"

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Dan Froomkin: 'Wealth Defense Industry' Protects 1% From the Rabble and Its Taxes

Dan Froomkin: 'Wealth Defense Industry' Protects 1% From the Rabble and Its Taxes: "Occupy protesters are putting their bodies on the line day and night -- leaving their homes, living in tents, braving the elements, and being treated as criminals by the police.

But the super-rich whose influence they are protesting have others to do their fighting for them.

"Oligarchs can go about their business as literally thousands of fulltime professionals work for their interests," says Northwestern University political economist Jeffrey Winters, author of the 2011 book Oligarchy."

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Carne Ross: The Leaderless Revolution: A New Paradigm of Political Change

Carne Ross: The Leaderless Revolution: A New Paradigm of Political Change: "At home, democracy has been subverted. Corporations donate copiously to both parties to insure their influence. Politicians initiate legislation in order to extract rents from big business. Private prison owners lobby for longer sentences. There are now lobbying organizations representing the interests of lobbyists.

This legal corruption is deeply entrenched in our supposedly democratic political system, resisting all attempts at reform. It is naïve to expect decisions from this system to reflect the interests of ordinary people. And this is what we see: tax regimes that tax incomes of the poor more than the accumulating wealth of the rich; healthcare legislation whose primary beneficiary is the healthcare industry; a comprehensive failure to regulate the banking industry to prevent further violent crises such as the '08 credit crunch."

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Newt Gingrich’s Alternative History : The New Yorker

Newt Gingrich’s Alternative History : The New Yorker: "Gingrich’s sudden rise and special appeal to the emotions of “the base,” one suspects, stem less from his vaunted “big ideas” than from his long-cultivated, unparalleled talent for contempt. In 1990, when he was not yet Speaker, he pressed a memo on Republican candidates for office, instructing them to use certain words when talking about the Democratic enemy: “betray,” “bizarre,” “decay,” “anti-flag,” “anti-family,” “pathetic,” “lie,” “cheat,” “radical,” “sick,” “traitors,” and more."

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An Open Letter from America’s Port Truck Drivers on Occupy the Ports | Coalition for Clean and Safe Ports

An Open Letter from America’s Port Truck Drivers on Occupy the Ports | Coalition for Clean and Safe Ports: "We are the front-line workers who haul container rigs full of imported and exported goods to and from the docks and warehouses every day.

We have been elected by committees of our co-workers at the Ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach, Oakland, Seattle, Tacoma, New York and New Jersey to tell our collective story. We have accepted the honor to speak up for our brothers and sisters about our working conditions despite the risk of retaliation we face. One of us is a mother, the rest of us fathers. Between the five of us we have 11children and one more baby on the way. We have a combined 46 years of experience driving cargo from our shores for America’s stores.

We are inspired that a non-violent democratic movement that insists on basic economic fairness is capturing the hearts and minds of so many working people. Thank you “99 Percenters” for hearing our call for justice. We are humbled and overwhelmed by recent attention. Normally we are invisible."

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Occupy Our Homes Gains Support Near A Foreclosed House In Brooklyn

Occupy Our Homes Gains Support Near A Foreclosed House In Brooklyn: "BROOKLYN, N.Y. -- Until three days ago, Teresa Bolton didn't consider herself part of the Occupy Wall Street movement. Bolton is 55 and lives in East New York, Brooklyn, an hour's train ride from the skyscrapers of Manhattan's financial district, where the movement was born. But when occupiers appeared on her block this week, as part of a new national campaign to help homeless families move into vacant houses and resist foreclosure-related evictions, she opened her door.

"Occupy Wall Street came to me. I didn't go seek it out," she said, standing on her porch, wearing a navy turban and a pink sweatshirt, large silver hoops dangling from her ears. "I always wanted to be involved in something positive that was beneficial to everyone.""

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Bob Burnett: Occupy Wall Street: The Enthusiasm Gap

Bob Burnett: Occupy Wall Street: The Enthusiasm Gap: "The latest polls indicate that approximately 75 percent of Americans agree with the goals of Occupy Wall Street. Nonetheless, only 29 percent consider themselves supporters of OWS. What accounts for this enthusiasm gap?

The October Time magazine poll asked respondents if they agreed with the positions advocated by Occupy Wall Street and discovered extraordinary concurrence. 86 percent agreed that, "Wall Street and its lobbyists have too much influence in Washington." 79 percent agreed that, "The gap between rich and poor in the United States has grown too large." 71 percent agreed with ""Executives of financial institutions responsible for the financial meltdown in 2008 should be prosecuted." And 68 percent agreed that, "The rich should pay more taxes." Nonetheless, there remains a 45-50 percent enthusiasm gap, because the same voters who express these strong positive sentiments say they don't support OWS."

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Robert Reich: The Rebirth of Social Darwinism

Robert Reich: The Rebirth of Social Darwinism: "What kind of society, exactly, do modern Republicans want? I've been listening to Republican candidates in an effort to discern an overall philosophy, a broadly-shared vision, an ideal picture of America.

They say they want a smaller government but that can't be it. Most seek a larger national defense and more muscular homeland security. Almost all want to widen the government's powers of search and surveillance inside the United States -- eradicating possible terrorists, expunging undocumented immigrants, "securing" the nation's borders. They want stiffer criminal sentences, including broader application of the death penalty. Many also want government to intrude on the most intimate aspects of private life."

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