Focusing On Prevention And Neuroscience, President Ends Reagan's War On Drugs

Oklahoma Congressman: ExxonMobil ‘Should Be Patted On The Back’ For Arkansas Oil Spill

Via Think Progress

ExxonMobil’s recent oil spill dumped some 200,000 gallons into Mayflower, Arkansas, killed wildlife, and caused 22 homes to be evacuated. As the Natural Resources committee takes up another bill to approve the Keystone XL pipeline, Rep. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) argued at a hearing that the spill is more evidence the Keystone XL pipeline is a safe bet for Americans.

Comparing the safety of a pipeline to other transportation methods, Mullin said there is no reason to make a “big deal” about the spill:

“Would we really rather ship oil across the oceans? You’re talking about a catastrophe, we’re buying the oil. The percentages of barrels that are shipped daily from rail, from road, and from water the accidents versus the pipeline accidents, it’s a fraction. Your group is making a big deal about this ExxonMobil spill? I think Exxon should be patted on the back for the way they handled this. Yes this was horrible, yes we don’t like to see it, but they handled it. They did a great job handling it. I think they showed an example of what could be done when a catastrophe happens.

http://youtu.be/iVK1TX12VBI

In fact, Exxon has been heavily criticized for its public dismissal of the harm and scope of the spill. And thanks to a technicality, the company can avoid paying taxes toward the federal Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund — an exemption that applies to most tar sands crude.

Mullin also claimed the pipeline would reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil, which he linked to acts like the Boston Marathon bombing. “I mean, would we rather buy oil from the Middle East that sponsors the acts that we see like at the Marathon that we just saw yesterday?” he said. “I don’t know if that was actually sponsored by them or not but that’s the acts that they support.” Setting aside his sheer speculation over the cause of the tragedy at Boston, Mullin’s claims about reducing foreign oil dependence just don’t add up. Keystone XL guarantees more oil is shipped overseas, not less: The pipeline moves Canadian oil across the U.S. straight to the Gulf of Mexico, where it is refined and then exported. A Department of Energy analysis noted that Keystone XL will have virtually no impact on Middle East imports.

For the record, oil and gas companies rank among the freshman congressman’s largest donors.

Open Secrets - Markwayne Mullin Top Contributors

Industry	Total	Indivs	PACs
Leadership PACs	$104,750	$0	$104,750
Oil & Gas	$78,750	$33,750	$45,000
Special Trade Contractors	$66,976	$63,976	$3,000
Retired	$58,908	$58,908	$0
Commercial Banks	$53,650	$38,650	$15,000
General Contractors	$47,700	$36,700	$11,000
Insurance	$29,900	$22,400	$7,500
Real Estate	$29,150	$29,150	$0
Livestock	$28,500	$26,500	$2,000
Automotive	$24,000	$14,000	$10,000
Casinos/Gambling	$23,300	$23,300	$0
Trucking	$23,000	$22,000	$1,000
Misc Manufacturing & Distributing	$21,750	$21,750	$0
Candidate Committees	$21,000	$0	$21,000
Building Materials & Equipment	$20,050	$20,050	$0
Health Professionals	$19,050	$19,050	$0
Mining	$18,000	$9,500	$8,500
Misc Business	$15,842	$15,842	$0
Food Processing & Sales	$15,500	$12,500	$3,000
Misc Finance	$15,050	$15,050	$0

A Guide To Brazenly Dehumanizing The Underclasses Courtesy Of Tennessee Senator Stacey Campfield

Via The Subjectiv by Llowell Williams

Last week I wrote about how much of the economic troubles in the United States can be linked to a cycle where businessmen and employers have been increasing their profits while not compensating their workers adequately. When people have more money going toward mandatory expenditures like rent/mortgage, utilities, gas, and food, they have less to spend on other things – not good for a consumer-based economy. To me, the solution seems painfully obvious: Employers need to pay their employees fairly and give them reasonable hours.

However, as you might have noticed, not many of the big business owners and politicians agree with me. Instead, they claim, many of our current nation’s issues are in fact the product of a certain class of (as they call them) moochers, parasites, leeches, welfare queens – who, if only they stopped being so lazy and self-entitled, wouldn’t be dragging this nation down.

With this view, a variety of politicians have voiced their desire to hold these people accountable (by Romney’s infamous estimation, about 47% of the nation). One of the most recent examples of this was in Tennessee where State Senator Stacey Campfield attempted to introduce Bill 132, a piece of law some have referred to as the “Starve the Children” bill. The proposed legislation was designed, supposedly, to “encourage” parents receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) whose children are not performing well in school by having their TANF funds cut – kicking them when they’re down is all it is.

Without going too deep into the absurdity of such a premise – a wide field of data shows that children from low-income families do worse, academically, than their middle or upper class peers; often because of a stressful home life where warm water and food might not be there tomorrow and parents who are, themselves, stressed – Randroid Sen. Campfield can speak for himself.

In a shockingly candid video uploaded earlier this week Sen. Campfield is confronted by an eight-year-old who wanted to give him a piece of her mind; in response, Campfield glibly refers to her (even to her face several times) as a “prop.” In the one instance when the senator does address the girl briefly (instead of the several instances when he almost knocks down other people as he attempts to flee) after she states that she’s “worried about the lights going off” he states that “that won’t happen as long as you have a decent parent.”

I encourage you to watch the excruciating four and half minute video (if you can stomach it). It’s always fascinating to see how Randroids try to rationalize an absence of compassion by dehumanizing the people they seek to victimize – in this instance, it was by calling this small girl a “prop” over and over again, as if chanting a mantra to convince himself that she was not a really person. (Though after this confrontation Sen. Campfield decided to drop the bill proposal after what little support he had fled – apparently they forgot the mantra trick.)

http://youtu.be/5-2qwAFFl8M

It would be one thing if Senator Campfield was unique, an oddity in the American political body. All that sets him apart is his astounding honesty and straight-forward approach to spreading his particularly venomous brand of class warfare. Though Randroids are not at all uncommon in American politics now, most take more tact than Campfield. But they are certainly getting bolder; if you recall, in 2010, South Carolina Lt. Governor Andre Bauer had this to say about the impoverished of his state:

My grandmother was not a highly educated woman, but she told me as a small child to quit feeding stray animals. You know why? Because they breed. You’re facilitating the problem if you give an animal or a person ample food supply. They will reproduce, especially ones that don’t think too much further than that. And so what you’ve got to do is you’ve got to curtail that type of behavior. They don’t know any better.

This is Objectivism at its finest – not only are the wealthiest individuals in this country the best people in this country, but the poor underclasses are actually not even people, but animals who cannot think beyond the urge to “breed.” And as animals, clearly Bauer thinks there is a population problem – and short of hunting them for sport (just yet), the most obvious solution is to discourage them from living.



Then we can turn to the immigration debate which is being argued hotly, as new reform legislation is expected to be proposed to the US Senate next week. Last week I wrote about this issue and argued for immigration reform that would allow easy access to full citizenship to the 11+ million undocumented immigrants living in the nation today. In response, some individuals rehashed the so-called “self-deportation” stance – instead of rounding up all the undocumented immigrants and deporting them, which would not look good, let us encourage them to leave the country by making their accessibility to American society as difficult as possible, by denying them housing and employment – what I think should be more accurately described as deportation by starvation.

Regardless of my views, deportation by starvation (briefly) became a mainstream stance after Romney, the master of half statements and backwards wording, used the phrase “self deportation” to describe his position on the immigration issue (LINK). But why did that even happen and why are some people still running with it? Because in this debate it’s become all too easy to dehumanize these people – repeatedly refer to any group of humans as “illegal” for long enough and you’ll believe such a concept is possible. You’ll believe people’s existence can be “illegal,” with the solution being to starve them out of the country.

The belief that, in general, a large portion of this nation (its underclass) are to blame for our economic turmoil and massive deficit and should justly endure the bulk of the burden is pervasive. So strong is this belief that it’s completely stalled Congress and forced Obama to consider granting them one of their greatest requests: switching Social Security to a chained-CPI, which would effectively cut SS pay outs by measuring inflation in the highly dubious way of now also factoring in hypothetical spending habit changes. Not only does Social Security spending have nothing to do with the deficit (it’s only unsustainable because wage laborers are not being enough paid to match inflation and cost of living increases and thus the amount of money they can pay in), but cuts to it will directly affect the most vulnerable – our retired population who do not have a 401k or Cayman Islands stash to fall back on and need money from the system they paid into to feed themselves.

Cuts to Social Security and existing federal medical programs like Medicare are often on the wish lists of the so-called “deficit hawks” in Congress, yet they have nothing to do with the deficit. It becomes possible to think that elementary school children and their grandmas are to blame for the deficit and the poor economy, not because those who have been making money over the last decade haven’t been paying their share in taxes while at the same time we entangled ourselves in two costly, never-ending wars, but because these are not people but are parasites, moochers, freeloaders who feel entitled.

Like Tennessee State Senator Campfield, the only way to maintain the inhumanity of the “other” is to chant a mantra to oneself – they’re props, animals, who are illegal or feel entitled. Don’t believe the nonsense; everyone in this country is a person and deserves to the right to dignity and life – if there was ever “class warfare” it is what the upper classes and big businessmen have been doing to the middle and lower classes for decades now. They are the true entitled class.

Judge Blocking University From Releasing Data About "Pink Slime" Meat Product

Via NY Times

Judge: Iowa State U. Must Shield 'Pink Slime' Data

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A judge has blocked Iowa State University from releasing documents about food safety research conducted for the beef-processing company that makes the product dubbed "pink slime" by critics.

District Judge Dale Ruigh ruled last month that releasing the records would damage Beef Products, Inc. by revealing information about its proprietary food-processing techniques. Releasing them also would eliminate revenue that Iowa State laboratories receive from companies, who would go elsewhere for testing if they feared results were public records, he said.

"I think it's in the best interest of the companies that do business in Iowa, the general public, and the university," said attorney John Bickel, who represented BPI.

BPI, based in Dakota Dunes, S.D., filed legal action to block the release of records in 2010 after they were requested by Marler Clark, a Seattle law firm that specializes in food safety. The New York Times later sought the documents.

BPI calls its signature product lean finely textured beef. It is made using a process in which trimmings left after a cow is butchered are heated, lean meat is separated from fat and ammonia is applied to kill bacteria. The product, widely used in ground hamburger, faced a nationwide backlash last year after media reports depicted it as unsavory, causing retailers and schools to stop using it and BPI to close plants in Iowa, Texas and Kansas. The company has filed a $1.2 billion defamation lawsuit against ABC News and scientists who criticized the product.

The research at issue was conducted by Iowa State microbiologist James Dickson, who was hired by BPI as a food safety consultant in 2002. Dickson defended the company during last year's uproar, saying his research has found that its ammonia process makes the product safer by killing bacteria that causes food-borne illness. Dickson's research has long been cited by the company and its supporters.

The Iowa Attorney General's Office, which represented the university, argued that releasing the records would not be in the public interest because "they do not affect public policy and do not offer insight as to how government is doing its job." The release would deter companies and farmers from paying ISU for testing, its lawyer argued.

The office has learned that the requesters no longer seek the records and doesn't expect an appeal, spokesman Geoff Greenwood said Wednesday.

Attorney Bill Marler said he was skeptical of BPI's claims about Dickson's research and wanted to learn more when his firm sought the records in 2010, including emails between Dickson and BPI and documents such as reports and test results related to his consulting.

Iowa State gathered 1,650 documents in response but declined to release them after BPI filed a petition for an injunction. BPI argued that the records were exempt from Iowa's public records law because they involved trade secrets, and that Dickson was acting as a private consultant, not a public employee. Its petition said Dickson performed testing on different pathogens to study "the integrity of existing BPI patented processes" and alternatives.

Ruigh ruled that BPI operated in an "extraordinarily competitive" business, saying its rivals had been aggressive in seeking information about its exclusive food-processing methods. Some tried to hire Dickson, who had signed nondisclosure agreements with BPI.

The documents from Iowa State's Food Safety Research Laboratory would divulge "confidential information about BPI's food-processing methods and its development of new methods," as would related e-mail exchanges, Ruigh wrote.

Ruigh said more than 100 Iowa State groups charge the private sector for lab services, and they produce "significant revenue" for the university while providing educational opportunities for students.

Releasing the records "could lead to a significant reduction in the use of ISU's laboratory services by the private sector and thereby jeopardize the financial viability of the laboratories," he wrote.

Marler said he would not fight the ruling, acknowledging the records may detail BPI's "secret formula" for using ammonia. Marler, who is defending two scientists named in BPI's defamation lawsuit, said he believes the records will have to be released during discovery in that case.

"Now that the litigation is basically about whether the product is good, bad or indifferent, all that data is fair game," he said. "They can't hide anything."

Jamie Oliver Explains Process Of Making Pink SLime

http://youtu.be/wshlnRWnf30

ABC News "Pink Slime" Outrage

http://youtu.be/n71i2we5z20

Gov. Rick Perry Blaming Hispanics For Recent Murders Linked To Aryan Brotherhood

Via The Contributor

Last week, Texas DA Mike McLelland of Kaufman County and his wife Cynthia Woodward were murdered in their home. Only a few months ago, McLelland's assistant district attorney, Mark Hasse, was murdered in a parking lot. Authorities are discovering a link between these murders and the murder of Colorado Department of Corrections chief Tom Clements less than two weeks ago.

The developing connection? The Aryan Brotherhood, a national white supremacist prison gang. McLelland, Hasse and Clements each led charges against the gang and dealt severe blows to their leadership in recent months. The primary suspect in Clements' murder is Evan Spencer Ebel, a known member of the gang.

But Rick Perry wants to blame it on Hispanics. Asked about McLelland's murder on Fox News this Wednesday, Perry gave an answer that will make your blood boil.

We know the drug cartels are very, very active in our country now. It goes back ... to the whole issue of border security and the failure of the federal government to put the men and women, whether they are military or whether they're border patrol or whether working with the local law enforcement, expend the dollars necessary to secure the border with Mexico...That's of great concern. I would suggest to you, it is really at the heart of this issue. You secure the border, then it makes it harder for these individuals to have access into this country as well as it addresses this whole issue that's hanging out on immigration.

Perry's comment is utterly fictional bile that promotes nothing but bigotry and misleads people about the murders. There is growing evidence that these murders are coming out of the Aryan Brotherhood, and no evidence linking them to undocumented Mexican immigrants. Perry is politics at its worst - making up lies to support a narrow political agenda.

Yesterday, Perry offered a $100,000 reward to anyone with information on the Kaufman County murders. But after Perry's terribly misleading comments, it wouldn't be surprising if the reward only applies to claims of evidence against Hispanics.

Vile.

Lawrence Lessig - The Corruption At The Heart Of American Politics

http://youtu.be/mw2z9lV3W1g

Satirist Known As Egypt's John Stewart, Bassem Youssef Faces Arrest Warrant

Via BBC

An arrest warrant has been issued for a popular Egyptian political satirist for allegedly insulting Islam and President Mohammed Morsi.

Bassem Youssef has faced several complaints over his show El Bernameg (The Programme).

He has poked fun at a wide range of figures, from fellow television presenters to well-known Muslim scholars and recently Mr Morsi himself.

The case has highlighted worries about press freedoms in Egypt.

It is also seen as the latest in a string of prosecution actions against opponents of the president and his party, the Muslim Brotherhood.

Earlier this week, Egypt's top prosecutor ordered the arrest of five political activists, among them a leading blogger, on suspicion of inciting aggression against the Brotherhood.

The prosecutor, Talat Ibrahim, was appointed late last year by the president, after he had sacked his predecessor, Abdel Maguid Mahmoud.

However, a court this week ordered Mr Mahmoud's reinstatement, a decision that Mr Ibrahim said on Saturday he would fight.

Witty lampooning

Many journalists have criticised the Islamist-backed constitution which came into force earlier this year, arguing it does not offer enough guarantees for a free media.

The constitution also sparked protests from opponents who say it favours Islamists and does not sufficiently protect the rights of women or Christians.

Bassem Youssef is a doctor who shot to fame after winning a large number of followers with his witty lampooning of public figures in amateur videos posted on the internet following the uprising that ended Hosni Mubarak's rule in February 2011.

He became a household name when his satirical show - likened to Jon Stewart's The Daily Show in the US - began to be broadcast three times a week on one of Egypt's independent satellite stations.

But sketches in which he portrayed Mr Morsi as a pharaoh, calling him "Super Morsi" for holding on to executive and legislative powers, and, separately, putting the president's image on a pillow and parodying his speeches angered one Islamist lawyer, whose formal complaint resulted in the investigation.

As well as insulting Mr Morsi and Islam, Mr Youssef is also accused of "spreading false news with the aim of disrupting public order".

In a statement posted on Mr Youssef's Twitter account on Saturday he confirmed the warrant, adding: "I will go to the public prosecutor's office on Sunday - unless they send me a police car and save me [the bother of] getting there on public transport."

Bassem Youssef - The Programme (English Subtitles)

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHdCYPJJzis?start=270&w=853&h=480]

How the Monsanto Protection Act snuck into law

A provison that protects the biotech giant from litigation passed Congress without many members knowing about it

Via Salon

Slipped into the Agricultural Appropriations Bill, which passed through Congress last week, was a small provision that’s a big deal for Monsanto and its opponents. The provision protects genetically modified seeds from litigation in the face of health risks and has thus been dubbed the “Monsanto Protection Act” by activists who oppose the biotech giant. President Barack Obama signed the spending bill, including the provision, into law on Tuesday

Since the act’s passing, more than 250,000 people have signed a petition opposing the provision and a rally, consisting largely of farmers organized by the Food Democracy Now network, protested outside the White House Wednesday. Not only has anger been directed at the Monsanto Protection Act’s content, but the way in which the provision was passed through Congress without appropriate review by the Agricultural or Judiciary Committees. The biotech rider instead was introduced anonymously as the larger bill progressed — little wonder food activists are accusing lobbyists and Congress members of backroom dealings.

The Food Democracy Now and the Center for Food are directing blame at the Senate Appropriations Committee and its chairman, Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md. According to reports, many members of Congress were apparently unaware that the “Monsanto Protection Act” even existed within the spending bill, HR 933; they voted in order to avert a government shutdown.

“It sets a terrible precedent,” noted the International Business Times. “Though it will only remain in effect for six months until the government finds another way to fund its operations, the message it sends is that corporations can get around consumer safety protections if they get Congress on their side. Furthermore, it sets a precedent that suggests that court challenges are a privilege, not a right.”

Corporate Welfare – Employees Paying Taxes Directly To Corporations

Via Addicting Info

Taxes have been a part of government for as long as there have been things to tax, and the general idea behind them is pretty well understood. The government takes a portion of everyone’s income and spends it in such a way as to improve things for everyone in one way or another. That could be defensive spending, such as military technology or troop wages, administrative costs will always factor in, educational funding, etc. And that’s the way it works in America. Or is it? In truth, corporate lobbyists have ensured that our convoluted tax code heavily favors corporations. The fact is that it’s even possible, if you’re employed by a large corporation, that you’re paying your taxes directly toward your employing company.

In his recent book, The Fine Print, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Cay Johnston explains the laws that allow corporations to go to war with the American working class. In an interview with Alternet, he said the following:

It’s now up to 21 states. In 21 states, they’ve passed a law that says that taxes withheld from your paycheck, for the state, can be kept by the company. Now, every employer doesn’t get this windfall — you have to have to get a deal from the government to do it — 2,700 big companies, every big company you’ve ever heard of, General Electric, Procter and Gamble, Deutsche Bank, you name it, they’ve got these deals, where they get to keep the taxes. Billions of dollars are diverted this way. You know the best thing for the companies about this?


The workers don’t know, because once the taxes are withheld, the state government treats you as having paid your taxes. You paid your taxes. They just then give a credit to let the company keep the taxes. I’ve called journalists. I’ve called union people who negotiate union contracts. And they say, “What are you talking about?” I showed them the work I’ve done. They go, “Oh my God!” They have no idea that this is what’s happening, and the fact that it’s spread from the 16 states when I first wrote about this and it’s now grown to 21 – eventually, all of the 44 states with income taxes are going to allow this, if we don’t put a stop to it.

He also addresses the fact that a lack of regulation is actually limiting to competition when it comes to capitalism, as more successful businesses will rapidly form industrial monopolies and oligarchies:

I want more competition. Here’s what really goes on, however. We put up barriers to competition, and in fact, Wall Street has institutionalized this concept. Morningstar, they’re a big financial advice firm. They tell people that they should grade companies and decide whether to buy their stock, based on something called a “moat index.” Moat, like around a castle? A moat index asks, “What barriers has the government erected to keep anybody else from competing against that company?” Indeed, as I show in my book, you could get rich if you invest in those companies that have regulatory moats — where under the name of deregulation, we have insulated them from the rigors of the market.

This is the real welfare in America. Corporate welfare. Where the rich get richer, and they pay other people to convince Republicans how important it is to vote for conservative puppet politicians that will vote for laws that allow “the American people” to keep more of their income tax dollars — which really benefits the rich. In reality, it’s the Republican Party that is engaging in wealth redistribution. The difference in their version? They’re redistributing wealth to the top.

Gizmodo - Anonymous Leaks Marine Corps Massacre Case

Via Gizmodo

The bombs keep dropping from Anonymous—first local cops, then the FBI, and now the Marine Corps: sensitive documents from 2005's Haditha Killings trial. Anon doesn't think the Marine in charge should have gotten off so lightly. This is their payback.

Seven years ago, (then Sergeant) Frank Wuterich and several other marines he commanded killed 24 Iraqi citizens in Haditha, Iraq, in an apparent act of revenge for an unrelated IED strike. Despite admitting to the killings, Wuterich just last week officially got off with only a charge of "negligent dereliction of duty." No jail time, no serious conviction whatsoever.

Now the law firm that defended Wuterich, Puckett and Faraj has been hit with Anonymous long internet arm of "justice." Their site has been hijacked, and a giant 3 GB trove of personal information pertaining to the case (and other matters) busted wide open by Anon:

We went ahead and fired off some shots of our own - at the servers and personal email accounts of Puckett & Faraj. We defaced their website and dumped nearly 3GB of private email messages belonging to Neal Puckett and Haytham Faraj. The contents of these email messages include detailed records, transcripts, testimony, trial evidence, and legal defense donation records pertaining to not only Frank Wuterich but also many other marines they have represented.

And to add a few layers of icing to this delicious caek, we got the usual boatloads of embarrassing personal information. How do you think the world will react when they find out Neal Puckett and his marine buddies have been making crude jokes about the incident where marines have been caught on video pissing on dead bodies in Afghanistan? Or that he regularly corresponds with and receives funding from former marine Don Greenlaw who runs the racist blog http://snooper.wordpress.com? We believe it is time to release all of their private information and court evidence to the world and conduct a People's trial of our own.

Anonymous draws an immediate comparison to Bradley Manning, the soldier behind the Wikileaks Cablegate bonanza whose trial has been a pretty far cry from transparent—about as opaque as brig walls.

Bradley Manning who was brave enough to risk his life and freedom to expose the truth about government corruption is threatened with life imprisonment.



When justice cannot be found within the the confines of their crooked court systems, we must seek revenge on the streets and on the internet - and dealing out swift retaliation is something we are particularily good at. Worry not comrades, it's time to deliver some epic ownage.

Unable to do anything about the Manning case, Anonymous will have to hope "epic ownage" is a decent replacement for activism and advocacy. So far, no promised torrent for the data has appeared on the Pirate Bay account Anonymous is pointing to, but that's sure to change any minute now.

Update 1: I placed a call to Puckett & Faraj, and they have no idea they've been hacked. Waiting for a call back.

Update 2: The firm's site is currently down.

Update 3: A source within Anonymous tells me all of today's strikes are indeed a coordinated effort, though not all tied to the Wuterich case: "Each attack has it's particular motivations. For example, boston police have been in our crosshairs ever since they started harassing the occupation movement there."

Update 4: You can find a screencap of the original defacement and manifesto here.

Update 5: A torrent of the firm's data is currently being prepared for the public.

Update 6: A day later and still no public torrent, although the snatched data is available via encrypted browser network Tor. Our pals at Gawker have already found some nuggets.

Wall St. Sets Off Controversy Claiming The Average American Household Makes $650,000

While Wall St. has been playing the victim, demanding bailouts and special treatment within the U.S. judicial system (too big to fail), they also seemed to have time to show exactly how disconnected they are to the average American. A post made January 4, 2013 on The Wall Street Journal seems to have riled up quite a few people because of it's obviously naive viewpoint on the income of the majority of Americans. Here's the infographic they posted while moaning about their unfair taxation.



The article itself has to be just sickening for someone struggling to make ends meet. I myself consider myself lucky with the job I have and yet this pic enrages me. The average American probably makes less than what this "Infographic" shows them paying in taxes, hell the average Americans income is probably closer to the "increase in taxes" than the actual income shown here.

Of course, the article in the Wall Street Journal plays it out as if the "1% of taxpayers" are the ones suffering.

In the nick of time, and amid much political drama, Congress passed the American Taxpayer Relief Act on New Year's Day—averting massive tax increases for nearly all earners that were slated to take effect Jan. 1.

Even so, millions of people soon will feel something less than relief from the new law.

The bill approved in Congress to avert the fiscal cliff would bring the first major tax increase on high earners in 20 years. Laura Saunders breaks down how new tax increases will impact across different tax brackets.

While the top 1% of taxpayers will bear the biggest burden, many other families, affluent and poor, will pay more as well.

The most immediate change affects nearly all workers: Congress allowed a two-percentage-point cut for the employee portion of the Social Security tax to expire. As a result, each will owe up to $2,425 more in payroll tax this year than in 2012.

Fortunately we have people out there like Matthew Gray [MIT] that are checking facts and calling bullshit on this.

I believe I was able to determine an answer from the 2011 American Community Survey microdata. First limiting to households composed exclusively of children and a single parent (as depicted), gets you down to 6.5 million households. (Sanity check: Wikipedia cites about 13 million single-parent households, but that includes those with other adults present, and the microdata shows an equal number of single-parent households with a single adult and multiple adults.)

Further restricting to single parent with 2 children, exactly, gets you down to 2.1 million households.

Limiting to those with an income of $260,000 or more, leaves you with 9,489 households total, or the top 0.4% of single-parent two-children household incomes. Median income for this demographic is $23,400. 90th percentile is $70k, and 95th percentile is $94k.

The internet has also been quite vocal about this spurious and offensive article

Huffington Post - The Wall Street Journal Doesn't Actually Know Any Middle-Class Americans


Esquire - LES INSUFFERABLES


American Livewire - Wall Street Journal Baffles Americans With Tax Graphic


Daily KOS - Revealed: The Wall Street Journal Has No Idea What is Happening in America

Bulgarian government quits after days of protests

Missouri Legislator Introduces Bill To Teach Creationism As A Scientific Theory And To Teach Evolution As A Philosophy

Andre 'Loki' Barbosa Claims $2.5M Boca Raton Mansion Under 'Adverse Possession' Law

A $2.5 million South Florida mansion has been taken over by a crafty squatter and the police are powerless to order an eviction.


The 7,500 square-foot residence in Boca Raton, Fla., is currently being inhabited by Brazilian national André Barbosa. The 23-year-old is using an antiquated legal covenant called "adverse possession" that allows a vacant property’s title to be acquired by anyone openly occupying and maintaining the site and paying real estate tax for seven years.


"Nobody’s happy – we all spent a lot of money to live on this street," a neighbor told ABC News. "This guy is trying to pull something."

Full Article at NewsFeed

http://youtu.be/OHzTNj_WVhE

Congressmen Demand 7 Answers From Aaron Swartz's Prosecutors

1: What factors influenced the decision to prosecute Mr. Swartz for the crimes alleged in the indictment, including the decisions regarding what crimes to charge and the filing of the superseding indictment?


2: Was Mr. Swartz's opposition to SOPA or his association with any advocacy groups considered?


3: What specific plea offers were made to Mr. Swartz, and what factors influenced the decisions by prosecutors regarding plea offers made to Mr. Swartz?


4: How did the criminal charges, penalties sought, and plea offers in this case compare to those of other cases that have been prosecuted or considered for prosecution under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act?


5: Did the federal investigation of Mr. Swartz reveal evidence that he had committed other hacking violations?


6: What factors influenced the Department's decisions regarding sentencing proposals?


7: Why was a superseding indictment necessary?

Full Article at Ars Technica

http://youtu.be/gJxSDlfWp_g

Silhouette Man - WTF Are Americans Thinking

Proposed New Mexico Bill Criminalizes Abortions From Rape Claiming 'Tampering With Evidence'

A Republican lawmaker in New Mexico introduced a bill on Wednesday that would legally require victims of rape to carry their pregnancies to term in order to use the fetus as evidence for a sexual assault trial.


House Bill 206, introduced by state Rep. Cathrynn Brown (R), would charge a rape victim who ended her pregnancy with a third-degree felony for "tampering with evidence."


“Tampering with evidence shall include procuring or facilitating an abortion, or compelling or coercing another to obtain an abortion, of a fetus that is the result of criminal sexual penetration or incest with the intent to destroy evidence of the crime," the bill says.


Third-degree felonies in New Mexico carry a sentence of up to three years in prison.


Pat Davis of ProgressNow New Mexico, a progressive nonprofit opposing the bill, called it "blatantly unconstitutional" on Thursday.

Full Article on Huff Post

TYT - Forcible Rape: New Mexico Considers Outrageous Policy

http://youtu.be/Iz6MLy8LIvc

Is democracy in crisis? A Q&A with TED ebook author Ivan Krastev, who says "yes"

New Page! - Political Graffiti, Submissions Welcome

Starting a new gallery of pics featuring political graffiti from around the globe, feel free to submit new pics to me by email or comment. Link below.

Kat5DotPostfix - Political Graffiti Gallery

CNN - Why Marijuana Should Be Legal For Adults

Crazy when even media outlets as large CNN are saying this. America jails more of it's citizens that any other nation on the globe and a large majority of them are over drug related charges. Look at statistics from Portugal, and other European nations that have decriminalized. The results are shocking; we need rehabilitation not incarceration for people with serious drug habits. And I'm sorry if you disagree, but I think those marijuana users out there should be completely overlooked the same as alcohol or tobacco users.

Throughout my career as a clinical psychiatrist, I have seen lives ruined by drugs like cocaine, painkillers and alcohol. I have also borne witness to the devastation brought upon cannabis users -- almost never by abuse of the drug, but by a justice system that chooses a sledgehammer to kill a weed.


Alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, caffeine and refined sugar are among the most commonly used, potentially habit-forming recreational substances. All are best left out of our daily diets. Only marijuana is illegal, though alcohol and tobacco are clearly more harmful. In several respects, even sugar poses more of a threat (PDF report) to our nation's health than pot.

Full Article on CNN