January 18, 2015

We Will Never Be Strong Again Living off of Imports

http://economyincrisis.org/content/we-will-never-be-strong-again-living-off-of-imports

The government and media try to sell the false idea that we have regained all the jobs we lost from the Great Recession and that things are going well. Meanwhile, economic indicators suggest otherwise. The media claims the U.S. is creating jobs. This may be true, but the jobs they are creating are in China, India, and Mexico, not in the United States.

Wealthy multinational corporations are accumulating more wealth by draining money from the American middle class. The top 1% are gaining more and more wealth while the middle class is evaporating and the number of people living in poverty is multiplying.

Our leaders have sold us out to “free trade” agreements that put large corporations first and American workers last. .....

Seventy percent of our GDP is based on consumer spending. However, 70% of our consumer goods are imported, ...
(also demonstrates the BS of Supply-side Trickle-down)




and sorry kids, we can not forget that NAFTA, CAFTA, WTO, GAT and soon TPP were all brought to you by the Blue-Dog, DLC, Third Way, Democrats.

January 17, 2015

Brownback Flips, Proposes Tax Increases In Wake Of Budget Fiasco

Heck of a job Brownie. Reality is a bitch, ain't it!




http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/16/sam-brownback-taxes_n_6489918.html

Kansas would nearly triple its cigarette tax, raise taxes on alcohol and slow down promised income tax cuts to balance its budget under proposals Republican Gov. Sam Brownback outlined Friday.

Brownback presented detailed recommendations to the GOP-dominated Legislature for eliminating projected shortfalls totaling more than $710 million in the current budget and for the fiscal year beginning July 1. He also presented a spending blueprint for the fiscal year beginning in July 2016 designed to leave the state with some cash reserves.

The state’s budget problems arose after lawmakers aggressively cut personal income taxes in 2012 and 2013 at Brownback’s urging to stimulate the economy. Brownback’s budget-balancing plans would make those reductions more gradual, without abandoning his long-term goal of eliminating income taxes.

January 16, 2015

Christian Mom Alarmed That School Bus Tail Lights Form ‘Pagan’ Pentagram

Tennessee mother wants those lights removed, fearing the presence of the occult.

A Christian mom in Cordova, Tennessee is worried that occult influences are lurking in her town and showing their presence in the unlikeliest of places, the red tail lights of local school buses.

Memphis’ Action News 5 reported Wednesday that Robyn Wilkins snapped a photo of the tail lights while she sat behind a bus in traffic. To her, the pattern of tiny light bulbs under each brake light’s red plastic lens looked like inverted five-pointed stars, which form the ancient symbol of the pentagram when enclosed by a circle.
“Anyone who fears a God, if not God and Jesus Christ, should be outraged,” the worried mother told Channel 5.



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This 'christian' mom needs to stop voting republican if she's afraid of Satanists. The following photo is the former Republican Party Chairman and now MSNBC 'contributor' Michael Steele. Notice the stars on the OFFICIAL RNC logo behind him. But then many of us realize that the republican party is now the anti-Christ.



...and the current RNC Chairman



and BTW - WTF is the little EXTRA little thing on the lapel flag? Does that somehow = crossing your fingers behind your back?

January 16, 2015

Keystone XL prelim? 230,000 People Told Not To Drink Their Water After Diesel Fuel Spill In Canada

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/01/15/3612298/longueuil-do-not-drink-water-diesel-spill/

The 230,000 residents of Longueuil, a city just outside of Montreal, Canada, have been told that their tap water is unsafe to drink following a diesel fuel spill that leaked into the water supply.

According to media reports, 7,400 gallons of diesel fuel spilled from a city-owned wastewater treatment center in Longueuil, apparently due to equipment failure. Canada’s CBC News reported that the spilled diesel made its way into the sewers from a generator, eventually flowing into the river that supplies drinking water to the city.

The city told its residents on Wednesday morning not to drink their tap water, but then told residents later that afternoon that the water was safe to drink, according to a report from Global News. Then, after reports that residents could still smell diesel in their water, the city on Thursday again put a “do not drink” advisory in place.

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When the Keystone XL pops (as ALL pipelines do), and they poison the Ogallala Aquifer the number will be 2.3 million Americans that cannot drink the water.

It is complete insanity to allow Keystone XL. I keep hearing about ‘Climate Change’ as the reason to not build this suicide machine. This is important for the long term (maybe not so long term) however, there are very immediate, and ‘hand-to-mouth’ reasons, for not allowing this stupidity. These are centered around Fresh Water. Specifically the Ogallala Aquifer

Fresh Water is a requirement for survival,
Canadian Oil is not a requirement for survival.
Profits of Corporations and Billionaires are not a requirement for survival.
A few temporary jobs and 35 permanent jobs is not a requirement either – sorry to the 35
ALL Pipelines leak.
The Ogallala Aquifer
Crosses 8 states
IS the Fresh Water supply for 82% of the 2.3 Million people in the area
27 percent of the irrigated land in the United States overlies and uses the aquifer
Is about 30 percent of the ground water used for irrigation in the United States
It would take hundreds to thousands of years of rainfall to replace the groundwater in the depleted aquifer. Certain zones of the aquifer are now empty; these areas will take over 6,000 years to replenish naturally through rainfall.
Once this aquifer is poisoned
30% of the crop production of the United States will end – permanently.
Millions of people will be forced to abandon these areas and relocate.

There are probably many additional points to be made here, but the ones listed should be more than enough to make any rational person just a bit nervous. It scares the shit out of me.

January 14, 2015

Bernie Sanders: Passing Keystone XL Means A 'Significantly Less Habitable' Planet

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/14/bernie-sanders-keystone-pipeline_n_6470716.html

As the Senate prepares to vote on whether climate change is real as part of the proposed Keystone Pipeline bill, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) strongly believes “it’s a good idea” for President Barack Obama to veto the bill.

“Unless we get our act together, the planet that we’re going to be leaving to our kids and grandchildren will be significantly less habitable than the planet we have right now,” Sanders said in an interview with MSNBC on Wednesday.

“I think it’s a good idea for the president, Congress, and the American people to listen to the overwhelming amount of scientists who tell us loudly and clearly that climate change is one of the great planetary crises that we face,” Sanders said. He insisted that we must face the “devastating problems” caused by climate change and...



How about, filibuster the goddamn thing?!
We cannot afford this.

It is complete insanity to allow Keystone XL. I keep hearing about ‘Climate Change’ as the reason to not build this suicide machine. This is important for the long term (maybe not so long term) however, there are very immediate, and ‘hand-to-mouth’ reasons, for not allowing this stupidity. These are centered around Fresh Water. Specifically the Ogallala Aquifer

Fresh Water is a requirement for survival,
Canadian Oil is not a requirement for survival.
Profits of Corporations and Billionaires are not a requirement for survival.
A few temporary jobs and 35 permanent jobs is not a requirement either – sorry to the 35

ALL Pipelines leak.

The Ogallala Aquifer
Crosses 8 states
IS the Fresh Water supply for 82% of the 2.3 Million people in the area
27 percent of the irrigated land in the United States overlies and uses the aquifer
Is about 30 percent of the ground water used for irrigation in the United States
It would take hundreds to thousands of years of rainfall to replace the groundwater in the depleted aquifer. Certain zones of the aquifer are now empty; these areas will take over 6,000 years to replenish naturally through rainfall.

Once this aquifer is poisoned
30% of the crop production of the United States will end – permanently.
Millions of people will be forced to abandon these areas and relocate.

There are probably many additional points to be made here, but the ones listed should be more than enough to make any rational person just a bit nervous. It scares the shit out of me.

January 14, 2015

GOP Failed Experiment With Trickle-Down Economics; Kansas Governor Could Raid The School Budget

Let’s see, Trickle down (your leg) fails miserably and predictably. And rather than bring taxes on the fat cats back up to where they NEED to be, we’ll steal from the kids and the future of the State and Nation. Hmmm…. PERFECT!


Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback (R) is reportedly getting ready to propose some form of revenue increases as part of a plan to fix the nearly $900 million budget hole his tax cuts created for the state. But whatever cracks are emerging in his anti-tax facade, the conservative governor’s response to the budget crisis is more likely to focus on spending for the state’s already flailing schools.

“Revenue didn’t come in quite as was projected,” chief of staff Jon Hummel told the Wichita Eagle [snip]

Brownback’s State of the State address Thursday will outline how he plans to both cover a $200 million shortfall in the current fiscal year and fill an additional $648 million gap in next year’s projections,[snip]

None of this means the diehard conservative will reverse course or even make small concessions to critics who have warned for years that his trickle-down tax cuts would harm the Kansas economy, [snip]

Kansas Association of School Boards Associate Executive Director Mark Tallman said that would be a high-risk strategy with many complex moving parts, and no guarantee of turning up savings. [snip]

[link:http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2015/01/13/3610739/kansas-brownback-budget-crisis-preview/|
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2015/01/13/3610739/kansas-brownback-budget-crisis-preview/ ]