Feds Threaten Medical Pot Dispensaries with 40-Year Sentences | Alternet

Feds Threaten Medical Pot Dispensaries with 40-Year Sentences | Alternet
"A lawful San Jose dispensary has been ordered to vacate in latest federal crackdown to challenge state laws."

'Huge Win': California Committee Votes to Halt Fracking | Common Dreams

'Huge Win': California Committee Votes to Halt Fracking | Common Dreams
"Californians gained a key victory in the fight to protect the state's water and air Monday when three bills that halt the practice of fracking won votes in the Assembly Natural Resources Committee."

Texas Republicans Once Again Reveal They Don't Want Black and Brown Voters | Alternet

Texas Republicans Once Again Reveal They Don't Want Black and Brown Voters | Alternet
"Republican state and legislative leaders in Texas have taken redistricting far beyond a loud, ugly fight between Republicans and Democrats. They have turned it into an attack on racial fairness that involves the U.S. Department of Justice, two federal district courts and the U.S. Supreme Court."

As Mental Health Services Have Disappeared, The Prison Population Has Skyrocketed

As Mental Health Services Have Disappeared, The Prison Population Has Skyrocketed: The Great Recession led to the biggest cuts to mental health services in this nation’s history. According to a report from the National Alliance on Mental Illness, states slashed more than $1.8 billion from their mental health services between 2009 and 2011. That funding decision has had some serious consequences — such as fewer beds [...]/p

Is This Guy the Biggest GOP Jerk in Congress? | Alternet

Is This Guy the Biggest GOP Jerk in Congress? | Alternet
"Ted Cruz has nothing to lose and everything to win by opposing any reasonable policy and generally acting like a jack-ass. Our system is truly broken."

GOP Targets Women With Ads For Bill That Would Weaken Overtime Pay

GOP Targets Women With Ads For Bill That Would Weaken Overtime Pay: In a bid for women’s support and votes, the GOP launched an aggressive ad campaign on “mommy blogs” on Tuesday. The ads will tout its deceptively titled Working Families Flexibility Act that would weaken overtime pay laws: The banner ads will be featured on over 100 websites popular among women and geo-targeted to be viewed [...]/p

How Big Pharma Is Killing Americans and Bankrupting the Country | Alternet

How Big Pharma Is Killing Americans and Bankrupting the Country | Alternet
"Lifesaving medications and commonly prescribed drugs in America today are absurdly expensive here – and only in this country – because Big Pharma is ripping off Americans."

Facebook Rejects Ad Highlighting Zuckerberg Group’s Support For Keystone XL

Facebook Rejects Ad Highlighting Zuckerberg Group’s Support For Keystone XL: When a subsidiary of Mark Zuckerberg’s new political group started airing ads for expanded oil drilling and the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, CREDO Action decided to post an ad of their own calling Zuckerberg out — on Facebook. This morning, Facebook rejected CREDO’s Facebook ad (pictured right). According to CREDO Action, Facebook initially [...]/p

Swarthmore College Allegedly Underreported Sexual Assaults, Dissuaded Victims From Coming Forward

Swarthmore College Allegedly Underreported Sexual Assaults, Dissuaded Victims From Coming Forward: A group of Swarthmore students are filing a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education against their Philadelphia-area college, alleging the elite private institution has been mishandling the sexual crimes that occur on campus. The students say that Swarthmore has violated federal law by failing to accurately report sexual assault cases, as well as by [...]/p

Senators Are Paying a Heavy Political Price for Siding with the NRA | Alternet

Senators Are Paying a Heavy Political Price for Siding with the NRA | Alternet
"The backlash against Senators from both parties who voted on April 17 against an expanded background check law for gun buyers is growing, despite knee-jerk comments from mainstream media that gun control proponents lack the fervor and commitment of the NRA and its allies."

How Voter Backlash Against Voter Suppression Is Changing Our Politics | The Nation

How Voter Backlash Against Voter Suppression Is Changing Our Politics | The Nation
"The contemporary Republican Party has lost four of the last six presidential elections. It has won a plurality of the popular vote just once since 1988. A recognition of the challenges the party faces has led to a measure of soul searching, and that in turn has inspired public and private wrangling over electoral strategies. It may be the case that some Republicans still want to play the voter-suppression card, but they do their party no favors."

Republicans Trying Hard To Make Obamacare A Train Wreck

Republicans Trying Hard To Make Obamacare A Train Wreck
"Despite what Max Baucus said, Obamacare is not a 'train wreck' rolling toward a head-on collision. But Republicans are trying and will continue to try to make it as hard as possible to implement. This is not unlike what they did with Medicare back in the 60s when it was implemented. In fact, I expect them to take some pages right out of that playbook despite Medicare's obvious success."

Jon Stewart Slams ‘F@#ktard’ Congress For Fixing Sequester Airport Delays ... and Nothing Else | Alternet

Jon Stewart Slams ‘F@#ktard’ Congress For Fixing Sequester Airport Delays ... and Nothing Else | Alternet
'Last night Jon Stewart tore into America's esteemed Congress."

North Carolina Under-Reported Worker Deaths And Ignored Multiple Workplace Safety Violations

North Carolina Under-Reported Worker Deaths And Ignored Multiple Workplace Safety Violations: The number of North Carolinians who died at work in 2012 is likely more than three times the original number reported by the state Labor Department. While the state estimated 35 worker fatalities last year, the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (COSH) put the number at 150. Released in the wake of the [...]/p

New Arizona Law Requires All Buyback Guns To Go Back To Market

New Arizona Law Requires All Buyback Guns To Go Back To Market: Under a new law in Arizona, local officials will be required to put guns that may have been used in crimes back onto the market. On Monday night, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R) signed a bill that makes it illegal for Arizona municipalities to destroy the weapons that they collect at gun buybacks — events [...]/p

When Your Boss Steals Your Wages: The Invisible Epidemic

When Your Boss Steals Your Wages: The Invisible Epidemic
"Who gets cheated?Women, minorities, immigrants, and workers at the bottom of the wage scale are hardest hit, but wage theft is thriving across the employment spectrum."

The Term Of Every Federal Election Commission Member Has Expired

The Term Of Every Federal Election Commission Member Has Expired: The Federal Election Commission will reach an ignominious milestone at midnight Tuesday: every single one of its members’ terms will have expired. But thanks to a quirk in election law — and Washington gridlock — they continue to serve and deadlock on nearly every major issue. Former Common Cause President Scott Harshbarger once quipped that, [...]/p

Republican Tries to Bend Science to Anti-Science Agenda

Pilots and Professors Barely Scraping By? 9 Surprising Jobs That Pay a Pittance | Alternet

Pilots and Professors Barely Scraping By? 9 Surprising Jobs That Pay a Pittance | Alternet
"The top 25 hedge fund managers continue to take in close to a billion dollars per year each, on average. As Les Leopold noted, it would take a middle-class family 47 years to bring in what they make in just one hour. What value do they add to our society? Well, when they're not wrecking the global economy, they're pricing people out of the housing market and ripping off small investors."

Vietnam Vet Listed as KIA 'Found' 44 Years Later

Vietnam Vet Listed as KIA 'Found' 44 Years Later
"Four decades later, he discovers a mysterious man in Southeast Asia claiming to be an American Special Forces soldier listed as 'Killed In Action'."

Police Shut Down Protest Of NC GOP, Arrest 8 Members Of The Clergy And A Woman In A Wheelchair

Police Shut Down Protest Of NC GOP, Arrest 8 Members Of The Clergy And A Woman In A Wheelchair: North Carolina capitol police arrested 17 people yesterday after protesters gathered in front of the doors to the state senate chamber in an act of civil disobedience against the Republican-led state legislature’s agenda. The arrestees included eight members of the clergy, and a woman in a wheelchair that a spokesperson for The Advancement Project identified [...]/p

Democrats Vow No More Piecemeal Repeal Of Sequester

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'Ag-Gag's' First Victim: Woman Faces 6 Months in Jail For Filming Slaughterhouse ... From Across the Street! | Alternet

'Ag-Gag's' First Victim: Woman Faces 6 Months in Jail For Filming Slaughterhouse ... From Across the Street! | Alternet
"A Utah woman has become the first person to be prosecuted under what are known as “ag-gag” laws, or laws meant to deter people from exposing animal rights abuses."

GOP War On Women Stigmatizing Patients While Closing Clinics

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Finally Austerity Is Being Broadly Exposed for Its Abject Failure | Alternet

Finally Austerity Is Being Broadly Exposed for Its Abject Failure | Alternet
"Austerity cannot go on forever, it is already failing economically, flagging politically."

Only Most Powerful Spared Pain Of GOP-Style Austerity

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Study Reveals 30 Toxic Chemicals at High Levels at Exxon Arkansas Tar Sands Pipeline Spill Site | Common Dreams

Study Reveals 30 Toxic Chemicals at High Levels at Exxon Arkansas Tar Sands Pipeline Spill Site | Common Dreams
"An independent study co-published by the Faulkner County Citizens Advisory Groupand Global Community Monitor reveals that, in the aftermath of ExxonMobil's Pegasus tar sands pipeline spill of over 500,000 gallons of diluted bitumen (dilbit) into Mayflower, AR, air quality in the area surrounding the spill has been affected by high levels of cancer-causing chemicals."

xposed: The Billionaire-Backed Group Strong-Arming Parents into Destroying Their Kids' Public Schools | Alternet

xposed: The Billionaire-Backed Group Strong-Arming Parents into Destroying Their Kids' Public Schools | Alternet
"You won't believe the predatory behavior of this education "reform" outfit, Parent Revolution."

Sequester Closes Cancer Clinic Doors, Congress Does Nothing | Common Dreams

Sequester Closes Cancer Clinic Doors, Congress Does Nothing | Common Dreams
"Affluent business flyers inconvenienced by delays = national emergency that Congressimmediately fixes. Cancer clinics closing = Congress does squat, goes home. This is just one more story of our corrupt times."

Art Pope Groups Push Extreme ALEC Tax Agenda in North Carolina

Art Pope Groups Push Extreme ALEC Tax Agenda in North Carolina
"An array of right-wing organizations in North Carolina are arguing loudly for Governor Pat McCrory to radically alter how corporations and people pay taxes in the state -- and the not-so-hidden hand behind the effort is North Carolina millionaire Art Pope, a close ally of the Koch brothers, who funds the groups and has been appointed as North Carolina's Budget Director. The John William Pope Civitas Institute, the John Locke Foundation, and the North Carolina chapter of Americans for Prosperity (AFP), have been loudly calling for cuts to shift the tax burden away from rich folks like Pope and onto the backs of the working poor and middle class."

PERRspectives: GOP Pushes for More Tanks Pentagon Doesn't Want

PERRspectives: GOP Pushes for More Tanks Pentagon Doesn't Want
"Ohio Senator Rob Portman and Rep. Jim Jordan want more money to build additional Abrams M1 battle tanks the Pentagon says it doesn't want."

Northeast US Ocean Temperatures Highest on Record: Report | Common Dreams

Northeast US Ocean Temperatures Highest on Record: Report | Common Dreams
"Ocean surface temperatures off the Northeast U.S. coast last year were the highest in 150 years, according to a new report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration."

Arizona County Spends Millions To Settle Corruption Allegations Against Infamous Sheriff, Disbarred Gubernatorial Candidate

Arizona County Spends Millions To Settle Corruption Allegations Against Infamous Sheriff, Disbarred Gubernatorial Candidate: The county that hosts the self-professed “toughest sheriff in America” settled yet another lawsuit for $1.4 million last week. In sum, Arizona’s Maricopa County has now paid at least $4.2 million to settle nine lawsuits alleging corrupt investigations by Sheriff Joe Arpaio and former County Attorney Andrew Thomas. “Those totals do not include millions of [...]/p

Animal-Death Profiteering State Lawmaker Suggests Animal Rights Activists Are Like Rapists

Animal-Death Profiteering State Lawmaker Suggests Animal Rights Activists Are Like Rapists: A Tennessee lawmaker sponsoring a new bill shutting down animal cruelty investigations suggested animal rights activists were engaging in “tape and rape” tactics, and were “intent on using animals the same way human-traffickers use 17 year old women.” The representative in question, Andy Holt (R-Dresden), owns and operates a facility that raises pigs, cows, and [...]/p

Republican Lawmaker Plans Steep Cuts To Food Stamps

Republican Lawmaker Plans Steep Cuts To Food Stamps: The House is about to begin debating this year’s farm bill, as House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas (R-OK) has scheduled a mark up on May 15. Ahead of the negotiations, Lucas has already indicated that he is planning steep cuts in spending, mostly focused on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), or food stamps, [...]/p

Meet the Billionaire Bankrolling Austerity, As He Stands to Make Billions More From Privatization of Safety Net | Alternet

Meet the Billionaire Bankrolling Austerity, As He Stands to Make Billions More From Privatization of Safety Net | Alternet
"The motivation behind the world-wide economic con of austerity has been discovered. And, the source is none other than Pete Peterson – the debt-obsessed billionaire who stands to make billions off the privatization of our social safety net."

ALEC-Orchestrated Bill To Preempt Paid Sick Leave Passes Florida Senate

ALEC-Orchestrated Bill To Preempt Paid Sick Leave Passes Florida Senate: The push for paid sick days in various cities and states has won some crucial victories, the latest of which was in New York City. But “preemption bills,” laws orchestrated by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) that override any efforts to implement paid sick days, are also gaining speed, with the latest passed by [...]/p

Sequestration 101: If a Budget Cut Doesn't Impact the Wealthy, Congress Won't Fix It | Common Dreams

Sequestration 101: If a Budget Cut Doesn't Impact the Wealthy, Congress Won't Fix It | Common Dreams
"And here is the last lesson sequestration has taught us: just how much more Congress cares about what’s bothering upper-middle-class citizens than what’s going on at the bottom of the income scale. There are tons of different programs expecting a big impact from sequestration. None of them saw multiple bills introduced in the Senate, one of which was passed with huge support on both sides of the aisle and signed within a matter of days. Had they continued, the furloughs would have been more than an inconvenience. They could have meant sharply reduced economic output. But the same could be said of many of the cuts to other programs. The lesson is not that the flight delays should have gone unaddressed. It’s that if a budget cut doesn’t impact a wealthy constituency, Congress can’t to be bothered to fix it."

Climate Collision Course: CO2 Levels About to Hit 400 PPM | Common Dreams

Climate Collision Course: CO2 Levels About to Hit 400 PPM | Common Dreams
"The world is likely days away from a "sobering milestone" in our planetary history.
Concentrations of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide will likely reach 400 parts per million (ppm) for first time in human history, say scientists at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and unless drastic action is taken, we're on track to hit 450 ppm in the near future."

Supreme Court Rejects Remedy For Man Who Waited 7 Years Behind Bars Before Trial

Supreme Court Rejects Remedy For Man Who Waited 7 Years Behind Bars Before Trial: Jonathan Boyer spent seven years in a Louisiana jail before he even saw a trial in the case against him. A Louisiana court found that the bulk of this delay was caused by the state’s failure to pay for the lawyer to which Boyer was constitutionally entitled, but it nonetheless concluded that the delay was [...]/p

Two Critics Of Government Spending Are Forcing The Army To Build Tanks It Doesn’t Want

Two Critics Of Government Spending Are Forcing The Army To Build Tanks It Doesn’t Want: Congress is forcing the Army to spend nearly half a billion dollars building tanks that Army officials insist they don’t want, with money they say could be better spent elsewhere, according to a new report from the AP. Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) are the two members of congress at the [...]/p

Justice Sandra Day O’Connor: Maybe Bush v. Gore Wasn't the Best Decision | Alternet

Justice Sandra Day O’Connor: Maybe Bush v. Gore Wasn't the Best Decision | Alternet
"Bush v. Gore demonstrates how justices who are determined to reach a certain result are capable of bending both the law and their own prior jurisprudence in order to achieve it."

Where's Fox News When White Right-Wing Extremists Commit Acts of Terror? | Alternet

Where's Fox News When White Right-Wing Extremists Commit Acts of Terror? | Alternet
"Fox News talkers showed little interest in these terror plots, and no interest in making sweeping generalization about whether a larger political or religious community was to blame for them."

You and Your Family Are Guinea Pigs for the Chemical Corporations | Common Dreams

You and Your Family Are Guinea Pigs for the Chemical Corporations | Common Dreams
"A hidden epidemic is poisoning America.  The toxins are in the air we breathe and the water we drink, in the walls of our homes and the furniture within them.  We can’t escape it in our cars.  It’s in cities and suburbs.  It afflicts rich and poor, young and old.  And there’s a reason why you’ve never read about it in the newspaper or seen a report on the nightly news: it has no name -- and no antidote."

How Austerity Is Literally Killing People

How Austerity Is Literally Killing People: Austerity in the United States and Europe isn’t just placing an unnecessary drag on economic growth that has harmed the global economic recovery from the Great Recession. The rapid deficit reduction efforts are also making people less healthy, causing higher rates of suicide, depression, and infectious disease, according to research from Oxford University economist David [...]/p

Made in Bangladesh: The Terror of Capitalism | Common Dreams

Made in Bangladesh: The Terror of Capitalism | Common Dreams
"Famous name brands were stitched here, as are clothes that hang on the satanic shelves of Wal-Mart. Rescue workers were able to save two thousand people as of this writing, with confirmation that over three hundred are dead"

Schoolchildren May Soon Wear Bulletproof Military-Style Vests

Schoolchildren May Soon Wear Bulletproof Military-Style Vests: Post-Newtown, sales for bulletproof backpacks and whiteboards have soared as parents and school districts seek to take children’s safety into their own hands. The reaction is along the lines of what the National Rifle Association has promoted for months: that armed guards, and not gun regulation, is the answer to school shootings. Congress responded to [...]/p

Big-Government Conservatives Set Sights On Cities

Big-Government Conservatives Set Sights On Cities
"The legislature is debating a bill to forcibly transfer the city of Asheville's municipal water system and 22,000-acre mountain watershed to a state-controlled regional authority, leaving a huge hole in the city's budget. The bill's author, state Rep. Tim Moffitt, R-Buncombe, and Rep. Bill Brawley, R-Mecklenburg, have connections with the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). House Speaker Thom Tillis, R-Mecklenburg, is on ALEC’s board of directors. They have cities in their sights."

The Koch Brothers and the Right Wing's Media Insurgency | Common Dreams

The Koch Brothers and the Right Wing's Media Insurgency | Common Dreams
"The U.S. news media was never “liberal.” At most, you could say there were periods in the not-too-distant past when the major newspapers did a better job of getting the facts straight. There also was an “underground” press which published some scoops that the mainstream media avoided."

US Plans to Drop Protections for Gray Wolves in Lower 48 | Common Dreams

US Plans to Drop Protections for Gray Wolves in Lower 48 | Common Dreams
"Federal authorities are preparing legislation to remove endangered species protections for gray wolves in the Lower 48 states."

Cancer Clinics: Congress Should Have Restored Our Sequester Cuts Before Addressing Airport Delays

Cancer Clinics: Congress Should Have Restored Our Sequester Cuts Before Addressing Airport Delays: This past week, Congress approved a measure to restore funding to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) after sequester cuts to the national transportation agency disrupted airline travel across the country — but they haven’t taken similar steps to provide relief for other programs that are struggling as a result of sequestration. Now, employees at cancer [...]/p

Gun Group Holds Rally With AR-15s To Congratulate Congress For Blocking Background Checks

Gun Group Holds Rally With AR-15s To Congratulate Congress For Blocking Background Checks: A group of gun activists armed with AR-15s and handguns held a rally at the Tippecanoe County Courthouse in Indiana on Saturday to thank Congress for voting down gun safety measures, including a proposal to expand background checks for guns sales. Indiana Moms Against Gun Control organized the event as a counter protest to Moms [...]/p

Congress Makes Sure they Have No Flight Delays, While Sequestration Heaps Huge Damage on Many Millions | Alternet

Congress Makes Sure they Have No Flight Delays, While Sequestration Heaps Huge Damage on Many Millions | Alternet
"A flight delay is inconvenient, not being able to receive your cancer treatment is a matter of life and death."

Do the Math - The Movie

Koch Brothers Retool Machine for 2014 Midterms

Koch Brothers Retool Machine for 2014 Midterms
"After their crushing defeat in 2012, Charles and David Koch are more determined, not less. They're kicking off the re-launch of Koch Politics, Inc with a big donor meeting this Sunday and Monday, and a brand-spankingnew arm of the Kochtopus."

Support The Legislation That Will Save The Postal Service

Support The Legislation That Will Save The Postal Service
"Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR) has introduced legislation to try to save the US Postal Service from its incipient bankruptcy, and he is asking for the public to help him pass it.DeFazio’s bill would repeal the needless requirement — one no other business or entity must face — that the Postal Service pre-fund 75 years’ worth of employee health benefits. That requirement has hugely contributed to the USPS defaulting for the first and then second time in its history last year."

Bush Library: Whitewashing War Crimes

Bush Library: Whitewashing War Crimes
"Republicans have completely brainwashed themselves about the Bush years.

It would be interesting to see why exactly they consider Bush a success. Was it the fact that he was president during the worst attack on domestic soil since Pearl Harbor? Was it that his administration lied the country into a completely unrelated to 9/11 war? How about the fact that his administration went on a spending binge that wiped out the budget surplus that Bill Clinton left behind? Could they approve of the fact that President Bush launched the biggest expansion of government in decades, and never bothered to pay for it. Or is that his administration eroded civil liberties, and ignored the constitution with regularity? Could it be his inept response to Katrina, or maybe it is the fact that his policies collapsed the economy, and led to the greatest economic downturn since the Great Depression?

You don’t have to be a Democrat to understand that the Bush years were a total disaster for the country."

Pentagon Claims $757 Million Overbilling by Contractor in Afghanistan

Pentagon Claims $757 Million Overbilling by Contractor in Afghanistan
"The Pentagon allowed a private firm providing food and water to U.S. troops in Afghanistan to overbill taxpayers $757 million and awarded the company no-bid contract extensions worth more than $4 billion over three years, according to the Pentagon’s chief internal watchdog and congressional investigators."

Los Angeles to San Onofre: "Not So Fast!" | Common Dreams

Los Angeles to San Onofre: "Not So Fast!" | Common Dreams
"The move reflects a deep-rooted public opposition to resumed operations at reactors perched in a tsunami zone near earthquake faults that threaten all of southern California."

The Bush Presidency Was Just As Bad As You Remember

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Everything Is Rigged: The Biggest Price-Fixing Scandal Ever | Common Dreams

Everything Is Rigged: The Biggest Price-Fixing Scandal Ever | Common Dreams
"Interest-rate swaps are a tool used by big cities, major corporations and sovereign governments to manage their debt, and the scale of their use is almost unimaginably massive. It's about a $379 trillion market, meaning that any manipulation would affect a pile of assets about 100 times the size of the United States federal budget."

Bush Revisionists Count On Short American Memories

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How We Ended Up with the Worst Congress Money Can Buy | Alternet

How We Ended Up with the Worst Congress Money Can Buy | Alternet
"If you want to see why the public approval rating of Congress is down in the sub-arctic range — an icy  15 percent by last count — all you have to do is take a quick look at how the House and Senate pay worship at the altar of corporations, banks and other special interests at the expense of public aspirations and need."

University Of Arizona Student Tells Women: ‘You Deserve Rape’

University Of Arizona Student Tells Women: ‘You Deserve Rape’: "In other sermons, Saxton has cursed people who are gay, have pre-marital sex, masturbate or have lustful thoughts. His Twitter account is rife with anti-Muslim sentiment, as well; last month he tweeted, “There will come a time when the sword will be put to the heathen"."

12 Programs Congress Refuses To Save From Automatic Spending Cuts

12 Programs Congress Refuses To Save From Automatic Spending Cuts: After thousands of flight delays across the country this week, the United States Senate voted Thursday night to give the Federal Aviation Administration the flexibility to keep the nation’s airports running smoothly. The delays were caused by the furlough of air traffic controllers, who were rotating off the job because of sequestration’s automatic budget cuts [...]/p

San Onofre Whistleblower Cites "Potentially Catastrophic" Design Flaw | Common Dreams

San Onofre Whistleblower Cites "Potentially Catastrophic" Design Flaw | Common Dreams
"A former safety engineer with the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station is blowing the whistle on a "potentially catastrophic problem" at the currently offline Southern California Edison plan."

STUDY: Obamacare Has Given 3.4 Million Young Americans Access To Health Insurance

STUDY: Obamacare Has Given 3.4 Million Young Americans Access To Health Insurance: According to a new Commonwealth Fund study published Friday, Obamacare has sharply reduced the number of young Americans lacking health coverage, reversing a decade-long trend that saw a rise in the ranks of the young and uninsured. The study also finds that uninsurance rates for Americans as a whole remained relatively unchanged, leading the authors [...]/p

WA Bill Would Allow Businesses to Openly Discriminate Against Gays | Alternet

WA Bill Would Allow Businesses to Openly Discriminate Against Gays | Alternet
"Republicans in Washington state have proposed a bill that would  allow businesses to openly discriminate against people based on their sexual orientation if they want to do so because of their religious beliefs."

Jackass of the Day: Arizona University Student Sermonizes With Sign Saying "You Deserve Rape" | Alternet

Jackass of the Day: Arizona University Student Sermonizes With Sign Saying "You Deserve Rape" | Alternet
"Dean Saxton, a junior, stirred controversy Tuesday for manically sermonizing in a campus square whilst wielding a sign emblazoned, “You Deserve Rape,” reports the  Arizona Daily Wildcat, AU’s campus newspaper."

New Extremist Think Tank Is Born, And Ron Paul's The Daddy

New Extremist Think Tank Is Born, And Ron Paul's The Daddy
"Remember how Ron Paul said he only wrote the economic parts of his newsletters and the racist bits were written by someone else? Except then when the newsletters were challenged because they also had whacko conspiracy truther theories in them he also blamed that on other people even though the newsletters went out under his name? Remember that?"

Mark Zuckerberg’s New Political Group Spending Big On Ads Supporting Keystone XL And Oil Drilling

Mark Zuckerberg’s New Political Group Spending Big On Ads Supporting Keystone XL And Oil Drilling: Mark Zuckerberg’s new political group, which bills itself as a bipartisan entity dedicated to passing immigration reform, has spent considerable resources on ads advocating a host of anti-environmental causes — including driling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and constructing the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. The umbrella group, co-founded by Facebook’s Zuckerberg, NationBuilder’s [...]/p

6 New Ways Big Pharma Is Scheming to Make Billions at the Expense of Your Health | Alternet

6 New Ways Big Pharma Is Scheming to Make Billions at the Expense of Your Health | Alternet
"With many of Big Pharma's biggest hits going off patent, the industry is looking for new ways to deliver earnings to Wall Street."

James Hansen: The One Thing We Should Be Doing to Prevent Catastrophic Climate Change | Alternet

James Hansen: The One Thing We Should Be Doing to Prevent Catastrophic Climate Change | Alternet
"The country's leading climatologist talks about what our future looks like if we continue along with business as usual -- and what we could do to prevent catastrophe."

Radiation Of The Pacific Ocean In The Next 10 Years - Japan Nuclear Disaster

The Right Wing Cult Machine Exposed

The Right Wing Cult Machine Exposed
"the right-wing media and its cult following are not serving the national political debate and not helping the Republican Party widen its appeal beyond its declining base of aging boomer cultists."

All Ye Progressives, Take Heart - In These Times

All Ye Progressives, Take Heart - In These Times
"Republicans, will need far more than a communications strategy to change the fate of their party. The GOP does not face a crisis of faction or message, but an existential one. Fundamentally, unless they can change not only their line but their stripes, the Republicans are doomed by the inexorable logic of numbers."

Crackpot Conspiracy Theories Enjoy Mainstreaming By Right

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Big Pharma Colludes With High Court

New Report Details How National Parks Are Threatened By Oil And Gas Drilling

New Report Details How National Parks Are Threatened By Oil And Gas Drilling: Here’s another example of how “the score card shows that the industry is winning,” as the NY Times put it last year. The National Parks Conservation Association today released a new report warning of the risks that oil and gas drilling pose to national parks. In “National Parks and Hydraulic Fracturing:  Balancing Energy Needs, Nature, and [...]/p

Divestment Calls Grow: 'Take Our Planet, and We'll Take Your Money' | Common Dreams

Divestment Calls Grow: 'Take Our Planet, and We'll Take Your Money' | Common Dreams
"This is the warning 10 cities across the U.S. are issuing the fossil fuel industry as the campaign to divest from the industry wreaking havoc on the planet gains steam."

Stupid Republican Tricks: Michigan Edition

Stupid Republican Tricks: Michigan Edition
" In some circles which are not legislative, we might call that plagiarism. Then again, when you're a legislator used to having all of your legislation written by ALEC, I suppose it's not a far stretch to reach across the aisle and swipe whatever might make you look good. Their tactics are downright thuggish, as usual."

Lawmakers On Both Sides Of The Aisle Call On The FDA To Label Genetically Engineered Food

Lawmakers On Both Sides Of The Aisle Call On The FDA To Label Genetically Engineered Food: Health and environmental advocates have fought for years for a federal labeling program for genetically engineered food. Now, for the first time, their battle has bipartisan support in Congress. On Wednesday, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) introduced the Genetically Engineered Food Right-To-Know Act, a bill whose nine cosponsors in the Senate [...]/p

Americans For Prosperity Protests Flight Delays After Urging For Sequester Cuts

Americans For Prosperity Protests Flight Delays After Urging For Sequester Cuts: Americans For Prosperity, a conservative group funded by the Koch brothers, is echoing the GOP narrative that sequestration cuts are largely President Obama’s fault. Back in March, AFP struck a different tone on sequestration, claiming it would help the economy. “By no means is the sequester perfect, but we must begin acting now to rein [...]/p

PERRspectives: George W. Bush's Magic Calendar Returns

PERRspectives: George W. Bush's Magic Calendar Returns
"In the run-up to today's celebration at the George W. Bush Presidential Library, America's 43rd President declared that "history will ultimately judge" his tenure in the White House. And that is precisely the problem for the custodians of Bush's legacy. After all, the slaughter of 3,000 people on 9/11, the catastrophic and unnecessary war in Iraq, illicit domestic surveillance and illegal detainee torture, the worst eight-year economic performance since Herbert Hoover, a near-doubling of the national debt (thanks in large part to tax cuts that will continue to drain the U.S. Treasury for years to come), the implosion of Wall Street and the disastrously bungled response to Hurricane Katrina all occurred on George W. Bush's watch.

Unless, that is, you don't just rewrite history but redefine time itself. According to the Republicans' Magic Calendar, George W. Bush somehow "kept us safe" despite the carnage on September 11, 2001. Miraculously, it was President Bush who killed Osama Bin Laden, despite his opposition to the very kind of raid ordered by Barack Obama two years after Dubya left office."

Anti-Worker "Paycheck Protection" Bills Moving in Missouri

Anti-Worker "Paycheck Protection" Bills Moving in Missouri
"Missouri is the latest front in the attack on organized labor with so-called "paycheck protection" bills moving through the legislature, with backing from the usual array of corporate interests. But according to the Washington D.C. -based Economic Policy Institute, the bills primarily disadvantage workers while preserving privileges for corporations."

Bipartisan Vote Stops ALEC Plan to Kill NC's Renewable Energy

Bipartisan Vote Stops ALEC Plan to Kill NC's Renewable Energy
"Crossing ALEC and Americans for Prosperity might just be a way to draw a primary. But in a state with an unemployment rate of 9.2 percent, voting to kill the renewable energy sector isn't the way to win friends and influence voters. It would also kill jobs and jeopardize investments."

Austerity And Long-Term Unemployment

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How An Excel Spreadsheet Error Hurt The Economy

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Even One Percenters Understand Economics Better Than Republicans

Even One Percenters Understand Economics Better Than Republicans: Over at the Huffington Post, Jared Bernstein points us to a recent pilot study examining the ideological and public policy preferences of the super wealthy. The findings might surprise you: the one percent, selfish as they are, endorse some sound economic ideas that Congress is afraid to touch. The study, conducted by Benjamin Page and Jason [...]/p

Bush Library: Whitewashing War Crimes

Bloomberg Study: 70 Percent Of New Global Power Capacity Added Through 2030 Will be Renewable

Bloomberg Study: 70 Percent Of New Global Power Capacity Added Through 2030 Will be Renewable: According to Bloomberg’s renewable energy research team, Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF), 70 percent of the power generation the world will add between now and 2030 will most likely be renewable. That would mean $630 billion in new renewable capacity investments in 2030 alone — over three times what was built in 2012, and 35 [...]/p

What Does It Mean To Be An “American” Corporation? | Common Dreams

What Does It Mean To Be An “American” Corporation? | Common Dreams
"For all intents and purposes giant “American” multinational corporations have transformed into entities with completely different interests from their American workers, customers, communities, citizens and government. These corporations are no longer operating in the interest of America or any country, while claiming the benefits of being American corporations (when it suits them.)"

Let George W. Bush Discuss His Legacy However He Likes... from the Hague | Common Dreams

Let George W. Bush Discuss His Legacy However He Likes... from the Hague | Common Dreams
"However, instead of the bloody details of his time in office being recounted at a war crimes tribunal, the former president has been able to bank on his imperial privilege – and a network of rich corporate donors that he made richer while in office – to tell his version of history at a library in Texas being opened in his name."

13 Reasons To Be Glad Bush Is No Longer President

13 Reasons To Be Glad Bush Is No Longer President: The five living presidents will meet in Texas on Thursday to dedicate the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. And while Bush and his aides are using the occasion to soften the 43 president’s image and solidify his legacy, a recounting of Bush-era policies — from his deregulation [...]/p

50 Reasons You Despised George W. Bush's Presidency: A Reminder on the Day of His Presidential Library Dedication | Alternet

50 Reasons You Despised George W. Bush's Presidency: A Reminder on the Day of His Presidential Library Dedication | Alternet
"Amazingly, the Bush library seeks to ask visitors "What would you have done?" if you were in this president’s shoes. The ex-president’s defenders are betting that the public will reconsider their judgments after a hefty dose of historical amnesia. Bush has been absent from political debates in recent years, instead making millions in private speeches."

GOP Senator Calls For Vastly Expanded Internet Surveillance In Response To Boston Bombing

GOP Senator Calls For Vastly Expanded Internet Surveillance In Response To Boston Bombing: Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) demanded to know why the FBI wasn’t tracking the Boston bombing suspect’s web traffic during an appearance on Fox News this morning, possibly validating civil liberties activist fears that the attack would lead to calls for further digital surveillance: “If you Google terrorists you will find the older brother on the [...]/p

Stupid Republican Tricks: Michigan Edition

Stupid Republican Tricks: Michigan Edition
"Michigan Republicans, desperate for something -- anything -- to make themselves look good, have now resorted to bullying Democratic legislators in order to steal their legislative proposals."

Denied a Liver Transplant for Using Medical Marijuana, and Dying for It -- The Heartlessness of Prohibition | Alternet

Denied a Liver Transplant for Using Medical Marijuana, and Dying for It -- The Heartlessness of Prohibition | Alternet
"The tragic fate of Norman B. Smith is all you need to know about to see how senseless it is to make consumption of marijuana a crime."