The Giant Lie Trotted Out by Fiscal Conservatives Trying to Shred Social Security | Alternet

The Giant Lie Trotted Out by Fiscal Conservatives Trying to Shred Social Security | Alternet
"Trying to convince the public to cut America’s best-loved and most successful program requires a lot of creativity and persistence. Social Security is fiscally fit, prudently managed and does not add to the deficit because by law it must be completely detached from the federal operating budget. Obviously, it is needed more than ever in a time of increasing job insecurity and disappearing pensions. It helps our economy thrive and boosts the productivity of working Americans. And yet the sharks are in a frenzy to shred it in the upcoming “fiscal cliff” discussions."

Look Out Monsanto: Campaigns to Label Genetically Engineered Foods Are Heating Up | Alternet

Look Out Monsanto: Campaigns to Label Genetically Engineered Foods Are Heating Up | Alternet
"On November 6, after spending $46 million burying California's voters under an avalanche of deception , Monsanto and their buddies in the pesticide and junk food business declared victory. They had defeated the "right to know", and successfully protected their "right" to keep you in the dark about whether your food is genetically engineered."

Following Obama’s Victory, Wisconsin Governor Proposes New Limits On Voter Registration

Following Obama’s Victory, Wisconsin Governor Proposes New Limits On Voter Registration: Two weeks after Barack Obama and Sen.-elect Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) carried the state of Wisconsin with the support of minorities and young voters, Gov. Scott Walker (R) announced one of his major policy proposals for the upcoming session: ending the state’s 40-year old law that allows citizens to register to vote on Election Day. And [...]/p

PERRspectives: Blue States Will Rescue America from the Fiscal Cliff

PERRspectives: Blue States Will Rescue America from the Fiscal Cliff
"Of course, this dynamic of "red state socialism" by which federal tax dollars generally flow from wealthier Democratic states to less well-off Republican ones is nothing new. Red state spending on education, unemployment insurance and (more than ever) health care has been and will continue to be underwritten by blue state taxpayers."

6 Restaurants You Should Avoid If You Don't Want Your Food Cooked By Sick People | Alternet

6 Restaurants You Should Avoid If You Don't Want Your Food Cooked By Sick People | Alternet
"Here's a handy list,  courtesy of Wonkette , of the restaurants you need to avoid if you want to avoid having your food handled by sick people:"

Why Walmart Workers Are Striking On Black Friday

Why Walmart Workers Are Striking On Black Friday: Walmart workers across the country have been striking during the last week, in a buildup to a coordinated walkout on Black Friday — the day after Thanksgiving, which is one of the biggest retail days of the year. According to the group Making Change at Walmart, “a thousand store protests are planned in Chicago, Dallas, [...]/p

As Demand For Electric Vehicles Steadily Grows, Tesla Model S Wins 2013 ‘Motor Trend Car Of The Year’

As Demand For Electric Vehicles Steadily Grows, Tesla Model S Wins 2013 ‘Motor Trend Car Of The Year’:  The Tesla Model S, the company’s first full-size sedan, won the 2013 Motor Trend Car of the Year on November 12, garnering a unanimous vote from the panel of judges. This is the first electric car in the 64-year history of the auto industry’s most coveted award. “We’re going [...]/p

Elites Will Make Gazans of Us All | Common Dreams

Elites Will Make Gazans of Us All | Common Dreams
"As the U.S. empire implodes, the harsher forms of violence employed on the outer reaches of empire are steadily migrating back to the homeland. At the same time, the internal systems of democratic governance have calcified. Centralized authority has devolved into the hands of an executive branch that slavishly serves global corporate interests. The press and the government’s judiciary and legislative branches have become toothless and decorative. The specter of terrorism, as in Israel, is used by the state to divert gargantuan expenditures to homeland security, the military and internal surveillance. Privacy is abolished. Dissent is treason. The military with its mantra of blind obedience and force characterizes the dark ethic of the wider culture. Beauty and truth are abolished. Culture is degraded into kitsch. The emotional and intellectual life of the citizenry is ravaged by spectacle, the tawdry and salacious, as well as by handfuls of painkillers and narcotics. Blind ambition, a lust for power and a grotesque personal vanity—exemplified by David Petraeus and his former mistress—are the engines of advancement. The concept of the common good is no longer part of the lexicon of power. This, as the novelist J.M. Coetzee writes, is “the black flower of civilization.” It is Rome under Diocletian. It is us. Empires, in the end, decay into despotic, murderous and corrupt regimes that finally consume themselves. And we, like Israel, are now coughing up blood."

The Next Chapters in the Republican War on Math: Tax Cuts and Austerity - The Atlantic

The Next Chapters in the Republican War on Math: Tax Cuts and Austerity - The Atlantic
"On election night, Republican strategist and Fox News contributor Karl Rove was unwilling to believe that President Obama had won Ohio, arguing with anchor Megyn Kelly that Ohio was too close to call. Eventually, Kelly asked Rove if his calculations were "just math you do as a Republican to make yourself feel better or is this real"?"

6 Myths Pushed by FOX News to Ensure Rich Don't Pay Fair Share -- Debunked | Alternet

6 Myths Pushed by FOX News to Ensure Rich Don't Pay Fair Share -- Debunked | Alternet
"Fox News tried to undermine President Obama's tax plan by pushing six debunked tax myths in advance of negotiations on how to avoid a series of automatic tax increases and spending cuts. In reality, Obama's proposal to let tax cuts for wealthy Americans expire will grow the economy and is supported by a majority of Americans."

5 Ways America Enables Israel's Atrocities | Alternet

5 Ways America Enables Israel's Atrocities | Alternet
"Israel’s assault on the besieged Gaza Strip has entered its sixth day . At least 58 civilians have killed , and the toll is likely to rise. Hundreds of Palestinians, the majority of them civilians, have been injured as well.

And if you’re an American, it’s your money that is being used to pay for these atrocities."

Ten Numbers the Rich Would Like Fudged | Common Dreams

Ten Numbers the Rich Would Like Fudged | Common Dreams
"Only FOUR OUT OF 150 countries have more wealth inequality than us.

In a world listing compiled by a reputable research team (which nevertheless prompted double-checking), the U.S. has greater wealth inequality than every measured country in the world except for Namibia, Zimbabwe, Denmark, and Switzerland."

VIDEO: GOP’s New Ideas For ‘Compromise’ Are The Same As Their Old Ideas

VIDEO: GOP’s New Ideas For ‘Compromise’ Are The Same As Their Old Ideas: Usually, when a political party decisively loses an election, the expectation is for it to shift its policy proposals closer to those of the victors — both to promote compromise and to acknowledge the preference of the voters expressed at the ballot box. However, the GOP has apparently decided to chart a different course in [...]/p

Ohio Is The Latest Battlefield in the War on Contraception | Common Dreams

Ohio Is The Latest Battlefield in the War on Contraception | Common Dreams
"The latest battled in the war on contraception is being fought in Ohio, where the House Health and Aging Committee approved a bill to be sent to the floor that would de-fund Planned Parenthood, as well as other family planning groups that provide affordable contraception and reproductive health care to the women of Ohio. So far, these attempts to de-fund family planning have failed in the courts, though Texas has won a victory in the Fifth Circuit and could very well be successful in dramatically reducing (and perhaps eventually eliminating) funding to clinics that help low-income women afford contraception."

25% of Credit Information Is Flat-Out Wrong? How Consumers Are Getting Screwed | Alternet

25% of Credit Information Is Flat-Out Wrong? How Consumers Are Getting Screwed | Alternet
"Monopoly.  We all know the game – one of the Parker Brothers’ best – as a quintessential American pastime with the potential to bring generations together (or spark heated arguments among those of us with a bit of a competitive streak).  But when that term is applied not to board games, but instead to board rooms, it has a decidedly negative connotation.  Everyone knows how important competition is to a free market economy, after all.

That’s what makes the ineptitude and pervasive conflicts of interest that mark the credit reporting and scoring industry due to a lack of competition so hard to fathom.  It’s also what underscores the drastic need for reform."

A Civil Rights Battle Royale: Contending for the Soul of the Military

A Civil Rights Battle Royale: Contending for the Soul of the Military
"Dominionsim" is to the Christian faith what "Wahhabism" is to the Islamic faith. Think "Christian Taliban," and you're right on the mark. I'm sorry to have to report that fundamentalist Christianity or "Dominionism" is inextricably intertwined into the very DNA of our United States armed forces today. Its unlawful and un-American tentacles of noxious unconstitutionality are systemically found in every unit of every branch of the US military.

Anonymous claims it stopped Karl Rove from hacking the vote

Anonymous claims it stopped Karl Rove from hacking the vote
"The skeptics among us might be quick to dismiss this story, but I say not so fast.  We do know that Anonymous exists, and they have been adept at penetrating servers.  They have revealed gaping security holes, disabled websites in the name of a free and open internet, and even launched cyber attacks against the Pentagon. They stole NYPD surveillance video of OWS protesters. Though unconfirmed, they claim to have stolen one million Apple UDIDs from an FBI laptop.  There is no doubt that Anonymous, however ambiguous or loosely affiliated it may be, is real. And frankly they have proven themselves to be less bullshit prone than our politicians and broadcast media outlets."

Subprime Students: How Wall Street Profits from the College Loan Mess | Common Dreams

Subprime Students: How Wall Street Profits from the College Loan Mess | Common Dreams
"Five years after Wall Street crashed the economy by irresponsibly securitizing and peddling mortgage debt, the financial industry is coming under growing scrutiny for its shady involvement in student loan debt."

5 Ways Most Americans Are Blind to How Their Country Is Stacked for the Wealthy | Alternet

5 Ways Most Americans Are Blind to How Their Country Is Stacked for the Wealthy | Alternet
"Mitt Romney said he wasn't concerned about the very poor, because they have a safety net. This is typical of the widespread ignorance about inequality in our country. Struggling Americans want jobs, not handouts, and for the most part they've paid for their "safety net." The real problem is at the other end of the wealth gap. 
How many people know that out of 150 countries, we have the fourth-highest wealth disparity? Only Zimbabwe, Namibia and Switzerland are worse."

Why Rove Failed to Deliver Ohio on Election Day: What Happened in Ohio This Time Around

Why Rove Failed to Deliver Ohio on Election Day: What Happened in Ohio This Time Around
"Curiously, the Ohio Secretary of State's vote tabulation website went down at 11:13pm, as reported by Free Press election protection website monitors, and mentioned by Rove on the news. This was one minute earlier than the time on election night 2004 -- when Ohio votes were outsourced to Chattanooga, Tennessee -- and then the vote flipped for Bush. This isn't just a Free Press claim, but is well-documented by Vanity Fair Contributing Editor Craig Unger in his book Boss Rove."

Did Anonymous stop Karl Rove from Stealing Ohio again?

an article that says the hacker group, Anonymous may have been involved in stopping GOP mastermind Karl Rove from stealing the election in Ohio this year.

Black Friday protest plans are making Walmart nervous

Black Friday protest plans are making Walmart nervous
"Walmart's dismissive statements about the small percentage of workers taking part in the protests are accurate in a literal sense, but the decision to try to use the law to shut the protests down reveals that something bigger than the percentages is going on: this is the first time Walmart has faced such sustained, defiant activism against its abuses of workers."

Democratic Senator Introduces Bill To Lift Social Security’s Tax Cap, Extend Its Solvency For Decades

Democratic Senator Introduces Bill To Lift Social Security’s Tax Cap, Extend Its Solvency For Decades: Social Security, the government entitlement that provides support to seniors in retirement, the disabled, and other Americans, has long been in the cross-hairs of budget reformers. The program’s trust fund currently won’t be spent out until 2033, and after that it would still pay 75 percent of scheduled benefits. Most of the proposed solutions to [...]/p

Virginia GOP Official: Obama Will Go To Hell

Virginia GOP Official: Obama Will Go To Hell: Virginia Republican party official Bob FitzSimmonds is by no means a fortune teller, but he feels confident guessing that President Obama is going to hell. In a Facebook posting, FitzSimmonds, who is a close associate of Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, speculated that Obama would live a long life but when he died at 90, [...]/p

More Republican governors opt for federal control of health care exchanges

More Republican governors opt for federal control of health care exchanges
"Add Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Maine Gov. Paul LePage, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker to the list of Republican governors who are continuing to protest Obamacare by refusing to establish health insurance exchanges, in the process forcing the federal government to step in and create the exchanges itself."

Racist Reagan Operatives Behind New Robocall Calling for Obama's Impeachment

Racist Reagan Operatives Behind New Robocall Calling for Obama's Impeachment
"Make no mistake. These are the people who carry the heart and the torch of today's Republican Party. They are not edge cases, but mainstream Republicans doing mainstream Republican things. They have ties to Karl Rove and the neocon right, and ties to Pat Buchanan and the hardcore racist right.

Reagan built that."

Why Income Inequality Has Skyrocketed In The Last 30 Years

Why Income Inequality Has Skyrocketed In The Last 30 Years: American income inequality has skyrocketed over the last 30 years, as compensation for the wealthiest Americans has grown while wages have stagnated for the middle- and lower-classes. Incomes for the wealthiest 20 percent of Americans are now eight times higher than incomes for the bottom 20 percent, according to a study from the Center on [...]/p

Arpaio Pledges Automatic Weapons For All Deputies: ‘More And More Illegal Aliens Are Attempting To Escape’

Arpaio Pledges Automatic Weapons For All Deputies: ‘More And More Illegal Aliens Are Attempting To Escape’: A week after the infamous Sheriff Joe Arpaio survived a reelection campaign that flagged his flagrant anti-Latino practices and misuse of government funds, the Maricopa County enforcer is back to work making “every effort” to target undocumented immigrants. In a press release issued by his office yesterday, Arpaio touted several recent operations to chase down ”suspected illegal [...]/p

The Fight to Save the Planet from the Fossil Fuel Industry Heats Up with Divestment Campaign

The Fight to Save the Planet from the Fossil Fuel Industry Heats Up with Divestment Campaign
"Twenty years of knowledge, but inaction on climate change has only made the situation much worse. The continental United States is on track to have had the warmest year on record, and a summer drought and one of the worst wildfires in history devastated American communities. Even the private sector is taking heed. In October, a German reinsurance company, Munich Re, released a report on severe weather in North America. The report noted that "nowhere in the world is the rising number of natural catastrophes more evident than in North America." The report found "a nearly quintupled number of weather-related loss events in North America for the past three decades," with damages totaling $1.06 trillion."

Hide the Kids, the Elderly, the Sick & the Poor! Paul Ryan is Headed for the Cliff

Hide the Kids, the Elderly, the Sick & the Poor! Paul Ryan is Headed for the Cliff
"Ideologues like Ryan and wealthy Wall Street financiers like Erskine Bowles are salivating at the "magic moment" posed by the faux crisis (Bowles actually said that). But Bowles-Ryan magic means painful austerity for the rest of us."

Shocking: Aetna CEO pledges to make Americans 'suffer,' 'lay them off' if fiscal cliff deal not made

Shocking: Aetna CEO pledges to make Americans 'suffer,' 'lay them off' if fiscal cliff deal not made
"Mr. Bertolini should be careful as to how he speaks about the American people when discussing deficit issues, because, as most experts will admit, an Aetna-free America withMedicare-for-all is considered one of the best ways in which to sustainably lower the federal deficit."

GOP Rep Says CIA Approved U.N. Ambassador’s Statements On Libya

GOP Rep Says CIA Approved U.N. Ambassador’s Statements On Libya: Rep. Peter King (R-NY) has admitted that the CIA and intelligence community approved U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice’s talking points before she made her much-derided Sept. 16 appearance on several Sunday news shows to discuss the attacks in Benghazi. King, one of the most outspoken critics of the Obama administration’s response to the [...]/p

It's The "Jobs Cliff" Stupid...

Beware of con men bearing slogans. The oldest trick in the book is for conservatives -- cons -- to create hysteria around something, and then get all of us to give them billions of our tax dollars to fix the problem they've gotten us all hysterical about.

Senators Caucus Vows To Protect Social Security, Medicare

Senators Caucus Vows To Protect Social Security, Medicare
"Ah, the fiscal scam! It's interesting that the same conservative and Blue Dog politicians who insisted we didn't need additional stimulus to recover from this recession are now insisting that we will ... go back into a recession if these fiscal deal cuts are made! Why, you would almost think they were Keynesians!"

Other things McCain might have learned if he didn't skip the Benghazi hearing

Other things McCain might have learned if he didn't skip the Benghazi hearing
"Sen. John McCain has been on a rage bender against United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice, claiming her comments five days after the killings in Benghazi were totally outrageous and irresponsible and how dare she."

Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: Romney cements his legacy as poster boy for the spoiled and callous rich

Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: Romney cements his legacy as poster boy for the spoiled and callous rich
"Watching Mitt Romney struggle with keeping his spoiled, out-of-touch rich guy persona from rearing its perfectly-coiffed head during the campaign was like watching Romney's best Gollum impression. However, with the election over, Romney, as one pundit below notes, has decided to join the "sore losers club," and is removing all doubt about the sincerity of his everyman pitch along the way."

The Sore Losers Club Welcomes New Members Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan | Alternet

The Sore Losers Club Welcomes New Members Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan | Alternet
"Romney was roundly defeated last week, and the man who defeated him has now publicly saluted him  twice. This is the time for Romney to show grace, humility and maybe some humor too. Instead, he’s coming across like a sore loser, one who’d rather make excuses than give his opponent any real credit."

How the Middle Class Rose Up to Defeat the Vulture Capitalist from Bain | Alternet

How the Middle Class Rose Up to Defeat the Vulture Capitalist from Bain | Alternet
"Republicans learned once more the shortcomings of a stale, male, pale, Southern-based party in a nation of diversity. The GOP “legitimate rape” caucus helped give away two Senate seats. But too little attention has been paid to the new emerging reality. This was the first class warfare election of the new Gilded Age — and the middle class won big.

The Republican nominee Mitt Romney was inescapably the candidate of, by and for the 1 percent."

The Ultimate Guide To McCain’s Smear Campaign Against Susan Rice

The Ultimate Guide To McCain’s Smear Campaign Against Susan Rice: Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) launched an all-out assault on the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice yesterday in an attempt to block her from becoming the next Secretary of State. McCain claims that Rice’s role in disseminating information about the attacks on U.S. assets in Benghazi, Libya in September means she’s “not qualified” [...]/p

BP To Pay Largest Criminal Fine In U.S. History For Deepwater Horizon Disaster

BP To Pay Largest Criminal Fine In U.S. History For Deepwater Horizon Disaster: BP has agreed to pay a historic $4.5 billion criminal fine over a six-year period, after pleading guilty to 11 felony counts and criminal charges for the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster that killed 11 workers. After two years, the litigation is not yet over since BP faces damages from Gulf states and additional civil charges [...]/p

Fox News Captions Footage Of Illegal Border Crossings With ‘The Hispanic Vote’

Fox News Captions Footage Of Illegal Border Crossings With ‘The Hispanic Vote’: Since Mitt Romney lost the Hispanic vote in record numbers on Election Day, some Republican lawmakers and conservative pundits have openly conceded that the party has a “rhetoric” problem when it comes to the Latino vote and have begun advocating for comprehensive immigration reform. However, the GOP’s new-found eagerness to appeal to Latinos took a [...]/p

It's the "Jobs Cliff," Stupid! | Common Dreams

It's the "Jobs Cliff," Stupid! | Common Dreams
"In other words, the “fiscal cliff” is another classic example of what Naomi Klein called “Disaster Capitalism.” Create a panic, and then profit from it. For example, Wall Street is helping fund groups like the Third Way that are pushing hard for us to give our Social Security Trust Fund – which has over two and a half trillion dollars in it – to Goldman Sachs and Citibank so they can take care of it for us. Doesn’t that make you feel all safe, and warm-and-fuzzy?"

350 Economists Call On Congress To Invest In Job Growth Instead Of Austerity

350 Economists Call On Congress To Invest In Job Growth Instead Of Austerity: America’s fledgling economic recovery is being threatened by “obsessive concern with cutting deficits that has infected both parties,” a group of 350 economists wrote in a letter to lawmakers this week. Instead of focusing on deficit-reducing austerity measures that will do nothing to fix the “mass unemployment, rising poverty, and declining wages” that are holding [...]/p

POLL: Voters Hate Super PACs, Want More Campaign Finance Disclosure

POLL: Voters Hate Super PACs, Want More Campaign Finance Disclosure: A new poll of 2012 voters by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner for Democracy Corps and Public Campaign Action Fund shows huge national concern with the growing role of money in politics and the lack of disclosure thereof. Fully 61 percent of voters (60 percent of Romney voters and 62 percent of Obama voters) oppose the current [...]/p

Obama Rejects Boehner’s Fake Tax Compromise

Obama Rejects Boehner’s Fake Tax Compromise: During his first press conference since he was re-elected, President Obama today criticized the tax approach that Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) and many other Congressional Republicans have proposed. Boehner and the rest of the GOP have recently suggested cutting tax rates, but raising more federal revenue via a combination of closing loopholes [...]/p

Navigating the fiscal obstacle course: Supporting job creation with savings from ending the upper-income Bush-era tax cuts | Economic Policy Institute

Navigating the fiscal obstacle course: Supporting job creation with savings from ending the upper-income Bush-era tax cuts | Economic Policy Institute
"Policymakers have finally acknowledged and demonstrated concern that the budget deficit closing too quickly jeopardizes recovery; accordingly, they should slow the pace of deficit reduction while prioritizing efficient policies for boosting economic growth and employment. This paper’s policy recommendations offer a template for doing just that."

GOP in Arizona Attempts to Disenfranchise Latinos to Win Neck-and-Neck Race | Alternet

GOP in Arizona Attempts to Disenfranchise Latinos to Win Neck-and-Neck Race | Alternet
"The GOP’s voter suppression tactics failed epically at the presidential level, but, in Arizona, one Republican candidate is still trying to use the tactics to eek out a win in a neck-and-neck state congressional race."

Drudge Goes All in With "Secession" Meme as the Republican War on the Constitution Escalates | Alternet

Drudge Goes All in With "Secession" Meme as the Republican War on the Constitution Escalates | Alternet
"There is no greater oxymoron in America's political discourse than the “Constitutional conservative"."

Colorado Reps Aim To Exempt States Where Marijuana Is Legal From Federal Ban

Colorado Reps Aim To Exempt States Where Marijuana Is Legal From Federal Ban: Since two states passed ballot initiatives last week to legalize and regulate recreational marijuana, the question on everyone’s mind has been how federal officials will respond, given that the federal Controlled Substances Act bans any marijuana possession or distribution. Although some uses of the drug will be legal under Colorado and Washington law, federal officials [...]/p

Obama Starts "Fiscal Cliff" Negotiations With Pitch to Raise $1.6 Trillion in Taxes on Corporations and the Rich | Alternet

Obama Starts "Fiscal Cliff" Negotiations With Pitch to Raise $1.6 Trillion in Taxes on Corporations and the Rich | Alternet
"President Obama is taking a tough opening stance in talks over deficit reduction, pushing Republicans to accept a plan that calls for $1.6 trillion in new tax revenue over the next ten years, according to reports."

The Petraeus Legacy: A Paramilitary CIA? | Common Dreams

The Petraeus Legacy: A Paramilitary CIA? | Common Dreams
"While much of the media focus on l’affaire Petraeus has centered on the CIA director’s sexual relationship with his biographer, Paula Broadwell, the scandal opens a window onto a different and more consequential relationship—that between the CIA and the military’s Joint Special Operations Command. In a behind-the-scenes turf war that has raged since 9/11, the two government bodies have fought for control of the expanding global wars waged by the United States—a turf war that JSOC has largely won. Petraeus, an instrumental player in this power struggle, leaves behind an agency that has strayed from intelligence to paramilitary-type activities."

More accurate than Nate Silver

More accurate than Nate Silver
"According to the Atlantic's Rebecca Greenfield, there were only three pundits, out of 74 she tracked, who called the 2012 Electoral College correctly—Nate Silver, Drew Lizner, and me."

Another Washington State Prosecutor Drops Marijuana Cases

Another Washington State Prosecutor Drops Marijuana Cases: In the wake of the passage of Washington’s law to legalize and regulate marijuana, a third county prosecutor has announced he will drop all marijuana cases for possession of less than an ounce by defendants who are 21 or older — possession legalized by the law. Two other county prosecutors said last week they would [...]/p

Fox News Re-Ups Swift Boat Attacks On John Kerry

Fox News Re-Ups Swift Boat Attacks On John Kerry: From the liars at Fox. The same right wing propaganda channel that brought you the chikenhawk Bush and the draft dodger Romney. Now they are back using debunked lies from 2004 to attack someone who actually served in a combat zone.

Wall Street Uses "Liberal" Front Group to Lead Its Assault on Social Security | Common Dreams

Wall Street Uses "Liberal" Front Group to Lead Its Assault on Social Security | Common Dreams
"Third Way, lobbyists for and from Wall Street who are leading the effort to enrich Wall Street by privatizing Social Security, was created by Wall Street to fool some of the people all of the time. I have written previously here and here to expose their fictional claims to be a moderate or liberal Democratic group."

Ten Right Wing Election Myths Debunked by Reality in 2012 | Alternet

Ten Right Wing Election Myths Debunked by Reality in 2012 | Alternet
"One of the more stunning developments following President Obama’s re-election has been the number of ardent Republicans who have confessed that they believed the anti-Democratic propaganda from Fox News—and got so much wrong as a result."

Fiscal Cliff Scare Talk Follows Shock Doctrine Script | Alternet

Fiscal Cliff Scare Talk Follows Shock Doctrine Script | Alternet
"Anyone who has read  The Shock Doctrine  understands exactly what this “Fiscal Cliff” scare is."

How Republicans Stole the Election... Again

How Republicans Stole the Election... Again
"Except that’s not quite true, Mr King, and you know it. The American people didn’t vote for a Republican House, the Republicans didn’t actually win the House, and therefore there is no mandate. 53,952,240 votes were cast for a Democratic House candidate compared to 53,402,643 cast for a Republican; in other words, over half a million more Americans voted for Democratic House candidates than for Republican candidates. Republicans received less than half of the vote for members of the House of Representatives, and even lost seats in the House this election. Yet Republicans still took 55 percent of the seats in the House. In effect, they had to steal the House. Here’s how:"

Super-PACs Already Planning for 2014 | Common Dreams

Super-PACs Already Planning for 2014 | Common Dreams
"The heads of the outside spending groups that pumped more than $1 billion into the 2012 election are already making plans for 2014."

Hurricane Sandy First Responders Win Health Benefits After Viral Online Campaign

Hurricane Sandy First Responders Win Health Benefits After Viral Online Campaign: Last week, Dena Patrick of Wishadoo! — an online charitable organization — posted a Change.org petition calling for the federal government to provide Hurricane Sandy first responders with health benefits, since thousands of disaster relief workers do not currently qualify for coverage. Today, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) granted her request, announcing that it [...]/p

America has NEVER been a center right nation

When does the Democratic Party do best? When it champions the progressive policies and causes that will build a stronger America. With the fiscal cliff negotiations heating up - will Democrats heed the advice of FDR - and stick to the party's progressive roots?

Climate Change Will Bring World Without Coffee Or Chocolate

Climate Change Will Bring World Without Coffee Or Chocolate
"Forget about super-sizing into the trenta a few years from now: Starbucks is warning of a threat to the world coffee supply because of climate change."

Dear Secessionists, Go For It, Please | Common Dreams

Dear Secessionists, Go For It, Please | Common Dreams
"Interestingly, it turns out most red states aremoochers and welfare queens who take more than they give in federal funds. We wish them godspeed, and good luck with their budgets."

Rise of the Bacterial Superbug: Systemic Misuse of Antibiotics to Blame | Common Dreams

Rise of the Bacterial Superbug: Systemic Misuse of Antibiotics to Blame | Common Dreams
"A new health report shows that bacterial superbugs are on the rise while health and consumer advocacy groups blame overuse among both humans and livestock as the root cause."

How Factory Farms Quietly Defeated Food Safety In North Dakota

How Factory Farms Quietly Defeated Food Safety In North Dakota: While the defeat of California’s GMO labeling proposition was widely mourned by the food safety movement, a far more insidious ballot initiative that passed in North Dakota on Election Day has been largely overlooked. North Dakotans quietly voted through a “Farm Amendment” last Tuesday banning any regulation that “abridges the right of farmers and ranchers [...]/p

Dick Morris Admits He Predicted a Romney Landslide Hoping To Help Him Win

Dick Morris Admits He Predicted a Romney Landslide Hoping To Help Him Win
"Morris is billed by Fox News as a “political analyst” and is usually introduced on the air, as he is in this segment, as “former Clinton advisor.” And he did not disclose that he was working for Romney when he made his predictions, at least none that I saw."

Texas, secession and Latinos: How we can make this work

Texas, secession and Latinos: How we can make this work
"In the alternative, you can remain a part of America, respect this thing called "democracy," and brace yourself like you've never braced yourself. Because Texas is going to look like California some day. And that day is coming up fast."

Support For Repealing Obamacare Plunges To An All-Time Low

Support For Repealing Obamacare Plunges To An All-Time Low: Now that President Obama has been elected to a second term, political opponents of his landmark health care reform law are beginning to concede that Obamacare is here to stay. And the general public agrees. As a new Kaiser Family Foundation poll reports, the majority of Americans don’t support repealing Obamacare. In fact, after the [...]/p

Shirtless FBI Tea Party Sympathizer Responsible For Petraeus' Downfall

Shirtless FBI Tea Party Sympathizer Responsible For Petraeus' Downfall
"Glenn Beck must be so proud, as must Eric Cantor. And now it is time for reckoning to occur. I would very much like to know the name of this proud conspiracy theorist who managed to cock up an ongoing FBI investigation and feed Fox News a few days of incredibly stupid conspiracy theories to gnash over."

How Telecoms Sell Your Private Info to the Highest Bidder | Alternet

How Telecoms Sell Your Private Info to the Highest Bidder | Alternet
"Wireless providers are aggressively collecting and reselling your usage data. And a lot of what they do remains secret."

Grand or otherwise, there's no bargaining with these Republicans

Grand or otherwise, there's no bargaining with these Republicans
"No compromise. No Grand Bargain. No cuts to Social Security or Medicare or Medicaid. No enabling a Republican Party that is spiraling toward oblivion. Let the Bush tax cuts expire and force the Republicans to decide whether they want to oppose the Obama middle class tax cuts. The false Republican narratives of fiscal crisis and runaway entitlements must be called for the lies they are. The false Republican politicians and pundits must be revealed as the frauds they are. The Democrats need only speak the truth, seize the moment, and ride the electoral and demographic tide that has them ascendant and still rising. History is there for the making. History is there for the taking."

PERRspectives: CBO: No Tax Cuts for the Rich, No Problem

PERRspectives: CBO: No Tax Cuts for the Rich, No Problem
"For the second time in as many weeks, an analysis by a nonpartisan agency of Congress has demolished the GOP myth of upper-income taxes and so-called "job creators"."

Ohio Republicans Are Damaged Goods | The Progressive

Ohio Republicans Are Damaged Goods | The Progressive
"The ability of the Republicans to design Congressional districts to benefit its candidates certainly helped them here and elsewhere to retain control of the U. S. Congress."

Let’s Put Climate Change At The Top Of The Agenda

Let’s Put Climate Change At The Top Of The Agenda: by Joe Mendelson, via National Wildlife Federation The election is over—now what on the climate change issue? Hurricane Sandy, the nation’s fiscal situation, and the election results have combined to create three key things that I think compel Congress to action on climate change. 1. Climate Change Impacts are Costing the Federal Government Too Much Money Congress returns [...]/p

The Latino Voter Effect - In These Times

The Latino Voter Effect - In These Times
"The voices and votes of Latino voters were heard loud and clear on election day, and they finally may have the political clout to shape a national agenda on the immigration issue."

As US states Legalize Marijuana, Is This the End of the War on Drugs? | Common Dreams

As US states Legalize Marijuana, Is This the End of the War on Drugs? | Common Dreams
"Last week was a momentous week, the beginning of the end, perhaps, of a national depravity – the "war on drugs". The voters of Colorado and Washington passed measures to legalize marijuana, amounting to local shifts, for the moment."

How America Is Turning into a 3rd World Nation in 4 Easy Steps | Alternet

How America Is Turning into a 3rd World Nation in 4 Easy Steps | Alternet
"New reports that Taiwanese transnational manufacturing corporation Foxconn may be opening up some plants in the United States indicate that our nation has now entered the terminal fourth stage of "third-worldization" or what may be better referred to simply as "recolonization"."

The Candidates Who Ran And Won On Obamacare

The Candidates Who Ran And Won On Obamacare: Throughout President Obama’s first term, House Republicans spent over 80 hours on more than 30 different votes attempting to repeal health care reform. Altogether, GOP lawmakers wasted over $50 million on their repeated failed attempts to take away health care from 30 million additional Americans — and that trend continued during this year’s campaign season, [...]/p

Obama Swept States With The Most Educated Workforces And The Highest Paid Teachers

Obama Swept States With The Most Educated Workforces And The Highest Paid Teachers: Barack Obama fared well across the country Tuesday night, winning 332 electoral votes en route to a second term as president. Nowhere did he perform better, however, than in states that place the highest emphasis on education. Of the 10 most educated states, measured by the percentage of residents over 25 years old who have [...]/p

Brief Rundown of Just How Big a Victory Tuesday Was for Democrats

Brief Rundown of Just How Big a Victory Tuesday Was for Democrats
"After being told for six months how close the race was, turns out, No. No it wasn't. How big of a win was it? In the end, it wasn't even close. President Obama won BOTH the Electoral College AND the Popular Vote... and not just by a little, but by A LOT... 126 Electoral votes and nearly 3 Million in the Popular Vote"

Obama Won, But He Still Has to Contend with Millions of Americans Taught to Hate Their Own Government | Alternet

Obama Won, But He Still Has to Contend with Millions of Americans Taught to Hate Their Own Government | Alternet
"It's no small obstacle that tens of millions of voters think government is the problem."

Worst Case Climate Projections Likely: Study | Common Dreams

Worst Case Climate Projections Likely: Study | Common Dreams
"The worst case projections for global warming may be the most likely, according to an analysis from scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR)."

Uncounted Votes Complicate Arizona Races

Uncounted Votes Complicate Arizona Races
"Nearly 460,000 votes in Maricopa County and more than 600,000 statewide had yet to be counted as of late Wednesday, clouding the outcome of several close Arizona races."

Did Monsanto Trick California Voters? | Alternet

Did Monsanto Trick California Voters? | Alternet
"Monsanto and their peeps didn't just spend $46 million promoting their opinion. They also lied and got away with it."

5 Fraudulent Election Claims by Religious Right Leaders Exposed | Alternet

5 Fraudulent Election Claims by Religious Right Leaders Exposed | Alternet
"The religious right took a drubbing at the polls yesterday as voters rejected not only Mitt Romney but also some of the most extreme Republican candidates, even those in races that should have been easy Republican victories."

How Wall Street Tried, And Failed, To Elect Lawmakers Hostile To Financial Reform

How Wall Street Tried, And Failed, To Elect Lawmakers Hostile To Financial Reform: Wall Street, after giving more to President Obama during the 2008 election than to his opponent Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), flipped during the 2012 election to give the vast majority of its campaign donations to Mitt Romney. As Matt Phillips outlined at Quartz, “individuals affiliated with the banking and finance industries overwhelmingly channeled money towards [...]/p

Republican Party is going to have to leave their proverbial bubble to remain viable

The Republican Party is going to have to leave their proverbial bubble to remain viable. Facts matter. Terrific breakdown of election night. The national results were predicted by fact-based models while the right wing media failed as usual.

Progressive Democrat Tammy Baldwin Wins U.S. Senate Seat in Wisconsin

Progressive Democrat Tammy Baldwin Wins U.S. Senate Seat in Wisconsin
"Wisconsin has upheld its reputation as a truly purple state by electing Democrat Tammy Baldwin to the U.S. Senate, by a solid margin of 51 to 46, and reelecting President Barack Obama to a second term, just months after handing the Tea Party and out-of-state special interests a victory by voting to keep far-right GovernorScott Walker in office. Baldwin's victory, along with Elizabeth Warren's win in Massachusetts and Sherrod Brown's win in Ohio, helps ensure Democrats keep control of the U.S. Senate."

PERRspectives: Please Proceed, Governor

PERRspectives: Please Proceed, Governor
"With his gracious concession speech Tuesday, Mitt Romneyended his decades-long quest for the presidency. But that moment of dignity and decency can't obscure a campaign in which Romney showed utter disrespect for the President, obvious contempt for the voters and a cynical disregard for the truth. Now that his quest has failed, he doesn't merely need to leave the national stage. Mitt Romney must take his brand of "post-truth" politics with him."

Obama Won A Mandate On Election Day To Take America Further Forward | The New Republic

Obama Won A Mandate On Election Day To Take America Further Forward | The New Republic
"But, whatever happens over the next four years, Obama’s reelection guarantees that the laws passed during his first term stay on the books. That instantly makes him one of the most accomplished presidents of modern times. Already Obama and his allies have shaped this country in ways that will last for generations—making life more secure, and creating new opportunities, for tens of millions of Americans."

How Grover Norquist’s Radical Anti-Tax Pledge Sunk Top Tier Republican Senate Candidates

How Grover Norquist’s Radical Anti-Tax Pledge Sunk Top Tier Republican Senate Candidates: Grover Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform boasted that 279 Congressional incumbents — and another 286 challengers — signed his “Taxpayer Protection Pledge” to never vote for any tax increases under any circumstances. But when Democrats fought back against the anti-tax zealotry of Norquist and his Republican minions, many voters reacted positively, rejecting the pledge and [...]/p