From Abraham Lincoln: Complete Works, Comprising His Speeches, Letters …, Volume 1, p. 92: “If we except the light and the air of heaven, no good thing has been or can be enjoyed by us without having first cost labor. And inasmuch as most good things are produced by labor, it follows that all such […]
Archives for December 2012
Top Ten Ways NRA Stole Christmas this Year
The tone deaf and horrifyingly self-serving speech given by Wayne LaPierre of the National Rifle Association on Friday cast a pall over our holiday season. At a time of national mourning and determination finally to rein in the plague of semi-automatic weaponry infesting our society, the speech was an exercise in blaming everyone but the […]
The Real War on Christmas: GOP Rejection of Tax Rise on Rich could End Tax-Break for Charitable Giving
Many worthy institutions in the United States, from universities and cancer research centers to soup kitchens, art galleries and public radio, are supported by donations from private citizens. One of the motivations for this charitable giving is that it typically reduces one’s tax bill. In essence, the government allows us to steer a certain amount […]
Fundamentalist Constitution Provokes Street Clashes in Alexandria, 77 Wounded
As Egyptians in 17 governorates head to the polls on Saturday in the second round of the controversial referendum on the new constitution, tension still simmers in the country’s second-largest city, Alexandria, where street clashes left 77 wounded on Friday. The clashes again show the unwisdom of the way President Muhammad Morsi, who hails from […]
Dear GOP: Please don’t Cut Children’s Food Stamps: Our Rich aren’t Overtaxed
The irrational GOP insistence on bankrupting our government by insisting on exempting the rich from taxes has reached the point where they just kicked 300,000 poor children off food stamps to give millionaires another tax break. Their constant refrain is that Americans are over-taxed in world terms and that there is a danger of our […]
Top Five Things we should be doing to avoid the end of the Earth instead of defaming the Mayans
The silly hysteria over the world ending December 21, based on a misinterpretation of a Mayan text, should have passed by now, or maybe someone will keep it going until midnight. What amazes me is that you can get people excited about dangers to their world by twisting some text from an ancient civilization, but […]
Sheldon Adelson’s $155 Million Candidate Buying Spree (Meyer)
Theodoric Meyer writes at ProPublica: Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire casino magnate and emblem of the Citizens United-era of campaign finance, spent gobs of money on the 2012 elections — more money than anyone else in American history. Exactly how much, you ask? We don’t really know, and it’s likely we never will. Many of the […]
The Coming Conflict between the US and Israel (Chernus)
Ira Chernus writes at Tomdispatch.com Are the U.S. and Israel Heading for a Showdown? No One Thinks So, But It Just Might Happen Here’s the question no one is asking as 2012 ends, especially given the effusive public support the Obama administration offered Israel in its recent conflict with Hamas in Gaza: Will 2013 be […]
UN Security Council Condemns Further Israeli Squatting on Palestinian Land, with Rogue State US Vetoing
The US acted again as the rogue state at the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday, with the other 14 members issuing statements condemning Israeli plans for vast further theft of Palestinian land in the West Bank and installing squatters on it, in a step designed to cut the West Bank in two and make […]
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