October 2011
1 post
100%
My father is 71 and still working. Both of my parents will probably never retire. I’m a first generation college grad who would have had no chance without federal grants. I have 10 nieces and nephews who I tried to set a good example for, and who might never get the same opportunities as me because the finance industry and other ultrarich corporations have monopolized our government and...
July 2011
1 post
June 2011
7 posts
The Final Solution
Government creates smoker registry to track who buys cigarettes
Health insurance agencies split smokers and nonsmokers into different risk pools, drastically reducing premiums for nonsmokers and increasing them for smokers
Smokers go broke or die (doesn’t matter which)
The rest of us enjoy cleaner air, lower health care costs, and no more lazy coworkers taking breaks every hour
Economics is a social science
Economics studies the behavior and interactions of humans. It does not discover laws of nature any more than psychology does. This distinction is relevant because people in powerful positions often appeal to economic theories to justify their decisions. Here is a recent example thanks to Wikileaks:
The Haitian parliament unanimously passed legislation raising the minimum wage to 62 cents per hour...
“Can one even imagine how much different — and better — our political culture...”
– Glenn Greenwald, The joys of repressed voyeuristic titillation (via chasingsunsetsandjustice)
Republican sex scandals
I counted the occurrences of (R)’s and (D)’s in these two wikipedia articles:
List_of_state_and_local_political_sex_scandals_in_the_United_States
List_of_federal_political_sex_scandals_in_the_United_States
There were 63 occurrences of (R) and 34 occurrences of (D). Here are a few examples of the (R)’s:
David Vitter (R) is still senator from Louisiana despite being involved in...
Bank of America Gets Pad Locked After Homeowner... →
infohedon:
It started five months ago when Bank of America filed foreclosure papers on the home of a couple, who didn’t owe a dime on their home.
The couple said they paid cash for the house.
The case went to court and the homeowners were able to prove they didn’t owe Bank of America anything on the house. In fact, it was proven that the couple never even had a mortgage bill to pay.
A...
May 2011
7 posts
GOP Filibusters Oil Tax Break Reduction →
jonathan-cunningham:
In a move that opponents saw as little more than campaign posturing, Democrats in the Senate voted on May 17, 2011 to cut back on tax breaks to the top 5 oil companies — a vote that was supported by the Obama administration and, if it had passed, would have gone a long way toward fulfilling President Barack Obama’s campaign promise. Called the Close Big Oil Tax Loopholes...
A major hurricane season is predicted for the U.S.... →
“Satellites are a must-have when it comes to detecting and tracking dangerous tropical weather. Not having satellites and their capabilities could spell disaster,” Lubchenco said yesterday. “NOAA’s satellites underpin hurricane forecasts by providing meteorological data over vast areas where we don’t have other means of information.”
The information those satellites collect is also key to...
10 years, 2 wars, 919,967 deaths, and...
imitationchrist:
legalize-it:
leylaax:
This.
Why celebrate the death of a small fry like Osama when a man responsible for orders of magnitude more civilian deaths is living out his peaceful retirement on a ranch in Texas?
April 2011
11 posts
The GOP gut the EPA and then kicked it around a... →
mohandasgandhi:
Sure, we avoided a government shutdown but the EPA and other regulatory agencies subject to it have suffered massive budget cuts. I would also like to remind everyone that BP received a $9.9 billion tax credit from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, which nearly matches the EPA’s entire annual operating budget.
In the final compromise, however, the EPA still got a $1.49 billion...
The Science of Why We Don't Believe Science →
infohedon:
youmightfindyourself:
“A MAN WITH A CONVICTION is a hard man to change. Tell him you disagree and he turns away. Show him facts or figures and he questions your sources. Appeal to logic and he fails to see your point.” So wrote the celebrated Stanford University psychologist Leon Festinger (PDF), in a passage that might have been referring to climate change denial—the persistent...
“I’ve noticed that everybody that is for abortion has already been born.” - Ronald Reagan
I’ve noticed that everyone who is against abortion has already been born.
Math quiz
(This question is on the quiz I’m giving my students tomorrow. If any of them somehow found my tumblr, they must stop reading now or else)
It’s the year 2112 and decades of anthropogenic climate change have left Earth almost inhospitable. The Uber-rich are all frozen in cryo-stasis aboard luxury space-yachts traveling to the Goldilocks planet Gliese 581 g. As in the book Atlas...
“Here’s a formula for both the collapse of our economy and our democracy… There’s...”
– Rep. Dennis Kucinich, speaking on the US House floor April 6th, 2011 (via cognitivedissonance)
Who shouldn't I boycott?
Does anyone know of any good resources with lists of companies NOT to boycott? I’d prefer not to support any companies that lobby, e.g. any affiliated with the Chamber of Commerce or the Business Roundtable. But apparently that already excludes almost every company in the US… see: http://businessroundtable.org/about-us/members/
So are there any lists of GOOD companies, ones that...
Rap about driving safe (LOL)
I stop at yellows and accelerate slow I’m at the speed limit or slightly below Obeying all the laws I’m saving money like a boss So why don’t you just take a moment and pause After all those traffic fines You still crashed into a pine When you’re texting while driving It’s only a matter of time Before you’re stuck in a wheel chair, confined So slow the fuck down...
March 2011
11 posts
Sen. Sanders: Ten Companies Avoiding Taxes →
jonathan-cunningham:
While hard working Americans fill out their income tax returns this tax season, General Electric and other giant profitable corporations are avoiding U.S. taxes altogether.
With Congress returning to Capitol Hill on Monday to debate steep spending cuts, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said the wealthiest Americans and most profitable corporations must do their share to help...
“… imagine a puddle waking up one morning and thinking, ‘This is an...”
– Douglas Adams
STFU, Conservatives: God bless the USA... →
trastorn:
Disparity of Wealth
In 1933, the wealthiest one percent of the population held 33.3 percent of the wealth. In 1974, the wealthiest one percent held 19.9 percent of the wealth. In 2007, the wealthiest one percent held 65.4 percent of the wealth.
In 1933, the bottom 90…
“Between the years 1980 and 2005, 80% of all new income generated in this country...”
– Bill Maher illustrating the gap in wealth distribution in this country. (via ibad)
Atheists are A-OK about being alone in the universe, but if you say something that reminds us we’re a minority (e.g. ask us to pray), then we get sad :(
“Help! Help! I’m being excluded!”
“If passed, the Republican cuts would slash Head Start services for 157,000 “at...”
– The Inevitable Government Shutdown (via robot-heart-politics)
Gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo fuck yourselves!
(via kiss-distinctly-american)
So much god damned fucking rage
(via the-madame-hatter)
The Republicans way of “creating jobs:” punishing poor preschoolers, punishing poor college...
U.S. silent as Iraqi regime cracks down - War Room... →
peaceiseverystep:
theamericanbear:
“in one of the least-noticed stories of the week, the U.S.-backed government of Nouri al-Maliki in Iraq has resorted to imprisoning 300 journalists, intellectuals and lawyers in order to stop ongoing protests, according to a well-reported Washington Post dispatch from Baghdad.”
We cannot forget about our atrocities in Afghanistan and Iraq even while Libya...
The cookie metaphor
My friend posted this on facebook:
A unionized public employee, the Tea Party, and a CEO are sitting at a table. In the middle of the table is a plate with a dozen cookies on it. The CEO reaches across and takes 11 cookies, then looks at the Tea Party and says “watch out for that union guy— he wants a piece of your cookie”
Some guy commented with some drivel about how the cookies actually...
February 2011
30 posts
Required reading!
“A revolution against neoliberalism?”
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/02/201122414315249621.html
“To describe blatant exploitation of the political system for personal gain as corruption misses the forest for the trees. Such exploitation is surely an outrage against Egyptian citizens, but calling it corruption suggests that the problem is aberrations from a...
Having an abortion IS taking responsibility for an...
“The truth is if the super-rich paid their fair share of taxes, government...”
– Robert Reich (via blissandzen)
“All across the Middle East…in the streets, people are demanding democracy—it’s...”
– Bill Maher (via technipol)
sad/true story
(via greenstate)
2 tags
Carl Sagan (again)
“The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot”
How many people must die for one man’s ego?
“Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the...
Economics and public policy in the USA
Wall Street implodes the world financial system, gets rewarded with bailouts, and gives themselves higher bonuses than ever
Businesses sit on their cash reserves instead of hiring, and report record breaking profits in the middle of a “recession”
Local governments are now trying to punish unions that represent the working class, fire teachers, and reduce public transportation
House...
Belief systems in flux
I think of world-views as something like Bayesian networks of interrelated ideas, each idea having its own degree of certainty, and each connection between ideas having some degree of reinforcing strength. These networks evolve and change over time as people have new experiences, forget old memories, and as ideas within the network influence each other. As a person who was raised Christian and was...
20 Facts about US inequality everyone should know →
4 tags
