Kids Allege That Police Beat Dad to Death After Finding Him Sleeping on the Front Lawn | Alternet

Kids Allege That Police Beat Dad to Death After Finding Him Sleeping on the Front Lawn | Alternet
"Kern County sheriff's deputies beat a man to death after finding him sleeping on a front lawn"

Arizona Is Sitting On Millions Meant To Help Homeowners Avoid Foreclosure

Arizona Is Sitting On Millions Meant To Help Homeowners Avoid Foreclosure: Arizona homeowners were among the hardest hit by the housing crisis, but the state has withheld millions of federal aid dollars intended to help people avoid foreclosure. It has the worst record of the 18 that received the emergency funds, spending just 6 percent of the $268 million set aside for its struggling homeowners. Arizona [...]/p

6 Dangerous ALEC-Backed Bills Beyond Stand Your Ground Laws

6 Dangerous ALEC-Backed Bills Beyond Stand Your Ground Laws: On Saturday, a Florida jury found George Zimmerman not guilty of shooting unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin. The case has put a spotlight on the state’s Stand Your Ground Law, which enabled Zimmerman to initially walk free because it allows the use of deadly force in self-defense. In the wake of the jury’s ruling, President of [...]/p

Tea Party Supports Blatant Racism In Springboro, Ohio – Pushing Agenda To Dismantle United States (VIDEO)

www.addictinginfo.org/2013/07/15/tea-party-supports-blatant-racism-in-springfield-ohio-pushing-agenda-to-dismantle-united-states/
"Ever since the Tea Party movement was founded in 2002 by the Koch brothers, it has courted these form of anti-government radicals. They have played a very long-view game, creating think tanks and organizations decades earlier, which now serve as the foundation for their movement today. The Tea Party are just puppets at the end of Koch strings."

Read more: http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/07/15/tea-party-supports-blatant-racism-in-springfield-ohio-pushing-agenda-to-dismantle-united-states/#ixzz2Z8FANwf8

It’s College Students vs. the Corporate Machine – and the Machine’s Winning | Common Dreams

It’s College Students vs. the Corporate Machine – and the Machine’s Winning | Common Dreams
"Once this nation saw higher education as a citadel of learning, growth, and opportunity. Now student debt is being used as a cash cow to subsidize corporate tax breaks, while universities become incubators for corporate employees and cheap laboratories for private-sector patents."

Eight Things You Should Know About The Court That Will Decide If Texas’ Abortion Ban Is Constitutional

Eight Things You Should Know About The Court That Will Decide If Texas’ Abortion Ban Is Constitutional: On Friday, the Texas Senate passed a series of restrictions that will ban abortions after 20 weeks and that are likely to shut down many of Texas’ abortion clinics by forcing them to comply with prohibitively expensive regulations. The bill already passed the state house and Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX) is expected to sign it. [...]/p

Texas Women Expected to Turn to Abortion Black Market | Common Dreams

Texas Women Expected to Turn to Abortion Black Market | Common Dreams
"The bill, which is almost certain to be signed into law by Governor Rick Perry after passing the Senate, will wipe out most abortion clinics in the state"

Top Democrat Goes Off On GOP For Slashing Food Stamps

Top Democrat Goes Off On GOP For Slashing Food Stamps: Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) slammed the Republican-controlled House’s decision to cut food stamps out of the Farm Bill they passed, reserving particularly harsh words for one Congressman’s implication that food stamp recipients were defrauding the government. On Thursday, House Republicans voted to take the Supplementary Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), more commonly known as [...]/p

The 7 Craziest, Cruelest Right-Wing Statements from Just This Week | Alternet

The 7 Craziest, Cruelest Right-Wing Statements from Just This Week | Alternet
"It was a week of both stupid and cruel Republican tricks. Stupid in the beginning of the week when Florida Gov. Rick Scott led an effort to ban Internet cafes, and the bill was so poorly worded, it inadvertently banned all the state’s computers. Oops. Cruelty came later, when the Republican-led house successfully disentangled food stamp funding from the farm bill."

Boehner too weak to help party on immigration reform

Rand Paul's Confederacy Scandal Is Not an Anomaly -- Libertarianism Is a 'Philosophy' That Papers Over Deep Racism in America | Alternet

Rand Paul's Confederacy Scandal Is Not an Anomaly -- Libertarianism Is a 'Philosophy' That Papers Over Deep Racism in America | Alternet
"That’s because they’re libertarians and libertarianism is the velvet glove over the iron fist of racism."

From Binders Full of Women to Binders Full of Tampons Republicans Humiliate Themselves Again

www.politicususa.com/2013/07/12/binders-full-women-binders-full-tampons-republicans-humiliate.html
"Texas Republicans have been putting on a textbook study case on how to alienate women."

New Infographic: The Anti-Science Climate Denier Caucus

New Infographic: The Anti-Science Climate Denier Caucus: Manmade climate change is happening. One would think that with hundreds of climate-related natural disasters declared since 2011, and 97 percent of climate scientists in agreement, elected officials would follow the evidence. But a shocking number — 55 percent — of congressional Republicans refuse to accept it. Most states have at least one representative who [...]/p

Fracking: Causes Water Pollution, Global Warming, and now... 'Earthquake Swarms' | Common Dreams

Fracking: Causes Water Pollution, Global Warming, and now... 'Earthquake Swarms' | Common Dreams
"It's not news that gas drilling causes small, localized tremors around fracking sites, but new research presented by one of the top seismology labs in the world on Thursday shows how "swarms of minor earthquakes"—as Reuters reports—can lead to subsequent and larger ones with much more dire consequences."

Elizabeth Warren Introduces 21st Century Glass-Steagall Act

Elizabeth Warren Introduces 21st Century Glass-Steagall Act
"Reintroducing Glass-Steagall will make it so depositor’s money cannot be used for the derivatives market. This would be a major step toward restoring sanity to Wall Street."

See How Much Sequestration Is Hurting Communities Across The Country

See How Much Sequestration Is Hurting Communities Across The Country: The latest victims of sequestration, the automatic, across-the-board budget cuts that went into effect in March, were 650,000 civilian workers at the Department of Defense, who began experiencing furloughs on Monday. But already children have been kicked out of Head Start, the elderly are receiving fewer meals from Meals on Wheels, low-income families are losing [...]/p

President Running A Budget Surplus – GOP In A Panic As They Witness Election Hopes Evaporate

www.addictinginfo.org/2013/07/12/president-running-a-budget-surplus-gop-in-a-panic-as-they-witness-election-hopes-evaporate/
"Here comes the fiscal cliff fight again, with the GOP ready to take the nation hostage in order to hurt the middle class for their corporate overseas masters…. but wait a second, instead of running a budget deficit, the federal government is running… a surplus!! Queue up the horrified GOP leadership, who just lost their one trump card. Rather than facing the debt crisis with the next election over a year away, thanks to these budget surpluses, now the GOP is faced with the real problem of having the debt ceiling fight turned into a midterm election issue."

Read more: http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/07/12/president-running-a-budget-surplus-gop-in-a-panic-as-they-witness-election-hopes-evaporate/#ixzz2YrYcXyO1

Ken Cuccinelli is Trying to Hide the Same Corruption that is Destroying Bob McDonnell

www.politicususa.com/2013/07/12/criminal-corrpution-mcdonnell-spills-virginia-ag-ken-cuccinelli.html
"As Virginia Republican Governor Bob McDonnell tries to wheel and deal his way out of a felony conviction for corruption so brash, arrogant and ignorant it perfectly fits his moniker of “family values Republican”, the Attorney General he endorsed as the current gubernatorial candidate, Ken Cuccinelli (R), has been pretending it’s no biggie.
Well, it was no biggie until it looked like a federal grand jury was coming together and then all of the sudden, Virginia’s head lawyer suddenly wanted to take credit for the investigation into his boss."

The "Koch Club": New Report Details How the Brothers Spend the Big Bucks

The "Koch Club": New Report Details How the Brothers Spend the Big Bucks
"The report has more on lobbying, political giving and the shell game that allows the Koch's to hide some of their political spending. Read the full report here."

Swiss Banks Accused Of Aiding U.S. Tax Evasion Will Begin Cooperating

Swiss Banks Accused Of Aiding U.S. Tax Evasion Will Begin Cooperating: Swiss authorities have cleared the way for the country’s notoriously secretive banks to cooperate with U.S. tax evasion investigations. The banks still cannot provide client names under a government program that seeks to balance strict bank secrecy laws in Switzerland with U.S. interests. Instead, they may share other information on account activity that the investigators [...]/p

Koch brothers waging war against the poor...

Republicans Nix Food Stamps Because Starving People is Their Brand | Alternet

Republicans Nix Food Stamps Because Starving People is Their Brand | Alternet
"This is how they choose to be identified. They will bring the government to a halt to defend against any tax hikes on millionaires, or to fend off the closing of corporate tax shelters. They will vote in lockstep to take the sequester cuts entirely out of domestic programs -- education, clean water, pre-school -- in order to protect a Pentagon budget that remains the biggest source of waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government.

And they will lavish subsidies on agribusiness while throwing children and seniors off the bus."

Every Day, Low Wages | Economic Policy Institute

Every Day, Low Wages | Economic Policy Institute
"The truth is that Walmart is simply going to pay the lowest possible wages that it can get away with. Researchers at U.C. Berkeley calculated in 2011 that if every Walmart nationwide had a minimum wage of $12 per hour and passed the entire additional cost on to consumers—i.e., without taking anything out of Walmart’s profit margins—it would increase prices by a mere 1.1 percent, or $0.46 per shopping trip for the average Walmart shopper."

The antipathy gap

www.dailykos.com/story/2013/07/12/1223007/-The-antipathy-gap
"It's not a comforting thought that one of the two major parties refuses to treat the people in this country like human beings, but it's the truth. This isn't just an empathy gap anymore. This is an antipathy gap. And the antipathy is coming from one side, the Republican side, towards a big chunk of this country's residents."

Elizabeth Warren Vows To Break Up Big Banks With Major New Legislative Push

Elizabeth Warren Vows To Break Up Big Banks With Major New Legislative Push: A bipartisan group of Senators are proposing the “21st Century Glass-Steagall Act” in an effort to curb the power of big banks by reinstating a Depression-era rule that separated commercial and investment banking. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), John McCain (R-AZ), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), and Angus King (I-ME) proposed the bill on Thursday. Enacted during the [...]/p

House Republicans Punish Their Own States By Eliminating Food Stamp Program (CHART)

www.addictinginfo.org/2013/07/12/house-republicans-eliminating-food-stamp-program-chart/
"House Republicans callously eliminated the food stamp program known as SNAP when they passed the farm bill on Thursday. Rather than helping hungry families put food on the table, Republicans were absolutely fine with giving millions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies to corporate agriculture. Essentially, the GOP said “we are giving money to corporations that produce food” and in the same breath said “too bad you won’t get to eat any of it, struggling American citizens"."

Read more: http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/07/12/house-republicans-eliminating-food-stamp-program-chart/#ixzz2YqUtNwDg

Boston’s 10,000 Undocumented Irish Wait For Immigration Reform

Boston’s 10,000 Undocumented Irish Wait For Immigration Reform: Latinos are indisputably the most visible faces of the current immigration debate; after all, the vast majority of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. were born in Mexico. But one community coming out of the shadows to fight for immigration reform highlights the diversity of the undocumented rights movement. Niall O’Dowd of the Irish Lobby For [...]/p

Democrats Release Spanish Ads Attacking House Republicans On Immigration Votes

Democrats Release Spanish Ads Attacking House Republicans On Immigration Votes: Pro-immigration attack ads in Spanish will start to pop up in targeted Republican districts next Monday. The ads, paid for by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), is the latest sign that Republicans are losing the battle for Latino voters. The ads criticize House Republicans for “betraying” the Latino community last month when they voted [...]/p

Republicans Abandon Millions Of Hungry Americans With Stripped-Down Farm Bill

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

July 12 News: Record Heat Waves, Sea Level Rise, Superstorms And Wildfires Endanger Electric Grid

July 12 News: Record Heat Waves, Sea Level Rise, Superstorms And Wildfires Endanger Electric Grid: The Department of Energy, which released a study Thursday warning of increased blackouts and energy disruptions in a warming world, is launching a new effort to push investors, regulators and utilities to prepare for extreme weather. [USA Today, The Hill] U.S. energy supplies will likely face more severe disruptions because of climate change and extreme [...]/p

With Glass-Steagall Revival, A Call to Bust Up the Megabanks | Common Dreams

With Glass-Steagall Revival, A Call to Bust Up the Megabanks | Common Dreams
"US Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and others on Thursday introduced a new bill that revives the call to bust up the nation's largest banks and financial institutions by once again demanding a separation between the traditional banking practices of savings and loans from the far more riskier behavior taken on by large investment, complex trading, and hedge fund operations."

A Crash Course in Economics

CEO Pay Went Up 16% Last Year -- How Much Did Your Pay Go Up? | Alternet

CEO Pay Went Up 16% Last Year -- How Much Did Your Pay Go Up? | Alternet
"Congratulations CEOs! You've been having a great time of it. Salaries are up, and up in a major way. The Economic Policy Institute says you brought home an average $14.1m in 2012. The New York Times, looking at slightly different numbers, claims the news is even better, saying the median number is $15.1m. That's a 16% increase in one year.

As for the rest of us … well, about that. The money for our bosses has to come from somewhere, doesn't it? Here's one place it likely originated: us. According to the Department of Labor Statistics, hourly wages plunged by a record-breaking 3.8% in the first quarter of 2013."

This Year’s Best-Kept Secret: The Next Generation of Community Radio | Common Dreams

This Year’s Best-Kept Secret: The Next Generation of Community Radio | Common Dreams
"A microphone and a radio transmitter in the hands of a community organizer imparts power, which some liken to the life-changing impact when humans first tamed fire. That’s why the prospect of 1,000 new community radio stations in the United States, for which the Federal Communications Commission will accept applications this October, is so vital and urgent"

Sen. Bernie Sanders: College Loans

Lying In The Confirmation Process & Beyond: John Roberts, Pt. 1

Lying In The Confirmation Process & Beyond: John Roberts, Pt. 1
"Not only was Roberts hiding an extremist conservative activist agenda, however, he did so by swimming in a veritable ocean of deceptive postures and narrative practices churned out by the right over the past several decades. What's more, he was not simply lying in order to get onto the Court, he was actually promoting a newsort of conservative lie, which has become increasingly important in the actual practice of conservative jurisprudence on the Court."

Lying In The Confirmation Process & Beyond: John Roberts, Pt. 2

Lying In The Confirmation Process & Beyond: John Roberts, Pt. 2
"The Roberts Court has begun the process of normalizing lawlessness—seen most blatantly in Citizens United, and most recently in Shelby County v. Holder. To understand how and why this is so, we turn to the analysis of pre-eminent legal scholar Ronald Dworkin in the New York Review of Books, ““Judge Roberts on Trial”, written after the conclusion of the confirmation hearings."

Woman BLASTS Anti-Choice, Anti-Science Lawmakers in Texas

‘Death By Zip Code’: Health Disparities Between Rich And Poor Areas Are Only Getting Worse

‘Death By Zip Code’: Health Disparities Between Rich And Poor Areas Are Only Getting Worse: On Tuesday, a new report revealed that Americans are in “mediocre” health, and the United States has significantly worse health outcomes than other wealthy countries. But in addition to the gap between the U.S. and other developed nations, the new research also documented the widening gulf between different areas of this country — and the [...]/p

Fracking and Drinking Water Map: This Map Shows Where You Shouldn’t Drink Tap Water in the USA

Fracking and Drinking Water Map: This Map Shows Where You Shouldn’t Drink Tap Water in the USA: Fracking For Natural Gas is turning the beautiful america into a toxic hell!
On this map you can retrieve two types of information: the US rivers in blue and the fracking ...

The Mean Team Piles on Jobless Americans | Common Dreams

The Mean Team Piles on Jobless Americans | Common Dreams
"far-out right-wing ideologues all across the country who're pumping up Team GOP to pound the bejeezus out of America's millions of unemployed workers. Far from a game, this is real, and it's a moral abomination."

Wal-Mart...pay a living wage or get out!

Lagging minimum wage is one reason why most Americans’ wages have fallen behind productivity | Economic Policy Institute

Lagging minimum wage is one reason why most Americans’ wages have fallen behind productivity | Economic Policy Institute
"what the minimum wage would be if it had kept pace with productivity growth since 1968"

Absurd: Billionaire Koch Brother Claims Eliminating Minimum Wage Would Help the Poor | Alternet

Absurd: Billionaire Koch Brother Claims Eliminating Minimum Wage Would Help the Poor | Alternet
"Unless you've been living under a rock or are a subscriber of the Witchita Eagle, the United States' rampant problem of income equality is considered common knowledge, with the stagnation of the country's minimum wage as a major factor in a discrepancy between what people earn and how much they need to live."

Bringing Back Jim Crow

www.consortiumnews.com/2013/07/10/bringing-back-jim-crow/
"As the United States edges toward a second Jim Crow era – with right-wing whites seeking to “take our country back” via Supreme Court rulings and voter suppression against black and brown Americans – there is an urgent need to reexamine U.S. history and remove the pro-racist distortions that have been implanted by white supremacists for more than two centuries."

PERRspectives: Rand Paul and the GOP's Confederacy of Dunces

PERRspectives: Rand Paul and the GOP's Confederacy of Dunces
"Republican 2016 White House hopeful Rand Paul is just the latest example. This week, Americans learned that the foe of the 1964 Civil Rights Act employs a neo-Confederate staffer who, among other things, praised the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. As it turns out, Paul's self-proclaimed "Southern Avenger" Jack Hunter has plenty of company when it comes to trafficking in casual racism and antebellum nostalgia. One hundred and fifty years after the Emancipation Proclamation, the whitewashing of slavery, the resurrection of the "Lost Cause," the championing of states' rights and the endorsement of nullification and secession are sadly all too common in the Party of Lincoln."

TX Anti-Abortion Representative Tried To Kick Pregnant Women, Kids Off CHIP

TX Anti-Abortion Representative Tried To Kick Pregnant Women, Kids Off CHIP
"Now look at this video of Texas state Rep. Jodie Laubenberg, the same shameless shill who insisted raped women wouldn't get pregnant because the rape kit "cleaned them out"."

GOP Gubernatorial Candidate: Health Insurance Shouldn’t Cover Doctors’ Visits

GOP Gubernatorial Candidate: Health Insurance Shouldn’t Cover Doctors’ Visits: During a policy breakfast for the Loudon County Chamber of Commerce in Virginia, state attorney general and gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli (R-VA) compared health care coverage to car insurance, and argued that insurance plans shouldn’t cover routine care such as doctors’ visits. According to an account of the meeting in the Ashburn Patch, Cuccinelli claimed [...]/p

11 Big Myths About the Economy That Are Destroying America | Alternet

11 Big Myths About the Economy That Are Destroying America | Alternet
"Forget the dumbed-down garbage most economists spew. Their myths are causing tragic results for everyday Americans."

McDonnell Gift Scandal Could Engulf Cuccinelli As Well

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Rand Paul's Opposition to the Civil Rights Act Beginning to Make More Sense

Rand Paul's Opposition to the Civil Rights Act Beginning to Make More Sense
"For those keeping score at home, the League of the South is a hate group."

Why the Revival of US Labor Might Start with Nonunion Workers

Why the Revival of US Labor Might Start with Nonunion Workers
" FixMyJob.com is a bit like WebMD, but instead of typing in your aches and pains, you tell it about problems at your workplace. Launched on June 5, the site has already garnered 5,000 visitors, according to Working America organizer Chris Stergalas."

David Gregory Falsely Claims All American Workers Will See Medicare Tax Increase

David Gregory Falsely Claims All American Workers Will See Medicare Tax Increase
"As we've already discussed around here, David Gregory was never too fond of the idea of some fact checking being done so that viewers would know how many whoppers he was allowing his guests to get away with. On this Sunday's Meet the Press, forget the guests -- it was Gregory himself who needed the fact checker."

Sen. Bernie Sanders Stands Up For Students Facing Incredible Debt Burden

Sen. Bernie Sanders Stands Up For Students Facing Incredible Debt Burden
"Good for Sen. Bernie Sanders for not wanting to balance our budget on the backs of those who can least afford it -- our college students -- who are going to see their loan rates skyrocket if Congress fails to act quickly."

Rick Scott Proves His Incompetence Yet Again, Accidentally Bans All Computers in Florida

www.forwardprogressives.com/2013/07/09/rick-scott-proves-his-incompetence-yet-again-accidentally-bans-all-computers-in-florida.html
"Before he was even elected Governor of Florida, the man was CEO of a company which was convicted of defrauding Medicare.  It’s absolutely mind-boggling — Florida elected a man who was in charge of a company which was scamming the government, and costing the taxpayershundreds of millions of dollars."

Racist Streak Exposed In Republican Immigration Reform Debate

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Consumer Regulatory Agency Takes On Debt Collectors

Consumer Regulatory Agency Takes On Debt Collectors: The consumer agency created by the Dodd-Frank financial reform law is asserting authority over debt collection actions by large banks. A post on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) blog Wednesday laid out the agency’s new effort to guard against abusive and deceptive practices involving consumer debt. In addition to opening their consumer complaints hotline [...]/p

Billionaire Koch Brother Says Eliminating The Minimum Wage Will Help The Poor

Billionaire Koch Brother Says Eliminating The Minimum Wage Will Help The Poor: A conservative mogul worth $25 billion says he knows the secret to helping poor people. According to Charles Koch, the U.S. needs to get rid of the minimum wage, which he counts as a major obstacle to economic growth. On Wednesday, the Charles Koch Foundation launched a $200,000 media campaign in Wichita, Kansas, with a [...]/p

Justice Denied: 71 ALEC Bills in 2013 Make It Harder to Hold Corporations Accountable for Causing Injury or Death

Justice Denied: 71 ALEC Bills in 2013 Make It Harder to Hold Corporations Accountable for Causing Injury or Death
"At least 71 bills introduced in 2013 that make it harder for average Americans to access the civil justice system resemble "models" from the American Legislative Exchange Council, or "ALEC," according to an analysis by the Center for Media and Democracy, publishers of ALECexposed.org."

Pesticide Use Spikes as GMO Failure Cripples Corn Belt | Common Dreams

Pesticide Use Spikes as GMO Failure Cripples Corn Belt | Common Dreams
"Pesticide use is skyrocketing across the Midwestern U.S. corn belt, as biotech companies like Syngenta and AMVAC Chemical watch their pesticide sales spike 50 to 100 percent over the past two years, NPR reported Tuesday.
The culprit? Bt corn—a type of genetically engineered corn with insecticide built into its genes."

Republicans Want Deeper Cuts For Domestic Programs To Finance More Defense Spending

Republicans Want Deeper Cuts For Domestic Programs To Finance More Defense Spending: House Republicans on the Appropriations Committee released a budget plan on Tuesday that would increase sequestration cuts to many agencies while handing more money to the defense side of the ledger. The cuts would reduce funding for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and other financial agencies by $3 billion, cut NASA’s budget by $928 million [...]/p

Walmart Threatens To Shut Down Stores If DC Passes Living Wage Bill

Walmart Threatens To Shut Down Stores If DC Passes Living Wage Bill: Walmart fought hard to persuade DC residents to let it open stores in the district. But now the retail giant is threatening to walk away from three planned sites if the DC City Council passes a “living wage” bill that would require all major employers to pay workers a minimum of $12.50 an hour. Walmart [...]/p

Meet the Elites Inside the $4 Trillion Global Powerhouse Bank of JP Morgan Chase | Alternet

Meet the Elites Inside the $4 Trillion Global Powerhouse Bank of JP Morgan Chase | Alternet
"JP Morgan Chase is one of the most powerful banks in the world, embedded within a transnational network of elite institutions and individuals."

Rand Paul And 'The Southern Avenger'

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

PERRspectives: Blue States Should Get a Refund Under Roberts' "Equal Sovereignty" Doctrine

PERRspectives: Blue States Should Get a Refund Under Roberts' "Equal Sovereignty" Doctrine
"Eight of the top 10 beneficiaries of federal largesse voted for John McCain and Mitt Romney for President. Unsurprisingly, all 15 states at the bottom of the list--those whose outflow of tax revenue is funding programs elsewhere in the country--all voted for Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012."

Moral Mondays: 'Ever Stronger Opposition' Grows in Face of GOP Attack | Common Dreams

Moral Mondays: 'Ever Stronger Opposition' Grows in Face of GOP Attack | Common Dreams
"Almost 4,000 North Carolinians stormed the state house Monday demonstrating that, despite repeated attacks by the GOP-led legislature, the opposition is growing 'ever fiercer and stronger.'
Marking the tenth "Moral Monday" action, participants rallied in the capital against an anti-choice abortion law that passed the state Senate last week in a GOP 'sneak attack' on reproductive rights."

GOP Demands Adoption of Ryan Budget as Debt Ceiling Ransom

GOP Demands Adoption of Ryan Budget as Debt Ceiling Ransom
"despite plummeting annual federal budget deficits, a stabilization of the debt as a percentage of the U.S. economy and his own admission that default would produce "a financial disaster, not only for our country but for the worldwide economy," Speaker John Boehner and his House GOP allies are once again planning to hold the once-routine debt ceiling increase hostage. Their price this time? Enacting large parts of the Ryan GOP budget repeatedly rejected by the Senate, the President--and the voters."

Why We Have a "Do Nothing" Congress

300 Anti-Choice Bills in 1 Year? 5 Things You Need to Know About the Right's Unprecedented War on Women | Alternet

300 Anti-Choice Bills in 1 Year? 5 Things You Need to Know About the Right's Unprecedented War on Women | Alternet
"As state legislatures debate 300 new bills to further restrict women's constitutional right to legal and safe abortions, media should know that abortion is already restricted in the U.S. at unprecedented levels, that experts say it is medically unnecessary to require clinics to obtain hospital admitting privileges and adopt surgical center standards, and that limited access to abortions severely harms low-income women."

Sequestration Slashes Programs That Help The Unemployed Find Jobs

Sequestration Slashes Programs That Help The Unemployed Find Jobs: Even with unemployment remaining stubbornly high, programs that help workers gain the support and skills they need to get new jobs are bracing for severe cuts thanks to sequestration. A report released on Tuesday from the National Skills Coalition (NSC) found that workforce training and support programs, which have already dealt with drastic cuts to [...]/p