OBAMA’S NEW TAX PLAN WOULD SLASH CORPORATE RATES BY UP TO 10 PERCENT. (New York Times) Seeking to beat potential Republican vials to the fore of the “tax debate,” President Obama on Wednesday announced sweeping proposals for overhauling the nation’s corporate tax code. Currently sitting at a listed rate of 35 percent, the White House [...]
At a pace much faster than anyone could have projected, the landscape of campaign finance in American politics has undergone a dramatic transformation to a point where deregulated outside groups hold a distinct advantage over individual campaign war chests. The monumental presidential contest of 2012 appears to be the dawn of the super-PAC age in [...]
PAYNES PRAIRIE IS NOT VERY COMPANIONABLE TO BUFFALO ROAMING THEREON. (Gainesville Sun) Local “cowboys” begin a long talked-about process of thinning the herd of about 70 bison who roam the state preserve of Paynes Prairie just south of Gainesville, Florida (coincidentally the locale of a fog-induced disastrous traffic pile-up 3 weeks ago—an event which no [...]
A QUIVERFULL OF KIDS: DON’T LAUGH, THE “CULT” OF ANTI-CONTRACEPTION MAY BECOME POLITICALLY MAINSTREAM. (In These Times) “Quiverfull” is a movement promoting an agenda of couples having multiple children under an ideological flag of patriarchal domination. It is depicted on a Learning Channel show called “19 Kids and Counting,” a couple who are literally expecting [...]
From presidential politics to the halls of Congress to state legislatures across the nation, scores of lawmakers and politicians have made the curious decision to launch an assault on women’s rights. Despite an incumbent president vulnerable thanks to persistent economic worries and states faced with ills ranging from budget deficits to foreclosure crises, America’s current [...]
“COCAINE, DEATH SQUADS AND THE WAR ON TERROR: U.S. IMPERIALISM AND THE CLASS STRUGGLE IN COLOMBIA.” (Counterpunch) Daniel Kovalik reviews a recent book of this title that makes the case that the “war on drugs” in Colombia is not as advertised to the public an attempt to eradicate the cocaine trade of the country but [...]
IN SOUTH AFRICA, THE FREEDOM CHARTER IS A DEAD LETTER (BUT NOT TO WORRY, NELSON MANDELA’S PICTURE IS ON THE NEW SOUTH AFRICAN CURRENCY.) (Black Agenda Report) The current President of South Africa, of the revolutionary ANC party, makes it clear that nationalization of the mining industry, as pledged in the 1950s-era Freedom Charter of [...]
PORTUGAL: WHAT HAPPENS WHEN AUSTERITY DOESN’T WORK… (New York Times) Greece is in flames, with hundreds of thousands of citizens taking to the streets and clashing with authorities over more mandated austerity measures that bankers and financiers claim are a vital step on the path to economic recovery for Europe. Greece is in bad shape, [...]
Monday featured two landmark occasions in the struggle for marriage equality, more evidence that the tide of public and political opinion is turning on the issue. But historic advances in gay rights in individual states are often tempered by greater restrictions elsewhere, as was the case this week, and it will likely remain the pattern [...]
TWO VARIETIES OF U.S. REACTION TO “ARAB SPRING”: SUPPORT OPPOSITION FORCES AGAINST “BRUTAL OPPRESSION” IN SYRIA; HELP THE BAHRAINI REGIME “DIFFUSE TENSION” BY SUPPRESSING ITS HOMEGROWN OPPOSITION. (Asia Times) Pepe Escobar explores this apparent cognitive dissonance between U.S. and Western powers’ divergent reactions to events in Bahrain and Syria. A year after a genuine expression [...]
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