Chris Hedges on "Empire of Illusion"

Celebrity worship banishes reality.  And this adulation is pervasive.  It is dressed up in the language of the Christian Right, which builds around its leaders, people like Pat Robertson or Joel Olsteen, the aura of stardom, fame and celebrity power.  These Christian celebrities travel in private jets and limousines.  They are surrounded by retinues of bodyguards, have television programs where they cultivate the same false intimacy with the audience, and, like all successful celebrities, amass personal fortunes.

http://www.amazon.com/Empire-Illusion-Literacy-Triumph-Spectacle/dp/1568584377

Socialism for the rich; capitalism for the poor

"Behold the hypocrisy. The free marketeers have spent the past two decades preaching against the evils of state intervention, the dead hand of government, the need to roll back the frontiers, and so on. Yet what happens when these buccaneers of unfettered capitalism run into trouble? They go running to the nanny state they so deplore, sob into her lap and beg for help."

Jonathan Freedland in The Guardian, Wednesday 23 January 2008
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/jan/23/economy.politics



http://neilclark66.blogspot.com/2008/01/socialism-for-rich-capitalism-for-poor.html

George Carlin: The American Dream

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acLW1vFO-2Q

Adam Smith in His Time and Ours

[Adam Smith] "regarded the attempt to explain all human behavior on the basis of self-interest as analytically misguided and morally reprehensible. ... he took from the civic republican tradition the need for the virtuous man to concern himself with the common good."


http://www.amazon.com/Adam-Smith-His-Time-Ours/dp/0691001618/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1292471538&sr=1-1

Payroll Tax Cut Opens Door to Republicans Attacks on Social Security

President Obama should be commended for fighting to include additional tax cuts for working Americans during negotiations with congressional Republicans over the approaching expiration of the Bush tax cuts. Giving struggling American families extra spending money will provide our economy with a desperately needed boost.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-ted-deutch/payroll-tax-cut-opens-doo_b_796558.html

Socialism for the Rich: Socialism for the rich!

Socialism for the Rich: Socialism for the rich!:

A deal President Obama struck with Republican leaderslast week will extend tax cuts across the board including, controversially, to the richest Americans. 

Socialism for the rich!

A deal President Obama struck with Republican leaders last week will extend tax cuts across the board including, controversially, to the richest Americans.

Some politicians argue that religious values should be reflected in the public square. Should this faith-based view of politics be applied to the economy? Jesus said, "Whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.

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Mr. Sanders Goes to Washington

This guy is awesome!

The Other 98% would like to give a heartfelt ‘right on!’ to Mr. Bernie Sanders, Independent from Vermont.
Bernie Sanders is filibustering the deal to extend the Bush Tax Cuts for Billionaires. He’s an Independent, and clearly not beholden to campaign contributions from the Top 2%.
America would be better served if more of our politicians had such conviction of spirit.
And a big ‘hell yeah’ to Sherrod Brown and Sen Mary Landrieu for helping him out down there.

Click here to watch it going down live!

Transgender woman says DMV clerk warned of hell

A few days after Amber Yust visited the Department of Motor Vehicles in San Francisco to register her sex change from male to female, she got a letter at home from the DMV employee who had handled her application.

Homosexual acts, he informed her, were "an abomination that leads to hell."

Free Julian Assange.

Free Julian Assange. Call, fax or e-mail the Swedish Ambassador. Embassy of Sweden 2900 K Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20007
Phone: +1 (202) 467-2600 Fax: +1 (202) 467-2699. Main Embassy email:
ambassaden.washington@foreign.ministry.se

The Real Ronald Reagan, as Portrayed by Phil Hartman