The New Robber Barons: All Politicians "In the Hands of the Super Wealthy," Sachs Says

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Posted Mar 16, 2011 08:00am EDT by Aaron Task - Yahoo! Finance

The cataclysm in Japan pushed it off the front page, but last Friday was a landmark day in America as Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker signed into law a controversial bill restricting the collective bargaining rights of public sector unions.
There's been a lot of talk, here and elsewhere, about whether the standoff in Wisconsin was about pure economics or partisan politics. (See: Wisconsin Lt. Gov: This Is About Balancing the Budget, Not Political Payback)

"It's pretty clear there's an agenda nationwide: Republican governors backed by the Koch Brothers [and] extreme right wing money want to crush the unions," says Columbia Professor Jeffrey Sachs. "The public is against it, but public opinion doesn't count much in this country these days." (Editor's note: The Koch Brothers have denied our repeated requests for an interview.)

But Sachs says the "real story" is much bigger than Wisconsin: It's about stagnant wages of public and private sector workers alike, and the increasing and increasingly pernicious role of big money in politics.

The following statistics speak to Sachs' first point:

Since 1973, the median take home pay of full-time workers is virtually unchanged on an inflation-adjusted basis.
The top 11,000 households in America have more income than the bottom 25 million.
Since 1976, 58% of real income growth has gone to the top 1% of Americans.
"We've reached the greatest income [and] wealth inequality in history," Sachs says. "This is a new ‘Robber Baron' era, of course."

And just like the titans of industry in 19th century America, "the people at the top buy the politicians," he laments. "All of them - all parties. Everyone is in the hands of the super wealthy." (See: D.C. Disconnect: Congress Represents Big Interests, Not YOUR Interests, Sachs Says)

Decrying a "shocking game that got out of hand," Sachs notes President Obama is seeking to raise $1 billion for his presumed reelection bid. "He's not going to get it from poor people, he's going to get it from rich people," Sachs says. "So when push comes to shove and rich people say ‘we want our taxes cut', that's what happened."

Link:
Video at link

NASA scientist finds evidence of alien life !

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- Andrew Couts Andrew Couts – Sat Mar 5, 5:28 pm ET

Aliens exist, and we have proof.

That astonishingly awesome claim comes from Dr. Richard B. Hoover, an astrobiologist at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, who says he has found conclusive evidence of alien life — fossils of bacteria found in an extremely rare class of meteorite called CI1 carbonaceous chondrites. (There are only nine such meteorites on planet Earth.) Hoover’s findings were published late Friday night in the Journal of Cosmology, a peer-reviewed scientific journal.

“I interpret it as indicating that life is more broadly distributed than restricted strictly to the planet earth,” Hoover, who has spent more than 10 years studying meteorites around the world, told FoxNews.com in an interview. “This field of study has just barely been touched — because quite frankly, a great many scientist would say that this is impossible.”

Hoover discovered the fossils by breaking apart the CI1 meteorite, and analyzing the exposed rock with a scanning-electron microscope and a field emission electron-scanning microscope, which allowed him to detect any fossil remains. What he found were fossils of micro-organisms (pictured below), many of which he says are strikingly similar to those found on our own planet (pictured above).

“The exciting thing is that they are in many cases recognizable and can be associated very closely with the generic species here on earth,” said Hoover. Some of the fossils, however, are quite odd. “There are some that are just very strange and don’t look like anything that I’ve been able to identify, and I’ve shown them to many other experts that have also come up stump.”

In order to satisfy the inevitable hoard of buzz-killing skeptics, Hoover’s study and evidence were made available to his peers in the scientific community in advance of the study’s publications, giving them a chance to thoroughly dissect his findings. Comments from those who decided to sift through the evidence will be published online, alongside the study.

“Given the controversial nature of his discovery, we have invited 100 experts and have issued a general invitation to over 5,000 scientists from the scientific community to review the paper and to offer their critical analysis,” writes Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics scientist Dr. Rudy Schild, who serves as the Journal of Cosmology’s editor-in-chief. “No other paper in the history of science has undergone such a thorough vetting, and never before in the history of science has the scientific community been given the opportunity to critically analyze an important research paper before it is published.”

Needless to say, if Hoover’s conclusions are found to be accurate, the implications for human life will be staggering. Here’s hoping that he’s right.

Update: While the Journal of Cosmology says that “no other paper in the history of science has undergone such a thorough vetting,” some highly respected names in the scientific community are challenging the validity of Cosmology, and the findings of Dr. Hoover.

“[The Journal of Cosmology] isn’t a real science journal at all,”
says PZ Meyers in Science Blogs, “but is the ginned-up website of a small group of crank academics obsessed with the idea of Hoyle and Wickramasinghe that life originated in outer space and simply rained down on Earth.”

So there you have it — this is either reality-altering news, or the work of kooks. Our hearts believe, but our brains are kind of bummed.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/digitaltrends/nasascientistfindsevidenceofalienlife

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More Rethug Hypocrisy !

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The Teabaggers have more Astro-Turf than The NFL..

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Gov. Walker's Wisconsin 'Union Busting' Exposes 'Tea Party' Scam, Duped Americans

Time for those formerly hoaxed by duplicitious corporate schemes to wake-up and smell what billionaire sociopaths are shoveling..

Link:
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=8368



From the BradBlog.com

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w/t ToniD.. :)

Protests in Madison,Wis..Today..

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Mobile video from Madison



http://qik.com/video/38025087

*Fighting The Good Fight !
Keep up the great work..
Thank you,all ! :)

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Politics - Death of the Liberal Class

Chris Hedges

About the Program - BOOKTV

Chris Hedges, fellow at the Nation Institute, argues that America's liberal class has collapsed and with it the citizenry's protection against what the author deems, the "corporate state." Mr. Hedges contends that the liberal class, which includes universities, labor movements, the press, the Democratic Party, and liberal religious groups, has been gradually corrupted by corporate entities. He believes that without the existence of a liberal class there will no longer be checks and balances against corporate interests. Chris Hedges discusses his book at Powell's Books in Portland, Oregon.

About the Authors
Chris Hedges

Chris Hedges is the author of several books, including War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning and Empire of Illusions. A former foreign correspondent for The New York Times, he is currently a fellow of The Nation Institute.

http://www.booktv.org/Program/12062/Death+of+the+Liberal+Class.aspx


Buy the author's book from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Indiebound

Program Information

(Watch This Program)
http://www.booktv.org/Watch/12062/Death+of+the+Liberal+Class.aspx

Koch Connections..Corporate Fascism Anyone ?

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Koch,What a Huge Wingnuted Douche ..

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Thanks, www.bartcop.com/

Marc Maron interview from a while back..

Crank Bait says:

*A really good post over at BlueRootsRadio.com
by Crank Bait..

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The demonstrations in Egypt have captured and held my interest since their inception. Today I wondered why.

Sure, it is current events and falls squarely in the wheelhouse of political geekdom, so there’s no surprise there. The Arab/Persian world is the new Evil Empire according to people on my right, so I feel a certain obligation to pay attention to any news from the eastern Mediterranean to Afghanistan, but my fascination goes beyond Mideast affairs.

It’s simply this: The many are making changes without guidance from a few.

Ten days of demonstrations in Egypt is the exception to the rule that cats can’t be herded. Even better, they don’t need a shepherd. Egyptians are doing what all of us wish we could do to oppose corporate powers. Egyptians are doing what all of us wish we could do to oppose political nonsense. Egyptians are doing what all of us wish we could do to oppose stupid wars.

And they have agreed amongst themselves to do it peacefully. They have attacked an unwanted system by using the most righteous weapons possible: Numbers and publicity and determination.

That’s the key fascination for me. Egyptians are turning their frustrations into something tangible and effective. My frustrations simmer. My frustrations are expressed in a voting booth, or with a phone call or email, or by trying to explain complexities to someone who is poorly informed or apathetic or both. None of it is tangible or effective. Tomorrow I will be as frustrated as I am today. I am one voice howling at the moon.

But numbers, ah, numbers…with numbers demonstrating for days on end, something happens. It might not be a “better” something but it will be a something of their own doing…without instruction from above.

*The recent events in Egypt are an example of what rarely happens yet what everyone wishes would happen more often:

The few openly confronted by the unyielding many. No blood lust. No threats beyond “We will all stay right here, as a unified group, until you go away.”
My fascination is constructed of my own frustration and cynicism.

“Yes, Virginia, there IS a Santa Claus.” …and he lives in Egypt.
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Thank you Crank Bait! - ToniD

http://bluerootsradio.com/?p=5448

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http://fuckconservatives.wordpress.com/

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