After a brief show of disapproval, the House went along with the Senate to extend George W. Bush’s gift to the yachting community for another two years. President Obama negotiated the compromise, which will add $858 billion to the deficit, thanks in part to generous give aways to rich Americans—and not just those who are living. The estate tax took a beating in this deal, leaving the first $10 million of grandpa Warbucks’ wealth untouched and taxing the rest at a lower rate than Democrats had wanted.
Continue reading …By David Sirota During the recent fight over extending unemployment benefits, conservatives trotted out the shibboleth that says the program fosters sloth. Related Entries December 16, 2010 Half of Californians Can’t Afford Their Homes December 15, 2010 Labels Aren’t the Problem
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The holiday season is in full swing, as evidenced by such familiar signs as relentless media-enabled appeals to base consumer urges, assorted gatherings of people who may or may not be happy to be in each others’ presence, candles, gifts, and in the online world, listicles. Related Entries December 16, 2010 Half of Californians Can’t Afford Their Homes December 15, 2010 Labels Aren’t the Problem
Continue reading …Lefties Attack Time Editor for ‘Gutless’ Move to Pick Facebook Founder Over Assange
December 17, 2010 No Comment
Michael Calderone at The Cutline blog at Yahoo! devoted a post to controversy on the Left over why radical WikiLeaks mastermind Julian Assange wasn't Time's Person of the Year. (Lefties have insisted conservatives could win since they're an evil force like Hitler , but Assange somehow isn't put in the Bad Guy camp, or even the Egomaniac camp. ) But Calderone picked a long-time Newsweek contributor to diss Time, without really noting the professional tie: In picking a less-controversial figure, Stengel ended up creating a controversy. Slate Group editor-in-chief Jacob Weisberg, for one, said [in a Tweet] it was “gutless of Time not to name Assange.” Stengel, who had an exclusive Skype interview with Assange a few weeks ago, said he considered the WikiLeaks chief and, indeed, did select him as a runner-up for 2010. Assange, he acknowledges, has “had a big year.” But in Stengel's view, Assange's actions in 2010 will not have the long-term impact of Zuckerberg's. “I think Assange will be a footnote five years from now,” Stengel said. read more
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By Mr. Fish Related Entries December 16, 2010 Trendy French Straights Have Co-Opted Civil Unions December 15, 2010 Army of Fun
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By Mike Luckovich Related Entries December 16, 2010 Trendy French Straights Have Co-Opted Civil Unions December 15, 2010 Army of Fun
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By Eugene Robinson The good news is that President Obama’s strategy in Afghanistan is “on track.” The bad news is that the track runs in a circle. Related Entries December 16, 2010 Everything Is Negotiable, Except Nature December 16, 2010 An Afghan War Refresher With President Obama
Continue reading …Mr. Blue Pill goes on another hate-speech rant as he usually does and attacks his usual targets, Pelosi and Reid. Maybe, he continued, the U.S. is fighting the wrong enemy: “It could well be, ladies and gentlemen, that we’re fighting the wrong enemy in the Middle East. Maybe the real terrorists that we face are on Capitol Hill. I mean, really, who’s doing as good a job to undermine what this country stands for as the terrorists? ‘Dingy’ Harry, Nancy Pelosi. I mean, look, if they call us ‘hostage takers’ and ‘gangsters,’ then why can’t we call them what they are? They are terrorists. They certainly seem suicidal. Look at what they’re doing. Look at what they did. They knew they were going to get shellacked in this election and they did it! They knew they were gonna lose. And they want to take us with them.” I don’t care if he uses Mob related analogies, but calling members of Congress “terrorists” and constantly playing up the race card is way out there. I know Al Sharpton is breathing down on Limbaugh’s neck for his outwardly racist comments, but the FCC is as feckless a body as there is. I’m glad this is driving right wingers nuts because it doesn’t take much to tweak them. When Rush plays the race card he takes this country back 60 years in race relations within the US and that’s a very dangerous proposition. Hey, he loves to party like it’s 1909, but there weren’t any blue pills back then to keep up his stamina. Rush Limbaugh could see a deal with prosecutors in a long-running prescription fraud case collapse after authorities found a bottle of Viagra in his bag at Palm Beach International Airport. The prescription was not in his name. I don’t know of anyone that has fraudulent scripts written for Viagra, but that goes to the character of the man.
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Click here to view this media Julian Assange, founder of secrets website WikiLeaks, was released on bail in London Thursday evening. Authorities had held the former hacker in Wandsworth prison since Dec. 7 when he was detained on sex assault charges. “It’s great to smell the fresh air of London again,” he told reporters as he left the jail. Assange thanked his supporters around the world, his lawyers and members of the press who were not “all taken in and considered to look deeper in their work.” He also thanked the British justice system. “If justice is not always an outcome, at least, it is not dead yet,” he said. “During my time in solitary confinement in the bottom of Victorian prison, I had time to reflect on the conditions of those people around the world who also are also in solitary confinement, also on remand in conditions more difficult that those faced by me,” he told his supporters and members of the press. “Those people also need your attention and support.” “And with that, I hope to continue my work and continue to protest my innocence in this matter and to reveal, as we get it, which we have not yet, the evidence from these allegations. Thank you,” Assange concluded without taking any questions.
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Californians are more burdened by housing costs than are residents of any other state, an analysis of new census data shows. More than half of the state's homeowners with a mortgage – 51.4 percent – spend more than 30 percent of their monthly income on housing costs, according to 2005-2009 estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey. Renters in California are in the same boat, with 51.8 percent spending more than 30 percent of their income on rent and utilities. The 30 percent threshold for housing costs has long been a conventional marker of affordability [PDF] . The estimates , released Tuesday, show that housing costs exceed 30 percent for 36.7 percent of mortgaged owners and 46.2 percent of renters
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