Clinton Richard Dawkins, Ph.D., (born 26 March 1941)
Ethologist, Evolutionary Biologist, Author, and Outspoken Atheist
The mere fact that you can ask a question in the English language doesn’t make it a question that deserves an answer.
Is Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly a closet supporter of Occupy Wall Street, the anti-establishment protest group that has been camped out in the financial district for the past week and a half? That’s what it’s looking like . . .
Over the past couple of days, the protesters, who are occupying Zuccotti Park, between Broadway and Trinity Place, have garnered headlines as far afield as London, Athens, and Jerusalem, as well the support of Michael Moore, Susan Sarandon, Cornel West, and Noam Chomsky . . .
On its regularly updated Web site, OccupyWallStreet.org, the group describes itself as “a leaderless resistance movement with people of many colors, genders and political persuasions,” likens itself to anti-government protesters in Egypt, Spain, and other places, and adds, “We plan to use the revolutionary Arab Spring tactic of mass occupation to restore democracy in America.”
Read more . . .
A few days ago, Betsy, a trained librarian who lives in Brooklyn, came to the protest for the first time and found a short stack of books lying on the ground where everyone was camped out. She decided to go to one of the organizational meetings for the protests and ask if anyone else thought it would be a good idea to start a proper library. People did.
Read more . . .
Paul Robin Krugman, Ph.D., Nobel Laureate (born February 28, 1953)
American Economist, Professor of Economics,and New York Times Op-Ed Columnist
Politicians who always cater to wealthy business interests say that economic recovery requires catering to wealthy business interests. Who could have imagined it?
Aided by the plummeting dollar, the wage gap between American workers and their brutally exploited counter-parts in Mexico and Asia is increasingly being narrowed . . .
It is necessary to understand that this is a battle not simply against this or that employer but the entire capitalist system, which is impoverishing the majority of the world’s population in order to enrich the wealthy few. In every country, the political parties and trade unions defend the profit system and are complicit in the looting of society by the corporate and financial aristocracy . . .
In the US, the Obama administration has demonstrated that the Democratic Party, no less than the Republican, is a tool of Wall Street and the corporations, determined to gut living standards and slash vitally necessary social programs.
Capitalism must be replaced with a planned and rational system based on social need, not the profits of billionaires. Only then can the right to a job and a decent wage be secured for all people. Read more . . .
By Madison S. Hughes (02.25.2011)
Abstract
It is time; nay it is long past time, to revoke the religious tax exemption. Granted, this proposition may instantly be viewed as yet another untouchable “third-rail” of politics; however, there are numerous economic arguments to be made against continuing this exemption. Past arguments against the religious tax exemption have largely fallen on deaf ears. Changing conditions, especially economic conditions, can place old arguments in a new light. The current government-funding crisis—at all governmental levels—is sufficiently dire, and it is long past time for a call to revoke the religious tax exemption. This paper will demonstrate that the religious tax exemption is responsible for considerable revenue loss, and has a negative impact on: school funding, public library funding, revenue generation, the U.S. Federal Budget Deficit, fairness, and equity. Additionally, the tax exemption: is not transparent, lends to corruption, does not hold persons or religious organizations accountable for corruption, and, therefore warrants a call to revoke the religious tax exemption.
Keywords: church, religious organizations, revocation of religious tax exemption Continue reading
Taking pot-shots at another class isn’t war, nor is imposing a modest tax increase on those who have been showered with tax cuts for the last decade. Genuine class warfare is those at the very top working to keep everyone else far beneath them . . .
Conservative discourse about the “undeserving” poor being where they are because of some inherent personal faults might make some sense if we were all born with the same opportunities to get ahead. Tragically, however, in today’s economy, the single greatest predictor of how much an American child will earn in the future is how much his or her parents take home . . .
In reality, the United States’ much-ballyhooed upward mobility is a myth, and it appears to be getting worse with each new generation.
The U.S. education system is largely funded through state and local property taxes, which means that the quality of a kid’s education depends on the wealth of the community in which he or she grows up. This, too, helps replicate parents’ economic status in their kids. Read more . . .
Always Question Authority 