Stephan: The Republican sabotage of American democracy could not be clearer. I don't know how you could make it more explicit. There is only one way to stop this: Vote these people out of office.
Republicans in the Ohio Legislature are pushing a plan that could cost the state’s public universities millions of dollars if they provide students with documents to help them register to vote. Backers of the bill describe it as intended to resolve discrepancies between residency requirements for tuition and voter registration, while Democrats and other opponents argue it is a blatant attempt at voter suppression in a crucial swing state.
‘What the bill would do is penalize public universities for providing their students with the documents they need to vote,
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Stephan: This story is excellent news. Endless Theocratic Rightist Congresspeople and pundits, in the service of their carbon energy corporate masters, have ranted on about how electric cars and, particularly, the Tesla are a waste of money that will never come to anything. It was all lies. What I see is that if in 1973, when the first gas crisis began, we had committed to alternative energy, we would not now be facing the future that lies before us.
Electric car maker Tesla Motors showed on Wednesday it was no Solyndra, announcing it had paid off the balance of a $465 million government loan – nine years early.
The payment means the company founded by billionaire Elon Musk won’t join Solyndra or Abound Solar on the list of green energy start-ups that collapsed after winning millions from a DOE loan guarantee program. Those loans have been a key target for Republicans, who used them to criticize President Barack Obama’s support for renewable energy companies.
On the 2012 campaign trail, Mitt Romney often folded Tesla in with the likes of Solyndra as a ‘loser,
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KEVIN ZEESE and MARGARET FLOWERS, - Truthout
Stephan: I take this to be good news about bad news. Finally, the reality of Monsanto is beginning to be understood. There is nothing new here; it will all be familiar to regular SR readers. (See: The Great Experiment: Genetically Modified Organisms, Scientific Integrity, and National Wellness. http://www.explorejournal.com/article/S1550-8307%2812%2900222-4/fulltext)
But this essay puts it all into one package and, I think, you will be able to see why I believe Monsanto is an evil corporation.
The common problem we face is the power of concentrated wealth and monopolistic corporate interests. This has created a crony capitalist economy that uses government to further enrich the wealthy at the expense of the people, often threatening our basic necessities for life.A clear example of this is found in the behavior of the chemical and seed corporation, Monsanto.Monsanto threatens the world’s food supply; this is a major challenge of our era. This struggle is central to the global ecosystem, economy and energy crises. Monsanto also pushes poisonous chemicals into the environment and promotes agricultural practices that exacerbate climate change.
Monsanto’s actions truly affect each of us. They put their profits over the need for healthy foods, diverse seed supplies and the stability of the agricultural economy. They employ a variety of tools to control access to seeds and aggressively push genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and toxic chemicals despite serious safety concerns about them. And they accomplish this with great help from the US government.
When President Obama appointed a Monsanto lobbyist, Michael Taylor, as the ‘food czar’ (officially the deputy commissioner for foods) – avoiding the Senate confirmation process, which would have brought public attention to the appointment – it was […]
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TARA CULP-RESSLER, - Think Progress
Stephan: We are being devoured by the Illness Profit Industry. Think about what this study is saying: American families now spend more on corporate medicine than they do on food. Think about what that says about us as a society.
Oh, and then remember that there are 17 million children in the U.S. who have neither health or assured food.
As medical costs continue to rise, the annual health expenses for a family of four now exceed the typical of cost of their groceries during the same time period, according to a new report from consulting firm Milliman, Inc.
The firm estimates that a typical family of four with an employer-sponsored health plan will end up incurring about $22,030 for all of their medical costs in 2013. That represents a 6.3 increase from last year, when the typical family racked up $20,728.
Some of that total sum ends up being covered by the family’s health insurance plan – the firm’s analysts found that employers paid about 58 percent of the total health care costs – but a big chunk of it falls onto the family itself. The average family pays more than $9,000 in payroll deductions and out-of-pocket bills for their health care, which is more than they typically spend on groceries and gas for an entire year:
‘It is a huge expense,
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Stephan: This is the Theocratic Right in action. My sense of outrage about men like this is something I have to work with in meditation. But the truth is, as vile as this man is, he is in office because Americans voted him there. American voters are creating the crisis we face.
It is worth noting that I found this story in a conservative publication and perhaps it is worth saying again: This is not about political labels, it is about attitudes and priorities. I do think though that it is worth asking why are people like this are always Republicans?
Tennessee GOP Congressman Stephen Fincher, swept into office in the Tea Party wave of 2010, is on a mission from God.
Relying on the teachings of the Holy Bible, Congressman Fincher is pressing his fight to dramatically curtail the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)-better known to most Americans as food stamps-relied upon by 47 million Americans for some or all of their daily sustenance.
Why?
But I’m sure that Congressman Fincher would gladly offer up the appropriate homily to support his lining his own pockets with huge sums of taxpayer money while spitting fire and brimstone in the direction of those Americans (earning less than $30,000 a year) getting a little help from the taxpayer when it comes to feeding their families.
After all, it’s in the Bible
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