Clearing the path for future tyranny
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/10/20121029155126349265.html
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---SPSmith
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Article: Clearing the path for future tyranny
Clearing the path for future tyranny
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/10/20121029155126349265.html
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---SPSmith
Article: Obama: Under surveillance
Obama: Under surveillance
http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/insidestoryamericas/2012/10/201210305164175485.html
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---SPSmith
Defense spending cuts
Sapolsky: Romney's other 47% problem
http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/30/opinion/sapolsky-military-spending/index.html
---SPSmith
http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/30/opinion/sapolsky-military-spending/index.html
---SPSmith
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Article: Billy Graham and Mike Huckabee Invoke God to Back Romney
Billy Graham and Mike Huckabee Invoke God to Back Romney
http://takingnote.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/30/apocalypse-now/
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---SPSmith
Article: Price Gouging Roundup
Price Gouging Roundup
http://bleedingheartlibertarians.com/2012/10/price-gouging-roundup/
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---SPSmith
Article: Supreme Court Rejects Personhood Appeal In Oklahoma
Supreme Court Rejects Personhood Appeal In Oklahoma
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2012/10/30/1109811/supreme-court-rejects-oklahoma-personhood/
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---SPSmith
Article: Joss Whedon’s Viral Video Calls Romney Perfect Leader for Zombie Apocalypse
Joss Whedon's Viral Video Calls Romney Perfect Leader for Zombie Apocalypse
http://www.wired.com/underwire/2012/10/joss-whedon-romney-zombie-endorsement/
But it's his commitment to ungoverned corporate privilege that will nose-dive this economy into true insolvency and chaos — the kind of chaos you can't buy back. Money is only so much paper to the undead."
---SPSmith
Monday, October 29, 2012
Skepticblog » Integrative Medicine Propaganda
http://www.skepticblog.org/2012/10/29/integrative-medicine-propaganda/#more-19599
To some practitioners all health issues are about nutrition and
toxins, because that is what they treat. The standard medical
paradigm, however, recognizes nutritional and toxic diseases, but also
infectious, auto-immune, degenerative, anatomical, genetic,
developmental, metabolic, psychological, and physiological causes of
illness. We recognize and study the influence of diet and lifestyle on
health and disease. It is yet another strawman (a demonstrably wrong
and unfair one) to claims that mainstream medicine is all about drugs
and surgery and for some reason ignores certain disease etiologies.
Just read any standard medical textbook, or browse the medical
literature, and you will see that this is true.
---SPSmith
To some practitioners all health issues are about nutrition and
toxins, because that is what they treat. The standard medical
paradigm, however, recognizes nutritional and toxic diseases, but also
infectious, auto-immune, degenerative, anatomical, genetic,
developmental, metabolic, psychological, and physiological causes of
illness. We recognize and study the influence of diet and lifestyle on
health and disease. It is yet another strawman (a demonstrably wrong
and unfair one) to claims that mainstream medicine is all about drugs
and surgery and for some reason ignores certain disease etiologies.
Just read any standard medical textbook, or browse the medical
literature, and you will see that this is true.
---SPSmith
Check out: 'Why Amnesty Should Lose at the Supreme Court' on Slate
I thought you might find this Slate article interesting:
Why Amnesty Should Lose at the Supreme Court
By Eric Posner
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/view_from_chicago/2012/10/amnesty_s_challenge_of_surveillance_at_the_supreme_court.html?wpisrc=sl_ipad
---SPSmith
Why Amnesty Should Lose at the Supreme Court
By Eric Posner
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/view_from_chicago/2012/10/amnesty_s_challenge_of_surveillance_at_the_supreme_court.html?wpisrc=sl_ipad
---SPSmith
Sunday, October 28, 2012
The Plot to Destroy America's Beer - Businessweek
There has never been a beer company like AB InBev. It was created in 2008 when InBev, the Leuven (Belgium)-based owner of Beck's and Stella Artois, swallowed Anheuser-Busch, the maker of Budweiser, in a $52 billion hostile takeover. Today, AB InBev is the dominant beer company in the U.S., with 48 percent of the market. It controls 69 percent in Brazil; it's the second-largest brewer in Russia and the third-largest in China. The company owns more than 200 different beers around the world. It would like to buy more.
---SPSmith
Article: How did I wind up with a pit bull?
How did I wind up with a pit bull?
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2012/10/27/how-did-i-wind-up-with-a-pit-bull/
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---SPSmith
Article: Vox Day & co. don’t get satire or basic decency | Preliator pro Causa
Vox Day & co. don't get satire or basic decency | Preliator pro Causa
http://preliatorcausa.blogspot.com/2012/10/27-vox-day-co-dont-get-satire-or-basic-decency-3892.html
So, an underformed fetus is considered a "human being" now? I'd like to know what criteria Vox is basing that on. It can't be the physiology; most abortions take place before the fetus looks like anything more than a mutated gerbil. It can't be neurological or psychological attributes, either; most abortions happen long before the neural pathways necessary for any thought at all are even formed. It can't be the mere presence of Homo sapiens DNA; by that logic, any rock you spit or piss on would immediately be considered "human" by virtue of possessing the human genome. And any talk about "souls" or other oogie-boogie silliness would just defeat the argument altogether.
So, really, Vox, what makes a fetus not merely a developing human, but a full-fledged "human being" deserving of the same rights and protections granted to walking, talking and thinking persons? Be specific.
---SPSmith
Saturday, October 27, 2012
Article: How the Mighty Are Fallen
How the Mighty Are Fallen
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/26/how-the-mighty-are-fallen-or-wheres-my-friend/
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---SPSmith
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Article: Colbert to Trump: I'll pay $1M to your favorite charity if you let me put my balls in your mouth
Colbert to Trump: I'll pay $1M to your favorite charity if you let me put my balls in your mouth
http://boingboing.net/2012/10/25/colbert-to-trump-ill-pay-1.html
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---SPSmith
Obama Campaign Presses Mitt Romney To Fully Disown Richard Mourdock For Rape Comments
Richard Mourdock, send over your wife, mistress, and daughters, and will give them some repeated gifts from god.
---SPSmith
Check out: 'Finally, a Presidential Debate Tackles Climate Change, Drones, Drugs, and Civil Liberties' on Slate
I thought you might find this Slate article interesting:
Finally, a Presidential Debate Tackles Climate Change, Drones, Drugs,
and Civil Liberties
By Will Oremus
http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2012/10/24/third_party_candidates_debate_jill_stein_gary_johnson_talk_climate_change.html?wpisrc=sl_ipad
---SPSmith
Finally, a Presidential Debate Tackles Climate Change, Drones, Drugs,
and Civil Liberties
By Will Oremus
http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2012/10/24/third_party_candidates_debate_jill_stein_gary_johnson_talk_climate_change.html?wpisrc=sl_ipad
---SPSmith
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Microsoft Surface RT Review: This Is Technological Heartbreak
Should you buy it?
No. The Surface, with an obligatory Touch Cover, is $600. That's a lot of money. Especially given that it's no laptop replacement, no matter how it looks or what Microsoft says. It's a tablet-plus, priced right alongside the iPad and in most ways inferior.
---SPSmith
Article: Hidden Within New Govt. Facial Recognition Guidelines, The Dreaded ‘Opt-In’ Rule
Hidden Within New Govt. Facial Recognition Guidelines, The Dreaded 'Opt-In' Rule
http://techcrunch.com/2012/10/24/hidden-within-new-govt-facial-recognition-guidelines-the-dreaded-opt-in-rule/
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---SPSmith
Article: Failures in Romney's Economic Proposals: Legitimate Market Transactions
Failures in Romney's Economic Proposals: Legitimate Market Transactions
http://atheistethicist.blogspot.com/2012/10/failures-in-romneys-economic-proposals_24.html
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---SPSmith
U.S. Government Has a History Supporting Emerging Industries | Debate Club | US News Opinion
http://www.usnews.com/debate-club/should-the-government-invest-in-green-energy/us-government-has-a-history-supporting-emerging-industries
Throughout our history, the federal government has played an important
role in supporting emerging industries critical to American prosperity
and security, from airplanes to agriculture to information
technologies. Investments in research and development are incredibly
important to our competitiveness in clean energy, but so are
investments that help grow the domestic clean energy industry and let
our innovators, entrepreneurs, and businesses know there is a market
for their products.
---SPSmith
Throughout our history, the federal government has played an important
role in supporting emerging industries critical to American prosperity
and security, from airplanes to agriculture to information
technologies. Investments in research and development are incredibly
important to our competitiveness in clean energy, but so are
investments that help grow the domestic clean energy industry and let
our innovators, entrepreneurs, and businesses know there is a market
for their products.
---SPSmith
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Mitt Romney, Language Cop
http://prospect.org/article/mitt-romney-language-cop
Romney seems to believe foreign policy is made by saying things and
saying them strongly, it makes sense that he wants to see Ahmadinejad
indicted for saying mean things about Israel.
---SPSmith
Romney seems to believe foreign policy is made by saying things and
saying them strongly, it makes sense that he wants to see Ahmadinejad
indicted for saying mean things about Israel.
---SPSmith
‘How To Be Secular’ Traces a Philosophical History, From Martin Luther to Earl Warren – Tablet Magazine
http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/books/109560/the-secular-revival
Secularism, he argues, is not synonymous with democracy; rather, it is
the soil in which democracy is planted.
---SPSmith
Secularism, he argues, is not synonymous with democracy; rather, it is
the soil in which democracy is planted.
---SPSmith
FACT CHECK: Flunking geography, history - WFSB Channel 3
THE FACTS: Romney has indeed repeatedly and wrongly accused the president of traveling the world early in his presidency and apologizing for U.S. behavior. Obama didn't say "sorry" in those travels. But in this debate, Romney at last explained the context of his accusation: not that Obama apologized literally, but that he had been too deferential in his visits to Europe, Latin America and the Muslim world.
Obama said while abroad that the U.S. acted "contrary to our traditions and ideals" in its treatment of terrorist suspects, that "America has too often been selective in its promotion of democracy," that the U.S. "certainly shares blame" for international economic turmoil and has sometimes "shown arrogance and been dismissive, even divisive" toward Europe. Yet he also praised America and its ideals.
---SPSmith2012 presidential debate: President Obama and Mitt Romney’s remarks at Lynn University on Oct. 22 (running transcript) - The Washington Post
But I think Governor Romney maybe hasn't spent enough time looking at how our military works.
You mentioned the Navy, for example, and that we have fewer ships than we did in 1916. Well, Governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets, because the nature of our military's changed. We have these things called aircraft carriers, where planes land on them. We have these ships that go underwater, nuclear submarines.
OBAMA: And so the question is not a game of Battleship, where we're counting slips. It's what are our capabilities. And so when I sit down with the Secretary of the Navy and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, we determine how are we going to be best able to meet all of our defense needs in a way that also keeps faith with our troops, that also makes sure that our veterans have the kind of support that they need when they come home.
OBAMA: And that is not reflected in the kind of budget that you're putting forward because it just doesn't work.
SCHIEFFER: All right.
OBAMA: And, you know, we visited the website quite a bit and it still doesn't work.
---SPSmithMonday, October 22, 2012
Shining and art
The puzzle aspect of "Last Year at Marienbad" and "Certified Copy" may finally be the least interesting thing about them, but it's probably the most interesting and important thing about a cynical piece of non-art like "Memento," which is possibly what makes that film such a cherished cult item and fetish object in certain Anglo-American circles. One way of removing the threat and challenge of art is reducing it to a form of problem-solving that believes in single, Eureka-style solutions. If works of art are perceived as safes to be cracked or as locks that open only to skeleton keys, their expressive powers are virtually limited to banal pronouncements of overt or covert meanings -- the notion that art is supposed to say something as opposed to do something.
Which takes us back around to that idea that Roger Ebert has phrased as: "A movie is not about what it is about. It is about how it is about it." Same goes for criticism.
---SPSmith
Wall St. May Not Cheer, but Obama’s Been Good for Stocks - NYTimes.com
Through Friday, since Mr. Obama's inauguration — his first 1,368 days in office — the Dow Jones industrial average has gained 67.9 percent. That's an extremely strong performance — the fifth best for an equivalent period among all American presidents since 1900.
Trickle down does NOT work
The data is clear:
The results of the analysis suggest that changes over the past 65 years in the top marginal tax rate and the top capital gains tax rate do not appear correlated with economic growth. The reduction in the top tax rates appears to be uncorrelated with saving, investment, and productivity growth. The top tax rates appear to have little or no relation to the size of the economic pie.
---SPSmith
Article: Ethicist Peter Singer Critiques Roe V. Wade, Obamacare, Romney
Ethicist Peter Singer Critiques Roe V. Wade, Obamacare, Romney
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/cross-check/2012/10/22/ethicist-peter-singer-critiques-roe-v-wade-obamacare/
questioners in the Town Hall Presidential debate seemed primarily concerned with their personal welfare. Ethical conduct, Singer reminded us, begins with concern for others beyond you and your immediate family, community and even nation
---SPSmith
Sunday, October 21, 2012
Article: So the Poor are People…Really?
So the Poor are People…Really?
http://scienceblogs.com/casaubonsbook/2012/10/21/so-the-poor-are-people-really/
What we want is for the poor to be more moral than we are, to recognize that their dependence gives them no rights and no choices, unless they are morally perfect.
---SPSmith
Saturday, October 20, 2012
an-open-letter-to-the-american-people.pdf
As winners of the Nobel Prizes in science, we are proud of our contribution to the extraordinary advances American science commitment to scientific research the next generation of Americans will not make and benefit from future discoveries.
President Obama understands the key role science has played in building a prosperous America, has delivered on his promise to renew our faith in science-based decision making and has championed investment in science and technology research that is the engine of our economy. He has built strong programs to educate young Americans in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics and programs to provide Americans the training they need to keep pace with a technology-driven economy.
His opponent supports a budget that, if implemented, would devastate a long tradition of support for depends, as never before, on innovation. He has also taken positions that privilege ideology over clear scientific evidence on climate change.
The Stupidity of Dignity
The sickness in theocon bioethics goes beyond imposing a Catholic agenda on a secular democracy and using "dignity" to condemn anything that gives someone the creeps. Ever since the cloning of Dolly the sheep a decade ago, the panic sown by conservative bioethicists, amplified by a sensationalist press, has turned the public discussion of bioethics into a miasma of scientific illiteracy. Brave New World, a work of fiction, is treated as inerrant prophesy. Cloning is confused with resurrecting the dead or mass-producing babies. Longevity becomes "immortality," improvement becomes "perfection," the screening for disease genes becomes "designer babies" or even "reshaping the species." The reality is that biomedical research is a Sisyphean struggle to eke small increments in health from a staggeringly complex, entropy-beset human body. It is not, and probably never will be, a runaway train.
---SPSmith
Article: The Dialogue « Why Evolution Is True
The Dialogue « Why Evolution Is True
http://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2012/10/20/dialogue/the-dialogue/
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---SPSmith
Friday, October 19, 2012
Audit of ny snap
http://www.usda.gov/oig/webdocs/27002-0010-13.pdf
Coburn said that, "The USDA Inspector General found roughly 2,000 dead
people are still receiving food stamps in New York and Massachusetts
combined
---SPSmith
Coburn said that, "The USDA Inspector General found roughly 2,000 dead
people are still receiving food stamps in New York and Massachusetts
combined
---SPSmith
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Check out: 'Romney Boys Can’t Contain Their Obama Debate Anger' on Slate
I thought you might find this Slate article interesting:
Romney Boys Can't Contain Their Obama Debate Anger
By Slate V Staff
http://www.slate.com/blogs/trending/2012/10/18/tagg_romney_obama_punch_republican_nominee_s_eldest_son_says_he_want_to.html?wpisrc=sl_ipad
Romney Boys Can't Contain Their Obama Debate Anger
By Slate V Staff
http://www.slate.com/blogs/trending/2012/10/18/tagg_romney_obama_punch_republican_nominee_s_eldest_son_says_he_want_to.html?wpisrc=sl_ipad
Besides lying, polygamy, and a irrational belief in magic underwear, I guess propensity to psychotic rage runs in the Romney family genes.
---SPSmith
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
No, Romney, we're not "all children of the same god" - Dallas atheism | Examiner.com
No, Romney, we're not "all children of the same god" - Dallas atheism | Examiner.com: "around 13 million of us do not hold any belief in a supreme, supernatural being. That number is only growing as people become better informed, science education improves, more people speak out about their atheism and with time we grow further away from our traditions of ignorance."
'via Blog this'
'via Blog this'
Article: Nobel Prize Winning Economist Eric Maskin: In Highly Innovative Industries, It May Be Better To Scrap Patents
Nobel Prize Winning Economist Eric Maskin: In Highly Innovative Industries, It May Be Better To Scrap Patents
http://www.techdirt.com/blog/innovation/articles/20121016/17211920722/nobel-prize-winning-economist-eric-maskin-highly-innovative-industries-it-may-be-better-to-scrap-patents.shtml
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---SPSmith
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Article: Failures in Romney's Economic Proposals - Postitive Externalities
Failures in Romney's Economic Proposals - Postitive Externalities
http://atheistethicist.blogspot.com/2012/10/failures-in-romneys-economic-proposals.html
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---SPSmith
Monday, October 15, 2012
Article: Where's Mitt Romney Going to Come Up With $7 Trillion?
Where's Mitt Romney Going to Come Up With $7 Trillion?
http://bigthink.com/econ201/wheres-mitt-romney-going-to-come-up-with-7-trillion
---SPSmith
Sunday, October 14, 2012
Saturday, October 13, 2012
Article: Ten Reasons for Trekking Poles
Ten Reasons for Trekking Poles
http://www.outdoorgearlab.com/a/11089/Ten-Reasons-for-Trekking-Poles
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---SPSmith
Article: Philosopher Thomas Nagel goes the way of Alvin Plantinga, disses evolution
Philosopher Thomas Nagel goes the way of Alvin Plantinga, disses evolution
http://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2012/10/13/philosopher-thomas-nagel-goes-the-way-of-alvin-plantinga-disses-evolution/
In support of his skepticism, Nagel writes: "The world is an astonishing place, and the idea that we have in our possession the basic tools needed to understand it is no more credible now than it was in Aristotle's day." This seems to us perhaps the most startling sentence in all of Mind and Cosmos. Epistemic humility—the recognition that we could be wrong—is a virtue in science as it is in daily life, but surely we have some reason for thinking, some four centuries after the start of the scientific revolution, that Aristotle was on the wrong track and that we are not, or at least not yet. Our reasons for thinking this are obvious and uncontroversial: mechanistic explanations and an abandonment of supernatural causality proved enormously fruitful in expanding our ability to predict and control the world around us. The fruits of the scientific revolution, though at odds with common sense, allow us to send probes to Mars and to understand why washing our hands prevents the spread of disease. We may, of course, be wrong in having abandoned teleology and the supernatural as our primary tools for understanding and explaining the natural world, but the fact that "common sense" conflicts with a layman's reading of popular science writing is not a good reason for thinking so.
---SPSmith
Friday, October 12, 2012
Paul Ryan Debates Joe Biden - VP Debate 2012: The Real Paul Ryan Is Bad for America - Esquire
For years, Paul Ryan has been the shining champion of some really terrible ideas, and of a dystopian vision of the political commonwealth in which the poor starve and the elderly die ghastly, impoverished deaths, while all the essential elements of a permanent American oligarchy were put in place. This has garnered him loving notices from a lot of people who should have known better. The ideas he could explain were bad enough, but the profound ignorance he displayed on Thursday night on a number of important questions, including when and where the United States might wind up going to war next, and his blithe dismissal of any demand that he be specific about where he and his running mate are planning to take the country generally, was so positively terrifying that it calls into question Romney's judgment for putting this unqualified greenhorn on the ticket at all. Joe Biden laughed at him? Of course, he did. The only other option was to hand him a participation ribbon and take him to Burger King for lunch.
You know what's the difference between Sarah Palin and Paul Ryan?
Lipstick.
Mitt Romney is the wrong choice for healthcare – denialism blog
http://scienceblogs.com/denialism/2012/10/12/mitt-romney-the-wrong-choice-for-healthcare/
No matter what, we end up paying for people's medical care! There is
no avoiding it. You can either pay for it prospectively, thoughtfully,
and humanely by giving people care in primary care offices, or you can
wait for them to get really sick, not to mention really expensive to
care for, and pay for it then. But there's no avoiding the bill. The
type of care advocated by Romney here is also just plain stupid
---SPSmith
No matter what, we end up paying for people's medical care! There is
no avoiding it. You can either pay for it prospectively, thoughtfully,
and humanely by giving people care in primary care offices, or you can
wait for them to get really sick, not to mention really expensive to
care for, and pay for it then. But there's no avoiding the bill. The
type of care advocated by Romney here is also just plain stupid
---SPSmith
The story of Nokia MeeGo – TaskuMuro
Excellent history:
Choosing Intel as a partner in developing the OS and providing hardware was most probably a grave mistake. Intel has developed x86-based Atom SoCs for years, but it was only this year that the first x86-based smartphones were shipped to consumers. Even now Intel has no LTE baseband modem to provide and this situation is estimated to last until 2013. Moreover, Intel hasn't had a low or medium cost Atom SoC to compete with low cost Android smartphones.
---SPSmithUSA TODAY: Fact check: A 2nd look at Biden and Ryan claims
Check out this article that I saw in USA TODAY's iPad application.
Fact check: A 2nd look at Biden and Ryan claims
http://usat.ly/UOcqeF
---SPSmith
Fact check: A 2nd look at Biden and Ryan claims
http://usat.ly/UOcqeF
---SPSmith
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Debate
Finally, Biden calls malarkey on all the Romney/Ryan lies. Here is a good analysis of all the Romney lies from the first debate:
---SPSmith
VP debate
Paul Ryan and Joe Biden. Both scientific idiots, kowtowing to their religious jumbo-jumbo. "Life starts at conception." Proven BS.
---SPSmith
VP debate
To Paul Ryan, the zombie-eyed granny starver that voted for the policies that crashed the economy: Sorry, your statement that Mendacious Mitt the Twit's experience as a leverage buyout vulture capitalist makes him suitable to handle the USA's economic policies makes no sense. Who is he going to sell off our assets to?
---SPSmith
---SPSmith
U.S. deficit ends fourth fiscal year above $1 trillion: CBO - Yahoo! News
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The federal budget deficit for the just-ended 2012 fiscal year shrank by $207 billion from the prior year, but still marked its fourth straight year above $1 trillion, Congress' budget referee estimated on Friday.
The deficit equaled about 7 percent of U.S. economic output, down from 8.7 percent in 2011, 9 percent in 2010 and 10.1 percent in 2009, but it was still greater than in any other year since 1947, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office said.
Economists generally consider any deficit that exceeds 3 percent of U.S. gross domestic product to be unsustainable in the long term.
About » Blog Archive » Serious Economists Don’t Listen To Business Managers
http://www.jseydl.com/serious-economists-dont-listen-to-business-managers/
Siegel may not know it, but if the government decides to tax people
like him more and use the funds raised for high-return projects, such
as investments in education and infrastructure, then Siegel would
probably end up hiring more workers, not less. The logic is simple.
Siegel has a very low marginal propensity to consume, meaning that he
doesn't spend a large portion of his earnings. If the government taxed
Siegel at a higher rate and then put more money into the pockets of
teachers and construction workers, who do have high consuming habits,
then it would boost the demand for the products and services that
Siegel's firm sells. This, in turn, would force Siegel to hire more
workers to keep up with the growing demand. Additionally, Siegel may
benefit from this development, too, if the higher demand were to lead
to higher profits for Siegel's business.
---SPSmith
Siegel may not know it, but if the government decides to tax people
like him more and use the funds raised for high-return projects, such
as investments in education and infrastructure, then Siegel would
probably end up hiring more workers, not less. The logic is simple.
Siegel has a very low marginal propensity to consume, meaning that he
doesn't spend a large portion of his earnings. If the government taxed
Siegel at a higher rate and then put more money into the pockets of
teachers and construction workers, who do have high consuming habits,
then it would boost the demand for the products and services that
Siegel's firm sells. This, in turn, would force Siegel to hire more
workers to keep up with the growing demand. Additionally, Siegel may
benefit from this development, too, if the higher demand were to lead
to higher profits for Siegel's business.
---SPSmith
Understanding Church and State in Germany :: Cru
Eight percent of an adult's income tax supports the state church. To avoid this tax, Germans must fill out paperwork declaring their intention to leave the church, forfeiting the right to be married and buried by the church.
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
No clue
Baker: Jack Welch has no clue
http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/10/opinion/baker-welch-unemployment/index.html
---SPSmith
http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/10/opinion/baker-welch-unemployment/index.html
---SPSmith
Groups and Gossip Drove the Evolution of Human Nature - Slate Magazine
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/human_evolution/2012/10/groups_and_gossip_drove_the_evolution_of_human_nature.single.html
"There are two ways of trying to create a good life," Boehm states.
"One is by punishing evil, and the other is by actively promoting
virtue." Boehm's theory of social selection does both. The term
altruism can be defined as extra-familial generosity (as opposed to
nepotism among relatives). Boehm thinks the evolution of human
altruism can be understood by studying the moral rules of
hunter-gatherer societies. He and a research assistant have recently
gone through thousands of pages of anthropological field reports on
the 150 hunter-gatherer societies around the world that he calls
"Late-Pleistocene Appropriate" (LPA), or those societies that continue
to live as our ancestors once did. By coding the reports for
categories of social behavior such as aid to nonrelatives, group
shaming, or the execution of social deviants, Boehm is able to
determine how common those behaviors are.
What he has found is in direct opposition to Ayn Rand's selfish ideal.
For example, in 100 percent of LPA societies—ranging from the Andaman
Islanders of the Indian Ocean archipelago to the Inuit of Northern
Alaska—generosity or altruism is always favored toward relatives and
nonrelatives alike, with sharing and cooperation being the most cited
moral values. Of course, this does not mean that everyone in these
societies always follow these values. In 100 percent of LPA societies
there was at least one incidence of theft or murder, 80 percent had a
case in which someone refused to share, and in 30 percent of societies
someone tried to cheat the group (as in the case of Cephu).
---SPSmith
"There are two ways of trying to create a good life," Boehm states.
"One is by punishing evil, and the other is by actively promoting
virtue." Boehm's theory of social selection does both. The term
altruism can be defined as extra-familial generosity (as opposed to
nepotism among relatives). Boehm thinks the evolution of human
altruism can be understood by studying the moral rules of
hunter-gatherer societies. He and a research assistant have recently
gone through thousands of pages of anthropological field reports on
the 150 hunter-gatherer societies around the world that he calls
"Late-Pleistocene Appropriate" (LPA), or those societies that continue
to live as our ancestors once did. By coding the reports for
categories of social behavior such as aid to nonrelatives, group
shaming, or the execution of social deviants, Boehm is able to
determine how common those behaviors are.
What he has found is in direct opposition to Ayn Rand's selfish ideal.
For example, in 100 percent of LPA societies—ranging from the Andaman
Islanders of the Indian Ocean archipelago to the Inuit of Northern
Alaska—generosity or altruism is always favored toward relatives and
nonrelatives alike, with sharing and cooperation being the most cited
moral values. Of course, this does not mean that everyone in these
societies always follow these values. In 100 percent of LPA societies
there was at least one incidence of theft or murder, 80 percent had a
case in which someone refused to share, and in 30 percent of societies
someone tried to cheat the group (as in the case of Cephu).
---SPSmith
FactCheck.org : Fiscal FactCheck
Some key facts we think are worth considering:
- Federal spending ("outlays" in budget jargon) is expected to equal 24.1 percent of the nation's gross domestic product in the current fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. The figure was 25 percent in fiscal year 2009, highest since 1945.
- On the other hand, federal revenues are expected to drop to 14.8 percent of GDP this year, lower even than the 14.9 percent attained in both 2009 and 2010. There has been only one year since World War II when revenues have been as low as in any of these years: 1950, when the figure was 14.4 percent.
- These historically high rates of spending and low rates of taxation have combined to produce a chain of deficits that are also the highest since WWII. The deficit was 10.0 percent of GDP in fiscal 2009. It declined to 8.9 percent last year as the economy started to recover, but is projected to go up to over 9 percent this year. Each of these deficits is larger than in any year since 1945, measured as a percentage of GDP.
- The U.S. is borrowing about 36 cents of every dollar spent so far this year. It borrowed 37 cents on the dollar last year, and 40 cents in fiscal 2009.
- The largest components of federal spending are Social Security and Medicare programs for the elderly (33.5 percent of total outlays in 2010) and national defense (20.1 percent). Interest payments on the federal debt alone accounted for 5.7 percent of all federal spending, and that percentage is rising.
- The federal income tax accounted for 41.5 percent of federal receipts in 2010 (down from 49.6 percent prior to the Bush tax cuts of 2001 – 2003). Corporate taxes brought in only 8.9 percent, also down sharply since the recent recession. Payroll taxes and other "social insurance" payments accounted for 40 percent of total receipts in 2010.
Tax Reform – An Analysis | Brookings Institution
http://www.brookings.edu/research/papers/2012/08/01-tax-reform-brown-gale-looney
Our major conclusion is that a revenue-neutral individual income tax
change that incorporates the features Governor Romney has proposed –
including reducing marginal tax rates substantially, eliminating the
individual alternative minimum tax (AMT) and maintaining all tax
breaks for saving and investment – would provide large tax cuts to
high-income households, and increase the tax burdens on middle- and/or
lower-income taxpayers. This is true even when we bias our assumptions
about which and whose tax expenditures are reduced to make the
resulting tax system as progressive as possible. For instance, even
when we assume that tax breaks – like the charitable deduction,
mortgage interest deduction, and the exclusion for health insurance –
are completely eliminated for higher-income households first, and only
then reduced as necessary for other households to achieve overall
revenue-neutrality– the net effect of the plan would be a tax cut for
high-income households coupled with a tax increase for middle-income
households.
---SPSmith
Our major conclusion is that a revenue-neutral individual income tax
change that incorporates the features Governor Romney has proposed –
including reducing marginal tax rates substantially, eliminating the
individual alternative minimum tax (AMT) and maintaining all tax
breaks for saving and investment – would provide large tax cuts to
high-income households, and increase the tax burdens on middle- and/or
lower-income taxpayers. This is true even when we bias our assumptions
about which and whose tax expenditures are reduced to make the
resulting tax system as progressive as possible. For instance, even
when we assume that tax breaks – like the charitable deduction,
mortgage interest deduction, and the exclusion for health insurance –
are completely eliminated for higher-income households first, and only
then reduced as necessary for other households to achieve overall
revenue-neutrality– the net effect of the plan would be a tax cut for
high-income households coupled with a tax increase for middle-income
households.
---SPSmith
Summary of Latest Federal Individual Income Tax Data | Tax Foundation
Number of Returns with Positive AGI
AGI ($ millions)
Income Taxes Paid ($ millions)
Group's Share of Total AGI
Group's Share of Income Taxes
Income Split Point
Average Tax Rate
All Taxpayers
137,982,203
$7,825,389
$865,863
100.0%
100.0%
-
11.06%
Top 1%
1,379,822
$1,324,572
$318,043
16.9%
36.7%
$343,927.00
24.01%
1-5%
5,519,288
$1,157,918
$189,864
14.8%
22.0%
16.40%
Top 5%
6,899,110
$2,482,490
$507,907
31.7%
58.7%
$154,643.00
20.46%
5-10%
6,899,110
$897,241
$102,249
11.5%
11.8%
11.40%
Top 10%
13,798,220
$3,379,731
$610,156
43.2%
70.5%
$112,124.00
18.05%
10-25%
20,697,331
$1,770,140
$145,747
22.6%
17.0%
8.23%
Top 25%
34,495,551
$5,149,871
$755,903
65.8%
87.3%
$ 66,193.00
14.68%
25-50%
34,495,551
$1,620,303
$90,449
20.7%
11.0%
5.58%
Top 50%
68,991,102
$6,770,174
$846,352
86.5%
97.7%
> $32,396
12.50%
Bottom 50%
68,991,102
$1,055,215
$19,511
13.5%
2.3%
< $32,396
1.85%
---SPSmith
Article: Romney's approach to foreign policy: 'Deja vu all over again?'
Romney's approach to foreign policy: 'Deja vu all over again?'
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/10/201210993536555848.html
Sent via Flipboard
---SPSmith
USA TODAY: Teammate testimony key in USADA case against Lance Armstrong
Check out this article that I saw in USA TODAY's iPad application.
Teammate testimony key in USADA case against Lance Armstrong
http://usat.ly/W1FtsI
---SPSmith
Teammate testimony key in USADA case against Lance Armstrong
http://usat.ly/W1FtsI
---SPSmith
Tuesday, October 09, 2012
Uncensored John Simon
"Robert Creeley's poems have two main characteristics. 1) they are short; 2) they are not short enough."
Looper review
For me, a great film is one in which all the elements are well done. They blend together like a symphony. That's the case here. The screenplay is clever and intelligent; it piqued my interest and kept me involved. The characters are well-rounded and powerfully portrayed. There's plenty of action and suspense, and even a little humor and romance mixed in. There are some profoundly disturbing questions that have no easy answers. (I'm reminded of the time travel hypothetical: If you could travel to 1889 and stand by a crib containing the infant Adolf Hitler, could you strangle the baby?) The art direction is impressive, suggesting a futuristic world that is familiar yet different. There's a strong emotional element to all of this. Looper accomplishes what top-notch cinema should do: it diverts, entertains, and enriches. It will not impact my worldview or the way I go about my daily living, but I will not soon forget it and I am grateful for having seen it
Thought you'd like this azcentral article
Hi,
I thought you'd like this azcentral article. Check it out:
How a Grand Canyon trek ended in tragedy
http://www.azcentral.com/travel/articles/2012/10/08/20121008how-grand-canyon-trek-ended-tragedy-Ioana-hociota.html
I thought you'd like this azcentral article. Check it out:
How a Grand Canyon trek ended in tragedy
http://www.azcentral.com/travel/articles/2012/10/08/20121008how-grand-canyon-trek-ended-tragedy-Ioana-hociota.html
Sent from the azcentral iOS app. Download yours from the App Store now.
---SPSmith
Article: In Search of Answers From Mr. Romney - NYTimes.com
In Search of Answers From Mr. Romney - NYTimes.com
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/09/opinion/searching-for-romneys-foreign-policy.html?ref=opinion&_r=0
He seems to consider himself, ludicrously, a leader similar to the likes of Harry Truman and George Marshall, and, at one point, he obliquely questioned Mr. Obama's patriotism. The hope seems to be that big propaganda, said loudly and often, will drown out Mr. Obama's respectable record in world affairs, make Americans believe Mr. Romney would be the better leader and cover up the fact that there is mostly just hot air behind his pronouncements.
---SPSmith
Monday, October 08, 2012
Check out: 'Is Taxing Dividends After Taxing Profits Wrong?' on Slate
I thought you might find this Slate article interesting:
Is Taxing Dividends After Taxing Profits Wrong?
By Quora Contributor
http://www.slate.com/blogs/quora/2012/10/05/is_it_wrong_to_tax_both_profits_and_dividends_.html?wpisrc=sl_ipad
---SPSmith
Is Taxing Dividends After Taxing Profits Wrong?
By Quora Contributor
http://www.slate.com/blogs/quora/2012/10/05/is_it_wrong_to_tax_both_profits_and_dividends_.html?wpisrc=sl_ipad
---SPSmith
Portal Seven | U6 Unemployment Rate
http://portalseven.com/employment/unemployment_rate_u6.jsp
Clearly, rise is the fault of the failed economic policies of Bush...
---SPSmith
Clearly, rise is the fault of the failed economic policies of Bush...
---SPSmith
Article: The descent into barbarism
The descent into barbarism
http://freethoughtblogs.com/singham/2012/10/08/the-descent-into-barbarism/
Sent via Flipboard
---SPSmith
Sunday, October 07, 2012
Jack Welch: another moral midget
Jack Welsh, one of the heads of the klepto-class, who cooked his own financial books while at GE to give himself more money to fuck his whore mistress Suzy before divorcing his tired second wife....in other words a good conservative GOP family values imbecile like Newt Gingrich.., has the audacity to accuse, without an iota of evidence, the President of the United States of manipulating the current employment numbers. Experts agree this is impossible. Another good example of a conservative lying and/or demonstrating an inability to accept reality as it is instead of how the wish it were.
---SPSmith
Article: For Wingnuts, Reality is Always a Conspiracy
For Wingnuts, Reality is Always a Conspiracy
http://freethoughtblogs.com/dispatches/2012/10/07/for-wingnuts-reality-is-always-a-conspiracy/
Sent via Flipboard
---SPSmith
This is why Republicans are scary dangerous, and separation of church and state is so important – Greg Laden's Blog
http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2012/10/07/this-is-why-republicans-are-scary-dangerous-and-separation-of-church-and-state-is-so-important/
Another good example why the conservative GOP is Anti-reality. Bat shit crazy.
---SPSmith
Another good example why the conservative GOP is Anti-reality. Bat shit crazy.
---SPSmith
Green jobs
Van Jones: Romney green jobs distortion
http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/06/opinion/jones-romney-green-jobs/index.html
---SPSmith
http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/06/opinion/jones-romney-green-jobs/index.html
---SPSmith
Saturday, October 06, 2012
You are not entitled to your opinion
theconversation.edu.au/no-youre-not-entitled-to-your-opinion-9978
Secondly, I say something like this: "I'm sure you've heard the expression 'everyone is entitled to their opinion.' Perhaps you've even said it yourself, maybe to head off an argument or bring one to a close. Well, as soon as you walk into this room, it's no longer true. You are not entitled to your opinion. You are only entitled to what you can argue for."
A bit harsh? Perhaps, but philosophy teachers owe it to our students to teach them how to construct and defend an argument – and to recognize when a belief has become indefensible.
The problem with "I'm entitled to my opinion" is that, all too often, it's used to shelter beliefs that should have been abandoned. It becomes shorthand for "I can say or think whatever I like" – and by extension, continuing to argue is somehow disrespectful. And this attitude feeds, I suggest, into the false equivalence between experts and non-experts that is an increasingly pernicious feature of our public discourse.
---SPSmith
Friday, October 05, 2012
Article: Eight Veteran Economics Reporters Dismiss "Implausible" Jobs Numbers Conspiracy
Eight Veteran Economics Reporters Dismiss "Implausible" Jobs Numbers Conspiracy
http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/10/05/eight-veteran-economics-reporters-dismiss-impla/190401
Sent via Flipboard
---SPSmith
Article: Romney Has ‘No Idea’ About Outsourcing Tax Breaks, But His Economic Plan Makes Them Worse
Romney Has 'No Idea' About Outsourcing Tax Breaks, But His Economic Plan Makes Them Worse
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/10/05/968751/romney-outsourcing-tax-breaks/
Sent via Flipboard
---SPSmith
Thursday, October 04, 2012
Article: 7 Best Jokes About Romney's Threat to Off Big Bird
7 Best Jokes About Romney's Threat to Off Big Bird
http://www.alternet.org/election-2012/7-best-jokes-about-romneys-threat-big-bird
---SPSmith
http://www.alternet.org/election-2012/7-best-jokes-about-romneys-threat-big-bird
---SPSmith
Wednesday, October 03, 2012
Tuesday, October 02, 2012
Article: Jolla resuscitates MeeGo with 'Sailfish' OS, plans to show off new device this November
Jolla resuscitates MeeGo with 'Sailfish' OS, plans to show off new device this November
http://www.engadget.com/2012/10/02/jolla-resuscitates-meego-with-sailfish-os-plans-to-show-off-n/
Sent via Flipboard
---SPSmith
Article: The Cambridge Companion to Nozick's Anarchy, State, and Utopia // Reviews // Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews // University of Notre Dame
The Cambridge Companion to Nozick's Anarchy, State, and Utopia // Reviews // Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews // University of Notre Dame
http://ndpr.nd.edu/news/33890-the-cambridge-companion-to-nozick-s-anarchy-state-and-utopia/
Sent via Flipboard
---SPSmith
Monday, October 01, 2012
Skepticblog » See What You Feel
http://www.skepticblog.org/2012/10/01/see-what-you-feel/
Human brains process information in a complex way, making assumptions
and adjustments that are useful most of the time, but introduce
multiple opportunities for misperceptions. This is partly why we need
objective evidence as a check on our perceptions
---SPSmith
Human brains process information in a complex way, making assumptions
and adjustments that are useful most of the time, but introduce
multiple opportunities for misperceptions. This is partly why we need
objective evidence as a check on our perceptions
---SPSmith
Article: Quoted: on Intel, Microsoft and the PC ecosystem
Quoted: on Intel, Microsoft and the PC ecosystem
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/merc-gmsv/~3/WRs6NsPz8Lg/
"The PC channel is in chaos right now. They don't know what to do. They don't know what to design for, they don't know what the consumers are going to buy. Tablets have stolen their growth trajectory, plus the macro situation, plus Wintel has made a mess of their ecosystem." — Alex...
---SPSmith
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