Red State Socialism: Red States get most of the Federal Handouts! Interesting

  Many GOP-leaning states get more in federal funding than they contribute in federal taxes.
That's the point made by a graphic that’s circulating on the Internet, titled "Red State Socialism." A reader recently pointed us to it and asked us to check it out. The chart suggests that Republicans are hypocritical for bashing the federal government and federal spending, when Republican-leaning states are reaping the lion’s share of federal dollars.

The graphic says: "Of the 32 states which receive more than they contribute, 27 states (84%) are REPUBLICAN. Of the 18 states which contribute more than they receive, 14 states (78%) are DEMOCRATIC."


http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2012/jan/26/blog-posting/red-state-socialism-graphic-says-gop-leaning-state/

Dangerous amount of Radiation found in stream with Fracking Water.

Last week new concerns came to light regarding the treatment and disposal of fracking wastewater. First a  report by Environment America shows that as fracking expands across the US, the sheer amount of wastewater produced in 17 shale states – to the tune of 280 billion gallons in 2012 – is problematic.
Over two years the Duke research team, led by the well-recognized duo of Professors Robert Jackson and Avner Vengosh, monitored Blacklick Creek and found that  radium-226 – a naturally occurring radioactive material found in rock – appeared in concentrations unsafe for human exposure.
Much of the radium was removed from the wastewater by the Josephine Brine Treatment Facility, yet their operations were not able to completely eliminate the element, resulting in discharges " roughly 200 times higher than background levels."
http://admin.alternet.org/fracking/frackings-radioactive-impact-water?akid=11064.294211.EVKLim&rd=1&src=newsletter913088&t=21

A Greedy Private Contractor botched the Health Care Rollout.

there are examples of  successful government outsourcing arrangements in IT. One key to their success, a Government Accountability Office study pointed out, is consistent communication with, and monitoring of, contractors. Penalties for cost overruns, failing to deliver by agreed-upon deadlines and other forms of mismanagement would help, too.

Government outsourcing to private contractors has exploded in the past few decades. Taxpayers funnel  hundreds of billions of dollars a year into the chosen companies' pockets, about $80bn of which goes to tech companies. We've reached a stage of knee-jerk outsourcing of everything from intelligence and military work to burger flipping in federal building cafeterias, and it's damaging in multiple levels.
For one thing, farming work out often rips off taxpayers. While the stereotype is that government workers are incompetent, time-wasters drooling over their Texas Instruments keyboards as they amass outsized pensions,  studies show that keeping government services in house saves money.


http://admin.alternet.org/personal-health/how-out-control-private-contractors-botched-obamacare-rollout?akid=11064.294211.EVKLim&rd=1&src=newsletter913088&t=11

The Republican Shutdown of Government: More Proof: They planned the Shutdown after re-election

Information from Thom Hartmann.  The intention from the Right Wing has always been to shut down the Government if they could not stop the ACA

http://www.occupydemocrats.com/watch-everyone-signed-koch-brothers-govt-shutdown-blueprint-spread-shame/

Ted Cruz, Republican, proves himself to be a delusional sociopath

I think it’s official: Ted Cruz has dethroned the Queen of Ignorance, Sarah Palin, as the person in politics I simply cannot stomach the most.  His comments before, during and after the government shutdown have been nothing short of pure insanity.
This man, who gave speeches saying that the government should be shut down rather than fund “Obamacare,” now denies that he ever pushed for a government shutdown.


http://www.forwardprogressives.com/the-more-ted-cruz-speaks-the-more-he-proves-himself-to-be-a-delusional-sociopath/

The Tide is Turning in Texas! Juanita Jean

This is great!  A Republican just turned into a Democrat to re-run for a position he holds as a Republican.  It is pretty amazing and well done.

http://www.juanitajean.com/2013/10/21/and-the-tide-is-turning/

Democrats will win a SIZABLE MAJORITY in the House: New Poll

A new survey of 25 GOP-held districts shows dwindling favorability for Republican members of the House in the wake of the recent government shutdown.
The survey, conducted by Public Policy Polling and funded by MoveOn.org, is the third in a series of polls that indicate Democrats have a shot at taking back the House of Representatives in the 2014 election cycle.
The results of the latest survey show that incumbent Republicans in 15 of the 25 districts polled trail generic Democratic candidates. When combined with the results of the previous surveys, the polls show that generic Democratic candidates lead in 37 of 61 GOP-held districts.


http://occupyamerica.crooksandliars.com/diane-sweet/poll-indicates-dems-could-win-sizable-#sthash.90yCMZQm.dpbs

KOCH BROTHERS WOULD MAKE 100 BILLION DOLLARS from a Keystone XL Pipeline

A new study released today concludes that Koch Industries and its subsidiaries stand to make as much as $100 billion in profits if the controversial Keystone XL pipeline is granted a presidential permit from U.S. President Barack Obama. 

   

http://occupyamerica.crooksandliars.com/diane-sweet/study-koch-brothers-could-make-100-bil#sthash.lyj8oLlk.dpbs

Antibiotics in Cattle MAKES FOR STRONGER BACTERIA AND BUGS TO ATTACK HUMANS

A new study provides the clearest evidence to date that the heavy use of antibiotics in livestock is undermining the use of antibiotics to treat sick humans, based on the way government scientists are touting their report.
CDC officials don’t typically make declarative or bold political statements about the meaning of their research. However, Robert Tauxe, deputy director of CDC’s foodborne, waterborne and environmental disease division, said the study, recently completed by a team of 12 researchers from the CDC, Agriculture Department, the Food and Drug Administration, the Ontario Veterinary College and a public health consultant from Atlanta, “shows how the resistance to an important antibiotic can flow from the agricultural sector through food and it’s not theoretical at all.”


http://www.politico.com/story/2013/09/livestock-antibiotic-study-proof-97078.html?utm_campaign=2013-10-19-HHIF&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua

Creation Science 101 - Very Good

These are about Creation Science and the Bible, since in Texas they want to teach Creation Science as part of the science curriculum.  (i also just read that science book companies said they WILL NOT include Creation Science in their Science Books. )

http://theimmoralminority.blogspot.com/2013/10/creation-science-101-by-roy-zimmerman.html


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fCi7L-qeo0

WHERE DID THE MIDDLE CLASS GO? Sacramento Bee

Our Declaration of Independence states that “all men are created equal.” Over the years, Americans have removed many barriers to that great aspiration – with the Fourteenth Amendment, the vote for women, the civil rights acts, public education and more.
But since the late 1970s, the United States slowly has become the most unequal of the world’s developed nations in its distribution of income and wealth. Our middle class is shrinking.
A new film, “Inequality for All,” showing at Sacramento’s Tower Theater, hopes to bring attention to this.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/10/21/5833679/editorial-what-has-happened-to.html#storylink=cpy

http://www.sacbee.com/2013/10/21/5833679/editorial-what-has-happened-to.html

A Star Gazing Farmer - great pictures.

While you were sleeping: These time-lapse videos showcasing images from South Dakota's vast night sky were not created by a film crew, but by a farmer and his trusty camera.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlV6U4XIL1M&feature=player_embedded

January Shutdown? 4 Reasons the GOP would not want to Shutdown the Govt in Jan (If they are smart)

The government has re-opened, the debt limit disaster was avoided, and something resembling peace has broken out in Washington. The cynics, however, have been quick to note that all of this is only temporary, with the next shutdown deadline falling on January 15. This round of budget squabbling resolved basically … nothing, so another debacle is likely. Ted Cruz is already threatening a repeat of what he just put the nation through.
Don’t count on a sequel to the 16-day hell we just witnessed, though. Barack Obama certainly doesn’t want a shutdown. And this time, Republicans probably won’t force one.
Of course, government shutdown has always been a bad idea, as Republicans just spent three weeks proving. But the very fact that they did it despite knowing that it was a terrible plan (or at least most of them knowing it was a terrible plan) suggests it could happen a second time, at least unless something new has happened to change things.


http://prospect.org/article/four-reasons-we-don%E2%80%99t-need-countdown-january-shutdown

Obamacare Lies: Heritage Foundation leaves out critical information in pricing study

the foundation left out one key variable in the equation, one that undermines their conclusion that "individuals in most states will end up spending more on the exchanges."
They didn't account for the financial help that the Affordable Care Act gives uninsured people to purchase insurance, one of the law's central provisions.

Under Obamacare, the sticker price for insurance isn't what most people are going to actually pay. The law offers tax credits, on a sliding scale, for people making between 100 and 400 percent of the federal poverty level. According to estimates from the Kaiser Family Foundation, more than half of uninsured Americans have an income within that range.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/one-big-problem-with-the-heritage-foundation-s-new-obamacare-study

Mexico: Legalizing Pot to fight the Drug Cartels

Mexico City is one of the world’s largest cities with 8.6 million residents. For years it has been overrun by drug cartels, which have transformed the city into a center of brutality, killing more than 60,000 people in just six years. A large portion of the funding for those cartels comes from the immense, underground marijuana industry they operate. In an effort to remove money and power from the cartels, some political leaders in Mexico's capital announced plans this month to draft proposals to  legalize and regulate marijuana.

http://www.alternet.org/drugs/mexico-city-leaders-aim-fight-cartel-violence-legalizing-pot

KOCH BROTHERS: Provide MILLIONS to Stop Health Coverage Expansion to poor

Conservative advocates funded by the billionaire industrialist brothers Charles and David Koch have  launched a massive campaign pressuring states to deny health care coverage to lower income Americans through the Medicaid expansion contained in the Affordable Care Act.

The GOP’s refusal to fully implement the Affordable Care Act will leave more than half of the nation’s uninsured working poor, approximately 8 million people, without access to health insurance. The 26 GOP-controlled states not participating in the law’s Medicaid expansion are home to a  disproportionate share of low-income Americans who aren’t poor enough to qualify for the existing Medicaid program and make too much to be eligible for subsidies in the ACA’s insurance marketplaces.

http://www.alternet.org/personal-health/billionaire-koch-brothers-spending-millions-deny-health-coverage-low-income?akid=11062.294211.mPkJPl&rd=1&src=newsletter912615&t=19

NATION INFURIATED: Decades of waiting for healthcare held up by computer glitches

Andy Borowitz:  A nation that waited several decades for health insurance is becoming increasingly infuriated by a Web site that is wasting minutes of its time, reports from across the United States confirm.

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/borowitzreport/2013/10/nation-that-waited-decades-for-health-care-infuriated-by-slow-web-site.html?utm_source=tny&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=borowitz&mbid=nl_Borowitz%20%28186%29

Man charged with selling GUNS (in Australia)

What is normal here, selling a AK-15 on the internet, is illegal in other countries.  I hope the NRA has his back.

http://m.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/us-man-charged-for-posting-guns-to-aust/story-e6frg6so-1226742174486

A GOOD COLLECTION Agency? Yes, it really is true. Pretty amazing story.

A man bought a collection agency and made it into a place to teach people to get back on their feet and move forward financially.  What a great story.

http://www.upworthy.com/one-of-the-world-s-most-hated-groups-found-her-took-her-money-and-left-her-in-tears-of-happiness?c=ufb1

THE ONION: Week in Review

A lot happened last week.

http://www.theonion.com/video/anonymous-source-tells-reporters-that-hes-tired-of,34263/?playlist=recent-news

Those who voted to open up the Government are whores. He had a horrible time justifying his comments.

I think Clayman will stick to FOX from now on.  Bashir cleaned his clock.  If this is a major voice for Conservatives, they are in BIG trouble.

http://aattp.org/watch-delusional-racist-larry-klayman-get-his-a-handed-to-him-whos-the-whore-now-video/

Crazy Man Ted Nugent running for President? Juanita Jean

Ted Nugent has a great slogan for deserving my vote for President.  I think he should add that he shit himself for two weeks before his physical to stay out of the Military during Vietnam.  That is true Presidential material.

Hi, I’m Ted Nugent. I have nine children from seven women, and I’m running for president.” Nugent takes a sip of water, having delivered his potential slogan. “Yeah, I’m thinking about it.”

http://www.juanitajean.com/2013/10/20/uh-nugent-your-hair-wasnt-the-problem/

'I'm Alive Because of Her!" The untold story of Hillary Clinton. Amazing Information

But that night in the theater two years ago, the other six brave women came up on the stage. Anabella De Leon of Guatemala pointed to Hillary Clinton, who was sitting right in the front row, and said, “I met her and my life changed.” And all weekend long, women from all over the world said the same thing: 

"I’m alive because she came to my village, put her arm around me, and had a photograph taken together." 

http://theimmoralminority.blogspot.com/2013/10/im-alive-because-of-her-untold-story-of.html

Dem. Representative Edwards Schools folks on who is to blame for the shutting down of Govt.

Does anyone really think you can negotiate in good faith with Republican Ted Cruz and his crazy buddies?  Not me.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/10/20/rep-edwards-schools-abc-analyst-who-says-obama-poisoned-tone-by-blaming-gop-for-shutdown/

The Voucher Scam: Unaccountable and ripping off students and staff - Your tax dollars being ripped off

I know there are many more horror stories out there about the tremendous amount of faults of the voucher programs. Personally, I feel it is unethical and immoral for taxpayers to have to fund PRIVATE education. The supporters will say that since money is going to these schools, they have become “public”. This is a sham and is no more than money laundering in my opinion.

http://monologuesofdissent.blogspot.com/2013/06/the-great-voucher-scam-one-teachers.html

POT: Colorado Style. I think we should be going this route with POT. Make it legal and tax it.

The Medical use of Marijuana is legal in Colorado.  This story explains the current system of people buying POT.  I think the whole nation should go this route.  If POT is illegal, so should alcohol and cigarettes.  Interesting article.

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-great-marijuana-crash-of-2011-2013-9

POT: Where, When and Why did smoking Pot become a crime? Thousands are imprisoned for POT.

It seems to be in the mid 30s but there is not a lot of information on why.  With so many in jail for POT smoking, I am curious as to why we allow drinking and smoking cigarettes but POT will get a person in jail.

I will also mention that hemp is used in making clothing and paper in other parts of the world.  Hemp would cut down the need for cutting trees which take a long time to grow.  The medical uses of Marijuana are increasing as well.

There really needs to be a part 2 to it, there really is no determination.

http://www.alternet.org/drugs/who-masterminded-us-pot-prohibition?page=0%2C2&akid=11061.294211.mpd9jK&rd=1&src=newsletter912397&t=17

Medical Marijuana is still illegal in the eyes of the Federal Government according to a decision by the US Supreme Court.  I am still wondering why?  Even Dr Oz says he has seen the medical benefit of Pot.  I think it is time to ask why we have our current laws.  What is the historical basis?

http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=131034&page=1

10 Nutty and Vile Republican Right Wing Comments made this past week.

Right-Wing Lunacy Never Sleeps: 10 Nutty, Vile and Absurd Utterances From the Fringe This Week

The right-wing has had a rough week, but refusing to acknowledge reality always helps.

http://www.alternet.org/tea-party-and-right/right-wing-lunacy-never-sleeps-10-nutty-vile-and-absurd-utterances-fringe-week?page=0%2C3&akid=11061.294211.mpd9jK&rd=1&src=newsletter912397&t=3

R - Ted Cruz: I Want To Kill You. Ted's message to people without insurance. A Story: It was just a simple check

So you can understand why I've been closely following the GOP's attempts to defund Obamacare. I'm suddenly much more interested in everything about healthcare policy, in the same way you're suddenly much more interested in the safety instructions in the seat back in front of you when the pilot announces you're ditching in Lake Superior. And every time Ted Cruz has gone on TV, what I've heard him say is: "I very much want to kill you, Jon Schwarz."
That's because Obamacare requires insurance companies for the first time to cover everyone, regardless of any preexisting conditions. There's no more disqualifying condition than cancer; without Obamacare, I would now almost certainly be uninsurable if someday in the future I try to get insurance on the individual market. And we know what happens to people without health insurance in the United States:  they die.


http://www.alternet.org/i-would-be-dead-without-health-insurance-gopers-trying-kill-obamacare-are-also-killing-people?page=0%2C1&akid=11061.294211.mpd9jK&rd=1&src=newsletter912397&t=13

Awesome: Hay as ART!! Pretty amazing

Oh HAY, look at what you can do with fall decorations. You can make them totally awesome.
A farmer was able to create absolutely mind-blowing sculptures with just hay, manpower and some creativity. This sure beats the usual round or square bales you see. In fact, it makes every hayride and corn maze we’ve been to seem boring.

http://www.viralnova.com/hay-bales/


http://www.viralnova.com/hay-bales/

Ted Cruz. Republican idiot, vows NEVER to raise the debt ceiling until the NORTH surrenders to the SOUTH!

(CSN) Republican Sen. Ted Cruz vowed early Monday that he would seek to stop any legislation raising the nation’s debt ceiling unless and until President Obama “in his role as the current, if illegitimate, head of the Union” presented the Junior Senator from Texas with papers “announcing the North’s immediate and unconditional surrender to the Confederacy.” Such documentation, the Senator argued would simply acknowledge “at long last” that the South “clearly and decisively” won the Civil War.

http://www.citizenschwartz.com/cruzcontrol/

Everything wrong with TeaParty explained in this clip - Very Good

It's a sad commentary on the state of the media when some of the best journalism of 2012 consistently comes from works of fiction.

http://www.upworthy.com/everything-wrong-with-the-tea-party-in-less-than-two-minutes?g=5

2 year old finds gun, shoots and kills herself

I guess the good guy with a gun was not quite close enough.

http://freakoutnation.com/2013/10/19/north-carolina-two-year-old-girl-finds-loaded-gun-shoots-herself-dead/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=north-carolina-two-year-old-girl-finds-loaded-gun-shoots-herself-dead

1879 Shutdown with KKK similar to recent Govt shutdown Compare

iHstorical comparisons are a tricky business, and wrong examples teach dangerous lessons. Take loose comparisons between this government shutdown and the previous 17. Nate Silver and others suggest that this shutdown will not harm the Republican Party because the last one cost them only two house seats. More controversially, the sheer number of previous shutdowns legitimates this one as a political tactic. If there were 17 recently, what makes one more so awful?
This shutdown has no precedent in living memory. Our recent ones concerned budget disputes, new legislation, or substantive restrictions on the allocation of money. Now, Republicans seek to repeal a statute, a statute that has been exhaustively legitimated through all political channels, including a Supreme Court ruling, two presidential campaigns, and 41 failed repeal attempts by House Republicans. To understand our current crisis, we must travel back more than a century. In 1879, the Democrats threatened to defund the federal government unless Republican President Rutherford B. Hayes repealed laws protecting the right of freed slaves to vote against the use of terror and violence by groups like the Ku Klux Klan. The Democrats' threats backfired, and Republicans swept to victory in election of 1880. The parallel should serve as a warning to today's conservative obstructionists that their tactics are self-defeating and illegitimate.

Like health care today, in 1879 the issue at stake was subject to ferocious public contestation. The Enforcement Acts had put teeth in the 15th Amendment, which guaranteed that the right to vote would not be denied on the basis of race.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/cafe/today-s-budget-brinksmanship-takes-cues-from-1879-s-ku-klux-klan

BERNIE SANDERS ON THE BUDGET CONFERENCE COMMITTEE! The middle class have hope afterall!

In what can only be seen as good news for people who like traditional earned-benefit programs like Social Security and Medicare, here's one name that appears on the list of Senate conferees in the upcoming Paul Ryan-Patty Murray budget talks -- Vermont independent Sen. Bernie Sanders. This ensures that beneficiaries of these programs will, at the very least, have one strong, supportive voice in the room who won't go down in a squishy heap of "grand bargaining." (I'm sure Paul Ryan is thrilled.)

http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/open-thread-steel-cage-match-bernie-s?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook

http://www.politicususa.com/2013/10/18/paul-ryans-worst-nightmare-true-bernie-sanders-budget-committee.html