From Think Progress: http://thinkprogress.org/2011/03/14/rick-snyder-corporate-taxes/

By Pat Garofalo
Mar 14th, 2011

As we’ve been documenting, several conservative governors have proposed placing the brunt of deficit reduction onto the backs of their state’s public employees, students, and middle-class taxpayers, while simultaneously trying to enact corporate tax cuts and giveaways. Govs. Rick Scott (R-FL), Tom Corbett (R-PA), and Jan Brewer (R-AZ) have all gone down this road.

Following suit, Gov. Rick Snyder (R-MI) has proposed ending his state’s Earned Income Tax Credit, cutting a $600 per child tax credit, and reducing credits for seniors, while also cutting funding for school districts by eight to ten percent. At the same time, as the Michigan League for Human Services found, the state’s business taxes would be reduced by nearly $2 billion, or 86 percent, under Snyder’s plan:

Business taxes would be cut by 86 percent from an estimated $2.1 billion in FY 2011 to $292.7 million in FY 2013, the first full year of the proposed tax changes…Taxes on individuals from the state income tax would rise by $1.7 billion or nearly 31 percent, from an estimated $5.75 billion in FY 2011 to $7.5 billion in FY 2013, the first full year of the tax changes.

As the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found, the practical upshot of Snyder’s tax increases is to place even more of a burden on Michigan’s poorest residents, who will see a bigger hike than those at the upper end of the income scale:

Continue reading at:  http://thinkprogress.org/2011/03/14/rick-snyder-corporate-taxes/

Maybe it is time for working people to engage in some serious class warfare too.  For too long class war has been only for the rich.

From NJ.Com: http://www.nj.com/gloucester-county/index.ssf/2011/03/lautenberg_bill_would_end_fede.html

By Jessica Beym/Gloucester County Times
March 15, 2011

Today, U.S. Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA-9) introduced legislation to cut off federal funding what they believe are ineffective, abstinence-only-until-marriage education programs.

Despite spending more than $1.5 billion in federal funds for abstinence-only education over the last 15 years, the United States maintains one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in the developed world and one-third of all new HIV infections in the United States occur among those under the age of 29, according to the legislators.

A Congressionally-mandated study found that abstinence-only programs fail to effectively teach teens how to prevent unintended pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases.  The Lautenberg-Lee bill, introduced in both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, would reallocate the abstinence-only funding to comprehensive sex education programs.

“Abstinence-only education doesn’t work and is a poor use of federal funding.  Our nation’s young adults deserve access to information that helps them take on real life situations and make smart decisions,” Lautenberg said.  “This legislation would make smart investments in programs that prevent teen pregnancy and stop the spread of sexually transmitted diseases.”

The “Repealing Ineffective and Incomplete Abstinence-Only Program Funding Act” would strike Title V, Section 510 from the Social Security Act.  That provision has been the funding mechanism for abstinence-only-until-marriage programs for nearly 15 years.  The bill would reprogram $50 million annually to evidence-based, comprehensive sex education programs funded through the Personal Responsibility Education (PREP) program.  PREP funds comprehensive sex education programs that provide both abstinence and contraception information to teens and educates them about preventing sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV, and unintended pregnancy, as well as life skills that help youth make healthy decisions.

Amplify Your Voice is a site that caters to young activists.  That there are sites like this gives me hope.

From  Amplify Your Voice: http://www.amplifyyourvoice.org/u/Jordan/2011/3/16/Inequality-Marylands-WitchHunt-Against-TransQueer-People

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Equality Maryland is an organization that is supposed to help advance LGBT rights. But of course, the T is being censored, the B is being ignored, and the L is being tokenized, thus leaving the only beneficiaries of Equality Maryland’s policies to be (for the most part) financially secure able-bodied cisgender gay males.

From Planet Transgender:

Equality Maryland accuses transgender and equality advocate allies of making threatening calls to their staff and making threats of physical violence against delegates to the Maryland House of representatives!

These self destructive blanket accusations were made by EQMD to justify its censoring of dissension by deleting comments and banning former members. These unsubstantiated accusation are libellous and sure to disenfranchise even more of its membership who have become increasingly aware of EQMD’s oppression.

And I have reason to believe them. I have had an Amplify Post “First Anti-Discrimination, Then Marriage Equality” deleted from their wall whenever I posted it, simply because they disagree with my belief that:

Continue reading at:  http://www.amplifyyourvoice.org/u/Jordan/2011/3/16/Inequality-Marylands-WitchHunt-Against-TransQueer-People

From She Wired:  http://www.shewired.com/Article.cfm?ID=26901

by SheWired Editors
03/16/2011

A controversial bill has been proposed in Maryland, HB 235, which protects against discrimination concerning gender identity and gender expression. The bill originally included protections in housing, employment and public accommodations. Unfortunately, the alarming compromise was recently made to remove protections for public accommodations, which will legalize second class citizenship to transsexual and transgender Marylanders. The community has mobilized to counter this unconstitutional agenda, and to oppose Equality Maryland and the elected officials who support the fractional bill.

Maryland State Senator Rich Madaleno stare, “Providing transgender individuals with basic protections against discrimination is long overdue. Although much of the media attention this legislative session has centered on marriage equality, we cannot let that debate overshadow efforts to enact these essential protections. Protection against discrimination, including gender identity discrimination, is a basic human right. Our state laws must reflect the values of equality and equal opportunity – values that are central to who we are as Americans. ..Now is the time…protecting individuals from discrimination on the basis of gender identity.”

Jenna Fischetti, Media Director for Trans Maryland, explains, “Trans Maryland is overwhelmed by the support and solidarity shown by our local and national peers and allies this evening. We wish to thank them all. We marched up 1st Street, past The Cannon House Building, on our way to the Capitol Grounds across from the Supreme Court.The destination was 1st and Maryland. In exercising our 1st Amendment rights, We members of Maryland’s transsexual and transgender communities made a statement that We Own Our Voices, that House Bill 235 in the Maryland House of Delegates needs to be amended, and that going forward, it is OUR community’s responsibly, in conjunction with supportive allies when needed, to educate our legislators and the population as a whole.”

Continue reading at:  http://www.shewired.com/Article.cfm?ID=26901

Hey Obama, why don’t you just do what your hero Reagan did and flood the ghettos with CIA smuggled crack.  Then use the money to fund a new version of the Contras.

Can we get a real Democrat as candidate in 2012 instead of this opportunistic DINO?

Maybe we need a new party that represents the hard working people of America instead of the rich corporate elite.

From Axis of Logic: http://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/Article_62316.shtml

Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela

The US government is setting the terrain for the 2012 presidential elections in Venezuela, soliciting funding to back anti-Chavez groups and help prepare a “candidate” to oppose Chavez. Republicans call for an “embargo” against the oil-producing nation

This week, US President Barack Obama presented Congress with a $3.7 trillion dollar budget for 2012, the most expensive budget in United States history. Within his massive request, which proposes cuts in important social programs and federal jobs throughout the country, is a partition for special funding for anti-Chavez groups in Venezuela.

Included in the whopping $3.7 trillion request is over $670 billion for the Pentagon’s ever-increasing annual budget, nearly $75 billion for the intelligence community and $55.7 billion for the State Department and the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

For the first time in recent history, the Foreign Operations Budget (State Department) openly details direct funding of at least $5 million to anti-Chavez groups in Venezuela. Specifically, the budget justification document states, “These funds will help strengthen and support a Venezuelan civil society that will protect democratic space and seek to serve the interests and needs of the Venezuelan people. Funding will enhance citizens’ access to objective information, facilitate peaceful debate on key issues, provide support to democratic institutions and processes, promote citizen participation and encourage democratic leadership”.

While the descriptive language justifying the diversion of millions in US taxpayers dollars to fund political groups in a foreign nation may sound “pretty”, this type of funding has been a principal source of promoting subversion and destabilization in Venezuela against the democratic and majority-supported government of Hugo Chavez during the past eight years. According to public documents, just between the years 2008 to 2011, the US State Department channeled more than $40 million to the Venezuelan opposition, primarily directing those funds to electoral campaigns against President Chavez and propaganda slated to influence Venezuelan public opinion.

Continue reading at:   http://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/Article_62316.shtml

From Common Dreams: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/03/16-0

by Medea Benjamin

Published on Wednesday, March 16, 2011 by CommonDreams.org

When we heard on Sunday that P.J. Crowley had resigned as spokesman for the State Department after criticizing the Pentagon’s treatment of suspected whistleblower Army private Bradley Manning, my CODEPINK colleagues and I knew we had to respond. How outrageous that yet another person gets punished for simply telling the truth–Crowley called Manning’s treatment “ridiculous, counterproductive and stupid”–while the war criminals go free. I can think of a lot stronger words to use for the way the Pentagon is holding Manning in solitary confinement for 10 months now, before he has even had a trial or been convicted of anything.

We quickly put out a call for activists to meet us at the State Department at noon and then walk to the White House. About 24 people showed up on short notice, in the middle of a workday. Some donned black and white prison suits, others put on orange Guantanamo jumpsuits, and three brave men–Tighe, Jay and Logan–stripped down to jock straps to symbolize the fact that the prison guards take away Manning’s clothing at night, including his underwear. (They justify this because of sarcastic comments Manning had made about using his underwear to commit suicide, but it’s really to further intimidate and humiliate him.)

Continue reading at:  http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/03/16-0

Some one needs to tell Massa Jack Davis that we abolished slavery in this country some hundred and fifty years ago.

Any African- American person who votes for or has anything to do with the Republi-Nazi party is a traitor and quisling.

The Republi-Nazi Party is synonymous with the Klu Klux Klan

From Mother Jones: http://motherjones.com/mojo/2011/03/gop-candidate-deport-latino-farmworkers-replace-inner-city-blacks

By Suzy Khimm

Tue Mar. 15, 2011

A Republican candidate running for (“Trannie-Chaser”) Rep. Chris “Craigslist” Lee’s seat in upstate New York isn’t doing his scandalized party any favors. Jack Davis, a local businessman vying for the seat, shocked local GOP leaders by suggesting that the area’s Hispanic farmworkers should be deported, and that inner city blacks should be bused in to pick the crops instead, as The Buffalo News reports.

Davis made the comments during a February 20 endorsement interview with local Republican Party leaders—and it’s not the first time he’s floated the idea.  In 2008, Davis told another local paper:  “We have a huge unemployment problem with black youth in our cities. Put them on buses, take them out there [to the farms] and pay them a decent wage; they will work.”

Continue reading at:  http://motherjones.com/mojo/2011/03/gop-candidate-deport-latino-farmworkers-replace-inner-city-blacks

From RH Reality Check: http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/blog/2011/03/15/human-life-alliance-back-more-determined-have-your-rapists-baby

By Robin Marty, RH Reality Check

March 16, 2011

The Human Life Alliance, a Minnesota anti-choice activist group, is back to hitting college campuses, this time with a new face to their publication.

Via the Daily Iowan:

The cover of a 12-page advertising supplement included in Tuesday’s edition of the Daily Iowan featured pictures of battered women and victims of rape, accompanied with the words “You can stop injustice.”

Contrary to what you’d expect, the contents of this packet were filled with extremist anti-abortion propaganda. This pamphlet, which was funded by the Human Life Alliance, made the absurd assertions, among others, that victims of rape and incest would be better off without the option of abortion and that Planned Parenthood is a eugenics organization.

There is a difference between a newspaper providing the space for an organization to logically express its point of view and a newspaper giving legitimacy to offensive and fanatical claims. The ad was blatantly trying to mislead readers. It took advantage of the faces and suffering of victims of rape, domestic violence, and racism, and used them for its own benefit.

A closer look at the newest publication of the Human Life Alliance shows that they’ve repackaged their old material into a new “newspaper,” this one claiming that giving up birth control and carrying your unwanted pregnancy to term, even if it was a result of rape, will now cure all of the evils of the world.  Of course, aside from the cover, there doesn’t appear to be any actual mentions of domestic violence, homelessness, or sex trafficking, much less how their suggested actions can help prevent these social ills.

No, instead you still get misinformation about fetal development, lies about birth control and abortions, and a push to have your rapist’s baby.

Some things never change.  Especially if they are in an HLA publication.

From Truth Wins Out:  http://www.truthwinsout.org/pressreleases/2011/03/15308/

Posted March 16th, 2011 by Wayne Besen

On March 8, 2011, the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) aired an episode of the series Our America with Lisa Ling entitled “Pray the Gay Away?” The show purported to explore the question of whether or not one can be gay and Christian at the same time, and asked whether it was possible to go from gay to straight by joining an “ex-gay” program.

Instead of an honest, hard-hitting look at Exodus International, the primary proponent of ‘pray-away-the-gay’ quackery, Lisa Ling’s viewers were treated to a puff piece that cast Exodus and its president, self-styled “ex-gay” activist Alan Chambers, in a very sympathetic light. Ling allowed Chambers and others to put forth factual inaccuracies, misrepresentations of the truth, and even outright lies without once holding them accountable to the facts: so-called “ex-gay” programs do not work and harm their clients.

Lisa Ling’s sins of omission were equally grievous. For example, she never mentioned Exodus’ notorious anti-gay lobbying efforts or the fact that Exodus endorses “therapy” that has been denounced by every major medical professional organization in America. Exodus embraces the use of “spiritual warfare,” also known as exorcism.

In short, rather than doing her journalistic duty to uncover the facts, ask the tough questions, and sort through the spin to find the truth, Lisa Ling allowed herself to be duped by Alan Chambers. The result was a kind and gentle (but utterly fictitious) portrait of Exodus that essentially functioned as an infomercial for that organization.

Here at Truth Wins Out, we know all too well the dangers posed by Exodus International and other organizations that falsely promise to ‘pray away the gay.’ These organizations are wolves in sheep’s clothing whose harmful message leaves victims with scars that last a lifetime and, all too often, drives them to attempt suicide.

PETITION LETTER

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How come radical Feminists spend so much time trashing TS/TG women and so little time trashing Ilsa She Wolf of the SS Republicans like this one who do infinitely more harm to women than even the most over the top plastic surgeried out hyper feminine TS/TG person could ever dream of?

Could it be that the “Radical Feminists” aren’t really feminist at all?

From Raw Story: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/03/16/republican-lawmaker-blames-11-year-old-victim-of-alleged-gang-rape/

By David Edwards
Wednesday, March 16th, 2011

Elected officials should know better than to blame the victim of a sex crime.

While it’s a common tactic of abusers, it’s something no one expected of Republi-Nazi Florida state Rep. Kathleen Passidomo.

During debate over a bill that would legislate a dress code for Florida students, Passidomo blamed the alleged gang raping of an 11-year-old in Cleveland, Texas on the way the young girl was dressed.

“There was an article about an 11 year old girl who was gangraped in Texas by 18 young men because she was dressed like a 21-year-old prostitute,” Passidomo declared.

“And her parents let her attend school like that. And I think it’s incumbent upon us to create some areas where students can be safe in school and show up in proper attire so what happened in Texas doesn’t happen to our students,” she added.

Broward/Palm Beach New Times‘ Brandon Thorp was shocked.

“Whoa!” he wrote. “As a genus, politicians aren’t the brightest wicks in the candelabra, but they usually possess sufficient self-awareness to shield the public from the horrorshows of their minds. Blaming the rape of an 11-year-old girl on her parents’ sense of fashion — and to do so out loud — smacks of rank amateurism.”

Continue reading at:  http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/03/16/republican-lawmaker-blames-11-year-old-victim-of-alleged-gang-rape/

Republicans want to get the government regulations off the corporations and on to the bodies of women because they are women hating dickwads.

From Raw Story: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/03/16/house-republicans-secure-votes-to-pass-sweeping-anti-abortion-bill/

By Sahil Kapur
Wednesday, March 16th, 2011

WASHINGTON – High-priority Republican legislation aimed at curtailing abortion rights across the United States is on its way to passage in the House, having secured enough co-sponsors for approval on the floor.

Sponsored by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), H.R. 3, “The No Taxpayer Funding For Abortion Act,” would eliminate employer deductions for health insurance if the plan includes abortion, effectively raising costs for employees’ health insurance.

By Wednesday, hours before a Ways and Means subcommittee markup of the bill, it had gained 221 official co-sponsors, crossing the 218 threshold necessary for passage.

The legislation may be a lost cause in the Democratic-led Senate — nor would President Barack Obama be inclined to sign it — but House passage would nevertheless be a shot across the bow for abortion-rights advocates, who would suffer arguably their most significant defeat since the Hyde Amendment of 1976.

It also provides politically useful fodder for the fiercely anti-abortion conservative base ahead of the 2012 elections, in which the GOP sees the Senate and White House as up for grabs.

“H.R. 3 takes the unprecedented step of manipulating the federal tax code to push an extreme anti-choice agenda, which is why the House’s tax-writing committee is granting it a hearing,” said Nancy Keenan, president of the abortion-rights group NARAL.

Continue reading at:  http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/03/16/house-republicans-secure-votes-to-pass-sweeping-anti-abortion-bill/

From NOW: http://www.now.org/issues/constitution/031011baldwin.html

March 10, 2011

Putting women into the U.S. Constitution will guarantee equal rights for women and men under the law, and NOW pledges to work for its passage in the 112th Congress. This International Women’s Day, March 8, Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) and seven co-sponsors introduced a resolution (H.J. Res.47) to remove the arbitrary deadline that prevents the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) from becoming part of the Constitution — even if three more states ratified it, bringing up the total number to the required 38 states.

NOW enthusiastically supports this “three-state strategy,” as well as the new women’s equality amendment introduced by Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) each year.

“This country needs an equal rights amendment right now, and NOW supports and works toward all strategies to secure its long-overdue ratification,” said NOW President Terry O’Neill. “With so many attacks on programs that help women press for equal opportunities and a failure to pass a strong equal pay law last Congress, it’s abundantly clear that guaranteeing protection from sex discrimination is not just a moral imperative — it’s urgent.”

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia recently declared that he believes the Constitution does not prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex, even though the Fourteenth Amendment states: “nor shall any State deprive any person of the equal protection of the laws” (emphasis added) In Scalia’s world, women are not persons. Although this radical erasure of half the population from the concept of “person” is a minority view, the fact that Scalia is one of only nine Supreme Court justices gives him outsized power over women’s everyday lives. And he has used that power, repeatedly — even passionately — to keep women down. Ratifying the ERA will create an iron-clad guarantee that laws cannot discriminate against women.

Congress passed the ERA in 1972, but provided that it must be ratified by at least 38 states within seven years. The deadline was strongly criticized by feminists as being a cynical effort to stymie ratification. The deadline was extended to 1982, but only 35 states had ratified it by then, leaving the ERA three states short of full ratification.

The states whose legislatures have not ratified the ERA are: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah, and Virginia. Each of these states has an active contingent of pro-ERA supporters — often headed by NOW leaders. On Feb. 7, NOW activists and allies celebrated a step toward progress, when the Virginia Senate passed a resolution ratifying the Equal Rights Amendment. Unfortunately, the House of Delegates companion bill was tabled twice, meaning no further action can be taken until the next legislative session.

Rep. Baldwin’s resolution would ensure the ERA becomes the law of the land as soon as three more states do ratify. As she said, “The ERA is intended to ensure equality for women and men in all areas of society. It is an immediate and decisive remedy to end sex discrimination in federal and state laws and provides a clear benchmark for judicial interpretation. Achieving equality and justice for all in the United States is fundamental to our democratic principles, economic recovery, and continued leadership around the world. The intent of my resolution is simple: a path to equality for all Americans.”

The ERA is quite simple, with three short sections:

Section 1. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.

Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

Section 3. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification.

Rep. Maloney’s sister bill uses identical language and would require 38 states to ratify the amendment. The end result of both legislative strategies has overwhelming public support. Nearly all U.S. adults believe that female and male citizens should have equal rights, and the vast majority of them also believe equality should be explicitly guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution.

Government relations intern Renata Maniaci contributed to this article.

Read more about constitutional equality for women

Aah the problem with trying to eat healthily and sustainably without being a dork about food.

Michael Pollan calls it “The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals“. Vegans tell you all meat is murder but tend to be such shits about food as to be impossible to cook a meal for even if one uses a vegan recipe.

Too many feminist books and blogs act as though obesity is to be celebrated while anyone who is skinny has an eating disorder like anorexia or bulimia.

In Texas it is very easy to become a meatitarian, a total carnivore with fried okra, and French fries being the only actual vegetables in one’s diet.

As I’ve gotten old I’ve turned into a tank like my Polish grandmother.  With it comes high blood pressure, high cholesterol and a mandate to take both medications and eat healthier.

This has meant reading about diet and nutrition.

Mostly I think I have to kick my carb addictions.  I am just no longer active enough for them to not turn to fat.  Vegetarianism seemed like a good move but lacto-ova is heavy on the carbs, fats and sugar and low on the protein and things like calcium.

From everything I read it appears eating actual vegetables with meat/fish might be the best course.

I recently read Lierre Kieth’s “The Vegetarian Myth: Food, Justice, and Sustainability” and found many of the same points I had used with people pushing vegan as well as such fads as macro-biotic on me in the past.

Of course the real winning point that always keeps me from going vegetarian is that meat tastes good.