Paul Krugman | Facts That Strain Personal Incredulity

(Image: CartoonArts International / The New York Times Syndicate) Paul Krugman, Krugman & Co.: "Somewhere in his writings Richard Dawkins, the British evolutionary biologist, talks about anti-evolution types who argue from personal incredulity - they say, 'I just can't believe that chance could create something as complex as an eye,' and think that they have scored an important point. All they've actually done, of course, is rehash their prejudices. (Simulations show, by the way, that chance plus selection can indeed create an eye, in a relatively short time as evolutionary history goes.) I'm getting the same kind of thing a lot on issues macroeconomic." Read the Article

Hartmann: Unequal Responsibility for Crime

Thom Hartmann, Berrett-Koehler Publishers: "Every year the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) issues a press release on its Uniform Crime Reporting Program, which determines the 'Nation's Crime Index.' It reports crimes by persons - but it excludes corporate persons, even when the corporations have been convicted of felonies. In its entire history, the FBI has never issued an annual report on crimes by corporate persons, although its reports on crimes by human persons are well researched and well publicized. The upshot of this is that when you ask people how most money and property are stolen, or how most people are killed, they think of burglars and muggers and bank robbers and crimes of passion. They think of human persons. The reality, though, is that more money and property are stolen by or lost to corporate criminals than to human criminals."
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Getting Those Republican Attacks Right

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) speaks to the press about the budget on Capitol Hill in Washington, April 15, 2011. While Republicans claim that higher taxes and regulation would kill jobs, the evidence does not support this assertion. (Photo: Philip Scott Andrews / The New York Times)

Dean Baker, Truthout: "At this point, Republican politicians are beginning to sound almost like wind-up toys when they complain about job-killing taxes and regulations that keep businesses from hiring. The media should at least do the Republicans and the public the courtesy of attempting to discern if these complaints make any sense. (McClatchy gets high marks for this effort.) If the charges are true, then there are logical implications that can be explored. The media should be taking the time to see whether the evidence is consistent with Republican claims. The tax side of the story is pretty simple. The Republicans are making things up."
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FOCUS: Obama Team Feared Coup If He Prosecuted War Crimes

Andrew Kreig, Justice Integrity Project
Kreig writes: "President-Elect Obama's advisors feared in 2008 that authorities would revolt and that Republicans would block his policy agenda if he prosecuted Bush-era war crimes, according to a law school dean who served as one of Obama's top transition advisers."
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FOCUS: Jim Hightower | Perry Tales

Jim Hightower, Creators Syndicate
Intro: "Presidential wannabe Rick Perry is flitting all around the country - hither, thither and yon - spreading little 'Perry Tales' about himself and the many wonders he has worked as governor of Texas."
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FOCUS: Carl Gibson | More for Them, Less for You

Carl Gibson, Reader Supported News
Gibson writes: "Corporations continue to hoard $800 billion in cash while jobs continue their flight out of the country. And instead of trickling down, all of the wealth has collected at the top. Since 2009, 88% of income growth went toward corporate profits, not more jobs and higher wages."
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The Kochs' Keystone Clique Exposed

By Robert Greenwald, Guardian UK

08 September 11

File photo, Koch Industries CEO Charles Koch, 02/26/07. (photo: Bo Rader/Wichita Eagle/MCT)

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Only the Koch brothers' club of billionaires and political cronies will profit if the Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline goes ahead.


harles Koch, one of our country's most prolific conservative donors, was recorded praising his oil, energy and Wall Street friends who contributed millions of dollars to his political causes. That Koch likely referred to President Obama as Saddam Hussein and framed the upcoming election as the "mother of all wars" overshadowed the real news.
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