Why the world no longer wants to be like US

<div class="imgon2"><img alt="America's leading intellectual, Professor Noam Chomsky. (photo: unknown)" border="0" height="181" src="http://readersupportednews.org/images/stories/article_imgs10/011037-noam-chompsky-110613.jpg" title="America's leading intellectual, Professor Noam Chomsky. (photo: unknown)" width="400" /> <br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>America's leading intellectual, Professor Noam Chomsky. (photo: unknown)</b></span></span></div><div class="noslink"></div><div class="txtimg"><h1 class="txttitle"></h1><div class="txtauthor"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>By Noam Chomsky, AlterNet</b></span></span></div><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></span><div class="date"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>06 November 13</b></span></span></div><div class="date"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><a href="http://www.readersupportednews.org/">readersupportednews.org </a></b></span></span></div><br /><blockquote><span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>Many countries in the world see the U.S. as the single greatest external threat to their societies.</i></b></span></span></blockquote><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><img border="0" src="http://readersupportednews.org/images/stories/alphabet/rsn-D.jpg" />uring the latest episode of the Washington farce that has astonished a bemused world, a Chinese commentator wrote that if the United States cannot be a responsible member of the world system, perhaps the world should become "de-Americanized" - and separate itself from the rogue state that is the reigning military power but is losing credibility in other domains.</b></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></span><div class="indent"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>The Washington debacle's immediate source was the sharp shift to the right among the political class. In the past, the U.S. has sometimes been described sardonically - but not inaccurately - as a one-party state: the business party, with two factions called Democrats and Republicans.</b></span></span></div><div class="indent"><br /></div><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></span><div class="indent"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>That is no longer true. The U.S. is still a one-party state, the business party. But it only has one faction: moderate Republicans, now called New Democrats (as the U.S. Congressional coalition styles itself).</b></span></span></div><div class="indent"><br /></div><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></span><div class="indent"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>There is still a Republican organization, but it long ago abandoned any pretense of being a normal parliamentary party. Conservative commentator Norman Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute describes today's Republicans as "a radical insurgency - ideologically extreme, scornful of facts and compromise, dismissive of the legitimacy of its political opposition": a serious danger to the society.</b></span></span></div><div class="indent"><br /></div><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></span><div class="indent"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>The party is in lock-step service to the very rich and the corporate sector. Since votes cannot be obtained on that platform, the party has been compelled to mobilize sectors of the society that are extremist by world standards. Crazy is the new norm among Tea Party members and a host of others beyond the mainstream.</b></span></span></div><div class="indent"><br /></div><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></span><div class="indent"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>The Republican establishment and its business sponsors had expected to use them as a battering ram in the neoliberal assault against the population - to privatize, to deregulate and to limit government, while retaining those parts that serve wealth and power, like the military.</b></span></span></div><div class="indent"><br /></div><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></span><div class="indent"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>The Republican establishment has had some success, but now finds that it can no longer control its base, much to its dismay. The impact on American society thus becomes even more severe. A case in point: the virulent reaction against the Affordable Care Act and the near-shutdown of the government.</b></span></span></div><div class="indent"><br /></div><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></span><div class="indent"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>The Chinese commentator's observation is not entirely novel. In 1999, political analyst Samuel P. Huntington warned that for much of the world, the U.S. is "becoming the rogue superpower," seen as "the single greatest external threat to their societies."</b></span></span></div><div class="indent"><br /></div><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></span><div class="indent"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>A few months into the Bush term, Robert Jervis, president of the American Political Science Association, warned that "In the eyes of much of the world, in fact, the prime rogue state today is the United States." Both Huntington and Jervis warned that such a course is unwise. The consequences for the U.S. could be harmful.</b></span></span></div><div class="indent"><br /></div><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></span><div class="indent"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>In the latest issue of Foreign Affairs, the leading establishment journal, David Kaye reviews one aspect of Washington's departure from the world: rejection of multilateral treaties "as if it were sport."</b></span></span></div><div class="indent"><br /></div><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></span><div class="indent"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>He explains that some treaties are rejected outright, as when the U.S. Senate "voted against the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2012 and the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) in 1999."</b></span></span></div><div class="indent"><br /></div><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></span><div class="indent"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Others are dismissed by inaction, including "such subjects as labor, economic and cultural rights, endangered species, pollution, armed conflict, peacekeeping, nuclear weapons, the law of the sea, and discrimination against women."</b></span></span></div><div class="indent"><br /></div><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></span><div class="indent"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Rejection of international obligations "has grown so entrenched," Kaye writes, "that foreign governments no longer expect Washington's ratification or its full participation in the institutions treaties create. The world is moving on; laws get made elsewhere, with limited (if any) American involvement."</b></span></span></div><div class="indent"><br /></div><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></span><div class="indent"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>While not new, the practice has indeed become more entrenched in recent years, along with quiet acceptance at home of the doctrine that the U.S. has every right to act as a rogue state.</b></span></span></div><div class="indent"><br /></div><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></span><div class="indent"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>To take a typical example, a few weeks ago U.S. special operations forces snatched a suspect, Abu Anas al-Libi, from the streets of the Libyan capital Tripoli, bringing him to a naval vessel for interrogation without counsel or rights. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry informed the press that the actions are legal because they comply with American law, eliciting no particular comment.</b></span></span></div><div class="indent"><br /></div><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></span><div class="indent"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Principles are valid only if they are universal. Reactions would be a bit different, needless to say, if Cuban special forces kidnapped the prominent terrorist Luis Posada Carriles in Miami, bringing him to Cuba for interrogation and trial in accordance with Cuban law.</b></span></span></div><div class="indent"><br /></div><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></span><div class="indent"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Such actions are restricted to rogue states. More accurately, to the one rogue state that is powerful enough to act with impunity: in recent years, to carry out aggression at will, to terrorize large regions of the world with drone attacks, and much else.</b></span></span></div><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></span><div class="indent"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>And to defy the world in other ways, for example by persisting in its embargo against Cuba despite the long-term opposition of the entire world, apart from Israel, which voted with its protector when the United Nations again condemned the embargo (188-2) in October.</b></span></span></div><div class="indent"><br /></div><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></span><div class="indent"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Whatever the world may think, U.S. actions are legitimate because we say so. The principle was enunciated by the eminent statesman Dean Acheson in 1962, when he instructed the American Society of International Law that no legal issue arises when the United States responds to a challenge to its "power, position, and prestige."</b></span></span></div><div class="indent"><br /></div><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></span><div class="indent"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Cuba committed that crime when it beat back a U.S. invasion and then had the audacity to survive an assault designed to bring "the terrors of the earth" to Cuba, in the words of Kennedy adviser and historian Arthur Schlesinger.</b></span></span></div><div class="indent"><br /></div><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></span><div class="indent"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>When the U.S. gained independence, it sought to join the international community of the day. That is why the Declaration of Independence opens by expressing concern for the "decent respect to the opinions of mankind."</b></span></span></div><div class="indent"><br /></div><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></span><div class="indent"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>A crucial element was evolution from a disorderly confederacy to a unified "treaty-worthy nation," in diplomatic historian Eliga H. Gould's phrase, that observed the conventions of the European order. By achieving this status, the new nation also gained the right to act as it wished internally.</b></span></span></div><div class="indent"><br /></div><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></span><div class="indent"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>It could thus proceed to rid itself of the indigenous population and to expand slavery, an institution so "odious" that it could not be tolerated in England, as the distinguished jurist William Murray, Earl of Mansfield, ruled in 1772. Evolving English law was a factor impelling the slave-owning society to escape its reach.</b></span></span></div><div class="indent"><br /></div><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></span><div class="indent"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Becoming a treaty-worthy nation thus conferred multiple advantages: foreign recognition, and the freedom to act at home without interference. Hegemonic power offers the opportunity to become a rogue state, freely defying international law and norms, while facing increased resistance abroad and contributing to its own decline through self-inflicted wounds.</b></span></span></div></div>

NATIONAL NEWS OPINION PERSPECTIVE Why the world no longer wants to be like US

America's leading intellectual, Professor Noam Chomsky. (photo: unknown)By Noam Chomsky, AlterNet06 November 13readersupportednews.org Many countries in the world see the U.S. as the single greatest external threat to their societies.uring the late…

Read more »

What Tuesday's election results really mean

<div class="imgon2"><img alt="Economist, professor, author and political commentator Robert Reich. (photo: Richard Morgenstein)" border="0" height="181" src="http://readersupportednews.org/images/stories/article_imgs10/010711-robert-reich-092813.jpg" title="Economist, professor, author and political commentator Robert Reich. (photo: Richard Morgenstein)" width="400" /> <br /><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Economist, professor, author and political commentator Robert Reich. (photo: Richard Morgenstein)</b></span></span></div><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b><b></b></span></span><br /><div class="txtimg"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b><b></b></span></span><br /><div class="txtauthor"></div><div class="txtauthor"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>By Robert Reich, Robert Reich's Blog</b></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>06 November 13 </b></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><a href="http://www.readersupportednews.org/">readersupportednews.org</a></b></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><img border="0" src="http://readersupportednews.org/images/stories/alphabet/rsn-P.jpg" />undits who are already describing the victories of Terry McAuliffe in Virginia and Chris Christie in New Jersey as a "return to the center" of American politics are confusing the "center" with big business and Wall Street.</b></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>A few decades ago McAuliffe would be viewed as a right-wing Democrat and Christie as a right-wing Republican. Both garnered their major support from corporate America, and both will reliably govern as fiscal conservatives who won't raise taxes on the wealthy.</b></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Both look moderate only by contrast with the Tea Partiers to their extreme right.</b></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>The biggest game-changer, though, is Bill de Blasio, the mayor-elect of New York City, who campaigned against the corporatist legacy of Michael Bloomberg - promising to raise taxes on the wealthy and use the revenues for pre-school and after-school programs for the children of New York's burdened middle class and poor.</b></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Those who dismiss his victory as an aberration confined to New York are overlooking three big new things:</b></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>First, the new demographic reality of America gives every swing state at least one large city whose inhabitants resemble those of New York.</b></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Second, de Blasio won notwithstanding New York's position as the epicenter of big business and Wall Street, whose money couldn't stop him.</b></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Third, Americans are catching on to the scourge of the nation's raging inequality, and its baleful consequences for our economy and democracy.</b></span></span></div></div>

GOOD NEWS NATIONAL NEWS OPINION SIGN OF THE TIMES What Tuesday's election results really mean

Economist, professor, author and political commentator Robert Reich. (photo: Richard Morgenstein)By Robert Reich, Robert Reich's Blog06 November 13 readersupportednews.orgundits who are already describing the victories of Terry McAuliffe in Virgini…

Read more »

Dear Republicans: Explain this, please

<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>OK, my Republican friends, explain this one away if you can.</b></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>In an article about House-Senate budget negotiations in today's (Oct. 31) <i>Arizona Republic</i>, Associated Press correspondent Andrew Taylor notes:</b></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></span><span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>"Democrats are eager to ease cuts to domestic programs like Head Start preschools, education grants to local schools, and infrastructure projects.</b></span></span></span><br /><span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></span></span><span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>"Republicans are especially worried about cuts to the Pentagon."</b></span></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Dear Republican friends:</b></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>If you agree with the above, then you no longer need to ask me the difference between a Democrat and a Republican.  It's right there in black and white.  </b></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>If you disagree, if this is not what you value, then what the hell are you doing voting Republican?</b></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Jim Keyworth</b></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Gazette Blog Editor </b></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></span><i><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>To read the entire article, click on <a href="http://azcentral.com/">azcentral.com</a></b></span></span></i><br /><i><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></span></i><i><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>To have the </b></span></span></i><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Republic</b></span></span><i><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b> delivered to your doorstep 7 days a week, call 1-800-332-6733.  Because the news doesn't just happen twice a week.</b></span></span></i>

NATIONAL NEWS OPINION PERSPECTIVE Dear Republicans: Explain this, please

OK, my Republican friends, explain this one away if you can.In an article about House-Senate budget negotiations in today's (Oct. 31) Arizona Republic, Associated Press correspondent Andrew Taylor notes:"Democrats are eager to ease cuts to domestic p…

Read more »

Tea Party has irreparably harmed our country

<div class="imgon2"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><img alt="Sen. Bernie Sanders. (photo: Reuters)" border="0" height="181" src="http://readersupportednews.org/images/stories/article_imgs10/010864-bernie-sanders-101713.jpg" title="Sen. Bernie Sanders. (photo: Reuters)" width="400" /> <br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Sen. Bernie Sanders. (photo: Reuters)</b></span></span></div><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b><b></b></span></span><br /><div class="txtimg"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b><b></b></span></span><br /><div class="txtauthor"></div><div class="txtauthor"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>By Bernie Sanders, U.S. Senator for Vermont</b></span></span></div><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></span><br /><div class="date"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>17 October 13</b></span></span></div><div class="date"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><a href="http://www.readersupportednews.org/">readersupportednews.org </a></b></span></span></div><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></span><br /><div class="editorcom"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><img border="0" src="http://readersupportednews.org/images/stories/rsn_editorcomment_01.jpg" /><i><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;"><span class="editorcomital">Senator Sanders made these remarks prior to the deal that reopened the government. Since we may go down this same path in January, his words are anything but dated. SMG/RSN"</span></span></i></b></span></span></div><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><img border="0" src="http://readersupportednews.org/images/stories/alphabet/rsn-A.jpg" />s Vermont's senator, I intend to do everything I can to reopen the government as soon as possible and keep our country from defaulting, which could drive the global economy into economic turmoil,' Sen. Bernie Sanders said on Tuesday. 'My fear, however, is that no matter what happens in Congress in the next day or two, serious and long-lasting damage already has been done to our country by the right-wing extremists of the Tea Party.'</b></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></span><br /><div class="indent"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Sanders statement came as the government shutdown entered its third week on Tuesday and as a Thursday default deadline loomed unless Congress extends the Treasury Department's authority to pay bills.</b></span></span></div><div class="indent"><br /></div><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></span><br /><div class="indent"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>'What we have already witnessed is the hijacking of the democratic process by a few dozen extremists in the House who are actively trying to annul the results of the last election. This sets a terrible precedent for the legislative process and will likely be repeated year after year,' he said.</b></span></span></div><div class="indent"><br /></div><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></span><br /><div class="indent"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>'What we have already witnessed is the anxiety befalling over 1 million federal employees who are not receiving the paychecks they deserve. Having gone three years without a pay raise, they are now wondering how they will pay their mortgages, their student loans and take care of other basic needs. How many experienced and high-quality federal employees will we be losing as a result of this shutdown? What is the long-term damage to the functioning of the federal government?</b></span></span></div><div class="indent"><br /></div><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></span><br /><div class="indent"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>'What we have already witnessed is the fear of many of our most vulnerable citizens ' the elderly, the sick, veterans, the disabled, Head Start families ' that the payments and programs they depend upon may not be there when they need them. Their confidence in their own government to keep the promises and commitments made to them will be forever diminished.</b></span></span></div><div class="indent"><br /></div><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></span><br /><div class="indent"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>'What we have already witnessed is a blow to our position in the international community. In our foreign relations, we should not be surprised that the United States government is now the laughing stock of the world. Can we really be the 'strongest country on earth' when we shut down the government and do not pay our bills? The Chinese, our biggest creditor, are now openly talking about the need to 'de-Americanize' international affairs because of the constant brinksmanship by U.S. politicians over the possibility of a debt default.</b></span></span></div><div class="indent"><br /></div><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></span><br /><div class="indent"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>'The American people are better than this. They deserve a better government,' he said.</b></span></span></div></div>

NATIONAL NEWS OPINION PERSPECTIVE Tea Party has irreparably harmed our country

Sen. Bernie Sanders. (photo: Reuters)By Bernie Sanders, U.S. Senator for Vermont17 October 13readersupportednews.org Senator Sanders made these remarks prior to the deal that reopened the government. Since we may go down this same path in January,…

Read more »

Right's attack on Social Security, Medicare must fail

<br /><div class="email_body_content"> <div style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.75;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUn4iNZhX1Trfm2O3KwHVgmEbqsPbTUCVkYBd7HYx06NLOYAlvAIV9JXOemTAqIczyZ88wogZFlxn1AEGEuEXr-i9pcG3bPf1sXbIijr5vMOCnxoBznemxZ4OrIXLBdk90-Y3cPj9_-Eis/s1600/1202-bernie-sanders-031109.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUn4iNZhX1Trfm2O3KwHVgmEbqsPbTUCVkYBd7HYx06NLOYAlvAIV9JXOemTAqIczyZ88wogZFlxn1AEGEuEXr-i9pcG3bPf1sXbIijr5vMOCnxoBznemxZ4OrIXLBdk90-Y3cPj9_-Eis/s400/1202-bernie-sanders-031109.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="color: #333333; line-height: 1.75;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>They're at it again.</b></span></span></div><div style="color: #333333; line-height: 1.75;"><br /></div><div style="color: #333333; line-height: 1.75;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Billionaires like the Koch Brothers, Pete Peterson, Stanley Druckenmiller and others are leading the charge to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.</b></span></span></div><div style="color: #333333; line-height: 1.75;"><br /></div><div style="color: #333333; line-height: 1.75;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>If they succeed, millions of senior citizens, working families, disabled veterans and children will suffer. We must not allow that to happen.<span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT284"> </span></b></span></span></div><div style="color: #333333; line-height: 1.75;"><br /></div><div style="color: #333333; line-height: 1.75;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT284">Today</span>, the middle class is disappearing, real unemployment is extremely high, poverty is increasing and working families throughout the country are struggling to keep their heads above water economically. Meanwhile, the gap between the very rich and everyone else is growing wider and wider and the wealthiest people and the largest corporations are doing phenomenally well.</b></span></span></div><div style="color: #333333; line-height: 1.75;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></span><div style="color: #333333; line-height: 1.75;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>We must not balance the budget on the backs of working families, the elderly, the children, the sick and the poor.</b></span></span></div><div style="color: #333333; line-height: 1.75;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></span><div style="color: #333333; line-height: 1.75;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>As Vermont's senator, I have the honor of serving on the Budget Conference Committee which will be negotiating a new federal budget over the next few months -- and where I am fearful that a deal could be struck to slash Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid benefits.</b></span></span></div><div style="color: #333333; line-height: 1.75;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></span><div style="color: #333333; line-height: 1.75;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT285"><a href="http://caf.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=dia6Zy7OHUZjwp2ri9mioIaSq2K7gCjf" target="_blank">As the founder of the Defending Social Security Caucus, please stand with me, our friends at Social Security Works and our coalition partners in demanding; "No grand bargain in exchange for cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid benefits." </a></span></b></span></span></div><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></span><div style="color: #333333; line-height: 1.75;"><br /></div><div style="color: #333333; line-height: 1.75;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6383741895455123821" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Let's be clear. Despite right-wing rhetoric:</b></span></span></div><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></span><ul><li style="color: #333333; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Social Security is not going broke. According to the Social Security Administration, Social Security has a surplus <span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT286">today</span> of $2.8 trillion and can pay out every benefit owed to every eligible person for the next 20 years.</b></span></span></li><li style="color: #333333; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Social Security has not contributed to the deficit. Social Security is funded independently by FICA taxes which are paid by workers and their employers.</b></span></span></li></ul><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT287"><a class="buttonthing" href="http://caf.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=gUbutJO2Bfaxai9BhjFrD4aSq2K7gCjf" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-color: #2b9709; background-image: none; background-position: left top; background-repeat: repeat; color: white; display: block; margin: 30px auto; padding: 9px 15px 12px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; width: 200px;" target="_blank">Sign this petition.</a></span></b></span></span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></span><div style="color: #333333; line-height: 1.75;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>The so-called chained-CPI, which recalculates how COLA's are formulated, is not a "modest tweak." If the chained CPI went into effect <span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT288">today</span>, a senior aged 65 would receive $658 a year less in Social Security benefits when he/she is 75, and $1,100 a year less at age 85. Further, the average disabled veteran would lose tens of thousands of dollars in benefits over his/her lifetime.</b></span></div><div style="color: #333333; line-height: 1.75;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></span><div style="color: #333333; line-height: 1.75;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT289"><a href="http://caf.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=Lk0%2BGE4WaXUHp8c%2FRcj%2BKIaSq2K7gCjf" target="_blank">Please stand with me today and demand that Congress and the President oppose any grand bargain which cuts Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid benefits.</a></span></b></span></div><div style="color: #333333; line-height: 1.75;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></span><div style="color: #333333; line-height: 1.75;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>When one out of four U.S. corporations pay nothing in federal income taxes; when Bush's tax breaks for the rich remain in place for many wealthy Americans; when the U.S. spends almost as much as the rest of the world combined on defense, there are much fairer and economically sound ways to address the budget than cutting programs desperately needed by the most vulnerable people in our country.</b></span></div><div style="color: #333333; line-height: 1.75;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></span><div style="color: #333333; line-height: 1.75;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT290"><a href="http://caf.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=KKyxRwltnum%2BC4jNA%2FPoqIaSq2K7gCjf" target="_blank">Please stand with me and Social Security Works in protecting the future of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid benefits.</a></span></b></span></div><div style="color: #333333; line-height: 1.75;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></span><div style="color: #333333; line-height: 1.75;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Let's go forward together. Thanks for your continued support.</b></span></div><div style="color: #333333; line-height: 1.75;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></span><div style="color: #333333; line-height: 1.75;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Sincerely,</b></span></div><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></span><div style="color: #333333; line-height: 1.75;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders</b></span></div></div>

HEALTH NATIONAL NEWS OPINION SENIORS Right's attack on Social Security, Medicare must fail

They're at it again.Billionaires like the Koch Brothers, Pete Peterson, Stanley Druckenmiller and others are leading the charge to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.If they succeed, millions of se…

Read more »

Racism, cruelty drive GOP health care agenda

<div class="imgon2"><img alt="Racism is fueling opposition to Obamacare. (photo: Jae C. Hong/AP)" border="0" height="181" src="http://readersupportednews.org/images/stories/article_imgs10/010798-racism-obamacare-100813.jpg" title="Racism is fueling opposition to Obamacare. (photo: Jae C. Hong/AP)" width="400" /> <br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Racism is fueling opposition to Obamacare. (photo: Jae C. Hong/AP)</b></span></span></div><div class="noslink"></div><h1 class="txttitle"></h1><div class="txtauthor"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>By Robert Scheer, Truthdig</b></span></span></div><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></span><div class="date"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>08 October 13</b></span></span></div><div class="date"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><a href="http://readersupportednews.org/">readersupportednews.org</a> </b></span></span></div><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></span><div class="indent"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><img border="0" src="http://readersupportednews.org/images/stories/alphabet/rsn-B.jpg" />efore he was disgraced into resigning his presidency over the Watergate burglary scandal, Richard Nixon had successfully engineered an even more odious plot known as his Southern Strategy. The trick was devilishly simple: Appeal to the persistent racist inclination of Southern whites by abandoning the Republican Party's historic association with civil rights and demonizing the black victims of the South’s history of segregation.</b></span></span></div><div class="indent"><br /></div><div class="indent"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>That same divisive strategy is at work in the Republican rejection of the Affordable Care Act. GOP governors are largely in control of the 26 states, including all but Arkansas in the South, that have refused to implement the act's provision for an expansion of Medicaid to cover the millions of American working poor who earn too much to qualify for the program now. A New York Times analysis of census data concludes that as a result of the Republican governors' resistance, "A sweeping national effort to extend health coverage to millions of Americans will leave out two-thirds of the poor blacks and single mothers and more than half of the low-wage workers who do not have insurance, the very kinds of people that the program was intended to help. ..."</b></span></span></div><div class="indent"><br /></div><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Why anyone who claims to be pro-life would want to deny health care to single mothers is an enduring mystery in the morally mischievous ethos of the Republican Party. But the exclusion of a working poor population that skews disproportionately black in the South is simply a continuation of the divide-and-conquer politics that have informed Republican strategy since Nixon.</b></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Before he was disgraced into resigning his presidency over the Watergate burglary scandal, Richard Nixon had successfully engineered an even more odious plot known as his Southern Strategy. The trick was devilishly simple: Appeal to the persistent racist inclination of Southern whites by abandoning the Republican Party’s historic association with civil rights and demonizing the black victims of the South’s history of segregation.</b></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>That same divisive strategy is at work in the Republican rejection of the Affordable Care Act. GOP governors are largely in control of the 26 states, including all but Arkansas in the South, that have refused to implement the act’s provision for an expansion of Medicaid to cover the millions of American working poor who earn too much to qualify for the program now. A New York Times analysis of census data concludes that as a result of the Republican governors’ resistance, “A sweeping national effort to extend health coverage to millions of Americans will leave out two-thirds of the poor blacks and single mothers and more than half of the low-wage workers who do not have insurance, the very kinds of people that the program was intended to help. ...”</b></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Why anyone who claims to be pro-life would want to deny health care to single mothers is an enduring mystery in the morally mischievous ethos of the Republican Party. But the exclusion of a working poor population that skews disproportionately black in the South is simply a continuation of the divide-and-conquer politics that have informed Republican strategy since Nixon.</b></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>The game plan of gutting the Affordable Care Act despite its passage into law and before its positive outcomes are demonstrated can be traced to a “blueprint to defunding Obamacare” initialed by the GOP conservative leadership under the aegis of Heritage Action for America. Ironically that is the political front of the Heritage Foundation, the leading GOP think tank that is credited by some architects of Obamacare as the initial inspiration of their health care program. The difference is that whereas the Heritage Foundation was pushing a mild health care reform based on increased profit for private insurers, as in the plan Mitt Romney introduced in Massachusetts, the Republicans object to the provisions in this president’s program that broaden access for the needy.</b></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>They were abetted in this decision by a Supreme Court ruling last year granting the states the option of not expanding Medicaid to cover the uninsured under the new act. As a consequence, 8 million of our fellow Americans with annual incomes of less than $19,530 for a family of three have been prevented from obtaining the health care coverage that we as a nation decided to grant them.</b></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>It might seem odd for governors to reject a program to help those living in their state that is fully funded by the federal government for the first few years and then 90 percent covered by the feds thereafter. But turning down a federal program to aid your own state’s population makes perfect sense when connected with the racist appeal initiated by Nixon that has turned the once Democratic South into a rock solid Republican bastion. There are certainly many whites among the 435,000 cashiers, 341,000 cooks and 253,000 nurses aides who the Times estimated will be denied needed health care in the states controlled by Republican governors who have decided to veto the most important provision of the Affordable Care Act. </b></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>In the end, this is a replay of the civil rights drama that gripped the nation more than half a century ago, but back then the Republican Party, following the enlightened leadership of Dwight Eisenhower, was on the humanitarian side of the equation. Now the elected leaders of a party that has been on the side of emancipation since the presidency of Abraham Lincoln acts to deny the basic human right to life-sustaining health care to the Southern progeny of slaves. As the Times study noted: “In all, 6 out of 10 blacks live in the states not expanding Medicaid. In Mississippi, 56 percent of all poor and uninsured adults are black, though they account for just 38 percent of the population.”</b></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>But that also means that almost 44 percent of the poor and uninsured in Mississippi are white, and the gutting of this program that hurts them is evidence of the false consciousness that informs racist appeals. As the Times points out, someone, black or white, making $11,000 a year frying chicken in a convenience store falls into the gap of making too much to qualify for the state’s existing Medicaid program but not enough to be subsidized under the new health care plan as the state defines it. For those who lose out, there’s what the Republican die-hards call tough love. That’s not love. It’s hate. </b></span></span>

HEALTH NATIONAL NEWS OPINION PERSPECTIVE Racism, cruelty drive GOP health care agenda

Racism is fueling opposition to Obamacare. (photo: Jae C. Hong/AP)By Robert Scheer, Truthdig08 October 13readersupportednews.org efore he was disgraced into resigning his presidency over the Watergate burglary scandal, Richard Nixon had successfu…

Read more »

McOutrage: poverty wages, $30m corporate jet

<div class="mod" style="background-color: rgba(228, 236, 217, 0.64); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Helvetica', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; margin: 0; padding: 15px;"><h2 style="color: black; font-family: HelveticaNeue-Light, 'Helvetica Neue Light', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.1; margin-bottom: 12px; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h2><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizccEzThvbZJjItz9eKHEc-deH1Oy4aI9MrjlUq4j71WIxhoqs1sll6_XL95zdkD6WUEDlI7mxGYZMtpEXmd35cqW34N8Ri_KG_5rhE05JhjEBGiTD91lZMtZAC-XZJ35o1wvkbVPXARmg/s1600/3F44EEB3B35AFE5786C2781F4F879D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizccEzThvbZJjItz9eKHEc-deH1Oy4aI9MrjlUq4j71WIxhoqs1sll6_XL95zdkD6WUEDlI7mxGYZMtpEXmd35cqW34N8Ri_KG_5rhE05JhjEBGiTD91lZMtZAC-XZJ35o1wvkbVPXARmg/s320/3F44EEB3B35AFE5786C2781F4F879D.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="mod_author" style="color: #580000; line-height: 1.6; margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>By Isaiah J. Poole</b></span></span></div><div class="mod_author" style="color: #580000; line-height: 1.6; margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><a href="http://ourfuture.org/">ourfuture.org</a> </b></span></span></div><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></span><br /><div style="color: #222222; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>McDonald’s says it can’t afford to pay her and the company’s more than 700,000 other American nonmanagement employees a wage that would lift them above the poverty line. What McDonald’s Corp. can afford to do, though, is buy itself a new corporate jet. </b></span></span></div><div style="color: #222222; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>That’s right. Bloomberg News reported earlier this week that McDonald’s Corp. has purchased for the use of its executives a Bombardier Challenger 605, a 12-seat plane that goes for between $27 million and $35 million ... Meanwhile ... other McDonald’s employees have been offered a “McResources” telephone help line to call that offers them helpful advice if they are having problems meeting their expenses on their minimum-wage McPaycheck. </b></span></span></div><div style="color: #222222; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>The advice: Sign up for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (“food stamp”) benefits and Medicaid ... it is criminal that CEOs of corporations like McDonald’s pay their full-time workers wages that keep them below the poverty line.</b></span></span></div></div>

CONSUMER NEWS NATIONAL NEWS OPINION McOutrage: poverty wages, $30m corporate jet

By Isaiah J. Pooleourfuture.org McDonald’s says it can’t afford to pay her and the company’s more than 700,000 other American nonmanagement employees a wage that would lift them above the poverty line. What McDonald’s Corp. can afford to do, thoug…

Read more »

Why Ted Cruz is 'a laughingstock'

<div class="imgon2"><img alt="U.S. Sen. Harry Reid speaks at the National Clean Energy Summit in Las Vegas, 08/07/12. (photo: AP)" border="0" height="181" src="http://readersupportednews.org/images/stories/article_imgs7/7471-harry-reid-vegas-080712.jpg" style="border: 0px none;" title="U.S. Sen. Harry Reid speaks at the National Clean Energy Summit in Las Vegas, 08/07/12. (photo: AP)" width="400" /> <br /><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>U.S. Sen. Harry Reid speaks at the National Clean Energy Summit in Las Vegas, 08/07/12. (photo: AP)</b></span></span></div><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></span><div class="noslink"></div><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b> </b><b></b></span></span><br /><div class="txtauthor"><br /></div><div class="txtauthor"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>By Elias Isquith, Salon</b></span></span></div><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></span><div class="date"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>20 October 13</b></span></span></div><div class="date"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><a href="http://readersupportednews.org/">readersupportednews.org</a> </b></span></span></div><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>  </b></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></span><blockquote><span style="background-color: #999999;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><i>Senate majority leader goes off on Tea Party's favorite senator</i></b></span></span></span></span></blockquote><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><img border="0" src="http://readersupportednews.org/images/stories/alphabet/rsn-H.jpg" />arry Reid is certainly not the first politician to take a shot at Ted Cruz, but his attack might be the most personal.</b></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></span><div class="indent"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>"Ted Cruz, well, he proved he has a great fundraising operation," Reid dismissively told <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/17/harry-reid-vitter_n_4118512.html?utm_hp_ref=tw" target="_blank">the Huffington Post</a>. "But you don't have to have Harry Reid criticizing him. Republicans criticized him."</b></span></span></div><div class="indent"><br /></div><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></span><div class="indent"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>"He is a laughingstock to everybody but him," Reid continued.</b></span></span></div><div class="indent"><br /></div><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></span><div class="indent"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Reid was no less caustic when discussing Cruz's presidential ambitions, saying, "What has he accomplished other than raising some money for president? And if this man can get the nomination to be the Republican nominee for president, I pity the Republican Party."</b></span></span></div><div class="indent"><br /></div><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></span><div class="indent"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>The Senate majority leader then got even more personal in his attack, essentially accusing Cruz of overestimating his own intelligence:</b></span></span></div><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></span><blockquote><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><i>Ted Cruz is smart. He has always been able to talk down to people. He is now in the Senate. People are as smart as he is. He can't talk down to anyone anymore. But he has still not accepted that in his own head. He still thinks he's smarter than everybody else. He might be able to work a calculus problem better than I can. But he can't legislate better than I can.</i></b></span></span></blockquote>

NATIONAL NEWS OPINION PERSPECTIVE Why Ted Cruz is 'a laughingstock'

U.S. Sen. Harry Reid speaks at the National Clean Energy Summit in Las Vegas, 08/07/12. (photo: AP) By Elias Isquith, Salon20 October 13readersupportednews.org   Senate majority leader goes off on Tea Party's favorite senatorarry Reid is certainly n…

Read more »