World Science Day, Shutdown Aftermath, Fake It Science, Science Under Siege, Urban Scientist, Rad Scientists; Climate Change, Pollution, Ecology; Obamacare

World Science Day

• Senator Warren Says Fighting for Science Is a Top Priority
• Age of Unreason—"The governments of Britain, Canada and Australia are trying to stamp out scientific dissent."
• Canadian scientists protest against government censorship—"Rules bar government researchers from talking about their own work with journalists and even fellow researchers."
• Republicans put 'national interest' requirement on US science agency—"Proposed bill would require the National Science Foundation to justify awards using criteria including economic competitiveness and national defence."
• US Scientists Are Leaving The Country And Taking The Innovation Economy With Them

Shutdown Aftermath

• The Government Shutdown Is (Almost) Over, but the Damage to Science Will Last
• Are Republicans anti-science? In this case, yes—"The government shutdown forced by the GOP cost not only $24bn but incalculable damage to scientific research."
• Remember the Government Shutdown? It's Still Screwing Over Scientists in Antarctica

Fake It Science

• Scientific research: Looks good on paper—"A flawed system for judging research is leading to academic fraud."
• Who's Afraid of Peer Review?—"A spoof paper concocted by Science reveals little or no scrutiny at many open-access journals."
• Science has lost its way, at a big cost to humanity—"Researchers are rewarded for splashy findings, not for double-checking accuracy. So many scientists looking for cures to diseases have been building on ideas that aren't even true."

Science Under Siege

• Jack Andraka on the scourge of paywalls for scientific journals
• UK Guardian: BBC Says 'Putting Forward Opinions Not Backed By Science Is Part Of Its Role
• For shame: Trolls defeat Scientific American, Popular Science

Urban Scientist

• On Science, Communication, Respect, and Coming Back from Mistakes
• When A Black Female Scientist Gets Called An 'Urban Whore'
• Website apologizes, fires editor who called female scientist a "whore"—"An editor who used a misogynistic threat against Dr. Danielle Lee has been fired, but controversy continues." Salon

Rad Scientists

• Nobel physics prize spotlights Higgs boson, plus Drs. Higgs and Englert
• Bill Nye Wants to Return to Television: 'I Feel Like I Have Something to Say'
• Serbian president unveils Nikola Tesla monument in New York—"President Tomislav Nikolic spoke to the crowd at Tesla's former Wardenclyffe laboratory in Long Island."
• Alan Turing's story could be rebooted by calls to pardon late computer legend WaPo
• McGill student uses 'Bohemian Rhapsody' to explain string theory, Queen guitarist takes note

Climate Change

• Typhoon Haiyan: what really alarms Filipinos is the rich world ignoring climate change—"As Haiyan batters the Phillipines, the political elites at the UN climate talks will again leave poor countries to go it alone." Mother Nature isn't fucking around.
• Climate contrarians are more celebrity than scientist—"A new study identifies climate contrarians as a keystone species in the denial ecosystem."
• World Bank releases new report on climate change, global warming

Pollution

• Ill. attorney general suing over mounds of refinery waste—"All of the petroleum coke from a nearby BP refinery is stored by KCBX, a company controlled by the wealthy industrialists Charles and David Koch."
• BP launches new website defending the company's response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill
• Bad news for Big Coal in Whatcom County
• Voters in Colorado, Ohio Cities Sideline Fracking
• If You Think China’s Air Is Bad ...—"Drinking water has become a casualty of rapid industrialization." NYT

Ecology

• In a Message to Poachers, U.S. Will Destroy Its Ivory—"Six tons of illegal elephant ivory that the government has been stockpiling for three decades will be crushed and used in antipoaching memorials, officials announced." NYT
• 1.8 tonnes of ivory found in Chinese home in Tanzania
• Hundreds of tortoises found in luggage at Thai airport
• Western black rhino declared extinct
• 'Bullfighting will come back to Catalonia'

Obamacare

• Obama Seeking Fix for Health Insurance Cancellations
• American Health Care’s Good Old Days—"With all the talk of Obamacare victims, it might be helpful to take a trip back in time to when acne and pregnancy were considered preexisting conditions."
• It's Not The Website, Stupid: New Research Says RomneyCare Worked, ObamaCare Will

Wall Street, Too Big to Jail, Mortgages and Foreclosures, Financial Institutions; Economy, That's Rich, Workers; GOP; Racism; Public-Private Partnerships

Wall Street

• U.S. states, regulator drop objections to $8.5 billion BofA deal
• Defang Dodd-Frank To Protect Wall Street Vampires? A Look At The Proposed Changes
• Krugman: More on the Roots of Bernanke Hatred NYT
• Wall Street is writing its own regulation bill
• See How Citigroup Wrote a Bill So It Could Get a Bailout—"Citigroup lobbyists drafted a bill to allow more risky dealings by taxpayer-backed banks and—what do you know?—the House financial services committee passed nearly identical legislation."

Too Big to Jail

• Elizabeth Warren to Obama Administration: Take the Banks to Court, Already!
• No Arrests on Wall Street, But Over 7,700 Americans Have Been Arrested Protesting Big Banks
• Why Are Homeowners Being Jailed for Demanding Wall Street Prosecutions?—"Bankers go free while cops tase peaceful protesters and the Department of Justice targets journalists."
• Elizabeth Warren Grills Treasury Secretary on Too Big to Fail—And whether he'll allow banks to get even bigger.
• Jon Stewart rips Obama for aggressive investigation of whistle-blowers instead of bankers

Mortages and Foreclosures

• Turns out much-hyped settlement still allows banks to steal homes—"New data reveals mega-banks still illegally foreclosing on thousands. Get this: The housing settlement allows it." Salon
• Wells Fargo Forecloses On Homeowner For Making Early Mortgage Payments
• New York claims more proof of bank mortgage abuses

Financial Institutions

• Bankers Explain How They Cannot Possibly Live On $1 Million Pay
• Zombie corpse of Lehman Brothers sues Intel over bad billion-dollar deal
• JPMorgan Caught in Swirl of Regulatory Woes—"The nation's biggest bank, which faces several federal investigations, was warned by energy regulators about 'manipulative schemes' it used in California and Michigan."

Economy

• Paul Krugman accused of 'spectacularly uncivil' behavior
• Paul Krugman on Debt, but Are Soaring Interest Rates Running Against Him?
• Entitlements in America—"[D]eficit projections are falling fast. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) now says it will shrink to 4% of GDP in this fiscal year and 2.1% by 2015. No wonder Republicans would rather talk about the Internal Revenue Service and Benghazi than the budget."
• Why Nobody Cares That The Deficit Is Shrinking
• Stop celebrating our falling deficits—"Our deficits aren’t dropping because we're doing something right. They're dropping because we're doing everything wrong."

That's Rich

• Top U.S. tax breaks to cost $12 trillion over decade, benefit wealthy: CBO
• How Far Did PBS Go to Avoid Offending a Sponsor?—"Public television's attempts to placate David Koch."
• Rich Manhattan moms hire handicapped tour guides so kids can cut lines at Disney World

Workers

• The Financialisation of Labour—"Frances Coppola argues that flexibility in the labour market could be harming the UKs prospects."
• House GOP Votes To End Overtime Pay With 'Working Families Flexibility Act'—How Frank Luntzian.
• The Long Shadow of Bad Credit in a Job Search—"Many companies, especially some retailers, use an applicant's credit report in making hiring decisions." NYT
• 84 Percent of NYC Fast Food Workers Report Wage Theft in a New Survey
• Valley farm-labor shortage boosts wages for workers
• Working past retirement: 75% will do it, most because they want to
• Old Economy Steve Is A New Meme That Will Enrage All Millennials Everywhere

GOP

• Krugman: The Closing of the Conservative Mind—"Is there new flexibility? No." NYT
• Bob Dole: GOP should be 'closed for repairs'—"The Republican Party has changed so drastically in recent years, the current GOP wouldn’t welcome the likes of Ronald Reagan...."
• The Wisdom of Bob Dole—"Old-school Republicans no longer recognize a party full of Tea Party lawmakers that wants to break the government." NYT
• GOP dilemma: draw new voters without irking base—"The Republican Party, having lost the popular vote in five of the last six presidential elections, confronts a dilemma that's easier to describe than to solve: How can it broaden its appeal to up-for-grabs voters without alienating its conservative base?"
• Paul Ryan admits GOP can't govern without a hostage crisis
• Tea Party Favorite Rep. Michele Bachmann Leaving Congress—Ding, dong, the witch has fled.
• I was a liberal mole at Fox News: From Bill O'Reilly to Roger Ailes, here's all the inside dope Salon

Racism

• The Long, Sordid History of the American Right and Racism—"Other factors have come and gone for the Right, but racism has always been there."
• Virginia Parents Outraged After Walmart Security Allegedly Suspected Father Of Kidnapping Biracial Daughters—"Well, the customer was concerned because they saw the children with your husband and he didn't think that they fit."
• Ann Coulter Decries "Ethnic Composition" Of Today's US Immigrants
• Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio Racially Profiled Latinos, Federal Judge Rules
• Racist opera voicemail on WorldStar gets Papa John's employee fired
• Family: Michael Clarke Duncan's Grave Desecrated By Racists
• Teacher Fired For Using Word 'Negro' During Spanish Class—Hard to determine what really happened.

Public-Private Partnerships

• Does the husband of Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein chair a company that brokers sales of USPS facilities?
• Sweet deals are business as usual in Florida government
• Bail bonds dispute surfaces in resignation fracas—"Brawley wrote to Tillis that the legislature had passed 'a bill giving a monopoly to the family of a Republican legislator.'"

Drug Money Laundering, Wall Street, Banks, Reckoning; Inequality; Corporations; Politicking; Racism

Drug Money Laundering

• Elizabeth Warren Takes On Eric Holder's 'Too Big To Jail' Statement
• Warren: Drug possession warrants jail time but laundering cartel money doesn't?
• Cayman Islands Monetary Authority Revokes HSBC Mexico Banking License

Wall Street

• The Real Reason Wall Street Always Escapes Criminal Charges? The Justice Dept Fears The Aftermath
• Elizabeth Warren Blasts Senate Republicans For Holding Up CFPB Nomination—She says "it is time for Washington to stop protecting a handful the big guys."
• Greenberg doubles claims in AIG bailout lawsuit vs U.S. to $55 billion
• Mistakenly Released Documents Reveal Goldman Sachs Screwed IPO Clients
• The Executive Coloring Book

Banks

• JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon is accused of hiding information about big losses
• Big Banks get subsidy of $780bn, equal to entire "stimulus" bill, every year
• Jaw-Dropping Crimes of the Big Banks
• Wells Fargo Victim Dies in Court Typo—"The bank billed Larry Delassus $13,361 owed by his neighbor, then foreclosed."
• Blast from the Past: Two Financial Crises Compared: The Savings and Loan Debacle and the Mortgage Mess NYT

Reckoning

• Big Banks Have a Big Problem—"The largest banks in the United States face a serious political problem. There has been an outbreak of clear thinking among officials and politicians who increasingly agree that too-big-to-fail is not a good arrangement for the financial sector." NYT
• Cohen's SAC to pay $616 million in SEC insider trade settlement
• Meet the Most Indebted Man in the World—"Former Société Générale rogue trader Jérôme Kerviel owes the bank $6.3 billion. Here's what his case tells us about financial reform."

Inequality

• Meet Scott Prouty, the 47 Percent Video Source
• Distributional Consequences of Ryan Tax Plan—"The poorest 20 percent of American households would receive, on average, a $60 tax cut. The middle 20 percent would get $1,961. The top 1 percent would get $227,420."
• Paul Ryan pretends he didn't lose—And probably "thinks we're too dumb to see what he's up to."
• The Contest Over the Real Economic Problem
• UK: The gap between rich and poor will continue to grow until we give up on QE

Corporations

• Supreme Court strikes down Montana law banning Citizens United
• Constitutional Amendment Sponsors Renew Push to Undo Citizens United
• Montana Bill Would Give Corporations The Right To Vote

Politicking

• What do you do when one party is this dishonest?
• Rubio at CPAC: Liberals are "freeloaders"—"In a rousing CPAC speech, Rubio mocks climate change, says life begins at conception, and declares he's not a bigot." Salon
• One America News Network, New Conservative Cable Channel, Sets Launch

Racism

• Emory president apologizes for citing slavery compromise as example of pragmatism
• Tea Party Event On Racial Tolerance Devolves Into Complete Chaos At CPAC
• The South still lies about the Civil War—"In an ongoing revisionist history effort, Southern schools and churches still pretend the war wasn't about slavery." Salon

Sequester; Wall Street, Banks, Occupy Movement, Inequality

Sequester

• The House of Pain—"Can Eric Cantor, the Republican Majority Leader, redeem his party and himself?"
• This is why Obama can't make a deal with Republicans—"Want to know why the sequester is happening? Then read what GOP consultant Mike Murphy wrote on Twitter."
• Paul Krugman: Republicans 'Just Won't Take Yes For An Answer'
• David Gregory to Boehner: 'Mr. Speaker, That’s Just Not True'
• Boehner: 'I don't think anyone quite understands' how sequester gets resolved
• The Staggeringly Bad Judgment Of Bob Woodward
• House continuing resolution to restore $7B to military operations
• AIPAC aims to play 'major strategic ally' card to save aid for Israel from US cuts?
• McCaskill Introduces Bill To Cut Pay During Sequestration—"U.S. Senators Claire McCaskill and Bill Nelson will introduce legislation that would cut pay for members of Congress if federal employees are furloughed due to the sequester. The legislation calls for a reduction in Congressional salaries once federal furloughs begin."
• Funny or Die: The Sequester

Wall Street

• Two-Tiered Justice—"[A] massive divide in justice has opened between those with economic power and those who have less power."
• Remember That $83 Billion Bank Subsidy? We Weren't Kidding
• Elizabeth Warren clocks big Ben
• Jamie Dimon Dong-Slaps Inquisitive Analyst in Hilarious Exchange
• Why It's Smart to Be Reckless on Wall Street
• Merger-Mania! Stewart Trashes 'Hope And Optimism' On Wall Street, Mocks Pundits' 'Unbridled Enthusiasm'
• Banks find more wrongful foreclosures among military members NYT

Banks

• LIBOR: Viewing the Biggest Financial Crime in History
• EU agrees to cap bankers' bonuses
• RBS boss admits 'chastening' year as losses breach £5bn—"£607m paid out in bonuses, £287m to investment bankers."

Occupy Movement

• Jury Finds Occupy Wall Street Protester Innocent After Video Contradicts Police Testimony—Will this cop be punished for perjury?
• Feds Say Man Deserved Arrest Because Jacket Said 'Occupy Everything'
• Occupy one year on: what is the financial system's achilles heel?—"Occupy's first phase may now be over but it's what happens next that will determine whether it has succeeded."

Inequality

• Stacked Deck: How the Dominance of Politics by the Affluent and Business Undermines Economic Mobility in America
• Americans see biggest monthly income drop in 20 years
• Eric Cantor will propose Federal Law that Ends Overtime Pay for hourly workers
• Video: Wealth Inequality in America
• If you think we're done with neoliberalism, think again—"The global application of a fraudulent economic theory brought the west to its knees. Yet for those in power, it offers riches."

Stupid Party, Wingnuts, Conservatives, Republicans; Sequester, Military Funding; Educamation; Vote Machinations; WH Press; Racism; Gun Control

Stupid Party

• The Republican Party needs a reality check—"They're losing because they're stuck in the past."
• Staying Stupid: Why The 'Hip' Young Republicans Can't Change Their Party (Or Themselves)
• Scientist guts Rand Paul on fish study—"A scientist nibbled away at Sen. Rand Paul on Friday after the Kentucky Republican blasted his research on schools of fish as wasteful federal spending."

Wingnuts

• Deluded Republican Reformers—"Conservative pundits' ideas about fixing the GOP are totally meaningless, says Michael Tomasky, until they deal with the problem of their party's rage-driven fanaticism."
• GOP Senator Warns Boehner That He’ll Risk Speakership If He Caves On Taxes
• What's It Like to Wake Up From a Tea Party Binge? Just Ask Florida!—"Kids locked up in nursing homes. Leaky sewers. Mosquitoes unleashed. The Sunshine State has buyer's remorse."
• Ted Cruz Claims He Has A List Of Communists Who Have Infiltrated Harvard Law
• Ted Cruz Demonstrates Texans Will Elect Anyone, No Matter How Stupid, If He’s A Republican
• Michelle Obama Attacked For Oscars Appearance
• WWE: Zeb Colter and Jack Swagger address Glenn Beck

Conservatives

• Conservative offers $10K for plan to overtake GOP establishment Salon
• CPAC to feature potential presidential candidates, GOP internal battle, and no Christie
• The Internet Is Where Conservative Ideas Go To Die

Sequester

• Klein: I don’t understand the Republican position on the sequester
• Poll: Americans Oppose Almost Every Possible Spending Cut
• If spending is cut, GOP will get the blame
• Americans Really Want the GOP to Knock It Off
• Elizabeth Warren: Sequester Is 'Just Plain Dumb'

Military Funding

• Five Military Cuts That Would Fix Sequestration
• Flawed F-35 Fighter Too Big to Kill as Lockheed Hooks 45 States
• Sequestration is for Sissies: $6.9 Billion More for the F-22
• The GOP vs The Pentagon?
• Defense industry finds few old friends on Hill

Educamation

• Conservatives declare war on college—"Bobby Jindal doesn't want the GOP to be the 'stupid party,' but fellow governors are plotting to wreck higher ed." Salon
• How the Religious Right Is Helping De-Educate America's Youth
• The Revisionaries: Documentary about Texas State Board of Education

Vote Machinations

• 13 GOP Pennsylvania Senators Introduce New Plan To Rig The Electoral College For Republicans
• Democrat Tied To Ex-Rep. Rivera To Be Charged—"An out-of-nowhere 2012 Democratic Congressional candidate with ties to former Rep. David Rivera (R-FL) is scheduled to be hit with federal charges on Friday...."
• The case of the phantom ballots: an electoral whodunit

WH Press

• Obama, DC Press Corps Locked in Mutual Loathing Pact
• Maddow: Regular Americans routinely ask tougher questions than whiny Beltway media
• Hey, Sean Hannity, here’s what a "lapdog" press really looks like—"The Fox talker whines about the media's leftist bias. Has he forgotten the Bush years?" Salon

Racism

• Historic oversight corrected: Film 'Lincoln' inspires look into slavery vote
• McCain Jeered At Town Hall After Opposing Mass Deportation
• Nurse sues hospital over "No African-American nurse" note by request from baby's racist dad
• Executive Charged With Slapping Toddler on Plane Gets Slapped With Pink Slip
• Principle Bans White Students From Tutoring Program

Gun Control

• Court Finds No Right to Conceal a Firearm—" A federal appeals court has ruled that permits allowing people to carry concealed weapons are not protected by the Second Amendment." NYT
• "A bill in the Alaska House that would criminalize federal gun regulation is on track to be scheduled for a vote."
• Missouri Legislator Wants To Make It A Felony To Propose Gun Control Legislation
• Biden Doubts 'Parents Mag' Questioner Reads Magazine
• NRA declares government will seize guns
• Video games didn't cause Newtown rampage
• Local newspaper grovels over gun records request Salon

Fiscal Cliff, Class War; Elizabeth Warren, Banks and Wall Street, International; Racism; Rmoney, PBS

Fiscal Cliff

• On the Fiscal Cliff, Republicans Got Nothin'--And according to one of them, that's just fine.
• There's Only One Relevant Question For The Republicans: 'Seriously? You're Going To Block A Tax Cut?'
• Alleging Republican 'blind eye' on defense spending, GOP senator proposes cuts--Why is military funding such a sacred cow?
• Boehner: No 'Difference' If Revenue Comes From Middle Class Or Super Rich--But it's like they don't care about the middle class anyway.
• Krugman: The Big Budget Mumble NYT
• Steele: Norquist blocking progress on debt deal--"Former RNC chair said the agreement would be done in '24 hours' if Norquist weren't involved."
• GOP's $4.6T 'fiscal cliff' counterproposal rebuffed--They, again, wanted to kill off Social Security and Medicare.
• Are Republicans Already Blowing the Next Election?
• Time magazine: the GOP is "full of it" and the press won't call them on it
• Jon Stewart: Fiscal Cliff Like An Asteroid Barreling Toward Earth That We Created And Fired At Ourselves

Class War

• How One GOP Plutocrat Helped Make 20,000 Kids Homeless--"Homelessness in New York has skyrocketed, thanks in part to years of conservative policy predicated on right-wing ideology."
• The Obscenely Rich Men Bent on Shredding the Safety Net
• Five Facts About America's Pathological Wealth Distribution

Elizabeth Warren

• Elizabeth Warren Wins Senate Banking Committee Seat: Sources
• Their Problem With Elizabeth Warren NYT
• Can Wall Street Tame Elizabeth Warren?
• As Senator, How Might Elizabeth Warren Help Your Finances?

Banks and Wall Street

• How important is the fiscal cliff for investors? Hint: Not very--But that's not stopping them from fearmongering.
• Obama Administration Sues Big Banks for Mortgage Fraud…Finally
• Wall Street Professionals Admit: Yes, Lots of Us Are Corrupt
• Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan Apparently Can't Remember Anything--"Moynihan's recently unveiled deposition in the MBIA v. Bank of America case will go down as one of the great Nixonian-stonewalling efforts ever, and one of the more entertaining reads of the year."
• Occupy Returns with a New Idea

International

• The Faustian Bargain between States and Banks--"States and banks have made a deal with the devil. Banks buy the sovereign bonds needed to prop states up in the tacit understanding that the states will bail them out in a pinch. But experts warn that this symbiotic arrangement might be putting the entire financial system at risk."
• Loss of income caused by banks as bad as a 'world war', says BoE's Andrew Haldane--" The financial crisis has been as economically devastating as a world war and may still be a burden on 'our grandchildren', a top Bank of England official has said."
• German man locked up over HVB bank allegations may have been telling truth--"Gustl Mollath was put in a psychiatric unit for claiming his wife was involved in money-laundering at the Bavarian bank. But seven years on evidence has emerged that could set him free."

Racism

• Arizona: Jan Brewer's Immigration Backlash Begins
• Judge To Birther Orly Taitz: "Evidence Is Not Stuff Printed From the Internet"
• President uses racial code to demean Romney at White House lunch--Oh noes!

Rmoney

• The Internal Polls That Made Mitt Romney Think He'd Win
• A detached Romney tends wounds in seclusion after failed White House bid
• Romney';s Five-Point Plan To Deal With The 47 Percent Gaffe

PBS

• Beyond Big Bird--"While Big Bird as a character served as a symbol in the fight to protect public broadcasting, it is now important to move past support alone and use nonprofit media to make genuine political changes in the country."
• PBS auto-tunes LeVar Burton Salon
• Patrick Stewart: Don't Support PBS Stations

Elizabeth Warren, Wall Street, Bad Company, CEOs and Salaries, Taxes, Corporate Personhood

Elizabeth Warren

• When fighting Wall Street pays--"Being the biggest enemy of the big banks just paid off nicely for Elizabeth Warren's campaign." Salon
• Warren takes center stage in Obama campaign video--"Are we a people who say 'I got mine; the rest of you are on your own,' or 'We can invest in our future.'?"
• Poll: Warren Leads Brown By 5 Points--They're running 'neck-And-neck'
• Scott Brown hit over female pay after his campaign calls Elizabeth Warren ‘elitist’
• Elizabeth Warren’s gamble Salon

Wall Street

• Eliot Spitzer: Obama 'Has Been On Wall Street's Side Since Day One'
• US to make profit from bailouts, Treasury says
• Wall Street bankers: 'They could not figure out why anyone might be mad at them'
• Giant Banks Now 30% Bigger than When Dodd-Frank Financial "Reform" Law Was Passed
• Rep. Frank Blasts Bills to Blunt Law on Derivatives--"House Republican attempts to blunt Dodd-Frank's regulatory requirements on derivatives would remove transparency and 'allow these prices to continue to be secret,' Rep. Barney Frank told CNBC Thursday."
• For He’s a Jolly Good Scoundrel--"How evil is this? At a time when two-thirds of U.S. homeowners are drowning in mortgage debt and the American dream has crashed for tens of millions more, Sanford Weill, the banker most responsible for the nation’s economic collapse, has been elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences."
• Inside the foreclosure factory, they're working overtime

Bad Company

• Marginal improvement: Corporate profit margins are extremely high. Can they be sustained?
• The Koch Brothers – Exposed!
• Conservative Nonprofit Acts as a Stealth Business Lobbyist--All about ALEC. NYT
• Wal-Mart hushed up vast Mexico bribery case
• Karen Pletz found dead in Florida--"Karen Pletz, 64, was indicted on 24 counts in March 2011 in connection with an alleged fraud scheme that includes unauthorized compensation payments, reimbursements from the university for personal expenses, fraudulent charitable contributions, tax violations and money laundering at the medical school."

CEOs and Salaries

• Inside the head of an overpaid CEO
• CEO Compensation Rose Almost 40 Percent in 2010 and 2011
• Average Fortune 500 CEO Now Paid 380 Times As Much As The Average Worker
• Bankrupt Pinnacle should rethink big raises for execs, lawmakers say
• Citigroup's Chief Rebuffed on Pay by Shareholders--"In a stinging rebuke, Citigroup shareholders rebuffed on Tuesday the bank’s $15 million pay package for its chief executive, Vikram S. Pandit, marking the first time that stock owners have united in opposition to outsized compensation at a financial giant." NYT
• Citigroup CEO, directors, sued over exec pay --"Days after being rebuked by shareholders, Citigroup Inc Chief Executive Vikram Pandit and the bank's directors have been sued for allegedly awarding outsized pay to top executives."
• Corporations Use Private Jets, Security Systems To Give CEOs Massive Tax Breaks

Taxes

• Six Rigged Rules Corporations Use to Dodge Taxes
• Corporations that Spent Big on Lobbying Saw Big Drops in Their Taxes
• Undocumented Immigrants Paid $11.2 Billion In Taxes While GE Paid Nothing

Corporate Personhood

• Calif. lawmakers vote to overturn Citizens United
• Bi-Partisan Vermont Senate Calls for Amendment to End 'Corporate Personhood'; Obama Should Too
• If Corporations Are People, They Are Psychopaths

Do-Nothing Congress, Keystone XL, Lobbying, Debt and Taxes, Bailout and Bonuses

Do-Nothing Congress

• House Republicans Fear They Really Are a Do-Nothing Congress
• Obama blames a "deeply ideological" Congress for lack of action--"President Obama says it's not his relationship with Congress that's to blame for the lack of congressional action on his agenda -- but a 'deeply ideological' Congress that 'sees a political advantage in not getting stuff done.'"
• Congress logs most futile legislative year on record
• Polls: Job approval for Congress sinks to new low--How low can they go?
• NBC/WSJ poll: Majority would vote out every member of Congress
• Congress Doesn't Want to Give Up Its Insider Trading Privileges
• Republicans derail US ambassador to El Salvador

Keystone XL

• Obama rejects Keystone pipeline from Canada to Texas
• Demand That John Boehner Be Expelled Or Resign For Keystone XL Scandal--"Boehner's official acts on behalf of Canada's tar sands industry are scandalous because he owns stock in the aforementioned seven companies, and he is using his financial gain as impetus to hold 160 million Americans’ tax cuts hostage in return for immediate approval of the Keystone pipeline."
• Lobbying Disclosures Reveal Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels Used State Dollars To Lobby For Keystone XL Pipeline--And Rep. Waxman wants to 'subpoena the Koch Brothers!'
• Republicans attempt to strip Obama of authority to reject oil pipeline plans.
• GOP tries new strategy to get Canada pipeline--By piggybacking it on a bill.

Lobbying

• Elizabeth Warren: 'Washington Now Works for Those Who Can Hire an Army of Lobbyists'
• Obama Campaign Refunding Money Donated by Federal Lobbyists
• Political Contributions from Financial Sector Increased 700% Since 1990

Debt and Taxes

• What If We Paid Off The Debt? The Secret Government Report
• Higher Taxes Help the Richest, Too NYT
• Billionaire Bill Gates Calls For Increasing Taxes On The Rich: 'That's Just Justice'
• Wealthy Bloomberg Subscribers Call for Higher Taxes
• Norquist: Republicans Will Impeach Obama If He Doesn't Extend Bush Tax Cuts
  
• Obama's and Bush's effects on the deficit in one graph
• Comparing Obama and Reagan’s economic records

Bailout and Bonuses

• Treasury Department approves huge paydays for execs at firms who received TARP bailout money--"Government approved pay packages worth $5M or more for 49 executives."
• Report: Taxpayers still owed $133B from bailout
• Barclays chief: Large bankers' bonuses 'rewards for success'

Campaign Finance and Corporations, Citizens United, Super PAC, Vote Machinations, Romney

Campaign Finance and Corporations

• Lawrence Lessig: Republic, Lost: How Money Corrupts Congress—and a Plan to Stop It --I posted a Rolling Stone link before; this one's a video presentation.
• RootStrikers.org--A grassroots project of United Republic, a nonprofit foundation created to curb the undue influence of corporate lobbyists over the US political process.
• Eleven Shocking Facts About Campaign Finance--"Here’s eleven disturbing facts about the extent to which money is playing an increasing role in our politics."
• The Big Spender Always Wins?
• Corporate Rule Is Not Inevitable--"7 signs the corporatocracy is losing its legitimacy ... and 7 populist tools to help shut it down."
• Poll: Only 17 Percent Of Americans Agree That Corporations Should Be Allowed To Spend Unlimited Money On Elections
• International campaign finance: How do countries compare?

Citizens United

• Sen. Sanders: We must stop this corporate takeover of American democracy--"Unless we can reverse the supreme court's dreadful Citizens United decision, US politics will become a plutocrats' plaything."
• Two Years Later: Showdown With 'Citizens United'
• John McCain Goes Off Message, Predicts 'Major Scandal' Related To Unlimited Political Giving

Super PAC

• The Age of the Super PAC
• The charade of super PAC independence--Just ask the Definitely Not Coordinated With Stephen Colbert Super PAC. Salon
• Super PACs' money could tip balance of power in Congress
• Scalia on unlimited political ads: Turn off the TV
• Brown, Warren agree to anti-super-PAC pledge, other candidates could follow
  
• Who Is Sheldon Adelson, the Gingrich Super PAC's Billionaire Backer?
• Former New York Post Publisher Funded Herman Cain Super PAC

Vote Machinations

• Fox's South Carolina "Dead Voters" Story Collapses
• Maryland Republican Campaign Funds Used To Defend Voter Suppression
• Texas Sues Feds Over Voter ID; Says 'Colorblind' Policy Bans Racial Breakdown Of Voter Data
• Controversial Kentucky Redistricting Effort Fuels Tensions, Prompts Assault Inside Capitol Building--"Lexington's new senator is Dorsey Ridley, who lives 200 miles outside of the district he now represents."
• Redistricting map shakes up L.A. political landscape

Romney

• Romney: I Won't Release My Tax Returns Because 'I Don't Want To Give The Democrats A Nice Little Present'--He's flipflopped since then but won't release more than two years of tax returns because of "the Internet", but the most important years missing are from his time with Bain. (NYT) So that just means he probably has something to hide.
• Romney Failed to Disclose Swiss Bank Account Income
• Mitt Romney's Tax Returns: Here's What Really Matters--"His taxes don't show that he's done anything wrong. They show that the tax code is wrong."
• Should I Put My Money in Caribbean Tax Havens Like Mitt Romney Does?
• The Daily Show: I Know What You Did Last Quarter

Obamacare, Health and Politics, Fat Tuesday, Studies, Teen Health, Immunization

Obamacare

• Supreme Court Sets Dates To Hear Oral Arguments
• Health care law changing behavior
• Obamacare Extended Health Coverage To At Least 2.5 Million Young Adults
• Defeated, Health Insurers Cut Lobby Costs, Thank You Obamacare!
• 'Obamacare' to the rescue: A woman who felt President Obama had let the middle class down has changed her mind.
• Obama Health Coverage Policy Passes 'Hot Potato' to States--"The Obama administration avoided a potentially brutal lobbying battle over the medical benefits insurers must cover under the U.S. health-care overhaul when it decided last week to hand the decision off to states."
• The ‘good parts’ of the ACA

Health and Politics

• This Is Why Elizabeth Warren Should Win Any Damn Elected Office She Ever Runs For
• Republicans Show Their Holiday Spirit By Demanding Billions In Health Care Cuts
• Inside Chemical Drug Corporations: Former Sales Rep Says The Truth: Pharma Doesn't Want to Cure You

Fat Tuesday

• Why women need fat Salon
• County places obese Cleveland Heights child in foster care
• Medicare anti-obesity initiative triggers treatment debate--"The decision that Medicare will pay for screening and counseling services to help obese patients lose weight has o"pened an old debate about who can best help people slim down.
• FDA accuses 1-800-GET-THIN centers of deceptive advertising
• Denmark's fat tax strikes again--"New levy outrages pastry bakers; health advocates see fat tax going global".
• Why the Overweight Earn Less NYT
• McDonald's finds a way around San Francisco's 'Happy Meal ban'

Studies

• Study: Eating less keeps the brain young
• Low-fat foods 'could cause weight gain'
• High-fat diet leaves its mark on sperm

Teen Health

• Dear 16-year-old Me
• Lie-in for teenagers has positive results
  
• Health panel approves new nutrition rules for Mass. public schools

Immunization

• Docs Turn Away Unvaccinated Patients
• Immunise or lose benefits, parents told
• Malaria blocks 'super-infection'

Elizabeth Warren, Corporate Personhood, Wall Street, Banks, Overseas

Elizabeth Warren

• Wall Street lobbyists go into overdrive to defeat Elizabeth Warren
• Elizabeth Warren, Wall Street Shill--" I see that Karl Rove's PAC unveiled a preposterously deceptive ad yesterday claiming that Elizabeth Warren is unfit for the Senate because she's....wait for it....too close to Wall Street. Yes, you read that right. Here on Earth Prime, of course, Warren is perhaps one of the financial industry's most loathed figures."
• Elizabeth Warren Revives The Democratic Gospel Of Optimism
• Occupy's next step: Elizabeth Warren in Senate?
• Who is Behind the Attacks on Dem Senate Candidate Elizabeth Warren?

Corporate Personhood

• Moyers: Why 'We The People' Must Triumph Over Corporate Power
• Steven Van Zandt: There Is Only One Issue In America
• Occupy is Not Just About Occupying: The Goal is Not to Occupy it is to End Corporate Rule
• Bernie Sanders’ New Bid to Overturn Citizens United Ruling
• L.A. calls for end to 'corporate personhood'
• Colbert Pushes 'Corporations Are People' Referendum NYT
• Between 2008 And 2010, 30 Big Corporations Spent More Lobbying Washington Than They Paid In Income Taxes

Wall Street

• The $7 trillion secret loan program: The government and big banks should be punished for deceiving the public about their hush-hush bailout scheme.
• 60 Minutes: Prosecuting Wall Street
• The Department Of Justice Has Basically Given Up On Bringing Criminal Charges For The Financial Crises
• Obama’s Take on Wall Street Prosecutions--And he supposedly can’t comment on them (Salon).
• Corzine: 'I Simply Do Not Know Where The [$1.2 billion] Is'

Banks

• For the Families of Some Debtors, Death Offers No Respite--"After Linda Long's husband died of colon cancer last year, the phone calls poured in. The 68-year-old retired office worker says she got as many as 10 calls a day from a debt-collection firm asking for $16,651.52 that her husband, Millard, had racked up on a Bank of America Corp. credit card."
• Transaction Infraction: How Bank Practices Increase Overdraft Fees
  
• Chase Pushed Minorities Into Subprime Loans
• Crocodile Tears From the Credit Card Industry
• Activists Fight Back Against the 1% After Investors Lock a 75 Year-Old Great-Grandmother Out of Her Home

Overseas

• Britain is ruled by the banks, for the banks--"Is David Cameron's kid-glove treatment of the City remotely justified, when it neither pays its way nor lends effectively?"
• At last! Bank boss told to pay back bonus: Lloyds plans to strip former chief Daniels of £1.5m payout
• Iceland Arrests Former CEO Of Failed Bank

Elizabeth Warren, Voter Suppression, Gerrymandering, Vote Machinations, Wisconsin Recall

Elizabeth Warren

• Elizabeth Warren is scary!
• Elizabeth Warren’s winning formula
• Watch Elizabeth Warren handle a Tea Party heckler Salon

Voter Suppression

• Voter Suppression 101
• The truth about voter suppression--"The GOP is pushing restrictive voting legislation unlike anything since the Voting Rights Act of 1965." Salon
• Opinion: GOP's voter suppression--"A massive Republican campaign likely to suppress minority and low-income voting is under way. If it works, the GOP may be able to prevent many millions of Americans, largely Democrats, from voting — potentially affecting 171 electoral votes."
• Restrictions Could Keep Five Million Traditionally Democratic Voters From The Polls In 2012
• Democrats ask all 50 states to oppose newer voter identification laws
• Judge Rules That Alabama Republicans Acted With Racist Intent to Suppress Voter Turnout
• Colorado secretary of state bars overseas soldiers from voting
• 96-Year-Old Tennessee Woman Denied Voter ID Because She Didn’t Have Her Marriage License
• 91-Year-Old Who Can’t Stand Unable To Get Voter ID In Tennessee
• Student IDs Unacceptable As Voter Identification Under New Tennessee Law
  

Gerrymandering

• Court ruling throws 2012 elections into chaos--"The Ohio Supreme Court's decision to allow Democrats to go forward with a petition drive to stop the Republican congressional redistricting plan has thrown the 2012 congressional elections into chaos."
• Judges Say Texas Can't Move Forward With Redistricting Plans The Feds Say Are Discriminatory
• Arizona GOP Removes Redistricting Board Chair For Making Elections Too 'Competitive'

Vote Machinations

• The war on voting continues apace
• Congress is corrupted by a system of privately funded elections.
• The Republican 'voter fraud' fraud--"All over the US, GOP lawmakers have engineered schemes to make voting more difficult. Well, if you can't win elections fairly… "
• "There Is Almost No Voter Fraud in America."
• Judge Finds Manipulation in Recall Vote in Arizona--Spurious candidacy discovered. NYT

Wisconsin Recall

• Scott's misdirection on voting rights
• Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's Last-Ditch Schemes to Prevent Recalls
• Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker recall effort off to a surprise start--"A recall committee formed by one of his own supporters will give Gov. Scott Walker a valuable fundraising head start on his main recall opponents."

Elizabeth Warren, Jobs, Occupy Wall Street, Politics, Confrontations

Elizabeth Warren: The Woman Who Knew Too Much--"Millions of Americans hoped President Obama would nominate Elizabeth Warren to head the consumer financial watchdog agency she had created. Instead, she was pushed aside. As Warren kicks off her run for Scott Brown's Senate seat in Massachusetts, Suzanna Andrews charts the Harvard professor's emergence as a champion of the beleaguered middle class, and her fight against a powerful alliance of bankers, lobbyists, and politicians."

Jobs

• Two Dems Vote With GOP To Kill Obama Jobs Package In Senate
• Obama says Senate defeat of jobs bill 'by no means the end of this fight'
• Team Obama Says GOP Deliberately Tanking the Economy

Occupy Wall Street

• Protesters Against Wall Street--"The problem is that no one in Washington has been listening." NYT
• Occupying Wall Street: The Start of a New American Movement
• The Inside Story Of Occupy Wall Street
• This Ain't No Tea Party: A Conservative Defense of Occupy Wall Street
• Occupy Wall Street protesters are American patriots
• 40-year low in America's view of Wall Street
• CHARTS: Here's What The Wall Street Protesters Are So Angry About...

Politics

• Alan Grayson: 'I will be that spokesperson'--He's certainly well-spoken.
• What Obama can learn from the Occupy Wall Street movement
• Can OWS be turned into a Democratic Party movement? Salon

Confrontations

• The worst OWS moment so far: Boston police charge Veterans for Peace and take down an American flag to break up the Occupy Boston protest Salon
• Police Clashes Spur Coverage of Wall Street Protests NYT
• Conservative Writer Admits 'Infiltrating' 99 Percent Movement To 'Mock And Undermine'--Just who is this 'agent provocateur'?
• Boston mayor: "[C]ivil disobedience will not be tolerated."
• Officer's Arrest Sought in Pepper-Spray Incident
• MoveOn.org Interviews Jesse LaGreca (The Guy Who Schooled Fox News)
• Occupy Wall St. protesters are running out of space