Obama’s Tax Cut Christmas Gifts To Big Business

 

   Here are a few of the Christmas tax breaks that Obama’s extension of the Bush tax cuts have given to big business.

1) An exemption that allows banks, insurance companies and other financial firms to shield foreign profits from being taxed by the U.S. through 2011. Cost: $9.2 billion.

2) A tax credit for research and development, benefiting a wide range of industries, including pharmaceutical and high tech companies. The law extends the tax credit through 2011, at a cost of $13.3 billion.

3)  Increased tax rebates to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands from a tax on rum imported into the United States. The U.S. imposes a $13.50 per proof-gallon tax on imported rum, and sends most of the proceeds to the two U.S. territories.

Previously, the rebate was $10.50 a gallon. The new law extends a more generous rebate of $13.25 a gallon through 2011. Cost: $262 million.

4) A tax break that allows TV and movie productions to more quickly write off expenses, extended through 2011. Sexually explicit productions are ineligible. Cost: $101 million.

Technorati Tags: Big Business,Bush Tax Cuts,Barack Obama,Banking,Finance,Current Events,Tax Rebates

 

Merry Christmas

 

    

Cartoon by Mike Keefe, Denver Post (View more cartoons by Keefe)

 

    Unless we get nuked, or the Republicans try to over throw the country. Christmas day will be one of those very merry days of rest for many on this earth, myself included.

   I want you all to be safe,and to watch over your fellow human beings. Show some feeling for your fellow man on this Christmas day if you happen to be out and about. Give a homeless person a nice meal or a few bucks, if you can.

  Wish a stranger a Merry Christmas and mean it. Most of all, I want each and every one of you to have a very Merry Christmas.

         MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!

Technorati Tags: An american Gothic,Christmas,Current Events

http://no-dictator-needed.blogspot.com

FCC To Pull A “Sleight Of Hand”?

 

Original Article

Is the FCC About to Give Comcast/NBC a Green Light?

by Josh Stearns      Fri Dec 24, 2010

Just days after the Federal Communications Commission sided with the biggest phone and cable companies and put in place a controversial and fundamentally flawed Net Neutrality rule, it is on the verge of giving another big handout to Big Media.

According to press reports, the FCC chairman Julius Genachowski is poised to approve the pending Comcast-NBC merger with conditions. Waiting until Congress was out the door and most people were starting their holidays, the FCC Chairman today circulated his plan to give Comcast the green light for their takeover of NBC. The move seems to play right into Comcast’s hands, as it has been pushing the FCC to wrap up their review before the end of the year.

“We are deeply disappointed that the FCC is apparently moving to approve this merger,” said Free Press Policy Counsel Corie Wright. “Comcast’s takeover of NBC would have a harmful impact on competition and consumers, particularly in the emerging online video market. The conditions reportedly proposed by the FCC chairman recognize this danger, but we have serious concerns that they will not go far enough to protect the public from this unprecedented media behemoth.”

The next step is for all five FCC commissioners to vote on the chairman’s merger proposal.

Unfortunately for Comcast, press reports suggest that a number of the FCC commissioners have already left Washington and won’t be back until the new year. Even Jeff Zucker, the head of NBC, had to admit that no deal would get done before 2011.

If this merger is approved it will profoundly transform our media system. Comcast-NBC will control one in five television viewing hours, and it will have a stake in 125 cable channels, film studios, websites and other properties. Consumers are the ones who will be paying the price through higher bills and fewer choices, and they deserve a full and thorough review of the impact of this merger. We don’t need another massive giveaway to big media that leaves consumers high and dry.

In the brief window of time between now and when the FCC commissioners vote in January, we need a groundswell of voices from around the country to stand up against this merger. Comcast may be rushing to get this deal done as quickly as possible, but the FCC’s mandate is to serve the public, not bow to the industry it is supposed to be regulating. With the chairman making it clear that he is ready to rubber stamp this merger, the decision will come down to FCC commissioner's Copps and Clyburn. Over the past year, the two have emerged as vital champions for the public interest. As the vote on this merger approaches, we need to let them know that the public is with them.

Let's ring in the new year by saying no to Comcast/NBC.

Technorati Tags: Barack Obama,Comcast,NBC,Net Neutrality,FCC,Current Events

the GOP’s Perfect Voter

 

The Perfect GOP voter: Cruel, Hateful, Wildly Misinformed and Constantly Scared Sh!tless

by MinistryOfTruth @DKos   Wed Dec 22, 2010

For Tax Cuts for the Rich, "small government", Christ and War

against, EVERYTHING ELSE.

You can basically break Republican voters into 4 subgroups, and they are Cruel, Hateful, Wildly Misinformed, and Constantly Scared Shitless. The perfect storm of Republican ideology on the MooseMeter of "WTF are they talking about" is all 4 at once.

The four steps of creating the perfect GOP voter:

1.    Find some way to wildly misinform people

1. Play up to their hate (Try calling your opponents Hitler)

1. Play to their cruelty in persecuting the object of their hatred

1.    Do your best to scare the living shit out of your captive, misinformed viewers about the IMMINENT DANGER of terrorist attacks, socialists, communists, race based cruelty, anti immigrant furor or the Next Big Government Takeover that is going to destroy America.

Here is the bumper sticker

You don't have to be wildly misinformed to be a cruel, hateful asshole, but it helps.

Vote Republican 2012!

Crossposted at The Progressive Electorate.com

Hate: If you hate any of the following groups of people. Bonus Palin points if you hate two or more.

minorities
poor people
women

That just about covers everyone who isn't a gentrified land owning Christian male and the women they tell to STFU and get back in the kitchen.

Everyone else who does not vote based on their hatred for minorities, poor people or women is not welcome unless they can raise BIG money for the GOP. That rules Micheal Steele out on both levels.

Constantly Scared Shitless: this is a byproduct of being Wildly Misinformed and Hateful.

Cruelty:   If you support torture but not health care for 9/11 first responders, or health care for anyone for that matter, or if you are against for tax cuts for the rich but against unemployment insurance, foodstamps or welfare, I am talking to you, Caligula.

Wildly Misinformed: Today's conservatives are a cult or nihilism, short term greed and anger. They live in a bubble of their own creation and constantly flop flat on their faces if ever they find themselves outside of their bubble (Examples, Sarah Palin, Rand Paul, Sharron Angle, Sue Lowden, Christine O'Donnell, Michele Bachmann, GEORGE W. BUSH, etc, etc . . ) They stand AGAINST consumers, workers and everyone who is not rich enough to bribe them. The only way you can get someone to vote for you, if you are a Republican, is if you lie and fearmonger to people who are already predisposed to be cruel and hateful. Coincidentally, the previous sentence is the South Carolina state motto. Today's modern Conservatives are dittoheads and Fox Viewers who will wear teabags on their hats if Captain Kangaroo tells them too. Modern Conservatives call the Gospel of Jesus "Socialism", they are less a political party and more of a fan club dedicated to the seven deadly sins. These fools deserve NO respect in my honest opinion. If torture fits into your value system, I say fuck your value system.

As I've said before "We're sorry you're stupid, but you're not allowed to hold back the rest of the class anymore."

Rush Limbaugh embodies all 4 of these traits.

I honestly believe that the best thing opponents of Republicans can do is not to adopt their ideas and try to work with them, but to call them what they are, peddlers of hate and fear, toadies to the rich and powerful, cruel and misinformed liars who twist the truth to hurt American consumers, workers and the majority of American citizens and help billionaires and their special interests. You want a bumper sticker for 2012? Try this one!

You don't have to be wildly misinformed to be a cruel, hateful asshole, but it helps.

Vote Republican 2012!

You can follow me on Twitter @JesseLaGreca

Technorati Tags: Republicans,Voters,GOP,Fearmongers,Current Events,2012 Elections

Fox News Lies Once Again…

 

…and this time it is over the 9/11 responders bill.

  On that sorry excuse for a morning news program, Fox & Friends  once again took it upon themselves to place the blame for the 9/11 responders bill not passing up until now in the Senate on the Democrats,of course.

 

    This bill has been languishing  since July of 2010 because the Republicans in the House voted against it in the first place. But wait! There’s more! Only two weeks ago those shitty Republicans voted against the bill once again, ALL 42 OF THEM!

Technorati Tags: FoxNews,Republicans,9/11 Responders,Current Events,The House,The Senate,News

 

Obama Breaks “Net Neutrality” Promise…

 

….which should come as no surprise to anyone in this country who happened to have voted for this punk. Another sell-out to America’s corporate masters,and the White House has the gall to say that these new rules are not a sellout? Read the White House statement and then decide if they are slinging a load of crap.

DailyKos

Today was another historic sellout to big corporations by the Obama administration, not some kind of "win." We need to set the record straight.

I've put together a page with three clear reasons why today's rules are a sellout, allow corporate censorship, and end the Internet as we know it. I've also copied them below. Can you share this page with our friends so we can get the word out?

If you're on Twitter, please click to share this: NEWS:  @FCC breaks Obama promise, allows corporate censorship - no Net  Neutrality rules. 3 things to know: http://bit.ly/eVKyWH @WhiteHouse

If you're on Facebook, click here to spread the word.

Here's why today's rules are nothing but a sop to big business:

1. Corporate censorship is allowed on your phone: The rules passed today by Obama FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski  absurdly create different corporate censorship rules for wired and  wireless Internet, allowing big corporations like Comcast to block  websites they don't like on your phone -- a clear failure to fulfill Net  Neutrality and put you, the consumer, in control of what you can and  can't do online.
2. Online tollbooths are allowed, destroying innovation: The rules passed today would allow big Internet Service Providers  like Verizon and Comcast to charge for access to the "fast lane." Big  companies that could afford to pay these fees like Google or Amazon  would get their websites delivered to consumers quickly, while  independent newspapers, bloggers, innovators, and small businesses would  see their sites languish in the slow lane, destroying a level playing  field for competition online and clearly violating Net Neutrality.
3. The rules allow corporations to create "public" and "private" Internets, destroying the one Internet as we know it: For the first time, these rules would embrace a "public Internet" for  regular  people vs. a "private Internet" with all the new innovations for  corporations who pay more -- ending the Internet as we know it and  creating tiers of free speech and innovation, accessible only if you  have pockets deep enough to pay off the corporations.

The FCC could have reclassified Internet as a communications service -- reversing a Bush-era mistake -- regulated greedy corporations like Comcast, Verizon, and AT&T with enforceable rules, and protected free speech online. But they didn't -- instead, they allowed these corporations to write their own rules.

It's imperative the FCC's action today isn't seen as a "win" for Net Neutrality -- the Internet is still unprotected from corporate abuse and we still have to fight until we truly win. So help us spread the word.

Technorati Tags: FCC,Net Neutrality,Barack Obama,White House,Comcast,Verizon,Internet,Current Events

FCC Set To Vote On Net Neutrality

 

    The FCC is scheduled to vote on Net Neutrality on December 21,2010. For us users of the internet,this is a big issues and one in which you should be massively concerned about as our lovely corporate internet providers would like to be able to decide how much net speed you will have use of based on how much you are willing to pay for such speed. If you do not wish to pay for to much,you might as well get used to the fact that your broadband speed could start running like the old dial-up services did. Our ISP’s wish to form different levels of service to sell to the net users (us). Of course,the home users will do most of the suffering because many will not pay to have speeds that company’s like Google will have.

   You need to fight this shit and this is how you do this.

   Go to The Writers Guild of America and please sign this petition. You must be heard in this matter.

  So just what is Net Neutrality?

Definitions of network neutrality      Wikipedia

At its simplest, network neutrality is the principle that all Internet traffic should be treated equally.^[9] Net neutrality advocates have established different definitions of network neutrality:

Absolute non-discrimination

Columbia Law School professor Tim Wu: "Network neutrality is best defined as a network design principle. The idea is that a maximally useful public information network aspires to treat all content, sites, and platforms equally.

Limited discrimination without QoS tiering 

United States lawmakers have introduced bills that would allow quality of service discrimination as long as no special fee is charged for higher-quality service.

Limited discrimination and tiering

This approach allows higher fees for QoS as long as there is no exclusivity in service contracts. According to Tim Berners-Lee: "If I pay to connect to the Net with a given quality of service, and you pay to connect to the net with the same or higher quality of service, then you and I can communicate across the net, with that quality of service."^[1] "[We] each pay to connect to the Net, but no one can pay for exclusive access to me.

First come first served

According to Imprint Magazine, University of Michigan Law School professor Susan P. Crawford "believes that a neutral Internet must forward packets on a first-come, first served basis, without regard for quality-of-service considerations.

Technorati Tags: Net Neutrality,Internet,Google,Verizon,ISP,Writers Guild Of America,Current Events,FCC

Middle Class and Poor: Time To Sacrifice

 

   After our so-called President Obama left us in the cellar with his cave in to the Republicans with those extended Bush tax cuts to the rich and powerful, we will now be told that it is time for us to make a few sacrifices in order to curtail the deficit. Those who will be doing ALL of the sacrificing will be the working poor and the middle class of America. The Republicrats are finally going to begin the dismantling of our social safety nets.

   For those of you who voted for more of the Reagan,Bush,Republican agenda, you will have what you have been asking for. For those senior citizens who thought that Obama wasn’t doing things fast enough for you,you will also get what you asked for. That will be cuts in Social Security and Medicare. You will now have the joy of paying even more for your medicines and premiums.

  Those of you who do have some common sense, DO NOT AGREE TO SACRIFICE!

by bink

Here it comes ...

Press Sec. Gibbs was on cable yesterday (no transcript available) saying that now that we've cut taxes, we need to address the deficits, a sure sign that spending will be slashed on programs that are valuable to Americans.

This is really bad news.

Republicans are celebrating.

Cuts to the social safety net are on the table.

Democrats will sadly agree that we can no longer afford to have the kind of quality of life that Americans have been used to for the last 50 years.

Nothing will be shielded from scrutiny when it comes to finding programs to cut, not even the sacred promise of Social Security.

I'm asking you to resist.

Don't let them do it.

Don't agree to this.

Don't let them slash poverty relief programs before the rich give up their wars.

Don't let them take away health care assistance before the rich give up their corporate welfare programs.

Most importantly:

Don't let them cut apart Social Security and other programs for the disabled and elderly.  Don't let them do it without a fight.

We'll be asked to "be serious."

To "act like adults."

To make "hard decisions."

The President, Congress, the Beltway and the media are going to start screaming at the top of their lungs, demanding that we sacrifice more so that the rich can have more -- more than any rich have ever imagined in the history of human civilization.

We gotta find a way to say no.

Technorati Tags: Barack Obama,Republicans,Social Security,Medicare,Social Programs,Tax Cuts,Class Warfare,The Economy

“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” John McCain’s View From Fantasy Island

 

   This is another post where I am not going to say much. Just listen to this over the hill sack of shit.

 

Technorati Tags: DADT,Republicans,John McCain,News,Civil Rights,Current Events,U.S. Military,Liberals