Sam Harris on inequality in America

Is it fair to ask the privileged to sacrifice more while the rich get richer and the poor get poorer?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sam-harris/a-new-years-resolution-fo_b_802480.html

Biology Can Influence Political Inclinations

Interesting:

http://www.livescience.com/culture/liberal-conservative-revealed-by-eyes-101227.html

Amino Acids in Space

Amino acids--the basic building blocks of life--have been found in space before, but now they're being found even where not expected:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20101215/sc_space/lifesbuildingblocksfoundonsurprisingmeteorite

Further evidence against those who think abiogenesis is impossible.

The Daily Show is the only news show doing its job

I watched Jon Stewart cover the 9/11 bill that everyone else ignored:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eric-boehlert/jon-stewart-did-what-pund_b_800799.html?utm_source=DailyBrief&utm_campaign=122410&utm_medium=email&utm_content=BlogEntry&utm_term=Daily+Brief

A day later ABC covered Stewart's report. I don't think anyone else did.

A Holiday Message From Ricky Gervais

A holiday message from comedian Ricky Gervais on "Why I'm an atheist":

http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2010/12/19/a-holiday-message-from-ricky-gervais-why-im-an-atheist/

Very poignantly put.

Worst Person in the World

Congressman Bachus believes Congress should serve the banks:

http://dccc.org/newsroom/entry/big_bank_bachus_is_named_worst_person_in_the_world_for_belief_that_congress/

Voters Misinformed on Key Issues

A recent poll by World Public Opinion.org reveals that Fox News viewers hold more misinformed views than any other:

http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/pipa/articles/brunitedstatescanadara/671.php?nid=&id=&pnt=671&lb=

"Those who watched Fox News almost daily were significantly more likely than those who never watched it to believe that most economists estimate the stimulus caused job losses (12 points more likely), most economists have estimated the health care law will worsen the deficit (31 points), the economy is getting worse (26 points), most scientists do not agree that climate change is occurring (30 points), the stimulus legislation did not include any tax cuts (14 points), their own income taxes have gone up (14 points), the auto bailout only occurred under Obama (13 points), when TARP came up for a vote most Republicans opposed it (12 points) and that it is not clear that Obama was born in the United States (31 points). The effect was also not simply a function of partisan bias, as people who voted Democratic and watched Fox News were also more likely to have such misinformation than those who did not watch it--though by a lesser margin than those who voted Republican.

There were cases with some other news sources as well. Daily consumers of MSNBC and public broadcasting (NPR and PBS) were higher (34 points and 25 points respectively) in believing that it was proven that the US Chamber of Commerce was spending money raised from foreign sources to support Republican candidates. Daily watchers of network TV news broadcasts were 12 points higher in believing that TARP was signed into law by President Obama, and 11 points higher in believing that most Republicans oppose TARP."

Fox News media bias strikes again

Fox News emailed its journalists with orders to "refrain from asserting that the planet has warmed (or cooled) in any given period without IMMEDIATELY pointing out that such theories are based upon data that critics have called into question":

http://mediamatters.org/blog/201012150004

News should report scientific conclusions, not political conclusions.

Catholic Bank Scandal

As if pedophile priests weren't bad enough:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/eu_vatican_god_s_bankers

Americans aren't as poor as they may think

http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/111493/are-americans-as-poor-as-they-feel?mod=family-love_money

Although home prices haven't gone up that much. Not really a great investment.

Stand With Bernie

Worth letting others know:

---------

On Friday, Bernie Sanders became a national hero when he took to the floor of the Senate and spoke against the deal to extend the Bush tax breaks for the rich for almost 9 hours.

Bernie's old-fashioned filibuster continued a growing backlash against this millionaire tax bailout. And he asked just one thing before he stopped—that we all call our senators on Monday, which is when the Senate is expected to vote on the deal. So we're joining forces to do just that.

We're calling it a "Phone-In Filibuster" to stop the millionaire tax bailout. Just as Bernie took over the Senate with his one-man protest for the ages, we'll keep it going with a non-stop flood of phone calls on Monday.

But to pull it off, we need a steady stream of calls all day long. So we're asking you to sign up today and let us know about what time you plan to call North Carolina's Senator Kay Hagan. We'll shoot you a quick reminder tomorrow when the time comes to pick up the phone. Click here to sign up:

http://pol.moveon.org/phone_in_filibuster?id=25460-3668589-OJb98Yx&t=3

As President Obama said, the middle class is being held hostage by the Republicans, and for ransom they're demanding a massive tax break for the rich.¹

Sadly, President Obama agreed to pay that ransom by extending the Bush tax breaks for the top 2% of earners, lowering the estate tax from its previous level, and cutting the payroll tax for one year, which would undermine the key source of revenue for Social Security. The deal would also continue unemployment insurance for 13 months and extend other tax cuts supported by both Democrats and Republicans.²

But the richest Americans are likely to reap the lion's share of the benefit from this deal—and economists agree that tax breaks for the top 2% are the least effective for creating jobs.³

And not only is this terrible economic policy—it sets an awful precedent. You see, if you reward hostage-takers, it only encourages them to take more hostages.

That's why House Democrats rejected the deal last week. Now it's up to us to demand that our voices be heard—just like Bernie Sanders did. You can help by signing up today for Monday's Phone-In Filibuster. Click here to sign up:

http://pol.moveon.org/phone_in_filibuster?id=25460-3668589-OJb98Yx&t=4

Thanks for all you do.

–Nita, Robin, Steven, Ilyse, and the rest of the team

P.S. Can you also forward this email to five friends today? The more people involved in the Phone-In Filibuster, the stronger the message to Washington.

Source:

1. "President Obama: Tax Cuts for Wealthy Are Republicans' 'Holy Grail,'" ABC News, December 7, 2010
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=205455&id=25460-3668589-OJb98Yx&t=5

2. "Deal Struck on Tax Package," The Wall Street Journal, December 7, 2010
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=205416&id=25460-3668589-OJb98Yx&t=6

3. "Will Obama really end tax cuts for rich in 2012?" The Washington Post, December 10, 2010
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=205475&id=25460-3668589-OJb98Yx&t=7

"Rich Americans Save Tax Cuts Instead of Spending, Moody's Says," Bloomberg, September 14, 2010
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=90354&id=25460-3668589-OJb98Yx&t=8

US Education Falls to Just Average

A highly educated society is the number one thing that will make or break a nation...and we've dropped from #1 to a dismal #17 in science compared with the rest of the world:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101207/ts_alt_afp/educationusoecd

Upping our scores to Finland's level (not even the highest) could generate $103 trillion (with a T!) over the lifetime of one generation.

Health Care

News Bias...Again....

Fox News caught telling its news reporters (NOT just its opinion polemicists) to use the term "government option" instead of "public option" to deliberately slant viewers against the public option (which they also admit half of Americans support):

http://mediamatters.org/blog/201012090003

Orwellian doublespeak at its finest....

North Korea's Nukes...Obama's Fault?

Fox News once again edits video to falsely imply the Obama Administration is at fault instead of the Bush Administration:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vixfKqFbcUw

(View the linked original video and transcript to see the hard evidence.)

Report on Climate Change

More congressional testimony on climate change:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9S_82BUshM8 (evidence the climate is changing)

and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2m9SNzxJJA (addressing conservative claims the climate is not caused by humans)

U.N. Against Freedom of Speech?

The U.N. passed a truly stupid resolution to protect religion from defamation:

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/un_takes_stand_against_freedom_of_speech_religion.php

WTF? We don't give people who claim to have been probed by aliens special protection against defamation. Why should religion be treated any differently?

Deficit Reduction

Two good Time articles on dealing with the deficit:

http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,2031957,00.html

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2031958,00.html

Noah's Ark Theme Park

Alas, Kentucky sucker-punches itself back down the intellectual ladder:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/06/us/06ark.html?_r=1&hpw

A Scientific Perspective of Political Polarization in America

An interesting study on the political polarization in America today:

http://www.livescience.com/culture/political-polarization-democrat-republican-101101.html

The differences are rooted in morality and genetics, interestingly enough.