Public-sector austerity in one graph - The Washington Post

"There is something historically different about this recession and its aftermath: in the past, local government employment has been almost recession-proof. This time it’s not. Going back as long as the data have been collected (1955), with the one exception of the 1981 recession, local government employment continued to grow almost every month regardless of what the economy threw at it. But since the latest recession began, local government employment has fallen by 3 percent, and is still falling. In the equivalent period following the 1990 and 2001 recessions, local government employment grew 7.7 and 5.2 percent. Even following the 1981 recession, by this stage local government employment was up by 1.4 percent...

Without this hidden austerity program, the economy would look very different. If state and local governments had followed the pattern of the previous two recessions, they would have added 1.4 million to 1.9 million jobs and overall unemployment would be 7.0 to 7.3 percent instead of 8.2 percent."
Public-sector austerity in one graph - The Washington Post:

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Soldiers Deck of Cards - YouTube

Soldiers Deck of Cards - YouTube:
If you can watch this without getting misty eyed you are stronger than I am.

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Gingrich’s Health Care Policy History at Odds With G.O.P. - NYTimes.com

Gingrich’s Health Care Policy History at Odds With G.O.P. - NYTimes.com:

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Mika Brzezinski's Meltdown Over Newt's OWS Remarks.mp4 - YouTube

Mika Brzezinski's Meltdown Over Newt's OWS Remarks.mp4 - YouTube:

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Ex-skeptic tells US Congress climate change is real

Ex-skeptic tells US Congress climate change is real: "Physicist Richard Muller, director of the Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature Project, whose two-year research was funded in part by a foundation formed by the conservative billionaire Koch brothers, said he could find no bias in other studies.
"We confirm that over the last 50 years, temperature has risen 0.9 degrees Celsius, or 1.6 degrees Fahrenheit. This is the same number that the IPCC (UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) says."
Muller told the House Committee on Natural Resources that while he remains cautious about the extent to which humans have played a role, he now hopes other climate skeptics will come on board with his findings.
"As they read and study our papers, I am hoping that many of them will reflect my belief that they are open-minded and come to agree that yes, climate change temperature increase certainly has happened," he said."

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Walking through doorways causes forgetting, new research shows

Walking through doorways causes forgetting, new research shows:

We’ve all experienced it: The frustration of entering a room and forgetting what we were going to do. Or get. Or find. Now you know it's not just you. 'via Blog this'

The Associated Press: AP-GfK poll: Views on economy, Obama role sour

The Associated Press: AP-GfK poll: Views on economy, Obama role sour:

Most Americans can actually add and subtract, I can't believe it. They are actually aware that it was Bush and his crony-capitalism that put us into this horrible financial crisis.

Not that Obama hasn't piled on by not confronting the financial criminals who stole our countries wealth. We are up the creek without a paddle folks.

House GOP balks at defense cuts - David Rogers - POLITICO.com

House GOP balks at defense cuts - David Rogers - POLITICO.com

"..After months of tough talk, House Republicans ran away from defense cuts last week –and that spells more trouble now for deficit reduction talks at the White House, already beset by differences over taxes.

In three days of floor debate, even modest reductions at the expense of military bands or the Pentagon’s sponsorship of NASCAR races to promote recruitment were opposed by the majority of GOP lawmakers. And the $649.2 billion appropriations bill, including $118.6 billion for wars overseas, sailed through Friday with only a dozen Republicans in opposition."

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0711/58661.html#ixzz1RpZ645BQ

Fox News takes on Media Matters - Keach Hagey - POLITICO.com

Fox News takes on Media Matters - Keach Hagey - POLITICO.com

Of course Fox "news" wants to get to David Brock, he points all the lies they tell everyday. He doesn't just give his OPINION that what they are saying is untrue he gives specific factual references that reveal they are lying. Media Matters is an important organization in this country. After all it takes a full time staff just to keep up with the daily lies told on Fox "news".

New estimate of U.S. war costs: $4 trillion - Checkpoint Washington - The Washington Post

New estimate of U.S. war costs: $4 trillion - Checkpoint Washington - The Washington Post

How many programs to help working people in this country could we fund for that amount of money?

George Bush raised hell and denied 30 billion to fund health insurance for poor kids.