Month: March 2012

Wis. Federal Court Strikes Down Parts of Union Law

KAALTV.COM:  A federal judge upheld most of Wisconsin’s contentious law curbing collective bargaining rights on Friday, but he sided with unions in at least one key area by ruling that union dues could automatically be withdrawn from public workers’ paychecks. The ruling keeps the majority of the law pushed by Republican Gov. Scott Walker in […]

O’Reilly: NBC, Media Inciting Racial Violence

NEWSMAX: Fox News commentator Bill O’Reilly lambasted the media Friday night, singling out MSNBC and CNN, saying the media “is exploiting the terrible death of 17-year-old Trayvon by convicting the man who shot him, George Zimmerman, of wrongdoing on television.”

“It was pathetic watching the prime-time cable programs whip up the Trayvon Martin case to dangerous levels,” O’Reilly said in his Talking Points Memo. “The media exploiting the terrible death of 17-year-old Trayvon by convicting the man who shot him, George Zimmerman, of wrongdoing on television.”

IRS Losing Billions in Puerto Rican Tax Scam

NEWSMAX:  Federal prosecutors have uncovered a tax scam that potentially costs the IRS billions of dollars in phony IRS refunds based on the stolen identifies of Puerto Rican citizens, who don’t pay federal taxes. “What we have uncovered may very well be the tip of the iceberg,” Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara told The Wall […]

Obama urges Congress to pass ‘Buffett Rule’ for rich

USA TODAY:President Obama used his Saturday radio address to demand that Congress pass the so-called “Buffett Rule” requiring millionaires to pay at least the same percentage of income taxes as middle class Americans. Named for billionaire investor Warren Buffett — who pays a lower tax rate than his secretary — Obama said a minimum tax […]

People and Power: The Koch Brothers

AL JAZEERA:   Charles and David Koch are each worth about $25bn, which makes them the fourth richest Americans. When you combine their fortunes, they are the third wealthiest people in the world. Radical libertarians who use their money to oppose government and virtually all regulation as interference with the free market, the Kochs are in […]

Countries That Spend the Most on Health Care

The U.S. has, by far, the highest total expenditure on health care per capita. America spends approximately $2,600 more per person annually than Norway, the second-highest spender. Only 47.7% of this amount is public expenditure — the third-smallest percentage among developed countries. However, the actual amount of public spending, $3,795, is among the highest.

Recall election for Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker

WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL:  Despite conservatives’ fears of an army of Mickey Mouses and Adolf Hitlers signing recall petitions against Gov. Scott Walker, elections officials found only five fake names and nearly 901,000 valid signatures collected to recall the Republican governor — far more than enough needed for the election to go forward… GAB staff said […]