By Judd Legum (ThinkProgress) New data released by the IRS reveals that, over a period of 12 years, tax rates for the richest 400 Americans were effectively cut in half. In 1995, the richest 400 Americans paid, on average, 29.93% of their income in federal taxes. In 2007, the last year for which the IRS [...]
Bush's speechwriter gives the mommy state a reluctant hug
By David Frum (FrumForum) Speaking only personally, I cannot take seriously the idea that the worst thing that has happened in the past three years is that government got bigger. Or that money was borrowed. Or that the number of people on food stamps and unemployment insurance and Medicaid increased. The worst thing was that [...]
Liberty stamp uses photo of Las Vegas replica instead of real thing
By Kim Severson and Matthew Healy (NY Times) The United States Postal Service has issued a new stamp featuring the Statue of Liberty. Only the statue it features is not the one in the harbor, but the replica at the New York-New York casino in Las Vegas. via This Lady Liberty Is a Las Vegas [...]
Hawaii health official says she and GOP governor personally inspected Obama's 'long form' birth record
By Michael Isikoff (MSNBC) Dr. Chiyome Fukino, the former director of Hawaii’s Department of Health, in a rare telephone interview with NBC said the original so-called “long form” birth certificate — described by Hawaiian officials as a “record of live birth” — absolutely exists, located in a bound volume in a file cabinet on the [...]
Tsunami-hit towns forgot warnings from ancestors
By Jay Alabaster (AP) “High dwellings are the peace and harmony of our descendants,” the stone slab reads. “Remember the calamity of the great tsunamis. Do not build any homes below this point.” It was advice the dozen or so households of Aneyoshi heeded, and their homes emerged unscathed from a disaster that flattened low-lying [...]
More black men are now in prison than were enslaved in 1850
By Michelle Alexander (Colorlines) The U.S. Bureau of Justice estimated that as of 2008, there were over 846,000 black men in prison, making up 40.2 percent of all inmates in the system. But in a recent talk, noted author Michelle Alexander put those numbers in grave historical perspective. “More African American men are in prison [...]
Go USA! Number One in poverty and 26 other shameful scores
By James Gustave Speth (Yes!) From President Obama to Sarah Palin, our politicians are constantly invoking America’s superiority and exceptionalism or exhorting us to be Number 1. Yet from health care to education to environmental performance, we’re more often found at the bottom of the list of developed countries. It’s a good idea to set [...]
Oxford English Dictionary goes all twittery with digit-speak
By Brian Braiker (ABC) OMG, the Oxford English Dictionary has announced its latest updates! The authoritative reference book — the final word on words — has announced that it has updated its online edition with 1,900 revisions and adds from across the dictionary. New additions include such digitally-driven abbreviations such as OMG — Internet shorthand [...]
Is Michele Bachmann the new Sarah Palin?
By Gail Collins (NY Times) Is Michele Bachmann the new Sarah Palin? And do we really need a new Sarah Palin? Shouldn’t the first one be made to go away before we start considering replacements? Read the rest: Don’t Know Much About History – NYTimes.com.
