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Roosevelt's Vs Republican definition of freedom: If you don't have a job - you're not free |
| Uploaded by TheBigPictureRT on 15 Sep 2011 For the last 30 years or so - Republicans have defined what freedom means in America. At the debate this week - Ron Paul told us what it means to be "free" in America. As in - freedom to die alone. Just like what happened to Ron Paul's campaigning manager - Kent Snyder - back in 2008 - when he contracted pneumonia - spent 2 months in the hospital - and died $400,000 in debt - because he didn't have health insurance. Ron Paul doesn't even give his campaign staff health insurance - I guess because he wants them to be "free." We're free alright - free to go hungry - free to be poor - free to be jobless - free to breathe toxic air and drink dirty water - and free to get sick and die - and all the while, free from the government helping us. We need to once again ask ourselves what it means to be free - because for the vast majority of Americans - this new definition of freedom just isn't working. Anthropologically speaking - historically speaking - humans have never bought into this bizarre new Republican - or Ayn Rand - notion of "freedom." For thousands of years we've organized ourselves into groups - in families - in tribes - in cities - in nations - just so we could all collectively provide each other enough basic protections and safety to live more free lives. That's the point of a democratic government in a republic like ours - to guarantee our freedom both from government intrusion but also from want, destitution, disease, and from the corporate predators around us. It's in our biology to live in "We" societies. |
| Date: 2011-09-15 07:29:56 - Added by: KMC |
| Views: 818 - Votes: 9 - Rating: 5 |
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U.S. Census Reports Reveals 1 in 6 Americans Are Poor, 1 in 5 Children Live in Poverty |
| Uploaded by democracynow on 14 Sep 2011 DemocracyNow.org - A new U.S. Census Bureau report reveals the number of people living in poverty last year surged to 46.2 million — 1 in 6 Americans, the highest number since the Bureau began tracking such data more than 50 years ago. According to the report, blacks and Hispanics together accounted for 54 percent of the poor with whites at 9.9 percent and Asians at 12.1 percent. Children under 18 suffered the highest poverty rate. Meanwhile, the number of Americans with employer-provided health insurance has also continued to decline and now hovers just below the 50 million mark, the most in more than two decades. Analysts say the numbers would have been worse if not for government assistance programs, including extended unemployment compensation, stimulus spending, Obama's health reforms, and social security. We speak with Heidi Shierholz, labor economist at the Economic Policy Institute. |
| Date: 2011-09-15 06:33:43 - Added by: KMC |
| Views: 839 - Votes: 2 - Rating: 5 |
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Former Sen. Bob Graham Urges Obama to Reopen Investigation Into Saudi Role in 9/11 Attacks |
| Uploaded by democracynow on 15 Sep 2011 DemocracyNow.org - Former Florida governor and senator Bob Graham is calling on President Obama to re-open the investigation into the Sept. 11 attacks after new information has emerged about the possible role of prominent Saudis in the 9/11 plot. According to recent news reports, a wealthy young Saudi couple fled their home in a gated community in Sarasota, Florida, just a week or so before Sept. 11, 2001, leaving behind three cars and nearly all of their possessions. The FBI was tipped off about the couple ,but never passed the information on to the 9/11 Commission investigating the attacks, even though phone records showed the couple had ties to Mohamed Atta and at least 10 other al-Qaeda suspects. Democracy Now! interviews Graham to discuss the news he's called "the most important thing about 9/11 to surface in the last seven or eight years." As the former chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, a post he held on September 11, 2001, Graham chaired the Congressional Joint Inquiry into the attacks. He's just written a novel called, "Keys to the Kingdom," which follows a fictitious former senator and co-chair of the 9/11 congressional inquiry who is murdered near his Florida home after he uncovers an international conspiracy linking the Saudi Kingdom to Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda. Graham says he chose to write the novel after his 2000 non-fiction book, "Intelligence Matters," was heavily censored. |
| Date: 2011-09-15 06:27:01 - Added by: KMC |
| Views: 840 - Votes: 4 - Rating: 5 |
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U.S. Poverty at 30-Year High |
| Published on 13 Sep 2011 by AssociatedPress The U.S. census bureau says 46 million people now live in poverty. 70 miles outside Chicago is Pembroke, where 50 percent of the people are unemployed. (Sept. 13) |
| Date: 2011-09-14 11:53:50 - Added by: KMC |
| Views: 762 - Votes: 1 - Rating: 4 |
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BP Gulf Oil Spill Report Likely Out Today |
| Published on 14 Sep 2011 by AssociatedPress A key federal report could come out today on who's to blame for last year's BP oil spill, the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. History. (Sept. 14) |
| Date: 2011-09-14 11:51:55 - Added by: KMC |
| Views: 849 - Votes: 0 - Rating: 0 |
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The Private Prison Racket: Lost, Abused And Neglected For A Profit |
| Uploaded by bravenewfoundation on 13 Sep 2011 Take a stand agains the private prison racket: http://immigrantsforsale.org Discuss @ facebook.com/cuentame Guillermo Gomez-Sanchez is a 50 year old legal resident with a mental disability. In 2004 Gomez was detained because of a dispute at a grocery store over a bag of tomatoes. Guillermo spent 2 years at a private CCA (Corrections Corporation of America) detention facility - the corporation neglected to report his medical condition. CCA profited close to $90,000 off of Gomez' incarceration, and ensured greater profit by failing to disclose his mental disability effectively leaving Guillermo trapped for 2 years. In 2010 CCA CEO Damon T. Hininger received $3,266,387 in total compensations.?????It's time to put an end to the private prison racket. How many more are suffering lost in a system that values profit over justice? Join the discussion on Facebook today: facebook.com/cuentame |
| Date: 2011-09-14 04:23:54 - Added by: KMC |
| Views: 863 - Votes: 0 - Rating: 0 |
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GOP 2012: A primary primer on Pennsylvania's Rick Santorum |
| Uploaded by NMAWorldEdition on 14 Sep 2011 http://www.nma.tv/ At high school Rick Santorum was known as "Rooster" because he would never back down. Santorum admitted smoking pot in college, where he first entered politics as a volunteer for late Senator John Heinz. As a lawyer Santorum argued that wrestling was not a sport and therefore exempt from federal steroid regulations. Santorum underwent a "transformation" after marrying, forming the socially conservative views that have defined his political career. Six of his children were home schooled. Santorum controversially claimed education money from Pennsylvania while living out of state. He has said that 'Intelligent design' is a "legitimate scientific theory." In 2003 his views on same-sex marriage saw columnist Dan Savage coin an offensive term for "Santorum" that dogs him to this day. Despite touting his 'tough' record in office, the former Senator remains at the back of the primary pack. Will Santorum be able to keep his many enemies from derailing his presidential ambitions? |
| Date: 2011-09-14 04:19:21 - Added by: KMC |
| Views: 830 - Votes: 0 - Rating: 0 |
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Pakistan floods destroy over a million homes |
| Uploaded by telegraphtv on 14 Sep 2011 Flooding across southern Pakistan causes at least 226 deaths and leaves hundreds of thousands homeless. |
| Date: 2011-09-14 03:59:37 - Added by: KMC |
| Views: 803 - Votes: 0 - Rating: 0 |
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Big Pharma gets them while their young |
| Uploaded by TheSecondCityNetwork on 6 Sep 2011 Starring The Second City Alumni Nyima Funk & Maribeth Monroe ©2010 The Second City Inc./Nyima Funk |
| Date: 2011-09-14 03:53:49 - Added by: KMC |
| Views: 833 - Votes: 3 - Rating: 5 |
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Noam Chomsky on US Economic Crisis: Joblessness, Excessive Military Spending and Healthcare |
| Uploaded by democracynow on 13 Sep 2011 DemocracyNow.org - President Obama sent his new jobs proposal to Congress on Monday with a plan to pay for the $447 billion package by raising taxes on the wealthy. Democracy Now! interviews MIT Professor Emeritus Noam Chomsky, who says "huge military spending, a very low taxes by the rich [and corporations] ... those are problems, fundamental problems that have to be dealt with if there is going to be anything like successful economic and social development in the United States." As Republican presidential candidate, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, calls Social Security a "ponzi scheme," and Democrats buy into the narrative that the program is in crisis, Chomsky notes that, "To worry about a possible problem 30 years from now, which can incidentally be fixed with a little bit of tampering here and there, as was done in 1983, to worry about that makes absolutely no sense unless you're trying to destroy the program." |
| Date: 2011-09-13 13:35:03 - Added by: KMC |
| Views: 1036 - Votes: 7 - Rating: 5 |
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