U.S. aid unlikely to fill Texas’ expected budget gap
Texas could face a $16 billion shortfall in its next two-year budget.
Low-tax Texas beats big-government California
Texas is a different story. Texas has low taxes — and no state income taxes — and a much smaller government. Its legislature meets for only 90 days every two years, compared with California’s year-round legislature. Its fiscal condition is sound. Public employee unions are weak or nonexistent.
Where’s Obama’s Populist Outrage Over Conan’s $45M deal?
A reader asks a good question about O’Brien’s deal:
So a joker working for a company bailed out (indirectly) by the government gets $45 million — for failing. Where’s the outrage, Captain Populist?
I don’t have any problem with O’Brien’s deal, though I wish he wasn’t getting the shaft (he hasn’t been great on The Tonight Show, but he’s funnier than Leno).
But if O’Brien was a Wall 
Justices Overturn Key Campaign Limits
Sweeping aside a century-old understanding and overruling two important precedents, a bitterly divided Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that the government may not ban political spending by corporations in candidate elections.
Full story at the nytimes.com
Alan Grayson’s petition against corporate donations
At any moment, the Supreme Court will announce whether it will allow corporations to spend unlimited funds on political campaigns.
PETITION TEXT
Unlimited corporate spending on campaigns means the government is up for sale and that the law itself will be bought and sold. It would be political bribery on the largest scale imaginable.
This issue transcends partisan political arguments. We cannot have a government that is bought and paid for by huge multinational corporations. You must stop this.
link to sign the petition – mydccc.org
Obama’s Substantive First Year
Obama’s Substantive First Year I
Obama’s Substantive First Year II
Couple of good posts by Andrew Sullivan on Obama’s first year.
depressed or tired
Interesting
An excellent presentation disputing man-made global warming using nothing but pure science and statistics by Professor Bob Carter (Australian geologist). It would be very difficult to dispute his facts. In this video he pretty much proves that over 10,000 years the earth has been cooling. Looking at shorter periods of time one can find what ever they want in the numbers. There have been many periods of rapid warming and cooling over this period. He examines the data concerning climate change, Global warming, the problems with the idea that CO2 is driving climate change and global warming, & examples of the scientific data being ignored over popularist views about CO2 causing climate change and Global warming;…the hypothesis fails the test.
Be Happy!: Why this is the best holiday season ever.
I so grew up in the wrong decade, the toys we had sucked!!!
This is so true!!!!
The Worst-Run Big City in the U.S.
Spend more. Get less. We’re the city that knows how.
Despite its good intentions, San Francisco is not leading the country in gay marriage. Despite its good intentions, it is not stopping wars. Despite its spending more money per capita on homelessness than any comparable city, its homeless problem is worse than any comparable city’s. Despite its spending more money per capita, period, than almost any city in the nation, San Francisco has poorly managed, budget-busting capital projects, overlapping social programs no one is certain are working, and a transportation system where the only thing running ahead of schedule is the size of its deficit.
How to Fix Health Care: Lasik Surgery For The Medical Debate
How Free Market Delusions Destroyed the Economy
Interesting read over at alternet.org. link
Howard Stern shows Obama supporters r confused
Scary people on both sides!
Sarah Palin Book Signing – Interviews with Supporters
Found this on instaputz today… just scary….
Edit: found another
SOCIALIST AGENCIES DESTROYING AMERICA
Awesome chart over at madatoms.com
POLITICALLY ERECT:
SOCIALIST AGENCIES DESTROYING AMERICA
Gen. Eaton: Dick Cheney Was “Incompetent War Fighter”
Dick Cheney just needs to crawl back under his rock….
Paul Eaton on Cheney via nsnetwork.org
“The only time Cheney and his cabal of foreign policy ‘experts’ have anything to say is when they feel compelled to protect this failed legacy. While President Obama is tasked with cleaning up the considerable mess they left behind, they continue to defend torture or rewrite a legacy of indifference on Afghanistan. Simply put, Mr. Cheney sees history throughout extremely myopic and partisan eyes.”
Sneaky Microsoft plug-in puts Firefox users at risk
Microsoft is messing with your Firefox without telling you again. Just like they did when they made bling my default browser after patches. via Computerworld
“The .NET Framework Assistant [the name of the add-on slipped into Firefox] that results can be installed inside Firefox without your approval”
Annoyances also said the threat to Firefox users is serious. “This update adds to Firefox one of the most dangerous vulnerabilities present in all versions of Internet Explorer: the ability for Web sites to easily and quietly install software on your PC,” said the hints and tips site. “Since this design flaw is one of the reasons [why] you may have originally chosen to abandon IE in favor of a safer browser like Firefox, you may wish to remove this extension with all due haste.”
Sell The Vatican, Feed The World
Sarah Silverman is awesome…
Can Your Pet Save You on Your Taxes?
This is total fucking BS…. lets see lets get Human health care taken care of before we waste money on pets. Pets are a luxury and there for you do no get a tax break for a pet, sorry. abc.com
A bill making the rounds on Capitol Hill marries two feel-good propositions — tax cuts and pet ownership — to generate a novel idea: A tax break of up to $3,500 per person for pet care expenses.
The never-ending lunacy of Betsy McCaughey.
Interesting article over on The New Republic on Betsy McCaughey. It is a little long but fascinating.
