On Tuesday, Tim Lambesis, the singer for Christian heavy metal band As I Lay Dying, was arrested for allegedly attempting to hire a hitman to murder his estranged wife.

As it turns out, the “hitman” he tried to hire was actually an undercover detective, according to the San Diego County Sheriff's Department. Police were reportedly tipped off last Thursday.

"The information came to us late last week. We acted quickly on it. I believe that we averted a great tragedy," San Diego County Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Jan Caldwell told Reuters.

Lambesis was taken into custody from an Oceanside, California business without incident and was booked into Vista Jail on suspicion of solicitation of murder.

http://gawker.com/christian-heavy-metal-singer-arrested-for-hiring-hitman-494975195

There is no greater obstacle to progressive change than the idea of austerity. It has dominated economic policy in Europe, resulting in continued slow growth (or outright contraction) and high unemployment. These conditions have produced demoralized electorates that lack faith in all politicians—a cynicism that has only deepened when leftist parties have attained power and failed to revive growth. In such an environment, progressive change is not possible, and the left is reduced to purely defensive actions.

........

How did we get into such a pickle? Does the current mania for austerity make any sense whatsoever? And could the recent discrediting of Carmen Reinhart’s and Kenneth Rogoff’s influential pro-austerity paper provide any hope for the defusing of this mania? Mark Blyth’s timely new book, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous Idea, provides answers to these questions, and they are not necessarily comforting ones.

Keynes’s anti-austerity ideas had their day of course—and a very successful day it was, lasting from the mid-’30s to the mid-’70s. But austerity ideas never went away because, as outlined above, they are rooted in an entire philosophy about the state and public debt that is not subject to disproof, especially among the conservative forces and big economic interests who embrace it. As a result, when Keynesian economics appeared to falter in the 1970s, austerity-based economics came roaring back and dominated economic thinking for decades.

Now, after a brief resurgence of Keynesian economics in 2008-2010, it is back again. (See this paper by Henry Farrell and John Quiggin for a blow-by-blow description of how this happened.) Austerity dominates today’s economic discussions, this time with the chimera of “expansionary fiscal austerity”—the idea that the way out of an economic slump is to cut spending which will lead to rising business confidence, more investment and strong growth.

http://www.newrepublic.com/article/113073/austerity-and-body-economic-reviewed-ruy-texeira?utm_source=The+New+Republic&utm_campaign=ca6bead3f0-TNR_Daily_050113&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1a39af5ae8-ca6bead3f0-119077293#

In an effort to build support for his second-term agenda, President Obama hit the golf course Monday with two Republican senators – part of what White House spokesman Jay Carney said is a “try anything” approach.The White House acknowledged that the golf excursion was part of its outreach to Republicans in Congress, which also included a dinner with a bipartisan group of women senators and two dinners with Republican senators. The administration is trying to build support for Mr. Obama’s second-term agenda, which includes immigration reform and an agreement to deal with America's fiscal woes......


“He is willing to try anything,” Mr. Carney said at Monday’s press briefing. “And whether it’s a conversation on the phone or a meeting in the Oval Office or a dinner in a restaurant or dinner in the residence, he going to have the same kind of conversations."

...

The press pool accompanying the president was able to only briefly observe the golfing action. On the first green, Obama chipped his first shot past the hole and “later appeared to miss a putt,” said pool reporter Bartholomew Sullivan of Scripps Howard News Service.

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/USA-Update/2013/0506/Obama-s-try-anything-bid-to-woo-GOP-moves-from-dinner-to-golf-course

FROM REDDIT: "I am a person who from 9-15 years old attended a school that did not have any teachers, you were required to teach yourself every subject from books at your own pace, while sitting in cubicles all day with very little interaction with other students or extracurricular activities. AMA (Ask Me Anything)"

And from the comments:

"[–]philphish 51 points 1 hour ago

Sorry to break it to you but you weren't in school...your mom dumped you at the library for free babysitting.

[–]designtraveler[S] 49 points 1 hour ago

it certainly was FAR from free, this was a private school


[–]sarah-bellum 29 points 55 minutes ago

That's really interesting - you seem to be implying that it was quite expensive, but if there was really no teacher involvement in anything you did (even grading tests as you mentioned further down), what on earth were you paying for? I know there must have been expenses like books etc. but surely not enough to warrant really high tuition fees. (I'm not doubting your honesty or anything, it just seems like a huge money grab on the school's part.)


[–]designtraveler[S] 13 points 35 minutes ago

money grab i agree, cheaper than most private schools but still expensive considering, about $10,000 a year, I guess you payed for the 'good wholesome Christian environment'

.....................

[–]DallasITGuy 6 points 39 minutes ago*

I went to one of these schools the spring of my 7th grade year in 1972. It was called Accelerated Christian Education. It was a joke in terms of learning. We had "packets" for each course. I finished the last half of my 7th grade year and all of the 8th grade packets in one semester. I had a 98% average. I did not learn diddly.

At my school one had to earn privilege levels each week - one either had an A, and AC or an ACE (the initials standing for Accelerated Christian Education). Privileges were earned based on how many packets you finished, books you read and special projects.

The instructors were just glorified baby sitters. Not one had a teaching certificate.

We had (sometimes quite long) chapel worships every day. Basically like a full church service each day.

P.E. was held three times a week by driving out to a public park where we played. Rain or shine, get out of the bus and go do something kid. No supervision. I got into several fights with no punishment. We threw a kid over an embankment once, he fell into a creek and almost drowned.

I have never been able to forgive my parents for sending me to that hellhole.

(edit for additional info on "P.E. class".)"


http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1dsebw/i_am_a_person_who_from_915_years_old_attended_a/

The Electronic Frontier Foundation just released its annual "Who Has Your Back" report card, detailing the privacy policies of tech companies. Here's the rundown of who fights for your privacy in the face of government requests for your data—and who doesn't even bother.

http://gizmodo.com/which-tech-companies-protect-your-data-from-the-governm-486127045

It's insanity to kill your father with a kitchen knife. It's also insanity to close hospitals, fire therapists, and leave families to face mental illness on their own.
..........
"OHIO ONCE HAD one of the top mental health systems in the country," lamented the National Alliance on Mental Illness in a 2011 report. "Today, after several years of significant budget cuts, thousands of youth and adults living with serious mental illness are unable to access care in the community and are ending up either on the streets or in far more expensive settings, such as hospitals and jails."

The glory days of Ohio's mental-health department had already come to an end by the time the budget crises of the late 2000s rolled around. But the recession and the subsequent tea party austerity movement made things even worse. On the list of the 10 states that cut the most from mental-health budgets between 2009 and 2011, Ohio was No. 6. Then Gov. John Kasich's 2012-13 budget slashed local government funds by a billion dollars and continued a trend of downsizing community mental-health programs. "The most fragile people in our society, we looked out for them," the governor said. "And if there's a hole or a mistake, we'll come back later to figure it out." (He's since proposed restoring some services.)

"Ohio," as Roth explains, "is a microcosm of the United States." Collectively, states have cut $4.35 billion in public mental-health spending since 2009.

..........

"I can't even tell you how many times I've seen this kind of situation leading up to somebody killing somebody," says Lipetzky, the Contra Costa County public defender. "I have two NGI clients right now who tried to kill their parents," Eleanor says. "One of them even had 'em tied up and everything" when the parents were able to talk their child out of it. If we don't talk about the whole, true picture of untreated mental illness, Torrey says, so that we can treat it, the far-from-standard but still very real possibilities for violence from a judgment- and impulse-impaired brain, "the stigma's going to go on forever because of the high-profile homicides that cause the stigma."

"Once Houston is finally hospitalized and treated," my Aunt Annette says, "maybe Mark will finally be able to truly rest." And if that doesn't happen, at least—at the very least—"his story can go to a greater cause. I want people to know about this," she says, with a sharp, gasping cry. That's why she's telling me, and I am telling you: "If this story can serve a purpose, I feel like Mark will not have died in vain."

http://m.motherjones.com/politics/2013/04/mental-health-crisis-mac-mcclelland-cousin-murder

What American Majority Wants: Polls

Along with the polling data on the The American Majority Project’s polling page, here is some info from recent polls:

Infrastructure investment:

Democracy Corps, November 2012:

52 percent agree that “we should invest now in infrastructure, education and technology, and re-hiring teachers and firefighters to get people back to work to make our country stronger in the long-term.”

Washington Post/ABC News, September 2012:

52 percent agreed that “spending money on projects like roads, bridges and technology development” was a better way for the government to create jobs than tax cuts.

YouGov, Dec 2012:

43 percent said President Obama’s plan for $50 billion in immediate new infrastructure spending was a “good idea;A only 28 percent said it was a bad idea.

NBC, Feb 2011:

71% percent of all respondents support Obama’s plan to spend $53 billion on high-speed rail and $30 billion on a national infrastructure bank.

Washington Post/Kaiser Family Foundation, August 2012:

63 percent believe that “additional spending on roads, bridges, and other public works projects” would help, not hurt, the economy.

Clarus Research Group, conducted for the Association of Equipment Manufacturers, December 2012:

77% percent believe the infrastructure in their state and throughout America “is in serious need of rebuilding and modernizing,” and 68% percent agree we need to make investments to build up our infrastructure to compete with foreign countries that are doing so.
Modernizing infrastructure is seen as “both a safety and economic issue” by 90% of voters nationwide.
A solid majority (61%) say the best way to pay for infrastructure improvements is to “use a combination of
funding sources such as some additional tax revenues, user fees and private investment.
84% of voters believe that “If the United States can afford to spend billions of dollars rebuilding the
infrastructure in foreign countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan, we can afford to do the same here at home.”
68% of voters nationwide say that the United States needs to make investments to build up our infrastructure
to compete with foreign countries that are doing so.

Carbon tax, oil companies, alternatives:

Yale Project on Climate Change Communication and the George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication, November, 2011:

90 percent of Americans say developing sources of clean energy should be a very high (30%), high (35%), or medium (25%) priority for the president and Congress, including 82 percent of registered Republicans, 91 percent of Independents, and 97 percent of Democrats.
65 percent of Americans support a revenue neutral carbon tax that would “help create jobs and decrease pollution,” including majorities of registered Republicans (51%), Independents (69%), and Democrats (77%).
Likewise, 60 percent of Americans support a $10 per ton carbon tax if the revenue were used to reduce federal income taxes, even when told this would “slightly increase the cost of many things you buy, including food, clothing, and electricity.” This policy is supported by 48 percent of registered Republicans, 50 percent of Independents, and 74 percent of Democrats.
49 percent of Americans support a revenue neutral carbon tax if the revenue was instead returned to each American family equally as an annual check. Only 44 percent support this policy if the revenues were instead used to pay down the national debt.
69 percent of Americans oppose federal subsidies to the fossil fuel industry, including 67 percent of registered Republicans, 80 percent of Independents, and 68 percent of Democrats.
54 percent of Americans oppose subsidies to the ethanol industry to make fuel from corn, including 56 percent of registered Republicans, 65 percent of Independents, and 49 percent of Democrats.
85 percent of Americans (including 76% of registered Republicans, 83% of Independents, and 90% of Democrats) say that protecting the environment either improves economic growth and provides new jobs (54%), or has no effect (31%). Only 15 percent say environmental protection reduces economic growth and costs jobs.

Taxes:

Hart Research, February 2013:

66% say that the richest 2% should pay more in taxes. 64% say large corporations should pay more in taxes.
Only 28% of voters believe that the fiscal cliff bill passed on New Year’s Day raised taxes on the rich enough, while more than twice as many (59%) say that we still need to do more.
66% say close loopholes and limit deductions for wealthy individuals to reduce the budget deficit and make public investments. 23% want to reduce tax rates.

TIPP/Investor’s Business Daily Poll, April, 2012:

51% say tax capital gains same rate as income vs 35% say keep current low rate.

Rasmussen (!), November 2012:

57 % of voters say they agree with the president’s proposal to raise taxes on those making more than $250,000 per year. 35% oppose that move.

Quinnipiac University, December 2012:

65% of voters back increased taxes for Americans making more than $250,000 a year, 31 percent oppose.
Voters said a “no-taxes” pledge isn’t a good idea, 85-10 percent.

Also

Voters overwhelmingly oppose cutting Medicaid spending, 70-25 percent.
Voters oppose gradually raising the Medicare eligibility age, 51-44 percent.

Jobs:

Gallup, November 2012:

95% say restoring the job market is a top priority.

Public Policy Polling, November 2012:

49 % say President Obama’s mandate following his reelection is to focus on jobs. 22% say the president’s mandate involved reducing the debt.
36% said that the president was tasked with striking a compromise with congressional Republicans.

Assist those in need:

Food Action and Research Center, various polls:

“The opposition to cutting food stamps crossed party lines: 92 percent of Democrats, 74 percent of Independents, and 63 percent of Republicans say this is the wrong way to reduce spending.” this amounts to 72% of all voters who think food stamps are a positive thing for the country
“Only nine percent of those polled said they would be more likely to support a candidate who favors cutting funds for the food stamp program; half said they would be less likely.”
“Opposition to food stamp cuts is even more overwhelming than in polling data FRAC released in November 2010, when 71 percent said it was the wrong way to cut spending.”
“Voters are broadly concerned about the nation’s hunger problem: 81 percent say that low-income families and children not being able to afford enough food to eat is a serious problem.”

Hart Research for AFL-CIO. November 7, 2012.

88% of respondents favor allowing Medicare to negotiate drug policies.

Other:

Kaiser Family Foundation, January 2013:

61% of Americans are not willing to see any cuts to public education.
Only 21% of Americans favor major reductions in Unemployment insurance

Gallup, December 2010:

66% of Americans supported the extension of unemployment insurance in 2010

What This Means

These polls (and so many others not listed here) are simply overwhelming.

In other words, the Congressional Progressive Caucus “Back To Work Budget” reflects what voters voted for and what polls show people want. And, much more importantly, the CPC “Back To Work Budget” reflects what history and economists tell us will fix the economy and boost the standard of living for regular Americans!


http://mediamatters.org/research/progmaj/

The war is not meant to be won, it is meant to be continuous. Hierarchical society is only possible on the basis of poverty and ignorance. This new version is the past and no different past can ever have existed. In principle the war effort is always planned to keep society on the brink of starvation. The war is waged by the ruling group against its own subjects and its object is not the victory over either Eurasia or East Asia, but to keep the very structure of society intact.
- George Orwell