Native American tribe sues beer companies

Heartland reflects on its beating

The ultra-conservative group's climate conference showed how far it has fallen after an internet sting and a disastrous ad

It was an odd choice of icon for the ultra-conservative Heartland Institute. But there he was in round glasses, beard, and halo of curls staring out from T-shirts and coffee mugs at their gathering of climate change contrarians this week, the scientist whose internet sting set Heartland on its current course of collapse.

Heartland's seventh climate conference, which runs until Wednesday, was a much diminished event, compared to earlier lavish gatherings which spilled out over several floors of a hotel in New York's Time Square, and attracted up to 800 followers.

The tables were set for 270 at this year's gala, featuring the Czech president and climate contrarian Václav Klaus, and there were well over 100 no-shows. In a further sign of Heartland's cash crunch, meals were not included in this year's conference package.

"We have been under a lot of pressure over the last four months," Heartland's president, Joseph Bast, told the conference. "And I think we have discovered who our real friends are."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/may/22/heartland-beating-climate-conference?CMP=twt_fd

Rmoney's money = $45 million in liquid assets....

Wealth Firm Reveals Super Tuesday Front-Runner’s Cash In The Bank

March 6 2012, New York — Wealth-X, the global intelligence, prospecting and wealth due diligence company, today released that Republican Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney has US$45 million in liquid assets, as part of his $230 million fortune. Wealth-X recently ranked Mitt Romney as the #1 wealthiest U.S. presidential candidate since Ross Perot.

In addition to over $45 million in liquid assets, including proceeds from salaries, bonuses, dividends, speaker’s fees and other investments, Romney has nearly $52 million of Federal Home Loan Bank securities, an estimated $31 million in Goldman Sachs vehicles, $17 million in property, $13 million managed by the firm he cofounded, Bain Capital, $500 thousand in horses and another $72 million in other asset classes.

http://www.wealthx.com/articles/2012/mitt-romney-has-nearly-us-45-million-in-liquid-assets/

After Welfare Reform, the Poorest Families Had More Trouble Paying Bills

We have noted evidence of a disturbing trend: growth in the number and percentage of Americans living on less than $2 a day — a type of extreme poverty that, until now, has been associated only with poor nations.

The University of Michigan’s Luke Shaefer, one of the authors of the study that broke the news, has more to report. He and the University of Chicago’s Marci Ybarra, his co-author, find signs of growing material hardship among families whose incomes fall below half of the poverty line.

The new study, which looked at households with children from 1992 through 2005, notes a widening gap in well-being among low-income families after the national welfare overhaul of the mid-1990s. The authors found:

Suggestive evidence that material hardship — in the form of difficulty meeting essential household expenses, and falling behind on utilities costs — has generally increased among the deeply poor but has remained roughly the same for the middle group (50-99 percent of poverty), and decreased among the near poor (100-150 percent of poverty).

Not surprisingly, these hardships appear to be sensitive to business cycles. Hardship rates among the deeply poor improved, for example, from 1992 to 1995, when the economy was growing. But they worsened sharply from 2003 to 2005 — perhaps due to delayed effects of the 2001 recession compounded by the weakened safety net, the authors suggest.

http://www.offthechartsblog.org/after-welfare-reform-the-poorest-families-had-more-trouble-paying-bills/

Sheriff Joe Arpaio Admits Using Taxpayer Funds To Pursue Birther Conspiracy Probe: ‘So What?’

In the year since President Obama released his long-form birth certificate, tax payers are partly-funding Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s investigation into whether or not the president was truly born in the United States.

The Arizona Republic and the Honolulu Star-Advertiser report that two men identifying themselves as Michael Zullo and Brian Mackiewcz arrived at the Hawaii Department of Health on Monday and requested verification of Obama’s birth.

They left after a Hawaii deputy attorney provided them information on the legal requirements for obtaining that documentation. Zullo is a volunteer in Arpaio’s inquiry, but Mackiewcz provided a business card identifying him as a public employee who works in the Threats Management Unit of the sheriff’s office.

Arpaio, who has previously claimed that the investigation was being funded through private donations, dismissed concerns about tax dollars funding the conspiracy quest and said “he hopes the agency will be paid back through private donations”:

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/05/22/488323/sheriff-joe-arpaio-uses-taxpayer-funds-to-pursue-birther-conspiracy-probe/

How Greece Leaves The Euro In 8 Incredibly Simple Steps

One of our favorite regular reads is the The Long Run, the Short Run and the In-Between-note from Jefferies' Sean Darby, which (we think) comes out once a week.

Darby's latest has a very nice, idiot's version of how Greece would leave the Euro and re-Drachmatize the economy.

It's as simple as this...

http://www.businessinsider.com/how-greece-leaves-the-euro-in-8-incredible-simple-steps-2012-5?

Greece's new prime minister meets party leaders

ATHENS, GREECE — Greece's newly installed caretaker prime minister conferred with party leaders Monday ahead of this week's European Union summit that's expected to focus on ways of kick starting economic growth across the continent.

Panagiotis Pikrammenos, a senior judge who has no power to make any binding decisions, held successive meetings with all party leaders as campaigning gets underway for the country's crucial June 17 elections.

The vote is seen as a choice on whether debt-stricken Greece stays in the euro. A May 6 poll produced no government and triggered a political crisis.

The vote was split between parties that insist the country lives up to its austerity pledges and continues to receive outside assistance to stave off bankruptcy, and those that want to revoke or revise them because they are too punishing.

Antonis Samaras, leader of the center-right New Democracy party, laid out the hope that the 17-country eurozone may soon back jointly issued bonds, despite another rejection by Germany. So-called eurobonds could be used to fund growth projects and spread risk around the eurozone. Germany has been unwilling to push the idea of eurobonds because they would likely raise its borrowing costs.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/money/greeces-new-prime-minister-meets-party-leaders-2367163.html

Romney Economics: Job Loss and Bankruptcy at Ampad

Strawman is a misrepresentation of your position.....and does not start with So....see link

Your position as stated is .....

"We're in the end game of all the rottenness that those think tanks forced on us by the wholesale conversion of people who simply weren't very smart by polished corporate admen at those think tanks."

My point is that your position is to blame someone or something else and not the actual or real entity involved......

We have to start having honest conversations about how and why we are in the shithole we are in....and taking responsibility.....that is a prime objective of OWS....


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_man

When the cost to attend a TED conference is a thousand dollars....or more

and 84% of America is living paycheck to paycheck, I think you can assume that someone who pays thousands of dollars to attend a TEDie is in the minority and extrapolating out from that fact....I would make an assumption that most of the people attending are wealthy white folks, in other words, 1%ers that would not like to hear about what Nick had to say.....therefore, cut that video decision was easy and yet wonderful for the 99ers.....