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Mind-Blowing Charts From the Senate's Income Inequality Hearing

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Mother Jones - By Josh Harkinson - Feb. 10 (News Report) - In another sign that Democrats have embraced income inequality as a cause célèbre, the Senate Budget Committee held a hearing on the subject today. The committee's ranking Republican, Jeff Sessions of Alabama, managed to look concerned during two hours of testimony about the kneecapping of the Middle Class—not that it should have been all that difficult. Here are some of the hearing's most striking charts ...

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What NASA's Blue Marble Photo Reveals About Climate Change

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 11:39:00 -0800

Mother Jones - By Bill McKibben - Feb. 08 - In fact, it's likely that the week that photo was taken will prove "the driest first week in recorded US history." Indeed, it followed on 2011, which showed the greatest weather extremes in our history—56 percent of the country was either in drought or f

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How Rick Santorum Ripped Off American Veterans

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Mother Jones - By Andy Kroll - Jan. 20 (News) - Like any good presidential candidate, Rick Santorum heaps praise on America's soldiers and veterans. He's pledged to "make veterans a high priority" if elected president, adding, "This is not a Republican issue, this is not a Democratic issue, it is an American issue." But as a US senator, Santorum engineered a controversial land deal that robbed the military's top veterans' home of tens of millions of dollars and worsened the deteriorating conditions at the facility. The Armed Forces Retirement Home, which is run by the Department of Defense, bills itself as "premier home for military retirees and veterans." The Home sprawls across 272 acres high on a hill in northern Washington, DC, near the Petworth neighborhood. The nearly 600 veterans who now live there enjoy panoramic views of the city—the Washington monument and US Capitol to the south, the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception to the east. At its peak, more than 2,000 veterans of World Wars I and II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War lived at the Home. But with the rise of the smaller all-volunteer military, the Home began to run into serious financial problems. It was clear that one of the Home's primary sources of revenue—a 50-cent deduction from the paychecks of active-duty service-members—wasn't enough to keep the Home operating fully. In the 1990s, the Home scrambled to find ways to avoid insolvency, trimming its staff by 24 percent and reducing its vet population by 800. Still, the money problems began to show, with its older historic facilities slipping into disrepair and decay. To grapple with its worsening shortfall, officials running the Home eyed a valuable, 49-acre piece of land worth $49 million as a potential financial lifeline. Continue Reading »

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Stop Being Cynical About Corporate Money in Politics and Start Being Angry

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 18:53:00 -0800

Mother Jones - By Bill McKibben - Jan. 05 - My resolution for 2012 is to be naïve—dangerously naïve. I'm aware that the usual recipe for political effectiveness is just the opposite: to be cynical, calculating, an insider. But if you think, as I do, that we need deep change in this country, then c

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What's Happening in the Persian Gulf Explained

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Mother Jones - By Adam Weinstein, Hamed Aleaziz - Jan. 03 (Special Report) - The basics: Iran and the United States appear to be heading for a showdown in the Persian Gulf. Amid already-high tensions over Iran's advancing nuclear program, the US has imposed harsh new economic sanctions on the regime in Tehran and begun to move se

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It's the Inequality, Stupid

Sun, 01 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Mother Jones - By Dave Gilson, Carolyn Perot - Jan. 01 (News Analysis) - How Rich Are the Superrich? A huge share of the nation's economic growth over the past 30 years has gone to the top one-hundredth of one percent, who now make an average of $27 million per household. The average income for the bottom 90 percent of us? $31,244.

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So You Want to Buy an Election?

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Mother Jones - By Tim Murphy - Dec. 06 (Opinion) - A short, shady history of how American elections are bought and paid for. The red giants and blue dwarfs spending millions to influence the 2012 election. Americans Elect says it wants to reform the political system. Campaign watchdogs say it should star

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Report: Military Blew $1 Trillion on Weapons Since 9/11

Wed, 02 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Mother Jones - By Adam Weinstein - Nov. 02 (Opinion) - A new study suggests that defense hawks are crying crocodile tears over planned cuts to Pentagon spending. Capitol Hill conservatives and Pentagon brass fighting cuts to defense spending have argued that the military is limping off the battlefield

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Climate Skeptics Take Another Hit

Tue, 25 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Mother Jones - By Kevin Drum - Oct. 25 (News Report) - Physicists are notorious for believing that other scientists are mathematically incompetent. And University of California-Berkeley physicist Richard Muller is notorious for believing that conventional wisdom is often wrong. For example, the conventional wisdom about climate change.

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How the FBI's Network of Informants Actually Created Most of the Terrorist Plots

Mon, 10 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Trevor Aaronson - Oct. 10 (Investigative Report) - The FBI has built a massive network of spies to prevent another domestic attack. But are they busting terrorist plots—or leading them?

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Bad Business Under John Huntsman

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Mother Jones - By Stephanie Mencimer - Sep. 13 (Opinion) - As governor of Utah, Huntsman helped boost an industry that preys on victims with pyramid-scheme-like practices. If being a good governor means serving as a cheerleader and chief booster for local industry, then Utah's former chief executive, Jon Huntsman

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25 Giant Corporations That Paid Their CEOs More Than They Paid Uncle Sam

Sat, 03 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Mother Jones - By Josh Harkinson - Sep. 03 (Investigative Report) - It might make sense for a small business to pay its top brass more than it doles out to Uncle Sam in taxes, but what if that company has tens of thousands of employees and billions of dollars in profits? Well, this is America folks. What follows is a list of 25 mega corporations that paid one guy—their CEO—more money than what they spent on their entire federal tax bills last year. The same companies averaged $1.9 billion each in profits

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Attack of the Monsanto Superinsects

Sat, 03 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Mother Jones - By Tom Philpott - Sep. 03 (News Report) - insects are developing resistance to Monsanto's insecticide-infused crops, reports the Wall Street Journal. Fields planted in Monsanto's Bt corn in some areas of the Midwest are showing damage from the corn rootworm—the very species targeted by Monsanto's engineered trait. An Iowa State University scientist has conclusively identified Bt-resistant root worms in four Iowa fields, the Journal reports.

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Flush With Prison Industry Dollars, Rick Perry Pushed Privatized Prisoner Care

Sat, 03 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Mother Jones - By Tim Murphy - Sep. 03 (News Report) - Corrections industry lobbyists and execs donated generously to the Texas governor's reelection campaign. He advanced policies that would benefit the prison industry. Coincidence?

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A Closer Look at the Texas Miracle

Wed, 17 Aug 2011 14:52:29 -0700

Mother Jones - By Kevin Drum - Aug. 17 (Opinion) - So what's the real skinny on the "Texas Miracle"? Without diving into every last detail (I'll provide some links for that), here are the main bullet points: Texas has created lots of jobs in the past two years: 40% of the nation's total. That's way, way more jobs than any other state. But the Texas unemployment rate is 8.2%. That's better than the nation as a whole, but still pretty high. And plenty of other states have done as well or better.

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This Mystery Chemical Could Cause You To Miscarry

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Mother Jones - By Rebecca Huval - Aug. 10 (Special Report) - Did you print a piece of paper today? Or use a digital camera? If so, it could have exposed you to glymes, a clear liquid class of chemicals used as solvents in printer ink, carpet cleaners and other household products. For a decade, the EPA has known about studies that link glymes to health problems including miscarriages, developmental damage, and gene mutation. And yet only now is the agency beginning to regulate them. This July, the EPA announced that it plans to clamp down on glymes, which may join the ranks of the 360 chemicals subject to the EPA's "significant new use rule." This means that any time a company wants to use glymes, it would have to ask the EPA first. In contrast, the EPA plans to regulate BPA, the chemical once found in Nalgene bottles, by simply identifying it in a list of harmful chemicals.

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Why Are White Guys Climate Skeptics?

Wed, 03 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Mother Jones - By Kate Sheppard - Aug. 03 (News Analysis) - Mother Jones (blog)Why Are White Guys Climate Skeptics?Mother Jones (blog)— 14% of the general public doesn't worry about climate change at all, but among CWMs the percentage jumps to 39%. — 32% of adults deny there is a scientific consensus on climate change, but 59% of CWMs deny what the overwhelming majority of the world's scientists have said.

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Man, That Debt Ceiling Fight Sucked! Let's Do It Again!

Wed, 03 Aug 2011 10:52:00 -0700

Mother Jones - By Andy Kroll - Aug. 03 (News) - Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), in remarks on the Senate floor on Monday, described the Republican tactic of refusing to raise the debt ceiling in order to extract favorable concessions as "a new way of doing business in Washington." He went on: "One of th

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How AEI Kneecapped the Financial Crisis Commission

Wed, 20 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Mother Jones - By Andy Kroll - Jul. 20 (News Report) - When it came time for the bipartisan Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission to unveil its final report on the causes of the worst economic meltdown since the Great Depression, the commission's 11 members were bitterly divided. In the end, the FCIC's Republicans refused to put their names on the commission's final report. Instead, they released their own questionable narrative of what caused the crisis. Then there was Republican commissioner Peter Wallison, who broke with both Democrats and Republicans and published a solo report that, despite bundles of evidence to the contrary, pointed to government housing policy and fallen housing giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as the major causes of the financial crisis. On the front page of his dissent Wallison listed his employer: the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), an influential conservative think tank in Washington, DC, where he's a fellow in financial policy.

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The Budget-Slashing Hysteria's Latest Victim: Legal Aid for the Poor

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Mother Jones - By Kat Aaron - Jul. 13 (Special Report) - "Demand is just going to keep going up. People are still losing their jobs. People are still struggling to put food on the table. Foreclosures are still happening," says Cynthia Martinez, spokeswoman for Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, the state's largest legal-services agency. "Last year, we had to turn away half of the people that came to us because we just don't have the resources. And it's not like when we say no, the legal problems just go away."

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Where Are the Jobs, Dammit!?

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Mother Jones - By Andy Kroll - Jul. 13 (News Analysis) - Republicans and conservatives are blaming Democrats for failing to slash the federal debt, lower taxes, and wipe out regulations, all of which, they claim, stifle job creation (even if taxes are at a historic low and President Obama and the Republicans negotiated a deal last December that extended the Bush tax cuts). Congressional Democrats are blaming GOP obstructionism. And progressives are excoriating the GOP's obsession with deficit reduction and the Obama administration's acceptance of this misplaced focus on the debt.

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Inside Mitt Romney's Sprawling Political Money Machine

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Mother Jones - By Andy Kroll - Jul. 13 (Special Report) - When Mitt Romney's presidential campaign announced a less-than-expected $18-million fundraising haul for the second quarter of this year, Democrats and Republicans alike publicly doubted the former governor's appeal with GOP voters. Some of Romney's critics even suggested that donors had "abandoned him." But judging Romney's cash arsenal by his campaign alone is like looking at a Jackson Pollock canvas from an inch away. Step back and to see the whole picture—in Romney's case, a sprawling web of organizations with serious financial firepower angling to help Romney win in 2012. Romney's biggest outside ally is Restore Our Future, a so-called "super PAC" launched last month by a trio of his former aides. The PAC's goal is simple: make Mitt Romney president. And while federal law prohibits Restore Our Future from coordinating with the Romney campaign, the PAC can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money on ads, mailers, and other messaging to boost Romney's White House bid. It's not unlike the Priorities USA Action super PAC that two former Barack Obama aides formed with the goal of re-electing the president. Continue Reading »Comments | Post Comment

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Al Gore and the Referees

Sat, 02 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Mother Jones - By Kevin Drum - Jul. 02 (Opinion) - Walter Russell Mead, in yet another lengthy critique of liberals who think that facts and empirical evidence ought to be taken seriously, explains to Al Gore the role of the referee in professional wrestling: Among other things, professional wrestling works as a kind of folk satire — and well meaning progressives and professionals like Mr. Gore are among its targets. The clownish referee represents exactly the well intentioned bumblers who seek to arbitrate and rationalize the endless competition between the good and the bad guys. It is the way much of the working class looks at ivory tower intellectuals, nanny state do-gooders. ....In other words, the referee in a professional wrestling match strikes a chord in popular culture in part because he is a representation of the class which sets itself up in our society as the arbiter and judge: the professional elite, the expert and the chattering classes. The referee at a wrestling match is a populist portrait of the FCC, the NLRB, NPR, the New York Times editorial board and everyone else who does exactly what Al Gore would like to spend his whole life doing: judging mankind impartially and ruling them well. The referee is part of the entertainment who is funny in part because he thinks he is above the fray.

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Little Suzie Newsykins Takes on Weinergate

Thu, 16 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Mother Jones - By Mark Fiore - Jun. 16 (Cartoon) - Mark Fiore is a Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist and animator whose work has appeared in the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Examiner, and dozens of other publications. He is an active member of the American Association of Editorial Cartoonists, and has a website featuring his work.

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Will Clarence Thomas Recuse Himself on Health Care Reform?

Tue, 31 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Mother Jones - May. 31 (Opinion) - Thomas finally released details of his wife's income from an anti-health care reform lobby. Now will he recuse himself from hearing the challenges?

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