Hissyspit
Hissyspit's JournalObama Likely Paid Higher Tax Rate Than Romney in 2011
Source: Reuters
Obama likely paid higher tax rate than Romney in 2011
By Andy Sullivan
Fri Apr 13, 2012 5:29pm EDT
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama released tax forms on Friday that reveal he will probably pay a higher tax rate on much lower income than likely Republican opponent Mitt Romney in 2011, adding fuel to a Democratic election-year effort to raise taxes on the rich.
Obama and his wife, Michelle, paid an effective tax rate of 20.5 percent on income of $789,674 last year, the White House said. Romney has estimated he will pay a 15.4 percent tax rate on income of $20.9 million.
Obama and his fellow Democrats have spent much of the week touting the "Buffett Rule," a plan to ensure that millionaires like Romney pay at least 30 percent income tax. The rule is named after Warren Buffett, the billionaire investor who has noted that he pays a lower tax rate than his secretary.
Obama's return shows that he pays a lower effective rate than the 35.8 percent rate that Buffett's longtime secretary, Debbie Bosanek, has said she pays. Obama also pays a slightly lower rate than his own secretary, the White House said.
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSBRE83C0ZB20120413?irpc=932
Charts: It's Starting To Look Like The Notorious 1972 Book On The End Of Growth Was Right
http://www.businessinsider.com/charts-the-limits-to-growth-2012-4?nr_email_referer=1&utm_source=Triggermail&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Money%20Game%20Select&utm_campaign=MoneyGame%20Select%202012-04-14CHARTS: It's Starting To Look Like This Notorious Book On The End Of Growth Was Right
Ashley Lutz and Gus Lubin | Apr. 12, 2012, 5:28 PM | 4,769 | 7
On the 40-year anniversary of The Limits Of Growth, Smithsonian magazine finds that this apocalyptic tale of resource depletion may be coming true.
We did some digging on the subject and turned up a report by physicist Graham Turner, who came to the same conclusion in 2008.
On the following charts, the green line shows the book's baseline scenario, which sees resource depletion leading to a cataclysmic crash in 2030. The red line shows a scenario involving only technological solutions. The blue line shows a scenario involving technological and social solutions. As you can see from the purple line, we are within range of the book's baseline scenario.
MORE (OR LESS AS THE CASE MAY BE) AT LINK[p]
New Julian Assange TV Show Airing Tuesday 17 April 2012
http://www.twitlonger.com/show/gunqv7THE WORLD TOMORROW: NEW ASSANGE TV SHOW AIRING ON Tuesday 17 April 2012
Julian Assange has completed filming twelve episodes of his forthcoming show, “The World Tomorrow”. The first episode will be aired on RT and released online on Tuesday 17 April 2012, with other networks to follow.
- snip -
“The World Tomorrow” is a collection of twelve interviews featuring an eclectic range of guests, who are stamping their mark on the future: politicians, revolutionaries, intellectuals, artists and visionaries. The world's last five years have been marked by an unrelenting series of economic crises and political upheavals. But they have also given rise to the eruption of revolutionary ferment in the Middle East and to the emergence of new protest movements in the Euro-American world. In Julian's words, the aim of the show is “to capture and present some of this revolutionary spirit to a global audience. My own work with WikiLeaks hasn't exactly made my life easier”, says Assange, “but it has given us a platform to broadcast world-shifting ideas.”
For Julian, part of the show's strength lies in its “frank and irreverent tone”. “My conviction is that power can only be transformed if it is taken seriously – but ordinary people must resist the temptation to defer to the powerful."
The original music for the show has been composed by British-Sri Lankan artist M.I.A.
The first interview will be broadcast on RT on Tuesday 17 April, at 11:00 London time. Subsequent interviews, edited to last 26 minutes each, will be broadcast on a weekly basis. The interviews and transcripts will also be made available online. Arrangements are currently being made with other licensees to publish longer edits of the series. For more information on the show, please visit worldtomorrow.wikileaks.org http://worldtomorrow.wikileaks.org
China's Ai Weiwei Sues Tax Office in "Evasion" Case
Source: Reuters
China's Ai Weiwei sues tax office in "evasion" case
BEIJING | Fri Apr 13, 2012 1:46am EDT
By Sui-Lee Wee
BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei is suing Beijing tax authorities for violating the law by imposing a 15 million yuan ($2.4 million) tax evasion penalty on the company he works for without allowing him access to evidence and witnesses, Ai said on Friday.
Supporters of Ai, whose 81-day detention last year sparked an international outcry, have said the tax case is part of the government's effort to muzzle China's most famous social critic.
Ai, 54, is urging a Beijing court to overturn the city tax office's rejection of his appeal against the tax evasion penalty imposed on the company he works for, Beijing Fake Cultural Development Ltd., which has helped produce his art and designs.
"In the handling of the whole process for Fake, some of their actions were illegal and violated regulations," Ai told Reuters by telephone, adding that he is waiting to hear whether the court would agree to hear the suit.
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSBRE83C09U20120413?irpc=932
Rick Santorum Erases All Anti-Romney Content From His Website
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mobileweb/2012/04/12/rick-santorum-erases-website_n_1422307.htmlRick Santorum Erases All Anti-Romney Content From His Website
Sam Stein | 37 minutes ago
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Rick Santorum may not be ready to endorse Mitt Romney's presidential campaign. But he and his staff are certainly moving swiftly to clean up potential points of friction between him and the former Massachusetts governor.
The Santorum campaign's website has been wiped clean of all content directly critical of the now de-facto Republican nominee.
A page that declared Romney to be the "proud defender and author of "Obamneycare" has been replaced by an "Access denied" message. The same is true for a post with a video of Romney declaring that his only connection to the Republican Party was his registration.
Ditto for a page outlining an attack Santorum made against Romney for supporting the Wall Street bailout, another criticizing the former Massachusetts governor for his various flip-flops, yet another attacking Romney for his support of mandates, and a press release that accused Romney of being a Democrat.
Remember that time when Santorum accused Romney of "Taxachusetts economic policies"? The press release marking that moment is gone from the Santorum campaign website. Those that remain include a note about an April 3 poll showing Santorum leading Romney in his home state of Pennsylvania and a memo declaring that the media had its delegate math wrong.
MORE[p]
Newt Gingrich Stiffs Utah (Ballot Filing Check Bounced)
Source: Salt Lake Tribune
Rolly: Newt Gingrich stiffs Utah
By Paul Rolly | | Tribune Columnist
First Published 3 hours ago
Five Republicans have filed the necessary papers and $500 fee to qualify for the June 26 Utah presidential primary election, but with Rick Santorum dropping out of the race Tuesday, only four will be on the ballot.
Or possibly three.
Newt Gingrich’s check bounced.
Utah Elections Director Mark Thomas said a designated agent for the Gingrich campaign brought the filing papers and a check for $500 in March, but the state was notified by the bank that the check had bounced. He said the office has tried to contact the Gingrich campaign through the telephone number and email provided on the application, but has not received a response.
Recently, the state sent a certified letter to the campaign, stating that if the fee isn’t paid by April 20, Gingrich will be disqualified and will not be on the ballot.
Read more: http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/politics/53886982-90/utah-romney-gingrich-campaign.html.csp
Gawker Says They Have a Mole at Fox News - First Column...
http://m.gawker.com/5900710Announcing Our Newest Hire: A Current Fox News Channel Employee
By The Fox Mole, Apr 10, 2012 3:11 PM
What follows is the inaugural column of a person we are calling The Fox Mole—a long-standing, current employee of Fox News Channel who will be providing Gawker with regular dispatches from inside the organization.
I always intended to keep my mouth shut. The plan was simple: get hired, keep my head down and my views to myself, work for a few months, build my resume, then eventually hop to a new job that didn't make me cringe every morning when I looked in the mirror.
That was years ago. My cringe muscles have turned into crow's feet. The ten resumes a month I was sending out dwindled into five, then two, then one, then zero. No one wants me. I'm blacklisted.
I work at Fox News Channel.
- snip -
The post neatly summed up everything that had been troubling me about my employer: Non sequitur, ad hominem attacks on the president; gleeful race baiting; a willful disregard for facts; and so on. It came close on the heels of the Common controversy, which exhibited a lot of the same ugly traits. (See also: terrorist fist jabs; Fox & Friends madrassa accusations; etc.)
- snip -
So here I am. And I come bearing gifts. The video above is of Mitt Romney and Sean Hannity bantering before the taping of an interview for the "Hannity Vegas Forum" in February. Of note: Romney professes his and his wife Ann's well-known love of horseriding, praising the qualities of the "Austrian Warmbloods" that his wife rides—the are "dressage" horses, he notes—while maintaining his own preference for the "smoother gait" of his own "Missouri foxtrotter."
MORE[p]
George Zimmerman Lawyers: 'Withdrawing As Counsel; Lost Contact With Him'
Source: Reuters
'He has not returned phone calls or emails since Sunday.'
Speaking on fundraising website now: 'We learned that he called Sean Hannity directly.'
'We heard today that George contacted the prosecutors office directly. We were a bit astonished...'
Attorneys for Martin shooter Zimmerman withdraw from case
By Tom Brown
Tue Apr 10, 2012 5:03pm EDT
SANFORD, Florida (Reuters) - The lawyers representing George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch volunteer who shot and killed unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin but has not been arrested, on Tuesday said they have withdrawn from the case after losing contact with Zimmerman.
Attorneys Craig Sonner and Hal Uhrig said they were concerned that Zimmerman had telephoned the special prosecutor probing the case directly, set up a legal defense fund website and may have spoken with Fox Television commentator Sean Hannity, all without their knowledge.
"We have lost contact with him," attorney Craig Sonner said at a press conference outside the Seminole County Courthouse.
George Zimmerman’s Attorneys Withdraw From Case
(CBS4)
ORLANDO, Fla. (CBSMiami) – George Zimmerman’s lawyers met the press on Tuesday and said they are withdrawing as his defense council because of lack of communication from their client.
Developing…
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSBRE8391D820120410?irpc=932
BREAKING: Santorum Pulls Out of U.S. Presidential Race
Source: Reuters
@RawStory: Watch live: Santorum reported to be suspending campaign, to hold press conference: http://t.co/SnrCfeOF
@Reuters: FLASH: Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum to announce he will drop out of race - sources familiar with the decision.
Santorum pulls out of U.S. presidential race
Tue Apr 10, 2012 3:28pm EDT
By Patricia Zengerle
GETTYSBURG, Pennsylvania (Reuters) - U.S. conservative Rick Santorum dropped out of his presidential campaign on Tuesday after falling far behind front-runner Mitt Romney in the race for the Republican nomination.
The former senator from Pennsylvania said he was suspending his campaign, effectively ending his bid to be the Republican who will face President Barack Obama in the November 6 general election.
"We will never be a country that can go forward as a great and powerful country again unless we remember who we are and what makes us Americans. That's what our campaign was about," Santorum said in Gettysburg, near the Civil War battle site.
Santorum was lagging Romney in opinion polls and in the fight for the 1,144 party delegates needed to win the nomination.
MORE AT LINK
Rick Santorum Drops Out: GOP Presidential Candidate Suspends 2012 Campaign
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mobileweb/2012/04/10/rick-santorum-drops-out-2012-race_n_1415372.html?1334080993%20%20&ref=politics
In a surprise decision Tuesday, former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Penn.) will announce that he is suspending his presidential campaign, The Huffington Post's Jon Ward has learned and several other outlets have reported.
The Pennsylvania Republican had taken a break from the campaign trail for several days to tend to his ailing daughter, Bella. He had pledged to continue campaigning through the upcoming Pennsylvania primary. But the combination of his daughter's sickness and recent poll numbers showing him possibly losing his home state apparently prompted the early departure.
The announcement is expected to come during an address in Gettysburg, Penn. According to Yahoo! News, Santorum called Mitt Romney earlier in the day to inform him of his decision to suspend his campaign.
Santorum's decision removes any lingering doubt that Romney will end up the Republican presidential nominee. The former Massachusetts Governor held a seemingly insurmountable delegate lead prior to Santorum's departure, though his campaign was planning on spending between one and two million dollars against Santorum in Pennsylvania.
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSBRE8341DU20120410?irpc=932
Autopsy Scheduled for Painter Thomas Kinkade
Source: Reuters
Autopsy scheduled for painter Thomas Kinkade
Sun Apr 8, 2012 9:35pm EDT
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A California coroner is due to conduct an autopsy of Thomas Kinkade on Monday, three days after the famed American painter died unexpectedly, the Los Angeles Times reported on Sunday.
Kinkade, whose luminescent, homespun scenes captivated millions even as critics scoffed, died alone at his home in Los Gatos in northern California of apparently natural causes, according to family spokesman David Satterfield. Kinkade was 54.
The Santa Clara County coroner will perform the autopsy. Officials have offered no further details on the case.
Kinkade claimed to be America's most collected living artist, his prints hanging in the homes of an estimated 10 million Americans. He was a Christian who often depicted scenes from the Bible, and his work expressed a wholesome idealism.
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSBRE83801M20120409?irpc=932
Profile Information
Member since: Fri Nov 12, 2004, 08:39 AMNumber of posts: 45,788
