This morning (7.13.10), the white supremacist political party American Third Position (A3P) proudly announced its donation to the fund recently established by Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer to defend that state's controversial new immigration law. source
"The American Third Position has just made a triple-digit donation to Arizona's Border Security and Immigration Legal Defense Fund," the group announced in an E-mail alert. In describing its own mission, A3P says it "exists to represent the political interests of White Americans."

Brewer claims SB 1070 will not target persons based on their skin color. But A3P begs to differ, seeing SB 1070 as a tool for the reinstatement of White political control.

"We support all constructive endeavors by private citizens, businesses, local governments - or in this case a sovereign state - to stem and reverse the browning of America ... Arizona's enforcement statute represents the best current opportunity to reduce [brown-skinned immigration]. From its inception, A3P has been disseminating the nightmarish facts regarding the financial, social and demographic consequences of the unprecedented invasion from the south."

Meet Sheriff Joe Arpaio, Sheriff of Maricopa County in Phoenix, Arizona. He's known in the US as 'America's Toughest Sheriff,' and boy is he proud of this title. source

• Arpaio spends less money on feeding inmates than on the dogs that patrol them (and only spends 20 cents on the dogs).
• Over 2,000 convicted inmates serve their sentences under canvas in temperatures that can reach 130 degrees.
• All inmates must wear black and white striped uniforms and pink underwear.
• Created the world's first female chain gang, who work six days a week cleaning streets, painting over graffiti and burying the poor in the county cemetery.

Arpaio's hard-line approach to crime and punishment is winning him a lot of fans in Maricopa County with residents giving him an 85% approval rating.

Does Arpaio’s hard line approach work? Evidence shows Arpaio's approach is a proven failure at reducing crime. From 2002 to 2009, the crime rate in Maricopa County increased 58%, while the state as a whole averaged a 12% decrease. Compare that 58% crime increase to other localities of Arizona that did not use the immigrant-targeting approach. Phoenix enjoyed a 14% decrease; Tempe, a 26% decrease; and Mesa, a 31% decrease. See chart below. source



"Anyone notic that the pres signed a $680 BILLION defense approp bill in the midst of our heated debate about $90 BILLION a yr for healthcare?"

We're burning nearly $10 billion a month combined in Afghanistan and Iraq, two countries where their citizens repeatedly ask to go home, while America's private sector has collapsed leaving over 17 percent of workers looking for sufficient employment to feed their families; our state governments are collapsing while facing the H1N1 pandemic; our public education is besieged; yet our MOST RICH have more money that ever.

Warren Buffett, the renowned investor and the world’s second richest man, told Senate Democrats that wealthy Americans need to pay higher taxes, giving Democrats something to mull as they address healthcare reform and soaring federal deficits.

"He said rich people are not paying enough taxes," said Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.). "It was interesting to see someone who is such an aggressive capitalist, who believes so much in our capitalist system, saying we've got the scales way too heavily toward people who are very, very wealthy."

Buffett told lawmakers that because of the cuts to the capital gains tax passed under former President George W. Bush, he pays taxes at a lower rate than some of his company's employees. Buffett said he paid a 16.5 percent tax rate on all his income because the tax rate on investment dividends and long-term capital gains is only 15 percent. By contrast, a single employee at Buffet's firm, Berkshire Hathaway, who earns between $33,000 and $83,000 must pay a 25 percent federal income tax rate. source

Based on research by the Communications Workers of America (CWA), the study found that the United States now ranks 28th in the world in terms of Internet speed, with countries like Japan, South Korea, Sweden and others far ahead. "At our current rate of progress, it will take the United States 15 years to catch up with current Internet speeds in South Korea which are currently four times faster than the U.S.," CWA President Larry Cohen said.

What if we had allowed this to happen when the Soviet Union put a satellite into orbit? We would likely be speaking Russian today. Instead we were led by a courageous and great president who demanded excellence. Demand excellence now - although communism is no longer a threat - high speed Internet allows our businesses and workers to compete in an intense global market. Let's return America to greatness!

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan addressed Americans today (8.26.09) and summarized a special analysis from the National Center for Education Statistics. The report compared 15-year-old U.S. students with students from other countries in the Organization for Economic Development.

U.S. students placed below average in math and science -- which is a national score of a D!

We've been arguing for years that our national education philosphy is off base. As we focused on an under-funded No Child Left Behind program, our students have faltereed. Duncan stated, "I think we have become complacent. We've sort of lost our way."

As the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games begin, we are reminded that success in sports is a source of nationalist pride. Americans love and respect athletes, because they love winning. Yet you, the American worker, are getting creamed. You have been losing for years!

Jesse Drucker, writing in the Wall Street Journal, pointed out that America's rich are only getting richer (see Drucker's chart below):

In a new sign of increasing inequality in the U.S., the richest ONE percent of Americans in 2006 garnered the highest share of the nation's adjusted gross income for two decades, and possibly the highest since 1929, according to Internal Revenue Service data.

At the same time, the tax rate of the wealthiest ONE percent fell to its lowest level in a least 18 years. The average tax rate in 2006 for the top ONE percent, based on adjusted gross income, was 22.8 percent, down slightly from 2005 and the fifth straight year of declines. The average tax rate of this group was 28.9 percent in 1996, and was 24 percent in 1988. [1]

Are you pissed off enough to wake up from this economic nightmare? I know you're screaming about high gas prices and soaring costs for food. You're mad as hell that your home value has dropped precipitously. People on the political right, Republicans, demand "market economics" when times are good. Yet you, the taxpayer, are currently bailing out Wall Street financial and mortgage companies. You don't share in their profits, but you help pay for their losses. You are getting creamed!


Income Inequality
The chart above compares CEO Pay to the Average Wages of Workers between 1970–1999 [2]. While management compensation is exploding, worker pay is barely rising (but you already knew that, didn't you?).

You're working harder than ever. You're actually more productive than ever as well.

Since 1979, hourly earnings for 80 percent of American workers (those in private-sector, nonsupervisory jobs) have risen by just ONE percent, after inflation. The average hourly wage was $17.71 at the end of 2007.

Worker productivity, meanwhile, has climbed 60 percent. If wages had kept pace with productivity, the average full-time worker would be earning $58,000 a year. $36,000 was the average in 2007. [3]

You're working more; you're doing more per hour; so where's the extra money going? Yep! That extra profit is going straight into the pocket of the CEO and upper management. You're getting creamed financially.


Real Income Growth
America has been a great place to live and work due in part to our robust Middle Class. Workers and management have shared in the profits of our labor and their leadership. It is a delicate system where we share the winnings. Yet in recent years, we have lost the balance that helped build this great nation. The chart above highlights Real Annual Income Growth between 1993-2006. [4] This covers both the Bill Clinton and George W. Bush presidencies. Under Clinton, incomes for the TOP ONE percent of wage earners grew nicely at 10.3 percent per year (column 2). For the rest of us, the remaining 99 percent, we saw our incomes rise at about 2.7 percent per year (column 3).

This changed dramatically during the GW Bush administration. The TOP ONE percent of wage earners grew dramatically by 10.9 percent per year -- at the expense of the bottom 99 percent. Our income grew by only ONE percent per year.

Column 4 captures the distribution of this newly created wealth. Under Clinton, increased profits were shared in a more balanced fashion, as 45 percent of profits went to the TOP ONE percent and the remaining went to the rest of us. Under GW Bush, the TOP ONE percent captured nearly $0.75 of every growth dollar (73%). Under Clinton, the rich prospered handsomely; under GW Bush it has been robbery.

You are getting creamed, yet you do nothing!