Vital Concerns for the World: Arson of Palin's church: the danger of bitter politics

Friday, December 19, 2008

Arson of Palin's church: the danger of bitter politics

I was never a fan of Sarah Palin, as several posts have made clear, but I am grieved that her church seems to have been burned down by arsonists. Of course we do not know many details but the news is suggestive. This is the kind of evidence of a serious breach in our country that politicians, in the interest of the public weal, would do well to avoid. The kind of political campaign that the country has just been through could seriously tear a society apart. I don't like calling such campaigns "hard fought," which is the euphemism now in use. The truth is that many misrepresentations of fact were promoted, creating distrust and bitterness on many sides -- and nasty, even criminal, reactions. In the end healing may not come easy.
[Click on the title for a link to a source on the fire.]

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A major source of the American debt problem

Notable Concerns

"Not one has taken responsibility for the biggest foreign policy disaster in U.S. history." Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Condolezza Rica, Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, Douglas Feith.
The crash of September 2008 brought the largest bankruptcies in world history, pushing more than 30 million people into unemployment and bringing many countries to the edge of insolvency. AlJazeera 10/15/11
GE, America's largest corporation, paid no taxes last year even though it made 5.1 billion dollars profit in the country [and even more outside the country] [source: same as below]
In 2009 the richest 5% held 63.5% of American wealth; the bottom 80% controlled 12.8%. [source: same as below]
Between 2000 and 2007 the richest 10% in America benefited from all of the average growth in the period. In the post WW II period the top 10% benefited from only one third of the growth, the bottom 90% benefiting from the rest of the growth. [Economic Policy Institute, cited by Bob Herbert, NYT 3/26/11]
In 2010 a "premier" investment bank paid each of its 26,000 employees an average of $370,000. [Bill Gross Pimco Investment Outlook Feb, 2011.]
In 2005, one-quarter of the corporations in America making a trillion dolars in revenue paid no taxes.
The 833% Medical Insurance Ripoff: Medicare charges 3% for service; the health insurance companies in Missouri charge 25% for services
The richest 1 percent of Americans have more net worth than the bottom 90 percent.
The richest 1 percent of Americans receive more income than the bottom 50%. http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2010/dec/10/bernie-s/bernie-sanders-viral-speech-says-top-1$ >