Daily Archives: 01/12/2012

The Daily Share …MoveOn.org


Graphic

Why Middle-Class Mothers and Fathers Are Going Broke

Wal-Mart video

What’s The Difference Between Wal-Mart Heirs And The Rest Of Us?

Hilarious video

HILARIOUS! There’s A New Party Running in 2012

the Progress Report


Mitt Romney Tells the 99% to Stop Being Jealous & Quiet Down

By ThinkProgress War Room on Jan 11, 2012 at 5:37 pm

Mitt Romney: We Shouldn’t Be Critical of Wall Street or Our Broken Economy in Public

As we reported earlier this week, Mitt Romney’s record at Bain Capital is one of a rapacious corporate raider who amassed a quarter-billion dollar fortune by bankrupting companies and laying off thousands of hardworking Americans. What’s more, Romney takes advantage of unfair tax loopholes to pay a lower tax rate on his millions of dollars in ongoing annual profits from Bain than tens of millions of middle class Americans pay on the wages they earn.

Romney has come under withering criticism for his record at Bain in recent days, with much of it coming from fellow Republicans. This morning, Romney responded by calling such criticism un-American “class warfare” that is simply motivated by “envy.” Romney added that our broken economy — one that is only working for the wealthy few right now — should not even be discussed in public, saying discussions of income inequality were only fit for “quiet rooms.”

Don’t believe Romney actually said that? Here’s the video:

LAUER: When you said that we already have a leader who divides us with the bitter politics of envy, I’m curious about the word ‘envy.’ Did you suggest that anyone who questions the policies and practices of Wall Street and financial institutions, anyone who has questions about the distribution of wealth and power in this country, is envious? Is it about jealousy, or fairness?

ROMNEY: You know, I think it’s about envy. I think it’s about class warfare. When you have a president encouraging the idea of dividing America based on the 99 percent versus one percent — and those people who have been most successful will be in the one percent — you have opened up a whole new wave of approach in this country which is entirely inconsistent with the concept of one nation under God. The American people, I believe in the final analysis, will reject it.

LAUER: Yeah but envy? Are there no fair questions about the distribution of wealth without it being seen as ‘envy,’ though?

ROMNEY: I think it’s fine to talk about those things in quiet rooms and discussions about tax policy and the like. But the president has made it part of his campaign rally. Everywhere he goes we hear him talking about millionaires and billionaires and executives and Wall Street. It’s a very envy-oriented, attack-oriented approach and I think it will fail.

IN ONE SENTENCE: Wanting an economy that works for everyone — not just the wealthy few — isn’t un-American “class warfare” driven by “envy,” it’s a core American value.

Evening Brief: Important Stories That You May Have Missed

Two studies show a strong correlation between corporate tax avoidance at the state level and education cuts.

The Guantanamo Bay prison has been open for ten years today.

Even though corporations aren’t people, the Republican National Committee thinks they should be able to give directly to candidates.

Conservatives rush to defend Romney, vulture capitalists from populist backlash.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker may have violated campaign finance law over 1000 times, facing $557,500 fine.

Fracking industry has given $1.34 million to state lawmakers in New York.

With attacks on Bain Capital heating up, the private equity industry plans to launch an ad campaign to defend itself.

James O’Keefe’s group appears to have committed voter fraud in order to gin up hysteria over the otherwise non-existent voter fraud problem.

Mitt Romney “proudly” accepted the endorsement today of the author of Arizona and Alabama’s extreme and unconstitutional anti-immigrant laws.

 

 

 

Other recent Progress Reports

Jan 10, 2012: 270 Times Bigger

An Economic Agenda for the Wealthiest 1 Percent, 270 Times Over Last week, we reported on the Republican candidates’ economic agenda for the wealthiest 1 Percent. Citizens for Tax Justice (CTJ) crunched the numbers on several of the candidates’ tax plans and found that on average they would give the wealthiest 1 Percent a tax [...]

Jan 9, 2012: Mitt Romney, Job Killer

The Romney Record at Bain: Bankruptcies, Bailouts, & Mass Layoffs Mitt Romney’s pitch is that he’s a “businessman” who understands the “real economy,” in contrast to President Obama who Romney says “doesn’t understand how the economy works.” During a presidential debate in November, Romney reminded the audience of the source of his “real economy” experience: “I [...]

Jan 6, 2012: Jobs, Jobs, Jobs

Jobs, By the Numbers 2…the number of years of consecutive employment growth in manufacturing, after not one single year of growth between 1997 and 2010. 8.5 percent…the unemployment rate, the lowest since February 2009 just after President Obama took office. 22…the number of consecutive months of private sector job growth. 12,000…the number of public sector [...]

Jan 5, 2012: Rick Santorum’s Most Outrageous Campaign Moments

Rising GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum is presenting himself to national audiences as a common sense conservative senator from a Democratic state with both economic and national security acumen. A late surge in Iowa led the former Pennsylvania senator to a near-win in that state’s caucuses and gave his campaign momentum ahead of next Tuesday’s [...]

Media Matters for America … Debbie Wasserman Shultz, O’Keefe, Cavuto &NPR


Debbie Wasserman Schultz Did Not Blame The Tea Party For Giffords Shooting
January 11, 2012 8:16 pm ET

LEGO says girls don’t like LEGOs … by Shelby Knox, Change.org


Change.org
Tell LEGO: Stop marketing sexist toys to girls
Sign the Petition

Iconic toy brand LEGO recently launched a new line of toys meant just for girls — but two young women, Bailey Shoemaker-Richards and Stephanie Cole, think the products are unfairly “dumbed down” for girls.

The new line is called LadyFigs, and it’s made up of busty, pastel-colored figurines that come with interests like shopping, hair-dressing, and lounging at the beach. The uninspired toys even come with pre-assembled environments — so there is no assembly (or imagination) required.

Bailey and Stephanie say they’re frustrated that LEGO is pushing outdated gender roles on girls and cheating them of the opportunity to build and discover. So they took to the internet, blogging about what they call the new “Barbielicious” LEGOs and petitioning the toy company to lose the sexist LadyFigs line and go back to empowering both boys and girls with its original products. Click here to sign Bailey and Stephanie’s petition today.

LEGO hasn’t always thought its toys were only for boys. In the 1980s, the company was actually celebrated for a major advertising campaign that spotlighted a young girl and her LEGO creation with the tagline “What it is is beautiful.” But since then, LEGO reversed course and decided to market its products only to boys.

The company claims its research shows girls just don’t appreciate the original LEGO line. But Bailey and Stephanie argue that with LEGO’s renewed emphasis on boys — featuring only boys in its ads and stocking products in the boys’ aisles of toy stores — it’s no wonder young girls wouldn’t think LEGOs were meant for them.

Bailey and Stephanie’s fight to get LEGO to return to its gender-neutral toys is already making waves, with the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Time weighing in on the issue. But LEGO is stubbornly holding its ground and told Business Week that the LadyFigs launch is a “strategic” move to “reach the other 50 percent of the world’s children,” as if girls have never been part of LEGO’s focus.

Public pressure can prove LEGO wrong. If enough people sign Bailey and Stephanie’s petition, it could convince LEGO that the new LadyFigs are bad business and the company should return its focus to empowering boys AND girls with toys that inspire creativity and innovation.

Tell LEGO to stop selling out girls — sign Bailey and Stephanie’s petition today.

Thanks for being a change-maker,

- Shelby and the Change.org team