SisterArtemis

Great pitch from one member of the 99% to another.

Cute little video about why you might want to switch to a credit union

Lady Gaga works a theme like nobody's bizness!!!!!

Nihilism in conservative politics:

"Some people's only exposure to nihilism is the German gang from The Big Lebowski who said things like "We are nihilists, we believe in nothing" and "Tell us where the girl is or we cut off your johnson, Lebowski." Or the nihilist humor of comedian Brother Theodore, who liked to say things like "I looked at the void, the void looked back - and neither of us liked what we saw."

"That's exactly how I feel when I watch the Republican Presidential debates.

"The void that looks out through their eyes is the absence of any underlying principle, ideology, or ideas, especially on economic issues. It's not that their beliefs are different than yours or mine. It's that, as is now clear, they don't actually believe in anything - anything, that is, except greater power for themselves and greater wealth for their financial backers.

"Nothing in nihilism's long intellectual history has prepared the world for its latest incarnation as the 21st century Republican party, or in its ultimate flowering in the likes of Mitt Romney and Herman Cain.

"Void, Meet Void"

Occupy everywhere. It's our world.

A lovely, long list of all the ways in which government programs, and by implication tax dollars, help our lives everyday.

Shannon Moore, at her best

From the page:

Though I could cite my bona fides as a public intellectual, Mr. President, you should listen to me today for two entirely different reasons. First, I'm a pretty good poster girl for the unemployed. I'm a fifty-one-year-old single mother of two whose also-jobless ex isn't paying child support. Where I once boasted a twenty-four-carat credit rating and knew not of debt, I now hobble along with credit scores so low you'd have to get on your knees to read them. And here's the kicker: I'm also homeless. My kids and I are bunking with a friend too kind to know better than to have taken us in--and I can't imagine when she'll be free of us.

I have no choice but to be rational tomorrow, Mr. President. But not today. Today was the final straw. Today, you announced a two-year salary freeze for federal civilian workers. Whether a halt in federal hiring is also in the works, I don't know. But I couldn't help jumping to that conclusion. In deference to my unmedicated hypertension, I stopped reading. (Without insurance, my monthly prescription costs $503.08. The pharmacist and I went silent at that news--then laughed helplessly. I think it was the $3.08 that got us.)
[....]
And this is the second reason you should listen to me: to be reminded of the toll this recession is taking not just on the fifteen million of us jobless but also on the forty-five or so million Americans who love us. They�re the ones whose couches we�re surfing, whose cars we drive, whose money we borrow, and whose generosity we test in countless ways. They�re the ones who hate themselves for flinching when we pop up on their caller IDs but go cold with fear when we stop calling. (The former means listening to more tales of woe. The latter means wondering if we�ve fallen apart completely.) Someone should crunch the numbers on the millions in �oeloans” our supporters will never get back. Hell, it�s not just loved ones pitching in: there�s an e-mail from this upscale subdivision�s homeowner�s association about anonymous neighbors in need of food donations. Guess they can�t get through to the welfare office either.