grattans.us

The financial industry is preparing to distribute another wave of employee bonuses, and a new CBS News poll finds that Americans are not happy about them.

Though many companies have repaid some if not all of the bailout money they received from the government, seven in 10 Americans say they are at least bothered by the bonuses, while 37 percent say they are angry. Twenty-eight percent said they were not bothered by the bonuses.

Of those who say they are following the issue very closely, more than half are angry.

Americans making more than $100,000 are considerably less concerned about these bonuses. Just 22 percent of those making over $100,000 are angry, compared to 40 percent of those making less. Those who are having the most trouble making ends meet are also the angriest.

Three in four Americans (78 percent) also see these bonuses as an economic problem, including 45 percent who see it as a major problem. Just 18 percent don’t see the bonuses as a problem at all.

read more…

Okay, so you know something is terribly wrong with your society when you barely rank above the most religious country in the world (Turkey) in the acceptance of evolution.  Among biology scientists (and over 90% of all scientists), evolution is a fact.  In fact, among most people, evolution is only questionable if it somehow conflicts with your religious views.  This chart should be very eye-opening:

Acceptance of Evolution by Country

On his Fox News show today, Glenn Beck said that “in the last couple of years” he’s been “trying to read a different Founding Father all the time,” offering that his latest interest is in Samuel Adams. According to Beck, Samuel Adams would have hated modern day progressives. “We call them progressives now, but back in Samuel Adams’ day, they used to call them tyrants,” said Beck. “A little later, I think they were also called slave owners.” 

Watch it:

It’s kind of odd that Beck deifies the Founding Fathers while attacking progressives as “slave owners,” considering that some of the most famous Founding Fathers owned slaves. 

Beck irrationally claims that progressives want to take away freedom of speech and individuality; somehow, Beck has conflated progress with dictatorship and fascism.  If you want to lose all of your freedoms, you don’t go with the progressive movement…no, instead you go with fascism, nihilism, and authoritarianism.  The quickest way to get to that monumental peak is to join the Republican Party; they’re all about authoritarianism and telling people how to live.

<a href="http://www.cmt.com/video/" target="_blank">Tom Mabe: Eavesdropping</a>

The Indians send signals
From the rocks above the pass
The cowboys take positions
In the bushes and the grass
The squaw is with the corporal
She is tied against the tree
She doesn’t mind the language
It’s the beating she don’t need
She lets loose all the horses
When the corporal is asleep
And he wakes to find the fire’s dead
And arrows in his hats
And Davy Crockett rides around
And says it’s cool for cats, it’s cool for cats

The Sweeney’s doing ninety
cos they’ve got the word to go
They get a gang of villains
In a shed up at Heathrow
They’re counting out the fivers
When the handcuffs lock again
In and out of Wandsworth
With the numbers on their names
It’s funny how their missus
Always look the bleeding same
And meanwhile at the station
There’s a couple of likely lads
Who swear like how’s your father
And they’re very cool for cats
They’re cool for cats

To change the mood a little
I’ve been posing down the pub
On seeing my reflection
I’m looking slightly rough
I fancy this, I fancy that
I wanna be so flash
I give a little muscle
And I spend a little cash
But all I get is bitter and a nasty little rash
And by the time I’m sober
I’ve forgotten what I’ve had
And everybody tells me that it’s cool to be a cat
Cool for cats

Shake up at the disco
And I think I’ve got a pull
I ask her lots of questions
And she hangs on to the wall
I kiss her for the first time
And then I take her home
I’m invited in for coffee
And I give the dog a bone
She likes to go to discos
But she’s never on her own
I said I’ll see you later
And I give her some old chat
But it’s not like that on the TV
When it’s cool for cats
It’s cool for cats