2nd * to the ->

Every atom in your body came from a star that exploded. And, the atoms in your left hand probably came from a different star than your right hand. It really is the most poetic thing I know about physics: You are all stardust. You couldn’t be here if stars hadn’t exploded, because the elements - the carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, iron, all the things that matter for evolution and for life - weren’t created at the beginning of time. They were created in the nuclear furnaces of stars, and the only way for them to get into your body is if those stars were kind enough to explode. So, forget Jesus. The stars died so that you could be here today.

—

 - Lawrence M. Krauss

Mr. Obama needs to put forward a comprehensive plan and fight for it. If he loses to obstructionist Republicans, Americans will know who is to blame.

—

- New York Times (via wilwheaton)

as much as i’d like to hope this is true, it feels like there are too many overly zealous republicans out there who just ignore facts.

(via wilwheaton)

sirmitchell:

I’m just going to say it. If you side with Fox News on the clips presented here by John Stewart, you are a bad person. I was once “I don’t know if I will be able to buy food next week” poor, and it’s not fun. I can’t believe the Republicans/Fox News are suggested that instead of taxing the rich, we tax the people who are so poor that they don’t pay income taxes. How can people buy into this stuff? It’s evil. Our country should be better than this, a lot better. 

(Source: sirmitchell, via brycedriesenga)

wilwheaton:

To our great shame, among the 20 major advanced countries America now has

• the highest poverty rate, both generally and for children;
• the greatest inequality of incomes;
• the lowest government spending as a percentage of GDP on social programs for the disadvantaged;
• the lowest number of paid holiday, annual, and maternity leaves;
• the lowest score on the United Nations’ index of “material well-being of children”;
• the worst score on the United Nations’ gender inequality index;
• the lowest social mobility;
• the highest public and private expenditure on health care as a portion of GDP, 

yet accompanied by

• the highest infant mortality rate;
• prevalence of mental health problems;
• obesity rate;
• portion of people going without health care due to cost;
• low-birth-weight children per capita (except for Japan);
• consumption of antidepressants per capita;

wilwheaton:

ThinkProgress has found that a Goldman Sachs vice president changed his name, then later went to work for Issa to coordinate his effort to thwart regulations that affect Goldman Sachs’ bottom line.

In July, Issa sent a letter to top government regulators demanding that they back off and provide more justification for new margin requirements for financial firms dealing in derivatives. 

Issa’s demand to regulators is exactly what banks have been wishing for. Indeed, Goldman Sachs has spent millions this year trying to slow down the implementation of the new rules. In the letter, Issa explicitly mentions that the new derivative regulations might hurt brokers “such as Goldman Sachs.”

It’s not the first time Haller has worked the revolving door to help out Goldman Sachs. According to a report by the nonpartisan Project on Government Oversight, Haller — then known as Peter Simonyi — left the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in 2005 to work for Goldman Sachs, then quickly began lobbying his colleagues at the SEC on behalf of his new firm. 

I would say it’s unbelievable, but that’s not really the case, is it? 

Oh! And the best part of this? The House committee that would investigate this is chaired by … say it with me …. Darrell Issa. 

AMERICA! FUCK YEAH!