A liberal think tank report paints a less-than-rosy picture of the state of the American worker as discussed in this story on Alternet

Researchers for the Economic Mobility Project studied the relationship of adult children’s incomes to those of their parents and found that the United States now lags behind France, Germany, Sweden, Canada, Finland, Norway and Denmark in this measure of upward mobility. “There is little available evidence that the United States has more relative mobility than other advanced nations,” the group reported in May. “If anything, the data seem to suggest the opposite.”

Comparing the incomes of American men who were in their 30s in 2004 with males who were in their 30s in 1974, the researchers found that today’s men actually earn about 12 percent less, after inflation, than their fathers’ generation did. “There has been no progress at all for the youngest generation,” the group reported. The American family stays afloat because its total income has been swelled by women’s paychecks.

Rupert Murdoch’s News.com.au is reporting that a signed affidavit by one Lieutenant Walter Haut, now deceased, a public relations officer at Roswell in 1947, to be opened only after his death reveals the story of the Roswell cover-up in all it’s glorious sci-fi wonder. Whether the affadavit is a huge posthumous joke is unknown, but it will undoubtedly be cheered by Roswell conspiracy fans everywhere. I find it only a little coincidental that these revelations happen to appear the same week as the 60th anniversary festival floods the town of Roswell with the ET faithful.

In a scathing article on Slate, Bruce Fein calls for Cheney to be impeached stating that Dick Cheney has run totally amok and must be stopped. Fein, a Harvard Law grad from 1972 worked in the Reagan administration in various capacities including as associate deputy attorney general. Fein has previously testified before the US Judiciary Committee regarding the present administration’s excessive use of Signing Statements and the danger that practice poses to our democracy.
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Despite overwhelming popular feeling against the war, recent calls from the supposedly sovereign government in Iraq for a timetable for withdrawal, having already met our stated goals in Iraq several times as those goals changed, as well as the obviously pre-mature Mission Accomplished photo-op embarrassment in 2003, billions of dollars lost or wasted by a no-bid contractor that is now moving it’s headquarters off US soil which will allow them to avoid paying corporate taxes if nothing else, there is evidence that the current administration still has no plans to leave Iraq to the Iraqis…

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I´ve always been a fan of Joe Biden who strikes me as a sensible guy and a straight shooter. He´s from a really small state which means he comes with less strings attached than a Hillary or Obama but he does carry the Senatorial curse. Only two presidents in the history of our country have come directly from the Senate: Warren Harding and John Kennedy. Many political analysts have discussed why this might be, but I think it´s simple: Senators are masters of compromise and getting people to work together, but to win the presidency it´s all about beating everyone else down.

Anyway, Biden has launched a new website which provides YouTube videos from all the Democratic candidates (with links to their respective websites!) and it isn´t the typical negative campaigning. Biden seems to be picking the best videos which showcase his opponent´s position on the ISSUES, asking you to compare and contrast to his own - and not just splicing up soundbites and trying to make them look foolish. This is a real example of what LEADERSHIP looks like in case the last 7 years have left you wondering what that words means.

Check it out here:
http://headtohead08.com/

A local multiplex (in Holtsville, NY) mixed up big time Thursday when they played 10 minutes of The Hills Have Eyes 2, a graphic R rated horror movie to an audience of children and parents there to see The last Mimzy (rated PG, one reviewer paints it as ET minus the good score and merchandise). The horror movie apparently opened with a bloody scene of a chained nude woman giving birth to a gargoyle-like mutant creature.

from Newsday

I know that the US does a lot more missle testing (usually out over the Pacific) than any of the supposedly ‘evil’ nations we always hear rants about on the news, but it would be funny if it is so common that you can even find satellite pictures of the missles flying over Utah on Google Maps! If this is a true image and not doctored by those wily hippies at Google then just count it as another reason to not move to Utah.

[update: This is not a missle. If you look closely, you'll see the wings are dark so they blend in with the foliage below]