Category: Uncategorized

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Poll: Most Americans say tax system favors wealthy

As some Americans rush to file their 2011 tax returns by the Tuesday deadline, a new poll shows more than two-thirds of Americans believe the revenue system benefits the wealthy while being unfair to average workers.

In the CNN/ORC survey, 68% of respondents said the current tax system benefits the rich and is unfair to ordinary workers, compared with 29% who disagreed with that view. Overall, 50% said the federal income taxes they paid were about right, with 45% saying their taxes were too high and 3% answering their taxes were too low.

More at CNN.com

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Staff Sargeant discharged under DADT reinstated

The Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) announced today that U.S. Air Force Staff Sergeant Anthony Loverde, who was discharged under Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell in 2008, has been reinstated and will return to active duty in May.

Loverde is only the second service member welcomed back to the Armed Forces after the September 2011 repeal of DADT. (Petty Officer Jase Daniels, another SLDN client, was previously reinstated as a linguist in the U.S. Navy.)

Loverde, 31, joined the Air Force at age 20. Before being discharged, he was an expert at calibrating weapons systems and oversaw cargo loads for more than 60 flights into Iraq. “I am honored and humbled to return to the service of my country and the job I love,” Loverde said. “I am grateful to my legal team and all of those in the armed forces who helped to facilitate this reinstatement. I am eager to take the oath and get to work.”

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Wider covereage on Buffett Rule failing in US Senate

Remember when you hear politicians say “what Americans want is…”

A CNN/ORC poll conducted over the weekend found that 72% of Americans support the idea of setting a minimum tax rate for people who make more than $1 million a year. Of those, 90% of Democrats, 69% of independents and 53% of Republicans back such a millionaire tax.

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Simon Cowell robbed after one night stand

From TMZ: Simon Cowell has learned the hard way not to sleep with strangers, because when he woke up he realized he had been robbed of a computer that contained X Factor secrets.

TMZ has confirmed last October, Simon hooked up with a girl he met at Drai’s nightclub in Hollywood. He took her home, but the next morning she was gone and so was his computer and his wallet loaded with cash.

Simon — who has his Beverly Hills mansion wired for security — called the cops. The footage showed the woman, cops tracked her down and she handed over the computer and the wallet sans cash.

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The Avengers – “Face Off” trailer with Thor & Iron Man

I like the dialogue, as only Robert Downey Jr can deliver:

Loki: I have an army

Tony Stark/Iron Man: We’ve got a Hulk

From the YouTube page: Marvel Studios presents in association with Paramount Pictures “Marvel’s The Avengers” — the Super Hero team up of a lifetime, featuring iconic Marvel Super Heroes Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Hawkeye and Black Widow.

When an unexpected enemy emerges that threatens global safety and security, Nick Fury, Director of the international peacekeeping agency known as S.H.I.E.L.D., finds himself in need of a team to pull the world back from the brink of disaster. Spanning the globe, a daring recruitment effort begins.

Starring Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner and Samuel L. Jackson, and directed by Joss Whedon, “Marvel’s The Avengers” is based on the ever-popular Marvel comic book series “The Avengers,” first published in 1963 and a comics institution ever since.

Opens May 4th.

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Rosie O’Donnell handles homophobic street preacher

In a YouTube clip that was allegedly shot during the Super Bowl but is now making the rounds online, Rosie O’Donnel being taunted by a homophobic street “preacher” — he calls her a “lesbian pig,” an “ungodly wicked woman” who is on her “way to hell” — and she briefly interacts with him in her own brand of “Rosie talk.”

What pushes her over the edge? When he says, “You need to go home and do the dishes—that’s your job.” So, she responds: “I’m going to go home and f*ck my wife.”