Into Libya: The birth of an Obama doctrine. How Accurate Are Your Pet Pundits? by Philip E. Tetlock. Exit from comment view mode. Click to hide this space Every day, experts bombard us with their views on topics as varied as Iraqi insurgents, Bolivian coca growers, European central bankers, and North Korea’s Politburo. But how much credibility should we attach to the opinions of experts? The sanguine view is that as long as those selling expertise compete vigorously for the attention of discriminating buyers (the mass media), market mechanisms will assure quality control. Skeptics, however, warn that the mass media dictate the voices we hear and are less interested in reasoned debate than in catering to popular prejudices.
Until recently, no one knew who is right, because no one was keeping score. I describe the project in detail in my book Expert Political Judgment: How good is it? The evidence falls into two categories. Second, again as the skeptics warned, over-claimers rarely pay penalties for being wrong. That wins them media acclaim. Noam Chomsky: How Climate Change Became a 'Liberal Hoax' February 9, 2011 In this sixth video in the series “Peak Oil and a Changing Climate” from The Nation and On The Earth Productions, linguist, philosopher and political activist Noam Chomsky talks about the Chamber of Commerce, the American Petroleum Institute and other business lobbies enthusiastically carrying out campaigns “to try and convince the population that global warming is a liberal hoax.” According to Chomsky, this massive public relations campaign has succeeded in leading a good portion of the population into doubting the human causes of global warming. Known for his criticism of the media, Chomsky doesn't hold back in this clip, laying blame on mainstream media outlets such as the New York Times, which will run frontpage articles on what meteorologists think about global warming.
“Meteorologists are pretty faces reading scripts telling you whether it’s going to rain tomorrow," Chomsky says. "What do they have to say any more than your barber?” —Kevin Gosztola Share. Online video and audio: programmes and multimedia. How America Pays Taxes vs Other Wealthy Countries | The TurboTax Blog.
(AlanCleaver 2000) Ever since disgruntled colonists dumped British tea into Boston Harbor, Americans have despised taxation more than any other nation. Nor is their loathing unjustified. Regardless of one’s political views, few of us are entirely satisfied with the return on our tax dollars lately. However, EveryJoe.com’s breakdown of income taxes in about two dozen other countries reveals that Americans could have it a lot worse. While federal income taxes in the U.S. generally consume between 15%-35% of an individual’s income, citizens of Belgium lose anywhere from 25%-50% to income taxes. Japan can be even more confiscatory, with tax rates ranging from 5% on low amounts of income to as much as 50% on higher amounts. Likewise, the Netherlands imposes tax rates as high as 52% on high income. Tax Composite of the United States vs. (alancleaver2000) A popular discussion topic in most countries is the distribution of income taxes – that is, who pays the most.
Where Tax Dollars Are Spent. Lee–Jackson–King Day. Lee–Jackson–King Day was a holiday celebrated in the Commonwealth of Virginia from 1984 to 2000. Robert E. Lee's birthday (January 19, 1807) has been celebrated as a Virginia holiday since 1889. In 1904, the legislature added the birthday of Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson (January 21, 1824) to the holiday, and Lee–Jackson Day was born.[1] In 1983, the United States Congress declared January 15 to be a national holiday in honor of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. In 2000, Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore proposed splitting Lee–Jackson–King Day into two separate holidays after debate arose over whether the nature of the holiday which simultaneously celebrated the lives of Confederate generals and a civil rights icon was incongruous.
Leaked Memo Says Iraq Is Ready For Pullout.