Not All Who Wonder Are Lost

thesciencellama:

Post this photo to this page’s wall and this link along with it..
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/increase-budget-nasa/JHhPNStY

That page has 2 million dedicated followers that will sign this petition in a heartbeat. This is only way, let’s get this done people!

shortformblog:

Currently on the NYT front page: This massive ad arguing from a National Parks association arguing for action on the Fiscal Cliff. This took up way more than half of the front page.

explore-blog:

What America spends on groceries – between 1962 and 2012 our consumption of fruits and vegetables has grown by 0.1%, but our consumption of processed foods and sweets by 100%.

Wash this down with a look at daily diets around the world.

(Source: )

theatlantic:

How Occupy Wall Street Spent $700,000 in Six Months

Of the $737,000 or so Occupy Wall Street reports it has raised in donations since its inception nearly six months ago, it’s managed to spend or earmark more than $700,000 of that, according to its latest finance report. Amid the staples, copies, computers, and materials for its direct actions, it paid for tea, cigarettes, and lots of Metrocards. For the group that occupied Wall Street in the first place, a financial hangover is at hand.

At its peak, Occupy had around $500,000 in the bank as donations poured in thanks to the national exposure of its Zuccotti Park encampment. Now, aside from the $89,029 that remains of its $100,000 bail fund, it has $30,537 to work with, according to last week’s report. So where did all that money go? A sampling of some of some of line items in the Occupy budget:

$45,000 on Metrocards The movement moves by New York subway. (Though it’s a little hard to tally because some of those are reported as one of a few bundled expenses, such as $87 for “metrocards and earplugs” for the security detail on Nov. 9).  

$9,900 on legal expenses Almost all of that going to bail out activists arrested during Occupy actions.

$6,000 on tea and herbs And do not forget the equipment to prepare them, as documented in expenditures slated for the Tea and Herbal and Herbalist working groups.

$7,196 on laundry People living in the Zuccotti encampment needed clean drawers.

Read more. [Image: AP]

motherjones:

We spend about 5% of the federal budget on the nonworking poor.

iamdavidmoore:

Sen. Bernie Sanders, Senate Budget
Committee

This is profound and shouldn’t be ignored.

ilovecharts:

Can we put up some facts?

As you can plainly see, the military budget is FAR surpassed by “social priorities.”  So far in terms of 2.14 TRILLION dollars vs. 553 BILLION dollars for the military.  Nearly a 4-1 ratio.  Obviously people can manipulate the data all they want, but at least try to include some facts.

-dead-on-arrivai

1) You mean nearly a 3-1 ratio, or more than 1/4 of the spending is for the military.

2) The chart is clearly labeled as the Discretionary Spending Budget, for which these statistics are indeed fact. However, your point about this chart lacking in some proper context is well taken. Below, is reproduced the full measure of Mandatory and Discretionary Spending, with their percent change.

Notable to me is the Interest on National Debt, which costs us more than the combined spending for the Department of Homeland Security, Department of Energy, Department of Justice, Department of Agriculture, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Department of Transportation, Department of the Treasury, Department of the Interior, Department of Labor, Department of Commerce, Army Corps of Engineers, Environmental Protection Agency, National Science Foundation, Small Business Administration, and Corporation for National and Community Service.  

Also notable, the -14.0% change in spending for Unemployment/Welfare/Other mandatory spending during an unemployment crisis.