The Young Turks' Cenk Uygur weighs in on a recent article at the Huffington Post via Reuters, which at a time when we've got record income disparity in the United States is yet another example of why we need to get the money out of politics, do something to fix these corporate tax loopholes and offshore tax havens and last but not least, address the issue of CEO pay being completely out of whack with what the average employee out there is making.

Highest-Paid CEOs Often Earn More Than Company Pays In Income Taxes, Study Finds:

Twenty-five of the 100 highest paid U.S. CEOs earned more last year than their companies paid in federal income tax, a pay study said on Wednesday.

It also found many of the companies spent more on lobbying than they did on taxes.

At a time when lawmakers are facing tough choices in a quest to slash the national debt, the report from the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS), a left-leaning Washington think tank, quickly hit a nerve.

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Looks like Republican Majority Leader Eric Cantor is getting some push back from Republican governors in states ravaged by Hurricane Irene after his statements calling for budget cuts before funding for disaster relief.

As Ed Schultz discussed during this segment, it looks like Cantor may be backing away from his rigid stance, even if it's ever so slightly, now that he's being criticized from the likes of his state's Gov. Bob McDonnell and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

From ThinkProgress -- Republican Revolt: Virgina’s GOP Governor Splits With Cantor, Rejects Conditioning Disaster Aid On Budget Cuts:

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), along with some of his House GOP colleagues, have been saying that disaster aid for the areas affected by Hurricane Irene must be offset by, in Cantor’s words, “savings elsewhere.” Rep. David Schweikert (R-AZ) said yesterday on Bloomberg News that budget cuts must be a prerequisite for disaster aid in order to reassure “the business markets.” Rep. Peter Roskam (R-IL) added that the days when disaster relief could be funded without offsetting budget cuts “are gone.”

However, not everyone in the GOP agrees that disaster funding should play second fiddle to the GOP’s budget-slashing agenda. Gov. Bob McDonnell (R-VA) yesterday broke with Cantor, saying that “I don’t think it’s the time to get into that [deficit] debate“:

Virginia GOP Gov. Bob McDonnell, breaking with Cantor, on Tuesday suggested that deficit-spending concerns should not be a factor as Congress and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) respond to the hurricane.

“My concern is that we help people in need,” McDonnell said during his monthly radio show. “For the FEMA money that’s going to flow, it’s up to them on how they get it. I don’t think it’s the time to get into that [deficit] debate.”

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie didn't have any kind words for Cantor and his fellow Republicans as well and slammed them for the games they were playing during the debt-ceiling hostage taking, and said the citizens of his state weren't going to wait around for similar games with their disaster relief. From the HuffPo -- Chris Christie: Don't Delay Hurricane Irene Disaster Aid Over Federal Spending Cuts:

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Quotes on Hurricane Irene from Howie Kurtz, media expert. (Duh.) h/t DCeiver

Open thread below....

Wheedle's Groove - Seattle's Finest in Funk & Soul 1965-75

Hope y'all made it over the hump. Here's some sweet Seattle funk from the Seventies.

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Police in Westchester County, New York Tuesday arrested about 15 members of the Muslim community after a scuffle broke out over a ban on headscarves on some rides at Rye Playland amusement park.

Park officials blamed a "misunderstanding" that occurred when some Muslim women were asked to remove their hijabs to ride certain rides, according to MyFoxNY.com.

A statement from the Westchester County Executive's Office claimed that two park rangers were injured "[i]n the course of restoring calm" after a disagreement broke out between some of the Muslim men and women.

But the version of events park patrons described to Patch was significantly different.

They say that police used excessive force by tackling and beating one of the women with batons as she lay on the ground. Others defending the woman were also beaten.

"I don't give **** about your culture," one female officer reportedly told one of the Muslim women.

Later in the day, about 50 members of the Muslim community prayed outside the gates as they waited for news about the others that had been arrested.

"Just yards away outside the park's entrance gate, a row of Westchester County police stood in helmets and protective vests," Patch's Renea Henry reported. "More than 40 law enforcement vehicles, cruisers and SUVs, even canine units, from municipalities across the county, lined the entry road to the amusement park. Even more law enforcement officers blocked park access roads in all directions."

Rye Playland is the only government-owned amusement park in the country.

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As Keith Olbermann noted in his opening, "The real life impact of Republican Scott Walker's anti-union wage is now taking shape, manifest in a mass exodus of public workers, choosing to retire in lieu of accepting the draconian cuts in benefits and collective bargaining rights."

APNewsBreak: Wis. teacher retirements double:

When students return Thursday for the first day of school across Wisconsin, many familiar faces will be gone, as teachers chose retirement over coming back in the wake of a new law that forces them to pay more for benefits while taking away most of their collective bargaining rights.

Documents obtained by The Associated Press under the state's open records law show that about twice as many public school teachers decided to hang it up in the first half of this year as in each of the past two full years, part of a mass exit of public employees. [...]

In the first six months of 2011, overall public employee retirements were double that in all of either 2009 or 2010, according to data provided to the AP by the Wisconsin Retirement System. That includes 4,935 Wisconsin school district employees who started receiving retirement benefits, up from 2,527 teacher retirements in all of 2010 and 2,417 in 2009.

Teachers weren't the only ones heading for the exits. State agency retirements were particularly dramatic, nearly tripling from 747 in all of 2010 to 1,966 through June. Retirements from the University of Wisconsin System more than doubled, up from 480 last year to 1,091 this year. All told, 9,933 public workers had retired by the end of June, a 93 percent increase from 5,133 in 2010. The year before, there were 4,876 retirements.

The state Department of Administration said no decision has been made on how many of the government jobs will be filled.

"Each agency is looking at the vacancies created by retirements — case by case — and making decisions based on the needs of the agency, as well as with an eye toward keeping costs down for taxpayers," said DOA spokeswoman Carla Vigue.

Keith followed up with Rage Against the Machine's Tom Morello who was in Wisconsin earlier this year to join the protests -- Tom Morello Rages Against Anti-Union Bill at Wisconsin Rally:

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A little over an hour so it all fits on one player. The concert was recorded live on July 27th by Radio France Musique in their typical exemplary fashion.

Here's the program:

Festival de Chambord : Récital Luis Fernando Pérez, Piano
Présentation: Marc Dumont

Antonio Soler
- Sonate en Sol mineur
- Sonate en ré majeur

Enrique Granados
- 3 Danses espagonles op 37 (n°1, 2, 5)
- Goyescas (La Maja y el Ruiseñor - La jeune fille et le rossignol - 1913-1915)
- 7 Valses Poéticos (1894)

Manuel de Falla
- El Amor Brujo, Suite (1915)

Luis Fernando Pérez, piano
Concert donné le mardi 27 Juillet 2011 en la Cour du Château de Chambord.

This concert will bring the blood pressure down a few points and probably take care of some high cholesterol too. So, aside from soothing your urge to destroy something, this may also actually be healthy for you!

Don't thank me. Just listen and enjoy.

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Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy calls presidential candidate Ron Paul an idiot for his criticism of FEMA.

Via Mark Pazniokas of the Connecticut Mirror.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy called U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas an idiot on CNN today for suggesting that the Federal Emergency Management Agency be denied funding and that Americans rely on private insurance to cope with natural disasters.

Three minutes into a live, five-minute interview about the impact of Tropical Storm Irene on Connecticut, anchor Christine Romans posed a long question about the criticism of FEMA by Paul, a tea party hero and Republican presidential candidate. Malloy answered in just five words.

"I think he's an idiot," Malloy said.

Romans seemed taken aback.

"That's blunt. That's quite blunt," said Romans, who began laughing.

Malloy, 56, a first-term Democratic governor now seeking a federal disaster declaration to bring aid to the state, said the money the U.S. is spending on two wars dwarfs the resources that go to FEMA and disaster relief.

"This is a ridiculous conversation," Malloy said. "I really don't understand what he's talking about, and I'm not sure he does."

"I think I hear a frustrated Democratic governor of Connecticut," Romans said, noting he still was coping with the aftermath of Tropical Storm Irene, which destroyed or heavily damage dozens of homes. "You're in the middle of a mess right now."

"It's not that," Malloy said. "I'm a supporter of FEMA."

He credited disaster planning by all levels of government for saving lives in a storm that pummeled the east coast from North Carolina to New England. FEMA's second in command, Richard Serino, was in Connecticut on Tuesday.

The exchange is one reason why Malloy has become a welcome guest on shows such MSNBC's "Morning Joe," where Malloy wasn't been shy about mixing it up with the host, Joe Scarborough, or exchanging barbs with Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey.

Ron Paul's comments to Anderson Cooper of CNN last night below the fold.

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Keith Olbermann talked to the Huffington Post's Amanda Terkel about the tables being turned on these Republican members of Congress who just two years ago were urging their constituents to get out there and make their voices heard at local town hall meetings. Back then, it was these AstroTurf "tea partiers" out there screaming about the health care bill. Now as they discussed, the tables have been turned and Republicans are starting to get the message that their constituents aren't too happy with talks of privatizing and making cuts to Social Security and Medicare.

As they noted, Sen. Chuck Grassley just an earful at one of his recent town hall meetings -- Grassley, Who Is Pro-Privatization, Says He Knows Just ‘One Member Of Congress’ Who Wants To Privatize Social Security:

During a town hall in Carroll, Iowa last night, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) fielded question after question from constituents who were furious at Republican efforts to weaken Social Security. Midway through the event, one Iowan stood and told Grassley his personal story about retiring in 2008 just as the stock market cratered, decimating his IRA and 401k retirement plans.

He implored Grassley not to privatize Social Security, asking if he should expect “to live on whatever the stock market leaves me?” After the crowd gave the constituent loud applause, Grassley responded that he only knows of “one member out of 535 who wants to privatize Social Security.”

Grassley was also asked by a small business owner why Social Security taxes are capped at $106,800.

Sen. John Thune also seems to be getting the message on cuts to our social safety nets, but as Terkel pointed out, how members of Congress behave and vote when they return from vacation will tell us if they're actually paying attention to their constituents or not. Here's more on that from Think Progress as well: Thune: Top Message I Got From Town Halls Is ‘Don’t Cut My Social Security And Medicare’.

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The BBC World service, in their typical cool-bordering-on-icy delivery, made it sound as if there had been a minor traffic accident and it was no big deal; just a few slight injuries all around.

But as time went by the news reports became more and more frequent, the news of the accident occupied a larger spot on the hourly news and half-hourly bulletins. And within an hour the news finally reported that Diana had in fact died.

It was still early in the morning in the UK when the news initially broke, and so the full impact wouldn't be felt for several hours in Europe. The news outlets in the States were already gearing up so by the time news did reach the British public, it was a full-on, non-stop, wall-to-wall news event and would stay that way the better part of three days.

In case you forgot (it was fourteen years ago), or have vague memories of what turned out to be a major outpouring of sympathy, here are the first reports, shortly after the Midnight news followed by a later report when it was learned she had died. All from the BBC World Service on August 31, 1997.