James Henry, a former chief economist at McKinsey & Co., describes offshore tax havens like the "bar scene in Star Wars." He explains, "Dictators and kleptocrats used them to conceal stolen loot. Arms dealers and drug dealers use them to launder their deals. Google and Apple and Pfizer use them to park their intellectual property and pay themselves tax-free royalties. Banks use them to park lousy loans and stash the offshore accounts and assets under management of their wealthy individual clients, many of which are paying zero taxes back home…And so on."

motherjones:

MJ’s Stephanie Mencimer followed Mitt Romney’s money to the Caribbean, where it’s probably having more fun than you.

And beyond…

My statement to the United Nations would have been, "The future does not belong to those who attack our Embassies and Consulates and kill our Ambassadors. The Angel of Death in the form of an American Bald Eagle will visit you and wreak havoc and destruction upon your existence."

motherjones:

We’re pretty sure Allen West just talked himself out of ever being ambassador to the UN. But he sure is good with bayonets.

2012swingstates:

Barack Obama released a new ad today in key swing states Virginia, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Florida, Ohio, Colorado, Iowa and Nevada. The ad, titled “Fair Share,” addressed Mitt Romney’s comments about the 47 percent of Americans he claimed “are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it.”

think-progress:

Catholic nuns hopped off of their national bus tour and onto the Staten Island ferry, to highlight how Republican cuts impact poverty.

Sister Simone Campbell said Mitt Romney’s 47 percent comment “broke my heart that he would be so out of touch, that he would so not know the truth of folks at the margins of our society who work so hard.”

Read the story at ThinkProgress

Amen sister!