J. Scott Applewhite / APFamily Research Council President Tony Perkins denounces gay marriage as a group of pastors from across denominational lines gather on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, May 24, 2012.By Tom Curry, msnbc.com National Affairs WriterConservative religious leaders rallying outside the Capitol Thursday promised to make the preservation of marriage as a union between one man and one woman an issue in 2012 campaign.But with traditional marriage already having been approved in most states, and with the federal courts -- and ultimately the Supreme Court -- likely deciding the constitutionality of these laws, it's not yet clear how the leaders will persuade the conservative base to get mobilized.At the rally outside the Capitol, Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, chided Republican ... Continue reading →

Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) doubling down on a $1 million threshold for extending the Bush-era tax rates has relaunched the thorny Democratic debate over who should pay higher taxes. Despite Pelosi’s full-throated endorsement that the breaks should be extended on all income below $1 million, Democrats have hardly coalesced on a figure, with President Obama still pushing for a $250,000 threshold and Senate Democrats indicating Thursday that they're all over the board. The budget drawn up by House Democrats earlier this year also included the $250,000 threshold. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), who has long backed cutting off the tax breaks at $1 million, conceded Pelosi’s move — intended to push back at Republicans — is just the latest step in the party's ongoing search for ... Continue reading →

Greece’s latest tax revenue numbers were out on Friday, reports the Ekathimerini. Everyone expected them to be dire and, guess what? They are really dire. Inflows in the first 20 days of May were down 20 per cent on the same period a year ago. The general election in early May didn’t help things, but these figures are still worse than most analysts were expecting. A report by the State General Accounting Office in fact suggests that the budget revenues target this year will have to be revised, as there is a forecast for a lag of 1.35 billion euros. This is mainly attributed to income tax revenues (seen missing their target by 330 million euros) due to cuts in salaries and pensions, direct taxes ... Continue reading →

A greener shade of grey: A special report on renewable energy in China Complete the registration form opposite to download A greener shade of grey: A special report on renewable energy in China How green will China become? Beijing is taking aggressive measures to steer the country towards lower-carbon energy use, with some notable successes. Yet China’s energy use is both vast—it is the world’s largest consumer of energy—and dirty. It relies on coal for two-thirds of its energy needs and ranks as the world’s biggest carbon polluter. The articles collected in this report examine China’s progress across a number of alternative-energy forms, presenting the Economist Intelligence Unit's view of what the future holds for each. China’s use of solar power, wind energy and hydropower ... Continue reading →

Paul Fussell, the wide-ranging, stingingly opinionated literary scholar and cultural critic whose admiration for Samuel Johnson, Kingsley Amis and the Boy Scout Handbook was balanced against his withering scorn for the romanticization of war, the predominance of television and much of American society, died on Wednesday in Medford, Ore. He was 88. His stepson Cole Behringer said he died of natural causes in the long-term care facility where he had spent the last two years. Mr. Fussell’s widely acclaimed books encompassed seminal works on World War II, social commentary (“Uniforms: Why We Are What We Wear”), literary criticism (“The Anti-Egotist: Kingsley Amis, Man of Letters”) and memoir (“Doing Battle: The Making of a Skeptic”). But he may be best remembered for “The Great War and ... Continue reading →