In 2005, one out of four large corporations paid no income taxes at all even though they collected $1.1 trillion in revenue over that one-year period.

In 2009, Exxon Mobil made $19 billion in profits. Not only did Exxon not pay any federal income taxes, it actually received a $156 million rebate from the IRS, according to SEC filings.

Bank of America received a $1.9 billion tax refund from the IRS last year, even though it made $4.4 billion in profits and received a bailout from the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department of nearly $1 trillion.

Boeing, which received a $30 billion contract from the Pentagon to build 179 airborne tankers, got a $124 million refund from the IRS last year.

Valero Energy, the 25th largest company in America with $68 billion in sales last year, received a $157 million tax refund check from the IRS and, over the past three years, it received a $134 million tax break from the oil and gas manufacturing tax deduction.

In 2008, Goldman Sachs only paid 1.1 percent of its income in taxes even though it earned a profit of $2.3 billion and received an almost $800 billion from the Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury Department.

Last year, Citigroup made over $4 billion in profits but paid no federal income taxes, even though it received a $2.5 trillion bailout from the Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury Department. Over the past five years, while General Electric made $26 billion in profits in the United States, it received a $4.1 billion refund from the IRS. According to a New York Times article, “G.E. is so good at avoiding taxes that some people consider its tax department to be the best in the world, even better than any law firm’s.”

Chevron received a $19 million refund from the IRS last year, even though it made $10 billion in profits in 2009.

ConocoPhillips, the fifth largest oil company in the United States, which made $16 billion in profits from 2007 through 2009, received $451 million in tax breaks through the oil and gas manufacturing deduction.

Ford’s federal income tax rate was just 2.3 percent in 2009 even though it made $3 billion in profits.

Over the past five years, Carnival Cruise Lines made over $11 billion in profits, but its federal income tax rate during those years was just 1.1 percent.

Over the last five years, Southwest Airlines paid a federal income tax rate of 6.3 percent, Yahoo paid 7 percent, and Prudential Financial paid 7.6 percent.

– End Tax Breaks for Profitable Corporations | Senator Bernie Sanders

Bolivia Set to Pass “Law of Mother Earth”

In a political move that would make John Locke’s head explode, Bolivia is poised to pass a law that would grant nature equal rights with those afforded humans. The Law of Mother Earth is expected to usher in a radical new conservation policy against pollution and exploitation.

Perhaps most beautifully, the law would enshrine nature’s right “to not be affected by mega-infrastructure and development projects that affect the balance of ecosystems and the local inhabitant communities.”

Please help us try to get Nick Owen, a soldier in Kuwait, home for his son’s funeral.

This is the story in the news: http://www.ksn.com/news/local/story/Kansas-soldier-denied-leave-for-sons-funeral/t04hIAF_GUuSbpOLaDeVBQ.cspx

Crime Over Spilled Milk of the Day: A sixth grader at Ben Franklin Middle School in Valparaiso, Indiana was arrested after spilling his milk in the school cafeteria and refusing to clean it up.

According to the Valparaiso Police Department, the 12-year-old boy became “belligerent” after being ordered by a school staffer to clean up the spill, telling the employee “this is stupid, you’re retarded.” A school resource officer stepped in and again asked the student to mop up the mess, to which the kid replied “this is crap, I’m not doing it.”

As he attempted to leave the cafeteria, the officer told the student to sit and await further instructions. The boy then became “increasingly agitated,” prompting the officer to grab his arm and endeavor to “perform an education escort.” The boy managed to free himself from the hold and proceeded to run around the cafeteria and out into a hallway when he was tackled by the officer and handcuffed.

After a police report was filed the boy was released into his father’s custody and his case has been submitted to the Juvenile Probation office for review.

Celeb Arrest of the Day: Oscar-winning actor Nicolas Cage (yeah, he totally won an oscar once) was arrested in New Orleans on charges of domestic abuse and disturbing the peace following a loud argument with his wife Alice in the street, though she was apparently not the complaining witness and no physical contact took place.

TMZ reports that Cage was “very drunk” and allegedly “taunted police into arresting him” by yelling “Why don’t you just arrest me?”

He was released this morning after posting bond.

Impressive Resume of the Day: Dear companies: Please hire this man for every position.

Sincerely, Awesome.

Feel-Good Story of the Day: Last week, fans at a Superliga semifinal match between rival Brazilian volleyball clubs Sada Cruzeiro and Vôlei Futuroerupted in chants of “bicha” (the Portuguese equivalent of “f****t”) aimed at Vôlei Futuro’s middle blocker Michael (see video below).

The incident forced Michael to come out to the media, telling reporters “I’m gay. Everyone knows who I am. My team fully respects my sexuality.” In fact, Michael said that, following the match, “his teammates came up to him to make sure he was okay.”

But the show of support for Michael was just beginning: During a second semi-final match last Saturday, Vôlei Futuro wore pink warmup shirts as a sign of solidarity, while the team’s libero donned a rainbow-flagged tee during the game. Meanwhile, the crowd displayed a giant banner that read “Vôlei Futuro Against Prejudice,” and thundersticks imprinted with the word “Michael” made sure to drown out any shred of homophobia that may have lingered in the stadium.

And in case you were wondering, Vôlei Futuro won. But they would have been winners either way.

OMG! Adorbz of the Day: Adorable toddler doesn’t let a little sleep get in the way of her eating.

A new study from the journal “Clinical Infectious Diseases” reveals that 47% of America’s meat is tainted with drug resistant staph.

Researchers found drug resistant staph on beef, turkey, pork, and chicken bought at different grocery stores around the country.

Due to over exposure to antibiotics in factory farms, the staph bacteria have developed resistance to three major types of antibiotic treatment. Doctors worry mostly about the Methicillan-resistant Staphylococcus aureus strain commonly referred to asMRSA.

People are warned to handle raw meat with care, cook throughly, and sterilize every surface in your kitchen after cooking.

Of course, this could all have been prevented.  If we weren’t feeding 35 million pounds of antibiotics a year to animals on factory farms we would not have these superbugs. More importantly, if we weren’t keeping animals in cramped and filthy conditions where open wounds easily become infected we wouldn’t need to give them antibiotics at all.