The Fretting About Whether Democrats Are “Friendly” To Religion
ReligionDispatches: Instead of worrying about making friends, pols should focus on greater transparency and separation of church and state. More…
12/04/2009 04:30
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Caption: View of New Deal, one of the six shack towns around the US-work relief projects at Fort Peck. Location: Fort Peck, MT, US. Date taken: 1936. Photographer: Margaret Bourke-White (via)
12/04/2009 03:56
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Caption: Sympathy march by students for southern African Americans. Location: Chicago, IL, US. Date taken: May 1960. Photographer: Robert W. Kelley (via)
12/03/2009 09:41
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“In an American recession, the federal government is the tap and the state and local governments are the drain. That’s no way to fill a tub, and no way to fight a recession.”
— Harold Meyerson (via)
12/03/2009 09:07
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Quarter of US Households Have Limited Bank Access: Minorities, low-income families hit hardest
(Newser) – A quarter of US households have little or no access to banks—relying instead on nontraditional services such as check-cashing shops, pawn shops, or payday loans, and often paying exorbitant interest rates. The first comprehensive survey of its kind by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. showed that 71% of families that earn less than $30,000, and 22% of black families don’t use banks, reports the Washington Post.
“By better understanding this group—who they are and their reasons for being unbanked or underbanked—we will be better positioned to help them take that first step” toward financial security, said FDIC chief Sheila Bair. Most of those who don’t use banks say they don’t think they have enough money to open an account.
12/03/2009 09:06
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“When the arctic winds howl and angry waves pummel the shore of this Inupiat Eskimo village, Shelton and Clara Kokeok fear that their house, already at the edge of the Earth, finally may plunge into the gray sea below. “The land is going away,” said Shelton Kokeok, 65, whose home is on the tip of a bluff that’s been melting in part because of climate change. “I think it’s going to vanish one of these days.”
12/03/2009 06:03
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Want to Save Marriage? Ban Divorce
ReligionDispatches: Jesus was pretty clear about divorce: it’s a sin. If you live in California you can sign a petition to make it illegal — and see how it feels to try to step on the civil rights of others. More…
12/03/2009 05:41
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Obama regret : Pharyngula
I had my reservations before the election, but I voted for Obama as the better choice (and I have not changed my opinion on that at all). I had hopes that he’d get in office and stand up for some principles…but no such luck. There are several reasons for my dissatisfaction.
The Stupak amendment to the health care bill seems to be sailing through unopposed.
And now, his expansion of the war in Afghanistan, and his support for a corrupt and failed state.
Looking at his record (which isn’t just his problem: the Democratic Party has failed to promote a Democratic agenda), I see the real problem. Despite all the screamers on the right accusing him of being a socialist, what actually happened here is that we elected another Republican to office. A moderate Republican, to be sure, but not someone who has the kinds of priorities I want in my president.
We’re going to be marking time until the 2012 campaign starts up. I’m hoping their will be some viable, liberal alternative to our crappy incumbent, because I really don’t want to have to choose between Republican Lite and Republican Lunatic in the next election.
For what it’s worth we in Oz have similar problems with our new Prime Minister, promised a lot but all he says is “Sorry”. But it could be worse. We could have Tony “Budgie Smuggler” Abbott as Prime Minster, then abortion would be illegal again in Oz.
12/03/2009 05:03
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Caption: Illustration of latest fad: holding viewings of artistic advertisement posters. Date: 1896 (via)
12/03/2009 04:59
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Caption: A weary child from Oklahoma drags an empty sack into the cotton fields of California on her way to work at 7 AM. The girl is one of thousands of Oakies who fled the drought, depression and dust storms afflicting their native state in the 1930s. Location: CA, US. Date taken: 1936. Photographer: Dorothea Lange (via)
12/02/2009 14:33
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Food Stamp Use Soars, and Stigma Fades
[New York Times | The Safety Net] A Program Once Scorned: With millions of jobs lost and major industries on the ropes, America’s array of government aid — including unemployment insurance, food stamps and cash welfare — is being tested as never before. This series examines how the safety net is holding up under the worst economic crisis in decades. More…
12/02/2009 10:52
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Recovering From Rejection: The Second Coming of Ted Haggard
ReligionDispatches: Still sexually confused (but not gay) ex-megapastor Ted Haggard is preaching again—and his old friends, James Dobson among them, are not happy about it. Forgiveness only goes so far, apparently, in the world of far-right evangelicalism. More…
12/02/2009 10:36
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“If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.”
— Thomas Jefferson (via azspot)
12/02/2009 09:40
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“After September 11th, after witnessing the carnage and destruction, the dust and the tears, I supported this Administration’s pledge to hunt down and root out those who would slaughter innocents in the name of intolerance, and I would willingly take up arms myself to prevent such a tragedy from happening again. I don’t oppose all wars. And I know that in this crowd today, there is no shortage of patriots, or of patriotism. What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a rash war. What I am opposed to is the cynical attempt by Richard Perle and Paul Wolfowitz and other arm-chair, weekend warriors in this Administration to shove their own ideological agendas down our throats, irrespective of the costs in lives lost and in hardships borne. What I am opposed to is the attempt by political hacks like Karl Rove to distract us from a rise in the uninsured, a rise in the poverty rate, a drop in the median income — to distract us from corporate scandals and a stock market that has just gone through the worst month since the Great Depression. That’s what I’m opposed to. A dumb war. A rash war. A war based not on reason but on passion, not on principle but on politics.”
— Barack Obama | 10-02-02 | Full speech here
12/02/2009 08:22
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Michael Moore's Afghanistan Letter Rewrites History of Obama Campaign
Via PERRspectives
Promoting his latest film earlier this year, Michael Moore ignored the achievements of the Progressive movement and the New Deal when he declared, “capitalism is evil and you can’t regulate evil.” Now on the eve of President Obama’s address to the nation on his Afghanistan strategy, Moore is rewriting the history of the campaign that put Obama in the Oval Office. In an open letter to President Obama, Moore on Monday seems to have forgotten candidate Obama’s aggressive stance towards Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan […] More…
12/02/2009 08:05
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