25.Dec.2012 - Democracy Doomed? NRA Suggests Police State, Global Persecution of Nonbelievers, Uncover-ed Religion, Old Views of Evolution, Get Rid of Electoral College? Unraveling the Welfare State 1+2, Sabotage of Democracy, Ditching Fossil Fuels, War on Christmas? and more.
Is Democracy Doomed? New Report Shows Tectonic Shifts in Campaign Spending
In a short period of time since the passage of Citizens United, the political funding landscape has dramatically changed.
NRA Suggests a Police State f one follows the "logic" of the National Rifle Association's Wayne LaPierre, the United States should become an armed camp with armored-up police carrying high-powered weapons stationed at virtually every location where children might congregate and where a crazy person might show up with a semi-automatic assault rifle. http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/416-gun-control-/15198-nra-suggests-a-police-state
For Poor, Leap to College Often Ends in a Hard Fall
Low-income strivers face uphill climbs, especially at Ball High School, where a third of the girls’ class failed to graduate on schedule. But by the time the triplets donned mortarboards in the class of 2008, their story seemed to validate the promise of education as the great equalizer.
Self-Compassion is More Important to Success than Self-Esteem
Being proud of your work and showing some self-esteem and confidence will get you a long way in life, but at the office, sometimes it's the ability to forgive yourself and learn from your mistakes that's more valuable than pure ego. Self-compassion can help you learn and grow, which is key to succeeding in any career.
Militants fighting against the Syrian government have used chemical weapons against the army in Daraya near the capital, Damascus, military sources say.
New Reports Reveal Global Persecution of Nonbelievers
According to Egypt News Daily, the prosecution first sought to charge him in connection with disseminating Innocence of Muslims but when this accusation was proven false, they revised their strategy to target the content of Saber’s video blog. Though sentenced to three years and released on bail he was subsequently locked up due to a clerical error before being released on December 17.
Storm and flood, bad bishops, nones on the bus, vegan leather queens, God’s mom: in this list Peter Laarman plots the angles that were largely invisible in mainstream religion coverage this past year—and likely in our own. A road map for 2013—and a sign to us that there might be more important things to focus on this year than the launch of our signature fragrance, RD’s Apocalypse-Begone (subtle notes of ash, hints of ocean breeze, a wisp of sulphur...).
Biden: If Obama Comes for my Beretta, He's Got a Problem
The hidden size of nonbelievers
The people who are nonbelievers in any religion sometimes feel like a small minority. But this is purely a local illusion. When it comes to religions, different ones dominate different parts of the world. But when it comes to nonbelievers, we are all pretty much the same everywhere. We are the true uniters, not dividers, our shared unbelief uniting us across nations, races, and ethnicities.
New data challenge old views about evolution of early life
A research team led by biogeochemists at the University of California, Riverside has tested a popular hypothesis in paleo-ocean chemistry, and proved it false
hat do you think the use of technocratic governments in Europe says about European democracy? There are two problems with it. First of all it shouldn’thappen, at least if anybody believes in democracy. Secondly, the policies that they’re following are just driving Europe into deeper and deeper problems. The idea of imposing austerity during a recession makes no sense whatsoever.http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/279-82/15193-unraveling-the-welfare-state
Unraveling the Welfare State (Part Two) urope should have agreed to Palestine's observer status at the United Nations being upgraded, but they were, as you know, split on this. The US, of course, was strongly opposed. The reasons are very explicit and it's worth looking at them. They were discussed again in the New York Times last week where, of course, the newspaper took the same position as Washington almost reflexively. There are two problems, they say. http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/279-82/15209-unraveling-the-welfare-state-part-2
The GOP's Sabotage of Democracy
eally, what is to be done about this Republican Party? What force can change it—can stop Republicans from being ideological saboteurs and convert at least a workable minority of them into people interested in governing rather than sabotage? With the failed Plan B vote, we have reached the undeniable crisis point. Actually we’ve been at a crisis point for years, but this is really the all-upper-case Undeniable Crisis Point. They are a direct threat to the economy, which could slip back into recession next year if the government doesn’t, well, govern.
Human Rights Watch: Israel’s justifications for killing journalists are "evidence of war crimes"
Bank Rate Fixing Scandals Reveal the Rotten Heart of Capitalism
his is the year the consensus changed. Around the world, policy-makers, regulators and bankers recognised that the legacy of the 20-year credit boom up to 2008 is more corrosive than all but a few realised at the time. The bankers - and the theorists who justified their actions - made a millennial mistake. Navigating a way out of the mess was never likely to be easy, but it is made harder still by not recognising the magnitude of the disaster and the necessary radicalism involved if things are to be put right.
A perversion of smartphone technology called "stalking apps" - precise, secretive trackings of the movements of cellphone users - is increasingly a matter of national concern, particularly for domestic abuse victims. No less threatening is the routine monitoring of children's locales and phone habits for commercial purposes while parents are kept in the dark. Stealth apps even stoop to cyber-leering through the now notorious app called Girls Around Me, which allows men to search out women, unbeknown to them, by cross-matching GPS technology with information and photo sites like Facebook.
Lieberman would have ‘some really serious questions’ to ask Hagel ‘not just about Israel’ but about (Israel’s enemy du jour) Iran
Will the Internet End Up Controlled by Big Business and Politicians?
t's all about control. Of course, nobody uses that particular term. The talk is always about "governance" or "regulation", but really it's about control. Ever since the internet burst into public consciousness in 1993, the big question has been whether the most disruptive communications technology since print would be captured by the established power structures - nation states and giant corporations - that dominate our world and shape its development. And since then, virtually every newsworthy event in the evolution of the network has really just been another skirmish in the ongoing war to control the internet.
urope should have agreed to Palestine's observer status at the United Nations being upgraded, but they were, as you know, split on this. The US, of course, was strongly opposed. The reasons are very explicit and it's worth looking at them. They were discussed again in the New York Times last week where, of course, the newspaper took the same position as Washington almost reflexively. There are two problems, they say. 
