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Sandy Underscores Debate Over Government's Role
President Obama offered thoughts and prayers Tuesday for all those who have been affected by Sandy. He also offered something more tangible: the full resources of the federal government.
Shift In Mormon Age Policy Widens Women's Options
Hannon Young was listening with only half an ear during the General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints earlier this month when Church President Thomas S. Monson started talking about missionaries. But then Young perked up — and froze, as Monson declared that women no longer have to wait until they are 21 to go on their missions.
Left behind in the storm
BILLIONAIRE NEW York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg had a message for the prisoners of Rikers Island and their families as Hurricane Sandy descended on the city: Your lives don't matter.
http://socialistworker.org/2012/10/31/left-behind-storm
Israel Lobby Calls for an ‘Iranian Pearl Harbor’
As reported by Seymour Hersh, in late 2007 the Bush-Cheney administration received congressional approval for its request for $400 million to launch major covert operations against Iran, and a presidential finding signed by Bush authorized a secret program for destabilizing Iran by supporting puppet groups purporting to represent the Iranian Arabs living in the oil province of Khuzestan, the Baluchi people, and other separatist “organizations.” Aside from terrorist operations that killed many innocent Iranians, the program failed. Other venues were also tried, ranging from fabrications about Iran’s alleged interference in Iraq to huge shows of force in the Persian Gulf and a campaign of lies and exaggerations.
http://theuglytruth.wordpress.com/2012/10/30/israel-lobby-calls-for-an-iranian-pearl-harbor/
IRS Pays $38 Million in Whistleblower Case
The Internal Revenue Service has awarded an anonymous whistleblower $38 million for information leading to the recovery of between $127 million and $254 million in corporate taxes, according to the whistleblower's attorney.
Mass. Supreme Court to hear case against ‘under God’ in Pledge of Allegiance
(RNS) Massachusetts' Supreme Judicial Court has agreed to hear the appeal of a non-religious family that's challenging the mandatory daily recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in their children’s classrooms. The family, who are secular humanists, claim that the phrase “under God” in the pledge is a violation of the state’s constitutional ban on religious discrimination.http://www.religionnews.com/politics/law-and-court/mass.-supreme-court-to-hear-case-against-under-god-in-pledge-of-allegiance
(RNS) Massachusetts' Supreme Judicial Court has agreed to hear the appeal of a non-religious family that's challenging the mandatory daily recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in their children’s classrooms. The family, who are secular humanists, claim that the phrase “under God” in the pledge is a violation of the state’s constitutional ban on religious discrimination.http://www.religionnews.com/politics/law-and-court/mass.-supreme-court-to-hear-case-against-under-god-in-pledge-of-allegianceMORMON EFFECT: ARE WE ALLOWED TO TALK ABOUT MITT’S FAITH?
Mitt Romney is a Mormon. That’s a well-known fact. And since it’s a well-known fact, why isn’t anybody talking about it? Yesterday, when I posted this video clip of “Mormon temple rituals”, I received numerous notes, comments, and Tweets from evangelical Christians telling me how disappointed in me they were. “How dare you post something that is sacred to a lot of people?”
IRAN : US Is the source of Cyber Terrorism
An obscure group identifying itself as the Izz ad-din al-Qassam Cyber Fighters claimed responsibility for the first wave of attacks as retaliation for the amateurish Innocence of Muslims film that mocked the Islamic prophet Mohammed and sparked protests throughout the Middle East. http://thehackernews.com/2012/10/iran-us-is-source-of-cyber-terrorism.html
Romney's Latest Lie and Why We Must Not Put Liars in the White House
ver the weekend, Romney debuted an ad in Ohio showing cars being crushed as a narrator says Obama "sold Chrysler to Italians who are going to build Jeeps in China. Mitt Romney will fight for every American job."
Romney's FEMA Fail
n the wake of Hurricane Sandy, President Obama has been coordinating storm response from the White House-while Mitt Romney has been dodging questions about what critics say was a primary campaign call to cut funding for the Federal Emergency Management Agency.Bank of England Director: Occupy Was Right
he Occupy movement received vindication from unlikely source tonight, as a senior executive at the Bank of England credited it with stirring a "reformation of finance".The least bad: the US elections from Israel-Palestine
For Palestinians and Israelis, a Democrat victory would be bad and a Republican victory worse. While Obama continues to seduce the deluded among us, Romney is making lethal calculations
The politics of alliances: feminist peace action, drones and Code Pink
Meredith Tax raises significant questions about feminist activism, political alliances and fundamentalism, but her attack on Code Pink's campaign trip against the use of remotely-controlled drones in Pakistan is misplaced, says Rebecca Johnson.
US employs former child soldiers as mercenaries
The US is increasingly using private security forces to wage its wars and maintain its occupation of countries after the withdrawal of regular troops. Both in Iraq and Afghanistan, thousands of mercenaries and dozens of private security companies are being deployed to this end.
American democracy and the “disposition matrix”
The media and political establishment have responded with near total silence to the Washington Post’s revelation last week that the Obama administration has transformed extra-judicial assassination into a permanent practice of the US government.
Hurricane Sandy: A Moment For Eco-Socialism
During an unusual moment of clarity in an otherwise vanilla stint as the Governor of New York State, Andrew Cuomo spoke frankly about the longer term ramifications of Hurricane Sandy. Instability in weather patterns will require serious changes in the ways that New York City’s infrastructure is situated and protected.
Two candidates, $660m raised, endless adverts. But is it worth it?
Americans' TV screens have been bombarded by campaigns paid for by controversial Super PACs – but they're not as effective as everyone expected
Flood of Secret Campaign Cash: It's Not All Citizens United
he emergence of nonprofits [1] as the leading conduit for anonymous spending in this year's presidential campaign is often attributed to the Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United [2] ruling, which opened the money spigot, allowing corporations and unions to buy ads urging people to vote for or against specific candidates.Our Words Are Our Weapons
n ancient China, the arrival of a new dynasty was accompanied by "the rectification of names," a ceremony in which the sloppiness and erosion of meaning that had taken place under the previous dynasty were cleared up and language and its subjects correlated again. It was like a debt jubilee, only for meaning rather than money.
Crony Capitalism - American Style
We're still living in the Reagan Era
Free Lunch and Corporate Welfare
Bill Moyers and David Cay Johnston
merican democracy is under assault. 
