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HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS JOKE ABOUT RAPE IN A VIDEO LEAKED BY ANONYMOUS
Footage of the #OccupySteubenville Dec.29 event:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=kjvLVLuY7Tc
Reclaim the Language: Taxation is Theft
Politically we know that at a good percentage of the 80 percent have been bought off with stolen money. But there’s still a large enough group that can make a difference in elections. We’re talking about a three- to five-percent swing. That’s the group we need to address.
http://godfatherpolitics.com/8798/reclaim-the-language-taxation-is-theft/
US House passes 'fiscal cliff' deal
New Year Brings Minimum Wage Hikes In 10 States
http://www.npr.org/2013/01/01/168348945/new-year-brings-minimum-wage-hikes-in-10-states
2012 Culture and Resistance with Alice Walker, Randy Weston, Walter Mosley, Gore Vidal and More
Brazilian farmers fight back
Small farmers take on Monsanto
Lousy Deal on the Edge of the Cliff
Yes, the deal finally gets Republicans to accept a tax increase on the wealthy, but this is an inside-the-Beltway symbolic victory. If anyone believes this will make the GOP more amenable to future tax increases, they don’t know how rabidly extremist the GOP has become. The deal also extends unemployment insurance for more than 2 million long-term unemployed.
As Foreclosure Crisis Drags On, So Does Flawed Government Response
s the sixth year of the foreclosure crisis comes to an end, the percentage of loans in foreclosure remains a staggering eight times higher than it was in 2005. About 5.3 million homeowners - about 11 percent of all borrowers - are behind on their payments.FBI Should Investigate Bankers, Not Protesters
ecember 16th of 2012 marked the 239th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party, when activists clad in Native American costumes protested a tax code that benefited a multinational corporation at the cost of taxpayers, and committed one of the biggest acts of property destruction in history by dumping the East India Tea Company's product into the Boston Harbor by the crateful. For nearly fifty years, the act was either shunned or ignored by the populace. But today, those activists' names are among the revered "founding fathers" of our country.Stop Being a Dick, US Government!
Will 2013 be the Year American Jews Secede from Israel?
If American Jews think that what is being done in their name is self-destructive, oppressive, blockheaded and wrong, it stands to reason they would want it to stop.
Israel Will Cease to Exist Within the Decade, Adviser to Egyptian President Predicts
A senior Egyptian official who also serves as an adviser to President Mohammed Morsi on Tuesday expressed the opinion that Israel would not be around in 10 years.
Pope hopes for 2013 of peace, slams unbridled capitalism
The 85-year-old pope rang in the new year with a mass for about 10,000 people in St Peter's Basilica on the day the Roman Catholic Church marks its World Day of Peace with initiatives around the world.
Best of 2012: Jesse Ventura on Money in Politics
Finding Noah’s Flood: A Misconception of Biblical Proportions
I hate to break it to you, but Noah’s Flood is not a real thing. As geologist David Montgomery wrote in his recent history,The Rocks Don’t Lie: A Geologist Investigates Noah’s Flood, the religious idea that the Flood was real has been important to the actual history of geology as a science. But by now, however, science knows better. I can’t say as much for the media.
http://www.religiondispatches.org/archive/culture/6728/finding_noah_s_flood__a_misconception_of_biblical_proportions_
I hate to break it to you, but Noah’s Flood is not a real thing. As geologist David Montgomery wrote in his recent history,The Rocks Don’t Lie: A Geologist Investigates Noah’s Flood, the religious idea that the Flood was real has been important to the actual history of geology as a science. But by now, however, science knows better. I can’t say as much for the media.
http://www.religiondispatches.org/archive/culture/6728/finding_noah_s_flood__a_misconception_of_biblical_proportions_
Gilad Atzmon on Jewish Identity Politics
What's next for the economy?
Social mood and the markets
The Bottom Line: Healthcare
Fixing the Economy, A New Focus for Congress
The Perils of Pauline melodrama over the “fiscal cliff” will drag on as Washington heads toward another “debt ceiling” faceoff that will climax over the next eight weeks or so.
4 Kinds of Movement Atheist (Secularist Atheists, Identity Atheists, Evangelical Atheists, and Constructive Atheists)
The Necessity of Criticizing (Your) Religion
I began reflecting on this after commenters on two previous posts—on taxing churches and Christian hunting—accused me of being anti-Christian. The ability to criticize a religious idea or practice, whether of your own faith or another, is a crucial component of personal and social growth. This has unfortunately been misconstrued due to two common themes:
http://bigthink.com/21st-century-spirituality/the-necessity-of-criticizing-your-religion
The unmanned aircraft that most people associate with hunting terrorists and striking targets in Pakistan are on the brink of evolving into a big domestic industry. It is not a question of whether drones will appear in the skies above the United States but how soon.
http://bigthink.com/21st-century-spirituality/the-necessity-of-criticizing-your-religion
The Dawning of Domestic Drones
FBI, Working With Banks, Chose Not To Inform Occupy Leadership Of Assassination Plot On Its Leaders
Whatever you thought of the so-called "Occupy" movement of the past year or so, it seems clear that there has been at least a bit of overreaction to them. I mean, treating these protests, which have, by and large, been peaceful, as terrorist groups is just silly. But, as you may have seen over the past few days, that's exactly what the FBI did (as uncovered by the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund (PCJF)), and they did it in a coordinated manner with both Homeland Security and privately held banking corporations.
The U.S. War Machine
Many supporters of Barack Obama are disappointed that he has not reversed the war policies of his predecessor. He did his best to continue the U.S. occupation of Iraq. The Afghanistan war rages far beyond what was seen under George W. Bush. Obama has also proved militaristic in operations in Libya, Yemen, and Pakistan, and in the sanctions against Iran. The attacks on civil liberties and human rights continue on the same path that Bush forged.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article33502.htm
The Ryan Budget’s Pell Grant Cuts Put College Out of Reach for Low-Income Students
House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) listens at left as Sen. Jeff Session (R-AL), the ranking Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, speaks about Rep. Ryan's budget plan. The proposal would cut more than $15 billion from the Pell Grant program, which helps low-income students pay for college.
http://www.americanprogressaction.org/issues/higher-education/report/2012/08/28/34421/the-ryan-budgets-pell-grant-cuts-put-college-out-of-reach-for-low-income-students/
Everything We Tell Ourselves About America and the World Is Wrong
Every culture has a Story of the People to give meaning to the world. Part conscious and part unconscious, it consists of a matrix of agreements, narratives, and symbols that tell us why we are here, where we are headed, what is important, and even what is real. I think we are entering a new phase in the dissolution of our Story of the People, and therefore, with some lag time, of the edifice of civilization built on top of it.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article33513.htm
Obama signs NDAA 2013 without objecting to indefinite detention of Americans
President Barack Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act of 2013 on Wednesday, giving his stamp of approval to a Pentagon spending bill that will keep Guantanamo Bay open and make indefinite detention for US citizens as likely as ever.
http://therebel.org/politics/americas/126-united-states/394658-obama-signs-ndaa-2013-without-objecting-to-indefinite-detention-of-americans
White House, Congress extend police-state FISA law
The Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed the bill in September, and the Obama administration and Senate Democratic leaders insisted on passing the identical legislation through the Senate, without any amendments, to ensure the bill would go to the White House for presidential signature before the end of the year.
FISCAL CLIFF DEAL DOESN'T FIX THE PROBLEM
The last-minute deal to avert the so-called fiscal cliff suffers from some of the worst ailments of Washington’s backroom deals. Primarily, it does not address the nation’s fiscal imbalance because it allows taxes to go up but fails to tackle the true driver of our economic woes: runaway government spending. Not surprisingly, President Obama has already stated that he wants to raise taxes again next year too.
http://americansforprosperity.org/legislativealerts/fiscal-cliff-deal-doesnt-fix-the-problem/
Israel preparing Cyber Iron Dome ShieldIsrael's Prime Minister officially opened a new national program to train teenagers in the art of cyberwarfare. The program named "Magshimim Le'umit", is to prepare them for their future role in the military and intelligence community.DOCUMENTARY OF THE DAY:
RAN OUT OF OILOur contemporary world is so dependent on technology fueled by oil, and yet oil will not last forever. How will the world change and how will people adapt as food disappears, electrical power fails? Witness the devastation in major cities as winter sets in. What will be more important to our survival; the technology to develop new sources of energy, or a change to a more sustainable way of life?
or those of us who had hoped that the Obama administration would present us with a rebirth of the old republic that was so rudely erased a few years ago by that team of judicial wreckers, Bush and Gonzales, which led, in turn, to a recent incident in Cambridge, Mass. that inspired a degree of alarm in many Americans. But what was most alarming was the plain fact that neither the president nor a "stupid" local policeman seemed to understand the rules of behavior in a new America, where we find ourselves marooned as well as guarded (is that the verb?) by armed police who have been instructed that they are indeed, once armed, the law and may not be criticized verbally or in any other way and are certainly not subject to any restrictions as to whom they arrest or otherwise torment.