Atheists are Better For Politics Than Believers. Here's Why.
The Abrahamic faiths, with their disgust for sex and women, still exert deep cultural influence. When David Cameron claimed "we are a Christian country", there are certainly enough cultural relics in attitudes towards women and gays. Baroness Warsi's letter expressing alarm that schools might teach gay marriage equality causes tremors of that sexual disgust branded into the souls of all three major monotheistic faiths. Are there many gay couples perverse enough to yearn to be married inside religions that abhor them? Humanists can offer them heartfelt celebrations.
Conference Committee Drops Ban on Indefinite Detention of Americans
Congressional conference committee has dropped a provision the Senate passed earlier this yearwhich proponents said would keep American citizens arrested on U.S. soil from being detained indefinitely under the laws of war.
Congressional conference committee has dropped a provision the Senate passed earlier this yearwhich proponents said would keep American citizens arrested on U.S. soil from being detained indefinitely under the laws of war.Powerful Court Rules Peace Activists Can Sue the U.S. Military for Infiltration
We Have an Obesity Problem in This Country.
According to a recent report, “F as in Fat” by the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, “The number of obese adults…are on course to increase dramatically in every state in the country over the next 20 years.” According to their analysis of government data, “If obesity rates continue on their current trajectories, by 2030, 13 states could have adult obesity rates above 60 percent, 39 states could have rates above 50 percent, and all 50 states could have rates above 44 percent.”Life Sentence for the Poor, Immunity for the Wealthy
he US is the world's largest prison state, imprisoning more of its citizens than any nation on earth, both in absolute numbers andproportionally. It imprisons people for longer periods of time, more mercilessly, and for more trivial transgressions than any nation in the west. This sprawling penal state has been constructed over decades, by both political parties, and it punishes the poor and racial minorities at overwhelmingly disproportionate rates.http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/15116-life-sentence-for-the-poor-immunity-for-the-wealthy
"Surgical" Strikes
Life under 24 hour drones
The World is Getting Worse (and Other Lies)
Like millions of other Americans over Thanksgiving weekend, I went to see Steven Spielberg’s masterpiece, Lincoln. I was mesmerized by Daniel Day-Lewis’s portrayal of the great statesman. I was also deeply moved by the thrilling depiction of the moral awakening at the film’s climax, in which the 13th Amendment for the abolition of slavery was passed by the House of Representatives. But there was something else about the film that struck me even more. And that was a powerful recognition of how much progress we have made since those tumultuous days in the middle of the 19th century.
The great global warming swindle - Full version
'V for Vendetta' and Supporting Villains
The world of V for Vendetta is both dystopia and the inevitable outcome of the Thatcher period Moore and artist David Lloyd worked in. As the Guardian points out, “there's no doubt that the evils of the British Tory party and Thatcherism were preying on Moore's and Lloyd's minds when they created the book” – this despite the fact that “Moore actually assumed the Tories were going to lose the 1983 election, and that Labour would remove nuclear weapons from British soil.”The Catch-22 of Eyewitness ID
Juries trust the memory of witnesses even when they shouldn’t.
Israel moves to further seal off Jerusalem from West Bank
Israeli officials approved plans for 2,612 homes on Givat HaMatos, a hill between Jerusalem and Bethlehem. Critics say the move would so fragment Palestinian areas that drawing borders of a future state would be unworkable.
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2012/1219/Israel-moves-to-further-seal-off-Jerusalem-from-West-Bank
“America has a long history of killing little children.”
Americans love to think of themselves as innocents. As a result, when they are victimized they are not just in a state of mourning, but one of total disbelief when finding themselves on the receiving end of barbarity. In the moment of bereavement and shock the well documented acts of barbarity that have been and still are committed by their country are conveniently forgotten.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article33384.htm
“America has a long history of killing little children.”
Americans love to think of themselves as innocents. As a result, when they are victimized they are not just in a state of mourning, but one of total disbelief when finding themselves on the receiving end of barbarity. In the moment of bereavement and shock the well documented acts of barbarity that have been and still are committed by their country are conveniently forgotten.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article33384.htm
The source of union power
Two faces of the U.S. labor movement were on display in 2012. On the one hand, teachers in Chicago showed unionists everywhere that the strike weapon could succeed in turning back employer attacks, and workers at Wal-Mart took a stand at the world's largest private employer. On the other, organized labor endured historic defeats with the passage of anti-union "right-to-work" legislation in Indiana and Michigan--with labor failing to mobilize more than token opposition, even in Michigan, its one-time greatest stronghold.
http://socialistworker.org/2012/12/19/source-of-union-power
Senate Wants To Sneak Warrantless Spying Bill Extension Into Law Without Debate; Let's Call Them and Tell Them No
The Senate is about to vote on an extension of the controversial FISA Amendments Act—the unconstitutional law that allows the NSA to warrantless spy on Americans speaking to people abroad. Yet you wouldn't know it by watching CSPAN because the Senate isn't debating it.
Warrantless Surveillance 101: Introducing EFF's New NSA Domestic Spying Guide
On December 14th, EFF is back in federal court challenging the NSA’s domestic spying program in our long-running case Jewel v. NSA. In anticipation of our court appearance, we’ve launched a new section of our website to give everyone a clear understanding how the NSA warrantless wiretapping program works and why we’re challenging it as unconstitutional.
