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How Obama Won Four More Years
He became a street fighter. And he had a better team that ran a first-rate campaign.
This election cycle was an important one for nonreligious Americans, not only because we faced two candidates and parties that have drastically different positions on church-state separation issues, but also because we are starting to be recognized as an important voting bloc. We now make up 20% of the population, and the media is beginning to figure out just how politically powerful we are. Nonreligious Americans should expect in the near future to be courted by candidates for elected office in the same manner that many religious voters are.
http://www.americanhumanist.org/HNN/details/2012-11-post-election-analysis-what-does-it-all-mean-for-hum
DISSING DEMOCRACY: NO MORE “WE THE PEOPLE”
For the United States, the drive to spread democracy can be traced at least as far back as the 19th century’s concept ofManifest Destiny which was used to try and justify the country's growth across the hemisphere, grabbing land while killing and displacing people with little, if any, remorse. Even the United Nations tells the world that “democracy is a universally recognized ideal” and is one of its “core values.” In the wake of World War II, the UN adopted The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 which stated “the will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government.” Driven by the example and the power of the United States, democratic forms of government naturally grew in popularity and have continued to be seen by some as so virtuous that we will use it as a justification for war.
http://www.americanhumanist.org/HNN/details/2012-11-dissing-democracy-no-more-we-the-people
There Was a War on Women, and the Women Won
http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2012/11/07/record_number_of_women_headed_to_the_senate_war_on_women_won.html
State Clean Energy and Environmental Campaigns See Wins and LossesEfforts to increase alternative energy or combat climate change, among other issues, came down to local concerns
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=state-clean-energy-and-environmental-campaigns-see-wins-and-losses&WT.mc_id=SA_DD_20121107
5 Unhinged Right-Wing Reactions to Romney’s Defeat
Today, it seems that the idea of sharing is being discussed in almost any context except the political economy. This may be understandable, but if we're serious about ending poverty and healing the environment perhaps it's about time that we all start talking about global sharing
http://www.countercurrents.org/parsons071112.htm
The Great Transition, Part I: From Fossil Fuels To Renewable Energy
The Great Transition, Part II: Building A Wind-Centered Economy
Exit Polls on Religion
CNN is publishing the exit polls, which provide some early information on the religious makeup of the electorate in the criticals states. Note that voters who were in line as polls closed are still voting, so final results, and final exits, are still some time off.
Relations between Jerusalem and Ankara have deteriorated since Israeli marines stormed the Mavi Marmara aid ship in May 2010 and killed nine Turks in clashes with activists on board.
http://theuglytruth.wordpress.com/2012/11/06/turkey-indicts-idf-commanders-over-gaza-flotilla-deaths/
10 Right-Wingers Who Got Election 2012 Hilariously Wrong
40 Thousand Homeless as Second Storm Descends on Northeast
As a new storm barrels up the east coast, relief efforts scramble to secure heat and housing for over tens of thousands of people left homeless after Hurricane Sandy.
We the People, and the New American Civil War
he vitriol is worse than I ever recall. Worse than the Palin-induced smarm pf 2008. Worse than the swift-boat lies of 2004. Worse, even, than the anything-goes craziness of 2000 and its ensuing bitterness.Big Agriculture Bankrolls Defeat of California's Proposition 37
California's landmark Proposition 37 was soundly and sadly defeated on Tuesday by corporate interests and big money politics. As of Wednesday morning, with more than 94 percent of the precincts reporting, news outlets reported that the measure has been rejected.The US Austerity Fight Cometh
President Obama may soon face a three-headed monster. Though a tepid recovery is underway in the United States, unemployment remains high and some of the tools used to promote recovery carry significant risks of their own. Worse still, the specter of a Eurozone bankruptcy haunts the world economy. Finally a Eurozone collapse itself may trigger the worst political crises since the height of the Cold War. On both sides of the Atlantic, political leaders are beholden to investment bankers, who in turn are operating in a predatory fashion.
ACLU urges Obama to close Guantanamo, ground drones
The American Civil Liberties Union chief congratulated President Barack Obama, and in the same breath early Wednesday called on him to make good on his first-term promise to shut down the prison camps at Guantánamo.
The Lesser Evil Won, Now Get to Work, Set an Intention and Deal with The Cancer On Democracy We Are Living WithIt's not all your fault, having participated in the process. It's a dirty, ugly, broken system. Now, famous people, like Churchill, have made remarks, like, "it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time." The problem is, there are all kinds of flavors of democracy. The system in the US is over 200 years old. The US constitution used to be the one other nations imitated. But that's no longer the case. It is archaic and worse, it has been enfeebled, corrupted and diseased-- malignant with corporatist cancer.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/The-Lesser-Evil-Won-Now-G-by-Rob-Kall-121107-239.html
Proposition 37 appears to have failed in California, but GMO labeling awareness achieves victory
Proposition 37 appears to have failed at the ballot box in California, according to the California Secretary of State ballot measures results. The GMO labeling ballot measure, which would have required food companies to label the GM content of foods, was defeated with the use of over $45 million in fraudulent advertising and dirty tricks funded by Monsanto, PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, Kellogg, General Mills, DuPont, Bayer and other food and pesticide companies.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Proposition-37-appears-to-by-Mike-Adams-121107-875.html
Money Party Wins US ElectionThe same party wins every time. Duopoly power rules. America is a one party state with two wings. Each replicates the other. On major issues mattering most, not a dime's worth of difference separates them.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Money-Party-Wins-US-Electi-by-Stephen-Lendman-121107-174.html
Impressions of Gaza
Even a single night in jail is enough to give a taste of what it means to be under the total control of some external force. And it hardly takes more than a day in Gaza to begin to appreciate what it must be like to try to survive in the world’s largest open-air prison, where a million and a half people, in the most densely populated area of the world, are constantly subject to random and often savage terror and arbitrary punishment, with no purpose other than to humiliate and degrade, and with the further goal of ensuring that Palestinian hopes for a decent future will be crushed and that the overwhelming global support for a diplomatic settlement that will grant these rights will be nullified.
The Morning After: Nation Spends $2.5 Billion on Nothing
NEWS ANALYSIS (The Borowitz Report)—One day after the costliest Presidential election in U.S. history, Americans awoke to the ugly realization that the nation had spent $2.5 billion with absolutely nothing to show for it. “Four years ago, Barack Obama was elected President of the United States, and that is still the case,” says Professor Davis Logsdon of the University of Minnesota. “The only difference is that we as a nation are out $2.5 billion.”
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article32965.htm
The Permanent Militarization of America
Like all institutions, the military works to enhance its public image, but this is just one element of militarization. Most of the political discourse on military matters comes from civilians, who are more vocal about “supporting our troops” than the troops themselves. It doesn’t help that there are fewer veterans in Congress today than at any previous point since World War II. Those who have served are less likely to offer unvarnished praise for the military, for it, like all institutions, has its own frustrations and failings. But for non-veterans — including about four-fifths of all members of Congress — there is only unequivocal, unhesitating adulation. The political costs of anything else are just too high.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article32957.htm
The Permanent Militarization of America
Like all institutions, the military works to enhance its public image, but this is just one element of militarization. Most of the political discourse on military matters comes from civilians, who are more vocal about “supporting our troops” than the troops themselves. It doesn’t help that there are fewer veterans in Congress today than at any previous point since World War II. Those who have served are less likely to offer unvarnished praise for the military, for it, like all institutions, has its own frustrations and failings. But for non-veterans — including about four-fifths of all members of Congress — there is only unequivocal, unhesitating adulation. The political costs of anything else are just too high.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article32957.htm
Coping with the aftermath (11/7/12)
Nader on What To Do Now
After Sandy, Occupy Movement Re-Emerges as Relief Hub for Residents in Need
Colorado and Washington Legalize Marijuana
Anonymous Claims Paypal Passwords Exposed
From Marriage Equality to Legalizing Marijuana, 2012 Ballot Measures Won by Social Movements
End of the political road for Romney
California's Landmark Initiative to Label GMO Food
Is a nuclear-free Middle East possible?
Hurricane Sandy vs Hurricane Katrina
‘Zionists have infiltrated both Republican, Democratic presidential campaigns’
Obama Re-Elected to 2nd Term with Near Sweep of Battleground States
Election 2012: Ben Jealous, Laura Flanders on Obama’s 2nd Term and the Future of Progressive Politics
From Marriage Equality to Legalizing Marijuana, Election Day Ballot Measures Won by Movements
Jeremy Scahill and Dennis Kucinich: In Obama’s 2nd Term, Will Dems Challenge U.S. Drones, Killings?
Why Judaism Isn’t Like Other Religions (And Why That’s Important)
