Monthly Archives: February 2016
FINE ARTS – POETRY: Edgar Allan Poe / “The Raven” / 1808 / Read by Tom O’Bedlam ☮
SCOTUS: “Scalia” ☮
h/t: Being Liberal
U.S. POLITICS: “Why I Support [Green Party Candidate] Dr. Jill Stein for President” / Chris Hedges / Part 1/2 ☮
The political crisis in America is severe. The old ideas that buttressed the ruling class and promised democracy, growth and prosperity—neoliberalism, austerity, globalization, endless war, a dependence on fossil fuel and unregulated capitalism—have been exposed as fictions used by the corporate elite to impoverish and enslave the country and enrich and empower themselves. Sixty-two billionaires have as much wealth as half the world’s population, 3.5 billion people. This fact alone is revolutionary tinder.
We are entering a dangerous moment when few people, no matter what their political orientation, trust the power elite or the ruling neoliberal ideology. The rise of right-wing populism, with dark undertones of fascism, looks set in the next presidential election—as it does in parts of Europe—to pit itself against the dying gasps of the corporate establishment.
We are caught between the jaws of the monsters Charybdis and Scylla, and our escape route is narrow and diminishing. Playing the old political game, attempting reform using the old rules, won’t work. We must focus exclusively on revolt, on overthrowing corporate power to reclaim our liberty and save the planet from a coup de grâce delivered by the fossil fuel industry.
ATHEISM: “Atheists Haven’t Been Touched By God” ☮
CRITICAL THINKING: “Celebration of Ignorance” / Carl Sagan ☮
ACADEMIC STUDY: “Roots of Homophobia More Pronounced in Individuals With an Unacknowledged Attraction to the Same Sex” / University of Rochester / Professor Richard Ryan ☮
Richard Ryan, a professor of psychology at the University of Rochester, co-authored a [April 5, 2012] study that looks at the roots of homophobia and how this attitude is more pronounced in individuals with an unacknowledged attraction to the same sex and who grew up with authoritarian parents who forbade such desires. The study is the first to document the role that both parenting and sexual orientation play in the formation of intense and visceral fear of homosexuals, including self-reported homophobic attitudes, discriminatory bias, implicit hostility towards gays, and endorsement of anti-gay policies. The study was conducted by a team from the University of Rochester, the University of Essex, England, and the University of California in Santa Barbara.
To read more about the study, please visit http://www.rochester.edu/news/show.ph…
ATHEISM: “Christian Cognitive Dissonance” ☮
SCIENCE: “We Humans Are Capable of Greatness” / Carl Sagan ☮
DISCUSSION: “Michael Moore’s New Film – Where to Invade Next?” / Professor Sophia McClennen and Thom Hartmann ☮


