Category Archives: Humanities

XENOPHOBIC BIGOTRY: Robert Reich / “Excluding Outsiders or Coming Together for the Common Good: What’s the True Meaning of Patriotism?”

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[…]

[R]egressives have no interest in preserving or protecting our system of government. To the contrary, they show every sign of wanting to be rid of it.

In fact, regressives in Congress have substituted partisanship for patriotism, placing party loyalty above loyalty to America.

The GOP’s highest-ranking member of Congress has said his “number one aim” is to unseat President Obama. For more than three years congressional Republicans have marched in lockstep, determined to do just that. They have brooked no compromise.

They couldn’t care less if they mangle our government in pursuit of their partisan aims. Senate Republicans have used the filibuster more frequently in this Congress than in any congress in history.

[…]

So when regressives talk about “preserving and protecting” the nation, be warned: They mean securing our borders, not securing our society.

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SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE: The $71 Billion Break: Why Reforming Religious Subsidies Will Benefit Us All

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Now more than ever, the United States needs to change its laws surrounding religious subsidies. Last year, the state of Florida cut over $1.3 billion from the budget meant for public schools as well as $1.1 billion for police and firefighter pensions. If Florida had collected property taxes on religious institutions, the revenue would have been $2.2 Billion, almost enough to cover both of these budgetary expenses. In fact, the debate over religious tax exemptions has recently been distilled down to one number: 71 billion dollars. That’s the total amount that the government forgoes every year in religious subsidies, and clearly, there are places that this money could be put to use.

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h/t: Planet Atheism

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ATHEISM: “Afterlife”

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  **** MUST WATCH **** MUST WATCH **** MUST WATCH **** MUST WATCH ****

h/t: Planet Atheism

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CATHOLIC CHURCH & CHILD RAPE: U.S. Catholic Priest Found Guilty in Child Abuse Case

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(Reuters) – A monsignor who oversaw hundreds of priests in the Philadelphia Archdiocese was found guilty on Friday of one count of endangering the welfare of a child, making him the first senior U.S. Roman Catholic Church official to be convicted for covering up child sex abuse.

[…]

Barbara Dorris, outreach director for Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said the verdict put the Church on notice that it can no longer “shield and protect” abusive priests and expect to get away with it.

[…]

Lynn’s job was supervising 800 priests, including investigating sex abuse claims from 1992 to 2004, in the nation’s sixth largest archdiocese, with 1.5 million members.

Instead of looking out for children, prosecutors said, he chose to protect the Church from scandal and potential loss of financial support.

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MISOGYNISTIC BIGOTRY: Thom Hartmann / “The Defenders of Patriarchy at it again . . . ”

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 “I’m flattered that you’re all so interested in my vagina, but no means no.”
~ Rep Lisa Brown (D)

SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE: Thom Hartmann / “School & Religious Freedom Dying in Louisiana”

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PHILOSOPHY: Stars, Planets and the Meaningless Life

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This morning you woke up, got yourself through the morning routine and somehow managed to haul yourself to work. You did this yesterday and you will do it again tomorrow. The days come and they go. You do your best. You try not to hurt anyone, try to be helpful. But sometimes — just sometimes — the fog of real and imagined urgencies parts. Staring across the abyss of your own brief time on this world, you wonder, “Does any of this matter? Does any of it matter at all?”

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