Tag Archives: Politics

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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CHRISTIAN CHILD ABUSE (INTELLECTUAL STERILIZATION): Teaching Ignorance: The Continuing Infiltration of Creationism is Dumbing Down our Youth

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Mental Abuse…

I happen to agree with Dr. Richard Dawkin’s statement that teaching creationism to children is akin to child abuse. Lying to a child by teaching them that creationism in any of its forms is based on facts is pathetically inadequate because it is not just anti-science, but blatant scientific fraud.

Graduating classes are being sent into the world without a proper education, and countless students are being lied to and the core of the problem is ignorance on a national level. A recent survey by Gallup revealed that acceptance of creationism is on the rise and a majority of Americans are against evolution being taught in school, or at least in favor of providing ”specific evidence“ that supports creationism, creation science, intelligent design, etc. Apparently, the development of critical thinking skills is not important.

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Creationism in any of its forms is not science but a religious doctrine that says “God did it.” The impact of teaching it in our classes results in the dumbing down of our kids, and is a direct insult to our educational system which should advance according to cumulative knowledge.

Truly, a new age is dawning. A very old new age. We seem to have moved, in many areas, from the twentieth century and about to embark upon the eighth.

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CORPORATE CAPITALISM: Bill Moyers / Jamie Dimon’s ‘Family Reunion’ With the Senate Banking Committee

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In a preview of this weekend’s Moyers & Company, I talk with What’s the Matter With Kansas? author Thomas Frank about the friendly faces greeting Jamie Dimon when he appeared before the Senate Banking Committee this morning. Seven members of the committee were big recipients of money from the megabank.

Frank describes the revolving door of employment between government and corporate America, especially when it comes to Congressional staffers-turned-lobbyists.

“Staffers know they could drop what they’re doing and go work for a lobby firm and make fantastic money… They want to please these companies — even when they don’t work for those companies – because that’s their future employer and everybody knows it.”

Watch video here . . .

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SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE: Louisiana Lunacy: Tens of Millions to be Spent on Faith-based Education

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SCHOOLS run along faith guidelines have hit the jackpot big time following Louisiana’s decision to siphon tens of millions of tax dollars out public schools and into religious institutions where only creationism will be taught.

In what is described here as “the nation’s boldest experiment in privatizing public education”, the state will pay private industry, businesses owners and church pastors to educate children.

Starting this fall, thousands of poor and middle-class kids will get vouchers covering the full cost of tuition at more than 120 private schools across Louisiana, including small, Bible-based church schools.

Said Governor Bobby Jindal, a Republican who muscled the plan through the legislature this spring over fierce objections from Democrats and teachers unions:

“We are changing the way we deliver education. We are letting [some of the most notoriously uneducated] parents [in the country] decide what’s best for their children, not government.”

Jindal is a [converted] devout Catholic, and this is what he believes:

“As Christians, we’re secure in the knowledge that in the Book of Life, our God wins. He gets off that cross. He beats Satan. We’re not called to be despondent. We are called to be salt and light and to be planting the seeds of the gospel.”

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h/t: The Atheism News Magazine