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Take that pitchfork down to Wall Street, man!

How have they done this, you ask? Let us count the ways:

• First, our political and business leaders have cheered on the decimation of America's manufacturing industries through trade pacts that open up American workers to competition from countries where workers have no rights and are paid something like negative-five billion cents per year. This has not only led to the destruction of millions of middle-class jobs but has given America an absurd current-account deficit where we basically import cheap crap from China and don't make much of anything ourselves anymore. See this graph:
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Town Square Political Theory Daily Review

From The Nation, a debate of Labor's Future (including Sweeney, Stern, Wilhelm, McEntee, Cohen, and Hoffa). From In These Times, more on Wobblies!, and the religious right wants to include moral values in the debate over how our taxes are spent? Bring it on. Do Democrats need to get religion? Jim Wallis and Susan Jacoby go at it.

From WSWS, an article on secularism and the American Constitution. Christopher Caldwell on the sacred cow of religious rights. An article on Islam and the institutions of a free society. A review of Occidentalism: A Short History of Anti-Westernism.

From LRB, a review of The Indian Mutiny and the British Imagination, and an article on secularism and the American Constitution. Christopher Caldwell on the sacred cow of religious rights. An article on Islam and the institutions of a free society. A review of Occidentalism: A Short History of Anti-Westernism.

From LRB, a review of The Indian Mutiny and the British Imagination, and an article on.

From NYRB, Peter Galbraith on Iraq: Bush's Islamic Republic. Brendan O'Neill on how a risk-averse West has inflamed the terrorism it fears. What turns a man into a terrorist, and what can be done about it? And from Foreign Affairs, an article on How to Help Poor Countries

THOSE CRAZY MUSLIMS      recovering liberal the London bombs.

From NYRB, Peter Galbraith on Iraq: Bush's Islamic Republic. Brendan O'Neill on how a risk-averse West has inflamed the terrorism it fears. What turns a man into a terrorist, and what can be done about it? And from Foreign Affairs, an article on How to Help Poor Countries

democracyarsenal.org

The editorial “Off Course in Iraq," published in the New York Times on July 20 was particularly disheartening. After being disillusioned about the invasion of Iraq and U.S. failures at efforts to reconstruct and bring peace to the country, I thought that at least my efforts working with Iraqi women in the new political system may prove to be a one bright spot in the otherwise dark and dangerous days of the post-Saddam era.

It seems now that even the hollow justification for the intervention in Iraq—to free people from the tyranny of Saddam Hussein, and in particular the women of Iraq—is just an excuse reminiscent of invading because of the Saddam’s nuclear arsenal. In question is the insertion of sharia law into the new constitution. Although there are supposed to be separate provisions depending on your religion, women would be stripped of their right to choose their own husbands, inherit property on the same basis as men and seek court protection if their husbands tire of them and decide to declare them divorced.

Wingnuttery Hall of Fame (So Far)   Sadly, No!

There've been tons of great suggestions for the Wingnuttery Hall of Fame so far. Let's take a look at the highlights...Continue reading "Wingnuttery Hall of Fame (So Far)"

well sir I believe THAT would be crossing the line into the realm of improbability        Fafblog!

Oh, this can't be true!

Spying on you at the library, indefinite detainment, torture, preventive wars on the wrong country, oh sure I can see that. ButRead on...

God is Pro-Choice

via Seeing the Forest

If you believe in free will, God is pro-choice. There is absolutely nothing in the Bible that suggests anything to the contrary. If you accept the concept of free will, then allowing individual choice is a requirement for allowing people to choose between Satan or God. Free will is at the crux of the abortion debate. Martin Luthur broke from the Catholic Church over the issue of free will in his essay, Concerning Christian Liberty. The Catholic Church rejected the idea that God's grace removes freedom from the human will at The Council of Trent. read on

And, Here's Your Tax Cuts...

via All Spin Zone

U.S. Infrastructure Deteriorating, Report Finds

"If we treated our own homes like we treat our infrastructure, we'd all live in shacks," said ASCE president William Henry.

Donald Plusquellic, Democratic mayor of Akron, Ohio, and president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, blamed a lack of political will over many years compounded by the policy of tax cuts pursued by President Bush (news - web sites).

"I don't know of a single tax cut that's replaced a bridge. When that bridge fails killing people, nobody's going to care whether those people were Republicans or Democrats," he said.

That ain't workin' that's the way you do it
Money for nothin' and your chicks for free

Dan Rather retires and the religious right takes its shots!

There can be many things said about Dan Rather, but this one was the most ridiculous we heard all day.

Andrea Lafferty of the Traditional Values Coalition appeared on "Hardball" with Marty Kaplan of the USC Annenberg School of Communications and took her shots at Dan.

Video

Andrea: "I don't think he likes Americans!"

Matthews: "Dan Rather doesn't like Americans?"

Andrea: 'I don't think so. I think he's a grumpy old guy."

Marty: "Andrea, you just made my point about the right wing as well as I could ever possibly make it."

Here are some of the 'values" of TVC:

"Right To Life We also believe the government has the power to take the lives of those who murder others ...

Pornography: Pornography is a progressive addiction that ruins the conscience of the person. Frequently, this person acts out his sexual fantasies by molesting children, raping girls, and committing other sexual crimes—including murder.

Discrimination And Tolerance: We are not tolerant of behaviors that destroy individuals, families, and our culture. Individuals may be free to pursue such behaviors as sodomy, but we will not and cannot tolerate these behaviors. They frequently lead to death.

Love And Hate: The Bible teaches us that we are to love our enemies and do good to those who persecute us.

We've been getting a lot of requests for "The Politnix" music. You can listen free on the site to some of the songs. If you want to make a donation to C&L, go to Topical Rock, where you can download the songs.

Let your soul be your pilot

President, Lookin' Into Souls speaks:

"Well, I'm confident when people realize that there's a chance to vote on a president, they will participate," President Bush said Wednesday when asked whether the participation of Sunni Muslims would be necessary to make the elections free and fair. [...]

As I reminded our citizens prior to the Afghanistan elections, there's a deep desire in every soul to vote and to be free, and to participate in the presidential elections," he said.

In fact, Iraqis will not choose their president directly. They will be voting to choose a National Assembly of 275 members, which will elect from its members a president and two deputies and write a constitution. [Emphasis added, stupidity in the original.]

The article's headline is "Confusion in White House on Aim of Iraq Election," which seems to be a polite way of saying "President unaware of any facts about the upcoming elections in Iraq."

Racism stands tall!