Religious Belief Increases Social Ills
The London Times has an interesting story about an article published in an academic journal. According to the study, belief in and worship of God may actually contribute to social ills.
Read moreCrime
Issues related to crimes and criminals.
Why Progressives Hate George Bush?
By any objective standard, this administration is a dismal failure and has made a mockery of all the things I love about America. Things like fair elections, habeus corpus, privacy, separation of church and state, care for the less fortunate, protecting our homeland, respecting the environment, curbing the power of corporations, standing for human rights, transparency in government, respect for our military, and so many many more. Bush is steering our country back to the pre-New Deal rich-man’s playground of the Robber Baron era, while simultaneously squandering any post-9/11 worldwide goodwill and alienating what few allies we have left.
Read moreWhite House May Have Torpedoed Abramoff Corruption Probe
In November 2002, the U.S. attorney in Guam, Frederick A. Black, notified Justice Department officials that he was opening an investigation into Jack Abramoff’s lobbying activities with Guam judges. Days later, Black was demoted and barred from pursuing public corruption cases, ending his investigation.
Read moreYou're Still Paying Mike Brown's FEMA Salary
Mike Brown may have resigned earlier this month as FEMA director amid intense public criticism, but taxpayers are still paying his salary. Brown remains on the FEMA payroll as a consultant so that the agency can receive a “proper download of his experience.”
Read moreCongress Wants More Giveaways to Big Oil
Bush’s allies in Congress are using high gas prices as another excuse for massive giveaways to the oil industry. The Los Angeles Times reports that conservative “leaders in Congress announced plans to introduce new legislation or amend existing measures to bestow more tax breaks on the industry and provide other incentives left out of the big energy bill Bush signed into law in August.”
Read moreDefining Characteristics of Facist Governments – Scary
The reconstruction of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama provides a fascinating picture of how the Bush administration actually works. His government represents an odd melding of corporatism and cronyism, more in tune with the workings of 1930s Italy or Spain. In fact, if one looks at fascist regimes of the 20th century, it is appears that the Bush administration draws more from these sources than traditional conservatism.
Read moreKatrina: Republican Excuse to Continue Regressive Agenda
With great fanfare, and recalling the “Gingrich Revolution” of the 1990s, House conservatives yesterday proposed a broad set of spending cuts they said would help offset the costs of the Katrina reconstruction effort. Their plan reduces the budget by $500 billion over 10 years, and does so in large part by dismantling programs that invest in middle- and working-class Americans.
Read moreHaliburton Taking Good Care of Our Troops
Not only did Halliburton’s KBR subsidiary serve U.S. troops in Iraq spoiled food (sometimes a year past the expiration date), but also contaminated water from Iraq’s Euphrates River, containing “numerous pathogenic organisms” at nearly two times the normal contamination levels of untreated water. “[R]aw sewage is routinely dumped less than two miles from the water intake location.”
Read moreTexas Rep. Joe Barton Finds Silver Lining of Katrina Disaster
In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, lawmakers of all political stripes have used the “political climate suddenly altered by the hurricane to try to advance long-stalled, sometimes controversial initiatives.” For example, Texas conservative Rep. Joe L. Barton is once again fighting to open up fragile coastal regions to offshore oil drilling, an idea that languished in Congress earlier this year.
Read moreSen. Frist; Insider Trading Or Sudden Bout of Ethics?
Stock prices for Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) fell 15 percent in late July, but not before Sen. Majority Leader Bill Frist unloaded his family’s shares. HCA is the nation’s largest for-profit hospital chain, founded by Frist’s father and directed by Frist’s brother, who is also a leading stockholder.
Read moreWar On Terror Over; Gonzalez Pursues Porn
Taking his cues from former Attorney General John Ashcroft, Alberto Gonzalez has decided to make the War on Porn “one of the top priorities” of the AG’s office. In early August, the FBI’s Washington Field Office sent around a job listing to recruit eight federal agents, a supervisor and support staff to take on “manufacturers and purveyors” of pornography.
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