Summary: Lot’s of hot news, the world changes . Ask any question about these articles. We — and others reading the FM website — will attempt to answer it in the comments. All answers welcomed!
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(1) Quote of the day: about the Tea Party and the Constitution
“Fanaticism consists in redoubling your efforts when you have forgotten your aim.”
— George Santayana, The Life of Reason (volume one)
(2) Quote of the year, as we see history taking place in our daily newspapers
“There are decades when nothing happens; and there are weeks when decades happen.”
– attributed to Lenin
(3) To start the discussion: articles of interest this week
- Sucking up to the rich and powerful: “The Establishment Lives!“, David Brooks, op-ed in The New York Times, 23 September 2008 — Have a small bag handy when reading.
- Welcome to 21st century America: “Feds Falsely Censor Popular Blog For Over A Year, Deny All Due Process, Hide All Details“, Mike Masnick, Tech Dirt, 8 December 2011
- Everybody knows about the banks’ crimes, but the government does nothing: “Treasury’s promise, one year on“, Felix Salmon, Reuters, 8 December 2011
- Everybody knows about the banks’ crimes, but the government does nothing: “Court Cases Revealing Massive Fraud in Mortgage Business“, FireDogLake, 9 December 2011
- Inequality made tangible: “The Walmart Heirs Have The Same Net Worth As The Bottom 30% Of Americans“, Pat Garofalo, ThinkProgress, 9 December 2011
- Death throes of the Constitution: “Indefinite Detention of American Citizens: Coming Soon to Battlefield USA“, Matt Taibbi, Rolling Stone, 9 December 2011
- Disturbing business-as-usual: “Nuclear Agencies Are Wholly Controlled By (and Serve) the Nuclear Industry – Just Like the Fed Is Owned By (and Serves) Its Member Banks“, Washington’s Blog, 11 December 2011
- A snapshot of America: “In the Wake of Protest: One Woman’s Attempt to Unionize Amazon“, Vanessa Veselka, The Atlantic, 12 December 2011 — “Inspired by the WTO protests, a demonstrator took a job in an Amazon warehouse to try and unionize the workers there.” It starts slow, but gets more interesting in the middle.
- “Rethinking Debt“, Jared Bernstein (economist at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities), Democracy (A Journal of Ideas), Winter 2011 — “Washington refuses to understand that debt can be an essential tool for economic growth. Can we overcome this irrational and destructive fear?”
