In the past few months I’ve been saddened by the pain and confusion the deep political divide has caused in so many of us across the U.S. Just before the November election, the NPR show This American Life devoted an entire episode, which they called "Red State, Blue State," to this phenomenon.
I just spoke with my dad in western Massachusetts. He and my mom are praying that hurricane Sandy doesn't cause too much damage or take any lives. My dad isn't what I could call a religious man—I'm not sure he believes in the efficacy of prayer— but he is an observant Jew who attends morning minyan, so praying does comes naturally to him.
Sooraya Graham, a devout Muslim and an art student in British Columbia, took a photo of a woman draped in niqab and abaya (face veil and full-body covering), folding a bra while doing her laundry. Needless to say this photo sparked great controversy: a Muslim woman doing laundry? That must be an insult to Islam. Or maybe it was the bra. I don’t know.
I just read that House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) vowed today not to raise taxes on the rich even if President Obama wins in November. So why vote? If the system is rigged against the 99 percent; if the GOP is blatantly in the pocket of the mega–wealthy and devoted to their betterment and not the welfare of the country as a whole, why vote?
As the election season rolls on I become more jaded. I am troubled most by the absence of truth in our politics. Facts don’t matter in America anymore. Truth doesn’t matter in America any more. Maybe it never did, but as Romney pollster Neil Newhouse putsit: “We’re not going to let our campaign be dictated by fact-checkers.” 'F' the truth.
I’m sitting at the counter in Noshville, Nashville’s New York-style Jewish deli, talking to a well-dressed fellow who tells me he’s a lawyer. Our conversation turns to the economy, and I thought I’d share his thoughts with you as best as I can recall them.
In 1968 Mitt Romney allegedly led an alleged assault on an allegedly gay student at his private high school academy during which Mitt allegedly had his alleged friends pin down the allegedly gay student while Mitt allegedly cut off his hair with a pair of scissors. Is anyone surprised that the alleged lame stream liberal effete media would be on this story like glitter on Glee? Of course not. It fits right into their narrative of a heartless Mitt terrorizing homosexuals in his teens, dogs in his twenties, and workers for the rest of his life.
A new and more accurate way of thinking about and engaging issues of religion and politics, exploring why religious belief so often leaves to violence.
A Film by Helena Norberg-Hodge, Steven Gorelick & John Page
Sam Keen attempts a worldwide "Dow" — an indicator of political, economic, and environmental justice for all. We're asking you: What works? What's missing?
