Few share our privilege, power and freedom – hence responsibility
“An artist is above all a human being, profoundly human to the core. If the artist can’t feel everything that humanity feels, if the artist isn’t capable of loving until he forgets himself and sacrifices himself if necessary, if he won’t put down his magic brush and head the fight against the oppressor, then he isn’t a great artist.”
-Mexican painter Diego Rivera, 125 today.
US military occupation forces in Iraq and Afganistan under Commander-in-Chief Obama suffered 75 combat casualties in the week ending December 6, as the official casualty total rose to 111,152 The total includes 79,391 casualties since the US invaded Iraq in March, 2003 (Operations “Iraqi Freedom” and “New Dawn”), and 31,761 since the US invaded Afganistan… Continue reading December 7, 2011
46 million Americans are now receiving food assistance. How is this issue swept under the rug?
The Governor’s current favorite cereals are Brown Sugar Chex Bites and Quaker Oatmeal Squares.
-Politico’s Mike Allen, bringing us the important campaign issues of the day.
NOTE: The Pentagon failed to update last week, so this includes two weeks. US military occupation forces in Iraq and Afganistan under Commander-in-Chief Obama suffered 145 combat casualties in the two weeks ending November 29, as the official casualty total rose to 111,077 The total includes 79,390 casualties since the US invaded Iraq in March,… Continue reading November 29, 2011
So who gets listened to in national debates, those who have been consistently right on all the key points, or those who have gotten things as wrong as you possibly can? Okay, we know the answer to that, but this knowledge is important. We are dealing with people who have no argument; they are relying on their control of public debate to get their way.
-Economist Dean Baker, on getting the truth out.
It’s not the ’60s anymore. The protests of that era were rooted in affluence. Too often in those years, the left cut itself off from the concerns of the white working class and disdained its values. That’s the history the right wants to revive.
-EJ Dionne, Jr explains a key difference.
This is a conversation we haven’t been having for the past 30 years… [W]hite working-class voters are supposed to be riled up against Democrats for policies such as affirmative action and gun control. They’re not supposed to get angry with Republicans for voting to bail out the banks and then flatly ruling out the idea of relief for underwater borrowers.
-Eugene Robinson, “Still Occupied“
US military occupation forces in Iraq and Afganistan under Commander-in-Chief Obama suffered 48 combat casualties in the week ending November 15, as the official casualty total rose to 110,933 The total includes 79,387 casualties since the US invaded Iraq in March, 2003 (Operations “Iraqi Freedom” and “New Dawn”), and 31,546 since the US invaded Afganistan… Continue reading November 16, 2011
What is missing from America is a healthy fear in the hearts and minds of the most powerful political and financial factions of the consequences of their continued pilfering, corporatism, and corrupt crony capitalism, and only this sort of movement — untethered from the pacifying rules of our political and media institutions — can re-impose that healthy fear.
-Glenn Greenwald on the importance of OCCUPY