- Baghdad Marching Steadily Towards Civil War, One Execution-Style Murder at a Time
Extrajudicial, mob-style killings appear to be increasing in frequency in Bagdad. Thursday's murder and body-dumping on a farm of 18 Sunnis (including a local province official) after their arrest by folks in "military style uniforms", suggesting the imprimateur of Shia ethnic hate under color of law enforcement/military, follows three separate incidents of virtually the same murder/body dump variety occurring just one day before. Add this to the bombings that left 29 dead as well, and it is clear that the Bush Administration's misadventure in Iraq that left 100,000 dead (including 66,000 civilians) all in the name of taking out Sadaam Hussein because he once insulted Papa Doc Bush did that country no demonstrable good, and may have possibly enabled renewed unspeakable harm: the sectarian violence between Shia and Sunni that has in the past left tens of thousands dead.
- A Must-Read, No Matter What Your Religion (Even it's No Religion):
Whether you're Catholic, lapsed Catholic, never was Catholic or won't ever be Catholic, Pope Francis' first Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Guadium, issued this week, is a must read. (All 217 pages of it.) Not only does the Pope set forth a vision of the gospel that is thorough and decidedly non-Westernized in its utter rejection of materialism, consumerism and selfishness, he indiscriminately (more than 100 times!) uses throughout one of the English languages' dirtiest words (going by how rarely it is uttered by most people, especially those in politics and in power): poor. Here's one of my favorites: With this in mind, I encourage financial experts and political leaders to ponder the words of one of the sages of antiquity: “Not to share one’s wealth with the poor is to steal from them and to take away their livelihood. It is not our own goods which we hold, but theirs.” (Don't you feel naughty just reading that? Gives me chills.) Now, if we could get our President, Congresscritters and every politician on the planet to install the Pope App so they can hear these words on an hourly basis (or at least compel them to receive his Twitter feed, @Pontifex; the Pope is nothing if not social-media savvy!) we might get somewhere making a dent in global poverty.
- Food Banks Can't Keep Up, Not Surprisingly, Since November 1
Right now, in the war between human dignity and the wages of poverty, poverty is winning handily. As the New York Times reported the day before Thanksgiving, and as NBC is reporting the day after Thanksgiving, food banks are being pushed to their limits trying to meet the ever-increasing need of the poor for food just to survive since the inexcusable November 1 cuts in Food Stamps took effect. And to think it's going to get worse, not better. All the ACA health care in the world doesn't do people any good if they are starving.
- Retail Workers Having to Serve When They Can't Provide Shames us All:
IMO the "black" in Black Friday should stand for more than the retail world's "our books are finally in the black" reference. It should also stand for "black mood". That is the mood of many underpaid, overworked, and definitely underappreciated retail workers on Black Friday and throughout the holiday season. And no wonder: as the linked article makes clear, it's hard being cheerful after spending all day helping frenzied consumers buy even modest things knowing that the person behind the counters helping folks get their shopping freak can't even afford for their own children despite working, at times, more than one job. Fortunately, Walmart workers continue, despite corporate lies and retaliation, to show another way to react to Black Friday.
- What's the Excuse Not to Raise the Minimum Wage Again?
As the saying goes, where there's a will, there's a way. Well, recent polling makes clear that there clearly is will, and majority consensus (yes, national as in "including even those damned Republicans") that the minimum wage must be raised. So now, let's get busy with the way: local and state-level enactments accomplishing what all the politicians in Washington DC from President Obama on down can't manage to get done. We can, in that, emulate Seattle, Prince Georges and Montgomery Counties in Maryland (and San Francisco, which got its raise done in 2003) and put boots on the ground for the campaigning and/or ballot initiates needed to increase the local minimum wage. Now that's how you start a movement.
- Yet Another Chink in the Dodd-Frank Armor:
The "risk retention" rule sought to limit the possibility of another financial crisis by requiring that lenders and syndicators keep a meaningful financial stake in the loans and investment vehicles they market, and was one of the many bright spots of Dodd Frank. Unfortunately, like other key elements of Dodd Frank that have been weakened, the risk retention rule is now in danger of being largely nullified through regulation, especially that which will make it far easier to deem a mortgage "qualified" and thus allowing the exceptions to ultimately swallow the rule. This unfortunate development is thanks to an unholy alliance between folks whose hearts really are in the right place (affordable housing advocates opposed to the minimum 20% down payment requirement because of the impact on access to credit by otherwise creditworthy minority borrowers) and those whose hearts are made up entirely of dollar signs (the banks, lenders and securitization trust managers because why should they now have to face financial risk when so far homeowners and government have borne the entirety of it so far?). Given that this might end up resulting in almost every residential mortgage being "qualified" (and thus exempt from the risk retention rule under Dodd Frank and the consequences for issuing bad loans), it looks like the 1% is poised for yet another victory against Main Street. /ffs
- Dinesh D'Souza: STILL a Racist
What is it with racists not having the cojones to take the heat their racist actions deservedly bring upon them? Not only did this holiday week see the latest conflagration in the never-ending sure-there's-racist-behavior-but-there-are-no-racists-war that has gone at Daily Kos for years, but Dinesh D'Souza (aka the most IGNANT non-white racist on the planet) tweeted to the world that he was thankful on Thanksgiving Day not because white folks all over America lap his IGNANT bullshit up and he gets paid handsomely for it, but instead because "America is big enough and great enough to survive the Trayvon Martin in the White House." Of course, D'Souza deleted the tweet rather than defend his racism, proving once yet again that D'Souza is not the man that either President Obama is or Trayvon Martin (RIP) was.
- 9 Days Later, Illinois Man and Dog are Reunited:
You can't get more holiday spirit than this: Separated for 9 days following the tornado that destroyed their town in Washington Illinois, Jacob Montgomery and his best friend, six-month old Dexter, were reunited. They are camping at a friend's until they find a new home, but at least they are together. (I haven't had such an 'awww gee" moment since Barbara Garcia found her dog, Bouncy, while being interviewed on camera following the tornado that devastated Moore, Oklahoma earlier this year.)
- The Gap Knows Racism when It Sees It, And Takes a Stand:
Even businesses with mediocre at best, crappy at worst, corporate citizenship records can get one right every now and then where being anti-racist is concerned (begging the question of why many so-called liberals have such trouble!) . Such is the case with The Gap, and its reaction to the racist defacement of one of the most visually compelling ads it has ever issued: a portrait of Sikh actor and jewelry designer Waris Ahluwalia. After the company learned on Twitter that the ad had been defaced with racist and ethnocentric anti-Arab bullshit (substituting the words "Make Bombs!" for the ad's "Make Love" theme and adding"Please stop driving taxis"), The Gap not only immediately sought information about where this act had occurred, but it changed its corporate Twitter logo in solidarity. It responded equally quickly to another defacement with the words "Bin Laden" written across Ahluwalia's forehead. Baby steps? Yes, but that's how you do anti-racist when you're serious. (Here's hoping that similar sensibilities in corporate will ultimately prevail and The Gap will stop opposing labor reforms necessary to ensure the safety of the nonwhite people all over the globe that sell its clothes.)