linked stuff
Jan. 5th, 2010 06:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hnpccAmericans Role Seen in Uganda Anti-Gay Push.
I'm with the commenter featured on the front page:
"I don't think any of them were duped by those in Uganda. When you preach a gospel of hatred do you expect love to blossom?" Daniel, Washington.
Also, if I were the taxi driver featured in the piece I'd be worried - if this is a new front in the global "clash of civilisations" then he's likely to be next up against the wall. What with being Muslim in a country that seems to be becoming rapidly fundamentalist Christian and all.
The American Law Institute has walked away from the death penalty. Interesting as they were the group who basically created the modern framework for it, and they are now arguing that it is hopelessly flawed.
Both pro- and anti- death penalty groups have claimed victory - the pro-group because they didn't come out and actively oppose the death penalty, the anti-group because, well, you can probably guess.
Meanwhile, there are quite a number of Americans whose sole income is food stamps.
"About one in 50 Americans now lives in a household with a reported income that consists of nothing but a food-stamp card."
I guess the good thing is they're not starving, but freaking hell that's a lot of people. Naturally the conservatives have responded as you'd expect:
"“This is craziness,” said Representative John Linder, a Georgia Republican who is the ranking minority member of a House panel on welfare policy. “We’re at risk of creating an entire class of people, a subset of people, just comfortable getting by living off the government.”
Mr. Linder added: “You don’t improve the economy by paying people to sit around and not work. You improve the economy by lowering taxes” so small businesses will create more jobs."
But of course both parties are working together to help fix the current economic crisis gripping the US, right?
Well if California's anything to go by, possibly not.
In California, passing a budget or raising taxes requires a two-thirds majority in both the state's Assembly and its Senate. That need not pose a problem, at least in theory. The state has labored under that restriction for a long time, and handled it with fair grace. But as the historian Louis Warren argues, the vicious political polarization that's emerged in modern times has made compromise more difficult.
...
"That raises a troubling question: What happens when one of the two major parties does not see a political upside in solving problems and has the power to keep those problems from being solved? "
God and I thought the situation here was bad. Demand preferential voting now, it's the only solution! ;-)
I'm with the commenter featured on the front page:
"I don't think any of them were duped by those in Uganda. When you preach a gospel of hatred do you expect love to blossom?" Daniel, Washington.
Also, if I were the taxi driver featured in the piece I'd be worried - if this is a new front in the global "clash of civilisations" then he's likely to be next up against the wall. What with being Muslim in a country that seems to be becoming rapidly fundamentalist Christian and all.
The American Law Institute has walked away from the death penalty. Interesting as they were the group who basically created the modern framework for it, and they are now arguing that it is hopelessly flawed.
Both pro- and anti- death penalty groups have claimed victory - the pro-group because they didn't come out and actively oppose the death penalty, the anti-group because, well, you can probably guess.
Meanwhile, there are quite a number of Americans whose sole income is food stamps.
"About one in 50 Americans now lives in a household with a reported income that consists of nothing but a food-stamp card."
I guess the good thing is they're not starving, but freaking hell that's a lot of people. Naturally the conservatives have responded as you'd expect:
"“This is craziness,” said Representative John Linder, a Georgia Republican who is the ranking minority member of a House panel on welfare policy. “We’re at risk of creating an entire class of people, a subset of people, just comfortable getting by living off the government.”
Mr. Linder added: “You don’t improve the economy by paying people to sit around and not work. You improve the economy by lowering taxes” so small businesses will create more jobs."
But of course both parties are working together to help fix the current economic crisis gripping the US, right?
Well if California's anything to go by, possibly not.
In California, passing a budget or raising taxes requires a two-thirds majority in both the state's Assembly and its Senate. That need not pose a problem, at least in theory. The state has labored under that restriction for a long time, and handled it with fair grace. But as the historian Louis Warren argues, the vicious political polarization that's emerged in modern times has made compromise more difficult.
...
"That raises a troubling question: What happens when one of the two major parties does not see a political upside in solving problems and has the power to keep those problems from being solved? "
God and I thought the situation here was bad. Demand preferential voting now, it's the only solution! ;-)
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no subject
Date: 2010-01-06 06:38 pm (UTC)But I don't.
OT- because of the abundance of snow here in the UK, there's nothing but weather on the news at the moment. Which is _much_ less depressing than usual ;)