FPL Daily News Reel: July 11, 2012
The FPL News Reel is a daily round-up of the top faith and politics stories in the news. You can sign up for the email version of the News Reel here, subscribe to the RSS feed here, and follow it on twitter at @FPLNewsreel.
The Machine and the Garden
By Eric Liu and Nick Hanauer — New York Times, Opinion
Economies, as social scientists now understand, aren’t simple, linear and predictable, but complex, nonlinear and ecosystemic. An economy isn’t a machine; it’s a garden. It can be fruitful if well tended, but will be overrun by noxious weeds if not.
Food stamp cuts fire up Dems on farm bill
By David Rogers — Politico
Food stamps are fast becoming a flash point for the House farm bill this week — but also an increasingly partisan, even racially tinged debate in Congress over the future of the social safety net in these hard economic times.
House set for second vote to repeal Obama healthcare reform law
By Russell Berman and Elise Viebeck — The Hill
While Democrats compared the move to the film “Groundhog Day,” House Republicans said the vote was in keeping with the promise they made upon taking control of the chamber in 2010.
Rick Scott’s true TB blunder
By Kent Sepkowitz — Salon
The Florida governor’s rejection of Medicaid funds could prove more dangerous than his closure of a TB hospital.
Pa. mayor cuts city workers’ pay to minimum wage
By Michael Rubinkam — Associated Press
“I have guys who qualify for food stamps now,” [Judge] said. “I have guys who don’t know how they are going to pay their mortgage. There are kids working at ice cream stands earning more than their fathers, which is ridiculous.”
The Religious Right, the Bible, and Slavery
By Peter Montgomery — Religion Dispatches
…the religious right doesn’t ignore Bible passages about slavery altogether; it uses them to support anti-worker, anti-union policies.
The politics of race
By Miguel de la Torre — Associated Baptist Press, Opinion
One way of forestalling the inevitable is to restrict and limit the participation of people of color in the voting process, a continuation of this country’s legacy.
DREAMers: Not So Different From Me
By Kyle Dechant — Sojourners, God’s Politics
They, like me, were born in a country other than the United States and were brought here as children…The one major difference between DREAMers and me is that I have a piece of paper validating my experience as a foreign-born American and they do not.
Islamophobia, Sikhophobia and Media Profiling
By Simran Jeet Singh — Huffington Post
A number of different American communities have been impacted by Islamophobia, and practitioners of the Sikh religion make up one of the most adversely affected minority groups. The distinctive physical appearance of typical Sikh males in particular — brown skin, turban, beard — correlates with the stereotypical images of terrorists projected in western media.
Confirmed: Fracking can pollute
By Sarah Laskow — Salon
These pathways do mean…that the natural gas industry can no longer argue that as long as it constructs its wells properly, fracking poses no risk at all to drinking water.
