FPL Daily News Reel: July 30, 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.
Poverty in America: Why Can’t We End It?
By Peter Edelman — New York Times, Opinion
The first thing needed if we’re to get people out of poverty is more jobs that pay decent wages. There aren’t enough of these in our current economy. The need for good jobs extends far beyond the current crisis; we’ll need a full-employment policy and a bigger investment in 21st-century education and skill development strategies if we’re to have any hope of breaking out of the current economic malaise.
Nuns Weigh Response to Scathing Vatican Rebuke
By Laurie Goodstein — New York Times
The Leadership Conference says it is considering at least six options that range from submitting graciously to the takeover to forming a new organization independent of Vatican control…
GOP Says Coverage For The Uninsured Is No Longer The Priority
By Julie Rovner — NPR
They say it’s more like class warfare: Republicans want to paint the health care law as requiring people who already have health insurance to help pay for those who don’t.
GOP may let contraception rule take effect without a fight
By Jennifer Haberkorn and Kathyrn Smith — Politico
The House did vote earlier this month to repeal the entire health care reform law, which includes the requirement to cover contraceptives as a necessary preventive health services. But it has yet to take a vote that singles out the contraception policy itself.
Voter ID laws could swing states
By Emily Schultheis — Politico
The laws tend to disproportionately affect young voters and minorities — key Obama demographics — so the new restrictions will have an outsize impact on Democratic turnout.
You Can’t Beat Voter ID with Facts
By Jamelle Bouie — American Prospect
Information to debunk the myth of voter fraud doesn’t address the normative point that we ought to protect the integrity of the vote, regardless of whether fraud is likely. At best, liberals offer information to debunk the myth of voter fraud. But that’s not enough.
New Arizona abortion law complicates fetal-defect cases
By Alia Beard Rau — Arizona Republic
Under a new Arizona abortion law that takes effect Thursday, more babies with fatal fetal defects are expected to be carried to term, even though they will die within minutes, hours or days. But more will also be done to help their families get through the trauma of losing a child.
Consign Bush’s ‘torture memos’ to history
By Morris D. Davis — Los Angeles Times, Opinion
As the National Religious Campaign Against Torture…attests, it runs contrary to the teachings of all religions and dishonors all faiths.
Combating Islamophobia: At long last, a sense of decency
By Charles C. Haynes — Washington Post, Opinion
The ugly attack on Huma Abedin by five members of Congress – based on unsubstantiated allegations from an anti-Muslim group – may have been the step too far that finally exposes the anti-Muslim movement for what it is.
Church refuses to marry black couple
By Bob Allen — Associated Baptist Press
“The church congregation had decided no black could be married at that church and that if [the pastor] went on to marry her, then they would vote him out the church,” Charles Wilson told the NBC affiliate.
Feel the Burn: Making the 2012 Heat Wave Matter
By Mark Hertsgaard — The Nation
There is still time to trigger the reaction that would make the 2012 heat wave a landmark event, but the impetus will have to come from mobilized citizens.