Principled Progressive will now be the permanent home of the daily headlines formerly published on the “Sun State Activist” page. Check back for news headlines every morning Monday through Friday, as well as original opinion, commentary and other stories you need to know.
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THE FALL FROM GRACE OF HELEN THOMAS—AND THE DISGRACE OF AMERICAN JOURNALISM. (The Rag Blog)
( Image from Mediate.com courtesy of “The Rag Blog”)
Danny Schechter describes as the “media hit job of 2010″ the sidelining not only by the White House but by mainstream media of the participation of the woman widely known as the scourge of Presidents by virtue of her searching questions at press conferences. Her downfall came when the recurring and false charges against her as “anti-Semitic” because of her criticism of Israel and of U.S. policy in support of that country reached a crescendo with the Israel lobby and of forces in the White House, including the President who labelled some of her anti-Israeli remarks “reprehensible.”
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WOULD THE U.S. WHITE HOUSE BE TURNED INTO A HOMLESS SHELTER IF A HURRICANE SHOULD HIT THE D.C. AREA? (Counterpunch)
Not likely, but the equivalent of that occurred in Venezuela after a devastating flood there, and President Hugo Chavez so used the presidential palace. This incident highlights the difference in behavior of governments in the U.S. and Venezuela and, says Mike Whitney, shows why the U.S. government “hates Chavez so much,” as demonstrated in recent WikiLeaks indications of continued U.S. efforts to reduce Chavez’ power within the country. Chavez has used that power to counter corporate dominance and work toward the re-distribution of wealth and services for the poor. What’s not to hate about that?
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CONSERVATIVES AROUND OBAMA PRESIDENCY MAY DO MUSICAL CHAIRS. (New York Times)
After Rahm Emanuel resigned as White House Chief of Staff to run for mayor of Chicago, liberals had hoped that a more progressive-minded replacement might be appointed. Instead, Obama is said to be giving consideration to appointment of William Daley, former Secretary of Commerce in the Clinton administration, brother of outgoing Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, and a major executive of Wall Street giant JP MorganChase . William Daley establishes his conservative credentials by his opinion that the 2010 elections represented a political shift from the left to the center left. As the French say, “plus ca change, plus c’est meme chose.”
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SOUTH CAROLINA LEGISLATURE TAKES UP THE BIGGEST PROBLEM FACING ITS CITIZENS: SEXTING TEENAGERS. (McClatchy DC)
Bills are filed in state legislature that would prohibit texting by children of photographs that depict them “in a state of sexual activity or a state of sexually explicit nudity.”This may sound severe but, hey kids, it’s still all right to be as raunchy and sexually explicit as you like in your text messages, just be sure they are given in words and not in pictures because, after all, “words can never hurt you.”
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THE WICKED WITCH CALLED GERRYMANDER IS DEAD IN FLORIDA—OR IS IT? (Florida Independent)
Florida voters may have thought that, by virtue of passage of a “fair districts” amendment requiring re-drawing of congressional district lines to make them “compact” and to follow boundaries of counties and/or cities would allowed them to get rid of the mishappen districts used to maintain GOP dominance in congressional seats in a state with more registered Democrats than Republicans. But immediately after the election, two members of Congress, one an African American Democrat, one a Republican Hispanic, filed a suit claiming that such re-districting would deprive minorities of representation in Congress. The ACLU has now entered the case on behalf of saving fair districting from the dubious claims of its promoting ethnic discrimination.
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This is a case of technology moving faster than parents’ awareness. I don’t think a lot of parents are as aware as they should be of what their children are doing on their cell phones. This can be dangerous, detrimental. There have been cases of children committing suicide over this. We want to encourage awareness, as much for parents as for kids, and help them understand what sexting is and its dangers.
Joan Brady, author of bill in South Carolina to out-law transmitting of sexually explicit photographs by children aged 12-17.
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