THE HEADLINES

(Photo: AP)

THE “FUNDAMENTAL” LESSONS OF TRAGEDY IN NORWAY.

(TruthDig)

Chris Hedges writes a blistering critique of the new kind of “terrorism” that reared its toxic and murderous head in Norway last week, a terrorism not of “Islamists,” but made up of the zealots and extremists of the Christian right and secular fundamentalists. Armed with a chilling amalgamation of “moral certitude” and “self-worship,” these very strange bedfellows have inspired a culture of individuals like Anders Breivik with superheated rhetoric and dire predictions of the secret and underground threat of Islamist ideology. Whether religious fanatics of secular crusaders, these “fundamentalists” seek their “Garden of Eden” through “violence” and “apocalypse.”

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“WHAT WOULD JESUS CUT?”: PRESIDENT OBAMA GETS LOBBIED BY A HIGHER POWER IN CONTENTIOUS DEBT FIGHT AND A BID TO SLASH “ENTITLEMENT” SPENDING

(Washington Post)

With the nation only days from what is predicted to be a disastrous federal default on the government’s debt, proposals and counterproposals to slash spending and strike a bargain between Republicans and Democrats have been fling through Congress and across President Obama’s desk. Most have detailed massive cuts to government spending and drastic changes to safety net programs like Medicare and Social Security. With the president continuing to lurch to the right in accepting even deeper cuts, a new group made up of Christian churches and other religious organization has a question for Obama: “What would Jesus cut?” The query is part of a new ad campaign put together to ask the president and Congress to scale back proposed cuts for programs like Medicaid, food stamps, or other aid for poor and low-income Americans. The coalition includes top black and Hispanic Christian leaders, as well as conservative religious organizations, both influential constituencies to the respective political parties in Washington.

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THE GREAT RACIAL WEALTH DIVIDE IN AMERICA GETS WIDER — A LOT WIDER — IN THE WAKE OF RECESSION.

(Christian Science Monitor)

It has been at least 25 years since the United States has seen a larger gap in wealth between white households and black and Hispanic households. While the great recession of the late 2000′s hammered most Americans, minorities felt the effects much more significantly and with more dire results. Between 2005 and 2009, the median wealth for African-American and Hispanic households in the US fell by 52 and 66 percent respectively. White households saw their net wealth drop by just 16 percent, creating the biggest gap in decades. Besides inherent inequality in the overall American economy, the biggest reason for the steep decline in minority wealth and the disparity with the decline in white wealth lies with housing. Targeted by banks and lenders with subprime mortgages and other risky loans, and more likely to have their home as their largest financial asset, minority households were devastated as the housing market crashed. Added to the housing crisis are unemployment numbers that are much worse for minorities. With jobs still scarce and housing yet to recover, experts say that the gap is likely to increase.

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AMERICA’S DEEP CHASM BETWEEN PUBLIC OPINION ON ABORTION RIGHTS AND PUBLIC POLICY ON ABORTION RIGHTS.

(US News & World Report)

From Congress to statehouses across America, the country is undergoing what activists call the “most aggressive legislative assaults on women’s health and rights in a generation.” Especially since the November 2010 elections, new governors and state legislatures with Republican and moderate Democrat majorities have passed a laundry list of restrictive laws and regulations with the intent to deny women access to abortions. But a new poll finds that these measures go directly against a majority of public opinion. While lawmakers are going after abortion rights with new vigor and hostility, most Americans say they support a women’s right to choose than ever before. And the national crusade against funding for women’s health clinics run by Planned Parenthood was similarly rejected by over half of Americans. The numbers suggest a pending clash of cultures and ideology between a majority of the country and the minority of conservative politicians seeking to significantly restrict women’s rights.

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LEGALIZING SAME-SEX MARRIAGE IN NEW YORK IS A “GREAT OPPORTUNITY” FOR FLORIDA.

(Reuters)

Some in Florida are making an effort to seize this “opportunity” in the wake of legislation granting marriage rights to gay couples in New York State. Not by following suit and ending discrimination against same-sex couples by becoming the latest state to recognize gay marriages. No, Florida’s governor is still actively seeking to restore the state’s previous ban on gay adoptions, and many conservative activists in Florida are working to enshrine a ban on gay marriage in state law. But local communities and business owners are seeing dollar signs in their heads now that gay couples can marry in New York; and seek tropical locales for their honeymoons. The city of Fort Lauderdale and other south Florida cities are looking to recoup money lost in the standard tourism business thanks to the recession by wooing same-sex newlyweds from New York. With an established gay community and a large number of New York retirees and “snowbirds” already in place, the beaches of south Florida’s Atlantic coast are in prime position to see a surge in visitors.

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