Hyperbole may seem like a patriotic tradition, but when it comes to extreme language, English just doesn’t cut it.
"One state where left-leaning voters do have greater choice today—and their own political voice—is Vermont. Thanks to several decades of persistent organizing, the Vermont Progressive Party (VPP) now boasts seven members in the legislature—two senators and five representatives, some of whom affiliate with the Democratic Party as well."
— By Steve Early, from In These Times.
Reprinted by Utne Reader, September/October 2012.
"Whether President Obama gets his second term or Mitt Romney enters the Oval Office, there’s a third candidate no one’s paying much attention to, and that candidate is guaranteed to be the one clear winner of election 2012: the U.S. military and our ever-surging national security state."
— William J. Astore, from TomDispatch
Reprinted in Utne Reader, September/October 2012
(Source: romneyswhiteboard)
"To achieve true prosperity, we must create economies grounded in a living systems logic that recognizes three fundamental truths: The economy’s only valid purpose is to serve life. Equality is foundational to healthy human communities and a healthy human relationship to Earth’s biosphere. Money is a means, not an end."
— David Korten, “America’s Deficit Attention Disorder.”
"
The deficit-hawks recoil in horror and assure us that we can reduce government debt while leaving the financial assets of the rich untouched. It makes perfect sense in the fantasy world of pure finance in which profits and the financial assets of the rich grow perpetually even as growing inequality and wasteful material consumption deplete the social capital of community and the natural capital of Earth’s biosphere.
A viable human future, however, must be based on living world realities rather than financial world fantasies.
"— David Korten, “America’s Deficit Attention Disorder.”
![The Alchemy of Sports and Politics
For athletes, acting on political principle usually carries a heavy penalty. […] This was certainly true for Tommie Smith and John Carlos—the Olympic medalists whose podium Black Power salute in 1968 brought international attention to the black American struggle. […] The same was true for Muhammad Ali, who was famously banned from boxing after refusing to support U.S. actions in Vietnam.
Read more: http://www.utne.com/arts-culture/the-alchemy-of-sports-and-politics.aspx#ixzz1tH7XHDYi
Image by Emily Faulk, licensed under Creative Commons.](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m35nyxFOfu1qap6kyo1_500.jpg)
The Alchemy of Sports and Politics
For athletes, acting on political principle usually carries a heavy penalty. […] This was certainly true for Tommie Smith and John Carlos—the Olympic medalists whose podium Black Power salute in 1968 brought international attention to the black American struggle. […] The same was true for Muhammad Ali, who was famously banned from boxing after refusing to support U.S. actions in Vietnam.
Read more: http://www.utne.com/arts-culture/the-alchemy-of-sports-and-politics.aspx#ixzz1tH7XHDYi
Image by Emily Faulk, licensed under Creative Commons.
Government Works: Why Reputation Management Could Boost the Progressive Agenda
“Four years ago, we really could be hopeful about change. In 2012, the election will simply be about trying to tread water and making sure we don’t drown. We can bemoan this (and I do). But we can also study it, think about it, try to draw lessons from it. The obvious lesson is that one election can’t change the country in a more progressive direction. Well, then, what can?”
Like other bike-friendly cities, Minneapolis owes a lot to federal investment in cycling infrastructure. And that investment looks perilously insecure.
Last month, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee voted to eliminate federal funding for bicycling projects and infrastructure. As PRI reports, last year, federal support amounted to $1.2 billion—less than 2 percent of all transportation spending—that went toward projects like the Safe Routes to School program as well as Complete Streets initiatives aimed at maintaining safe spaces for bikes and pedestrians on roadways. In the House Committee version, all of this would have been taken out. To the relief of many, a Senate version introduced early in March restored this funding, and it is likely to pass this week. The close call served as a reminder of how important federal dollars are in maintaining and expanding cycling options for city dwellers—and how much Washington’s spending priorities have recently shifted.
