art

Keystone XL has a Job for You! (video satire)

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[youtube: video=”g4YUVmYBYlA”]
When Keystone XL’s top job recruiter comes to town, he reveals just what types of jobs the controversial oil pipeline would really create. Oil executives like to claim that the Keystone XL would create thousands of jobs. But in a project fueling so many environmental and health risks, only one man is honest enough to say exactly what those jobs would be. Hint: they’re not in construction. It’s true, Keystone XL has a job for you!

Empathy

Snapping to the SNAP Challenge

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SNAP, the acronym for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, more commonly known in this country as the Food Stamp Program, suffered in November a nearly five percent cut to entitlements for the millions of Americans who depend on the program for daily sustenance. A Jewish Renewal community on the upper west side of Manhattan, joined others across the country in a five day commitment to curtail their food expenditures to no more than $5.00 a day.

Buddhism

Glory, Fame, and Ambition: the Custer Model

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This achievement-compassion nexus can make one’s head spin. A writer friend, Tarn, however, has an approach I admire: she always seems to consider her writing in a spiritual light, as part of her service and connection to others, not just a race for acclaim.

Politics & Society

Size Matters

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In the last 30 years, there has been an exponential increase in private wealth, and in size and reach of the mainstream culture’s propaganda and reality molding machine; the de-centralized but highly coherent set of values-based messages and cultural cues – compete and win, dominate and control – in which we are immersed. This blog contextualizes these trends; making the magnitude of these trends – and their effect – more transparent.

Christianity

Minimum Wage: Rare Case of Moral Consensus

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Picture a world where politics is not so polarized. Imagine that the American people are flat out in favor of a plan that could lift more than a million of their neighbors out of poverty. And they’re arriving at this position not out of narrow self-interests—most Americans aren’t poor—but for essentially moral reasons. Actually, not much imagination is required. At least not when it comes to public opinion on a perennial issue: the minimum wage.

Environment

Fast Track to Hell

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If passed, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a monstrous trade agreement, will impact every aspect of our lives, and will be the final undoing of democracy itself. Fast track, if passed, will be a fast track to hell.

Politics & Society

The Public Goods Deficit

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Our public goods deficit is far more consequential than our fiscal deficit and ending the public goods deficit will not only improve social well-being but ultimately reduce fiscal deficits and build a robust and sustainable economy.

art

A Corporate Coup

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The World Trade Organization (WTO) met the week of December 3 in Bali, Indonesia, where anti-WTO demonstrators took over the streets. On the first day of the talks, demonstrations were held around the world to mark the Global Day of Action Against Toxic Trade Agreements. A particular focus for protesters here in the United States and in other Pacific Rim nations was the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, a so-called “free-trade agreement” that would consolidate corporate power over member nations. The TPP has been called “NAFTA on steroids.” It has also been called “a corporate coup” and a “corporate power tool of the 1%.”

Culture

Religion and Utopian Economics

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Economic and power relations are the place where lofty religious or humanistic ideals come to ground. This is a place where atheists and the religious can work together to discourage exploitation, especially through Nonviolent Communication.