Progressive Review

• 8th grader could face year in prison for wearing NRA shirt
  National Revew - In April, [Jared] Marcum, an eighth-grader at Logan Middle School in Logan, W. Va., was arrested when he refused to take off his NRA t-shirt. The clothing kerfuffle began when Marcum wore a shirt bearing the NRA’s logo and a hunting rifle. As he stood in line in the cafeteria, a teacher ordered him to either change shirts or turn it inside o […]
• NY police commissioner blasts NSA spying
  NY Post - Police Commissioner Ray Kelly launched a stinging rebuke to the federal government’s secret phone and Internet monitoring campaign — and suggested leaker Edward Snowden was right about privacy “abuse.”“I don’t think it ever should have been made secret,” Kelly said today, breaking ranks with US law-enforcement officials.His blast came days after th […]
• Britain spied on foreign officials at G20 summit
  Guardian, UK - Foreign politicians and officials who took part in two G20 summit meetings in London in 2009 had their computers monitored and their phone calls intercepted on the instructions of their British government hosts, according to documents seen by the Guardian. Some delegates were tricked into using internet cafes which had been set up by British i […]
• Why Obama's secret trade agreement matters
  From the Green Party shadow cabinet: If you oppose the industrial farming practices of Monsanto, Cargill and other giant food and agribusiness corporations, with their intense use of toxic herbicides and other harmful chemicals, production of untested genetically modified food, efforts to control the seed supply and patent life, their pollution of the water, […]
• All in the Family: Michael Brown's daddy
  Progressive Review - While you may have heard about former DC Council member Michael Brown pleading guilty to bribes of $55,000 from FBI agents posing as businessmen seeking city favors,  you may not know who his father was. He was Clinton's Commerce Secretary and pal who was a master operator himself: Ron Brown. Michael Brown is one of three DC council […]
• Food stamps reduce extreme poverty
  Off the Charts - Even as the House prepares this week to cut [food stamps AKA SNAP] by $21 billion and push 2 million low-income people off the program, new research shows that [food stamps are] the most effective program pushing against the steep rise in extreme poverty.The number of households with children living on $2 or less per person per day — one def […]
• NSA head not only wants to right to ingore the law, but lawsuits as well
  Politico - Even as he defends controversial government surveillance programs, the head of the National Security Agency is asking Congress for another authority sure to inflame critics — legal immunity for companies that help the feds fight cyberattackers.Gen. Keith Alexander has petitioned Capitol Hill for months to give Internet service providers and other […]
• Why the FISA Court is a scam
  Tech Dirt - The law was written such that the FISA court is only supposed to allow for the collection of "tangible" things (including records) if it can be shown to the court that the specific thing being collected is relevant to an investigation. The FISA Court apparently believes that means anything -- and that's the crux of the secret inter […]
• Meanwhile. . .
  Nancy Pelosi joins supporters of NSA over Constitution Infrequently asked questions How do we tell when we're meant to surrender our Constitution to fight Al Queda and when we're meant to give them more arms? On the other hand. . . Kim Jong-il's culinary habits Divorce proceedings of the week Quotes Never try to walk across a river because it […]
• Why are big corporations so unpatriotic?
  Ralph Nader, Reader Supported News - Why are big, global U.S. corporations so unpatriotic? After all, they were created in the U.S.A., rose to immense profit because of the toil of American workers, are bailed out by American taxpayers whenever they're in trouble, and are safeguarded abroad by the U.S. military. Yet these corporate goliaths work their t […]
• Bike lane wars
  Tom Newcombe, Governing - The rising popularity of biking has also led to a surge in the number of bike paths and bike lanes. But as demand for lanes continues to rise, the nation's cities are beginning to see resistance grow. In 2011, for example, a tony Brooklyn neighborhood became enraged when three traffic lanes were whittled down to two to make way […]
• Today in history
  Daily Bleed 1784 -- Holland forbids orange clothes. 1873 -- Uppity Susan B. Anthony arrested for voting. 1974 -- Homer Simpson & Marge Bouvier wed. 1981 -- US: Beloved & Respected Comrade Leader Acting President Reagan holds his third press conference, where he proves he can answer questions...    The Israeli attack on Iraq — "I can't answe […]
• What the war on education is all about
  Stephen Krashen - The goal of the war against teachers is to eliminate the concept of teaching as a profession, to be replaced by temps (e.g. Teach For America) and eventually be replaced largely by technology (ultimate goal of flipped classrooms). The reason is 100% financial -- so that the .01% can grab nearly all of the money teachers earn as well as prof […]
• Hidden benefits of community gardens
  Christina Sari, Activist Post - I recently spent an entire Saturday afternoon at one of my local community gardens, one of a dozen or more scattered throughout the city proper and one of literally a hundred or more spread throughout nearby suburbs. In the United States, there are currently over 18,000 community gardens, and the number is growing. I was surpr […]
• Community courts work
   From the Center for Court Innovation in New York which created the Red Hook center. The Red Hook Community Justice Center is a community court that seeks to advance a coordinated response to local problems such as drugs, crime, and landlord-tenant disputes. The judge has an array of sanctions and services at his disposal, including community restitution, ed […]