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The World As It Is: Dispatches on the Myth of Human Progress
By Chris Hedges
$26.99
By Wellford Wilms
$19.00 Buy direct from the publisher - Use Truthdig discount code TD35
$35
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violet.blue (CC-BY)
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Mormonism is not the quintessential “American religion,” to use Tolstoy’s words, just because it got its start in upstate New York. The church has long embodied notions and practices that drive contemporary American capitalism. And those ideas, as author Chris Lehmann demonstrated last October in Harper’s Magazine, remain central to the shaping of national economic policy.
Posted on Feb 15, 2012
8 COMMENTS 
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bbc.co.uk
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On Wednesday, Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad and other officials hailed the arrival of a new constitution, slated to go up for a referendum later this month, but the Obama administration didn’t greet the news with much credulity or enthusiasm.
Posted on Feb 15, 2012
11 COMMENTS
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AP / Fernando Antonio
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One inmate’s reported death wish led to the immolation of more than 300 people at a Honduran prison after the apparent instigator set fire to his mattress on Wednesday in the town of Comayagua, where some 356 others were still missing after the blaze, according to The Associated Press.
Posted on Feb 15, 2012
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senate.gov
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It’s remarkable how political infighting in Congress can be resolved by a healthy dose of bad news from opinion polls. On Wednesday, the outlook for the Obama-supported payroll tax cut and jobless benefits bill that has been contested for months was suddenly better, and the timing was no accident. Above, Sen. Max Baucus, one of the legislative bargainers.
Posted on Feb 15, 2012
1 COMMENT
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AP / Thanassis Stavrakis
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Angry Greeks tried to torch Athens after parliament passed an austerity package Sunday. While European leaders continue to press for additional cuts, the Greek minister for citizen protection says the Greek people “cannot take any more ... we have reached the limits of the social and economic system.”
Posted on Feb 15, 2012
5 COMMENTS
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These may be the first elections in which class will carry more weight than race; the “right to be forgotten” threatens freedom of speech on the Internet; meanwhile, some smartphone voice recognition software is racist and sexist. These discoveries and more after the jump.
Posted on Feb 14, 2012
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bbc.co.uk
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On Tuesday, Barack Obama played host to China’s Vice President Xi Jinping at the White House to discuss trade, human rights and other diplomatic topics. Why all the fuss over a VP? For one, Xi was returning a gesture that his American counterpart, Joe Biden, recently made.
Posted on Feb 14, 2012
17 COMMENTS
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Flickr / ebbandflo_pomomama (CC-BY-SA)
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Here’s a startling, but perhaps not surprising, bit of news for those inclined to put colors on their kissers: The Food and Drug Administration ran some tests on hundreds of lipsticks and found that many made by popular brands such as L’Oreal, Cover Girl and Nars contained a very unsexy ingredient: lead.
Posted on Feb 14, 2012
1 COMMENT
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ricksantorum.com
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There’s horse-race politics, but then there are also bona fide plot twists in the presidential campaign season, and we’re looking at one of them with the boost conservatives are giving Rick Santorum—yes, he of the sweater vest—as he and the formerly more confident Mitt Romney get ready for Arizona and Michigan primaries late this month.
Posted on Feb 14, 2012
5 COMMENTS
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White House / Pete Souza
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The prolonged Republican primary campaign appears to be taking a toll on independent voters’ faith in Mitt Romney. According to the latest Pew poll, only a minority of independents now describe Romney as “honest and trustworthy” and slightly more than half of independent voters now favor Barack Obama in a race against Romney, who led the president in that category only a month ago. (more)
Posted on Feb 13, 2012
31 COMMENTS
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AP / Sebastian Scheiner
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Eric Alterman writes in The Nation that the casino magnate who has propped up Newt Gingrich’s campaign is the ultimate caricature of “the anti-Semitic clichés that have dogged the Jewish people throughout history.” And yet no one seems to have noticed. (more)
Posted on Feb 13, 2012
19 COMMENTS
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sushiesque (CC-BY)
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On Monday, gay marriage supporters scored another legislative victory with the news that the New Jersey Senate had passed a bill that will allow same-sex couples to make it official—that is, if the measure can make it past the state’s conservative governor, Chris Christie.
Posted on Feb 13, 2012
4 COMMENTS
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AP / Kostas Tsironis
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On Sunday, after months of economic and political turmoil, Greek citizens fed up with paying for mistakes made by their country’s power elite took to the streets by the tens of thousands to signal their disapproval of the austerity measures the government pushed through late that night.
Posted on Feb 13, 2012
9 COMMENTS
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Flickr / Felipe Bachomo (CC-BY)
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Who made your week by speaking truth to power, blowing the whistle or standing up to injustice? Let us know here.
Posted on Feb 13, 2012
3 COMMENTS
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Will Catholic Bishops and the Religious Right Save Obama?
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