http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/category/column/ Truthdig, a Web magazine that provides expert in-depth coverage of current affairs as well as a variety of thoughtful, provocative content assembled from a progressive point of view. Editor, Robert Scheer. Publisher, Zuade Kaufman. en editor@truthdig.com Copyright 2012 2012-02-15T22:05:41+00:00 http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/category/column/ http://www.truthdig.com/images/rss_feed_promo.gif http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/mormon_economics_and_the_gop_20120215/ http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/mormon_economics_and_the_gop_20120215/ austerity, book of mormon, chris lehmann, conservatism, debt ceiling, election 2012, fiscal responsibility, gop, harper's magazine, mitt romney, mormonism,

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.

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]]> 2012-02-15T22:05:41+00:00 http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/white_house_isnt_buying_what_syrias_selling_20120215/ http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/white_house_isnt_buying_what_syrias_selling_20120215/ bashar al-assad, constitution, homs, jay carney, pipeline, president, referendum, syria, uprising, white house,

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.

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]]> 2012-02-15T17:26:32+00:00 http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/prison_fire_kills_over_300_in_honduras_20120215/ http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/prison_fire_kills_over_300_in_honduras_20120215/ arson, central america, comayagua, fire, honduras, inmates, prison, tegucigalpa,

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.

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]]> 2012-02-15T16:48:52+00:00 http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/congress_might_actually_make_a_payroll_tax_deal_soon_20120215/ http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/congress_might_actually_make_a_payroll_tax_deal_soon_20120215/ barack obama, budget, congress, john boehner, max baucus, payroll tax cut, president, unemployment,

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.

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]]> 2012-02-15T16:35:26+00:00 http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/greece_cant_take_anymore_20120215/ http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/greece_cant_take_anymore_20120215/ athens, austerity, bailout, christos papoutsis, e.u., economy, euro, greece,

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.”

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]]> 2012-02-15T09:49:14+00:00 http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/class_v_race_20120214/ http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/class_v_race_20120214/ android, apple, class, economy, egypt, election, free speech, gay literature, politics, race, right to be forgotten, romney, siri, smartphone, Larry's List

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.

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]]> 2012-02-15T03:13:06+00:00 http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/obama_brings_chinese_vp_to_the_white_house_20120214/ http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/obama_brings_chinese_vp_to_the_white_house_20120214/ beijing, china, foreign policy, hillary clinton, hu jintao, joe biden, leon panetta, tibet, vice president, xi jinping,

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.

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]]> 2012-02-14T21:04:21+00:00 http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/fda_finds_lead_in_400_lipsticks_20120214/ http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/fda_finds_lead_in_400_lipsticks_20120214/ cosmetics, fda, food and drug administration, l'oreal, lipstick, makeup, maybelline, nars,

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.

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]]> 2012-02-14T19:07:35+00:00 http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/santorum_rising_20120214/ http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/santorum_rising_20120214/ 2012, arizona, conservative, michigan, mitt romney, newt gingrich, obama, rick santorum, ron paul,

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.

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]]> 2012-02-14T18:13:27+00:00 http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/independent_voters_swing_to_obama_20120213/ http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/independent_voters_swing_to_obama_20120213/ 2012, barack obama, bush, campaign, gop, independents, mitt romney, newt gingrich, obama, pew, politics, poll, republicans, rick santorum, white house,

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)

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