Afternoon News Bytes: Feb. 2, 2012 | Sojourners

Afternoon News Bytes: Feb. 2, 2012

POLITICO: Obama: Jesus Would Tax The Rich
President Barack Obama tied his proposal to raise taxes on wealthy Americans to his faith on Thursday, telling leaders gathered for the National Prayer Breakfast that Jesus’ teachings have led him to that conclusion.
Learn more HERE

USA TODAY: Pockets Of Prosperity Across USA Escaped Recession
The recession hammered household income across the nation, but nearly a quarter of the states remained pockets of prosperity, with wages and other earnings growing through the downturn, according to a new study.
Learn more HERE

MOTHER JONES: Obama Won't Touch Climate With A Ten-Foot Pole
In his State of the Union address on January 24, President Obama largely avoided the topic of climate change. He talked about it once, in passing, as a topic on which "the differences in this chamber may be too deep" to enact new legislation. Its less-controversial cousin, "energy," on the other hand, got a whopping 23 mentions as an area where Republicans and Democrats should be able to find agreement.
Learn more HERE

THE ATLANTIC: U.S. Press Freedom Fell 27 Places Last Year To 47th In The World
Here are a few of the countries that, according to watchdog Reporters Without Borders, currently enjoy greater press freedom than the United States: Ghana, South Africa, El Salvador, Niger, Mali, Jamaica, Slovakia, Uruguay, and virtually all of the developed world, from Western Europe to East Asia.
Learn more HERE

THINK PROGRESS: Gingrich Slams Romney: The Founding Fathers Believed In Equal Opportunity For The Poor
GINGRICH: “I’m fed up with politicians in either party dividing Americans against each other…the Founding Fathers wrote that we are endowed by our creator with certain unalienable rights, among with are life and the pursuit of happiness. The Founding Fathers meant all of us. Let me shock the Wall Street crowd. The Founding Fathers meant the 1 percent, who they called Americans. The Founding Fathers meant the very poor, who they called Americans.”
Learn more HERE

TIME: Class War 2012: Why Both Parties Are Flying the Anti-Wall Street Banner
Newt Gingrich ended his campaign against Mitt Romney in Florida with the same message strategy that Romney’s senior advisers had used in another Republican primary two years earlier: Attack Goldman Sachs. There was a good reason.
Learn more HERE

THE HUFFINGTON POST: Occupy Your Voice
The Occupy encampment nearest me (Chapel Hill, NC) voluntarily disbanded a few weeks ago, and for months people have been saying "Occupy Everywhere" to describe the (non)program after the Manhattan eviction. What could that look like?
Learn more HERE

THE ATLANTIC: Can Science End War?
Many pessimists, I suspect, adhere to the bad apple theory of warfare. They believe that war keeps breaking out because the worst among us, the bad apples, invariably drag the rest of us down to their level.
Learn more HERE

FOX NEWS: Alabama's Immigration Law To Cost State Millions In Lost Taxes, Study Says
The report by the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Alabama would cause 70,000 to 140,000 undocumented immigrants to lose jobs and would cost about $1.2 billion to $5.8 billion in the earnings of those immigrants as well as $56.7 million to $264.5 million in lost state income taxes and sales taxes.
Learn more HERE