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College Student on Millennial Values
Zeenia Framroze, a student at Harvard University, spoke in April at Georgetown University Berkley Center's Millennial Values Symposium. She speaks in this clip on how the Millennial generation faces its challenges for the future in light of diverse value systems.
"If we stop listening to each other, if we try to impose our values on another group, we lose the noteworthiness of our values itself. We need to have some faith in democracy and some faith in the marketplace of ideas and values," Framroze said. "We'll bicker and fight, but ultimately we'll have a far more worthwhile discussion."
Olympic Security: Londoners Lose Battle to Keep Missile Systems Off Their Roof
With the Olympics just a few weeks away, Time reports on the fight that has broken out over security for the Games:
"Policing the world’s biggest peacetime logistics operation is a herculean task, and Britain’s intelligence and military officials are preparing for every eventuality — even if it means festooning a few apartment buildings with Rapier missiles.
A Backward Step for Democracy in Britain
Nicholas Watt writes for The Guardian:
"Nick Clegg's hopes of reforming the House of Lords, completing a journey begun a century ago by his Liberal predecessors, ran into severe trouble on Tuesday when 91 Tory MPs defied a three line whip to vote against the measure in the largest rebellion of the parliament. A furious David Cameron confronted the leader of the Tory rebellion just outside the House of Commons division lobbies late on Tuesday night as it became clear that normally loyal Tory MPs were determined to register their opposition to House of Lords reform."
Learn more here
Let's Talk About population
Mother Jones on the last taboo - population:
"The United Nations projects that world population will stabilize at 9.1 billion in 2050. This prediction assumes a decline from the current average global fertility rate of 2.56 children per woman to 2.02 children per woman in the years between 2045 and 2050. But should mothers average half a child more in 2045, the world population will peak at 10.5 billion five years later. Half a child less, and it stabilizes at 8 billion. The difference in those projections—2.5 billion—is the total number of people alive on earth in 1950.
Living in Poverty in America's Poorest City
NPR report on the plight of the poorest in Reading, Pa. - the poorest city in the United States:
"Like many mothers in Reading, Boggs has no husband to share the bills. Poverty is high, but it's a lot higher for single mothers. An astounding 66 percent of them in Reading live below the poverty line, less than $19,000 for a family of three. Boggs admits that she made some bad decisions in life and that her daughters' two fathers turned out to be unreliable. But, she quickly adds, "I wouldn't change anything in the world for my kids, my daughters. They're what keeps me going and keeps me fighting to keep searching, as bad as the economy is. If it was just me, I would have [given] up a long time ago." You hear that a lot around the learning center: hope that things will get better if you just keep plugging away, despite the bad times."
Learn more here
Capital in the Capitol
We love a good infographic--and here's one more.
Capital in the Capitol: What's the Cost of Getting into Congress?
A few key numbers to look at-- in the 2 years prior to taking office, the after Representative raises $1700 a day. If you're trying to be a Seantor? Try $8700.
What does that mean? Are they actually running this country? No way. Try breakfast, lunch, and cocktails with high-dollar donors.
Take a look. Thanks to Upworthy for finding this great piece.
State Department: Release Pastor Nadarkhani
The State Deparment yesterday released a statement on the imprisonment of Iranian Christian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani, who has been imprisoned for over 1000 days on charges of apostasy.
Organizations and countries has been calling for his release since he was imprisoned, but Iranian authorities has yet to agree to release him. A new date for Pastor Nadarkhani's trial has also been set recently.
Read the statement in full below:
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesperson
For Immediate Release July 9, 2012
2012/1118
STATEMENT BY VICTORIA NULAND, SPOKESPERSON
Continued Imprisonment of Christian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani and
Repression of Minorities in Iran
We note that July 8 marked 1,000 days Christian pastor Youcef Nadarkhani has spent in an Iranian prison. Pastor Nadarkhani still faces the threat of execution for simply following his faith, and we repeat our call for Iranian authorities to release him immediately.
Unfortunately, Pastor Nadarkhani is not alone in his suffering. The Iranian regime continues to deny and abuse the human rights of its citizens, in particular those of its many ethnic and religious minorities. We are troubled by reports of the execution of four members of Iran’s Ahwazi Arab community, whose sentences were carried out with little due process. In March 2012, Iranian state media broadcast the forced confession of one of those executed.
We are also concerned by credible reports that prominent author Mohammad Soleimani Nia is missing following his release in May after five months in prison on unspecified charges.
We call upon Iranian authorities to respect and protect the freedoms and dignity of all its citizens, and to uphold its own laws and international obligations which guarantee such rights to all Iranians, regardless of their religious or political beliefs.
# # #
New Study Finds Fracking Can Pollute
Salon reports on a new study which suggests that "fracking" can pollute water sources:
"A new study, published in the formidable Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, upends that common-sense argument. It shows that fluids may have traveled from deep within Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale, one of the formations at the center of the gas boom, into shallow aquifers hundreds of feet above. These fluids aren’t products of fracking, but if they can travel up through layers of rocks, close to the surface, it means that fracking fluids could, too."
Read more about the study here
How Do We Improve Work-Family Balance?
From The Nation:
"One might expect that the workplace would have adapted to accommodate these changes. With nearly double the number of available workers, and the fact that all employees now likely need to pitch in to share domestic duties, we might hope that employers would lower workers’ expected output. Yet exactly the opposite has happened."
Read the full article here
What Do the President's Tax Proposals Mean for Us?
Writing for The Atlantic, Derek Thompson takes a look at what the President's tax plan actually does:
"In the long run, historically low tax rates for the "bottom" 98 percent aren't sustainable. For President Obama, demanding higher taxes on rich people is the easy part. Three in five people told Gallup that "upper-income people" were paying too little in federal taxes, Molly Ball reported. The hard part is facing up to the long-term reality that historically low tax rates on 98 percent of Americans is no way to pay for historically high entitlements for 100 percent of Americans."
Learn more here
How Should U.S. Respond to Syrian Crisis?
The Atlantic's national correspondent, Jeffrey Goldberg, on the Syrian crisis and how the U.S. should respond:
"Secretary of State Clinton has again stated that it is only a matter of time before the regime of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad collapses. Speaking in Tokyo to reporters, she said: "The sand is running out of the hourglass," and went on to say, "There is no doubt that the opposition is getting more effective in their defense of themselves and in going on the offense against the Syrian military and the Syrian government's militias. So the future, to me, should be abundantly clear to those who support the Assad regime: the days are numbered."
But what is the number? And could the Administration be doing more to move that number down? When it comes to Syria, this administration has a very elastic sense of time."
Learn more here
NYT: Struggling in the Suburbs
A New York Times op-ed this week examined the growing phenomenon of poverty in the suburbs:
"Hardship has built a stronghold in the American suburbs. Whatever image they had as places of affluence and stability was badly shaken last year, when reports analyzing the 2010 census made it clear that the suburbs were getting poorer.
While the overall suburban population grew slightly during the previous decade, the number of people living below the poverty line in the suburbs grew by 66 percent, compared with 47 percent in cities. The trend quickened when the Great Recession hit, as home foreclosures and unemployment surged. In 2010, 18.9 million suburban Americans were living below the poverty line, up from 11.3 million in 2000."
Learn more here
Committing to End Poverty
Writing for The Huffington Post last Friday, Richard C. Leone asks:
"So is a renewal of the war against poverty in the offing? The current balance of political forces suggests that, rather than muster all the weapons we have to fight for the poor, many are willing to settle for uneasy neutrality. This is one "war of choice" we choose not to wage. Austerity is the watchword of the day defined somewhat differently but accepted by the mainstream of both parties as the bedrock of policy for the foreseeable future…
It's past time to connect the dots and see that by ignoring the poor we undermine the welfare of everyone in the 99 percent living from pay check to pay check. We must revive our generous national nature. And more selfishly come to see that we might find ourselves in their shoes. It may be that the poor will always be with us, but that doesn't mean it's OK to ignore them."
Read more here
New Trial Date for Iranian Pastor
Youcef Nadarkhani, the 35-year-old Christian pastor has been imprisoned in Iran since October 2009 after protesting a law that all children read the Quaran and being charged with evangelizing to Muslims. The trial date has been set for Sept. 8.
From the Christian Post:
"According to Present Truth Ministries, which has been closely monitoring the pastor's case, Nadarkhani will presumably be tried for crimes against security. 'We assume by implication that this means the charges of apostasy have been dropped since the new charges have been issued, but we have no confirmation of that,' the ministry said Thursday."
FBI Investigating Second Fire at Missouri Mosque
From the Associated Press via STLToday.com:
JOPLIN, Mo. — The FBI has joined an investigation into the second fire at a Joplin mosque in four years.
The blaze early Wednesday burned a 4-by-6-foot section of shingles atop the Islamic Society of Joplin's building. Firefighters extinguished the flames before they could do further damage, authorities told The Joplin Globe.
Capt. Kelly Stephens of the Jasper County Sheriff's Department said investigators were studying security camera footage but he would not say what the tapes showed.
About 50 families are members of the Islamic Society of Joplin, which opened the building in 2007 as a mosque and community center, society officials said. The FBI led an investigation in 2008 when the mosque's sign was torched; that crime remains unsolved.
Archbishop Tutu: End Sudanese Suffering Now
Archbishop Desmond Tutu writes for CNN on his hopes for peace in Sudan and South Sudan:
"My fellow Elders Martti Ahtisaari, Mary Robinson and I are going there to try to ensure that the terrible lessons of war are not forgotten - and to share our hope that these two beautiful countries can find a path to peace. We will relay the world's fears of another deadly conflict that would shatter the hopes of both nations and the broader region. And we will tell the leaders that, while it will take time and patience, we believe - as a result of our own experience - that peace can be achieved.
One of our main reasons for going to Sudan and South Sudan now is the humanitarian situation, which must be addressed as a matter of urgency. We are already witnessing an unbearable catastrophe with the fighting in Blue Nile and South Kordofan in Sudan, and the ensuing outpouring of refugees into South Sudan and Ethiopia."
Read the full article here
New Documentary Highlights Disastrous Climate Change in Bangladesh
The Atlantic profiles a new documnetary called Bangladesh: On The Frontlines of Climate Change:
Poll: No End in Sight for Economic Woes, High Unemployment
The Associated Press reports:
"A majority of economists in the latest Associated Press Economy Survey expect the national unemployment rate to stay above 6 percent — the upper bounds of what's considered healthy — for at least four more years. If the economists are correct, the job market will still be unhealthy seven years after the Great Recession officially ended in June 2009. That would be the longest stretch of high unemployment since the end of World War II.
Anger at Banks Didn't Result in Action
Writing for Time, Martha White notes: