Afternoon News Bytes: April 9, 2012 | Sojourners

Afternoon News Bytes: April 9, 2012

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Federal Funds To Train The Jobless Are Drying Up
With the economy slowly reviving, an executive from Atlas Van Lines recently visited Louisville, Ky., with good news: the company wanted to hire more than 100 truck drivers ahead of the summer moving season.
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THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: When The Almighty Talks Back
As Passover begins Friday night and Easter is celebrated this Sunday, many Americans will find themselves thinking about God in more concrete terms than usual. The resurrection of Jesus is a concept some modern Christians find hard to square with their belief in a rather distant God, and they may wish to simply skip over some parts of the liturgy and get right to the egg hunt.
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THE CHRISTIAN POST: Study: 'God Gap' Present Among Latinos Also
Latinos are also influenced by the "culture war" or "God gap" thesis, according to a new study. Evangelical Latinos are more likely to support Republicans and secular Latinos are more likely to support Democrats. Catholic Latinos are the least influenced by the culture war thesis.
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POLITICO: Cardinal Dolan: 'Government Is Intruding' Into Faith
The archbishop of New York, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, says the “government is intruding into the life of faith” with President Barack Obama’s policy on contraception.
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CNN: Obama Needs 'Strong, Moral' Point Of View On The Poor
Listen to any politician today -- whether it's President Obama or GOP challengers Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum -- and they will be quick to extol the words of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Quoting King is one thing; taking up the mantle of King's work is another. And whether we want to admit it or not, King was a man who didn't focus on the middle class and upper middle class with no regards to the condition of the nation's most vulnerable.
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THE NEW YORK TIMES: More Children Living (And Lacking) In High-Poverty Areas (OPINION)
Concentrated poverty has a concentrated impact. This is not news, and it’s a very difficult story to make “new” — another, less amusing way that writing about family can feel, as Lisa Belkin put it in a recent column, like “Groundhog Day.”
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ABC NEWS: Rick Warren: ‘God Hates War, But God Loves Every Soldier’
During an interview I conducted with Rick Warren for “This Week,” the evangelical pastor defended the use of military force, arguing that certain things are “worth dying for” and that the “Bible said God has authorized government to protect the citizenship.”
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REUTERS: Peace Corps Leaves Mali, New U.S. Travel Warning Issued
Peace Corps volunteers have been evacuated from Mali and non-essential U.S. diplomatic personnel have been offered flights out due to ongoing political instability following a military coup in March, the State Department said on Sunday.
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CNN: Sacred Spaces: Arabic Christians Find A Home In The U.S.
Christians have been part of Middle Eastern culture for 2,000 years, but many people don’t realize that a small minority of Arabs are Christians.
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THE NEW YORK TIMES: Can Coffee Kick-Start An Economy?
When he set out to wedge his coffee onto supermarket shelves in England and America, Andrew Rugasira didn’t start by making phone calls from his home in Kampala, Uganda.
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THE ATLANTIC: What Happens If Afghanistan Shuts Down The U.S. Drone Program There?
The Afghan government has suggested it might not allow American drones to continue operating after the troop draw-down.
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THE NEW YORK TIMES: The Other Arab Spring
Isn’t it interesting that the Arab awakening began in Tunisia with a fruit vendor who was harassed by police for not having a permit to sell food — just at the moment when world food prices hit record highs?
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THE HUFFINGTON POST: What Bipartisanship Looks Like
A couplet keeps running through my head, a sinister variation on the chants from the Madison sit-ins and Zuccotti Park: Tell me what Bipartisanship looks like, This is what Bipartisanship looks like.
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