Afternoon News Bytes: March 2, 2012 | Sojourners

Afternoon News Bytes: March 2, 2012

THE ATLANTIC: 'We Wish Like Hell We Had Never Bought': Voices From The Housing Crisis
If you guessed that young people are staying out of the housing market, you'd be very right. They're low on jobs, high on student debt, and freaked out by the crash. But the fall of home ownership among the young isn't a freak outcome of the Great Recession. It's a 30-year slump with its origins in the decline of marriage, the rise of female education, and the vicissitudes of the labor market.
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THE ECONOMIST: One Nation Under Gods
WHEN he was campaigning to become president in 1960, John Kennedy made a famous speech in Houston calling for the absolute separation of church and state. That speech, Rick Santorum said last week, made him want to vomit. “To say that people of faith have no role in the public square? You bet that makes you throw up,” said the Republican presidential candidate.
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MOTHER JONES: Mass Appeal To Governors: Don't Privatize Prisons
The private prison giant Corrections Corporation of America has made states an offer they can—and should—refuse. That's the message that went out to state governors on Thursday in letters signed by 60 policy and religious groups. The letters urged the governors of all 50 states not to take up a blanket deal CCA has put forth to buy and privatize their state prisons in return for a promise to keep those prisons filled.
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TIME: “Green On Blue”
Pentagon officials won’t concede it, but privately defense officials say the spate of “green-on-blue” killings by Afghans of their purported U.S. allies over the past two weeks could lead to major changes in U.S. strategy. If they continue, the U.S. will face a brutal choice: pull out, or double down.
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THE ATLANTIC: Obama To Iran And Israel: 'As President Of The United States, I Don't Bluff'
At the White House on Monday, President Obama will seek to persuade the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to postpone whatever plans he may have to bomb Iran's nuclear facilities in the coming months. Obama will argue that under his leadership, the United States "has Israel's back," and that he will order the U.S. military to destroy Iran's nuclear program if economic sanctions fail to compel Tehran to shelve its nuclear ambitions.
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THE HUFFINGTON POST: For America's Least Fortunate, The Grip Of Poverty Spans Generations
"I found out I was poor in middle school," Davis says between bites, as he recalls intermittent forays into the drug trade. "I had holes in my shoes and I started getting ripped on. So I just started hitting the block, and I was like 'Man, nobody's going to be bothering me now. I've got money in my pocket.' But I realized that can't go on too long."
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THE HUFFINGTON POST: Inequality, Poverty, And Why We're Definitely Not Broke (OPINION)
I participated in a debate Thursday morning on the role of government in poverty reduction. A couple of "curious" points came up from the conservative side which I keep hearing lately and which make little sense to me.
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NEWS OBSERVER: Jacksonville Lawmaker Says No 'Extreme Poverty' In N.C.
A state House lawmaker entered the national fray over what constitutes poverty Thursday when he declared there was no "extreme poverty" in North Carolina. Rep. George Cleveland, a Republican from Jacksonville, took issue with the federally defined poverty line during a meeting of a committee that is considering new rules for the state's pre-kindergarten program.
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