The Afternoon News: Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2011 | Sojourners

The Afternoon News: Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2011

THE HUFFINGTON POST: Is The Bible A Reliable Moral Guide?
Amos, for instance, declares that the Lord despises all of Israel's solemn assemblies and religious sacrifices -- regarding which there are numerous laws and regulations -- because of its neglect for the poor (Amos 5:21-24). Simply put, Amos believes the passages about caring for the poor are just plain more important than those about proper worship and sacrifice.
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THE NATION: Why I Got Arrested At Occupy Wall Street
Last Thursday morning, I was arrested along with about thirty other protesters at the corner of Pine and Nassau streets, a block from the New York Stock Exchange. Hundreds of us gathered near Zuccotti Park at 7 am before making our way towards Wall Street, to join up with other marches in front of the exchange for the first in a daylong series of actions.
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WALL STREET JOURNAL: Unemployment Rates Drop In Most States
Unemployment rates dropped in almost three quarters of the U.S. states last month, the Labor Department reported, as a slow improvement in the jobs picture spreads across the country.
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THE HUFFINGTON POST: Black Friday And The Importance Of Sabbath Rest
With shoppers lining up for Black Friday earlier and earlier in recent years, the more appropriate name for retailers' biggest sales day might be Black Is The Color Of The Sky You Will Stand Outside Under In The Middle Of The Night.
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MOTHER JONES: Poor People To Get Poorer
The failed congressional super committee and its inability to agree on $1.2 trillion in deficit-reduction measures to help stabilize the nation's finances has dominated the news this week. Americans for Tax Reform's Grover Norquist may be despairing, but there's new evidence emerging that some key parts of the federal budget are shrinking without any extra help from Congress, at a time when some of those programs are desperately needed.
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THE HUFFINGTON POST: Coptic Christians Living In Egypt Speak Out (VIDEO)
Egyptians don't have it easy. But Copts, the Christian minority in Egypt, have it worse. In the last month, Coptic Christians were attacked while marching to mourn the victims of past sectarian violence. And a looming question -- What does such treatment of Copts mean for the Arab Spring? -- remains unanswered.
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THE ATLANTIC WIRE: Wall Street Will Never Be The Same Again
The financial jobs market isn't doing well and no one expects it to make a comeback anytime soon, if ever. The latest stats and testimonials out of the financial sector shows that Wall Streeters are going through another round of 2008-style lay-offs. This year, so far, the global financial-services industry has lost 200,000 jobs, reports Bloomberg's Max Abelson and Ambereen Choudhury.
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THE HUFFINGTON POST: Occupy Wall Street And The Crisis Of Choice (OPINION)
It's been a wild week for the Occupy Wall Street movement. While there have been literally hundreds of insightful analyses of the protests and their reasons, one area that deserves a deeper dive is how we can use behavioral economics and motivational design to better understand the movement and ultimately create a better, more vibrant democracy.
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USA TODAY: Republican Candidates Face Foreign Policy Challenge
Republican presidential contenders have made slamming President Obama's economic policies a key theme of the 2012 election, but criticizing his national security record will be a tougher sell, according to foreign policy experts.
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NATIONAL CATHOLIC REPORTER: Don't Surrender To Laws Of Market, Pope Says
On the heels of a controversial Vatican document blasting free-market ideologies and calling for a global authority to regulate the economy, Benedict XVI today warned the continent of Africa against an “unconditional surrender to the law of the market or that of finance,” in a speech opening his second African journey as pope.
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PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE: Out To Lunch: Congress Puts The Food Lobby Above Child Nutrition
Back in the 1980s when Americans weren't as obese, the Reagan administration tried to have ketchup declared a vegetable to cut the cost of the nation's school lunches.
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POLITICO: Supercommittee Failure Puts U.S. At Risk (OPINION)
Here’s a message to Washington politicians: duck. Your failure is now complete. You were faced with a generational challenge to save Americans from the type of collapse European countries are now facing and you blinked. Actually, you did worse.
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NPR: Would The World Be Better Off Without Religion? (AUDIO)
A rabbi, a descendant of Charles Darwin, a philosopher and a scholar walk into an auditorium. It sounds like the start of a bad joke, but the group came together for the latest Intelligence Squared U.S. debate and faced off two against two on the motion "The World Would Be Better Off Without Religion."
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THE HUFFINGTON POST: 'Thanksgiving To Almighty God' Presidential Thanksgiving Proclamations From George Washington To Barack Obama
"Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor..."
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