News: Quick Links 3 | Sojourners

News: Quick Links 3

The Class War Has Begun
During the death throes of Herbert Hoover's presidency in June 1932, desperate bands of men traveled to Washington and set up camp within view of the Capitol. The first contingent journeyed all the way from Portland, Oregon, but others soon converged from all over-alone, in groups, with families-until their main Hooverville on the Anacostia River's fetid mudflats swelled to a population as high as 20,000.
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U.S. Recession Fears Fade As Economy Shows More Strength
The dreaded "double-dip" still is a no-show. When the government on Thursday issues its first estimate of third-quarter U.S. gross domestic product, the report is expected to show a sharp acceleration in economic growth from the first half.
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Child Slaves Made Your Halloween Candy. Stop Buying It.
Every October, American kids like mine are treated to a wide array of chocolates-Snickers, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, Butterfingers-because hundreds of thousands of children in West Africa are enslaved harvesting cocoa beans. These children are performing this work for the benefit of most of the mainstream chocolate providers in the United States. A report from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture on cocoa farms in the Ivory Coast and other African countries estimated there were 284,000 children working on cocoa farms in hazardous conditions. Many of them have been taken from their families and sold as servants. U.S. chocolate manufacturers have claimed they are not responsible for the conditions on cocoa plantations, since they don't own them. This group includes Hershey, Mars, Nestle, and the U.S. division of Cadbury. Collectively, they are responsible for pretty much every snack-size candy bar available in stores this Halloween.
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Keystone XL Pipeline: Obama Says His Administration Has Made No Decision On Project
President Barack Obama says his administration has made no decision on whether a Canadian company can proceed with plans for a transnational oil pipeline to Texas. A protester during Obama's appearance at the University of Colorado Denver yelled that the president should say no to the contested Keystone XL project.
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Protester Brings Occupy Wall Street To Super Committee
A protester brought the message of Occupy Wall Street to the deficit-slashing super committee on Wednesday, even as Democrats on the committee sounded like they want to ring up even bigger cuts than required by law.
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Occupy Wall Street Is No Tea Party
The past few years have witnessed the rise and fall of several left-leaning political fads, each touted as a response to the rise of the tea party movement: the coffee party, one nation, and Jon Stewart's and Stephen Colbert' s rally to restore sanity. A month after the Wall Street occupation began, the protesters say they are just getting started. But a month is more than enough time to see that Occupy Wall Street is no tea party.
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