The bounty of a small plot is not so small.
Commentary
Ryan Rodrick Beiler 5-01-2010
If I were ExxonMobil or Halliburton, I’d be watching a certain congressional race with great interest. According to the Supreme Court ruling early this year in Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission, corporations have the same rights as human beings in regard to campaign financing. So now a Maryland PR firm is breaking more new ground by making a bid to be the first corporation to run for U.S. Congress: Murray Hill Inc. has announced it will try to compete in this fall’s Republican primary for Maryland’s 8th Congressional District.
Although the firm often works for progressive causes such as labor unions, conservatives may just have to vote for it for the sake of precedent. After all, if, as many conservatives claim, private business is better than government at pretty much everything, why not elect a corporation to be in government?
Murray Hill’s promise to “eliminate the middleman” offers immediate gains in electoral efficiency. Instead of dumping piles of money into the campaign coffers of a fickle human who may only represent some of their interests, now a corporation can buy democracy direct at huge discounts. And they pass the savings on to you! (You’re a stockholder, right?)
No longer will corporations need to bankroll overpaid lobbyists to draft legislation that underpaid congressional staffers—or, gasp, grassroots activists—might monkey with. When corporations take office, lobbyists are the staffers—instead of having to wait a few years to change jobs like they do now.
Valerie Elverton Dixon 5-01-2010
The U.S. military has 300,000 Advanced Combat Optical Gunsights (ACOG), with more on the way, and—as you may have heard—every one of them manufactured before this February had “JN8:12” inscribed at the end of the serial number. The markings, which were put there by the manufacturer, Michigan-based Trijicon Inc., refer to the Bible verse in which Jesus says, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
According to the Trijicon Web site, the ACOG is made “for use in low light or at night.” The technology includes crosshairs or other aiming grids “using fiber optics which collect ambient light”—thus the scripture references to light. Other Trijicon gunsight models featured references to 2 Corinthians 4:6 (in which God makes “light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God”); Matthew 5:16 (in which Jesus urges all to “let your light shine before people, that they may see your good deeds and praise God in heaven”); and Revelation 21:23 (in which the New Jerusalem “does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp”).
In the Bible, the “light of life” refers to creation and to eternal life. In Genesis, its creation is what brings order from pre-existing chaos. Light also signals an end to oppression; Isaiah 9:2 says, “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who live in a land of deep darkness, on them light has shined.”
John Fea 5-01-2010
Like it or not, the far-Right members of the Texas State Board of Education may have already decided what your children will learn about American history.
The Board is in the midst of a major revision to the state’s social studies standards. It is well known that textbook publishers cater to their largest clients. California, the nation’s largest textbook market, is bankrupt; Texas is the second largest. This means that, when it comes to teaching American history, as Texas goes, so goes the nation.
Two of the consultants hired last year by the conservative members of the Texas Board are David Barton and Peter Marshall. Both run ministries that promote the idea that the United States was founded as a Christian nation, and use the past for the purpose of promoting Republican politics. Neither man is a trained historian, but their books are wildly popular among the Christian Right.
In January and March, the Board made decisions about who was in and who was out of the new curriculum. Since far-Right conservatives currently hold a majority of seats, they managed to push through most of the revisions they wanted.
For example, in state social studies standards on how Americans have worked to expand their economic opportunities and political rights, the Board deleted those Americans’ “racial, ethnic, gender, and religious groups” as a factor to consider—even though this standard was part of a larger category focused on “how people from various groups contribute to our national identity.”
Ted Fortier, Jeanette Rodriguez 3-01-2010
Three decades later, the slain archbishop’s memory continues to inspire.
Julie Polter 3-01-2010
Long-term partnerships and deep relationships must be at the heart of the rebuilding effort in Haiti.
Edwidge Danticat 3-01-2010
What happens when your world comes to an end? A Haitian-American writer reflects on the earthquake and its aftermath.