The Weekly Sift

Silence never won rights. They are not handed down from above; they are forced by pressures from below. 

— Roger Baldwin

In this week’s sift:

• Detention Without Trial. President Obama isn’t going to veto the NDAA after all. How big a problem is that?
• Christopher Hitchens and the Politics of Atheism. I come to bury Hitchens, not to praise him. But all the same, there are some things you have to give him credit for.
• Victoryish, and other short notes. What’s the right way to mark the end of the Iraq War? NPR can’t find the jobs that a millionaires’ tax would kill. Are co-ops the future? More Rick Perry parodies. Links to my holiday stories. And more.
• Last week’s most popular post. In an extraordinarily slow week on the Sift, Perry and Parody was the most popular post with 107 views. (Whenever I have a low number to report, somebody always reminds me that around 300 people access the Sift in ways that don’t show up in these statistics.)
• This week’s challenge. As you plan your holiday donations to charity, check out the Center for High Impact Philanthropy at the University of Pennsylvania. Don’t just give your money away, give it away as effectively as possible.

I will ascend above the tops of the clouds. I will be like the Most High.

— Isaiah 14:14

In this week’s sift:

• Forgive Us Our Debts. Some large percentage of the major news stories are tied somehow to the issue of debt. Each one has its labyrinth of details, into which your attention can vanish and never return. But let’s go the other way and try to look at the big picture: This is bigger than economics. It’s about democracy and how we even start to think about morality.
• Bankers’ Law and other short notes. A judge rejects a sweetheart deal between the SEC and Citi. TARP was only a small part of the bailout. Illegal foreclosures. Congress approves detention-without-trial. 100 notable books. Inoculations against Ron Paul fever.  Marxist Muppets. Perry, Cain, Romney. Gas leases say more than farmers realize. And stop blaming Barney Frank.
• Last week’s most popular post. Liberal Media, Conservative Manipulation was the most popular post in nearly two months. It’s the fifth post in weeklysift.com history to get more than 2000 views. Last count: 2328.
• Expand your vocabulary: news desert. A news desert is any segment of society so invisible to mainstream media that it’s hard for the desert-dwellers to keep track of what’s going on in their own community.

I want to be very clear in calling upon the Egyptian authorities to refrain from any violence against peaceful protesters. The people of Egypt have rights that are universal. That includes the right to peaceful assembly and association, the right to free speech, and the ability to determine their own destiny. These are human rights. And the United States will stand up for them everywhere.

— President Barack Obama,
January 28, 2011

In this week’s sift:

• Now Look What You Made Me Do. When police attacked peaceful protesters in cities around the country this week, the media’s unwillingness to “take sides” insured that Middle America would blame the protesters.
• Will the Court Throw Out Obamacare? The Supremes will rule on the Affordable Care Act’s constitutionality sometime between now and June. Two conservative appellate judges just gave us a preview of what they might do.
• Paterno and the Bishops. Comparing the Penn State scandal to the Catholic Church scandal, it’s clear that the public attitude towards sexual abuse has changed.
• Last (two) week’s most popular post. Jobless Recoveries Are Normal Now had 322 views.
• This week’s challenge. At your church, business, club, or other institutions, raise this question: Where do we do our banking? Many institutional accounts might be ineligible for credit unions, but could your institution move to a local bank more likely to keep your money in the community?

The length of this week’s main articles crowded out Short Notes. As compensation, I offer this amazing photo from Iceland: The full moon illuminates a waterfall, the moonlight creates a rainbow in the spray, and between the foreground of the bow and the background of the starry night sky shine the Northern Lights.

As the Christmas carol says: “O, that we were there.”

When it gets down to having to use violence, then you are playing the system’s game. The establishment will irritate you: pull your beard, flick your face to make you fight. Because once they’ve got you violent then they know how to handle you. The only thing they don’t know how to handle is nonviolence and humor.

— John Lennon
[it took me forever to source this;
for the longest time I thought it must be misattributed]

In this week’s sift:

• Nonviolence and the Police. If the recent police attacks on Occupy protesters either enrage or discourage you, take some time to remember how nonviolence works, and the important roles the police play in that strategy.
• It’s Mitt Romney’s Economy. Vast inequality? Paper profits and no jobs? It’s all part of a revolution in corporate behavior that started in the 70s. And one of the major revolutionaries was Mitt Romney.
  
• Three-eyed Fish and other short notes. Somebody really did catch a three-eyed fish near a nuclear power plant. My Halloween column. Occupy Mordor’s statement. Perry’s flat tax. Some very pretty pictures of the northern lights. Bad Lip Reading does Herman Cain. And more.
• Last week’s most popular post. For the third week in a row, Turn the Shame Around, with 352 views (7400 total). The most-viewed new post was Eliminate the Work Penalty (183). (Whenever I report such a low number, somebody reminds me that the blog page views don’t count the readers who get the Sift via email or RSS feeds. That’s around 300 people total, as best I can figure.)
• This week’s challenge. Lots of state and local elections are happening a week from tomorrow. These elections are won on turnout, so make sure to turn out. The headline vote is in Ohio, where a No on Issue 2 will repeal the anti-union bill passed by the legislature. They could still use your help.

You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you.

– Eric Hoffer

In this week’s sift:

• Suck It Up: Using Our Pride Against Us. Last week I talked about how the economic system uses our shame against us. This week I focus on the flip side of that phenomenon: pride.
• A View From Dewey Square. I visited Occupy Boston the afternoon after the police had dropped by. Too bad we missed each other.
• Blood and Teeth on the Floor and other short notes. Molly Erdman’s parody captures everything I love about Elizabeth Warren. I couldn’t make myself watch the Republican debate, so I let other people fact-check it. Plus, I whole bunch of other fact-checking and lie-exposing about Occupy Wall Street and the economy.
• Last week’s most popular post. Turn the Shame Around (5700 views at last count) had the second most popular first week in weeklysift.com history.
• This week’s challenge. Woody Tasch presents an interesting challenge: What if ordinary people who were doing well enough to have savings stopped investing it all in financial institutions and instead invested in local businesses they can see and use and understand? Especially in local food enterprises: “I’m talking about investing with your friends and neighbors in small organic farms, grain mills, creameries, small slaughterhouses, seed companies, compost companies, restaurants that source locally, butchers and bakers and, sure, a bee’s-wax candlemaker or two. Take 1 percent of your money out of the stock market and put it into food hubs, community kitchens, community markets, school gardens, niche organic brands, makers of sustainable agricultural inputs, and more.” Doing this right is more than a one-week challenge, but how would you start?