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The vision for Evergreene Digest is to be the preferred one-stop on-line source for information and perspectives that major news entities exclude from the present day American conversation. The Internet makes it possible to loosen the grip on big media by taking the news into our own hands. We readers-turned-reporters can restore integrity to the nation's single most vital conduit for democratic participation, our media.

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Is American Nonviolence Possible?

Tue, 04/23/2013 - 17:11 — Dave Culver

The choice is not between violence and nonviolence but between nonviolence and nonexistence. — Martin Luther King Jr.

Todd May, New York (NY) Times

Submitted by Evergreene Digest Contributing Editor Lydia Howell 

This article is made possible with the generous contributions of all reader supported Evergreene Digest readers like you. Thank you!

Brecht Vandenbroucke 

April 21, 2013 | We are steeped in violence.

This past week was of course a searing reminder: Monday’s bombing at the Boston Marathon and the ensuing manhunt that ended on Friday with the death of one suspect and the capture of another, his brother, dominated the news. But there were other troubling, if less traumatic reminders, too. On Tuesday, a 577-page report by the Constitution Project concluded that the United States had engaged in torture after the Sept. 11 attacks.  On Wednesday, a turning point in the heated national debate on gun control was reached when the United States Senate dropped consideration of some minimal restrictions on the sale and distribution of guns.  Looming above all this is the painful memory of the mass killing at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Now is as good a time as any to reflect on our responses to the many recent horrors that seem to have engulfed us, and to consider whether we can hope to move from an ethos of violence to one nonviolence. Facing ourselves squarely at this difficult moment might provide a better lesson for the future than allowing ourselves to once again give in to blind fury.

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Books & Liturature

Steve Benson | Guns vs. Guts / www.usnews.com

Sun, 04/21/2013 - 18:48 — Dave Culver

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By the Numbers

Sun, 04/21/2013 - 18:41 — Dave Culver

 

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Thanks to Evergreene Digest reader Steve Sinsley for this contribution. 

 

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Human Rights & Civil Liberties

The New American Confederacy

Sat, 04/20/2013 - 08:58 — Dave Culver

Most disappointing of all to the youth, though, is Obama's betrayal of their values. Particularly, his extensions of Bush policies and war-mongering. Obama's "dumb war" theory (i.e. that some wars are just and some are just "dumb") is, to us, a complete abomination of the concept of peace. By evoking the Reverend Doctor King in his Nobel acceptance speech while in the same breath dismissing nonviolence, Obama has bastardized the concept of peace and alienated us, antiwar youth permanently from his politics."

Max Eternity, Truthout

Submitted by Evergreene Digest Contributing Editor Lydia Howell

President Barack Obama delivers remarks during an Easter prayer breakfast in the East Room of the White House in Washington, April 5, 2013. (Photo: Drew Angerer / New York Times)

16 April 2013 | Truth often shows up at the most inopportune times, especially for politicians.

"You have to hand it to Barack Obama when it comes to having it both ways" writes the publisher of Harpers Magazine, John MacArthur, in a recent article, entitled "Obama's Real Political Program."  For "[n]ever has a leading American Democrat" done so little, MacArthur says, "in support of less-privileged people while getting so much undeserved credit for 'trying' to help them."

Truly, what a strange and bitter pill to swallow.

An article I wrote 2 years ago, titled "Obama's Right Wing Success: Silencing Black America and the Left," then quoted a young, progressive veteran named Evan Knappenberger, who wrote poignantly about this painfully odd dilemma in an editorial, entitled "Obama's Betrayal of Generation Hope." 

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Books & Liturature

The Boston Marathon Bombing, Drones and the Meaning of Cowardice

Fri, 04/19/2013 - 14:11 — Dave Culver
  • Few Americans seem to care about U.N. rapporteurs (one who is designated to give a report). It’s only when Americans are potential targets for those drones, that Congress and the media get stirred up.
  • America the blind

Barry Lando, Counterpunch

Submitted by Evergreene Digest Contributing Editor Lydia Howell

If you like reading this article, consider contributing a cafe latte to all reader-supported Evergreene Digest--using the donation button above—so we can bring you more just like it.

April 18, 2013 | As I write this, we still don’t know who was responsible for the horrific bombing attack in Boston. Perhaps it will turn out to be the work of home grown rightwing nuts; perhaps it’s the act of foreign terrorists. But, whatever the source, what strikes me is the number of times the barbaric assault is being denounced as “cowardly.” As in Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis’s warning that “This cowardly act will not be taken in stride.”

Indeed, “Cowardly” is the epithet being used by political figures across the United States; it was used by an editorial writer in Kansas City Star and a spokesman for the United Maryland Muslim Council in Baltimore. “Cowardly” is the term being used in messages of support from abroad, from the Prime Minister of India to the Prime Minister of Italy.

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Mr. Fish | A Wolf In Sheep's Clothing / www.truthdig.com

Mon, 04/15/2013 - 13:25 — Dave Culver


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The Question of Socialism (and Beyond!) Is About to Open Up in These United States

Mon, 04/15/2013 - 13:17 — Dave Culver
  • With Americans' interest in socialism rising, we need to seriously consider alternative designs to the current system, argues Alperovitz, in this practical critique of some known models.
  • Can Civilization Survive Capitalism?

Gar Alperovitz, Truthout

Thanks to Evergreene Digest reader Alan Maki for this contribution. 

This article is made possible with the generous contributions of all reader supported Evergreene Digest readers like you. Thank you!

(Photo: Shira Golding Evergreen / Flickr)

Friday, 12 April 2013 | Little noticed by most Americans, Merriam Webster, one of the world's most important dictionaries, announced a few months ago that the two most looked-up words in 2012 were "socialism" and "capitalism."

Traffic for the pair on the company's website roughly doubled from the year before. The choice was a "kind of no-brainer," observed editor at large, Peter Sokolowski. "They're words that sort of encapsulate the zeitgeist."

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Related:

Can Civilization Survive Capitalism? Noam Chomsky, In These Times

The countries with large and influential indigenous populations are well in the lead in seeking to preserve the planet. The countries that have driven indigenous populations to extinction or extreme marginalization are racing toward destruction.

 

 
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Economics

Does Capitalism Make You Happy?

Sat, 04/13/2013 - 14:20 — Dave Culver
  • Without the historically obsolete and parasitic capitalist class, the surplus wealth created by society could be spent on ensuring everyone’s basic needs are covered, allowing everybody more time to spend on things they find meaningful. 
  • As Engels said, socialism will represent humanity’s leap from the realm of necessity to the realm of freedom. Only in a socialist society would life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness be a right, not only in the abstract and for the few, but for everybody.
  • Can Civilization Survive Capitalism?

Dana Cooper, Socialist Appeal

Submitted by Evergreene Digest Contributing Editer John Stoltenberg

Tuesday, 02 April 2013 Ever since the birth of the United States of America, the slogan of the the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness as proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence, has been an integral part of the foundation of capitalism.

In 1776, the “pursuit of happiness” meant the pursuit and accumulation of private property. Everyone—except slaves, Native Americans, and women—had the freedom to “make their own luck.” The United States was a land of plenty, where fertile fields, forests, lakes and mountains were just waiting to be “discovered,” acquired, and developed by industrious and enterprising people.

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Related:

 

Can Civilization Survive Capitalism? Noam Chomsky, In These Times

The countries with large and influential indigenous populations are well in the lead in seeking to preserve the planet. The countries that have driven indigenous populations to extinction or extreme marginalization are racing toward destruction.

 

 
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Economics

Top 5 Myths About Chained-CPI, Debunked

Thu, 04/11/2013 - 19:09 — Dave Culver
  • There are a lot of hidden dangers, both on policy and politics, of Chained-CPI and the White House and its defenders aren’t always forthright about them. Here are the top five myths about Chained-CPI.
  • #ChainedCPI? For Every Social Security Judas, a Primary Challenge
  • 10 ‘Chained CPI’ Facts the White House Doesn’t Want You to Know

George Zornick, The Nation

April 11, 2013 | President Obama released his proposed 2014 budget Wednesday morning, and it included a hugely controversial provision: a switch to a Chained-CPI formula for calculating inflation.

Many different government programs—most notably Social Security—calculate benefits based on the rate of inflation, so that benefits don’t lag behind an increased cost of living. The IRS uses similar formulas to ensure that people aren’t pushed into a higher bracket simply because of inflation.

As Dylan Matthews explains here, the government uses several different formulas to do this, and the administration is proposing to unify them all into one formula, called Chained-CPI-U. It purports to be a more accurate measure of inflation by controlling for “substitution effects.”

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Related:

#ChainedCPI? For Every Social Security Judas, a Primary Challenge, Robert Naiman, Truthout 

Both Democrats and Republicans have expressed discontent at cutting Social Security but the option remains on the table. Robert Naiman suggests the 99% escalate their interest in the matter to have their voices heard against the 1% making the budget decisions.

 

 

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Critical Thinking

Mike Luckovich | Compromising on Social Security / blogs.ajc.com/mike-luckovich

Wed, 04/10/2013 - 18:48 — Dave Culver

 

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