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Dispatches from the Culture Wars - Guns & Rosa edition

Published by Portside
America's 10 `Most Hated' Brands; Sundance 2013: Are Filmmakers Vain or Nostalgic?; Science journalism's great divide; What Would Karl and Rosa Say?; How the NRA Became an Organization for Aspiring Vigilantes; Why Old Men Find Young Women's Voices So Annoying; What Downton Abbey Can Tell Us about Class in America Today; Music Exhibit Recalls Another Time For Jews and Blacks

Civil Disobedience Needed Against Keystone XL Pipeline

From Walden to the White House - We are watching a global crisis unfold before our eyes, and to stand aside and let it happen -- even though we know how to stop it -- would be unconscionable. We can't afford to lose a single major battle. That's why the Sierra Club's Board of Directors has for the first time endorsed an act of peaceful civil disobedience (two items).

Court Ruling on Labor Board Harms Workers

RoseAnn DeMoro San Francisco Chronicle
When the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington ruled Friday to overturn President Obama's recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board, it handed a huge gift to Wall Street, big corporations and the politicians they control.

The Rise of the Permanent Temp Economy

Erin Hatton The New York Times
Politicians across the political spectrum herald “job creation,” but frightfully few of them talk about what kinds of jobs are being created. Low-wage, temporary jobs have become so widespread that they threaten to become the norm. How did we arrive at this state of affairs?

Egypt Aflame Over Protests

Carl Finamore Counterpunch
Late this evening, President Mohammad Morsi declared Emergency Law in three provinces around the Suez Canal that are ablaze in protests. He frankly conceded the government was losing control. ... there is absolutely no doubt that both the military and the Muslim Brotherhood government were caught completely off guard by angry, increasingly intense protests, immediately following what were already massive anti-government actions in Tahrir Square and elsewhere.

Nonprofit Spends Big on Politics Despite IRS

Michael Beckel The Center for Public Integrity
A cadre of wealthy business executives and conservative groups tried to sell California voters on new campaign finance reforms.Couched in lofty rhetoric about the importance of cutting off money from special interests to politicians and other regulations favored by reformers, their proposal sought to ban the practice of using payroll deductions for political expenditures — a popular method of union fundraising: The story of the American Fund and Proposition 32.

Teacher boycott of standardized test in Seattle spreads

Valerie Strauss The Washington Post
A boycott of Washington state’s mandated standardized test by teachers at a Seattle school is spreading to other schools and winning support across the country, including from the two largest teachers’ unions, parents, students, researchers and educators.