The Digital Dispatch

From NOEBIE.net

Curated Links

The Bi-Partisan War Against the Poor

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DSA Vice Chairman Joseph Schwartz reviews the recent MSNBC special commemorating the 50th anniversary of the War on Poverty, noting that discussion of the thirty year bi-partian assault on working people received little attention.

The biggest change in the face of poverty in the U.S. from the initiation of the War on Poverty to today is that poverty is now a problem of working families; it was not in 1962.  Today, one half of families living in official poverty have a full-time worker in the household. In 1962, a fully employed worker guaranteed that the family would live above the poverty line.  Why this change? In part, this is due to the conscious corporate assault on union strength.

Read more: The Bi-Partisan Neoliberal War Against the Poor – Democratic Socialists of America.

Trish Kahle on the Elk River Spill

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“IMAGINE YOURSELF in the rugged countryside of the Appalachian Mountains, where you and your neighbors have lived with a history of poverty and lack of economic development–and you learn that the water piped into your home has been poisoned and can’t be used, even after it is boiled, until further notice.”

Read the article: They poisoned the river for a “clean coal” lie | I Can’t Believe We Still Have to Protest This Shit.

The Catholic Labor Network

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I was very happy to run across a resource this morning for Catholic unionists and those who are interested in the Church’s teaching on economic justice. It’s called the Catholic Labor Network.

Here’s the description from their Website.

“The Catholic Labor Network hopes to be a place for those Catholics, lay, religious and clergy,  who are active in their churches and in unions to learn about their Church’s teachings as regards to labor issues, pray for those who are working for economic justice and share  information about events and struggles that may be taking place in their area. For over one hundred years, the Catholic Church has been a voice of support for workers, and a conscience to the body politic when it pondered issues dealing with the distribution of wealth and the condition of workers.”

Here are some links.

The Catholic Labor Network: Home Page

Catholic Labor Network Weblog

Catholic Labor Network on Facebook

The Last Gasp

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“We increasingly do not remember what it means to be free. And because we do not remember, we do not react with appropriate ferocity when it is revealed that our freedom has been taken from us. The structures of the corporate state must be torn down. Its security apparatus must be destroyed. And those who defend corporate totalitarianism, including the leaders of the two major political parties, fatuous academics, pundits and a bankrupt press, must be driven from the temples of power. Mass street protests and prolonged civil disobedience are our only hope. A failure to rise up—which is what the corporate state is counting upon—will see us enslaved.”

Read More: Chris Hedges: The Last Gasp of American Democracy – Truthdig.

Remembering Eugene Debs

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“On the day of his release, the warden ignored prison regulations and opened every cell-block to allow more than 2,000 inmates to gather in front of the main jail building to say good-bye to Eugene Debs,” according to Howard Zinn. “As he started down the walkway from the prison, a roar went up and he turned, tears streaming down his face, and stretched out his arms to the other prisoners.”

Read More: Eugene Debs: Dreaming of a red Christmas » peoplesworld.

Bye Bye Burke

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From the St. Louis Post Dispatch:

Former St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke has been bumped from the influential Congregation of Bishops — a post that gave him say in the selection of bishops.

Some observers of the Roman Catholic Church said the move by Pope Francis is yet another example of his effort to tone down highly publicized stances on divisive social issues such as gay marriage, contraception and abortion, on which Burke has made strong remarks.

Burke was the one who stated publicly that he would deny Eucharist to John Kerry during the 2004 presidential election.

Read More: Pope Francis removes former St. Louis Archbishop Burke from Congregation of Bishops : Lifestyles.