Religious Liberty Is For People, Not Corporations

The Article: Religious liberty is for people, not corporations by Elizabeth B. Wydra in CNN.

The Text: Once again, Obamacare has made its way back before the Supreme Court.

The high court decided Tuesday to review two challenges by for-profit corporations and their religious owners over comprehensive contraception coverage required by the Affordable Care Act. And if the justices follow more than 200 years of constitutional law and history on what it means to enjoy the free exercise of religion in America, the court should yet again hand a victory to the act.
It had little choice but to agree to hear the cases this term.

Using unprecedented legal reasoning, three federal circuit courts of appeals have ruled that secular, for-profit business corporations and/or the individuals who own them have a valid claim that the mandate to provide no-cost, FDA-approved contraception in their employer-sponsored health plan violates their asserted right to the free exercise of religion.

Continue Reading

Student Makes Clear Exactly What Is Wrong With The US Education System

Common Core standards were meant to serve as a bridge between the affluent and underprivileged, but with the inordinate amount of focus on testing, the gap has only widened. This Tennessee student takes the issue to task.

The Only Time Republicans Say Nothing

To make up for their silence, they ceaselessly squawk in the name of white Christian males throughout the nation. They’re all about the balance, those Republicans.

Black Friday Epitomizes American Culture

The Article: Black Friday epitomizes American Culture by Michael Williams in The North Wind.

The Text: Black Friday has become more reflective of American cultural values than Thanksgiving.

The irony of Black Friday is clear, perhaps cliché. If we are celebrating gratitude and contentment on Thanksgiving, then is overconsumption the day following appropriate? Is the concept of Thanksgiving thus disingenuous? What stinks of gratitude and contentment less than incessant dissatisfaction manifesting itself as consumption?

Black Friday weekend of 2012 grossed $60 billion in sales in the United States. That’s 10 times the amount of money spent in the 2012 presidential campaign, which, by the way, was the costliest presidential run in U.S. history. Yes, more money is spent for nondurable goods in this country than for the institution of democracy.

Continue Reading

An Incredibly Necessary Thanksgiving History Lesson

While you feast on turkey, potatoes and gravy, feed your brain with some vital knowledge on the sordid history of this so-called day of ‘thanks’.