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JOURNEY - Don’t Stop Believing

From 23/6.com

In case you haven’t seen the video…

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Barack Obama is stepping up his effort to correct the misconception that he’s a Muslim now that the presidential campaign has hit the Bible Belt.

“I’ve been to the same church - the same Christian church - for almost 20 years,” Obama said, stressing the word Christian and drawing cheers from the faithful in reply. “I was sworn in with my hand on the family Bible. Whenever I’m in the United States Senate, I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. So if you get some silly e-mail … send it back to whoever sent it and tell them this is all crazy. Educate.”

I believe Obama is referring to an email similar to the one I received, and posted here at BH, nearly two weeks ago. I agree that he should address the lying liars, but I hate that presidential contenders feel they have to suck up to the religious crowd even if they do represent a fairly large block of the voting public. But a person’s religious beliefs shouldn’t be a factor in his/her qualifications for president. (I thought that was law?)

John Nichols, of The Online Beat, has a great piece up over at The Nation, “Wexler: Election Can’t Distract From Holding Cheney to Account“. Good read!

It’s tough out there… and it’s gonna get lots tougher!

Highly Skilled And Out Of Work

Long-Term Joblessness Spreads in Middle Class

An unusually large share of workers have been out a job for more than six months even as overall unemployment has remained low, a little-noted weakness in the labor market that analysts said threatens to intensify the impact of the unfolding economic downturn.

In November, nearly 1.4 million people — almost one in five of those unemployed — had been jobless for at least 27 weeks, the juncture when unemployment insurance benefits end for most recipients. That is about twice the level of long-term unemployment before the 2001 recession.
[...]

“What has happened is a polarization of the labor market. It was very strong at the very top and very strong until recently at the bottom,” said Lawrence F. Katz, a labor economist at Harvard University. “But in the recent weak recovery, and now recession, demand has been very weak” for jobs in the middle.

Civil rights are probably under greater assault now than they’re been in a few decades. Glenn Greenwald reminds us the FISA fight isn’t done. Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell aims to create an Orwellian surveillance state, citing imaginary boogeymen and phantom evidence (The New Yorker article is not yet online, but will be eventually here). Eliminating habeas corpus and employing torture should never have occurred, but the scoundrels who perpetrated it are still in power, and their damage must be fixed. The basic concept of the rule of law and a sound justice system have been systematically attacked. Finally, a key Supreme Court case involving an Indiana Voter ID law is being decided - and I fear good law, common sense and basic decency will not prevail.

In previous years for MLK Day, I’ve posted the text of the famous “I Have a Dream” speech, and links to video of it. That speech never ceases to give me a chill, and is hard to top, so go here if you’d like to feel that inspiration again. It’s a good reminder of what can, has and must be done.
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