People Power to the Rescue

by Nomad

I saw this video clip the other day. I don't have much information on it. It appears to have come from Brazil but that could be incorrect. The information only reads:

About 30 Dolphins stranded and saved by local people at Arraial do Cabo (Brazil) in the morning at 8:00 AM on March 5th 2012.

Besides, it really doesn't matter where it came from. I'd like to believe it could happen on any day and on any beach.
I hope you feel as inspired as I did by this understated example of people power.

Related articles

• Dolphins Stranded, Rescued (leftperspectives.com)

Dr. Dodd and His Warning about Hidden Fascism in America

by Nomad

"Fascism is on the march today in America. Millionaires are marching to the tune. It will come in this country unless a strong defense is set up by all liberal and progressive forces. ..."

These words, apt as they are today, were actually said by Franklin Roosevelt’s ambassador to Nazi Germany, William E. Dodd, in an interview upon his return from Europe on January 7, 1938. 

Having seen first-hand the threat of fascism, he believed, with all of the connections between the industrialists and bankers, that time was running out for liberty in the United States. 

Soft-Spoken Historian from the Carolinas

Dodd had not been Roosevelt’s first pick for the ambassador post. The other candidates for that position understood the challenges and realized what kind of political equilibrium would be required to make everybody happy. With varied excuses, each had politely bowed out of the running. Finally, in June of 1933, Roosevelt offered the post to Dodd and he accepted.

Fascism's First Steps: Heywood Broun's Warning From the Past

by Nomad

The name Heywood Broun has largely been forgotten by most people today. That's a real pity too.

As a newspaper writer, he was a forerunner of the great journalists like Edward R. Murrow or Walter Cronkite. Sadly it seems as though the era of the great reporters has come to an ignoble end and we’ll probably not see a new Broun or Murrow anytime soon.

So I wanted to take a moment to introduce you to Mr. Broun.

Born in Brooklyn in 1889, Heywood Campbell Broun was a child of fairly well-off circumstances, and with his father’s wealth from business, was privately educated at the Horace Mann School. In 1906, he entered Harvard University but never finished his studies there because, the story goes, he failed to pass an elementary French course.

As a columnist, Broun worked for a number of different papers, including the New York Tribune and the New York World. His career also took him abroad as a foreign war correspondent with General John J. Pershing in Paris during World War I.

He was certainly a character and many stories were told about him. One story revolves around his acknowledged sloppiness.The magazine article made this observation about his appearance

In the country, he affects a proletarian costume, consisting of a sweatshirt and pair of frayed trousers, offset by a considerable expanse of unrelieved Broun in the middle. He wears shoes cracks with age and socks that look as though they might be a continuation of long winter underwear.

His appearance was such that when he first met General Pershing in Paris, the General asked him in all seriousness, "Have you fallen down, Mr. Broun?"

Render Unto Ceasar: Was Jesus a Secularist?

by Nomad

Jesus, the founder of the Christian Church, never precisely stated his opinions on mixing religion with government. However, one passage from the New Testament supports the theory that when it came to religious affairs and government, Jesus thought they were separate things altogether.

Christians are familiar- or they ought to be familiar- with this story from the life of Jesus, in which, he outsmarts a shifty lawyer. 

Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians.

“Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are. Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not?”

But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”

“Caesar’s,” they replied.

Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”

When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away.

Matthew 22:15-22

That’s probably a familiar passage even to people who are not all that devoted to the Christian faith. Besides showing that Jesus could argue as well as any lawyer of his time, or that his audience was not merely gullible village folk- it also demonstrates something else. Jesus himself believed that the realm of the government and the realm of religion were not to be intermixed. 

In his time, the powers of Caesar was not merely the head of government but, as a emperor of the known world, he was the government. His obscure whims required absolute obedience. 

Judea was little more than an occupied colony of Rome and dissent- even in its mildest form- was not tolerated. It was a case of "you are either with us or against us."

Deconstructing the Meme: “The Worst President Since Carter”

by Nomad

If you are unlucky enough to encounter a die-hard neo-conservative or tea-party member, you are quite likely to hear them use this phrase to castigate President Obama.

"Obama? He’s the worst president since Carter.”

Its use has all of the hallmarks of Rovian propaganda. As a phrase, it is mindlessly repeated without any clarification, and dropped into a discussion like a finely-rolled ball of manure as if these twin statements were facts beyond question or debate.

According to its own logic, Obama is a terrible president just like Jimmy Carter was a terrible president. They rarely elaborate or feel the need to, since it is, they seem to think, a matter of common knowledge.

Lately even Candidate Romney has been attempting to put this comparison into use. Recently Romney said. “Who would’ve guessed we’d look back at the Carter years as the good ol’ days, you know?” To some, that kind of talk smacks of desperation.

Given the disastrous interval between the years 2000 and 2008, I thought the phrase "the worst president" deserved a closer look.