Jared Berstein on the End-Game Created by Concentration of Wealth and Its Handmaiden, Power

Jared Bernstein argues that  we have locked ourselves into a going-nowhere end-game in Western culture, because "the concentration of wealth and its handmaiden--power" in our culture assures that no paradigm-shifting new ideas about our economic malaise can come before the body politic.  In his view, there was a window of opportunity during the last decade, when recession loomed, to open the discussion to new ideas.  But "the concentration of wealth and power blocked the new ideas from a fair hearing." 

Naomi Klein on Riots as Response to Global Saqueo, "A Time of Great Taking"

Naomi Klein on London riots as a response of an underclass being permanently cut off from the social mainstream to the grand Saqueo (i.e., sacking) in which wealthy elites are plundering the limited resources of nations everywhere, and making the most vulnerable pay the price:

Forrest Wilder: Mainstream Media Look the Other Way at Perry Show

Forrest Wilder on how the mainstream media continue to soft-sell the prejudice, ignorance, and downright cruelty of the religious right--latest case in point, Rick Perry's Response rally:

NOM Loses Two Court Battles to Keep Donors Hidden

Another small, but to my mind significant, news tidbit left over from last week: the anti-gay group National Organization of Marriage this week lost two separate legal battles to circumvent the disclosure laws of states in which it has worked to attack gay citizens and yank away their rights.  As Joe Sudbay reports at Americablog Gay, courts in both Maine and Rhode Island on Thursday rejected NOM attempts to get around laws requiring advocacy groups like NOM to make their donors known, when they engage in political battles like the battle against gay people and their rights.

CNN Reporter Don Lemon Shoved by Bachmann Staff (and Husband) in Iowa Yesterday

African-American CNN reporter Don Lemon, who came out as a gay man this past May, reports that Michelle Bachmann's staff members and husband Marcus Bachmann mahandled and shoved him when he sought to ask Bachmann questions in Iowa yesterday.

Classy behavior that tells us about the quality of leadership Ms. Bachmann would provide for our democracy, if elected . . . .

Hand Thanks Glove: Archbishop Dolan Thanks Bully Billy Donohue for Defending Him

Hand thanks glove: U.S. Catholic Bishops' Conference president Timothy Dolan thanks Bully Bill Donohue at Dolan's blog site for (yet again) tearing into critics of Dolan.   I like Mary Lu Callahan's response in the thread after Dolan's posting: Bully Bill is a supreme embarrassment to many Catholics, with his vitriol and toxic prejudices.

And yet the current USCCB president has made him a virtual publicity arm of the Catholic church in the U.S.  Shameful.  And very embarrassing.

Paul Farmer on Accompaniment: Breaking Bread with the Poor as We Walk Along

Good weekend reading: Paul Farmer's recent essay in Foreign Affairs on assisting the poor over the long term (originally composed as a May 2011 commencement speech at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government), and Tom Fox's helpful summary of Farmer's essay in National Catholic Reporter.  Farmer's premise: effective, long-term assistance for those living on the social margins requires accompaniment, not charitable handouts.