Portside

Death from Above, tar sands, political class, super rich, Occupy, Troy Davis

Religious conservatives in Texas are fighting to infuse textbooks with their agenda—and it won't just affect public school students in the Lone Star State.

"The church sometimes has locked itself up in small things, in small-minded rules," Francis says. "Ministers of the church must be ministers of mercy above all." In general, he seems to suggest he wants the church to come off as less judgmental and more pastoral, though without becoming morally "lax."

It's not unusual for politicians to disagree; one would hope that journalism might intervene on the side of the facts.

Back in Brown with Aasif Mandvi. Why Are American Health Care Costs So High? The Black NRA. After Tiller: Documentary. Copenhagen Metro Peer Gynt Flash Mob. NFL: League of Denial.

A hard look at the campaign by retail and fast-food workers to earn a living wage.

In the picking of the strawberry crops - many workers are needed and in the name of immigration reform the growers are seeing their dream - a huge cheap source of labor. Congress is debating bills that would expand the number of recruited workers many times over, possibly even reaching the 500,000 worker peak of the bracero program in the mid-1950s.

Reader Comments - U.S. Support Military Rule in Honduras; the New New Left; Stephen Colbert and Vladimir Putin; Income Inequality; Still more - GMO labeling; Occupy Wall Street and NYPD police tactics; Announcements - Welcome to Hebron - Bay Area-Sept 25; Lopsided Crisis: Ongoing Impact of the Great Recession - New York-Sept 27; Immigration Reform Concert & March - Oct 8- Washington, DC; Jobs with Justice-San Francisco - Bridging Solidarity and Power Together -Oct. 10

Although Israel has refused to publicly acknowledge its chemical weapons program, the U.S. Office of Technology has identified Israel as a nation with likely offensive chemical weapons capabilities. In addition to Israel's controversial chemical weapons program, Israel is one of few nations not to ratify the nuclear non-proliferation agreement.

Democrats have reached a watershed. After two decades in which the party has moved leftward on social issues but has largely accepted the financial sector's economic preferences - the abject failures of the market economy are pushing the party leftward. The revolt against Summers was less about his positions on today's economic issues but his opposition to regulating derivatives. In Congress, in New York City and Chicago, Democrats are feeling the heat of the people.