Afternoon News Bytes: Jan. 30, 2012 | Sojourners

Afternoon News Bytes: Jan. 30, 2012

THE HUFFINGTON POST: The Surprising Evangelical Support For Newt Gingrich (OPINION)
The need for Red Letter Christians to no longer be labeled "evangelicals" became abundantly clear this past Saturday following the South Carolina Republican Primary. Most Evangelicals claim to be politically non-partisan, and say they only identify with the Republican Party because the Republicans are committed to "family values." Learn more HERE  

CNN: Florida Evangelicals A Different Breed Of Voter Than Brethren In Iowa, South Carolina
Conservative Christian activist Ralph Reed has called the Bible Belt home for decades, but he grew up in Miami in the 1970s, when the city was emerging as a diverse megalopolis.
Learn more HERE  

THE ATLANTIC: Elite Wall Street Donations Jumped 700 percent In The Last 20 Years
Banks "frankly own the place," Sen. Dick Durbin famously said of Washington during the debate over financial regulation in 2010. And when it comes to total contributions for big donors, you can see what he's talking about.
Learn more HERE  

THE DAILY BEAST: Leslie H. Gelb On How President Obama Should Handle Iran
The United States, Israel, and Europe are inching closer to war with Iran because of what they’re doing and what they’re not doing. What they are doing is squeezing Iran with unprecedented economic sanctions (which is good); but Western leaders know full well the penalties won’t cause Tehran to abandon its nuclear program.
Learn more HERE  

RELIGIOUS NEWS SERVICE/WASHINGTON POST: Americans Intrigued But Wary Still Of Mormon Beliefs
When Mormons call themselves “a peculiar people,” they mean it in the biblical sense — set aside by God, chosen. But many Americans call them peculiar in Webster’s way — strange, odd.
Learn more HERE  

THE ECONOMIST: It Looks Like Civil War
THE breezy hilltop resort of Zabadani is usually occupied by rich Syrians in second homes and Gulf tourists enjoying the picturesque mountains on the Lebanese border. But for much of January the town of some 40,000 people has been a rebel enclave.
Learn more HERE

TIME: In Yemen, A U.S.-Backed Transition Plan Draws Fire From Democracy Activists
Yemen was mentioned twice in President Barack Obama's State of the Union address on Tuesday, once in respect of the "decisive blows" by American power that had sent al-Qaeda scrambling, and again in respect of the "wave of change" that has broken across the Arab world to demand the "rights and dignity of all human beings."
Learn more HERE

THE NEW YORK TIMES: The Truth About Foreign Aid (OPINION)
Last week, Oxfam and Save the Children released a report saying that emergency relief in the Horn of Africa came months late, costing thousands of lives and millions of dollars. Oxfam and Save the Children conclude that humanitarian assistance should be done differently. The anti-foreign aid establishment is using the report to argue that aid doesn’t work and should be cut across the board.
Learn more HERE  

POLITICO: How Conservatives Lost Their Moral Compass (OPINION)
America’s real moral revolution has been the abandonment of those old Judeo-Christian precepts to which both liberals and conservatives subscribed — tolerance, compassion and generosity on the one hand and hard work, honesty and fairness on the other.
Learn more HERE

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