Headlines: February 28, 2008

Today’s headlines and stories:

1. Evangelicals are Splintering; Republican Base Falling Apart: Jim Wallis on CNN - Evangelicals Splintering: How It Could Change Politics. Jim Wallis is on CNN. Also see Jim Wallis’s blog post on the Pew report, A Religious Landscape Ripe for Revival:

“I haven’t yet read the whole study released yesterday by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life titled, “U.S. Religious Landscape Survey,” just some of today’s news reports. But what I have read confirms what I see on the road every week. U.S. citizens are on the move religiously. Many people are not staying in the churches of their upbringings. “This is not your parents’ church,” many now could say as they show up on Sunday mornings. But where are they going? What we have known for a long time now is backed by the data—namely that many evangelical churches are growing, and especially congregations that are “non-denominational” or “unaffiliated.” And a decline in Catholic Church attendance is being somewhat offset by an influx into the country of Catholic immigrants.”

You can find a PDF version here. We’re gonna OWN the Republicans this year!

2. Pew Report Finds More than One in 100 Adults are Behind Bars - The Pew Center on the States:

“Washington, DC - 02/28/2008 - For the first time in history more than one in every 100 adults in America are in jail or prison—a fact that significantly impacts state budgets without delivering a clear return on public safety. According to a new report released today by the Pew Center on the States’ Public Safety Performance Project, at the start of 2008, 2,319,258 adults were held in American prisons or jails, or one in every 99.1 men and women, according to the study. During 2007, the prison population rose by more than 25,000 inmates. In addition to detailing state and regional prison growth rates, Pew’s report, One in 100: Behind Bars in America 2008, identifies how corrections spending compares to other state investments, why it has increased, and what some states are doing to limit growth in both prison populations and costs while maintaining public safety.”

3. Times They Are a Changing: An Interview with George Lakoff on Language, Politics, and the 2008 U.S. Presidential Elections - Dave Winer, 52, pioneered the development of weblogs, syndication (RSS), podcasting, outlining, and web content management software; check out his interview with George Lakoff, a fellow at the Rockridge Institute, and a pioneer in linking lessons from linguistics and cognitive science to politics and progressive organizing & messaging. And here is the mp3 file. I’ll definitely be posting some follow up posts about this article soon. Stay tuned!

4. New College of California, a progressive college in San Francisco, loses its accreditation - New College has lost its accreditation as the result of undemocratic and anti-progressive attacks from moderates and the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC). Statement from the New College Board of Trustees:

“As members of the New College Board of Trustees, we are very disappointed by the decision by the WASC Commission to move to terminate the College’s accreditation, as communicated to us in a message received yesterday. At this point, we are exploring a number of options, as described further below. In our deliberations we are clear that our first and foremost priority is to protect the interests of individuals invested in the College - this starts with our students and extends to our graduates, along with members of our faculty and staff.”

This is truly a loss for our movement…

5. Youthquake - January 9, 2008 in BusinessWeek:

“They’re called the Millennials—and they’re fed up. Why? Try angst about jobs, health care, and debt. Now they’re getting pols to listen. Earlier than most of his rivals, Barack Obama sensed that a youthquake was rumbling deep inside the American electorate. For months, his campaign has put a premium on reaching out to YouTube (GOOG) disaffecteds. So far the strategy is paying off, helped along, no doubt, by the candidate’s hip, un-boomer persona. The 46-year-old Illinois senator’s surprise victory in the Iowa caucuses and close second-place finish to New York Senator Hillary Clinton in the New Hampshire Democratic primary were fueled largely by hordes of twentysomethings in hoodies—the oft-pierced-and-tattooed generation that has come to be known as the Millennials, or Gen Y.”

Got other interesting articles from the last few days? E-mail me at brian (at) walkingbutterfly.com!