Utne Reader

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When Jonathan May-Bowles – a.k.a. activist-comedian Jonnie Marbles – tipped a foam-pie over Rupert Murdoch, oh how we scorned him. “He’s turned Murdoch into the victim!” we bawled, or at least I did, anyway. In hindsight, it seems the real victim was Marbles himself. The father-of-one was sentenced to six weeks (reduced on appeal to four) in Wandsworth prison - by the same judge who had previously acquitted a riot cop for slapping a female protestor in the face.

Tough justice; perhaps even disproportionate. But the good news is that Marbles has reacted to it all with surprising bonhomie – and is even blogging enthusiastically about the experience from inside the jug. Writing on his blog Anarchish (subtitle: “Because the state’s not gonna smash itself”), Marbles recounts how he at first tried to keep his crime a secret from other prisoners, for fear of reprisals.

It’s been a tough year for progressive causes. Whether it’s the unprecedented attack on workers and organized labor or the insistence of making those least responsible for the country’s financial woes—the poor and middle class—the ones affected most by policies meant to address them. That doesn’t mean that all of 2011 has been lost to extremely conservative policies, though. Keep reading …

motherjones:

Women isolated from secular society, scarred for life, and beaten for crossing the religious authorities. Kandahar? No, Missouri. And conservatives keep the system running.

Not to sound glib, but Jesus.

Beware the vine creep. That’s the name given to the widespread profusion of lianas—woody, tree-climbing vines—across the tropical forests of North, South, and Central America.

The phenomenon has previously been documented in the Amazon, but now ecologists have confirmed that vines are on the march in Panama, Brazil, and French Guiana. Keep reading …