Archive for the ‘Progressives’ Category
Progressives on Multi-Denominational Machines
Progressives on Multi-Denominational Machines 17 May 2014
By Jerry Stickman
Dear Frank:
Much thanks for an always interesting column. I read it the day it is sent to me via email. Please keep up the good words.
I have a question concerning Video Poker machines. Here in Vegas, there is a local casino that has a multigame, multi-denominational bank of progressive video poker bar-top machines. I always wondered about this: suppose the progressive is $1500 and youre playing 25-cent double double bonus. And you hit the royal. Youll get $1500. But, suppose you were playing 50-cents? Would you still get the $1500, or would you be rewarded with $3000? Just wondering if it is worth playing more than 25-cents on these type of machines.
Thanks again for a GREAT column and even greater advice.
Tom G.
From Frank:
Thanks for your comments about my columns. I passed along your question to our resident video poker expert best selling author Jerry "Stickman," author of "Everything Casino Poker: Get the edge at Video Poker, Texas Hold'em, Omaha Hi-Lo and Pai Gow Poker."
From Jerry "Stickman":
Can the Cause of Economic Justice Revive the Religious Left?
Washington The religious left was never as cohesive and effective as the religious right. But a new report based on interviews with religious progressive leaders finds that the Obama era may have further weakened Democrats interest in the non-secular.
The recent report from the Brookings Institution argues that religious progressives could be heading for a renaissance if they can focus on what some see as the civil rights issue of our time: economic justice.
The report, by the institutes Governance Studies Program, is based on polling and interviews with many of the top players of Washingtons religious left. This includes John Carr, formerly of the U.S. Bishops Conference, evangelical writer Jim Wallis and Rabbi David Saperstein of the Reform Jewish movement.
It starkly lays out the challenges facing religious progressives activists and voters who see their faith lived out through social justice, particularly work for such causes as immigration reform and limiting budget cuts for the poor.
Religious progressives played a massive role in everything from the New Deal to ending slavery. Can they again be as influential?
The report, co-written by Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne Jr., argues that the success of Obama and the Democrats in 2008 led not to a redoubling of interest on the progressive side of religion, but quite the opposite. . . . Engagement with religion has atrophied. Many saw 2012 as a year when the gap widened between secular and religious progressives because Obama and other Democrats had gained traction by pushing on socially liberal issues such as abortion and contraception on which there is not unanimity among religious progressives.
The report lays out the key challenges for religious progressives, including:
The numbers. Even as the religious conservative movement is failing to attract younger people, 56 percent of Republicans call themselves religious conservatives, while only 28 percent of Democrats call themselves religious progressives.
Religious progressives are not homogenous and thus not as cohesive. Their views on abortion and gay marriage can vary, and their congregations are more politically diverse and thus harder to rally.
Democrats are ambivalent about the role of religion in politics.
Continued here:
Can the Cause of Economic Justice Revive the Religious Left?
Speak with one voice, APC tells FG
The All Progressives Congress has urged the federal government to immediately stop the discordant tunes emanating from the highest echelons of government and speak with one voice on ongoing efforts to find and rescue the schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram.
This was contained in a statement by the partys Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, in Abuja, on Thursday.
According to the party conflicting statements credited to top government officials over the conditions given by Boko Haram for releasing the girls, were totally unwarranted and could send the wrong signal to the insurgents and hinder the efforts to ensure the safe return of the girls.
The party said the government must designate a spokesman, be it the Minister of Information or whoever the government deems fit, to be responsible for daily relaying to the public any relevant information concerning the search for the missing girls, instead of allowing a cacophony of voices on the issue.
The statement read in part: Information management is key if the government itself is not to jeopardize ongoing international efforts to find and rescue the girls, and the government must move fast to keep the nation informed through an established channel, in line with global best practices under such circumstances.
While Interior Minister Abba Moro and Senate President David Mark have said the government would not negotiate the release of the girls, Information Minister Labaran Maku, Director-General of National Orientation Agency, Mike Omeri and Special Duties Minister Taminu Turaki have hinted that the Federal Government will do whatever it takes to free the girls, meaning that all options are on the table.
To compound matters, President Goodluck Jonathan was widely quoted in the local newspapers Thursday as saying the government would not release the incarcerated Boko Haram members in exchange for the girls.
The APC said this kind of utter confusion is a window deep into the inner workings of the federal government as far as this critical issue of finding and freeing the girls is concerned, and it is unfortunate.
This is the kind of befuddlement that has characterized the FGs response to the Boko Haram crisis and led to a sorry pass where a nation widely acclaimed for its global peacekeeping role is now at the receiving end of global efforts to save it from itself, APC said.
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Speak with one voice, APC tells FG
APC condemns conversion of kidnapped Christian girls to Islam
The All Progressives Congress has condemned the reported conversion to Islam of the Christians among the over 200 schoolgirls who were abducted by the Boko Haram terror group four weeks ago, describing the development as totally unacceptable and downright unconstitutional.
It has also postponed its planned NEC meeting earlier scheduled for today (Tuesday).
According to a statement in Abuja, Tuesday, the party held an emergency meeting to deliberate on the Boko Haram issue.
The APC described the action of the girls abductors in forcing them to make statements against their personal convictions, as utterly barbaric.
It reminded the abductors that Nigeria was a secular state and that the countrys constitution recognizes the rights of the citizens to any religion of their choice.
The party submitted that it was patently wrong and unconscionable to force any citizen to convert from one religion to another.
This whole abduction saga has hit at the very soul of our nation. But just when we felt we had all witnessed the worst atrocity by the primitive and brutal group called Boko Haram, we are confronted with a totally repulsive scene of teenage girls, literally with guns to their heads, being forced to say they have converted to Islam.
This is appalling, distasteful and unacceptable under any circumstance and we condemn it with all the strength we can muster, APC said.
The party urged the government to critically study the latest video by Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau, to see what other measures can be added to the ongoing international efforts to find and rescue the girls.
Here is the original post:
APC condemns conversion of kidnapped Christian girls to Islam