Sunday Links

A mishmosh of things to make you angry and (hopefully) active:

• "The annual number of reservists and National Guard members who say they have been reassigned, lost benefits or been fired from civilian jobs after returning from duty has increased by about 30% since 2002." Do Americans know that supporting our troops means more than putting a sticker on your car? This is disgraceful.

• Four in ten U.S. college graduates — including more than half of African-American and Hispanic borrowers — are burdened with an “unmanageable level of debt.” Debt Hits Hard is a campaign to end corporate welfare for lenders that wastes billions of taxpayer dollars; ease the debt burden on students and families by cutting student loan interest rates in half; and make financial aid more effective by raising the minimum Pell Grant to $5,100.

• Of all the shameful things that the Bush Administration has foisted upon this country, the Military Commissions Act of 2006 that limited habeas corpus was perhaps the worst of all. However, this past week Senators Patrick Leahy and Arlen Specter introduced the "Habeas Corpus Restoration Act of 2006," which would reinstate federal court jurisdiction over Guantanamo detainees and other suspected enemy combatants. Yet another reason to be glad that Democrats are in charge.

• Republicans are always so peeved about how they don't get any credit for a great economy, evidenced by the surging stock market. Well, maybe the fact that the supply of affordable housing has continued to dwindle this year has something to do with it. See, affordable housing is something that affects every American much more directly than the fortunes of Wall Street. Hard to fathom for people whose only consituency is the rich.