What We're Reading - The Internet Lives On Edition

Written by: Linsey P on Jan 20, 2012 1:41 PM EST

Democracy for America’s staff has an eclectic What We’re Reading list this week.  From issues like SOPA and internet protection to a personal story of a family fighting to save their home from foreclosure, it’s easy to see while the staff may not read similar stories, we’re deeply committed to creating a better America for all. Check out all our What We're Reading links below after the break.

Kate Lesniak, Deputy Finance Director 
Pick of the Week:

“I found this article to be relevant for everyone who current holds some sort of office job.  Great read.” 

The Rise of the New Groupthink
By Susan Cain

“Culturally, we’re often so dazzled by charisma that we overlook the quiet part of the creative process.  Consider Apple.  In the wake of Steve Jobs’s death, we’ve seen a profusion of myths about the company’s success.  Most of the focus on Mr. Jobs’s supernatural magnetism and tend to ignore the other crucial figure in Apple’s creation: a kindly, introverted engineering wizard, Steve Wozniak, who toiled alone on a beloved invention, the personal computer.”

Laurie Childers,  Accountant
Pick of the Week:

“This week DFA took action on SOPA/PIPA.  When I got home from work and sat down to dinner with my family My 15 year old son said he was thrilled DFA was against SOPA/PIPA.  The family (19, 17 and 15 year old young people) had a great discussion about it last night and again this morning.  This is democracy at it's best!”

The Story Behind the SOPA Blackout
By Siddhartha Mahanta and Nick Baumann

"By this weekend, the writing was on the wall. Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.), the House Majority Leader, announced that SOPA would not come for a vote in the House before the controversy over the bill is resolved—essentially killing it for the time being. The White House issued a statement opposing significant portions of the bills. And Issa canceled the hearing planned for Wednesday, saying he's "confident" the bill is dead in the House."

Julielyn Gibbons, Training Director 
Pick of the Week:

“As the daughter of a former teacher, I know as well as anyone the value of a college education, but as conservative state governments continue to de-prioritize the investment in higher ed, more and more current and potential college students find themselves asking if it's really worth mortgaging most or all of their financial future for an education that can no longer guarantee a job.”

Paying for ‘Dream’ - House and Car Cost Extra
By Dana Hollowell

“Obama’s initiative comes as students prepare to enter a tough job market. In a recent study by the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University, 90 percent of 2006-07 graduates found work, with a medium income of $30,000. However, that percentage dropped to 56 percent in 2010, with graduates who found work earning a medium income of just $27,000.” 

Ruby Reid, Online Training Organizer
Pick of the Week:

“I have a personal friend whose family is fighting against the foreclosure monster Bank of America.  She shared this post with me yesterday, and I couldn’t help but want resolution.  Here’s more background on Bank of America’s role in demolishing our country and fueling the foreclosure crisis.”

Crippled by Foreclosures, Nevada hits Bank of America with Sweeping Suit
By Paul Kiel

“According to the suit, borrowers were duped into unaffordable loans and then victimized again through a misleading mortgage modification program that homeowners tried to use to avoid foreclosure.  Finally, the suit alleges, the bank filed fraudulent documents to move forward with the foreclosures.”

Jase Roberts, Technology Director
Pick of the Week:

“My pick for the week is a dense but absolutely outstanding analysis of why we keep getting terrible Internet regulation bills coming out of Congress, session after session.”

SOPA: the tech industry’s self-inflicted wound
By Jason Lefkowitz

“But one question keeps coming up that nobody really seems to have a good answer for: how did the tech industry find itself in this situation in the first place?...The most common answer I’ve seen given to this question is a simple one: the content industry paid Congress off.”

Levana Layendecker, Communications Director 
Pick of the Week: 

“As a country we celebrated the great legacy of civil rights fighter Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. While he worked tirelessly to stop Jim Crow era segregation laws, today the United States continues to see Republican legislatures disenfranchise voters in their communities.”

Do Something About the War on Voting
By Martin Longman

“As we celebrate Martin Luther King Day, we rightfully note how much progress we've made in this country, but we cannot forget that the Department of Justice recently had to "nullify" a South Carolina law because it would disproportionately disenfranchise black voters.   Since the 2011 legislative year began, 34 Republican state legislatures have introduced bills designed to deny the vote to  people who cannot produce specific types of state issued ID.”

Linsey Pecikonis, Deputy Communications Director
Pick of the Week:

“The GOP field of Presidential candidates may be shrinking, but the heat around which candidate will be the inevitable nominee continues to rise.  One article shows why Mitt Romney had a poor showing in last night’s debate and the other article takes a larger look at Newt Gingrich’s moral dilemma.”  

Romney’s ‘Prevent Defense’ Yielding Big Gains to Opponents
Posted Nate Silver

"At one point on Thursday, while delivering a somewhat rambling answer about his tax returns, Mr. Romney explicitly invoked the idea that he wanted to be careful about his disclosures so as to minimize the potential general election fall-out. That’s a perfectly rational strategy for a politician, but it just isn’t good politics to say it out loud in the context of an intraparty debate. (Mr. Romney has had these sort of problems before.)"

Moralizing’s High Cost
New York Times Editorial

“In this political cycle, it is Newt Gingrich who has been unable to escape the toxic combination of infidelity and sermonizing. The stories about his three marriages have been known for years, but every time he seems to have escaped the wrath of Republican voters, they rise again.”

TOP VIDEOS OF THE WEEK: Here are two selections you just can’t miss - A brazen video out of the DNC on Mitt’s tax problem and a video of the POTUS crooning Al Green’s ‘Let’s stay together’. 

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