CommonDreams.org

Arguing that "we all have evil within us," Danish artist Nina Maria Kleivan has caused a stir with an exhibit entitled "Potency" wherein she dressed up her then-infant daughter as the most evil historical figures of the 20th century, from Stalin to Pinochet to Saddam Hussein. The daughter of a Norwegian resistance fighter held in a German prison camp, Kleivan says the show is not meant as "deliberate provocation" but as an exploration of evil. Most people only react to the mini-Hitler. But check out Mussolini. 

A rogue racist announcement at a New Jersey Wal-Mart for "all black people (to) leave the store now" has prompted an intriguing array of responses. Wal-Mart said it will limit access to their public phones. Former employee Bill Mitchell blithely told reporters, "As a black man, I've heard worse things." And many customers expressed outrage. Still, it remains to be seen if the latest in a series of race-related issues will keep people from their shoddy door.

Sheila Ellington, shopping with a friend: "If this was meant to be a prank, there's only one person laughing, and it's not either one of us."

In an unprecedented act of chutzpah, a coalition representing 90% of U.S. Catholic nuns has rejected arguments by its own church hierarchy and written to Congress in support of the Senate health care bill. The letter, signed by the leaders of more than 50 Catholic women's orders representing 59,000 nuns, says the bill is "a crucial next step in realizing health care for all."

"We have witnessed firsthand the impact of our national health care crisis, particularly on women, children and people who are poor... (The bill) will invest in preventative care...and make historic new investments in support of pregnant women. This is the real pro-life stance."

With the vote on health reform imminent, a lucid open letter to wavering Democrats from Marjorie Margolies - who lost reelection on an unpopular vote in a rabid political climate - urging them to vote their conscience. Having to argue for such an elemental notion on such an imperfect bill - is this the change we can believe in?

"There are times in all our careers when we must ask ourselves why we're here...I urge you simply to cast the vote you can be proud of next week, next year and for years to come."

Calling him "a perfect fit," CNN's Best Political Team has added a mean whopper of a new player - rightwing RedState.com's Erick Erickson. CNN political director Sam Feist praised Erickson as "an agenda-setter whose words are closely watched." We wonder: Is he talking about the time Erickson called Michelle Obama a "Marxist harpy," or when he said "ugly feminazis" should "return to their kitchens"? 

"Joining CNN is like coming home," said Erickson.

Yesterday's clashes in East Jerusalem did nothing to budge an Israel blindly determined to continue expansion, and a spokesman said building plans were moving ahead: "For us, it is business as usual." But criticism of Israel is escalating, often from unlikely places. Rafael Reuveny, an Israeli professor of political economy at Indiana University, blasted the settlements and U.S funding of "the Israeli colonial project" - on the university's web site, yet. He says Israel must dismantle all settlements and return to the 1967 borders.

"Obama's idea to freeze settlement expansion in order to bring about peace is not going to do a thing, similar to if we simply freeze the level of heroin consumption in order to bring about detoxification."

Charles Moore, a Southern gentleman who passionately documented - and some say spurred on - the civil rights movement has died at 79. His photographs were collected in "Powerful Days: The Civil Rights Photography of Charles Moore."

Around 50 left-wing Italian city officials dropped their pants at a Rome protest calling for passage of a budget being stalled by the city's right-wing mayor.  The protesters say parks, schools and the homeless are being hurt. Maybe this would work here. Probably not.

"(Mayor) Alemanno has reduced us to our underwear."