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t r u t h o u t | 04.05
William Rivers Pitt | The Nowhere Man
http://www.truth-out.org/nowhere-man
William Rivers Pitt, Truthout: "So, yeah, Obama is in. The President of the
United States officially threw his hat into the 2012 election ring on Monday
morning, and the nation reacted with a resounding, 'Oh.' What a mess. It wasn't
even two and a half years ago. Can you believe it? Two and a half years ago,
there was a detonation of optimism that echoed across the country once the
returns were in on that November night. People took to the streets here in
Boston, literally banging pots and pans together as they danced and shouted in
celebration ... Hindsight, however, tells us today that much of that optimism
was wildly misplaced. The long shadow of George W. Bush still hung low and dark
over the land, as it does even now."
Thom Hartmann | The Boston Tea Party Revealed
http://www.truth-out.org/boston-tea-party-revealed/1301986800
Thom Hartmann, Berrett-Koehler Publishers: "The East India Company set a
precedent that multinational corporations follow to this day: it lobbied for
laws that would enable it to easily put its small-business competitors out of
business. By 1681 most of the members of the British government and royalty
were stockholders in the East India Company, so it was easy that year to pass
'An Act for the restraining and punishing Privateers and Pirates.' This law
required a license to import anything into the Americas (among other
British-controlled parts of the world), and the licenses were only rarely
granted except to the East India Company and other large British corporations."
Henry A. Giroux | American Militarism and the End(s) of Higher Education
http://www.truth-out.org/american-militarism-and-ends-higher-education
Henry A. Giroux, Truthout: "As the spirit of a hypermilitarized America bleeds
into everyday life, politics increasingly becomes an extension of war, and
right-wing, liberal and conservative politicians eagerly embrace a militaristic
approach to policy and the need to cleanse the social order of any institution,
mode of dissent, social group and public sphere willing to question its state
of permanent war and its militarized and unchecked embrace of economic
Darwinism. These foreign and domestic wars are not unrelated, given that they
are waged in the interests of right-wing militarists, neoconservatives,
liberals and corporate moguls - all of whom have a political and economic stake
in such military incursions abroad and wars at home."
News in Brief: Ivory Coast President May Surrender, and More ...
http://www.truth-out.org/news-brief-ivory-coast-president-may-surrender-and-more
Nadia Prupis, Truthout: Ivory Coast president may surrender power; 9/11 suspect
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed will be tried at Guantanamo; Ryan's budget bill would
make drastic cuts to Medicare and Medicaid while lowering tax rates for
businesses and corporations; and more ...
Robert Naiman | Conyers: Congress Should Bar US Ground Troops From Libya
http://www.truth-out.org/conyers-congress-should-bar-us-ground-troops-libya/1301986800
Robert Naiman, Truthout: "Michigan Rep. John Conyers has put forward an
initiative that has a very strong claim to majority support. Conyers plans to
introduce an amendment to the next government funding bill - the Continuing
Resolution - that would prevent appropriated funds from being used to fund any
type of ground troop presence on Libyan territory. Together with
Representatives Honda, Stark, and Woolsey, Representative Conyers is
circulating a letter to his colleagues in support of this amendment. This
position has strong majority support from Americans. Seven out of ten Americans
oppose the use of US ground troops in Libya, according to a CNN poll. A recent
Quinnipiac University poll found that by a margin of 61-30, voters say regime
change in Libya is not worth having American troops 'fight and possibly die'
for."
Republicans' Budget Declares War on Medicare
http://www.truth-out.org/republicans-budget-declares-war-medicare/1301986800
Lindsay Beyerstein, The Media Consortium: "The Republicans are poised to unveil
a model budget on Tuesday that would effectively end Medicare by privatizing
it, Steve Benen reports in the Washington Monthly. House Budget Committee Chair
Paul Ryan (R-WI) is touting the budget as a strategy to reduce the national
debt. Ryan's plan would turn Medicare from a single-payer system to a "premium
support" system. "Premium support" is a euphemism for the government giving up
to $15,000 per person, per year, to insurance companies to defray the cost of a
health insurance policy. As Benen points out, privatizing Medicare does nothing
to contain health care costs."
Bury the Nuclear Renaissance Once and For All
http://www.truth-out.org/bury-nuclear-renaissance-once-and-all
Dr. Brian Moench, Truthout: "It is common rhetoric that US reactors are much
better designed - a half truth at best. In 1986, Chernobyl 4 was state of the
art and its lid was stronger than domes covering some plants in the US. Soviet
engineers pronounced it meltdown proof, and that, even if the worst happened,
the lid would hold. Because of their older design, a meltdown in many US
reactors would release far more radiation than Chernobyl. Numerous close calls
have occurred among the aging US reactors in addition to our own Three Mile
Island accident. High cancer and infant mortality rates in Pennsylvania,
especially Dauphin County, defy the common belief that no one died at Three
Mile Island."
Court Dismisses Verizon Lawsuit Against FCC; Verizon Promises to Sue Again
http://www.truth-out.org/court-dismisses-verizon-lawsuit-against-fcc-verizon-promises-sue-again
Nadia Prupis, Truthout: "A federal appeals court on Monday dismissed anti-net
neutrality complaints by Verizon and Metro PCS against the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) on the grounds that the lawsuits were filed too
early. The net neutrality regulations adopted by the FCC in December 2010 do
not go into effect until they are formally introduced in the Federal Register,
the government's official journal; the FCC has not stated yet when that will
happen."
In Praise of Older, More Experienced Teachers
http://www.truth-out.org/praise-older-more-experienced-teachers/1301554800
Dave Lindorff, This Can't Be Hapenning: "When it comes to education, the
popular thing today in American politics is trashing experienced teachers.
Politicians like Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin (who never finished college),
Gov. John Kasich of Ohio and Gov. Rick Scott of Florida, and myriad members of
the House and Senate who were at best B students in high school and in many
cases worse, are saying the key to educational 'reform' is ending tenure and
seniority so that older teachers can be trashed in mid-career to be replaced by
supposedly high-performing young replacements."
More Handouts for Smokestacks and Clearcuts?
http://truth-out.org/more-handouts-smokestacks-and-clearcuts
Josh Schlossberg, Truthout: "Each of the ruling parties, be they Democrats or
Republicans, has the revival of the economy at the top of its list. The right
appears adamant on its mandate to cut back on government spending and will
block key legislation to prove its point. The left seems intent on investing in
green jobs to put people back to work, stimulate the economy, combat climate
change and reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. How will they ever find
common ground? Here's one way: by stopping the diversion of hundreds of
millions of dollars of "clean energy" taxpayer subsidies to polluting,
greenhouse-gas-spewing, forest biomass power incinerators."
International Crisis Group Condemns "Assault on Normal, Dignified" Life in Gaza
http://www.truth-out.org/international-crisis-group-condemns-assault-normal-dignified-life-gaza/1301554800
Kate Gould, Just Foreign Policy Blog: "The ICG points out that the ceasefire
must be accompanied by ending 'an access regime that is best defined as neither
a siege nor blockade, but rather as an assault on a normal dignified existence,
and an engine of impoverishment, social isolation, and political disaffection.'
Israel continues to bar Palestinians in Gaza from accessing the construction
materials they need to rebuild the war-ravaged Strip."
TRUTHOUT'S BUZZFLASH DAILY HEADLINES
Yesterday's BuzzFlash at Truthout commentary, "The Multi-Billion Dollar
Brainwash of America's Middle Class," (http://blog.buzzflash.com/node/12568)
evoked a wave of comments by readers posting in threads on Facebook and
elsewhere.
As one BuzzFlash at Truthout follower pointed out, the wealthy and the
Republicans denounce such commentary as "provoking class warfare" in order to
provide cover for the class war that they are conducting in order to lay waste
to the middle class and the poor. The ultimate goal, of course, is to
accumulate more wealth in the portfolios of the already superwealthy.
According to a spokesperson for a web site on income disparity, Too Much: A
Commentary on Excess and Inequality (http://toomuchonline.org/), the top one
percent of Americans own 35.6 percent of the nation's wealth, while 80 percent
of Americans own only 12.8 percent of the wealth in the US. The other 19
percent - just below the top one percent - own the rest.
In short, the latest figures available to Too Much reveal that the one percent
of Americans at the top of the economic ladder own nearly three times as much
as the 80 percent of Americans who make up fourth-fifths of the nation. Think
about that for a moment. That is basically a third-world income gap. One
BuzzFlash at Truthout reader called this "21st century feudalism."
Another commenter remained flummoxed about the gullibility of many in the
shrinking middle class who support elected officials who cut services and wages
for them, while making that top one percent even more disproportionately
wealthy. He could only, in exasperation, conjecture that many in the middle
class are "suffering from Stockholm Syndrome!"
But one organization wrote, in response to "The Multi-Billion Dollar Brainwash
of America's Middle Class," that the best action to counter this ominous
propaganda coup by the likes of the Koch brothers, "would be for people to feel
the anger of moral outrage, to speak out, and take to the streets. This, at
long last, is what we see happening in Wisconsin, as those brave citizens
repeatedly chant, 'This is what democracy looks like!' It is they who are
challenging and inspiring us to reassert our American Creed.""
If people can challenge corrupt governments and entrenched wealth in Egypt,
Tunisia, and elsewhere, then why not here, in the cradle of modern democracy?
Mark Karlin
Editor, BuzzFlash at Truthout
Theocratic America Alert: Supreme Court Upholds Tax Break for Arizona Religious
Schools
Read the Article at The Los Angeles Times
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-court-religion-20110405,0,2223769.story
The Mega-Rich Have Declared War Against Ordinary Americans
Read the Article at BuzzFlash
http://blog.buzzflash.com/node/12567
Republican Exaggerations About Cutting Medicare
Read the Article at PolitiFact
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2010/oct/11/republican-exaggerations-about-cutting-medicare/
Disgraced Ex-Tea Party Leader Promises to "Infiltrate and Sabotage" Obama 2012
Read the Article at Talking Points Memo
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/04/disgraced-ex-tea-party-leader-promises-to-infiltrate-and-sabotage-obama-2012.php
Both Parties Prepare Public Relations Positions as Government Shutdown Nears
Read the Article at The Associated Press
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110405/ap_on_re_us/us_spending_showdown;_ylt=AhO5DtyHDMncsbhp9_PdBA2s0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTNrOGpzc2s2BGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTEwNDA1L3VzX3NwZW5kaW5nX3Nob3dkb3duBGNjb2RlA21vc3Rwb3B1bGFyBGNwb3MDMwRwb3MDOARwdANob21lX2Nva2UEc2VjA3luX3RvcF9zdG9
GOP Wants to Slash Medicaid
Read the Article at CNN
http://money.cnn.com/2011/04/05/news/economy/medicaid_cuts_budget_republicans/index.htm?hpt=T2
Thousands Rally as One Across Wisconsin to Mark April 4
Read the Article at AFL-CIO Blog
http://blog.aflcio.org/2011/04/05/thousands-rally-as-one-across-wisconsin-to-mark-april-4/
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