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Monday 21 May 2012

On the
News With Thom Hartmann: Obama Touts Jobs Over Austerity at G8 in Maryland, and
More
In today’s On the News segment: Provision buried in the
latest defense authorization bill would overturn ban on government propaganda
against American citizens, Vermont becomes first state to ban fracking, the
Commodity Futures Trading Commission becomes the third agency to investigate
JPMorgan’s $3 billion gamble, and more.
Watch the Video and Read the Transcript

Thousands March With Veterans
for Peace in Chicago; Police Respond With Brute Force
Allison
Kilkenny, Truthout: “Thousands of protesters marched beside Iraq and Afghanistan
war veterans Sunday to accompany the vets as they marched, hoping to return
their service medals to NATO’s generals…. ‘These medals once made me feel
good,’ said [veteran Scott] Olsen, adding, ‘I came back to reality. I don’t like
these anymore.’”
Read the Article

A Victory for All of Us
Chris Hedges, Truthdig: “In January,
attorneys Carl Mayer and Bruce Afran asked me to be the lead plaintiff in a
lawsuit against President Barack Obama and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta that
challenged the harsh provisions of the National Defense Authorization Act
(NDAA). We filed the lawsuit, worked for hours on the affidavits, carried out
the tedious depositions, prepared the case and went to trial because we did not
want to be passive in the face of another egregious assault on basic civil
liberties … None of us thought we would win.”
Read the Article

How Rural America Got Fracked
Ellen Cantarow,
TomDispatch: “If the world can be seen in a grain of sand, watch out. As
Wisconsinites are learning, there’s money (and misery) in sand – and if you’ve
got the right kind, an oil company may soon be at your doorstep. March in
Wisconsin used to mean snow on the ground … But as I traveled around rural
townships and villages in early March … daytime temperatures soared to nearly
80 degrees – bizarre weather that seemed to be sending a meteorological
message.”
Read the Article

Dean
Baker | Mortgage and Securitization Fraud: Where Is the Task
Force?
Dean Baker, Truthout: “A serious investigation would
start at the bottom and work up. It would find offices where many of the
especially bad mortgages were issued. The investigators would question the
mortgage agents about how so much false information ended up on loan forms.
After scaring some number of mortgage agents into talking, they would then talk
to the branch managers … This practice could lead to the top levels of the
bank.”
Read the Article

More
NATO Summit Activists Charged; Five Linked by Two
Informants
Steve Horn, Truthout: “When push comes to shove,
[National Lawyers Guild legal worker Kris] Hermes and the NLG believe ‘Mo’ and
‘Gloves’ are the ‘thread’ among all five activists charged with plotting acts of
domestic ‘terrorism.’ ‘The thread between all five was the informants that we
believe were provoking criminal activity,’ said Hermes to Truthout. ‘We believe
it was the same two informants, which has been ascertained from the
arrestees.’”
Read the Article

In
Chicago, Afghanistan and Iraq Veterans Put NATO’s Endless War on
Trial
Robert Naiman, Truthout: “More than two million
Americans have served in Iraq and Afghanistan. CNN and Fox can focus on what
they want, but you can’t hide the life experiences of two million people
indefinitely. Just like there’s nothing that can turn you against gay bashing
like being friends with a gay person, there’s nothing that can turn you against
wars of choice like being friends with an anti-war veteran who served in
combat.”
Read the Article

Never
Forget That Bradley Manning, Not Gay Marriage, Is the
Issue
John Pilger, Truthout: “Legal obstacles should not
prevent people marrying each other, regardless of gender. But this is a civil
and private matter; bourgeois acceptability is not yet a human right. The rights
historically associated with marriage are those of property: capitalism itself.
Elevating the ‘right’ of marriage above the right to life and real justice is as
profane as seeking allies among those who deny life and justice to so many, from
Afghanistan to Palestine.”
Read the Article

From
Pride to Shame: Vets Return Their Medals
J.A. Myerson,
Truthout: “The transition from pride to shame was a common theme among the more
than forty veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan who publicly hurled
their medals in the direction of the NATO summit in Chicago on Sunday as part of
a reconciliation ceremony. One by one, they explained their decision, many
describing themselves as remaining proud to have served with what they
considered courage, integrity and selflessness until a sense of unease about the
missions’ aims and tactics set in …”
Read the Article

Obama
Might Want to Look Forward in 2012, but America’s Torture Legacy Will Keep
Staring Back
Maria LaHood, Truthout: “Forward to what? A
country where government officials can carry out these barbaric acts and never
face justice? In advance of the International Day in Support of Victims of
Torture on June 26, 2012, the Center for Constitutional Rights has joined
Amnesty International, the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, 9/11
Families for Peaceful Tomorrows and over 60,000 individuals in calling on
President Obama to acknowledge the wrong done to Arar in a public apology and
provide other forms of redress.”
Read the Article

Economic
Update: Government Bailouts, Corporate Take-Overs and
Unemployment
Richard D. Wolff, Economic Update/Truthout:
“Updates on the impact of subprime mortgage abuses and their impact on racial
and ethnic minorities, Japan’s nationalization of the Tepco Corp., and the mixed
results of the GM and Chrysler bailouts. Major discussions include: (1) Why
government takeovers of private enterprise are rarely ‘socialistic’ and mostly
pro-capitalist, and (2) the basic causes and cures for unemployment in
capitalist economies. The radio segment concludes with responses to comments on
the decision-making process of workers’ self-directed enterprises and about
claims of recovery in the housing market.”
Listen to the Show

Bill
Moyers | Tom Morello, Troubadour for Justice
Bill Moyers,
Moyers & Company: “Songs of social protest … have long been intertwined,
and the troubadours of troubling times – Guthrie, Seeger, Baez, Dylan, and
Springsteen among them – have become famous for their dedication to both. Now we
can add a name to the ranks of those who lift their voices for social and
economic justice: Tom Morello…. He played guitar for the popular band he
co-founded – Rage Against the Machine – and then for Audioslave.”
Watch the Video and Read the Transcript

Click here for more Truthout
articles

Criminalizing Dissent Is a Travesty to Democracy:
Chicago Is Only the Latest Example
Mark Karlin, BuzzFlash at
Truthout: “Frankly, one has to be a mental/legal/constitutional contortionist to
criminalize dissent while claiming to spread democracy around the world through
wars for natural resources and military hegemony. Since 9/11 in particular, the
United States has been on an accelerating road to make all but the tamest
protest illegal. Isn’t this what happened in Tiananmen Square?”
Read the BuzzFlash Commentary

Juan Cole: Congress Wants the Department of Defense to Propagandize
Americans
Read the Article at Informed
Comment

RNC Chairman Says Republican Proposal for $10 Million of Race-Baiting
Anti-Obama Attack Ads Is Obama’s Fault
Read the Article at
ThinkProgress

How the Ultra-Rich Betray America
Read the Article at BuzzFlash

Study: Two Thousand Convicted, Then Exonerated, in 23
Years
Read the Article at The Associated
Press

Frank Rich: America’s Post-Racial Farce
Read the Article at New York
Magazine

Want to Ditch Citizens United? A Do-It-Yourself Guide
Read the Article at Mother
Jones

Glenn Greenwald: Why Have Executives at Romney’s Old Private-Equity
Firm Donated More to the Democratic Party Than the GOP?
Read the Article at Salon

Click here for more BuzzFlash
headlines