Truthout 3/10

John Pilger | Welcome to the World's First Murdochracy
John Pilger, Truthout: "Adelaide is Australia's festival city. Its arts festival is currently in swing. Polite debate, aesthetics and high-octane wine are putting the world to rights. With one exception. Adelaide is where Rupert Murdoch began his empire. The voracious trail starts here. No statue stands; his is a spectral presence, controlling the only daily newspaper, even the printing presses."
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Sebelius Demands Health Insurance CEOs Explain Rate Hikes
Grace Huang, Truthout: "As part of the White House's final push on health care reform, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on Monday called for health insurance executives to publicly explain why they are raising premiums."
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Iran Women Rights Defenders Continue Undeterred by Prison Detention
Elahe Amani, Women News Network: "Today on a daily basis, personal memoirs of ongoing encounters of government crackdown and resistance in Iran are being written in print and in cyberspace by countless Iranian civil rights activists, scholars and women human rights defenders."
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Utah Governor Signs Law Charging Women and Girls With Murder for Miscarriages
Rose Aguilar, AlterNet: "Contrary to media reports last week, the 'Criminal Homicide and Abortion Amendments' or HB12, which previously also applied to miscarriages caused by 'reckless' acts, was never 'withdrawn' by its sponsor, Republican Rep. Carl Wimmer (who is crafting similar 'model legislation' for other states)."
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Beck, Coulter and Limbaugh: Avatars of Julius Streicher
Davidson Loehr, Truthout: "Making fun of demagogues like Glenn Beck, Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh has become a kind of parlor game, an escape valve to let out some of the frustration of impotent rage. This was brought home again when I read 'Defying Hitler' by Sebastian Haffner. Writing between 1933 and 1939, he came of age during Hitler's rise to power. His observations are so searing it's still hard to believe that someone could see this clearly while the spirit of his times was morphing into a broad and deep spirit of evil."
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Immigration Reform Meeting Postponed to Sharp Criticism From Advocates
Yana Kunichoff, Truthout: "A meeting among President Barack Obama and Sens. Charles Schumer (D-New York) and Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) on immigration reform, scheduled to take place Monday, has been postponed due to a canceled flight from South Carolina - Senator Graham's. The meeting, intended to make a plan for introducing bipartisan immigration legislation this spring, was the second one canceled since reform came on the table formally at a White House summit hosted by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano in August 2009."
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Health Care Reform: Politics and Prejudice
Dr. Wilmer J. Leon III, Truthout: "In the wake of last week's summit on health care insurance reform, President Obama demonstrated his willingness to compromise by making some incremental concessions to Republicans in a speech from the White House. President Obama proposed strengthening efforts to limit waste and abuse, extending dependent coverage to age 26, allowing automatic enrollment in health insurance and an exchange for small businesses to pool and purchase affordable insurance. He may also consider a plan to rework the way malpractice claims are adjudicated."
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United by Hard Times: Workers Organize Across Race Lines
Carlos Jimenez, YES Magazine: "I'm feeling relieved. For a while it seemed like the historic election of our first African-American president would give legitimacy to the idea that we live in a 'post-racial' America. The idea that race is no longer a part of people's daily experience is not merely false. It's potentially dangerous when a majority of people are struggling to understand what's happening to them economically."
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Tom Engelhardt | Premature Withdrawal
Tom Engelhardt, TomDispatch.com: "Hubris? We're bigger than that! We've now been at war with, or in, Iraq for almost 20 years, and intermittently at war in Afghanistan for 30 years. Think of it as nearly half a century of experience, all bad. And what is it that Washington seems to have concluded?"
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Lejeune Water Probe: Did Marine Corps Hide Benzene Data?
Barbara Barrett, McClatchy Newspapers: "Congressional investigators late Tuesday requested detailed documents from Navy Secretary Ray Mabus and a private contractor that was involved in the testing and cleanup of contaminated water at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, over the past two decades."
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Climate and Jobs: The Same Fight!
Alain Lipietz, Alternatives Economiques: "There are not many people left today who oppose the environment to jobs. Several recent studies confirm: the more invested in 'green conversion,' the more jobs can be created."
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Sorry About the Intervention
Sarah Keenan, Truthout: "February 13 marks the two-year anniversary of the Australian government's historic apology to its indigenous population. Beamed on live television throughout the country, tens of thousands gathered before screens in city squares, community centers and school assembly grounds to watch newly elected Labour Prime Minister Kevin Rudd say sorry."
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In Chile, Bachelet Steps Down
Maxine Lowy, The Women's Media Center: "Michelle Bachelet's presidency comes to a tumultuous end less than two weeks after her country withstood an 8.8 magnitude earthquake. Here, the author assesses what her term in office has meant for women in Chile and what lies ahead."
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Bill Moyers Journal | NYU President John Sexton
Bill Moyers Journal: "Bill Moyers sits down with NYU President and modern renaissance man John Sexton for a wide-ranging conversation about God, baseball and the importance of thoughtful discourse in society. Previously a champion debate coach and scholar of religion and law, Sexton discusses his unique take on theology, contemporary politics, and the evolving role of universities throughout the world."
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