Truthout 3/14

Obama's Health Care Legacy Hangs on 216 House Votes
James Rosen, McClatchy Newspapers: "The looming vote for final passage of the historic health-care bill is the stiffest challenge House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn has faced in his three-plus years as the lawmaker responsible for counting heads and ensuring passage of major legislation."
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Homes for Our Troops Building 32 Houses for Disabled Veterans
Mary Susan Littlepage, Truthout: "Since Homes for Our Troops was founded in 2004, the organization has built 54 homes for disabled veterans, and 32 homes currently are in various stages of construction around the country."
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"We Have 51 Senate Votes for Public Option" Adam Green to Ed Schultz (VIDEO)
Rob Kall, Op-Ed News: "Adam Green, of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, told Ed Schultz yesterday that he counts 51 votes in the senate for the public option, and cites details on senators who have not yet signed the letter, but who have clearly publicly stated that they will vote FOR the public option if they get that bill from the house."
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A Place to Make Sparks
Andreassen and Astore, Truthout: "We all know there's something wrong. We all sense the dark underbelly of our politics. Yet so many of us are misdirected to some extent or another. The naked exploitation of the many by the few is so obvious, yet so many refuse to see it. Our political discourse, as interpreted for us by our media, is nothing less than surreal."
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"Coffee Party" Movement: Not Far from the "Tea Party" Message?
Patrik Jonsson, The Christian Science Monitor: "If the big 'tea party' protest in Atlanta last year had the trappings of a rock show, complete with a riding 'Paul Revere,' Saturday's 'coffee party' get-together at Java Monkey cafe in nearby Decatur came off more like a well-attended poetry slam."
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Israel Lands in Public Relations Nightmare
Mel Frykberg, Inter Press Service: "Israeli riot police and soldiers have, since Friday, sealed off the Al Aqsa mosque, Islam's third holiest shrine, restricting entry to women and Palestinian men over 50. Outside the walled Old City, where the Al Aqsa mosque is situated, and in several West Bank villages, clashes were reported between Palestinian protestors, their Israeli and international supporters, and the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), leaving at least 20 Palestinians wounded. The tense situation on the ground has coincided with a diplomatic crisis of sorts with the Israeli government in confrontation with visiting United States Vice-President Joe Biden."
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To Teach Is to Seduce
To be a good teacher, must one be an erudite academic or a perceptive pedagogue? The debate is endless. Writing for Marianne2, Jean-Paul Brighelli brings a new element to the discussion: knowing how to teach is knowing how to seduce.
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Teamsters' New Tactic Scores at Continental Airlines
Carl Finamore, Truthout: "The Teamsters Union's February 12 election victory to represent 7,600 ground workers at Continental Airlines shows that good old-fashioned hard work might be making a comeback."
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Another Accused American Terrorist in Yemen
Heather Murdock, GlobalPost: "From a Yemeni perspective, it appears that the West is sending terrorists to Yemen. This week, Sharif Mobley, a 26-year-old from Buena, New Jersey has joined the list of suspected Al Qaeda militants, believed to be bred in the West, and trained in Yemen."
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Obama's Plan for Education Reform: Short on Specifics, So Far
Patrik Jonsson, The Christian Science Monitor: "President Obama will send the outlines of an education overhaul bill to Congress on Monday, promising sweeping changes to a faltering American education system."
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Thailand: Rural Masses Stage Historic Protest
Marwaan Macan-Markar, Inter Press Service: "An unprecedented show of force by men and women from Thailandís rural hinterland was on display over the weekend as they poured into Bangkok in the tens of thousands to stake a claim on having a voice in shaping this South-east Asian kingdom's national agenda."
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Keith Olbermann's Father Dies
Keith Olbermann: "Theodore C. Olbermann, 1929-2010 My father died, in the city of his birth, New York, at 3:50 EST [Saturday] afternoon."
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