Truthout 3/24

On Pop Clarity: Public Intellectuals and the Crisis of Language
Henry A. Giroux, Truthout: "The presupposition that academics no longer function as critical public intellectuals willing to connect their knowledge and expertise to larger public issues is now pervasive. Many factors have contributed to this alleged withdrawal from speaking to public issues, ranging from the demands of academic professionalism to a simple lack of time to address such work."
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Turning "Texas Education" Into an Oxymoron
Jim Hightower, Truthout: "In the good-and-good-for-you department, food scientists are now touting the health benefits of enjoying a handful of nuts every day. I, for one, am glad, because I love nuts - pecans, hazelnuts, pistachios, almonds, you-name-'em. But my favorite nuts, by far, are the homegrown natives that have taken root in one particularly fertile area of my state: the Texas Board of Education. You just can't get any nuttier than this bunch!"
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Attorneys General in 14 States Sue to Block Health Care Reform Law
Warren Richey, The Christian Science Monitor: "A lawsuit filed Tuesday in Florida includes 13 states and charges that the new health care reform law in unconstitutional. Virginia's attorney general filed a separate lawsuit. State attorneys general wasted no time filing legal challenges to President Obama's healthcare reform law, swinging into action with legal filings in Florida and Virginia within minutes of the White House signing ceremony on Tuesday."
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We Fought the War and the War Won: Will We Let It Win Again?
Michael Gould-Wartofsky, Truthout: "It was seven years ago that I found myself running the wrong way up Sixth Avenue with my high school sweetheart. Through the rain we ran, with peace on our lips. New York's finest were running after us, as they had a way of doing with pesky antiwar protesters."
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US Must Toughen Stance Against Israel
Barnabe F. Geisweiller, Truthout: "In international relations, it's good to know who your friends are. Those in the White House today, and those who wish to be in it tomorrow, should take the time to reconsider America's 'special relationship' with Israel. With the hindsight of history, we may look back on it as yet another colossal mistake."
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This Time, a Real Immigration Fix
Froma Harrop, Truthout: "What part of 'immigration reform' don't you understand - or, rather, don't want to understand? The send-'em-home crowd doesn't 'get it' that a new enforcement regime must be paired with an amnesty for millions, even though they broke the law by working here illegally. And an alliance of cheap-labor types and ethnic activists don't want to understand that real reform means the government will actually stop employers from hiring undocumented workers."
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Nuclear Weapons and the Politics of Moral Promises and Material Progress
Dallas Darling, Truthout: "When Undersecretary of State William Burns reported that the US and Russia were 'making very good progress' on nuclear arms reduction talks, I was reminded of when President Dwight Eisenhower stood before the United Nations General Assembly and proclaimed, 'The United States pledges before you and therefore before the world, its determination to help solve the fearful atomic dilemma ...'"
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A History of Haitian Women's Political Involvement
Beverly Bell, Truthout: "'We remember, we advance,' read the marble plaque to the employees of the women's ministry who were killed in the Haiti's January 12 earthquake. Surrounding the plaque on the rubble-filled lot where the ministry stood until two months ago, hundreds of women gathered on International Women's Day, March 8, to commemorate those they lost in the earthquake and to express their determination for a more just future. Other gatherings and marches took place throughout the country, from the streets in front of the destroyed national palace to rural villages."
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The Social Networking Job
Aaron Lake Smith, Truthout: "According to a recent ad posted on the Internet, the college student recipient of Pizza Hut's summer 'Twinternship' would be charged with 'attending advertising shoots, product meetings and other corporate events' as well as 'playing social-media defense, monitoring Twitter for any mentions of the brand and alerting superiors whenever anything negative about the Hut is being said.'"
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Harry Bridges: Working-Class Hero
Dick Meister, Truthout: "He died 20 years ago this month, but I can still see him, a tall, wiry, gray-haired, hawk-nosed man. I can hear him. I see him pacing restlessly back and forth behind the podium at union meetings, nervously twirling a gavel, puffing incessantly on a cigarette. I hear him calling on members, white, black, Asian, Latino, in the broad accent of his native Australia, actually encouraging debate and dissent."
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Netanyahu: Non-Negotiator or Pragmatist?
Allen McDuffee, Truthout: "President Obama will meet privately today with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office dining room. This is Netanyahu's second closed meeting in a row, after his meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was moved at the last minute from the State Department with press availability to Netanyahu's hotel suite. The prime minister appears to be showing some distance from the United States, if only in photo-ops."
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Hillary Clinton's Mexico Visit: US and Mexico Shift Drug War Approach
Sara Miller Llana, The Christian Science Monitor: "The promise of broader drug-war support from the US as Mexico battles deadly drug traffickers was welcome in Mexico among those who support their president's tough stance against organized crime but worry that his military strategy alone is not working."
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Deb Price | Imagine No "Don't Ask"
Deb Price, Truthout: "Imagine an America where an openly lesbian Navy officer is specifically reached out to by her ship's commanding officer to ensure she knows she's welcome to bring the guest of her choice to a party at his home, just like her shipmates."
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Peru: Signing Away Too Many Rights?
Milagros Salazar, Inter Press Service: "Peru is enthusiastically espousing free trade, and has signed six tariff-lowering agreements in the space of a year. But it has not matched them with the internal policies needed to reduce their impact on labour rights, the environment, and sensitive areas like agriculture, social organisations and experts say."
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Bill Moyers Journal | Financial Reform
Bill Moyers Journal: "Eighteen months after the economic meltdown, and following successful drives for stimulus and health reform legislation, why has Washington been unable to deliver serious financial reform and rein in Wall Street?"
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Pennsylvania DA Won't Prosecute Animal Cruelty Case
Walter Brasch, Truthout: "A Pennsylvania district attorney accepted campaign funds from an organization that promotes killing live pigeons in contests, and then he refused to allow prosecution of animal cruelty charges against a gun club that hosts pigeon shooting contests."
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