Truthout 4/4

The Voice of Lorna's Silence
Zygmunt Bauman, Truthout: "In one of the first scenes of the film by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardennes, Le silence de Lorna, the eponymous heroine, exqui- sitely played by Artya Dobroshi, opens her mailbox, only to be frustrated; once again she finds it empty of the long-awaited letter. As the plot unravelled, it dawned on me that what I was watching, with bated breath, was itself a letter: a letter from the liquid modern world and one I would dearly have wished to write myself but would have failed, lacking the cinematographic vision and story-telling talents of the two directors and the writers of the screenplay."
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EPA May Use Clean Water Act to Regulate Carbon Dioxide
Les Blumenthal, McClatchy Newspapers: "The Environmental Protection Agency is exploring whether to use the Clean Water Act to control greenhouse gas emissions, which are turning the oceans acidic at a rate that's alarmed some scientists."
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The Next Supreme Court Justice Nominee
Michael Gass, Truthout: "When Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens retires, who will President Obama nominate to replace him? This question is being seriously asked as Justice Stevens, now 90 years old, is considering retiring from the Supreme Court before the 2012 election. After the retirement of Justice Souter and appointment of Justice Sotomayor, President Obama already has a "short list" for nominees to replace Justice Stevens. Those who believed electing President Obama meant getting liberal justice'\s may be sorely disappointed a second time."
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Root, Root, Root for the Owners… Is Baseball a Fading Allegory for the Fading American Way of Life?
Robert Lipsyte, TomDispatch: "Here in the first post-American century, sports fans, it's a brand-new ballgame -- and I'm not sure how to watch it. In this opening season of the Post-Steroid Era, I feel like a betrayed spouse determined to make the relationship work, struggling to balance experience against hope. Are my guys really clean now? If not, can I live with it?"
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Gulag Ag Versus the White House Egg Roll
Alexander Cockburn, Truthout: "As Martha Rosenberg, a freelance journalist who covers America's ghastly agro-industrial landscape, wrote, 'At Ohio Fresh Eggs, only eight employees were tending 16 barns when the fire was reported ... What kind of 'care' can workers give animals in fume-filled barns the size of football fields? Removing the dead and putting the half dead into kill carts, say those who've worked there.'"
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View From the Islands: Hawaii on Obama
Jon Letman, Truthout: "During the 2008 presidential campaign, the media beamed images of enthusiastic Hawaii residents waving "Obama" signs in support of one of their own - a local hapa kid who graduated from the prestigious Punahou School and went on to run for president."
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Gunmen in Iraqi Army Uniforms Kill 24 in Village
Mohammed Al Dulaimy, McClatchy Newspapers: "Gunmen dressed in Iraqi army uniforms stormed three houses overnight Saturday in a Sunni Muslim village south of Baghdad and killed 24 people, including five women, Iraqi authorities said."
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"Tea Party" Beginning to Look Like Middle America
Patrik Jonsson, The Christian Science Monitor: "Amid harsh criticisms, 'tea party' slips into the mainstream The release of the top three 'tea party' issues this week gives a glimpse of a small-government movement growing, maturing, and looking increasingly more like middle America."
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Death Penalty Decreasing Worldwide
Andrew Meldrum, GlobalPost: "Amnesty International released its annual survey on the use of the death penalty. The report found 18 countries executed people in 2009. China is estimated to have executed the most people, but refused to release an official figure. In the 17 other countries 714 people were executed."
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Union Organizing Campaign Heats Up at Los Angeles Film School
Seth Sandronsky, Truthout: "Concerns over faculty pay, benefits and students' classes have propelled a union organizing drive at the private Los Angeles Film School, where management is not pleased that a majority of staff want to join the California Federation of Teachers (CFT), AFL-CIO."
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Meet the New Ticas
Alex Leff , GlobalPost: "In Costa Rica, one woman will soon be president. Another is training to summit Mt. Everest. ...Meet the new Ticas. ...They are increasingly taking jobs out of the home and putting their careers first. Many are opting out of motherhood altogether. They are slowly rising up the corporate ladder and climbing the echelons of government."
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What Haitians Want From Americans (and What They Don't)
Beverly Bell, Truthout: "We asked Haitians in civil society organizations, on the streets, in buses, "What do you want from the US? What help can Americans give Haiti?" Here are some of their answers."
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