Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Truthout 5/12

EXCLUSIVE: Ex-CIA Official Reveals New Details About Torture, Plame Leak
In a wide-ranging video interview with Truthout, former CIA counterterrorism official John Kiriakou reveals new information about the capture and torture of "high-value" detainee Abu Zubaydah and discloses, for the first time, his role in the events that led to the leak of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame.
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More States Jump on Bandwagon, Press for Restrictive Immigration Legislation
Yana Kunichoff, Truthout: "Despite the broad, national backlash sparked by Arizona's harsh immigration bill - including protests and calls to boycott the state - lawmakers in more than 15 states across the country have recently called for similar legislation."
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Jim Hightower | What a Holy Mess Our Oil Addiction Is Causing
Jim Hightower, Truthout: "Luckily, as our country tries to cope with another oozing oil disaster, we have political leaders with the insight, expertise and cool heads to analyze the problem precisely and guide us to rational long-term solutions. For example, Gov. Rick Perry of Texas."
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News in Brief: Arizona Law Targets Ethnic Studies Classes and More ...
Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signs bill to target ethnic studies programs in schools; Morgan Stanley under investigation by federal prosecutors; plane crashes at Lybia's Tripoli airport.
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Louisiana Lawmakers: BP Can't Handle Gulf Oil Spill Cleanup Anymore
Bill Sasser, The Christian Science Monitor: "Calls are mounting for the state of Louisiana and the federal government to wrest control of the Gulf oil spill cleanup from BP. Two lawmakers say BP seems 'overwhelmed.'"
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Obama, Karzai Say Past Differences "Were Simply Overstated"
Jonathan S. Landay, McClatchy Newspapers: "President Barack Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai sought Wednesday to project a unified front on defeating the Taliban-led insurgency, acknowledging past differences but insisting that reports of tensions over corruption in Karzai's government and civilian deaths from U.S. military operations were overblown."
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Leahy Pushes Financial Reform Amendment to Protect Whistleblowers, Transparency
Grace Huang, Truthout: "Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) proposed an amendment to the financial reform bill Monday that would further protect whistleblowers' identities while eliminating language that would 'indefinitely shield critical information' in financial fraud cases from the public."
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Privacy Reform: The Sound of No Hand Clapping
Timothy MacBain, Truthout: "In the wake of nationwide demonstrations calling for stronger government regulation of banks and investment firms, draft legislation was introduced in the House on Tuesday that targets a less conspicuous multi-billion dollar industry that still affects everyday Americans: the collection and distribution of personal information. At a time when everyone from Tea Partiers to progressives is complaining that the government isn't looking out for the people, US Reps. Rick Boucher (D-Virginia) and Cliff Stearns (R-Florida) offered their proposal for meaningful privacy protection legislation."
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Secret Recording of Erik Prince Reveals Previously Undisclosed Blackwater Ops
Amy Goodman and Sharif Abdel Kouddous, Democracy NOW!: "Investigative journalist and Democracy Now! correspondent Jeremy Scahill obtains a rare audio recording of a recent, private speech delivered by Erik Prince, the owner of Blackwater, to a friendly audience in January. The speech, which Prince attempted to keep from public consumption, provides a stunning glimpse into his views and future plans and reveals details of previously undisclosed activities of Blackwater."
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Tom Tomorrow | This Modern World
Truthout is proud to feature Tom Tomorrow, whose award-winning political cartoon, "This Modern World," is now a regular feature. To quote documentary filmmaker Michael Moore, "All Hail Tom Tomorrow!"
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Red State Road Trip 2 - Detroit, Necropolis Reborn (Video Part IX)
Chris Hume, Truthout: "Detroit - Once a 20th century industrial dynamo, now an 18th century rural society? Pheasants and deer wander among the rusting towers and ruined factories as nature reclaims this mighty American metropolis. Even more shocking: there is not a single supermarket in all of Detroit. In this episode, the remaining citizens of Detroit are turning this industrial wasteland ... into a life giving urban garden."
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Robert Reich | Lincoln to the Rescue
Robert Reich, Robert Reich's Blog: "Right now, the biggest battle in bank reform is over a provision introduced by Senator Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas that would force the giant Wall Street banks to give up their lucrative derivative trading businesses if they want the government (i.e. taxpayers) to continue insuring their commercial deposits."
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Farming in Gaza Is "a Kind of Resistance"
Max Ajl, Truthout: "That Thursday morning was odd weather in Gaza. Gaza is pretty arid. Thick cloud cover is unusual in late April, so is rain. The slate storm-front sliding over the horizon in Farraheen was even weirder. We were in Abasan Kabeera, on the farmland of the Tabash family. Peasant women picked the golden bunches of lentils from the ground swiftly underneath the quickly darkening sky, pulling neat bundles of stalks and beans from the earth with practiced motions, quick, smooth grabs, and leaving them on their side in the newly-bare dirt."
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Mr. Obama: Tear Down This War!
Bernard Weiner, The Crisis Papers: "Many of us progressives now in our 60s and 70s spent years of our young lives in 'The Sixties' trying to stop the U.S. war in Vietnam. Many in this cohort were beaten, jailed, lost jobs, suffered discrimination. We were, after all, considered 'unpatriotic' and 'traitors' by government leaders and their rightwing supporters."
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Data Seizure at the Airport
Michael Scott Moore, Miller-McCune: "Two years ago a freelance journalist named Bill Hogan returned home to Virginia from a trip to Germany and had his laptop seized at Dulles International Airport. U.S. Customs agents reportedly told him he'd been selected for a random investigation. The agents went through photos on his digital camera, he said, and impounded the computer for two weeks."
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Has an Oscar Saved Japan's Dolphins?
Rose Aguilar, Your Call: "Despite efforts by the Japanese government and the U.S. military to ban and cancel screenings of the documentary 'The Cove' in Japan, director Louie Psihoyos says it will not be censored. The Oscar-winning documentary exposes the grisly truth about what happens in Taiji, a small coastal Japanese town where thousands of dolphins are slaughtered and dozens are captured and sold for as much as $200,000 to U.S. marine mammal parks. According to the film, 23,000 dolphins and porpoises are killed in Japan every year."
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The Dementia of Petroleum Addiction?
Craig Collins Ph.D.: "Petroleum executives assure us that their giant tankers and offshore oil rigs pose no danger to the environment; coal company CEOs insist that their mines are safe and that blasting off mountaintops is ecologically benign; natural gas companies claim that 'fracking' deep underground geological formations will not contaminate fresh water aquifers; and nuclear power promoters tell us not to worry about core meltdowns or the disposal of millions of tons of highly radioactive waste."
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