Truthout 5/2

An Invaluable Protector of Working People
Dick Meister, Truthout: "Never has there been a greater champion of US workers than former Labor Secretary Willard Wirtz, who died on April 24 at 98. Certainly, in more than a half-century of covering labor, I've never met anyone more dedicated - or more effective - in winning and preserving vital protections for working people."
Read the Article

May Day Rallies Take Immigration Fight to the Streets
Brad Knickerbocker, The Christian Science Monitor: "From Los Angeles to New York, Chicago to Houston, hundreds of thousands of protesters in dozens of cities are marching, chanting, and in some cases engaging in civil disobedience - mostly in opposition to Arizona's tough new law aimed at stopping illegal immigration."
Read the Article

Collateralized Fish Obligations?
Christine Shearer, Truthout: "A program promoted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Environmental Defense Fund aims to address overfishing, but will small fishermen get squeezed out of the process? Multiple studies suggest our world's oceans are being overfished. While alarming, such studies often eclipse successful examples of sustainable fishing practices, such as Oregon's Port Orford Ocean Resource Team (POORT)."
Read the Article

Atrocity and War
Camillo "Mac" Bica, Truthout: "Most learn about war by watching a Hollywood production or by reading a memoir, novel or historical account. In many if not most cases, the goal of the filmmaker or the author is to encourage people to see their movie, to buy their book, or more diabolically, to excite patriotic fervor and support for a particular conflict or to encourage enlistment into the military."
Read the Article

The Next Battle in Campaign Finance Reform
The Christian Science Monitor: "Lawmakers in Congress have unveiled legislation to temper the Supreme Court ruling that allows unlimited spending by corporations and unions on political campaign ads. They could use help from Republicans who have supported campaign finance reform in the past."
Read the Article

Omar Khadr's Trial Continues; Interrogation Video Introduced
Carol Rosenberg, The Miami Herald: "An Army Special Forces officer testified Saturday that he altered a field report to directly implicate a Canadian detainee now being held at Guantanamo in a fatal grenade attack in Afghanistan years later because he realized that he got it wrong and wanted to fix the historical record."
Read the Article

Red State Road Trip 2: The Nuclear Family (Video - Part V)
Chris Hume, Truthout: "Meet Don and Charlene, an all American couple who live inside a nuclear missile silo. Find out why this Nebraska pair live underground with enough supplies to survive for 3 years... "
Read the Article

The iPad Won't Save Media
Zach Roberts, Truthout: "So will the iPad be the savior of the news industry? Or just another $500 down the drain for this news junkie? I'm a voracious consumer of news - everything from Truthout, the Wall Street Journal to gizmodo . . . occasionally even sports. Two years ago I bought the iPhone with the goal of being able to keep constantly up to date on breaking news."
Read the Article

US States Consider Starting Their Own Banks
Matthew Cardinale, Inter Press Service: "At least eight U.S. states are considering proposals to start state-run banks in the wake of an economic crisis where many private banks ceased or greatly decreased their lending, literally shrinking the money pool available in state economies."
Read the Article

"Sympathy for the Devil"
John Morlino, Truthout: "After word broke that federal inspectors had uncovered dozens of new, critical safety violations by Massey Energy in the days following an explosion that killed 29 of its miners, it would be tempting to say that CEO Don Blankenship just doesn't get it. That, however, wouldn't ring true, given that he's been phenomenally successful at routinely dismissing failing report cards while collecting millions of dollars along the way."
Read the Article

WorldStove: Transforming Haiti and the World
Kelpie Wilson, The Huffington Post: "WorldStove founder Nathaniel Mulcahy has just completed two months of work in Haiti, setting up a pilot project that will provide biochar-producing stoves and jobs for the Haitian people. The project was featured in an Earth Day press release from the UN Special Envoy to Haiti (former President Clinton) as an example of 'building back better' by incorporating environmental sustainability in the recovery effort."
Read the Article