Truthout 5/8

Michael Winship | Kent State and the Frisbee Revolution
Michael Winship, Truthout: "I was a freshman at Georgetown University when it happened, 40 years ago on May 4. Most of us didn't know what had taken place until late in the day. We were in class or studying for finals, so hours went by until my friends and I heard the news. On that warm spring Monday, the Ohio National Guard had opened fire on an anti-war demonstration at Kent State University and four students lay dead. Nine others were wounded."
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David Ignatius and the Continued Coverup
Melvin A. Goodman, Truthout: "David Ignatius, The Washington Post's self-appointed apologist for the Central Intelligence Agency, has struck again. Last year, Ignatius argued that it was 'just plain nuts' to investigate the CIA's assassination program because 'nobody had been killed.' He lambasted Attorney General Eric Holder for considering the appointment of a prosecutor to investigate possible CIA war crimes because these 'unauthorized practices' merely involved 'kicks, threats and other abuse.' Now, Ignatius argues that CIA Director Leon Panetta has left his 'mark on the CIA,' foolishly crediting the director with stepping up aggressive operations in the Arabian Peninsula and North Africa and waging the 'most aggressive operation in the history of the agency' against al-Qaeda and the Taliban."
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Will Obama Say Yes to Afghan Peace Talks?
Robert Naiman, Truthout: "Afghan President Hamid Karzai is coming to Washington next week to meet with President Obama. Afghan government officials have said that their top priority for these talks is to get President Obama to agree that the US will fully back efforts of the Afghan government to reconcile with senior leaders of the Afghan Taliban insurgency in order to end the war."
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Rachel Maddow | Interview With Dean Baker on Bikini Graph Friday (VIDEO)
Rachel Maddow reviews the lastest positive job statistics for April and talks about the abrupt dramatic drop and rise in the stock market this week with Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research.
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Lessons From the Past: Arizona, Immigration and Ethnic Studies
Derek Chang, Truthout: "In a little less than two weeks, my son's fourth-grade class will visit a historic site called the Eight Square Schoolhouse in Dryden, New York. Designed by a local carpenter and built in 1827, it is the only octagonal schoolhouse still standing in New York State. It was used as a school for some 114 years, and the building's significance, I'm told, lies in its shape. Octagonal buildings were thought to be sturdier, possess better ventilation, provide more interior space and allow for the teacher to be the focus of the students' attention to a greater degree."
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As BP Oil Spill Fight Continues, More Areas Closed to the Public
Mark Guarino, The Christian Science Monitor: “With confirmed sightings of oil across a 50-mile chain of islands that line Louisiana's Southwestern coast, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) has ordered the affected area closed to public entry. The agency also expanded an earlier ban on fishing in the area east of the Mississippi River.”
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Economics: How to Cure a Sick Discipline
Ian Fletcher, Truthout: "America's financial mess and our festering trade crisis were both caused by bad policies that mainstream economics told us were O.K. This has made the public cynical about economists, but has produced few specific suggestions on how to actually fix the discipline. So, what should we do to restore its ability to give sound advice?"
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California Assembly Approves Protection for Homeless
Jim Sanders, The Sacramento Bee: "Californians' civil right to be homeless would be given new legal protection under legislation approved Thursday by the Assembly. Basically, the measure would deem violence against homeless people or their property as a hate crime for civil litigation."
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Some Bullies Just Want to Be Loved
Joan Trossman Bien | Miller-McCune: "Bullies have been an accepted, if unpleasant, part of childhood for generations. Although anti-bullying laws are increasingly common, and schools often have programs for dealing with bullies, this adolescent tyranny is traditionally left to resolve itself."
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