Monday, June 21, 2010

Truthout 6/21

Henry A. Giroux | Chartering Disaster: Why Duncan's Corporate-Based Schools Can't Deliver an Education That Matters
Henry A. Giroux, Truthout: "In Arne Duncan's world, the language of educational reform is defined primarily through the modalities of competition, measurement and quantification. Competition is now one of the most important registers organizing and defining schools and classroom pedagogical practices - no doubt made obvious by the name of Obama's educational reform policy 'Race to the Top,' with its allusion to Wall Street values and casino capitalism."
Read the Article

Supreme Court's War on Terror Decision Permits Prosecution of US Organizations
Michael Doyle, McClatchy Newspapers: "The Supreme Court on Monday bolstered law enforcement in national security cases, permitting prosecution of U.S. organizations that provide non-violent legal training or advice to designated terrorist groups."
Read the Article

Robert Reich | Why China's Currency Announcement Is Hokum
Robert Reich, Robert Reich's Blog: "The stock market is euphoric over China's apparent decision to allow its currency to rise against the dollar. Watch your wallets. China isn't really changing anything. It's only doing the minimum to prevent Congress from listing China as a currency manipulator, leading to a squeeze on Chinese imports."
Read the Article

Disappointing Finance Bill Still Has Issues Worth Fighting for
Kevin Zeese, Truthout: "The financial reform bill in its final stages of legislative action did not break up the big banks, reinstate Glass-Steagall, reign in bonuses and executive salaries, or stop the usury rates for payday loans and credit cards, nor did it require mortgage reform in light of the housing collapse. But there are still some key issues worth fighting for - issues the big banks and, too often, the Obama administration, are trying to remove from the bill."
Read the Article

Van Jones | Speaking of "Small People," Will the Energy Bill Hurt or Help All Americans?
Van Jones, Center for American Progress: "BP's Chairman got himself in hot water this week for suggesting that his company is not 'greedy' and cares about the 'small people.' Pundits were outraged less by his lies than by his condescension. Admittedly, he should have chosen a different phrase to describe the low-income and vulnerable Americans who are suffering in the gulf region. But he was right to put concern for their plight at the center of the debate."
Read the Article

News in Brief: BP Estimates Leak at 100,000 Barrels of Oil a Day, and More ...
BP estimates 100,000 barrels of oil per day are gushing into the Gulf; China eases control over its currency; Nebraska votes tonight on whether to ban hiring or renting to illegal immigrants; Iran bars two UN nuclear inspectors; ban on weapons into Gaza continues, but Israel now allowing food and household items; Senate makes a final push toward far-reaching financial reform; helicopter crash and two roadside bombs killed six NATO troops.
Read the Article

Dean Baker | Derailing the Drive to Cut Social Security and Medicare
Dean Baker, Truthout: "Next weekend will feature another milestone in the drive to cut Social Security and Medicare. The organization America Speaks will be hosting a series of 20 meetings in cities across the country. They will ask the people at these meetings, a cross section of the nation, to come up with proposals for dealing with the country's projected long-term budget deficit."
Read the Article

Expecting Justice and Hoping for Empathy
James L. Gibson, Miller-McCune: "What kind of justices do the American people want on the U.S. Supreme Court? As the country awaits the Senate's decision on whether Elena Kagan should replace Justice John Paul Stevens on the nation's highest court, discussions about the desirable attributes of judges have been reignited."
Read the Article

How Obama Changed the Right
E.J. Dionne Jr.: "Barack Obama's campaign promise of change did not include a pledge to transform American conservatism. But one of his presidency's major legacies may be a revolution on the American right in which older, more secular forms of politics displace religious activism."
Read the Article

Louisiana's Chief Oil Response Leader: Could Be November Before Cleanup Products Used in Wetlands
Lou Rom, Beyond Horizon: "Louisiana's chief oil response leader says it could be November before Unified Command puts any of the thousands of alternative cleanup products to work in an effort to protect Louisiana's wetlands from BP oil."
Read the Article

Is Silence Golden? Circumventing the Press May Pay
Howard Fineman: "Do political candidates still need the press? Based on what's going on in Kentucky, where I began my career, I'm no longer sure. After saying a few weeks ago that a part of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was an overreach, Rand Paul is sticking to safe, controlled venues. A public meeting of Republicans in Louisville was not one of them - two top reporters showed up."
Read the Article

Howard Kunstler | Mismanaging Contraction
Howard Kunstler, Truthout: "Lesson of the Macondo: Blowout preventers don't prevent blowouts. This comes as a shock to people attuned to the on-schedule arrival of techno-miracles. Now, all the acronym-studded invocations of techno-mastery by men wearing interesting hats will not avail to put the schnitz on an epic horror show in the Gulf of Mexico."
Read the Article

Domestic Workers Unite for Their Rights
Hannah Rubenstein, Inter Press Service: "Ephese speaks rapidly, her hands sweeping the air around her for emphasis. Peach-tipped fingernails come to rest momentarily on her peach-coloured skirt as she leans forward, eyes intent behind wire-rimmed glasses. Her French is direct; her words uncompromising."
Read the Article

Corporate Gas Drilling Buries Indonesian Town in Methane Mud (Video)
Peter Gelling and Matt Ooley report for GlobalPost on the environmental catastrophe happening in Java.
Read the Article

No comments:

Post a Comment


What do you think it symbolizes?