Monday, July 19, 2010

Truthout 7/19

Dahr Jamail | BP's Scheme to Swindle the "Small People"
Dahr Jamail, Truthout: "Gulf Coast fishermen and others with lost income claims against British Petroleum (BP) are outraged by a recent announcement that the $20 billion government-administered claim fund will subtract money they earn by working on the cleanup effort from any future damage claims against BP. This move, according to lawyers in Louisiana working on behalf of Louisiana fishermen and others affected by the BP oil disaster, contradicts an earlier BP statement where the company promised it would do no such thing."
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Obama Blasts GOP Over Blocking of Jobless Benefits (Video)
Steve Thomma and David Lightman, McClatchy Newspapers: "President Barack Obama on Monday escalated his attacks on Republicans, blasting them for opposing an extension of benefits for the out-of-work while pushing tax cuts for the wealthy."
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Melvin A. Goodman | Spies, Lies, and Bye-Byes
Melvin A. Goodman, Truthout: "The Iranian scientist Shahram Amiri has returned to Tehran, and immediately the critics are accusing the Central Intelligence Agency of mishandling the situation. Was Amiri an Iranian plant? Was he a mole? Was he a double agent? Did Amiri bring misinformation and disinformation to fool US intelligence and US decision-makers on the important issue of Iran's nuclear capabilities?"
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Despite 54 Percent for Afghan Exit, Petraeus Move Could Nix Peace Talks
Robert Naiman, Truthout: "The majority of Americans want the Obama administration to establish a timetable for the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, CBS News reports. Fifty-Four percent think the US should set a timetable for the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, with 41% opposed. Among Democrats, 73% think the US should set a timetable, with 21% opposed; among independents, 54% support a withdrawal timetable, with 40% opposed; among Republicans, 32% support a withdrawal timetable, with 66% opposed."
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News in Brief: Well Cap May Not Be Viable and More ...
A seep may undermine the latest attempt to stop the oil spill; rich Pakistanis are skirting income taxes; over 40 people were killed Sunday in the deadliest of a recent string of suicide bomb attacks in Iraq; Iranian-owned bank in Germany is helping Iran sidestep international sanctions; Washington Post finds that US Intelligence network is large, disjointed and almost completely unknowable; extending unemployment benefits is up for discussion in the Senate on Tuesday; Tea Party boots Mark Williams for racist remarks.
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Chris Hedges | Calling All Future-Eaters
Chris Hedges, Truthdig: "The human species during its brief time on Earth has exhibited a remarkable capacity to kill itself off. The Cro-Magnons dispatched the gentler Neanderthals. The conquistadors, with the help of smallpox, decimated the native populations in the Americas. Modern industrial warfare in the 20th century took at least 100 million lives, most of them civilians."
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Downsizing Higher Edcucation: Disciplinarity at the Expense of Interdisciplinarity?
Linda Hutcheon, Truthout: "At a time in our world history when more people, not fewer, are needed who have both an acute awareness of the implications of globalization and a capacity to think across those cultural and linguistic barriers created by nationalisms everywhere, it is not immediately self-evident why the University of Toronto would choose to close its Center for Comparative Literature. Founded by the celebrated theorist Northrop Frye, the center has a 40-year history of pedagogical and scholarly success in precisely this kind of global and cross-cultural work."
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Animal Rights Activists Win Dissent Victory
Bill Quigley and Rachel Meeropol, Truthout: "Police reports state that on October 21, 2007, a group of about 20 people trespassed onto the front lawn of the home of a Berkeley professor involved in bio-medical research on animals. A year and a half later, four young activists were indicted in California federal court under the little known and rarely used 'Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act' (AETA) for their alleged involvement in this and others pickets."
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Amiri Told CIA Iran Has No Nuclear Bomb Program
Gareth Porter, Inter Press Service: "Contrary to a news media narrative that Iranian scientist Shahram Amiri has provided intelligence on covert Iranian nuclear weapons work, CIA sources familiar with the Amiri case say he told his CIA handlers that there is no such Iranian nuclear weapons programm, according to a former CIA officer."
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Hillary Clinton's Pakistan Trip: More Talk, Less Action
Ben Arnoldy, The Christian Science Monitor: "United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with Pakistani leaders today in Islamabad in an effort to shore up relations with a country vital to peace negotiations in Afghanistan."
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The Retirement Nightmare: Half of Americans Have Less Than $2,000 Banked for Their Golden Years
Scott Thill, AlterNet: "The days of quietly retiring with a nest egg built up from years of savings from a long career on the verge of disappearing. For tens of millions of Americans, facing rising costs, shrinking incomes and growing debts they already have disappeared."
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Nick Mottern | Sit Down and Shut Up
Nick Mottern, Truthout: "On July 7, 2010 I was denied further access to the Pentagon's Bloggers Roundtable in an odd process that appears to have involved the office of Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs David Wilson. The banishment betrays an extraordinary Pentagon sensitivity to even the asking of questions unwelcome to the military."
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National Actions Against Billionaire Pritzkers and the Hyatt Hotel Chain
Carl Finamore, Truthout: "On June 9, blue-chip Hyatt stockholders anxiously anticipating dividend announcements that would, perhaps, justify a nice evening on the town - maybe in one of the city's acclaimed five-star restaurants -- assembled inside the plush Hyatt Regency McCormick Place in Chicago. Protesting outside, were hotel workers who had their own concerns about how to put food on the table. Hyatt employees average less than $30,000 a year in most of the country."
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Kids, Condoms, Controversy
Danielle Zielinski, Other Words: "Pregnancy-related deaths are the leading cause of mortality for girls aged 15 to 19 worldwide. A few weeks ago, a tiny resort community on the tip of Cape Cod found itself at the center of a national firestorm. Media descended in droves. People called the town "absurd" and "disgusting." Even the governor of Massachusetts got involved."
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