Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Truthout 8/10

What Landmark Proposition 8 Ruling Means for the Future
Marjorie Cohn, Truthout: "Last week, in a stunning, carefully crafted, 136-page opinion, US District Court Judge Vaughn Walker held in Perry v. Schwarzenegger that California's Proposition 8, which outlaws same-sex marriage, is unconstitutional. The lawsuit was filed by two gay couples who sought to overturn Proposition 8. Interestingly, the named defendant, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, did not defend Proposition 8."
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Dahr Jamail | Gulf Coast Fishermen Challenge US Government
Dahr Jamail, Truthout: "Commercial fishing communities in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Florida have united to demand that local, state and federal agencies force BP to discontinue the use of toxic dispersants and conduct better testing before reopening fishing waters."
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First Guantanamo Military Tribunal Under Obama Gears Up
Warren Richey, The Christian Science Monitor: "A military judge on Monday ruled that self-incriminating statements made to US interrogators could be admitted as evidence in the war crimes trial of an Al Qaeda operative accused of murdering an American soldier in Afghanistan."
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Former Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska Is Dead at 86
Tom Kizzia and Erika Bolstad, McClatchy Newspapers: "Former Sen. Ted Stevens has died after a plane crash late Monday in Dillingham, Alaska. Stevens, 86, was the longest-serving Republican senator when his 40-year Senate career came to an end in 2008. On trial in Washington D.C. for corruption in the weeks leading up to that year's election, scandal-weary Alaska voters voted by a thin margin to replace him with Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich, a Democrat."
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Mosque Mania: Anti-Muslim Fears and the Far Right
Stephan Salisbury, TomDispatch: "There is a distinct creepiness to the controversy now raging around a proposed Islamic cultural center in Lower Manhattan. The angry 'debate' over whether the building should exist has a kind of glitch-in-the-Matrix feel to it, leaving in its wake an aura of something-very-bad-about-to-happen."
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If Troops Are Pulling Out, Where Are the Parades?
Robert Weiner and Noah Merksamer, Orlando Sentinel: "Where are the Iraq troops that have been withdrawn under the Obama administration's plan? To draw attention to the cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson, a Democrat from Orlando, and U.S. Rep. John Conyers, a Democrat from Michigan and chair of the House Judiciary Committee, have co-sponsored legislation to limit defense spending to $548.9 billion and use the savings to eliminate federal income taxes on the first $35,000 of every American's income."
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Eugene Robinson | Lessons From the Oil Spill
Eugene Robinson: "Flying back to Washington from Pensacola, Fla., on June 15, President Obama and the man he put in charge of handling the Gulf oil spill, retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, had a come-to-Jesus talk. The administration was getting hammered for a slow and disorganized response to the environmental disaster, and the president wanted to know, then and there, what resources Allen needed to get the job done. Obama made clear, in Allen's words, that 'there would be no do-overs.'"
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ACLU Scorecard: Obama Is Embracing Abusive Bush Policies
Deb Weinstein, Truthout: "For disillusioned Obama supporters, the ACLU's July report 'Establishing the New Normal' is not a heartening read. After being voted into office on promises that included undoing abuses carried out under the Bush administration - promises to protect privacy, to end government-sanctioned torture and rendition programs and to end the use of military commissions for non-enemy combatants - President Obama's administration is proving it is far easier to tow the line than buck a trend."
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A Merger That Isn't Comcastic
Steve Macek and Mitchell Szczepanczyk, Truthout: "On December 3, 2009, the cable giant Comcast announced plans to buy NBC/Universal from General Electric in a $28 billion merger. Ever since, lawmakers in Washington and legions of activists have been raising the alarm about the threat such a deal would pose to telecommunication workers, cable and Internet users and communities of color."
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This Economy Stinks, Yes It Does
Dean Baker, Truthout: "If there were any doubts about the health of the economy, two reports issued in the last ten days should have eliminated them. First the second quarter GDP showed the economy growing at just a 2.4 percent annual rate. Then the Labor Department reported on Friday that the economy created just 12,000 jobs in July after removing the impact of temporary Census employees. Both reports are really bad news about the economy's near-term prospects."
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Post-Copenhagen Quest for Global Warming Accord Stuck in Reverse
Pete Spotts, The Christian Science Monitor: "With 3-1/2 months left before a United Nations climate summit in Cancun, Mexico, the spade work ahead of the meeting seems to be turning up more boulders than a New England plow. Last week, negotiators from 194 countries met in Bonn, Germany, and made little progress in any of six broad areas covered by a join-if-you-like plan that emerged from last December's climate negotiations in Copenhagen."
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