Truthout: 12 November 2011

Guantanamo, the Most Expensive Prison on Earth, Hurts Taxpayers and Moral Ground
Alex Seitz-Wald, ThinkProgress: "As lawmakers on Congress’ deficit reduction super committee look for places to cut the federal budget ahead of their upcoming deadline, they may want to look at the prison camp at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. The facility is 'arguably the most expensive prison on earth,' according to a new report from the Miami Herald."
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Italy Poised to Install Austerity Measures
Elisabetta Povoledo and Rachel Donadio, The New York Times News Service: "Italy's lower house on Saturday was expected to pass austerity measures sought by the European Union, paving the way for the planned resignation of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi after the vote, when the cabinet was set to meet."
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"Occupy" and Hope for a Human Spring in Afghanistan
The Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers, Truthout: "The reason the Occupy movement grips our hearts is that the Afghan strategy of the past 40 years implemented by Afghanistan's lords and the other lords of the world has essentially been based on the '1 percent's wealth and force.' Hard wealth and force. First, try to 'buy' the people at some kind of a minimum wage level. If that doesn't work, fight them. Today, this is done as a 'pacification' technique, in the sacred names of stability, security and peace."
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Occupy Oakland Reacts to Thursday's Violence in Ogawa Plaza
Eric K. Arnold, Oakland Local: "November 10 marked the one-month anniversary of Occupy Oakland - the political, social, and economic protest and encampment against corporate greed, social inequality and police brutality, which took over Frank Ogawa Plaza, in solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street movement in New York. But instead of a planned birthday celebration, the Occupy camp turned into a somber vigil, after a late-afternoon outbreak of violence turned deadly, resulting in a fight that led to the shooting of a young man just outside the encampment, on the steps of Frank Ogawa Plaza at just before 5 p.m. Thursday."
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Activist Leaders Explain How They Beat the Keystone XL Pipeline
Elizabeth McGowan, InsideClimate News: "Just six months ago, few could have imagined that an inanimate object as ugly as a 36-inch diameter, 1,702-mile oil sands pipeline could revive a dormant and depressed climate movement. But then handfuls of activists experienced a series of 'aha'moments that resuscitated their cause. First, they connected the dots between the BP oil spill, a do-nothing Congress and the 'carbon bomb' that would likely be released if Alberta's tar sands continue to be mined. They also began pressing President Obama on his promise to wean the country of its oil addiction. Gradually, something began to click."
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White House Could Cast Decisive Vote to Permit 20,000 Fracking Wells in Delaware River Basin
Amy Goodman, Democracy Now!: "This week the Delaware River Basin Commission released draft regulations to allow for the natural gas drilling technique hydraulic fracturing, known as fracking, in the river’s watershed, which provides water to 15.6 million people in New York City, Philadelphia and New Jersey. The proposed plan would allow for some 20,000 gas wells to be developed in the watershed. A vote on the regulations is set for Nov. 21... We speak with Josh Fox, whose documentary about fracking, ‘Gasland,’ was nominated for an Academy Award, and play an excerpt of his new video about the possible impacts natural gas fracking could have in the Delaware River Basin."
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Start a Business?! How 'Bout Occupy Entrepreneurship?
Chris Rabb, Tech & Sensibility: "I recently came across a pithy, anti-Occupy Wall Street column in Entrepreneur Magazine that encouraged protesters to go home and create start-up ventures instead of standing up for social and economic justice....It’s true that it’s easier to start a business than to help build a movement. I dare say, though, the latter is always more transformative.... I say we express our dissent and commitment to community wealth-building by occupying entrepreneurship."
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"Safe, Legal, Ethical and Effective"? It's Time to Annul Our Report on Psychology, Ethics and National Security
Roy Eidelson, Truthout: "Given prior reports that psychologists had been involved as planners, researchers and overseers of abusive national security detainee interrogations, the PENS [Presidential Report on Psychological Ethics and National Security] Task Force should have expressed grave concerns about the role of psychologists in such settings. But that would have required an unbiased, open and honest deliberative process. Sadly, the actual PENS process was none of these things."
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US Africa Policy Assailed by Africans
Linn Washington Jr., This Can't Be Happening: "This escalation of American military activity in Africa triggered an escalation of criticism, as many Africans and others see this activity as a projection of Western imperialism directed toward securing tighter dominance over Africa’s vast mineral wealth, not as an effort to promote democracy, as proclaimed by the US and its allies."
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BUZZFLASH DAILY HEADLINES

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Matt Taibbi: Wall Street Isn't Winning – It's Cheating
Read the Article at Rolling Stone

Arab League Votes to Suspend Syria Over Crackdown
Read the Article at The Los Angeles Times

Missoula, Montana, Votes Against Corporate Personhood: "Corporations Are Not Human Beings"
Read the Article at BuzzFlash

With Security Council Report, Palestinian Statehood Bid Stalled at UN
Read the Article at CNN

Regime Change in Europe: Do Greece and Italy Amount to a Bankers' Coup?
Read the Article at Time

Friends With Benefits: Government Assistance for Americans Down on Their Luck Is Essential
Read the Article at The New York Times

War Machines Company Caterpillar Shifts Manufacturing From Japan Back to North America, Closer to Its Clients
Read the Article at Business Week

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