Truthout - 31 January 201

Obama's Destructive Urban Policy Alienates Low-Income Communities
Yana Kunichoff, Truthout: "These financial disparities are only part of what Chicago is known for; the Windy City is also the adopted home of the first African-American president, Barack Obama, and where he will be returning to run his re-election campaign for 2012. How has Chicago fared under the so-called "urban president," and what will Obama be able to offer a city leading the nation in black poverty in order to win its votes a second time around?"
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Why the GOP Loves Keystone XL and Wants Congress to Approve the Pipeline
Mike Ludwig, Truthout: "Senate Republicans announced a bill on Monday that would allow Canadian oil company TransCanada to begin construction of its proposed $7 billion Keystone XL pipeline that would run 1,700 miles from Canada to Texas."
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Bill to Prohibit Insider Trading by Members of Congress Advances in Senate
Robert Pear and Jonathan Weisman, The New York Times News Service: "In an effort to regain public trust, the Senate voted Monday to take up a bill that would prohibit members of Congress from trading stocks and other securities on the basis of confidential information they receive as lawmakers. The vote was 93 to 2."
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Former Guantanamo Prisoner Who Alleged US Torture, Drugging, Sentenced by Algerian Authorities
Jeffrey Kaye, Truthout: "The UK action charity Reprieve, whose attorneys represent over a dozen prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, reports that former Guantanamo prisoner, Algerian citizen Abdul Aziz Naji, has been sentenced to three years in prison in Algeria."
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The Political Geography of Florida
Micah Cohen, The New York Times News Service: "There are 4,063,853 registered Republicans in Florida. But they are not spaced uniformly throughout the state, and they are not homogeneous demographically or ideologically. Florida's Republican primary electorate is much more diverse than Iowa's, New Hampshire's or South Carolina's."
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Islamophobic General Has Withdrawn From Prayer Breakfast
Faiz Shakir, ThinkProgress: "Just four days after ThinkProgress reported that the United States military academy at West Point was planning to host an Islamophobic general as its featured speaker at the National Prayer Breakfast, that general has now pulled out of the event."
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Paul Krugman | Republican Candidates Have to Be Cynical or Foolish
Paul Krugman, Krugman & Co.: "It goes as follows: to be a good Republican right now, you have to affirm your belief in things that any halfway intelligent politician can see are plainly false. This leaves room for only two kinds of candidates: those who just aren't smart and/or rational enough to understand the problem, and those who are completely cynical, willing to say anything to get ahead."
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Marjorie Cohn | The Haditha Massacre: No Justice for Iraqis
Marjorie Cohn, Truthout: "Many people in Iraq are outraged as the legal books close on the Haditha Massacre. They are also perturbed at the US drones flying over Iraqi skies in Baghdad to protect the largest US embassy in the world, which, even after the United States 'pulled out' of Iraq, still houses 11,000 Americans protected by 5,000 mercenaries."
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On the News With Thom Hartmann: Billionaires Not Paying Their Fair Share in Taxes, and More
In today's On the News segment: The Republican primary race for the White House hits Florida, billionaires not paying their fair share in taxes, UN warns of rapid population growth, French President Nicholas Sarkozy requiring banksters to pay their fair share for the damage they caused to the economy, and more.
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Anatomy of a "Terrorism" Prosecution: Dr. Rafil Dhafir and the Help the Needy Muslim Charity Case
Katherine Hughes, Truthout: "At approximately 6:30 AM on February 26, 2003, upstate New York oncologist Dr. Rafil Dhafir pulled out of his driveway in Fayetteville, heading to his practice in the underserved area of Rome; he has never returned. Just moments later, he was pulled over and arrested by two federal investigators and a New York state trooper."
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In Afghanistan, Much to Forgive: The Story of Bibi Sadia
Kathy Kelly and The Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers, Truthout: "Bibi Sadia and her husband Baba share a humble home with their son, his wife and their two little children. An Afghan human rights advocate suggested that we listen to Bibi's stories and learn more about how a Pashto family has tried to survive successive tragedies in Kabul."
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Hormuz-Mania: Why Closure of the Strait of Hormuz Could Ignite a War and a Global Depression
Michael T. Klare, TomDispatch: "All of a sudden, the Strait of Hormuz has become the most combustible spot on the planet, the most likely place to witness a major conflict between well-armed adversaries. Why, of all locales, has it become so explosive? Oil, of course, is a major part of the answer, but - and this may surprise you - only a part."
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Why Is Our Nation So Divided? (Video)
Bill Moyers, Moyers & Co.: "Politics is an alternative to fratricide but it's no pacifier of our conflicts over issues that touch our deepest emotions, like: taxes, abortion, immigration, sexuality - you name it. The ambition for power and especially the control of government brings out the martial spirit that in our better days we manage to subdue, for the sake of sure survival."
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TRUTHOUT'S BUZZFLASH DAILY HEADLINES

It was the photo seen round the nation - one that in a single finger-wagging gesture was a Rorschach test of America's "post-racial" society.

When Jan Brewer - governor of perhaps the most politically anti-immigrant state in the union (including most recently banning school books statewide that were Mexican-American related) - was seen in vivid color raising her index finger in high dudgeon at President Obama, the outpouring of racial animus that followed his election was distilled into one Phoenix sun-drenched tarmac moment.

Adding to the image of white backlash in a racially charged "post-racial" America, Brewer claimed that she felt "threatened" by Obama in their airport encounter.

It is worth noting that Brewer was supposed to be "welcoming" the president of the United States - as is the usual case when a president travels - not confronting him to, perhaps, increase sales of her book and fundraise off of the image of a white woman being "threatened" by a black man. Ironically, Brewer was carrying a handwritten letter inviting the president to lunch and a border tour, while acknowledging their political differences.

The Brewer harangue apparently was triggered by President Obama objecting to a section of her new book, "Scorpions for Breakfast," in which she characterized an Oval Office meeting with Obama as "condescending, professorial, and patronizing." (Yes, it does sound like an "uppity black man" dog-whistle description.)

Somehow, you get the feeling that Brewer was loaded for bear no matter what Obama might have said to her, because that has been true of the racially coded attacks on him from the right wing since he assumed office.

Brewer wasted no time in fundraising off of the photo and nationwide media coverage of the incident, and further pouring fuel on the racial flames of the encounter. On her PAC web site, Brewer wrote:

Friends,

I need your help!

When I met President Obama this week, I really wasn't pointing at him. I was telling him, "You have ONE more year!" The President needs to be reminded that he is the President of the FEDERAL REPUBLIC and not a KING lording over state governors.

While I wanted to talk to him about jobs, our economy and visiting our border, President Obama criticized my book, Scorpions for Breakfast, and then walked away from me.

We deserve results over rhetoric, but this is a President who had the audacity to sue me and Arizona in my efforts to protect our country from illegal immigration!

The letter has since been replaced on Brewers "JanPac" site with promotional plugs for her book, which has shot up in sales due to the publicity surrounding her finger-in-the-face-of-the-president theatrics.

Ironically, the Arizona Republic reported at the end of 2011 that federal prosecutors and the Social Security Administration were investigating whether Brewer had improperly handled $75,000 in Social Security payments on behalf of her eldest son, who has a serious mental illness. An anti-federal government, anti-entitlement program, right-wing governor accepting such a large handout on behalf of her son and his care? You bet.

But that didn't stop her from putting a match to America's racial tinderbox. The Phoenix airport photograph was just another supercharged symbol of white entitlement and blaming all the woes of the nation on a black president and brown-skinned immigrants.

For the Tea Party and the nativist wing of the Republican Party, Brenner has provided the perfect wall poster to express their prejudices - and an expanded fundraising base and book market for her political future.

Mark Karlin,
Editor of BuzzFlash at Truthout

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Romney and Gingrich Set the GOP on a Path Toward Self-Destruction
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Birther Queen Orly Taitz, the Mad Woman From Moldavia, Leads Effort to Get Obama Off Presidential Ballot
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