Truthout: 1 February 2012

Corporations Are Not People
Thom Hartmann, Truthout: "Most Americans don't realize that the idea that 'corporations are people' and 'money is speech' are concepts that were never, ever considered or promoted or even passed by any legislature in the history of America. Jeff Clements, a former assistant attorney general for Massachusetts, has written a brilliant and very accessible guide to the 2010 US Supreme Court Citizens United decision, how it came about and what can be done about it."
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What Does the Activism Surrounding SOPA Reveal About the Future of Online Organizing?
Rose Aguilar, Truthout: "Just a few weeks ago, passage of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA) seemed all but certain. Then online users got involved. On January 18, an estimated 13 million took part in an online protest. These actions resulted in rarely seen drastic changes in Washington. Dozens of lawmakers known for bowing down to corporate interests and Hollywood withdrew support for the bills."
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US's Largest Cancer Charity Caves to Right-Wing Pressure, Ends Partnership With Planned Parenthood
Jodi Jacobson, RH Reality Check: "It became clear there are things more important to the Susan G. Komen Foundation than ensuring women are able to access exams for early detection of breast cancer. What could be more important to an organization dedicated to the elimination of breast cancer? The politics and personal agendas of the organization's senior staff and board, which have been infiltrated by right-wing ideologues and which were instrumental in a decision to deny further support from Komen affiliates to Planned Parenthood clinics that provide breast exams."
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At Hearing on "Fracking," Capitol Police Arrest Director of "Gasland"
Truthout Staff, Truthout: "On Wednesday, House Republicans ordered Capitol police to arrest Josh Fox, director of the Academy Award-nominated documentary 'Gasland,' along with his crew. The group was attempting to film a meeting of the House Subcommittee on Energy and Environment that was to discuss hydraulic fracturing, also known as 'fracking.'"
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On the News With Thom Hartmann: Arizona Republicans to Introduce Draconian Anti-Union Legislation This Week, and More
In today's On the News segment: Arizona Republicans will introduce draconian anti-union legislation this week, Romney admits he is "not concerned with the very poor," the annual budget deficit will exceed $1 trillion this year, and more.
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Republicans Start to Unite Around Call to Allow Billionaires and Corporations to Directly Fund Campaigns
Scott Keyes, ThinkProgress: "Eight in 10 Americans believe that there is too much money in American politics, and only 17 percent agree with the Supreme Court that corporations should be allowed to spend unlimited money to try to influence elections. Yet top Republicans are coalescing around the idea that current campaign finance laws - which still prohibit corporations and wealthy individuals from giving unlimited money directly to campaigns - are actually too restrictive."
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French Scientists: Childhood Leukemia Spikes Near Nuclear Reactors
John LaForge, Truthout: "The 'International Journal of Cancer' has published a scientific study establishing a correlation between childhood leukemia and proximity to nuclear power stations. This report promises to do for France what a set of 2008 reports did for Germany - which recently legislated a total phase-out of all its power reactors by 2022 ... When the US public owns up to the dangers of nuclear power, we, too, can get around to its replacement and phase out."
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The Military and the Church: Bedfellows in Sexual Assault
H. Patricia Hynes, Truthout: "The US military's response to reports of sexual abuse echoes that of another closed, rigidly hierarchal male institution, the Catholic Church: first silence and cover-up; then blame the victim and reassign the perpetrator; and, finally, lay the fault on a 'few bad apples.' Like the church's historic, internal handling of sexual abuse by priests, military commanders determine whether or not their soldiers face criminal proceedings."
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When Mitt Says, "I'm Not Concerned About the Very Poor," It's Not a Slip-Up. He Said It Before (Video)
Bill Scher, Campaign for America's Future: "Today, the nation is abuzz over Mitt Romney bluntly cold comment: 'I'm not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there.' This is not a slip of the tongue. This is what he believes. We know, because he said it before.... He tries to drive a wedge between the middle class and the poor, goading the middle class into being resentful of the poor for coasting on a golden 'safety net' while the rest of us scrape to get by."
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F-35 Story Shows Why It's So Hard to Cut a Federal Program
James Rosen and Rob Hotakainen, McClatchy Newspapers: "For all its high-tech stealth and record price tag, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter ... is billions over budget and years behind schedule. Here's part of the problem: axing the F-35 would eliminate tens of thousands of jobs in 47 states. Few members of Congress are willing to go along. Here's another part: The jet fighter is needed to replace aging U.S. military planes, but it might be more expensive than the nation can afford."
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Finding Just Enough Food to Not Be Poor Enough
Jeremy Holden, Media Matters for America: "How many missed meals does it take to be poor? It's a question at the root of the latest campaign to redefine what it means to be poor in America. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that nearly 15 percent of U.S. households are 'food insecure,' meaning that they'll be forced to miss meals throughout the month because they lack the resources to pay for them."
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Camillo "Mac" Bica | A New Resolve: Reflections for the New Year
Camillo "Mac" Bica, Truthout: "In the new year, as citizens of the world's only superpower, let us resolve to hold our politicians, generals and corporate executives to the highest moral standards. We can no longer separate ourselves from their actions in the world and must accept responsibility for the coups they plan, the wars they wage and the sweatshops they run."
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Retirees Occupy Century Aluminum
Leo Gerard, Campaign for America's Future: "On Dec. 18, a dozen retirees, men and women in their 60s, 70s, even 80s, began occupying a median strip along Route 33 in front of the closed Century Aluminum smelter in Ravenswood, W.Va. In tents and under tarps, a small group stays overnight, despite hypertension, arthritis and other old age ailments. One has suffered a stroke. These vulnerable people expose themselves to weather extremes although some have no health insurance at all. Century cancelled it. That's why they're occupying Century."
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Three Years After Ledbetter Fair Pay Act Passed, Women Still Earn Far Less Than Men
Travis Waldron, ThinkProgress: "Sunday marked the third anniversary of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, the first legislation signed into law by President Obama. The law, which expanded the statute of limitations on fair pay lawsuits, was a response to a Supreme Court ruling against Ledbetter in her fair pay case."
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Bill Moyers | John Reed on Big Banks' Power and Influence (Video)
Bill Moyers, Moyers & Co.: "Bill Moyers talks with former Citigroup Chairman John Reed to explore a momentous instance: how the mid-90's merger of Citicorp and Travelers Group - and a friendly Presidential pen - brought down the Glass-Steagall Act, a crucial firewall between banks and investment firms which had protected consumers from financial calamity since the aftermath of the Great Depression. In effect, says Moyers, they put the watchdog to sleep."
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TRUTHOUT'S BUZZFLASH DAILY HEADLINES

A short time ago, BuzzFlash at Truthout ran a commentary on how US global corporations don't give a hoot about increasing jobs in America.

In it, we included a section about how Silicon Valley high-tech companies, particularly Apple, use overseas contractors to manufacture their latest technological consumer products. It has been documented that some of these contractors create such harsh conditions and pay such low wages that workers have been driven to suicide, as The New York Times and other publications have detailed.

In a two-part Times expose, an Apple executive claimed: "We [Apple] don't have an obligation to solve America's problems." That was in response to Apple shipping so many potential US jobs overseas to these slave-wage sweatshops; e.g., "90 percent of the parts of an iPhone are made outside the U.S."

But there's another insidious way that the high-tech industry denies jobs to US citizens. It's called the H-1B visa, which allows America's technological firms - and other specialized employers - to bring in foreign employees, frequently at a lower wage package than might be paid to an individual with the same qualifications who is an American citizen. There are many arguments against the program, primarily the allegation that there is generally no actual shortage of US citizens with high-tech skills for the work done by H-1B visa holders.

President Obama appeared blindsided by a question on a Google Plus interactive town hall the other day from a woman whose husband had been laid off by Texas Instruments:

Jennifer Wedel was the second to question Obama, and the four-minute exchange was among the most memorable of the 50-minute online event.

"My question to you is to why does the government continue to issue and extend H-1B visas when there are tons of Americans just like my husband with no job?" she asked.

Obama offered that industry leaders have told him that there aren't enough of certain kinds of high-tech engineers in America to meet their needs. Jennifer Wedel interrupted him to explain that that answer didn't match what her husband is seeing out in the real world.

"Jennifer, can I ask what kind of engineer your husband is?"

"He's a semiconductor engineer," she told the president, who seemed genuinely surprised.

"If you send me your husband's resume, I'd be interested in finding out exactly what's happening right there," he told her. "The word we're getting is somebody in that high-tech field, that kind of engineer, should be able to find something right away. And the H-1B should be reserved only for those companies who say they cannot find somebody in that particular field."

Of course, the high-tech companies are telling the White House and Congress that they can't find US citizens for the H-1B jobs, but many critics argue that many high-tech companies hire H-1B workers without even offering the positions to Americans. On top of that, after the H-1B workers are sent back to their native nations, there are reports that they are rehired by US companies abroad to start offshore high-tech offices that move more US jobs overseas. In short, the H-1B visa could be seen as an outsourcing training program at the expense of highly skilled US professionals.

It was nice of the president of the United States to offer his personal job placement services to Jennifer Wedel's husband, but it's a bit disturbing that the White House appears to have fallen for the Silicon Valley canard.

When it comes to the H-1B visa, it's the same old story: follow the profits.

Mark Karlin,
Editor of BuzzFlash at Truthout

Panetta: US Combat in Afghanistan to End Next Year
Read the Article at The Boston Globe

Turning the "Buffett Rule" Into Law
Read the Article at The New York Times

Indiana Senate O.K.'s Anti-Union "Right-to-Work" Bill
Read the Article at Reuters

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer's Finger Poke in Obama's Face Was Racist
Read the Article at BuzzFlash

Some Thoughts on Why the GOP Florida Primary Differed From the Results in South Carolina
Read the Article at MSNBC

Rahm's Chicago Crackdown Aims at Occupy
Read the Article at Salon

The Tea Party Plan to Save Scott Walker
Read the Article at Mother Jones

On the Upswing in Ohio, Poll Shows Obama Taking Control in Key Swing State
Read the Article at Talking Points Memo

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