Truthout: 19 February 2012

Delusions of the Corporate State
Evaggelos Vallianatos, Truthout: "The citizens of America must push the servants of oligarchy out of office, the very people who made a killing with their 2008 financial disaster. Americans must return to the Greek-inspired path of Thomas Jefferson: reinvigorate democracy while bringing the military-industrial complex under control."
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Mortgage-Backed Securities Make a Comeback, Despite Similar Risks
Azam Ahmed, The New York Times News Service: "Some Wall Street investors made money as the mortgage market boomed; others profited when it fell apart... Mr. Lippmann is joined by other big-money investors — mutual funds like Fidelity as well as hedge funds — in riding a wave of interest in the same complex loan pools that nearly washed away the financial system."
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Industry Plan to Save Us From Global Warming a Nightmare, Not a Dream
Peter Montague, AlterNet: "By ignoring global warming, the U.S. is painting itself (and the world) into a corner. But now the fossil fuel industry has prepared an escape for us. You may not have heard of it, but the escape is called 'carbon capture and storage' or CCS for short. It has never been tried on anything like the scale needed to limit global warming, so it's a colossal experiment with the future of civilization at stake."
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Frustrated Protesters Fill the Streets in Syria's Capital
Neil MacFarquhar, The New York Times News Service: "Hundreds and hundreds of antigovernment protesters braved scattered gunfire from Syrian soldiers to march through a middle-class neighborhood in Damascus on Saturday, the biggest demonstration witnessed close to the heart of the capital since the country's uprising started 11 months ago."
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Disaster Capitalism: Profiting From Crisis in Post-Earthquake Haiti
Deepa Panchang, Beverly Bell and Tory Field, Other Worlds Are Possible: "Below are a few examples of post-earthquake contracts and grants, selected to show just some of the problems at play. They offer a small glimpse into a much larger, secretive world of disaster deals. We're grateful to our investigative journalist colleagues who, alongside us, have kept heavy on the scent of these corporations and brought buried information to light."
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Perfect Storm Threatens Long-Term Unemployed
Greg Kaufmann, The Nation: "In December, there were more than 13 million unemployed workers and about four people looking for work for every available job. According to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), 5.5 million people have been unemployed for more than half a year, up from 1.2 million in 2007, and the average duration for an unemployed person is over nine months.... So it's particularly alarming to see Congress playing games with an extension of unemployment benefits that are set to expire at the end of the month"
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How the Ohio GOP's Attempts to Game Voting Rules Backfired
Jennifer Brunner, AlterNet: "In Ohio, the GOP-controlled legislature - without a fight from my predecessor, the Republican secretary of state, Ken Blackwell - began a systematic effort to tinker with Ohio's voting rules, from requiring people to take a training session before they could register voters, to requiring naturalized citizens to show their papers at the polling place (all of which were struck down by federal courts in 2005 and 2006)... Nearly every time the GOP in Ohio has succeeded in implementing an unfair 'reform,' it has backfired on them."
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Andrew Bacevich | Uncle Sam, Global Gangster
Andrew Bacevich, TomDispatch: "With the United States now well into the second decade of what the Pentagon has styled an 'era of persistent conflict,' the war formerly known as the global war on terrorism (unofficial acronym WFKATGWOT) appears increasingly fragmented and diffuse. Without achieving victory, yet unwilling to acknowledge failure, the United States military has withdrawn from Iraq. It is trying to leave Afghanistan, where events seem equally unlikely to yield a happy outcome."
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Human Safaris: When Does Tourism Become Unethical?
Joanna Eede, Survival International: "In principle, there is little harm in tourists visiting tribal peoples who have been in routine contact with outsiders for some time. But as natural social sensitivity and respect would dictate, this only applies to tribal peoples who are happy to receive visitors, have proper control over where the tourists go and what they do in their communities, and receive a fair share of the profits."
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It's Up to Us to Protect the First Amendment
Josh Stearns, Save the News: "What happens when a journalist is arrested? How do we account for the stories that don't get told, or the issues that don't get covered because the press was restricted or behind bars? How do we measure the intimidation journalists feel, and the chill that police intervention places on freedom of the press? One gauge might be the U.S.'s recent drop in global press freedom rankings, down to number 47 worldwide."
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Subsidize This: US Eyes Tariffs on Chinese Solar Panels, But What Gets Protected?
Gregg Levine, Capitoilette: "While trade is often a bone of contention between the United States and China, this week's visit by Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping threw the spotlight on one subset of that battle that could have far-reaching effects well in excess of the raw dollar amounts at stake. At issue is a complaint filed by a solar industry trade group, the Coalition for American Solar Manufacturing, or CASM, asking that the US government impose tariffs on Chinese solar panels. CASM wants the duties for what it claims are unfair subsidies by China that make Chinese solar products substantially cheaper than those offered by many US competitors."
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TRUTHOUT'S BUZZFLASH DAILY HEADLINES

The BuzzFlash commentary for Truthout will return Monday.

Lieberman Edges US to War With Iran
Read the Article at Consortium News

Supreme Court Sanctioned Sale of US Government to Highest Bidders Likely to Continue as Court Puts Hold on Montana State Limit on Political Contributions
Read the Article at Bloomberg

How Rick Santorum Ripped Off American Military Veterans
Read the Article at Mother Jones

Suicide Attack on Iraq Police Academy Kills 19
Read the Article at Reuters

Hague Warns Israel Over Military Action in Iran
Read the Article at Yahoo! News

Fracking Debate Divides New York Landowners as the State Prepares to Lift a Moratorium on Fracking
Read the Article at The LA Times

Iran Stops Exporting Crude Oil to Britsh and French Companies
Read the Article at Bloomberg

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