Truthout: 13 March 2012

Why Republicans Need Remedial Math: Their Budget Plans Explode the Deficit
Mike Lofgren, Truthout: "It is an irony of our current national malaise that Republican politicians consider themselves, and tend to be uncritically regarded by the media, as 'strong' on issues like national security and fiscal responsibility. But reality is otherwise; on closer examination, their strength on national security boils down to knee-jerk belligerence and profligate spending combined with invincible ignorance of the intractable complexity of the world."
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Regulators Say Fracking Wastewater Well Caused 12 Earthquakes in Ohio
Mike Ludwig, Truthout: "Ohio regulators confirmed late last week what many observers already suspected: a fracking wastewater disposal well caused 12 earthquakes near Youngstown last year as the state threw open its doors to the controversial oil- and gas-drilling technique. All the earthquakes were clustered less than a mile from an especially deep well where fracking fluids are stored as wastewater underground after being used for drilling. Earthquakes are extremely rare in the area."
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US Subjected Manning to Cruel, Inhuman, Degrading Treatment, UN Torture Chief Concludes
Jason Leopold, Truthout: "The United States government subjected 24-year-old Pvt. Bradley Manning to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment following his arrest in May 2010 in Iraq on suspicion of leaking hundreds of thousands of secret State Department cables and other documents to WikiLeaks, the United Nations Special Rapporteur for Torture concluded in a long-awaited report."
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US Officials Debate Speeding Afghan Pullout
Helene Cooper and Eric Schmitt, The New York Times News Service: "The Obama administration is discussing whether to reduce American forces in Afghanistan by at least an additional 20,000 troops by 2013, reflecting a growing belief within the White House that the mission there has now reached the point of diminishing returns."
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Ceasefire Reached After Israeli Airstrikes Killed 26 Palestinians in Gaza (Video)
Amy Goodman, Democracy NOW!: "As Israel and Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip reportedly agree to a ceasefire after four days of cross-border violence, we speak with Ali Abunimah, co-founder of the online publication, 'The Electronic Intifada.' Earlier today, an Egyptian official said both sides have pledged to end current attacks and implement 'a comprehensive and mutual calm.' Israel's latest strikes on Gaza killed at least 25 Palestinians"
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Robert Reich | The Widening Wealth Divide, and Why We Need a Surtax on the Super Wealthy
Robert Reich, Robert Reich's Blog: "Let Santorum and Romney duke it out for who will cut taxes on the wealthy the most and shred the public services everyone else depends on. The rest of us ought to be having a serious discussion about a wealth tax. Because if you really want to know what's happening to the American economy you need to look at household wealth - not just incomes."
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On the News With Thom Hartmann: Dick Cheney Is Afraid of Canada, and More
In today's On the News segment: Only 14 percent of workers around the nation feel “very confident” that they will have enough money for comfortable retirement; the right-wing spin machine is putting a dent in President Obama’s poll numbers; Wall Street speculators behind rising food prices; Senate is expected to debate and pass a highway and public transportation spending bill that could create 2.8 million jobs; Dick Cheney canceled his appearance in Canada, citing safety concerns; and more.
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Richard Schiffman | How the News Media Doesn't Give Peace a Chance
Richard Schiffman, Truthout: "Once again, we are being presented with war as a fait accompli. But does such reporting function as a self-fulfilling prophecy? Who can forget Judith Miller, The New York Times reporter whose stories, claiming falsely that Iraq had developed weapons of mass destruction, were used by the Bush administration as a pretext for invading that country in 2003 to topple the regime of Saddam Hussein."
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Why 21st Century Oil Will Break the Bank and the Planet
Michael T. Klare, TomDispatch: "Oil prices are now higher than they have ever been - except for a few frenzied moments before the global economic meltdown of 2008. Many immediate factors are contributing to this surge, including Iran's threats to block oil shipping in the Persian Gulf, fears of a new Middle Eastern war, and turmoil in energy-rich Nigeria."
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Paul Krugman | The Republican Party's Long Decline Leads to Irrationality
Paul Krugman, Krugman & Co.: "Early on in my tenure at The New York Times, I felt I had no choice but to point out the inconvenient truth that the official line of the commentariat was all wrong. George W. Bush was not a nice, blunt, honest guy who happened to be a conservative; he was a serial liar pursuing a hard-line agenda, who, among other things, deliberately misled the United States into war. For this I was labeled 'shrill.'"
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A US Nun Tortured in Central America Recalls the Nightmare
Sister Dianna Ortiz, "The United States and Torture: Interrogation, Incarceration, and Abuse" from New York University Press: "It was in this setting that on November 2, 1989, I was abducted by members of the Guatemalan security forces, put into a police car, blindfolded and taken to a clandestine prison, where I encountered a world I never could have imagined. In that place, I came face to face with evil. There, my life changed forever."
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The Gender of Media Creators Affects What We See
Anne Elizabeth Moore and Mickey Zacchilli, Truthout: "For Women's History Month, 'Ladydrawers' offers part two of our look at gender disparity in hiring practices across all media ... an issue underscored by VIDA's release of 2011 gender counts in literary publishing last month. What we start to see when we compare labor stats to content concerns is a direct relationship between who makes and edits our news, art and popular culture - and how women are portrayed in media."
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Psychologists Paid by Guantanamo's Masters Will Never Dismantle Their House of Torture
Roy Eidelson, Truthout: "Professional psychology has made valuable contributions to national security through collaborative efforts with government agencies - and it will undoubtedly continue to do so. But does anyone truly believe that crucial determinations about psychological ethics should ever be guided by the views and agenda of the secretary of defense or the director of the CIA?"
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BUZZFLASH DAILY HEADLINES

Bring Out the Dinosaurs: Sixty-Six Percent of Likely Mississippi GOP Primary Voters Are Creationists
Mark Karlin, BuzzFlash at Truthout: "In addition, the poll shows some further disarming responses: 66 percent of likely Mississippi Republican voters don't believe in evolution; 60 percent of Alabama GOP followers share that opinion. Oh, and 67 percent of likely Alabama Grand Old Party voters believe that the state's xenophobic and harsh anti-Mexican 'immigration law' is a 'good thing.'"
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With Good Economic News Piling Up, the GOP Makes Plans to Sink the Economy
Read the Article at The Daily Beast

Rush Limbaugh Syndicator Suspends National Ads for Two Weeks
Read the Article at ThinkProgress

Filtered Transparency: The Freedom of Information Act in the Age of Obama
Read the Article at BuzzFlash

Texas Taking Health Care Away From 130,000 Poor Women to Punish Planned Parenthood
Read the Article at The Fifth Column

The Murdoch Scandal Grows: Rebekah Brooks Arrested in Phone-Hacking Probe
Read the Article at The New York Times

The Problem With Polls About Whether Obama Is a Muslim
Read the Article at The Atlantic

Ninety-Four House Members Send Letter to Secretary Clinton Calling for Suspension of Assistance to Honduras
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