Truthout: 21 March 2012
Truthout: 21 March 2012
Romney Wins Illinois Big, Takes Big
Stride Toward Nomination
David Lightman, McClatchy
Newspapers: "Mitt Romney's march to the Republican
presidential nomination got a huge, possibly decisive, boost
Tuesday as he scored an overwhelming victory in the Illinois
presidential primary. Primary voters who said the economy
was the top issue preferred Romney, according to exit polls,
and those who said their vote hinged on who could best beat
President Barack Obama heavily favored Romney."
Read the Article
Details of Talks
With IAEA Belie Charge Iran Refused
Cooperation
Gareth Porter, Inter Press Service News:
"The first detailed account of negotiations between the
International Atomic Energy Agency and Iran last month
belies earlier statements by unnamed Western officials
portraying Iran as refusing to cooperate with the IAEA in
allaying concerns about alleged nuclear weaponization work
... The talks in February came close to a final agreement,
but were hung up primarily over the IAEA insistence on being
able to reopen issues even after Iran had answered questions
about them to the organization's satisfaction."
Read the Article
On the News With
Thom Hartmann: Health Insurance Companies Are Charging Women
an Extra Billion Dollars Annually, and More
In
today's On the News segment: Health insurance companies are
charging women in America an extra billion dollars annually,
the backlash against Paul Ryan’s radical budget plan
continues, the DOJ says Florida is discriminating against
minority voters, and more.
Watch the Video and Read the Transcript
A Colossal Mistake of Historic Proportions: The "JOBS"
Bill
Simon Johnson, The Baseline Scenario: "From the
1970s until recently, Congress allowed and encouraged a
great deal of financial market deregulation - allowing big
banks to become larger, to expand their scope, and to take
on more risks.... With the so-called JOBS bill, on which the
Senate is due to vote Tuesday, Congress is about to make the
same kind of mistake again - this time abandoning much of
the 1930s-era securities legislation that both served
investors well and helped make the US one of the best places
in the world to raise capital."
Read the Article
Nonviolent
Protests in Russia: About the Elections, or Also for the
Future?
Anna Derinova, Truthout: "Only two years ago,
civil protests would have been of marginal interest to most
Russians.... The full sweep of these nonviolent actions has
embraced all the major population centers, having been
initially triggered by numerous reports of vote-rigging in
parliamentary elections. Considering these events, which
could be fairly called 'the Russian Spring,' one could ask a
number of questions regarding the conditions that inspired
people to join these peaceful protests. What are their
reasons and demands? Is it just about Vladimir Putin?"
Read the Article
Thom Hartmann's
Enlightened Journey
Thom Hartmann, Berrett-Koehler
Publishers: "My wife, Louise, and I came of age in a world
that was fundamentally different from the world in which
today's young people are growing up. Student debt? The idea
was alien to Americans for most of our history, until the
predators got into the system ... It's creating a generation
of serfs for the multinational corporations - kids so afraid
to challenge or leave their employers that they are little
better off than the indentured workers who came here in the
nineteenth century from Europe."
Read the Article
SUV Burning
Spurred Internal Debate at DHS on Its Role Regarding Occupy,
First Amendment Activity
J.A. Myerson, Truthout: "On
October 24, 2011, a domestic terrorism analyst with the
Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Homeland
Counterterrorism Division emailed colleagues an article he
or she had come upon in Grey Coast Anarchist News ... 'I'd
like to know what objections CRCL [the department's Office
of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties] might pose to such a
product concerning the Occupy movement - which has thus far
been nonviolent' [the email said]."
Read the Article
Wall Street
Confidence Trick: The Interest-Rate Swaps That Are
Bankrupting Local Governments
Ellen Brown, Truthout:
"For more than a decade, banks and insurance companies
convinced local governments, hospitals, universities and
other nonprofits that interest-rate swaps would lower
interest rates on bonds sold for public projects such as
roads, bridges and schools. The swaps were entered into to
insure against a rise in interest rates; but instead,
interest rates fell to historically low levels.... The banks
got in trouble, and the Federal Reserve and federal
government rushed in to bail them out, rewarding them for
their misdeeds at the expense of the taxpayers."
Read the Article
A Seven-Day Plan
to Finally Hold Wall Street Accountable
Bruce Judson,
New Deal 2.0: "Since the start of the financial crisis,
federal and state officials have been struggling to change
Wall Street behavior. To date, every effort has failed
miserably, and the weak enforcement provisions of the
robo-mortgage settlement are unlikely to meaningfully change
this dynamic.... The greatest moral hazard now confronting
the nation is what appears to be increasingly brazen
criminal activity by financial industry executives. With
each decision not to prosecute, Wall Street executives
justifiably conclude that they are immune to the rules."
Read the Article
DHS Denied
Louisiana Fusion Center Request for Federal Intelligence on
OWS
J.A. Myerson, Truthout: "Baton Rouge-based Toby
Coates of the Department of Homeland Security's Office of
Intelligence and Analysis submitted a Support Request Form
to the DHS ... Coates requested: 'Any DHS products
identifying and/or describing criminal activities and/or
potential civil disobedience associated with the Occupy Wall
Street protests nationwide. How many arrests have been made,
type and number of weapons confiscated, communication used
to plan these crimes, etc?'"
Read the Article
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BUZZFLASH DAILY HEADLINES
The NRA and Florida Legislators Gave
George Zimmerman a License to Murder Trayvon
Martin
Mark Karlin, BuzzFlash at Truthout: "Let's be
blunt: if you were given a chance to shoot and kill someone
you didn't like or detested for whatever reason (maybe the
color of their skin, a detestable neighbor or your spouse's
or partner's lover), and you were guaranteed getting away
with it - not even being arrested - would you do it? Well,
in Florida and some other states, thanks to the NRA, you
can. It's guilt-free, punishment-free murder, courtesy of
the gun lobby."
Read the BuzzFlash Commentary
Why
Is the GOP Turning Against Anti-Domestic-Violence
Legislation?
Read the Article at Slate
Pastor
John Hagee's Christian Zionist Enterprise Hits One Million
Member Mark
Read the Article at
BuzzFlash
Florida State Workers Face Random Drug
Tests Under New Law
Read the Article at The Chicago
Tribune
Undocumented Immigrants Honored in
California Assembly
Read the Article at The Fresno
Bee
The GOP Body Count
Read the Article at BuzzFlash
Women
Give Rick Perry the Facebook Backlash
Read the Article at The Washington
Post
Another Hidden Bailout: Helping Wall Street
Collect Your Rent
Read the Article at Rolling
Stone
Click here for more BuzzFlash headlines
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