Truthout: 1 April 2012

Who Benefits From the Organized Violence of War?
Ed Kinane, Truthout: "Can't we see our complicity in our own oppression? Don't we contribute to militarism through the federal taxes we pay - about half of which goes to the Pentagon? The Pentagon, of course, then funnels much of this swag to its corporate cronies. Are we so caught up in personal debt, are our lifestyles too snared in addiction, distraction and co-optation, that we can't think straight? Are we so snared that our hearts have gone AWOL? Don't we give a damn that our children are inheriting an increasingly depleted and dangerous world?"
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United States Moves Closer to Direct Intervention in Syria
Steven Lee Myers, The New York Times News Service: "The United States and more than 60 other countries moved closer on Sunday to direct intervention in the fighting in Syria, with Arab nations pledging $100 million to pay opposition fighters and the Obama administration agreeing to send communications equipment to help rebels organize and evade Syria's military, according to participants gathered here. The moves reflected a growing consensus, at least among those who met here this weekend under the rubric 'Friends of Syria,' that mediation efforts by the United Nations peace envoy, Kofi Annan, were failing to halt the violence in Syria and that more forceful action was needed."
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Robert Reich | Whose Recovery?
Robert Reich, Robert Reich's Blog: "Luxury retailers are smiling. So are the owners of high-end restaurants, sellers of upscale cars, vacation planners, financial advisors, and personal coaches. For them and their customers and clients the recession is over. The recovery is now full speed.But the rest of America isn't enjoying an economic recovery. It's still sick. Many Americans remain in critical condition.... It's almost a certainly that all the gains went to the top 10 percent, and the lion's share to the top 1 percent. Over a third of the gains went to 15,600 super-rich households in the top one-tenth of one percent."
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Israel's Assassination of Gazan Leader Lays Groundwork for Iran Attack
Richard Silverstein, Truthout: "Gaza is a punching bag or escape valve that Israeli generals and politicians can use when they need to show their public that they're tough on terror, whether or not an attack serves any real purpose. To kill people as a matter of state policy and lie about the reasons for doing so is the height of cynicism. It turns Gaza into a sacrificial victim of Israel's regional war strategy. If what Netanyahu has done twice in Gaza over the past year doesn't qualify as a war crime, it should."
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Nobel Laureate Elected in Myanmar, Party Announces
Thomas Fuller, The New York Times News Service: "The party of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi declared that she had won a seat in Myanmar's Parliament on Sunday, an unofficial result that may herald a new era for the country as it moves toward democracy after decades of oppressive military rule. If the result is confirmed, Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi, a global icon of democracy and a 1991 Nobel Peace laureate, will make the transition from dissident to lawmaker, joining a Parliament overwhelmingly controlled by the military-backed ruling party."
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Bill Moyers | The Real Costs of War
Bill Moyers, Moyers & Co.: "Most discussion about the 'costs of war' focuses on two numbers: dollars spent and American troops who gave their lives. A decade into the war on terror, those official costs are over a trillion dollars and more than 6,000 dead. But as overwhelming as those numbers are, they don't tell the full story. In one of the most comprehensive studies available, researchers in the Eisenhower Study Group at Brown University's Watson Institute for International Studies looked at the human, economic, social and political costs of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as our military actions in Pakistan."
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Driving Towards Justice: Vermont Migrant Rights Campaign Wins Licenses
Michael Feiner, Toward Freedom: "The Vermont Senate voted in last March to establish a committee to introduce new legislation for Vermont residents to access state issued ID and Drivers' Licenses regardless of immigration status. Here is the story of how Vermont's migrant justice movement won this historic victory.... Freedom of movement off the farm has long been a significant issue for the migrant farm worker community."
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Fighting Fire in Haiti
Alexis Erkert, Other Worlds Are Possible: "Camp Kozbami is the fifth camp to be arsoned in two months. As landowners and the government push to close camps inhabited by those displaced by the earthquake that rocked Haiti 26 months ago, a reported 94,632 individuals are facing forced eviction.... Housing in Haiti is expensive and the numbers make it clear that there is not enough undamaged housing available in Port-au-Prince to absorb displaced people, 80 percent of whom were renters before the earthquake."
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Reality Check: U.S. Corporate Tax Rate Much Lower Than Most Other Developed Nations
Pat Garofalo, ThinkProgress: "Republicans have been kvetching about the fact that, as of Sunday, the U.S. will have the highest statutory corporate tax rate in the world following a scheduled cut in Japan's corporate tax. 'The United States is a world leader in countless ways. 'World's Highest Taxes' is a title we should give up as soon as possible,' wrote Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) in a Fox News op-ed.... The U.S. both taxes its corporations less and raises less in revenue from corporate taxes than its foreign competitors."
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Police Tracking of Cell Phones May Be Coming to a Phone Near You
Eric Lichtblau, The New York Times News Service: "Law enforcement tracking of cellphones, once the province mainly of federal agents, has become a powerful and widely used surveillance tool for local police officials, with hundreds of departments, large and small, often using it aggressively with little or no court oversight, documents show. The practice has become big business for cellphone companies, too, with a handful of carriers marketing a catalog of "surveillance fees" to police departments to determine a suspect's location, trace phone calls and texts or provide other services. Some departments log dozens of traces a month for both emergencies and routine investigations."
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TRUTHOUT'S BUZZFLASH DAILY HEADLINES

The BuzzFlash commentary for Truthout will return Monday, April 2.

Don't Want Health Insurance? Then Sign "Let Me Die" Legal Document
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Keith Olbermann's Angry Email Trail Traces Breakup With Current TV
Read the Article at The Daily Beast

Goldman Sachs Had 16% Stake in Biggest Forum for Under-Age Sex Trafficking
Read the Article at The New York Times

Obama Administration Proposing to Make it Easier for Family Members of Undocumented Immigrants to Apply for Legal Permanent Residency
Read the Article at The Los Angeles Times

Tom Friedman Likes Countries to Our Left– So Advocates Moving Ours Rightward
Read the Article at Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting

According to One Republican AG, Problem With Obamacare is That It's Not a Government Takeover of Healthcare
Read the Article at ThinkProgress

Beyond Robo-Signing: 3 Other Ways Bank of America Is Screwing Americans
Read the Article at AlterNet

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