Truthout: 22 April 2012

The Discipline of Tending to Our Own Planet
David Krieger, Truthout: "We need a new Earth ethic that embraces our responsibility for fairness to each other and to the future. We need new ways of educating that do not simply accept the status quo. We need to trade in our patriotism for a global humatriotism. We need a new approach to economics based on what is truly precious - life and the conditions that support it. Earth Day will have its greatest value if it reminds us to care for our Earth and each other all the other days of the year, individually and through our public policy."
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Latina Leaders of Texas Colonias Help Remake Shantytowns Into Empowered Communities
Mark Karlin, Truthout: "It would be easy for this to become a story about the woeful conditions of life in the colonias and how the poor were once again pick-pocketed by the wealthy. And that would be true. But I found that while the colonias that I visited late last year face a host of serious challenges, there is an active network of committed social-service and advocacy organizations that are creating meaningful change by helping colonia residents claim their own power."
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Under Nondisclosure Agreements, Companies Like the Washington Post Will Continue to Silence Whistleblowers
Danny Weil, Truthout: "WaPo's actions in the case of Kaplan University reinforce the perception that they have something to hide, that Kaplan University is little more than a scam swaddled in secrecy. Evidently, helping the public to understand educational policy in the interest of assuring quality education is not as important to The Washington Post as covering up past alleged illegal activity with nondisclosure agreements in the interest of secrecy and maximizing profits."
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Vast Mexico Bribery Case Hushed Up by Wal-Mart After Top-Level Struggle
David Barstow, The New York Times News Service: "In September 2005, a senior Wal-Mart lawyer received an alarming e-mail from a former executive at the company's largest foreign subsidiary, Wal-Mart de Mexico. In the e-mail .. he said, the company had paid bribes to obtain permits in virtually every corner of the country.... The lead investigator recommended that Wal-Mart expand the investigation. Instead, an examination by The New York Times found, Wal-Mart's leaders shut it down. Neither American nor Mexican law enforcement officials were notified."
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Yet Another Big Lie: Mortgage Fraud Investigation Not Staffed
Yves Smith, Naked Capitalism: "Remember the widely ballyhooed mortgage fraud investigation, announced at the State of the Union address? This was the shiny toy that succeeded in getting New York attorney general Eric Schneiderman to abandon his opposition to the mortgage settlement.... The Administration started undercutting Schneiderman almost immediately. He announced that the task force would have 'hundreds' of investigators. Breuer said it would have only 55, a simply pathetic number."
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Free Your (Eco)Mind
Frances Moore Lappe, YES! Magazine: "A new way of seeing that is opening up to us can form a more life-serving mental map. I call it 'eco-mind' - looking at the world through the lens of ecology. This worldview recognizes that we, no less than any other organism, live in relation to everything else... As part of this shift, breakthroughs in a range of disciplines are confirming what we already know about ourselves, if we stop and think about it: That humans are complex creatures."
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What If Pensions Funds Grabbed the Reins?
Mike Alberti, Remapping Debate: "Public and private pension funds in the United States collectively have trillions of dollars in combined assets. They own more than a third of all domestic equity, with stakes in most public US. companies, and large holdings of corporate and government bonds, real estate, and infrastructure. They are unique in that they are both very large and have a much longer investment horizon than most other types of investors. But, with few exceptions, American pension funds do not self-manage the majority of those assets."
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The Wild Unadulterated Joy of Revolt
Natalie W. and Aaron Cynic, Diatribe Media: "An amazing moment of realization comes when a tent goes up, when a stake is pounded into the fat black heart of a cold city run by a man who doesn't care about his constituents, that there's a better world. We can establish a parallel society where we take care of one another and people are valued more than securing a hegemonic guard dog system or tulips."
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25 Years Later, McCleskey Decision Still Fosters Racism by Ignoring It
Christina Swarns and Eva Paterson, American Constitution Society Blog: "Few cases involving the intersection of race, criminal law, and procedure have had the reach and impact of McCleskey v. Kemp.... This decision set the stage for more than 20 years of dramatically increasing racial disparities within the criminal justice system. In McCleskey, the Supreme Court declared that a criminal justice system that treats Blacks worse than whites is 'inevitable' and that the Constitution is only violated by instances of intentional racial discrimination by individual actors in specific cases."
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TRUTHOUT'S BUZZFLASH DAILY HEADLINES

The BuzzFlash commentary for Truthout will return Monday, April 23rd

French Socialist Presidential Candidate Hollande Edges Past Sarkozy, Will Go to Run-Off
Read the Article CBS News

Withdrawal, Really? US and Afghanistan Reach Partnershop Agreement for 10 Years
Read the Article at The New York Times

Can Obama Trump Citizens United With an Executive Order?
Read the Article at Daily Kos

Rhode Island Pensions Cuts Set Chilling Precedent
Read the Article at Labor Notes

How Wealth Reduces Compassion
Read the Article at Common Dreams

Panetta: "We're Within an Inch of War Almost Every Day"
Read the Article at CNN

Spring Revival: Occupy Seeks to Rejuvenate Movement With May Day
Read the Article at The Real News

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