31 US Troops Killed in Afghanistan Helicopter Shootdown

Saturday 06 August 2011
31 US Troops Killed in Afghanistan Helicopter Shootdown
Hashim Shukoor and Nancy A. Youssef, McClatchy Newspapers: "Thirty-one U.S. troops, including more than 20 Navy SEALs, and seven Afghan soldiers died when their helicopter was shot down during an overnight operation against Taliban insurgents in eastern Afghanistan, according to statement issued Saturday by Afghan President Hamid Karzai.... It was the worst single-day toll for American forces in Afghanistan since U.S. troops entered that country nearly 10 years ago, and one of the largest tolls in a single incident of either the Afghan war or the fighting in Iraq."
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Michael Moore | 30 Years Ago Today: The Middle Class Died
Michael Moore, MichaelMoore.com: "Beginning on this date, 30 years ago, Big Business and the Right Wing decided to 'go for it' - to see if they could actually destroy the middle class so that they could become richer themselves. And they've succeeded. On August 5, 1981, President Ronald Reagan fired every member of the air traffic controllers union (PATCO) who'd defied his order to return to work and declared their union illegal. They had been on strike for just two days."
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S.& P. Downgrades Debt Rating of U.S. For the First Time
Binyamin Appelbaum and Eric Dash, The New York Times News Service: "Standard & Poor’s removed the United States government from its list of risk-free borrowers... a downgrade that is freighted with symbolic significance but carries few clear financial implications. The company, one of three major agencies that offer advice to investors in debt securities, said it was cutting its rating of long-term federal debt to AA+, one notch below the top grade of AAA. It described the decision as a judgment about the nation’s leaders."
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A Historic Opportunity to Cut Military Spending
Robert Naiman, Truthout: "The agreement in Washington to raise the debt ceiling in exchange for spending cuts has made a lot of people very unhappy. But the agreement had one important positive aspect: it created a historic opportunity for significant cuts in projected military spending... Significant cuts in projected military spending are on the table. Indeed, if the joint committee doesn't agree on a plan or Congress doesn't enact it, $1.2 trillion in cuts in projected spending over ten years will be triggered, of which half must come from the military."
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UN Challenges Slavery Conditions for Domestic Workers
Dick Meister, Truthout: "The hope for improving the domestics 'slavery-like conditions has arisen from action taken in Geneva this month at the annual meeting of the United Nation's International Labor Organization - the ILO... With a lot of luck, we may finally take decisive action to guarantee decent treatment for the world's highly exploited housekeepers, maids, nannies, and other domestic workers. There are an estimated 100 million of them, working in more than 180 countries. Their pay is generally at the poverty level... Almost half of them are not entitled to even one day off per week."
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Mainstream Media Ignores S.& P. Attack On Republicans
Thom Hartmann, ThomHartmann.com: "Could it be that many reporters - and virtually all of the television talking heads - are themselves relatively high income-earners who don’t relish the idea of higher taxes? Or could it be that reporters are afraid that if they report the actual language of the S.& P. Research Report, then Republicans will punish them by denying them 'access' – i.e. refusing to show up on their programs – which is the career and show kiss-of-death for radio and TV programs that rely on big-name politicians to work?"
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The People's Rogue: FDR vs. the Nine Old Men
Robert Wilbur, Truthout: "Throughout American history, Supreme Court justices have enjoyed undeserved reverence, which has allowed them, by and large, to be water boys (and girls) for the forces of money and power. The vaunted system of checks and balances is skewed in favor of the Supremes, and, inexplicably, ordinary men and women do not seem to realize that they're being rolled. The present political gridlock as a proximate result of the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision recalls the situation FDR confronted In Jeff Sheshol's new book, 'Supreme Power: Franklin Roosevelt vs. the Supreme Court.'"
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Spain's "Indignados" at the Vanguard of a Global Nonviolent Revolt
Pablo Ouziel, Political Thoughts: "In a truly Gandhian manner, a group of Spanish ‘indignados’ is currently walking from Madrid to Brussels in order to make their voices heard by the bureaucrats of the European Union. They aim to get there before the global protest they have called for to be staged on October 15th. Perhaps by the time they get to Brussels, their indignation will have rubbed-off on those in other European nations who have understood the farce of our imperialist representative democracies, and the Spanish ‘indignados’ will not find themselves camping alone in front of the buildings of the European Union."
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Obama on the Backs of the Poor
Ray McGovern, Consortium News: "A huge majority of economists concede that America has been sliding into a land of haves and have-nots for the past several decades and that the “deal” Obama signed into law on Tuesday will do little, if anything, to improve the lives of our fellow citizens deprived of work, shelter, medical care and other necessities. In sum, Obama - again put in a corner by Republicans who appeared ready to force the United States into default if they didn’t get their way - reneged on a promise not to let the burden for coping with the economic/fiscal mess fall primarily on the backs of the poor."
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BUZZFLASH DAILY HEADLINES

The BuzzFlash commentary for Truthout will return Monday.
Krugman: Hard to Think of Anyone Less Qualified Than Rating Agencies to Pass Judgement
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China Demands US "Live Within its Means"
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The White House Gives Credibility to the Psychotic Radicals of the Tea Party
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Current, Ex-Cops Convicted in Katrina Shooting
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EU Slams Israel's Decision to Build New Housing in East Jerusalem
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Hannity Blasts Insurance Coverage for Birth Control, Defends Viagra: "That is a Medical Problem!"
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If it Walks like a W and Talks Like a W, it may be Texas Gov. Perry
Read the Article at Salon
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