Truthout Headlines Jan 15

Saturday 15 January 2011
Why We Should Take Jared Loughner's Politics Seriously
Steve Striffler, Truthout: "Contrary to the prevailing wisdom, however, holding muddled political views does not in and of itself necessarily make Loughner mentally ill, unstable, crazy, or even particularly unusual. It makes him American and peculiarly so. In the college classroom, at political events and in grassroots organizing meetings, it does not take long to find many young (and not so young) people who hold what many of us consider to be an oddly contradictory collection of political views.... In a world where fragments of information come from so many sources, it often leads them to the odd place where any explanation of the world is as good as any other, where there is no conceptual rudder for judging one theory or idea against another."
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Meet Newly Elected RNC Chair Reince Priebus
Paul Breer, ThinkProgress: "Here is what you need to know about the new RNC chairman.... Priebus's law firm sought funds from Obama's stimulus package; his law firm says the recently passed health care bill is constitutional; implicated in voter caging; he has the backing of many of the Barbour clan; Priebus had close ties to former chairman Michael Steele, then stabbed him in the back [and] Priebus mistakenly called for Obama’s execution."
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Israel's Deadly Tear Gas Made in USA
Ira Chernus, Truthout: "The Israeli peace movement is coming back to life, and it's a very courteous movement indeed. When activists find objects marked 'Made in USA' lying on the ground, they deliver them directly to the US ambassador to Israel. The other night, they returned a bunch of empty tear gas canisters - all marked 'Made in USA' - fired by Israeli soldiers in the West Bank. The canisters are used to break up nonviolent protests against the Israeli-built wall that is tearing Palestinian life apart.... But these canisters - and the Israeli soldiers who shoot them - don't discriminate against Palestinians. American-made tear gas canisters are used against American citizens, too."
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Obama Ignores Eisenhower at Country's, World's Peril
Melvin A. Goodman, Truthout: "Although the cold war ended two decades ago with the collapse of the Soviet Union, recent presidents have found no way out of increased military deployments and expenditures, nor have they challenged the national security influence of the military. No president since Eisenhower has genuinely understood the dangers of the Pentagon's increasing influence over our national security policy."
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Clinton Raises Curtain for Upcoming Hu-Obama Summit
Aprille Muscara, Inter Press Service: "Ahead of a key bilateral summit between U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese leader Hu Jintao, which begins here Tuesday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave a sweeping China-U.S. policy speech Friday, setting the tone for next week's meet. Clinton's address capped a weeklong parade of curtain-raising speeches by other top cabinet officials, revealing the importance that the Obama administration places on Beijing-Washington dealings."
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Bradley Manning and GI Resistance to US War Crimes
Angola 3 News interviews Dahr Jamail on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the media's coverage of WikiLeaks, the actions of Bradley Manning and the military's response to soldier resistance. Jamail says, "The US-led invasion and occupation of Iraq could not have more clearly violated international law. Even the former secretary general of the United Nations (UN), Kofi Annan, said in September 2004 that the Iraq war was illegal and breached the UN Charter. An illegal war is thus the mother of all war crimes, for from that stems all the rest.... What Manning did by leaking this critical information has been to uphold his oath as a soldier in the most patriotic way."
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Tucson Shootings Reminder of Military's Role in Trauma Care
Nancy Youssef, McClatchy Newspapers: "Trauma care has developed through warfare, and in the last 50 years, each major U.S. conflict has brought advances. Military hospitals are arguably the nation's first trauma centers, with military surgeons as the first trauma doctors.... Dr. Peter Rhee, a Navy veteran, spent his life searching for battlefields in a race for the latest developments in trauma care.... How Rhee, the director of trauma treatment at UMC, handled the patients in the first minutes after their arrival at the hospital is the latest installment in the story of the interdependence between the battlefield and the emergency rooms of civilian hospitals throughout America."
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Decorated Disabled Veteran Faces Deportation to Pakistan
K.T. Cox, Truthout: "Muhammad Zahid Chaudhry, a decorated disabled American veteran, is the victim of a witch hunt that has been ongoing since the 9/11 attacks. Chaudhry is being deported to Pakistan, where he will 'inevitably be murdered by the Taliban for his service in the US Army,' says Seth Manzel, executive director of G.I. Voice. Chaudhry came to the US legally over 13 years ago and has been married to a native-born citizen for nearly ten years. The suit Chaudhry and his wife filed against the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) in US district court to press for his citizenship was dismissed on October 26, 2010, on summary judgement, without any trial or opportunity to further present their circumstances."
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Opponents to Fracking Disclosure Take Big Money From Industry
Abrahm Lustgarten, ProPublica: "In the context of today’s roiling political and energy debates, it’s not at all clear who will win. But if money is an indicator, the anti-regulatory group has the upper hand.... According to data from Open Secrets, the 32 [congress] members against disclosure received $1,742,572. The average contribution from the oil and gas sector to individuals from that group was $54,455. Oklahoma Democrat Dan Boren, who co-chairs the caucus, personally received more than $202,000, including almost $15,000 from Chesapeake Energy, one of the largest natural gas producers in the United States."
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BUZZFLASH DAILY HEADLINES

The BuzzFlash commentary for Truthout will return on Monday.
Tunisian President Ben Ali Flees Country Amid Unrest; Prime Minister Takes Reins
Read the Article at The Washington Post
Homeland Security Cancels "Virtual Fence" After $1 Billion Is Spent
Read the Article at The New York Times
RNC Vote Shows Limits of John Boehner's Reach
Read the Article at Politico
Final Day of Voting in South Sudan's Independence Test
Read the Article at AP
US Journalists Are Moving Away From WikiLeaks Founder
Read the Article at McClatchy Newspapers
Health Insurer Blue Shield Refuses to Delay Rate Hikes
Read the Article at The LA Times
The Anti-Regulators Are the "Job-Killers"
Read the Article at The Huffington Post
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