 Saturday 14 January 2012 Occupy the Neighborhood: How Counties Can Use Land Banks and Eminent DomainEllen Brown, Truthout: "An electronic database called MERS (Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems) has created defects in the chain of title to over half the homes in America. Counties have been cheated out of millions of dollars in recording fees, and their title records are in hopeless disarray. Meanwhile, foreclosed and abandoned homes are blighting neighborhoods. Straightening out the records and restoring the homes to occupancy is clearly in the public interest…. But how? New legal developments are presenting some innovative alternatives." Read the Article Bill Moyers: Occupy a Cause Bill Moyers, Moyers & Co.: "What’s the common cause behind Occupy protesters? The Moyers & Company team visited the Occupy Wall Street site several times between October and December in 2011 - visits that reveal real faces, real people, and a true common cause. In this premiere Bill Moyers Essay, Bill talks about their anger - not at the concept of wealth itself, but at the crony capitalists who resort to tricks, loopholes, and hard, cold cash for politicians to make sure insiders prosper.” Read the Article Bomb Kills Dozens in Southern Iraq Michael S. Schmidt, The New York Times News Service: "Insurgents mounted another vicious attack against Iraq’s Shiites on Saturday, as an explosion ripped through a group of pilgrims in the southern city of Basra who were on their way to a mosque to commemorate one of their holiest holidays.... During the last 10 days, insurgents have unleashed a string of attacks on Shiites as they have made pilgrimages leading up to Arbaeen in an apparent attempt to stir sectarian violence.” Read the Article The Apocalyptics John Feffer, Foreign Policy in Focus: "They’re like a heavy metal band. Dress them up in black, put some Goth makeup on them, give them a name like The Apocalyptics, and they’d fit right in with the head-banger crowd. After all, it’s mostly doom and gloom with the Republican candidates, particularly when they start in on foreign policy. The lead singer for a while, Michele Bachmann, loved to croon about the world entering its final days.” Read the Article Big Shoulders in Chicago and Kabul: Get Ready for NATO in May Kathy Kelly, Truthout: "Secretary of State Hillary Clinton … promised to call Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and convey Rasmussen's glowing opinion that Chicago, built upon diversity and determination, shares values that underpin NATO. Activists on the ground, envisioning a different kind of Chicago, and bracing themselves for the crushing, militarized police response that in recent years has consistently met protesters at these events, can only hope that this is not the case." Read the Article Few Keystone XL Jobs Would Go to Residents on Pipeline Route Lisa Song, InsideClimate News: "The proposed Keystone XL pipeline has been publicized as a major jobs creator, but recent unemployment figures indicate that few of those jobs will go to people who live along the project's route. According to the latest data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the 57 counties in the pipeline's path have some of the nation's lowest unemployment rates. And since most of the construction jobs will go to skilled union laborers, only a fraction of the local people who are looking for work would likely qualify for those positions." Read the Article Successful Defense of Poor, Black Tenant in Landlord's Shooting Shows Strength of Unlikely Coalitions Carl Finamore, Truthout: "’People Wasn't Made to Burn’ by journalist Joe Allen reads like a lively, creative work of fiction with its abundance of larger-than-life characters and a seemingly overdramatized backstory of shocking events awaiting one black family escaping rural poverty in the South and landing amidst Northern urban racism." Read the Article Mining Ban: Good for the Grand Canyon, but Not for El Salvador? Sarah Anderson, Institute for Policy Students: "With patriotic fanfare, the Obama administration announced this week that it would ban new uranium mining projects around the Grand Canyon. At a ceremony at the National Geographic Society in Washington, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said the ban was ‘the right approach for this priceless American landscape'.... But too bad U.S. trade partners have to worry that if they pursue similarly responsible stewardship, they could get rewarded with a big fat corporate lawsuit." Read the Article Haitian Farmers Undermined by Food Aid Jacob Kushner, iWatch News: "In the months following Haiti’s devastating January 2010 earthquake, the United States government spent $140 million on a food program that benefited U.S. farmers but has been blamed for hurting Haitian farmers." Read the Article Click here for more Truthout articles
The BuzzFlash commentary for Truthout will return soon. US Troops Quietly Surge Into Middle East I'm Confused: It's Okay to Kill Afghanis, But Not Okay to Urinate on the Bodies? Job Growth Has Not Picked Up Enough to Rehire the Workers Let Go After the Recession Iran Blames US for Killing of Nuclear Scientist Nobel Laureate Drops Bid for Presidency of Egypt Who's Afraid of the Tempest? Arizona Bans it as Part of Ethnic Studies Ban Obama Administration Comes Out Against SOPA, PIPA Click here for more BuzzFlash headlines
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