Saturday 28 January 2012

Wall Street: The Candidate's Friend
Michael Winship, Truthout: "President Obama may talk a good populist game and even kick some corporate butt when he goes on the attack against Wall Street 'fat cats.' Yet he still enjoys the company of bankers ... and for all their grumbling about his policies, the investment community is coming up with significant cash for his re-election; the kind of change they believe in.... Among these ... are employees of big-name firms including Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Barclays and Citigroup."
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Romney Collects More in Donations From the Five Biggest Banks Than All Other Candidates Combined
Pat Garofalo, ThinkProgress: "Mitt Romney has been leading the way in the 2012 presidential race when it comes to donations from Wall Street, pulling in millions from the financial sector since he launched his campaign.... Romney has received more in donations from employees of the nation's five biggest banks than all of the other presidential candidates combined.... So far, the financial industry has made 69 percent of its donations in the presidential race to Republicans."
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LA Police Department Conducts Joint Exercises with the Military
Dan Bacher, AlterNet: "The LA Police Department ... and the U.S. military conducted joint 'tactical exercises' in downtown LA this week. One Black Hawk ... and four OH-6 choppers ... flew over the city during the exercise.... Joint military exercises have also been conducted over Boston, Massachusetts and Little Rock, Arkansas over the past six months.... The exercises become even more ominous when you consider that ... Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) ... allowing indefinite detention to be codified into law."
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Censoring of Tweets Sets Off #Outrage
Somini Sengupta, The New York Times News Service: "[Twitter] became a bullhorn for millions of people worldwide, especially vital in nations that tend to muzzle their own people. But this week ... Twitter announced that upon request, it would block certain messages in countries where they were deemed illegal. The move immediately prompted outcry, argument and even calls for a boycott from some users. Twitter in turn sought to explain that this was the best way to comply with the laws of different countries."
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The Truth Behind the Coming "Regime Change" in Syria
Shamus Cooke, Veracity Voice: "The Arab League again decided to extend its 'monitoring mission' in Syria. However, some Arab League nations under U.S. diplomatic control are clamoring for blood. These countries - virtual sock puppets of U.S. foreign policy - want to declare the Arab League monitoring mission 'a failure,' so that military intervention ... can be used for regime change.... This is the strategy that the U.S. is using to channel the Arab Spring into the bloody dead end of foreign military intervention."
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Energy Innovation: Obama's State of the Union a Frothy Mix of Promise and Prattle
Gregg Levine, Capitoilette.com: "I worry ... that when Obama says, 'I will sign an Executive Order clearing away the red tape that slows down too many construction projects,' that what he means by 'red tape' is what many call 'environmental protections.'... Is this cynical? Perhaps, but it is hard not to be when you hear the president claim, as he did last night, 'I will not back down from making sure an oil company can contain the kind of oil spill we saw in the Gulf two years ago,' when just a day earlier it was revealed that the Obama administration actively worked to downplay the size of the BP spill."
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So, What About the State of the Unions, Mr. President?
Dick Meister, DickMeister.com: "Unions? Organized labor? ... Those words were nowhere to be heard in President Obama's State of the Union address, despite labor's vital role in the economy and strong support for Obama.... Obama failed to take advantage of a great opportunity to explain the true nature of unions and their importance to the country-at-large and make clear the often vicious anti-unionism of his political enemies."
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Union Membership Holds Steady in 2011
John Schmitt and Janelle Jones, Center for Economic Policy and Research: "After falling by almost 1.4 million workers between 2008 and 2010, union membership hit a plateau in 2011. The total number of union members (up about 49,000) and the share of workers in a union (down 0.1 percentage points) were essentially unchanged last year.... The three broad industry categories with the largest net increases were health care and social assistance (up 101,000), construction (up 73,000), and durable manufactured goods (up 36,000)."
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Why a Regional Model for Israel/Palestine Is Viable and Just
David Zlutnick, Truthout: "Rachel Havrelock is a scholar of the Hebrew Bible and its historical interpretation.... Her latest book, 'River Jordan: The Mythology of a Dividing Line' ... examines five national myths in the Hebrew Bible and examines which have had political currency and which have been repressed.... She argues that, while certain interpretations favor expansion and conquest, others may provide an inspiration for coexistence, while colonial ideas of partition and rigid borders need to be thrown out to favor a new post-national model."
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The BuzzFlash commentary for Truthout will return Monday, January 30.

Could Abraham Lincoln Be Elected Today on a Platform of Principle and Equality? Not a Chance
Read the Blog at BuzzFlash

ACTA: The International Treaty You've Never Heard of That Could Affect Internet Freedom
Read the Article at Common Dreams

The Grim Future of Campaign Finance: The Immediate Reform Fight Is Not About Stopping the Flow of Money, but Rather Securing Mere Disclosure
Read the Article at Salon

Economist Who Foresaw 2008 Crash Warns Conflict with Iran Could Cause Global Recession
Read the Article at MSNBC

Secrets of the Billionaire Bankrolling Gingrich's Shot at the White House
Read the Article at the Guardian UK

Being Ex-President Can Be a Lucrative Gig
Read the Article at CNN

Ten Top-Notch Daily Newts!
Read the Article at Mother Jones

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