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Monday 20 February 2012

Punishing Protest, Policing Dissent: What Is the Justice System For?
Erik Hoffner, Truthout: "In some cities, such as New York, [National Lawyers Guild director Heidi Boghosian] said, 'police are scanning irises of arrestees and are detaining those who refuse to be scanned. The stated purpose of the scans is to avoid mis-identifications in court, but this unregulated taking from those arrested for engaging in free speech activities is ominous; it would not be surprising if a database is being amassed of iris scans of political activists.'"
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UN Nuclear Inspectors Return to Tehran
Alan Cowell, The New York Times News Service: "A team of U.N. inspectors arrived in Iran on Monday for its second visit in three weeks, saying its highest priority remained 'the possible military dimensions' that Tehran denies are part of a disputed nuclear program ... Tehran signaled that it might expand a ban on oil exports to Britain and France, announced Sunday, to other European powers it deems 'hostile' in light of broader economic sanctions by the European Union due to come into force on July 1."
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On the News With Thom Hartmann: Apple Supplier and Human Rights Abuser FoxConn to Raise Wages, and More
In today's On the News segment: Hundreds of thousands demonstrated against austerity measures in Spain over the weekend, US Supreme Court suspends Montana court's prohibition against corporate spending in state elections, T-Mobile's German parent company will discuss hostile US working conditions, and more.
Watch the Video and Read the Transcript

European Ministers Are Poised to Approve Greek Rescue
Stephen Castle, The New York Times News Service: "After months of fraught negotiation, euro zone finance ministers were poised to bring Greece back from the brink of default Monday by agreeing to a second giant bailout in exchange for severe austerity measures - and subject to strict conditions.... Meanwhile, the caretaker government in Athens, led by Lucas Papademos, had to cope with mounting opposition to austerity measures."
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Radioactive or Not, Tsunami Debris Could Seriously Impact US's, Canada's West Coasts
Jon Letman, Truthout: "In the age of constant crisis coverage, it is easy to forget that disasters don't just end once the cameras move on. On the contrary, they morph into new situations, sometimes improved, but often more complex and severe. In the case of Japan's earthquake-tsunami-nuclear catastrophe, part of that tripartite disaster floated out to sea as debris where it has been drifting for months to destinations unknown."
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"Free Radicals" Celebrates Subversive Science
Javier Sethness, Truthout: "With his book, 'Free Radicals,' British physicist and journalist Michael Brooks seeks principally to provide a counternarrative to popular interpretations of the scientific world which emphasize science's predicability, blandness and affinity with constituted power. He does this by considering a number of examples in the history of science and the lives of particular scientists which demonstrate science's practice, often, at its heart, to be an 'anarchic, creative, and radical endeavour.'"
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The Real Job Creators: You and Me
Lynn Parramore, AlterNet: "Mitt Romney & Co. want us to think that making the rich richer will create jobs. That's not true. And it's not the American way.... So why does the trickle-down myth hang on? President Obama recently suggested it's because this fairy tale 'speaks to our rugged individualism and our healthy skepticism of too much government.'"
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Kathleen Hall Jamieson: Campaign Misinformation
Bill Moyers, Moyers & Company: This weekend on Moyers & Company, Bill asks political communication expert Kathleen Hall Jamieson to analyze the misinformation campaigns of 2012 thus far. Jamieson runs the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania, including the sites FactCheck.org and FlackCheck.org.
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Presidents' Day: Just Another Presidential Fable
Peter M. Nardi, Miller-Mcune: "Let’s skeptically consider a few of the many fables that regularly appear about current and past presidents, and critically think about the purposes they may serve."
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*TRUTHOUT'S BUZZFLASH DAILY HEADLINES*

In case you missed it, the Republicans in Congress got the Democrats to agree to drug testing many applicants for unemployment compensation. In return, the Democrats got the Republicans to sign off on an extension of unemployment benefits this year, although with the number of eligible weeks shortened.

This drug-testing requirement is a sleight of hand to imply that people who can't find a job are responsible for their own plight and are not the victims of the economic circumstances created by Wall Street and global corporations that move jobs overseas.

In short, the implementation of drug screening (for specified applicants) to receive unemployment funds stigmatizes less fortunate Americans by implying that if you aren't rich and anointed, you are a drug addict, a derelict or a criminal. That is why some states are stampeding to test welfare recipients for drugs, even though it was shown to be an enormous fiasco in Florida.

Following the logic that people who stand to receive state or federal money should be drug tested, BuzzFlash at Truthout proposes that every member of Congress should pee into a cup and be certified drug free before being allowed to assume office. They should also be subject to random drug tests while they serve in DC.

After all, a person who loses his or her job due to lack of employment opportunities must rely on a safety network for survival. But our elected officials in DC receive generous salaries, vacations, health care and pensions - all at the taxpayers' expense. Furthermore, they pass legislation that determines the future of this nation.

If anyone should get drug tested, it is members of Congress, many of whom espouse political and personal viewpoints whose only origin might be explained by the use of illicit drugs.

As for those who lose their jobs and must now undergo a drug test before receiving money to support themselves and their families, Bill Piper, director of national affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance, laments:

This policy is a terrible one-two punch to the gut for thousands of struggling Americans. Congress has paired a generous taxpayer subsidy for corporations that drug test with a slap in the face for those struggling to find work, feed their families and keep their homes. The American people have a right to be upset over being forced to subsidize the violation of their civil liberties, when they try to access a program that they pay for with every paycheck.

Let John Boehner be the first to show Americans that he is drug free, and let the rest of Congress - every member of the House and Senate - be forced by law to grab the plastic cup and head for a washroom stall.

Of course, they must be required to be accompanied by a "watcher." We wouldn't want any cheating involved on the part of our elected officials in the nation's capital, would we?

Mark Karlin
Editor of BuzzFlash at Truthout

New Museums to Shine a Spotlight on Civil Rights Era
Read the Article at The New York Times

The Definition of Insanity: Deregulating Over and Over and Expecting Different Results
Read the Article at BuzzFlash

Billionaire Romney Donor Uses Threats to Silence Critics
Read the Article at Salon

Two Charts That Should Terrify Republicans
Read the Article at Talking Points Memo

Why Is Rick Santorum Obsessed With Your Sex Life?
Read the Article at The Guardian UK

Will Malaysians Get Cancer for Your iPhone or Prius?
Read the Article at Mother Jones

Here Comes the Bush Dynasty of Disaster?
Read the Article at Mediaite

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