Click here to view this and past newsletters online. Please add "messenger@truthout.org" to your email contacts to ensure delivery.  Wednesday 18 April 2012 How the Goldman Vampire Squid Just Captured EuropeEllen Brown, Truthout: "Goldman Sachs and the financial technocrats have taken over the European ship. Democracy has gone out the window, all in the name of keeping the central bank independent from the 'abuses' of government. Yet, the government is the people - or it should be. A democratically elected government represents the people. Europeans are being hoodwinked into relinquishing their cherished democracy to a rogue band of financial pirates, and the rest of the world is not far behind.... Last November, without fanfare and barely noticed in the press, former Goldman executive Mario Draghi replaced Jean-Claude Trichet as head of the European Central Bank." Read the Article ALEC Disbands Most Insidious Task Force After Public Pressure and Loss of Sponsors Brendan Fischer, PR Watch: "Under growing public pressure and the departure of multiple corporate members, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has announced it is disbanding the Task Force that has been responsible for some of the organization's most controversial pieces of legislation.... For at least three decades, the corporations, special interest groups, and legislators on the ALEC Public Safety & Elections Task Force (known as the Criminal Justice Task Force until 2009) have approved model bills that promote for-profit prisons and lengthen prison sentences, criminalize immigrants, expand the 'war on drugs,' thwart evidence-based pre-trial release programs in favor of for-profit bail-bonding, and many other policies." Read the Article Secret Donor Gave Anti-Obama Group $10 Million, Watchdogs Demand IRS Crackdown Mike Ludwig, Truthout: "The name Crossroads Grassroots Political Strategies is misleading: much of the Karl Rove-affiliated group's funding comes from megarich donors, not a grassroots political movement, and campaign finance reformers say the group is deliberately using its nonprofit status to hide the names of its donors from the public as the election season heats up. Two watchdog groups asked the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) this week to investigate Crossroads GPS and other groups on both sides of the political spectrum after Crossroads GPS tax filings revealed the organization has received dozens of multimillion-dollar checks from unknown donors to pay for ads attacking President Obama and Democratic policies." Read the Article On the News With Thom Hartmann: House Passes Congressman Paul Ryan's Budget for the Rich, and More In today's On the News segment: The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) dismantles its non-economic task forces, the House passed Congressman Paul Ryan's budget for the rich, more bad news is coming from the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan, the EPA is taking on frackers with its new pollution standards, and more. Watch the Video and Read the Transcript Women With HIV Build Safe, Healthy Lives Eleanor J. Bader, Truthout: "Having a place to get concrete information and support is imperative for ever-increasing numbers of HIV-positive women. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF), more than 290,000 US women have the virus and nearly a quarter of all newly diagnosed cases - 23 percent - occur among women and girls... The Foundation further confirms that women of color are particularly at risk: 57 percent of the newly diagnosed are African-American; 18 percent are Latina. And they're often young. KFF reports that 39 percent are between the ages of 13 and 29, with those aged 20-24 claiming the highest number of diagnoses of any age group." Read the Article The Landscape of May Day in New York Nathan Schneider, Waging Nonviolence: "Ever since the idea of working toward May Day started catching on in Occupy Wall Street last January, it has been infused with the impulse of creating the vision of a radically different kind of city. The visionary impulse, however, has also mixed with things more mundane. Over the course of the May Day planning process in New York, in at least two meetings each week, OWS organizers have been patiently patching together an historic joint rally and march with labor unions, immigrants' rights groups and community organizations, many of which were invited to participate in the planning process since the beginning." Read the Article Occupy the Courts: Corporate Personhood Reconsidered Stephen F. Diamond, Dissent Magazine: "The Occupy movement was widely lampooned by critics for failing to bring forward a coherent set of demands. But a random survey of participants in the protests that spread across the country late last year would likely turn up a large number who agree that ending the recognition of corporations as legal 'persons' is a critically needed reform. Ballot measures in Boulder, Colorado and Madison, Wisconsin calling for an end to corporate personhood passed last year." Read the Article Truthout Reporter Mike Ludwig on RT: Are EPA Fracking Regulations Hurting Jobs? Mike Ludwig, RT: "On Tuesday the battle of new regulations on the hydraulic fracturing technique continued on Capitol Hill. The EPA put the finishing touches on new rules that are intended to protect the environment from the pollution believed to be caused by fracking. Many think that these new regulations will only choke the industry and prevent the creation of much needed jobs. Mike Ludwig, a reporter for Truthout, gives us his take on the new regulations." Watch the Video Jim Hightower | Mitt Romney and the Citizens United Gang Jim Hightower, Creators Syndicate: "Unlike the James Gang, the Dalton Boys and other robbers of yore who stole from banks and railroads, these thieves are bankers and high-rolling railroaders. Thanks to the Supreme Court's edict in the infamous Citizens United case, they are now able to use unlimited amounts of their corporate wealth to create Super PACs, which are proving to be devastating weapons against democracy.... To the barricades, people! The Citizens United Gang's goal is not simply to put Romney in the Oval Office, but to impose a plutocracy over our land." Read the Article Thinking About Mitt Romney and Seamus, Michael Vick and Dog Fighting, and Eating Animals Gary L. Francione, Truthout: "Although there is a great deal of disagreement about moral issues, no one disagrees with the notion that it's wrong to inflict unnecessary suffering on an animal. We need a good reason to inflict suffering on an animal. We might disagree about whether necessity exists in any given situation and what constitutes a good reason, but we would all agree that enjoyment or pleasure cannot constitute necessity or serve as a good reason. This is part of our conventional moral wisdom. The problem is that eating animals is, as a matter of moral analysis, no different from dog fighting." Read the Article Bill Moyers Essay: Capitalism With a Conscience Bill Moyers, Moyers & Co.: "At least one man demonstrated that money doesn't always corrupt one's integrity or intentions: Bernard Rapoport. A 'capitalist with a conscience' with an authentic connection to the struggles and values of everyday Americans, Rapoport died this month at 94.... A friend and long-time supporter of Bill Moyers' work on public television, Rapoport gave millions to help low-income children in Waco, Texas ... He urged the politicians he supported to raise his taxes, and felt morally obligated to argue against his own privilege. In this essay, Moyers pays tribute to the man he admired, and the vital causes they shared." Watch the Video and Read the Transcript What About the Real (or Surreal) Thing? Michael R. Powers, Truthout: "The world of risk and insurance - replete with cagey underwriters, callous claim adjustors, and canny actuaries - is often viewed as staid and cheerless. In Acts of God and Man, Michael R. Powers challenges this perception, espousing a science of risk based upon both a 'fundamentalist Bayesian' (i.e., subjective/judgmental) approach to modeling uncertainty and a 'personalized scientific method' free of the restrictions of more orthodox paradigms. Readers of Truthout likely will be interested in the book's focus on the boundary between 'knowable' and 'unknowable' aspects of risk, explored in the excerpt below by embracing the paranormal in the service of science." Read the Article Behind Closed Doors, Broadcasters Battle Online Disclosure of Political Ad Buys Justin Elliott, ProPublica: "The Federal Communications Commission is scheduled to vote April 27 on whether to require TV stations to post online public information about political ad buys. Some form of the rule seems likely to pass, but the industry and others are lobbying the FCC to alter the nature of the final rule....The wording is subject to change based on input from interested parties. That's why the National Association of Broadcasters has been paying visits to key FCC officials this month. A group of influential Republican senators has also told the FCC they oppose the proposed rule." Read the Article How the War on Women Became Mainstream Staff, People For the American Way: "One year ago, People For the American Way issued a report on the unprecedented barrage of antichoice bills being unleashed by newly empowered state legislatures. In the year since, perhaps sensing that their window of opportunity might be drawing to a close, far-right national and state lawmakers, in coordination with Religious Right activists, have expanded their attacks. They are targeting not just abortion rights, but also access to birth control and preventative care, as well as contemporary views of women's roles in the workplace, the family and the halls of power. What follows are dispatches from the varied fronts in the growing War on Women." Read the Article Click here for more Truthout articles
Mark Karlin, BuzzFlash at Truthout: "Although Rick Santorum claims to be anti-choice, he appears to be trying to abort a Romney victory in 2012. A fundraising letter for Santorum just showed up in Iowa - after he withdrew from the GOP presidential race - declaring to supporters, 'It truly frightens me to think what'll happen if Mitt Romney is the nominee.'" Read the BuzzFlash Commentary Mitt Romney, American Parasite Citigroup Shareholders Reject Executive Pay Plan Stealth Evangelicals in the Digital Age Birthday Fundraiser for Ann Romney Hosted by Man Who Once Barbecued a Dog Five Reasons the Very Rich Have Not Earned Their Money Ted Nugent Remarks on Obama Draw Secret Service Scrutiny Ten Things Republicans Don't Want You to Know About Taxes Click here for more BuzzFlash headlines
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