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Wednesday 25 April 2012

William Rivers Pitt | The Weight
William Rivers Pitt, Truthout: "It is brutally hard to be a Christian in America these days. Some of us Christians take that bit about doing unto the least of us deeply, deeply seriously. Some of us Christians think that it is wrong, sinful, and in fact a brazen form of Apartheid to deny certain Americans the rights enjoyed by other Americans based upon who they love. Mostly, some of us think Christianity in America has gone barking-mad insane."
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First Lawmaker Loses His Seat Over Ties to K Street
Lee Fang, Republic Report: "Incumbent Democratic Congressman Tim Holden (D-PA) lost to attorney Matt Cartwright. A ten-term lawmaker, Holden was well known in the region and enjoyed support from most of the state's Democratic establishment. But Holden faced two challenges. One, a redrawn district that forced the congressman to run in an area with more registered Democrats. And two, and perhaps more consequential, voters were presented with Holden's record of taking corporate cash while voting on behalf of K Street's interests."
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Islamophobic Group Lends Film Footage for Viral Video Pushing Iran Attack
Ali Gharib, ThinkProgress: "The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported yesterday on a series of viral videos produced by a new organization TheLandOfIsrael.com offering justifications for an Israeli attack on Iran. JTA notes the videos, littered with factual errors, misleading half-truths, and comparisons between Iran and Nazi Germany, have been viewed millions of times on YouTube. Many of the clips in the films, including one of Mitt Romney's controversial adviser Walid Phares, are drawn from the documentary 'Iranium,' a film by the Islamophobic organization Clarion Fund that also pushed a hawkish perspective on Iran."
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The Dalai Lama on Peace, War and the Aloha Spirit
Jon Letman, Truthout: "In delivering his message of peace, tolerance and compassion, the Dalai Lama easily connects with his audience through revealing, often very personal stories of human frailty ... The Dalai Lama speaks, by his own admission, in 'broken English' aided by an interpreter, yet he is comfortable discussing secular ethics, Marxist philosophy and quantum physics in a foreign tongue. Everyone he encounters, he said, is like a brother or sister. 'Mentally, emotionally, physically - same!' he said. 'I am just one of you - no differences, no barriers.'"
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Rupert Murdoch Testifies as Hacking Case Shifts Focus to a Minister
Alan Cowell and John F. Burns, The New York Times News Service: "With a political firestorm cascading over the British government's ties to his media empire, Rupert Murdoch faced rare public scrutiny about his relationships with elected officials on Wednesday, seeking to deflect suggestions that he sought to use his links to powerful public figures to further corporate commercial interests."
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Wall Street-Inflated Student Debt Bubble Hits $1 Trillion; Debtors Rally for Relief
Sarah Jaffe, AlterNet: "The collective weight of American student debt is now over $1 trillion, and that weight is a drag not just on those paying the debt, but on our entire economy. It's hard to calculate exactly, because the lenders are notoriously unwilling to hand over their data, and with students defaulting at ever-higher rates, interest rates and fees are always changing, adding constantly to the weight of the burden college graduates ... carry."
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Justices Seem Sympathetic to Central Part of Arizona Law
Adam Liptak, The New York Times News Service: "Justices across the ideological spectrum appeared inclined to uphold a controversial part of Arizona's aggressive 2010 immigration law, based on their questions on Wednesday at a Supreme Court argument. It was harder to read the court's attitude toward other provisions of the law, and the final ruling, expected by June, may be a split decision.... Unlike the narrow legal arguments, the political controversies have centered on whether the law unfairly singles out minorities, legal or not."
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Paul Ryan, the Phony Fiscal Conservative
Danny Weil, Truthout: "While Paul Ryan has cultivated an image as a fiscal conservative and budget hawk, his advocacy on behalf of for-profit colleges, a scam which siphons $32 billion a year from taxpayers, tells a somewhat different and frightening story ... Ryan advocated against proposed gainful employment rules - regulations proposed by the Department of Education (DOE) meant to protect students and taxpayers from unscrupulous for-profit colleges by requiring that trade schools demonstrate that their graduates earn enough to service their loans for three years after graduation."
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Common Ground on the Kill Floor: Organizing Smithfield
David Bacon, Labor Notes: "Keith Ludlum and Terry Slaughter are two slaughterhouse workers who helped organize the union at the Smithfield Foods plant in Tar Heel, North Carolina. A bruising 16-year battle, the fight brought together African American, white, and Mexican immigrant workers, who were able to find common ground despite the company's attempts to use racial division and immigration enforcement to try to defeat them."
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On the News With Thom Hartmann: More Americans Believe in Ghosts Than Believe the Supreme Court Was Right in the Citizens United Ruling, and More
In today's On the News segment: More Americans believe in ghosts than believe the Supreme Court was right in the Citizens United ruling, 76 people were arrested for demonstrating outside Congressman Paul Ryan's Capitol Hill office yesterday, the UK is officially in a second recession, and more.
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Breaking Up With ALEC Is Hard to Do for Johnson & Johnson
Sara Jerving, PR Watch: "As Procter and Gamble became the 13th major American firm to announce that it was dropping its membership in the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a few corporations have publicly confirmed their loyalty to the controversial organization. Johnson & Johnson is one of the companies that has so far stood by ALEC, despite ALEC's role in pushing 'model' laws that make it harder for Americans to vote and that advance the NRA's gun agenda."
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Walmart: Bribery, Slave Wages for Employees and Slave Wages for Manufacturing
Mark Karlin, BuzzFlash at Truthout: "If you haven't heard that Walmart paid out about $25 millions dollars in bribes to build parking-lot-size stores in Mexico, you have probably been listening to a slave-wage-made Apple iPod too long. In fact, Walmart didn't just pay the bribes; it covered up an investigation in 2005 and thereafter into the practice. The problem for Walmart is that this makes them highly likely to be in violation of a 1977 law, known as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act."
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Greg Palast | Arrest of BP Scapegoat: Real Killers Walk
Read the Article at BuzzFlash

Pennsylvania Primary: Blue Dog Democrats Lose Seats
Read the Article at The Huffington Post

The Middle Class Hasn't Disappeared. It's Just Sliding Toward the Bottom
Read the Article at BuzzFlash

Walmart Took Part in Lobbying Campaign to Amend Anti-Bribery Law
Read the Article at The Washington Post

Will They or Won't They? Romney and the Evangelicals
Read the Article at BuzzFlash

Halliburton Objects to Gulf Spill Settlement
Read the Article at The Associated Press

More Oil Drilling Means More Toxic Food
Read the Article at BuzzFlash

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