Click here to view this and past newsletters online. Please add "messenger@truthout.org" to your email contacts to ensure delivery.  Saturday 19 May 2012 Occupy Movement Wins Spate of Legal Battles, but Faces New Challenges Ahead as "NATO 3" Face Terrorism ChargesJ.A. Myerson, Truthout: "Three activists have been charged with 'possession of incendiary or explosive device, conspiracy to commit terrorism & providing material support for terrorism,' which seems to mean 'beer-making equipment'. The 'NATO 3' were among nine activist abducted by police in a nighttime raid and disappeared for a number of hours. The three activists had previously posted a video of Chicago Police intimidating and threatening them with physical violence while they searched the protesters' vehicle." Read the Article The NATO Raids and Arrests: This Is What Jail Solidarity Looks Like Yana Kunichoff, Truthout: "Only a few hours after they were released from hours in solitary confinement, a few of the activist arrested in a Wednesday evening raid on a Chicago home were happy to be eating something that wasn't a baloney sandwich. [One activist] said 'I had to go to the bathroom in shackles. I felt like I was in Gitmo.' [Another said] 'I didn't know what time of day it was … That's what solitary confinement is for, it's torture.'" Read the Article One System for All: Universal Access to Health Care Beverly Bell, Other Worlds: "Julie Castro is a young doctor from France, a country that proves that it is possible for a nation to offer quality health care for all. The French system's slogan is, 'Everyone contributes according to his resources and receives according to his needs.' And this is not just rhetoric. As has been proven elsewhere, and as some in French civil society are now realizing, a strong health care system can only survive if the population fights to protect it." Read the Article Donations to Scott Walker Flagged as Potential Fraud Kim Barker, ProPublica: "When MaryAnn Nellis tried to pay for groceries, her credit card was declined. Her credit card company had flagged an earlier purchase as potentially fraudulent. The problem? A $5 donation to Friends of Scott Walker, the Wisconsin governor's campaign committee. There have been other reports recently about insecure campaign-donation websites and the potential for fraud … Restore Our Future, the super PAC supporting Republican Mitt Romney, was using a collection system that made online donors' credit card information accessible to even amateur snoopers." Read the Article Blind Chinese Dissident Leaves on Flight for US Andrew Jacobs, The New York Times News Service: "Chen Guangcheng, the blind legal defender who made a dramatic escape from house arrest and whose decision to seek refuge in the American Embassy here jolted American-Sino relations, left China aboard a commercial flight bound for Newark on Saturday…. Many Chinese dissidents and rights advocates were celebrating, among them Teng Biao, a prominent rights lawyer and friend who had advised Mr. Chen to go abroad." Read the Article Why Protest NATO? Sam Jewler, Truthout: "In many ways, Afghanistan is worse off under NATO's Groundhog Day-like reign of terror than it was before…. Civilian deaths have become a hallmark of NATO interventions, in which forces rely on so-called precise aerial campaigns so as not to risk their own soldiers' lives. Even in the Balkans, NATO's first and signature so-called 'humanitarian war,' it's estimated that there were thousands of civilian deaths and that tens of billions of dollars worth of damage was done." Read the Article The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the Most Expensive Weapon Ever Ben Freeman, Truthout: "Tom Cruise steps onto the tarmac … and the fighter plane he's getting into is the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) - the most expensive weapon ever, which is slated to be the mainstay of the US Navy, the Air Force and the Marine Corps. The entire program is now expected to cost taxpayers nearly $1.51 trillion; that's more than any weapon in history." Read the Article This Is Why You're Fat: The 2012 Farm Bill and the Real Obesity Lobby Suzanne Merkelson, Republic Report: "There's no data available yet on lobbying on the new farm bill, but a look at OpenSecrets' database on the 2007 bill provides a look at who might be involved this time around: Big Agriculture - which spends millions lobbying the federal government on food policy … As the 2012 farm bill heads from the Senate to the House of Representatives, it's important to keep in mind that this isn't just a farm bill - it's a food bill, helping to dictate what kinds of food people can afford." Read the Article Memo to Mayor Bloomberg: JPMorgan Blow-Up Is Not a "Hiccup" - It's a Giant Warning Lynn Parramore, AlterNet: "New York's Mayor Bloomberg rarely loses an opportunity to rush to the defense of the reckless financial industry where he first cut his fangs as an investment banker. His recent excuse of fellow 1 Percent Boy's Club member Jamie Dimon in the wake of the JP Morgan blow-up was no exception. 'Jamie Dimon … is one of the smartest people in the financial industry,' the mayor said. JPMorgan, as he put it, has had a stellar reputation up until this hiccup.'" Read the Article One Sees a Tree, the Other, a Canoe: The Humor and Struggle of International Solidarity Nick Rahaim, Truthout: "The Zapatistas have lingered in the imaginations of progressives and radicals around the world since the coming out of their rebellion in 1994. People from nearly all leftist persuasions have taken the struggle of the impoverished indigenous communities at the end of Mexico to be one of their own. Irish writer and activist Ramor Ryan, uses a seemingly benign and common water project to delve into the complexities of Zapatismo and of its associated solidarity activism in his book, 'Zapatista Spring' by AK Press." Read the Article Click here for more Truthout articles
The BuzzFlash commentary for Truthout will return Monday, May 21st. Amendment to Legalize Propaganda Inserted to Defense Authorization Bill Anti-Protest Legislation Passes in Quebec Chris Hedges | A Victory for All of Us The Police, the iPhone and Your Right to Record New French Cabinet Takes Pay Cut McCain Says President Obama Will Remain on Arizona Ballot Despite Birther Threats Demand, Deficit, and Denial: A Simplified Case Against Austerity Click here for more BuzzFlash headlines
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