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Monday 21 May 2012

Thousands March With Veterans for Peace in Chicago; Police Respond With Brute Force
Allison Kilkenny, Truthout: "Thousands of protesters marched beside Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans Sunday to accompany the vets as they marched, hoping to return their service medals to NATO's generals.... 'These medals once made me feel good,' said [veteran Scott] Olsen, adding, 'I came back to reality. I don't like these anymore.'"
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A Victory for All of Us
Chris Hedges, Truthdig: "In January, attorneys Carl Mayer and Bruce Afran asked me to be the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit against President Barack Obama and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta that challenged the harsh provisions of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). We filed the lawsuit, worked for hours on the affidavits, carried out the tedious depositions, prepared the case and went to trial because we did not want to be passive in the face of another egregious assault on basic civil liberties ... None of us thought we would win."
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On the News With Thom Hartmann: Obama Touts Jobs Over Austerity at G8 in Maryland, and More
In today's On the News segment: Provision buried in the latest defense authorization bill would overturn ban on government propaganda against American citizens, Vermont becomes first state to ban fracking, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission becomes the third agency to investigate JPMorgan's $3 billion gamble, and more.
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How Rural America Got Fracked
Ellen Cantarow, TomDispatch: "If the world can be seen in a grain of sand, watch out. As Wisconsinites are learning, there's money (and misery) in sand - and if you've got the right kind, an oil company may soon be at your doorstep. March in Wisconsin used to mean snow on the ground ... But as I traveled around rural townships and villages in early March ... daytime temperatures soared to nearly 80 degrees - bizarre weather that seemed to be sending a meteorological message."
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Dean Baker | Mortgage and Securitization Fraud: Where Is the Task Force?
Dean Baker, Truthout: "A serious investigation would start at the bottom and work up. It would find offices where many of the especially bad mortgages were issued. The investigators would question the mortgage agents about how so much false information ended up on loan forms. After scaring some number of mortgage agents into talking, they would then talk to the branch managers ... This practice could lead to the top levels of the bank."
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More NATO Summit Activists Charged; Five Linked by Two Informants
Steve Horn, Truthout: "When push comes to shove, [National Lawyers Guild legal worker Kris] Hermes and the NLG believe 'Mo' and 'Gloves' are the 'thread' among all five activists charged with plotting acts of domestic 'terrorism.' 'The thread between all five was the informants that we believe were provoking criminal activity,' said Hermes to Truthout. 'We believe it was the same two informants, which has been ascertained from the arrestees.'"
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In Chicago, Afghanistan and Iraq Veterans Put NATO's Endless War on Trial
Robert Naiman, Truthout: "More than two million Americans have served in Iraq and Afghanistan. CNN and Fox can focus on what they want, but you can't hide the life experiences of two million people indefinitely. Just like there's nothing that can turn you against gay bashing like being friends with a gay person, there's nothing that can turn you against wars of choice like being friends with an anti-war veteran who served in combat."
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Never Forget That Bradley Manning, Not Gay Marriage, Is the Issue
John Pilger, Truthout: "Legal obstacles should not prevent people marrying each other, regardless of gender. But this is a civil and private matter; bourgeois acceptability is not yet a human right. The rights historically associated with marriage are those of property: capitalism itself. Elevating the 'right' of marriage above the right to life and real justice is as profane as seeking allies among those who deny life and justice to so many, from Afghanistan to Palestine."
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From Pride to Shame: Vets Return Their Medals
J.A. Myerson, Truthout: "The transition from pride to shame was a common theme among the more than forty veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan who publicly hurled their medals in the direction of the NATO summit in Chicago on Sunday as part of a reconciliation ceremony. One by one, they explained their decision, many describing themselves as remaining proud to have served with what they considered courage, integrity and selflessness until a sense of unease about the missions' aims and tactics set in ..."
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Obama Might Want to Look Forward in 2012, but America's Torture Legacy Will Keep Staring Back
Maria LaHood, Truthout: "Forward to what? A country where government officials can carry out these barbaric acts and never face justice? In advance of the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture on June 26, 2012, the Center for Constitutional Rights has joined Amnesty International, the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, 9/11 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows and over 60,000 individuals in calling on President Obama to acknowledge the wrong done to Arar in a public apology and provide other forms of redress."
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Economic Update: Government Bailouts, Corporate Take-Overs and Unemployment
Richard D. Wolff, Economic Update/Truthout: "Updates on the impact of subprime mortgage abuses and their impact on racial and ethnic minorities, Japan's nationalization of the Tepco Corp., and the mixed results of the GM and Chrysler bailouts. Major discussions include: (1) Why government takeovers of private enterprise are rarely 'socialistic' and mostly pro-capitalist, and (2) the basic causes and cures for unemployment in capitalist economies. The radio segment concludes with responses to comments on the decision-making process of workers' self-directed enterprises and about claims of recovery in the housing market."
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Bill Moyers | Tom Morello, Troubadour for Justice
Bill Moyers, Moyers & Company: "Songs of social protest ... have long been intertwined, and the troubadours of troubling times - Guthrie, Seeger, Baez, Dylan, and Springsteen among them - have become famous for their dedication to both. Now we can add a name to the ranks of those who lift their voices for social and economic justice: Tom Morello.... He played guitar for the popular band he co-founded - Rage Against the Machine - and then for Audioslave."
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Criminalizing Dissent Is a Travesty to Democracy: Chicago Is Only the Latest Example
Mark Karlin, BuzzFlash at Truthout: "Frankly, one has to be a mental/legal/constitutional contortionist to criminalize dissent while claiming to spread democracy around the world through wars for natural resources and military hegemony. Since 9/11 in particular, the United States has been on an accelerating road to make all but the tamest protest illegal. Isn't this what happened in Tiananmen Square?"
Read the BuzzFlash Commentary

Juan Cole: Congress Wants the Department of Defense to Propagandize Americans
Read the Article at Informed Comment

RNC Chairman Says Republican Proposal for $10 Million of Race-Baiting Anti-Obama Attack Ads Is Obama's Fault
Read the Article at ThinkProgress

How the Ultra-Rich Betray America
Read the Article at BuzzFlash

Study: Two Thousand Convicted, Then Exonerated, in 23 Years
Read the Article at The Associated Press

Frank Rich: America's Post-Racial Farce
Read the Article at New York Magazine

Want to Ditch Citizens United? A Do-It-Yourself Guide
Read the Article at Mother Jones

Glenn Greenwald: Why Have Executives at Romney's Old Private-Equity Firm Donated More to the Democratic Party Than the GOP?
Read the Article at Salon

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