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Monday 28 May 2012

William Rivers Pitt | A Jo'rneyman's Song
William Rivers Pitt, Truthout: "His name was Ryan J. Wilson. He was from California, 26 years old, and he died on the 20th of May serving in the Afghanistan war. According to the Department of Defense, Ryan J. Wilson was the 3,000th member of the coalition forces fighting that war, and the 1,974th American, to die since it began a decade ago.... I never met him, and I never will. I wish I'd gotten the chance. Don't forget him. Don't forget any of them. We are surely damned if we do."
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After "Huge Progress," Veterans Are Still Struggling to Find Employment
Amanda Peterson Beadle, ThinkProgress: "Tim Tetz, legislative director of the American Legion, said that younger veterans are still facing a higher unemployment rate than their civilian counterparts, which stands at 15 percent. Older veterans are also struggling to find employment: '[O]f the 780,000 veterans who are currently out of a job, two-thirds of them are between the ages of 35 and 64. And they might not have the resources like the GI Bill and many of the other things that these younger veterans have to use.'"
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Congressional Black Caucus Rallies Preachers to Tackle Voter-ID Laws
William Douglas, McClatchy Newspapers: "African-American churches, historically at the forefront of the nation's civil and voting rights efforts, are grappling this election year with how to navigate through the wave of new voting-access laws approved in many Republican-controlled states, laws that many African-Americans believe were implemented to suppress the votes of minorities and others."
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Lies and Consequences in Our Past 15 Wars
David Swanson, War Is a Crime: "A Congressional report in 2010 documented payoffs made by the U.S. to the Taliban for the safe passage of goods through Afghanistan, payoffs that amounted to either the first or second largest source of income for the Taliban, the other being opium. Afghans, including those fighting for the Taliban, often signed up for training and pay from the United States and then departed, sometimes repeating the process a number of times. The United States has been funding, training, and arming both sides of the war."
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On Memorial Day Weekend, America Reckons With Torture
Bill Moyers and Michael Winship, Moyers & Co.: "Americans have been sorely pressed to come to terms with the fact that after 9/11 our government began to torture people, and did so in defiance of domestic and international law ... If we really want to honor the Americans in uniform who gave their lives fighting for their country, we'll redouble our efforts to make sure we're worthy of their sacrifice; we'll renew our commitment to the rule of law, for the rule of law is essential to any civilization worth dying for."
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Wisconsin's New Bad Idea
Eleni Schirmer and Lenora Hanson, Labor Notes: "Wisconsin's historic recall election has taken center stage in the state's politics. Yet behind the recall curtain, the state struggles to manage damaging budget cuts enacted by Governor Scott Walker. One key issue is the state-mandated redesign of the University of Wisconsin's human resources system. This plan threatens how the university instructs its students, supports its faculty, and protects the rights of its employees."
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New York Could Add One Million Voters in 2013
Khalil Abdullah, New America Media: "An estimated one million potential voters could be added to New York state's rolls should forthcoming legislation be enacted, according to the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law. At the heart of the legislation, crafted with assistance from the Brennan Center and other organizations, is a mandated shift from the current paper-based voter registration system to one reliant on electronic records."
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Psychiatrists Seek New Patients at Annual Meeting
Martha Rosenberg, Dissident Voice: "This is the year the [American Psychiatric Association] APA puts the finishing touches on DSM-5, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Some question the objectivity of a disorder manual written by those who stand to benefit from an enlarged patient pool and new diseases. Furthering the appearance of self-dealing is the revelation that 57 percent of the DSM-5′s authors have Pharma links."
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Obama Taps Allison Macfarlane as New Head of Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Gregg Levine, Capitoilette: "President Barack Obama has nominated Allison Macfarlane to be the new head of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. If confirmed by the Senate, Macfarlane will replace Gregory Jaczko, who announced his resignation Monday after months of pressure from the nuclear industry and their friends in government. As predicted, in choosing Macfarlane, Obama tapped someone who is on record as opposed to the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository. But Macfarlane could not be labeled an opponent of nuclear power."
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Robert Reich | Romney's Regressivism
Robert Reich, Robert Reich's Blog: "According to the non-partisan Tax Policy Center, Romney's plan would give a $250K tax cut, on average, to everyone now earning over a million dollars a year. Yet Romney's plan would also increase the federal budget deficit by more than $3 trillion over the next ten years. This is truly nuts, and it represents not conservativism but regressivism - a lurch backward toward the Gilded Age of the late 19th century."
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The Peace Train: Seeing and Believing It
Noah Kass, New Clear Vision: "Instead of giving in to the negative narratives of apocalypse, we must prepare to wage peace. Personal steps toward a collective mentality of conscious consumption and resource respect embodies one piece of the peace puzzle. Through personal awareness, societal collective action, and environmental preservation, the planet we inhabit can be a peaceful place. We must believe it before we can see it."
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The BuzzFlash commentary for Truthout will return Tuesday, May 29th.

Five Facts About the Fallen to Remember on Memorial Day
Read the Article at the Raw Story

Kofi Annan Arrives in Syria, Urging Cease-Fire After Massacre
Read the Article at the New York Times

Tony Blair Testifies About Murdoch's Influence
Read the Article at the Daily Beast

How Florida Governor Rick Scott Could Steal the Election for Mitt Romney
Read the Article at ThinkProgress

The Stunning Truth About Healthcare Pricing
Read the Article at Daily Kos

Was the Oakland Police Department's Proposed Crowd Control Policy Illegal?
Read the Article at New America Media

On Twitter, Koch Group Offers Illinois Residents Free Food, Trips to Wisconsin to Support Governor Scott Walker
Read the Article at Republic Report

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