Click here to view this and past newsletters online. Please add "messenger@truthout.org" to your email contacts to ensure delivery.  Friday 01 June 2012 Win or Lose on June 5, Advocates Agree Wisconsin Progressive Movement Must ContinueMark Karlin, Truthout: "Gone are the massive throngs of protesters teeming around the capitol in Madison. The recall election of Gov. Scott Walker is coming up on June 5, and now it isn't about assembling large crowds with grievances; it is about getting out the vote. 'Republican turnout is pretty consistent from election to election,' Norm Stockwell, operations coordinator for WORT listener-sponsored radio in Madison, said. 'It is the Democratic vote that is up and down in Wisconsin. What will decide this election is Democratic turnout.'" Read the Article Mainstream Media Misses the Boat, Again, on the Medical Utility of Marijuana Paul Armentano, Truthout: "Clinical data published last week in the Canadian Medical Association Journal once again affirmed the safety and efficacy of cannabis as a therapeutic agent - a conclusion that directly conflicts with present US policy. Nonetheless, the mainstream media coverage of this event was predictably underwhelming.... Instead, much of Reuters' coverage focused largely on the purported 'downsides' of cannabis therapy." Read the Article NYC Cops Successfully Enforce Regime of Intimidating Dissidents and Press; Dozens Notice J.A. Myerson, Truthout: "The recent unbroken spate of acquittals Occupy Wall Street activists have racked up - not for lack of evidence, but simply for the arbitrary nature of the arrests - begin to give the impression of a pattern of official intimidation of dissidents and journalists, which is, of course, unconstitutional." Read the Article Withholding Water: Cholera, Prejudice and the Right to Water in Haiti Deepa Panchang, Other Worlds: "Scientists have shown that the cholera pathogen came to Haiti with foreign UN troops who carried the bacteria in their bodies, and whose military base was dumping its sewage into a nearby river. The imported disease has claimed more than 7,000 lives and continues to ravage communities across Haiti. Despite billions in post-earthquake aid dollars and hundreds of humanitarian NGOs, the country still faces a dearth of water and sanitation services, further fueling the epidemic." Read the Article Rep. Lamar Smith Cashes In With SOPA Supporters, Easily Wins Mike Ludwig, Truthout: "Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) took some heat earlier this year when a popular online uprising helped defeat the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) he championed, but Smith's effort to push the bill through Congress has still had an apparent payoff for the longtime incumbent. Smith easily won a primary victory in his Texas district this week after significantly out fundraising both of his opponents with the help of the same industry groups and media conglomerates that lobbied for SOPA." Read the Article Medea Benjamin on How Drones May Be Used Against US Citizens Soon Medea Benjamin, OR Books: "Internationally renowned activist Medea Benjamin has written a compelling case against drones. One of the most fearful aspects is that drone technology is growing so rapidly in so many nations that soon the nations the US deems enemies will be using them against our forces and us. Furthermore, there is about to be an explosion of drone use domestically that will be used for surveillance and potentially for firing on perceived criminals or enemies of the state." Read the Article Citizens United Unleashed in Wisconsin Recall Will Dooling, PR Watch: "Recent campaign filings show Governor Scott Walker raising over $30 million to defend himself against recall versus $3.1 million raised by his challenger Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett. Since the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in the Citizens United case, an array of outside groups are playing a major role in elections and Wisconsin is no exception. Here is a brief look at the five biggest outside interest groups spending in Wisconsin's 2012 recall." Read the Article Justice Department Orders Florida to Halt Non-Citizen Voter Purge Marc Caputo, McClatchy Newspapers: "The Justice Department ordered Florida's elections division to halt a systematic effort to find and purge the state's voter rolls of non-citizen voters. Florida's effort appears to violate both the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which protects minorities, and the 1993 National Voter Registration Act - which governs voter purges - T. Christian Herren Jr., the Justice Department's lead civil rights lawyer, wrote in a detailed two-page letter sent late Thursday night." Read the Article What the Right Gets Right About Abortion and the Left Doesn't Get Valerie Tarico, Truthout: "Abortion opponents may be driven by Iron Age sexual scripts, but they are advancing their cause primarily by appealing to universal, secular and - ironically - progressive, ethical principles. If history has a moral arc, the curve has to do with one simple question: Who counts as a person? Who deserves autonomy and opportunity and freedom from unnecessary suffering? Who merits our compassion or respect? In other words, who is morally relevant?" Read the Article Bill Clinton Joining Wisconsin Recall Battle Against Scott Walker Matea Gold, McClatchy Newspapers: "Bill Clinton will stump in Wisconsin on Friday for that state's Democratic gubernatorial challenger, the latest in a series of high-profile campaign roles for the former president. Democratic National Committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz announced Thursday that Clinton would be campaigning with Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett as he looks to unseat Gov. Scott Walker in next week's recall." Read the Article How America's Largest Private Prison Operator Plans to Beat Corporate Income Tax Christopher Francis Petrella, Truthout: "Although many on the left have rightly repudiated the myriad manifestations of prison privatization characterized, in part, by involuntary prison labor, ongoing health and safety violations, corporate financing and even 'the New Jim Crow,' few, if any, have called attention to the relatively obscure relationship between private prison companies and their IRS corporate classification filing status. Surprisingly, IRS filing designations might offer the public its clearest glimpse into the intentions of private prison companies behind closed doors." Read the Article On the News With Thom Hartmann: Occupy Buffalo Protesters Convinced Their City to End Its Business Ties With JPMorgan Chase, and More In today's On the News segment: Occupy Buffalo protesters convinced their city to end its business ties with JPMorgan Chase - and move $45 million out of the Wall Street giant and into a local bank, research concludes that simply eliminating the cap on federal payroll taxes would make Social Security solvent, Spain looks like it will be the next domino to fall in the euro zone crisis, and more. Watch the Video and Read the Transcript Who Is Behind the Conspiracy Against Climate Change Science? Richard Schiffman, Truthout: "Over 70 percent of Americans believe that climate change is either happening now or will be soon - many remain divided about how serious the problem is; 42 percent of those polled by Gallup in March believed that the impacts were being exaggerated. This confusion seems to have been the intention of the denialists all along - not to disprove climate change ... but to cast just enough paralyzing doubt to muddy the waters and prevent the United States from getting serious about restricting greenhouse gas emissions." Read the Article John Pilger | The Leveson Inquiry - Oh, What a Lovely Game John Pilger, Truthout: "Offering glimpses of the power and petty gangsterism of the British tabloid press, the inquiry conducted by Lord Leveson has, I suspect, shocked few people. As the soap has rolled on, bemusement has given way to boredom; Tony Blair was allowed to whine about the Daily Mail's treatment of his wife until he and the inquiry's amoral smugness protecting him were exposed by a member of the public, David Lawley-Wakelin, who shouted, 'Excuse me, this man should be arrested for war crimes.'" Read the Article Unemployment Rate Edges Up to 8.2 Percent David Rosnick, Center for Economic and Policy Research: "The unemployment rate ticked up 0.1 percentage point to 8.2 percent.... Overall, this month's report is disappointing, though not surprising. With the warm winter advancing employment growth earlier in the year, payroll numbers were bound to be low, while the return to growth in labor force participation arrested the fall in the unemployment rate. Even so, unless the economy picks up, producing jobs at a much higher rate, it is difficult to see how unemployment will be anything but persistent for some time." Read the Article Click here for more Truthout articles
Mark Karlin, BuzzFlash at Truthout: "Elections are often fought over a battlefield of polls, diversionary non-issues and emotional attacks; and the fuel that runs elections is entrenched wealth. Movements are built on values and principles." Read the BuzzFlash Commentary Feds Want Warrantless Spying Loss Overturned, Saying the Law Can't Touch Them Big Paychecks, Tiny Tax Burdens: How 21,000 Wealthy Americans Avoided Paying Income Tax The Poison of Drone Warfare Seeps Into the Future "First Amendment Rights Can Be Terminated": When Cops, Cameras Don't Mix The President's Kill List Jay Townsend, GOP Spokesman: "Let's Hurl Some Acid at Those Female Democratic Senators" Pity Those Media-Pummeled Republicans Click here for more BuzzFlash headlines
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