Truth Out: Meet the Toxic 100 Corporate Air Polluters - and more

Friday 02 April 2010

Meet the Toxic 100 Corporate Air Polluters
Michael Ash and James K. Boyce, Political Economy Research Institute: "Researchers at the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) at the University of Massachusetts Amherst today released the Toxic 100 Air Polluters, an updated list of the top corporate air polluters in the United States."
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Economy Adds 162,000 Jobs in March, Unemployment Steady at 9.7 Percent
Dean Baker, The Center for Economic and Policy Research: "The establishment survey (CES) showed the economy adding 162,000 jobs in March, the biggest increase since March of 2007. The household survey (CPS) showed the unemployment rate remaining steady at 9.7 percent with the employment to population ratio edging up to 58.6 percent, an increase of 0.4 percentage points from its low last November."
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Mentally Ill Immigrants Neglected in Detention System
Yana Kunichoff, Truthout: "A new report finds the care of mentally disabled immigrants in the detention system sorely lacking, leading to neglect and miscarriages of justice throughout the adjudication, detention, release and repatriation processes."
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Robert Reich | The Fed in Hot Water
Robert Reich, RobertReich.org: "The Fed has finally came clean. It now admits it bailed out Bear Stearns - taking on tens of billions of dollars of the bank's bad loans - in order to smooth Bear Stearns' takeover by JPMorgan Chase. The secret Fed bailout came months before Congress authorized the government to spend up to $700 billion of taxpayer dollars bailing out the banks, even months before Lehman Brothers collapsed. The Fed also took on billions of dollars worth of AIG securities, also before the official government-sanctioned bailout."
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Robert Parry | How Republicans Win
Robert Parry, Consortium News: "Washington's conventional wisdom for explaining the intensity of Republican obstructionism toward President Barack Obama breaks down one of two ways: either it's a philosophical disagreement over the role of government or a desperate need to stay in line with a radicalized right-wing base."
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Power Outages Dim Future of Gaza Refugees
Max Ajl, Truthout: "At night in Gaza, the narrow alleyways of the refugee camps echo loudly with clatter amidst the darkness. The clatter is the sound of small generators. Families in the camps, and many stores in the camps and in the cities, rely on such portable units for electricity during the rolling blackouts that now afflict the Gaza Strip."
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Eugene Robinson | Penance Demands Action
Eugene Robinson: "At its holiest time of the year, the Roman Catholic Church is being forced to confront not only the central mystery of the faith - life after death - but also a more worldly riddle: What did the Holy Father know, and when did he know it?"
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What's Driving Up Oil Prices Again? Wall Street, of Course
Kevin G. Hall, McClatchy Newspapers: "Oil consumption has fallen, demand from U.S. motorists for gasoline is flat at best and refiners that turn crude into fuel are operating well below capacity. Yet oil prices keep marching toward $90 a barrel, pushing gasoline toward $3 a gallon in many markets, and prompting American drivers to ask, 'What gives?'"
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States Sue EPA Over a Misquote: The Fight Over Climate Change Gets More Ridiculous
Christine Shearer, Truthout: "A few weeks ago, 12 states joined in an ongoing lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to block regulation of carbon dioxide, citing faulty scientific data. If we are to judge by an All Headline News report, the faulty data amounts to a misquote in a scientific report and a deliberate misreading of 'statistically significant' as 'no significant warming.' Unfortunately, drawing upon fabricated and exaggerated data to 'disprove' climate change is just the latest in a long history of corporate attacks on scientific research to avoid regulation."
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Rubber Soul: Iraq Veteran Turns to Running to Heal Brain Injury
Mary Susan Littlepage, Truthout: "Ever since Eric Keller returned from serving in Iraq, he has faced one challenge after another. One doctor told him he had a stroke and that he might be wheelchair-bound. Then, later, doctors told him that he suffered traumatic brain injury (TBI) in Iraq. Then, he had a seizure, and he accumulated thousands in medical bills and wound up with $10,000 in credit card debt because of medical bills, and he also got $3,000 behind in payments on his home."
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Obama Blasts "Fear Mongering" on Health Care Reform
Colin Woodard, The Christian Science Monitor: "President Obama touted the benefits of the new healthcare reform law in a public speech here Thursday, using the friendly atmosphere of a state that has been a national leader on bipartisan healthcare reform to push back at 'fear mongering' critics who say it will undermine the country."
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Will Legalized Marijuana Keep California in the Green?
Sam Kornell, Miller-McCune: "While a legalized marijuana crop wouldn't solve all of California's agricultural woes, it might still keep the state in the green. The three-hour Northern California drive from San Francisco to Nevada County passes through some of the cream of the state's agriculture industry: dairy, alfalfa, rice, almonds, grapes. On both sides of the freeway stretch enormous crop rows, interrupted only by the state capital of Sacramento and a number of small towns."
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Crisis: The Motor of Capitalism
Economist Andre Orlean writes for Le Monde: "The idea of market self-regulation appears inadequate. To understand how capitalism manages its excesses, it seems that the alternative theory of regulation through crises does not lack for arguments. If one needs proof, one need only consider those crises we call 'great' or structural crises. Since they are periods of deep transformation, their role in the historic development of capitalism is crucial. The most famous of these great crises is the Great Depression (1929-1939)."
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Agent Orange and Vietnam's Forgotten Victims
Geoffrey Cain, GlobalPost: "At 46, each year of misery seems to have etched new wrinkles around Tran Thanh Dung's angry gaze. When he was child in the early 1970s, Tran says he witnessed U.S. soldiers shoot his parents - both of whom were communist Viet Cong soldiers during the Vietnam War. Bent on revenge, he joined the guerrilla group within hours."
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Kevin Dayhoff Soundtrack: http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/ = http://www.kevindayhoff.net/ Kevin Dayhoff Art: http://kevindayhoffart.blogspot.com/ or http://kevindayhoffart.com/ = http://www.kevindayhoff.com/ Kevin Dayhoff Westminster: http://kevindayhoffwestgov-net.blogspot.com/ or http://www.westgov.net/ = www.kevindayhoff.org Twitter: https://twitter.com/kevindayhoff Twitpic: http://twitpic.com/photos/kevindayhoff Kevin Dayhoff's The New Bedford Herald: http://kbetrue.livejournal.com/ = www.newbedfordherald.net Explore Carroll: www.explorecarroll.com The Tentacle: www.thetentacle.com

Life and Death in the Qandil Mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan

Life and Death in the Qandil Mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan by Gerald Paoli Wednesday 20 May 2009

Posted for my friends who know Iraqi Kurdistan, the PKK, PJAK, the Pesmerge, and the Asaish. You know who you are... Do not comment here - send me an e-mail or a Facebook message... And be safe.

Gerald Paoli, Truthout:

"Historically, seasonal bombings have been the norm in the northernmost region of Kurdistan. Bombings became a predictable part of an annual rhythm of life. But villagers adjusted to the anticipated attacks and continued to live in the manner dictated by their traditions and customs. In December 2007, George Bush and Turkish Prime Minister Recip Tayyip Erdogan met to discuss strategies for 'dealing' with the PKK. Since then, the bombing have been more intense and regular."

Life and Death in the Qandil Mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan Wednesday 20 May 2009 by: Gerald Paoli, t r u t h o u t Report

[…]

Sulimanaya, Iraqi Kurdistan - The first Zarawa internally displaced persons (IDP) camp was in a valley in the Qandil Mountains. It wasn't home, but it was situated next to a cool stream and was close to the eight villages of the 132 families, who had fled violence rained down on them by Turkey and Iran. Now, they live in the new Zarawa IDP camp built by the United Nation's High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR).

[…]

Turkey has attempted to purchase both armed and surveillance drones from Israel for use in border operations. However, Turkey's government stated on May 19, 2009, that it might cancel a 2005 contract to purchase ten drones from Israel because of delayed delivery. It's also worth noting that Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan sternly criticized Israel's 22-day Operation Cast Lead assaults against Gaza, begun on December 22, 2008.

[…]

Read the entire article here: Life and Death in the Qandil Mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan Wednesday 20 May 2009 by: Gerald Paoli, t r u t h o u t Report

20090520 sdosm Life and Death in the Qandil Mtns of Iraqi Kurdistan
http://www.truthout.org/052009A?n

Truthout Originals

Life and Death in the Qandil Mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan
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Kevin Dayhoff Soundtrack: www.kevindayhoff.net http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/
Kevin Dayhoff Art: www.kevindayhoff.com
Kevin Dayhoff Westminster: www.westgov.net

Truthout for March 28 2009

Truthout for March 28 2009

Michael Winship sees an emerging American movement; Obama sets new goals for Afghanistan; Robert B. Reich compares Reagonomics and Obamanomics; John Kerry wants to ratify nuclear test ban treaty; Obama offers help to areas threatened by floods in midwest; the world marks Earth Hour; and more ... Browse our continually updating front page at http://www.truthout.org

t r u t h o u t 03.28

Michael Winship That's No Angry Mob, It's a Movement
http://www.truthout.org/032809A
Michael Winship, Truthout: "A college friend of mine, after much quaffing from the keg, so to speak, would start singing a faux hymn that began, 'We are sliding into sin - whee!' I've thought of his bleary tune from time to time as we all watched our financial institutions slide from thoughtless, wretched excess into calamity, aided and abetted by deregulation and bailouts, dragging the rest of us along on their speed bump-free ride."

Obama Sets Qaeda Defeat as Top Goal in Afghanistan
http://www.truthout.org/032809B
Ross Colvin, Reuters: "President Barack Obama unveiled a new war strategy for Afghanistan on Friday with a key goal -- to crush al Qaeda militants there and in Pakistan who he said were plotting new attacks on the United States."

Robert B. Reich Obamanomics Isn't About Big Government
http://www.truthout.org/032809C
Robert B. Reich, The Wall Street Journal: "Twenty-eight years ago, Ronald Reagan used the severe economic downturn of 1980-82 to implement an economic philosophy that not only gave force and meaning to a wide range of initiatives but also offered a way back to sustained economic growth. Is there a similarly powerful animating idea behind Obamanomics?"

Senator Seeks to Ratify Nuclear Test Ban Pact
http://www.truthout.org/032809D
Reuters: "The chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, John Kerry, said on Friday he had begun laying the groundwork for Senate ratification of a global pact banning nuclear tests."

Obama Monitors Midwest Flooding, Pledges Help
http://www.truthout.org/032809E
Liz Sidoti, The Associated Press: "Seeking to avoid a Hurricane Katrina-like leadership failure, President Barack Obama assured the nation Saturday he was keeping close watch on the Midwest floods and putting the government's full weight behind efforts to prevent disaster."

Earth Hour Participants to Turn Off PCs, Smartphones
http://www.truthout.org/032809F
Nathan Eddy, eWeek.com: "This year's Earth Hour event is expected to draw participants from all seven continents, who will turn off their smartphones, PCs and lights for an hour on Saturday. Major technology companies such as RIM, maker of the BlackBerry, are participating, but an Earth Hour spokesman wants businesses of any size to know they can participate."

20090328 SDOSM Truthout for March 28 2009

Kevin Dayhoff www.kevindayhoff.net http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/

Bill Ayers – in his own words: “What a long strange trip it has been”

What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been Friday 07 November 2008 by: Bill Ayers, In These Times

Truthout

Upon the end of a surreal campaign season, Bill Ayers speaks out. (Photo: Chris Walker / The Chicago Tribune)

Bill Ayers looks back on a surreal campaign season.

Whew! What was all that mess? I'm still in a daze, sorting it all out, decompressing.

Pass the Vitamin C.

For the past few years, I have gone about my business, hanging out with my kids and, now, my grandchildren, taking care of our elders (they moved in as the kids moved out), going to work, teaching and writing. And every day, I participate in the never-ending effort to build a powerful and irresistible movement for peace and social justice.

In years past, I would now and then - often unpredictably - appear in the newspapers or on TV, sometimes with a reference to Fugitive Days, my 2001 memoir of the exhilarating and difficult years of resistance against the American war in Vietnam. It was a time when the world was in flames, revolution was in the air, and the serial assassinations of black leaders disrupted our utopian dreams.

These media episodes of fleeting notoriety always led to some extravagant and fantastic assertions about what I did, what I might have said and what I probably believe now.

It was always a bit surreal. Then came this political season.

During the primary, the blogosphere was full of chatter about my relationship with President-elect Barack Obama. We had served together on the board of the Woods Foundation and knew one another as neighbors in Chicago's Hyde Park. In 1996, at a coffee gathering that my wife, Bernardine Dohrn, and I held for him, I made a $200 donation to his campaign for the Illinois State Senate.

Obama's political rivals and enemies thought they saw an opportunity to deepen a dishonest perception that he is somehow un-American, alien, linked to radical ideas, a closet terrorist who sympathizes with extremism - and they pounced.

Sen. Hillary Clinton's (D-N.Y.) campaign provided the script, which included guilt by association, demonization of people Obama knew (or might have known), creepy questions about his background and dark hints about hidden secrets yet to be uncovered.

On March 13, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), apparently in an attempt to reassure the base,- sat down for an interview with Sean Hannity of Fox News. McCain was not yet aware of the narrative Hannity had been spinning for months, and so Hannity filled him in: Ayers is an unrepentant "terrorist," he explained, "On 9/11, of all days, he had an article where he bragged about bombing our Pentagon, bombing the Capitol and bombing New York City police headquarters. ... He said, 'I regret not doing more.'"

McCain couldn't believe it.

Neither could I.

[…]

Read the rest here: What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been

20081107 Bill Ayers What a long strange trip it has been