William Rivers Pitt | What Bernie Said (Truth-out.org)

[Omaha Steve]

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Tuesday 14 December 2010

William Rivers Pitt | What Bernie Said
William Rivers Pitt, Truthout: "At the time of this writing, legislation to formalize the tax deal between President Obama and congressional Republicans cleared cloture by a large margin, and looked ready to sail through the Senate. Polls indicate a large margin of Americans approve of the deal, and newspapers like the Washington Post are hailing the process as 'the most significant bipartisan vote since President Obama took office.' Not everyone agrees. Last week, a battery of congressional Democrats rose up in outrage over the deal, specifically protesting not only the extension of George W. Bush's tax cuts for rich people, but for the attack on the payroll tax, which many see as the beginning of the end of Social Security. Leading the charge was Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT)."
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John Pilger | Why Are Wars Not Being Reported Honestly?
John Pilger, Truthout: "In the US Army manual on counterinsurgency, the American commander Gen. David Petraeus describes Afghanistan as a 'war of perception ... conducted continuously using the news media.' What really matters is not so much the day-to-day battles against the Taliban as the way the adventure is sold in America, where 'the media directly influence the attitude of key audiences.'"
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UK Court Grants WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange Bail
Nadia Prupis, Truthout: "Julian Assange was granted bail today in the UK, which will allow him to leave jail on the condition that he surrenders his passport and wears an electronic tracking device, Swedish prosecutors have decided, contrary to earlier reports, to appeal Assange's bail, according to BBC news. Assange is not able to leave until the appeals process is complete, leading one of his lawyers to predict that he won't be released tonight, via a tweet by UK Times reporter Alexi Mostrous."
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Anonymous Words: An Interview With Operation Payback Hackers
Mike Ludwig, Truthout: "PayPal was a tough target. The latest web firm to face Operation Payback DDoS attacks for withholding donations to WikiLeaks was prepared for the well-publicized flood on its server. After hours of blasting PayPal on Friday, the 'hacktivists' associated with a loose network called Anonymous slowed payment processing, but they could not shut down PayPal. A new chat room was opened to discuss news reports."
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Paul Krugman | Edgy Europe Wonders: Who Will Be Next?
Paul Krugman, Krugman & Co.: "I've recently been reading online posts by Kevin O'Rourke, watching with astonishment and admiration as the mild-mannered economic historian has become Isaiah, righteously denouncing what has been passing for responsible policy in Ireland - namely, the reparations imposed on an innocent public."
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Halliburton Offers Nigeria $250 Million in Exchange for Dropping Charges Against Cheney, Company
Jason Leopold, Truthout: "Nigerian authorities said Tuesday they may drop bribery and corruption charges against Halliburton and former Vice President Dick Cheney over bribes company executives paid to government officials in Nigeria during Cheney's tenure at the oil services firm in exchange for securing contracts to build a liquefied natural gas facility in the country. Last week, Nigeria's anti-corruption unit, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), met with representatives for Halliburton and Cheney in London in an attempt to hammer out a deal. Halliburton reportedly offered to pay $250 million in fines to settle the case."
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News in Brief: Free Speech Radio Faces Closure, and More ...
Free Speech Radio News is on the verge of shutting down due to a financial crisis; the Department of Defense has had to extend multimillion dollar contracts with private firms for services in Iraq; House Democrats will introduce measure to repeal "don't ask, don't tell"; cuts to Medicaid have forced several states to end or significantly trim crucial services for beneficiaries; Virginia attorney general, who brought the first successful lawsuit against Obama's health care overhaul, acknowledges his motivations are politically motivated.
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Electoral Crisis Deepens in Haiti
Beverly Bell, Truthout: "The start of Haiti's most recent crisis came with ample warning. Most Port-au-Prince residents scurried to their homes mid-afternoon last Tuesday, certain of the violence and chaos which would ensue once the electoral council announced which two presidential candidates would make it to the run-offs. The troublemakers didn't wait until the 8:00 PM announcement, but started throwing rocks and erecting barricades by late afternoon for good measure. By nightfall, gunfire ricocheted around the capital and other towns. Through Friday, the black smoke of burning-tire barricades rose above the small crowds, who rampaged through towns, destroying shops and other structures, burning cars and occasionally shooting people. Haitian Radio Metropole reported five deaths."
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Mere Hours Left to Save Net Neutrality
Megan Tady, The Huffington Post: "I don't want to be overly dramatic here, but there are just hours left to save the Internet. Tomorrow, the FCC stops taking meetings and accepting official comments on its proposed Net Neutrality rules. But until then, we're using every minute we have to remind the FCC that the public overwhelmingly wants real Net Neutrality, not a fake compromise with the phone and cable companies that will effectively kill free speech and innovation online."
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Richard Holbrooke Represented the Worst of the Foreign Policy Establishment
Stephen Zunes, Truthout: "The many accolades coming out following the sudden death on Monday of veteran diplomat Richard Holbrooke ignore his rather sordid history of supporting dictators, war criminals and military solutions to complex political problems. Holbrooke got his start in the Foreign Service during the 1960s in the notorious pacification programs in the Mekong Delta of South Vietnam. This ambitious joint civilian-military effort not only included horrific human rights abuses, but also proved to be a notorious failure in curbing the insurgency against the US-backed regime in Saigon. This was an inauspicious start in the career of someone Obama appointed as his special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan to help curb the insurgency against those US-backed governments."
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Israeli Police Round Up Palestinian Youths, Disregard Their Own Laws, Says Rights Report
Christa Case Bryant, The Christian Science Monitor: "Israeli police are systematically interrogating Palestinian children as young as eight in an attempt to quell stone-throwing in East Jerusalem's most volatile neighborhood, according to a new report by the Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem. The report corroborates an Oct. 29 Monitor story describing Israeli arrests of minors in Silwan, but also gives a firmer outline of the scope and nature of such arrests. At least 81 minors have been arrested or detained on suspicion of stone-throwing in the past year, nearly half of them since a fatal September scuffle between Palestinian residents and a security guard for Jewish families in the area, B'Tselem said."
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Years of Wrangling Lie Ahead for Health Care Reform Law
Read the Article at The New York Times

The Battle Over Net Neutrality Continues
Read the Article at The Washington Post

Why Can't We End Our Dependency on Fossil Fuels?
Read the Article at BuzzFlash

Military Outlaws Blank CDs and Thumb Drives to Prevent Leaks
Read the Article at TIME Techland

News of the Bizarre: Ukraine to Open Chernobyl Area to Tourists in 2011
Read the Article at AP

Exotic Birds Are Becoming Extinct Due to Illegal Trade
Read the Article at BuzzFlash

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[Omaha Steve]

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