Truthout: 26 February 2012

The Gang That Couldn't Bomb Straight
Robert Scheer, Truthdig: "Here we go again. With the economy showing faint signs of life and their positions on the social issues alienating most moderates, the leading Republican candidates, with the exception of Ron Paul, have returned to the elixir of warmongering to once again sway the gullible masses. The race to the bottom has been set by Newt Gingrich, the most desperate of the lot, who on Tuesday charged that 'the president wants to unilaterally weaken the United States' because his administration has dared question the wisdom of Israel attacking Iran and proposes a slight reduction in the bloated defense budget."
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A History of Violence: the BP Oil Spill Trial
Brentin Mock, Bridge the Gulf: "U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier decided that in the civil trial against BP for their oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, the oil company's history of accidents and poor safety records won't be admissible as evidence.... Poor folks in New Orleans and across the Gulf who are the victims and the accused of crimes don't have the luxuries of BP to have their histories buried. That is evidence alone that there is inequity in the justice system."
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Forgetting the Past, One Military Movie at a Time
David Sirota, Truthout: "Since 1986's 'Top Gun' rekindled the Pentagon-Hollywood relationship from its post-Vietnam doldrums, the collusion between the military and the entertainment industry has become a blockbuster con, generating huge benefits for both participants - and swindling the American public in the process. The scheme is simple: The Pentagon allows studios to use military hardware and bases at a discounted, taxpayer-subsidized rate. In exchange, filmmakers must submit their scripts to the Pentagon for line edits."
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Corporate Margins and Profits are Increasing, But Workers' Wages Aren't
Pat Garofalo, ThinkProgress: "Corporate profits have made it back to their pre-recession heights (even if corporate tax revenue hasn't followed suit). In fact, in 2011, corporate profits hit their highest level since 1950. But as Bloomberg News noted today, this hasn't translated into wage growth or more purchasing power for workers.... Between 2009 and 2011, 88 percent of national income growth went to corporate profits, while just 1 percent went to wages."
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How the New Mexico Anti–Nuclear Campaign Achieved a Major Victory
Subhankar Banerjee, Climate Story Tellers: "We're always so inundated with bad news and sad news that we rarely take the time and look back, when we do win, most importantly at the things that got us there, however fleeting that win might be. In activism there is no win however, only ongoing engagement.... What can the New Mexico activists tell us about how they stopped what they call a Plutonium Bomb Factory? Here is their story."
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Loose Border Between 'Super PACs' and Campaigns
Mike McIntire and Michael Luo, The New York Times News Service: "There has been a rising debate over the ascendancy of super PACs, which operate free of the contribution limits imposed on the candidates but are supposed to remain independent of them. In practice, super PACs have become a way for candidates to bypass the limits by steering rich donors to these ostensibly independent groups, which function almost as adjuncts of the campaigns."
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Bush-Appointed Judge Strikes Down Washington Law Protecting Access to Birth Control
Ian Millhiser, ThinkProgress: "Thursday, a George W. Bush appointed judge declared unconstitutional a Washington state law that, among other things, requires pharmacies to dispense birth control and emergency contraception. While it's not impossible that the law should be blocked on very narrow grounds, Judge Ronald Leighton's opinion overreaches in ways that could undermine many efforts to protect women's health and potentially render religious objectors immune to the rule of law."
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Anti-War Critics Forgotten on Oscar Night
Adam Hochschild, Tom Dispatch: "Yet curiously, for all the spectacle of boy and horse, thundering cavalry charges, muddy trenches, and wartime love and loss, the makers of War Horse, Downtown Abbey and - I have no doubt - the similar productions we'll soon be watching largely skip over the greatest moral drama of those years of conflict, one that continues to echo in our own time of costly and needless wars....The First World War was not just a battle between rival armies, but also ... between those who assumed the war was a noble crusade and those who thought it absolute madness."
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Police Chief Timoney, Meet Bahraini Mothers
Medea Benjamin, Code Pink: "John Timoney is the controversial former Miami police chief well known for orchestrating brutal crackdowns on protests in Miami and Philadelphia- instances with rampant police abuse, violence, and blatant disregard for freedom of expression. It should be of great concern that the Kingdom of Bahrain has brought Timoney and John Yates, former assistant commissioner of Britain's Metropolitan Police, to 'reform' Bahrain's security forces."
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Desperate Fantasy: Can Jeb Bush Save the GOP?
Joe Conason, Truthout: "Rumors and whispers of a late presidential bid by Jeb Bush are difficult to consider seriously - if only because the deadlines to enter primary contests have past, the necessary money and campaign staff are not in place, and the mechanisms for a 'brokered convention' do not exist. And yet some worried Republicans are evidently imagining a rescue by the former Florida governor. Such fantasies arise from the unappetizing choices that now confront Republican voters."
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Capitalism Makes Us Crazy: Dr Gabor Maté on Illness and Addiction
Making Contact, National Radio Project: "Humans have always used drugs, but current level of drug abuse could indicate a bigger problem that we're driving people into addiction. What's the connection between the increase in chronic diseases, mental illness and drug addiction in our society today? On this edition, Dr. Gabor Maté talks about the relationship between mind and body health – and what the rise of capitalism has done to destroy both."
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TRUTHOUT'S BUZZFLASH DAILY HEADLINES

The BuzzFlash commentary for Truthout will return Monday, February 27.

Should Corporations Have More Leeway to Kill Than People Do?
Read the Article at The New York Times

Romney's New Tax Plan Gives the Richest 0.1 Percent a $264,000 Tax Cut
Read the Article at ThinkProgress

As Syria Votes for a New Constitution, Unrest Continues
Read the Article at Reuters

Banker Leaves 1 Percent Tip On $133 Lunch Bill In Defiance of The 99 Percent
Read the Article at The Huffington Post

Bill Maher: If You're a Working-Class Person Who Still Votes Republican... You're Stupid
Read the Article at The Blue State Post

Clarence Thomas for President? Could It Happen?
Read the Article at The Daily Beast

Up to 2 Million Jobs in the Fourth Quarter Were Related to the Obama Stimulus
Read the Article at AOL

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