Buzzflash Daily Headlines

Buzzflash Daily Headlines

Friday 22 October 2010

They Fled Away "Like Gangsters": Murder and Greed in Baghdad
H.P. Albarelli Jr., Truthout: "The contractors don't seem to care about the people they kill. It's just a part of their business. These kinds of incidents occur on a regular basis, but no one seems to be concerned."
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Our Lives, Our Fortunes and Our Sacred Honor
Ellen Dannin, Truthout: "Two hundred thirty-four years ago, our country's founders concluded this country's founding document by declaring: 'We mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.' How odd that the document we call the Declaration of Independence concludes as a Declaration of Inter-Dependence. Furthermore, that interdependence was not just some feel-good, wishy-washy sentiment. Rather, it demanded that we put all toward the general good - not just money, but everything we are and ever will be."
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Veteran Suicides Outnumber US Military Deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan
Nadia Prupis, Truthout: "More than 1,000 veterans in California under 35 died after returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan between 2005 and 2008 - three times as many California service members who were killed in conflict overseas, according to a recently published Bay Citizen report. Investigative journalist Aaron Glantz studied the cases of Reuben Paul Santos, Alex Lowenstein and Elijah Warren to shed light on a growing trend among Afghanistan and Iraq veterans who have died through high-risk behavior and suicide after being discharged. In particular, veterans who returned home to California died through motorcycle and motor vehicle accidents and unintentional poisoning; in addition, veterans were two and a half times as likely to commit suicide as Californians of the same age who had not served in the military."
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Polluter-Funded Groups Spending Almost $70 Million on Anti-Clean Energy Ads
Josh Dorner,ThinkProgress: "Amid an unprecedented surge in mostly secret money into this year's election campaign, a new report released yesterday by the Center for American Progress Action Fund details how 13 right-wing groups - including large secret money groups like American Crossroads, the US Chamber of Commerce, and American Action Network - have spent more than $68.5 million this year on 'misleading and fictitious televisions ads designed to shape midterm elections and advance their anti-clean energy reform agenda.'... The New York Times reports this evening that 'nearly half' of the Chamber's $149 million in contributions in 2008 came from just 45 donors. (The Chamber claims to have 300,000 members.) 'Many of those large donations coincided with lobbying or political campaigns that potentially affected the donors.'"
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US Officials, Experts: No High-Level Afghan Peace Talks Under Way
Jonathan S. Landay and Warren P. Strobel, McClatchy Newspapers: "Despite news reports of high-level talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government, no significant peace negotiations are under way in Afghanistan, US officials and Afghanistan experts said Thursday. These same experts said the reports, which appeared in a number of U.S. media outlets, could be part of a U.S. 'information strategy' to divide and weaken the Taliban leadership."
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Stephen Pitt | The John Bolton Installation: Manufactured Villains
New artwork by Stephen Pitt revives memories of John Bolton, the Bush administration, the buildup to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the ongoing foreshadowing of the right-wing hope to move forward to Iran.
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News in Brief: French Police Force Open Blockaded Fuel Depot, and More ...
Yana Kunichoff, Truthout: A strategic fuel refinery blocked by striking French workers was forced open by French riot police; GOP candidate says violent overthrow of government is "on the table"; outbreak of cholera reported in Haiti; aid convoy enters Gaza; Chamber of Commerce funneling secret donor cash to fight Obama's efforts; protests in China over efforts to eliminate use of Tibetan language in schools; and more ...
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Wilmer Leon | Racist Elements in the Tea Party?
Dr. Wilmer J. Leon III, Truthout: "If there are links between the Tea Party and racist hate groups as the report indicates, then, as NAACP CEO and President Benjamin Jealous states, 'These links should give all patriotic Americans pause.' The members and leadership of the Tea Party should 'distance themselves from those Tea Party leaders who espouse racist ideas, advocate violence, or are affiliated with white supremacist organizations.' They have no place in our 'one Nation under God'; they have no place in our politics."
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Cholera Outbreak Strikes Haiti
Maura O'Connor, GlobalPost: "The death toll in the Haiti cholera outbreak had reached 142 with more than 1,500 infected by Friday morning. Aid groups are rushing in medicine and supplies to try to contain the cholera epidemic."
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In War-Torn Afghanistan, a Park Dedicated to Peace
David Smith-Ferri, Truthout: "Having had a chance to talk with members of the Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers (AYPV) and learn something about their significant commitments to home, family and school, it was with delight and astonishment that we visited Bamiyan Peace Park today with nine proud members of the group and learned about their role in its development and use."
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Honduran Resistance Movement Shows Signs of Progress
Bill Quigley and Laura Raymond, Truthout: "On October 21, the democratic resistance in Honduras will celebrate Artists in Resistance Day. This event contrasts directly with the day's official recognition of Honduras Armed Forces day. The resistance, which is working for a truly democratic Honduras, renamed the day and created an alternative celebration because of a brutal police attack last month on musicians and others that left one dead and scores injured.... On September 15, 2010, a nonviolent march and musical concert in Honduras was attacked by police and security forces. Incredibly, the police involved in the attack made it a point to destroy the musicians' instruments."
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Eugene Robinson | Bad Guys of the Foreclosure Crisis
Eugene Robinson: "Don't blame the lawyers. The crisis over faulty or fraudulent paperwork in mortgage foreclosures - which is either a big deal or a humongous deal, depending on which experts you believe - is the fault of arrogant, greedy lenders who played fast and loose with the basic property rights of homeowners.... But it's the bankers' own fault that there are so many instances of foreclosure documentation with legal loopholes big enough to drive a moving van through. During the years of the real estate boom, lenders cut corners with paperwork in order to make as many loans - and sell them to other lenders, who often sliced and diced them into securities that were then sold to investors - as quickly as possible. This haste and inattention to detail, now coming to light, are partly responsible for the current crisis."
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WikiLeaks Suppression, Detainee Harassment and Collateral Murder (VIDEO)
"The one thing I couldn't live without in Iraq was my own humanity," says Iraq veteran Ethan McCord, who came home from dropping his children off at school to find a video of himself rescuing an child from a bombed-out van. That was the now-infamous WikiLeaks video, and McCord has been collecting his own video and stories from his fellow veterans, speaking out about what he saw at war and what his friends lived through. McCord is interviewed by Laura Flanders to talk about the suppression of new video from WikiLeaks.
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