Truthout Newsletter
Sunday 8 April 2012
The US War on Drug Cartels in Mexico Is a Deadly Failure
Mark Karlin, Truthout: "There is no end game here. The United States is using all its vast powers to do what urban
police do in American cities: chase the corner drug dealers out of one area and into another, through the use of
temporary intensive 'enforcement' - and then chase them back again at a later date.... Meanwhile, in the United States,
controlling the demand side appears to be interpreted as throwing people - particularly minority men - in jail for drug
offenses, leading to the highest incarceration rate in the world."
Survivors Tell of Bloody Aftermath of Continued Fighting in Syria
Anand Gopal, McClatchy Newspapers: "Wounded Syrians being treated in hospitals here are providing detailed accounts of a
bloody battle for the town of Taftanaz in northern Syria earlier this week that left the town devastated and scores of
residents and an unknown number of soldiers dead. Syrian troops loyal to President Bashar Assad succeeded in gaining
control of the town center after two hours of fierce combat, then summarily executed captives and burned bodies,
according to the accounts. At least 82 people died, though it was unclear from the survivors how many of those were
noncombatants and how many were anti-Assad fighters."
Poetry, Plasticity, Philosophical Activism
David PalumboLiu, Truthout: "The formula, '99 percent,' seems at once incredibly rhetorical and real. We are used to
hyperbole; we are less used to an absurdly lop-sided figure that is actually matched by a reality. Poetic figuration
meets statistical validity. Many of our society's inequalities have been rationalized away in statistics. We have
statistics for differences by income; in home ownership; and access to employment, health care and education. But behind
these statistics are lives and values."
Deal Reached on Contested Afghan Night Raids
Alissa J. Rubin, The New York Times News Service: "Afghanistan and the United States signed an agreement on Sunday on
night military raids that would hand responsibility for carrying out the operations to Afghan forces but allow continued
American involvement. The agreement clears the way for the two countries to move ahead with a more comprehensive
long-term partnership agreement, say Afghan and American officials."
Let's Ditch the Empty Suits as Politicians and Bring Back Real Fiscal Policy
Dan Kervick, New Economic Perspectives: "People frequently rail against the pork barrel spending and earmarks that
result from the legislative process But the pork barrels don't worry me nearly as much as handing our economy over to
another generation of theory-addled elitists like Alan Greenspan... We have an election this year. I suggest we use it
to ditch the empty suits, the plutocratic shills and the small minds, and fill their spots with people ready to act."
Welfare Limits Left Poor Adrift as Recession Hit
Jason DeParle, The New York Times News Service: "Perhaps no law in the past generation has drawn more praise than the
drive to 'end welfare as we know it,' which joined the late-'90s economic boom to send caseloads plunging, employment
rates rising and officials of both parties hailing the virtues of tough love. But the distress of the last four years
has added a cautionary postscript: much as overlooked critics of the restrictions once warned, a program that built its
reputation when times were good offered little help when jobs disappeared. Despite the worst economy in decades, the
cash welfare rolls have barely budged."
ends