Arun Gupta and Steve Horn | The Silver Lining in Walker's Victory

Thursday 07 June 2012 Arun Gupta and Steve Horn | The Silver Lining in Walker's Victory Arun Gupta and Steve Horn, Truthout: "Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker did not win the June 5 recall vote because a parade of Daddy Warbucks stuffed his suit full of six-figure checks. The Democratic challenger Tom Barrett did not lose because he raised a scant $4 million to Walker's $30 million war chest. Walker won because he had a vision, however brutish, and he forged a rich-poor alliance that supports it. " Read the Article For-Profit College Reform: How Democratic Power Lobbyists Helped Water It Down Charles M. Smith and Dina Rasor, Truthout: "This type of lobbying by the Democrats will continue until they are exposed and shamed for influence peddling and making money on what is usually a Republican philosophy of no reforms or regulations." Read the Article Paul Krugman | An American Folly: The Professional Centrist Paul Krugman, Krugman & Co.: "Things fall apart. And the center not only did not hold, it couldn't seem to get any attention whatsoever. Americans Elect, a lavishly funded 'centrist' group that was supposed to provide an alternative to traditional political parties, has been a ridiculous flop. Basically, about seven people were actually excited about the venture - all of them political pundits. Actual voters couldn't care less." Read the Article Election Countdown 2012: Elizabeth Warren Must Push Against Scott Brown's DoubleSpeak, and More Lambert Strether, NakedCapitalism: Amir Khadir, the only Quebec solidaire Member of the National Assembly, was one of 65 protesters who were handcuffed and detained Tuesday night; following police brutality, voters in Fullerton, California, ousted city council members in hopes for future reforms; in order to win, Elizabeth Warren's campaign must push more against Scott Brown's doublespeak, and more. Read the Article Climate Crisis: The Silence Is Deafening Dr. Brian Moench, Truthout: "Despite the wide-reaching civil rights implications of the president's encouraging new stance on gay rights, he remains weak on another issue, one which concerns the very survival of life (human and non-human) as we know it, where there is no margin for error and no time to waste, issues where the clock is not only ticking, but nearing the end of its prelude to catastrophe. I'm talking, of course, about 'the climate crisis' - what the conniving Republican strategist Frank Luntz convinced the media to start calling 'climate change' in 2003 because polling showed that it sounded less ominous than 'global warming.'" Read the Article In Wisconsin, Union Defeat Doesn't Mean Tea Party Win Abby Scher, Truthout: "Where government jobs are disproportionately held by people of color, the "government union" talking point can also mobilize racial resentment without mentioning race. In the post-Citizens United era, with big money free to spend without limits, building worker power, income and jobs may be the only way to counter it." Read the Article Why I Returned My Medals Graham Clumpner, Truthout: "I could see things deteriorating every day. Our contact with the locals only isolated us and made things worse. Our treatment of the prisoners was what changed me. When they were blindfolded and handcuffed, it was easy to see them as less than human. So, we treated them that way. The medal I returned outside the NATO summit was the Global War on Terrorism Medal or GWOT. I refer to it as the Global War OF Terrorism. That's what we are, the purveyors of terror to the people of Afghanistan and Iraq." Read the Article Robert Reich: Why We Have to End the Bush Tax Cuts for the Wealthy Robert Reich, Robert Reich's Blog: "Bush promised the tax cuts would more than pay for themselves in terms of their alleged positive impact on the economy. The record shows they didn't. Job growth after the Bush tax cuts was a fraction of the growth under Bill Clinton - even before the economy crashed in late 2008. And the median wage dropped, adjusted for inflation." Read the Article and Watch the Video Bringing the Battlefield to the Border Todd Miller, TomDispatch: "William 'Drew' Dodds, the salesperson for StrongWatch, a Tucson-based company, is at the top of his game when he describes developments on the southern border of the United States in football terms. In his telling, that boundary is the line of scrimmage, and the technology his company is trying to sell - a mobile surveillance system named Freedom-On-The-Move, a camera set atop a retractable mast outfitted in the bed of a truck and maneuvered with an Xbox controller - acts like a 'roving linebacker.'" Read the Article Gold Rush in Haiti! Who Will Get Rich? Jane Regan, Haiti Grassroots Watch: "The gold rush that has been quietly shaping up over the past several years promises to produce some $20 billion in wealth, but where will the money go? Who will get rich? And at what cost?" Read the Article Turkish Court Indicts Senior Israeli Military Officials in Murders on Gaza Flotilla Ann Wright, War Is A Crime: "On May 28, 2012, almost two years after the Israeli attack, a court in Istanbul, Turkey, voted unanimously to approve an indictment against Israel's former military chief Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, as well as for Eliezer Marom, Amos Yadlin, and Avishai Levi, the former heads of the Israeli Navy, Air Force Intelligence, and Military Intelligence. If convicted, each faces nine consecutive life terms in prison for 'inciting to kill monstrously, and by torturing.' Read the Article Radicalization Within the Armed Forces: DoD Losing Sight of the Forest for the Trees Mikey Weinstein, AlterNet: "Peering inward, the top brass of the United States Armed Forces have dangerously lost sight of the forest for the trees. Invoking myopic, misleading drivel marinated in the 'bath salts' of fundamentalist Christian predation, it has become all too clear that the Pentagon is incapable of making truly sober assessments of the profound internal threats and weaknesses it faces." Read the Article Click here for more Truthout articles BUZZFLASH DAILY HEADLINES The Democrats Must Begin Advocating for the Working Class and Not Wall Street Mark Karlin, BuzzFlash at Truthout: "Given that the Democrats have paid little attention to wage stagnation and reviving a domestic manufacturing base, it is likely that non-union workers and even lower-wage union workers are going to fall for the Walker/Koch brothers pitch: why should they pay for the benefits, pensions and salaries of public employees when these workers are struggling to survive? That is the Walker explicit and implicit question. And it worked." Read the BuzzFlash Commentary Fifth Federal Judge Deems Anti-Gay Marriage Defense of Marriage Act Unconstitutional Read the Article at the Gothamist Hottest Year on Record Thus Far Read the Article at the Hill Farmworkers Face Rape and Sexual Abuse Epidemic in the Fields Read the Article at BuzzFlash Obama: Bush Tax Cuts for Wealthy Will Not Be Extended, Period Read the Article at The Associated Press Wage Theft From Paychecks Read the Article at McClatchy China Bars Foreign Tourist From Visiting Tibet Read the Article at Talking Points Memo The Almost Scoop on Nixon's Treason Read the Article at Consortium News Click here for more BuzzFlash headlines   ---------- Support Truthout with a tax-deductible donation by clicking here. To ensure you receive our messages please add the following address to your email address book: messenger@truthout.org Click here to Subscribe Our Privacy Policy Click here to Unsubscribe Truthout is a proud member of the Newspaper Guild/CWA, Local 36047