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Greg Palast | Piers Morgan and Me: Hacked and Attacked
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (t r u t h o u t)
Tue Aug 9 16:33:19 2011
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t r u t h o u t | 08.09
Greg Palast | Piers Morgan and Me: Hacked and Attacked
http://www.truth-out.org/me-and-piers-morgan-hacked-and-attacked-how-morgans-fabricated-story-almost-ruined-reporter/13128337
Greg Palast, Truthout: "I am not surprised that Piers Morgan has been outed for allegedly hacking phones (listening, in one case, to personal messages between Heather Mills and Paul McCartney.) I learned about the creepy antics of this one-man TV-host crime spree the hard way: as a victim of his crime-and-slime form of 'journalism.' On September 29, 1998, Piers Morgan's Mirror ran a screaming full-page headline: SEX SCANDAL ROCKS LABOUR CONFERENCE. His paper had caught a rival paper's reporter who'd broken into the hotel room of a comely, young, rising star of the Labour Party. The reporter was caught there half undressed. I was that reporter."
On the News With Thom Hartmann: Judgment Day in Wisconsin, and More
http://www.truth-out.org/news-thom-hartmann-judgment-day-wisconsin-and-more/1312909718
In today's On the News segment: Today is judgment day in Wisconsin with six Republican state senators who supported Gov. Scott Walker's anti-union efforts now fighting for their political lives in the biggest recall election ever held in this country, investors brace themselves for another turbulent day on Wall Street, violent riots continued for the third straight day across London and a number of other British cities, Japanese government willingly let thousands of its own citizens be exposed to dangerous levels of radiation, the question of personhood is going to be debated in Montana, James McMillan - the figurehead of New York's "The Rent Is Too Damn High" political party is being evicted from his Manhattan apartment because his rent is too damn low.
Ellen Brown | The Market Has Spoken: Austerity Is Bad for Business
http://www.truth-out.org/market-has-spoken-austerity-bad-business/1312817226
Ellen Brown, Truthout: "On Thursday, August 4, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 512 points, the biggest stock market drop since the collapse of September 2008. Why? Weren't the markets supposed to rebound after the debt ceiling agreement was reached on Monday, avoiding US default and a downgrade of US debt? So we were told, but the market apparently understands what politicians don't: the debt deal is a death deal for the economy. Reducing government spending by $2.2 trillion over a decade, as Congress just agreed to do, will kill any hopes of economic recovery. We're looking at a double-dip recession. The figure is actually more than $2.2 trillion."
Britain Recalls Parliament as Unrest Spreads
http://www.truth-out.org/britain-recalls-parliament-violence-spreads/1312895309
Alan Cowell, The New York Times News Service: "Prime Minister David Cameron pledged on Tuesday to flood the streets of London with 10,000 extra police officers and said Parliament would be recalled in emergency session after rioting and looting spread across and beyond London for a third night in what the police called the worst unrest in memory. At the same time, the police said they had launched a murder inquiry after a 26-year-old man, who was not identified by name, was shot and killed in a car in Croydon, south of London, late Monday as rioters torched and looted buildings - the first known fatality since the unrest began in another part of the city on Saturday."
On Eve of Recall, Walker Booed at Wisconsin State Fair
http://www.truth-out.org/eve-recall-walker-booed-wisconsin-state-fair/1312909870
Tanya Somanader, ThinkProgress: "Today, Wisconsin voters will head to the polls for the special recall elections of six Republican state senators who supported Gov. Scott Walker's (R) anti-union bill that stripped public workers of collective bargaining rights. While Walker can tread the recall backlash until January of 2012, Wisconsinites are forcing him to face the music now. Last week, Wisconsin kicked off its 10-day state fair. It's traditional for the governor to herald the fair's opening day. But when Walker took the stage Thursday, he was met with a hail of boos and protests signs. 'This is the one place where all across the state where people can actually come together,' he tried to shout over the crowd. 'At least most people can.' As he walked off stage, the crowd chanted 'Recall Walker.'"
Paul Krugman | Capitulation, Not Compromise, Led to a Debt Deal
http://www.truth-out.org/capitulation-not-compromise-led-debt-deal/1312908382
Paul Krugman, Krugman & Co.: "What would I have done? That's the question President Obama's kinda-sorta defenders keep asking; it's supposed to be a conversation-stopper. But the answer is clear: I would have made a statement declaring that giving in to this kind of blackmail would constitute a violation of my oath of office, and that my lawyers, on careful reflection, have determined that there are several legal options that allow me to ignore this extortionate demand. Now, the Obama people say that this wasn't actually an option. Well, I hate to say this, but I don't believe them."
Secretive Corporate-Legislative Group ALEC Holds Annual Meeting to Rewrite State Laws
http://www.truth-out.org/secretive-corporate-legislative-group-alec-holds-annual-meeting-rewrite-state-laws/1312911539
Amy Goodman, Democracy NOW!: "Hundreds of state legislators from all 50 states have gathered in New Orleans for the annual meeting of the American Legislative Exchange Council, known as ALEC. Critics say the Washington-based organization plays a key role in helping corporations secretly draft model pro-business legislation that has been used by state lawmakers across the country. Unlike many other organizations, ALEC's membership includes both state lawmakers and corporate executives who gather behind closed doors to discuss and vote on model legislation. In recent months, ALEC has come under increasing scrutiny for its role in drafting bills to attack workers' rights, roll back environmental regulations, privatize education, deregulate major industries, and passing voter ID laws."
Cliff Schecter | Washington's Three-Ring Circus
http://www.truth-out.org/washingtons-three-ring-circus/1312903634
Cliff Schecter, Truthout: "It shouldn't be surprising to those of us who physically restrain our gag reflex and endeavor to observe or participate in the American political spectacle that a trending topic on Twitter this past weekend was the combination of a four-letter word, the word 'you' and 'Washington.' For a long time now, what goes on in the Beltway has ceased to serve the interests of the vast majority of Americans, in that, shockingly, most of us don't have weekly passes to the Creation Museum or attend performances at the David H. Koch Theatre while monocle clad and porting brandy snifters. But the current disaster, over an artificially created 'debt ceiling' (an artifact of World War I) that's been a non-event in the past, is pushing our political culture toward what was previously reserved only for Barnum and Bailey."
Thom Hartmann | Unequal Uses for the Bill of Rights
http://www.truth-out.org/unequal-protection-unequal-uses-bill-rights/1312898624
Thom Hartmann, Berrett-Koehler Publishers: "'Of the cases in this court in which the Fourteenth Amendment was applied during its first fifty years after its adoption, less than one half of one percent invoked it in protection of the Negro race, and more than fifty percent asked that its benefits be extended to corporations.' - Justice Hugo Black, 1938. The statistic in this chapter's epigraph is sobering indeed. It says corporations sought protection under the Fourteenth Amendment a hundred times more often than did the people it was intended to protect. And this is not a victimless shift - there have been real and substantial consequences. In the years following the Santa Clara decision and the cases that referred to it, companies have used their personhood rights in an amazing variety of ways. What follows in this chapter is a small selection."
Interior Secretary Tells Alaskans Obama Backs Drilling
http://www.truth-out.org/interior-secretary-tells-alaskans-obama-backs-drilling/1312904526
Sean Cockerham, Anchorage Daily News: "Interior Secretary Ken Salazar came to Anchorage on Monday and said the Obama administration supports more oil drilling in Alaska, potentially including offshore Arctic development. Salazar joined Alaska Sen. Mark Begich and Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed for a meeting with Alaska business people and said the president's feeling toward Arctic offshore drilling is 'Let's take a look at what's up there and see what it is we can develop.'"
We Are Wisconsin, and We're Already Winners
http://www.truth-out.org/we-are-wisconsin-and-were-already-winners/1312909104
Isaiah J. Poole, Campaign for America's Future: "This morning Wisconsin voters will stream to the polls in a historic recall election that pits defenders of working people against six incumbents who backed a right-wing legislative assault on workers. It is not too late to give those working-class fighters a massive outpouring of last-minute support to counter the torrent of right-wing cash that is buying millions of dollars' worth of attack ads and robo-calls in defense of the Republican state Senate incumbents. Through the 'Call Out The Vote' campaign by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee and Democracy for America, and the 'virtual phone bank' set up by the Wisconsin Democratic Party, anyone with a telephone can persuade voters to go to the polls and elect middle-class champions to replace the incumbents who backed an all-out assault on the state's working people."
Barbara Ehrenreich: On Turning Poverty Into an American Crime
http://www.truth-out.org/turning-poverty-american-crime/1312901308
Barbara Ehrenreich, TomDispatch: "I completed the manuscript for 'Nickel and Dimed' in a time of seemingly boundless prosperity.... The big question, 10 years later, is whether things have improved or worsened for those in the bottom third of the income distribution, the people who clean hotel rooms, work in warehouses, wash dishes in restaurants, care for the very young and very old, and keep the shelves stocked in our stores. The short answer is that things have gotten much worse, especially since the economic downturn that began in 2008."
Stepping Out of Afghanistan's Shadows
http://www.truth-out.org/stepping-out-afghanistans-shadows/1312897169
James Gundun, The Trench: "Like rotating blades hitting the dirt, propaganda spin from Afghanistan's traumatic Chinook crash has destructively spiraled into US policy. The 30 US troops inside the helicopter, presumably a Special Operations-employed MH-47G Chinook, morphed into masked heroes overnight, their personal lives immediately reduced to political campaigning. To both US policy-makers and the Taliban, Wardak's wreckage is a symbol of their 'success' and the need to 'fight on.' A stalemate, in other words."
Truthout Contributor Jeffrey Kaye Discusses Guantanamo Water Torture and Rumsfeld's Denials (Video)
http://www.truth-out.org/truthout-contributor-jeffrey-kaye-discusses-guantanamo-water-torture-and-rumsfelds-denials/131290109
Jeffrey Kaye, RTAmerica: "A new report published by Truthout last week suggests that there may be much more to interrogation techniques and where they were used. This includes a little known testimony by former Guantanamo detainee Murat Kurnaz before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, where he described not waterboarding, but a form of water treatment. Jeffrey Kaye, the Truthout contributor who authored the groundbreaking report, discusses."
TRUTHOUT'S BUZZFLASH DAILY HEADLINES
The demand economy has collapsed for the vast majority of Americans. Jobs have been lost, wages have stagnated and the buying power of all but the wealthy dramatically reduced.
But if you are super-rich, according to an August 4 New York Times article (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44016807/ns/business-us_business/#.TkF3u4Jp4g0), you "are (almost) spending like it's 2006: luxury goods are flying off the shelves, even with the economy staggering."
If you want to walk in the shoes of the ultra-wealthy, it will cost you a few weeks' wages (if you are lucky enough to have a job). According to The Times, "In 2008, for example, the most expensive Louboutin item that Saks sold was a $1,575 pair of suede boots. Now, it is a $2,495 pair of suede boots that are thigh-high."
While most of America struggles with the basic costs of living, even delaying medical care because of high health insurance deductibles (for those who have medical insurance), the rich are on a luxury item buying rampage. According to the Times:
"Luxury goods stores, which fared much worse than other retailers in the recession, are more than recovering - they are zooming. Many high-end businesses are even able to mark up, rather than discount, items to attract customers who equate quality with price....
The luxury category has posted 10 consecutive months of sales increases compared with the year earlier, even as overall consumer spending on categories like furniture and electronics has been tepid, according to the research service MasterCard Advisors SpendingPulse. In July, the luxury segment had an 11.6 percent increase, the biggest monthly gain in more than a year."
With the ongoing DC subsidies of the most affluent Americans through tax cuts, America has moved closer to the class and income gaps that characterize third-world nations.
To paraphrase an old Nancy Sinatra song, "These $2,495 boots are made for walking, and one of these days these boots are going to walk all over you." (http://www.lyricsbox.com/nancy-sinatra-lyrics-these-boots-are-made-for-walkin-lhlj547.html)
They already are.
Mark Karlin
Editor, BuzzFlash at Truthout
New York Times Editorial: It's Time for President Obama to Get Serious About Job Growth
Read the Article at The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/09/opinion/past-time-for-a-new-agenda.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha211
Gallup: US Employers Hold Back on Job Creation
Read the Article at Gallup
http://www.gallup.com/poll/148766/Employers-Holding-Back-Job-Creation.aspx
White House Adviser Blames Tea Party for Downgrade
Read the Article at The Associated Press
http://news.yahoo.com/white-house-adviser-blames-tea-party-downgrade-155220470.html
US Spends Six Times More on Defense Than China, Iran and North Korea Combined
Read the Article at ThinkProgress
http://thinkprogress.org/security/2011/08/05/289395/u-s-defense-expenditures-dwarf-china-iran-north-korea/
Union Decline Accounts for Much of the Rise in Wage Inequality
Read the Article at Newswise
http://www.newswise.com/articles/study-union-decline-accounts-for-much-of-the-rise-in-wage-inequality
The State of the Murdoch Empire and Its Mob-Like Structure
Read the Article at Adweek
http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/how-bad-news-corp-133928?page=1
The Abortion That Romney Doesn't Talk About Anymore
Read the Article at Salon
http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/08/08/mitt_romney_abortion_ann_keenan
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<!-- TemplateBeginEditable name="content" --><p>Tuesday 9 August 2011 <br />
<br />
<font><strong>Greg Palast | Piers Morgan and Me: Hacked and Attacked</strong></font><br />
Greg Palast, Truthout: "I am not surprised that Piers Morgan has been outed for allegedly hacking phones (listening, in one case, to personal messages between Heather Mills and Paul McCartney.) I learned about the creepy antics of this one-man TV-host crime spree the hard way: as a victim of his crime-and-slime form of 'journalism.' On September 29, 1998, Piers Morgan's Mirror ran a screaming full-page headline: SEX SCANDAL ROCKS LABOUR CONFERENCE. His paper had caught a rival paper's reporter who'd broken into the hotel room of a comely, young, rising star of the Labour Party. The reporter was caught there half undressed. I was that reporter." <br />
<a href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=g5Ku1BR9RnbMnRo3eQ8YC2W1QXHzFYuo"><font color="#cc0000">Read the Article</font></a> <br />
<br />
<font><strong>On the News With Thom Hartmann: Judgment Day in Wisconsin, and More</strong></font><br />
In today's On the News segment: Today is judgment day in Wisconsin with six Republican state senators who supported Gov. Scott Walker's anti-union efforts now fighting for their political lives in the biggest recall election ever held in this country, investors brace themselves for another turbulent day on Wall Street, violent riots continued for the third straight day across London and a number of other British cities, Japanese government willingly let thousands of its own citizens be exposed to dangerous levels of radiation, the question of personhood is going to be debated in Montana, James McMillan - the figurehead of New York's "The Rent Is Too Damn High" political party is being evicted from his Manhattan apartment because his rent is too damn low. <br />
<a href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=L%2Fv5A7YECqqdowgYLR09J2W1QXHzFYuo"><font color="#cc0000">Watch the Video and Read the Transcript</font></a> <br />
<br />
<font><strong>Ellen Brown | The Market Has Spoken: Austerity Is Bad for Business</strong></font><br />
Ellen Brown, Truthout: "On Thursday, August 4, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 512 points, the biggest stock market drop since the collapse of September 2008. Why? Weren't the markets supposed to rebound after the debt ceiling agreement was reached on Monday, avoiding US default and a downgrade of US debt? So we were told, but the market apparently understands what politicians don't: the debt deal is a death deal for the economy. Reducing government spending by $2.2 trillion over a decade, as Congress just agreed to do, will kill any hopes of economic recovery. We're looking at a double-dip recession. The figure is actually more than $2.2 trillion." <br />
<a href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=n4C50ANAnxelbyvFci0h42W1QXHzFYuo"><font color="#cc0000">Read the Article</font></a> <br />
<br />
<font><strong>Britain Recalls Parliament as Unrest Spreads</strong></font><br />
Alan Cowell, The New York Times News Service: "Prime Minister David Cameron pledged on Tuesday to flood the streets of London with 10,000 extra police officers and said Parliament would be recalled in emergency session after rioting and looting spread across and beyond London for a third night in what the police called the worst unrest in memory. At the same time, the police said they had launched a murder inquiry after a 26-year-old man, who was not identified by name, was shot and killed in a car in Croydon, south of London, late Monday as rioters torched and looted buildings - the first known fatality since the unrest began in another part of the city on Saturday."<br />
<a href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=O0M4bPXVItzkDC4Koz7ov2W1QXHzFYuo"><font color="#cc0000">Read the Article</font></a> <br />
<br />
<font><strong>On Eve of Recall, Walker Booed at Wisconsin State Fair</strong></font><br />
Tanya Somanader, ThinkProgress: "Today, Wisconsin voters will head to the polls for the special recall elections of six Republican state senators who supported Gov. Scott Walker's (R) anti-union bill that stripped public workers of collective bargaining rights. While Walker can tread the recall backlash until January of 2012, Wisconsinites are forcing him to face the music now. Last week, Wisconsin kicked off its 10-day state fair. It's traditional for the governor to herald the fair's opening day. But when Walker took the stage Thursday, he was met with a hail of boos and protests signs. 'This is the one place where all across the state where people can actually come together,' he tried to shout over the crowd. 'At least most people can.' As he walked off stage, the crowd chanted 'Recall Walker.'" <br />
<a href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=5eWE0YKerj1vHU%2BHIC8mTTqkwJxKStOq"><font color="#cc0000">Read the Article</font></a> <br />
<br />
<font><strong>Paul Krugman | Capitulation, Not Compromise, Led to a Debt Deal</strong></font><br />
Paul Krugman, Krugman & Co.: "What would I have done? That's the question President Obama's kinda-sorta defenders keep asking; it's supposed to be a conversation-stopper. But the answer is clear: I would have made a statement declaring that giving in to this kind of blackmail would constitute a violation of my oath of office, and that my lawyers, on careful reflection, have determined that there are several legal options that allow me to ignore this extortionate demand. Now, the Obama people say that this wasn't actually an option. Well, I hate to say this, but I don't believe them." <br />
<a href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=nvX1R%2BYHhX6rVIrDfpJl92W1QXHzFYuo"><font color="#cc0000">Read the Article</font></a> <br />
<br />
<font><strong>Secretive Corporate-Legislative Group ALEC Holds Annual Meeting to Rewrite State Laws</strong></font><br />
Amy Goodman, Democracy NOW!: "Hundreds of state legislators from all 50 states have gathered in New Orleans for the annual meeting of the American Legislative Exchange Council, known as ALEC. Critics say the Washington-based organization plays a key role in helping corporations secretly draft model pro-business legislation that has been used by state lawmakers across the country. Unlike many other organizations, ALEC's membership includes both state lawmakers and corporate executives who gather behind closed doors to discuss and vote on model legislation. In recent months, ALEC has come under increasing scrutiny for its role in drafting bills to attack workers' rights, roll back environmental regulations, privatize education, deregulate major industries, and passing voter ID laws." <br />
<a href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=4vzXE88cjR4MsOZtCcWIgGW1QXHzFYuo"><font color="#cc0000">Read the Article</font></a> <br />
<br />
<font><strong>Cliff Schecter | Washington's Three-Ring Circus</strong></font><br />
Cliff Schecter, Truthout: "It shouldn't be surprising to those of us who physically restrain our gag reflex and endeavor to observe or participate in the American political spectacle that a trending topic on Twitter this past weekend was the combination of a four-letter word, the word 'you' and 'Washington.' For a long time now, what goes on in the Beltway has ceased to serve the interests of the vast majority of Americans, in that, shockingly, most of us don't have weekly passes to the Creation Museum or attend performances at the David H. Koch Theatre while monocle clad and porting brandy snifters. But the current disaster, over an artificially created 'debt ceiling' (an artifact of World War I) that's been a non-event in the past, is pushing our political culture toward what was previously reserved only for Barnum and Bailey." <br />
<a href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=5YvkDCAO9DqxTkzPMKoof2W1QXHzFYuo"><font color="#cc0000">Read the Article</font></a> <br />
<br />
<font><strong>Thom Hartmann | Unequal Uses for the Bill of Rights</strong></font><br />
Thom Hartmann, Berrett-Koehler Publishers: "'Of the cases in this court in which the Fourteenth Amendment was applied during its first fifty years after its adoption, less than one half of one percent invoked it in protection of the Negro race, and more than fifty percent asked that its benefits be extended to corporations.' - Justice Hugo Black, 1938. The statistic in this chapter's epigraph is sobering indeed. It says corporations sought protection under the Fourteenth Amendment a hundred times more often than did the people it was intended to protect. And this is not a victimless shift - there have been real and substantial consequences. In the years following the Santa Clara decision and the cases that referred to it, companies have used their personhood rights in an amazing variety of ways. What follows in this chapter is a small selection." <br />
<a href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=lwnWVeyHN%2BNA4paN4ni6qmW1QXHzFYuo"><font color="#cc0000">Read the Article</font></a> <br />
<br />
<font><strong>Interior Secretary Tells Alaskans Obama Backs Drilling</strong></font><br />
Sean Cockerham, Anchorage Daily News: "Interior Secretary Ken Salazar came to Anchorage on Monday and said the Obama administration supports more oil drilling in Alaska, potentially including offshore Arctic development. Salazar joined Alaska Sen. Mark Begich and Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed for a meeting with Alaska business people and said the president's feeling toward Arctic offshore drilling is 'Let's take a look at what's up there and see what it is we can develop.'" <br />
<a href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=js9HE5YxZcstOV8zFa0ZR2W1QXHzFYuo"><font color="#cc0000">Read the Article</font></a> <br />
<br />
<font><strong>We Are Wisconsin, and We're Already Winners</strong></font><br />
Isaiah J. Poole, Campaign for America's Future: "This morning Wisconsin voters will stream to the polls in a historic recall election that pits defenders of working people against six incumbents who backed a right-wing legislative assault on workers. It is not too late to give those working-class fighters a massive outpouring of last-minute support to counter the torrent of right-wing cash that is buying millions of dollars' worth of attack ads and robo-calls in defense of the Republican state Senate incumbents. Through the 'Call Out The Vote' campaign by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee and Democracy for America, and the 'virtual phone bank' set up by the Wisconsin Democratic Party, anyone with a telephone can persuade voters to go to the polls and elect middle-class champions to replace the incumbents who backed an all-out assault on the state's working people." <br />
<a href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=dUqSeUrVHy9W3Q6lE7HVTWW1QXHzFYuo"><font color="#cc0000">Read the Article</font></a> <br />
<br />
<font><strong>Barbara Ehrenreich: On Turning Poverty Into an American Crime</strong></font><br />
Barbara Ehrenreich, TomDispatch: "I completed the manuscript for 'Nickel and Dimed' in a time of seemingly boundless prosperity.... The big question, 10 years later, is whether things have improved or worsened for those in the bottom third of the income distribution, the people who clean hotel rooms, work in warehouses, wash dishes in restaurants, care for the very young and very old, and keep the shelves stocked in our stores. The short answer is that things have gotten much worse, especially since the economic downturn that began in 2008." <br />
<a href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=90483eUnTQT%2F1bfZtE7OjWW1QXHzFYuo"><font color="#cc0000">Read the Article</font></a> <br />
<br />
<font><strong>Stepping Out of Afghanistan's Shadows</strong></font><br />
James Gundun, The Trench: "Like rotating blades hitting the dirt, propaganda spin from Afghanistan's traumatic Chinook crash has destructively spiraled into US policy. The 30 US troops inside the helicopter, presumably a Special Operations-employed MH-47G Chinook, morphed into masked heroes overnight, their personal lives immediately reduced to political campaigning. To both US policy-makers and the Taliban, Wardak's wreckage is a symbol of their 'success' and the need to 'fight on.' A stalemate, in other words." <br />
<a href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=%2FkspgC747iGTLn3U9nFw0mW1QXHzFYuo"><font color="#cc0000">Read the Article</font></a> <br />
<br />
<font><strong>Truthout Contributor Jeffrey Kaye Discusses Guantanamo Water Torture and Rumsfeld's Denials (Video)</strong></font><br />
Jeffrey Kaye, RTAmerica: "A new report published by Truthout last week suggests that there may be much more to interrogation techniques and where they were used. This includes a little known testimony by former Guantanamo detainee Murat Kurnaz before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, where he described not waterboarding, but a form of water treatment. Jeffrey Kaye, the Truthout contributor who authored the groundbreaking report, discusses." <br />
<a href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=qwSksLMN2pb%2BS1W52h17wWW1QXHzFYuo"><font color="#cc0000">Watch the Video</font></a> </p>
<p><a href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=7uSf8f4oA4TSkbZ%2FGFUSaWW1QXHzFYuo" target="_blank"><font color="#cc0000"><em>Click here for more Truthout articles</em></font></a></p>
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<div align="left"><strong><em>TRUTHOUT'S BUZZFLASH DAILY HEADLINES</em></strong></div>
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<p>The demand economy has collapsed for the vast majority of Americans. Jobs have been lost, wages have stagnated and the buying power of all but the wealthy dramatically reduced.</p>
<p>But if you are super-rich, according to an August 4 <a href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=Yqr99P6NCaWHui1D2t8is2W1QXHzFYuo"><font color="#cc0000">New York Times article</font></a>, you "are (almost) spending like it's 2006: luxury goods are flying off the shelves, even with the economy staggering."</p>
<p>If you want to walk in the shoes of the ultra-wealthy, it will cost you a few weeks' wages (if you are lucky enough to have a job). According to The Times, "In 2008, for example, the most expensive Louboutin item that Saks sold was a $1,575 pair of suede boots. Now, it is a $2,495 pair of suede boots that are thigh-high."</p>
<p>While most of America struggles with the basic costs of living, even delaying medical care because of high health insurance deductibles (for those who have medical insurance), the rich are on a luxury item buying rampage. According to the Times:</p>
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<p>Luxury goods stores, which fared much worse than other retailers in the recession, are more than recovering - they are zooming. Many high-end businesses are even able to mark up, rather than discount, items to attract customers who equate quality with price....</p>
<p>The luxury category has posted 10 consecutive months of sales increases compared with the year earlier, even as overall consumer spending on categories like furniture and electronics has been tepid, according to the research service MasterCard Advisors SpendingPulse. In July, the luxury segment had an 11.6 percent increase, the biggest monthly gain in more than a year.</p>
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<p>With the ongoing DC subsidies of the most affluent Americans through tax cuts, America has moved closer to the class and income gaps that characterize third-world nations.</p>
<p>To paraphrase an old <a href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=jNFyW2ZUgjMHGD0%2FaIFQf2W1QXHzFYuo"><font color="#cc0000">Nancy Sinatra song</font></a>, "These $2,495 boots are made for walking, and one of these days these boots are going to walk all over you."</p>
<p>They already are.</p>
<p>Mark Karlin<br />
Editor, BuzzFlash at Truthout</p>
</em></p>
<p><strong>New York Times Editorial: It's Time for President Obama to Get Serious About Job Growth<br />
</strong><a href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=eYX27KY%2BqMUupwRzTVHrc2W1QXHzFYuo" target="_blank"><font color="#cc0000">Read the Article at The New York Times</font></a></p>
<p><strong>Gallup: US Employers Hold Back on Job Creation<br />
</strong><a href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=hf5jaARzoENEW4HpJfYxQmW1QXHzFYuo" target="_blank"><font color="#cc0000">Read the Article at Gallup</font></a></p>
<p><strong>White House Adviser Blames Tea Party for Downgrade<br />
</strong><a href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=Qa1O7NQp9Imw7ColW3xggGW1QXHzFYuo" target="_blank"><font color="#cc0000">Read the Article at The Associated Press</font></a></p>
<p><strong>US Spends Six Times More on Defense Than China, Iran and North Korea Combined<br />
</strong><a href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=K3sKOgJRK2Pmj2DWpTdYqWW1QXHzFYuo" target="_blank"><font color="#cc0000">Read the Article at ThinkProgress</font></a></p>
<p><strong>Union Decline Accounts for Much of the Rise in Wage Inequality<br />
</strong><a href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=xip4%2B3cdiO4SWKZNcFv9IWW1QXHzFYuo" target="_blank"><font color="#cc0000">Read the Article at Newswise</font></a></p>
<p><strong>The State of the Murdoch Empire and Its Mob-Like Structure<br />
</strong><a href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=UfT%2BqlWNGHbFE1vQd%2FKp%2F2W1QXHzFYuo" target="_blank"><font color="#cc0000">Read the Article at Adweek</font></a></p>
<p><strong>The Abortion That Romney Doesn't Talk About Anymore<br />
</strong><a href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=oKmQXDLQOhgtW1D545LK42W1QXHzFYuo" target="_blank"><font color="#cc0000">Read the Article at Salon</font></a></p>
<p><a href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=7sr4IcxubF0FZvMDgpf7v2W1QXHzFYuo"><b><font color="#cc0000"><em>Click here for more BuzzFlash headlines</em></font></b></a></p>
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