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Ralph Nader Was Right About Barack Obama

Chris Hedges March 15, 2010 Chris Hedges

Source: Truthdig

We owe Ralph Nader and Cynthia McKinney an apology. They were right about Barack Obama. They were right about the corporate state. They had the courage of their convictions and they stood fast despite wholesale defections and ridicule by liberals and progressives. 

Obama lies as cravenly, if not as crudely, as George W. Bush. He promised us that the transfer of $12.8 trillion in taxpayer money to Wall Street would open up credit and lending to the average consumer. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC), however, admitted last week that banks have reduced lending at the sharpest pace since 1942. As a senator, Obama promised he would filibuster amendments to the FISA Reform Act that retroactively made legal the wiretapping and monitoring of millions of American citizens without warrant; instead he supported passage of the loathsome legislation. He told us he would withdraw American troops from Iraq, close the detention facility at Guantánamo, end torture, restore civil liberties such as habeas corpus and create new jobs. None of this has happened. read more

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The Shipwreck of the Markets: Globalization on the Rocks

David Ransom March 10, 2010 David Ransom

In September 1993 Mexicans were, it was said in high places, about to be liberated from their historic destiny: 'So far from God, so close to the United States.' The solution was simply to merge with the US and Canada in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), leaving the rest to take care of itself. Ciudad Juárez, across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas, was on the front line of this radical advance, and I went there to take a look.

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Celebrating Compromises in Uruguay: Mujica Inaugurated as President

Benjamin Dangl March 4, 2010 Benjamin Dangl

José Mujica
The smell of fried food and sausage sandwiches filled the Montevideo air as José "Pepe" Mujica assumed the presidency of Uruguay on Monday, March 1st. Street vendors lined the inauguration parade route selling Uruguayan flags to a boisterous crowd which cheered, "Olé, olé, olé, Pepe, Pepe." Mujica, a former Tupamaro guerrilla who was imprisoned and tortured under the country's dictatorship, stood in front of the multitude with his wife and vice president as he led the crowd in singing folksongs that were outlawed during military rule.

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DoD Releases Records of Illegal Surveillance

William Fisher March 3, 2010 William Fisher

Source: Truthout

Defense Department agencies improperly collected and disseminated intelligence on Planned Parenthood and a white supremacist group called the National Alliance, an Air Force briefing improperly included intelligence on an antiwar group called Alaskans for Peace and Justice, and Army Signals Intelligence in Louisiana unlawfully intercepted civilian cell phone conversations.

These are among the disclosures made this week in the release of more than 800 heavily-redacted pages of intelligence oversight reports, detailing activities that the Defense Department’s (DoD) Inspector General has "reason to believe are unlawful." read more

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Honduras After the Coup: Fear and Defiance

Peter Lackowski March 3, 2010 Peter Lackowski

"Nos tienen miedo porque no tenemos miedo." ("They are afraid of us because we are not afraid of them.")  This slogan was chanted by the thousands of demonstrators who defied the illegitimate de facto government imposed by the Honduran military in the protests that erupted throughout the country immediately after the after the coup of June 28, 2009.  On a recent human rights delegation to Honduras, I was introduced to the role that fear plays in the political life of the country, and to the importance of the fact that so many people are ready to defy that fear.