William Rivers Pitt - The Cult of Death

So much for security.

 

http://www.truth-out.org/militants-launch-attack-us-embassy-kabul/1315931638

 

Tuesday 13 September 2011 William Rivers Pitt | The Cult of Death William Rivers Pitt, Truthout: "These 'Tea Party' people profess to be representatives of average Americans, despite being a complete creation of the 0.1% wealthy elite. They claim government is too big, even as many of them hail from states (think Texas) that would utterly collapse without federal funding. They bring guns to public rallies. They like Medicare, until they are reminded that Medicare is a government program. And they are 'Christians,' members of the faithful, who enjoy executions and who think uninsured people should be left to die." Read the Article Noam Chomsky | Not Since the War of 1812 Noam Chomsky, Seven Stories Press: "The horrifying atrocities of September 11 are something quite new in world affairs, not in their scale and character, but in the target. For the United States, this is the first time since the War of 1812 that the national territory has been under attack, or even threatened.... For the first time, the guns have been directed the other way. That is a dramatic change." Read the Article US Poverty Rate, One in Six at Highest Level in Years Sabrina Tavernise, The New York Times News Service: "The portion of Americans living in poverty last year rose to the highest level since 1993, the Census Bureau reported Tuesday, fresh evidence that the sluggish economic recovery has done nothing for the country's poorest citizens." Read the Article On the News With Thom Hartmann: United States ONLY G-20 Nation Where New Workers Have Less Education Than Retiring Workers, and More In today's On the News segment: Shocking debate moment, libertarian Ron Paul asked if a 30-year-old without health insurance and in dire need of medical care should be let die, crowd yelled "Yes!"; victims of the Joplin tornado back in May still haven't received help; Republicans working to cut federal Pell Grant programs; United States is ONLY G-20 nation where new workers have less education than retiring workers; another giant oil slick has been discovered in Gulf of Mexico; and more. Watch the Video and Read the Transcript Militants Launch Attack on US Embassy in Kabul Alissa J. Rubin and Jack Healy, The New York Times News Service: "Insurgents launched a complex assault against the American Embassy and the nearby NATO headquarters on Tuesday, pelting the heavily guarded compounds with rockets in an attack that raised new questions about the security of Afghanistan's capital and the Westerners working there." Read the Article Little Brothers Are Watching: The Example of Massachusetts Nancy Murray and Kade Crockford, Truthout and ACLU Massachusetts: "Early in the morning on March 13, 2008, Australian-born Peter Watchorn, one of the world's foremost harpsichordists, was standing on a subway platform in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with a professional cellist from Australia who had his instrument with him. They were on their way to Logan International Airport to catch a plane. After going a few stops, all the trains in the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) subway system were brought to a halt while theirs was searched with sniffer dogs. They thought they still could make their plane when their train started up again and they made it to the connecting bus. But before they reached their terminal, they were hauled off the bus and subjected to an abusive search - by no fewer than eight officers - during which the cello, valued at $250,000, was nearly tipped out of the case." Read the Article Perry, Romney Duel on Social Security at Tea Party Debate David Lightman, McClatchy Newspapers: "The future of Social Security, a pivotal issue in retiree-rich Florida, seized the political spotlight at Monday's Republican presidential debate as Mitt Romney tried hard to tar Texas Gov. Rick Perry as insensitive and overly eager to tear the popular system apart. In a sometimes intense debate full of charges and countercharges on a wide variety of issues, Romney landed strong blows on Perry." Read the Article Thom Hartmann | Humans v. Corporations: Unequal Privacy Thom Hartmann, Berrett-Koehler Publishers: "Who reads your mail? Nobody? It depends what system you use for communication. Paper mail that is delivered by the government-run U.S. Postal Service carries legal protections for the privacy of our communications. Nobody, at least without a court order, can read our letters or track what we send and receive. But if you send an e-mail, the corporation that provides your Internet access can keep track of who you correspond with, what Web sites you visit, and everything you write, read, and view." Read the Article Green Jobs: A Promise Unfulfilled Russ Choma, New America Media: "When Barack Obama was running for president, he promised to spend $150 billion over the next decade on renewable energy technologies, an investment that would lead to 5 million new, high-paying jobs that could never be outsourced. Once elected, Obama pushed through an economic stimulus plan that allocated $500 million to green job training efforts giving all Americans a shot at good jobs that benefit the environment. But more than two years later, these green job-training initiatives have fallen far short of the hype. Out-of-work Americans are finding that special training isn't always enough to get a good 'green' job. Or that the jobs they do qualify for have lousy pay and may last only as long as the government subsidizes them." Read the Article Graphic Evidence of Inequality Anne Elizabeth Moore and MariNaomi, Truthout: "In the last installment of Ladydrawers we looked at some statistics culled from some recently published comics - all from last spring! - that painted a pretty dire overall picture of one form of media. This time, though, we get a little more specific: Anne Elizabeth Moore and MariNaomi break down the numbers by publishers. Who is publishing female creators and who is not? We also break this into estimated page counts and average out the MSRP attributable to women creators - just so we can start to imagine how much labor, and what income, might be coming their way." View the Cartoon Ten Years of Capital Gains Tax Cuts Proves: Rich Win, You Lose Dave Johnson, Campaign for America's Future: "Why are 'capital gains' taxes so much lower than taxes on other income? The reason capital gains taxes are lower is because most of the income of the rich is from capital gains. And the reason most of the income of the rich is from capital gains is because capital gains taxes are lower." Read the Article What the Future Will Remember About America's Decline and Fall Mike Davis, TomDispatch: "Someday - perhaps sooner than we think - a new Edward Gibbon in China or India will surely sit down to write The History of the Decline and Fall of the American Empire. Hopefully it will be but one volume in a larger, more progressive oeuvre - The Renaissance of Asia perhaps - and not an obituary for a human future sucked into America's grasping void. I think she'll probably classify self-righteous American 'innocence' as one of the most toxic tributaries of national decline, with President Obama as its highest incarnation." Read the Article Click here for more Truthout articles TRUTHOUT'S BUZZFLASH DAILY HEADLINES Ron Paul knows something about uninsured men dying without health insurance. Kent Snyder, who was Paul's 2008 presidential campaign manager, died on June 26 of that year without any medical coverage. His hospital bills had accumulated to $400,000 at the time of his passing. The Washington Post noted in an obituary for Snyder, 49: Mr. Snyder had been associated with Paul, a Texas Republican with Libertarian leanings, for more than 20 years. He worked as a top aide for Paul in 1988, when the congressman sought the presidency on the Libertarian ticket. In 2007, Mr. Snyder helped persuade Paul to launch a bid for the Republican nomination and served as chairman of his campaign. Paul raised millions of dollars from online contributors, leading all Republican contenders early in the race. He failed to attract many voters, however, and ended his candidacy in June. So, an aide who was pivotal to the political fortunes and fundraising for Paul wasn't even given health insurance - in his hour of need - by the libertarian Congressman. By now, almost all BuzzFlash at Truthout readers know or saw how the bloodlust of the Tea Party roared with approval when Paul said that people without health insurance are taking their own risks, and that is the way it should be. A Pensito Review article from 2008 noted, "Snyder's death and his lack of health insurance has triggered a behind-the-scenes debate among Paul supporters and libertarian activists over whether or not the Paul campaign should have provided health insurance to its staff." Actually, Paul was a touch more compassionate then his gladiator fight audience. He said that the churches should provide health care to the uninsured, that "our neighbors, our friends, our churches would do it." That's not how it played itself out with your longtime fundraiser and campaign manager, Kent Snyder, Dr. Paul. He didn't even get the health coverage he needed from you, nor did you pick up his $400,000 medical care bill after he died. Mark Karlin Editor, BuzzFlash at Truthout How Congress Could End Up in a Government Shutdown Fight After All Read the Article at Talking Points Memo A Single Individual, John Paulson, Made Enough Money Last Year to Pay the Salaries of 100,000 Teachers Read the Article at BuzzFlash Andrew Sullivan on Republicanism as a Religion Read the Article at The Daily Beast Big Oil and Fossil Fuel Industry Are Strangling the US Economy, Causing Wars and Poisoning Us Read the Article at BuzzFlash The Cynical Politics Behind Obama's Ozone Cave Read the Article at Grist Cash-Strapped State Parks Struggle to Stay Open Read the Article at Stateline Click here for more BuzzFlash headlines ---------- Support Truthout with a tax-deductible donation by clicking here. 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