Three from Truthout:


Friday 29 April 2011
Jason Leopold | Guantanamo Detainees Stage Hunger Strike to Protest Confinement Conditions
Jason Leopold, Truthout: "Within the past month, more than 15 Guantanamo detainees protested an indefinite detention order signed by President Barack Obama in March that resulted in their relocation to another camp at the prison facility - where they said the conditions are worse - by staging a hunger strike, Truthout has learned. Two detainees involved in the hunger strike have lost about 25 pounds, according to their attorneys. Tanya Bradsher, a Department of Defense (DoD) spokeswoman, confirmed detainees staged a hunger strike, but she put the number at 'less than ten.'"
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William Rivers Pitt | Making the Case From a Different Place
William Rivers Pitt, Truthout: "The following are portions of a paper published by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars that was written by two members of the armed services: Captain Wayne Porter of the US Navy, and Colonel Mark Mykleby of the US Marine Corps. What makes the document remarkable is the fact that both men are top-ranking members of Admiral Mike Mullen's team. Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, surely was aware of this paper before it was published, and allowed it to go to print, giving this document at least a seeming stamp of approval from the Pentagon. Something else remarkable: two serving officers have proffered one of the more eloquent arguments in recent memory against the direction this country has been led for decades, and made an unassailable case for addressing the problems we face while providing readily available solutions to those problems. It is, in the main, a profoundly progressive piece of work."
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I Agree: "Darn It, Let's Raise Taxes"
Ken Morris, Truthout: "If I and many economists, including Paul Krugman (who wrote, 'Darn It, Let's Raise Taxes'), are included, however, everyone doesn't agree with their assertions, and saying the words ad nauseam doesn't make them empirically or logically true - in fact, history often suggests otherwise, despite Senator Hatch adding, 'I have yet to hear the economic or fiscal rationale for raising taxes.' For his sake, I hope someone reads the following paragraphs out loud to him. From 1951 to 1985, marginal tax rates (MTR) on the wealthiest Americans averaged 75 percent. Did the mega-rich job creators, as the Republicans argue, cease hiring, lay off workers, shut their doors and go home? Hardly. Case in point was a little business created by a couple of brothers selling burgers in San Bernardino, California. In 1954 (MTR: 91 percent), they decided to buy eight milkshake machines from 50-year-old Ray Kroc."
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