Capitalism by Blow Torch: Climate Change Meets Economic Growth in Vietnam
Chris Williams, Truthout: Vietnam is a long way from the national guiding principle of the Vietnamese Communist Party, and is now a playground for banks and investors since straying far from Ho Chi Minh Thought.
Beyond Snowden: New Group to Clear a Path for More Whistleblowers
Daniel Ellsberg, Barbara Ehrenreich, et al., Institute for Public Accuracy: An organization for whistleblowers and transparency will launch with a new website set to go livetoday. The site aims to be a central hub to shed light on concealed activities relevant to human rights, corporate malfeasance, the environment, civil liberties and war.
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Testing Narrative: José Vilson’s Vision of Race, Class and Education in the US
Daniel Larkins, Truthout: José Vilson’s new book This Is Not a Test: A New Narrative On Race, Class, and Education talks about how education “reform” looks and feels to those who actually have to endure it: teachers, parents and students.
Low-Income Students Assigned Too Much “Work Experience” or Free Time Instead of Classes They Need
Susan Ferriss, The Center for Public Integrity: A class-action lawsuit filed against the state of California alleges that low-income students are deprived of an equal education because they are denied academic instruction time.
Official Secrets: Absolute Control
Beatrice Edwards, Berrett-Koehler Publishers: The information that the NSA and the Justice Department struggled for years to control is seeping out, despite the attacks on whistleblowers and the censorship and harassment of journalists.
The Boomers “Failed” Us: Climate Activist Tim DeChristopher on Anger, Love and Sacrifice
Sarah van Gelder, YES! Magazine: “We’ve known about climate change for 20 years, during the time when baby boomers were holding power in this country. Stopping climate change was the challenge of the baby boomer generation, and they failed because it would’ve meant making sacrifices and putting their children’s and grandchildren’s generations ahead of their own. They chose not to do that,” DeChristopher said.
How a Lack of Power and Guns Go Together
The Daily Take Team, The Thom Hartmann Program: There has been talk about how the NRA can’t escape the influence of the more radical parts of the gun movement. But maybe their vocal and in-your-face tactics, which have included bringing assault weapons into fast food restaurants, are really a symptom of larger forces, like the broken economy and disappearing middle class.
Pikkety’s Exploration of Modern Capital
Jim DiEugenio, Consortium News: Despite some predictable griping from the right, Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century has reinforced the case that Western societies – and especially the United States – are concentrating wealth at the very top and shortchanging almost everyone else.
Working Cambodian Women “Too Poor” to Have Children
Michelle Tolson, Inter Press Service: In Cambodia, where women make up 60 percent of the population of 14 million people, the fundamental right of reproductive control is being trampled by insecure labor contracts, toxic working conditions and a near-total absence of maternity benefits for working mothers.
Medicare Overpays Billions for Office Visits, Patient Evaluations
Charles Ornstein, ProPublica: Medicare spent $6.7 billion too much for office visits and other patient evaluations in 2010, according to a new report. But in its reply to the findings, the agency that runs the program said it won’t review the billings of doctors who almost always charge for the most expensive visits.
The US government is insisting that The New York Times reporter James Risen reveal a confidential source — or go to jail. Risen says he won’t capitulate.
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