Reader Submissions1. Temple Grandin Film Glosses Over a Destructive Industry2. Join the Climate Trial3. Reportback from Copenhagen, Event in Beacon, N.Y.===1.Date: Mon, 8 Feb 2010From: Bill CrainSubject: Temple Grandin Film Glosses Over a Destructive IndustryTemple Grandin Film Glosses Over a Destructive IndustryWilliam Crain*On February 4, HBO premiered its film, "TempleGrandin," about the widely admired autistic woman whohas designed more humane slaughterhouses for cattle.

America Is Not Yet LostBy PAUL KRUGMANThe New York TimesFebruary 8, 2010 Op-Ed Columnisthttp://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/08/opinion/08krugman.htmlWe've always known that America's reign as the world'sgreatest nation would eventually end. But most of usimagined that our downfall, when it came, would besomething grand and tragic.What we're getting instead is less a tragedy than adeadly farce. Instead of fraying under the strain ofimperial overstretch, we're paralyzed by procedure.

What's left in Eastern EuropeRed Pepperhttp://www.redpepper.org.uk/What-s-left-in-Eastern-EuropeWhile the Left Party in Germany scored 12 per cent inthe recent Bundestag elections, in the rest of easternEurope the left still languishes in the post-Sovietdoldrums. Leigh Phillips spoke to Stefan Zgliczynskiand Jane Hardy about its prospectsPoland is the country where the seeds of the fall ofcommunism were first sown. Stefan Zgliczyski, thepublisher of the Polish edition of Le Monde

The Terror-Industrial Complexhttp://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_terror-industrial_complex_20100208/Truthdig Posted on Feb 8, 2010By Chris HedgesThe conviction of the Pakistani neuroscientist AafiaSiddiqui in New York last week of trying to killAmerican military officers and FBI agents illustratesthat the greatest danger to our security comes not fromal-Qaida but the thousands of shadowy mercenaries,kidnappers, killers and torturers our governmentemploys around the globe. [...]

Hospitals Ravaged by Recession Pile More Work on StaffMischa Gaus | February 3, 2010Published on Labor Notes (http://www.labornotes.org)Hospital work is thought to be recession-proof. Nomatter what the economy, people get sick and need care.The work is there, but at a cost: hospital workers andresearchers say some hospitals are churning through around of reorganization, strapping on more work,skimping on training, and trying to stuff contractconcessions through. [...]

Learning Medicine the Cuban WayThe Bay Area is a hub for new doctors who want topractice family medicine and help the poor, yet hadto leave the country to learn how to do it.By Julia LandauEast Bay ExpressJanuary 20, 2010http://www.eastbayexpress.com/gyrobase/learning-medicine-the-cuban-way/Content?oid=1564592Melissa Rose Mitchell was discouraged. After taking theMedical College Admission Test, she was uneasy aboutapplying to medical schools. In prep courses for theexams, she had glimpsed her future as a doctor, and she

The Iraqi Oil ConundrumEnergy and Power in the Middle EastBy Michael SchwartzTomDispatch.comFebruary 2, 2010http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175199/tomgram%3A_michael_schwartz%2C_will_iraq%27s_oil_ever_flow___/#moreHow the mighty have fallen. Just a few years ago, anoverconfident Bush administration expected to oust Iraqidictator Saddam Hussein, pacify the country, install acompliant client government, privatize the economy, andestablish Iraq as the political and militaryheadquarters for a dominating U.S. presence in the

The Dawn of Civilization: Writing, Urban Life, and WarfareAn extraordinary ancient Syrian settlement shines alight on one of the most important moments in humanhistory.by Andrew LawlerDiscover MagazineFrom the December 2009 issuepublished online February 3, 2010http://discovermagazine.com/2009/dec/03-dawn-of-civilization-writing-urban-life-warfareJoan Oates's sharp blue eyes spotted something that wasnot right. Standing on the windy summit of a vast,human-made mound in northeastern Syria, the wiry 81-

The US Game In Latin AmericaUS interference in the politics of Haiti andHonduras is only the latest example of itslong-term manipulations in Latin AmericaMark WeisbrotThe Guardian29 January 2010http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/jan/29/us-latin-america-haiti-hondurasWhen I write about US foreign policy in places such asHaiti or Honduras, I often get responses from people whofind it difficult to believe that the US governmentwould care enough about these countries to try and

(1) The Unions of the States(2) Haiti: Relief and Reconstruction Watch(3) The Ignoble Prize for EconomicsThe Unions of the StatesJohn SchmittCEPRFebruary 2010http://www.cepr.net/documents/publications/unions-states-2010-02.pdfExecutive SummaryThis report reviews unionization rates, the size andcomposition of the unionized workforce, and the wage andbenefit advantage for union workers in each of the fiftystates and the District of Columbia, using the mostrecent data available and focusing on the period

By David Swanson What it would have cost us to publicly fund independent media that would have prevented the invasion of Iraq wouldn't amount, in a year, to what we spend on a month of occupying that country. read more

Greek Unions Resist - Two Takes(1)Greeks Must Fight the Neoliberal European UnionGreece is being condemned with a familiar,anti-democratic cure worse than the disease -and ordinary workers pay once againBy Costas DouzinasGuardian (UK)Febuary 4, 2010http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/feb/04/greece-eu-fiscal-policy-protestPaul Bremer, the first post-war American viceroy,imposed on ravaged Iraq economic policies which theEconomist called "a capitalist dream" regime. One is

REWIND - A Week of Quotes & CartoonsSUNDAYQuote of the DayJanuary 31, 2010'Just look at how a sharp public slap provoked JusticeAlito, threw a spotlight on the court's dubiousjurisprudence and sparked an embarrassing over-the-tophissy fit on the right. A do-nothing Congress, at atime when ever more Americans are losing their jobs andhomes, is an even riper target than the Supreme Court -and far more politically vulnerable. Without strongmedicine from Obama, we can be certain of the same

Students Defy Attack on Higher Education in CaliforniaBy Kate Maich and Paul AbowdZ MagazineFebruary 2010http://www.zmag.org/zmag/viewArticle/23763Annual fees at the University of California in 1979were $685. Thirty years later, they were $10,302 as theUniversity of California's appointed regents, whooversee 10 campuses throughout the state voted to raisefees by 32 percent, to begin next fall. Schoolsthroughout the state's three-tiered public educationsystem-including hundreds of state schools and junior

Dave Zirin on Super BowlFever in New Orleans and the Militarization of Sport's Biggest SpectacleDemocracy Now!February 5, 2010Sportswriter Dave Zirin, author of A People's Historyof Sports in the United States, says the New OrleansSaints' Super Bowl appearance-at least for themoment-is boosting spirits in New Orleans on a levelunseen since Hurricane Katrina. Zirin also discussespro athletes who have stood up for gay rights and howthe Super Bowl spectacle continues to be used topromote US militarization. [...]

Left MarginThe Good and the Not So Good State of the UnionBy Carl BloiceBlackCommentator.com Editorial BoardBlack CommentatorFebruary 4, 2010http://www.blackcommentator.com/361/361_lm_state_of_the_union.phpFirst the good stuff."Washington has been telling us to wait for decades,even as the problems have grown worse," President Obamatold the country. "Meanwhile, China is not waiting torevamp its economy. Germany is not waiting. India isnot waiting. These nations - they're not standing

Celebrating 100 Years of Black CinemaFrom the earliest days of film, black pioneers haveimagined a better world for African Americans-aworld that was often far ahead of reality.By Nsenga Burton |Posted: February 3, 2010 at 12:27 PMhttp://www.theroot.com/views/celebrating-100-years-black-cinema-0As we all know, February marks Black History Month. Butthis year, February also marks something else: The 100thanniversary of the birth of black cinema. Black cinemawas making black history before Carter G. Woodson

Five Myths About AtheismBy Susan Jacoby |February 2, 2010http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/spirited_atheist/2010/02/atheists_--_naughty_and_nice_--_should_define_themselves.htmlI was somewhat taken aback recently when I found myselfon a list of "kinder, gentler atheists"--most of themwomen--compiled by a religious historian attempting todistinguish between socially acceptable atheism and thepresumably mean, hard-line atheism expounded by suchdemonic figures as Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris,

Tomgram: The Commercials Are the Super BowlRobert LipsyteFebruary 4, 2010http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175200/tomgram:_robert_lipsyte,_the_commercials_are_the_super_bowl/30-Second WarningsChips, Beer, Voyeuristic Horndogs, Hot Babes, FlatulentSlackers, and God's Quarterback Star in the Big GameIn 1987, an evangelical Christian missionary in thePhilippines, Pam Tebow, sick and near term, ignoreddoctors' advice to abort her fifth child. How could theyknow he would grow up to win a Heisman Trophy and lead