Truthout roundup 5/31

Buddhist monks assist cyclone survivors in absence of government, foreign aid; DNC Rules Committee may decide Clinton's fate today; Robert W. McChesney and John Nichols write about the collapse of journalistic integrity and reigning in Big Media; H. Candace Gorman writes about "a kinder, gentler torture"; NOW investigates the escalation of child prostitution in America; and more ... Browse our continually updating front page at http://www.truthout.org

Monks Succeed in Cyclone Relief as Generals Falter
http://www.truthout.org/article/monks-succeed-cyclone-relief-generals-falter The New York Times reports: "They paddle for hours on the stormy river, or carry their sick parents on their backs through the mud and rain, traveling for miles to reach the one source of help they can rely on: Buddhist monks. At a makeshift clinic in this village near Bogale, an Irrawaddy Delta town 75 miles southwest of Yangon, hundreds of villagers left destitute by Cyclone Nargis arrive each day seeking the assistance they have not received from the government or international aid workers."

Florida, Michigan Fight Could Be Clinton's Last Stand
http://www.truthout.org/article/florida-michigan-fight-could-be-clintons-last-stand David Lightman and Lesley Clark of McClatchy Newspapers write: "Hillary Clinton supporters are gathering for what could be her last big stand Saturday, as the Democratic Party's rules committee meets to decide how to resolve a dispute over Florida's and Michigan's 368 delegates to the Democratic National Convention."

Robert W. McChesney and John Nichols Who'll Unplug Big Media? Stay Tuned
http://www.truthout.org/article/wholl-unplug-big-media-stay-tuned Writing for The Nation, Robert W. McChesney and John Nichols say, "On a Thursday in mid-May, the Senate did something that would have been unimaginable a decade ago. Led by Democrat Byron Dorgan, the senators - Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives - gave Rupert Murdoch and his fellow media moguls the sort of slap that masters of the universe don't expect from mere mortals on Capitol Hill."

H. Candace Gorman A Kinder, Gentler Torture
http://www.truthout.org/article/a-kinder-gentler-torture H. Candace Gorman, writing for In These Times, says, "Every time I visit, Al-Ghizzawi asks me, 'What happened to America?' I try to explain the unexplainable. I tell him that the American government now believes that torture is permissible; that we can hold people forever without charge; keep people in isolation for years; bar communications with family members; force-feed those who want to die and refuse to provide medical treatment for those who want to live. I explain that the American people, whose nation once stood as a beacon of human rights, neither care about this nor want to hear about it."

NOW Child Prostitution
http://www.truthout.org/article/child-prostitution "Living in the shadows of contemporary American society are tens of thousands of underage prostitutes - desperate, exploited kids robbed of their childhood and of hope. The Department of Justice says, on any given day, tens of thousands of children across America are involved in prostitution. NOW visits Atlanta to see how the growing problem of child prostitution is being tackled in the hopes of getting young people off the street."