Truthout roundup 9/14

Marc Ash Are We Ready for Change?
http://www.truthout.org/article/are-we-ready-change
Marc Ash, Truthout: "Change for the better begins with demanding it. The voter axiom, that we get what we demand, is as true today as it ever was. The country is suffering for reasons. Decisions have been made, and those decision form the basis for our predicament. In a democracy voting is a right, but with that right comes responsibilities. Reading is fundamental, if you are going to know how a problem has come to exist you must educate yourself. That will not happen on the television. John McCain's record is as plain as Barack Obama's, and certainly not difficult to research. Change - for the better - is always at hand. We get what we demand."

After Frantic Day, Wall Street Banks Falter
http://www.truthout.org/article/after-frantic-day-wall-street-banks-falter
Andrew Ross Sorkin, The New York Times: "In one of the most dramatic days in Wall Street’s history, Merrill Lynch agreed to sell itself on Sunday to Bank of America for roughly $50 billion to avert a deepening financial crisis, while another prominent securities firm, Lehman Brothers, said it would seek bankruptcy protection and hurtled toward liquidation after it failed to find a buyer. The humbling moves, which reshape the landscape of American finance, mark the latest chapter in a tumultuous year in which once-proud financial institutions have been brought to their knees as a result of hundreds of billions of dollars in losses because of bad mortgage finance and real estate investments."

Greenspan: Can't Afford McCain Tax Cuts
http://www.truthout.org/article/greenspan-cant-afford-mccain-tax-cuts
The Associated Press: "Alan Greenspan says the country can't afford tax cuts of the magnitude proposed by Republican presidential contender John McCain - at least not without a corresponding reduction in government spending. 'Unless we cut spending, no,' the former Federal Reserve chairman said Friday when asked about McCain's proposed tax cuts, pegged in some estimates at $3.3 trillion. 'I'm not in favor of financing tax cuts with borrowed money,' Greenspan said during an interview with Bloomberg Television. 'I always have tied tax cuts to spending.'"

Cheney Shielded Bush From FISA Crisis
http://www.truthout.org/article/cheney-shielded-bush-from-fisa-crisis
Barton Gellman, The Washington Post: "What Addington wrote for Bush that day was more transcendent than that. He drew up new language in which the president relied on his own authority to certify the program as lawful. Bush expressly overrode the Justice Department and any act of Congress or judicial decision that purported to constrain his power as commander in chief. Only Richard M. Nixon, in an interview after leaving the White House in disgrace, claimed authority so nearly unlimited. The specter of future prosecutions hung over the program, now that Justice had ruled it illegal. 'Pardon was in the air,' said one of the lawyers involved."

Frida Berrigan Military Industrial Complex 2.0
http://www.truthout.org/article/military-industrial-complex-20
Frida Berrigan, TomDispatch.com: "Seven years into George W. Bush's Global War on Terror, the Pentagon is embroiled in two big wars, a potentially explosive war of words with Tehran, and numerous smaller conflicts, and it is leaning ever more heavily on private military contractors to get by. Once upon a time, soldiers did more than pick up a gun. They picked up trash. They cut hair and delivered mail. They fixed airplanes and inflated truck tires. Not anymore. All of those tasks are now the responsibility of private military corporations."

Dean Baker McCain Would Privatize Social Security
http://www.truthout.org/article/mccain-would-privatize-social-security
Dean Baker, Truthout: "The Republicans have already turned to sick sexual innuendo and nonsense about their vice-presidential candidate, pigs and lipstick in order to distract the public from the real issues in this campaign. One of the items that should be on top of the list of real issues is Senator McCain's plans to privatize and cut Social Security."

Pakistan Says US Forces Repulsed by Military
http://www.truthout.org/article/pakistan-says-us-forces-repulsed-military
Reuters: "Firing by Pakistani troops forced two US military helicopters to turn back to Afghanistan after they crossed into Pakistani territory early on Monday, Pakistani security officials said."

Newspapers Deliver Millions of "Terror" DVDs to Subscribers - in "Swing States"
http://www.truthout.org/article/newspapers-deliver-millions-terror-dvds-subscribers-swing-states
Greg Mitchell and Joe Strupp, Editor & Publisher: "The arrival of tens of millions of DVDs of a controversial film on doorsteps around the nation - but almost exclusively in election 'swing states' - via newspaper home delivery continues this weekend, with explanatory articles and subscriber feedback appearing on some of the papers' Web sites."

Carl Hiaasen Tawdry Tale of Oil Drillers and "MMS Chicks"
http://www.truthout.org/article/tawdry-tale-oil-drillers-and-mms-chicks
Carl Hiaasen, The Miami Herald: "People always say the Bush administration is in bed with the oil companies, but it turns out to be literally true. According to the Interior Department, some government officials in charge of collecting oil and gas royalties smoked pot, snorted cocaine and had sex with employees of big energy firms. Meanwhile, the rest of us were getting screwed at the gas pump."