MicroHawk's NewsScan

Recent decisions amount to a dressing down for 9th Circuit

Sometimes the Supreme Court simply decides cases and sometimes it seems to have something bigger in mind. In the past two weeks, it has been in scold mode, and its target has been the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.

via www.washingtonpost.com

Big Coal's Watergate? Nation Watches as Clean Water Act Scandal Rocks Kentucky Court Today | | AlterNet

Extraordinary investigative work turned up over 20,000 incidences of Clean Water Act violations by three coal companies. Now will they finally be held accountable?

via www.alternet.org

Why One Community's Cries for Help Against Cancer and Others Diseases Are Going Unanswered | | AlterNet

Residents claim a coal waste dump is poisoning water, polluting air, and causing asthma and cancer among those who live nearby. But no one will help.

via www.alternet.org

Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Call for Peace as Racial Justice Still Rings - COLORLINES

When Martin Luther King, Jr. “broke the silence” on the war on Vietnam in 1967, he shattered the establishment rhetoric on America’s mission in Southeast Asia. His speech, “Beyond Vietnam: Time to Break the Silence,” delivered at Riverside Church in upper Manhattan, still has revolutionary ring to it as we approach MLK Day more than 40 years later.

via colorlines.com

Tim Wise: We Twisted King’s Dream, So We Live With His Nightmare - COLORLINES

In short, by not understanding the fundamental truth of King’s message that an injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere, we have created a society, 43 years since his death, where injustice and suffering are rampant. And one in which the dreams of the civil rights movement appear the fantastical products of some Ambien-induced haze. Only by putting away, forever, the safe and sanitized version of this man and his compatriots, might we ever awaken from the stupor and become worthy of that which we celebrate this week.

via colorlines.com

Remembering MLK: The Things We’ve Forgotten Would Guide Us - COLORLINES

Martin Luther King, Jr., would have been 82 this month, and his assassination occurred nearly 43 years ago. As we get further and further from that time, memories get fuzzy and a kind of collective amnesia sets in, as Vincent Harding has observed, some of it deliberately promoted amnesia. So, the question is how to remember King clearly and to see that amazing moment in history that he participated in through a sharp and focused lens?

via colorlines.com

The Class War Launched by America's Wealthiest Is Getting More Savage | | AlterNet

Countries with wide income inequality are unstable: they have large underclasses, high rates of crime and little opportunity.

via www.alternet.org

23 dead, 1 million displaced in Sri Lanka - UPI.com

Flooding in Sri Lanka has killed at least 23 people and displaced more than a million others, officials said.

via www.upi.com

Why You Should Feel Cheated, Deceived and Sickened by America's Stunning Inequality, Even If You're Doing Well | | AlterNet

Why should a relatively prosperous upper-middle-class family care about inequality? There are lots of reasons, but here's the most personal one: that's our money the very rich are taking!

via www.alternet.org

Pima Sheriff Clarence Dupnik Calls Out Vitriolic, Hateful Rhetoric | Crooks and Liars

Mr. Dupnik called the shooting a "very sad day for Tucson" and a "horrendous, horrendous, senseless, unbelievable crime." And then he blamed the crime on the rhetoric -- presumably political rhetoric -- in the country.

via crooksandliars.com