Record-breaking turnout expected for Texas primaries; Turkish troops out of Iraq; Iraq war “central cause” of US economic woes; US weighs Utah firm’s request to import nuclear waste for profit; forest chief freed after contempt hearing; Democratic candidates’ positions on NAFTA miss the mark; sex segregation proposed for Georgia school district; Maggie Mahar writes about “The Cholesterol Con”; and more … Browse our continually updating front page at www.truthout.org

Texas On Pace for Record Voter Turnout
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022908R.shtml
Ralph Blumenthal of The New York Times reports: “Texans have never seen anything like this stampede to the polls for the March 4 face-off that could prove crucial to the presidential hopes of Mr. Obama’s Democratic opponent, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, and provide perhaps the final boost to the all-but-anointed Republican nominee, Senator John McCain.” And in The Associated Press, Beth Fouhy says that “Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign has raised the possibility of a challenge to Texas’ primary and caucus rules just days before the contest, drawing a warning against legal action from the state’s Democratic Party.”

Turkey Withdraws Troops From Northern Iraq
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022908S.shtml
According to Gareth Jones and Paul de Bendern, Reuters, “Turkey pulled its troops out of northern Iraq on Friday, ending a major offensive against Kurdish PKK rebels that Washington had feared might destabilize the wider region.”

Iraq War “Caused Slowdown in the US”
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022908T.shtml
The Australian’s Peter Wilson writes: “The Iraq war has cost the US 50-60 times more than the Bush administration predicted and was a central cause of the sub-prime banking crisis threatening the world economy, according to Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz.”

Will US Become World’s Nuclear-Waste Dump?
www.truthout.org/issues_06/022908EA.shtml
According to Mark Clayton of The Christian Science Monitor, “The federal government is weighing a Utah company’s request to import large amounts of low-level radioactive waste from Italy – a step critics say could lead the United States to become a nuclear garbage dump for the world.”

Forest Chief Cleared of Contempt
www.truthout.org/issues_06/022908EB.shtml
In The Missoulian, John Cramer says that “US Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey walked out of federal court a free man Wednesday in Missoula, wearing not an orange inmate’s jumpsuit but the gray business suit with American flag lapel pin he had donned for his contempt hearing.”

Candidates’ NAFTA Attacks Ignore Mexico’s Record
www.truthout.org/issues_06/022908LA.shtml
Kevin G. Hall, McClatchy Newspapers, reports, “Campaigning in economically battered Ohio this week, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama said that as president, they’d pull the United States out of the landmark North American Free Trade Agreement if Canada and Mexico refused to incorporate core international labor rights into the treaty.”

A Leader at the Point of Union Growth and Criticism
www.truthout.org/issues_06/022908LB.shtml
Steven Greenhouse of The New York Times writes: “Andy Stern has been hailed in some quarters as the nation’s top labor leader largely because his union, the Service Employees International Union, has added members faster than any other, 800,000 over the last decade.”

All Boys Here, Girls There
www.truthout.org/issues_06/022908WA.shtml
Reporting for The Associated Press, Dorie Turner says, “Nearly four decades after this rural county stopped segregating its schools by race, it wants to divide students again – this time by sex.”

Maggie Mahar | The Cholesterol Con – Where Were the Doctors? Parts I and II
www.truthout.org/issues_06/022908HA.shtml
Maggie Mahar’s two-part series in Health Beat on “The Cholesterol Con” asks, “During the many years of the Cholesterol Con – where were the doctors? When everyone from the makers of Mazola Corn Oil to the Popes of Cardiology assured us that virtually anyone could ward off heart disease by lowering his cholesterol, why didn’t more of our doctors raise an eyebrow and warn us, ‘Actually, that’s not what the research shows.’”

The Proxy War – SCHIP and the Government’s Role in Health Care Reform
www.truthout.org/issues_06/022908HB.shtml
In The New England Journal of Medicine, Sara Rosenbaum, J.D., says, “The conflagration over the reauthorization of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) offers a compelling example of Washington’s current inability to address even seemingly uncontroversial matters such as improved health care coverage for children.”

Cynthia Boaz writes for Truthout on how Ralph Nader’s candidacy illuminates our democratic deficit; federal appeals court refuses to overturn Arizona immigration law that punishes businesses; political participation may start in the civics classroom; Liza Persson explores the history of executive authority and the current administration’s quest for power; EPA dismisses scientist from chemical review panel after complaints from lobbyists; rising fuel prices not part of White House agenda; and more … Browse our continually updating front page at www.truthout.org

Cynthia Boaz | Our Democratic Deficit

Cynthia Boaz | Our Democratic Deficit
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022908A.shtml
Cynthia Boaz writes for Truthout: “Elections are the proximate requirement for democracy. Although they alone cannot sustain democracy, without them no system could ever make a reasonable claim to be democratic. Likewise, voting is the most basic, fundamental and obvious means by which citizens can participate in democracy.”

Arizona Law Punishes Employers Hiring Illegal Immigrants
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022908B.shtml
Nicholas Riccardi, writing for The Los Angeles Times, reports, “A federal appeals court Thursday refused to block a controversial Arizona law that shuts down businesses for knowingly hiring illegal immigrants.”

Study Finds Disparity in Civics Classes
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022908C.shtml
The Associated Press reports: “Her neighborhood, with its police cameras and abandoned buildings, isn’t known for inspiring hope. Yet, 18-year-old Ariel Williams feels empowered.”

Liza Persson | The Silent Coup
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022908D.shtml
Liza Persson writes for OpEd News: “There is a battle far from getting the attention it deserves considering the stakes – the rule and governing of the USA. You would only notice with great difficulty and after spending a lot of time viewing hearing in various congressional committees, picking up a piece here and another there, and painstakingly putting them into a historical context in a far from obvious manner.”

Outspoken Scientist Dismissed From Panel on Chemical Safety
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022908E.shtml
Marla Cone, writing for The Los Angeles Times, reports, “Under pressure from the chemical industry, the Environmental Protection Agency has dismissed an outspoken scientist who chaired a federal panel responsible for helping the agency determine the dangers of a flame retardant widely used in electronic equipment.”

$4 Gasoline? It’s News to Bush
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022908F.shtml
Maura Reynolds, Michelle Quinn and Ronald D. White, reporting for The Los Angeles Times, write, “The prospect of sharply higher fuel prices, including $4-a-gallon gasoline, may not have made it into Oval Office briefing books, perhaps explaining why President Bush was surprised Thursday when a reporter mentioned what energy analysts are saying could happen soon in many parts of the country.”

Le Monde | Cyber-Searches
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022908G.shtml
Le Monde’s editorialist applauds the German Constitutional Court’s decision limiting cyber-searches and asks, “does the fight against terrorism, pedophilia and cyber-crime justify the police arrogating extended investigatory powers to itself?”

Get Out Your Pencils: Paper Ballots Make a Return
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022908H.shtml
Richard Wolf, reporting from Cleveland for USA Today, writes, “The people involved in overseeing elections will be watching closely Tuesday as Ohio’s most populous county votes, but it won’t have anything to do with Barack Obama, Hillary Rodham Clinton or John McCain.”

Zbigniew Brzezinski | Terrorized by “War on Terror”
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022908I.shtml
In an editorial for The Washington Post, Zbigniew Brzezinski, writes, “The ‘war on terror’ has created a culture of fear in America. The Bush administration’s elevation of these three words into a national mantra since the horrific events of 9/11 has had a pernicious impact on American democracy, on America’s psyche and on U.S. standing in the world.”

Truthout’s Maya Schenwar reports on the collapse of a bill to cut funding for combat operations in Iraq; Pelosi demands Justice Department investigate contempt charges against Miers and Bolton; continued US support for Musharraf angers Pakistanis; USDA rejects ban on “downer” cows; Senate Republicans block debt relief bill; Tom Engelhardt and Frida Berrigan on recipes for disaster in Iraq; US halts visa applications for Iraqi and Afghan translators; Clinton offers plan to combat child poverty and improve childhood nutrition; and more … Browse our continually updating front page at www.truthout.org

Maya Schenwar | Brief Iraq Withdrawal Hopes Fizzle
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022908Q.shtml
Truthout’s Maya Schenwar reports, “A bill to cut off funding for most combat operations in Iraq collapsed in the Senate on Wednesday night, when leadership pulled it from the floor, seeing it could not garner enough votes for passage.”

Pelosi Wants Contempt Charges Enforced
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022908J.shtml
Lara Jakes Jordan reports for The Associated Press, “House Speaker Nancy Pelosi asked the Justice Department on Thursday to open a grand jury investigation into whether President Bush’s chief of staff and former counsel should be prosecuted for contempt of Congress.”

US Embrace of Musharraf Irks Pakistanis
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022908K.shtml
David Rohde, of The New York Times, reports, “The Bush administration’s continued backing of President Pervez Musharraf, despite the overwhelming rejection of his party by voters this month, is fueling a new level of frustration in Pakistan with the United States.”

USDA Rejects “Downer” Cow Ban
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022908L.shtml
Christopher Lee reports for The Washington Post, “Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer told Congress yesterday that he would not endorse an outright ban on ‘downer’ cows entering the food supply or back stiffer penalties for regulatory violations by meat-processing plants in the wake of the largest beef recall in the nation’s history.”

Senate Republicans Block Mortgage Relief Bill
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022908M.shtml
Edmund L. Andrews reports for The New York Times: “Just a month after President Bush and Democratic leaders hailed their bipartisan agreement on an economic stimulus plan, the two sides went to war on Thursday over how to prevent widening damage from the housing crisis. Senate Republicans, lining up with President Bush, blocked a Democratic bill that would provide more money for homeowner counseling programs and let bankruptcy judges reduce the terms of a mortgage for people about to lose their houses through foreclosure.”

Tom Engelhardt and Frida Berrigan | Recipes for Disaster in Iraq
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022908N.shtml
Tom Engelhardt and Frida Berrigan write for TomDispatch.com: “In other words, in honor of the soon-to-arrive fifth anniversary of his war without end, the President has offered a formula for economic success in bad times that might be summed up this way: less houses, more bases, more weaponry, more war. This, of course, comes from the man who, between 2001 and today, presided over an official Pentagon budget that leapt by more than 60% from $316 billion to $507 billion, and by more than 30% since Iraq was invaded. Looked at another way, between 2001 and the latest emergency supplemental request to pay for his wars (first in Afghanistan and then in Iraq), supplemental funding for war-fighting has jumped from $17 billion to $189 billion, an increase of 1,011%. At the same time, almost miraculously, the US armed forces have been driven to the edge of the military equivalent of default.”

Visas for War Zone Translators Halted
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022908O.shtml
Walter Pincus reports for The Washington Post: “The State Department has stopped processing the applications of 551 Iraqi and Afghan translators seeking special visas to come to the United States, because the current legal quota of 500 visas for the program this year is about to be reached, according to department officials…. The halt is the latest obstacle for many of the several thousand translators who have worked for US military units in Iraq and Afghanistan, risking their lives and leaving their families vulnerable to retaliation from insurgents who see them as accomplices of American troops.”

Clinton Offers Child Poverty Plan
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022908P.shtml
The Associated Press reports: “Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton offered a plan to improve childhood nutrition and set a goal to reduce by half the 12 million youngsters living in poverty over the next dozen years. The package of proposals includes a ‘comprehensive’ early education initiative that starts with nurse’s visits for pregnant women, lets children begin the Head Start program earlier and calls for universal pre-kindergarten programs. The New York senator also says she would deal with childhood hunger by putting in place a food safety net, and give children ‘greater access to healthy, fresh food.’”

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