Russia Today

The U.S. budget may include $38 billion of spending cuts, but there will be a financial boost for the military. This year's planned military spending is $700 billion, while other areas including healthcare, education, and infrastructure are on the chopping block. The decision came after a long struggle between lawmakers and the Pentagon saying military cuts will threaten national security. Journalist Chris Hedges says the decision was made under severe pressure from some lobbying circles.

from Allen L Roland

Only a animated cartoon can do justice to the absurd reality of our current tax code where General Electric made 14 billion dollars profit and not only paid no taxes but got a 3 billion dollar refund.

Happy tax day, if you’re not outraged, you’re either GE top management or on life support.

And here are 9 things the rich don’t want you to know about taxes:

Full story »

by Phil and Angela Rockstroh

I’m in Atlanta, Georgia, at present, among the scent of pine trees and the reek of southern denial. The moribund economy has thwarted the city’s manic drive to silence its resentful ghosts by means of constant motion … Below the lilting southern accents here, one detects rage … Not simply the ubiquitous hate-speak on right-wing talk radio. But an animus bred by truth-deferred … that southern pride is a lie of the mind — a blown banner … foisted skyward to distract the minds of my fellow southerners from the ground level truths of a system rigged to enrich the privileged few and keep the many working for their benefit. (How do you think they filled the ranks of the Confederate Army to kill and die for the rights of rich men to own slaves.)

Full story »

RussiaToday

A NATO-led international group is meeting in Quatar, to decide how to proceed with its military intervention in Libya. France and the UK want to step up the assault on Colonel Gaddafi, and are considering arming the rebels. For more, RT talks to Johan Galtung, rector of the Transcend Peace University...

SilverLibArmy

'My fellow human beings, do you want to help bring down the corrupt banking system and military industrial complex that has enslaved us for the past hundred years and is murdering us by the millions in wars for profit? Take your worthless paper money and buy as much silver and gold as you can now!' - Ron Murphy, January 6, 2011";

From Remi Kanazi

The Dos and Don’ts of Palestine

don’t call it genocide
we don’t want to offend anyone
if we offend them
they’ll never listen to us
we have to be reasonable

1,400 is just a number
no names
no death
we want peace and negotiations

don’t mention Zionism
if you mention Zionism
they’ll call you anti-Semitic
and people will believe them

don’t cite Palestinian sources
no one will believe you
I won’t believe you
trust Israeli sources

don’t ever be angry
if you’re angry
they’ll call you angry
if they’re angry
everyone will call them
understandably emotional

we have to be pragmatic
pragmatism is not a euphemism
for concessions
although it may feel that way

don’t mention Allah or martyrs
it reminds them of Al Qaeda and 9/11
it’s not your job to fix their ignorance

don’t talk about refugees boycott
or a one-state solution
if we want to win we have to compromise
the road to peace is just ahead

don’t make analogies that include
the Holocaust, Nazis, or the Warsaw Ghetto
only Israelis are allowed to do this
when discussing wars on
Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, and Iran

don’t mention Yaffa, Haifa, Safad
or where your family is from
but if you do
nod when random people say they love Israel
it doesn’t matter where you came from
you can’t go back

don’t
just don’t
and that will lead to doing

-###-

Remi Kanazi is a Palestinian-American poet, writer, and activist living in New York City. He is the editor of Poets For Palestine and the author of the newly released collection of poetry and CD, Poetic Injustice: Writings on Resistance and Palestine. The collection is available today on www.PoeticInjustice.net.

--
REMI KANAZI
www.PoeticInjustice.net
www.facebook.com/RemiPoet
twitter: @remroum

by madlittledebbie

Chicago Activists Mark Palestinian Land Day with Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Flash-Mob

On March 30th at 5 pm, a group of social justice activists held a "flash-mob" in downtown Chicago. The demonstration was organized as one of hundreds of demonstrations held around the world to mark the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions Global Day of Action, an annual event designed to call attention to the movement to boycott the apartheid policies of Israel. Demonstrators performed a choreographed dance to an original song called "BDS," a parody of "ABC" by the Jackson Five. Video of the flash mob is available here:

"In the lyrics to our song, we sing 'apartheid and ethnic cleansing go on in Palestine every day, but without the help of you and your money, the occupation will go away.' While the struggle to end Israel's apartheid policies is not an easy one, it's true that we in the United States can support justice and peace by refusing to support companies and institutions that support Israel and its occupation of Palestine," said Joy Ellison, an activist with Palestine Solidarity Group-Chicago (PSG-Chicago). "We hope that this flash mob empowers our community to stand up against apartheid and challenges Chicago businesses and institutions that are actively supporting the oppression of the Palestinian people."

Before this performance at "The Bean," the flash mob was held outside of Chicago Cultural Center, home of the Chicago Sister Cities International office. For the last two years, activists with PSG-Chicago have pressured the city of Chicago to end its relationship with its Israeli sister city, Petach Tikva. Petach Tikva, an officially segregated city, is the first Jewish-only settlement in historic Palestine and the site of the primary detention center where Israeli forces abuse and torture Palestinian political prisoners. Human Rights group Amnesty International dubbed Petach Tikva "Israel's Guantanamo."

"BDS" song available for download: http://www.youtube.com/redirect?q=http%3A%2F%2Fvocalo.org%2Fblogs%2Farchive%2F201103%2Fboycott-divestment-and-sanctions-jackson-5-sytle&session_token=BPEBGq4-YXxQ5L5y97xZhy_VdMd8MTMwMjY3MzkxNg%3D%3D

RTnews

A powerful 7.4-magnitude earthquake has struck off the coast of Japan, triggering a new tsunami warning. Residents of the North-East of the country have been ordered to evacuate to higher ground - the region is still in tatters following the deadly tsunami of last month. Early reports warn of a wave up to 2 meters high. Japanese authorities say the workers trying to bring the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant under control, have been evacuated.

Russia Today

Susan Lindauer, a journalist and author of Extreme Prejudice: The Terrifying Story of the Patriot Act and the Cover Ups of 9/11 and Iraq, specializes in American interventions, and has never believed the allied forces intervened in Libya out of humanitarian reasons. It is a war for oil which was prepared long ago, Lindauer argues - anyone who cared about the Libyan people would stop immediately.

Russia Today

Tokyo has announced plans to dump nearly 12,000 tonnes of radioactive water from the Fukushima plant into the ocean. A spokesman for the crippled facility said it's necessary to free up storage space for more highly contaminated water, but insisted the waste wouldn't cause serious harm. Japanese officials predict months of leaks from the Fukushima power plant as workers struggle to plug a damaged reactor. Radiation levels in seawater and groundwater surrounding the site have reached many thousand times the legal limit. Last month's massive earthquake and tsunami has now claimed the lives of 12 thousand people, with some 15,000 still missing.