Link: http://www.geopoliticalmonitor.com/revolutionary-democracy-opportunity-danger-4300/

Though the list of countries being swept up in a wave of popular uprisings is long and getting longer, pro-democracy activists the world over would be wise to hold off their own celebrations. The wave of ‘people power’ spreading through the Middle East and Africa could just as easily end up hindering international democracy as it could helping it.

Link: http://dissidentvoice.org/2011/02/washingtons-internal-security-apparatus-a-long-history/

US citizens of almost all political stripes tend to live their lives ignorant of what the government that operates in their name is really up to. Some of this is due to the government’s obsession with secrecy and some of it is due to the people’s political naivete (or ignorance). Perhaps the only exceptions to this statement are those that exist on what are considered the fringes of US political discourse. Thanks in part to this ignorance, most US residents live their lives unaware of the police state author Andrew Kolin describes in his recently published book State Power and Democracy: Before and During the
Presidency of George W. Bush.

Link: http://bellaciao.org/en/spip.php?article20596

Although it has been overshadowed by events in Libya and Egypt, there is a battle going on in the United States, and it is not hyperbole to suggest that it is a battle for the very soul of the nation. By current estimates, at least sixteen state governments are in the process of declaring war on American workers, and protests have erupted in at least four of them—Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio and Indiana.

Link: http://www.democracynow.org/2011/2/28/voices_from_the_100_000_strong

More than 100,000 people rallied in Madison on Saturday against Wisconsin Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s effort to remove the collective bargaining rights of most public-sector workers. It was the largest demonstration Madison has seen since the Vietnam War. We broadcast some of the voices from the rally. [includes rush transcript]

Link: http://www.counterpunch.org/anderson02282011.html

The story of Raymond Allen Davis is one familiar to me and I wish our government would quit doing these things - they cost us credibility. Davis is the American being held as a spy working under diplomatic cover out of our embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan. You can understand why foreign countries no longer trust u

Link: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/02/28-1

The brazen choices of the Republican governor shows the real ideology behind attacks on unions – in the US and beyond. You can tell a great deal about a nation's anxieties and aspirations by the discrepancy between reality and popular perception. Polls last year showed that in the US 61% think the country spends too much on foreign aid. This makes sense once you understand that the average American is under the illusion that 25% of the federal budget goes on foreign aid (the real figure is 1%).

Link: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/02/28-2

We're chumps unless we force Congress to stop tax haven abuse. Instead of cutting state and federal budgets, the United States should crack down on the corporate tax dodgers thumbing their noses at us. Across the nation, states are making deep cuts that will wreck the quality of life for everyone to close budget gaps that total more than $100 billion.

Link: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/02/28-11

A new report out Monday from Moody’s Analytics economist Mark Zandi estimates that the House-passed seven-month spending bill, which cuts $61 billion in spending, would cost 700,000 jobs by the end of 2012. Zandi’s report echoes one by the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, which concluded the GOP bill would cost 800,000 jobs. Goldman Sachs has found that it could cause as much as a 2 percent loss in economic growth. (Image: Daily Kos) He predicts that this year the bill could cost 400,000 jobs and run the risk of a new recession.

Link: http://www.veteranstoday.com/2011/02/28/gordon-duff-the-tea-party-and-americas-return-to-the-good-ole-days/

“OUTLAW GOVERNORS” TAKE ON AMERICA “The best way to control the opposition is to lead it ourselves.” — Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. In Wisconsin, State Police cars are searching for missing legislators. The fist pounding on the door in the middle of the night, reminders of Germany, 1936.

Link: http://www.gilad.co.uk/writings/gilad-atzmon-hasbaras-smear-fell-apart-again-1.html

As funny as it may sound, Harry's Place -- the infamous Israeli propaganda website and Neocon outlet that rushed to advocate Blair’s criminal wars -- is now desperately insisting on mounting pressure on venues to stop me from spreading the necessary message about Israel and its lobbies.