Link: http://english.aljazeera.net/video/americas/2011/04/2011430191018490888.html

Obesity may be a growing concern for many Americans, but others are choosing to embrace unhealthy food. Welcome to the Heart Attack Grill, a Texan restaurant that celebrates cholesterol.

Link: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/04/29

The short answer to the question of whether or not on-going floods in the US Midwest and fires in Texas are linked to a warming Earth is: maybe. The long answer, however, is that while it is difficult—some argue impossible—for scientists to link a single extreme weather event to climate change, climate models have long shown that extreme weather events will both intensify and become more frequent as the world continues to heat up. In other words, the probability of such extreme events increases along with global average temperature.

Link: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/04/29/texas-make-invasive-pat-downs-felony/

A former Miss USA's claims of being groped during a pat-down at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport could be a felony under a bill gaining momentum in the Texas Legislature. The bill would make it illegal for a security officer to intentionally touch someone's private areas -- even atop clothing -- unless they have probable cause to believe the person is carrying something illegal. TSA Molestation Video

Link: http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/us-treasury-china-has-decreased-its-hold

Mainland China has decreased its holdings of U.S. Treasury securities since last October, according to a report updated today by the U.S. Treasury Department. Since September 2008, when they eclipsed Japan, entities in mainland China have been the largest foreign owners of U.S. government debt. But, as indicated by the Treasury Department chart linked here, Chinese ownership of U.S. Treasury securities peaked in October 2010 and has declined in each of the four most recent months reported by the Treasury Department.

Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/apr/29/facebook-accused-removing-activists-pages

Protest groups claim Facebook has taken down dozens of pages over the weekend in a purge of activists' accounts. Facebook has removed dozens of profiles from its site, causing an outcry from campaigners trying to organise anti-austerity protests this weekend.

Link: http://dont-tread-on.me/8-things-kate-does-not-know-about-the-royal-family/

1. The Royal Family is not the most powerful family in England. And no it is not J.K. Rowling either. The most powerful man in England is and probably the most powerful man in the world, is Evelyn de Rothschild. Evelyn is the head of the most powerful banking family ever in history. The Rothschild wealth was estimated in 1900 to be over 1/2 of the net worth of the world. No doubt a century of debt and war has increased their wealth. The Rothschilds own controlling interests in many of the world’s central banks and ultimately own most of the world’s wealth through the debts they create.

Link: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article27990.htm

"Il Manifesto" April 22, 2011 -- The objective of the war against Libya is not just its oil reserves (now estimated at 60 billion barrels), which are the greatest in Africa and whose extraction costs are among the lowest in the world, nor the natural gas reserves of which are estimated at about 1,500 billion cubic meters. In the crosshairs of "willing" of the operation “Unified Protector” there are sovereign wealth funds, capital that the Libyan state has invested abroad.

Link: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/04/28/aclu-defends-cancer-patient-fired-for-legal-marijuana-use/

The American Civil Liberties Union urged a U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday to reinstate a lawsuit against Wal-Mart and a manager in Michigan for firing an employee who used medical marijuana in accordance with state law. Thirty-year-old former Wal-Mart employee Joseph Casias used marijuana to treat the symptoms of an inoperable brain tumor and sinus cancer.

Link: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article27985.htm

To understand the utter absurdity of America’s intervention in the Libyan civil war, I recommend a visit to the Museum of Modern Art in New York to see its new exhibition of German Expressionism. It will be much more instructive than reading the media commentary about the president’s opening of yet another Mideast war.

Link: http://www.democracynow.org/2011/4/28/former_cia_analyst_ray_mcgovern_petraeus

President Obama is expected to announce a major shuffling of his national security team today. Under his plan, CIA Director Leon Panetta will move to the Pentagon to replace the retiring Robert Gates. Gen. David Petraeus will become the new head of the CIA.

Link: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/04/28-12

If you like the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan then you’ll love what Senator John McCain and Congressman “Buck” McKeon, the new Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, are proposing: Congress should give the President and the Secretary of Defense a blank check to wage war against anyone he or she declares “associated” with al-Qaeda or the Taliban – anytime, anywhere, anyhow.

Link: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/04/28-5

Exxon Mobil and Royal Dutch Shell today reported first-quarter profit increases of 69 percent and 30 percent, respectively, from the same period last year. With rising gas and oil prices, analysts expected the five biggest oil companies -- with Exxon as the largest -- to report that they are swimming in revenue.

Link: http://www.alternet.org/rights/150785/the_failed_drug_war_has_created_a_human_rights_nightmare_--_how_can_this_happen_in_our_country_and_go_virtually_undiscussed/

So much about our racial reality today is little more than a mirage. The promised land of racial equality wavers, quivers just out of our reach in the barren desert of our new, "colorblind" political landscape. It looks so good from a distance: Barack Obama, our nation's first black president, standing in the Rose Garden behind a podium looking handsome, dignified, and in charge

Link: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/04/201142881322769709.html

A Bahraini military court has sentenced four Shia protesters to death and three to life jail terms for the killing of two policemen during demonstrations last month, state media has reported. Thursday's verdicts are the first related to the uprising against the Gulf kingdom's ruling family, which begain in February. The seven defendants were tried behind closed doors on charges of premeditated murder of government employees, which their lawyers have denied.

Link: http://dont-tread-on.me/david-rockefeller-and-now-superman-globalist-traitors/

Superman renounces his U.S. Citizenship at the U.N. in an upcoming Superman comic book. The iconic figure that once stood for, “Truth, Justice and the American Way” is now nothing more than another Globalist Elitist. This blatantly obvious globalist propaganda starts with Superman non-violently standing by Iranian protestors in their demonstrations against the Iranian government. The Iranian government then says that is an act of war from the United States. So Superman decides to renounce his citizenship.

Link: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/america-s-nuclear-nightmare-20110427

The U.S. has 31 reactors just like Japan’s — but regulators are ignoring the risks and boosting industry profits. Five days after a massive earthquake and tsunami struck Japan, triggering the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl, America's leading nuclear regulator came before Congress bearing good news: Don't worry, it can't happen here. In the aftermath of the Japanese catastrophe, officials in Germany moved swiftly to shut down old plants for inspection, and China put licensing of new plants on hold. But Gregory Jaczko, the chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, reassured lawmakers that nothing at the Fukushima Daiichi reactors warranted any immediate changes at U.S. nuclear plants.

Link: http://socialistworker.org/2011/04/27/liberal-excuses-budget-bloodba

Obama's complaints about the GOP version of austerity hide the scale of his own cuts. President Obama discusses the budget at a White House press conferencePresident Obama discusses the budget at a White House press conference YOU KNOW official politics have moved to the right when a plan to cut $4 trillion from the U.S. budget over 12 years can be passed off as "liberal."

Link: http://www.veteranstoday.com/2011/04/27/gordon-duff-warscam/

The war in Afghanistan was planned long before 9/11, that war and Iraq too, wars were planned we haven’t even started yet and certainly will never live to finish. War is a business and creating war, manufacturing reasons for war including staging acts of terrorism and promoting worldwide strife is seen by “insiders” as “business as usual.”

Link: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2011/04/201142317359479927.html

There is a certain element of helplessness to living in northeast Japan right now. It isn't just dealing with the images – and reality – of the large-scale catastrophe in the wake of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. It's not even the electrical outages, the disrupted train services or the very real fear that another big earthquake – one as massive as the magnitude 9.0 temblor that wiped out entire coastal communities – is imminent. It's the fear of radiation, invisible, odourless and potentially deadly, leaking out of the damaged Fukushima Daiichi plant and entering their bodies via contaminated air, food and water.

Link: http://opendata.socrata.com/Government/Precipitation-RadNet-Laboratory-Analysis/e2xy-undq

Based on RadNet Laboratory Analysis

Link: http://www.counterpunch.org/grossman04252011.html

With the ongoing disaster at the Fukushima nuclear plants in Japan, some people ask: can nuclear power be made safe? The answer is no. Nuclear power can never be made safe.

Link: http://www.counterpunch.org/takashi04252011.html

The nuclear power plants in Japan are ageing rapidly; like cyborgs, they are barely kept in operation by a continuous replacement of parts. And now that Japan has entered a period of earthquake activity and a major accident could happen at any time, the people live in constant state of anxiety.

Link: http://www.zerohedge.com/article/apmex-starts-reverse-inquiry-seeks-buy-any-quantity-silver-clients-3-over-spot

Over the past hour Zero Hedge has been inundated with reader comments notifying us that Ampex has, validating the earlier post speculating about a possible silver shortage at the metals distributor, launched a "reverse ïnquiry" in which it will pay "you $3.00 over the current spot price of Silver for your Silver American Eagles. ANY year, ANY quantity!" and "We will pay you $38.00 over the current spot price of Gold for your Gold American Eagles. ANY year, ANY quantity!"

Link: http://www.arirang.co.kr/News/News_View.asp?nseq=115251&code=Ne8&category=1

The amount of radioactivity in seawater near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is about to hit the highest-ever level recorded in history. According to the Asahi Shimhun on Sunday, officials measured 1-hundred-86 becquerels per liter of radioactive substances in the sea just 34 kilometers from the crippled power plant on April 15th. This level is about 20-thousand times higher than the permissible annual standard set by the Japanese government.

Link: http://www.commondreams.org/further/2011/04/25

With Democrats inexplicably failing to generate the requisite outrage at GOP plans to cut Medicare - and give more money to rich people who don't need it - Americans United for Change have begun an ad campaign blasting Paul Ryan and his mean-spirited cohorts. About time someone did it.

Link: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/04/25-9

During his State of the Union address President Obama repeated this ancient canard: "We have to confront the fact that our government spends more than it takes in," he said. "That is not sustainable. Every day, families sacrifice to live within their means. They deserve a government that does the same." Republicans have used this "families balance their budgets, so should government" line for years. Now Democrats are doing it too. Everyone is jumping aboard the pseudo-austerity bandwagon. (Why pseudo? Neither party really wants to balance the federal budget because it can only be done by bringing home the troops, shrinking the Pentagon by 90 percent, ending corporate welfare, and soaking the rich--i.e. major campaign donors--with higher taxes.)

Link: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/04/25-1

When did our democracy die? When did it irrevocably transform itself into a lifeless farce and absurd political theater? When did the press, labor, universities and the Democratic Party—which once made piecemeal and incremental reform possible—wither and atrophy? When did reform through electoral politics become a form of magical thinking? When did the dead hand of the corporate state become unassailable?

Link: http://www.gilad.co.uk/writings/israeli-police-terrorize-palestinian-prisoners-must-watch.html

Mohamed Ashkar, a Palestinian prisoner, was murdered by the Israelis. There is no limit to Israeli barbarism.

Link: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article27959.htm

Moscow has harshly rebuked the latest NATO attack against forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, saying that the Western military bloc has given the militant opposition “dangerous ideas,” while stoking the flames of unrest elsewhere. NATO forces have unleashed a powerful missile attack on Tripoli, the Libyan capital, in the latest sign that the coalition has ignored its UN mandate to “protect civilians” and has chosen instead to take sides in the revolt.

Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/25/afghanistan-great-escape-taliban

It may not have been Stalag Luft III, but the escape from Sarpoza prison in Kandahar was pretty ingenious. Officials at Afghanistan's Kandahar prison show the tunnel through which 480 prisoners, including Taliban commanders, escaped Link to. Kandahar's prison may not be Stalag Luft III but in terms of ingenuity, organisation and sheer cunning the successful break-out by at least 480 Taliban prisoners in the early hours of Monday morning rivals anything pulled off by British POWs in the infamous German prison camp.

Link: http://www.democracynow.org/2011/4/25/syrian_crackdown_intensifies_over_150_killed

Syria has intensified its massive crackdown on demonstrators, despite the lifting of emergency rule last week that banned demonstrations. Al Jazeera reports thousands of troops backed with tanks have swept into the southern city of Daraa, where a curfew is in place, setting up snipers on rooftops and killing at least 20 people. Government security forces have also stormed the large Damascus suburb of Douma. These latest developments follow protests on Friday that ended with more than 100 people killed in the deadliest day since the uprising began. We go to Syria to speak to Rula Amin of Al Jazeera and Razan Zaitouneh, human rights lawyer and activist.

Link: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/04/25-4

KIEV - The world on Tuesday marks a quarter century since the world's worst nuclear disaster at Chernobyl in Ukraine, haunted by fears over the safety of atomic energy after the Japan earthquake.

Link: http://www.alternet.org/news/150731/the_gop%27s_2012_campaign_plan%3A_disqualify_eligible_voters/

Across the country, Republican lawmakers are resurrecting one of their party's favorite but most cowardly tactics to quote, win elections. They are seeking to create new barriers to voting by passing stricter voter ID laws intended to prevent the very electoral segments who helped to elect President Obama in 2008 from receiving ballots in 2012, particularly the young, poor and elderly, according to voting rights groups. "Touted under the guise of addressing so-called 'voter fraud,'

Link: http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/insidestory/2011/04/2011423142324814495.html

As the US deploys drones to Libya, we ask if America's role in the conflict is widening. The US is deploying drones to the skies above Libya in a move Barack Obama says is intended to protect civilians, but which others have called mission creep. It is the very aircraft causing such controversy in Pakistan. The deployment marks a widening role for the US in the conflict, despite White House assertions to the contrary - and John Bolton, the former US ambassador to the UN, has blasted Obama over the move. Is the West getting drawn into another long war? And can the deadlock in Libya be broken?

Link: http://www.alternet.org/world/150719/empire_on_the_rocks%3A_washington%27s_autocrats%2C_aristocrats_and_thugs_are_falling/

How the revolutions spreading across the Middle East may well mark the beginning of the end for American global power. Sign up to stay up to date on the latest World headlines via email. To stay on top of important articles like these, sign up to receive the latest updates from TomDispatch.com here. In one of history’s lucky accidents, the juxtaposition of two extraordinary events has stripped the architecture of American global power bare for all to see.

Link: http://www.zerohedge.com/article/china-proposes-cut-two-thirds-its-3-trillion-usd-holdings

All those who were hoping global stock markets would surge tomorrow based on a ridiculous rumor that China would revalue the CNY by 10% will have to wait. Instead, China has decided to serve the world another surprise. Following last week's announcement by PBoC Governor Zhou (Where's Waldo) Xiaochuan that the country's excessive stockpile of USD reserves has to be urgently diversified, today we get a sense of just how big the upcoming Chinese defection from the "buy US debt" Nash equilibrium will be. Not surprisingly, China appears to be getting ready to cut its USD reserves by roughly the amount of dollars that was recently printed by the Fed, or $2 trilion or so.

Link: http://www.counterpunch.org/whitney04222011.html

Let's talk turkey. The dollar is getting hammered by the day. And the dollar is getting hammered by design, because the Fed wants a weaker currency to boost exports and lower the real burden of debt on the banks. (Yes, Martha, the banks are still insolvent) So, down goes the greenback, lower and lower, pushing up gas and food prices while the buying power of the average US worker vanishes down the plughole. And this process will continue for the foreseeable future because--as Obama stated earlier in the year--Washington is committed to "doubling exports in the next 5 years." Think about that: "the next 5 years". That's the same as saying that the American worker will be reduced to third-world poverty in a half decade or so. It's a death sentence.

Link: http://www.alternet.org/economy/150715/the_public_overwhelmingly_wants_it%3A_why_is_taxing_the_rich_so_hard/

The obvious answer is that rich people have political clout—but can it really be so simple? When even the New York Times, the supposed bleeding heart of the liberal media, is asking whether it’s more “perilous politically” to accept tax increases for 3 percent of households or benefit cuts for everyone, you’d assume that even Americans who aren’t rich are are opposed to raising taxes on those who are. But you’d be wrong: nearly three-quarters of Americans support raising taxes on the wealthy. So why is raising taxes on the wealthy so hard—or why do we think it is?

Link: http://english.aljazeera.net/video/americas/2011/04/201142311151519303.html

Locals fear mine, potentially worth billions of dollars, could threaten water reserves. A Canadian company plans to open a mine in Argentina’s Catamarca province to tap into a rich vein of copper and gold that could be worth hundreds of billions of dollars. But residents in the valley below the Agua Rica mine have been taking on the miners, protesting for more than two years in an effort to block the project. They fear scarce water resources are in jeopardy.

Link: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/04/23-1

If all goes as planned for the G-20 this year, leaders of the world’s most powerful economies will convene to issue bold proclamations, talk past each other, and quietly agree to do virtually nothing. The stakes might be a little higher now, though, as the political poker table will be stacked with millions of the world’s hungriest people. Guess who’ll come away empty handed?