Link: http://www.alternet.org/world/150667/imperial_decline%3A_how_does_it_feel_to_be_inside_a_dying_empire/

Could this be what it’s like to watch, paralyzed, as a country on autopilot begins to come apart at the seams while still proclaiming itself “the greatest nation on Earth”? This can’t end well. But then, how often do empires end well, really? They live vampirically by feeding off others until, sooner or later, they begin to feed on themselves, to suck their own blood, to hollow themselves out. Sooner or later, they find themselves, as in our case, economically stressed and militarily extended in wars they can’t afford to win or lose.

Link: http://www.alternet.org/teaparty/150672/the_tea_party_propaganda_factory_you_probably_don%27t_know_about/

The documentary production company Citizens United has dedicated itself to furthering the interests of the far right and the super-rich. The 2010 Supreme Court decision permitting unlimited campaign spending by corporations, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, is one of the most momentous rulings in U.S. legal history. It transforms the long but unspoken truth of American politics – corporate wealth buys legislative power -- into the law of the land.

Link: http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/04/2011415143212280315.html

Speculation on the futures market, rather than supply and demand, is driving up costs, analysts say. The global economy and its recovery, and the living standards of millions of plain folks, are now at risk from the sudden rise in oil and commodity prices. Gas at the pump is up, and going higher. Food prices are following. The consequences are catastrophic for the global poor as their costs go up while their income doesn't. It's menacing American workers too, who in large part have not seen a meaningful raise since the days of Reagan (keeping it this way is clearly behind the current flurry of attacks on unions).

Link: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1378422/Ten-years-desk-job-doubles-bowel-cancer-risk.html

Workers who sat down for long periods had a higher bowel cancer risk, even if they exercised in the evenings. For the millions of us who sit in front of a computer all day at work, it's not good news. Spending ten years or more in a sedentary job almost doubles the risk of some types of bowel cancer, a study shows.

Link: http://theupliftingcrane.wordpress.com/2011/04/19/meltdown-trickling-down-on-the-global-population/

“The reactors at Fukushima are the largest in the world, and six of them are in total meltdown. They have been melting down since thirty-minutes after the Tsunami’ because the cooling systems went off when the earthquake happened and 90 minutes after the cooling stopped-the reactors went into meltdown. This is all a cover-up, this is a false-flag, this is a poisoning of the oceans the atmosphere and the biosphere. No one can escape.”

Link: http://www.activistpost.com/2011/04/50-silver-price-point-of-liberty.html

For more than 100 years the United States has been at the center of a war being waged around the clock by a cult-of-evil clawing and biting like a rabid dog at the heart of civilization. It has been an epic struggle of an outnumbered, outgunned regiment of courageous defenders of human individuality, dignity, and liberty against a tyranny intent on the enslavement of humanity. It has been a bloody war, a costly war, and even now the battles continue. But the tide is turning, finally, toward the side of good.

Link: http://www.activistpost.com/2011/04/us-helped-israel-contain-un-gaza-war.html

US worked to help Israel contain UN probes into possible war crimes committed in the 2008-2009 Gaza war The United States worked behind the scenes to help Israel contain UN probes into possible war crimes committed during the 2008-2009 Gaza war, Foreign Policy reported Tuesday.

Link: http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/677-e2-wire/156821-a-year-after-spill-bp-gives-political-contributions-to-gop-leaders

Nearly a year after its massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, BP has broken a moratorium on political giving by making contributions to Speaker John Boehner and other GOP leaders. BP Corp. North America gave $5,000 contributions to Boehner (R-Ohio) and House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) through its political action committee, according to a campaign finance report filed Tuesday with the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

Link: http://www.pratttribune.com/news/x1274032954/Retired-nuclear-engineer-worried-by-lack-of-news-from-Japan

The recent silence from Japan about conditions at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear facility that was damaged in the March 11 earthquake and tsunami has a local man wondering just how severely the facility has been damaged. The one thing he does know is that whatever is going on inside the reactors is very serious.

Link: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article27926.htm

What could start a popular resurgence in this country against the abuses of concentrated, avaricious corporatism? Imagine the arrogance of passing on to already cheated working people and the jobless enormous corporate losses? This is achieved through government bailouts and tax escapes. History teaches us that the spark usually is smaller than expected and of a nature that is wholly unpredictable or even unimaginable. But if the dry tinder is all around, as many deprivations and polls reveal, the spark, no matter how small, can turn into a raging inferno.