Link: http://www.alternet.org/economy/154670/the_jobs_act%3A_dumbest_%27bipartisan%27_move_since_repealing_glass-steagall/

The so-called "JOBS Act," introduced by the far-right Republicans and passed by members of both parties, opens the door to yet more corporate abuse.

Link: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/03/19/corporations-get-tax-breaks-thanks-to-citizens-united/

The Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision opened up the way for unlimited corporate spending on politics and has led to the proliferation of non-profit political groups that do not have to disclose the identities of their donors. But it turns out corporations may be getting another benefit from anonymous donations they give to these groups: a break on their taxes.

Link: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/03/19/tennessee-gop-lawmaker-charged-for-domestic-violence/

Tennessee state Rep. David Hawk (R-Greenville), who supported a bill to allow guns in bars, was arrested on Sunday and charged with domestic assault on his wife.

Link: http://bellaciao.org/en/spip.php?article21812

Small business owners and working people constitute the core of the American electorate. They share the same origins and have far more in common than the major political parties would have them believe. Their shared political, social and family needs are being ignored by both parties, as they are cynically played one against the other.

Link: http://andrewgavinmarshall.com/2012/03/19/a-ugandan-view-of-kony-2012-war-criminal-by-franchise/

As I viewed the video my mind wondered and settled far away from Joseph Kony. Kony is a mere case of the numerous questionable leaders, past and contemporary, who have emerged in Afrika, and have actively prosecuted horrendous war on the people, particularly women and children; for example Botha, De Clerk, Mobutu, Savimbi, Kabila, Kagame, Amin, Obote, Museveni, Ben Ali, Hosni Mubaraka, Bokassa, etc, etc. How come all these leaders have gained, consolidated and entrenched their power with the active support of the Coordinate White Republic of Europe and North America? Why is it that as a rule, the Coordinate White Republic is the last to abandon Afrika’s dictators, although even then, only after they have groomed a new and better dictator; that is when they can confidently announce the dictator is dead; long live dictatorship?

Link: http://ppjg.me/2012/03/19/of-statesmen-bankers-and-long-tongued-liars/

London’s international bankers who own and control the Bank of England (BOE), the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) in Basel, Switzerland—where the world’s central banks draw—as well as the rest of the world’s central banks, are rapidly consuming what few independent central banks remain.

Link: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/03/18

In the present political circus it seems that liberals mostly want to tweak the status quo to get better deals (cheaper, less polluting energy, safer water, air & food, universal medical care & education) for themselves and their immediate neighbors. They also want to stop global warming and raise taxes on the rich.

Link: http://wsws.org/articles/2012/mar2012/heal-m17.shtml

As many as 20 million Americans could lose their employer-sponsored coverage in 2019 under the health care legislation signed into law by President Obama in March 2010. This is the worst-case scenario set out by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) in a report released Thursday.

Link: http://www.aclu.org/blog/religion-belief-lgbt-rights-reproductive-freedom/march-madness-tennessee-legislature-takes

A proposed law currently under consideration by the Tennessee legislature seeks to gut science education by purporting to give public school teachers the freedom to help students think critically about the scientific theory of evolution through a review of its "strengths" and "weaknesses."

Link: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article30836.htm

Gas prices continue to rise, which is finally giving Republicans an issue. Mitt Romney is demanding the President open up more domestic drilling; the super PAC behind Rick Santorum just released a new ad in Louisiana blasting the President on gas prices; and the GOP is attacking the White House on the Keystone XL Pipeline. But the rise in gas prices has almost nothing to do with energy policy. It has everything to do with America’s continuing failure to adequately regulate Wall Street. But don’t hold your breath waiting for Republicans to tell the truth.

Link: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article30803.htm

Last week, Rep. Dennis Kucinich was defeated in a Democratic primary by Rep. Marcy Kaptur after re-districting pitted the two long-term incumbents against each other. Kucinich’s fate was basically sealed when the new district contained far more of Kaptur’s district than his. His 18-year stint in the House will come to an end when the next Congress is installed at the beginning of 2013. Establishment Democrats have long viewed Dennis Kucinich with a mixture of scorn, mockery and condescension.

Link: http://fff.org/comment/com1203l.asp

The newest attack of vague language is aimed at your 1st Amendment rights of Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Assembly and Freedom to Petition. It is found in the pending legislation of H.R. 347.… As currently worded, it might as well have been called the “Federal We’re Too Important To Be Annoyed By Your Protest Act of 2011.”

Link: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/03/09-0

The NAACP is sending representatives next week to a session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland to argue that minority community members are facing clear voter suppression efforts in the United States, NAACP President Ben Jealous said during a press call on Thursday.

Link: http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/03/08/us-iran-nuclear-israel-usa-idUKBRE8270IQ20120308

Israel has asked the United States for advanced "bunker-buster" bombs and refueling planes that could improve its ability to attack Iran's underground nuclear sites, an Israeli official said on Thursday.

Link: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/03/08-12

One year on from Fukushima, the US is rewarding the nuclear energy lobby by underwriting new investment – regardless of risk. Super Tuesday demonstrated the rancor rife in Republican ranks, as the four remaining major candidates slug it out to see how far to the right of President Barack Obama they can go. While attacking him daily for the high cost of gasoline, both sides are traveling down the same perilous road in their support of nuclear power.

Link: http://www.alternet.org/drugs/154448/why_can%E2%80%99t_you_smoke_pot_because_lobbyists_are_getting_rich_off_of_the_war_on_drugs/

Why we still put hundreds of thousands of people in steel cages for pot-related offenses. John Lovell is a lobbyist who makes a lot of money from making sure you can’t smoke a joint. That’s his job. He’s a lobbyist for the police unions in Sacramento, and he is a driving force behind grabbing Federal dollars to shut down the California marijuana industry. I’ll get to the evidence on this important story in a bit, but first, some context.

Link: http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/how-did-ron-paul-lose-alaska

Paul’s ardent supporters here in the 49th state were on Wednesday casting a wide net, including allegations of polling impropriety, disenfranchisement and other shenanigans by Alaska Republican Party officials.

Link: http://www.alternet.org/visions/154435/the_religious_right%27s_plot_to_take_control_of_our_public_schools/

The people who brought you "Jesus Camp" are moving into your neighborhood school. And there's not a damn thing you can do about it.

Link: http://youtu.be/9Sk6P4xXQ2o

Compilation of Ron Paul and Mitt Romney highlights and possible voter fraud.

Link: http://youtu.be/VQdRcYr5aaE

These new numbers come on the heels of a Greenpeace report on the Fukushima disaster - in which the organization places the blame for the crisis - NOT on the natural disaster - but instead on the Japanese Government. The report accuses the Japanese government of ignoring the risks posed to Fukushima before the earthquake and "cutting corners to protect profits over people." It goes on to argues that nuclear energy is "inherently unsafe" and governments are too quick to approve nuclear power plants, while at the same time unable to the consequences of nuclear disasters.

Link: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/03/02-0

The Australian government doesn’t like it when global tobacco giants can sue them over public health laws. Corporate America finds this utterly unreasonable. Thirty-one U.S. corporate lobby groups, from the Business Roundtable to the National Potato Council, sent a letter to President Obama this week, urging him to give Australia a good smackdown.

Link: http://www.infowars.com/corporate-media-officially-stops-covering-paul-campaign-2/

GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul and his supporters have long complained that the establishment media deliberately operates a blackout when it comes to Paul’s campaign, a claim that has been verified time and time again.

Link: http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2012/03/02/why-cant-americans-have-democracy/

Syria has a secular government as did Iraq prior to the american invasion. Secular governments are important in Arab lands in which there is division between Sunni and Shi’ite. Secular governments keep the divided population from murdering one another.

Link: http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2012/03/us-media-rigged-ahead-of-russian.html

Rigged media already crying foul over elections yet to take place. In the spirit of recognizing mobs of terrorists as legitimate national governments before a sovereign nation's true leadership is murdered by US-led NATO operations, as was the case in Libya, the Western media is already decrying Russia's upcoming elections as "rigged" before they've even taken place. Leading the preemptive media coverage is Foreign Policy (FP) magazine featuring an article by Freedom House president David Kramer and Freedom House vice president, Christopher Walker.

Link: http://bellaciao.org/en/spip.php?article21761

When asked what newspapers she read, Sarah Palin answered, "Oh, I read them all." While it’s safe to assume that this was a disingenuous answer, it’s probably equally safe to assume that Palin can, in fact, read. This is a skill set that Sarah MUST teach congress because we learned yesterday that congress CANNOT READ AT ALL.

Link: http://www.alternet.org/rights/154353/10_ways_aipac_undermines_democracy_at_home_and_in_the_middle_east/

AIPAC has tremendous clout but its influence has been disastrous for U.S. foreign policy and U.S. democracy. Here are ten reasons why AIPAC is so dangerous.

Link: http://www.alternet.org/belief/154330/5_great_moments_in_history_that_could_teach_christian_zealots_important_lessons/

These important moments helped establish and maintain the separation of church and state in America. Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum says John F. Kennedy’s strong defense of church-state separation makes him want to “throw up.”

Link: http://powerpointparadise.com/blog/2012/02/the-money-boys-are-twisting-europes-euro-arm-to-abolish-national-sovereignty/

INTRO: It has come to the point now that the Banksters’ European Czars are forcing the European member states to give up their national sovereignty and financial independence even more. This article by Anthony Migchels of real currencies explains the dire situation of the moment very well, as do many of his articles.

Link: http://www.alternet.org/story/154299/meet_the_governors_behind_%22state-rape%22_transvaginal_ultrasound_laws_%28it%27s_not_just_virginia%29/

And why, why, why did Bob McDonnell, the governor of the great state of Virginia, a man on every Republican presidential hopeful's short list for vice-president ever feel he needed to? "But wait!" you say, "Bob McDonnell backed off his support for this bill. He clearly realized that this was one of the most profoundly invasive hideous pieces of legislation anyone could imagine." Yeah, not quite.

Link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/willie-nelson/occupy-food_b_1299401.html

Of the 40,000 food items in a typical U.S. grocery store, more than half are now brought to us by just 10 corporations.Corporate control of our food system has led to the loss of millions of family farmers, the destruction of soil fertility, the pollution of our water.On a global scale, the consolidation of our food system has meant devastation for farmers, forests and the climate.

Link: http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2012/02/debunking-the-myth-that-war-is-good-for-the-economy-once-and-for-all.html

Former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan also said that war is bad for the economy.Military spending diverts resources from productive uses, such as consumption and investment.

Link: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/feb2012/spai-f21.shtml

In Madrid an estimated 110,000 protestors took the streets according to El País, while the unions put the figure at 500,000.The labour reforms mean employers can reduce the salaries of workers by claiming this is necessary for competitiveness or productivity. New training and apprenticeship contracts, will create poor paying jobs , an end to collective wage bargaining.

Link: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/feb2012/spai-f24.shtml

February 20 demonstration by students and schoolchildren in the Spanish city of Valencia was subject to a violent attack by police. The city was flooded with police, who made 43 arrests, including eight minors. Dozens were injured.
This was the fourth demonstration since protests first began outside Lluís Vives public school last week, after a young student was detained by the police. Police have attacked students, parents, teachers and even passersby with batons and rubber bullets.

Link: http://www.loop21.com/politics/poor-usa-14-million-americans-live-2-day

USA Today is reporting that 1.46 million Americans are living in extreme poverty, or $2 a day for at least a month.The number has doubled since 1996 when 636,000 Americans were living in "extreme poverty."

Link: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=106844

Launched in June 2010, Nisaa FM is an almost entirely female-run Palestinian radio station based in Ramallah, West Bank and the only radio station in the Middle East devoted solely to women’s issues. Its director Maysoun Odeh Gangat says that the station aims to inform, inspire and empower local women.
"Through the positive role that the women are playing in the society that we portray, we believe that we can empower women economically and then socially and politically.

Link: http://socialistworker.org/2012/01/09/civil-liberties-free-zone-in-chicago

CHICAGO MAYOR Rahm Emanuel wants to set up his own personal police state to accommodate the warmongers and budget-slashers who will attend a conference of the global 1 percent in Chicago in May.Emanuel is giddy about the "opportunity" to host simultaneous gatherings of the U.S.-dominated NATO military alliance and the Group of Eight (G8) club of powerful industrial nations also dominated by the U.S., set for May 19-21. The last time both entities met together was in 1977 in London.

Link: http://economyincrisis.org/music

This thought provoking music to inform, enlighten, and incite you to act. Click here to download all five songs and send them to your friends and local radio stations. The words and lyrics on these songs flash together for “sing-a-long” at your parties. If everyone in America listened to these informative songs, we could turn this country around.

Link: http://www.rawstory.com/rawreplay/2011/09/diebold-voting-machines-hacked-with-10-in-parts/

Anyone with about $10, physical access to a Diebold voting machine and rudimentary knowledge of electronics can remotely hack into the device, according to experts at the Vulnerability Assessment Team at Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois. A hacker could potentially change a person’s votes without them ever knowing about it.

Link: http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/constitution/10896-alaska-bill-would-criminalize-tsa-screening-procedures

Alaska State Representative Sharon Cissna (left) has introduced a bill to criminalize TSA pat-downs and naked-body scans, adding The Last Frontier to a growing list of states battling the intrusive screening procedures of the Transportation Security Administration.Cissna has suffered her own negative experience with the federal agency. Last year at the Seattle-area Sea-Tac International Airport, after a naked-body scan revealed her breast-cancer surgery scars, the TSA insisted on putting her through an intrusive pat-down. She refused.

Link: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/greece%E2%80%99s-lenders-have-right-seize-national-gold-reserves

Global equity markets are showing jitters after disappointing economic data out of Europe and China and the threats by Russia’s Foreign Minister over Iran, leading to concerns that a serious confrontation is possible. Conflict in the region will of course send investors towards the safe havens of gold and silver bullion.