“Mad as Hell” in Madison, by Ralph Nader

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by Ralph Nader
The Nader Page
February 25. 2011

Image by zak((again)))) via Flickr

The large demonstrations at the state Capitol in Madison, Wisconsin are driven by a middle class awakening to the spectre of its destruction by the corporate reactionaries and their toady Governor Scott Walker.

For years the middle class has watched the plutocrats stomp on the poor while listening to the two parties regale the great middle class, but never mentioning the tens of millions of poor Americans. And for years, the middle class was shrinking due significantly to corporate globalization shipping good-paying jobs overseas to repressive dictatorships like China. It took Governor Walker’s legislative proposal to do away with most collective bargaining rights for most public employee unions to jolt people to hit the streets.

The Stimulator: The Dominos Fall

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stimulator | Feb 25, 2011

http://submedia.tv/

This week:

1. Madison Madness
2. Cops of Fire
3. The dominoes fall
4. Logic
5. Revolution in Greece

U.S. Backs Japan In Looming Confrontation With Russia by Rick Rozoff

by Rick Rozoff
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Stop NATO
Stop NATO-Opposition to global militarism
February 25, 2011

Image via Wikipedia

Last week Kamitsuki Toyohisa, the Japanese Foreign Ministry counselor for European Affairs, said that the relationship between his country and Russia is “at its worst point in decades.”

In fact the dramatic ratcheting up of rhetoric – and corresponding actions – on both sides over the Kuril Islands are more evocative of the situation preceding the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 and the two nations’ conflict on the Manchurian border in 1938-1939 than any previous developments after the Second World War.

A Message of Solidarity with Workers + It’s the War Economy, Duh! by Cindy Sheehan

by Cindy Sheehan
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox Blog
Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox
February 25, 2011

Image by WxMom via Flickr

Working women and men, I stand with you, because I am one of you!

Some people call me the “Peace Mom,” because of my unwavering work and stand for peace. In 2004, my son Casey made the ultimate sacrifice for war profiteering and imperial hubris; he was only in the Army because he wanted to take pressure off of his family for college tuition. Because I am one of you, I know that working women and men make substantial sacrifices every day of their lives.

The Asbestos Industry: Valuing Profit over Safety by Eric Stevenson

by Eric Stevenson
Guest Writer
Dandelion Salad
February 24, 2011

Image via Wikipedia

With fewer than 200 workers, most of them part time, the Jeffrey Mine in Asbestos, Quebec, is barely operational anymore. However, if a group of international investors called Balcorp gets its way, the mine could soon be revived, digging many tons of asbestos out of the ground and exporting the hazardous mineral to developing Asian countries. The group plans to sell primarily to India, but also to Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan, and the Philippines.

Behind the Arab revolt is a word we dare not speak, by John Pilger

Dandelion Salad

by John Pilger
www.truth-out.org
24 February 2011

Image by Dandelion Salad via Flickr

Shortly after the invasion of Iraq in 2003, I interviewed Ray McGovern, one of an elite group of CIA officers who prepared then-president George W. Bush’s daily intelligence brief. At that time, McGovern was at the apex of the “national security” monolith that is American power and had retired with presidential plaudits. On the eve of the invasion, he and 45 other senior officers of the CIA and other intelligence agencies wrote to Bush that the “drumbeat for war” was based not on intelligence, but lies.

“It was 95 percent charade,” McGovern told me.

“How did they get away with it?” I asked.

Imperialism and the historical context of the developing 2011 Egyptian Bourgeois Democratic Revolution by Fazal Rahman, Ph.D.

by Fazal Rahman, Ph.D.
Guest Writer
Dandelion Salad
February 24, 2011

Image by Takver via Flickr

Summary

The 1952 Bourgeois Democratic Revolution was launched by the Free Officers Movement of the armed forces against the corrupt and repressive monarchy of King Farouk, under whom Egypt had become the most important lever of control and domination of the Middle East by Western imperialism in general and US imperialism in particular, as well as Zionism. The success of that revolution ended the century and a half of Mohammad Ali Dynasty rule and resulted in the establishment of a republic in 1953.

Matt Taibbi: Why Isn’t Wall Street in Jail?

Dandelion Salad

Image by Metro Centric via Flickr

Democracy Now!
Feb. 22, 2011

“Nobody goes to jail,” writes Matt Taibbi in the new issue of Rolling Stone magazine. “This is the mantra of the financial-crisis era, one that saw virtually every major bank and financial company on Wall Street embroiled in obscene criminal scandals that impoverished millions and collectively destroyed hundreds of billions, in fact, trillions of dollars of the world’s wealth.” Taibbi explains how the American people have been defrauded by Wall Street investors and how the financial crisis is connected to the situations in states such as Wisconsin and Ohio.

The Year of Revolution: The “War on Tyranny” Replaces the “War on Terror” by Andy Worthington

by Andy Worthington
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
www.andyworthington.co.uk
23 February, 2011

Ten years ago, in July 2001, 200,000 protestors converged on Genova, Italy, to disrupt the 27th G8 Summit, at which the leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the UK and the US — plus the President of the European Commission — were meeting to discuss issues of global significance, including the debt burden of poor countries, world health issues, the environment and food security.

The 1990s in the West: The rise of the anti-globalization movement

Arrest of CIA Agent Sheds Light on American Covert War in Pakistan, Straining U.S.-Pakistani Relations

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Democracy Now!
Feb. 23, 2011

Arrest of CIA Agent Sheds Light on American Covert War in Pakistan, Straining U.S.-Pakistani Relations

U.S. officials have admitted an American detained in Pakistan for the murder of two men was a CIA agent and a former employee of the private security firm Blackwater, now called Xe Services. Up until Monday, the Obama administration had insisted Raymond Davis was a diplomat who had acted in self-defense. The arrest of Davis has soured relations between the United States and Pakistan and revealed a web of covert U.S. operations inside the country, part of a secret war run by the C.I.A. The Guardian of London first reported Davis’s CIA link on Sunday and noted that many U.S. news outlets knew about his connection to the CIA but did not report on it at the request of U.S. officials. We speak with Declan Walsh, the Pakistan correspondent for The Guardian, who first broke the story. [includes rush transcript]

Beltway Buzz: The Upcoming Bipartisan Congressional Caucus for Prozac by Sibel Edmonds (satire)

by Sibel Edmonds
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Originally published by Boiling Frogs Post
February 23, 2011

A Caucus to Combat Terrorism, Domestic Violence, Divorce & Job Dissatisfaction via ‘Happiness Pill’

According to our inside sources a new Bipartisan Congressional Caucus for Prozac will be launched before the end of the 112^th Congress. The primary purpose of the Prozac Caucus will be to raise awareness and advocate for this ‘miracle drug’ aka ‘happiness pill,’ on the grounds of combating homegrown terrorism and domestic violence, lowering the national divorce rate, and increasing the level of general job satisfaction among the restless American workforce. “Increasing the level of general satisfaction and happiness, while decreasing the effects of violence and despair inducing factors such as anxiety and depression, are the major keys to achieving long term national security, family unity, and work force stability. With Prozac we believe we can achieve all that and more,” said a congressional aide who wished to remain anonymous.

Bahrain: Uprising Against the US-backed Regime Gains Critical Mass By Finian Cunningham

by Finian Cunningham
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
February 23, 2011
Manama, Bahrain

Image by malyousif via Flickr

Bahrain’s uprising against the US-backed ruling elite is gathering critical mass, with the Persian Gulf island state seeing the biggest demonstration ever last night. Some 200,000 people took the main highway leading to the financial district in the capital, Manama, shouting in unison for the regime to go.

Fascism in the U.S.: Are We there Yet? by Steven Jonas, MD, MPH

by Steven Jonas, MD, MPH
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
crossposted on Buzzflash.com
February 23, 2011

On February 21, 2011, Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman published on article on The Free Press entitled “Fighting the 5 fascisms in Wisconsin & Ohio“.  They began the article by saying: “The escalating confrontations in Wisconsin and Ohio are ultimately about preventing the United States from becoming a full-on fascist state.  The stakes could not be higher—or more clear.”  At about the same time, a friend sent me a note in which he said: “[The] decline [of the United States] will be in the form of a ‘downward spiral.’ There may be push-backs at intervals, but in the long run our nation will succumb to fascism.”  So maybe now, maybe later, although if it’s later, we still have a fighting chance of preventing its onset.  Nevertheless, in considering the argument of Messrs Fitrakis and Wasserman, the question arises: are we there yet?  Borrowing from the Propaganda Channel (pardon me, but they [very] occasionally get something right): we report, you decide.

Fighting the 5 fascisms in Wisconsin and Ohio by Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman

https://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/

Crossposted with permission from The Free Press.

by Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman
The Free Press
February 21, 2011

The escalating confrontations in Wisconsin and Ohio are ultimately about preventing the United States from becoming a full-on fascist state.

The stakes could not be higher—or more clear.

As defined by its inventor, Benito Mussolini, fascism is “corporate control of the state.” There are ways to beat around the Bush—Paul Krugman has recently written about “oligarchy”—but it’s time to end all illusions and call what we now confront by its true name.

Wisconsin “Budget Repair Bill” Protest + Tom Morello live from Madison protests

https://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/

Image by zak((again)))) via Flickr

mindfiction | February 21, 2011

Three days of footage (Feb 15-17) from the Madison, WI protest against the SB11 budget repair bill.

You can see all the amazing emails I’ve been receiving from people all over the country here: http://mgwisni.posterous.com/