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Down the rabbit hole with democracy and three urgent pleas

Democracy. Who used to have it in the USA, and who has it now? People with white skin privilege? People who were born male? People with piles of money, much of it stolen from other people's labor?

I often hear European Americans from all walks of life talking about democracy in the USA - how they want to reclaim it, like in the good old days - and I wonder about how differently from one another we experience this country. This is not our land; not my land nor your land. When European Americans arrived over 500 years ago, we murdered with bullets and small pox blankets - that we intentionally gave to them - the Indigenous people who had lived in balance here for thousands of years. Then we enslaved people of African descent to build the country's wealth, and kept women - who did not even get the vote until 1920 - second class citizens and the property of men for even longer.

The cure for plutocracy: Strike!

How do you get politicians living off legalized bribery to criminalize bribery? How do you persuade the corporate media to report on the interests of flesh-and-blood, non-corporate people? How do you take over a political party when the only other one allowed to compete is worse? These are not koans, but actual problems with a single solution.

It might seem like there are a million solutions: pass state-level clean election laws, build independent media, build a new party, etc. But the fundamental answer is that when the deck is stacked against you, you insist on a new deck. Power, as Frederick Douglas told us, concedes nothing without a demand. We cannot legislate our way out of plutocracy. Instead, we the people must seize power.

Trump

White House website lying about your taxes

The White House has a handy website to mislead you about your tax dollars at Tax Receipt.
It claims that only 26.3% goes to "National Defense." This is similar to the claim in the 1040EZ US income tax form booklet (see pages 36-37). Here are those two pages in a PDF. There the claim is that the U.S. government only spends 22% of its money on "National defense, veterans, and foreign affairs." The form admits that you could leave out the "foreign affairs" part and still be at 21%.

The White House website claims to calculate both veterans' expenses and foreign affairs separately and still put "defense" alone at 26.3%.

However, take a look now at the pie chart created by the War Resisters League, which shows 51% of the budget going to the military.

21% and 26.3% and 51% aren't even close to each other. This is not "good enough for government work." This is our money. What gives?

Thailand and Cambodia battle on border to dominate temple ruins

BANGKOK, Thailand -- Three days of border fighting with mortars and rockets by Thailand and Cambodia has killed at least 10 soldiers and forced thousands of villagers to flee, while both sides try to dominate nearby ancient Hindu temple ruins which are potentially lucrative tourist sites.

Three Cambodian soldiers and three Thai troops died on Friday, followed by three more Cambodian soldiers' deaths and one more Thai army fatality on Saturday, officials said.

No deaths were reported on Sunday.

Thailand and Cambodia repeatedly blamed the other for firing first.

The three days of fighting were the worst clashes since February when four days of similar battles killed 10 soldiers and prompted the United Nations Security Council to call for restraint.

In New York during the weekend, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon again called on both countries to stop fighting and agree to a verifiable ceasefire.

Cambodia said Thai forces fired 75 mm and 105 mm shells "loaded with poison gas" and flew reconnaissance flights deep into Cambodian territory, but no evidence was provided and Bangkok denied both charges.

SB5 Petition Events Saturday April 23

We Are Ohio will be holding petition signing events in 9 cities across Ohio on Saturday to repeal SB 5. The campaign has less than 70 days to obtain the necessary signatures to overturn this unfair attack on employee rights and workers safety. This bill doesn’t create any jobs, but hurts our teachers, firefighters, nurses and our communities. We encourage you to attend one of these events and be among the first to sign the petition. For additional information, please go to www.weareohio.com. Thank you.

REPEAL SB 5 PETITION SIGNING EVENTS ON SATURDAY, APRIL 23
Noon to 2 p.m.

ATHENS
Ohio University, Morton Hall
Athens, OH 45701

CINCINNATI
Unity Missionary Baptist Church
3126 Fairfield Ave. Cincinnati, OH

CLEVELAND
Harvard Community Services Center
18240 Harvard Ave. Cleveland, OH 44128

COLUMBUS
Goodale Park, Shelterhouse near the Playground
120 W. Goodale St. Columbus, OH 43215

DAYTON
The Dayton Cultural & RTA Transit Center

President Obama gets his groove back by attacking Africans

Editor's Note: Listen to a conversation with Cynthia McKinney on FIGHT BACK with Dr. Bob Fitrakis, at Talktainmentradio
President Obama promised "change" to the people who voted for him. He told them to hope again and that change would come. But President Obama's change is really more of the same. Therefore, his elixir that was sold to the world was nothing more than snake oil. The most damage, of course, is being done to those whose dreams were intricately woven into his words, not realizing that words are not policy. In a most deadly treachery, those who believed in our President the most are the ones who are now suffering and dying the most.

Duck and cover

“Within 10 seconds the fire that wiped out the city came after us at full speed. Everyone was naked. Bodies were swelling up. Some people were so deformed I couldn’t tell if they were male or female. People died screaming, ‘Please give me water!’

“There was nothing to eat, not even garbage, in the burned down city.”

What if schoolchildren stood facing not the American flag every morning before class started but a photograph of a devastated Hiroshima, shortly after it was obliterated by our atomic bomb, and pledged their allegiance to the idea that such a thing will never happen again?

Do you think we’d start growing up as a country? Do you think we’d still have several thousand nuclear missiles on hair-trigger alert, pointed at Russia (with Russia having about as many pointed at us)? Do you think — as I begin reaching wildly for the impossible — we’d start facing our fears instead of living in fear?

Beyond Nuclear petitions Nuclear Regulatory Commission for suspension of 21 U.S. atomic reactor operating licenses in wake of Japanese nuclear catastrophe

Watchdog group alleges General Electric Boiling Water Reactor Mark 1 design’s weak containment, inadequate experimental venting back fit, and radioactive waste storage pool are accidents waiting to happen

Antother letter in support of Dr. Gerard Nuovo

I saw your article dated 1/3/11 ( Ohio State's medical industrial complex under fire for unnecessary surgeries). I am here to tell you that the problem you so well described is actually much worse.

First, I want you to know that Gerard Nuovo, MD has personally helped me with several medical issues over the years. Thus, it is from direct experience that I can tell you he is an excellent MD who goes the extra mile for all of his patients. His knowledge of medicine in general is profound, and this certainly applies to his specialty, Gynecologic Pathology.

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