Infographic: Tax Breaks vs. Budget Cuts

"House leaders are unfortunately restricting their proposed budget cuts for the remainder of fiscal year 2011 to nonsecurity discretionary spending in an attempt to tame a $1.3 trillion deficit. This approach is especially shortsighted since the Federal Treasury loses twice as much revenue due to tax breaks than Congress appropriates on all nonsecurity discretionary spending.

The chart below compares the 10 safety-net programs slated for deep cuts with the cost of the tax breaks that should also be considered for reduction or elimination to bring the budget into balance. The column on the left is a list of safety-net programs that have already been targets of the House leadership’s budget ax. The column on the right is the cost to specified tax breaks (see bottom of page for sources)."
**click link to see graph that will blow the issue out of the water for anyone with heart

White House "angrily" quashes DNC support of labor protests: says events beyond DC a "distraction"

In case you missed it, this March 3 NYTs story about Obama's new "no drama" staff reveals a lot about why we don't see the president donning his "comfortable shoes" and "walking the picket line" with American workers fighting the corporate coups in Wisconsin, Michigan and Florida. Turns out, the DNC was out in front of the struggles with staff in place to mobilize a national network for protest, BUT THEY WERE RECALLED at the behest of Obama's new "no drama" staffers. Seems that the fight of our lives is "too much drama" for this administration -- they're busy "winning the future," so don't expect any last minute support our party at any level because the leaders of the party don't have time for "distractions."

more at link...

Creekstone recalls 7 tons of E. coli-tainted beef

Posted: 03/10/2011
Last Updated: 6 hours and 42 minutes ago

* By: Associated Press

ARKANSAS CITY, Kan. - A southern Kansas packing plant has recalled more than 7 tons of ground beef products after lab tests detected E. coli.

The Arkansas City Traveler says Creekstone Farms Premium Beef confirmed Wednesday that it had recalled 14,148 pounds of ground beef.

The company says the tainted meat was produced Feb. 22 and shipped to Missouri, Iowa, Arizona, California, Georgia, Indiana, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Washington.

Creekstone and the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service say they have received no reports of illnesses associated with consumption of the questionable meat.

more at link...

Teachers, firefighters, cops target M&I with boycott

Madison -- Teachers, firefighters and police officers said they would begin a boycott of M&I Bank if the bank does not begin publicly opposing Gov. Scott Walker's efforts to curtail collective bargaining for public workers.

Unions representing those groups said they would start other boycotts of businesses that backed Walker in his campaign.

The letter to M&I President Tom Ellis said the boycott would begin March 17 if the bank hasn't opposed Walker's efforts by then.

"In the event that you cannot support this effort to save collective bargaining, please be advised that the undersigned will publicly and formally boycott the goods and services provided by your company," the letter says. "However, if you join us, we will do everything in our power to publicly celebrate your partnership in the fight to preserve the right of public employees to be heard at the bargaining table."

more at link....

An American family story: One rich, one poor and their values

Which would you prefer to be?

Is there a happy medium anywhere?

Rich helps poor family member, maybe? Nada. Not of value.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x586309

Dennis Kucinich Compares Treatment Of PFC Bradley Manning To Abu Ghraib & Warns Defense Sec Gates

We are blessed to have such a man as Kucinich, and we are stupid to have not elected him when we could have.... let us hope he can stop this torture of Bradley Manning taking place in our own country.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qakl8gjPtn0

US Nuremberg Prosecutor: "My Government Today Prepared to Do Something for Which We Hanged Germans"

So there we are. We have a difficult world, and really it's up to the young people to do something about it. Do what your heart tells you is the right thing - stop glorifying war. Do it as best you can. We are spending $2 billion every day on the military. We have a stronger military than every nation in the world combined. What for? No one wants the US to be the self-appointed policeman of he world. The country is on the verge of bankruptcy. We are denying people the elements of health and education by wasting our money on weapons of mass destruction that we cannot use. If you cannot reach and persuade politicians to reverse this disastrous policy, you may have to take to the streets. What else can we do?

"America is a great democracy, and in every democracy it's normal, and it should be that way, that people have differences of opinion. But a democracy can only work if its people are being told the truth. You cannot run a country as Hitler did, feeding the public a pack of lies to frighten them that they are being threatened so it's justified to kill people you don't even know. You cannot do that. It's not logical, it's not decent, it's not moral and it's not helpful. When an unmanned bomber from a secret American airfield fires rockets into a little Pakistan or Afghan village and thereby kills or maims unknown numbers of innocent people, what is the effect of that?

Every victim will hate Americans forever and will be willing to die killing as many Americans as possible. Where there is no court of justice wild vengeance is the alternative."

more:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=589380&mesg_id=589380