The other day I was reading the New York Review of Books in a bookstore café. I saw a large ad in the bottom corner of a page; it began with this quote, in bold capitals: "WHY IS IT A CRIME FOR ONE MAN TO MURDER ANOTHER, BUT NOT FOR A GOVERNMENT TO KILL MORE THAN A MILLION PEOPLE?" My first reaction, before I read further, was a feeling of surprise that someone had articulated the case against the Iraq war so clearly – and had bought expensive space in the magazine to bring this unpunished, unrepented – indeed, unacknowledged – war crime to the national consciousness again.

A serious proportion of the power that furnishes the light over the desk where I’m writing this, the energy that will turn the press to print it, and the light under which perhaps you’ll read it is generated by burning coal. But that only partly describes the process. For when coal is burned, we’re also burning lives. In the future, with determination and American resourcefulness, surely we will find a better way.

IS THE most powerful and controversial firm on Wall Street about to get the comeuppance that so many think it deserves? On Friday April 16th America’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed civil charges against Goldman Sachs and one of its vice-presidents, Fabrice Tourre, for allegedly defrauding investors by failing to disclose vital information about a financial product linked to subprime mortgages, as America’s housing market was starting to wobble. Goldman’s shares tumbled, dragging down stockmarkets. The instrument in question, structured and marketed by Goldman, was a synthetic collateralised debt obligation (CDO), whose performance was tied to that of residential mortgage-backed securities. Goldman told its investors, who included some European banks, that the securities bundled together to form the CDO had been selected by an independent third party, ACA Management. The SEC alleges that the investment bank failed to disclose that another firm, Paulson & Co, a big hedge-fund manager, had in fact had a hand in choosing what went into the CDO. This was a crucial omission, since Paulson & Co—run by John Paulson, who made billions in 2007-08 betting against the housing market—had taken a short position against the CDO; in other words, his firm would profit if the instrument performed poorly.

Bank of America, the nation's largest mortgage lender, ramped up its foreclosure activity in March, sending hundreds of letters warning delinquent borrowers in the region that it could sell their homes at auction in as little as three weeks, according to North County Times analysis of data from ForeclosureRadar. The bank said the increased activity was a natural consequence of borrowers running out of options. Analysts and real estate agents said the moves by the Charlotte, N.C., banking giant, which controls a large share of the Southern California mortgage market, could signal a final reckoning for homeowners who have been protected by government programs for months or even years. Last month, a Bank of America division called ReconTrust N.A. sent out a flurry of "notices of auction," which alert owners of the date their homes could be sold in foreclosure proceedings. The notices went to 230 homeowners in North San Diego County, a 69 percent increase from February, and to 391 owners in Southwest Riverside County, up 67 percent from February. By comparison, in March 2009, ReconTrust sent a total of 31 such letters to both regions combined. ReconTrust was formed as the foreclosure division of Countrywide Financial Services Inc., the company that helped drive the real estate boom of the 2000s with its no-documentation "liar loans" and enormous subprime portfolio. As borrowers could no longer make payments on such loans, home values plummeted, dragging with them much of the national economy. More foreclosures expected.

Worker-owned recycling, organic food, and other community developments in the South Bronx have been funded by a million dollar a year grant from Venezuela's Hugo Chavez. The program began when, "In 2005, a letter was written from a dozen US-Senators asking 10 of the largest oil companies to use their record profits to help low-income families pay for home heating oil. CITGO was the only corporation to respond to the call." http://upsidedownworld.org/main/venezuela-archives-35/2441-chavez-fuels-the-south-bronx

Despite the fact that not one new regulation has been put in place since the greed of the financial sector crashed our economy Republicans are doing all they can to maintain the status-quo in the banking industry. Despite being led, kicking and screaming and given a chance to input the legislation for months Republicans are saying that the bill is not "bi-partisan". However, despite criticisms leveled at Democrats and especially Chris Dodd, they have offered not one new idea on what to do to fix the problems that caused runaway greed and unethical irresponsibility in the runup to crashing our economy. Of course when you are beholden to failed policies what is one to do?? Republicans will never fight against greed because it is greed that gives their party a purpose.

A bipartisan coalition of 77 House members sent a letter Wednesday to U.S. Trade Rep. Ron Kirk and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood imploring them to renegotiate a section of the North American Free Trade Agreement that provides Mexican trucks with full access to U.S. roadways.

"If George Washington were alive today, he might face a hefty overdue library fine. New York City's oldest library says one of its ledgers shows that the president has racked up 220 years' worth of late fees on two books he borrowed but never returned. One of the books was the Law of Nations, which deals with international relations. The other was a volume of debates from Britain's House of Commons. Both books were due on Nov. 2, 1789."

I had a phone conversation with a relative on Thursday night. Tax night. She launched our conversation with: “I see your friends all got together today.” “What friends?” “Political friends.” I assumed she was referring to anti-war protesters or single payer activists. “Who?” “You know, the OTHER Obama haters.” She was lumping me in with the tea partiers. What to do? I wish I had had the energy of indignation to simply hang up on her. Instead I said wearily (and over-intellectually), “I am so sick of having Obama and his advocates dismiss the moral people on the left as ideologues and treat them as eccentrics like the irrational tea partiers." Seriously. The people who brought us Bush for eight devastating years (and Reagan before that), who enabled total corporate capture of our government and economy, so that soon Medicare and social security will be seriously dismantled all under the guise of “deficit responsibility”, the people who guaranteed the tanking of universal health care, the people who enabled the genocide of one million Iraqis, the people who enabled the caging and torturing of hundreds of innocent people (many still caged) – these faux-patriotic “tea partiers” who now have the unmitigated gall to throw a collective tantrum because THEY are unhappy over what this country has become!

"A state judge on Friday struck down an Arkansas law approved by voters that banned gay couples and other unmarried people living together from serving as adoptive or foster parents."

In October 2008, Chinese officials threatened to liquidate their vast holdings of foreign reserves- $1.33 trillion- to counteract congressional pressure to revalue their currency

Corporate America's short-term mentality is causing US companies to lose not only their best employees-their human capital-but also the consumers who buy their products.

"The Wall Street banks are the new American oligarchy - a group that gains political power because of its economic power, and then uses that political power for its own benefit." So write Simon Johnson, former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund; and James Kwak, former management consultant and software entrepreneur, in their important new book, "13 Bankers: The Wall Street Takeover and the Next Financial Meltdown." Their words of warning and the past year and a half make you realize that as usual, Thomas Jefferson, whose birthday we celebrate this week, had it right. Back in 1816, he wrote, "I sincerely believe... that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies."

Excellent explanation - The Teabaggers are dead wrong when they say they are anything like the REAL Boston Tea party. THAT Tea party is outlined by Thom Hartmann who compares the two and shows there is no comparison.

I've long admired Arianna Huffington's writing and frequently visit Huffington Post, so I was surprised to see a column on her website entitled "Relief for Middle Class Families" by President Obama's economic advisor, Larry Summers. If you know this guy's resume, he cares about the middle class the way Jeffrey Dahmer cared about people he ate.

New data released by the Treasury Department on Wednesday shows that mortgage servicers booted about 68,000 homeowners from the government’s mortgage modification program in March: That’s more than the 61,000 homeowners who began a permanent modification last month. Homeowners are eligible to receive the permanent modification after a trial period that is supposed to last three months.

U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Keith Alexander may well be harboring the thought attributed to prevaricator Oliver North upon being spared punishment -- and instead getting rewarded handsomely -- for lying about the Iran-Contra Affair: “Is this a great country or what!” Gen. Alexander, Director of the National Security Agency since August 2005, is about to become what the Army describes as “dual hatted.” The Senate is about to confirm him to another highly sensitive leadership position requiring the utmost integrity and fidelity to the Constitution when he has shown neither... a publicly established record of lying about NSA’s warrantless wiretapping. Call me naïve or obsolete, but when I was an Army officer it was understood that an officer did not lie — and especially not to Congress. Gen. Alexander seems to have missed that block of instruction. And the same can be said for so many other very senior Army officers. It becomes easier to understand why Army Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba compared some of his colleagues during the Bush administration to the Mafia.

"Naomi Wolf discusses the fascist shift in the United States, how the state of our liberties has been getting worse under the Obama administration, and how President Obama has assumed the same position as Bush on States Secrets Privilege, unlawful detention and torture, and other similar assaults on our liberties. Ms. Wolf talks about the deplorable state of our two-party system and alternative approaches, the hypocritical silence of liberal antiwar activists, the need for new grassroots institutions and approaches to take back our civil liberties, and more."

A recent New York Times poll on Tea Party supporters supposedly showed they were better educated and "wealthier" than the public as a whole. But a look at the raw polling data reveals something quite different, not only exposing Tea Party supporters for everything people always thought they were, but exposing New York Times reporters and editors as people who couldnt correctly analyze their way out of a paper bag.

The former president of Blackwater Worldwide was charged Friday with using straw purchases to stockpile automatic weapons at the security firm and filing false documents to cover up gifts given to the King of Jordan. The federal indictment charges Gary Jackson, 52, who left the company last year in a management shakeup, along with four other former workers. The charges against Jackson include a conspiracy to violate firearms laws, false statements and possession of an unregistered firearm. Also indicted were former general counsel Andrew Howell, 44; former executive vice president Bill Mathews, 44; former procurement vice president Ana Bundy, 45; and, 65-year-old Ronald Slezak, a former weapons manager. [Note: Before you get too happy. You'd better read the rest of the article.