Politics and Legislation
RSC budget to balance books faster
By Erik Wasson
House conservatives on Tuesday morning will tack to the right and unveil an alternative to the House GOP leadership’s 2013 budget plan that balances in five years.
http://thehill.com/homenews/house/218289-rsc-budget-to-balance-books-faster
Obama: I’m not ‘hiding the ball’ on defense shield talks with Russia
By Amie Parnes
President Obama denied Tuesday that he is “hiding the ball” when it comes to negotiating with Russia over U.S. plans for a defense shield, saying his positions on the issue are “on record.”
Justice Kennedy among skeptical voices at court’s healthcare debate
By Ian Swanson
Supreme Court justices lobbed tough questions at the U.S. solicitor general defending the healthcare law’s insurance mandate in the second day of oral arguments in the case.
Several of the court’s conservatives appeared skeptical of the government’s argument that requiring consumers to purchase health insurance or face a fine is constitutional, including Justice Anthony Kennedy, the possible swing vote on the court.
Why Iceland Won’t Join The EU (Video)
British PM sold seats at family dinner table to wealthy donors:
By DAVID STRINGER, Associated Press
LONDON (AP) — Britain’s prime minister, facing new questions about party fundraising, disclosed Monday the names of major donors to his Conservative Party invited to intimate meals at his family’s Downing Street apartment and his official countryside mansion.
David Cameron, whose aides had initially refused to divulge the details, published the lists of guests after the resignation of a fundraising aide caught boasting that he could organize access to Cameron in return for large donations……..
Economy
No Inflation? General Mills Begs to Differ
Submitted by CrownThomas
Repeatedly, all we hear is that Zero Hedge is just some wing nut website. Always stretching the truth about the economy’s woes, and constantly claiming hyperinflation is just around the corner. Ya, about that…
General Mills came out Wednesday with their Q3 earnings, and what do you suppose was one of the top points they wanted to make to their investors? Just that they were experiencing significantly higher input costs year-over-year.
As a matter of fact, they say that YOY inflation input costs were actually higher by 2% 3% 5% 8% …
10%-11%
So is it deflationary for the consumer if the 3rd biggest food company in America is experiencing double digit inflation?
But then again what do I know, I’m just a contributor to a blog. And I don’t even have a Phd……
Exclusive: Greek Government Robbed Public Institutions To Complete Bond Swap
REVEALED: HOW VENIZELOS REGIME SECRETLY REMOVED 70% OF MAJOR HOSPITAL, UTILITY & UNIVERSITY BANK ACCOUNT FUNDS TO PAY BONDHOLDERS
Bank of Greece complicit in broadscale embezzlement revealed by respectable Greek health site
The illegally denied default of Greece entered a dramatic new phase this afternoon with the revelation by mainstream Greek public health website Health News that, shortly before midnight on March 8th – the eve of Greece’s psi completion on Friday March 9th – on average 70% of public utility funds in varous large, interest-bearing accounts at the Bank of Greece were raided. These included most of the State’s regional hospital budgets, various universities and (it is alleged) at least one utility company.
Brics’ move to unseat US dollar as trade currency:
South Africa will this week take some initial steps to unseat the US dollar as the preferred worldwide currency for trade and investment in emerging economies. Thus, the nation is expected to become party to endorsing the Chinese currency, the renminbi, as the currency of trade in emerging markets.
http://www.citypress.co.za/Business/News/Brics-move-to-unseat-US-dollar-as-trade-currency-20120324
Wars and Rumors of War
“I Am No Longer the Monster I Once Was”
Video
“The reason I am doing this,” said former Marine Jon Turner, Until people hear what is going on with this war, it will continue to happen, and people will continue to die.
U.N. gets reports of child soldiers with Syria rebels:
Syrian rebels fighting to oust President Bashar al-Assad have been accused of using children as fighters in violation of international conventions banning the recruitment of child soldiers, a senior U.N. official said on Monday.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/26/us-syria-un-idUSBRE82P0W220120326
Articles of Interest
What Ever Happened to “Extremism in Defense of Liberty is No Vice”?
By A. Barton Hinkle
It’s more than a little ironic that conservatives think the first order of business when fighting terror is to sacrifice freedom.
http://reason.com/archives/2012/03/16/what-ever-happened-to-extremism-in-defen
Empires Then and Now
By Paul Craig Roberts
Bush and Obama have doubled the national debt, and the American people have no benefits from it. No riches, no bread and circuses flow to Americans from Washington’s wars. So what is it all about?
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article30923.htm
On the Death of Shaima Alawadi
Murdered by a decade of militarist demagoguery
By Justin Raimondo
March 26, 2012 “Antiwar” — It sickens me to write this, to report on the latest manifestation of the hate that has enveloped my country and spread out across the world like a giant oil spill, but the death of Shaima Alawadi, a 32-year-old Iraqi woman and mother of five, is a moral obscenity – a crime for which the War Party must take responsibility.
On Wednesday, in the quiet San Diego suburb of El Cajon, California, the teenage daughter of Shaima Alawadi returned home to find her mother drowning in a pool of blood. There were signs of forced entry at the back of the house. Someone had broken in and beaten her mother nearly to death with a tire iron.
Next to her body was a note: “Go back to your own country, you terrorist.”
A similar note had been found tacked to the family’s door a few weeks earlier, but Shaima had dismissed it as a kid’s prank.