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Taylor Mali, slam poet, gives his mind on what teachers make.

White House Takes Heat for GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt's Advisory Role

BY JAKE TAPPER - THE WHITE HOUSE, March 25, 2011

The top tax bracket for U.S. corporations stands at 35 percent, one of the highest rates in the world. So how is it possible that a giant of American business, General Electric, paid nothing in federal taxes last year, even as it made billions in profit?

And should the CEO of GE, Jeffrey Immelt, be advising the president on business?

For two years, President Obama has been talking about the need for corporate tax reform, declaring that the system is too complicated and that companies pay too much.

"Simplify, eliminate loopholes, treat everybody fairly," Obama said in February.

For those unaccustomed to the loopholes and shelters of the corporate tax code, GE's success at avoiding taxes is nothing short of extraordinary. The company, led by Immelt, earned $14.2 billion in profits in 2010, but it paid not a penny in taxes because the bulk of those profits, some $9 billion, were offshore. In fact, GE got a $3.2 billion tax benefit.

Published on Friday, March 25, 2011 by CommonDreams.org
by Deborah Burger

If the deficit hawks in Congress are serious about righting our economic ship and reducing deficits in the federal budget and many state capitols, it would we worth listening to the voices rising from the streets suggesting a very different solution than more cuts in safety net programs, education, pensions, and worker’s rights.

This is not a budget fight, it’s a fight for the future of an America in which everyone should be able to retire in dignity, not worry about whether they can go to the doctor when they get sick, or whether there will still be schools for their kids.

Warns Any Radiation Exposure Is Unsafe
March 19, 2011

Washington, DC - March 19, 2011 – Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) today called for a nationwide moratorium on new nuclear reactors in the United States and a suspension of operations at the nuclear reactors with a similar design as those involved in the disaster in Japan, as well as those on fault lines. PSR cited the medical risks associated with any level of radiation exposure regardless of how small. Lower doses result in less chance of harm than higher doses, but any dose level can put an individual at risk.

“There is no safe level of radiation exposure,” said Jeff Patterson, MD, immediate past president of Physicians for Social Responsibility. “The direction of the wind and the amount of radioactivity released is going to determine the extent of the impact on human health. If the wind changes direction, a large release of radioactivity from the Fukushima reactors would have far-reaching medical consequences in Japan. Medical treatment for radiation is limited, at best.”

Original letter to the Sacramento Bee from John Reiger:

Japan is being nuked again. Sixty six years ago it was hit twice with nuclear bombs. This time it is being nuked by its own nuclear power companies. Japanese nuclear power hustlers are like the American nuclear power hustlers who continue to assure us that nuclear power is clean and safe. But it’s not.

During early nuclear bomb tests in this country, American servicemen were deliberately exposed to bomb radiation because "experts" thought they were far enough away to escape deadly doses. They weren't; many died.

These days nuclear power experts continue to assure us that nuclear power is clean and safe. But Japan - having first experienced the full horror of nuclear war - is now experiencing the horror of peacetime nuclear power. We need to learn from the tragic Japanese experience. No nuclear bombs! No nuclear power!

John C. Reiger
Pres. of Veterans For Peace, Ch. 87

Risk of meltdown ... smoke comes out of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. Photo: DigitalGlobe

Stay indoors: Japanese PM's order to residents beyond nuclear reactor evacuation zone after blast
Glenda Kwek - March 15, 2011 - 2:57PM
The Sydney Morning Herald

Radiation levels near a quake-stricken nuclear plant are now harmful to human health, Japan's government says after explosions and a fire at the facility.

''There is no doubt that unlike in the past, the figures are the level at which human health can be affected,'' said chief government spokesman Yukio Edano.

Tens of thousands have already been evacuated from a zone within a radius of 20km from the Fukushima No.1 plant, 250 kilometres northeast of Tokyo.

In a live address on national broadcaster NHK, Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan also said that people beyond 20 kilometres but up to a 30-kilometre radius from the plant should stay indoors.

The message below contains contact information for Sacramento area Congress members; if you don't live in Sacramento, you can reach your representatives and senators by calling the Congressional Switchboard, 202-224-3121 or emailing them through: www.house.gov or www.senator.gov.

PLEASE TAKE ACTION: Stop Congress from opposing the Goldstone Report  

  Last Friday, Oct. 23, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (Florida)  introduced H.Res.867, calling on the Obama Administration to "oppose unequivocally any endorsement or further consideration" of the Report of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, known as the Goldstone Report.  As of this writing local Congress members (Matsui, Thompson, Lungren and McClintock) have not signed on.

Please CALL now and ask your representative to: 1) NOT sponsor this legislation and 2) issue a statement opposing it.  Also ask them to investigate the detention of human rights activist Mohammed Othman who was taken by Israeli officials on September 22 and to demand his release (see below).     

U.S. official resigns over Afghan war
Foreign Service officer and former Marine captain says he no longer knows why his nation is fighting

By Karen DeYoung - Washington Post Staff Writer - Tuesday, October 27, 2009

When Matthew Hoh joined the Foreign Service early this year, he was exactly the kind of smart civil-military hybrid the administration was looking for to help expand its development efforts in Afghanistan.

A former Marine Corps captain with combat experience in Iraq, Hoh had also served in uniform at the Pentagon, and as a civilian in Iraq and at the State Department. By July, he was the senior U.S. civilian in Zabul province, a Taliban hotbed.

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