Thousands of Nurses, Activists to March at G8 May 18, Call for Tax on Wall Street, Challenge Austerity Agendas

RNs to be Joined by Healthcare, Community, Global Activists in Chicago to Call for Wall Street Speculation Tax as Starting Point to Address Economic Crisis

The Occupy movement may be able to forge a powerful alliance with millions of working men and women around a national call to raise the minimum wage to $10 an hour. The drive to establish new encampments, while important, is going to be long and difficult. The ongoing efforts to stand up to the foreclosure and mortgage crisis, the marches to hold Wall Street accountable, the protests against stop-and-frisk policies in New York City or police brutality in Oakland, while vital, do not draw the numbers into the streets across the country needed to loosen the grip of the corporate state.

My father was a Republican for the first 78 years of his life. For the last twenty, he’s been a Democrat (he just celebrated his 98th.) What happened? “They lost me,” he says.

They’re losing even more Americans now, as the four remaining GOP candidates seek to out-do one another in their race for the votes of the loony right that’s taken over the Grand Old Party.

In the 1920s, H.L. Mencken, the nasty patron saint of modern journalism, coined the term "booboisie" to refer to a class of Americans he considered uneducated, uncultured and subservient to the religious and business status quo.

Mencken relished mocking those politicians who depended upon a stupid electorate for their ascendency to power. Almost every institution in American life harbored the seeds of revolt against modernity during the early decades of the 20th century.

Seventeen states have now introduced bills for state-owned banks, and others are in the works. Hawaii’s innovative state bank bill addresses the foreclosure mess. County-owned banks are being proposed that would tackle the housing crisis by exercising the right of eminent domain on abandoned and foreclosed properties. Arizona has a bill that would do this for homeowners who are current in their payments but underwater, allowing them to refinance at fair market value.

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is one of the most powerful lobby organizations in the country. AIPAC’s clout helps fuel a never-ending cycle of violence in the Middle East.

Here are ten reasons why AIPAC is so dangerous.

President Obama railed against Republicans on Thursday for “licking their chops” and using a spike in gas prices as a political opportunity.

Appearing at the University of Miami to deliver a high profile speech on energy, Obama aimed to deflect the criticism his administration has received for higher gas prices.

Obama sought to telegraph a message that he is doing all he can to improve energy policy while accusing Republicans of politicizing the issue.

Despite all the hysteria and breast-beating about the nonexistent nuclear threat from Iran, and despite the overblown fears that Israel might attack Iran—it won’t—there appears to some movement on the diplomatic front that could get Iran back to the negotiating table.

Although largely identified as a liberal effort, the Occupy Movement is viewed differently by the Democrats running for the 10th congressional district seat.

Ilya Sheyman of Waukegan voiced strong support for the protesters who have occupied parks and other public spaces in Chicago, New York City and elsewhere.

Billionaire campaign donor David Koch, heir to a fortune and a political legacy created by one of the driving forces behind the John Birch Society, makes no secret of his enthusiasm for Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker.

“What Scott Walker is doing with the public unions in Wisconsin is critically important. He’s an impressive guy and he’s very courageous,” Koch explained in a recent conversation reported by the Palm Beach Post. “If the unions win the recall, there will be no stopping union power.”