This amazing video touches on most all of the ills of the world: pollution, abuse of the environment, nuclear energy, fracking, water pollution, poverty, starvation, hunger, income disparity, politics, lack of healthcare, indifference and war. Combined with the moving music, it's possibly the most moving video you'll see at just over 3 minutes in length. Buenísimo!

I mentioned the other day that I paid more in federal income taxes than Verizon did in 4 years:

Last year, Citizens for Tax Justice found that 30 major corporations had made billions of dollars in profits while paying no federal income tax between 2008 and 2010. Today, CTJ updated that report to reflect the 2011 tax bill of those 30 companies, and 26 of them have still managed to pay absolutely nothing over that four year period.

If we have to pay taxes, why aren't these big successful corporations paying their taxes? I find that really offensive. But this tax season, our friends at Occupy the Boardroom have a plan:

Tell some of the biggest corporate tax dodgers in America exactly what you think of them! Verizon, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America have all spent millions on lobbying since they helped crash the economy – more than they paid in corporate taxes. In fact, not only have they spent millions buying access, they've all gamed the system to receive millions in TAX REFUNDS! Find that offensive? Tell the executives of these companies yourself!

I can't afford a lobbyist, but now I can tell those tax dodgers how I feel about our current tax system, and you can, too.

Oh, and while your there, you might want to pick up a copy of the Occupy the Boardroom book, a great piece of history telling the story of the great divide between the 1percent and the 99 percent, and how the economic crisis impacted the majority of Americans.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

[Video: Chris Matthews of MSNBC's Hardball features portions of President Obama's push for the Buffet Rule.]

President Obama appeared in Florida Tuesday to make the case for the “Buffett Rule,” a policy he introduced in this year’s State of the Union address. The rule would institute a minimum federal income tax of 30 percent for Americans who make more than $1 million a year.

The administration argues that the rule is designed to prevent the widespread tax evasion that allows top earners to avoid much of their social duties. It takes its name from billionaire investor Warren Buffett, who has publicly called for wealthy Americans to be taxed at higher rates than their mid-level employees.

As Bill Scher of Campain for America's Future notes, "President Obama's 30% rule is squarely within the 33% "principle" that President Bush articulated and nearly every Republican member of Congress at the time supported."

There is no justification for a backer of the Bush tax cuts to abandon that principle and filibuster President Obama's Buffett Rule.

Unless, Republicans want to articulate a new principle: "no one in America should have to pay more than a third of their income to the federal government ... and no multimillionaire who lives off of stocks and dividends should pay more than a sixth of their income to the federal government."

And as Think Progress noted, back in September 2011, when President Obama first debuted the Buffet Rule, they "climbed into the wayback machine and found a video of President Ronald Reagan decrying “crazy” tax loopholes that allowed a millionaire to pay a lower tax rate than a bus driver." Watch it here.

Now as the Senate prepares to vote on the Buffet Rule bill that would ensure that the wealthy pay a minimum 30 percent tax rate, Think Progress has found more Reagan video footage:

In this video, President Reagan describes a letter he received from an executive who wanted to come to Washington and tell Congress why it’s “wrong” that he was able to “take advantage of the present tax code” to pay a lower tax rate than his secretary.

In order to have a healthy economy, it needs to work for everyone and not just the wealthy 1 percent. The Buffet Rule bill will end those tax loopholes that enable the wealthy to pay less in taxes than middle class workers.

And if it was good enough for The Gipper, the GOP should love this bill.

Think Progress:

Last year, Citizens for Tax Justice found that 30 major corporations had made billions of dollars in profits while paying no federal income tax between 2008 and 2010. Today, CTJ updated that report to reflect the 2011 tax bill of those 30 companies, and 26 of them have still managed to pay absolutely nothing over that four year period.

Occupy Peeps Street
The Occupy Wall Street movement can't be stopped - not even in Peepville!

Protesters Re-Occupy Minneapolis: At least a dozen Occupy Minnesota protesters were arrested as their return to Minneapolis became heated overnight.

Much more here, including a lot of video footage and photographs.

This just in: A newly uploaded video from Occupy Minneapolis last night. This one shows Minneapolis police police attacking journalists and flipping a commercial news videographer and his camera at about 1:22 and another independent journalist arrested:

And then this video shows that videographer being actually flipped over by a police officer in slow motion:

Occupy Wall Street activists arrested for L train stickers after inviting film crew along: Two Occupy Wall Street protestors have been arrested after they allowed NY1 to record their subway sticker campaign. Jeffrey Brewer and Aaron Minter were among those who last week covered subway seats with stickers that read, "Priority Seating for the 1%.

Occupy Salt Lake activists who maintained a round-the-clock presence in Salt Lake City’s Gallivan Center this past winter on Friday packed up their tents and moved a few blocks south to Library Square, a grass-and-gravel area east of the Salt Lake City Library at 210 E. 400 South.

Since Oct. 6, the Salt Lake contingency has stood in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street, a grass-roots movement decrying corporate greed and its influence on society and the political process.

'Wall Street' merger: DC's 2 Occupy groups to merge at McPherson Square: Washington's two ongoing Occupy protests plan to merge with one group moving out of Freedom Plaza and joining protesters at McPherson Square. On Friday evening, the Freedom Plaza protesters voted unanimously to approve the move.

Anonymous hacks UK government sites over 'draconian surveillance': Anonymous has launched a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) against multiple UK government websites. The group is not pleased with the UK government’s plans to monitor Internet users.

Afghan youth in U.S. protest war: Some 150 people from Fremont and Occupy Oakland demonstrated outside a U.S. military recruiting center in Fremont on March 30 at a protest organized by Afghan youth. They were also joined by a number of San Francisco Bay Area Iraq Veterans Against the War activists. Fremont has the highest concentration of Afghans in the U.S.

Two more stay-away orders against Occupy Cal protesters lifted.

Occupy Wall Street Figured Out How to Have Sleepovers!

And via Treehugger, the coal industry mocks Occupy Wall Street. The message?

It's time to put aside silly things like idealism, or discontentment with pollution, and get back to reality. Hard, dirty, coal-stained reality. So listen up, Americans:

Lee Fang at Republic Report hits back:

The coal lobby thinks “reality” is a world dependent on their dangerous product. Coal-fired power plants kill at least 13,000 people a year by spewing over 386,000 tons of pollutants, including mercury, into the air. Coal is also the most significant driver of carbon emissions, making the industry responsible for global warming that will cause more extreme weather, droughts, famine, crop failures, mass extinction of various species, as well as flooding. Coal is hardly even a source of middle class jobs given efforts by major coal companies to bust their respective unions.

Auto Industry Provides Bright Spot In Jobs Report, Proving Again That Letting It Fail Would Have Been The Wrong Course

Last but not least, from Open Secrets: Let there be no doubt where Wall Street's political loyalties lie: Of all the money the securities and investment industry has poured into the 2012 presidential contest so far -- to the candidates and the super PACs behind them -- an unambiguous 92 percent has gone to the GOP, according to a new Center for Responsive Politics analysis.

This is a great compilation of some of the epic scenes from the Occupy movement mixed with some great Michael Jackson music.

This week has seen some of the most horrific assaults on women's rights and health care for women in decades.

On Wednesday, David Edwards reported on a new measure that passed the Arizona senate that effectively bans abortion after 18 weeks of pregnancy, and can consider a woman to be pregnant 2 weeks before she has even had sex.

Then on Thursday, new restrictions appearing in anti-choice bills around the nation allow for doctors to lie to their female patients if doing so will help them to prevent an abortion.

Via:

In both Kansas and Arizona measures are advancing that exempt doctors from medical malpractice suits should they withhold medical information in order to prevent a woman from having an abortion. These bills also shield doctors from malpractice claims if a woman suffers an injury from a pregnancy as a result of information withheld from her to prevent an abortion. Georgia just snuck a liability shield into their 20-week abortion ban. We can expect more to follow.

Proponents of these "wrongful birth" bills argue they are necessary to stem the tide of lawsuits like one in Oregon where parents sued for costs related to the care of their daughter who was born with Down's Syndrome. In that case the parents argued that the medical professionals were negligent in conducting the genetic testing, and that had they known their daughter would be born with a disability, they would have had an abortion.
...

In practice this means that instead of an objective inquiry into the medical treatment and advice given to a pregnant woman based on what the profession as a whole considers competent medical treatment, the individual beliefs of the doctor will determine if advice given or care rendered was reasonable. In legal terms that changes the inquiry from objective to subjective meaning; there is no real basis to judge conduct against. It will no longer matter what a doctor’s peers believe to be considered good medical care: it will only matter if that particular doctor thought the care would avoid an abortion.
...

That also means that women in states with wrongful birth bills can never be sure the medical information they are receiving is accurate and unbiased, nor can they sue in the event that its wrong or negligent. And that women in states without these bills will have to exercise even more caution and be even greater advocates for their own care as what constitutes good accepted medical practice is no longer easily determinable.

This goes against the grain of the medical profession's modern Hypocratic Oath that says "Above all, I must not play at God," and tosses true "Informed Consent" out the window. As RH Reality Check puts it "Pregnant women will, in effect, be returned to the same legal standing of juveniles or persons under legal guardianship and conservatorship, devoid of the ability to consent to a full course of medical treatment on their own."

A boon for bad doctors, this shield for medical malpractice "strips women of the ability to be compensated for sub-standard medical care rendered to them while pregnant and nothing more." And while right-wing Republicans insist that there is no war on women, the evidence is in the efforts to pass legislation like the medical malpractice shield that essentially says that women's lives have no value, as that is what taking away your right to bring a claim based on the value of that life does to women.

This is absolutely war. Defend your rights, or risk losing them.

OccupyOurHomes is working with a Minneapolis family in an effort to try to save their home from foreclosure by USBank:

John Vinje and Lucinda Adams-Vinje bought their home in 2008 for 148,000. Their payment was roughly $1,300 per month on a 30 yr fixed term. It was the 1st home that either of them had ever purchased. John had been an Air Force pilot during the Vietnam war before working for many years as a security officer. Lucinda had a well established 10 year career as a TSA agent at the Minneapolis airport. Lucinda chose the home because she had grown up in the South Metro area and her work is nearby. She also happens to love the house. John says "I'm not sure why, she just loves it."

If they do nothing they will lose their home in April of 2012. This Air Force veteran and his wife have worked their entire adult life and now stand to lose the only home that either has ever owned.

What US Bank doesn't realize is that John and his wife are fighters. They, along with a growing number of Minnesota homeowners, have taken a pledge to stand with their community and fight for their home.

John had this to add: "Their refusal to work with us is an outrage. Do you know how much the C.E.O. of US Bank made last year? 18 million dollars! And yet they want my house that's only worth $80,000. Well you know what? I'm not gonna let them have it!"

If you would like to help this family save their home from foreclosure, there are a couple of things you can do:

Call U.S. Bank Sr. Vice President Tom Joyce TODAY: 612-303-3167. Tell U.S. Bank to postpone John Vinje's sheriff's sale and come to the table with a reasonable modification offer that will allow he and his family can stay in their home.

Or:

Sign this petition from Change.org.

Opponents of an Arizona proposal to limit birth control coverage sent knitted uteri with large, glued-on plastic eyes to more than 12 state lawmakers in clear plastic bags. Each gift was accompanied by a letter from a woman who is against the bill. Proponents of the bill say employers shouldn’t have to provide contraception if it violates the organization’s religious stance. Opponents say the measure would violate a woman’s right to privacy. Arizona lawmakers are expected to vote on the bill next week.

On March 24th, mock corporate polluters set up shop at UN headquarters to promote their false solutions to the climate crisis.

In an attempt to capitalize on the "occupy" brand, corporate representatives erected an "illegal occupation" of their own -- and the NYPD forces that usually defend the interests of the 1% were forced to evict the corporate polluters from international domain. While the "corporate polluters" were led away in handcuffs and their branded pop-ups (Exxon Mobil, Bank of America, Chase, BP, etc.) torn down, the onlooking 99% cheered the long-awaited eviction of the 1% from their global occupation.

The March 24th eviction of Wall Street polluters was the kick-off event for a month-long campaign to "Disrupt Dirty Power" nationwide, an effort to connect the dots between corporate polluters, corrupt politicians and the destruction of the planet.