In Defense of Brian Williams, New Orleans’ Loyal Friend

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Friday February 06, 2015 · 11:01 AM PST

2015/02/06 · 11:01

Now He Really Is Under Fire

Mark LaFlaur writes at Levees Not War, a New York–based, New Orleans–dedicated blog:

Williams has apparently fabricated a story in which a military helicopter he was aboard in Iraq in 2003 was shot down. Other accounts say that his helicopter was never fired upon. He apologized on air on Wednesday night with a less than candid account, and critics aren’t satisfied—but we don’t care.

laflaur

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Saturday November 23, 2013 · 2:05 PM PST

2013/11/23 · 14:05

“So let us persevere . . .”

“If we cannot end now our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity. For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children’s future. And we are all mortal.” —John F. Kennedy, commencement address at American University, Washington, D.C., June 10, 1963

“And death shall have no dominion” —Dylan Thomas

[ Illustrated version cross-posted at Levees Not War ]

laflaur

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday November 08, 2012 · 6:21 AM PST

2012/11/08 · 06:21

Solid Victories for Progressive, Liberal Candidates, Reforms

In our humble opinion, a win for the Democrats is a win for the American people. Of course not every American person sees it that way, but when illness or disaster strikes, or food needs inspecting, or voting rights need protecting, it’s best to have a government managed by the party that fought for and established Medicare, Social Security, FEMA, the Voting Rights Act, and so on. The party that believes government can and should be a force for the public good. Not the only solution, but indispensable and more reliable than the profit sector.

[ See illustrated version at Levees Not War ]

laflaur

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday November 06, 2012 · 2:04 PM PST

2012/11/06 · 14:04

In our last installment of Fun with Volunteering, we told about taking a bus ride to Philadelphia. Last night and this morning, on the eve and the early hours of Election Day, we went to Obama for America-New York headquarters on Eighth Avenue in Manhattan to man the phones to get out the vote in Ohio.

[ See Levees Not War for illustrated version, including beautiful Swedish-American volunteers! ]

laflaur

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Saturday November 03, 2012 · 2:48 PM PDT

2012/11/03 · 14:48

From Levees Not War, an appeal for donations to the American Red Cross + a reply to the question asked after Hurricane Katrina, “Why do they live there?” This question could perhaps reasonably be asked of people on any patch of earth, wet or dry—but it should not be asked with contempt or without compassion. • Plus, see the illustrated version at Levees Not War for a portfolio of dramatic and awe-inspiring photos of damage and recovery from Hurricane Sandy gathered from slideshows at the New York Times and NBC News and other sources.

laflaur

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday October 22, 2012 · 5:09 AM PDT

2012/10/22 · 05:09

Volunteering Relieves Election Anxiety

Everyone knows the best cure for blues or worries is work. In the same way, the best antidote for election anxiety is volunteering and going door to door, making phone calls from a roomful of other volunteers. Yes-We-Can hope loves company. Above all, get out and do something. Action is empowering: too busy to worry, you feel less anxious. Working with others, you feel a part of something bigger: a good cause, the good fight.

See illustrated version at LeveesNotWar.org.

laflaur

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday September 05, 2012 · 12:10 PM PDT

2012/09/05 · 12:10

A look at what a Romney-Ryan administration would mean for FEMA and infrastructure investment in the U.S., and a review of what the GOP has done with disaster relief in the past several years. A Romney-Ryan budget would cut discretionary spending by some 30 percent, while cutting taxes further on the very wealthy, and allocating even more for the military . . .

See illustrated version at LeveesNotWar.org.

laflaur

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Saturday April 14, 2012 · 4:14 PM PDT

2012/04/14 · 16:14

On Thursday and Friday, April 12–13, New York University welcomed Tom Hayden, Todd Gitlin, and other SDS veterans + new Occupy supporters and others interested in the 50th anniversary of the Port Huron Statement (1962), a statement of idealism and liberal values, and a road map of the decade of struggles for social and political change to come. The first of a two-part series. Illustrated version cross-posted at LeveesNotWar.org.

laflaur

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday October 31, 2011 · 6:43 AM PDT

2011/10/31 · 06:43

Even though it has been announced that some 40,000 troops will leave Iraq by the end of 2011, and despite White House claims that “President Obama Has Ended the War in Iraq,” we, regrettably, do not see The War as ending. Iraq is, or was, only one theater—a particularly misguided, costly, and tragic one—in the larger War on Terror that has already expanded into Pakistan and threatens Iran, not to mention Yemen and other nations being struck without warning by Predator drone missiles.

The following surveys how the announced “withdrawal” is not an end “as promised” to an unpopular quagmire, but rather a strategic relocation of forces in an ongoing hundred years’ war for access to oil, natural gas, and other natural resources (and maybe good old “full spectrum dominance” while we’re at it?).

[ See illustrated version at Levees Not War.org ]

laflaur

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday July 21, 2011 · 6:22 AM PDT

2011/07/21 · 06:22

Burn-it-Down Nihilism Spreads Among Tea-Infused House Republicans, Regardless of McConnell-Reid or Gang of Six Plans

“From fanaticism to barbarism is only one step.” —Diderot

[ An illustrated version appears at Levees Not War ] Read More

Mission Accomplished. Now Focus on Threats Closer to Home.

laflaur

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday May 02, 2011 · 10:41 AM PDT

2011/05/02 · 10:41

Last September, Levees Not War raised the question whether Hurricane Katrina was a more significant catastrophe than 9/11, more emblematic in terms of chronic ills afflicting the United States. Now the question is raised whether the nation faces internal political and economic dangers more pernicious than Osama bin Laden, lethal as he was, ever posed.

[ An illustrated version appears at Levees Not War ]

laflaur

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Saturday March 26, 2011 · 10:08 AM PDT

2011/03/26 · 10:08

Levees Not War once made the sardonic observation that apparently the aim of the “war on terror,” rather than protecting the Homeland, was to inflame the entire Muslim world—or at least those nations possessing oil. We thought we were only being sardonic.

[ Illustrated version at LeveesNotWar.org ]

Newer
Older

RSS

In Defense of Brian Williams, New Orleans’ Loyal Friend

“And Death Shall Have No Dominion”: A Tribute to President John F. Kennedy

“Morning in America,” New & Improved

Election Hotline: In NYC, Dialing Ohio

Ask Not “Why Live There?”—Ask “How Can I Help?”

Fun in Philly: Getting out the Vote, Door to Door

Hurricane Isaac and Tampa’s Blizzard of Lies

Todd Gitlin on the Port Huron Statement’s 50th Anniversary

As “End” of Iraq War Is Announced, U.S. Digs In, Warns Iran

“Arguing about How to Defuse a Huge Ticking Bomb”

Mission Accomplished. Now Focus on Threats Closer to Home.

How Many Wars? After Libya . . . ?