In Praise Of The Nap Or Siesta

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Thursday March 08, 2012 · 7:35 AM PST

2012/03/08 · 07:35

Yesterday I was off from work, I did various errands and things during the first part of the day. Around 2 o'clock or so I decided to take a nap. I live near the downtown of a small city. As I got horizontal and comfy, the sound of the occasional vehicle going by was not distracting, more like low-key white noise that seemed to help me drift off into a -not quite- sleep....

A painting of a young woman taking a siesta. (The hammock, Gustave Courbet (1844).

frandor55 for Progressive Policy Zone

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Wednesday February 22, 2012 · 6:25 AM PST

2012/02/22 · 06:25

I had definite misgivings about President Obama's selection of Elena Kagan to replace Justice John Paul Stevens. In a just released ruling she sides with the authoritarian wing of SCOTUS, and those misgivings and concerns were realized.

frandor55 for ClassWarfare Newsletter: WallStreet VS Working Class Global Occupy movement

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Thursday September 22, 2011 · 11:16 AM PDT

2011/09/22 · 11:16

The much trumpeted Buffet Rule is more campaign PR than actual substance. A serious question is what side of the class war is President Obama on?.

http://www.economist.com/...

Mr Obama claims to be on the side of the working and middle-classes, but I would submit that this sort of tax policy is in fact trivial. It's electoral public relations. The edges are precisely what this sort of thing is around. Our economy is riddled with a multitude of deeply-embedded structural flaws that allow the well-connected to enrich themselves at the expense of the rest of us, but nobody will do anything about it. There is a class war in this country, a war between the subsidy barons, the regulatory arbitrageurs, the patent monopolists and the rest of us. Mr Obama is a class warrior. The trouble is he's on the wrong side.

frandor55 for Team DFH

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Wednesday September 14, 2011 · 8:03 AM PDT

2011/09/14 · 08:03

This is difficult for me now, but I wanted to share with the community a little bit about my best friend Luke, who passed away last saturday night in an accident. He was a shelter dog, a Husky-Malamute. We had been together six wonderful years.

This comment I wrote four years ago tells about how Luke and I came to be together.
http://www.dailykos.com/...

My Husky/Malamute cross is a shelter dog. He showed up at someone's doorstep at the outskirts of Taos, NM. He was skinny, 45 LB, looks like he had been on his own for a while, they took him to the Stray Hearts Shelter.
When I visited the shelter and saw him, I decided to give him a weekend "trial".  We got along well, but he was almost semi-wild, we went on a hike and I didn't see him for an hour.
On that monday I sat on the couch with him sitting next to me, I looked out the window and realized he was too untamed, that he would be too much trouble for me. I decided to return him to the shelter.
I turned and looked at him and he had the the saddest expression on his face, it was like he was reading my mind, and his face said, "you are going to return me to the shelter aren't you ? "
That look broke my heart, and I knew I could not return him.

frandor55 for Team DFH

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Friday July 15, 2011 · 6:02 PM PDT

2011/07/15 · 18:02

Welcome to the Team DFH Freaky Friday Music party.
We're mixing it up a bit tonight. One of my favorite music buddies and DFH frandor55 graciously offers this diary for our Friday night slot. The usual "please join in" with music vid's and/or comments applies as always!

On January 20, 1971 Marvin Gaye's groundbreaking single "What's Going On" was released. The song became an instant classic and arguably could be called the greatest modern era pop song of all time, along with Bob Dylan's "Like A Rolling Stone" and John Lennon's "Imagine".

frandor55 for The Amateur Left

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Friday June 10, 2011 · 10:35 AM PDT

2011/06/10 · 10:35

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, who is scheduled to leave his post next month, addressed NATO ministers at a meeting in Brusssels. His speech emphasized a view of militarism for the sake of militarism, a mobius strip of spending money on armaments, troops etc., then finding places in the world to use such forces..

The thinking process of Gates is mechanistic, angular and totally incapable of grasping the reality that the era of NATO engaging militarily around the world is a fading one, that the citizens of those NATO countries do not want their resources spent on armaments and weapons.
He appears oblivious to the human suffering that military actions by NATO bring to those who live there.

His words betray a view of humanity that best could be described as Orwellian.

Orwellian" describes the situation, idea, or societal condition that George Orwell identified as being destructive to the welfare of a free society. It connotes an attitude and a policy of control by propaganda, surveillance, misinformation, denial of truth, and manipulation of the past.........

Robert Gates ideas certainly qualify for "being destructive to the welfare of a free society".

frandor55 for Team DFH

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Friday June 03, 2011 · 6:00 PM PDT

2011/06/03 · 18:00

Welcome to the Team DFH Freaky Friday Music party.
We're mixing it up a bit tonight. One of my favorite music buddies and DFH frandor55 graciously offers this diary for our Friday night slot. The usual "please join in" with music vid's and/or comments applies as always

Joni Mitchell's fourth album, Blue was released in June 1971. It revealed the deep personal side of an artist who had gained national prominence earlier with her songs "Both Sides Now", a very successful single for Judy Collins in 1968, and Woodstock, a signature song from CSN&Y's "Deja Vu". The success of "Blue" would cement Joni's place as one of the top singer/songwriters of the day.

frandor55 for The Amateur Left

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Sunday May 29, 2011 · 6:20 AM PDT

2011/05/29 · 06:20

In recent days reports of US helicopter attacks in Afghanistan have possibly killed up to 52 civilians including many women and children. The so-called insurgents are nearly all residents of Afghanistan. They live there, they were born there. This is mostly an internal Afghan conflict.

The way for the United States to stop killing Afghan children is for President Obama to order a cessation of US military action there.

President Obama needs to show true moral leadership and do the right thing. The embedded corporate-military alliance in our government will howl and try and retaliate against the president if he chooses to unequivocally end our military actions there.

Our president should know he would have the backing of most Americans.

frandor55 for The Amateur Left

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Thursday May 26, 2011 · 8:43 AM PDT

2011/05/26 · 08:43

If only this were true.
The national discussion on the viability of Social Security would recieve an upgrade if the short-fused, arrogant, statistics-challenged co-chair of President's Obama's deficit reduction commission would walk away, back to his native Wyoming and spend his time enjoying the spectacular beauty that state has in abundance.

Simpson had a hissy fit over Huffpo's Ryan Grim asking intelligent questions:

When HuffPost suggested that this statistic was misleading due to the higher childhood mortality rate, Simpson responded, "I know all the stuff [Ryan Grim] goes through. Its like gymnastics! Yes and we've done distributional analysis. Ask him if he knows what that is! Ask the wizard if he knows what distributional analysis is! We did that. And then ask him what we did for the seniors, for the older old and the people who are in poverty. Ask the wizard all that and then get back to me."
He then shouted, "I'm through!" and walked away

frandor55 for Team DFH

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Friday May 20, 2011 · 6:04 PM PDT

2011/05/20 · 18:04

Welcome to the Team DFH Freaky Friday Music party.
We're mixing it up a bit tonight. One of my favorite music buddies and DFH frandor55 graciously offers this diary for our Friday night slot. The usual "please join in" with music vid's and/or comments applies as always. ~LL

As the year 1971 began, the Viet Nam War was still in high gear. After four years of Anti-War protests and demonstrations the killing and destruction still raged. The assassinations of MLK and RFK happened less than three years earlier.
Just a few months had passed since the deaths of the amazingly talented musicians Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin, both deaths were related to drug and alcohol use.

For many young people in America there was a feeling of overload, a wearied resignation of "what's next?". The release of Carole King's Tapestry album in early 71' hit a collective chord, the chord of community, of friendship, of lovers and relationships; a return to what grounds us and keeps us sane. The simple pleasure of sitting next to a window in your home, holding a tapestry you had stitched yourself and your cat sitting at your feet.

frandor55 for Progressive Policy Zone

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Friday May 13, 2011 · 7:23 AM PDT

2011/05/13 · 07:23

The burning of coal for electricity production is the number one human contributor to global warming. The Obama administration is encouraging more global coal burning by their support for coal exports to Asia, primarily China and India.

President Obama and Secretary Salazar obviously know that the increased burning of coal is detrimental to the goal of reducing carbon emissions. A rational person could question the administration's commitment to reducing Global Warming, as this promotion of US coal exports is counter-productive to that goal.

End use of coal:

frandor55 for ClassWarfare Newsletter: WallStreet VS Working Class Global Occupy movement

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Monday May 09, 2011 · 9:07 AM PDT

2011/05/09 · 09:07

Willets Point, Queens, also known as the Iron Triangle, is a neighborhood where many poor people work. It is not a pretty place but it is where you will find those working on their own American Dream: to survive, to support their families, to struggle and find dignity in a world that does its best to deny that essential human quality.

The Bloomberg administration has plans to gentrify Willets Point, effectively ending the livelihood of many who are employed or own businesses there.

Here is a short film about the people whose investments are not from banks but from their own sweat, their heart and soul. In their own words they express a simple eloquence that comes from earned dignity.

Please click on full screen as the image quality is exceptional.

Willets Point: The Iron Triangle from Nicholas Weissman on Vimeo.

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In Praise Of The Nap Or Siesta

SCOTUS: Kagan Sides w/ Alito & Scalia In Eroding Miranda

Weak Sauce: Obama's "Buffet Rule"

Long May You Run...

40 Years On...Marvin Gaye: "What's Going On"

The Orwellian World View Of Robert Gates

40 Years On... Joni Mitchell: Blue

How Does The U.S. Stop Killing Afghan Children?

Alan Simpson: "I'm Through!!"

40 Years On....Carole King: Tapestry

Obama, Salazar Encourage Coal Burning

Willets Point, NY...Soul Of America