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“Every time we turn our heads the other way when we see the law flouted, when we tolerate what we know to be wrong, when we close our eyes and ears to the corrupt because we are too busy or too frightened, when we fail to speak up and speak out, we strike a blow against freedom and decency and justice.”
― Robert F. Kennedy
Photo credit: Joanneleon
Forty four years ago this morning, as I prepared for one of the last few days of 5th grade, I went to the kitchen to find my mom listening to the radio. She was crying when she told me the news that our senator, Bobby Kennedy, had been shot while campaigning in California. Although I was only 10, I felt a deep connection to RFK. When I was 7, my mom and I were taking the bus to my Saturday morning dance class. As we went by the capitol building in Albany, we saw a large crowd gathered. Someone on the bus said he heard Bobby Kennedy was going to be appearing there - he was running for the senate seat held by republican Kenneth Keating. I never got to dance class that day...mom and I headed instead for the capitol to listen to Bobby. He had a smile that lit up the world and I was sure he was aiming it right at me. I was smitten and soon became obsessed with all things Bobby. I knew the names of his kids and wanted a dog just like Brumus - still not sure what kind of dog Brumus was but he was huge! As I grew up, I learned that Bobby wasn't as perfect as I believed as a child - few politicians are - but using today's standards he was very liberal. He was the last politician that I idol worshipped - now politicians are just people that I hire with the hope that they keep some of their campaign promises. I am no longer easily manipulated by their smiles, their children or their dogs...but oh how I long to be given a choice of the political ilk of an RFK, Eugene McCarthy or Hubert Humphrey on a presidential primary ballot again. We never knew how good we had it.
News
In House Hearing, ACLU Tells Congress to Fix FISA
http://www.aclu.org/...
Yesterday, the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security held a hearing on the government’s warrantless wiretapping program (watch here). The law authorizing the program, the FISA Amendments Act of 2008, expires at the end of this year.
Discrimination Complaint Filed Against Louisiana’s Jefferson Parish Public Schools
http://www.splcenter.org/...
The Southern Poverty Law Center filed a federal civil rights complaint with the U.S. Department of Education today that describes how discriminatory policies of the Jefferson Parish Public School System in Louisiana have pushed a disproportionate number of black students and students with disabilities into alternative schools, where they often languish for months or even years before returning to school.
House GOP Offers Self-Serving Student Loan Interest Rate Counter-Proposal
http://news.firedoglake.com/...
Perhaps sensitive about a looming doubling of student loan interest rates, and reports of their indifference to the plight, House Republicans sent a letter to the President with a new proposal for how to structure an extension of the existing rates.
U.S. again bombs mourners
http://www.salon.com/...
In February, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism documented that after the U.S. kills people with drones in Pakistan, it then targets for death those who show up at the scene to rescue the survivors and retrieve the bodies, as well as those who gather to mourn the dead at funerals: “the CIA’s drone campaign in Pakistan has killed dozens of civilians who had gone to help rescue victims or were attending funerals.” As The New York Times summarized those findings: “at least 50 civilians had been killed in follow-up strikes after they rushed to help those hit by a drone-fired missile” while “the bureau counted more than 20 other civilians killed in strikes on funerals.”
Bankers plan "surgical" strike against their "enemies"
http://jimhightower.com/...
An activist group has declared: We're sick and tired of being stomped on by the Powers That Be in Washington, and by gollies, we're not going to take it anymore!
Panetta hopes to re-establish U.S. military presence in Vietnam
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/...
Forty-five years ago, American cargo ships filled this vast harbor, unloading supplies day after day for U.S. troops fighting the Viet Cong.
Today, the bay's azure waters are largely empty, except for local fishing boats. The once-bustling U.S. airbase here, formerly home to fighter squadrons and a combat hospital, is abandoned, a reminder of the U.S. military's exit from most of Southeast Asia after the Vietnam War.
But the Pentagon is plotting a return.
We have learned well the simple lesson of Vietnam
Blog Posts of Interest
This is a new section in the What's Happenin' diaries that will be updated throughout the day to promote selected blog posts of interest on DailyKos and other blogs.
Go Wisconsin!
http://www.barrettforwisconsin.com/