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We welcome links to your writings here on dkos or elsewhere, posts of pictures, music, news, etc.
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Good Morning!
photo credit: frandor55
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A Small Dragon
I've found a small dragon in the woodshed.
Think it must have come from deep inside a forest
because it's damp and green and leaves
are still reflecting in its eyes.
I fed it on many things, tried grass,
the roots of stars, hazel-nut and dandelion,
but it stared up at me as if to say, I need
foods you can't provide.
It made a nest among the coal,
not unlike a bird's but larger, it
is out of place here
and is quite silent.
If you believed in it
I would come hurrying to your house
to let you share my wonder,
but I want instead to see
if you yourself will pass this way.
Brian Patten
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Pat Metheny: That's The Way I Always Heard It Should Be (Carly Simon)
News
Lessons Of Watergate Have Been Buried
If the "lessons" of Watergate really were that "the system worked," and that "the people" triumphed, then Ronald Reagan wouldn't have survived Iran-Contra, George W. Bush wouldn't have gotten away with what his campaign did in Florida, let alone what he and Dick Cheney did once they got into office, ......and Barack Obama would be under more heat than he's under right now for continuing so many of the Bush-Cheney policies in the area of civil liberties, and might think more than twice about letting the drones fly under some fanciful interpretation of Article I that should have instantly melted away, if the "lessons" of Watergate had been as thoroughgoing as they were alleged to be at the time.
If we truly had learned the "lessons" of Watergate, the presence of John Yoo in our government would not have been possible.
The lasting "lesson" of Watergate, it appears, is that self-government was too dangerous, that the perils of it outweigh its values, and that the obligations of citizenship, beyond those which are purely ceremonial, are too heavy for citizens to bear.
Between now and 2014, there are going to be lots of 40-year anniversaries marking the various episodes in the grand pageant of Watergate, and all the usual suspects will deal in all the customary banalities.
Good Lord willing and the creek don't rise, the blog will be around to mark them all as well, because Watergate really did mean something at the time. There was a moment, pure and fleeting, where it looked as though another way really was possible.
We've Been Brainwashed --Stiglitz
It is clear that many, if not most, Americans possess a limited understanding of the nature of the inequality in our society: They believe that there is less inequality than there is, they underestimate its adverse economic effects, they underestimate the ability of government to do anything about it, and they overestimate the costs of taking action.
They even fail to understand what the government is doing — many who value highly government programs like Medicare don’t realize that they are in the public sector.
Egyptians Vote For President--Lesser OF Two Evils?
In the northern city of Alexandria, which also went for Sabbahi, one young voter told Al Jazeera that she could not vote for a representative of the old regime.
"I want a president that can fix the educational system," said Suhaila Nassar.
"It should be provided for me here, as a citizen. I voted for Mohammed Morsi because he is not from the old regime.
"If I had voted for someone from the old regime, then the revolution would have been pointless."
Former Obama State Dept Official Says Leaks Not The Problem
Take Pakistan. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said recently that “we are fighting a war” in its northwestern tribal region. Yet the secrecy around the drone program prevents the United States from explaining it.
The Pakistani people believe we are attacking them, not defending them.
A Pew survey released this past week showed that drone strikes are deeply unpopular around the world. Not only is the secrecy meaningless, it is counterproductive.
The real problem is not talking too much about drones, but too little. It’s not about spiking the ball, but about pretending to hide it — in plain sight.
Attack On U.S. Outpost In Afghanistan Worse Than Originally Reported
A June 1 attack on a U.S. outpost near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border was much worse than originally disclosed by the military as insurgents pounded the base with a truck bomb, killing two Americans and seriously wounding about three dozen troops, officials acknowledged Saturday.
The blast flattened the dining hall and post exchange at Forward Operating Base Salerno in Khost province, a frequent target of insurgents in the past. Five Afghan civilians were killed and more than 100 other U.S. troops were treated for minor injuries. U.S. officials estimated that the truck was carrying 1,500 pounds of explosives.
Obama Administration Acknowledges "Direct Action" In Yemen & Somalia
In a report required by the War Powers Resolution, President Obama for the first time acknowledged that the US has taken “direct action” in Somalia and Yemen to attack remnants of Al Qaeda, spreading the battlefield authorized by the AUMF passed shortly after the September 11 attacks in 2001.
I suppose it’s nice to know now that, while we’ve subtracted one country from our warmaking menu, we’ve now officially acknowledged the addition of two other countries. Steven Aftergood, echoing other advocates for transparency, acknowledged the small step forward here, saying, “The age of secret wars is over. They were never a secret to those on the receiving end.
Julian Assange: The Price Of Being A Western Dissident
Julian Assange is doing humanity a favour by exposing through the US Embassy Cables that “Oil motivates U.S. policy more than fighting terrorists” and that the killing and torturing of tens of thousands of civilians by the US and NATO forces in Iraq and Afghanistan through the Iraq War Logs and Afghanistan War Logs is evidence of war crimes.
Justice Ginsburg Sees Sharp Disagreements In SCOTUS Rulings
“As one may expect, many of the most controversial cases remain pending,” she said in remarks Friday evening to the American Constitution Society, according to CNN. “So it is likely that the sharp disagreement rate will go up next week and the week after.”
The high court is slated to rule in the next two weeks on the healthcare reforms, including the core question of whether the individual insurance mandate is constitutional, as well as on Arizona’s anti-illegal immigration law, broadcast indecency regulations, and other matters.
David Brooks Doesn't Know Shit
My colleague David Brooks tells us that Republicans see the economic crisis as showing that the welfare state is in its “death throes”. And it’s true — that is what they think, or claim to think.
Eurocrisis Being Used To Break The Social Contract
One aspect of the Eurocrisis that has not gotten the attention it deserves is the way it is destroying not just jobs, but the very underpinnings of society. People who took actions that were prudent at the time are increasingly at the mercy of forces beyond their control.
And this isn’t a tsunami-type disaster but a man-made one whose severity is worsened by the callous attitudes of the European elites.
We’ve featured stories from time to time on how Greece is unraveling. Suicides have increased sharply. Garbage is not being picked up. Public transportation is largely a thing of the past. Even though Greece always had a large black market, more people are resorting to barter, which shrinks the tax base.
Sand Sculpture Destroyed
Artist Matthew Long spent days carving 23 tons of sand into a sculpture of a tall ship to display on New York City's waterfront.
Then, in seconds, it suffered the fate of sand castles everywhere.
Long, a 57-year-old sand sculptor, arrived at Manhattan's South Street Seaport on Saturday morning to find his creation partially demolished and covered in boot prints, "about a size nine."
On Saturday, Long was trying to reconstruct his vandalized creation — a promotion for his line of sand sculpting tools and for an exhibit at the South Street Seaport Museum. "I'm trying to get my mind back into the groove."
Radiohead Cancels Concert As Stage Collapses: One Dead
Ana Glazirin was scheduled to work the concert as a bartender and had her back to the stage as the collapse began. She told freelance reporter Vera Grbic that she heard loud crashing noises behind her, then turned around to see the stage collapse with people still under it.
“As it collapsed, a lot of people ran to the stage, but then (other people) turned them around,” Glazirin said.
4 Climbers Presumed Dead After Denali Avalanche
An avalanche on Mount McKinley swept a Japanese climbing team off a hill as they tried to descend on a rope line, leaving four presumed dead. One climber survived after tumbling 60 feet into a crevasse.
Aung San Suu Kyi Gives Nobel Acceptance Speech
Twenty-one years after she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, Aung San Suu Kyi made her acceptance speech at last on Saturday during her first tour of Europe after spending most of the last two decades under house arrest.
Protesting Spanish Miners Attacked By Police
"We were protesting to defend our jobs and police charged at us, so my colleagues defended themselves," said Gerardo Cienfuegos, 39, who said he has been a coal miner since he was 16 years old.
Cienfuegos said around 4,000 mining jobs in the region were in danger of disappearing as a result of the government's austerity measures.
Mining has been an integral part of the economy of the northern provinces of Asturias and Leon since Romans discovered gold and coal there nearly 2,000 years ago.
Colorado Forest Fire Destroys 181 Homes
Additional crews were arriving Saturday at a wildfire in northern Colorado that has scorched about 85 square miles and destroyed at least 181 homes, the most in state history.
The High Park Fire burning 15 miles west of Fort Collins surpasses the Fourmile Canyon wildfire, which destroyed 169 homes west of Boulder in September 2010.
Fire information officer Brett Haberstick said Saturday that more than 1,500 personnel are working on the Fort Collins-area fire.
The lightning-caused blaze, which is believed to have killed a 62-year-old woman whose body was found in her cabin, was 20 percent contained.
Article shows the bias of maintaining overly high deer population levels---deer hunters.
Coyotes Keep Deer Population At Reasonable Levels
Blog Posts of Interest
Justice Ginsberg: "sharp disagreement rate will go up next week and the week after on Daily Kos by nyceve
In The Living Years on Daily Kos by Diane Gee
Aging Transgenders: Quality Of Life on Daily Kos by rserven
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