Welcome! "The Evening Blues" is a casual community diary (published Monday - Friday, 8:00 PM Eastern) where we hang out, share and talk about news, music, photography and other things of interest to the community.
Just about anything goes, but attacks and pie fights are not welcome here. This is a community diary and a friendly, peaceful, supportive place for people to interact.
Everyone who wants to join in peaceful interaction is very welcome here.
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Hey! Good Evening!
This evenings music features blues shouterWynonie Harris who as an early r&b star made significant contributions to the style and form of rock and roll. Some experts say that his version of "Good Rockin' Tonight" was the first rock and roll song. There was so much material available, that tomorrow there will be more. Enjoy!
Wynonie Harris - Lovin' Machine
"People tend to focus on the here and now. The problem is that, once global warming is something that most people can feel in the course of their daily lives, it will be too late to prevent much larger, potentially catastrophic changes."
-- Elizabeth Kolbert
"Some of the scientists, I believe, haven’t they been changing their opinion a little bit on global warming? There’s a lot of differing opinions and before we react I think it’s best to have the full accounting, full understanding of what’s taking place."
-- George W. Bush
News
Bill McKibben on Sandy and Climate Change: "If There Was Ever A Wake-up Call, This Is It"
Frankenstorm: Meteorologist Warns Hurricane Sandy an Outgrowth of Global Warming’s Extreme Weather
Koch Brothers and the Road to "Citizens United"
US Detention of Imran Khan Part of Trend to Harass Anti-Drone Advocates - The vindictive humiliation of Pakistan's most popular politician shows the US government's intolerance for dissent
Imran Khan is, according to numerous polls, the most popular politician in Pakistan and may very well be that country's next Prime Minister. He is also a vehement critic of US drone attacks on his country, vowing to order them shot down if he is Prime Minister and leading an anti-drone protest march last month.
On Saturday, Khan boarded a flight from Canada to New York in order to appear at a fundraising lunch and other events. But before the flight could take off, US immigration officials removed him from the plane and detained him for two hours, causing him to miss the flight. On Twitter, Khan reported that he was "interrogated on [his] views on drones" and then added: "My stance is known. Drone attacks must stop." He then defiantly noted: "Missed flight and sad to miss the Fundraising lunch in NY but nothing will change my stance." ...
There are several obvious points raised by this episode. Strictly on pragmatic grounds, it seems quite ill-advised to subject the most popular leader in Pakistan - the potential next Prime Minister - to trivial, vindictive humiliations of this sort. It is also a breach of the most basic diplomatic protocol: just imagine the outrage if a US politician were removed from a plane by Pakistani officials in order to be questioned about their publicly expressed political views. And harassing prominent critics of US policy is hardly likely to dilute anti-US animosity; the exact opposite is far more likely to occur.
But the most important point here is that Khan's detention is part of a clear trend by the Obama administration to harass and intimidate critics of its drone attacks. As Marcy Wheeler notes, "this is at least the third time this year that the US has delayed or denied entry to the US for Pakistani drone critics."
Imran Khan in Toronto, CBC Exclusive Interview
Both Candidates Misleading on Iran and Afghanistan
How is Greece like America?
Same kind of corrupt power structure that protects 1% criminals:
The Controversial 'Lagarde List' Was Leaked In Greece, And You Won't Believe Who Got Arrested
This weekend it was reported that the controversial "Lagarde List" was published in a Greek magazine.
The list of Greek citizens with Swiss bank accounts is so named because Christine Lagarde gave it to the former PM of Greece bak in 2010. Since the list may contain the name of tax evaders -- some of whom may be powerful and influential -- its existence and alleged coverup has been controversial.
So who got arrested?
The list leaker.
Greece arrests editor for 'Lagarde list' leak
Greek police arrested the editor of a weekly magazine for publishing a list of more than 2,000 names of wealthy Greeks who have placed money in Swiss bank accounts, police said.
The so-called "Lagarde List", which led to the arrest of editor Costas Vaxevanis on Sunday, was given to Greece by French authorities in 2010 with names to be probed for possible tax evasion - has been a topic of heated speculation in the Greek media.
It is named after International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde, who was French finance minister when the list was handed over. ...
In a video sent to the Reuters news service by his magazine, Vaxevanis appeared on camera to defend his decision to publish the list.
"Tomorrow in parliament they will vote to cut 100-200 euros in pay for the Greek civil servant, for the Greek worker while at the same time most of the 2,000 people on the list appear to be evading tax by secretly sending money to Switzerland."
Showdown set on bid to give UN control of Internet
When delegates gather in Dubai in December for an obscure UN agency meeting, fighting is expected to be intense over proposals to rewrite global telecom rules to effectively give the United Nations control over the Internet.
Russia, China and other countries back a move to place the Internet under the authority of the International Telecommunications Union, a UN agency that sets technical standards for global phone calls.
“The most likely outcome is a tie, and if that happens there won’t be any dramatic changes, although that could change if the developing countries make a big push,” said James Lewis, director of the Technology and Public Policy Program at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.
“But there is a lot of discontent with how the Internet is governed and the US will have to deal with that at some point.”
Lewis said there was still an overwhelming perception that the US owns and manages the Internet. Opponents have a “powerful argument” to create a global authority to manage the Internet, Lewis said, but “we need to find some way to accommodate national laws in a way that doesn’t sacrifice human rights.”
Tens of Thousands Protest Against Austerity in Rome
Tens of thousands of anti-austerity protesters marched through Rome on Saturday, declaring "No Monti Day" in growing anger over austerity measures introduced by Prime Minister Mario Monti.
Since last November, Monti's government has pushed through extreme painful spending cuts, pension overhauls, and tax hikes, all of which reach into the pockets of the lower and working classes of Italy.
"We are here against Monti and his politics, the same politics as all over Europe, that brought Greece to its knees and that are destroying half of Europe, public schools, health care," said demonstrator Giorgio Cremaschi, expressing the growing regional discontent with the Eurozone's handling of the financial crisis.
Over a Dozen Nuclear Power Plants in Hurricane Sandy's Path - Eight of these plants have the same design as the Fukushima plant
Reuters reported on Friday that 16 reactors are in Sandy's potential path, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission reports today that it is dispatching additional inspectors to provide "enhanced oversight" at 8 reactors: Calvert Cliffs, in Lusby, Md.; Salem and Hope Creek, in Hancocks Bridge, N.J.; Oyster Creek, in Lacey Township, N.J.; Peach Bottom, in Delta, Pa.; Three Mile Island 1, in Middletown, Pa.; Susquehanna, in Salem Township, Pa.; Indian Point, in Buchanan, N.Y.; and Millstone, in Waterford, Conn.
The Oyster Creek plant, according one former nuclear power industry executive, may be the biggest concern.
Speaking to Democracy Now! Monday morning, Arnie Gundersen said, "Oyster Creek is the same design design, but even older, than Fukushima Daiichi unit 1. It’s in a refueling outage. That means that all the nuclear fuel is not in the nuclear reactor, but it’s over in the spent fuel pool. And in that condition, there’s no backup power for the spent fuel pools. So, if Oyster Creek were to lose its offsite power, and frankly that’s really likely, there would be no way cool that nuclear fuel that’s in the fuel pool until they get the power reestablished," according to Gundersen, who has 40 years of nuclear power engineering experience.
Blog Posts of Interest
Here are diaries and selected blog posts of interest on DailyKos and other blogs.
What's Happenin'
Why ‘Frankenstorm’ Is Just Right for Hurricane Sandy - Bill McKibben
10 Filthy-Rich, Tax-Dodging Hypocrites Pushing Disastrous Austerity on America
Merged OutServe-SLDN names new leader
A Little Night Music
Wynonie Harris - Good Rockin' Tonight
Wynonie Harris - Put It Back
Wynonie Harris - Keep On Churnin' (Til The Butter Come)
Wynonie Harris - All She Wants To Do Is Rock
Wynonie Harris - Sittin' On It All The Time
Wynonie Harris with Sun Ra - Dig This Boogie
Wynonie Harris and His All Stars - I Want My Fanny Brown
Wynonie Harris - Destination Love
Wynonie Harris: Shake That Thing
Wynonie Harris - Quiet Whiskey
Wynonie Harris - Bad News Baby (There'll Be No Rockin' Tonight)
Wynonie Harris - Around The Clock Parts 1 and 2
Remember when progressive debate was about our values and not about a "progressive" candidate? Remember when progressive websites championed progressive values and didn't tell progressives to shut up about values so that "progressive" candidates can get elected?
Come to where the debate is not constrained by oaths of fealty to persons or parties.
Come to where the pie is served in a variety of flavors.
"The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum." ~ Noam Chomsky
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