Welcome! "The Evening Blues" is a casual community diary (published Monday - Friday, 7:00 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!
Tonight's music is a departure from the usual format and is a rather eclectic mix of classical, jazz and even a yodeling Bill Haley. We start with Jimmy Guiffre, whose Train and the River was featured in the 1960 movie, Jazz on a Summer’s Day. Here’s “Two kinds of Blues” from 1956.
Jimmy Guiffre, “Two Kinds of Blues”
Music is your own experience, your own thoughts, your wisdom. If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn. They teach you there's a boundary line to music. But, man, there's no boundary line to art.
--Charlie Parker
Photos From Joe on the Road
No notes or photos from joe last night so he must be in a place where there is no connectivity. Be prepared for a bigger batch of photos when he gets connected.
[ Editor's Note: joanneleon and KBO will be holding down the Evening Blues fort while joe shikspack is on his roadtrip vacation. When we can, we'll post photos and messages that he sends in and put them in this section of the diary. He'll be checking in regularly when he has connectivity, so feel free to leave him some greetings in the comments. Also, we would love to have your help with ideas for Evening Blues topics while he is gone, so feel free to lend your Blues and Roots music expertise and ideas in the comments! ]
News
Injustice Facts on twitter "The 'war' on drugs costs $44.5 billion per year, enough to provide basic healthcare for all the needy people in and outside the U.S."
Statement on U.S. Olympic Uniforms Made in China
WASHINGTON, July 12 - Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) issued the following statement today on reports that the uniforms to be worn by U.S. Olympic athletes during the opening ceremony for the summer games were made in China:
"The Olympics are a time when Americans take great pride in our nation's top athletes as they strive for gold. At a time when millions of Americans are unemployed, there is no reason why U.S. Olympic uniforms are not being manufactured in the U.S. This action on the part of the U.S. Olympic Committee is symbolic of a disastrous trade policy which has cost us millions of decent-paying jobs and must be changed."
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Revealed: JPMorgan Paid $190,000 Annually to Spouse of Bank's Top Regulator
When will we stand up to Wall Street and their sycophants in Congress and say: “ENOUGH!”
Now it has emerged that not only was Dimon conflicted in his role on the New York Fed but the President and CEO of the New York Fed had an equally dubious conflict of interest.
William C. Dudley has been employed by the New York Fed since January 1, 2007, first heading up the powerful Markets Group. That Group manages the supply of bank reserves in the banking system according to the mandate of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC). On January 27, 2009, Dudley was elevated to President and CEO of the New York Fed. Financial disclosure forms for 2008 through 2010 show that Dudley’s wife, Ann Darby, was a former Vice President of JPMorgan and had holdings of more than $1,500,000 in deferred income accounts at the firm as well as between $250,000 to $500,000 in a 401(K) plan there.
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The New York Fed carries the following statement about conflicts on its web site:
“New York Fed employees are subject to the same conflict of interest statute that applies to federal government employees (18 U.S.C. Section 208). Under Section 208 and the New York Fed’s code of conduct, a Bank employee is prohibited from participating personally and substantially in an official capacity in any particular matter in which, to the employee's knowledge, the employee has a financial interest if the particular matter will have a direct and predictable effect on that interest. Participation in a particular matter may include making a decision or recommendation, providing advice, or taking part in an investigation.”
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EXCLUSIVE: Romney Invested Millions in Chinese Firm That Profited on US OutsourcingMother Jones
Last month, Mitt Romney's campaign got into a dustup with the Washington Post after the newspaper reported that Bain Capital, the private equity firm the GOP presidential candidate founded, invested in several US companies that outsourced jobs to China and India. The campaign indignantly demanded a retraction, claiming that these businesses did not send jobs overseas while Romney was running Bain, and the Post stood by its investigation. Yet there is another aspect to the Romney-as-outsourcer controversy. According to government documents reviewed by Mother Jones, Romney, when he was in charge of Bain, invested heavily in a Chinese manufacturing company that depended on US outsourcing for its profits—and that explicitly stated that such outsourcing was crucial to its success.
This previously unreported deal runs counter to Romney's tough talk on the campaign trail regarding China. "We will not let China continue to steal jobs from the United States of America," Romney declared in February. But with this investment, Romney sought to make money off a foreign company that banked on American firms outsourcing manufacturing overseas.
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In Fracking's Wake New Rules are Needed to Protect Our Health and Environment from Contaminated Wastewater
Hydrofracking and the production of natural gas from fracked wells yield byproducts that must be managed carefully to avoid significant harms to human health and the environment.
Scary protesters from Occupy whose interests the Dems have not been representing for the past four years will be in Charlotte exercising what is left of their first amendment rights. How dare they. Must fence them out. Must keep them off the news.
Secret Service seeks security barriers for Democratic National Convention
Two miles of concrete barriers. More than five miles of 9-foot “anti-scale” steel fence.
Nearly eight miles of lightweight metal barriers, and portable vehicle barriers designed to withstand the impact of a 15,000-pound vehicle at 50 mph.
These are some of items the Secret Service is seeking to protect the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, according to a federal government contract request released this week.
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Three of the sites are uptown: Time Warner Cable Arena, which will host the first two days of the DNC; Bank of America Stadium, the site of President Obama’s expected acceptance speech; and the Charlotte Convention Center, which will host the media.
National Reconnaissance Office accused of illegally collecting personal data
WASHINGTON — One of the nation’s most secretive intelligence agencies is pressuring its polygraphers to obtain intimate details of the private lives of thousands of job applicants and employees, pushing the ethical and legal boundaries of a program that’s designed instead to catch spies and terrorists.
The National Reconnaissance Office is so intent on extracting confessions of personal or illicit behavior that officials have admonished polygraphers who refused to go after them and rewarded those who did, sometimes with cash bonuses, a McClatchy investigation found.
Russia MPs pass 'foreign agents' law
Controversial bill is seen as government ploy to stifle opposition and dissent and has been criticised by EU and US.
Russia's lower house of parliament has approved a controversial bill that brands foreign-funded NGOs as "foreign agents".
Activists said the Kremlin, Russia’s seat of government, was using the law passed on Friday to rein in critics.
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NGOs failing to abide by the law would be punishable by hefty fines or jail time.
The deputies also passed another controversial law making libel or slander a criminal offence punishable by a fine of $152,000, voting 238 in favour to 91 against.
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"It will be used to prosecute people who are not happy with the government," said senior Communist MP and former prosecutor Yury Sinelschikov, complaining of the lack of time to properly study the bill.
Banksters Take Us to the Brink
by Bill Moyers and Michael Winship
An article in the current issue of Rolling Stone chronicles “The Fallen: TheSharp, Sudden Decline of America’s Middle Class” and describes a handful of middle class men and women made homeless, forced to live out of their cars in church parking lots in Southern California.
One of them, Janis Adkins, drove a van filled with her belongings to Santa Barbara, where she panhandled at an intersection with a sign reading, “I’d Rather Be Working – Hire Me If You Have a Job.” Once upon a time she had a successful plant nursery business in Utah that annually grossed $300,000. But two years after the nation’s financial meltdown her sales had dropped by fifty percent and the value of her land plunged even more. She tried to refinance but four banks turned her down flat. “Everyone was talking about bailouts,” Adkins told reporter Jeff Tietz. “I said, ‘I’m not asking for a bailout, I’m asking you to work with me.’ They look at you, no expression on their faces, saying, ‘There’s nothing we can do.’”
Watch Bruce Springsteen Dance Onstage With His Daughter
Jessica Springsteen came onstage in Paris for 'Dancing in the Dark'
Bruce Springsteen's 20-year-old daughter, Jessica, just missed the cut for the U.S. Olympic equestrian team, but she got a nice consolation prize in Paris on July 5th, when her dad brought her out onstage during his performance of "Dancing in the Dark."
Blog Posts of Interest
What's Happenin'? 7.13.12
It's all a big con game on DailyKos by gjohnsit
The Trouble With Sachs by Atrios
The Institutional & Political Suppression of the Free Flow of Information by Kevin Gosztola at The Dissenter
Simple Isn’t Simplistic from Paul Krugman's blog
A Little Night Music
First, let’s get back to Jimmy Guiffre with Train and the River.
All forms of music influence each other. Here’s the first movement of modern classical composer Maurice Ravel’s 1931 Piano Concerto in G, conducted by Leonard Bernstein, where the jazz and blues influence are clearly discernible.
Many great names were in Jazz on a Summer’s Day (from the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival) covering the musical spectrum including Chuck Berry singing
Sweet Little Sixteen (she’s got the grown up blues)
And Mahalia Jackson singing the Lords Prayer
Another one from Chuck is
Promised Land
Finally (and now for something completely different!), if the blues are getting you down, then courtesy of a pre rock ‘n roll Bill Haley in 1949, you can just yodel them away.
Yodel the Blues Away
Coming soon... a new cooperative site with content and discussion that focuses on the real issues of the day.
More signal, less noise.
"Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak. Courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen."
~ Winston Churchill
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