Just Off the Top of My Head, Here...

    ...You know what I don't get?

    Here in the U.S., we seem to applaud other countries when the people in other countries stand up for their rights, and fight back and get all angry and shit.  We sit back and mildly yell, "Right On!" from our sofas.

    We love the underdogs.

    We love to see Mister Smith going to Washington and Luke and Leia getting laid (but not with each other) and everyone fighting for their rights (but getting along and fighting the good fight, sister and brother, before learning that Darth Vader is their father and sort of killed their mother).  We love to see the kicked-in-the-sand guy standing up to the muscle man on the beach.  Archie beats Reggie and gets BOTH Veronica and Betty.  Shaggy and Scooby solve the mystery AND get a snack.

    Terrorists Under Every Bed

    I am not endorsing the charge made in this article, but it is worth reading, that the men charged with making Molotov cocktails to use at the NATO demonstrations were framed. How would I know at this time? People stupid enough to act as we are told they did do, in fact, exist. What I will say is that I would not be surprised if it turned out that they were. Would anyone else here be surprised?

    quinn esq's picture

    Halo.

    Haven't heard a voice like this since Jeff Buckley died. 

    Born Laura Pergolizzi. Now goes by "L.P." She's originally from NYC. Now L.A. Gay.

    But just listen to that voice. Pure liquid. She does with this song what Buckley did with "Hallelujah."

    Such a gift, when these ones come along.

     

    Also, tough to beat this as a follow-up.

    Elusive Trope's picture

    Something Happened in Chicago I Hear

    Another high profile political event came and went.  This time it was NATO in Chicago.  Some leaders met.  Some people hit the streets to protest and have their voices heard.  There was some clashes between police and protesters.  Some people were hurt, some were arrested, some were hurt and arrested.  The media took pictures and wrote stories about the leaders and the protests outside. 

    CVille Dem's picture

    Logging on

    I realize this is probably not the place for this, but couldn't find another. 

    I used to be able to click on this site and my last log-in showed up. Now, every time I click on DagBlog I have to re-log on, and even if I am logged on(as I am now), if I click on a headline, such as Ramona's (which I just did) I am no longer logged in.   

    Is this fixable?  I don't comment as often as I used to, so it is not a huge problem, but it seems to be a glitch that should not be. 

     

    Any others with this problem?

     

    Jan

    Canada's Got Talent!

    Jenna Talackova becomes the first transgender woman to compete in the Miss Universe contest after Donald Trump reverses the decision to ban her.

    Her argument, that she knew she was female at 4, is rather convincing. That part of her conversion involved hormones has its implications for sports parallels, as the Olympics is already trying to find a balance. But apparently female hormones remove any advantages in body strength from male crossovers.

    Counting Saverin's Lucky Stars (and Tax Obligations)

    As Saverin seems to have gone off into tax haven lala-land, preferring some ex-British seat of imperialism for home of the brave and free, it's important he understand the continuing benefits he should be paying for. Such as:

    When Corporations Renounce Citizenship...

    If a tree falls in a forest and no one hears it, who brings it a pillow?

    Eduardo Saverin seems to have upset some in Congress, who have put down their bribes and chit sheets long enough to grasp patriotism by both lapels, screaming:

    "someone's trying to avoid taxes!!!"

    Of course even the President says his goal is to lower taxes, so you'd think this would be a shared national priority, kinda like watching "Dancing With the Stars".

    I thought loopholes were written to be used - how else would accountants support themselves? 

    Elusive Trope's picture

    Another Trope Pondering: Thor, Obama and Haiti

    Many people will spend considerable time discussing that Obama will raise somewhere near a billion dollars. But then I think about this:

    Marvel's Avenger has already through last weekend grossed domestically $389,473,290

    The Hunger Games has already through last weekend grossed domestically $387,870,286

    Together they have grossed $777,343,576.  That is more than Obama raised for his entire 2008 campaign.

    Police to SCOTUS: Need Blank Check to Tase Anyone

    NYT:

    The case involves Malaika Brooks, who was seven months pregnant and driving her 11-year-old son to school in Seattle when she was pulled over for speeding. The police say she was going 32 miles per hour in a school zone; the speed limit was 20.

    Ms. Brooks said she would accept a ticket but drew the line at signing it, which state law required at the time. Ms. Brooks thought, wrongly, that signing was an acknowledgment of guilt.

    Refusing to sign was a crime, and the two officers on the scene summoned a sergeant, who instructed them to arrest Ms. Brooks. She would not get out of her car....

    Then came the multiple taser shocks, and dragging her from her vehicle. The 'use of force' case is now on appeal at the Supreme Court of the United States, over legal use of tasers by police.  As to whether there are any limits on taser use, a painful police action and compared by some to torture.  The Ninth Circuit federal court has implied there are limits, enraging the police community. The cops are appealing that part of the ruling to the Supreme Court,  they want a blank check to use tasers on just about anybody, for any minor offense, or any small lack of cooperation.

    cmaukonen's picture

    On The French Revolution and why we keep on fighting the same battles....

    And by the same battles I am referring to the same or similar complaints that the revolutionaries in France had during this time period.

    tmccarthy0's picture

    Filibuster Reform: The Silent Veto

    Oh the filibuster, I hear Harry Reid was grousing about it yet again, and really, really threatening to reform the filibuster in January 2013, assuming of course he remains the Senate Majority Leader. It isn't guaranteed Reid will be leader of the  Senate next year anyway, Republicans probably have a good chance of taking some more seats, how many is up in the air of course. But I find Reid to be the most disingenuous prick in the Senate.

    coatesd's picture

    The Unfinished Business of the Obama Administration: Poverty & Unemployment

    The Obama Administration has unfinished business: lots of it, actually. The President will no doubt seek re-election in November by emphasizing policy successes. He would do well, however, to seek re-election by also recognizing policy failures: recognizing them and committing his Administration to do better. To win re-election, that recognition will need to be honest and the commitment will need to be genuine.

                There is a long list of issue areas in which the Obama Administration has – to put it politely – so far under-performed. Housing policy is one.[1] Holding bankers accountable is another.[2] Extracting us from unnecessary wars is definitely a third.[3] But the big domestic issue on which the Administration’s impact has been weakest is surely poverty and unemployment. The Administration might justifiably claim that things would have been even more awful, had a Republican president been in charge – and that anyway, so much of what they have tried to do has been blocked by Republicans; but that can be of little comfort to the literally millions of Americans who currently remain trapped in poverty, excluded from paid work, or forced to survive on temporary and part-time contracts that no longer pay a living wage. For them, the Administration could have done more, should have done more, and better start doing more – and doing more now – if a President elected with such grand promises in 2008 isn’t to find himself out of work come January.

    Richard Day's picture

    MISPROGNOSTICATION

    Truth

    I get lost sometimes; hell I have been lost for 15 years.

    tmccarthy0's picture

    Mitt Romney to America- I HAVE NOT EVOLVED

    Text of Mitt Romney's Speech:

    I know you've come to believe I am a major flip flopper.

    tmccarthy0's picture

    Joe Barton: Recipients of Meals on Wheels Should be Looking for Work!

    Joe Barton, he sticks to Republican talking points even when it doesn't make sense!  Today in daily Republican speak Joe Barton insists that people who benefit from Food Stamps and Meals on Wheels should go to work, (scroll up to the 5:20 point)  that is the goal of Republicans to put everyone to work. Bashir reminds Barton who are the recipients of Meals on Wheels,  Joe Barton looks like a complete ass.

    Hollande's dilemma: Austerity vs. Insolvency

    The wave of anti-austerity swept Hollande into power in France, and for good reason - Merkel's austerity program, while sounding nice and grownup, doesn't work.

    Nor has Greek tax evasion and profligacy - relying on economic statism.

    With half the country avoiding taxes, 30% of income and 1/4 of GDP off the books, and about 60 billion € owed to the leisurely tax authorities, the responsibility spreads far and wide.

    One touted effort at accountability showed 17,000 swimming pools around Athens with only a few hundred declared. But when a businessman confronted with a 600K € tax debt gets away with paying 11,000 €? Good luck to all that.

    Even on the international scale, Greece carried 2 sets of books, the public one with 2% lopped off of debts thanks to some tricky Goldman Sachs moves - moves that cost the Greeks dearly in the long run. Though allowing her to get more loans from EU sources at better rates, plunging her further into debt.

    jollyroger's picture

    We can't pay! We won't pay!

    Facing extractions of capital more or less equivalent to the Versailles Treaty reparations (once creating a flow in the opposite direction, so to speak) the Greek people have voted for a parliament in which 60% of the votes will belong to anti-bailout parties.

     

    Whether a workable coalition emerges from this caldron of cross complaints and resentments or whether a further election in two months is called, the message to Berlin is unmistakable.

     

    cmaukonen's picture

    Government explained...well almost.

    If you are not totally confused by this little animation........

    Strauss-Kahn. Again.

    In other news, reports that another hotel burned down around Strauss-Kahn were met with surprise from Kahn, who alleges he had no idea those were flames consuming his bedroom: "Ze hotel burned down? Mon Dieu! I had no idea the smoke was from fire! This is terreeble! Was anyone hurt?"

    Prosecutors, investigators, and other authorities during a press conference in front the latest pile of smoldering rubble at which Strauss-Kahn stayed defended their inability: "We do not have a "smoking gun" linking Kahn to this latest conflagration."

    cmaukonen's picture

    Why Obama Won’t Help Foreclosure Victims

    Probably the best analysis I have seen so far and what I suspected all along. From BAR.

    The problem begins at the top. Obama has consistently protected bankers’ rights to deal with homeowners as they please.

    jollyroger's picture

    Prez releases 'Sama slur: Biden, not worth the stinger...Hello, Hillary?

     

    'Sama sends orders: "Do your best to shoot down Obama or Petreus, but hold your fire if it's Biden"

     

    Once we stop chuckling over the implied low evaluation placed by our nation's enemies on the man standing "a heartbeat away from the presidency", it occurs to wonder why  an administration ordinarily on a mission to control the flow of information circulated this tidbit from among the gigabytes collected at Abbottabad.

     

     

    Richard Day's picture

    A RANT ON THE GENIUS OF BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA!

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    I had an epiphany last night.

    I mean there was a star in the east and I looked at it like the vision was being presented to me for the first time!

    Usually I find a truth (in the gut sense anyway) after running into a convergence of scenes, a convergence of characters, a convergence of reported truths.

    Here is how I came to my epiphany.

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