Dr. C: The Unpleasant Exclusivity in Our Educational System
Wolraich: The Grim Possibility Of War With Iran
dag Observes the 19th Anniversary of the Low-Speed Chase in LA
|
Dr. C: The Unpleasant Exclusivity in Our Educational System Wolraich: The Grim Possibility Of War With Iran dag Observes the 19th Anniversary of the Low-Speed Chase in LA |
Shuts & |
I slept with the lions
and Marilyn Monroe
had breakfast in the eye
of a hurricane
fought Rocky Marciano,
played Minnesota Fats
burned hundred-dollar bills,
I've eaten Mulligan stew
got drunk with Louis Armstrong
what's that old song?
I taught Mickey Mantle
everything that he knows
-Tom Waits "Jitterbug Boy"
Location:
Somewhere in Wisconsin, at the junction of Principles and Opinion
Politics:
Progressive Liberal Socialist - Studs Terkel; Clarence Darrow; Bob LaFollette; Frank Zeidler; Eugene Debs; Joe Hill; Saul Alinsky; FDR New Deal; Henry Wallace; James Groppi; Catonsville 9; Harold Washington; Tip O'Neill; Ann Richards; Molly Ivins; Mahatma Ghandi; Mother Jones; Chalmers Johnson; Ed Garvey; Michael Moore
Favorite Books:
"The Jungle" - Upton Sinclair
"The Grapes of Wrath" - John Steinbeck
"Reveille for Radicals" - Saul Alinsky
"Clarence Darrow for the Defense" - Irving Stone
"Ironweed" - William Kennedy
"The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" - Carson McCullers
"The Glass Menagerie" - Tennessee Williams
"The Last Lion" trilogy (unfinished) - William Manchester
"Moby Dick" - Herman Melville
"Great Expectations" - Charles Dickens
"A River Runs Through It" - Norman MacLean
"The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany" - Willliam L. Shirer
"Trout Fishing in America" / "Revenge of the Lawn" - Richard Brautigan
"TRUCK" / "COOP" - Michael Perry
"A Confederacy of Dunces" - John Kennedy O'Toole
"Wisconsin Death Trip" - Michael Lesy
"Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage" - Alfred Lansing
"Is this a private fight, or can anyone join?" - Old Irish Saying
"We Can Be Together" - Jefferson Airplane
"Misery's the river of the world - everybody row!" - Tom Waits
"When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him." - Jonathan Swift
“If a man is not an oligarch, something is not right with him. Everyone had the same starting conditions, everyone could have done it.” - Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Russian Tycoon, now in prison.
"Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires." - John Steinbeck
There was a man who lived in my neighborhood when I was a child. He was called "Droogie."
Droogie lived with his elderly mother in pretty austere circumstances. His father died when he was quite young. Droogie was dangerously violent at times. At other times, he could be seen collapsing into inconsolable tears for no reason at all. In almost all ways imaginable, Droogie was a mess! [Read more]
What a bunch of hooey! [Read more]
I saw a friend of mine today who happens to be a Veteran. I asked him if he had partaken of any of the free meals for Veterans offered by many of the local restaurants.
Well, he said, he hadn't really even thought of it before stopping to get a bite on Monday. And then he kinda grinned and I knew there was a story to be told.
Brian and his wife had stopped at a Culver's on Veteran's Day and were waiting in line behind an elderly woman. They really weren't paying attention until they heard the woman ask if it was necessary for her husband to come into the store to get his free ice cream sundae. [Read more]
Did you know that of the 100 largest economies in the world, 51 are corporations?
The rest of them are countries. Including ours. At least it will be "ours" until the hostile takeover.
See other interesting details about corporations here.
This old (1994) NYT article provides excellent background detail of the Koch Brothers, going back to their father's involvement as one of the original members of the John Birch Society. It's a very interesting read, and shows just what Wisconsin's working families are up against in this take-no-prisoners assault against our Liberties and our Rights. [Read more]
from the text of Wisconsin Governor Walker's "Budget Repair Bill":
Page 18; Line 8: "Except with respect to sexual orientation, the contractor further agrees to take affirmative action to ensure equal employment oppotunities."
As proposed by Walker and his supporters, this assault on LGBT Rights will be written into Law in this State if this tyranny prevails.
I have not yet had time to review the entire document. But this, alone. should serve as sufficient warning that it ain't only the unions that this tyrant has placed in his sights for his attack against the rights of the people of Wisconsin.
Class War it is! Which side are YOU on?
Just a few impressions of my time spent at the State Capitol in Madison, Wisconsin on Saturday
Saturday proved to be a most amazing day in what has been a week of non-violent protest against Governor Walker's Republican assault on worker's rights in Wisconsin.
Joan and I got there early enough to get a place right at the center of the Rotunda on the ground floor. [Read more]

The Capitol Building in Madison, Wisconsin has always been for me an inspiration. It's a stunning work of art fashioned from cold granite, and it makes of this unyielding material a very strong, yet welcoming edifice capable of embracing and even shaping the passions and aspirations of the people of Wisconsin.
Never in my life have I seen it look so beautiful as in the last week, when it truly became a home for those tens of thousands who have come together to petition their government in non-violent protest of government action that defies our Wisconsin Tradition of Worker's Rights and Justice for All. [Read more]
Reuters, June 19, 2013
CAIRO - Egypt's tourism minister tendered his resignation on Tuesday over President Mohamed Mursi's decision to appoint as governor of Luxor a member of a hardline Islamist group blamed for slaughtering 58 tourists there in 1997.
Prime Minister Hisham Kandil did not accept the resignation of Tourism Minister Hisham Zaazou, who remains in the post for now. However, the move pointed to a split in government over an appointment that one critic called "the last nail in the coffin" of the tourism industry.
Mursi appointed Adel Mohamed al-Khayat, a member of al-Gamaa al-Islamiya, as Luxor governor this week, a move seen as a sign of a deepening political alliance between the once-armed group and the...
By Robert Mackey, The Lede @ nytimes.com, June 18, 2013
Includes lots of images and videos.
Last Updated, 6:57 p.m. As my colleague Simon Romero reports from São Paulo, more than 200,000 Brazilians filled the streets in cities across the country on Monday to protest the high cost of living and lavish spending on soccer stadiums ahead of next year’s World Cup, in demonstrations that have intensified as images of police brutality against peaceful protesters spread on...
How Obama's pick to lead the FBI tried to put the brakes on the NSA's surveillance dragnet.
By Marc Ambinder, Foreign Policy, June 18, 2013
[....] Comey, who is said to be President Obama's choice to be the next director of the FBI, has never publicly disclosed exactly what he refused to sanction when he was briefly acting attorney general during Ashcroft's hospital stay, but people briefed on the program who have spoken to Comey say it was the legal rationale giving the NSA quick access to un-sifted telecom and service provider-collected metadata that "drove him bonkers," not the Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping program. There was just no way, Comey thought, to justify an effort that simply...
'Peace and reconciliation' milestone comes after US drops request for formal rejection of al-Qaida as precondition to talks
By Dan Roberts in Washington and Emma Graham-Harrison in Kabul, guardian.co.uk, 18 June 2013
[....] White House officials say they believe the Taliban delegation at the talks represents the movement's leadership, and includes more radical groups such as the Haqqani network. Officials said the US would have a direct role in the talks starting starting this week in Doha, but the substantive negotiations over the future of Afghanistan would then be led by the Afghan government.
"The core of this process is not going to be US-Taliban talks – we can help the process – but the core is going...
According to some well-placed Israeli commentators, the best Israel can hope for is that Assad holds on but only just. That would keep the regime in place, or boxed into its heartland, but sapped of the energy to concern itself with anything other than immediate matters of survival.
In closed-door discussions, analyst Ben Caspit has noted, the Israeli army has put forward its “optimal scenario”: Syria breaking up into three separate states, with Assad confined to an Alawite canton in Damascus and along the coast.
A long war of attrition between Assad and the opposition has additional benefits for Israel following the decision by Hizbullah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, to draft thousands of fighters to assist the...