Wolraich: Obama at the Gates of... Gates
Dr. C: In Praise of Writing Binges
Maiello: Gatsby Doesn't Grate
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Wolraich: Obama at the Gates of... Gates Dr. C: In Praise of Writing Binges Maiello: Gatsby Doesn't Grate |
Blowing |
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
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]
I haven't seen any TV in a week, and have kept up with developments in Cairo via newspaper headlines and newscasts. Admittedly, this presented for me a "story among other news stories" kind of perspective on the matter.
Then, I finally got a chance to listen to the DemocracyNow! live podcasts from Cairo (through yesterday), and followed that with Maddow/Engel/Williams MSNBC "live" reporting from Wed. night. I listened as I drove through the night. It was mesmerizing! [Read more]
By Neha Paliwal, Passport @ ForeignPolicy.com, May 17, 2013
On Friday, chaotic clashes broke out in Georgia as an angry mob -- comprised mainly of young men but also including robed priests and some women -- descended on a gay rights rally commemorating International Day Against Homophobia. A day earlier, the head of the Georgian Orthodox Church had demanded that authorities stop the rally, calling it a "violation of the majority's right."
According to EurasiaNet, the mob, which numbered...
By Miriam Elder in Moscow, The Guardian, May 17, 2013
Federal Security Service spokesman breaches protocol as he accuses US agency of crossing 'red line' in its recruitment efforts
By Nasser Chararah for Al-Monitor Lebanon Pulse, May 17, 2013
The silent conflict raging between Qatar and Saudi Arabia currently revolves around two main axes. The first is their respective positions vis-à-vis the Muslim Brotherhood, and their disagreement as to whether to back or reject its ascent to power in Syria. The second concerns Saudi Arabia’s objection to the disproportionate — relative to its size...
As jobless claims "surprisingly" go up by 32,000 this month (uh, did everyone forget the sequester?), an Atlantic reporter notes the abandonment of workers by both GOP & Democrats.
While he pushes 3 theories how workers ended up under the bus, I'll push a 4th - "social media whatever".
It used to be most of us were consumers of news and marketing, while a few made their money that way. Now we're all "engaged" (sad co-opting of that word) - selling our goods on Craigslist & eBay, friending & liking pages up the rec list, putting our portals & blogs on-line, passing on videos if not doing mash-ups of our own...
We've become a hive of little businessmen, little Eichmanns as someone once put it - with the...
By Kathy Gannon & Kay Johnson, Associated Press, May 16, 2013
KABUL, Afghanistan -- A suicide car bombing tore through a U.S. convoy in Kabul on Thursday, killing at least 15 people including six Americans in a blast so powerful it rattled the other side of the Afghan capital. U.S. soldiers rushed to help, some wearing only T-shirts or shorts under their body armor.
A Muslim militant group claimed responsibility for the morning rush hour attack, saying it was carried out by a new suicide unit formed in response to reports that the U.S. plans to keep bases and troops in Afghanistan even after the 2014 deadline for the end of the foreign combat mission.
The group, Hizb-e-Islami, said its fighters had...