02/27/2011 archive

Regular Daily Features:

• Them are in the spotlight at Late Night Karaoke,mishima DJs
• Six Brilliant Articles!    from Six Different Places!!     on Six Different Topics!!!
  
                  Six Days a Week!!!                at Six in the Morning!!!!

Essays Featured Sunday, February 27^th:

• TheMomCat  issues An Invite to the Oscar Party
• Sumofchange  shares Video from Rally to Save the American Dream
• Sunday Open Thoughts from  Alma  Ria are Epic Win
• Sunday Bread from Bill Egnor is yummy-delicious Jalapeno Cornbread
• Jacob Freeze brings Good News: An Astounding Success for Grass-Roots Environmentalism
• Firefly Memories 1.0 is where  Alma  Dreamer takes a look back at some of the Brilliant essays of our first years posts, highlighting those which exemplify our firefly-dreaming spirit and mission.  Today:Ana’s Story  

join the conversation! come firefly-dreaming with me….

Rachel Maddow discusses the shows policy of correcting its errors and demonstrates why she is owed one by Politifact.com

This is your morning Open Thread. Pour your favorite beverage and review the past and comment on the future.

Find the past “On This Day in History” here.

February 27 is the 58th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 307 days remaining until the end of the year (308 in leap years).

On this day in 1827, New Orleanians take to the streets for Mardi Gras with groups of masked and costumed students dance through the streets of New Orleans, Louisiana, marking the beginning of the city’s famous Mardi Gras celebrations.

The celebration of Carnival–or the weeks between Twelfth Night on January 6 and Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the Christian period of Lent–spread from Rome across Europe and later to the Americas. Nowhere in the United States is Carnival celebrated as grandly as in New Orleans, famous for its over-the-top parades and parties for Mardi Gras (or Fat Tuesday), the last day of the Carnival season.

History

The celebration of Mardi Gras was brought to Louisiana by early French settlers. The first record of the holiday being celebrated in Louisiana was at the mouth of the Mississippi River in what is now lower Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, on March 3, 1699. Iberville, Bienville, and their men celebrated it as part of an observance of Catholic practice.

The starting date of festivities in New Orleans is unknown. An account from 1743 notes that the custom of Carnival balls was already established. Processions and wearing of masks in the streets on Mardi Gras took place. They were sometimes prohibited by law, and were quickly renewed whenever such restrictions were lifted or enforcement waned. In 1833 Bernard Xavier de Marigny de Mandeville, a rich plantation owner of French descent, raised money to fund an official Mardi Gras celebration.

James R. Creecy in his book Scenes in the South, and Other Miscellaneous Pieces describes New Orleans Mardi Gras in 1835:

   Shrove Tuesday is a day to be remembered by strangers in New Orleans, for that is the day for fun, frolic, and comic masquerading. All of the mischief of the city is alive and wide awake in active operation. Men and boys, women and girls, bond and free, white and black, yellow and brown, exert themselves to invent and appear in grotesque, quizzical, diabolic, horrible, strange masks, and disguises. Human bodies are seen with heads of beasts and birds, beasts and birds with human heads; demi-beasts, demi-fishes, snakes’ heads and bodies with arms of apes; man-bats from the moon; mermaids; satyrs, beggars, monks, and robbers parade and march on foot, on horseback, in wagons, carts, coaches, cars, etc., in rich confusion, up and down the streets, wildly shouting, singing, laughing, drumming, fiddling, fifeing, and all throwing flour broadcast as they wend their reckless way.

On Mardi Gras of 1857, the Mystick Krewe of Comus held its first parade. Comus is the oldest continuously active Mardi Gras organization. It started a number of continuing traditions. It is considered the first Carnival krewe in the modern sense. According to one historian, “Comus was aggressively English in its celebration of what New Orleans had always considered a French festival. It is hard to think of a clearer assertion than this parade that the lead in the holiday had passed from French-speakers to Anglo-Americans. . . .To a certain extent, Americans ‘Americanized’ New Orleans and its Creoles. To a certain extent, New Orleans ‘creolized’ the Americans. Thus the wonder of Anglo-Americans boasting of how their business prowess helped them construct a more elaborate version of the old Creole Carnival. The lead in organized Carnival passed from Creole to American just as political and economic power did over the course of the nineteenth century. The spectacle of Creole-American Carnival, with Americans using Carnival forms to compete with Creoles in the ballrooms and on the streets, represents the creation of a New Orleans culture neither entirely Creole nor entirely American.”

In 1875 Louisiana declared Mardi Gras a legal state holiday. War, economic, political, and weather conditions sometimes led to cancellation of some or all major parades, especially during the American Civil War, World War I and World War II, but the city has always celebrated Carnival.

“Punting the Pundits” is an Open Thread. It is a selection of editorials and opinions from around the news medium and the internet blogs. The intent is to provide a forum for your reactions and opinions, not just to the opinions presented, but to what ever you find important.

Thanks to ek hornbeck, click on the link and you can access all the past “Punting the Pundits”.

The Sunday Talking Heads:

This Week with Christiane Amanpour: Christiane Amanpour will be reporting live from Tripoli, Libya on the historic and violent struggle for control of the oil-rich nation.

Jake Tapper will host the roundtable with Governor Jan Brewer (R-AZ), Gov. Deval Patrick (D-MA), Gov. John Hickenlooper (D-CO) and Gov. Nikki Haley (R-SC), to discuss the federal and state budget crises and constituent responses to the shortages.

Face the Nation with Bob Schieffer: Mr. Schieffer will interview with N.J. Governor Chris Christie

The Chris Matthews Show: This week’s guests are Dan Rather, HDNet Global Correspondent, Savannah Guthrie, NBC News White House Correspondent, Trish Regan, CNBC Anchor and Correspondent and John Heilemann, New York Magazine National Political Correspondent.

They will discuss these questions:

Is “Cuts” — Not “Jobs” — The New Winning Four-Letter Word?

Will Oil-Fueled Inflation Ruin Obama’s Economic Recovery?

Meet the Press with David Gregory: Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI) gives an exclusive interview and an interview with Senator John McCain (R-AZ), ranking member of the Armed Services Committee from Cairo.

The round table guests are former head of the RNC, Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MS); chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO); host of MSNBC’s “The Last Word,” Lawrence O’Donnell; president of the AFL-CIO, Richard Trumka; and editorial board member and columnist for the Wall Street Journal, Kim Strassel who will discuss the the economic and budget crisis..

State of the Union with Candy Crowley: Guests are Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut (I-CT) and Sen. John McCain of Arizona (R-AZ) discussing the Middle East. Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND) will discuss the national budget battle. Gov. Rick Scott (R-FL) and Gov. Dan Malloy (D-CT) will talk about budgets on the state level. Economist Mark Zandi of Moody’s Analytics and Douglas Holtz-Eakin, the former director of the Congressional Budget Office will give their insight on the Middle East crisis and the economy

Fareed Zakaris: GPS: War criminal Paul Wolfowitz gives his perspective on Libya and the role the United States needs to play. Fareed will give his view on the events. Economist and NY Times best selling author Michael Lewis will look back at the the world financial crisis.

Am I the only one who will be sleeping through this crap?

Crossposted at Daily Kos and Docudharma

African mercenaries in Libya nervously await their fate

Mercenaries captured in Libya are facing an uncertain future, writes Nick Meo in Al-Bayda.



By Nick Meo, Al-Bayda, Libya 7:30AM GMT 27 Feb 2011  

Crowded into an empty classroom which was stinking of unwashed bodies and reeking of fear, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s defeated mercenary killers awaited their fate.

A week earlier the men – Libyan loyalists of the dictator and black African recruits – had been landed at airports throughout eastern Libya and sent out into the streets to shoot protesters in a murderous rampage. They killed dozens before they were overwhelmed by anti-Gaddafi militias.

The survivors were exhausted, filthy, far from home, and fearful of execution, even though they had been assured of good treatment. Fifty of them lay on mattresses on the floor in one classroom alone, with nearly 100 more in the same school building which was being used as a temporary prison. Most looked dazed. Some were virtually children

Regular Features-

• Late Night Karaoke by mishima
• Muse in the Morning by Robyn
• Six In The Morning by mishima

Featured Essays for February 26, 2011-

• Wisconsin Schools Get Sold Out by Jack’s Smirking Revenge
• OpenThread: Changes by TheMomCat
• Impossible Dream Open Thread by Edger
• Reporting the Revolution: 26.02.2011 by TheMomCat
• Talking Union by ek hornbeck
• Video from Rally to Save the American Dream by SumofChange
• Popular Culture 20110225: Van Susteren to the Rescue! by Translator

DocuDharma

cross-posted from Sum of Change

WASHINGTON, DC: Demonstrations were planned in over 60 U.S. cities today to show solidarity with workers in Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio and wherever workers’ rights are under attack. I stopped in at the Rally to Save the American Dream here in DC, at Dupont Circle, where we heard from a number of speakers, including Van Jones.

“Oh what a tangled web we weave, When first we practice to deceive” Sir Walter Scott

The plot to undermine the Wikileaks attack on banks is certainly one of those tangled webs. The recent revelations the not only were Bank of America  and the Chamber of Commerce involved but the United States Air Force. They all had either hired or consulted a little known cyber-security firm HBgary to learn about and discredit their detractors. The plot was exposed by one of their targets, Anonymous, who hacked not just HBgary’s computers but hacked the private e-mail from its CEO,s i-phone and his Twitter account.

Another of HBgary’s targets, Salon‘s Glenn Greenwald, has been making rounds talking about the plans to discredit journalists. He has made appearances on Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report and Democracy Now! discussing the implications of this plot. Mr. Greenwald also talked with Cenk Uygur specifically about this plan, the latest revelations of the use of psy-ops against American citizens, specifically, US Congress members to get them to support the Afghan war and the Obama administration’s vigorous crack down on whistle blowers.

Not so many premiers, last week’s Amazing Race (I know a fan).  Pursuit of Happyness (their spelling not mine).  Austin City Limits has Allen Toussaint.

Mets tied their first pre-season game against the Braves 5 – 5 with a 2 run homer by Willie Harris in the 10th.  Yes, they just aclled it at 10.  Lady Huskies clinched the regular season Big East title with a win at Georgetown 52 – 42 (it was closer than that).

No Fate.

• AMC– Terminator 2: Judgment Day x 2 (easily the best of all the Terminator movies because of Linda Hamilton’s performance)
• Animal Planet– Must Love Cats (premier), Pit Boss x 2 (premiers, and I know someone who’s relative appears on the show)
• Bravo– House marathon
• Comedy– Good Luck Chuck, My Best Friend’s Girl
• Disney– Wizards of Waverly Place marathon
• Discovery– When Pigs Attack!
• E!– When Harry Met Sally
• ESPN– College Hoopies, Duke @ Virginia Tech
• ESPN2– College Hoopies, UCSB @ Long Beach State, PBA Bowling
• FX– Death Race (not the better 1975 version)
• Sci Fi– Star Trek: Nemesis, Area 51 x 2
• Speed– Supercross
• Spike– A Bronx Tale, Days of Thunder (hilariously bad)
• TBS– Diary of a Mad Black Woman, The Family That Preys
• Turner Classic– It Happened One Night, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
• TNT– The Guardian
• Toon– Space Jam (not as watchable as Looney Tunes: Back in Action), God, the Devil and Bob
• TV Land– Retired at 35 marathon
• Vs.– Bullriding
• VH1– What’s Love Got to Do With It

What do you think you are, for Chrissake, crazy or somethin’? Well you’re not! You’re not! You’re no crazier than the average asshole out walkin’ around on the streets and that’s it.

Later-

We all know that the images we see can elicit strong emotional reactions. But I always wondered, can the images we see do more than hurt us emotionally? Is it possible to see something so bad that it actually hurts you physically? In other words, can too much black television kill you?

• ABC Family– O Brother, Where Art Thou?
• Comedy– Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay
• FX– Rules of Engagement
• Oxygen– Just Friends
• Sci Fi– Alien Siege
• Spike– Lucky Number Slevin
• TBS– Why Did I Get Married?, College Road Trip
• Turner Classic– The Silence of the Lambs
• TNT– The Postman
• Vs.– D-League Hoopies, Jam @ Stampede

SNL from 11/20/10.

Boondocks– Riley Wuz Here.  The Venture Brothers– Return to Spider-Skull Island.

There is a television behind the El Greco. Sadly, the remote has vanished from the material sphere! So it’s stuck on Animal Planet.

…

What is…

That’s Doc’s deformed twin brother he absorbed in the womb, who’s come back for revenge. But now they’ve made up, so…

‘Kay…

Zap2it TV Listings, Yahoo TV Listings