July 2015 archive

  Angela’s Ashes: How Merkel Failed Greece and Europe

   Angela Merkel relishes her reputation as queen of Europe. But she hasn’t learned how to use her power, instead allowing a bad situation to heat up to the boiling point. Her inability to take unpopular stances badly exacerbated the Greek crisis.

By Peter Müller and René Pfister

Angela Merkel was already leaving for the weekend when she received the call that would change everything. The chancellor had just had a grueling day, spending all of it in meetings with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras — sometimes as part of a larger group, and others with only him and French President François Hollande.

They discussed debt restructuring and billions of euros in additional investments. When it comes to issues important to him, Tsipras can be exhaustingly stubborn. In the end, though, Merkel was left with the feeling the EU summit was the milestone that could quite possibly mark a turn for the better.

Welcome to The Breakfast Club! We’re a disorganized group of rebel lefties who hang out and chat if and when we’re not too hungover  we’ve been bailed out we’re not too exhausted from last night’s (CENSORED) the caffeine kicks in. Join us every weekday morning at 9am (ET) and weekend morning at 10:30am (ET) to talk about current news and our boring lives and to make fun of LaEscapee! If we are ever running late, it’s PhilJD’s fault.

Breakfast Tune: “That’s Alright Mama” by Elvis Presley sung by Washington Square group, NYC.

Elvis Presley’s “That’s Alright Mama” played by left to right Gene, Sean in the straw hat, Danny with the recorder, Ellen -banjo, Andri, Sue Ellen, Jim on guitar.

Today in History

Elvis Presley holds his first major recording session; Birth of the bikini; Enron’s Kenneth Lay dies; Arthur Ashe wins at Wimbledon; Larry Doby follows Jackie Robinson; Baseball’s Ted Williams dies. (July 5)

Breakfast News & Blogs Below

The Stars Hollow Gazette has reached a milestone that many blogs never even get near.  We are five. Most blogs don’t last this long nor do most bloggers. This is my 6545th diary. Call me prolific, or, just someone who won’t shut up until you listen

I’ll try to make this brief. I started this site with my partner in “left wing, anarchist crime”, ek hornbeck, mostly as a place where we could vent and put our “stuff,” and it still is.

This site is also a tribute to Edger, without whom I never would have been able to put this together. He was a good friend and adviser. His passing left a huge hole in the Internet.

I also want to give a hearty thank you, to mishima, BobbyK, poligirl, triv33 and joe shikspack. You guys are terrific and have been one of the raison d’être for this site’s existence. Merci beaucoup.

We may not be the most viewed blog, but that was never the point. This is a place for those disenfranchised bloggers, readers, and commenters to come an express themselves. We are the far left. I was asked of this site was political shortly after we debuted. The answer to that was an unabashed YES.

If you are looking for a place to vent, express your frustrations with the political process, or just have something you want to say, this is the place. Pull up a bench and welcome to our park.  

We know what we’re getting.

On the German side, they’re angry, though they have no reason to be.  Team USA outplayed them, it was their first really good game of the Tournament.  Germany did not break down, they played with discipline and heart.  Bad luck?  They rarely miss Penalty Kicks and Hope Solo was totally going the other way.  Team USA made their kick and you could argue that they wouldn’t have scored from the field if they were down or tied but they did score from the field and that is not a fluke, it is a fact.

England?  This is a game that was so headed to an extra period and a Shootout that I had TMC on the phone and had moved on to other projects.  Own Goal?  Well that’s embarrassing.

England is the epicenter of English speaking football and Trefor Lloyd-Hughes has done more to damage the Women’s game than 20 Laura Bassetts.

Today the odds are that Germany crushes England like a bug.  Germany is playing for redemption and is the #1 team in the World.  Lowly England is a bunch of Gals trying their best to hang on to a dream.  Root accordingly.

(My apologies to Thomas Jefferson)

When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the citizen long guaranteed by our Constitution, a decent respect to the opinions of humankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to that separation.

We hold these truths to be self evident, that all humans are created equal, and that the People of the United States of America are endowed not only with certain unalienable rights, but also with certain rights and liberties given to them by the Founding Fathers via the Constitution of the country adopted at the birth of these United States, as well as via laws passed throughout the past 239 years. That to secure these rights and liberties, the Government has been instituted among people, deriving their power from the consent of the governed, and that whenever any form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the People to alter or abolish it.

“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”.

Follow us on Twitter @StarsHollowGzt

Robert Koehler: The Torture of Absolute Power

“The existence of the approximately 14,000 photographs will probably cause yet another delay in the military commissions at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as attorneys for the defendants demand that all the images be turned over and the government wades through the material to decide what it thinks is relevant to the proceedings.”

This was the Washington Post a few days ago, informing us wearily that the torture thing isn’t dead yet. The bureaucracy convulses, the wheels of justice grind. So much moral relativism to evaluate.

“They did what they were asked to do in the service of our nation,” CIA director John Brennan said at a news conference in December, defending CIA interrogators after a portion of the 6,700-page Senate Intelligence Committee report was made public.

Serving the nation means no more than doing what you’re told.

God bless America. Flags wave, fireworks burst on the horizon. Aren’t we terrific? But this idea we celebrate – this nation, this principled union of humanity – is just a military bureaucracy, full of dark secrets. The darkest, most highly classified secret of all is that we’re always at war and we always will be. And war is an end in itself. It has no purpose beyond its own perpetuation.

This is the context of torture.

Heather Digby Parton: GOP austerity is a disaster of Greek proportions: Sam Brownback, Bobby Jindal & the economic scam of the century

The nation of Greece may be the cradle of democracy but these days it’s getting a harsh lesson in its limitations. Right now, streets are filled with protesters but there are no lines at ATMs because the banks are all closed. Everyone is waiting to see what’s going to happen when the people vote this week-end on a referendum that will decide, essentially, if the country is going to remain in the Euro and accept the ongoing edicts of “the troika” or if it’s going to “Grexit. [..]

All the GOP presidential candidates are running on some version of the austerity platform even as they promise tax cuts for rich and a growing economy that will result in everyone who votes Republican becoming millionaires. They will expect sacrifice, of course. That goes without saying. We have all these “strategic deficits” that will have to be taken care of first. But just as soon as we cut all that fat everything’s going to be just great.

We’ll find out this week-end if the Greek people will decide to absorb more pain in the hopes that the troika will finally be appeased or if they are finally done being Europe’s chosen sin-eaters.  Unfortunately, no matter what happens Greece is unlikely to be the last victim of austerity. Stay tuned for the next major debt crisis unfolding much closer to home: [Puerto Rico All the GOP presidential candidates are running on some version of the austerity platform even as they promise tax cuts for rich and a growing economy that will result in everyone who votes Republican becoming millionaires. They will expect sacrifice, of course. That goes without saying. We have all these “strategic deficits” that will have to be taken care of first. But just as soon as we cut all that fat everything’s going to be just great.

We’ll find out this week-end if the Greek people will decide to absorb more pain in the hopes that the troika will finally be appeased or if they are finally done being Europe’s chosen sin-eaters.  Unfortunately, no matter what happens Greece is unlikely to be the last victim of austerity. Stay tuned for the next major debt crisis unfolding much closer to home: Puerto Rico, where the people in the crosshairs are our fellow American citizens.], where the people in the crosshairs are our fellow American citizens.

Fellow-citizens, pardon me, allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here to-day? What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? And am I, therefore, called upon to bring our humble offering to the national altar, and to confess the benefits and express devout gratitude for the blessings resulting from your independence to us?

I am not included within the pale of this glorious anniversary! Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. The blessings in which you this day rejoice are not enjoyed in common. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity, and independence bequeathed by your fathers is shared by you, not by me. The sunlight that brought life and healing to you has brought stripes and death to me. This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn. To drag a man in fetters into the grand illuminated temple of liberty, and call upon him to join you in joyous anthems, were inhuman mockery and sacrilegious irony. Do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak today?

What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July? I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days of the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is a constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are, to Him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy-a thin veil to cover up crimes that would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation of the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of these United States at this very hour.

At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed. O! had I the ability, and could reach the nation’s ear, I would, to-day, pour forth a stream, a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke. For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, the earthquake. The feeling of the nation must be quickened; the conscience of the nation must be roused; the propriety of the nation must be startled; the hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed; and the crimes against God and man must be proclaimed and denounced.

What?  You think I’m showing insufficient piety, deference, and patriotism towards the Defence of Fort McHenry?  Might I point out that it only became the National Anthem in 1931 succeeding Hail Columbia and My Country, ‘Tis of Thee (which doesn’t really count because it’s a cheap knockoff of God Save the Queen).  Oh, and I can still easily handle the one and a fifth octaves provided you start in the right key (I also do White Rabbit, blows them away away at the Karaoke Bar).

I am cursed with a rememberance of history.  I remember that our founders were a motley collection of smugglers, slavers, genocidal murderers, tax cheats, frauds, and rabble.  That we were conceived in Rebellion, violent armed struggle, against tyrany and corporate oligarchy.

We waz thugz, yo.

I remember Lafayette, which is a good thing because I got pigeonholed for an on camera interview with TV France 3 while visiting the Hermione at South Street Seaport Thursday and while the reporter no doubt expected a typically “exceptionally” dumb response (duh, he was French and served in the Civil War or something like that) I gave him 10 solid minutes of his (and France’s) importance to the Revolution, his relationship with Washington, his bravery at Brandywine, his lobbying the French Court for intervention (downplayed Ben a little for the audience), the strategic French thinking that went into Yorktown rather than New York (Washington’s choice and probably a big bloody mistake if it had happened), and his participation in the French Revolution of 1789.

I have more material but I sense you are sleeping already by the snores.  What about History Major is so hard to understand?  Do I get to talk to Farkle about Belgian Independence or is it Maya and Riley day (silly question, it’s always Maya and Riley day).

Since I’m not quite recovered from the trauma of 12 hours on the road in addition to the week and a half of travel since June 20th and 3 more confronting me (what about busy are we not understanding?) it’s another sucky blogging day!

You’re welcome.

Besides it’s July 4th and nobody will read this except those who are truly desperate to escape the meat, heat, beer, fireworks, and family.  There is no news.  Fortunately my audience shrinks by the day and those who are left don’t expect much.  I’ve been invited to participate in an off Broadway talent revue (in the sense that 400 miles is off Broadway) which I don’t think will come off actually but I can always favor them with Grandfather’s Old Ram.

Obligatories

Welcome to The Breakfast Club! We’re a disorganized group of rebel lefties who hang out and chat if and when we’re not too hungover we’ve been bailed out we’re not too exhausted from last night’s (CENSORED) the caffeine kicks in. Join us every weekday morning at 9am (ET) and weekend morning at 10:30am (ET) to talk about current news and our boring lives and to make fun of LaEscapee! If we are ever running late, it’s PhilJD’s fault.

I would never make fun of LaEscapee or blame PhilJD.  And I am highly organized.

The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings.

–Julius Caesar (I, ii, 140-141)

This Day in History

News and Blogs

• Exclusive: Europeans tried to block IMF debt report on Greece: sources, By Paul Taylor, Reuters
• Leaked TPP Chapter Shows How It’s A Massive Gift To Big Pharma And Against Public Health, by Mike Masnick, Tech Dirt
• As FBI Fearmongers About ‘Going Dark’ Because Of Encryption, Actual Wiretaps Almost Never Run Into Encryption, by Mike Masnick, Tech Dirt
• A Tale of Celebrity Bon Vivant Civil Servants and Access Journalism, By bmaz, emptywheel
• Bernie Sanders raises contender-level money in first months on the trail, by Jon Green, Americablog
• WikiLeaks Performs Valuable Service By Liberating Key Documents from Lesser-Known But Still Major Trade Deal, by Kevin Gosztola, Firedog Lake
• Old Economic Thinking is the Problem, Says BIS, By Perry Mehrling, Naked Capitalism
• Why We Shouldn’t Pay for the Political Spending of Federal Contractors, by Robert Reich
• How the South Skews America, By MICHAEL LIND, Politico

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.

Click on images to enlarge.

July 4 is the 185th day of the year (186th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 180 days remaining until the end of the year. The Aphelion, the point in the year when the Earth is farthest from the Sun, occurs around this date.

On this day in 1826, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, the second and third presidents of the United States, respectively, die on this day, the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence.

After the ratification of the U.S. Constitution, Adams was elected vice president to George Washington, and Jefferson was appointed secretary of state. During Washington’s administration, Jefferson, with his democratic ideals and concept of states’ rights, often came into conflict with Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, who supported a strong federal government and conservative property rights. Adams often arbitrated between Hamilton and his old friend Jefferson, though in politics he was generally allied with Hamilton.

In 1796, Adams defeated Jefferson in the presidential election, but the latter became vice president, because at that time the office was still filled by the candidate who finished second. As president, Adams’ main concern was America’s deteriorating relationship with France, and war was only averted because of his considerable diplomatic talents. In 1800, Jefferson’s Democratic-Republicans (the forerunner of the Democratic Party) defeated the Federalist party of Adams and Hamilton, and Adams retired to his estate in Quincy, Massachusetts.

As president, Jefferson reduced the power and expenditures of the central government but advocated the purchase of the Louisiana Territory from France, which more than doubled the size of the United States. During his second administration, Jefferson faced renewed conflict with Great Britain, but he left office before the War of 1812 began. Jefferson retired to his estate in Monticello, Virginia, but he often advised his presidential successors and helped establish the University of Virginia. Jefferson also corresponded with John Adams to discuss politics, and these famous letters are regarded as masterpieces of the American enlightenment.

John Adams’ Death

Less than a month before his death, John Adams issued a statement about the destiny of the United States, which historians such as Joy Hakim have characterized as a “warning” for his fellow citizens. Adams said:

   My best wishes, in the joys, and festivities, and the solemn services of that day on which will be completed the fiftieth year from its birth, of the independence of the United States: a memorable epoch in the annals of the human race, destined in future history to form the brightest or the blackest page, according to the use or the abuse of those political institutions by which they shall, in time to come, be shaped by the human mind.

On July 4, 1826, the fiftieth anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, Adams died at his home in Quincy. Told that it was the Fourth, he answered clearly, “It is a great day. It is a good day.” His last words have been reported as “Thomas Jefferson survives”. His death left Charles Carroll of Carrollton as the last surviving signatory of the Declaration of Independence. John Adams died while his son John Quincy Adams was president.

His crypt lies at United First Parish Church (also known as the Church of the Presidents) in Quincy. Originally, he was buried in Hancock Cemetery, across the road from the Church. Until his record was broken by Ronald Reagan in 2001, he was the nation’s longest-living President (90 years, 247 days) maintaining that record for 175 years.

Thomas Jefferson’s Death

Jefferson’ health began to deteriorate by July 1825, and by June 1826 he was confined to bed. He likely died from uremia, severe diarrhea, and pneumonia (?). Jefferson died on July 4, 1826, the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, and a few hours before John Adams.

Though born into a wealthy slave-owning family, Jefferson had many financial problems, and died deeply in debt. After his death, his possessions, including his slaves, were sold, as was Monticello in 1831. Thomas Jefferson is buried in the family cemetery at Monticello. The cemetery only is now owned and operated by the Monticello Association, a separate lineage society that is not affiliated with the Thomas Jefferson Foundation that runs the estate.

Jefferson wrote his own epitaph, which reads:

   HERE WAS BURIED THOMAS JEFFERSON

   AUTHOR OF THE DECLARATION OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE

   OF THE STATUTE OF VIRGINIA FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

   AND FATHER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA.

John Quincy Adams, the sixth President of the United States (1825-1829), was at his father’s bed side when he died. He was 7 days short of his 59th birthday

Le.  Tour.  De.  France.

You know, if you end up in the same place you started from, does that count as a departure or what?  You did leave, but it’s kind of like going back to your house because you forgot your wallet or left the stove on or something.  Does it really count against your travel time?

Well, it sort of does in this year’s Le Tour.  Today is the only individual time trial stage and it’s very short, only a little over 8 and a half miles which, given a Tour of about 2088 miles is hardly a blip.

Why is it the only Individual Time Trial?  Could it be because the French contenders (and surprisingly they have a few this year) suck at it?

What?!  You impugn the integrity of Professional Bicycle Racing?!  You can hardly do that because it has none and doesn’t pretend otherwise.

Anyway, today will hardly prove anything unless someone falls off their bike and even so it’s not going to cut down huge chunks of the field as sometimes happens.  Competition-wise the race shapes up like this-

• Tour de France 2015: five contenders for the yellow jersey, by William Fotheringham, The Guardian
• Tour de France 2015: our team-by-team guide, by Barry Glendenning, The Guardian
• Tour de France 2015 Stage by stage, The Guardian
• Stage 1, Le Tour

TV coverage on continuous loop at Vs (NBC Sports) forever and ever and ever and ever…  Well at least until Stage 21 on July 26th.

Welcome to the Stars Hollow Gazette‘s Health and Fitness News weekly diary. It will publish on Saturday afternoon and be open for discussion about health related issues including diet, exercise, health and health care issues, as well as, tips on what you can do when there is a medical emergency. Also an opportunity to share and exchange your favorite healthy recipes.

Questions are encouraged and I will answer to the best of my ability. If I can’t, I will try to steer you in the right direction. Naturally, I cannot give individual medical advice for personal health issues. I can give you information about medical conditions and the current treatments available.

You can now find past Health and Fitness News diaries here and on the right hand side of the Front Page.

Follow us on Twitter @StarsHollowGzt

The usual strategy for a make-ahead summer meal is a spread of salads and poached fish, which is fine in June but grows wearisome by August.

Instead I suggest taking another path entirely: fried chicken.

A longtime picnic staple, chicken is one of the few fried foods that tastes as good at room temperature as it does warm. And with a few minor tweaks to the classic recipe, this version holds up particularly well, remaining crisp and well seasoned for hours out of the fryer.

~ Melissa Clark ~