(midnight. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

Regular Daily Features:

Late Night Karaoke visits Ah, Singapore, mishima DJs

Six Brilliant Articles! from Six Different Places!! on Six Different Topics!!!

                Six Days a Week!!!    at Six in the Morning!!!!

Gha!

Essays Featured Saturday, March 19^th:

Alma is Back to Baking in Saturday Open Thoughts

A wonderful piece of Saturday Art! from mishima‘s talented hands.

Translator brings a new episode of Popular Culture: Iconic Themes Part I

from davidseth thoughts on War Du Jour, Part III

Kathleen has a new edition of Wondering: What Do You Think about Teachers?

patric juillet reminds us of World Water DAY: March 22

and brings the latest chapter of Tales from the Larder: Irish Stew Day, March 17th

Get Growing: Broccoli & Cauliflower from Ria, updated this year w/pest pix.

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

I’ll be sitting in for ek hornbeck who is Live Blogging the NCAA Championship Games for the next few days.

• West pounds Libya with air strikes, Tomahawks
  
  by Imed Lamloum

  TRIPOLI (AFP) – French air raids and US Tomahawk missiles pounded targets in Libya on Saturday, in an international campaign to prevent Moamer Kadhafi from crushing a month-old uprising against his rule.

  A US warship fired Tomahawk cruise missiles into Libya, targeting Kadhafi’s air defence sites, a senior US military official said.

  Two days after a UN Security Council resolution authorised military action, French planes carried out an initial four air strikes, destroying several armoured vehicles of Kadhafi’s forces, the French military said.

• Power line connected to stricken Japan reactor
  
  by Hiroshi Hiyama

  KITAKAMI, Japan (AFP) – Crews fighting to cool reactors at Japan’s stricken nuclear plant managed to connect a power line Saturday as the government revealed that leaking radioactivity had reached the food chain.

  The Fukushima No. 1 plant was crippled eight days ago by a terrifying earthquake and tsunami which according to the latest police tally left nearly 20,000 people dead or missing in Japan’s worst natural disaster since 1923.

• Mass Egypt vote turnout marred by ElBaradei attack
  
  by Steve Kirby

  CAIRO (AFP) – Egyptians voted in huge numbers on Saturday in their first taste of democracy after Hosni Mubarak’s ouster, although a referendum was marred by an assault on Nobel peace laureate Mohamed ElBaradei.

  Turnout figures were not expected before Sunday but officials said the numbers at polling stations were unprecedented for Egypt, where participation was minuscule in the Mubarak era as voters assumed their ballots would make no difference.

• Yemen seethes as death toll climbs to 52
  
  by Jamal al-Jaberi

  SANAA (AFP) – Yemenis seethed with anger as medics raised the death toll from a sniper attack on protesters to 52 and thousands rallied on Saturday despite a state of emergency imposed by the autocratic regime.

  “We will not leave until the fall of the butcher,” demonstrators chanted in the capital Sanaa, referring to President Ali Abdullah Saleh. “We will not leave this place until the departure of Saleh and his sons.”

• Haitians face crucial choices in presidential run-off
  
  by Clarens Renois

  PORT-AU-PRINCE (AFP) – Haitians Saturday faced a crucial decision over who will lead their quake-ravaged country — a popular singer or a former first lady — as campaigning ended in the presidential election.

  Sunday’s vote brings to a close a long and turbulent election season that sparked fraud charges and deadly violence after a first round of balloting on November 28, which also has slowed progress in Haiti’s recovery from the 2010 earthquake.

• Thousands demonstrate in Lisbon against austerity policy
  

  LISBON (AFP) – Thousands of workers from the public and private sectors converged on Lisbon from all over Portugal Saturday to demonstrate against the government’s austerity policy, rising unemployment and insecurity.

  At the same time the leader of the centre-right opposition, Pedro Passos Coelho, said the country would “need outside help” in spite of denials by the Socialist government.

• Libya’s National Oil Corp will honour contracts: Ghanem
  

  TRIPOLI (AFP) – Libya’s National Oil Corp will honour its contracts with foreign firms operating in the country, NOC chairman Shukri Ghanem said on Saturday.

  “We will honour all our engagements and contracts with the foreign oil companies that are working in Libya,” Ghanem told a press conference in Tripoli. “We have no intention of cancelling our contracts.”

• Obama gives modest backing for Brazil’s U.N. ambition
  
  By Matt Spetalnick and Raymond Colitt

  BRASILIA (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama heralded Brazil’s “extraordinary” rise on the world stage but stopped short of backing its bid for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council.

  At the start of a five-day trip to Latin America, Obama told a joint briefing with Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff on Saturday that his visit was a historic opportunity to strengthen U.S. ties with the region’s largest economy.

• Bahrain eases curfew
  
  By Lin Noueihed and Erika Solomon

  MANAMA (Reuters) – Bahrain cut curfew hours on Saturday and urged residents to return to work after a crackdown on mainly Shi’ite Muslim protesters this week raised tensions in the world’s largest oil-producing region.

  The call came as a fourth protester died of wounds sustained when troops and police moved on Wednesday to end weeks of unrest that prompted the king to declare martial law and call in troops from Bahrain’s Sunni-ruled neighbor, Saudi Arabia.

• Warren Christopher, U.S. negotiator, dies at 85
  

  WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Former U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher, who helped bring peace to Bosnia and negotiated the release of American hostages in Iran, died in California at age 85.

  Christopher “passed away peacefully, surrounded by family at his home in Los Angeles” late on Friday of complications from kidney and bladder cancer, his family said in a statement.

  As the top U.S. statesman under President Bill Clinton from 1993 to 1997, Christopher was a behind-the-scenes negotiator. Often called the “stealth” secretary of state, he was known for his understated, self-effacing manner.

• Super-moon to rise on Saturday
  

  NEW YORK (Reuters) – An especially large moon will appear to rise on Saturday in the most extreme example of a so-called super-moon phenomenon in nearly 20 years, according to the U.S. Naval Observatory.

  For such a visible super-moon to be visible, the moon must be full and passing through its closest approach to earth, known as the perigee, in its month-long, elliptical orbit, the Observatory said on its web site.

• Magnificent Ireland wreck England’s slam dream
  

  DUBLIN (AFP) – Ireland wrecked England’s hopes of a Six Nations grand slam here Saturday, outclassing their opponents 24-8 in a one-sided encounter at Lansdowne Road.

  Tries from wing Tommy Bowe, captain Brian O’Driscoll – setting a new all-time record for the tournament of 25 – and 14 points from fly-half Jonathan Sexton gave Ireland a deserved victory that was even more one-sided than the lop-sided final score suggested.

• Berlin’s polar bear star Knut dies
  

  BERLIN (AFP) – Knut the polar bear, who became a global media sensation as a cub after being rejected by his mother and reared by hand, died suddenly for unexplained reasons on Saturday, the Berlin Zoo said.

  “Everyone is just in shock here,” said Claudia Bienek, a spokeswoman for the zoo in the German capital.

  Knut, who shot to fame as a highly photogenic, snow-white cub in 2007, was aged just four years and three months, well below the average life expectancy for polar bears of around 35.

Welcome to the Stars Hollow Health and Fitness 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.

[

For Multiple Heart Blockages, Bypass Surgery or Stents?

Study Compares Pain, Quality of Life After Drug-Coated Stents or Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery

March 16, 2011 — For patients who have several blocked arteries around their heart, the gold standard treatment has long been coronary artery bypass surgery.

Now a large clinical trial suggests that drug-coated stents, springy lattice tubes used to prop open clogged arteries, may also work well in patients with multiple blockages. And in some patients, the stents produce equally good results with faster recovery times.

Failing Hearts Healed With Stem Cells

Bone Marrow Cells Repair Decade-Old Heart Attack Damage

March 17, 2011 — Decade-old heart attack scars healed after being injected with stem cells from a patients’ own bone marrow.

So far, eight patients have received the experimental treatment in an ongoing clinical trial. All eight had suffered heart attacks an average of 5 1/2 years prior; one of the patients had his heart attack 11 years earlier.

Gene Therapy May Improve Parkinson’s Symptoms

Study Shows Improvement in Tremors After Injection of Genetic Material Into Brain

March 16, 2011 — An experimental gene therapy injected into the brains of patients with Parkinson’s disease improved tremor, stiffness, and other movement symptoms and was safe with few side effects over six months of follow-up, a study shows.

The small study represents the first successful clinical trial comparing a gene-based treatment to sham treatment in Parkinson’s or any neurologic disorder, says Michael Kaplitt, MD, PhD, who developed the gene therapy more than a decade ago. He hopes to market it if phase III trials confirm its effectiveness.

Bariatric Surgery Benefits May Outweigh Risks

Weight Loss Procedure Cuts Heart Risks

March 14, 2011 — Severely obese adults may reap significant health benefits from bariatric surgery, including reduced heart risks. And rewards of the weight loss procedure may outweigh risks, according to a new scientific statement.

The scientific statement from the American Heart Association is the first to focus solely on bariatric surgery and cardiac risk factors, says lead author Paul Poirier, MD, PhD, of Laval University Hospital in Canada.

Many College Students Unaware of Their Hearing Loss

One-Quarter of College Students May Have Hearing Loss and Not Know It, Researchers Say

March 17, 2011 — Many college students think they can hear just fine, but new research suggests that up to one-fourth of them may actually have evidence of early hearing loss. The new finding appears in the International Journal of Audiology.

Heavy Smokers in U.S. Dwindling

Number of Pack-a-Day Smokers Down by About 16% Since 1965

March 15, 2011 — The stereotypical pack-a-day smoker is no longer the norm, according to a new study that shows the number of heavy smokers has declined substantially in the U.S.

Researchers say that in 1965, a majority of smokers in the U.S. smoked at least one pack per day. But since the first surgeon general’s report on smoking and health was released in 1964, there has been a major decline in not only the prevalence of smoking, but also the intensity.

Metformin Gets Highest Marks in Diabetes Study

Analysis Suggests Metformin Should Be First-Line Treatment for Type 2 Diabetes

March 14, 2011 — The drug metformin should be considered as a first choice for blood sugar control in people with type 2 diabetes, according to a new study.

In type 2 diabetes, the body cannot use its own insulin effectively to maintain blood sugar within normal levels. Medication is usually needed keep it under control.

Heavy Drinking Linked to Pancreatic Cancer

Study Shows Association Between 3 or More Drinks a Day and Risk of Pancreatic Cancer

March 14, 2011 — Having three or more drinks of liquor a day is associated with an increased risk of dying from pancreatic cancer, a new study shows.

That’s significant, experts say, because only two other lifestyle factors that are modifiable — smoking and obesity — have been shown to be associated with the risk for pancreatic cancer, which is one of the leading causes of cancer death.

Radiation Fears Spark Fake Potassium Iodide Pills, Says FDA

(CBS) As the Japanese government scrambles to provide potassium iodide pills to its population, the American government is warning about impostor pills here.

Potassium iodide is the quick fix to help prevent thyroid cancer after exposure to certain types of radiation. The Japanese, of course, are facing a mounting threat of radioactive material leaking from the Fukushima nuclear reactor, badly damaged in the massive March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

And although the American government says there is currently no radiation risk here, that hasn’t stopped nervous Americans from buying all the potassium iodide they can find.

Some of it, according to the FDA, may not be real.

Nestle Recalls Lean Cuisine Spaghetti With Meatballs

Consumers Report Finding Pieces of Red Plastic in Meatballs

March 15, 2011 — Nestle has recalled a single lot of its Lean Cuisine Simple Favorites Spaghetti with Meatballs.

The action follows reports from consumers who found pieces of red plastic in the meatballs.

The recalled frozen food product carries the UPC code 13800-10390, with the production code 0298595519 P on the gray proof-of-purchase label on the right-end flap of the package below the ingredient statement.

How Risky Are Whole-Body Airport Scanners?

Experts Analyze the Potential Cancer Risk From Low Levels of Radiation

March 16, 2011 — Full-body scanners have become the norm at airports around the country. Their use is aimed at keeping passengers safe. However, some experts worry that the most commonly used type of scanner heightens the risk of cancer because it emits low levels of ionized radiation. Two articles in the April issue of Radiology assess the risks.

The type of scanner in question scans travelers with what are called backscatter X-rays to detect objects hidden under clothing, such as nonmetallic explosives and weapons. Each time a passenger passes through one of these scanners, he or she is exposed to a tiny amount of radiation.

EPA Proposes New Mercury Air Pollution Rules

Standards Proposed by Environmental Protection Agency Will Cut Mercury Released by Power Plants

March 16, 2011 — The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today proposed the first national standards for mercury and other toxins emitted by power plants, which are some of the biggest air polluters in the nation.

A broad coalition of environmental groups, health agencies, and doctors hailed the new standards, which were issued under court order more than 20 years after they were mandated by congress.

HIV Care System Is Getting Swamped

Study Shows Increasing Gap Between the Number of AIDS Patients and Treatment Resources

March 17, 2011 — The U.S. HIV care system is being swamped by a rising tide of new patients, an Institute of Medicine (IOM) report warns.

As HIV treatment continues to improve, people with HIV are living much longer. Meanwhile, the CDC’s universal HIV screening program is bearing fruit, identifying more people who are infected with the AIDS virus.

The result is a widening gap between the number of Americans with HIV and the resources available to treat them.

New Insight on Weight Gain After Prostate Cancer Therapy

Study Shows Weight Gain After Hormone Therapy May Level Off After a Year of Treatment

March 14, 2011 — Many men with prostate cancer will get treatments to block male hormones like testosterone in an effort to keep their cancer from spreading.

There are several recognized side effects associated with those therapies, including hot flashes, loss of interest in sex, erectile dysfunction, bone loss, mood changes, and weight and body composition shifts. Body composition is a loss of muscle and bone mass with an increase in fat mass.

 Low Vitamin D Levels Seen in Parkinson’s Patients

Study Suggests Possible Link Between Vitamin D and Parkinson’s Disease

March 14, 2011 — A study of newly diagnosed patients with Parkinson’s disease found a high prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency, but vitamin D levels did not continue to decline as the disease progressed.

The research is one of several studies suggesting a link between low vitamin D levels and Parkinson’s disease, a brain disorder that leads to tremors and problems with balance and coordination. Parkinson’s affects as many as 1 million older Americans.

Depression Risk Factors for People With Diabetes

Negative Life Events, Obesity, Poor Disease Control May Raise Depression Risk in People With Diabetes

Depression Risk Factors for People With Diabetes

Negative Life Events, Obesity, Poor Disease Control May Raise Depression Risk in People With Diabetes

‘Poor Quality’ Job as Mentally Harmful as No Job

Study Suggests Leaving Unemployment for an Overly Demanding Job Can Take a Toll on Mental Health

March 14, 2011 — Finding a “poor quality” job that’s overly demanding and where one feels a lack of job control or job security can be at least as harmful for a person’s mental health as being unemployed, a study shows.

Study researcher Peter Butterworth, PhD, an associate professor at the Australian National University in Canberra, tells WebMD that although having a job has been shown to have positive effects on both mental and physical health, moving from unemployment to a bad job can take a toll on your mental health.

Post-Stroke Depression Threatens Independence

Severe Depression May Affect Function in Stroke Patients, Making Them More Dependent on Others for Help

March 15, 2011 — Stroke survivors who are depressed may be more likely to be dependent on others for help, a new study suggests.

“Post-stroke depression is a common problem,” Arlene Schmid, PhD, OTR, of Indiana University, says in a news release. “We wanted to see whether depression and other factors affected function and dependence after a stroke.”

Treating Depressed Moms Helps Kids’ Depression

Study Shows Treatment of Mothers Is Linked to Improvement in Kids’ Depression Symptoms

March 15, 2011 — Children who live with depressed moms are at high risk for depression, but successful treatment of the mother greatly improves the prospects for her child, a study shows.

The study followed 80 depressed mothers and their children over time. It showed that depression symptoms, behavioral problems, and other signs of distress among children tended to correspond with the mothers’ response to treatment.

ADHD May Boost Creativity in Adults

Study Shows College Students With ADHD Score Higher on Tests That Measure Creativity

March 15, 2011 — An attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) diagnosis can make many aspects of learning more challenging for children and teens, but some adults with ADHD show signs of enhanced creativity, a study suggests.

ADHD is a behavioral disorder characterized by difficulty focusing, impulsive behaviors, and hyperactivity.

Dukan Diet: The real reason French stay so thin?

(CBS) What’s the real reason French women stay so thin? We actually have no idea, but if you believe the smooth words of the diet industry’s latest pitch man, it’s a diet he stumbled upon by accident four decades ago.

The man in question is Dr. Pierre Dukan, a 69-year-old neurologist whose books have already sold millions of copies and been translated into 14 languages.

Whey Protein May Help Build Muscles

Study Suggests Benefits of Eating Whey Protein After Exercise

March 15, 2011 — Eating whey protein may help build muscle mass even if the dairy substance is taken a day after a workout session, a new study indicates.

Researchers at McMaster University in Canada and the University of Nottingham in England recruited 15 young men, all experienced in performing resistance exercise.

Fatty Fish May Cut Risk of Macular Degeneration

Study Shows Omega-3s in Fish May Reduce Risk of Age-Related Macular Degeneration

March 14, 2011 — Eating fatty fish one or more times a week may reduce your risk for developing age-related macular degeneration, a leading cause of vision loss in people aged 60 and older.

The new findings appear online in the Archives of Opthalmology.

“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”

David Sirota: Six Sadistic Proposals From State Government

Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis once said that states are the “laboratories of democracy.” Oft repeated over time, the aphorism has helped impart legitimacy to the rough and tumble of state lawmaking. We’ve heard “laboratory” and we’ve imagined staid scientists in white coats rigorously testing forward-thinking theories of societal advancement.

It’s certainly a reassuring picture-but there is a darker side of the metaphor. States are indeed laboratories. The problem is that today, those laboratories are increasingly run by mad scientists.

We’re not talking about the usual Dr. Frankensteins trying to bring alive new corporate giveaways through harebrained cuts to social services (though there are those, too). We’re talking about true legislative sadists looking to go medieval on America. Behold just six of the most telling examples.

Eric Boehlert: Note to NPR: Fight Back

Why Fox News Will Keep Bullying NPR Until They Stand Up and Push Back

In the wake of the James O’Keefe smear campaign against NPR, which arrived in the form of dishonestly edited undercover tapes (does O’Keefe know any other form?), public radio host Ira Glass expressed dismay that nobody was “fighting back” against the right-wing attacks. “I find it completely annoying, and I don’t understand it,” said Glass.

Instead of fighting back against the right-wing attacks led by Fox News, NPR hit the panic button last week. It prematurely condemned a colleague and got busy “rolling bodies out the back of the truck,” as the New York Times’ David Carr put it, referencing the public sacking of CEO Vivian Schiller and senior fundraiser Ron Schiller, who was featured in the O’Keefe tapes. Both were made sacrificial lambs for the O’Keefe stings; lambs that were sacrificed before the full truth about theunethical tapes were revealed.

Note to NPR: If you don’t stand up, the bullying is never going to stop.

Robert Naiman: The UN Security Council Has Not Authorized Regime Change in Libya

It’s a great thing that the Obama administration has resisted calls for unilateral US military action in Libya, and instead is working through the United Nations Security Council, as it is required to do by the United Nations Charter.

Now, the administration needs to follow through on this commitment to international law by ensuring that foreign military intervention remains within the four corners of what the UN Security Council has approved. If it does not, and instead Western powers take the view that we now have a blank check to do whatever we want, the certain consequence will be that it will be much more difficult to achieve Security Council action in a similar situation in the future, and those who complain that the Security Council is too cautious will have only themselves to blame.

Alexander Cockburn: Here, on the Other Side of the Ring of Fire

Americans read the increasingly panic-stricken reports of deepening catastrophe at Fukushima 1, speed to the pharmacy to buy iodine and ask, “It’s happened there; can it happen here?”

Along much of California’s coastline runs the “ring of fire,” which stretches round the Pacific plate, from Australia, north past Japan, to Russia, round to Alaska, down America’s West Coast to Chile. 90 percent of the world’s earthquakes happen round the ring.

The late great environmentalist David Brower used to tell audiences, ” Nuclear plants are incredibly complex technological devices for locating earthquake faults.”

John Dickerson: You Can’t Be Serious

Why politicians are always accusing each other of lacking seriousness.

It’s hard to take anyone seriously in politics these days. It’s not that the politicians have gotten sillier-though an outbreak is always possible; it’s that they talk about being serious so much, the word has lost all meaning.

Washington is obsessed with measuring seriousness. President Obama’s televised discussion of his NCAA bracket proved he isn’t a serious leader. House conservatives said GOP leaders weren’t serious enough about cutting the deficit. Senate Republicans leveled that charge against their Democratic counterparts.

This call for seriousness is often itself not a serious charge. What most of the criticisms actually mean is “My opponent doesn’t believe something I’d like him to.” The outbreak of such talk comes at just the moment that more precise language would be helpful. The debate over short- and long-term budget deficits is about priorities. You can’t start that debate, or work through it effectively, if the words used to convey the relative importance of things are all gummed up.

David Weigel: The Recall State

How Wisconsin politics became a national model for partisanship and acrimony.

If your taste in politics tends toward the partisan and the absurd, there may be no better place for you in America right now than Wisconsin. There is no state with more acrimony or more members of opposite parties staring daggers at each other. After Republicans passed Gov. Scott Walker’s Budget Repair Bill without any Democrats present, Wisconsin Democrats turned their party into a 24/7 machine armed to recall as many Republican senators as they can. Wisconsin Republicans, meanwhile, are aiding ad hoc groups of Tea Party activists who are trying to pull the same thing on Democrats.

There are 16 senators, of both parties, who are vulnerable to recalls, and 20 official committees distributing recall petitions. If any of the petitions are valid, there will be general elections in those districts, incumbents defending against new challengers. If any of the efforts succeed, there will probably be elections in June.

Paul Krugman: All Aboard the Collectivist Train

Columnist George Will wrote a piece recently for Newsweek on President Barack Obama’s high-speed rail initiative that was truly bizarre.

snip

It is astonishing to see Mr. Will – who is not a stupid man – embracing the sinister progressives-hate-your-freedom line with regard to train travel.

Of the three modes of mechanized transport I use, trains are by far the most liberating. Planes are awful: there is usually a long wait to clear security, then you have to sit with your electronics turned off during takeoff and landing, and there’s no place to go if you want to stand up. Cars? Well, aside from traffic jams, the problem with cars is that you have to drive them, which prevents you from doing anything else.

But on a train I can read, listen to music, surf the Web or go to the cafe. So I prefer to take the train when possible, even if the trip is a couple of hours longer, because it’s much higher-quality time.

It seems longer than it is.  Only 8 games today and 8 tomorrow.  I mentioned yesterday that we’ll be losing one of our Cinderellas today for sure.  Of course one will advance for sure too.

Yesterday afternoon we added Florida State and last night another 3 (though a 9 over an 8 hardly counts), but the ones I was most rooting for, Long Island and Boston University, didn’t come through.  At least the announcers made a pretense of rooting for Long Island.  The Kansas shills on TBS celebrated their bias with a shamelessness that would make the Yankees blush.

Fuck you assholes!  I hope Kansas goes down in flames as soon as possible.  The more humiliating the defeat the better.

Yesterday Evening’s Results

Today’s Matchups

Follow the 2011 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament on The Stars Hollow Gazette.

If you don’t like squeeky shoes you can look for alternate programming here-

• Zap2it TV Listings, Yahoo TV Listings

For a more traditional bracket try CBS Sports.  My Master Bracket Schedule is still good for today.

A week of bread and circuses.  Pan y toros.  The shiny object of March Madness on four networks  (CBS, TBS, TNT, TruTV) attempts to eclipse world shaking nuclear disaster in Japan and the initial steps toward US involvement in yet another war, this time in Libya.  Lost in the fray: a judge temporarily enjoined Wisconsin’s union buster law.  And the moon is closest to earth since 1992.  

This week your bloguero was distracted.  And he wasn’t prolific.  Or poetic.  As of Friday night, there wasn’t a single new Haiku on the site.  So your bloguero wrote an apologetic one just for this Digest:

At 4 am Saturday that helped your bloguero scrape enough rust off his iron manacles to escape at least temporarily from his ennui.

So the week ended early Saturday with a Haiku.   At 4 am the moon demanded nothing less.

War Du Jour, Part III notes that the US’s involvement in supposedly preventing violence to Libyan rebels with armed force is an engraved invitation to a quagmire in North Africa, and it’s potentially the start of a third, simultaneous US war with no end.  Apparently the PTB think that photos of Obama’s  Brazil visit will convince the world that the US isn’t really pulling the strings in Libya.  Believe that?  There’s a bridge…

A Beautiful Day To Die notes your bloguero’s despair and concern about the enormous nuclear disaster in Japan.  Your bloguero really does not want anyone to be irradiated.  Including particulartly himself.  He would like the planet to thrive.  That doesn’t seem possible in a world with earthquakes, tsunamis and nuclear power plants.

The duck, Tricky Duck  (or maybe one of his grandchildren), has returned, El Pato Ha Vuelto.  The annual return of the traveler to the pond, a journey that began decades ago when the original  mallard who would be named Tricky Duck was mailed from an Iowa poultry farm to Blue Seal Seed and Feed in Chatham, NY, and came home with me.  An annual event, marking the start of Spring in earnest.

Your bloguero notes that this Digest is a weekly feature of the Port Writers Alliance and is supposed to be posted early Sunday morning.  Yes, he knows it’s again Saturday.  Your bloguero, it turns out, likes to post on Saturday.  See you next week if the creek don’t rise on Sunday Saturday early.

Have a wonderful weekend.  

Regular Features-

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

Featured Essays for March 18, 2011-

• Miss Colorado 2011 is Homeless by Xanthe
• Under the Radar: Too Busy For Words by TheMomCat
• Biden & Solis: ‘We Need Collective Bargaining’ by jimstaro
• Glowing Radioactive Troll by Edger
• Dreaming a Better Me by Robyn
• Dear Mike, by Diane G
• Original v. Cover — #70 in a Series by curmudgeon

DocuDharma

Round of 64

The reason I like the ladies better than the men is the same reason I like the men better than the pros.  I like fundamentals, ball handling, and zone defense.  Dunks are showboating and should be outlawed.

The ladies get the old school treatment, there’s a package of 4 games in each time period and the studio will switch between them for you.  This is actually a relief for your remote finger because you’ll not miss any pivotal plays and changes in momentum just because you’re stuck watching a blow out with no idea what’s happening elsewhere.  Games are available on ESPN2 and ESPN3.com today with ESPN itself added tomorrow.

The research for this is just as complete as for the men’s Master Schedule Bracket, it’s just arranged slightly differently because there’s not the same bewildering array of Networks and Tip Off times.  Because of the more viewer friendly format I’ll not attempt the real time tracking I have with the men (which is a drag and a drain anyway).

My Women’s Master Schedule Bracket is below the fold, good through Sunday.  Tomorrow I’ll report today’s results.  If you like a more traditional bracket try this NCAA one, they also have a TV schedule.

I’ll be very surprised if the Lady Huskies don’t win it all, but they did lose to Stamford so anything is possible.

March 19-  ESPN2/ESPN3.com

11 am

1:30 pm

4 pm

6:30 pm

March-  20 ESPN or ESPN2/ESPN3.com

Noon

2:30 pm

5 pm

7:30 pm

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.

March 19 is the 78th day of the year (79th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 287 days remaining until the end of the year.

On this day in 1941, the 99th Pursuit Squadron also known as the Tuskegee Airmen, the first all-black unit of the Army Air Corp, is activated.

The Tuskegee Airmen is the popular name of a group of African American pilots who fought in World War II. Formally, they were the 332nd Fighter Group and the 477th Bombardment Group of the U.S. Army Air Corps.

The Tuskegee Airmen were the first African American military aviators in the United States armed forces. During World War II, African Americans in many U.S. states still were subject to racist Jim Crow laws. The American military was racially segregated, as was much of the federal government. The Tuskegee Airmen were subject to racial discrimination, both within and outside the army. Despite these adversities, they trained and flew with distinction. Although the 477th Bombardment Group “worked up” on North American B-25 Mitchell bombers, they never served in combat; the Tuskegee 332nd Fighter Group was the only operational unit, first sent overseas as part of Operation Torch, then in action in Sicily and Italy, before being deployed as bomber escorts in Europe where they were particularly successful in their missions.

The Tuskegee Airmen initially were equipped with Curtiss P-40 Warhawks fighter-bomber aircraft, briefly with Bell P-39 Airacobras (March 1944), later with Republic P-47 Thunderbolts (June-July 1944), and finally the fighter group acquired the aircraft with which they became most commonly associated, the North American P-51 Mustang (July 1944). When the pilots of the 332nd Fighter Group painted the tails of their P-47’s red, the nickname “Red Tails” was coined. Bomber crews applied a more effusive “Red-Tail Angels” sobriquet.

Background

Before the Tuskegee Airmen, no African American had become a U.S. military pilot. In 1917, African-American men had tried to become aerial observers, but were rejected, however, African American Eugene Bullard served as one of the members of the Franco-American Lafayette Escadrille. Nonetheless, he was denied the opportunity to transfer to American military units as a pilot when the other American pilots in the unit were offered the chance. Instead, Bullard returned to infantry duty with the French.

The racially motivated rejections of World War I African-American recruits sparked over two decades of advocacy by African-Americans who wished to enlist and train as military aviators. The effort was led by such prominent civil rights leaders as Walter White of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, labor union leader A. Philip Randolph, and Judge William H. Hastie. Finally, on 3 April 1939, Appropriations Bill Public Law 18 was passed by Congress containing an amendment designating funds for training African-American pilots. The War Department managed to deflect the monies into funding civilian flight schools willing to train black Americans.

War Department tradition and policy mandated the segregation of African-Americans into separate military units staffed by white officers, as had been done previously with the 9th Cavalry, 10th Cavalry, 24th Infantry Regiment and 25th Infantry Regiment. When the appropriation of funds for aviation training created opportunities for pilot cadets, their numbers diminished the rosters of these older units. A further series of legislative moves by the United States Congress in 1941 forced the Army Air Corps to form an all-black combat unit, despite the War Department’s reluctance.

Due to the restrictive nature of selection policies, the situation did not seem promising for African-Americans since, in 1940, the U.S. Census Bureau reported only 124 African-American pilots in the nation. The exclusionary policies failed dramatically when the Air Corps received an abundance of applications from men who qualified, even under the restrictive requirements. Many of the applicants already had participated in the Civilian Pilot Training Program, in which the historically black Tuskegee Institute had participated since 1939.

 1279 – A Mongolian victory in the Battle of Yamen ends the Song Dynasty in China.

1687 – Explorer Robert Cavelier de La Salle, searching for the mouth of the Mississippi River, is murdered by his own men.

1853 – The Taiping reform movement occupies and makes Nanjing its capital until 1864.

1861 – The First Taranaki War ends in New Zealand.

1863 – The SS Georgiana, said to have been the most powerful Confederate cruiser, is destroyed on her maiden voyage with a cargo of munitions, medicines and merchandise then valued at over $1,000,000.

1865 – American Civil War: The Battle of Bentonville begins. By the end of the battle two days later, Confederate forces had retreated from Four Oaks, North Carolina.

1885 – Louis Riel declares a Provisional Government in Saskatchewan, beginning the North-West Rebellion.

1915 – Pluto is photographed for the first time but is not recognized as a planet.

1916 – Eight American planes take off in pursuit of Pancho Villa, the first United States air-combat mission in history.

1918 – The U.S. Congress establishes time zones and approves daylight saving time.

1920 – The United States Senate rejects the Treaty of Versailles for the second time (the first time was on November 19, 1919).

1921 – Irish War of Independence: One of the biggest engagements of the war takes place at Crossbarry, County Cork. About 100 Irish Republican Army (IRA) volunteers escape an attempt by over 1,300 British forces to encircle them.

1921 – Italian Fascists shoot from the Parenzana train at a group of children in Strunjan (Slovenia): two children are killed, two mangled and three wounded.

1931 – Gambling is legalized in Nevada.

1932 – The Sydney Harbour Bridge is opened.

1941 – World War II: The 99th Pursuit Squadron also known as the Tuskegee Airmen, the first all-black unit of the Army Air Corp, is activated.

1943 – Frank Nitti, the Chicago Outfit Boss after Al Capone, commits suicide at the Chicago Central Railyard.

1944 – World War II: Nazi forces occupy Hungary.

1945 – World War II: Off the coast of Japan, a dive bomber hits the aircraft carrier USS Franklin, killing 724 of her crew. Badly damaged, the ship is able to return to the U.S. under her own power.

1945 – World War II: Adolf Hitler issues his “Nero Decree” ordering all industries, military installations, shops, transportation facilities and communications facilities in Germany to be destroyed.

1946 – French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique and Réunion become overseas départements of France.

1954 – Joey Giardello knocks out Willie Tory in round seven at Madison Square Garden in the first televised prize boxing fight shown in colour.

1954 – Willie Mosconi sets a world record by running 526 consecutive balls without a miss during a straight pool exhibition at East High Billiard Club in Springfield, Ohio. The record still stands today.

1958 – The Monarch Underwear Company fire leaves 24 dead and 15 injured.

1962 – Algerian War of Independence: A ceasefire takes effect.

1965 – The wreck of the SS Georgiana, valued at over $50,000,000 and said to have been the most powerful Confederate cruiser, is discovered by then teenage diver and pioneer underwater archaeologist E. Lee Spence, exactly 102 years after its destruction.

1966 – Texas Western becomes the first college basketball team to win the Final Four with an all-black starting lineup.

1969 – The 385 metres (1,263 ft) tall TV-mast at Emley Moor, United Kingdom, collapses due to ice build-up.

1979 – The United States House of Representatives begins broadcasting its day-to-day business via the cable television network C-SPAN.

1982 – Falklands War: Argentinian forces land on South Georgia Island, precipitating war with the United Kingdom.

1987 – Televangelist Jim Bakker resigns as head of the PTL Club due to a brewing sex scandal; he hands over control to Jerry Falwell.

1989 – The Egyptian Flag is raised on Taba, Egypt announcing the end of the Israeli occupation after the Yom Kippur War in 1973 and the peace negotiations in 1979.

2002 – Zimbabwe is suspended from the Commonwealth on charges of human rights abuses and of electoral fraud, following a turbulent presidential election.

2003 – United States President George W. Bush orders the start of war against Iraq.

2004 – A Swedish DC-3 shot down by a Russian MiG-15 in 1952 over the Baltic Sea is finally recovered after years of work. The remains of the three crewmen are left in place, pending further investigations.

2008 – GRB 080319B: A cosmic burst that is the farthest object visible to the naked eye is briefly observed.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_19#Holidays_and_observances Holidays and observances

   * Christian Feast Day:

         o Joseph of Nazareth (Western Christianity)

         o March 19 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

   * Earliest day on which Maundy Thursday can fall, while April 22 is the latest; celebrated on Thursday before Easter. (Christianity)

   * Mojoday (Discordianism)

   * Saint Joseph’s Day (Roman Catholicism and Church of England) related observances:

         o Father’s Day (Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Italy, Honduras, and Bolivia)

         o Las Fallas, celebrated on the week leading to March 19. (Valencia)

         o “Return of the Swallow”, annual observance of the swallows’ return to Mission San Juan Capistrano in California.

   * The Kashubians’ Unity Day.

   * The first day of Quinquatria, held in honor of Minerva. (Roman Empire)

Emergency power cable reaches Japan nuclear plant

Hopes rise at Fukushima plant of restarting cooling systems for reactors and spent fuel pools

Agencies

guardian.co.uk, Saturday 19 March 2011 03.55 GMT

Engineers rolling out an emergency power cable have reached Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant and are preparing to try and restart water pumps to cool overheated fuel rods that are threatening to melt down.

Eight days after the tsunami, Japan’s police agency has said 7,197 are dead and 10,905 missing. Some of the missing may have been out of the region at the time of the disaster. The waters are likely to have sucked many people out to sea – after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami many such bodies were never found.

There are hopes the external power cable can be attached on Saturday or Sunday, the plant operator has said.

Gaddafi called a ceasefire. But still the bombs fell

‘We need the West to give us arms so we can fight for our country’

By Kim Sengupta in Sultan, Eastern Libya Saturday, 19 March 2011

The warplane streaked across the sky, emerging through low clouds as its missiles landed, orange flames rising under dark plumes of smoke. A few minutes later came shattering volleys of artillery shells and rockets, announcing that Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s forces were moving forward.

This was Libya’s eastern front line, two hours and six minutes after the regime in Tripoli had officially declared a ceasefire after the UN resolution authorising military action in Libya.

In the west, tanks from Colonel Gaddafi’s forces rolled into the town of Misrata, the last remaining pocket of resistance in the region, where forces shelled homes, hospitals and a mosque, killing six people, according to local doctors who pleaded that a blockade be lifted allowing supplies of medicine and food to get in.

Egypt set for post-rebellion constitutional referendum

Egypt is set to vote on constitutional changes drawn up in the weeks since authoritarian ruler Hosni Mubarak was overthrown in a popular uprising.

The BBC  19 March 2011

The changes, if approved, will reduce the president’s time in office and oblige the leader to appoint a deputy.

The two established political blocs, the National Democratic Party and Muslim Brotherhood, back the proposals.

But pro-democracy activists say the changes do not go far enough and want the plan rejected.

They say the constitution needs to be entirely rewritten before elections can be held.

Polling stations were set to open at 0800 (0600 GMT).

Police coercing members to quit faith, sect claims



Tom Allard HERALD CORRESPONDENT

March 19, 2011  

JAKARTA: Members of the Ahmadiyah religious sect have been pressured by Indonesian security personnel to abandon the faith amid continual harassment of them, sect leaders say.

The military and government ministers have defended their actions, saying there has been no intimidation, only efforts to protect Ahmadis from violence.

Ahmadis have come under increasing attacks in the past 18 months, culminating in the killing of three adherents by a mob of hundreds of Islamists in Banten province last month.

NIA pushing constitutional limits, Chidambaram told FBI

Its powers ‘perilously close’ to violating provisions on Centre-State relations  

NIRUPAMA SUBRAMANIAN

Two months after the National Investigation Agency (NIA) was set up by an Act of Parliament, Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram confided to a top-ranking U.S. official that its powers could be challenged in the courts as violating constitutional provisions on Centre-State relations.

A U.S. Embassy cable (195165: secret, March 4, 2009) accessed by The Hindu through WikiLeaks quotes Mr. Chidambaram telling the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Robert Mueller at a meeting in New Delhi on March 3, 2009 that the NIA was a “new weapon in hand to combat terrorism,” but he appeared unsure of its constitutionality.

Warsaw suspends restitution for Polish Jews

Jewish organisations and the US government have raised objections to Poland’s decision to suspend work on the restitution of Jewish property confiscated by the Nazis during WWII and under communism.

POLITICS

Jewish organizations and the US administration have both raised objections to Poland’s decision to suspend work on the restitution of Jewish property confiscated by the Nazis during World War II and under communism.

The Polish government suspended work on the restitution package on March 10, due to its spiraling budget deficit. The decision comes just three years after Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced that a piece of legislation would be drafted to offer compensation totaling 20 percent of the property value for the Jewish families of former property owners.