Feb 20 2011

On This Day in History February 20

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 20 is the 51st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 314 days remaining until the end of the year (315 in leap years).

On this day in 1792, President George Washington signs legislation renewing the United States Post Office as a cabinet department led by the postmaster general, guaranteeing inexpensive delivery of all newspapers, stipulating the right to privacy and granting Congress the ability to expand postal service to new areas of the nation.

History

William Goddard, a Patriot printer frustrated that the royal postal service was unable to reliably deliver his Pennsylvania Chronicle to its readers or deliver critical news for the paper to Goddard, laid out a plan for the “Constitutional Post” before the Continental Congress on October 5, 1774. Congress waited to act on the plan until after the Battle of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775. Benjamin Franklin promoted Goddard’s plan and served as the first postmaster general under the Continental Congress beginning on July 26, 1775, nearly one year before the Congress declared independence from the British Crown. Franklin’s son-in-law, Richard Bache, took over the position on November 7, 1776, when Franklin became an American emissary to France.

Franklin had already made a significant contribution to the postal service in the colonies while serving as the postmaster of Philadelphia from 1737 and as joint postmaster general of the colonies from 1753 to 1774, when he was fired for opening and publishing Massachusetts Royal Governor Thomas Hutchinson‘s correspondence. While postmaster, Franklin streamlined postal delivery with properly surveyed and marked routes from Maine to Florida (the origins of Route 1), instituted overnight postal travel between the critical cities of New York and Philadelphia and created a standardized rate chart based upon weight and distance. [3]

Samuel Osgood held the postmaster general’s position in New York City from 1789, when the U.S. Constitution came into effect, until the government moved to Philadelphia in 1791. Timothy Pickering took over and, about a year later, the Postal Service Act gave his post greater legislative legitimacy and more effective organization. Pickering continued in the position until 1795, when he briefly served as secretary of war, before becoming the third U.S. secretary of state. The postmaster general’s position was considered a plum patronage post for political allies of the president until the Postal Service was transformed into a corporation run by a board of governors in 1971 following passage of the Postal Reorganization Act.

 1472 – Orkney and Shetland are pawned by Norway to Scotland in lieu of a dowry for Margaret of Denmark.

1547 – Edward VI of England is crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey.

1685 – Rene-Robert Cavelier establishes Fort St. Louis at Matagorda Bay thus forming the basis for France’s claim to Texas.

1792 – The Postal Service Act, establishing the United States Post Office Department, is signed by President George Washington.

1798 – Louis Alexandre Berthier removes Pope Pius VI from power.

1810 – Andreas Hofer, Tirolean patriot and leader of rebellion against Napoleon’s forces, is executed.

1813 – Manuel Belgrano defeats the royalist army of Pio de Tristan during the Battle of Salta.

1835 – Concepcion, Chile is destroyed by an earthquake.

1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Olustee occurs – the largest battle fought in Florida during the war.

1872 – In New York City the Metropolitan Museum of Art opens.

1873 – The University of California opens its first medical school in San Francisco, California.

1901 – The legislature of Hawaii Territory convenes for the first time.

1909 – Publication of the Futurist Manifesto in the French journal Le Figaro.

1913 – King O’Malley drives in the first survey peg to mark commencement of work on the construction of Canberra.

1931 – The Congress of the United States approves the construction of the San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge by the state of California.

1933 – The Congress of the United States proposes the Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution that will end Prohibition in the United States.

1935 – Caroline Mikkelsen becomes the first woman to set foot in Antarctica.

1942 – Lieutenant Edward O’Hare becomes America’s first World War II flying ace.

1943 – American movie studio executives agree to allow the Office of War Information to censor movies.

1943 – The Paricutin volcano begins to form in Paricutin, Mexico.

1943 – The Saturday Evening Post publishes the first of Norman Rockwell’s Four Freedoms in support of United States President Franklin Roosevelt’s 1941 State of the Union address theme of Four Freedoms.

1944 – World War II: The “Big Week” began with American bomber raids on German aircraft manufacturing centers.

1944 – World War II: The United States takes Eniwetok Island.

1952 – Emmett Ashford becomes the first African-American umpire in organized baseball by being authorized to be a substitute umpire in the Southwestern International League.

1959 – The Avro Arrow program to design and manufacture supersonic jet fighters in Canada is cancelled by the Diefenbaker government amid much political debate.

1962 – Mercury program: While aboard Friendship 7, John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit the earth, making three orbits in 4 hours, 55 minutes.

1965 – Ranger 8 crashes into the moon after a successful mission of photographing possible landing sites for the Apollo program astronauts.

1976 – The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization disbands.

1987 – Unabomber: In Salt Lake City, a bomb explodes in a computer store.

1989 – An IRA bomb destroys a section of a British Army barracks in Ternhill, England

1991 – A gigantic statue of Albania’s long-time leader, Enver Hoxha, is brought down in the Albanian capital Tirana, by mobs of angry protesters.

1992 – Premier League Founded.

1998 – American figure skater Tara Lipinski becomes the youngest gold-medalist at the Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan.

2003 – During a Great White concert in West Warwick, Rhode Island, a pyrotechnics display sets the club ablaze, killing 100 and injuring over 200 others.

2005 – Spain becomes the first country to vote in a referendum on ratification of the proposed Constitution of the European Union, passing it by a substantial margin, but on a low turnout.

2009 – Two Tamil Tigers aircraft packed with C4 explosives en-route to the national airforce headquarters were shot down by the Sri Lankan military before reaching their target, in a kamikaze style attack.

2010 – In Madeira Island, Portugal, heavy rain causes floods and mudslides, leaving at least 43 deaths in the worst disaster on the history of the archipelago.

Holidays and observances

   * Christian Feast Day

         o Eleutherius of Tournai

         o Wulfric of Haselbury

         o February 20 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

   * World Day of Social Justice (International)

Feb 20 2011

Punting the Pundits: Sunday Preview Edition

“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: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton joins Christine in a “This Week” exclusive discussing the uprisings and unrest in the Middle East and the spending showdowns in Wisconsin and the fight over federal spending in Congress that could end in a shut down of the federal government

Face the Nation with Bob Schieffer: This weeks guests are Rep. Paul Ryan, (R-WI), Chairman of the House Budget Committee, Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), House Budget Committee Ranking Democrat and David Sanger, New York Times Chief Washington Correspondent.

Plus, reports from CBS News correspondents in the Middle East

The Chris Matthews Show: This weeks guests are Kelly O’Donnell, NBC News Capitol Hill Correspondent, Howard Fineman, The Huffington Post Senior Political Editor, John Harris, Politico

Editor-in-Chief, and Cynthia Tucker, Atlanta Journal-Constitution Columnist.

Under consideration are these questions:

Will Obama and the GOP Jump off the Cliff Together on a Sweeping Debt Package?

Can Republicans Convince Chris Christie To Take On Obama?

Meet the Press with David Gregory: The budget fight in Congress is discussed with guests Assistant Majority Leader Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) and member of the Senate Budget Committee, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC).

The United States ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice discusses how the protests  and unrest in the Middle East are affecting US policy in the region

On the roundtable to discuss budget reforms are former governor of Michigan, Jennifer Granholm (D), former congressman from Tennessee, Harold Ford (D), Republican strategist, Ed Gillespie and CNBC’s Rick Santelli.

State of the Union with Candy Crowley: Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) discusses the budget and reform. The ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Indiana Sen. Dick Lugar discussing the Middle East Also, an interview with former Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld

And finally, with President’s Day around the corner, we’ll close with interviews with two former commanders-in-chief.

Fareed Zakaris: GPS: An exclusive interview with billionaire, George Soros plus Fareed’s take on the Middle East conflicts, the Muslim Brotherhood and a look at the art from Baghdad

 

Robert Reaich: The Republican Strategy

The Republican strategy is to split the vast middle and working class – pitting unionized workers against non-unionized, public-sector workers against non-public, older workers within sight of Medicare and Social Security against younger workers who don’t believe these programs will be there for them, and the poor against the working middle class.

By splitting working America along these lines, Republicans want Americans to believe that we can no longer afford to do what we need to do as a nation. They hope to deflect attention from the increasing share of total income and wealth going to the richest 1 percent while the jobs and wages of everyone else languish.

Kim Barker: Why We Need Women in War Zones

The CBS correspondent Lara Logan has broken that code of silence. She has covered some of the most dangerous stories in the world, and done a lot of brave things in her career. But her decision to go public earlier this week with her attack by a mob in Tahrir Square in Cairo was by far the bravest. Hospitalized for days, she is still recuperating from the attack, described by CBS as a brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating.

Several commentators have suggested that Ms. Logan was somehow at fault: because she’s pretty; because she decided to go into the crowd; because she’s a war junkie. This wasn’t her fault. It was the mob’s fault. This attack also had nothing to do with Islam. Sexual violence has always been a tool of war. Female reporters sometimes are just convenient.

In the coming weeks, I fear that the conclusions drawn from Ms. Logan’s experience will be less reactionary but somehow darker, that there will be suggestions that female correspondents should not be sent into dangerous situations. It’s possible that bosses will make unconscious decisions to send men instead, just in case. Sure, men can be victims, too – on Wednesday a mob beat up a male ABC reporter in Bahrain, and a few male journalists have told of being sodomized by captors – but the publicity around Ms. Logan’s attack could make editors think, “Why take the risk?” That would be the wrong lesson. Women can cover the fighting just as well as men, depending on their courage.

Feb 20 2011

Six In The Morning

Gaddafi fights for his future as up to 200 die in Benghazi

 

Regime accused of hiring foreign mercenaries as clashes between supporters and pro-democracy demonstrators in the country’s second city escalate

By Andrew Johnson and Susie Mesure Sunday, 20 February 2011

Libya was approaching a “tipping point” last night as widespread protests against Colonel Gaddafi’s regime were met with increasing violence from security forces.

Dozens of protesters were reported killed by sniper fire from security forces in Benghazi, Libya’s second city, yesterday when violence flared again as crowds clashed after funerals for people killed in fighting on Friday. “Dozens were killed. We are in the midst of a massacre here,” one eyewitness reported.

Clashes were reported in the town of al-Bayda, where dozens of civilians were said to have been killed and police stations came under attack. In all, the death toll was reported to have reached 120. Doctors from Aj Jala hospital in Benghazi confirmed 1,000 people had been injured.

Where Empire Goes To Die  

The country has little chance of being ready for the withdrawal of Nato forces



Afghanistan: Weren’t we meant to be winning by now?



Twelve months ago, Marjah was a ghost town, deep in rural Helmand province and deep in the grip of the Taliban. The bazaar was closed and those who could run had fled; the rest cowered in their homes.

It was never going to be easy to take from the Taliban. More than 120 Taliban and at least 60 coalition and Afghan troops paid the price with their lives. Today, the Afghan national flag flies over the town, the schools are open and the opium trade is under attack. Marjah is crawling back to something approaching normality

ET Is One Rich Dude Look At All Those Homes  

 

Planet probe spots hot prospects



It’s just one data point among the 1,235 potential worlds identified by NASA’s Kepler planet-hunting probe, but you can’t help noticing it on a graph. The planetary candidate known as KOI 326.01 sticks out as the one object that’s estimated to be the size of Earth or smaller, with an average temperature that’s lower than water’s boiling point.

If scientists confirm that what they’re seeing actually exists, KOI 326.01 could go down as the closest analog to our own planet in the current crop of Kepler data. But that’s a big if.

Taking Ones Hate To Far  

 

Russian Trial to Bare a Face of Nationalism



MOSCOW – It once seemed  as if Nikita Tikhonov was positioning himself to join this country’s political elite: he attended the prestigious Moscow State University, founded a right-wing political magazine called The Russian Way and worked as a campaign aide for a parliamentary candidate.

A self-declared patriot with a passion for Russian history, Mr. Tikhonov refused to smoke or drink alcohol, insisting that a blend of temperance and civic engagement might help revive his country.

Now, Mr. Tikhonov is on trial for murder.

Prosecutors contend that his right-wing intellectual pursuits mutated into nationalistic hatred that led him to kill a prominent human rights lawyer and a young journalist two years ago.

Idiots That Are Republicans  

 

Congress, Obama brace for showdown as government shutdown looms



The prospect of a government shutdown appeared more possible Saturday after the House passed a budget measure in the pre-dawn hours that cuts $61 billion – and was immediately rejected by Senate Democrats and President Obama.

The House plan, which was approved on a party-line vote at 4:40 a.m. after five days of debate, eliminates dozens of programs and offices while slashing agency budgets by as much as 40 percent. Federal funding for AmeriCorps and PBS would cease. Hundreds of millions would be cut from border security, and tens of millions would be withheld from funding for the District of Columbia.

Discovering Your Home Once Again  

Chinese New Year brings the world’s largest migration as millions of city workers head home to their villages, reconnecting briefly, and awkwardly, with families and a life they barely know.



China’s annual long march

 

Reporting from Beijing and Liloucun, China –

Li Guangqiang rises early and pulls on his sharpest city clothes: dark jeans fashionably distressed, puffy down coat, black pouch slung over one shoulder. An outfit carefully chosen to announce: I am not a farmer or a villager. Not anymore.

Li’s journey will be long, and he has no time to lose. Heading out into the dry, dirty cold of a Beijing winter, he rolls his suitcase along frozen canals the shade of curdled milk, through the warren of alleyways where he and other migrants sleep in makeshift shelters of concrete block walls and corrugated tin roofs.

Feb 20 2011

Under the Radar: While We Were Watching Wisconsin

(2 pm. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

While were distracted by the events in Wisconsin, there was other “stuff” happening, some of it not so good.

During an all night session on Friday, early Saturday morning the House passed a spending bill with massive budget cuts. The bill passed 235 to 189 without one Democrat voting “yay” and would slash $60 billion, mostly discretionary spending, from government spending between now and September. The Democratic led Senate has made it clear that it will not back the draconian cuts that the House bill imposes and sets up a confrontation with the Obama administration that would shut down the government.

Deja vu all over again ala Bill Clinton v Newt Gingrich 1995. The clear winner back then was Clinton and Gingrich eventually resigning from the House with his tail between his legs.

Congress is in recess for the Presidents’ Day holiday. Heh, They get a week off. If we peasants are lucky if get a three day weekend. They they return on March 4 with a mere four day to reconcile the differences and send a bill to the President’s desk.

Some of the cuts this bill proposes:

  • It killed funding to a Pentagon program to build duplicate fighter jet engines. That amendment, which was supported by the Pentagon, passed on Wednesday in a 233-198 vote with bipartisan support despite House Speaker John Boehner’s opposition to its passing.
  • A longtime Republican target, Planned Parenthood, would be banned from receiving funding under an amendment. Democrats called this an “all-out war on women.” The measure would prevent the organization from receiving any federal funding because it performs abortions, even though using government money for abortions is already illegal, undermining programs for reproductive health and pregnancy prevention.
  • The Environmental Protection Agency, already facing $3 billion in cuts from the main bill, would lose an additional $8.4 million for its greenhouse gas registry thanks to a measure introduced by Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kans.), which was added in a 239-185 vote.
  • Also targeted the EPA’s regulations on cement plants, approving in a 250-177 vote an amendment prohibiting the agency from using funds to implement or enforce the rule.
  • Blocks ATF request for emergency anti-gun trafficking authority that would have required gun dealers in southern border states to report bulk purchases of assault weapons
  • It prohibited funding for so-called czars on health care, climate change, global warming, green jobs, automobiles, Guantanamo Bay Closure, Pay and Fairness Doctrine.
  • Blocked funding to implement health care reform and prohibit agencies from hiring staff to implement the law, effectively rendering its protections against insurance companies unenforceable.

    • One of the amendments that failed was an amendment to end a tax loophole for major oil companies, introduced by Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.). It failed in a 251-174 vote on Friday. Democrats aimed to end subsidies to Big Oil as a revenue-booster to protect social programs.

    “Republicans once again sided with BP, Exxon and the oil companies, not with the American taxpayer and the poorest Americans most in need of help,” Markey said in a statement. “This legislation focuses on just the kind of special interest loophole that should be closed before we open attacks on programs for the poorest Americans.”

    President Obama has already indicated that he would veto this bill. We shall see.

    Feb 20 2011

    DocuDharma Digest

    Regular Features-

    Featured Essays for February 19, 2011-

    DocuDharma

    Feb 20 2011

    What’s for Dinner? v5.30: New Cooking Book

    (8 pm. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

    Hello, all!  Tonight I am publishing the introduction to a new cooking book that I have in the works.  It is not so much a cook book as it is a guide for people who have not cooked much before, or who want to improve their skills.  It will also have information that even experienced cooks will find interesting.  I do not want it to be a very big book, because I really think that the essentials of cooking well are not that complicated.

    Besides, there are lots of good recipe books available, and I want this to be a little different.  It is intended to more like a operator’s manual for the kitchen.

    The introduction will be essentially all of the extended text box except for my signoff.  I would appreciate any suggestions for improvement in the comments, and hope that the purpose of the book is clear from the introduction.  Without further ado, here we go.  By the way, I have not given the work a name yet.

    About this book

    This is not a …for Dummies piece.  Not only would that be condescending, it would also be inaccurate.  This book is primarily directed towards people who have not ever cooked very much, regardless of age.  However, there is some information contained inside that even experienced cooks will find useful, and even new to them, I suspect.

    The main purpose of this book is to give folks who like to eat and believe that they might like to cook, or for people who would like to cook better.  It is not a recipe book, but it does have recipes.  It is a collection of concepts about cooking, equipment for cooking, and some of the science behind them.  The recipes are used to illustrate these concepts and are pretty basic, but I believe that you could eat pretty well even if the ones here were the only ones that you have, because with understanding the concepts and equipment, you soon will be creating your own recipes.

    Some of the concepts are so important that I will give them here in this preface, and reinforce them later in the text.  The same thing is true about the equipment.  Both are important, and the equipment need not be very expensive except that there are a few things that are so important that you need to obtain the best that you can afford.  As the chapters unfold, I will mention what I consider to be the most important items to try to get the highest quality available.  I also give quite a bit of my philosophy, and if you find that offputting, just skip those parts, but I think that they are important.

    Before we get going, I want to dispel a myth.  That myth is that it is hard to cook well.  This is just not true.  Anyone who is not severely disabled can cook, and cook well.  While not all of us are destined to become great chefs, anyone can prepare good tasting, wholesome and nutritious meals IF he or she is willing to learn how.  Obviously, some things are more challenging to prepare, but there are plenty of really good meals that can be cooked with simple ingredients, for little money and time, IF a little effort is used and a little guidance taken.

    The main misconception is that cooking is complicated.  It can be, but not if you realize that there are only about a dozen concepts involved, and that good cooks seamlessly connect those concepts into forming a meal.  As a matter of fact, the most difficult concept is that of timing, so that everything comes to the table at the proper time.  Only experience can make you a master of that, but I can help.  I shall emphasize timing throughout this book, but you will have to learn it for yourself.

    The most important concept that I know is for you, whenever possible, to cook for others.  I have learnt from personal experience that cooking skills do not improve when you cook only for yourself.  As a matter of fact, mine deteriorated after I found myself alone, mainly because I simply did not care to go to the effort to cook well just for myself.  So cook for others!  If you do not have a mate, find a neighbor, perhaps an older person who is alone, and cook for them.  Of course, you can eat some of it too!  Or cook for pot luck dinners at your house of religion (if you have one), work (if your work has such functions), or even at a homeless shelter.  Not only do you cook better when cooking for others, you get a sense of satisfaction about serving others that is in integral part of the experience.

    By the way, I think that pot luck functions are wonderful!  Not only do you get to provide your best to others, you get to try their best as well.  No one brings a dish that he or she knows to be inferior to a pot luck, but lots of times will cook something at home that is not her or his favorite because of time or other constraints.  Now, I know that the safety of eating things prepared by strangers can be questionable, but at a pot luck those folks are not really strangers.  And if a coworker is out to get you, he or she will find a medium other than food to get you.  Except for accidental food poisoning, it is almost unknown for anyone to be harmed at a pot luck.

    Second, cook often.  Cooking is a skill that deteriorates if not exercised.  There is a sort of a “muscle memory”, especially for timing, that comes from, for lack of a better word, rote repetition.  Rote does not have to mean boring!  For example, when I cook crepes, I marvel at the unique appearance of each one as I remove it from the pan.  By the way, it is easy to cook crepes, although it sounds exotic and daunting.  It is not, and they are cheap and good!

    Third, start out with the simple things and master them before you expand.  Remember, a really good bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich is infinitely better than a poor chicken cordon bleu.  You will be amazed how fast you increase your personal database with every dish that you prepare, and, if you cook every couple of days, in a month you will be preparing things that are much more complex than you ever thought possible.  As the praise from your audience becomes louder, your comfort level will increase.

    Forth, expect failure.  That is correct.  Sometimes your dish will fail, either because of poor preparation by you or by it being something that your eaters just do not seem to like.  Do not be discouraged!  A closely guarded secret amongst even the best cooks is that they bomb completely now and then.  Just learn from the experience.  If you made a mistake is preparing something, go back mentally to determine what you did wrong.  Then do not do that the next time.  Failure is actually one of the best teachers of all, but obviously you want to minimize it.  The corollary is that you need to know your audience.  For example, if no one for whom you cook likes rutabaga, do not prepare it for them, unless you get really good and find a way to make them like it (advanced cooking, attainable within a year even for a novice).

    Fifth, if you get into the cooking thing and decide that you just do not like to do it, stop.  I know of no example of anyone doing anything that they do not like to do very well.  If you do not get a psychological boost after a few months, perhaps it would be better to find a good, cheap take out place.  However, I think that if you follow my philosophy the likelihood of that is pretty small.

    Sixth, experiment!  After you get a few basics down, think of things that you might believe to be good.  Try them.  They might turn out to be dismal failures, but more likely they will be modest, if not huge successes.  Once you cross that line, from merely copying a recipe to creating a recipe, you are a real cook!

    My goal for this book is to demystify the art and science of cooking.  While this is a basic piece, it contains some information that otherwise pretty good cooks should unlearn, and for new ones never to adopt.  The most common example is “boiling” eggs.  Good eggs in the shell are NEVER boilt, but some otherwise good cooks do it anyway.  I hope that the readers, both novice and experienced cooks, find more than a few things of value written here.

    In this modern day, there is a plethora of information about cooking on the Internet for free.  Some are better than others, but most are interesting.  There are lots of recipe sites and lots of nutrition sites.  I will point out a couple because they are extremely valuable.

    The first is the USDA site about the nutritional content of food, usda.gov.  If you want to know what any given food has, go there.  One part of cooking is assuring that you provide a well balanced diet to your audience.  The second is very dear to my heart, and might sound odd at first.  On the blogsite Dailykos.com is a wonderful series that appears every Saturday night at 7:30 PM Eastern, called What’s for Dinner?.  There you will find contributions (often with actual pictures) from hundreds of people that love to cook, and share their experiences with the entire community.  I strongly recommend it.  By the way, I am a contributor to it now and then.  Less often now, because it has become so popular that rather than being one of only a few contributors am now one of many.  Good for the wonderful Cordelia Lear who has run this series perfectly.  By the way, if you sign up for a username you can ask questions in the comment section and lots of folks will be quite ready to help you out, regardless of your cooking question.  These people are quite like family to me.

    So, let us get cooking!  The first chapter covers the basic equipment that you will need to cook well.  Only a very few are expensive, like a range/oven combination and a couple of good knives.  I hope that your interest in cooking turns into a passion for cooking!  Subsequent chapters include the topics of food selection, cooking techniques, safety and health considerations, and many other topics.

    Dr. David W. Smith, in the Bluegrass region of Kentucky, February 2011

    Crossposted at Dailykos.com, Antemedius.com, and Docudharma.com

    Feb 20 2011

    Prime Time

    Hardly any premiers.  Over the Hedge.  Austin City Limits has Willie Nelson

    Oh. Well, a few years back, Oprah said some shit on her show about beef. You know, Mad Cow Disease or some shit. Anyway, the beef industry didn’t exactly find that shit amusing. They figured they’d send a crew of armed Texans to teach Oprah a lesson. Ex-Marines, ex-Texas Rangers, rouges, that kinda shit. But Oprah had hired Bushido Brown as her personal boydguard. Apparently, only one dude managed to actually lay a hand on Oprah’s office door. They say… Bushido Brown kept that hand.

    Oprah Winfrey taps directly into the emotions, beliefs, buying habits and summer reading patterns of billions of women all over the world! Oprah Winfrey has the power to lay waste an entire industry with a mere utterance! She’s a completely invincible, unstoppable force of nature and with her under our control… nobody would be able to stop us!

    Later-

    Could you tell the court what it is that you do? You’re a type of magician?

    Well, if you must call me that, yes. But, if you are after mere parlor tricks, you will be sorely disappointed. For if I reach behind your ear, it will not be a nickel I pull out, but your very soul!

    SNL– from 12/11/10

    Boondocks– Let’s Nab Oprah.  The Venture Brothers– Trial of the Monarch

    Hey, just because we don’t know anyone tryin’ to stop us, don’t mean ain’t nobody out there tryin’ to stop us. The absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence.

    Zap2it TV Listings, Yahoo TV Listings

    Feb 20 2011

    Evening Edition

    Evening Edition is an Open Thread

    Now with 42 Top Stories.

    From Yahoo News Top Stories

    1 Libyan regime hits back with deadly crackdown

    AFP

    2 hrs 12 mins ago

    CAIRO (AFP) – Security forces have killed more than 80 anti-regime protesters in eastern Libya, Human Rights Watch said on Saturday, after Tripoli pledged to crush opposition in what Britain called a “horrifying” crackdown.

    On the fifth day of an unprecedented challenge to his four-decade regime, Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi had still made no public comment although he reportedly appeared at a mass rally of supporters in the capital on Thursday.

    After regime opponents used Facebook to mobilise protests, as in neighbouring Egypt, the social networking website was blocked on Saturday and Internet connections were patchy, said Internet users in Tripoli and Benghazi.

    AFP

    2 Bahrain protesters back in square as troops leave

    by Taieb Mahjoub, AFP

    21 mins ago

    MANAMA (AFP) – Thousands of jubilant Bahrainis returned on Saturday to Manama’s Pearl Square, the focal point of bloody anti-regime demonstrations, after police and troops withdrew in an apparently conciliatory move.

    After the security force pull-out, Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa ordered that they were to stay away.

    Salman, deputy commander of the armed forces, ordered “all security forces to immediately withdraw from assembly areas,” the BNA state news agency reported.

    3 Libya toll rises as Bahrain protesters seize square

    AFP

    Sat Feb 19, 11:39 am ET

    MANAMA (AFP) – Unrest flared anew in the Arab world on Saturday as reports emerged of more than 80 killed in a bloody crackdown in Libya and thousands of Bahraini protesters again seized a key square in the capital.

    As Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi faced an unprecedented challenge to his rule, protesters returned to Pearl Square in Bahrain’s capital Manama despite police attempts to disperse them with tear gas.

    Clashes also continued in Yemen, with one protester shot dead and five wounded in battles between protesters and government supporters near the Sanaa university campus.

    4 Eighteen dead in Taliban attack on Afghan bank

    by Samoon Miakhail, AFP

    Sat Feb 19, 10:52 am ET

    JALALABAD, Afghanistan (AFP) – Eighteen people were killed and over 70 others were wounded, including police chiefs, Saturday in a Taliban attack on a bank in Jalalabad, eastern Afghanistan.

    Police collecting their salaries were among the casualties including Alishah Paktyamwal, police chief of Nangarhar province where Jalalabad is located, plus his deputy.

    The incident is third major attack in a week targeting police in Afghanistan, who alongside the army are due to take control of the war-torn country’s security from 2014, allowing most international troops to withdraw.

    5 G20 deal on economic indicators after China compromise

    by Francesco Fontemaggi, AFP

    2 hrs 13 mins ago

    PARIS (AFP) – The G20 countries overcame initial Chinese opposition to clinch a deal Saturday on which economic indicators to use to evaluate and tackle the economic imbalances at the heart of the global crisis.

    French Economy Minister Christine Lagarde, who chaired the talks, said the accord marked the “first step” towards correcting these problems, thereby putting the global economy on track to more balanced growth and prosperity.

    Lagarde told a press conference there had been a lengthy debate about the indicators, after reports that China, sensitive over its currency policy and trade balance, had held out to the last moment against a number of measures.

    6 US House cuts $61 bn in spending, shutdown looms

    by Ken Maguire, AFP

    57 mins ago

    WASHINGTON (AFP) – Historic spending cuts approved Saturday by the US House of Representatives face a grim future in the Senate, raising the prospects of a government shutdown and ramping up the public relations blame game.

    After a marathon floor debate running well past midnight, the Republican-controlled House voted to cut about $61 billion in government spending. The Obama administration and leaders in the Senate, controlled by Democrats, immediately criticized the move.

    “The continuing opposition in the House would undermine and damage our capacity to create jobs and expand the economy,” Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said at a news conference after a Group of 20 meeting in Paris.

    7 India silence Bangladesh in World Cup opener

    by Kuldip Lal, AFP

    Sat Feb 19, 12:21 pm ET

    DHAKA (AFP) – Virender Sehwag plundered 175 off 140 balls and rising star Virat Kohli hit an unbeaten 100 as India overpowered Bangladesh by 87 runs in the opening match of the World Cup on Saturday.

    The pair added 203 for the third wicket as India piled up 370-4, the fifth highest World Cup total, after being given first strike by Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan in the day-night match at the Sher-e-Bangla stadium.

    Bangladesh made a spirited chase of the daunting target before ending at 283-9 with opener Tamim Iqbal making 70 and Shakib playing a captain’s knock of 55 off 50 balls in the Group B match.

    8 Bahrain opposition rejects talks offer

    by Taieb Mahjoub, AFP

    Sat Feb 19, 4:34 am ET

    MANAMA (AFP) – The Bahraini opposition on Saturday rejected an offer of dialogue from the authorities saying it will join talks only after the cabinet quits and troops behind a bloody crackdown leave the streets.

    The Islamic National Accord Association, which is boycotting parliament in protest at the army’s iron-fisted response to the wave of protests sweeping the small but strategic Gulf kingdom, said 95 people were wounded on Friday, of whom three were “clinically dead.”

    “To consider dialogue, the government must resign and the army should withdraw from the streets” of Manama, said the group’s parliamentary leader, Abdel Jalil Khalil Ibrahim.

    Reuters

    9 Protesters hold Bahrain square

    By Cynthia Johnston and Frederik Richter, Reuters

    1 hr 1 min ago

    MANAMA (Reuters) – Protesters in Bahrain took back a symbolic square on Saturday and Libyan security forces shot more people demonstrating against longtime leader Muammar Gaddafi as uprisings sweeping the Arab world challenged its rulers.

    The anti-government demonstrators in Bahrain swarmed into Pearl Square in Manama, putting riot police to flight in a striking victory for their cause and confidently setting up camp for a protracted stay.

    In Libya’s second city Benghazi, security forces killed at least three more people but withdrew to a fortified compound, a witness said, after the worst unrest in Gaddafi’s four decades in power.

    10 Bahrain protesters swarm square, police flee

    By Frederik Richter and Michael Georgy, Reuters

    Sat Feb 19, 3:44 pm ET

    MANAMA (Reuters) – Anti-government protesters in Bahrain swarmed back into a symbolic square on Saturday, putting riot police to flight in a striking victory for their cause and confidently setting up camp for a protracted stay.

    The government said it had opened a dialogue with opposition groups demanding reform as Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa sought to ease tensions triggered by a wave of anti-government unrest sweeping the Middle East.

    Crowds had approached Pearl Square in Manama from different directions, creating a standoff with riot police who had moved in earlier to replace troops withdrawn on royal orders.

    11 Obama speaks to Bahrain’s king, urges restraint

    By Ross Colvin, Reuters

    Fri Feb 18, 9:45 pm ET

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama spoke with Bahrain’s king on Friday night, urging restraint after the kingdom’s security forces ignored Washington’s earlier call for calm and opened fire on protesters demanding reforms.

    Amid unrest across much of the Middle East, U.S. officials have voiced concern about violence in the island nation in talks with the government of Bahrain, which hosts a big U.S. military base and borders Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter.

    The White House said in a statement that Obama, in speaking with King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa, condemned violence and said Bahrain’s stability depended on respect for the rights of its people.

    12 Yemen protesters wounded in Sanaa shooting

    By Mohamed Sudam and Mohammed Mukhashaf, Reuters

    Sat Feb 19, 4:43 pm ET

    SANAA/ADEN (Reuters) – Supporters and opponents of Yemen’s President Ali Abdullah Saleh fired shots in the air during rival demonstrations in Sanaa on Saturday, a day after five people were killed in protests against his 32-year rule.

    Eight protesters were hurt and a witness said one died from a bullet wound in the neck as he was taken to hospital. But a medical source said he was admitted to intensive care and had stabilised. The Interior Ministry said no one was killed.

    Saleh blamed a “foreign agenda” and a “conspiracy against Yemen, its security and stability” for the string of protests against poverty, unemployment and corruption which have gained momentum since the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt.

    13 G20 ministers fudge deal on imbalance indicators

    By Louise Egan and Daniel Flynn, Reuters

    Sat Feb 19, 2:04 pm ET

    PARIS (Reuters) – Finance ministers of the world’s major economies reached a fudged accord on Saturday on how to measure imbalances in the global economy after China prevented the use of exchange rates and currency reserves as indicators.

    French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde, who chaired the Group of 20 talks, said the deal nevertheless represented a significant step toward better coordination of economic policies worldwide to help prevent another financial crisis.

    “It wasn’t simple. There were obviously divergent interests but we were able to reach a compromise on a text that seems to us to be both balanced and demanding in its implementation,” she told a news conference.

    14 Up to Portugal to convince markets: ECB’s Trichet

    By Julien Toyer, Reuters

    Sat Feb 19, 1:04 pm ET

    PARIS (Reuters) – Portugal must stick to its deficit reduction targets and implement more promised economic reforms to convince markets it is able to service its debt and does not need outside aid, European Union policymakers said on Saturday.

    European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet and EU Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn, asked whether Portugal would be the next euro zone country to need an EU/IMF bailout after Greece and Ireland, said the ball was in Lisbon’s court.

    “We call on all governments, without any exception, first to apply the plan that they have … as rigorously, convincingly and ethically as possibly, and they have themselves to be ahead of the curve in all respects,” Trichet told a news conference after a meeting of G20 finance chiefs in Paris.

    15 Geithner points to China yuan spillover to others

    By Glenn Somerville, Reuters

    Sat Feb 19, 1:40 pm ET

    PARIS (Reuters) – Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Saturday pointed to the problems China’s tightly controlled currency poses for other developing economies and said Beijing still had further to go to let its currency rise.

    Talks at a Group of 20 meeting in Paris centered round efforts, led by Germany and G20 presidents France, to persuade China to include its yawning current account surplus and undervalued currency in a list of measures aimed to start a process of rebalancing the global economy.

    There was little public evidence that the United States itself had pushed Beijing hard on that issue, but Geithner reiterated that there was still some way to go in the steady appreciation of the yuan.

    16 House defies Obama by passing spending-cut bill

    By Richard Cowan, Reuters

    Sat Feb 19, 9:28 am ET

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The House of Representatives on Saturday approved legislation to cut federal spending deeply through September, a plan that is sure to be stopped by President Barack Obama and his fellow Democrats in the Senate.

    The Republican-backed bill is a challenge to Obama to show he is serious about closing record budget deficits and sets up the possibility of government shut downs if a compromise is not worked out by March 4, when current funding expires.

    On a largely partisan vote of 235-189, House Republicans passed the bill to cut spending by about $61.5 billion from current levels, marking a victory for Tea Party conservatives elected in November.

    17 Competing Wisconsin protests peaceful, draw thousands

    By James Kelleher, Reuters

    Sat Feb 19, 4:09 pm ET

    MADISON, Wisconsin (Reuters) – Supporters of legislation to reduce public employee union bargaining power and benefits in Wisconsin were far outnumbered by opponents on Saturday, as the two sides shouted competing slogans but did not clash.

    Tens of thousands have demonstrated throughout the week against Republican Governor Scott Walker’s proposed legislation, which supporters say is needed to bring spending under control and opponents contend would break the back of state worker unions.

    Wisconsin is the flashpoint for a U.S. struggle over efforts to roll back pay, benefits and bargaining rights of government workers. If the majority Republicans prevail, other states could be emboldened to take on the powerful unions.

    18 Afghan leader says U.S. bases depend on neighbors

    By Hamid Shalizi, Reuters

    Sat Feb 19, 5:30 am ET

    KABUL (Reuters) – The possibility of the United States retaining long-term bases in Afghanistan could only be addressed once peace has been achieved and must take into account the country’s neighbors, the Afghan president said on Saturday.

    Russia has urged the United States not to establish long-term military bases in Afghanistan, suggesting that even discussing the subject could undermine peace efforts and anger Afghanistan’s neighbors.

    Often-uneasy ties between Afghanistan’s government and its main Western backers have become even more tense of late over a bank corruption scandal, a ban on private security contractors, election fraud and decision by the Afghan government to take over the running of women’s shelters.

    19 "Flash crash" panel calls for market overhaul

    By Roberta Rampton and Jonathan Spicer, Reuters

    Fri Feb 18, 5:45 pm ET

    WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) – Regulators should stem the growing tide of anonymous stock-trading and consider imposing fees on high-frequency traders, said a panel of experts advising how to avoid another “flash crash.”

    The panel’s 14 recommendations for U.S. securities and futures regulators contained far-reaching ideas to overhaul the high-speed electronic market.

    Yet many of the ideas issued on Friday called only for “consideration” or “further study” — potentially raising more questions as the first anniversary of the May 6 flash crash nears.

    AP

    20 Libya, Yemen crack down; Bahrain pulls back tanks

    By MAGGIE MICHAEL and BRIAN FRIEDMAN, Associated Press

    Sat Feb 19, 3:22 pm ET

    CAIRO – Security forces in Libya and Yemen fired on pro-democracy demonstrators Saturday as the two hard-line regimes struck back against the wave of protests that has already toppled autocrats in Egypt and Tunisia. At least 15 died when police shot into crowds of mourners in Libya’s second-largest city, a hospital official said.

    Even as Bahrain’s king bowed to international pressure and withdrew tanks to allow demonstrators to retake a symbolic square in the capital, Libya’s Moammar Gadhafi and Yemen’s Ali Abdullah Saleh made clear they plan to stamp out opposition and not be dragged down by the reform movements that have grown in nations from Algeria to Djibouti to Jordan.

    Libyans returned to the street for a fifth straight day of protests against Gadhafi, the most serious uprising in his 42-year reign, despite estimates by human rights groups of 84 deaths in the North African country – with 35 on Friday alone.

    21 Nearly 100 killed in Libyan crackdown on unrest

    By MAGGIE MICHAEL, Associated Press

    Sat Feb 19, 4:09 pm ET

    CAIRO – Libyan forces opened fire on mourners leaving a funeral for protesters Saturday in the flashpoint city of Benghazi, and a medical official said 15 people were killed, with bodies piling up in a hospital and doctors collapsing in grief at the sight of dead relatives.

    The deaths pushed the overall estimated death toll to 99 in five days of unprecedented protests against the 42-year reign of Moammar Gadhafi. Government forces also wiped out a protest encampment and clamped down on Internet service throughout the North African nation.

    As relatives buried their dead, they fell victim to a mixture of special commandos, foreign mercenaries and Gadhafi loyalists armed with knives, Kalashnikovs and even anti-aircraft missiles trying to quell the demonstrations, witnesses said.

    22 Protesters return to square in Bahrain capital

    By HADEEL AL-SHALCHI and BARBARA SURK, Associated Press

    Sat Feb 19, 1:31 pm ET

    MANAMA, Bahrain – Thousands of singing and dancing protesters streamed back into Manama’s central Pearl Square on Saturday after Bahrain’s leaders withdrew tanks and riot police following a bloody crackdown by security forces in the tiny monarchy.

    The royal family, which was quick to use force earlier this week against demonstrators in the landmark square that has been the heart of the anti-government demonstrations, appeared to back away from further confrontation following international pressure from the West.

    The demonstrators had sought to emulate successful uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt in attempting to bring political change to Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet – the centerpiece of Washington’s efforts to confront Iranian military influence in the region.

    23 Algerian police break up crowd at pro-reform rally

    By ELAINE GANLEY, Associated Press

    Sat Feb 19, 10:33 am ET

    ALGIERS, Algeria – Algerian police thwarted a rally by thousands of pro-democracy supporters Saturday, breaking up the crowd into isolated groups to keep them from marching.

    Police brandishing clubs, but no firearms, weaved their way through the crowd in central Algiers, banging their shields, tackling some protesters and keeping traffic flowing through the planned march route.

    A demonstrating lawmaker was hospitalized after suffering a head wound when he fell after police kicked and hit him, colleagues said.

    24 Largest crowd yet descends on Wisconsin Capitol.

    By TODD RICHMOND and JASON SMATHERS, Associated Press

    1 hr 58 mins ago

    MADISON, Wis. – A state Capitol thrown into political chaos swelled for a fifth day with nearly 70,000 protesters, as supporters of Republican efforts to scrap the union rights of state workers challenged pro-labor protesters face-to-face for the first time and GOP leaders insisted again Saturday there was no room for compromise.

    A few dozen police officers stood between supporters of Republican Gov. Scott Walker on the muddy east lawn of the Capitol and the much larger group of pro-labor demonstrators who surrounded them. The protest was peaceful as both sides exchanged chants of “Pass the bill! Pass the bill!” and “Kill the bill! Kill the bill!”

    “Go home!” union supporters yelled at Scott Lemke, a 46-year-old machine parts salesman from Cedarburg who wore a hard hat and carried a sign that read “If you don’t like it, quit” on one side, and “If you don’t like that, try you’re fired” on the other.

    25 Largest protest yet fails to sway Wis. lawmakers

    By TODD RICHMOND and JASON SMATHERS, Associated Press

    34 mins ago

    MADISON, Wis. – Sometimes they cursed each other, sometimes they shook hands, sometimes they walked away from each other in disgust.

    None of it – not the ear-splitting chants, the pounding drums or the back-and-forth debate between 70,000 protesters – changed the minds of Wisconsin lawmakers dug into a stalemate over Republican efforts to scrap union rights for almost all public workers.

    “The people who are not around the Capitol square are with us,” said Rep. Robin Vos, a Republican from Rochester and co-chair of the Legislature’s budget committee. “They may have a bunch around the square, but we’ve got the rest on our side.”

    26 State budget fights fire up union; Obama involved

    By SAM HANANEL and JIM KUHNHENN, Associated Press

    1 hr 4 mins ago

    WASHINGTON – Organized labor is trying to re-energize and take advantage of the growing backlash from the wave of anti-union sentiment in Wisconsin and more than a dozen other states.

    President Barack Obama and his political machine are offering tactical support, eager to repair strained relations with some union leaders upset over his recent overtures to business.

    The potent combination has helped fan the huge protests in Wisconsin against a measure that would strip collective bargaining rights from state workers. The alliance also is sending a warning to other states that are considering the same tactic.

    27 Freshmen spur GOP-run House on big spending cuts

    By ANDREW TAYLOR, Associated Press

    Sat Feb 19, 12:30 pm ET

    WASHINGTON – The GOP-run House, jolted by freshmen determined to drive down the deficit, snatched $61 billion from hundreds of federal programs while shielding coal companies, oil refiners and farms from new federal regulations.

    Passage early Saturday of the $1.2 trillion bill, covering every Cabinet agency through Sept. 30, when the current budget year ends, sent the measure to the Senate, where it faces longer odds, and defied a White House veto threat.

    The largely party-line vote of 235-189 was the most striking victory to date for the 87 freshman Republicans elected last fall on a promise to attack the deficit and reduce the reach of government. Three Republicans joined Democrats in opposing the measure.

    28 GOP newcomers test mandate to shrink government

    By DAVID ESPO, AP Special Correspondent

    Sat Feb 19, 2:13 pm ET

    WASHINGTON – Asked how long the House would need to finish legislation cutting $61 billion in government spending, the most powerful Republican in the land responded wryly. “I don’t know, I’m only the speaker.”

    It was a candid acknowledgement from Ohio Rep. John Boehner that the 87 Republican first-term lawmakers who swept the party into power in the House are moving on a path – and at a pace – of their own choosing.

    When the leadership brought a bill to the floor to renew parts of the anti-terrorist Patriot Act, it fell short. The leadership regrouped, and the rebels, their questions answered, helped pass the measure on a second try.

    29 Fuzzy compromise threatens relevance of G-20

    By GABRIELE STEINHAUSER and GREG KELLER, AP Business Writers

    Sat Feb 19, 4:42 pm ET

    PARIS – The world’s dominant economies on Saturday struck a watered down deal on how to smooth out trade and currency imbalances many say exacerbated the financial crisis, but the difficulty in getting vastly different economies like China and the United States on the same page doesn’t bode well for the Group of 20 rich and developing countries as a forum for global decision making.

    G-20 finance ministers and central bankers meeting in Paris agreed on a list of technical indicators to track those imbalances – caused by some countries consuming more while others tend to hold on to their money – but left the more tricky questions of when those imbalances actually become dangerous and what to do to mitigate them for later.

    French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde, whose country holds the G-20 presidency this year, said the all-night talks had been “tense” at times, indicating the clash in national interests between countries that find themselves on completely divergent growth trajectories after the 2008 financial crisis that plunged the world into its worst economic recession in 70 years.

    30 Attackers raid bank in Afghanistan, kill 8

    By ADAM SCHRECK, Associated Press

    Sat Feb 19, 2:51 pm ET

    KABUL, Afghanistan – Gunmen wearing explosives vests stormed a bank in eastern Afghanistan Saturday as government employees were waiting to be paid, killing at least eight people and wounding scores of others in a standoff punctuated by deadly explosions.

    At least 48 people were being treated in the main hospital in Jalalabad, the site of the attack, hours after the midday siege on the Kabul Bank branch, said Interior Ministry spokesman Zemeri Bashary. Others had already been discharged. He said seven of the dead were Afghan police officers. Three others were also killed, he said, but investigators were trying to determine if two of them were the suicide attackers.

    Gunmen launched the raid by firing on bank guards, then overpowering them to seize control of the bank, said Ahmad Zia Abdulzai, a spokesman for the provincial governor. Afghan security forces surrounded the building and heard an explosion inside, he said. That was followed by a gunbattle and another blast, then further clashes between attackers and police. He put the death toll as high as 18.

    31 Scientist finds Gulf bottom still oily, dead

    By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer

    1 hr 50 mins ago

    WASHINGTON – Oil from the BP spill remains stuck on the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, according to a top scientist’s video and slides that she says demonstrate the oil isn’t degrading as hoped and has decimated life on parts of the sea floor.

    That report is at odds with a recent report by the BP spill compensation czar that said nearly all will be well by 2012.

    At a science conference in Washington, marine scientist Samantha Joye of the University of Georgia aired early results of her December submarine dives around the BP spill site. She went to places she had visited in the summer and expected the oil and residue from oil-munching microbes would be gone by then. It wasn’t.

    32 A horse-drawn trek toward a ‘do-over’ in life

    By CHRISTOPHER SULLIVAN, Associated Press

    Sat Feb 19, 2:29 pm ET

    Bridles jingle and heavy hooves tap a metronomic clip-clop as the ungainly wagon claims yet another mile.

    It glides past a row of Main Street houses, past roadsigns touting this business, that fraternal group, the local team who were champions. Vehicles, horseless ones, slow to take in the outlandish muscles of the four giant draft horses, two white, one dark, and one dapple gray.

    And up ahead, always, there’s someone on the shoulder or on a porch, or a family in a yard or driveway, stopping everything to shade eyes and squint, or just to listen to the clip-clop, steady as a heartbeat.

    33 States ignored warnings on unemployment insurance

    By KEVIN FREKING, Associated Press

    Sat Feb 19, 10:21 am ET

    WASHINGTON – State officials had plenty of warning. Over the past three decades, two national commissions and a series of government audits sounded alarms about the dwindling amount of money states were setting aside to pay unemployment insurance to laid-off workers.

    “Trust Fund Reserves Inadequate,” federal auditors said in a 1988 report.

    It’s clear now the warnings were pretty much ignored. Instead, states kept whittling away at the trust funds, mostly by cutting unemployment insurance taxes at the behest of the business community. The low balances hastened insolvency when the recession hit, leading about 30 states to borrow $41.5 billion from the federal government to pay unemployment benefits to their growing population of jobless.

    34 The elite serve the homeless at Harvard shelter

    By MARK PRATT, Associated Press

    Sat Feb 19, 1:17 pm ET

    CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – As darkness falls on Harvard Square, students wrapped tight against the freezing cold hustle down icy, red-brick sidewalks and past snow banks, eager to reach the warmth of dorms and libraries.

    One man, underdressed in a light jacket and baseball hat, paces impatiently at the basement door of the University Lutheran Church.

    He’s waiting for the Harvard Square Homeless Shelter to open.

    35 New Facebook status options applauded by gay users

    By JOCELYN NOVECK, AP National Writer

    Fri Feb 18, 9:36 pm ET

    NEW YORK – Jay Lassiter is no longer “in a relationship.”

    Let’s clarify that: Lassiter, a media adviser for political campaigns who lives in Cherry Hill, N.J., is still with his partner of nearly eight years, Greg Lehmkuho. But since Thursday, when Facebook expanded its romantic-status options, Lassiter’s profile there echoes his relationship’s legal status: “Domestic partnership.”

    It may not be a life-altering change. After all, you can call yourself anything you want on a social network. And Facebook is merely that.

    36 Ousted Madagascar president barred from returning

    By JENNY GROSS, Associated Press

    Sat Feb 19, 1:24 pm ET

    JOHANNESBURG – Madagascar’s ousted president was on Saturday barred by officials in his homeland from returning from exile in South Africa, but the politician told reporters at Johannesburg’s airport that he would keep trying to return.

    Marc Ravalomanana said aviation authorities in Madagascar had written to South African Airways to say he was not welcome. Ravalomanana had been booked on the carrier’s regular Saturday flight to Antananarivo, Madagascar’s capital.

    “I’m very, very upset,” Ravalomanana told reporters shortly after South African Airways said he could not board the plane. “I’m very disappointed right now because many Malagasy people are at the airport right now waiting for my arrival. But I’m still here – I’m stuck here.”

    37 Confederate descendants mark 150th anniversary

    By PHILLIP RAWLS, Associated Press

    Sat Feb 19, 5:26 pm ET

    MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Confederate descendants and re-enactors dressed in soldiers’ uniforms and hoop skirts marched down the main avenue in Montgomery on Saturday to mark the 150th anniversary of the inauguration of Confederate President Jefferson Davis.

    They started at a fountain where slaves were once sold, past the church that Martin Luther King Jr. led during the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and ended at the Capitol steps, where Alabama’s old and modern history often collide.

    It’s the spot where former Gov. George C. Wallace proclaimed “segregation forever” in 1963 and where King concluded the historic Selma-to-Montgomery voting rights march in 1965.

    38 Conn. governor’s approach to budget mess is unique

    By SUSAN HAIGH, Associated Press

    Sat Feb 19, 3:25 pm ET

    HARTFORD, Conn. – While other governors are waging tense battles with state employees, proposing deep spending cuts and taking no-tax-increase pledges to cover their budget shortfalls, Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy – whose wealthy state faces the largest per capita deficit in the nation – is taking a different tack.

    The state’s first Democratic governor in two decades, Malloy is unapologetic about proposing a budget that raises taxes on everything from personal income to haircuts. And while he’s calling for $2 billion in savings and labor concessions over two years from state employees, Malloy acknowledges he doesn’t want to carry through on a threat to lay off thousands if a deal can’t be reached.

    Malloy also admits he’s “not one of those people who dislikes government,” a defiant political statement these days given the national tea party movement and demands for major cuts in government spending.

    39 Big names eye real estate in blighted SF downtown

    By ROBIN HINDERY, Associated Press

    Sat Feb 19, 1:35 pm ET

    SAN FRANCISCO – Josette Melchor spends much of her time devising ways to lure art lovers into the contemporary exhibition space she runs in downtown San Francisco, halfway between the city’s Civic Center and bustling Union Square.

    She also spends time making sure other people stay out.

    “We don’t have open doors, ever. They’re always locked,” said Melchor, whose Gray Area Foundation for the Arts sits at the convergence of the Tenderloin and Mid-Market, two of the city’s most downtrodden neighborhoods. “We must see 100 crimes every week out of these windows, and although the city wants it to change, it hasn’t happened.”

    40 NJ gov. cuts more than the budget: his poundage

    By BETH DeFALCO, Associated Press

    Sat Feb 19, 12:38 pm ET

    TRENTON, N.J. – New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has cut more than the state budget his first year in office: The heavyset head-of-state has also dropped a few notches in his belt.

    Exactly how much he’s lost he’s isn’t saying, but his suits have been getting noticeably baggy.

    “I’m not going to put any numbers on it because you just set yourself up for failure,” the 48-year-old Republican said.

    41 Rahm a calm, cool candidate in City Hall bid

    By SHARON COHEN, AP National Writer

    Sat Feb 19, 9:19 am ET

    CHICAGO – Rahm Emanuel, candidate for mayor of Chicago, stood before the microphone in the cavernous warehouse and in a somber voice, announced that he was finally getting a chance to publicly utter a four-letter word.

    He paused a second for comic timing, then said the word: “JOBS.”

    “There,” he said, “I already feel better.”

    42 Pa. judge guilty of racketeering in kickback case

    By MICHAEL RUBINKAM, Associated Press

    Sat Feb 19, 3:04 am ET

    SCRANTON, Pa. – A former juvenile court judge defiantly insisted he never accepted money for sending large numbers of children to detention centers even after he was convicted of racketeering for taking a $1 million kickback from the builder of the for-profit lockups.

    Former Luzerne County Judge Mark Ciavarella was allowed to remain free pending sentencing following his conviction Friday in what prosecutors said was a “kids for cash” scheme that ranks among the biggest courtroom frauds in U.S. history.

    Ciavarella, 61, left the bench in disgrace two years ago after he and a second judge, Michael Conahan, were accused of using juvenile delinquents as pawns in a plot to get rich. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has dismissed 4,000 juvenile convictions issued by Ciavarella, saying he sentenced young offenders without regard for their constitutional rights.

    Feb 19 2011

    from firefly-dreaming19.2.11

    (midnight. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

    Regular Daily Features:

    Essays Featured Saturday, February 19th:

    • Talk turns to The Splendor of Risotto in patric juillet‘s latest edition of Tales from the Larder.
    • Saturday Open Thoughts are a little blurry from Alma. 🙁
    • A new piece of Saturday Art! from mishima‘s talented hands.
    • davidseth is in Solidarity with Wisconsin Union Workers. Are you?
    • Firefly Memories 1.0 is where (normally)Alma 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. Alma has an eye problem so Dreamer is filling until she’s better.

      Today:happy birthday papa
    • Dreamer takes a look at the Mindless Eating concept. (at 7pm)

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

    Feb 19 2011

    Random Japan

    CHOWING DOWN

     

    The Japan Food Service Association said that sales at restaurants around the nation rose by 0.5 percent in 2010.

    Overall, the number of customers at restaurants around the country dropped, but sales per customer increased.

    Thanks to discount promotions, sales at fast food restaurants increased 2.1 percent, but earnings at izakaya and family restaurants dropped.

    A trio of Japanese food companies announced a joint effort to sell processed meats in Vietnamaimed at middle- and upper-class consumers. The firms hope to sell ¥300 million worth of goods by 2013.

    Stats

    ¥220.74 billionTotal box-office revenues for films in Japan in 2010, an all-time high

    12Number of Muslim converts from Japan who went on ahajji to Medina in November, according to Tokyo-based tour company Air 1 Travel

    11Number of those converts

    YIKES

     

    Japan Airlines admitted that one of its jumbo jets had been in service for nearly three years despite the fact that its emergency slides were improperly installed.

    A professor of international economics at Catholic University in Belgium told The New York Times that “Japan is a debt time bomb that is waiting to explode.”

    An industry group said that demand for cement reached a 43-year low in 2010. Just in case you’re wondering, 41.77 million tons of the gray stuff was spread last year, which seems like a lot to us.

    A 47-year-old Saitama man who was arrested for keeping the skeletal remains of his mom in their home for more than three years said he did it because “I didn’t want to be separated from her.”

    16 Fools  

    Who Support The Corrupt    

    Give Us Millions  

    Will Give You Back Your Country  

    For 50,000

    The Fake Picture Is All Yours  

    More Japanese men relish joy of homemaking

     



    TOKYO  

    As the public perceptions of traditional gender roles shift, more and more Japanese men have become willing to take on homemaking. Some opinion polls show majorities of men in their 20s and 30s have no negative notions of men serving as the househusbands of their families.

    Working around the house instead of in a career has become more of an option for men since an increased number of women are now gainfully employed. Meanwhile, more men are trying to start their lives anew at home after having been burned out by excessively demanding jobs.

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    More Japanese men relish joy of homemaking

     



    TOKYO  

    As the public perceptions of traditional gender roles shift, more and more Japanese men have become willing to take on homemaking. Some opinion polls show majorities of men in their 20s and 30s have no negative notions of men serving as the househusbands of their families.

    Working around the house instead of in a career has become more of an option for men since an increased number of women are now gainfully employed. Meanwhile, more men are trying to start their lives anew at home after having been burned out by excessively demanding jobs.

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