July 15, 2009 archive

Muse in the Morning

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Muse in the Morning

2009 Poems


Trapped

Chains

We can only

truly know freedom

if we are aware

of the ways

we are in bondage

bound by a culture

which rigidly demands

our strict adherence

to fixed states

unchangeable

unchallengeable

under penalty

of expulsion

or worse

and still manage

to reject

those chains

Are you free?

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–March 13, 2009

Late Night Karaoke

 Open Thread

Is this legal?

I’m on temporary lay-off since July 01.09. Today I get my unemployment package telling me my total benefits are $40, not weekly, TOTAL.

WTF, I’ve been working for that place for almost 2 1/2 years and all I’m getting is $40? Then I look closer and see the name of a place I worked for last year, for 2 weeks until Gustav made a mess of things.

This must be a mistake I’m thinking, placing a call to the unemployment office and can only get a recording, no humans work there!

For most of the afternoon I’m trying to track down the chairman of the board, he’s out of town, but I get his cell phone #. Great!

So I’m waiting until 7pm, to not interrupt his business dealings, and I explain to him my reason for calling. “Yeah,Yeah I see, but no we don’t pay unemployment. We don’t have to, we’re a non profit, a church. Nothing I can do.”

Wednesday Morning Science Supplement

Wednesday Morning Science Supplement is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News Science

1 Experts hail Sahara-Europe solar plan

by William Ickes, AFP

Tue Jul 14, 12:19 pm ET

FRANKFURT (AFP) – Far-sighted plans to energise Europe by tapping solar power from the sweltering Sahara desert offer bright prospects but must not overshadow renewable sources closer to home, experts say.

German deputy environment minister Matthias Machnig said solar systems behind the 400-billion-euro (560-billion-dollar) project, launched in Germany on Monday, had “enormous potential.”

The Desertec Industrial Initiative (DII) is powered by 12 mostly German companies from the engineering, energy and finance sectors but has also won support from firms in Algeria and Spain and from officials in Egypt and Jordan.

My Sessions/Sotomayor/Annie Hall Kos Diary mentioned by KO

After reading Steve Benen about Sonia Sotomayor’s humiliation of Jeff Sessions today involving Judge Çedarbaum, I immediately thought of “Annie Hall” the Movie– McLuhan Scene, so I quickly wrote a brief diary on Kos linking to that legendary scene.

I was honored to be rec’d and then saw that Olbermann mentioned it and my nom de blog on Countdown.

I have achieved my Warholian 15 minutes of pseudonymous fame.  (If only it meant I could retire.)

Here’s the link to the diary.

Why it couldn’t be what some think…

Ok, this isn’t news.  Dick Cheney, allegedly, tried to get together a CIA “hit-squad” to “take out” top Al-Qaeda leaders.  I’ll make this introduction short — bullshit.

Now, let me tell you why…

Lucerne (Photo Essay)

Lucerne is somewhere close to paradise. In the 14th Century, it helped lead central Switzerland to independence from the Hapsburgs. Today, with good reason, it is a popular tourist destination.  

Behind the town is the 7000 foot Pilatus.

Overnight Caption Contest

Every American should be forced to watch this video

Crossposted at Dkos under the title “Make the bad man stop” (alternate version)

Thanks for the bump up, Ek!

    During WWII American soldiers went into the German towns and forced the towns folk to look upon the horror and suffering that had taken place in their midst. They were not permitted to look away. They were forced to see what had been done by others such as they.

    Today in America we need to do the same thing. Please watch this video and then e-mail it to someone else. We can not allow crimes such as these to go unpunished.

    If we do not investigate the Bush/Cheney Administration, we cease to be America.

   

A Few Words From Ed Asner

I may have mentioned my activist brother.  The reason I know he’s more activist than I is that I never get mail like this from Ed Asner-

Democratic Socialists of America Fund

Dear friend,

If you at all like me, you have been angry for much of the last decade.  Angry about the stolen election of 2000 and  then the sequel in 2004 – and even angrier with what Republicans did while controlling all three branches of government until the Democrats took Congress back in 2006.  And I am angry at the situation in Washington that still makes it very difficult to pass even moderate reforms.

I am still angry about war powers granted to a president without real debate, and angrier about the rush to war to protect us from non-existent weapons of mass destruction and ongoing occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan that seem like they will never end.  And I am angry that no one in power seems willing to hold those who were responsible for implementing a program of torture to account.

I remain angry  about billions of dollars in tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, passed with the express purpose of preventing a future administration, like the one we have just elected, from implementing spending programs that might actually help alleviate poverty, pay for a national health care program, or respond to a hurricane.

Like you, I worked to ensure that the 2008 election brought us the change that this country and the world need.  And I am sure we share a great sense of satisfaction at the election of Barack Obama and the thrashing Republicans took at the polls.  But there is another thing I know for sure and that I hope you agree with me on: we won’t get all the reforms we need if we simply let the new bunch in power follow the path of least resistance- no matter how pleased we remain by their win.

I bet by now you think I am writing you because I am running for office or supporting a candidate or even a new party, but I am not.  This is about what to do between elections, regardless of who is in office.

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