Welcome! "What's Happenin'?" is a casual community diary (and a regular series) where you can hang out, talk about what is going on with you, listen to music, talk about the news and the goings on here and everywhere.
Maybe you have seen some news stories that you think are not receiving enough attention and you'd like to post links to them. Maybe you'd like to just chat among friends about your life, your health, your family or social circle, your pets, etc. You can also post links to your own writings here on dkos or elsewhere. Perhaps you want to share some pictures or music or links to other things. This is your kind of place to talk about what's happening.
Just about anything goes, but attacks and pie fights are not welcome here. If that is what you want, find another place to do it. This is a community diary and a friendly, peaceful, supportive place for people to interact. This diary series is produced by the TeamDFH group but anyone who wants to join in peaceful interaction is welcome.
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Good Morning!
Drop in
any time
day or night
to say hello.
Snake
--by Emily Dickinson
A narrow fellow in the grass
Occasionally rides;
You may have met him, -did you not?
His notice sudden is.
The grass divides as with a comb,
A spotted shaft is seen;
And then it closes at your feet
And opens further on.
He likes a boggy acre,
A floor too cool for corn.
Yet when a child, and barefoot,
I more than once, at morn,
Have passed, I thought, a whip-lash
Unbraiding in the sun, -
When, stooping to secure it,
It wrinkled, and was gone.
Several of nature's people
I know, and they know me;
I feel for them a transport
Of cordiality;
But never met this fellow,
Attended or alone,
Without a tighter breathing,
And zero at the bone.
http://www.poemhunter.com/...
News
Obama Lures Trade-Deal Support From Business
President Barack Obama won support of the largest U.S. business lobbying groups while Republicans balked at his plans to attach aid for displaced workers to stalled trade deals with South Korea, Panama and Colombia.
The endorsement from groups including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which represents companies such as Pfizer Inc. (PFE) and PepsiCo Inc., came with a call for Republicans to drop their objections. It was a turnaround for business leaders, who in the past joined Republicans in criticizing Obama’s policies.
I'm sure the White House Chief of Staff is happy about this (but had nothing, nothing! to do with it).
The Fed Gives JP Morgan Chase Another Multi-Billion Dollar Bailout
Remember that swipe fee measure that passed the Senate twice? It lowered the amount credit card companies can charge merchants to $.12 a transaction. It was a stunning victory that retailers (which admittedly includes WalMart but also includes your locally owned business struggling to stay in business) won that battle twice.
Well, lucky for the banksters, they had one more ace in their pocket: The Federal Reserve, which just cut the baby in half and set transaction fees at $.21 plus some anti-fraud amounts.
House Democrats feel jilted by the president in budget, debt talks
One Democrat who was there said Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) bluntly asked Obama whether he was willing to fight for Democratic priorities amid GOP calls for trillions of dollars in spending cuts.
In asking the question, Waxman said he’d asked several Republicans about their White House meeting the day before and had been concerned by their response.
“To a person, they said the president’s going to cave,” Waxman told Obama, according to his colleague’s account.
“If you’re not going to cave, eliminating that misunderstanding is very, very important to the negotiations,” the lawmaker said, retelling Waxman’s message. “And if you’re going to cave, tell us right now.”
Westboro Baptist speakers spark change in FBI policy
Westboro Baptist Church, an anti-gay Topeka congregation known for protesting military funerals, has sent guest speakers to FBI training sessions, the bureau said.
But church members won’t be welcome in the future.
The sessions were designed to teach younger FBI agents and law-enforcement officers around the country how to deal with groups they strongly disagree with, said church member Timothy Phelps, who spoke at some of the sessions.
World News: 1000 injured as protesters battle Cairo security forces
Two days of street battles between security forces and protesters in Cairo show just how volatile Egypt remains nearly five months after the popular uprising that ousted authoritarian leader Hosni Mubarak.
More than 1000 people were hurt in the unrest on Tuesday and yesterday, driven by discontent over the slow pace of justice for old regime figures accused of corruption and killing protesters.
The clashes in Tahrir Square - the worst since the 18-day uprising - add a new layer to an already painful and chaotic transition from Mr Mubarak's regime to democratic rule under the supervision of the military.
Surprise, another clusterf*k that's all about oil.
Libya mission becomes a burden for Obama
WASHINGTON — More than 100 days after the United States and NATO allies launched what was supposed to be a quick air campaign in Libya, Pentagon officials concede that the effort has little strategic value for the U.S., and the alliance's desired outcome there remains unclear.
[ snip ]
What's become an open-ended conflict, military officers and experts say, illustrates ill-defined U.S. objectives, the limits of relying solely on air power and the lack of diplomatic tools to broker an end to Col. Moammar Gadhafi's regime. Thousands of anti-Gadhafi rebels have been killed, and some at the Pentagon worry that the mounting deaths and reduced U.S. involvement have jeopardized what President Barack Obama called a campaign to protect Libyan civilians.
[ snip ]
Perhaps undercutting Obama's rationale for war, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, in a series of exit interviews ahead of his retirement, has begun to describe the U.S. involvement as payback to NATO nations — which depend on Libya's oil reserves — for joining American troops in fighting in Afghanistan, which was mainly a war about U.S. strategic interests.
(Emphasis added.)
African Leaders Scorn NATO From $837 Million Resort as Qaddafi Clings On
African leaders will probably scorn the international campaign against Libya’s Muammar Qaddafi today from the luxury of an Equatorial Guinea resort built by a president who imprisoned critics in the run up to their bi- annual summit.
[ snip ]
Obiang, who came to power after overthrowing his uncle in 1979, now presides over an organization that is taking the moral high ground as it looks for a peaceful end to Qaddafi’s rule. Leaders are demanding the North Atlantic Treaty Organization halt its bombing campaign in Libya and accuse the International Criminal Court of pouring “oil on the fire” by issuing an arrest warrant for Qaddafi.
Surprise! BP, cough, BP
London to stay course in Libya
LONDON, June 29 (UPI) -- London will sustain operations for the no-fly zone over Libya as long as it takes to convince the regime to stop attacking civilians, a British official said.
[ snip ]
British Foreign Secretary William Hague in statements before the House of Commons said London was determined to stay in the fight in Libya.
"We can and we will sustain these operations for as long as necessary, until the regime ceases attacks on its own people and complies with the U.N. resolutions," he said in his statements.
U.S. Monthly Combat Deaths in Iraq at 3-Year High
BAGHDAD — The American military announced on Thursday that three more American soldiers had been killed this week, as the combat-related deaths for United States forces in Iraq reached a monthly toll not seen since 2008.
The deaths occurred Wednesday in southern Iraq, and the military did not disclose details on how they died. A military spokesman confirmed they were killed by enemy attack. Recently, the upsurge in casualties has been attributed to rocket or mortar attacks on American bases by Shiite militias. American convoys have also come under increasing threat from improvised explosive devices.
[ snip ]
Meanwhile, the debate persists in Baghdad over whether the government of Iraq should ask the United States to extend the troop deadline and allow some units to stay and continue training exercises. The United States has indicated it would say yes to such a request, although it is unclear what impact the latest attacks — and troop deaths — would have on that decision.
Quinnipac Poll finds majority of Virginians voters want US troops out of Afghanistan, Libya
RICHMOND, Va. — A new poll of Virginians shows that a majority want American troops out of Afghanistan and Libya.
A Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday shows that 55 percent believe the United States should not be fighting in Afghanistan now and 60 percent oppose the U.S. role in Libya.