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The Slave's Dream
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Beside the ungathered rice he lay,
His sickle in his hand;
His breast was bare, his matted hair
Was buried in the sand.
Again, in the mist and shadow of sleep,
He saw his Native Land.
Wide through the landscape of his dreams
The lordly Niger flowed;
Beneath the palm-trees on the plain
Once more a king he strode;
And heard the tinkling caravans
Descend the mountain-road.
He saw once more his dark-eyed queen
Among her children stand;
They clasped his neck, they kissed his cheeks,
They held him by the hand!--
A tear burst from the sleeper's lids
And fell into the sand.
And then at furious speed he rode
Along the Niger's bank;
His bridle-reins were golden chains,
And, with a martial clank,
At each leap he could feel his scabbard of steel
Smiting his stallion's flank.
Before him, like a blood-red flag,
The bright flamingoes flew;
From morn till night he followed their flight,
O'er plains where the tamarind grew,
Till he saw the roofs of Caffre huts,
And the ocean rose to view.
At night he heard the lion roar,
And the hyena scream,
And the river-horse, as he crushed the reeds
Beside some hidden stream;
And it passed, like a glorious roll of drums,
Through the triumph of his dream.
The forests, with their myriad tongues,
Shouted of liberty;
And the Blast of the Desert cried aloud,
With a voice so wild and free,
That he started in his sleep and smiled
At their tempestuous glee.
He did not feel the driver's whip,
Nor the burning heat of day;
For Death had illumined the Land of Sleep,
And his lifeless body lay
A worn-out fetter, that the soul
Had broken and thrown away!
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News
Up yours, Kasich!
Ohio voters reject Republican-backed union limits
The state's new collective bargaining law was defeated Tuesday after an expensive union-backed campaign that pitted firefighters, police officers and teachers against the Republican establishment.
n a political blow to GOP Gov. John Kasich, voters handily rejected the law, which would have limited the bargaining abilities of 350,000 unionized public workers. With more than a quarter of the votes counted late Tuesday, 63 percent of votes were to reject the law.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, among the many union leaders who hailed the outcome, said victory was achieved among Democrats and Republicans in urban and rural counties.
Arizona's Anti-Immigrant Standard-Bearer Russell Pearce Goes Down
Voters in Maricopa County, Arizona made history Tuesday night, recalling Republican State Senate President Russell Pearce, the author of the state's draconian anti-illegal immigration law, SB 1070. It was the first time an Arizona state legislator had been recalled in history, let alone a sitting State Senate president. As Elise Foley reports, immigrants' rights activists devoted a lot of time, money and effort to recalling Pearce. Maricopa County is no swing district—it hasn't voted for a Democrat for President since Harry Truman.
Pearce, whose anti-immigrant agenda catapulted him to national prominence last year, was defeated by Republican challenger Jerry Lewis by a margin of 53-47 percent. Lewis struck a moderate tone on immigration, particularly in comparison with Pearce, whose rhetoric on the issue was often loaded with noxious racial language. Despite outraising Lewis, getting a sham candidate on the ballot meant to split the anti-Pearce vote, and engaging in campaign tactics meant to manipulate Latinos into throwing away their votes, Pearce lost to Lewis by a decisive margin. Pearce's reputation also suffered after he was implicated the Fiesta Bowl scandal, in which he was accused of illegally accepting game tickets.
It's decision time for China.
China state paper warns of Iran conflict after U.N. report
Confrontation between Iran and the West over Tehran's nuclear plans is reaching "white hot" levels that could trigger a military attack, a Chinese state newspaper said, after a U.N. report that is likely to increase pressure on Beijing to curb ties.
The overseas edition of the People's Daily spelled out the fears facing Chinese policy-makers, caught between their demand for Iranian oil and worries that Washington and its allies will demand harsher sanctions against Tehran, even risk military action, after the International Atomic Energy Agency concluded Tehran appears to have worked on designing an atomic weapon.
"It is clear that contention between the various sides over the Iranian nuclear issue has reached white hot levels and could even be on the precipice of a showdown," said a front-page commentary in the newspaper on Wednesday.
Even Dogs Are Defecting From North Korea
More than 21,000 North Koreans have defected to the affluent South Korea since the Korean War. But last week was the first ever of a canine defection.
One or two dogs were among 21 boat people seeking refuge, according to Yonhap News Agency citing multiple sources. Government ministries and military refused ABC News’ request to confirm the exact number of dogs, saying the group was “under interrogation.”
Many are puzzled why the defectors would have brought along the dogs at the risk of being caught in case they barked.
It's a good idea, but it's a band-aid on a bullet wound.
A Credit to Hire Veterans Is a Good Idea, but It Won't Boost the Economy
Unemployment is a problem for recent veterans. On Friday, I noted that the unemployment rate for Veterans of the post-9/11 Gulf War was a staggering 12.1% -- nearly twice as high as for the rest of the population. Anyone concerned about this problem should be pleased to see that President Obama's proposal to provide firms a tax credit for hiring Veterans is gaining traction in Congress. But we shouldn't confuse the measure with a way to create jobs and boost the economy more generally.
Just to Be Clear: This Is a Good Idea
In what follows, I don't wish to discourage anyone from thinking that this tax credit would be a good idea. It helps to correct what I consider a grave injustice. If these brave men and women chose not to fight for their country but merely remained civilians instead years ago, then many would more likely be employed today. But instead a large number happen to be hitting the job market at a historically bad time, so many are having trouble finding work. Providing employers a small incentive to hire veterans will help to solve this problem.
It looks like we could have a decision before the 2012 elections.
High court weighs hearing arguments on health-care law
The case is shaping up to be the most contentious at the Supreme Court in more than a decade, but everyone involved agrees at least on one point: They need to know as soon as possible whether the new health-care law is constitutional.
The legislation, whose passage consumed much of President Obama's first year in office, extends insurance coverage to more than 30 million Americans through various measures including the expansion of Medicaid and a mandate that most Americans buy health insurance by 2014.
SNIP
The high court will meet in private Thursday to decide whether to hear arguments in the dispute that has split lower courts and become the most politically divisive case since the Bush v. Gore presidential election dispute in 2000. Another lower court weighed in Tuesday, upholding the law in a decision by prominent conservative Judge Laurence Silberman, a 1985 appointee of Ronald Reagan.
NASA adds test flight for deep-space capsule
NASA plans to add a $370 million unmanned test flight of a new deep-space capsule designed to send astronauts to asteroids, the moon, Mars and other destinations in the inner solar system, officials said on Tuesday.
The Orion capsule, which is being developed by Lockheed Martin Corp, would fly aboard a Delta 4 or Atlas 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in 2014, said NASA spokesman Josh Byerly.
The test capsule would be launched into an orbit that soars as high as 5,000 miles above the planet. After circling Earth twice, it would slam back into the atmosphere at more than 20,000 mph, eclipsing the 17,500 mph speed of a returning space shuttle.
Wow! My grandmother died of ovarian cancer. If only.
Vaccine against breast cancer, ovarian cancer promising in trial
Monthly shots of a cancer vaccine produced encouraging results in a small, very early trial of 26 women with metastatic breast or ovarian cancer (cancer that has spread to other sites around the body), most of whom already had had three or more rounds of chemotherapy.
Among the 12 breast cancer patients, median survival time was 13.7 months and one patient was still alive at 37 months, when the paper was written up. Four remained stable during the course of the trial.
Among the 14 ovarian cancer patients, median survival was 15 months. One woman went 38 months before her disease progressed.