Welcome! "What's Happenin'?" is a casual community diary (a daily series, 8:30 AM Eastern on weekdays, 10 AM on weekends and holidays) 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.
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Good Morning!
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Your Riches -- taught me -- Poverty
Emily Dickinson
Your Riches -- taught me -- Poverty.
Myself -- a Millionaire
In little Wealths, as Girls could boast
Till broad as Buenos Ayre --
You drifted your Dominions --
A Different Peru --
And I esteemed All Poverty
For Life's Estate with you --
Of Mines, I little know -- myself --
But just the names, of Gems --
The Colors of the Commonest --
And scarce of Diadems --
So much, that did I meet the Queen --
Her Glory I should know --
But this, must be a different Wealth --
To miss it -- beggars so --
I'm sure 'tis India -- all Day --
To those who look on You --
Without a stint -- without a blame,
Might I -- but be the Jew --
I'm sure it is Golconda --
Beyond my power to deem --
To have a smile for Mine -- each Day,
How better, than a Gem!
At least, it solaces to know
That there exists -- a Gold --
Altho' I prove it, just in time
Its distance -- to behold --
Its far -- far Treasure to surmise --
And estimate the Pearl --
That slipped my simple fingers through --
While just a Girl at School.
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News
Iran's Top Leader Warns US, Israel Against Strike
Iran's supreme leader on Thursday warned Israel and the United States that Tehran's response will be tough should its archenemies choose a military strike against Iran over the country's controversial nuclear program.
"Anybody who takes up the idea of an attack on Iran, should get ready to receive a strong slap and an iron fist" by the Iranian armed forces, said Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Khamenei spoke two days after the U.N. atomic agency released a report that for the first time said Iran is suspected of conducting secret experiments whose sole purpose is the development of nuclear arms.
You can't have a government without a banker!
Greek banker Papademos joins coalition talks
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Lucas Papademos, a top former European Central Bank official, joined Greek political leaders at power-sharing talks Thursday, becoming the front-runner to lead an interim coalition government.
The interim government is being formed to make sure debt-strapped Greece gets its latest bailout payment and to approve a new euro130 billion ($177 billion) international rescue package from eurozone partners and the International Monetary Fund.
Greece is under growing international pressure to hammer out a coalition deal that would likely run the country until early elections in late February, after ratifying and negotiating details of the new debt deal. That deal is the country's second massive bailout, after a first euro110 billion ($150 billion) rescue package was deemed not enough to keep Greece from bankruptcy.
I would love to see this happen in the US!
UK students protest fee hike
Students marched through London on Wednesday to protest cuts to public spending and a big increase in tuition fees.
Police said more than 2,000 people were taking part as the march set off with chants of "No ifs, no buts, no education cuts".
Some 4,000 police officers were deployed along the route, which wound from the University of London to the city's financial district. At Trafalgar Square, a group of protesters erected more than 20 tents at the foot of Nelson's Column in the latest spinoff of the Occupy Wall Street protest camp movement.
Guess what happens when you put Democratic Party values up for a vote! The Democratic Party shouldn't make such assumption about Democratic politicians
In Ohio collective-bargaining vote, Democrats see some hope for 2012
Amid widespread anxiety about their prospects at the polls next year, President Obama and Democrats found a rare kernel of hope in the off-year election results Tuesday night.
It came in Ohio, a perennially crucial battleground, where voters repealed a Republican-backed law curbing collective bargaining rights for many union members.
Across the country, the elections offered a mixed forecast heading into 2012, but party strategists say the results in Ohio may carry greater political importance.
A trigger? Really? Why don't you propose another bipartisan commission while you're at it?
Democrats Offer $2.3 Trillion Deficit Plan With Tax Trigger
Some Democrats on the congressional supercommittee are proposing a $2.3 trillion deficit-reduction plan, including $1 trillion in tax increases with a so-called trigger that would raise $650 billion if the tax code isn't revamped by Jan. 1, 2013, according to a document party members are circulating.
The trigger, according to the document, would kick in only if Congress doesn't rewrite the tax code next year. Tax writers would receive instructions to cap individual tax rates at 35 percent, overhaul corporate taxation and maintain the progressivity currently in the code.
Democrats presented this offer to Republicans on Nov. 7 at a meeting at which Republican Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania presented his proposal that included some net tax increases, according to a Republican aide and a Democratic aide familiar with the plans.
A tale of two university protests.
Joe Paterno Fired: Penn State Students Riot in Protest
Thousands of enraged Penn State students tore through the streets of State College, Pa., overnight to protest the firing of Joe Paterno after the longtime head football coach was removed from his position effective immediately.
Amid chants of "We want JoePa," "One more game" and "F*** the media!," rioting students flipped over a television van, knocked a lamppost onto a car, threw toilet tissue and rocks at police and set off fireworks.
Police met the rioting crowds with tear gas as it became clear that the army of officers, who were out in riot gear, were far outnumbered by students. Every local police department in the county contributed officers to the effort to control the crowd, along with state police and the county sheriff's department.
Police arrest UC Berkeley students, professor over Occupy camp
BERKELEY -- Moving quickly to quell a protest on the site where the Free Speech Movement was born, UC Berkeley police in riot gear on Wednesday tore down tents and arrested at least seven people who had established an Occupy Cal camp.
The violent clash was in stark contrast to peaceful speeches about protecting higher education from budget cuts and a short march that started the demonstration in front of Sproul Hall at noon. By 3:30 p.m., protesters linking arms were facing down lines of police officers as the Occupy group tried to protect a handful of tents that had been erected on a lawn in front of the building.
After warning protesters that camping at the university is illegal, officers moved in and shoved demonstrators out of the way as they pushed toward the camp. Six UC Berkeley students and an associate professor were arrested; charges included resisting officers and failing to disperse.
Scientists plan to prove Antarctica climate change is occurring
What if climate change in Antarctica was happening in a place nobody could see?
NASA Scientists believe it is, and today they outlined their plan to prove it. What they find may turn what we know about glacial melt upside down.
The scientists held an international teleconference to discuss an expedition to the Pine Island Glacier (PIG), a giant mass of floating ice. Satellite observations show this is one of the most active ice masses in Antarctica. NASA believes its increased melting could lead to rising ocean levels. They believe warmer ocean water is flowing under the glacier and heating it up.
Wow. I wonder how many mistakes have been made.
Bedside test finds awareness in vegetative brains
In recent years, scientists have learned that some patients believed to be in a vegetative state actually have some awareness and that they might be able to communicate. Now, a new study suggests a portable brain monitor can detect signs of this, perhaps making it possible someday for doctors to easily double-check the diagnosis at the bedside.
Researchers used an EEG machine to examine brain waves and found that three of 16 vegetative patients could understand what they heard and follow instructions.
EEG machines are far more common and less expensive than the large functional MRI scanners that have shown awareness in some vegetative patients in previous studies. So they could be set up in a patient’s room, avoiding logistical problems that can make it dangerous or impossible to have a vegetative patient scanned at an fMRI facility, researchers said.