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 we hang out and talk about the goings on here and everywhere.
We chat about our lives, our health, our families, our social circles, our pets, etc. We welcome links to your writings here on dkos or elsewhere, posts of pictures, music, etc.
Just about anything goes, but attacks and pie fights are not welcome here. This is a community diary and a friendly, peaceful, supportive place for people to interact.
This diary series is produced by the Team DFH group but anyone who wants to join in peaceful interaction is very welcome.
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Good Morning! Happy Valentine's Day!
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Drop in any time of day or night to say hello. |
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A Few Quotes for This Morning
I don't understand why Cupid was chosen to represent Valentine's Day. When I think about romance, the last thing on my mind is a short, chubby toddler coming at me with a weapon. ~Author Unknown
Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs. ~William Shakespeare
Who, being loved, is poor? ~Oscar Wilde
True love stories never have endings. ~Richard Bach
Time is too slow for those who wait, too swift for those who fear, too long for those who grieve, too short for those who rejoice, but for those who love, time is eternity. ~Henry Van Dyke
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News
The slow march toward war with Iran continues...
Israel blames Iran after attacks on embassy staff
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel accused arch-enemies Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah of being behind twin bomb attacks that targeted Israeli embassy staff in India and Georgia on Monday, wounding four people.
Tehran denied involvement in the attacks, which amplified tensions between two countries already at loggerheads over Iran's nuclear program, and accused Israel of carrying out the attacks itself. Hezbollah made no comment.
In the Indian capital New Delhi, a bomb wrecked a car taking an Israeli embassy official to pick up her children from school, police said. The woman needed surgery to remove shrapnel but her life was not in danger.
Occupy London gets a small break...
London Occupy's cathedral camp gets week's reprieve
LONDON (Reuters) - Dozens of protesters against economic inequality were effectively told they could remain camped outside London's landmark St Paul's Cathedral for another nine days while a judge decides whether to listen to their appeal against eviction.
London Occupy, part of an international movement, has been camping outside the landmark cathedral for four months, drawing attention to their argument against corporate greed and bankers' bonuses.
It has been locked in a legal battle with the City of London Corporation, which controls much of the land, and which wants the camp removed on grounds of safety and hygiene and to allow better access to the cathedral for worshippers.
An editorial worth a read...
America’s failed promise of equal opportunity
Americans are increasingly aware that the ideal of equal opportunity is a false promise, but neither party really seems to get it.
Republicans barely admit the problem exists, or if they do, they think tax cuts are the answer. All facts point in the opposite direction. Despite various tax cuts over the past 30 years, not only have income and wealth inequality dramatically increased, but the ability of individuals to rise out of their own class has declined. Social stagnation is increasingly the norm, with poverty rates the highest in 15 years, real wage gains worse even than during the decade of the Great Depression, average earnings barely above what they were 50 years ago, and more than 80 percent of the income growth of the past 25 years going to the top 1 percent. In fact, since 1983, the bottom 40 percent of households have seen real declines in their income and the same goes for the bottom 60 percent when it comes to wealth. We know what the economic status quo does: It redistributes upwards.
Despite the ambiguity of their goals, the Occupy protests have made one point abundantly clear: The mainstream Democratic alternative is paltry stuff. For the most part, Democrats disagree that tax cuts and deregulation are the solution, and instead argue that the state should be used to guarantee equal opportunity. For instance, cheap, publicly available education, job training and affirmative action are all justified on the grounds that each American should have the skills to compete and the labor market should treat everyone equally.
Be careful when you go in the water...
Humans blamed as shark attacks 'double'
Sharks killed twice as many swimmers and surfers last year than in 2010, with the increase due largely to a growth in tourism and changing shark patterns due to global warming.
There were 12 deaths in 46 shark attacks in 2011, a mortality rate of more than 25 percent compared to an average of under seven percent in the last 10 years, according to statistics from the University of Florida.
Countries that recorded shark attack deaths included Australia with three fatal out of a total of 11 attacks; South Africa, two fatal out of five; the French island of Reunion, two deaths in four attacks; and Seychelles with two attacks both of which ended in death.
It's doggie show time!
A Long Campaign Trail of Glossy Photos and Well-Groomed Hair
David and Judith Johnson of Middleboro, Mass., own 18 pugs. But it was clear by the time he was 6 months old that McGee, who is competing in the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, was “an incredible example of the breed,” David Johnson said. So two years ago, the Johnsons did what many dog owners do: they started a campaign.
McGee’s victories are chronicled about once a month in full-page color ads in Dog News, including one in this week’s Westminster issue. The couple occasionally buys online ads as well, and McGee is in more than 100 shows a year. He has made the cover of Pug Talk magazine, and his owners, who have matching pug wedding rings, say their efforts have made a difference.
“The pug people get it,” Judith Johnson said Monday at Madison Square Garden. “But you want to get people talking about the dog. You want to educate them about the breed and show them what a pug is. Sometimes, there are judges who just don’t know.”
A Valentine's place for those without a Valentine...
On Valentine's day, a museum for broken hearts
ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) — What becomes of a garden gnome hurled in fury at a windscreen during a stormy breakup?
Or a teddy bear that was once a Valentine's Day present? A wedding dress from a marriage gone awry? An ax that smashed through household furniture?
All are on display at the Museum of Broken Relationships in the Croatian capital, each with written testimonies telling tales of passion, romance and heartbreak.