![](http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7156/6786624441_800f972419_m.jpg)
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.
Everyone who wants to join in peaceful interaction is very welcome here.
|
Good Morning!
Longwood Gardens, February, 2012, Photo credit: joanneleon
All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson
News
Afghanistan militants attack Kandahar killings site
The BBC's Bilal Sarwary: "Effigies of President Obama were burned"
Two of Afghan President Hamid Karzai's brothers and several top security officials were in the delegation in Panjwai in Kandahar province.
One Afghan soldier and three militants were killed, police said, and the delegation is heading back to Kandahar.
Yes, war is hell. So let's get out. And let's hold the chain of command accountable too.
U.S. soldier to be charged in Afghanistan massacre
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, traveling to Krygzystan, said Monday evening that the soldier could face the death penalty.
"We seem to get tested almost every other day with challenges that test our leadership and our commitment to the mission that we're involved in," Panetta said, according to an Associated Press reporter traveling with him. "War is hell.
Stay the course.
White House: No Change in Afghan Strategy
(WASHINGTON) — The Obama administration said Monday the war strategy in Afghanistan remains intact despite the mass killing of Afghan civilians on Sunday, allegedly by an American soldier. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called the episode "inexplicable" but insisted it won't force the U.S. to change course.
"This terrible incident does not change our steadfast dedication to protecting the Afghan people and to doing everything we can to build a strong and stable Afghanistan," Clinton told reporters at the United Nations in New York.
If there is anything that will get us out of Afghanistan, this will be it. A risk of not being reelected. And after all the talk about more war with Iran for the past two weeks, the media blames the poll drops on... gas prices. So with all of these things going on, the massacre in Afghanistan, the threats of war with Iran, the economy and the gas prices, he is giving a statement today at 11:00a.m. ... about trade policy with China.
Poll: Obama's approval rating sinks to new low
(CBS News) President Obama's approval rating has hit the lowest level ever in CBS News polling, according to the latest CBS News/New York Times survey. The drop may be partially attributable to rising gas prices.
[ ... ]
"Which is part of the reason I said a couple weeks ago let's stop with the loose talk about war," he said. "Because a lot of what's driving this is people's concern and fear that there might be major disruptions in the Middle East oil markets."
Would that be the same kind of "support role" that we played in Libya? The one where the war could not be maintained if we left?
Obama and Cameron set to end troops' lead combat role in Afghanistan
Leaders meeting to discuss plans for British and US military move to support and training role by middle of 2013
Amid fears among Nato commanders in Afghanistan that the troop "draw down" may be moving too rapidly, the two leaders will discuss plans for British and US troops to move from "lead combat" to a support and training role by the middle of 2013. This could involve what is being described as a "support combat role", though all Nato troops except those involved in training Afghan forces are due to be withdrawn by the end of 2014.
The Legal Lie at the Heart of the $8.5 Billion Bank of America and Federal/State Mortgage Settlements
But what about this investor approval that Donovan says he has? He has told both journalists and mortgage investors directly that the bulk of the mods will come from Countrywide deals and he has consent via the $8.5 billion Bank of America/Bank of New York settlement. Huh? First, it seems more that a bit cheeky to rely on a major piece of a program via a deal that has not yet gone through (the Bank of America settlement was removed to Federal court and has now been sent back to state court, and there will be discovery in the state court process, so approval is not imminent).
But second and more important, investors approved nothing. Bank of New York is trying to act well outside its authority as trustee for the 530 Countrywide trusts in the settlement. It’s tantamount to having a friend that you gave a medical power of attorney claim that it gave him the authority to sell your car and write checks on your account.
Here we go. You knew that the OWS = terrorists thing was coming eventually, right?
The NYPD’s Surveillance of Muslims and Occupy Wall Street Converges
These are the same tactics–or worse–as used when the NYPD targeted Muslims planning a peaceful protest of cartoons deemed blasphemous. But most troubling is the last anecdote the NYT reports (which the NYT might have known to contextualize if they had been reporting on the NYPD spying on Muslims). In one case, they NYPD and the FBI are targeting an Occupy activist who, as someone who appears to have changed his name from his birth name, would have been targeted closely under the NYPD program. And they appear to be insinuating a tie with Islamic terrorism.
[ ... ]
In other words, the NYPD, apparently using their theories about name changes as a potential marker for terrorism, have found their nexus that opens up a whole set of tools under the PATRIOT Act.
But Ed Rendell can take money for speaking engagements from MEK, which the US has officially name a terrorist organization, and he is being investigated by the Treasury Dept. for it but he says it is not a problem because they should not be designated as a terrorist organization.
Ed Rendell Defends Material Support of the “Right” Terrorists
Ed Rendell is a lawyer. Yet when he did his research, he did not check whether doing paid speeches for MEK would be lawful. No, he says, he did research and is convinced that MEK shouldn’t be on the list. Tom Ridge, also a lawyer–not to mention a former top counterterrorism official who can’t claim to be ignorant of the law–says it’d be “moot” if it were illegal to give paid speeches in support of MEK, because the group shouldn’t be on the terrorist list.
But it is.
What Greece Means
So Greece has officially defaulted on its debt to private lenders. It was an “orderly” default, negotiated rather than simply announced, which I guess is a good thing. Still, the story is far from over. Even with this debt relief, Greece — like other European nations forced to impose austerity in a depressed economy — seems doomed to many more years of suffering.
[ ... ]
But what Greek experience actually shows is that while running deficits in good times can get you in trouble — which is indeed the story for Greece, although not for Spain — trying to eliminate deficits once you’re already in trouble is a recipe for depression.
These days, austerity-induced depressions are visible all around Europe’s periphery. Greece is the worst case, with unemployment soaring to 20 percent even as public services, including health care, collapse. But Ireland, which has done everything the austerity crowd wanted, is in terrible shape too, with unemployment near 15 percent and real G.D.P. down by double digits. Portugal and Spain are in similarly dire straits.
Bruce Springsteen Kicks Off 2012 Tour at New York's Apollo Theater
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band's concert at New York's Apollo Theater was an evening of firsts. It was the first show they've played in support of Springsteen's new LP Wrecking Ball, their first show in well over two years, their first show with a newly assembled five-piece horn section, their first show since adding an extra percussionist to the band and their first show at the legendary soul venue. But one first hovered above all the rest: it was their first ever show without Clarence Clemons. "We're missing a few people tonight," Springsteen said early on. "But if you're here, and we are here, they are here."
The concert was also the first opportunity for Springsteen fans to check out Clarence's nephew Jake Clemons, who now splits sax duties with Ed Manion. Jake (destined to be known as the Little Big Man) stayed in the back with the horn section during the first two songs, but when the group kicked into "Badlands," he moved his way up to play his uncle's famous solo. It was a big moment, a real passing of the torch, and he absolutely nailed it.