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 welcome links to your writings here on dkos or elsewhere, posts of pictures, music, news, 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.
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Good Morning!
Longwood Gardens. March, 2012. Photo credit: joanneleon
Cappuccino smile
by Ivan Donn Carswell
Ah, the aromas of that conversation,
the brimming, cappuccino smile
swirled in chocolate rich and cinnamoned,
the gentle coffee curlicues interlaced
in arabesques of creamy foam, redolent
upon your lips, lilted in the cup of your
countenance, glazed in syrup gilt.
Your words were velvet plumes
of soothing, honeyed dews
you tea-spooned in my mind,
the flavoured greetings savoured
fleeting glimpses of delight,
the jasmine scented night tasting of Swiss
pastries, sugared and freshly baked.
© I.D. Carswell
News
Social Security Is Not Going Broke
Which federal program took in more than it spent last year, added $95 billion to its surplus and lifted 20 million Americans of all ages out of poverty?
Why, Social Security, of course, which ended 2011 with a $2.7 trillion surplus.
[ ... ]
So why all the talk about Social Security “going broke?” That theme filled the news after release of the latest annual report of the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Federal Disability Insurance Trust Funds, as Social Security is formally called.
The reason is that the people who want to kill Social Security have for years worked hard to persuade the young that the Social Security taxes they pay to support today’s gray hairs will do nothing for them when their own hair turns gray.
Would-be Speaker Pelosi's "No I Won't" that means "Yes I Will" cut Soc. Security
Yesterday, Russ Feingold called out once-and-would-be Speaker Pelosi for her new-found support of the Simpson-Bowles "Grannie's New Diet" proposal (my emphases everywhere):
Russ Feingold ... said in an email to supporters that Pelosi "has signaled a disturbing potential willingness to adopt a plan that could slash these benefits. And it follows a pattern: Too many House Democrats, including Steny Hoyer, are already on board."
I think "potential willingness" is Feingold being polite, but that's just me; I could well be wrong.
Stop the Obamapologists Before They Kill the Data
Peter Coy is ordinarily a pretty good reporter, but he really misses the boat with this chart, with the comment, "this jobs recovery is weak, all right, but right in line with the past two recoveries."
[ ... ]
When you evaluate the strength of a recovery, you also have to consider the depth of the downturn that preceded it. In the 1990-91 recession we lost 1.5 million jobs, in the 2001 recession we lost 1.6 million jobs. In the 2007-2009 recession we lost 7.5 million jobs.
The job loss in the downturn provides the room for job growth in the upturn. That is why the economy was able to generate 10.4 million jobs from June of 1975 to June of 1978 and 9.8 million jobs from December of 1982 to December of 1985. (Remember the labor force was less than 2/3rds the size of the current labor force.) In both cases, severe recessions left enormous room for job growth in the expansion. This is also true with the current downturn.
Several Obama supporters have picked up Coy's graph and tried to make a political statement with it. They have. They don't believe that Obama can make a serious economic case to support his re-election.
The Fox (Monsanto) Buys the Chicken Coop (Beeologics)
Why would one of the largest purveyors of pesticides, genetically engineered seeds and agrochemicals want to buy a company which has been seeking solutions to the escalating threats to the world bee population?
Monsanto spokeswomen Kelly Powers says it is to give the fledgling company a helping hand. Beeologics has developed a product called Remembee, an anti-viral agent which its boosters claim will help stem the tide of Colony Collapse Disorder, a mysterious plague which has led to the disappearance of the bees in up to a third of the commercial colonies located in the U.S. during the last decade.
The root of the problem, however, may not be the virus targeted by Remembee, a chemical agent which utilizes RNA interference, a mechanism that blocks gene expression, but the herbicides and insecticides that agro-chemical giants like Monsanto, Dow and Bayer have themselves been hawking to farmers around the world.
To Avert Climate Change Disaster, Connecting the Dots Must Go Viral
As of 8:30 a.m. EST this morning, 10,000 Facebook folks had already “liked” the new 350.org “Connect the Dots” campaign, which encourages people around the world to connect the dots between climate change and extreme weather.
That's a good number of "likes." But what we really need is for the concept to go viral, the way the Kony 2012 campaign did a few weeks back.
It will require the attention of millions of people, particularly those in the driver’s seat of climate change—that’s you and me, my fellow Americans—to turn this global heating juggernaut around.
European elections - in pictures
People across Europe are voting in elections, be it for a new president in France, the national parliament in Greece, local elections in Germany and Italy, or in Serbia, where voters are casting their ballots for all three
Peru pelican and dolphin deaths prompt warning to stay off beaches
Government issues health alert after more than 1,400 birds are washed up along with 800 dolphins, with the cause unknown
"We're starting from the hypothesis that it's because the birds are young and unable to find enough food for themselves, and also because the sea temperature has risen and anchovies have moved elsewhere," said Juan Rheineck, the deputy agriculture minister.
A mass pelican death along Peru's northern coast in 1997 was blamed at the time on a shortage of their anchovy staple diet due to the El Niño weather pattern.
Harper denies giving Lord Black special consideration on residency
NDP Leader Tom Mulcair is accusing the Conservative government of giving special treatment to Lord Black by agreeing to let him return to Canada after he is released from an American prison this week.
[ ... ]
“Thousands of people are following the rules and waiting their turn to be admitted to Canada,” he said. “The Conservative government is giving a free pass to Conrad Black, a British criminal who is still jailed in an American penitentiary.”
Mr. Mulcair said friends of the Tories get special consideration.
Brian Gable, Globe and Mail
Super moon shines Saturday night
The source of the super moon's power: Its elliptical orbit. At 8:35 p.m., the full moon will reach the part of its path that is closest to Earth, called it's perigee. Because of slight variability in its orbit, this perigee is the closest of all the perigees this year for the Earth's satellite. The result is a grand, golden orb.
Thousands March as Japan Shuts off Nuclear Power, for Now
Japan goes nuke free for first time in four decades amidst pressure to restart
Japan celebrated the switching off of the last of their nuclear reactors today. Thousands marched in the streets waving banners and playing music as their country went nuclear free for the first time since 1970.
[ ... ]
However, the Japanese government is still pushing to restart two idled reactors at Kansai Electric Power Co.'s Oi nuclear plant in Fukui Prefecture, despite public outcry. The government and power companies will have to win approval in a court of public opinion.
The United States of Banks
To protect Bank of America from inconvenience, Charlotte, North Carolina has directed its police officers to harass and arrest protesters. Unconstitutionally, in my opinion.
Charlotte Sides With Bank of America Over People
Charlotte has imposed special rules on a 2 block by 2 block square for 12 hours on Wednesday (May 9) to protect the Bank of America annual shareholder meeting from disruption by protesters. The rules apply to any “Extraordinary Event”, and were adopted nominally for the coming Democratic National Convention and city celebrations such as July 4. While the rules are poorly drafted and I believe facially unconstitutional regardless, imposing them for the BofA meeting seems overwhelmingly so. Extra restrictions for the July 4th celebration in the name of public safety is one thing; it’s an outdoor, public event hosted by the city for the benefit of its citizenry. The Democratic Convention is similarly easy to rationalize, given that the President and other national security targets will be there. But Bank of America’s shareholder meeting?