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Good Morning!
Longwood Gardens. March, 2012. Photo credit: joanneleon
Desiderata
by Max Ehrmann
Go placidly amidst the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexatious to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals; and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass.
Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labours and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul. With all its shams, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.
News
Decision day: Marriage amendment, governor and presidential races
RALEIGH, N.C. — Polls opened early Tuesday, letting voters cast their ballot on whether to amend the state constitution to ban gay marriage and who to nominate among major party candidates for president, governor and other statewide and legislative seats
[ ... ]
Marriage amendment drives high turnout
Voters expressed intense interest in the proposed amendment that states that "marriage between one man and one woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized" in North Carolina.
Billion-Dollar Traders Quit Wall Street for Hedge Funds
In the five years that John Silvetz made about $700 million for Deutsche Bank AG (DBK) by trading corporate bonds and credit derivatives, the amount of his annual bonus paid in cash dropped to 20 percent from almost 70 percent.
The rest, earned by betting on companies from American International Group Inc. to MBIA Inc., was locked up in deferred stock and euros, according to people familiar with the matter, who declined to be identified because they’re not authorized to discuss compensation. In September, Silvetz, 37, jumped to hedge fund BlueCrest Capital Management LLP. He was the last of a trio of New York debt traders who departed after making $1 billion for the German lender in two years, the people said.
[ ... ]
Hedge funds are offering managing director-level traders salaries of about $200,000 to $250,000, said Michael Karp, managing partner at New York executive recruiter Options Group. Some of the largest hedge funds may pay bonuses of as much as 12 percent of traders’ profits, or an even bigger percentage of their earnings after the firm takes a 2 percent cut, according to Options Group.
Met Museum Ball
On the red carpet at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute Ball, David Koch of Koch Industries was feeling lavish surrounded by Gwyneth Paltrow, Scarlett Johansson, Emma Stone and Jessica Pare.
“On nights like this, you spend,” Koch said of the $10,000-a-ticket benefit to support fashion exhibitions. His Harry Winston tuxedo studs with diamonds and emeralds sparkled.
“It’s pageantry in the 18th-century sense of the word,” said Catherine Martin, wife of theater director Baz Lurhmann. “We’re all entertaining each other in our excesses.”
Occupy offshoot to bus protesters to Chicago
May 7, 2012 (CHICAGO) (WLS) -- Members of the Occupy movement from both coasts and a number of cities in between are organizing protests during the NATO meeting, now less than two weeks away.
[ ... ]
But when NATO comes to town, the Chicago protesters will also be hosting many of their fellow Occupy protesters from around the country. An offshoot of Occupy Wall Street is sponsoring buses from coast to coast to bring protesters to Chicago.
The group also plans to surround the Boeing headquarters building on May 21, hoping to shut the building down for the day. Coincidently, Boeing building management put up fences Monday around perimeter of the building. A spokesperson says they have nothing to do with protest plans saying. "The fences went up today and will be up through November or December as part of a long-planned construction project," said Boeing spokesman John Dern. "It's not a reaction to the NATO protests. We are still finalizing our plans, but we will make sure our people and property are protected during any protests."
Second blue-on-green attack this year at the same base in Marja.
Attacker in an Afghan Uniform Kills a NATO Soldier
KABUL, Afghanistan — An attacker in an Afghan Army uniform opened fire on coalition soldiers in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, killing one service member. It was possibly the latest in a recent string of so-called green-on-blue assaults on coalition soldiers by their Afghan partners this year.
[ ... ]
Mr. Ahmadi said initial reports suggested that the shooting happened in the late afternoon after a dispute broke out between coalition and Afghan forces. He said another NATO soldier was wounded, but NATO did not confirm that.
Jim White over in the comments of his post at
emptywheel.com points out this tweet from Gareth Porter:
Gareth Porter just tweeted this about the latest green on blue attack:
19th attack by Afghan soldier on NATO soldier for 1 every 6.6 days this year. Cf 1 every 17 days in 2011. Do the math.
Is one related to the other? At least 14 of civilian deaths from drone strikes since Sunday? And btw, go look at the picture Al Jazeera chose for this story.
Karzai summons US envoy over civilian deaths
Afghan president calls US ambassador and NATO chief over claims of increasing civilian deaths from Western air strikes.
Karzai called John Allen, commander of NATO forces in the country, and Ryan Crocker, the US envoy, to the presidential palace on Monday to discuss what he said were dozens of civilian deaths and injuries caused by air strikes by the foreign forces in four provinces since Sunday evening.
Officials who spoke with Al Jazeera on Monday said at least 14 of those killed by an overnight NATO air strike were in Badghis province. An additional six civilians were injured in the attack in the province's district of Balamurghab.
In a statement released on Monday, Karzai said that the strategic pact sealed by Barack Obama, the US president, last week was at risk of being "meaningless" if Afghans do not feel safe.
This is pretty surprising - not the idea that the Taliban is stronger but the fact that Feinstein said it so unambiguously on a Sunday news show.
Feinstein, Rogers say Taliban ‘stronger’ since surge
The leaders of the House and Senate intelligence committees said Sunday they believe that the Taliban has grown stronger since President Obama sent 33,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan in 2010.
The pessimistic report by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) challenges Obama’s assessment last week in his visit to Kabul that the “tide had turned” and that “we broke the Taliban’s momentum.”
[ ... ]
When asked if the Taliban’s capabilities have been degraded since Obama deployed the additional troops two years ago, Feinstein said: “I think we’d both say that what we’ve found is that the Taliban is stronger.”
U.S. abandons consulate site in Afghanistan, citing security risks
After signing a 10-year lease and spending more than $80 million on a site envisioned as the United States’ diplomatic hub in northern Afghanistan, American officials say they have abandoned their plans, deeming the location for the proposed compound too dangerous.
[ ... ]
In March 2009, Richard C. Holbrooke, who had recently been appointed President Obama’s envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, lobbied for the establishment of a consulate in Mazar-e Sharif within 60 days, according to the memo. The city was deemed relatively safe at the time, far removed from Taliban strongholds of the south. A consulate just a short walk from Mazar-e Sharif’s Blue Mosque, one of the country’s most sacred religious sites, was seen as a way to reassure members of the ethnic Tajik and Uzbek minorities that dominate the north that the United States was committed to Afghanistan for the long haul.
Part of our strategic agreement with Afghanistan involved turning over control of the prisons and detainees to the Afghans. Yet there is this new secret program in which American officials release certain Taliban terrorists, without disavowing their cause, in order to attempt to quiet down troublesome areas.
Secret U.S. program releases high-level insurgents in exchange for pledges of peace
As opposed to the formal NATO-sponsored reintegration program, which forces militants to sever ties with the insurgency, the strategic release program does not require detainees to formally disavow their relationship to the Taliban, Hezb-i-Islami or other insurgent groups. In some cases, detainees are expected to maintain those connections and use them to further peace-building efforts between the Americans and the insurgents.
[ ... ]
Some Afghans say they worry that although the program might be effective in quelling violence, it marginalizes their role in the country’s reconciliation process. Afghans often provide intelligence that leads to strategic releases, but Americans ultimately make the decision to release detainees. And in some cases, insurgent commanders attempt to broker deals directly with American officials, excluding the Afghan security forces from the process.
“We tried to get the [insurgent] commanders to work with the Afghan National Army, but they weren’t interested,” said a U.S. commander in eastern Afghanistan who worked on a strategic release this year.
Top 10 Big Cities For Jobs: Report
Forbes Magazine recently ranked the top big cities for jobs [ ... ]
Here are the top 10 big cities for jobs, according to Forbes [ ... ]
Obama Gay Marriage Stance Presents Early Character Test For 2012 Election
"He is never going to be anti-gay enough to satisfy those who are anti-gay. But now he is managing to fall short of those who want him to be with them on marriage," said Evan Wolfson, founder and president of Freedom to Marry. "Whichever it is, it is clear that they have little to gain by dragging out the president's evolution ... by contrast, they do have a lot to gain by speaking out clearly."
[ ... ]
"Why not just come out and say it, and let voters decide? It seems cynical to hide this until after the election," said ABC's Jake Tapper.
In response, Carney insisted that no daylight existed between Obama and Biden on the issue. "There is a little bit of an overreaction here," he said.
Minutes later, appearing on MSNBC, the head of the Republican National Committee accused the president of hedging, trying to avoid offending socially conservative Democrats while signaling something altogether different to his progressive base.
Shocker! The Republicans aren't keeping their promise about the deal made last August.
White House Veto Threat Issued Over GOP Spending Bill
WASHINGTON — The White House on Monday vowed to veto a House spending bill for the Justice Department, NASA and several other agencies, charging its GOP authors with violating last summer's budget pact and cutting programs like legal aid to the poor too deeply.
The legislation in question is the first appropriations bill to come to the House floor this year. Republicans are cutting domestic agency operating budgets below levels agreed to with President Barack Obama last year as part of budget legislation setting an overall "cap" on the day-to-day budgets for Cabinet agencies.
Global Corporations Undermining Democracy Worldwide
GENEVA - In a world where governments are increasingly subservient to global finance capital, multinationals are gaining ground in the fight against state regulations that aim to protect the environment, public health or social policies.
According to the most recent data released by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the number of lawsuits brought against governments by companies evoking clauses in bilateral investment treaties (BITs) was 450 at the end of 2011.
These are only the known cases; most are kept secret.
[ ... ]
The highly controversial BITs – which establish the conditions for investment by companies of one country in another state – have handed multinational corporations an arsenal of clauses with which to fight state regulations against harmful investment.
Robert Reich:
A Question of Timing: What America Can Learn From the Revolt in Europe
Who's an economy for? Voters in France and Greece have made it clear it's not for the bond traders.
[ ... ]
Cameron, whose own economic policies have worsened the daily grind dragging down most Brits, may be sobered by what happened over the weekend in France and Greece -- as well as his own poll numbers. Britain's conservatives have been taking a beating.
In truth, the choice isn't simply between budget-cutting austerity, on the one hand, and growth and jobs on the other.
It's really a question of timing. And it's the same issue on this side of the pond. If government slices spending too early, when unemployment is high and growth is slowing, it makes the debt situation far worse.
David Dayen:
• I don’t have a lot to say about Eric Schneiderman’s segment with Chris Hayes from over the weekend, except to say that he appeared to walk back the promise made by unnamed officials in his office to me, that he would walk from the task force if it proved ineffectual. Maybe we’ll hear more about this investigation into loan bundling and something real will result, but we’ll have to see.
[ ... ]
• More confirmation of HAMP’s failure. A program that touted a potential 25,000 new modifications a week is now getting about 12,000 a month. And Pat Garofalo notes that those ballyhooed tweaks to the program don’t become mandatory for servicers until June.
• Ryan Avent and Mike Konczal muse about the labor force participation rate, and what it means for an accurate representation of the nation’s job market. Really we’re much closer to 10% unemployment than 8%. And yes, sustained fiscal and monetary policy could actually fix this.
• Ron Paul supporters busily use the arcane rules of state party nominating conventions to build a far stronger presence in the delegate race than the actual votes would suggest. This is going to be hilarious.
This is good. But what is going to get cut? Dems and the White House want this to happen. It is now a 2012 electoral issue and a big one. 7 million student loans are at stake.
Divided Congress likely to agree on student loans
(Reuters) - One way or another, the Congress seems certain to prevent a low interest rate for federal student loans from doubling on July 1, aides and analysts say, largely because lawmakers do not want to rile young voters before the November 6 elections.
[ ... ]
Senate Democrats are expected to reject a bill passed two weeks ago by the Republican-led House of Representatives to fund it by taking money away from Obama's healthcare overhaul.
Regardless, members of both sides voice confidence that someway, somehow, a bipartisan agreement will be reached before July 1, when the rate is set to double to 6.4 percent on subsidized student "Stafford" loans.
Suggested reforms for Wildlife Services run the gamut
Since 2006, employees have trapped, shot and poisoned more than a half million coyotes and other predators, along with 300-plus other species, from non-native starlings and pigeons to red-tailed hawks, prairie dogs, beaver and other native birds and mammals. In the process, they have also accidentally killed more than 50,000 non-target animals, from domestic dogs to golden eagles to black bears.
"People want to see bears. They want to see wolves. They want to see mountain lions. It's part of the natural heritage of the United States," said Michael Mares, president of the American Society of Mammalogists. "We should be stewards of the system, not wiping out species and damaging ecosystems."
Ideas for reform include more nonlethal control, curtailing aerial gunning, a ban on traps, snares and cyanide poison and pouring more resources into controlling invasive species. Some critics are calling for an investigation of Wildlife Services' trapping practices and perhaps eliminating the agency altogether.
Al Jazeera English to close China bureau
Move comes after Chinese authorities refused to renew correspondent's press credentials and visa.
Al Jazeera English has had to close its bureau in Beijing after the Chinese authorities refused to renew their correspondent’s press credentials and visa.
Al Jazeera English has expressed its disappointment in the situation and said it is continuing to request a presence in China. The channel has even been requesting additional visas for correspondents for quite some time through the normal procedures but these have not been issued.
[ ... ]
"We are committed to our coverage of China. Just as China news services cover the world freely we would expect that same freedom in China for any Al Jazeera journalist. Al Jazeera Media Network will continue to work with the Chinese authorities in order to reopen our Beijing bureau."
A horrific story.
Slamming the door to justice on Palestinians
Israel's ability to commit crimes against Palestinians with impunity relies on international complicity.
Chicago, IL - There is a determined international effort to ensure that Palestinians are shut out of every legal forum where they could pursue justice for Israel's crimes against them. Nothing illustrates this better than the horrifying case of the Samouni massacre.
Last week, Israeli military prosecutors announced that no charges would be filed against the soldiers responsible for killing dozens of members of the Samouni family during the 2008-2009 Operation Cast Lead attack on Gaza.
Israeli officials decided, according to Haaretz, that "the attack on civilians 'who did not take part in the fighting', and their killing, were not done knowingly and directly, or out of haste and negligence 'in a manner that would indicate criminal responsibility'".
Blog Posts of Interest
This is a new section in the What's Happenin' diaries that will be updated throughout the day to promote selected blog posts of interest on DailyKos and other blogs.
Calling BS on "Underwear Bomb Plot": Blatant Fear-Mongering As Conflict Escalates in Yemen on DailyKos by Jesselyn Radack
Rising unemployment until 2016 for pro-austerity UK on Americablog by Chris in Paris
Who’s on the record against Amendment One? A lot of people – here’s a guide on Pam's House Blend by Pam Spaulding
We have to be "people" before they will study our health on Dailykos by rserven.