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Tonight's music features Pinetop Perkins, a legend of the blues. As the biography on his website states:
Pinetop Perkins was one of the last great Mississippi bluesmen. He began playing blues in the late 1920s, and is widely regarded as one of the best – and certainly most enduring – blues pianists. He has forged a style that has influenced three generations of piano players, and continues to be the yardstick by which great blues pianists are measured.
Check out his bio and enjoy the music!
Pinetop Perkins - Chicken Shack
"They think they’re gonna get away with this. These people who stole the pension funds of the American public. Who stole their money, who stole the future of our kids and grand-kids they think…. They’re kleptomaniacs and they think they’re gonna get away with it. They have taken our Democracy and formed it into a klep-tocracty. And if we don’t stand up, if we don’t have our voices heard, believe me, they’re not done yet."
-- Michael Moore (on MSNBC)
News
Sharif Abdel Kouddous: Historic Egypt Election Outweighed by Continued Dominance of Military Rule
Four presidents propose power of eurozone authorities over national governments
European leaders have drafted a radical plan to turn the 17 countries of the eurozone into a full-fledged political federation within a decade in an attempt to placate the financial markets by demonstrating a political will to save the single currency in the medium-term.
The incendiary proposals for a banking, fiscal, and economic unions resulting in a “political union” are to be debated at an EU summit on Thursday and Friday. Following two bad-tempered meetings of European leaders in Mexico and Rome over the past week, the Brussels summit looks likely to see major clashes over the future of Europe as well as the immediate crisis surrounding sovereign debt, bad banks, and the euro’s survival.
WikiLeaks suspect Bradley Manning wins battle over U.S. documents
A US military judge ordered prosecutors Monday to share more documents with WikiLeaks suspect Bradley Manning after defense lawyers accused them of hiding information that could help their client’s case. ...
Judge Denise Lind ruled that government prosecutors must provide “damage assessment” reports from the CIA, the State Department, the FBI, the Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive (Oncix) and other documents that were relevant for the defense.
The judge, agreeing with a request from Manning’s lawyers, also ordered the prosecution to give a detailed account showing it had met legal obligations to share all pertinent evidence with the defense.
Bernanke goes mostly unheard on spending
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, yet again, publicly called for spending from Congress. Yet again, much of the press ignored him. ...
This time, Bernanke’s comments, which are now meant as much to fend off the so-called fiscal cliff as they are to push an outright spending increase, came in response to a WSJ question, but the paper still didn’t report them. The New York Times also missed Bernanke’s fiscal comments, as did USA Today and the Associated Press.
I wouldn’t know Bernanke had said anything about the matter if not for Talking Points Memo, which zeroed in on them, including his warning about the drag of “fiscal restraint at the federal state and local levels.” MSNBC’s Steve Benen spotted it too:
This isn’t exactly subtle — Bernanke has been pleading with Congress for two years to consider fiscal stimulus, but Republicans refuse.
Opinion recap: Citizens United solidified
Leaving no doubt that the Supreme Court has no intention of putting new restraints on political campaign spending, despite the huge outflow of cash this year, a five-Justice majority on Monday seized on a new case from Montana to solidify the controversial ruling two years ago in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. Only two potential developments might make a difference in the future: if the Court were persuaded to crack down on secrecy in such spending, or if the Court’s own membership changes. With complete freedom for donors to spend tens of millions, the disclosure of their identities now looms as the next major issue on campaign finance.
The Court was split 5-4 in striking down — without full briefing or oral argument — a 100-year-old Montana state law that banned corporations in that state from spending any of their corporate cash to support or oppose a candidate or a political party. While the four Justices in dissent may have had the authority to force a grant of review (normally, four votes to grant is a respected tradition), they did not insist upon that, conceding that there was no chance now that the majority would reconsider the Citizens United precedent even if it did take on the new case for full review.
The brevity of the unsigned (“Per Curiam”) opinion for the majority overruling the Montana Supreme Court suggested that the five Justices who jointed in Citizens United were totally unmoved by a stack of friend-of-court briefs urging the Court to reconsider that decision in the wake of the flood of money going into races this year, especially for the presidency and for seats in Congress.
Exxon reports leak in line at Baton Rouge, LA, refinery
Exxon Mobil Corp reported a leak in a supply line on the T1 tower at its 502,000 barrel per day (bpd) refinery in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, that led to a release of benzene, according to a filing with the National Response Center.
Blog Posts of Interest
Here are diaries and selected blog posts of interest on DailyKos and other blogs.
What's Happenin'
The Big Money Behind The Big Expansion Of Web Domains
'Shock Doctrine' in Action: Vital Freshwater Resources Under Attack by Privatization Capitalists
What Happened to All the Weatherization Jobs?
Where are your legs that used to run before you left to carry a gun?
A Little Night Music
Pinetop Perkins - Grindin' Man
Pinetop Perkins and LA Jones - Got My Mojo Working
Pinetop Perkins - How Long Blues
Muddy Waters + Pinetop Perkins - Champagne and Reefer, Blow Wind Blow (live)
Muddy Waters And Pinetop Perkins - Hoochie Coochie Man, They Call Me Muddy Waters
Pinetop Perkins + Clifford Antone - Big Fat Mama, You Got Me Dizzy
Pinetop Perkins noodling around in Clarksdale Mississippi 2009
Pinetop Perkins and LA Jones - Caledonia
Got a half an hour? Here's a live set of Pinetop with a line up of his bandmates fromt the Muddy Waters band at the King Biscuit Blues Festival in Helena, Arkansas:
Pinetop Perkins Plays Helena - Chicken Shack, Kansas City, Down In Mississippi, Grindin' Man, Just A Little Bit, Mojo Workin'
For further listening (presuming you're addicted now):
Pinetop Perkins - After Hours
Lend Me Your Love-Pinetop Perkins
John Brim & Pinetop Perkins - Driving Wheel