Seven CIA employees were killed and six others injured in a terrorist attack on a base in eastern Afghanistan as the agency steps up its presence in the country alongside thousands more U.S. military forces.
President Barack Obama told Central Intelligence Agency employees yesterday that their colleagues who died Dec. 30 were "patriots who have made great sacrifices for their fellow citizens and for our way of life."
"In recent years, the CIA has been tested as never before," Obama, who is on vacation in Hawaii, said in the letter to agency employees.
Because of extenuating circumstances, I now find myself without housing. I will be leaving NY-19 (upstate NY) and goig back to New York City to be staying with friends for the time being, but I would like to solicit your help.
Problems such as poverty, unemployment and homelessness seem distant and something that doesn't hit as close to home until they become your problems. With that in mind, I would like to ask for your help in caring for societies less fortunate going into this holiday season, as many of us will nnot be sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner in our own homes with our own families. Many will be going without this Thanksgiving and during the upcoming holiday's, now more than ever, and I now count myself among them. Therefore, if you can give to the less fortunate, I implore you to do so, but first I ask you to help others even less fortunate than I before I dare to ask you for anything for myself.
The day breaks sunny and nippy in San Francisco and the wind is already whipping around Polk Street, in front of City Hall and down past the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium as the first Project Homeless Connect volunteer coordinators enter the auditorium prior to 7 AM. Just before midnight, the news is that some 2200 homeless showed up for services today. Final tallies are not yet published.
The mission of Project Homeless ConnectTM (PHC) is to connect San Francisco's homeless with the system of care that will help them move off the streets and into housing.
The striking thing here, is that no one is looking, or even cares, and if they are caught the situation likely gets even worse. They're not even bothering to keep the statistics.
Let's shovel some more cash to General Dynamics and Goldman Sux.
US President and Nobel Peace Prize winner Barack Obama last winter signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, appropriating $1.5 billion for a Homeless Prevention and Rapid Re-housing Program (HPRP). These monies are being distributed via a formula used for the Emergency Shelter Grant (ESG).
HUD, oversees the funding and serves as the hub for information on the program, And the National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH) is working alongside to ensure the successful implementation of HPRP.
This Sunday, BrokenRoots shines a light on HPRP: How's it doing so far? What are its guidelines and philosophy? Who's eligible and how is HPRP defining homelessness? And, perhaps more significantly, as the days grow shorter and the temps drop, what are YOU doing about the homeless crisis in your own backyard? We'll provide a few suggestions and solicit some ideas.
Today as World Habitat Day shines a light on the basic human right to adequate shelter, Mark Horvarth, creator and producer of InvisiblePeople.TV, sits down with progressive talk show host Angie Coiro to discuss homelessness in America. Horvarth, who hails from Los Angeles, swung into San Francisco late last night, at the tail end of his 2 1/2 month roadtrip across America. He has some fine suggestions to share, like a Yelp for nonprofits and an iPhone app to direct volunteers to the nearest location in need of their help.
Let's go LIVE from the streets of San Francisco!
The number of low-income families in the US that lack safe and affordable housing is related to the number of children that suffer from asthma, viral infections, anemia, stunted growth and other health problems. About 21,000 children have stunted growth attributable to the lack of stable housing; 10,000 children between the ages of 4 and 9 are hospitalized for asthma attacks each year because of cockroach infestation at home; and more than 180 children die each year in house fires attributable to faulty electrical heating and electrical equipment. World Habitat News Facts
Women from Afghanistan, Bolivia, Cameroon, Mail, Sierra Leone, and The Gambia are training to become barefoot solar engineers in Tilonia, home of the Barefoot College in India. After 6 months training in India, they will return to their home countries and solar-electrify their own communities.Link
For a full third of our nation, home is a noteworthy topic. For these 95 million people home isn't a given. It is a search, a hope, a goal. Whether they have housing problems because of poverty, mental illness, or loss of family, they have them. Many of these people are chronically homeless, and some are working 3 jobs and still unable to afford decent housing for their families.Thoughts on World Habitat Day; Mobile Loaves & Fishes.
What if we could find ways to engage the nation's homeless in projects which could lead them out of poverty? What if, instead of turning our homeless out onto the streets early each morning, we converted shelters in 21st century workshops... what if we took the 'bottom up' localized principles of social entrepreneurship and sustainable development that are most effective in international projects -- I'm thinking here of Seva Foundation and India's Barefoot College, and the phenomenal work of .... hmmm ... what was that guy's name anyway? You know, the one who was hired by the Obama administration to take on molding a community based approach to greening the economy? .... ohhhhhh
.... What if we hired Van Jones to tackle this problem????
(wherein i assemble a mini VJ swag bag)Van Jones Green for All"
"Is there anyone here who ever swallowed hard and took a stand for something that you knew was unpopular? Has anybody in this room ever really, really screwed something up, and then tried again? Well, I would say if you answered yes to any of those questions, you are a social entrepreneur." Van Jones
"Adopt a policy or implement a program that creates environmentally beneficial jobs in slums and/or low-income neighborhoods."
The adoption of these accords marked the beginning of the global movement for "green jobs."
... Princeton University professor and political commentator Melissa Harris-Lacewell frames Jones's resignation as a "kick in the gut" to the environmental justice movement, whose initiatives include creating green jobs and advocating against improper land uses and health problems in poor and minority neighborhoods ... Green The Block launches last week in DC and from the Ella Baker Blog "Center for Human Rights where Jones was a co-founder and worked for ten years: "While most Americans would now agree that climate change is real, a new report by the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity and UC Berkeley's College of Natural Resources uncovers what researchers call a "climate gap" or hidden pattern revealing that poor people and people of color in the United States suffer more from environmental changes than other whiter and wealthier Americans.
One more call lauding the extraordinary work of another social entrepreneur, MacArthur Fellowship recipient David Green. Green's lifework is about providing affordable, accessible and financially self-sustaining health care and medical technology throughout the developing world. Through the Seva Foundation, he partnered with India's Aurolab to develop an affordable intraocular lens for cataract patients. Aurolab provides intraocular lenses to poor cataract patients at a cost of $4 - $6. (In contract, US manufactures lenses at a cost of $100-$150.) His most recent project, Conversion Sound,is based upon three concepts: wealthy clients pay higer prices to subsidize the lower price of hearing aids to poorer clients; battery prices are lowered through use of a solar or crank-powered battery charger; and non-medical personnel are trained to fit hearing aids in a little over an hour. Additionally, custom molds are manufactured on site utlizing an instant mold making process.
Green says what motivates him is analogous to Chinese acupunture: the redirection of energy from where it is most focused to where it is most needed. He says he doesn't work with companies;rather, he works with individuals who possess technical competence and deep rooted integrity. Green is currently addressing applicatin of his well-tested concepts of social capitalism in the design of a "Bottom of the pyramid approach to healthcare delivery to develop financially self sustaining paradigms for health services. He recently spoke at a forum in San Francisco discussing this extraordinary paradigm.
Sugggestion: What if we hired Van Jones to handle this problem? And he talked to David Green and they both talked to David Horvarth and then they all get together for a roundtable special on Angie Coiro's Live From The Left Coast? Maybe we could get something done! (In my attempt to get things started, I've got the Ella Baker Center following my tweets and am following the tweets of a wide array of social entrepreneur networks in the hopes I can generate some cross-tweeting.)
As soon as the downpour started the children were out on the streets in the slums of Dhaka, celebrating the rain
One out of every three city dwellers n the world - nearly a billion people - lives in a slum. (Slum indicators include: lack of water, lack of sanitation, overcrowding, non-durable structures and insecure tenure.)
Dharavi - Asia's largest slum, is located in the centre of Mumbai. Studies show that more than 60 percent of population of Mumbai (formerly known as Bombay) lives in the slums. These slums lack basic infrastructure and is very low in hygenic and health care.
LOS ANGELES - The city attorney stood on the roof of a homeless shelter high above the human misery of Skid Row in April and announced a $1.6 million settlement from a hospital accused of dumping about 150 mentally ill patients on the streets.
Rocky Delgadillo trumpeted the penalty, castigated those who took advantage of society's most vulnerable and praised the Union Rescue Mission's chief executive as an inspiration for the investigation that led to the settlement.
What seemed like a big payday for the shelter and other nonprofits that have fought homelessness, mental illness and drug abuse on Skid Row for years, however, turned out to be no such bonanza. Instead, the lion's share went to an organization in Pasadena - a suburb a dozen miles away - to provide grief counseling to school children. Link
Compare this
A member of the Tulag Tribe in Africa comments on the magical moment, as the sun sets, the world settles, the tribespeople get into their tents, boil tea ...
VMA: Tell me about a moment of deep happiness for you in the desert.
MAA: It happens every day, two hours before sunset. The heat decreases, there is still no cold air, and men and animals slowly return to the compound, and their profiles are painted against a sky that is pink, blue, red, yellow, green.
VMA: That sounds fascinating.
MAA: It's a magical moment. We all get into the tents and we boil tea. Sitting in silence we listen to the sound of the boiling water. We are immersed in calmness, with our the heart beating to the rhythm of the boiling water, potta potta potta......
VMA: How peaceful.
MAA: Yes...here you have watches; there, we have time.
from LIM News Interview with by Victor-M. Amela with Moussa Ag Assarid, a journalist and member of the Touareg tribe in Africa.
with this ...
an American photographer rushes back for his camera to capture a picture of a Hobo's tent ...
i was driving past, the sun was setting, the smoke was brewing, they were still sleeping. i parked and ran back, adjusting the setting to my camera, ready set go. and then the hobos came out of their cardboard house, they didnt realise that the fire was going, they had been saving it. so this one guy stomped it out, while the other guy just sat on the curb and watched the cars go by. (i'll put that photo up soon).
the guy who was sitting on the curb has claimed this yard for years. i used to buy him coffee every morning when i worked around the corner. he used to smile and talk some banter to me. sadly, as the years have passed he has become even more estranged with this world, he no longer talks, he can barely look me in the eyes. he rarely smiles. his smile was once so sweet, the cheekiness of a child.
recently his friend, the guy putting out the fire, set up camp next to him. they watch the people go by, the day go by, silent, but together
Photo credits: World Habitat Day Mosaic
Barefoot Photographers of Tilonia
Please Color My Eyes by Bu Saif
Masai Mara, by Lyndon Firman
Hobo Home by Cybele
The start of the monsoon, 2009-05-17, by Martien Van Asseldonk.
Dharavi, Mumbai by Soumak Kar
Urban Camping by James Hermann
EcoJustice series discuss environmental justice, or the disproportionate impacts on human health and environmental effects on minority communities in the U.S. and around the world. All people have a human right to clean, healthy and sustainable communities.
Almost 4 decades ago, the EPA was created partially in response to the public health problems caused in our country by environmental conditions, which included unhealthy air, polluted rivers, unsafe drinking water and waste disposal. Oftentimes, the answer has been to locate factories and other pollution-emitting facilities in poor, culturally diverse, or minority communities.
Please join EcoJustice hosts on Monday evenings at 7PM PDT. Please email us if you are interested in hosting.
Movie marques in cities across America tonight showcase "free admission" to Michael Moore's latest film,"Capitalism: A Love Story" for anyone who's "fallen on hard times."
"To kick off the national release of "Capitalism: A Love Story," I've asked the studio to offer a number of screenings in the nation's hardest hit cities -- the ones with the highest unemployment rates and highest foreclosure rates -- where those who've lost their jobs or who are in foreclosure (or have already been evicted) may attend my film free of charge," Moore writes. "They've agreed, and so tonight (Thursday), the night before our opening day, ten cities will grant you free admission if you have fallen on hard times. The list of theaters and cities is below. You don't need to bring any proof of your situation -- just show up -- it's the honor system, no questions asked. Link
The free 7:30 p.m. screenings are scheduled in Saginaw, Michigan; Elkhart Indiana;Peoria, Illinois; Las Vegas, Nevada, Fresno, California, Phoenix, Arizona, Raleigh/Durham, North Carolina;Baltimore, Maryland, Tampa/St. Pete/Florida and Cleveland, Ohio. For information on theater locations, click here.
It's all over save for news on what's next for residents of Nickelsville, a Seattle, Washington, homeless camp where earlier today 12 residents were arrested after refusing to comply with police requests that they leave the property or face arrest.
This is not the first 'wipe out' for this homeless population, which last September was booted from its makeshift homes and tents and relocated in July to a park at the Port of Seattle's Terminal 107.
As promised, at around 2 p.m. this afternoon, 30-40 police officers, entered the encampment. By that time most of the residents had left, after being informed through loudspeakers that they faced arrest and charges of second degree criminal trespassing.
Arrestees were led in ones and twos out of the camp accompanied by two or three police officers. Kevin Dockery, a Nickelsville resident, was sitting on a milk crate in a central location of camp, visible to all spectators. Several officers encircled him. An officer took his cane and laid it down next to him. Dockery and the officers talked for several minutes. Eventually he stood and was led out of camp by a few officers, unhandcuffed, using his cane. A couple of other arrested Nickelodeons were also allowed to leave camp without being cuffed.
Another arrestee was supporter Dorli Rainey, who is 82 years old. Link
Yesterday, homeless advocate Shannon Moriarty, who writes for End Homelessness for change.org, called for a protest to support allowing Nicolodeans to remain where they had settled, but despite a sleepover outside the Mayor's house, today's wipeout of Nickelsville went off without a hitch.
Nickelsville: September, 2008.
The state has ordered campers to clear out of their current site on Port of Seattle Property along West Marginal Way. The port says the camp is there illegally.
The deadline to leave was 1 p.m., but some residents elected not to leave. They face the possibility of arrest as events unfold this afternoon.
Police were on site after the deadline today, talking to the residents who remained.
There are roughly 80 residents at Nickelsville. They've been camping on Port of Seattle land for two months. Link
The eviction began last Friday when residents were forced to move to a parking lot nearby their encampment.
"The newly built structures were torn down by police, stakes were broken and some of the tents lost. Estimated property loss of the sweeps is over $2,000." September '08. (See nickelsvilleseattle.org)
No word on any plans for where these homeless will be offered shelter.
The 26 September 07 raid. "Police fenced off the Nickelsville campground & toilets) after moving everyone to the concrete parking lot. Does not make sense to me."
Once again, America forgets its promise:
"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" Emma Lazarus, The New Colossus (The Statue of Liberty
The residents held sleepover demonstration outside the Mayor's house two nights back.
After ten years on the beat, a former San Jose, California, police officer reflects - in poignant pictures and words - on her lifelong experiences with the homeless. Even during her childhood years, when her parents (caring for the needs of a family of 12) had difficulty making ends meet from time to time, Paula Craig Steele learned the importance of giving to those less fortunate.
Tonight, Steele, disabled since 2005 with skeletal and mental health problems incurred during her years of public service, shares her story. She reports from San Leandro, California, where homelessness is an ever-present reality, highly visible by dozens upon dozens of foreclosures in her middle-class neighborhood. She fears that if her husband loses his job, it may be a matter of a mere six months before they too become just one more statistic in the alarmingly expanding population of those who are 'Homeless in America.'
Take it away, Paula.
A Fallen Angel, taken on Howard St. @ 6th St., in the "6th Street Beautification Corridor" of San Francisco, CA, on 11/20/2006. Photo by Paula Craig Steele.
(crossposted at DailyKos)Can a single individual make a dent in the homelessness crisis in America?
Meet Jory John, former programs director at 826 Valencia and creator of The Peanut Butter Plan, and Mark Horvarth, a formerly homeless Hollywood video producer, who is heading back home from a 2 1/2 month long road trip blogging (he's Hardly Normal), photographing, filming, and interacting with community service organizations, volunteers and the nation's homeless for InvisiblePeople.tv.
As new P&J volunteer centers spring up across the US and The Peanut Butter Facebook group swells past 2000, John discusses his quest to expand and improve his fledgling organization, to maximize impact. And Horvarth, on the final leg of his road trip across America, is undoubtedly changed forever by the 'shock and awe' of documenting our nation's 'invisible people."
The most significant thing uniting these two men? The realization that "there's no turning back."
On any given night, 671,859 people are homeless in America. More than 40,000 of us catch what zzz's we can within LAs "Skid Row," a 50-square foot block which is rapidly gaining prominence as 'ground zero' for homelessness in the U.S.
People experience homelessness for a host of reasons: unforeseen financial emergencies, addiction and mental illness, and - often - financial/economic distress.
Shannon Moriarty, who writes regularly in her change.org series >End Homelessness, urges all of us to recognize and avoid the three euphemisms recently being used to identify the crisis: economic refugees, structurally challenged, and transient. The word 'homeless,' she writes, conveys specific images which in turn give rise to judgments and stereotypes.
"But the word "homeless" should mean nothing more than a person's state of being at a moment in time," she says. "It should not imply anything about a person's character, work ethic, appearance, health, or intellect.
"In other words, "homeless" means just that - not having a home."
Early today Mark Horvarth, on a road trip across the US for InvisiblePeopleTV, interviews Steve Berg, Vice President of the National Coalition of the Homeless.
Haight Ashbury Homeless. 2009. Photo by Lizzy Phelan.
According to new figures compiled by the Coalition, California ranks second only to Florida in the number of attacks on homeless individuals: 22 homeless people were attacked in California in 2008, including 10 deaths. California Second in the Nation in Attacks on Homeless Aug. 21, 2009. Due to increased violent attacks against the nation's homeless population, the Coalition is taking the lead in a countrywide campaign to include homeless in groups protected by federal hate crime legislation. After Maryland earlier this year expanded its hate crime laws to include attacks on the homeless, five other states are considering following the lead of Maryland, where earlier this year hate crime laws were amended to include attacks against homeless individuals and groups.
In July, nearly 86,000 YouTube videos portrayed situations which were degrading homeless people. The media is reporting that there is an increase in online videos that record beatings and violence against homeless people.
"Bum fights" are videos of homeless people being beaten or forced into humiliating acts. Usually, those filming (and instigating the antics) use money or alcohol to lure homeless people into participating in these schemes, often with no knowledge that they will be posted on the web."
A federal bill addressing violence against the homeless was introduced in Congress just prior to summer recess.
Chicago Chicago Union Station. 2009. Photo by Neal Rauhauser.
Five homeless Chicago teenagers were awarded $2,000 college scholarships by the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless (CCH) for succeeding in school despite facing homelessness. Three of the students lived alone, without family, while finishing school.
Family Promise recently moved its offices to Scottsdale after purchasing a small apartment complex near Scottsdale and McDowell roads. The property at 7221 E. Belleview St. serves as the Family Promise offices, and includes a family center as well as a place to help parents in the program look for jobs, work on resumes and list an address for their job search.
Within 60 to 90 days, about 70 percent of the families have found better housing and a job, Love said.
Homeless interventions traditionally involve a van picking up families from participating churches at 4:30 am and returning them in time for dinner by 5pm. Many programs are available for one to three months. Now, Family Promise's transitional housing is available for six to nine months, with the hope that the additional time and support will assist more families in becoming self-sufficient.
"I spent the last three days and two nights sleeping out on the streets in Boston with no money, food, water, or anything other than the clothes on my back, a towel, a sweatshirt, my camera, and a street pack.
"It was the most powerful experience I have ever had; welcoming, frightening, relaxing, sketchy, beautiful, and inspirational.
I will be writing several blogs about the people I met the experience I had throughout the week so check back soon."
From the Streets of San Francisco
Haight Homeless. 2009. Photo by Lizzy Phelan.
Starting with 2003 when the 1993 SF Chronicle series Shame of the City,reporters and photographers began spotlighting the growing crisis of homelessness in the city. Even with Mayor Gavin Newsom's Project Homeless Connect, the homeless crisis in this city escalates ... and the SFGate has re-activated the '03 series with new stories.
Homeless#2. 2009. Photo by Lizzy Phelan
The federal government has granted San Francisco nearly $9 million of the $1.5 billion Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program (HRRP)in federal stimulus funds aimed at combating homelessness through a program designed to intervene at the community level with preventive and re-housing measures. Listen to NPR: Some Stimulus Money Preventing Homelessness, July 2009 San Francisco Homeless 3.2009 Photo by Lizzy Phelan
Nine years ago, the National Alliance to End Homelessness stated: "As a nation, we do a lot to address homelessness-build shelters, distribute food and blankets and the like. What we don't do is prevent homelessness or help people exit homelessness." And though the funds from HPRP are not sufficient, the organization is hopeful in the about the change in direction towards prevention with rental assistance and housing search.
Live from New York
The New York City Rescue Alliance, a faith-based partnership of ministries and churches "focused on offering every man or woman living on the streets of New York an alternative to their plight" recently produced the powerful video Don't Walk By, a call out to New Yorkers to reach out to more than 3000 city homeless city residents and who is my neighbor.
"People sometimes ask, will the stimulus money we receive be enough to help us through this unprecedented difficult period of time? And, you know, I don't know the answer to that. But what I do know is it would give us a fighting chance" ROB HESS (Department of Homeless Services, New York City) who plans to utilize most of the plans to use most of the $74 million in stimulus money his agency will receive to improve community centers as they deal with a growing number of families in need of assistance.
"Then picture your life unraveling at lightening speed, your confidence eroding, your grasp on reality slipping away. One day you're at the Juilliard School of Music with a promising future and then, in just a few years, you're homeless, living on the sidewalks of Los Angeles, serenading passers-by with rambling attempts at classical music." from What 'The Soloist' Tells Us about Homelessness and Mental Illness
2. Take the Pledge never to judge a homeless person link
3. Give Kids a Shot Play word games and for each answer you get correct, the organization donate funds to purchase .01ml of vaccine for the GAVI Alliance
4. Add your archives, report in from your community, volunteer for a diary, or join our project.
"BrokenRoots is a group for bloggers/advocates interested in issues about and facing homeless people. Our goal is to a create a network of regional 'stringers' who can dispatch news and photos from communities across the country to report on the impacts of the economic crisis on the homeless situation. We welcome first person stories, analysis, and reporting. The DK BrokenRoots project team will discuss, create and promote Daily Kos diaries on these issues, connect bloggers; create projects, and share related news and resources."
Last month I wrote a diary at GOS, Criminalization of the Poor regarding an increasing trend in many urban areas in arresting homeless people for minor infractions in order to get them off the streets and into the penal system. Barbara Ehrenreich has addressed the same issue in an op-ed in today's NYT with Is It Now a Crime to Be Poor?
Ehrenreich raises the point that, "I'd be content with a consensus that, if we can't afford to truly help the poor, neither can we afford to go on tormenting them." It seems very clear now that even if the nation's economy is reaching a plateau in certain sectors, it will be a long and painful road for many in finding their own equilibrium or comfort zone with the basics of employment, shelter and life's other necessities. We as a nation must make sure that we do not become increasingly authoritarian with those who have the least among us. We should avoid turning our safety nets into dragnets.
I have been feeling lately that the entire country has been hit by a storm, that people are drowning or are standing on their roofs waving their arms, but that the most other people are ignoring them, their eyes set on some different horizon, looking for golden pots beneath rainbows.
The President and his family this week have been sampling the fine wines of Northern Italy with the worthless G-8, visiting an earthquake stricken town there. He has pontificated with the evil Santa that is the Pope and now having a delightful visit, no doubt, in Ghana.
The mainstream media has been preoccupied with sex, politics and celebrity death. Huge numbers of television watching Americans have been fueling those Networks' ad revenue, distracted by these baubles of the macabre. The blogosphere seems more fragmented than ever, either being enraptured with its own meta, or having its sights set on foreign revolutions and wargames. Quite a number too have been focused on the macroeconomy, noting the incredible hypocrisy and corruption of the big houses on Wall Street. There are those too who are completely focused on healthcare legislation, which does get closer to the core issue. That issue is that people are hurting badly in this country and are slipping through its cracks.
Sirens ring, shots ring out,
A stranger cries, he screams out loud.
He's scared. He has reason to be. This economy was Dead on Arrival when Obama took office, and no matter how many tubes he sticks into it, it's going to stay dead. We need a new economy, a new economy based on worker's rights, on economic justice, we need an economy that rewards the middle class for its contributions, an economy that cannot be exploited by Wall Street criminals and corporate magnates who don't give a fuck about anyone but themselves.
And the same black line that was drawn on you,
Was drawn on me
That black line of consequences is getting blacker, it's getting longer, it's tightening around the necks of unemployed Americans like a noose. More job losses, more home foreclosures, more evictions. The consequences of Wall Street greed, the consequences of corporate media deceit, the consequences of Beltway arrogance and conceit, the arrogance and conceit of America's political ruling class, America's corporate masters, America's war industry tycoons and oil barons and criminal bankers. That black line of consequences has drawn me in, it's drawn you in, it's drawn everyone in . . .
I have supported Barack Obama, but every time he appoints a rightwinger or a centrist (who are nothing more than rightwingers with apologies IMO) I lose a little hope.
I see it as a continuation of the same battle (20+ / 0-)
I've been having for the last 20 plus years.
If this pans out then it will be just another failed Obama appointment, along with a couple of good ones - maybe.
All of his appointments combined demonstrate what the late professor Carroll Quigley, of Harvard Princeton and Georgetown described about how the American political system is rigged so that we can have a great big election and real power never really changes hands. [emphasis my own ~ OPOL]
That old game, I played it in grade school. A circle of chairs, say 10 chairs, for 11 people.
And the music starts, and we all walk in a circle around the chairs. Until the music stops. Then we dash about to sit on one of the chairs and thereby claim it. We can sit! We have a chair! Ha!
There's one person left standing. They do not get a chair and are out of the game.
This goes on, subtracting a chair each time, until there is one chair left. As the music starts, two people walk in a circle around the chair and when the music stops, well, we have a winner! Someone gets the chair! And all the rest are left out.
It's a pretty strange game, come to think of it. Though if I recall, it was kind of fun, too.
To be clear, I don't own my home, I'm renting it - it's not my house, just my home. I've been here since the first of the year and have enjoyed it. Since I live alone, it's more house than I need, but since I have very little furniture the house has a nice zen emptiness to it and provides ample space for doing tai chi and kung fu. Here's a pic of my living room. I don't entertain much.
I was in my 20s (yeah, I'm old). The Reagan era was a time of rampant homelessness, as the city had not fully recovered from its 1970s bankruptcy...and then, to save money, mentally ill people were being turned out onto the streets; there were not enough beds in homeless shelters and the shelters themselves were unsafe....
These problems got shoved aside during the gentrification years after Rudy Ghouliani took office.
I was volunteering at a community event benefiting my employer, at a small park plaza located downtown. I don't generally go to public events like this if I can help it -- I dislike crowds. But duty called, so I went. It was a lovely, sunny, warm day. I didn't have a lot to do during much of the day except just sit at a volunteers' hospitality table, so had time to read the book I brought with me at intervals, and I had almost unlimited time to just watch the goings-on around me.
Rep. John F. Tierney (D-MA): So it is a little astonishing to me, and I think to others, the planning for what is going to happen to our troops, their meals, their water, their housing, the essentials of life, their protection, all of that doesn't even begin to happen until May 2003, after Baghdad falls, but in the meantime the administration had your company planning for Iraq's oil infrastructure months before it had a plan how to support our troops.
Reform Immigration -
March on Washington
