Open Thread 08-17-2015
Piano Concerto No. 21
Monday morning quote
There is an ecstasy that marks the summit of life, and beyond which life cannot rise. And such is the paradox of living, this ecstasy comes when one is most alive, and it comes as a complete forgetfulness that one is alive.
This ecstasy, this forgetfulness of living, comes to the artist, caught up and out of himself in a sheet of flame; it comes to the soldier, war-mad in a stricken field and refusing quarter; and it came to Buck, leading the pack, sounding the old wolf-cry, straining after the food that was alive and that fled swiftly before him through the moonlight.” ~ Jack London
Symphony No. 25 in G minor
Monday morning poetry
Ode To A Cow
When life seems one too many for you,
Go and look at a cow.
When the future’s black and the outlook blue,
Go and look at a cow.
For she does nothing but eat her food,
And sleep in the meadows entirely nood,
Refusing to fret or worry or brood
Because she doesn’t know how.Whenever you’re feeling bothered and sore,
Go and look at a cow.
When everything else is a fearful bore,
Go and look at a cow.Observe her gentle and placid air,
Her nonchalance and savoir faire,
Her absolute freedom from every care,
Her imperturbable brow.So when you’re at the end of your wits,
Go and look at a cow.
Or when your nerves are frayed to bits,
And wrinkles furrow your brow;
She’ll merely moo in her gentle way,
Switching her rudder as if to say:
“Bother tomorrow! Let’s live today!"
Take the advice of a cow.~ Unknown author, from The Old Farmer's Almanac 1936
Best line of the week
"I left my helicopter at home." ~ Bernie Sanders
The Marriage of Figaro
Turkish March
Symphony #40 in G Minor
Comments
Morning c99er's...
Enjoy this new beginning, this 'Moon's Day." Much work to do on my part this week. Hope today greets you all in good spirits and health; have a good one.
Good morning smiley and friends.
The storm has moved off, and the sun is out. Love the poem about the cow. We could definitely learn a thing or two from them.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
Morning dk...
I have a case of procrastinating stress and the cow poem lightened my mind a little.
And I've made the mistake of opening a king diary on kos and am biting my tongue to say; "if you send me $49/month, I'll give you my opinion and help you fulfill your dreams?" But I've no stomach for a war this morning; hopefully, the sane see things for what they are; unmitigated BS.
same here, had to bite my tongue,
there were two commenters in there, which I would otherwise have rec'd, but was so turned off by the whole thing, I didn't even do that and said nothing. I saw the clip the diary referred to on the BNR and just thought about the "learning to listen" advice we get. ... Oh well, don't want to talk any longer... don't listen to me, okay?
https://www.euronews.com/
Morning mimi...yep, bad form and taste...
I did leave a comment saying that "click baiting is not journalism and that it does not advance a good cause." I agree, not going back into that quagmire.
Me too
Hence my comment about a troubled soul. It has become far too toxic over there for anyone's health.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
I walked away.
Life is too short and stressful enough without letting that group pee all over the day. I did leave this response in LL diary.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
From my point of view
Canadians would like to think that ours is not a racist country because we had the underground railway for runaway slaves. But historically our treatment of First Nations has been deeply racist, in fact some colonists did not consider that First Nations were human beings.
A black friend told me a while ago that "at least in the states we know we are hated but up here the hatred is hidden." So racism exists here. We don't have the history of plantations and lynchings. But we do have the history in the maritimes of wiping out an entire town Africville, Nova Scotia.
I didn't witness racism until my late teens in Montreal and it came as an ugly surprise to me.
On DKos, racism towards blacks is banned and that's a good thing, but racism towards whites shouldn't that be banned too?
To thine own self be true.
A good question
I believe the DKos answers to that question fall into two categories: a) racism against whites is impossible since they are the majority, and b) whites need to suck it up because we've suffered more.
Plus you
need to shut up and listen as my pain is the only valid pain. Don't you dare tell me that coalitions, solidarity and 'issues' are needed just feel my pain and bow down to it. Mean white support the worst racist oppressors because the progressives are allowing systemic racism to flourish by taking on 'issues' that have no relation to my pain. Cause and effect? Principles of equality? These are privileged whitey talking points that do not address my separate issue of the racism practiced by liberals who are condescending and patronizing. So bow down and yet support the authoritarian inevitable system which makes me a victim. I used to wonder why black people loved Big Dog when he implemented policy and an agenda that was racist.. He did say he felt our pain and that seemed to garner him loyalty and absolved his racist/classist sins.
Hi Shah.
There's something else going on in DKos, like a little power play under the cover of racism activism. I guess that's just a natural human thing, not attached to any race in particular.
To thine own self be true.
After receiving a kos email that led with
the king story, some kossacks wrote that they unsubscribed, I did as well; a small protest to an unsubstantiated smear campaign.
I loathe Elmer Gantry's most in life and that's exactly what i see, I may be wrong, but earlier research suggests otherwise, co-opting a good cause for self promotion is.....well, it's not good.
exactly smiley7
It's really apparent that #BLM has been co-opted and is being used to smear the liberal democratic insurgents who are saying enough with this anti democratic one party state from hell. What really gets me is that saying the liberals or progressives (a term I now despise) are racist white supremacists who have no right to challenge the status quo Democratic party. The oligarch's and endless bloody warriors are extremely racist in every way from the criminal justice farce to economic injustice/austerity to privatization of all things public or for the common good. Then there is 'foreign policy' which kills POC globally and calls it security or protecting our interests.
Why pillar Bernie when Hillary the Hun's policies and agenda past present and future have brought us to this state. None of this makes me against #blacklivesmatter but it makes me sick to see this righteous anger and activism being used pointed and directed at maintaining the systemic racist/classist grip of the entities that are largely responsible for and causing it. Sure racism abounds in our society and culture but this does nothing to stop black people from being slaughtered by the pigs who are enforcers for the owners of the place.
Making martyrs of the two mouthy ignorant bully's who took the stage seems to be cherry picking and diminishing a movement that is not partisan and is like OWS leaderless and horizontal just makes me furious at kos and his brainwashed minions who do nothing but dish out white guilt, shaming and stir the pot all to advance the real racist system that has declared they are inevitable. Bernie threatens them because he talks about the reality we are told is all we can get. Quite hypocritical and illogical to boot from kos who is famous for saying issues don't matter. How does this compute with #blacklivesmatter which is touted as the only issue that does matter and yet refuses to take it to the people with power who could stop the murderous out of control police state we live in.
Where's my habeas corpus or posse comitiatus? Where's any of the laws and principles that we're put in place to protect people from psycho killers and pillagers with power?
Amen, well said Shaharazade!
double amen, Shaz!
Today's latest hit piece at GOS hit a new low in swift boating. You really hit the nail square on the head with this.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
Too bad that
Markos and d oliver and the other turncoat Front Pager's have bamboozled so many kossacks into believing that authoritarian and extreme anti-democratic is democratic and the way things have always been and always will be without end. Maybe they always we're right wing fools and just didn't like the 'tone' of the Bushies brand of anti-democracy and lawlessness. Maybe I was so freaked out at the Bushies I misread the posters there and believed they were interested in 'crashing the gates'.
When people had finally had enough of the bush crime family and seriously got down to ridding themselves of their reign of terror it amazed me that that there we're still people who even with the facts exposed the truth still supported this regime. Deadender's that refused to believe the reality of what was being done or were so upside down and ignorant, called it Yankee Doodle Dandy.
It's hard to admit you've been bamboozled and used but it's no excuse to cling on to a false narrative and declare that this rightist oligarchy anti-democratic 'way forward' is liberal, democratic, or even socially better then the insane theocratic Ann Rander's on the republican side. Being victimized by what you support seems as bat shit crazy as the teabaggers.
Seems to me Bernie is pretty moderate and pragmatic with his 'revolution' which is not really a revolution but a needed political change of course. It is legitimate and desperately needed within the Dem. party. Power plays that are this transparent and illogical at this point in time are not believable and hating on anyone who does not want more of the same seems self defeating to say the least. This is no longer even a republic let alone a democracy. It is as Bernie says an oligarchy. At this point we are dealing with global 'oligarchical collectivists' all working in consort to kill democracy.
My husband read me a piece of writing by Socrates, from Plato's The Republic, the other night as I was cooking dinner. It hit home as I stirred the spaghetti. It was a discussion between Socrates and Adeimantus. It applies to our here and now. Here is the part that got to me. It's what were dealing with now and yet 2,500 years ago humans were dealing with the same mind set we are faced with now.
Talking about suffering
Does this kid's life matter?
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/17/us/zachary-hammond-police-shooting-sou...
“The reality is that this killing maybe doesn’t get quite as much attention because it doesn’t fit into the current narrative that’s sweeping the country.”
To thine own self be true.
Good Morning
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
Morning Tim...
Thanks for the tune. Turn the AC up; went down the hill yesterday and my goodness, it was hot.
heh...
Good Morning smiley and 99%'ers!
Got an early walk in this morning. I have been trying to do three miles at a brisk pace. Then last week I ran into a friend while I was walking and she showed me a very steep hill that she uses on her route. I have been trying to add it in on my walk now too. I was really huffing and puffing that first time going up it. It is really a good workout climbing the first half which is very steep, then there's a short flat, and finally it goes up again to the turn around point. Coming back, I have to go down that hill and then back up a shorter fairly steep hill. As tough as the big hill is going up, it is actually harder going down it. I have done it four times and I am already seeing an improvement in my fitness just from adding that hill into my walk. It adds slightly less than 9/10 of a mile too.
The roofers are back again today. We are hoping they will finish today as rain is being predicted for tomorrow. And yes, my husband is back up on the roof again today.
Thank you for the Mozart this morning. Nothing like classical music to sooth a troubled soul.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
Morning GG...
Spent the day on Lake James yesterday with ski school buddies. A beautiful place with an expansive view of the Brown Mtns., Mt. Mitchell, and the confluence of Linville River and the lake, the end of the gorge. Those young people, plus a middle-aged lady, can surf behind a ski-boat without a rope; amazing. They stay in front of the wake wave.
Me and my fellow senior: however, spent the afternoon joking about how in the...are we going to climb back up the driveway; sincerely, the steepest driveway I've ever seen. We make it, pausing often.
I have a buddy ...
who keeps advocating that I come back to Pittsburgh.
I used to like to climb this one, on the motorcycle.
That's the Allegheny River down at the bottom.
This one is in the record books.
I think I will stay put right here.
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
Hey, that looks more like a good ski slope.
Brings living in San Fran to mind driving an old Ford Econoline with a bad master cylinder; having to pump the peddle as fast as possible to brake.
Walking down steep hills
uses muscles you did not even think existed. We live near Mt Tabor park, it is my husband's run. I walk it and as tough as it is to walk to the top coming down really hurts the front of your legs. I used to bike up Mt. Tabor and coming down the steep hill to home was terrifying as it felt like you were going to go flying over the handle bars an skid all the way down on your face. I used to get off the bike and walk it down the worst section. Think I'll go for a walk this after noon before it hits 90. Thanks for the inspiration. I used to walk two miles everyday but this summer the heat has given me a bad case of lazy stay inside and watch my body and mind go soft as atrophy stets in. Use it or lose it is no joke at my age. Off I go. I can do it!
In the summer,
I go out really early between 7 and 7:30 am before the heat hits. Here in this small town, there are a lot of walkers out early. I guess we all have the same idea.
Since I added that hill, courtesy of my friend, I have been sore in my butt and quads from the uphill and in my calves from the downhill. I guess that means it is doing some good.
This hill is so steep, that when I walk downhill, I am leaning back against it for fear of falling on my face. 
I have already done one face plant early this year when I tripped on some uneven concrete (in broad daylight no less) in my own driveway and ended up breaking my nose. 
I do not need a repeat performance.
BTW, good for you! You can do it!
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
Thank You and Good Morning, Smiley7
I try to find a cow to look at now. I need that. May be I should become a cow. (Oh, I guess some people think I am a stupid cow anyway, but they have no clue).
Thanks for the poem and the Mozart. It's a long time ... Have nothing else to say.
Have a lovely day, all.
https://www.euronews.com/
Cows are fascinating
I like the hillside cows. Their legs are shorter on one side.
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
Hey, my favorites...
are those fainting goats. A farmer near here used to have a herd; and of course, we all would stop and blow the horn.
man, I got into mourning this morning, but now you
managed to make me laugh out loud. I wonder if cows mourn and how they do it?
https://www.euronews.com/
They do mourn
but it's tempered with their own sanguine cud chewing pace and sane world view. Digestion is paramount. In my back to the land days in my tar paper shack on a cranberrybog I woke up one morning with a cow stuck in the doorway. It wasn't hostile just frustrated because the cow could not figure out backing up was an option. We all woke up to the cows loud vocal lament and tried to physically help the cow back up. It worked as the cow was placid enough to know that our intentions were good and all we were doing was getting her out of the jam she was in. She ambled off to whence she came.
Missed this yesterday, but it brought a smile
today...
http://reverbpress.com/politics/mccain-chased-off-rez-pissed-off-navajo-...
Is something wrong with the web site?
I tried posting a couple drafts this morning and they just vanished
That's weird g...
are they these two: Hollywood's Black Friday and The Tennessee Convict War. The backend shows that they've been published, I don't know what the heck happened. You want me to try to republish them?
They are up there now
I refreshed and waited and refreshed again. But they are up there now, and that's what counts
They did publish g...
they published further down the diary queue which is also weird because they're not supposed to do that, I'll look into it later when i have more time. I frontpaged both so they can be found there also. Thanks for the heads up.
Afternoon smiley and 99ers...
I'm in for a lunch break, since my vacation was cut short I went back to the grindstone. Hey smiley, thanks for bringing some culture to us here at the 99 house, I know I can certainly use it, my friend.
Hi JtC...
Good to see you!
Getting much...
fishing in this year smiley?
Not since late June...
Caught up with the perennial financial challenge, lately, and back pains. I've a message from a fishing buddy asking where I am? Maybe, later in the week, my friend.
What an idiot
now Hillary wants to means test Social Security
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/hillary-clinton-social-security_55d1...
GOP has been trying to do this for years. She doesn't have a clue.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
Oh I think she does have
a clue. She's just so arrogant in her inevitable and righteous God given power that she believes that the people will and must march to her global oligarchical tune of austerity and forever war. Strange thing is is that if dkos is any indication she might be right as TPP will raise all boats, XL is nothing to care about and disaster capitalism and bloody aggressive war are just how humans roll Forget about the environment it's not feasible to fix it or anything as the masters of the universe have told us that if we do the world as know it will crash and burn. Might not be such a bad idea as this world is totally made and designed for the oligarchical collectivists who have worked hard to kill democracy, equality, justice, the universal laws, and the common good. The human and civil rights that people have hard won are nothing but impediments to winning their mad race to the top for the glory and gain of the pillaging, death loving, planet killing psycho's who are inevitable and 'rule the world'.
dkos now has a diary up misrepresenting her SS proposal.
Below is the gist of my objection and the comment I left at dailykos to another front page diary playing around the edges.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
Dkos is consistently committing
malpractice of journalism. Oh, I forgot, they are not journalists. They are political activists.
A reality website, my a$$!
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
Means testing
how is this any different then the cat food commission's recommendations including this Dem administration's other proposals for screwing SS recipients? Lets see if they are willing to accept austerity and make purchases that adapt to eating what we the 99% have deemed appropriate. . Poor people have no means. How sick to test their means when they have none.
Means testing, IMHO,
means that it appears to turn Social Security into a welfare program. It is one of those things that sounds good on paper but would have horrible results in the end. From what I have read, those who earn over a certain income would have their SS payments cut or eliminated. The selling point for this is that they do not "need the money" and it saves money for those who need it.
As a person who is already been subjected to "means testing" of a different sort, I can understand how those who would be affected by means testing would see SS as a welfare program if their own benefits are cut or eliminated. For those here who do not know already, here is my story. People who worked for local govts that had a pension program, but had also paid into SS, have their SS benefits diminished by 50%. This applies to me who worked the minimum number of quarters under SS before working for local government and paying into the pension plan. It even applies to any widow's benefits that I might receive if my husband dies before me. He has paid into SS his entire working career, most of which he was self employed.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
Hey, Nancy, glad you brought up "WEP," as well
as means testing.
When I get back from walking 'the B,' I'll follow up a bit on this, in today's OT. It is a very important topic.
And, without a doubt, FSC's proposals will be more corporatist neoliberal hogwash--mostly the same as the Fiscal Commission's proposals.
Later . . .
"The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart."--Helen Keller
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
Retail investors flee the stock market
This rarely happens except at bottoms
It shows an amazing lack of faith among the small investors, which almost never happens during bull markets.
Israel on verge of invading Syria
link
Turkey invades the north. Israel invades the south. This really shouldn't be unexpected. Eventually it was going to happen.
Our special relationship
with Israel continues to pay off with the deaths, maiming and destruction of entire communities of people.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
Putting the Ottoman Empire back together, one piece at a time
With NATO and the West's blessing, of course.
Meanwhile in Egypt (newspaper editorial in German):
http://www.taz.de/Kommentar-Pressefreiheit-in-Aegypten/!5220387/
Here's a favorite piano solo of mine . . .
If you Guys don't have time to listen to the entire video, the essence of "Rhapsody In Blue" is from approximately Minute 9:26 to 14:10. [IMO, the best part of this classic piano solo regarding artistic expression.]
[video:https://youtu.be/fh9ghHKHcmw?t width:480 height:360]
[Gershwin - Rhapsody in Blue GENIUS SOLO PIANO ARRANGEMENT by Jack Gibbons, madlovba3, YouTube]
This gentleman definitely knocks it out-of-the-park--whew!
Hey, thanks for the excellent OT, Smiley.
Cows have always been one of my favorite barnyard animals, not that I've ever been around any (I haven't). But they just "look" so mild and sanguine.
Mollie
"The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart."--Helen Keller
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
Hi Mollie...
Thanks for the afternoon delight. Good music. I'll play it during dinner. Bread's in the oven; cooking a squash, onion and tomato saute' over rice and fried oysters; splurging from the freezer tonight.
In June when we visited Michigan
we went to the Music House Museum in Traverse City. It was a wonderful place that featured many old self playing musical instruments. Everyone on our tour said it was the best surprise of the entire trip. One player piano pictured below played Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin with Gershwin himself playing both the lead melody and the accompaniment on the piano. It was nothing like I had ever heard Rhapsody in Blue played before. Not only was George Gershwin an incredible writer of music, but he was a great pianist himself.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
hi smiley; nice OT
I like the cow poem, though it is also true that sometimes a cow will bolt for No Reason and run very fast.
I like India, where the cows roam the streets. In advance of Obama's visit this past January, the humans tried to sweep the cows off the streets, but it didn't work. The monkeys wouldn't behave, either.
Hi hecate...
"These men have been trained to frighten away rhesus macaque monkeys by imitating the grunts and shrieks of a larger species." Credit Kuni Takahashi for The New York Times
All in a days work. Thanks for the article.
yeah. that was a fun one. ; ) n/t
#BLM Boston & Clinton
Hum?
Go here and scroll down a little: https://twitter.com/BLM_Boston
As FLOTUS, Senator, & Secretary of State, HRC had more influence than most on policies that led 2 systemic oppression of POC. #HollupHillary
She's the brains behind pa (big dog)
and should not be let off the hook for what she is and always has been. Dynasties be they Bush's or Clinton's are bad news for democracy. Especially when they are as incestuous and as hooked as these two American crime families are. Poppy's other son and Hillary the Hun are nothing but a riff on the powers that have too long held us captive. They need to go. Prying them off the face of democracy is proving to be the only issue that is pragmatic. If we can't were fucked.
Shaz, I gotta hand it to you
You have a wonderful way with the words I wish I could say. Roll on, Shaz!
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
To clarify, the SS Minimum Benefit has been around since 1973,
and isn't related to the more recent Bowles-Simpson (Fiscal Commission) proposal to 'means test' benefits--by changing the bend points when calculating the PIA, or Primary Insurance Amount, in order to calculate an individual's initial monthly Social Security benefit.
Apparently, when this policy (SSMB) was first formulated in the 70's, it was 'price indexed,' instead of 'wage indexed'--which means that for the past several years, it has become virtually useless. So, this is a legitimate case of needed reform that 'could' have a positive result.
Clearly, this 'one' policy reform (affecting a relatively small number of recipients) is not sufficient to address future needs.
Thanks, DK, for posting a link to the diary at DKos. (And, hope your daughter has good news.)
Of course, I agree that FSC's Social Security reform proposals will probably be 'weak tea.' I'm also concerned that any proposals will be so vague, that no one will really know what she has in mind.
I'm heading over there in a few minutes, unless everyone has already taken a hike.
Of course, since a fair number of those considered to be the Dem Party Establishment appear to support 'means testing,' I fully expect that it will pass, eventually.
Until recently, I would have figured that lawmakers would make the plunge before the year is out. However, with FSC in so much trouble, and Bernie ascendant--who knows?
Maybe lawmakers will be too intimidated to pass 'big' cuts--such as means testing, and raising the retirement eligibility age(s).
Considering that the Superlative (Chained) CPI is low-hanging fruit, however, I would not be too surprised to see it enacted by the end of the year.
Hope not.
Mollie
"Every time I lose a dog, he takes a piece of my heart. Every new dog gifts me with a piece of his. Someday, my heart will be total dog, and maybe then I will be just as generous, loving, and forgiving."--Author Unknown"
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.