teacherken at Daily Kos This Week
On Monday she returned to her office for the first time in two months - she missed part of that time because of the shutdown and rest related to her autologous stem cell transplant, starting with the preparations. She did not come close to working a full week - she is still rebuilding her stamina. But it is good for her to again feel productive. And of course to again be earning an income, having
Might I suggest reading Charles M. Blow on Nelson Mandela?
His column today is titled A Lesson Before Dying and I am quite sure he is aware of the book of that title. There is little one can add to his words, but allow me to think aloud a bit, but only after offering you his opening three paragraphs: One of the great lights of the world went dark on Thursday. Nelson Mandela left this world, having enormously altered it. And yet, the extraordinary examp
12 Mandela Quotes That Won't Be In the Corporate Media Obituaries
is the title of this piece yesterday at Common Dreams, which has the subtitle "On "sanitizing" the legacy of anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela." It begins with a picture of Mandela with an upraised fist, and the quote When a man is denied the right to live the life he believes in, he has no choice but to become an outlaw. That is the 12th and final quote in this piece. It i
He wrote it after seeing "Twelve Years a Slave" and in part has convinced me to go see it. But that is not why I am urging you to read 12 Years a Slave and the Obama Era. Perhaps his opening paragraph may help: This last weekend, I finally saw 12 Years a Slave. It was the most powerful movie I’ve ever seen in my life, an event so gripping and terrifying that, when I went to bed ten hours later — it was a morning matinee — I lay awake for five hours turning it over in my mind before I could fall asleep. I understand it not merely as the greatest film about slavery ever made, as it ha
"His day is done" - Maya Angelou on Nelson Mandela
Offered in case you had not seen. Apologies if a duplicate.
and yet seem willing to turn your back upon those in need, might I suggest you seriously consider the following verses from the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 25, which appear immediately after the Parable of the Talents, and which make up the Gospel text for the Sunday of the Last Judgment (consider that title) in the Orthodox Church lectionary: 31 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all
mark as read
its size, its structure, its purpose. I think that, but what do I know, since I served briefly in the Marines almost 5 decades ago and am now a Quaker. No, I am sharing the thoughts of Thomas Ricks, longimte Washington Post reporter who has written five books on the US Military and now serves as an adviser on national security at the New America Foundation, where he participates in its “Future of War” project. He has an op ed today titled To improve the U.S. military, shrink it. There is a lot of context to his article. For example, he focuses on the recent commissioning of the U. S. S. Geral
His smile was like sunshine, but Nelson Mandela was made of steel. It was his strength of character, repeatedly tested throughout his long and impossibly full life, that made him one of the towering political figures of our time. That is the lead paragraph of Eugene Robinson's tribute to Nelson Mandela in today's Washington Post, titled as is this posting. Robinson only met Mandela once, about which he writes After his release, he visited world capitals, including Washington. That was the one time I met the man: He came to The Post for lunch, and I, like everyone else, was star-struck by his c
The words of my title are from The President, the Pope and the People, toda's New York Times column by Charles M. Blow. It was written in response to Obama's speech yesterday, a speech in which, as Blow notes, " a populist president invoked a populist pope" with Obama citing the words of Francis I's recent Apostolic Exhortation. Blow offers quotes from the speech, and statistics galore. I will not quote those, because you can and should read the entire column. Blow does explain why the problems of income inequality and lack of economic mobility are not greater issues among our peopl
DEC 04
Got a cell phone? The NSA knows where you've been and with whom
as you can read in this Washington Post story, just up, written in part by Barton Gellman using his access to the documents provided by Edward Snowden. The snips I offer will be without the hot links, which you can get from the original piece. The opening paragraph reads The National Security Agency is gathering nearly 5 billion records a day on the whereabouts of cellphones around the world, acco
DEC 02
President Obama’s immoral drone war
is the title of this powerful Washington Post op ed by Pulitzer Prize winner Eugene Robinson. Consider the opening U.S. drone attacks in Afghanistan, Pakistan and other countries may be militarily effective, but they are killing innocent civilians in a way that is obscene and immoral. I’m afraid that ignoring this ugly fact makes Americans complicit in murder. That is blunt: obscene and immoral
NOV 29
In light of the SCOTUS consideration of employer religious beliefs
I think it appropriate for me to repost words offered here in February 2012, when this issue first bubbled to the surface, in part because of advocating for such an employer religious exemption on the part of Mitch McConnell. It was titled Consider a few religious beliefs that could result in denial of health care coverage if the likes of Mitch McConnell got his way If you got sick from pork - M
Krugman explains an ACA success
in Obamacare’s Secret Success he tells us that despite the problems and complaints it is working in one key regard, holding down the growth of medical spending, or as it has been described, bending the curve of the expansion of spending. In one sense this should not have been a surprise, despite the conventional wisdom in Washington, in which the thinking is skewed: The prevalent attitude in Was