"OPERA AT THE MARKET"

13 November 2009 : an ordinary day at the Central Market of Valencia. Suddenly, beautiful classical music starts sounding over the market stores of fruits and vegetables : fragments of Giuseppe Verdi's "La Traviata" are sung by professional opera singers ! Look at the faces and reactions of the buyers and customers, amazed before such magic and divine music, and by the confidence of good taste. Some are even moved into tears...

Thanks to Paul (A.), who adds "made some cry". Gave me chills.

ENOUGH FLUID

I try not to cry about everything I've
done wrong she said, because I don't get
enough fluids as it is already.

Me too.

From StoryPeople

HURRICANE WARNING!!!

Outlook for the Atlantic, Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico…

Hurricane Whodat is predicted to make landfall on the Florida coast in the vicinity of Miami on 7 Feb 2010 at approximately 2200Z (5:00 PM EST). This extremely powerful hurricane is expected to produce damaging Shockey waves and Category 5 Brees. Reports from shipping indicate that this unstoppable storm has blown a huge flock of Cardinals all the way to Arizona, and that it has sunk a replica Viking longboat, the Brettigfǻvren. Livestock, in particular young horses, will be in severe danger of being decimated. Predictive damage estimates are unavailable at this time, but they are expected to be significant.

All interests in and near the Miami area are advised to prepare for a storm surge of catastrophic proportions as Hurricane Whodat begins to arrive in approximately 10 days.

Next advisory 07 Feb 2010 at 0300Z (10:00 PM EST).

Thanks to Eddie in Florida (not in Miami).

STATE OF THE UNION SILLY STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS

The words in italics are mine. The rest are snippet paraphrases of Obama's speech.

Waiting for the SOTU. I'm not hopeful. The president may prove me wrong.

Michelle Obama looks terrific.

The worst of the storm has passed. ???

Americans want a chance to get ahead.

I have never been more hopeful about American's future than I am tonight. ???

Everyone hated the bank bailout.

A fee on the biggest banks to get taxpayers money back.

Harry Ried yawns on camera. Wait, Harry, the speech just started.

Jobs are our first priority.

The house explodes in applause. Whew! We can look away from health care reform.

Build high speed trains.

Stop giving tax breaks to companies who ship jobs overseas.

Everyone loves investment in safe, clean nuclear power plan, investments in offshore oil, gas, and clean coal.

Double our exports over five years. ???

I want to live in the country that Obama talks about. How can I get there?

Give our young people a world class education.

Ten grand tax credit for 4 years of college. Student loans forgiven after 20 years, ten years those who work in public service.

Still need health care reform. Even the Republicans applauded!

She (Michelle) is the best.

Health care reform is a complex issue.

If anyone has a better plan, let me know.

Bush inherited a surplus and left a deficit.

Government budget freeze, but not in defense, Medicare, Medicaid, SS.

Defense needs a freeze.

Pay as you go.

Republican administration policy in previous 8 years - extended tax cuts to the wealthy, deregulated....

Didn't pay for two wars, cut taxes on the wealthy - brought on huge deficit.

Obama is in fantasy land on Afghanistan.

All combat troops out of Iraq by August of this year, so that's something.

Secure all nuclear weapons in four years. ?

Finally, he will push getting rid of DADT. Finally. Can he do it with a stroke of his pen?

Chris Matthews wonders who Obama is. Thinks Obama's gotta be frustrated that he reaches out to Republicans, and they don't respond.

Me: Give it up, already, Mr. President!

Me and Howard Fineman agree! If the presidency was about speeches, the jackhammers would be working on Mt. Rushmore.

But, he needs to win something in legislation. Duh.

Slacktivist

From Fred at Slacktivist:

Hey you. You there in the Glenn Beck T-shirt headed off to the Tea Party Patriot rally.

Stop shouting for a moment, please, I want to explain to you why you're so very angry.

You should be angry. You're getting screwed.

I think you know that. But you don't seem to know that it doesn't have to be that way. You can stop it. You can stop it easily because the system that's screwing you over can only keep screwing you over if you keep demanding that it do so.

So stop demanding that. Stop helping the system screw you over.

I urge you to read the entire post at Slactivist, but I quote from points No. 12 and 15:

12. The only hope you have of ever seeing another pay raise is if Congress passes health care reform. Without health care reform, the increasing cost of your health insurance will swallow this year's raise. And next year's raise. And pretty soon it won't stop with just your raise. Without health care reform, the increasing cost of your health insurance will start making your pay go down.
....

15. Do you see the point here? You are angrily, loudly demanding that Congress make sure that you never, ever get another pay raise as long as you live. Because of you and because of your angry demands, you and your family and your kids are going to have to get by with less this year than last year. And next year you're going to have to get by with even less. And if you keep angrily demanding that no one must ever fix this problem, then you're going to have to figure out how to get by on less and less every year for the rest of your life.

Sounds about right to me. I'll never figure out why people vote and advocate against policies that promote their own self interest. If their positions were conscience positions about helping those who are worse off than they are, I might understand. But the tea-baggers advocate for and vote for the interests of the corporate fat cats who are screwing them over.

Amazing!

Thanks to Cathy for sending the link.

WHITHER VITTER'S VENDETTA AGAINST ACORN?

From Think Progress last year:

Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) is the self-proclaimed “most outspoken critic of ACORN.” Following the release of incriminating videos showing ACORN workers giving advice to undercover conservative activists inquiring about how to start a brothel and not get caught, Vitter and other Republicans called for investigations and audits of the organization.
....

Vitter’s outrage over the latest ACORN scandal seems extraordinarily hypocritical, in light of what he went through in 2007:

A woman accused of running a Washington prostitution ring placed five phone calls to David Vitter while he was a House member, including two while roll call votes were under way, according to telephone and congressional records.

Vitter, a Louisiana Republican now in the Senate, acknowledged Monday that his number was on the woman’s call list and apologized for a “very serious sin.”

Vitter, of course, kept his federal funding, and remains in the Senate.


COMMENT: Yes, to the great misfortune of the people of Louisiana, Vitter remains in the Senate. The word around in Senate circles is that even his Republican colleagues don't much like Vitter because of his lack of collegiality. Of course, the senators who don't care for Vitter won't say so publicly, because the Republicans hang together and don't criticize each another, except behind closed doors.


From Media Matters also from last year:

Today, in light of mounting questions challenging the credibility and the legality of the ACORN surveillance videos, Media Matters for America calls on Andrew Breitbart to release the full, unedited, and unauthorized footage shot at various ACORN locations across the country -- including locations where the two filmmakers may have been rebuffed. ACORN has said that the surveillance effort failed in "at least seven other locations," including Philadelphia, where ACORN filed a police report against James O'Keefe, and the ACORN worker says that she asked him to leave.

"Given the increasing number of questions about the credibility of these tapes and the people behind them, there is no reason that anyone should accept this footage at face value," said Eric Burns, President of Media Matters. "Anyone committed to responsible journalism would have already released all the unedited tapes in their entirety."


COMMENT: Even more so now than last year, because "filmmaker" James O'Keefe and his associates, the "telephone repairmen", have been arrested for allegedly participating in "a plot to tamper with phones in Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu's office in the Hale Boggs Federal Building in downtown New Orleans....", we should be permitted to see the full unedited ACORN tapes of the "filmmakers" to view the sort of editing that took place.

Lots of other links at Media Matters, if you want to know more.

STORY OF THE DAY - READY TO JUMP

getting ready to jump as high as she can
just because there's only so long you can
sit politely & listen while people talk
about any old stuff that comes into their
heads


From StoryPeople.

"ACORN gotcha man among four arrested ..."

Filmmaker James O'Keefe dressed as a pimp before entering ACORN offices last year.

From NOLA.com:

Alleging a plot to tamper with phones in Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu's office in the Hale Boggs Federal Building in downtown New Orleans, the FBI arrested four people Monday, including James O'Keefe, a conservative filmmaker whose undercover videos at ACORN field offices severely damaged the advocacy group's credibility.

Also arrested were Joseph Basel, Stan Dai and Robert Flanagan, all 24. Flanagan is the son of William Flanagan, who is the acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Louisiana, the office confirmed. All four were charged with entering federal property under false pretenses with the intent of committing a felony.
....

ACORN spokesman Kevin Whelan said the arrest calls O'Keefe's credibility into question, and used the opportunity to point out that he "edited (ACORN videos) to make things look as bad as possible."

But he also acknowledged that O'Keefe's undercover ACORN footage showed truly improper conduct by ACORN staff.

"ACORN's leadership and grassroots leaders have taken a whole series of steps, including commissioning an independent report that shows actually there wasn't illegal conduct by any of the ACORN employees involved, although we fired people involved for improper conduct," Whelan said.
....

The four men appeared in federal magistrate court this afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Louis Moore wearing red inmate jumpstuits from St. Bernard Parish Prison, where they are being held. Moore is allowing the men to be released on $10,000 bond.

Robert Flanagan's attorney, J. Garrison Jordan, said he believes his client works for the Pelican Institute. Asked the motivation for the alleged wiretap plot, he said: "I think it was poor judgment. I don't think there was any intent or motive to commit a crime."

What does David Vitter (LA-R) think about all this? We won't know, because he will claim that due to the federal investigation, he can't comment.

On occasion, the passionate GOPers tend to overreach.

Thanks to Ann for the tip to the story.

Victory!

In an earlier post I rejoiced in my new wireless service after dropping my service with Big Phone Company. At the same time, I wailed because we would have to pay a fee of $95 because we broke our contract with BPC, which ran until September of this year.

Earlier today I received a phone call from an employee of Big Phone Company who apologized for the bad service and told me that the $95 fee would be waived. How about that? I asked him how my problem came to his attention, and he told me he called because of my email to the CEO of BPC. In truth, I thought my email would go into a black hole, and I'd hear no more about the matter, which only goes to prove that it doesn't hurt to try, even when hope for a good result seems dim.

THE FUTURE OF HAITI...BELONGS TO THE HAITIANS"

From Bishop Pierre Whalon, Bishop in charge of the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe:

« Nous sommes aux abois,» wrote Bishop Zaché Duracin of the Diocese of Haiti, « mais fermes dans la foi. » « Être aux abois » means literally to be run down like the fox in a foxhunt, surrounding by barking dogs and unable to run any further. “At the end of our rope” or “we’re finished” might be a good translation.

“We’re at the end of our rope, but firm in our faith.” He begins and ends his letter with this sentence. This sounds like the man the Rev. Lauren Stanley, his representative outside Haiti, called “a lion” in a phone call to me. (Visit her site for a clearinghouse of Haiti information.) Indeed! I don’t know what I would do, if I barely escaped death and had my home and everything in my diocese destroyed. Probably find some place to lie down and lament my fate. Not Bishop Zaché, who with Canon Ogé Beauvoir and others of his staff, responded by setting up a camp for the displaced on a soccer field next to the completely destroyed diocesan center (cathedral, schools, convent) which now serves thousands of people. A Lion, is Bishop Zaché, whose roar of defiance for a whole people is “We’re at the end of our rope but firm in our faith!”

In the past, Bishop Pierre Whalon's words have resonated with me on more than one occasion. He adds:

It is now time for all Christians and other people of good will to declare our solidarity with the Haitian people, including those of The Episcopal Church’s largest diocese of Haiti, and insist to all who want to help—nations, NGOs, churches and ordinary people—that the Haitian people must be in charge of their future.


Not only have they been the victims of several natural disasters recently. Haiti has also suffered immensely, first at the hands of the French, and then the Americans. As a citizen of both countries, I am ashamed of the human disasters wreaked upon the Haitian people by my nations in the past. We must not allow that past to repeat itself.

I, too, am ashamed of the role that the US played in the tragic history of Haiti. Indeed, the Haitian people must be in charge of their own recovery. Our role is to enable them to recover from the earthquake disaster. My hope is that the future of Haiti may be brighter than its dark past.

Firm in their faith, which we share, guided by the Holy Spirit, by supporting the Haitian people in rebuilding the way they want, we can help repent of some of the crimes of the past. Before we rush to bring what we think they need, we must listen to them and respect their desires.

The future of Haiti can only be bright if it really belongs to the Haitians.

I've linked to Lauren Stanley's site before, and I'm pleased to link again, because she is doing great work in keeping us informed on the latest word from Haiti.

Once again, if you'd like to help, here's the link to Episcopal Relief and Development to make donations. Or choose your own charity, but try to find an organization with low overhead, one in which the greatest amount of money goes to those who need help. ERD has very low overhead.

H/T to Ann Fontaine at The Lead.

UPDATE: Ann called to my attention the article titled Local development key to Haiti long term at Ekklesia which urges us to help but reminds us that the Haitian people must be in charge of recovery efforts.