Serendipity SOUL | Sunday Open Thread | R. Carlos Nakai

Happy Sunday, Everyone. Today’s featured artist is R.Carlos Nakai. My all time favorite Native American artist. Enjoy your day.

RCNakai2

Ray Carlos Nakai (a.k.a. R Carlos Nakai ) was born in Flagstaff Arizona on April 16, 1946 and now resides in Tucson, Arizona. He is a Native American of Navajo-Ute heritage who began his musical career as a freshman at Northern Arizona University studying brass instruments and playing in the NAU marching band. In his sophomore year he enlisted in the US Navy with the hope of eventually playing in the Armed Forces Band.[1] He passed the highly competitive auditions for the Armed Forces School of Music and was 28th on the waiting list for admission. Playing with the Armed Forces Band became impossible, however, because an auto accident damaged his mouth making it impossible to produce the correct embouchure to continue playing brass instruments.[2] Shortly after this accident, he was presented with a gift of a traditional Native American cedar flute and challenged to master it.[3]

Nakai says that most of his inspiration comes from the expressions of native communities and his desire to preserve his own Native American heritage. In addition, he likes to blend his native music with that of other cultures thereby helping to preserve their heritage as well. To that end, he has collaborated with a Japanese folk ensemble, the Philadelphia Orchestra’s Israeli cellist Udi Bar-David, and many others.[3] He has worked with American composer Philip Glass[4] Tibetan flutist Nawang Khechog and flutist Paul Horn. A 2005 collaboration with slack key guitar master Keola Beamer fused two very different indigenous American cultural forms and resulted in the album “our Beloved Land.” He has expressed his philosophy and views of Native American culture in the modern world in an interview with Native Digest.[5]

The Library of Congress has more than 30 of his recordings preserved in the American Folklife Center.

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70 Responses to Serendipity SOUL | Sunday Open Thread | R. Carlos Nakai

  1. rikyrah says:

    Ametia, SG2,

    please make these into postable videos.

    from the Melissa Harris-Perry show today about “Slavery Re-Enactments with CHILDREN”

    Segment 1

    http://video.msnbc.msn.com/mhp/53075950#53076580

    Segment 2 – the one with the parents from CT

    http://video.msnbc.msn.com/mhp/53075950#53076685

  2. Yahtc says:

    I just finished watching “The Preacher’s Wife”. Whew! What a beautiful closing:

  3. rikyrah says:

    Hardliners hold back as Iran waits for Rouhani and Obama to make history

    Landmark meeting between US president and his Iranian counterpart could allow for direct talks on nuclear programme

    Iranian hardliners appear to have given their tacit support to president Hassan Rouhani as the moderate cleric prepares to travel to New York on what could be a critically important visit to the United Nations, which may include a historic meeting with his American counterpart.

    Hawkish fundamentalists, including the elite Revolutionary Guards close to the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, have refrained from demonstrating opposition to Rouhani’s new bid to pursue “constructive engagement” with the international community. This could include talks over Iran’s controversial nuclear programme and the Syrian conflict. The Iranian president is keen to show the world that he has a united country behind him.

    Khamenei, long a fierce critic of the US, has thrown his weight behind Rouhani, apparently giving his blessing for direct talks between Rouhani and President Barack Obama, which could take place on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly this week. And Iran’s opposition activists and politicians, given new heart after Rouhani’s victory in June, appear to share support for the new president in his attempt to improve relations with the west.

    Saturday’s headlines in Tehran reflected the mood of growing optimism in Iran, where even the hardline press such as Keyhan, an ultra-conservative newspaper whose director is directly appointed by Khamenei, appears to be welcoming the possibility of a historic meeting that can put an end to Tehran and Washington’s three decades of animosity. “I have no plans, but it’s possible,” was Keyhan’s headline, quoting Rouhani on the possibility of a meeting with Obama. In a further sign that Rouhani has full authority, the Revolutionary Guard issued a statement offering support for his administration.

    http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/21/hassan-rouhani-barack-obama-iran-us-meeting?CMP=twt_gu

  4. rikyrah says:

    September 22, 2013 06:00 PM
    Jonathan Alter Corrects Media’s Constant Harping on ACA Polls
    By Nicole Belle

    Lovely to see the MSNBC news department circle their wagons around Chuck Todd. Not sure I’d do it, given that the CREDO petition based on my Open Letter is now hovering around 75,000 signatures, but maybe that’s why I don’t have a weekend show on MSNBC.

    Nevertheless, Alex Witt repeated Chuck Todd’s meme that the reason that Obamacare is polling so poorly is that President Obama is “not selling” it.

    Now there’s a lot of reasons why that is disingenuous crap, but lets give a big round of applause to Jonathan Alter who pushed back against this MSNBC meme with some actual context.

    That poll that you showed with 52% opposing Obamacare, 13% actually don’t think it’s liberal enough. So a total of 57 or in some polls 59% of Americans either support Obamacare, or if they oppose it, oppose it because it’s not liberal enough. So those people who are trying to thwart it are in a distinct minority. But it is being portrayed in the press as if they’re in the majority right now. We need to stop doing that at MSNBC and across the media because it suggests that the country opposes insuring the uninsured and that’s simply not true.

    http://crooksandliars.com/nicole-belle/jonathan-alter-corrects-medias-consta?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

  5. rikyrah says:

    Justin Wolfers @justinwolfers

    Kinda creepy that people with health insurance are urging the uninsured to “opt out of Obamacare” subsidies. http://nyti.ms/1aUzFbk
    8:26 PM – 21 Sep 2013

  6. rikyrah says:

    A New Champion: Simone Biles Wins Women’s Gymnastics Championship
    September 22, 2013

    Most teenage girls would be jumping for joy after winning the women’s gymnastics all-around national championship, but to Simone Biles it was “no big deal.”

    Biles’ win came recently at the P&G Gymnastics Championships, in which she seemed pretty cool headed about it all.

    “I was excited, but I was happy for everyone else,” 16-year-old Biles said. “I thought even if I did come in second, third — everybody looked good, so I was happy.”

    Biles grabbed second in the all-around in March’s American Cup before taking first later that month in the City of Jesolo Trophy in Italy and then finishing second at a USA-Romania-Germany tri-meet in Germany.

    http://www.eurweb.com/2013/09/a-new-champion-simone-biles-wins-womens-gymnastics-championship/

    http://youtu.be/m_OLXj9xG6I

  7. rikyrah says:

    CASD in crisis after racially-charged text messages surface

    By MICHAEL N. PRICE and KRISTINA SCALA,
    mprice@dailylocal.com kscala@dailylocal.com

    The abrupt departure of the Coatesville Area School District superintendent and another senior administrator came two weeks after numerous exchanges of inappropriate and racially-charged text messages were discovered on their district-issued cell phones, and multiple sources have indicated that school board officials were not only aware of the exchanges, but were prepared to allow the pair to remain in their positions until the conduct prompted a criminal investigation, the Daily Local News has learned.

    The Coatesville Area School Board is expected to formally vote to approve the resignations of former Superintendent Richard Como and former Director of Athletics and Activities Jim Donato at Tuesday’s public meeting. Como announced his “retirement” through a letter posted on the district’s website on August 29. Reports of Donato’s resignation surfaced several days later. Both came unexpectedly during the first week of the school year.

    Text messages exchanged from school-issued cell phone numbers between Como and Donato contained repeated use of a commonly known derogatory phrase referring to African American or black individuals. In one instance, the term was used 14 times in one conversation.

    http://www.dailylocal.com/social-affairs/20130922/

  8. rikyrah says:

    Who In Their Right Mind Could Possibly Be Against Obamacare?
    Posted on September 20, 2013 by Milt Shook

    The first thing I’d like to note is, the number of people who are against The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, known simply as the ACA or “Obamacare,” because of what’s actually in it, is actually pitifully small. But dammit, they’re loud, and frankly, I’m tired of hearing them. Forty-two times Republicans in the House of Representatives have voted to kill this law, even though Democrats in the Senate will never vote to repeal it and no one has the votes to override a certain presidential veto. They’re messing with you, Obama-haters – no one can repeal this law. If you haven’t figured that out after FORTY-TWO TIMES, no wonder you’re dumb enough to want to kill the ACA. Also, they’ll never defund it, because most of the changes the ACA makes are not dependent on government funding.

    While Republicans of fond of claiming that Democrats passed it without reading it, but let’s get real here. Based on the “arguments” coming from their side, it’s clear they haven’t read it themselves. For example:

    There are not now, nor have their ever been “death panels” in the ACA.
    The ACA is not “socialized medicine.” In fact, it barely addresses the medical side of the debate, except to provide financial incentives to doctors and hospitals for quality care.
    Most of what Obamacare does is to regulate the health insurance industry and most of the costs are borne by the same people who have always borne the costs of the system: those who pay for insurance.

    Republicans want to focus on the cost only, but the fact of the matter is, most of what the ACA does is to reform how health insurance companies work. At least 80% of the law goes to making sure insurance is market- and consumer-friendly for the first time ever. Republicans want to kill it all, however. They haven’t offered an alternative; they operate under a fantasy that the entire health insurance system will just revert back to what it was. It won’t. But suppose it could; look at what Republicans want to take away from you:

    Your children can be on your health insurance plan until they turn 26, which means they’re covered while in college, and while they’re out looking for a good-paying job with insurance coverage. Nearly 3 million 2.5 million adults benefit from this already.
    There are no longer lifetime monetary limits on health care coverage.
    Annual spending caps are prohibited, which means It’s no longer possible to lose coverage because you become “too sick.”
    There are no more deductibles and co-pays. If you need a doctor, you just go and your insurance pays the bill..
    All plans include full coverage for all vaccines, and well-baby and pediatric visits. All preventive care for women is covered, as is screening for gestational diabetes and HPV.
    Screening and counseling for HIV is also covered, as is contraception.
    Insurance companies have the burden of proof in showing that a claim is invalid, and must provide for a quick and painless appeal process.
    Beginning with the new policy, insurance companies can no longer deny coverage or claims based on pre-existing conditions.
    The ACA establishes a special health insurance program to provide benefits for early retirees aged 55-64.
    Insurance companies will no longer be able to charge women higher premiums than men.
    Beginning in 2015, payments to doctors will be based on the quality of care, not volume.

    http://pleasecutthecrap.com/who-in-their-right-mind-could-possibly-be-against-obamacare/

  9. rikyrah says:

    Ted Cruz Falls Apart on Fox and Goes Silent When Asked How He Will Win Obamacare Fight

    By: Jason Easley
    Sep. 22nd, 2013

    When Chris Wallace of Fox News Sunday asked Sen. Ted Cruz what his endgame was for defunding Obamacare, the Texas Senator when all deer in the headlights and said nothing.

    ……………….

    I think we can take Sen. Cruz’s silence as confirmation that he has no plan to win and defund Obamacare. Cruz never answered the criticism that he has gotten them into this fight, and he has no plan to get them out. He doesn’t have a plan. Cruz never did have a plan. For Ted Cruz, this whole scheme is about giving him a soapbox that he can use to launch his 2016 presidential campaign.

    Sen. Cruz retreat into campaign talking points about the career politicians in Washington is proof that his Canadian bacon is frying on this one. As Paul Gigot of the Wall Street Journal revealed, Cruz never intended to win this Obamacare fight. He knows he can’t win. For him, this is all about building a popular rebellion over Obamacare that he can use in 2016.

    Ted Cruz is intentionally screwing over the Republican Party for his own political gain. He has gotten Republicans into a fight that they will not only lose, but it could also give Democrats back control of the House in 2014.

    http://www.politicususa.com/2013/09/22/ted-cruz-falls-fox-silent-asked-win-obamacare-fight.html

  10. rikyrah says:

    Red State Racists Give Paula Deen a Ten Minute Standing Ovation

    After it was revealed that southern cooking celebrity Paula Deen was racially insensitive (to say the least) toward African Americans, she lost all her endorsements as well as her television program that kept her out of the public eye ever since. All that changed when she walked onto a stage in Texas to participate in a cooking demonstration where she received a 10-minute long standing ovation and told the audience that “I’ve said all along that the one place that I would want to make my first step back out was Texas. Y’all’s hearts are as big as your state.” Deen’s popularity in a Republican state like Texas is not an aberration because recently in another Southern Republican state, Georgia, she enjoyed a 73% popularity rating that appears to correlate with the level of racism in former Confederate states.

    As a rule, it is risky to make generalizations about a specific group of people from a particular region of the country, especially about how where they live affects their social values. It is fairly certain that Republicans dominate the population in the former Confederate states, and that based on recent electoral data racism still exists in large segments of the population in Southern states regardless their claims to the contrary. It is unreasonable to assume that all racists are Republicans, but there is evidence that most racists from former Confederates states are Republicans and a recent study suggests the “legacy of slavery continues to drive voters in areas that once housed large numbers of slaves to vote Republican.”

    In the 2012 Presidential election President Obama “polled 40 points behind Willard Romney among white southern working class voters,” and it is in contrast to being only 4-8 points behind Romney among working class white voters in the majority of the country. The study conducted by political scientists Avidit Acharya, Matthew Blackwell and Maya Sen reveals that the 32-point discrepancy is down to one simple fact; slavery. Even though slavery was banned by the Constitution a century and a half ago, long-held racial superiority drives Southern voters in areas once occupied by large numbers of slaves to overwhelmingly vote Republican.

    According to the study, “whites who currently live in counties that had high concentrations of slaves are more conservative and express colder feelings towards African Americans than whites who live elsewhere. That is, the larger the number of slaves in his or her county of residence in 1860, the greater the probability that a white Southerner today will identify as a Republican, express opposition to race-coded policies such as affirmative action, and express greater racial resentment towards African Americans.” Does that mean that racism is confined to former Confederate states? Of course not, but in someone like Paula Deen’s case, after she was revealed a racist she earned a passionate fan base and guaranteed she will always have a substantial number of Southern state fans who will support her because racism is deeply entrenched in the South.

    http://www.politicususa.com/2013/09/22/red-state-racists-give-paula-deen-ten-minute-standing-ovation.html

  11. rikyrah says:

    Ezra Klein vs Facts on “Liberal Distrust” of Barack Obama
    Saturday, September 21, 2013 | Posted by Spandan C at 12:57 PM

    This morning, Ezra Klein of Washington Post penned a column for his Wonkblog that was severely lacking in wonkiness and showed off the political wet spots behind his ears. He talks about how Larry Summers “lost” his nomination to head the Fed – a nomination that was never made – because liberals writ-large don’t trust President Obama on financial reform. Klein declares that Summers “really lost because he was a stand-in for Obama.” Talk about admitting to having Obama Derangement Syndrome.

    The problem with this argument is simple. The only serious “campaign” and “sales job” to sell Summers on the part of the White House existed in the egotistically outsized heads of beltway pundits like Ezra Klein. But it was that precise line of narrative that did Ezra Klein in. Let me explain.

    Ezra argues that Summers’ close association with President Obama’s financial reform, and namely the distrust by liberals borne by Obama’s refusal to back breaking up the banks resulted in the supposed doom of his non-existent nomination. To support his thesis, Klein presents this argument from a liberal economist at MIT:

    http://www.thepeoplesview.net/2013/09/ezra-klein-disproves-his-own-thesis-on.html

  12. rikyrah says:

    Tom and Lorenzo on the ‘casually’ dressed males at the BAFTA LA Awards

    BAFTA Los Angeles 2013 Awards Season Tea Party Red Carpet Rundown

    Posted on Sep 22, 2013 in Fashion

    We’ve HAD IT with these guys showing up looking like ditch diggers when all the ladies are dressed to the hilt. It’s bullshit. You look like an asshole, Stephen. You too, Kit Harrington and Jason Isaacs. ASSHOLES, the lot of you.

    SOMEONE’S got to take these guys to task – and we’re just the bitches to do it. If ANY ladystar showed up in shitty jeans and sneakers to this event, EVERYONE would rake them over the coals for it. Ladystars get eviscerated for not having decent enough pedicures, but male stars get to show up like they just rolled off the couch and out the door. To hell with THAT

    .

    http://www.tomandlorenzo.com/2013/09/bafta-los-angeles-2013-awards-season-tea-party-red-carpet-rundown.html

  13. rikyrah says:

    READ THIS VERY SLOWLY… IT’S PRETTY PROFOUND.

    Too many people put off something that brings them joy just because they haven’t thought about it, don’t have it on their schedule, didn’t know it was coming or are too rigid to depart from their routine.

    I got to thinking one day about all those people on the Titanic who passed up dessert at dinner that fateful night in an effort to cut back. From then on, I’ve tried to be a little more flexible.

    How many women out there will eat at home because their husband didn’t suggest going out to dinner until after something had been thawed? Does the word ‘refrigeration’ mean nothing to you?

    How often have your kids dropped in to talk and sat in silence while you watched ‘ Jeopardy ‘ on television?

    I cannot count the times I called my sister and said, ‘How about going to lunch in a half hour?’ She would gas up and stammer, ‘I can’t. I have clothes on the line. My hair is dirty. I wish I had known yesterday, I had a late breakfast, It looks like rain’ And my personal favorite: ‘It’s Monday.’ She died a few days ago. We never did have lunch together.

    Because we cram so much into our lives, we tend to schedule our headaches…. We live on a sparse diet of promises we make to ourselves when all the conditions are perfect!

    We’ll go back and visit the grandparents when we get Steve toilet-trained. We’ll entertain when we replace the living-room carpet. We’ll go on a second honeymoon when we get two more kids out of college.

    Life has a way of accelerating as we get older. The days get shorter, and the list of promises to ourselves gets longer. One morning, we awaken, and all we have to show for our lives is a litany of ‘I’m going to,’ ‘I plan on,’ and ‘Someday, when things are settled down a bit.’

    When anyone calls my ‘seize the moment’ friend, she is open to adventure and available for trips. She keeps an open mind on new ideas. Her enthusiasm for life is contagious. You talk with her for five minutes, and you’re ready to trade your bad feet for a pair of Rollerblades and skip an elevator for a bungee cord.

    My lips have not touched ice cream in 10 years. I love ice cream. It’s just that I might as well apply it directly to my stomach with a spatula and eliminate the digestive process. The other day, I stopped the car and bought a triple-decker. If my car had hit an iceberg on the way home, I would have died happy.

    Now….go on and have a nice day. Do something you WANT to…not something on your SHOULD DO list. If you were going to die soon and had only one phone call you could make, who would you call and what would you say? And why are you waiting? I had a friend from high school that I was always going to call and never did. The other day her name was in the obituaries so we never had that chat.

    Make sure you read this to the end; you will understand why I sent this to you.

    Have you ever watched kids playing on a merry go round or listened to the rain lapping on the ground? Ever followed a butterfly’s erratic flight or gazed at the sun into the fading night? Do you run through each day on the fly? When you ask, ‘How are you?’ Do you hear the reply?

    When the day is done, do you lie in your bed with the next hundred chores running through your head? Ever told your child, ‘We’ll do it tomorrow.’ and in your haste, not see his sorrow? Ever lost touch? Let a good friendship die? Just call to say ‘Hi’?

    When you worry and hurry through your day, it is like an unopened gift….Thrown away…. Life is not a race. Take it slower. Hear the music before the song is over.

    Show your friends how much you care.. Send this to everyone you consider a FRIEND including me if you consider me a friend. If it comes back to you, it affirms your circle of friends.

    To those I have sent this to… I cherish our friendship and appreciate all you do.

    ‘Life may not be the party we hoped for… but while we are here we might as well dance!’

  14. rikyrah says:

    The media’s complicity in cutting Social Security and Medicare
    US media outlets are disingenuously claiming that social programmes are putting Americans in debt.
    Last Modified: 22 Sep 2013 19:56

    Most people in the United States have probably heard about the Wall Street efforts to cut Social Security and Medicare. There is a vast list of organisations such as Campaign to Fix the Debt, the Can Kicks Back, Third Way, and many more that have, as a central agenda item, cutting back or privatising Social Security and Medicare. When we hear one of these organisations tell us these programmes should be cut it is not a surprise.

    The question is why do mainstream news outlets including the New York Times and Washington Post use their news sections to tell the same stories? Last week, when the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) issued new long-range budget projections, both papers were quick to ignore the numbers and to tell readers that we have to cut Social Security and Medicare.

    The reason why this coverage was so bizarre is that it is not news that Social Security and Medicare will cost more in the decades ahead. We actually have known about the rising cost of these programmes for about 50 years. The birth of a huge number of baby boomers in the years 1946 to 1964 pretty much guaranteed this outcome – barring a horrible war, famine or epidemic.

    While the aging of the baby boomers may not have qualified as news, there was actually important news in the CBO projections that went unmentioned in both newspapers. The CBO sharply lowered its projections for health care cost growth, meaning that Medicare, Medicaid, and other government health care programmes are now projected to cost much less in the decades ahead than had been assumed in prior years.

    This change is substantial. The new projections show that spending on Medicare will be equal to 4.6 percent of GDP in 2035. By comparison, last year, the CBO projected that the cost in 2035 would be 5.7 percent of GDP. Just two years ago, it had projected that Medicare would cost 5.9 percent of GDP in 2035.

    The difference of 1.3 percentage points of GDP between the 2011 projection of Medicare costs and the most recent numbers would translate into almost $220 billion a year in today’s economy. In other words, this is a big deal. The change in the CBO’s projections of healthcare costs certainly comes closer to standard definitions of “news” than the aging of the baby boomers.

    However, there is more than a question of newsworthiness here. Both papers harped on the idea that Social Security and Medicare needed to be cut in order to bring the budget into long-term balance. Cuts to these programmes are usually put in the context of a “grand bargain” which would also involve some increase in taxes.

    http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2013/09/2013922155740786144.html

  15. rikyrah says:

    Kurt Eichenwald @kurteichenwald

    True: Met man who got $1B selling gas find. Bankers whined bout fees of $40m. Him 2 them: None of us deserve this. We’re lucky, not better.
    3:31 PM – 22 Sep 2013

  16. rikyrah says:

    Kurt Eichenwald @kurteichenwald

    Lesson: Its easy for some wealthy 2 pretend theyre better than the poor. Its only way the greedy can justify their contempt 4 less fortunate
    3:35 PM – 22 Sep 2013

  17. rikyrah says:

    Juan Williams to Fox Guest: ‘Has it Ever Occurred to You Conservatives Are the Media?’
    by Evan McMurry | 12:18 pm, September 22nd, 2013

    On Howard Kurtz’s Media Buzz Sunday morning, Fox analyst Juan Williams and Blaze anchor Amy Holmes disagreed over Bill Clinton’s assessment Saturday that Republicans have a “more reliable media base” than Democrats do.

    “We have a reliable media base?” Holmes said, laughing. “Which media is he talking about?…Conservatives are piled on continuously by the media. The media loves nothing more than when Republicans are turning on one another.”

    “Oh, come on,” Williams said. “Has it ever occurred to you that conservatives are the media? Don’t you work for the Blaze? Don’t you know about Drudge Report and Red State and Fox News?”

    “Are you saying that we have the same amount of powers as, say, the New York Times or Washington Post?” Holmes asked.

    “The Wall Street Journal is the number one newspaper and the most conservative editorial page in the nation,” Williams said.

    “But not conservative on the reporting side,” Holmes replied.

    “Thank god,” Williams said.

    http://www.mediaite.com/tv/juan-williams-to-fox-guest-has-it-ever-occurred-to-you-conservatives-are-the-media/

  18. rikyrah says:

    Pelosi to CNN: House GOP Members are ‘Legislative Arsonists’
    by Evan McMurry | 9:32 am, September 22nd, 2013

    House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi appeared on State of the Union Sunday morning to discuss the looming budget showdown, and told host Candy Crowley that the House GOP, which just passed a continuing resolution that did not fund ObamaCare, were legislative arsonists intent not on cutting government but crippling it.

    “I call them legislative arsonists,” Pelosi said. “They’re there to burn down what we should be building up in terms of investments and education and scientific research, and all that it is that makes our country great and competitive. I don’t paint them all with the same brush. I certainly don’t paint the Speaker with that brush. But there’s enough of them in the caucus to shut down government—that will be a victory for them.”

    Pelosi stressed that the continuing resolution was intended to create a government shutdown, not defund ObamaCare.

    “They want to shut down the government,” Pelosi said. “The effect of putting Affordable Care Act on the bill is to shut down government. They know that. They know that has no prospect of prevailing.”

    “None of us of comes here to have more government than we need,” Pelosi said. “I was making the distinction between those who say, ‘How much government do we need?’ to those who say, ‘We don’t need any government,’ the anti-government ideology is making a mess of what goes on in Congress now.”

    http://www.mediaite.com/tv/pelosi-to-cnn-house-gop-are-legislative-arsonists/

  19. Yahtc says:

    >U.S. Textile Plants Return, With Floors Largely Empty of People

    http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/20/business/us-textile-factories-return.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

    Excerpt:

    Take Parkdale: The mill here produces 2.5 million pounds of yarn a week with about 140 workers. In 1980, that production level would have required more than 2,000 people.

  20. rikyrah says:

    Fox’s Wallace Stunned: GOP Leaders Sent Me Opposition Research on Ted Cruz
    by Evan McMurry | 1:06 pm, September 22nd, 2013

    Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace said Sunday morning that he’d received opposition research from other Republicans about SenatorTed Cruz (R-TX) in advance of Cruz’s appearance this morning, a serious indication of how upset the GOP is with the Senator leading the risky charge to defund ObamaCare.

    “This has been one of the strangest weeks I’ve ever had in Washington,” Wallace said. “As soon as we listed Ted Cruz as our featured guest this week, I got unsolicited research and questions, not from Democrats but from top Republicans, to hammer Cruz.”

    http://www.mediaite.com/tv/foxs-wallace-stunned-gop-leaders-sent-me-opposition-research-on-ted-cruz/

  21. Yahtc says:

    Thousands join Reconciliation Walk in Vancouver to heal wounds of residential schools

    http://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/dailybrew/thousands-turn-reconciliation-walk-aimed-healing-wounds-residential-211738996.html

  22. NRA’s LaPierre on Navy Yard Shooting: ‘There Weren’t Enough Good Guys With Guns’.

    http://www.mediaite.com/tv/nras-lapierre-on-navy-yard-shooting-there-werent-enough-good-guys-with-guns/

    _____________

    slap emoticons photo: slap across the room smiley_slapacrossroom.gif

  23. Oh! Oh!

    Snake in my flowerbed! It was brown and skinny as a pencil.scared smiley photo: scared scared-1.gif

  24. Florida grand jury refuses to charge police officer who executed a black man with his cruiser

    http://frederickleatherman.com/2013/09/22/florida-grand-jury-refuses-to-charge-police-officer-who-executed-a-black-man-with-his-cruiser/

    CNN reported yesterday:

    The family of a Florida man has released video of his death, hoping to get criminal charges filed against the police officer who ran him over.

    On May 8, Marlon Brown was being chased by DeLand police because they allegedly saw that he was not wearing a seatbelt. At a dead-end road, Brown stopped his car and started running.

    One of the police cars hit and ran him over, its dashcam video recording the entire incident.

    Last week, a grand jury decided not to indict officer James Harris on a criminal charge of vehicular manslaughter. That’s when the family decided to go public, and release the video.

    “We knew it wasn’t going to be an easy video to watch,” says Krystal Brown the ex-wife and mother of Brown’s children, “but in order to obtain justice, and that’s what we’re looking for, we knew it was something that we had to do.”

    Although the DeLand Police Department fired the officer who executed Mr. Brown and the City of DeLand settled a wrongful death claim with the family for $550,000 (without admitting liability), the State Attorney for Florida’s 7th judicial district R.J. Larizza decided to present the evidence to the grand jury instead of filing charges, which he could have done as Angela Corey did with George Zimmerman.

    The grand jury declined to charge the officer with a crime last week after two days of testimony.

    Yet another disgusting example of racism in Florida.

  25. Yahtc says:

    Black Voices Breakthrough Theater: ‘I Want You’ (VIDEO, POLL)

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/16/black-voices-breakthrough-theater-i-want-you_n_3605705.html

  26. Yahtc says:

    During law school reunion, city’s history of desegregated public pools discussed
    Law professor urges mayor to preserve Baltimore’s pools, a legacy of the city’s civil rights history
    September 21, 2013|By Ian Duncan, The Baltimore Sun

    http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2013-09-21/news/bs-md-ci-black-law-alumni-20130921_1_swimming-pools-new-pools-civil-rights-history

  27. rikyrah says:

    Melissa Harris-Perry had on the parents of that Connecticut child who experienced that slavery ‘ re-enactment’ on her show today. Clip wasn’t up yet.

  28. Yahtc says:

  29. Yahtc says:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=LUG0vc2z7rw

    Published on Oct 4, 2012 by Iraas Columbia
    Towards an Intellectual History of Black Women Conference Thursday , 4/28/11
    Welcome Address -Prof, Farah J. Griffin
    Panel 1: “READING CLASSIC THINKERS ANEW”
    Panelists:
    Tsekan i Browne; Brittney C. Cooper; Tommy J. Curry; Kyla Schuller
    Thadious Davis – Respondent
    Mia Bay – Moderator

  30. rikyrah says:

    What is the Better Strategy?

    by BooMan
    Sun Sep 22nd, 2013 at 10:08:53 AM EST
    Writing about continuing resolutions and debt ceilings makes me want to claw my eyeballs out. But there is one thing worth talking about. The Democrats have two main choices in how they proceed. They can pass a so-called “clean” continuing resolution to keep the government operating until December 15th at sequestration levels, or they can pass a bill that is more to their liking that increases funding in certain priority areas.

    The administration seems to favor the first approach, and the reason is kind of obvious. If the government is going to shut down, the administration wants all the blame to fall on the Republicans. They don’t want the Republicans to be able to argue that the Democrats were trying to defy the Budget Control Act of 2011 or make unreasonable demands. They want it to be clear that the government shut down solely because the Republicans oppose ObamaCare.

    But a lot of progressives want to fight for more spending now as leverage for the battle that happens after the government shuts down. It’s partly a fight for principle and partly a strategic judgment.

    Which side do you think has the better argument?

    http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2013/9/22/10853/2546

  31. rikyrah says:

    An Army of Rubes

    by BooMan
    Sun Sep 22nd, 2013 at 08:51:43 AM EST
    No offense against old people, but most of us don’t give a crap about Alger Hiss and The Pumpkin Papers. Joe McCarthy drank himself to death a long time ago. Dwight Eisenhower thought he was a dirtbag and I trust Ike’s judgment on that one. Anyone who is still intellectually invested in vindicating tail-gunner Joe’s witchhunt should probably cut down on their Metamucil dosage and drive their Cadillac over to the diner for the early-bird special.

    If Sen. Ted Cruz’s appearance and style remind some people of Joe McCarthy, it isn’t because he’s out there arguing that the Army is filled with communist sympathizers, so the connection here is pretty limited. In any case, Hugh Hewitt is pretty clear about one thing. The effort to defund ObamaCare is not about defunding ObamaCare. It’s about “banking for future mobilization the names and contributions of hundreds of thousands if not millions of activists.” They are collecting the names and contact information of an army of dupes. Morans. People who can be bilked of their money and asked to man the phone banks in the upcoming midterm election cycle.

    Mr. Hewitt approves this approach and will play his part to the best of his ability.

    http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2013/9/22/85143/7671

  32. rikyrah says:

    Obama: Negotiating with Republicans over debt ceiling ‘is not going to happen’
    By Kevin Bogardus – 09/21/13 09:45 PM ET

    President Obama gave a rousing speech at the annual Congressional Black Caucus dinner on Saturday, pledging not to negotiate with Republicans over raising the debt ceiling.

    Obama said Republicans in Congress are willing to throw the economy into peril in their effort to defund the Affordable Care Act. Some in the GOP have also threatened not to raise the debt ceiling in an attempt to block ObamaCare.

    The president said he won’t negotiate over the debt ceiling and that the healthcare reform act will remain the law of the land.

    “Let me say as clearly as I can: It is not going to happen. We have come too far. We have overcome far darker threats than those,” Obama said to rising applause from the crowd at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center.

    http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/323821-obama-rallies-black-caucus#ixzz2fd5rWLDg

  33. Yahtc says:

  34. rikyrah says:

    Good Morning, Everyone :)

  35. Yahtc says:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=RckRFdicze4

    Uploaded on Mar 15, 2010 by Phillip Colas
    Black History is American History. This piece cites many amazing African Americans who’s contribution to our nation often go unrecognized. This video is brought to you by S4T Works, a multimedia education non profit, specializing in workshops that fuse education and the arts.

    • Yahtc says:

      This video is also a condemnation of the heinous deeds of whites which kept Blacks from advancing in society. The white power structures continuously attempted to hold Blacks down.

      Every time one hears of a Black individual being the “first African American to” , I am reminded of the African American struggle to break free of the inequality and injustice of White Power’s hold.

  36. Good morning, Yahtc & everyone!

  37. Yahtc says:

    Good Morning!

    Love your Nakai videos, Ametia. Thank you!

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