Ukip slams EU polling day plan

Nigel Farage, the leader of Ukip, says proposal to create a common European 
Union polling day will not make people feel more European but is likely to 
mean a drop in voter turnout.

Leonard Cohen – The Partisan

Hartwall Arena, Helsinki, Finland
October 10, 2008.

“The Partisan”

When they poured across the border
I was cautioned to surrender,
this I could not do;
I took my gun and vanished.
I have changed my name so often,
I’ve lost my wife and children
but I have many friends,
and some of them are with me.An old woman gave us shelter,
kept us hidden in the garret,
then the soldiers came;
she died without a whisper.There were three of us this morning
I’m the only one this evening
but I must go on;
the frontiers are my prison.

Oh, the wind, the wind is blowing,
through the graves the wind is blowing,
freedom soon will come;
then we’ll come from the shadows.

Les Allemands e’taient chez moi, (The Germans were at my home)
ils me dirent, “Signe toi,” (They said, “Sign yourself,”)
mais je n’ai pas peur; (But I am not afraid)
j’ai repris mon arme. (I have retaken my weapon.)

J’ai change’ cent fois de nom, (I have changed names a hundred times)
j’ai perdu femme et enfants (I have lost wife and children)
mais j’ai tant d’amis; (But I have so many friends)
j’ai la France entie`re. (I have all of France)

Un vieil homme dans un grenier (An old man, in an attic)
pour la nuit nous a cache’, (Hid us for the night)
les Allemands l’ont pris; (The Germans captured him)
il est mort sans surprise. (He died without surprise.)

Oh, the wind, the wind is blowing,
through the graves the wind is blowing,
freedom soon will come;
then we’ll come from the shadows.

 

 

Leonard Cohen’s Elegy For Janis Joplin – Chelsea Hotel #1

The audio recording of the first version of Chelsea Hotel – before it became Chelsea Hotel #2 – from Leonard Cohen‘s 1972 concert in Tel Aviv is complemented by images of Leonard Cohen, Janis Joplin (whose liaison with Cohen at the Chelsea Hotel led to the creation of the song), the Chelsea Hotel, and others. 

Note: The video mistakenly lists the song as part of the April 20, 1972 Leonard Cohen concert in Jerusalem; it is actually from the April 19, 1972 concert in Tel Aviv.

Austerity, but not for billionaires

well when you write the law, you make sure not to apply to you, right?

Dear Kitty. Some blog

This video from the USA is called The Rich Get Richer – New Facts.

By Tom Gill in Britain:

Who’s the fattest cat of all?

Monday 11 March 2013

The 1 per cent are getting richer, the rest of us are getting poorer.

This is a familiar story in a world where greed and extreme wealth are central to the dominant capitalist system. It’s a trend that is central to capitalism’s periodic crises – the most recent of which we remain engulfed by.

The annual Forbes billionaires list is an opportunity to test politicians’ promises that we really are “all in it together” and their claims that the heavy doses of austerity medicine are being spread fairly.

What the list tells us – with a record number of billionaires, worth a record fortune – is that that’s a big fat lie.

The latest Forbes ranking, totalling a record…

View original post 1,796 more words

Saudi Arabia Considers Halt On Beheadings . . . Due To Shortage of Swordsmen

It gotta be fun living in th e12 century!

JONATHAN TURLEY

At first, this article sounded like a reform in the making out of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: the government is considering a moratorium on beheadings. However, the reason is not some sudden modernization and rejection of medieval Sharia laws. Saudi is facing a labor crisis of sorts: there are too few swordsmen to dispatch the guilty.

View original post 161 more words

Florida Police Called To Home To Deal With Suicidal Man And Shoot Him To Death After He Brandishes Scissors

Self appointed JURY, JUDGES AND EXECUTIONERS OF THE DAY (under the insignia loyalty integrity fidelity!

JONATHAN TURLEY

The family and neighbors of Arthur Dixon, 43, has raised questions over his death after two St. Petersburg police officers shot him to death after he brandished scissors in a confrontation. Police were called to the home to deal with Dixon who was threatening suicide and had doused himself with gasoline. Firefighters refused to enter the home and family and friends were cleaning up the gasoline and talking to Dixon when police arrived and ordered them to leave. An hour later, Dixon was dead.

View original post 225 more words

Big Gulp: New York Judge Strikes Down Bloomberg’s Beverage Ban

Drink responsibly!

JONATHAN TURLEY

Manhattan state Supreme Court Justice Milton Tingling has struck a victory for sanity (as well as individual choice) in striking down New York Mayor Bloomberg’s widely ridiculed ban on large sugary drinks. As we previously discussed, the law was a poorly drafted and poorly conceived ban that allowed a host of higher caloric drinks to be sold in bars and other establishments. Tingling found the law to be “arbitrary and capricious.” Bloomberg has appeared to have developed an insatiable appetite to dictating what others can eat, including a proposed crackdown on popcorn and milk. After the soda ban, a long list of items have been put forward to Bloomberg to ban before Judge Tingling put a halt to the feeding frenzy.

View original post 512 more words

Sodium: What gives Caregivers and Cardiac Rehab Staff Nightmares

Rehabilitate Your Heart

Working cardiac rehabilitation, one wants to take time off around Saint Patrick’s day and Easter. Often patients come in with weight up 10 lbs in one to three days, short of breath, swollen, and having elevated blood pressure. When asked, they report celebrating Saint Patrick’s day with sauerkraut and sausage, corned beef and cabbage, with lots of bread on the side, then celebrated Easter early with a ham dinner with gravy.

Caregivers take note, well-intentioned friends and family may have prepared meal or stocked freezers full of sodium laden foods thinking they are helping out during a  medical crisis. Be alert to sodium and it’s effect on heart health.  Programs such as  Meals on wheels also has a tendency to have very salty meals. 

If you find weight up, swollen feet/ankles/belly/face, shortness of breath and elevated blood pressure consider the  dietary sources of sodium. 

Sodium causes fluid retention, weight goes…

View original post 321 more words

RoboBees…The Answer To Dying Bee Colonies?

It looks like we do have the wrong answer to everything…

Quotation: Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) on innate ideas

The doctrine of innate ideas is one of the most admirable faiths of philosophy, being itself an innate idea and therefore inaccessible to disproof…Among innate ideas may be mentioned the belief…in the greatness of one’s country, in the superiority of one’s civilization, in the importance of one’s personal affairs, and in the interesting nature of one’s diseases.

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) Discuss

 

Today’s Birthday: SIR WILLIAM HENRY PERKIN (1838) a Knighted Chemist

Sir William Henry Perkin (1838)

At the age of 15, Perkin entered the Royal College of Chemistry in London. It was there, just a few years later, that he discovered the first synthetic dye. Since antiquity, purple garments had been a mark of royalty, as natural purple dyes had to be extracted from mollusks or insects and were thus quite expensive. The lab-created dye made Perkin a wealthy man. In 1906, the chemist was knighted. At the time of his discovery, he had had been trying to create a synthetic version of what? More… Discuss

 

This Day in the Yesteryear: FIRST AMERICAN GIRL SCOUTS MEETING (1912)

First American Girl Scouts Meeting (1912)

After meeting Boy Scouts founder Robert Baden-Powell, Juliette “Daisy” Gordon Low organized the first meeting of the Girl Scouts in the US in Savannah, Georgia. There were only 18 girls at the first meeting, but within a few decades, the organization boasted hundreds of thousands of participants. More than 50 million American women have participated in the Girl Scouts since then, learning practical skills through character-building activities. What was the original name of the Girl Scouts? More… Discuss

 

THE HERMITAGE

One of the oldest and largest museums in the world, the Hermitage was founded by Catherine the Great in 1764 but was not opened to the public until nearly a century later. It occupies a complex of historic buildings and palaces in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and is home to more than three million artifacts and works of art—including the largest collection of paintings in the world. In 1985, what bizarre incident befell Rembrandt’s painting Danaë, necessitating years of restoration work? More… Discuss