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So much to read...

The Abby Wambach Show Outplayed, out-hustled and out-run for more than 80 minutes, the U.S. team pushed through to the finals of the World Cup. The winning shot came from veteran U.S. striker Abby Wambach, who is starting to become the Mariano Rivera of women's soccer.

EVERYBODY WANTS TO MAKE "THEIR" KING FOR A DAY:

msnbc video: MLK memorial statue draws criticism

This is another race issue. Black person/black artist. No way African American visual artists were not going to complain. But didn't King influence everyone? Do African Americans "own" his legacy? Oh, and this idea about the King (image) being confrontational is a joke. Didn't the man "confront" segregation?  I like the strength that is expressed by the sculpture design. I want an image (of King) that's going to inspire future generations. There is more work to be done. With folks trying to turn back the clock of history - I think we need a stature of King that reminds us - WE WILL NOT BE MOVED OR TURNED AROUND.

EVERYDAY: DEBT DRAMA.
Who creates this?  It must be a slow, hot, summer...
Of course a deal will soon be made and folks will focus on the winners and losers.
Have you noticed how every issue or speech Obama gives during a crisis is always the one that might end his presidency? Since the taking of the oath (twice) some folks have been trying to put an end to the O administration. If Obama is president for only 4 years, some historians will claim nothing happen. Might some people riot if Obama is elected again? If he loses will folks talk about the "return" of racism?
Will Winter come to America in 2012? Look for the crazies to emerge in a few months. Death to civility?
Maybe that's the real debt our nation is experiencing. Prepare for more drama.

USA:

http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/07/11/7061501-usa-beats-brazil

E. ETHELBERT MILLER | Steve Liptay
Listen and download E. ETHELBERT MILLER for free. From Power Shift Mix (2011), released 10 July 2011.
steveliptay.bandcamp.com/track/e-ethelbert-miller

WHO BROKE THE TIME MACHINE?
Almost everyday I read the newspapers and wonder what year it is. Here is what one can find in today's New York Times:

Some of Mr. Karzai's security guards dragged the assailant's body out of the building and strung him up at the crossroads of the central bazaar, said an intelligence official in Kandahar. It was a grim reminder of the Taliban era, when criminals were killed and put on public display.

LADY SOUL ALONE

Yesterday afternoon I talked to a group of young students (at the ARC in SE). Somewhere in the middle of my presentation I found myself making a reference to Rob Hoerburger's profile of Aretha Franklin that was published in The New York Times Magazine last Sunday. Hoerburger begins the essay with a sentence that struck me as simply being awesome in its simplicity. A sentence that was more a photograph instead of words describing a great singer. A picture taken when the photographer becomes invisible or when their subject is surrounded by a "blues" tint. Why did this sentence just stop me?
Why do I keep going back to it?

Aretha Franklin sat alone with a Coke.

This one line could instantly be turned into a commercial poster.  What more is there to say?
How thirsty does loneliness makes us?  Why is the word Coke so filled with expectation and mystery?
When is a Coke better company than a man?

YES, WE LOVE IT.  :-)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TG4f9zR5yzY&feature=related

FOR OLD FOLKS AND ME:
http://bucks.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/12/aarps-new-social-security-calculator/

Dear Mike, President Barack Obama will decide as early as September whether to light a fuse to the largest carbon bomb in North America. That bomb is the massive tar sands field in Canada’s Alberta province. And the fuse is the 1,700-mile long Keystone XL Pipeline that would transport this dirtiest of petroleum fuels all the way to Texas refineries. As concerned leaders from Maryland, Virginia, and DC, we’re writing you now because the Keystone XL Pipeline is a climate and pollution horror beyond description. From August 15th to September 5th, thousands of Americans – including Bill McKibben, Danny Glover, and NASA’s Dr. James Hansen – will be protesting at the White House, day after day, demanding Obama reject this tar sands nightmare. Given the high stakes, many protestors will also engage in peaceful civil disobedience, day after day. Won’t you join us – for at least one day – during this historic protest? Pick a day between Aug. 15 and Sept. 5 and let the world hear your voice. Learn more here. If built, the Keystone XL Pipeline would lock America into a future of planet-warming energy dependency. Indeed, Dr. Hansen – America’s top climate scientist – has said that full exploitation of Canada’s tar sands would constitute a “game over” scenario for efforts to solve climate change. This development is doubly tragic for the Maryland, Virginia and DC area. That’s because, as a region, we are right on the cusp of developing our own major new energy resource: offshore wind power. Indeed, there is enough clean, harness-able wind power off the coasts of Maryland and Virginia to power millions of electric cars – forever. With zero pollution. President Obama alone – without input from Congress – has the power to approve or reject the Keystone XL Pipeline. He will decide as soon as September whether to honor his campaign pledge to create a clean-energy economy – including wind power for the mid-Atlantic and beyond – or to lock us in as a nation that cooks and distills filthy tar sands for much of our energy. Make no mistake: building this pipeline will be an economic and moral setback for clean-energy sources of all types. This is a line in the sand. The tar sand! So won’t you pick one day between August 15th and September 5th and join us at the White House? Those of us who live in the greater Washington region have a special opportunity – and responsibility – to act on behalf of Americans everywhere. The goal is to have dozens of people arrested each day. Peacefully. With dignity. We’ll wear professional clothes and many will dig out old “Obama ‘08” campaign buttons as a reminder of promises once embraced. Learn more and register here. We hope to see you at the White House. Sincerely, Mike Tidwell, Director, Chesapeake Climate Action Network Nora Pouillon, Owner, Restaurant Nora George Leventhal, Montgomery County Councilmember, Maryland Anya Schoolman, President, DC Solar United Neighborhoods Andy Shallal, Owner, Busboys and Poets Bookstore & Restaurant Gary Skulnik, Clean Energy Executive E. Ethelbert Miller, Board Chair, Institute for Policy Studies Lise Van Susteren, Advisory Board Member, Center for Health and the Global Environment Joelle Novey, Faith Activist for Climate Change Scott Sklar, President, The Stella Group, Ltd. Dr. Cindy Parker, Chesapeake Physicians for Social Responsibility

LITERARY CAPITAL: A WASHINGTON READER

Christopher Sten's new book is out. A fascinating edited collection of work about the city of Washington. Letters, essays, poems..
What a line-up: Emerson, William Wells Brown, Walt Whitman, Mark Twain, Frederick Douglass, Dunbar, DuBois, Ellison, Gore Vidal, Ginsberg...
Oh, and there is Edward P. Jones, Marita Golden and Ethelbert.

The book was published by The University of Georgia Press.

Christopher Sten and E. Ethelbert Miller will be at Politics and Prose Bookstore this Saturday for a book party and conversation. 6PM.

MONKS:
http://fire-monks.com/

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Breaking News Alert: Afghan President Karzai's brother assassinated
July 12, 2011 4:47:02 AM
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Ahmed Wali Karzai, the half-brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai and the most powerful politician in southern Afghanistan, was killed by his security guard in his Kandahar home, according to witnesses and Afghan officials.

THY BROTHER CAIN:

I was listening to excerpts of a presentation by Herman Cain. It's difficult not to resist comparing him to a sit-com character. Did this guy live next door to the Jeffersons? Cain is color in a white room. The problem we now face is turning off the faucet that keeps leaking the belief that the average American can be president. No experience necessary - just a few clever soundbites and jokes. This is Soooooooo dangerous. Listening to Cain makes me desire pigs feet and a bottle of beer.

 

 

AKILA WORKSONGS, Inc.

invites you to a special program

at the 2011 Brooklyn Hip Hop Festival

(presented by Bodega Education Initiative of Brooklyn Bodega)

 

THIS WEDNESDAY: We're Celebrating

the 20th Anniversary of the Nation's

FIRST Hip Hop Conference!

 

Over six years (1991 - 1996), hip hop's finest

attended, performed, & supported The Cultural Initiative

at Howard University: Sean Combs, Biggie, Tupac, Lauryn Hill, Common, Public Enemy, Chuck D, Queen Latifah, Doug E. Fresh, Busta Rhymes, MC Lyte, and hundreds more!

 

 Join us for a Conversation with

a Few People Who Helped Start It All!

 

CEEON D. QUIETT

Current: Founder, The Quiett Group; Founding

Dir. of Communications for The Cultural Initiative, Inc. (CI, Inc.) 

 

MATTHEW MIDDLETON

 Current: Partner at Simon and Eisenberg

Former: Lawyer's Panel Coordinator and Moderator for CI, Inc.

 

RAS BARAKA

Southward Council Member, Newark, NJ;

Founding Vice President of CI, Inc.

 

APRIL R. SILVER

President, AKILA WORKSONGS, Inc.;

Founding President of CI, Inc.

Fall 1990: A a handful of students at Howard University, fresh off the take-over of the campus administration building, were the first to call for a national conference to address various topics related to hip hop culture. We wanted to probe its affect on society, the academy, and the community-at-large. We wanted the world to see hip hop through our eyes...as a way to have fun, but also as a way to educate and get involved!

 

February 1991: The HU students birthed the first in a series of hip hop conferences that changed the game.

 

20 years later: What's the legacy of those students? Who benefited from these ground-breaking conversations. Was the mission accomplished?

 

WEDNESDAY, JULY 13: Two Panels, Same Topic!

• 10:45 am: Ras Baraka, Ceeon Quiett, and Dru Ha
• 12 pm: Matt Middleton, Ceeon Quiett, and Dru Ha
• Both panels moderated by April R. Silver

WHERE/ADDRESS

• Both panels will take place in the auditorium of Higgins Hall located on the campus of PRATT INSTITUTE in Brooklyn.
• Address: 65 St. James Place (at Lafayette Ave.) in Brooklyn, NY

Check out the back story on The Cultural Initiative

www.BlogTalkRadio.com/AKILAWORKSONGS

 

 

For any and all info on the Brooklyn Hip Hop Festival,

including their featured artists, visit the

official website at www.BKHipHopFestival.com/2011    

 

FROM KOREA WITH LOVE:
http://www.wimp.com/greatchallenges

Tricycle Daily Dharma

 

Spiritual Wealth

As progress is made on the path, the positive qualities required for further advancement will become part of you, and you will gradually learn how to assimilate and become these positive qualities, rather than regarding them as something to be attained and possessed. So after the initial focus on learning how to replace vices with virtues, we must learn to let go of our fixation on virtues. We have to stop thinking about accumulating virtues, spiritual qualities, experiences, and realizations as if they were a form of wealth. We do not require spiritual wealth; moreover, spiritual wealth can only be accumulated by not fixating on it.

-Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche, "Letting Go of Spiritual Experience"

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Breaking News Alert: Obama rules out short-term deal on debt ceiling
July 11, 2011 11:47:52 AM
----------------------------------------

President Obama said Monday that he would not consider stopgap measures to temporarily avert the debt-ceiling crisis, saying "that is just not an acceptable approach."

Obama spoke after Republicans rejected a deficit-reduction framework that would raise taxes and cut entitlements. "I continue to push congressional leaders for the largest possible deal," Obama said at a White House news conference. He added, "I will not sign" a short-term extension.

 

WILL YOU NEED HELP UNDERSTANDING THE MOVIE NEXT MONTH?

Readers Review: "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett | The Diane Rehm ...

Feb 25, 2010 – http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2010-02-25/readers-review-help-kathryn-

stockett ... "The Help" by Kathyrn Stockett.

thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2010.../readers-review-help-kathryn-stockett

Quotes of the Day:

The Internet obliges by offering simulated sex without intimacy, without identity and without fear of infection. Risky behavior can be devoid of risk - unless of course you use your real name and are an elected official.


Clearly the lure of Internet sex is the lack of involvement. We want to keep the chaos of sex trapped in a device we think we can control.


 - Erica Jong, The New York Times. July 10, 2011

More than 30 South Koreans kill themselves every day, and the suicides of entertainers, politicians, athletes and business leaders have become almost commonplace.

  - The New York Times, July 11, 2011

NEW BOOK:

A LEVEL PLAYING FIELD African American Athletes and the Republic of Sports
by Gerald Early
Harvard University Press, $25.95

TOP NEWS

Obama Leans on G.O.P. for a Deal on Debt Ceiling

By MARK LANDLER

President Obama met with Congressional leaders to try to revive chances for a $4 trillion deal to avert a default on the national debt, a day after Speaker John A. Boehner appeared to dash hopes for any far-reaching agreement.

• News Analysis: For Boehner, Lofty Budget Goals Checked by Reality

BUT IS IT LEAN ON ME?