Amidst all the hoopla heading into Memorial Day weekend over the ‘repeal’ of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network very wisely posted a warning to all members of all service branches: nothing has changed. As a public service, I am re-posting SLDN’s warning here.

[Welcome author Ian Bremmer, and Host Daniel Altman] [As a courtesy to our guests, please keep comments to the book.  Please take other conversations to a previous thread.  - bev] The End of the Free Market: Who Wins the War Between States and Corporations? Ian Bremmer, head of the Eurasia Group consulting firm, has his [...]

Actor, director, artist and American icon Dennis Hopper died at 8:15 this morning at his home in Venice, CA surrounded by friends, from complications of prostate cancer. Much has been very well written about Hopper the actor, the crazy man, the resurrection tale–oh how we love a redemption and resurrection!

Sen. Scott Brown’s (R-MA) lack of interest in a filibuster, and Sen. Susan Collins’ (R-ME) support of the Lieberman Don’t Ask Don’t Tell amendment, makes it extremely difficult for Republicans to sustain a filibuster on the underlying bill.

“Panicked Congress Tells Unemployed and About To Be Fired Teachers to Stuff It.” That should have been the headline for this mindless New York Times article by Carl Hulse.

Gov. Bobby Jindal told me about his plea to Obama on his way out of Grand Isle, Louisiana after the President’s press conference here Friday.

In Vermont, a bill that could possibly lead to a government-run single payer health care system is now state law. Republican Gov. Jim Douglas chose not to veto the bill, letting it become law without his signature.

In 1989, Grigori Medvedev wrote The Truth About Chernobyl, describing both what happened to cause the 1986 nuclear accident and what can be learned from it. In watching the continuing BP oil disaster, it is clear we are receiving exactly the same lessons in the fraility and vulnerability of life, both human and marine, and the price that hubris and pride exacts. Medvedev called for forceful truthtelling to avoid glossing over what happened in Chernobyl and to learn from it, and the accident in the Gulf demands exactly the same.

Being here is a constantly evolving experience. I have learned a decent bit more about fishing than I ever thought I would care to, but the most interesting things I have learned are about how the media operate. Everyone has heard of reporters taking creative license when editing, bending the real story to fit their agendas.

What’s most shocking is just how easy it is to do.

After surviving two weeks of chilly temperatures (including a stretch where I had them hiding in Ziploc bags for a full week to deal with temperatures that flirted with freezing at night), followed by a week of temps in the 80s and 90s, my tomato plants are, astonishingly, ready to flower and maybe even fruit.