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Robert Reich gives you a peek at the commencement address that nobody will ever give:
Members of the Class of 2012,

As a former secretary of labor and current professor, I feel I owe it to you to tell you the truth about the pieces of parchment you're picking up today.

You're f*cked.

Well, not exactly. But you won't have it easy.

First, you're going to have a hell of a hard time finding a job. The job market you're heading into is still bad. Fewer than half of the graduates from last year's class have as yet found full-time jobs. Most are still looking.

Robert Reich
(UC-Berkeley) That's been the pattern over the last three graduating classes: It's been taking them more than a year to land the first job. And those who still haven't found a job will be competing with you, making your job search even harder. [...]

But this can't go on. If unemployment stays high for many years, if the wages of young college grads continue to fall, if the costs of college continue to rise and state and local spending per college student continues to drop, and if the college debt burden therefore continues to explode -- well, you do the math.

At some point in the not-too-distant future these lines cross. College is no longer a good investment.

That's a problem for you and for those who will follow you into these hallowed halls, but it's also a problem for America as a whole.

You see, a college education isn't just a private investment. It's also a public good. This nation can't be competitive globally, nor can we have a vibrant and responsible democracy, without a large number of well-educated people.

So it's not just you who are burdened by these trends. If they continue, we're all f*cked.

Blast from the Past. At Daily Kos on this date in 2007:

We've been told that the escalation upon which Mister Bush has founded his hopes for fixing "the situation" in Iraq would produce a few extra casualties in the short term, a sort of bloody investment in a more peaceful future. So far, those few extra casualties are adding up to the worst six-month death toll for American troops since the war and occupation began 50 months ago.

Those in uniform aren't the only stepped-up casualties, according to today's The New York Times:

Contractor Deaths in Iraq Soar to Record
At least 146 contract workers were killed in Iraq in the first three months of the year, by far the highest number for any quarter since the war began in March 2003, according to the Labor Department, which processes death and injury claims for those working as United States government contractors in Iraq.

That brings the total number of contractors killed in Iraq to at least 917, along with more than 12,000 wounded in battle or injured on the job, according to government figures and dozens of interviews.

The numbers, which have not been previously reported, disclose the extent to which contractors — Americans, Iraqis and workers from more than three dozen other countries — are largely hidden casualties of the war, and now are facing increased risks alongside American soldiers and marines as President Bush’s plan to increase troop levels in Baghdad takes hold. ...

Truck drivers and translators account for a significant share of the casualties, but the recent death toll includes others who make up what amounts to a private army.

The claim has been made that Iraqi civilian deaths are down. But, given that the Iraqi government refuses to cooperate with the United Nations in sharing data about such deaths, and given outrageous shenanigans, Iraqi government figures for civilian deaths are utterly untrustworthy. [...]

Tweet of the Day:

Nine-year-old's lunch blog shames school into making improvements: http://t.co/... Gold star for you, kid!
— @grist via HootSuite

High Impact Posts. Top Comments.

It's time to stop ignoring poverty and the realities that disadvantaged students face. We must instead address the factors that can and do impede student achievement and well-being.
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It was a somewhat eclectic week in politics. The House -- in one of their rare moments when they actually meet and attempt to get something done -- passed a bunch of bills which have exactly zero chance of becoming law. Well, at least they had fun, right?
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ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- Just as more restaurants, eateries and ordinary consumers embrace Meatless Mondays, Old Town food emporium Society Fair is going whole hog -- or at least cow -- in the other direction on the first day of the work week.

Society Fair’s chef, butcher and charcutier, Julien Shapiro, will be leading special 90-minute "Beast" artisan butchery sessions on Mondays once a month, where up to 10 people can sign up to watch him demonstrate his skills. Those who attend get to sample some of the meat along the way and have first dibs on specialty cuts.

This season's sessions, which kick off this Monday, will focus on the Randall Lineback heritage breed, but later iterations of Beast might feature other animals, like lamb.

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ROYAL NAVAL AIR STATION CULDROSE, England -- Even the wind cooperated at this normally blustery naval station, remaining calm as David Beckham lit a celebratory cauldron and signaled the start of the 2012 London Olympics torch relay.

There was a hushed "oooooh" as the former England national team captain and current star for the Los Angeles Galaxy took center stage as the flame arrived in the United Kingdom from Greece on the eve of a 70-day relay. Then, as the fire roared to life in the gold and white cauldron, there was an "ahhhh" of relief. Even the vagaries of British weather wouldn't interfere this time.

"This is a big acceleration of the heartbeat," London Mayor Boris Johnson said as he summed up the moment. "This is the final furlong for us."

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Many communities are proposing making microchipping all dogs mandatory. Besides finding your dog, there are two good reasons to make microchips mandatory.
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It's been a revelatory season for The CW's "Nikita." The show shed the last vestiges of its procedural beginnings and wholeheartedly embraced its compelling mythology, drawing fans deeper into Percival Rose's treacherous web of politics and deceit.
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A 33-year-old Knoxville, Tenn. man with 30 children appeared in court this week to ask the state for child-support help, Memphis news station WREG reported Wednesday.

Desmond Hatchett has fathered 30 children -- which is believed to be the record in Knox county, according to the Los Angeles Times -- with 11 different women. His youngest children are toddlers and his oldest is 14.

Hatchett reportedly asked the court to give him a break on his payments, claiming that he's struggling to make ends meet with his minimum-wage job. Currently, the state requires him to divide 50 percent of his earnings among the 11 women, some of whom receive as little as $1.49 a month, WREG reports.

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The spare, modern courtyard at LACMA transformed into a bass-thumping hip hop venue Thursday night.

Rap trio 3MG (Murs, Eligh and Scarub) performed together for the first time in five years, drawing about 1,000 underground hip hop fans to the fine arts bastion.

The event was the first in a series of hip hop concerts called "Through The Mic," a performance schedule focused on Los Angeles acts, curated by Murs. It's also LACMA's boldest attempt thus far to directly engage the local hip hop community.

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A part of my life I sometimes struggle with is my need of submission. I have had discussions more than once with people on this and have been told that it's a phase, it's OK, or as my mother sometimes puts it "be your own woman!" Submission, in my opinion, is sometimes a struggle but other times selfless and rewarding in ways that aren't always tangible. To that extent, I ponder an age-old question that is asked again and again: "What do you get out of it?"

Service submission, which is submission that is usually platonic and (for me) focused on benefiting my partner more than I, was how the lifestyle was introduced to me and now is a part of my life. I had begun experimenting with kink my second year of college, it sounded interesting, and was a foot in the door. After focusing my attention in other areas, and after a disastrous attempt the first time, I decided to try again.

The next partner, who started this search of self-identity, asked "why" during a work day near the end of the relationship. We had decided to pay someone for extra help, he was working on his house, and I was working for no compensation and really no tangible reward. I was unable to answer why I had the need, knowing that I really was not attracted to his form of control. Fortunately the relationship was already suffering and I wasn't getting anything intangible out of it either.

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Spare me the line about how your anti-gay views are unassailable because they're your firmly held religious beliefs. It's utterly hollow. Hate wrapped in the name of God is still hate.
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This article comes to us courtesy of California Watch.

By Shoshana Walter

Last year, California Attorney General Kamala Harris joined attorneys general across the country in declaring war against Backpage.com, a free classified website run by Village Voice Media. The officials threatened legal action if the site didn't stop running ads for adult services, some of which have been linked to underage sex trafficking.

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WASHINGTON -- CNN's Anderson Cooper, playing on behalf of an organization that provides crisis intervention and suicide prevention services for LGBT youth, won Friday's "Jeopardy!" Power Players, beating New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman and NBC's Kelly O'Donnell.

The Trevor Project, Cooper's sponsored charity, won $50,000.

The 2012 Power Players series was taped last month at D.A.R. Constitution Hall in the nation's capital.

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This podcast features writer Robert Faires, talking about his creative space. Faires is the Arts Editor for The Austin Chronicle and has been active in the city's theatre scene as a writer, actor, and director since 1980.

It's part of a series spun out of Fusebox Festival's The Writer's Room, A Home Studio Tour curated by Elizabeth Doss and Annie La Ganga.

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By: Denise Tejada

With just a ten millimeter wrench and a screwdriver, Brian Simmons has built and sold more than 100 motorized bicycles in Oakland, CA, under the label Rebelbikes. The company has been around for three years. The two-man shop based out of the comfort of his living room.

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The Republican leaders in Congress have mostly defined themselves by what they're against, but now they've announced what they're for -- the most popular parts of the Affordable Care Act. I can only imagine the political identity crisis this is causing within the GOP.
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The biggest question for me is to what extent an abject disregard for the welfare of sentient beings can ever be justified in the name of luxury.
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  Hello, human diary. It is I again, Mitt Romney, your better.

Today has not been a good day. I mentioned before that the previous Republican occupant of the White House had endorsed me; for some reason this led to me having to have a phone conversation with him today. I am still unclear why. He is a nice enough fellow, and I attempted to bond with him over our mutual love of elevators, and riding in elevators, and putting things into elevators. I believe he enjoyed my banter. (I also invited him to come view our many fine horses, but he was strangely quiet during that part of the conversation.)

I mentioned to an audience of commoners yesterday that if my wife and I were going to move to any place in America, I would move to their state. This was a brilliant move on my part, especially because I was able to correctly remember which state I was in at the time. Note to self: Do not repeat this trick too often, when reporter units are present.

Speaking of reporter units, Eric F. has instituted a new plan. The old plan was to block them from attending certain events or asking questions; they responded to this in a negative fashion. The new plan is for me to engage them in human banter. My understanding is that I need to appear likable, even though few of these reporters are in my peer group when it comes to wealth or the number of sports team owners they are acquainted with. I told several of them they were the wrong height; they appeared to take this as a joke, which further confuses me.

Nonetheless, I am determined to impress the American common class with my wit and banter capabilities. I have practiced ceaselessly, and believe I am improving rapidly.

Food Network star Paula Deen opened up to ET's Nancy O'Dell at her Savannah, Georgia home about keeping her controversially-revealed diabetes under control.

"It's probably around 30 pounds," Deen says about the weight she's lost, by making small changes like eating extra servings of salad and veggies and smaller portions of carbs, she says. She's also been trying to walk 30 minutes a day.

Her sugar levels are good, ET reports, but her indulgent, comfort-food recipes aren't off limits. "I'm a Southern girl, and that's who I am, that's what I know," she says, although admits she can't eat them as often as she might like to. "I is what I is," she says.

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SAN DIEGO -- A man's implanted heart defibrillator may have saved his life in an unexpected way – by stopping a knife.

San Diego police say the 57-year-old got into an argument with an acquaintance early Thursday near some elevators at the trolley station for the Fashion Valley shopping mall.

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