the best lack all conviction (hey that's me!)

One of my favorite poems

The Second Coming by W.B. Yeats

TURNING and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

“This is essentially the collapse of health care reform in the United States Senate. Honestly the best thing to do right now is kill the Senate bill, go back to the House, start the reconciliation process, where you only need 51 votes and it would be a much simpler bill.”

Howard Dean, upon the death of democracy in America as evidenced by the utter failure of a 60-seat Dem majority in Senate and greater majority in House to pass basic healthcare reform in 2009.

The Dems simply won't learn this rule: DON'T BRING A KNIFE TO A GUN FIGHT. The Dems will not play hardball for some reason.

Obama should use the Presidency as a bully pulpit to say that Joe Liebermann is the biggest sac of worm$hit to ever hold office, and the people of Connecticut should thow him out on his a$$.

Liebermann and his so-called moderate Dems are in the POCKET of BIG INSURANCE, INC.

The new 'reform' is going to be windfall for the same insurance companies that caused the problem. It might cause millions like me, young people, who really don't need to buy insurance... yet... to buy it, spending 3, 4, or 5K a year out of their effing pockets. Money they DON'T have in this economy. And to whom? To the same companies that caused the problem! Its really indescribably evil and wicked.

Democracy is dead in America, when a grassroots progressive idea swells into a bill... and then that bill is derailed by liars and theives like Liebermann... and then the Dems HAVE to pass something so it looks like they're total failures... so now the new bill is WRITTEN BY the insurance companies to pad their pockets and further screw over the American people! Unbelievable!

And they laid Jesus Christ in His grave

Jesus Christ was a man who walked througout the land
A hard working man, and brave
He said to the rich, "Give your goods to the poor"
So they laid Jesus Christ in His grave

Jesus was a man, a carpenter by hand
His followers true and brave
One dirty coward named Judas Iscariot
Laid Jesus Christ in His grave

He went to the sick, He went to the poor
He went to the hungry and lame
He said that the poor would one day win this world
So they laid Jesus Christ in His grave

He went to the preacher, He went to the sheriff
Told them all the same
Said, "Sell all of your jewelry and give it to the poor"
So they laid Jesus Christ in His grave

When Jesus came to town
The working folks around
Believed what He did say
The bankers and the preachers
They nailed Him on the cross
And they laid Jesus Christ in His grave

When the love of the poor shall one day turn to hate
When the patience of the workers gives way
Would be better for you rich if you'd never had been born
So they laid Jesus Christ in His grave

This song was written in New York City
Of rich men, preachers and slaves
Yes, if Jesus was to preach like He preached in Galilee
They'd lay Jesus Christ in His grave

Iran, Neda, Michael Jackson, healthcare

1. IRAN: Twitter, facebook and bloggers have revolutionized "revolution". The "dorks" and "nerds" have become the Cause's greatest champions. but actually, I think that was also true, sadly, for Bolshevik Russia, at least according to Dr. Zhivago. So we need to guard against the tyranny of the nerds. But that's not a problem yet. i did my part; I turned by Twitter photo green. Andrew Sullivan, as always led the way, and IMHO actually goaded the MSM to start following the story after violence after the Iranian election was stolen by ahmedinejad.

Ahmedinajad is reeling. The Iranians have shot innocent citizens in march. Many wonderful symbols of freedom like green tape over mouth and nonviolent civil disobedience in the bazaars. The saddest was the sniper shooting of a young, early 20's beautiful Iranian woman named Neda. Her murder was caught on cell phone video camera. She was shot in the heart by a long-range out-of-sight sniper. She fell to the ground. Blood poured from her nose and mouth. She died in less than 60 seconds.

2. NEDA has become the face of a generation. The above photo of the Supreme Ruler is the same blood flow captured on camera from when Neda died in the streets.

3. MICHAEL JACKSON: The King is dead. He was a great artist, one of the most famous human beings on Planet Earth. He was also known as a pedophile, however found not guilty. I'm disgusted by the mockery of the man, less than 24 hours after his death. There is no dignity, no honor, no decency in this so-called American western civilization. No dignity for the dead. MJ may have had problems, but he was still a GREAT contributor to the world as a whole. His music will live forever.

4. The great summer of healthcare of 2009: Is being put on back burner right now because of stupid trade and cap's on CO2 bill, Waxman-Markey bill. I fear the worst for healthcare bill. The Repubs are MASTERS at de-railing good ideas and good bills. I fear they will be able to water it down so much it will be bullshit. I think the Dems fear a 1994 type backlash at the polls, so the Dems are afraid of pushing too hard. Now is not time for fear. The Repubs are weakest in 50 years; if we can't shove healthcare down their throats, we never will!!!

The revolution will be twittered

THE REVOLUTION WILL BE TWITTERED

Andrew Sullivan at the Atlantic has really re-defined why blogging is so amazing and life-changing, and even game-changing, if the game you're interested in is global geopolitics.

The aftermath of the Iran election has been twittered by young Iranian students and citizens, and that is all the world has heard of it, except for a few rare videos and eyewitness accounts.

Sullivan is truly a great man and a trail blazer. Hopefully history will remember him as one of the leaders/inventors of the new politics.

The old switcheroo

Senator Arlen Specter, R-PA has announced he will SWITCH sides to the Democrat party.

This move, combined with the soon-to-be-seated Al Franken, D-MN will give the Democrats a 60-40 voting majority.

I don't quite grasp the ins-and-outs of it all, but basically it means the Democrats can now overcome any filibusters and can fast-track truly progressive legislation.

I am almost afraid for President B. Obama.

He has been so good in his first 100 days.

My favorite, of course, was when he "blindsided" Sallie Mae (that is an actual quote from a financials industry insider, describing what Obama's new plans have on Sallie Mae (SLM) and the whole predatory-capitalistic, immoral, greedy, bastards in the student loan industry (which sadly is only a small part of the "college industrial complex" as a whole).

He "blindsided" Sallie Mae by revealing plans that he intends to do away with the crappy, misleading FFEFL program (a program that allows Sallie Mae to pretend to be the Government, lull young people into sense of false hope, and then jack up interest rates, and be general a**holes). Obama is replacing FFEFL with the Direct Loan program, a program which MUST answer to logic and good faith, because after all, it is a Direct Loan from the U.S. Dept of Education.

Obama also has said he will close Guantanamo.

But now, I am afraid for the Pres because he now has "gotten what he wished for".

And we all know the old saying, "Be careful what you wish for..."

He now has 60 Senators.

If he can somehow overcome the healthcare industrial complex (which, by the way, 5 out of the TOP TEN biggest lobbyists, by total contributions, were bloodsuckers in the healthcare industrial complex, i.e. AMA, BCBS, and many more.)

If he can somehow overcome those bastards, and pass some kind of universal healthcare...

... he will be the greatest President of all time in my book.

Google = NO LOVE FOR JESUS

Google didn't put any special logo for Easter!

WTF?!!

Google had a logo for Secretaries Day and Earth Day!!!

WTF?

No EASTER LOVE?

I smell a rat.