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.

America elects first black President

Jesse Jackson openly weeping (after a few months ago saying he wanted to cut Obama's balls off).

I wonder what Dave Chappelle thinks.

How fascinating and historic that the same communities that were the most pissed off and tragically heartbroken at the assasination of Martin Luther King Jr.... now... 40 years later they are the most joyful and energetic areas in American tonight.

Harlem, South Central Los Angeles, south Chicago, Washington D.C., Atlanta, etc etc

For me personally, Tennessee voted %60 for McCain (i.e. against Obama). That makes this Presidency the most unpopular ever in my home state.

ITS THE FINAL COUNTDOWN

This is it.

I've been pulling for Obama since January/February of 2007. This will be the fourth semester of law school when the Obama possible victory was probably the most interesting sub-plot of my life (besides UT football of course).

1. The black turnout has been as high as 99% in some early voting in North Carolina. The effect this Obama presidency will have on black people will truly be historic. It will create a divide between those who realize and admit Obama's election has turned a new page in African history in America, and those that do not. The latter group will be those either stuck in the past, or who simply refuse to shed off the "victim-martyr" cloak. The latter group, IMHO, will have lost a great deal of credibility.

2. I hope there are not riots or looting in black areas. We've seen in many cases where a sports team wins (Chicago, Los Angeles) there will actually be rioting/looting in some of the poorest urban, mostly black areas of the city. I just hope that doesn't happen here.

3. Will McCain somehow steal this election? This time, the outrage will simply be unbelievable. If McCain somehow wins Pennsylvania (barely, just like W. won Florida in 2000, and Ohio in 2004), then I can completely understand rioting, burning and looting in the streets. That would be the THIRD time in as many Presidential elections when the dirty bastard lying rotten GOP has STOLE an election. People should riot because at that point, with the polls in PA showing a 10 pt lead, if McCain somehow won, in my mind, it COULD ONLY be because of something illegal. And that is just cause for rioting. A founding father of this nation said it better than I ever could, "When in the course of human events...."

4. Will Obama help me personally? Will he give more options to people who can't find work and are stuck with 50,000 plus student loans? Will he help people who work at small law firms that don't have a health care plan? Will his plan of allowing everyone to join the Federal Employees health care plan go through? Will Obama create more legal services jobs, governmental jobs, adminstrative agency jobs, that will help young lawyers find jobs? Will he lower the standard for forgiveness of debt, or create new programs to help people in non-profits get forbearance?
I don't know, but I know he's more likely to do any of those things than McCain.

God bless Barack Hussein Obama and God bless the United States of America.

Obama's grandpa

Barack's 85 year old granny fell very sick yesterday.

Barack is going to suspend his campaign to fly by to Hawaii to be with her.

She and Barack's white grandpa raised him.

Barack's story is possibly the greatest American story ever told up to the present day.

He even beats John Kennedy.

It is truly miraculous.

And he even looks like his white grandpa in a very unique way.

(Hint: The ears.)

OUR HERO

Obama campaign grassroots hero of the day

Just worked tirelessly for 4 days in Western Carolina (Heath Shuler country)

Three cheers

hip hip hooray

Obama has been SURGING in the polls for weeks now.

People are simply fed up with rising gas prices, food prices, unemployment, national debt, bailouts for huge corporations, the Patriot Act, spying on Americans, Karl Rove and everything he represents, and the general evil and shenanigans of the twenty-first century Republican party.

It is time for a change.

We are the ones we've been waiting for!

OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA

He said it

Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan 1987-2007

Colin Powell is a true American hero and statesman. In explaining his pick for Obama, Powell said that McCain is using tactics such as implying Obama is a Muslim.

Powell replies, "Obama is not a Muslim; he is a Christian and has been so for many years. But so what if he were [a Muslim]?"

Powell goes on to talk about the above photograph of one Corporal Khan's mother at his Arlington gravesite, and how Powell was moved by the sacrifice shown by this young Muslim American army corporal.

The ultimate sacrifice: His life.

Corporal Kareem Khan was 14 years old on 9-11. He told his family he wanted to fight in the U.S. Army against the terrorists. He was killed in battle, but not before earning the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart.

Colin Powell has reminded us all of what it means to be an American.

I hope Obama will appoint Powell to a high position of power.

Economy troubled?

First off, Colin Powell endorsed Obama today. First, Powell criticized McCain's choice of Sarah Palin, saying that the qualifications for the job of vice President is basically the same as President, and Palin is not ready. Second, Powell said America does not need ANY MORE conservative Supreme Court justices (which intrigues me as a student of the judiciary... I wonder which issues Powell is referring to??). Thirdly, Powell described a President Obama as "electrifying for the world." Fourthly, Powell said it was not about race.

(To read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27265369/ )
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The economy... what gives?
Are we screwed?

A poster at Paul Krugman's blog pointed out that from its peak in 1929, right before the fall which started the Great Depression, the stock market did not recover in real world dollars back to its 1929 peak... until... until... any guesses?.... 1954.

25 years later.

So, let me get this straight. The market peaked at 14,000 in 2007, coinciding almost precisely with my entrance into the white collar world... and if history repeats, this "market correction" might not actually correct itself until the year 2032???

President Bush said yesterday, "In the long run, the American people can have confidence that our economy will bounce back."

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/18/we-are-all-dead/

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In the paranoid conspiracy theorist segment of my blog, let me just tell you my latest theory: Big business was 100% behind the so-called "war on terror".

Why do I say this?

One reason: A NYT article points out that one-third of the FBI was PULLED OFF of "white collar crime" detail, to be transferred to the 'war on terror'. Now, these multi-millionaire criminal CEOs are totally OFF THE HOOK.

So for the last few years, these robber baron CEOs have been raiding the till and there's just not enough FBI men to investigate. Even when the FBI KNOWS that crime is taking place.

Apparently, all the FBI men are too busy listening to FISA phone taps.

I just hope those phone taps are for real criminals, and not to find out exactly who is supporting the Republicans or not.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/19/washington/19fbi.html?_r=2&hp=&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin

GREED is not irrelevant

This from RCP website:

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/09/bailout_blues.html


"As one of my more knowing correspondents put it: "Wall Street loves money but hates free markets, because free markets distribute economic benefits to those who earn them, rather than to those best able to seize them."

The capitalist investment bankers stand accused, rightly, of having invented brilliant kiting schemes -- ultimately to deliver credit to customers who hadn't earned it. Their "greed" is irrelevant -- everyone is trying to make money. The point is that the schemes themselves were basically unsound. The lesson is that when home ownership is considered a "right" instead of a privilege, it is not only the housing market that goes bottom up."

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That first paragraph is SPOT ON.... and then the bastard basically says, "Well, we can't blame the bankers, boys will be boys, its not their fault that they have absolutely no scruples, morals or any inkling of risk restraint."

THEIR 'GREED' IS NOT, IS ABSOLUTELY NOT IRRELEVANT. THEIR GREED IS THE DEFINING FEATURE OF ALL MODERN, MATURE CAPITALIST STATES, AND THEIR GREED IS EVIL.

We must be EVER VIGILANT against that greed. And not blame the poor minorities for the fact that the GREED is running the show and won't even allow any modest and reasonable oversight or regulations.

Tuppence in the bank (DOW dropped 300 points today blues)

Sometimes I have moments of genius... watch this youtube.

Tuppence, prudently, thriftly invested in the Dawes, Tomes, Mousely Grubbs Fidelity Fiduciary Bank...

Bankruptcies! Debtor sales!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jt9JpYRulSk

Compare this to the current situation. Wall Street and men getting 9 million dollar "golden parachutes" are asking for $700 billion dollars from the American taxpayer to bail them out.

These investment firms (such as AIG) purposefully and cold-bloodedly and "with malice aforethought" made incredibly RISKY and FOOLHARDY investments, thinking that the housing market would continue to go up at an accelerated rate forever (which anyone knows just simply does NOT happen... everyone knows the market goes in CYCLES)... and as a direct result (I"m not even mentioning the snake-oil ARM loans pushed on poor urban and elderly people... I'm not even mentioning these... its scary to think how much those are a part of it) the banks now have what Paul Krugman called "toxic paper", i.e. the worthless subprime loans.

Krugman belives that the huge banking lobby is basically trying to RAM the 700 billion through Congress, and basically force the American taxpayer to BUY THE TOXIC PAPER for its face value.

Profits are privatized; losses are made public and force-fed down the unwilling and powerless gullets of the American people.

Wow.

America.

Again, America has jumped the shark in 2008.

The creepy, unprecedented, bizarre media shut-down continues

...an aide told the journalists on board that all Palin flights would be off the record unless the media were told otherwise. At least one reporter objected. Two people on the flight said the Palins greeted the media and they chatted about who had been to Alaska, but little else was said.

If you want to know what it's like to live in Putin's Russia, the Republican party is giving you a good taste. This is the most appalling dereliction of duty by the press that I have ever seen in my adult life. If they had any integrity, they would stop covering her at all under these conditions. We're now well into the second week in which someone who could be president of the United States next January has not been available to the press.

Socialism for the RICH

I want to move to Europe sometimes. They seem so rational and honest.
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CEO: Fannie/Freddie Bailout Makes America 'More Communist than China' Rogers Holdings chief tells CNBC Europe U.S. brand of socialism is meant only for the rich.

By Jeff Poor Business & Media Institute9/8/2008 5:24:06 PM

Has America created its own variety of communism with the U.S. Treasury Department’s bailout of two beleaguered government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs), Fannie Mae (NYSE:FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE:FRE)? According to Rogers Holding CEO Jim Rogers, the answer is yes.

“America is more communist than China is right now,” Rogers told CNBC Europe’s “Squawk Box Europe” September 8. “You can at least have a free market in housing and a lot of other things in China. And you can see that this is welfare for the rich. This is socialism for the rich. It’s bailing out the financiers, the banks, the Wall Streeters."

Rogers, known for launching the Quantum Fund with left-wing heavyweight George Soros, said the bailout was not benefiting homeowners or helping average citizens improve their standing for a home mortgage.

“It’s not bailing out the homeowners who are in trouble, by the way,” Rogers said. “It’s not bailing out people who want a mortgage – it’s just bailing out financial institutions. This is not my idea of the way things are supposed to be, but if that’s what America wants, you know, it can elect people who are going to do it. I think it’s a mistake.”

The Rogers Holdings CEO had little confidence that Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama, Ill., or Republican vice-presidential nominee, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, would be able to do anything to steer Fannie or Freddie on a more stable path.

“This is a big huge mess and neither one of them has a clue as to what to do next year,” Rogers said. “Bank stocks around the world are going through the roof, that’s because they’ve all been bailed out. You don’t see the homeowners in Kansas going through the roof because they’re not being bailed out.”

Rogers had previously called for Fannie and Freddie to be allowed to go bankrupt. “They should not be bailed out,” he told “Worldwide Exchange” July 15. “This is outrageous. Who are these people who are taking our money and doing this and ruining America?”

“Let the patient go bankrupt,” he said. “We have courts in America; they will be reorganized.”

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were “wove a mantle of invincibility” through lobbying according to a September 8 Wall Street Journal “Deal Journal” blog post. According to the Journal’s Heidi N. Moore, the mortgage giants had $170 million in lobbying bills in the past decade and spent $3.5 million on lobbying just in this year’s first quarter, spreading their largesse among 42 outside lobbying firms.

Earlier on September 8, CNBC “Mad Money” host Jim Cramer called the bailout “a homerun plan” on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
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Jim Cramer lost all credibility with his "brilliance" concerning Bear Stearns.

The link below:
http://businessandmedia.org/articles/2008/20080908171808.aspx

The LION

The greatest legislator in the history of the United States, and the greatest senator of the twentieth century. The biggest supporter of Obama. Words run out and fail. The man, the myth, the "Liberal Lion", Edward Kennedy.

A simple prayer from Barack Obama

JERUSALEM - An Israeli newspaper's decision to publish a handwritten prayer left by Barack Obama in the cracks of Jerusalem's Western Wall drew criticism Friday as an invasion of his privacy and his relationship with God.

In the note, placed at Judaism's holiest site Thursday, Obama asks God to guide him and guard his family.

"Lord — Protect my family and me.
Forgive me my sins,
and help me guard against pride and despair.
Give me the wisdom to do what is right and just.
And make me an instrument of your will," reads the note published in Maariv.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080725/ap_on_re_mi_ea/israel_obama_s_note

South Carolina Senator Kevin Bryant

This is exactly why I get pissed off when I meet someone who is half-way intelligent, and yet still is a Republican. Face facts, people. On the whole, Republicans are liars. Bottom line.

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"It was meant tongue in cheek," [Bryant] said, adding, "I've got some questions about Senator Obama's ties to -- such as his comment that we should negotiate with Iran. Iran's a country that would like to destroy Israel, that bothers me. But is this picture appropriate? I don't know." He let out a loud laugh. "It's gotten a lot more attention than I would have expected."
Does he think Obama is actually has terrorist ties? "I don't think he's tied to terrorists, no. I do think he's probably more sympathetic to nations that allow terrorism than I would prefer. And that's why I posted it. Am I saying that him and Osama work together? No, I'm not saying that at all."

And what religion does Bryant think Obama practices? "That's a good question. I don't know."