Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Culture is...
Culture is a kind of language. And as with any language, once we become fluent in our culture, we stop thinking about it.
Doug Pagitt
Monday, May 09, 2011
There were elites before Obama
These days Americans get constant lectures about the need to reduce the budget deficit. That focus in itself represents distorted priorities, since our immediate concern should be job creation. But suppose we restrict ourselves to talking about the deficit, and ask: What happened to the budget surplus the federal government had in 2000?
The answer is, three main things. First, there were the Bush tax cuts, which added roughly $2 trillion to the national debt over the last decade. Second, there were the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which added an additional $1.1 trillion or so. And third was the Great Recession, which led both to a collapse in revenue and to a sharp rise in spending on unemployment insurance and other safety-net programs.
So who was responsible for these budget busters? It wasn’t the man in the street.
President George W. Bush cut taxes in the service of his party’s ideology, not in response to a groundswell of popular demand — and the bulk of the cuts went to a small, affluent minority.
Similarly, Mr. Bush chose to invade Iraq because that was something he and his advisers wanted to do, not because Americans were clamoring for war against a regime that had nothing to do with 9/11. In fact, it took a highly deceptive sales campaign to get Americans to support the invasion, and even so, voters were never as solidly behind the war as America’s political and pundit elite.
Finally, the Great Recession was brought on by a runaway financial sector, empowered by reckless deregulation. And who was responsible for that deregulation? Powerful people in Washington with close ties to the financial industry, that’s who. Let me give a particular shout-out to Alan Greenspan, who played a crucial role both in financial deregulation and in the passage of the Bush tax cuts — and who is now, of course, among those hectoring us about the deficit.
The Unwisdom of Elites
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: May 8, 2011
Anyway
Anyway
People are often unreasonable, illogical and self-centered :
Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives:
Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies:
Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you.
Be honest and frank anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous:
Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow:
Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough:
Give the world the best you've got anyway.
You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God:
It was never between you and them anyway.
Mother Teresa
Saturday, May 07, 2011
America’s “quiet professionals”
The President:
They’re America’s “quiet professionals” -- because success demands secrecy. But I will say this. Like all of you, they could have chosen a life of ease. But like you, they volunteered. They chose to serve in a time of war, knowing they could be sent into harm’s way. They trained for years. They’re battle-hardened. They practiced tirelessly for this mission. And when I gave the order, they were ready.
Thursday, May 05, 2011
National Day of Reason
National Day of Reason.
The National Day of Reason, observed by millions of people in this country and around the world since 2003, celebrates the application of reason and the positive impacts it has had on humanity. Reason and rational discourse have the power to improve living conditions around the world and cultivate intelligent, moral, and ethical interactions among people.
Reason and rational thinking have made our country great. The Constitution of the United States of America is based upon the philosophies developed during the historical Age of Reason and the idea that citizens engaging in rational discourse and decision-making can govern themselves. The Constitution also contains a strong separation of church and state, making it clear that government should continue to be built on reason.
Our nation faces many problems--ending two wars, creating jobs, educating our children, tackling our budget, and protecting our safety net. Although the gravity of these issues may drive many to prayer, the way we will solve them is through the application of reason.
The National Day of Reason is also about taking time to improve our communities--whether that means holding a blood drive or collecting items for the local food bank. It is also about ensuring that our government represents citizens of all beliefs and backgrounds. I encourage everyone to join in observing this day and focusing upon the employment of reason, critical thinking, the scientific method, and free inquiry to the resolution of human problems and for the welfare of human kind. It is the duty and responsibility of every American to promote the development and application of reason.
http://www.stark.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2211&Itemid=84
File under: "Awe, gee, isn't that toooooo bad."
George W. Bush Reportedly Feels Ignored In Obama 'Victory Lap' Following Osama Bin Laden's Death
[LINK: Huffington Post ]
A Giant Malaysian Shield Praying Mantis
A Giant Malaysian Shield Praying Mantis is pictured in Igor Siwanowicz’s studio in Munich, Germany. Biochemist and photographer Igor Siwanowicz has spent the last seven years carefully acquiring, breeding and capturing bizarre and visually stunning images of creepy crawlies.
[LINK: All Creatures [great and small] ]
God in the here
Experiencing God in the here and now
Why are we so enamored with a side of God (His transcendence), an attribute we can't really wrap our minds around anyway, when there is so much of God we can experience right here, right now, with faculties God has gifted us with to know Him, to enjoy Him?
We want to know him in some abstract, spiritual way, when He is cooling us with a breeze and warming us with a sun ray. We look for God in miracles, in some out of this world (supernatural) phenomenon and we miss Him in so many, many ways every single day, every single moment. The question is not where is God, but where are we?
Tuesday, May 03, 2011
Independently confirm if L.Graham (R, S.C.) has a brain...
Having already called on the White House to release photos of Osama bin Laden’s body, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) now says that independent experts should have been brought into verify bin Laden's identity before the body was buried at sea.
"I think it would have been smart to have an independent group, forensic scientists, maybe from Scotland Yard or some other organization," said Graham. The South Carolina Republican softened his earlier criticism of the White House being overly sensitive to Islamic traditions in expediting bin Laden's burial—but said Obama shouldn't have rushed the proceedings. "Religious sensitivity is smart... but [we could have held] onto body for period of time to allow for indispensable analysis to help us make the case," he told reporters.
Oh my goodness
"Oh my goodness, that's a great question. Um, gosh, that's a great question, I have to think about it, OK? Because there are many."-- Sarah Palin, when asked at the White House Correspondent's Dinner who she thought was the most influential journalist today The question, by the way, was asked of several of the attendees and each of them -- even Bill Hader from Saturday Night Live -- had no trouble coming up with journalists both well known and obscure.
The Libraries Didn't Burn
The Libraries Didn't Burn
by Elaine Equi despite books kindled in electronic flames.The locket of bookish love
still opens and shuts.But its words have migrated
to a luminous elsewhere.Neither completely oral nor written —
a somewhere in between.Then will oak, willow,
birch, and olive poets return
to their digital tribes —trees wander back to the forest?
by Elaine Equi despite books kindled in electronic flames.The locket of bookish love
still opens and shuts.But its words have migrated
to a luminous elsewhere.Neither completely oral nor written —
a somewhere in between.Then will oak, willow,
birch, and olive poets return
to their digital tribes —trees wander back to the forest?
[LINK: Poets.org...The Libraries Didn't Burn ]
Monday, May 02, 2011
Untitled
Arizona Governor Vetoes HB 2230 During | |
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Our collective Ken and Barbie dolls
"This, apparently, is what it takes to get the media's undivided attention: the marriage between two people who are politically powerless, and who spend their waking lives as designated fetish objects for the United Kingdom's interested citizenry, for Anglophiles the world over, and for the celebrity-fixated media. Our collective Ken and Barbie dolls." -- Matt Zoller Seitz in a brilliantly dead-on piece currently posted at Salon
Sunday, May 01, 2011
The simple history that neo-cons and tea partiers so easily forget.
We must remember that Marie let slip, "Let them eat cake" and their response was "off with their heads"
How wonderfully ironic that in this age of middle class suppression, undermining union and labor rights, imposing draconian laws governing the rights and health of women and general cutting our the tightly strained safety net the wanna be power brokers have forgotten one simple historical fact.
When the populace becomes oppressed enough, when they become hungry enough or even insulted enough that there will be out breaks of civil disobedience.
I suggest that the first job of government is to keep the majority of people mollified. Make food, really healthy food, easy to get. Make housing affordable. Allow families to comfortably meet the needs of their children. Above all we want a sense of dignity, national dignity.
Just a reminder, the revolution will not be televised, the revolution will be tweeted, blogged and you-tubed in real time, right now.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Laughter is the best medicine?
HOSPITAL CHART BLOOPERS (Actual writings from hospital charts) The patient refused autopsy.Patient has left white blood cells at another hospital.She has no rigors or shaking chills, but her husband states she was very hot in bed last night.Patient has chest pain if she lies on her left side for over a year. On the second day the knee was better and on the third day it disappeared.The patient has been depressed since she began seeing me in 1993.Discharge status: Alive but without permission.Patient had waffles for breakfast and anorexia for lunch. She is numb from her toes down.While in ER, she was examined, x-rated and sent home.The skin was moist and dry.Occasional, constant infrequent headaches.Patient was alert and unresponsive. Rectal examination revealed a normal size thyroid. I saw your patient today, who is still under our car for physical therapy.Both breasts are equal and reactive to light and accommodation.Examination of genitalia reveals that he is circus sized. The lab test indicated abnormal lover function.Skin: somewhat pale but present.The pelvic exam will be done later on the floor.Patient has two teenage children, but no other abnormalities.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
The Thought Police
The Thought Police are here. They've come
To put you under cardiac arrest.
And as they drag you through the door
They tell you that you've failed the test.
-- Buggles, "Living in the Plastic Age"
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