Just Want to be Free – the Mistakes of Tyrants: There are some in my family who are convinced the CIA/US is behind the Arab uprisings. For the life of me I cannot understand THAT one. The left sees the US behind every nefarious activity and plot and the right sees leftist socialists as the men behind the curtain pulling the strings. I'm very confused. Doesn't anyone think that human beings can act in their own self interest and impulse without anyone necessarily being behind it?

Allegedly this all began when one Tunisian vendor had had it up to his earlobes with his government's injustice. If true that was quite a feat. It seems our own revolution began when someone got a bit miffed that a tax on tea was levied and they had no say in the matter. Then bam in an instant British Red Coats fired on a group of probably drunk rabble rousing colonists. John Adams later argued the British were intimidated and it was merely self defense. That may be so but I bet the British said, if only if only as they lost what would become later quite a thing of value, their colonies. If only George the III did a small thing like say hey wait a minute I'll give you some representation. Seems like it would have been a small price to pay for what would become George the III's BIG mistake.

So how does this apply to the Middle East? Well, if only the Tunisian government under Ali, the Egyptian government under Mubarak, and now the Libyan government under Qaddafi could have been so prescient to have seen all that oil money they made, hid in banks and squandered on great villas, estates, cars and women could have been distributed through jobs to their people paying them for work and thus giving them a better life and little less unemployment.

There are, I think, lessons to be learned for ALL governments including our own. When 2% of the people own 98% of the wealth, gas prices and food prices are in the stratosphere unaffordable for most, the housing of the American Dream foreclosed upon do NOT for a happy country make.

I say to our illustrious elected representatives, CEO's of our HUGE banks, corporations and hedge funds LOOSEN UP A LITTLE WILL YA? How about releasing ALL that cash so our country can stand upright again even IF it might stand upright during a black president's administration? It might just ensure, in the long run, your way of life prevails and someday even under a white Republican. Injustice is a nasty thing. It makes people very mad.

I suspect while Qaddafi is holding his Tripoli, in the long run, he will lose just as the Brits in 1789 lost the colonies. People get mad as hell and will simply not take it any more and they have the wind of purpose at their back.

If only George III had thought of that. Instead of Old Glory flying high on our Capitol the Union Jack just might have. This is food for thought you tyrants and holders of all the wealth in the world. “People everywhere”, in the end, as the Young Rascals of the late sixties sang, “just want to be free”!

The Shine is off of Sheen: The New York Times says Sheen fired from 2 1/2 Men:

Good! Can we now talk about news that TRULY is worthy. I do not give a whit about him. My opinion: He deserves what he got. These foolish foolish people who make such a GOOD living, are SO fortunate and, indeed, SO LUCKY that they got some breaks in life and they squander it. It is as if someone gave you a satchel of gold and you left it on a park bench.

He should be hugging the executives who gave him such a good job, shut up and ACT and thank God or fate or something that shone its light on him. How many of us would give their right arm and a pint of blood for such good fortune. Shame on Sheen. He deserves everything he gets and then some!

Walker's Walk: Wisconsin and other states which for a brief moment in 2008 understood that the George Bush Republican era of horrid and corrupt politics had to end but in 2010 did the very same thing and overwhelmingly voted in Republicans all across the board. Wisconsin is prime example of what it REALLY means to vote against your economic interests.

Democrats continue to represent the interests of about 98% of the population but simply cannot and did not get their message across strongly and well. Our president, sadly, did not help the matter. Walker and so many others of his ilk from Bachmann to Boehner and beyond took advantage of the climate and through the Republican amazing ability to manipulate the media and the message got those who should not have voted Republican to vote the Walkers into office.

One can SEE clearly what happens when you take your vote for granted and do not show up. Walker happens and it is sad because the preponderance of the country does NOT believe as he does. 400 people, as Michael Moore said, control over 50% of the wealth and Walker and all those like him in TRUTH represent them. They did, however, in brilliant Republican style manage to steal the message anyway they could even if they had to lie to do it. Republicans are TERRIFIC at the game and best of all for them they got a Supreme Court to hand them the keys to the Emerald City of Citizens United.

If you do NOT want this to happen again, if you want the country to get out of our economic malaise, if you WANT the country to represent YOU do NOT, I repeat do NOT vote Republican.

Yes, I know Democrats aren't perfect but believe me IF they could gain a significant majority who will be as steadfast as their Republican adversaries, our country WILL thrive. I am SURE of it.

Krugmanesque and Elizabeth Warren polices should prevail and our president should get this message LOUD and clear. Second term: OUT with Geithner, OUT with Bernanke, OUT with the policies that allowed the banksters to get away with economic murder. We want Washington to regulate; we want Washington to PROSECUTE and we want the perpetrators of the biggest economic fraud in history not to have gotten away with a ten buck slap on the wrist. How many of you think that will suffice and that these bad boys will have learned their lesson? Oh none? You are right. So keep electing Republicans and Conservadems and you will continue to be pilloried by not understanding the politics of power. It's IMPERATIVE as fast as we voted these
know-nothings in we can vote them out JUST AS FAST. Make Walker and those like him walk the electoral plank and DO SO WITH ALL DELIBERATE SPEED!

Michael Moore's speech in Madison -- greatest speech I have heard maybe EVER! I link it below:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgNuSEZ8CDw

Presidential Power of Middle East Politics: Roger Cohen's March 3, 2011 editorial "Go to Jerusalem, Mr. President"(link below) advocates for President Obama to make a trip to Jerusalem to calm Israeli fears amid the present upheaval in the Middle East so that Israelis will be assured that the US will remain Israel's most important ally.

I do not envy those in positions of Israeli power nor do I envy our president's decisions that he will have to make about the latest intractable Middle East morph. It is unsettling, to say the least, when nothing IS settled. Surely there must be some wise men in Israel and at our president's side to act as counsel. In the final analysis, it is his decision to make and it is he who will be held accountable as the buck stops at his desk and goes no farther.

Obama has played most things close to the vest. I believe he balances political prudence for the 2012 elections and his legacy with some idealism left over in some crevice of his senatorial and campaign 2008 DNA. I have found myself throwing up my hands when the president goes against what he said to those of us who elected him in 2008 but then retreating from my criticism when he does something I deem wonderful which he has many times. I have come to the conclusion after arduous reflection about my deflation of 2008 ebullience that this president is president of ALL the people not just his Democratic coveted base of which I am a member in good standing. In short, as president, he must be more careful, infinitely more discerning as to what he says, where he goes and for which policy he advocates. I live in Massachusetts BUT Massachusetts is NOT Indiana nor is it Tripoli or Tel Aviv. I cannot expect it to be.

The Middle East, that cauldron of bombastic never-ending upheaval and death, is VERY hard to predict. I suspect some Israeli and US policy makers are having late night Pepto Bismol moments while they have the darnedest time trying to craft effective Middle East policy while alienating few and at the same time saving the lives they were entrusted to protect. Would a visit to Israel allay some Jewish fears? Perhaps it would. Would it prompt other Arab militancy to retrieve their anti-Israel/US signs which have been, so far thankfully, absent? It's possible. Some say life is about risk. That is true when one is starting a corporation or going to the race track but when one is crafting Middle East policy it means the risk is life and death. Decisions in this neck of the woods must be made carefully, analytically and intelligently after much deliberation and at the same time with all deliberate speed. I think our president's proclivity for cool means that slow and steady is his rule and, I think or at least I hope, in the final analysis, where the Middle East is concerned it will win the race!

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/04/opinion/04iht-edcohen04.html

The Power of Art: Recently a relative of mine wrote a wonderful piece on the beauty of art and said we should support it. I strongly agreed and it prompted some thoughts. I wrote the following:

I LOVE the arts. It is amazing how many different forums there are to soak up both historical and contemporary creativity. Even if one is not able financially or physically to support or attend artistic events, one can seek out in many different ways artistic talent.

I agree with my relative it is the culture of art, music, literature, theater and today film which will live on. When the Taliban blew up the ancient statues of the Buddha those of us who adore antiquities let out a collective wail. It reinforced how toxic extremist belief is to man and how important it is to contribute to saving those irreplaceable and priceless pieces of man’s artistic creation. The civilization that produced the Buddha statue in Afghanistan is long gone but that remnant of man’s creativity lived until religious dogma blew it up. I read a piece recently which reported they are trying to recreate the statues. I pay tribute to that but also know modern efforts at reconstruction while laudable often do not take the place of the original. That’s okay. I’ll take what I can get. When I went to Dusseldorf, Germany some years ago we were taken to a museum which was built around the destructive obliteration of a building during World War II. Inadvertently that bombing uncovered a gorgeous mosaic of Roman art. I took that as a metaphor that even through the destruction of war the art survived!

Many (I included) complain and loathe some of the pitiful violent garbage on television made to appeal to minds of a dull 10 year old (I guess they have their rights too.) My cable provider, however, if one wants to search through a myriad of channels, offers endless artistic viewing from PBS to Wealth TV which is non stop classical, baroque, and other music and art of the great masters. It takes one on a film journey through their historic world. It is better than any drug, alcohol or other mind altering substance because it provides a wonderful escape into the auditory and visual magnificence of another world and it does not dull the senses but enhances them.

Art is everywhere but so many in our society carry a poisonous asp in their pocket wanting to kill much that breathes beauty and life into our world. I have written about the sinew of anti-intellectualism that runs through some of our country’s sclerotic veins. It is sad because this country has, indeed, produced some wonderful works of art in a variety of venues. They deserve our undying support in any way we can.

There is so much to learn and so little time to learn it but if you have children and even if you do not I believe you owe it to the generations that come after us to imbue them with an appreciation of art, hone their abilities to create it, and support endeavors the best one can to finance it. Devoting our collective dollars to the waging of war, the propping up of tyrannies, and the proliferation of destructiveness will end up on the ash bin of history but art, hopefully will live on long after we do, unless, of course we destroy it in the process.

Forgive for what?: I respectfully disagree with Rabbi Hier of the Simon Weisenthal Center (link below) thanking Benedict XVI for absolving the Jews for the death of Jesus. While this is a good thing for the Jewish people, I find myself INCREDULOUS as to even discussing this utterly insulting matter. That one even needs to give credence to these moronic accusations is testament (forgive the pun) to the stupidity of the human race. Pardon me if I say to his Holiness, Benedict, I was NOT staying up nights pacing, worrying and wondering IF the pope will pardon me. Really, pardon me for what?

That this accusation of deicide has been an albatross around the Jewish neck for millennia culminating in the orgasmic slaughter of the six million cannot be denied. Absolving the Jewish people by his Holiness, Benedict XVI for our collective guilt for the death of Jesus I find patently and absolutely absurd! The dastardly deeds committed by the Church with respect to the Jewish people have been done and cannot be undone. Let the Pope ask God for His forgiveness. I for one thank the church for nothing!

http://www.wiesenthal.com/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=lsKWLbPJLnF&b=4441467&ct=9146873

How Washington Works: Glen Greenwald says it all in his "Chris Dodd Shows How Washington Works" article in Salon.com. If you REALLY want to know how Washington works read his article in its entirety. I should say read it and weep! After you have a good cry DO SOMETHING!


http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/

Free Speech Means Free Speech: Quoting in pertinent part Supreme Court Justice Roberts writing for the Court's majority upholding the rights of the Westboro Bapitst Church to carry hateful signs at US soldiers' funerals:

“Speech is powerful,” Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wrote for the majority. “It can stir people to action, move them to tears of both joy and sorrow, and — as it did here — inflict great pain.”

But under the First Amendment, he went on, “we cannot react to that pain by punishing the speaker.” Instead, the national commitment to free speech, he said, requires protection of “even hurtful speech on public issues to ensure that we do not stifle public debate.”

I must concur. As difficult as this SCOTUS decision is and as disgusting to see as those hateful signs carried by the insipid Westboro Baptist Church attendees is, our First Amendment freedom of speech is THAT precious to us that the Court’s decision to uphold free speech trumped its prohibition no matter how noxious the content of that speech.

The HOPE that the First Amendment bestows upon our nation is that odious speech if brought into the light will allow other speech which would, one trusts, counteract it. As much as I loathe these messengers of doom who spout destruction, lies and hate, I love our Constitution’s First Amendment more which gives ALL of us the ability and the duty to speak out against them.

Forcing groups underground does a disservice not only to our coveted freedom but does a disservice to law enforcement as well. The disgusting hate-filled signs protesting at service men and women's funerals, who have given their last full measure of devotion to our country, when out in the open can serve to alert those who keep a close watch on hate so that we are aware of the monstrous threat within.

The con, the cons and the can -- No bankster or stock rater jailed for the grossest economic fraud ever -- Rolling Stone -- Matt Taibbi Here are some salient points (link below) written by Matti Taibbi in the March issue of Rolling Stone Magazine in his article entitled "Why Isn't Wall Street in Jail" about the Wall Street bucket of fraud drenching the taxpayer and even their own investors which ultimately sank the economic ship. We are feeling the effects of it, of course, in triplicate today.

Apologies for some of the profanities in Matt Taibbi's quote but I think it is appropriate because of the dastardliness of the crime. It is what happens when one lives in an oligarchy where HUGE banks grease the wheels of government and government is beholden to them and NOT the people. Please see the documentary "Inside Job" as well which just received the Academy Award for best documentary film.

If you are a billionaire and someone says to you hey you did something wrong which was terribly illegal and immoral so pay 10 million bucks in fines. What do you say? You say WHEW gladly and then also have the ones you perpetrated the crime upon pay the fine. Nice work if you can get it and the banksters can, have and will continue to unless their cans are carted off to the can to be with the cons cans even if just for six months. I hear the cons will treat the can of the Wall Street cons very well.

Taibbi says the following:

Not a single executive who ran the companies that cooked up and cashed in on the phony financial boom — an industrywide scam that involved the mass sale of mismarked, fraudulent mortgage-backed securities — has ever been convicted. Their names by now are familiar to even the most casual Middle American news consumer: companies like AIG, Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America and Morgan Stanley. Most of these firms were directly involved in elaborate fraud and theft. Lehman Brothers hid billions in loans from its investors. Bank of America lied about billions in bonuses. Goldman Sachs failed to tell clients how it put together the born-to-lose toxic mortgage deals it was selling. What's more, many of these companies had corporate chieftains whose actions cost investors billions — from AIG derivatives chief Joe Cassano, who assured investors they would not lose even "one dollar" just months before his unit imploded, to the $263 million in compensation that former Lehman chief Dick "The Gorilla" Fuld conveniently failed to disclose. Yet not one of them has faced time behind bars.

Instead, federal regulators and prosecutors have let the banks and finance companies that tried to burn the world economy to the ground get off with carefully orchestrated settlements — whitewash jobs that involve the firms paying pathetically small fines without even being required to admit wrongdoing. To add insult to injury, the people who actually committed the crimes almost never pay the fines themselves; banks caught defrauding their shareholders often use shareholder money to foot the tab of justice. "If the allegations in these settlements are true," says Jed Rakoff, a federal judge in the Southern District of New York, "it's management buying its way off cheap, from the pockets of their victims."

To understand the significance of this, one has to think carefully about the efficacy of fines as a punishment for a defendant pool that includes the richest people on earth — people who simply get their companies to pay their fines for them. Conversely, one has to consider the powerful deterrent to further wrongdoing that the state is missing by not introducing this particular class of people to the experience of incarceration. "You put Lloyd Blankfein in pound-me-in-the-ass prison for one six-month term, and all this bullshit would stop, all over Wall Street," says a former congressional aide. "That's all it would take. Just once."

But that hasn't happened. Because the entire system set up to monitor and regulate Wall Street is fuc*&^ up. Just ask the people who tried to do the right thing.

For the rest of the story read "Why Wall Street isn't in Jail" link below:

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/why-isnt-wall-street-in-jail-20110216?

Walker's Wall Street War on Wisconsin I cannot think of a more mean-spirited, dishonest, and egregiously transparent power grab than that which is being waged by Wisconsin's Governor Walker against state workers. It is shameful. I wonder if the election were to be held today if the majority of the people of Wisconsin would even vote for him. I suspect now he would lose by a crushing margin especially after the fake call from the Republican Santa the Koch Brothers. It is clear from that the kind of sickening political back-room cloak and dagger war that the governor and his cronies are trying to wage against the powerless Wisconsin state worker. He is simply a bully. This is NOT about the Wisconsin budget. The workers already agreed to his monetary demands. This is nothing less than an attempt to gain Republican power by violating the very tenet of the First Amendment, guarantee of freedom of assembly for Unions which usually support Democratic causes. Unions have used this important First Amendment right to pursue their collective bargaining interests and justifiably so. Who can go up against the power of the corporation grease machine of the Republican Party unless they organize?

The states' economic fragility should NOT be laid at the doorstep of state workers many of whom you and I depend upon every single day we live for our infrastructure maintenance, the education of our children and the protection of all of us from physical harm. Are these the people that the extremist radical right is saying get too much money and should be denied the ability to bargain for their rights? Are they kidding me? Try laying the blame where it belongs. Our economic cesspool was created by the Wall Street banksters and the fraud they committed ultimately to line their pockets with taxpayer money as they and their rating lackeys rigged the Wall Street game AND they got away with it. Until this day NO CEO who has been guilty of the most egregious fraud has spent one day in the place so many belong – JAIL. The states are suffering because much of the pension and other investments were lost to this utter fraud!

When one looks at the salaries of our state workers one can see the truth of the 1950's First Amendment besieged comedian Lenny Bruce when he said it was an American irony that a movie star made millions and a teacher AT THAT TIME made $3,000. When one adjusts for the inflation of fifty plus years then the salary of most state teachers maybe edges up to $55,000 IF he/she is lucky.

Charlie Sheen, alleged inebriate actor thinks he does not make enough at $2,000,000 PER SHOW. He wants $3,000,000 per show. Maybe Charlie should join a union. After all we just KNOW unions would ask that much for teachers if they could.

If you were not forced to work as a 12 year old, if you enjoy the 5 day work week, if you like the fact that your workplace must be safe than thank the unions. It would be nice if that sad excuse for a governor of the people of Wisconsin reversed his position and did the same!

My Oscar Take: I rather enjoyed the sometimes tedious, sometimes never ending thank yous of people I do not know, jokes which fall flat and unnecessary inane blather which extend the night well beyond timely sanity. Nevertheless, there was some brilliant acting and some utterly excellent films that were worthy of great recognition. We have so many talented people who can jet propel us out of our doldrums into an emotional escape.

I saw most of the important films up for awards. Natalie Portman's performance in the "Black Swan" was eminently worthy although, in my opinion, the substance of the film was difficult. Perhaps, her performance was admittedly superior to Annette Benning's, the favorite and my favorite, for the "Kids Are All Right." In addition, Christian Bale was just beyond superb as Dicky Ekland in "The Fighter." He will, I think, go down with the acting greats. "Social Network" was incredible. It made me feel so intelligently small compared to a Mark Zuckerberg and friends in their development of Facebook which now has over 200,000,000 subscribers and can be said to have literally changed an entire Middle East region and maybe the world.

Most importantly, "The King's Speech" won for all the categories I thought it would. The awards were well deserved for best picture, best actor, screenplay and director. This is truly a great film, serious in content and poignant, as the king and the British nation too must face serious times, overcome huge odds and then triumph!

What the heck, I'll take a bow. My opinion was printed in the Sunday Globe (Feb. 27, 2011). It's not that easy to get printed in the Boston Globe much less the Sunday one and I haven't in years plus it is an opinion that is the essence of me! ;-)

www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/letters/articles/2011/02/27/politi... =

Thinking the Unthinkable: As reported in Huffington Post and the Georgia Athens Banner-Herald, Republican Congressman Paul Broun from the 10th congressional district of Georgia “responded to a question that was asked at a town hall event held by Rep. Paul Broun on Tuesday. According to the article, an audience member asked the congressman, "Who is going to shoot Obama?” … Rather than confronting the questioner or condemning the question, Broun instead acknowledged "frustration" with Obama, according to the Banner-Herald. The paper reports that Broun responded to the stunning inquiry as follows: "The thing is, I know there's a lot of frustration with this president. We're going to have an election next year. Hopefully, we'll elect somebody that's going to be a conservative, limited-government president that will take a smaller (sic), who will sign a bill to repeal and replace Obamacare." " (Link below)


Broun should have roundly condemned the question as provocative and abhorrent. He also should have decried the rancid atmosphere that led to asking it. Rep. Broun’s lack of outrage is deplorable! That questioner should be investigated by the Secret Service and the Congress should, in the strongest terms possible, condemn the weak response by Rep. Broun.

God forbid a trillion times if something so utterly destructive as the assassination of this president ever occurs you can kiss this country goodbye. The ones who love this president -- and there are MILLIONS who do -- would absolutely go berserk. If you think the cities were convulsed when Martin Luther King was assassinated what would occur if anything like that happened to this president is beyond comprehension and could eclipse that horrid event by miles. It is, to its core, bone chilling and would have repercussions not only in this country but all over the world. If something so unthinkable as that transpired we will become an extinct culture and our democratic experiment will have failed. Those right wing radical racist extremists who have ratcheted up with their vile rhetoric this horrible atmosphere of hate making our president the most threatened in US history better seek shelter too because this time they and all of us would be at risk.

Democrats, Independents and those from all parties and walks of life who love this country and its democracy must take the hateful forces aligned against us seriously and organize as we did in 2008. Take nothing for granted. We must work for a kinder gentler nation. If this nasty opposition gains every level of our government they will court no compromise, make no concessions, have no dialogue but WILL remain uncompromising and extreme dismantling this country’s safety nets and civil liberties piece by piece. They will truly make – if they have not already -- the corporation king! It would not be a place that you recognize nor a place where I would want to live. Everyone should go to their church, their synagogue, their mosque or any place of your choosing and pray fervently that something as pathologically sick as that should never happen here again.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/25/paul-broun-town-hall-who-is-going-to-shoot-obama_n_828047.html

The Arrogance of Stupidity: In response to Neil Gabler's February 22, 2011 editorial "The arrogance divide -- Why can't liberals capture the populist moment?" (Link below) I responded to his Globe editorial.

As a proud liberal I loathe that this nation glorifies those qualities which are the least admirable and deescalates those qualities of greatest import. A smile becomes more important than intelligence, wavy hair or an elite family background more important than academic excellence. Bluster is often more important than thoughtful and careful understanding of policy and history. Historically embedded in our nation's sinew is an anti-intellectual essence where erudite academic intellect is to be scorned and mediocrity becomes a virtue.

Does one want intellectual truth as best as man is able to determine it or does one want myths, falsehoods and the showmanship of a Ringling Brothers Circus or a Southern Baptist preacher to prevail? I will take an MIT/Harvard intellect any day over a William Jennings Bryan, a Father Coughlin or the stupidity that is a proud part of the American Tea Bag and other American populist historical movements.

Cures for physical maladies come from the best and the brightest science has to offer, careful intellectual scrutiny and a breadth of knowledge capable of competing with the entire world. A great nation is NOT born from the cesspool of anti-rational thought, anti intellectuality and utter stupidity. It is born from the hard work of study, the questioning of the status quo and the reproducible truths that only science can bestow. Ignorance, superstition and an unquestioning public will in evolutionary fashion erase a culture. Those who try to achieve academic excellence will survive!

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2011/02/22/the_arrogance_divide/

The Walker Hoax: A caller on Bill Press Show was talking about a list of personal things the bill for which Walker sticks to the Wisconsin public. The so called governor Walker of Wisconsin simply wants to emasculate unions one of the few sources of Democratic support. Walker gives plenty of money to his cronies and sticks the state with the bill for personal things.

Not only that this hypocrite of hypocrites has inserted in that bill all kinds of pork the contracts of which would go to his cronies. The electorate of Wisconsin is paying for his parties that he has every week, his cable TV, his stationery, and a PLETHORA of other personal freebies he has STUCK on the Wisconsin public to pay.

He is the worst hypocrite who is not the least concerned with saving money for the state but IS concerned with negating the unions and Democratic opposition and spreading Republican power nationwide. Having Republicans as governors and state legislators brings you to this. Maybe the American people will finally get it. This is a naked power grab to gain HUGE oligarchical power pure and simple.

They want to rape the American public by using OUR money to pay for their personal fun and amenities and they will give out contracts to cronies who support them. The list of things they want is endless giving out hundreds of millions of dollars worth of contracts to their cronies who have given to their campaigns and the Republican Party. Yes, Democrats do that too BUT Republicans, the party of the corporation, takes that to Herculean heights. Governor Walker is symptomatic of a national power grab attempt to ensure Republicans will control EVERYTHING everywhere in every state and in the three branches of the federal government as well. DO NOT LET THIS HAPPEN. Give to opposition groups when you can and support unions for state workers as well!

Stand in solidarity with the Wisconsin state workers.

A Liberal's Heart: Peter Gelzinis wrote a STERLING piece for the Boston Herald, a conservative sensationalist newspaper I do not usually read (See link below.) I did not consider the things about which Mr. Gelzinis wrote when I heard the 60 Minutes Scott Brown revelations. I wish I had. I am a softy and sometimes, although not usually, I fall for a sad story and think it is an intrinsically good story told without economic motivation behind it. How, at this point in my life, can I still be so naive?

I am NOT a Scott Brown supporter BUT from day 1 I was trying to listen to what he had to say. I was trying to like him. Every time I listened to him, however, I was less than impressed by his articulate abilities and his lack of intellectually well thought out ideas.

When the sex abuse and violent chaotic childhood he revealed to 60 Minutes came out he touched my soft liberal heart. Why I did not think his rationale for this expose is because he has a book to sell in our winner-confess-all-no-matter-how-ugly culture I will never know. Next he will be on Oprah.

While Scott Brown's story is a compelling, sad and yet a triumphant one the fact that he is selling his book makes financial sense and gives a rationale to why he would make his personal, private and sordid story public now. It is ALWAYS about the buck isn't it?

Moreover, there may be another reason for releasing the details now. The polls show Mass. voters rather like Scott Brown. He seems to have just what the American doctor ordered -- good looks and a success story beneath his ugly childhood. If he can make it then why cannot anyone else do the same? But Scott Brown has lost some in the radical right Tea Bag movement who do not want to hear about this abuse and who think those with a different sexual orientation have no right to be treated equally. They are angry at Scott Brown’s yes vote to repeal DADT. By revealing his story, however, he has more than made up for the small right wing extremist loss. He has gained more votes across the entire political spectrum. Even I, a consummate progressive Democrat after hearing his story, for a millisecond thought maybe I could give him my vote.

Then reality strikes and Gelzinis’s piece alerts the hypocritical nerve alarm bells warning me about the danger of giving most any Republican my vote. In the final analysis Scott Brown will have to do more MUCH more to win this progressive’s heart. Apologizing to Lisa Allen for his politically motivated dismissal of her own abuse among many other things would be a good place start!

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1317660

The Whole Truth: This is a FANTASTIC article by one of my all time favorite journalists Matt Taibbi who writes for "Rolling Stone Magazine." Between Glen Greenwald and him these two ultra intelligent progressives write beautifully. When on TV they speak articulately and with excellence. Their point of view favors most of you and me, America's middle class.

If you ever want to know the truth -- the real truth -- about our economic catastrophe and the events which led up to it follow Matt Taibbi's works on Rolling Stone and read his book "Griftopia--Bubble Machines, Vampire Squids, and the Long Con That is Breaking America."

The Whole Truth: Likewise, if you want to know about the overreaching of our government and its eradication of many of our civil liberties read Glen Greenwald at Salon.com and read his 2006 book "How Would a Patriot Act? Defending American Values from a President Run Amok." Both are two of the best that journalism has to offer and neither is tied to behemoth media corporatists.

Matt Taibbi's February 16, 2011 article in Rolling Stone entitled "Why Isn't Wall Street in Jail? -- financial crooks brought down the world's economy -- but the feds are doing more to protect them than to prosecute them" is an excellent piece (Link below).

If this does not arouse your anger and provoke you to do something, say something, write something or support those who are on our side than nothing short of utter financial ruin, the government spying on you, arresting you without cause, or god forbid torturing you could.

Obviously, things have deteriorated in this country since the disastrous thirty years of the Republican with some Democratic help rule ensured the dismantling of the protections upon which we, the middle class, used to rely. Our economics as witnessed by what is happening in Wisconsin this week is slowly being taken over by the politicians who are beholden through the Supreme Court decision "Citizens United" to the corporate behemoths who can now give unlimited and NON transparent cash to anyone. This is the final nail in our economic coffin. Wealth belongs now to the top 2%. The rest of us punt. America, sustained by its middle class, is slowly dying and those in power do not give a damn. Ignore it at your peril, at the peril of your children and their children for decades to come!

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/why-isnt-wall-street-in-jail-20110216#add-comment-or-reply

Justice’s Arc -- Madoff, the Banksters, Ponzi and Fraud

NEWS FLASH: Madoff says banks “had to know” of Ponzi Sheme!

I think of Lucille Ball in “I Love Lucy” dressed in one of her clown outfits saying in a male husky low classless voice: “NOOO, NOOO, NO you don’t say!” Maybe you must be a child of the 50’s to understand what I mean for it to be audible in your mind’s ear. Simply asked, why does Madoff’s statement “they had to know” not shock me at all? It does not shock me because to quote a web site "The First Post" Harry Markopolos, the self confessed math nerd, fraud examiner and wizard knew almost immediately after several hours of investigation into Madoff's Ponzi scheme that Madoff's investments were a massive fraud. He even wrote a book about it entitled “No One Would Listen.” He testified before Congress in startling detail about Madoff as well. Markopolos says "Here was a man that wiped out thousands of families. If he didn't have a reason to kill me, think about the feeder funds... They're all going to be ruined financially... What will people do to protect their lifestyles?"

Markopolos, feared for his life because after this genius’s mathematically precise investigation of Madoff’s illegalities he complained to the SEC assiduously for years that his mathematical proofs revealed beyond a shadow of a doubt that Madoff's investment scheme could not be statistically possible. No one at the SEC listened or if they did they probably did not WANT to know. I wonder why. The layers on this slime run deep as does our entire Ponziesque financial debacle.

It always seemed to me not coincidental that the primordial ooze from which Madoff sprang ran parallel to our Wall Street banking, housing market, rating system and credit default swap fraud. I often thought that many of the banksters involved in our taxpayer massive bailout had to know about Madoff and if they did they probably looked the other way because they did not want to be the pot calling the kettle black.

The big boys, perpetrating their own phantasmagorically huge financial fraud in the US Wall Street banking, housing and investment industries where people in high places know a lot about what goes on around the block, probably knew what was happening in Madoff Land. So many were committing their own fraud multiplied by gazillions AND they know a LOT about each other.

It will be interesting to see whom the government pursues after this revelatory statement by the heretofore silent Bernie Madoff. I am counting that the change for which I voted will not be in vain. If a Democratic president does not stand up against those in the marketplace of wholesale greed and unregulated fraud who spit in the face of the essence of America itself then against whom WILL he stand up? I am waiting patiently to see the political genius I thought I knew work his magic. Prosecute the scum responsible for our current economic disaster, still simmering, within an inch of their ugly lives and make sure this never happens again. I want the arc of justice about which the president talks, for once, to turn towards me!

The Warren Warrior: Ever since I saw Prof. Warren interviewed on Bill Moyers I knew she had the gravitas, depth and superior intellect to run for any political office. There can be NO doubt that she is infinitely superior in every way to Scott Brown and she is on the correct side of the political isle -- the side of the middle class. She is a warrior for us. Her special economic academic skills should make her a prime candidate and an easy winner BUT the question is can that be conveyed to a part of the public that thinks someone with a cool jacket, chiseled looks and a truck make him qualified. He isn't BUT SHE IS. I would vote for her in a heartbeat second! I hope you will consider signing the following petition. For those of you who do not live in Massachusetts please pass this on to someone does.

Daily Kos is starting a campaign to draft Elizabeth Warren for the 2012 Massachusetts Senate campaign. They have a petition going here: http://bit.ly/fNZ2RX.

They are going to deliver the signatures and comments to Elizabeth Warren herself. Please sign up!