And breathe...

I get incredibly frustrated with politics in the U.S.-- well, it's really life in America because what happens in Washington does "trickle down" to the little folk in the library and the schools. So at times it's important to recall what is truly important--

Monet's "Woman in a Garden"

the poetic lyricism of Jeannette Winterson in "Written on the body"

a pas de deux to Chopin

Provofiev's Piano Concerto no. 3

dinner and a fine glass of wine (or 4?) with good friends

and sunset in Key West...

The Other Plot to Wreck America

New York Times Opinion

The Other Plot to Wreck America
By FRANK RICH
Published: January 9, 2010

What we don’t know will hurt us, and quite possibly on a more devastating scale than any Qaeda attack. Americans must be told the full story of how Wall Street gamed and inflated the housing bubble, made out like bandits, and then left millions of households in ruin. Without that reckoning, there will be no public clamor for serious reform of a financial system that was as cunningly breached as airline security at the Amsterdam airport. And without reform, another massive attack on our economic security is guaranteed. Now that it can count on government bailouts, Wall Street has more incentive than ever to pump up its risks — secure that it can keep the bonanzas while we get stuck with the losses...

If they all skate away yet again by deflecting blame or mouthing pro forma mea culpas, it will be a sign that this inquiry, like so many other promises of reform since 9/15, is likely to leave Wall Street’s status quo largely intact.

That’s the ticking-bomb scenario that truly imperils us all.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/10/opinion/10rich.html

The stars have aligned!

Sheriff Cody Jeremiah Jefferson: Am I early?
Star: Actually you're a little late cowboy. What? You want me to put on a pretty party dress so you spend all night trying to take it off me? Why don't we skip that part?

Star: Flowers?
Sheriff Cody Jeremiah Jefferson: Roses. Their organic.
Star: Thank you.
[takes bite of flower]
Star: Ever eat a rose?
Sheriff Cody Jeremiah Jefferson: No I've eaten a lot of thin-
[Star puts rose in his mouth]
Star: See?... That's just the first thing your going to learn tonight
Sheriff Cody Jeremiah Jefferson: Um, You know, I believe we knew each other before
Star: Now we're going to know each other now

Star: Listen to me. You might be one of the great lovers of the western world, I'll give you that. And if, broccoli juice and yoga can turn all men into the bunk bunny you are, I will start paying for group fares to India myself, just--- knock it off with the gooey stuff, okay?

Open letter to my senators

Misters Bennett and Udall,

While many democrats see the current health care "reform" as the best we can get and appear to jump on this bandwagon without looking over the song, the so-called reform that is currently being talked about is far from reforming anything. And if it makes health insurance mandatory, then the insurance companies have won-- big time. Even if the bill tries to force insurance companies to offer a lower costing insurance, they will still be the ones to profit from the added customer base while having the additional benefit of not having to cover as many people over the age of 55! And medicare costs will go through the roof with the weight of the additional numbers of older customers. This is a pro-business bill and is apparently all we can expect from Washington anymore but I for one am sick of corporate interests always coming out on top.

Vote no on this bill if there is no way to cut costs for medical care and if there is no reasonable option for healthcare for the working middle class.

(I posted this to their websites-- I don't expect them to read my blog.)