corrente

Paradise Forfeit

Fallen from the Apogee like a balefire spark
On Passions to Poison Penn th' Conference Calls: thus they relate,
Error; for she against a counterpoised rebellion
Had slipped long ago; and nothing would serve her now
To have chaired Senates or ascended White House rungs; nor would she escape
By all her Engines, but was headstrong bent
With her insidious crew to build a hell.
Meanwhile the right-winged Heralds in command
Of Soveriegn powers, with awful Company
The Pundits rattle throughout, the Handlers design
A cynical Campaign forthwith to be waged
Of Pandermonium, risen, from foul corruptions
In the Shiny City of Hellary, where her monstrous Surrogate Peers
Whisper in councel.

(apologies to Mr. Milton)

s s s s s

The Progressive

Obama Yes

[...]

I am tired of hearing a politician tell me in a political speech that I should not pay attention to political speeches, that they are just “words.” Speeches can wound or heal, as shown by both Reverend Jeremiah Wright’s YouTube snippets and Obama’s eloquent response. Both men’s speeches, as different as they are, offer us a unique opportunity to have a true dialogue on privilege and race and religion in a way that we never had before.

As an educator, a person who works with young people, and who works with words, I am also heartened to see a large number of young men and women find their own political voice in a way that they haven’t in a very long time.

Of course, one can never be sure that any politician will follow through with what he or she promises in the heat of battle, but I believe that Barack Obama has a better idea of what it means to be poor, uninsured, and unemployed, as an increasing number of Americans are these days. He has lived abroad and knows what it is to be an outsider both within and outside this country, a fact recently brought to our attention by the purposeful misuse of those images of him in African garb.

I sometimes mourn the 2000 Al Gore Presidency that might have been. Here in the state of Florida, with our voting irregularities, we handed the upkeep of our environment to big oil and possibly unknowingly chose war over peace.

I fear that we will once again choose legacy and complacency for God knows how many more years.

But we can and must do better, and until my bumper sticker fades into the Florida sun, this is what it’s meant to say.

Edwidge Danticat is a Haitian-American writer living in Miami. Her most recent book, “Brother, I’m Dying,” won the National Book Critics Circle Award for autobiography.

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TPM:

Hillary Will Introduce "Gas Tax Holiday" Legislation
By Greg Sargent - May 2, 2008, 3:37PM

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi opposes the proposal, so there's very little chance it will ever come to a vote, at least in the House. If it did, however, it could put members of Congress -- the same ones who are also super-delegates being courted by Hillary -- in a bit of a spot.

bread and circuses

Sirota:

Rep. Mark Udall (D-CO), the presumptive Democratic nominee for the Senate in the energy-producing state of Colorado, issued this scathing statement in response to Hillary Clinton's demand yesterday that all lawmakers support her pathetic, McCain-style gas-tax pander:

"Senator Clinton claimed yesterday that I either stand with her on this proposal or stand with the oil companies. To that I say: I stand with the families of Colorado, who aren't looking for bumper sticker fixes that don't fix anything, but for meaningful change that brings real relief and a new direction for our energy policy. We can't afford more Washington-style pandering while families keep getting squeezed.

"It is exactly the kind of short-sighted Washington game that keeps us from getting real results to our energy problem. Experts across the ideological spectrum agree that it will increase the deficit, drain money away from Colorado roads and bridges, and hurt the environment, all without actually making prices lower for drivers."

A vote for Hillary is a vote for a gasshole.

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samples a new gimmick

"the Goldilocks":

Clinton added, "You know, Sen. Obama says we shouldn't do it and it's gimmick. And Sen. McCain says we should do it but shouldn't pay for it. I sometimes feel like the Goldilocks of this campaign. Not too much, not too little, just right. And I think we should have a gas tax holiday and pay for it."

I'll sneak into your house, eat your food, break your furniture, and send you the bill later.

Wiki entry:

The story tells of three anthropomorphic bears and their encounter with a young girl called Goldilocks (after her golden hair).

A family of three bears (a mother, a father, and a cub) live in a quite civilized house in the woods. One day, waiting for their porridge to cool, they leave the house unlocked as they go for a walk in the woods. While they are out, Goldilocks comes to the house. Curious, she enters and meddles with the bears' belongings, sampling their porridge (eating all of the baby's), sitting on their chairs (breaking the baby's), and then trying out their beds (falling asleep in the baby's). Every member of the bear family has their own unique chair, porridge, and bed, which have unique characteristics. The exact adjectives differ from story to story, but generally the father and mother's beds and chairs are "too hard" and "too soft" and their porridges are "too hot" and "too cold", with the baby bear's porridge, chair, and bed being "just right". Goldilocks is still asleep in the baby's bed when the bears return home. They wake her up, and depending on the decision of the story-teller, either kill her or scare her away.

Well, that didn't end well. Maybe she should just stick with rifling the coffee machines at the convenience store.

4 National Day of Prayer
Have you prayed for your authority figure today?

Hillary:

“I was privileged before I came in to meet with a group of ministers who prayed with me. And I am very grateful for that,” she said. “I am obviously sustained and strengthened every day by my faith. But it is important that we all recognize that praying for our country, praying for those in positions of authority, is something that people of faith are really called upon to do." ~ First Read / MSNBC

God save the Queen "rich people".

"rich people, God bless us, we deserve all the opportunities to make sure our country and our blessings continue to the next generation." ~ Hillary Clinton, interview with Bill O'Reilly, O'Reilly Factor Video Clip

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MUST READ: Fastened to a Dying Animal, by Phil Rockstroh (at Consortium News)


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I planted me some of that snooty Arugula stuff a short while back. I bought a packet of it at the hardware store for $1.59 and scratched out a spot right next to the lettuce bed and covered it over with dirt and poured some water on it and by God it's growing up. But I'm not sure what to do with it now.

Arugula, and the hidden untold menace story, that you won't hear about from the mainstream media.

As I understand it: Arugula will launch me on my way to some kind of debauched latte sipping dandy-ass doom. And leave me spiritually barren, and little more than a cud-chewing tool of the creative class. A fool of the leisure-liberal society-hill boutique-state. I guess. So I hear.

Even worse than Belgian Endive?

I am not sure what to make of it all. I don't want to be a fool.

Will my swankish dive into the Arugula patch launch me into a higher tax bracket? Really? As a result of a $1.59 investment? Will my property taxes skyrocket? Can I be penalized if I try hiding my Arugula plot from the government? What does Ron Paul have to say about Arugula? Will the helicopters spot my Arugula stash and will the jackbooted Arugula Task Force goons crash through my door and confiscate all my Arugula? What are the penalties for Arugula cultivation? Will I be questioned about any knowledge I might have of the whereabouts of Radicchio? And why doesn't Radicchio get the same scrutiny as Arugula? Where is the outrage?

I have more questions

What will happen to me once my Arugula experimentation is revealed? Will I receive subscription offers in the mail from high-end society outreach operations like MetroSexual Male Internationl and Forbes? Martha Stewart Living? The Sharper Arugula Catalog? Yacht and Cottage? How about Private Corporate Jet Traveler magazine? Gee, I hope I hear from them.

Good God! What now? Will regular working people who like to drink beer at noon in their underwear and eat grilled cheese sandwiches in the sun without shirts, point at my four wheel drive pickup truck, and laugh, and declare it a four eyed sissy salad truck!

What are the consequences of Arugula use and what kind of personal lifestyle changes can i expect?

If I continue to allow my Arugula to thrive will my manly chainsaw sensibilities suddenly transform me or them or my chainsaw or whatever into a giant spotless stainless steel Cuisinart electric cutlery knife with interchangeable dishwasher safe carving and bread blades and touch pressure activated on/off controls?

3 Metrosexual FOX Nooze reporter Cal Cameron following a lunch which included an Arugula salad. Cameron (after only two months of regular exposure to Arugula) began displaying the warning signs of Arugula consumption when he started showing up to work wearing dark burgundy Johnston & Murphy Emery Kiltie Tassel Italian loafers and pashmina scarves and gushing about his fabulous Chateau Margaux French Bordeaux collection.


How bad does it get with this Arugula stuff anyway?

Is Arugula a gateway crop? Is it like LSD but without the CIA?

Should I poison my Arugula with Clorox and vinegar and homemade napalm immediately or hack it to death in it's crib with a rusty hoe? I dunno. As I said, this Arugula is a powerful weed? And why the hell do they sell it at the hardware store in the first place?

I'm asking because I have never grown Arugula before and I was simply curious to try it out because... does being curious make me gay!? - I am NOT gay! - I just thought that it was like lettuce... oh, whats the use. The Arugula is coming. I can hear it out there right now as I write. Out there arugulating. Absorbing nutrients from my small little slice of the big baloney. The Arugula is at the door!

Is Arugula trying to destroy western civilization?

Hell if I know. And who gives a fuck. But, what will happen to me if I let the Arugula into my humble kitchen? Will Arugula redecorate the crisper drawer in my refrigerator and lash out at the common carrrots for being tired old reminders of an America that has long since stopped caring about it's taproots? And what will we tell our parsnips! Is Arugula the new Jimmy Carter!

Will Arugula make me appreciate "funny" things. Will I suddenly catch myself telling my buddies that Joy Behar is the new Bette Midler!

Will I serve my buddies edible Nasturtium flowers on their Arugula salads when they aren't paying attention? As I said, Arugula is a gateway salad. Next thing ya know ya got Nasturtium flowers and chilled forks and flavored croutons and Chervil, Vertissimo! Where will it end?

Will I develop and interest in napkin folding and specialty mescluns? Will it make me want to experiment with lively palettes? Will Arugula convince me to repaint my garage a lovely shade of Tupelo Green? Will Arugula entice me to listen to Elton John records (good god-all-mighty, anything but that!). Will I feel compelled to experiment with other frilly salad ingedients? And salad dressings? We haven't even begun to dip into that witches brew of depravity.

So, what will happen if I continue down the snooty topsider path of Arugula dependency? Will strange women named Prudence and Madison, who like to wear khaki clamdiggers and dangly jewelry, come to my house in the middle of the afternoon and coax me into a Volvo C70 convertible and take me away to Martha's Vineyard and force me to watch a DVD movie called "Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing and Charm School" starring Mary Steenburgen and then try to convince me that I should move to the boutique city of San Francisco and open a boutique that sells Arugula based aphrodisiacs and lotions and watercress sandwiches and other weird shit where I will ultimately be molested by a huge hairless sex crazed lesbian in a sleeveless "Malibu Barbie Rules" t-shirt who rides a pink Harley Davidson Super Glide and teaches Salsa dancing to drug addicts at some cabaret off Castro Street!

Arugula. What is it? What in God's name does it have in mind for me? And for all of us! And why does Barack Obama want God fearin' regular salt of the earth farmer folk in Iowa to grow it and feed it to our children when it may very well turn them all into wealthy old European latte junkies and organic micro mixed saladsexual boutique state Marxist intellectuals? Or hairless tattooed lesbian dance instructors. Or Cuisinarts. Or whatever.

I ask ya.

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