I'm proud of my Irish heritage and always will be. There are about a million things I love about the Irish, but why I love them the most is their deep understanding, of their funny and wonderful sense of humor.
My granny from Kilkenny, Ireland lived until she was 97, and never lost her sense of humor. As a child she and my daddy used to warn me about losing it. They told me that the Irish were gifted the exact same way that the African Americans had been graced with that same gift, the same way they were both graced with their music of pain, heartache and disasters, that they sang from their hearts and souls, but always rose above that, because of their arts....their love of their music to express themselves, the Great great Irish writers...so many of them:
The Nobel laureates are poets William Butler Yeats, and Seamus Heaney and playwright George Bernard Shaw. Just a handful of these great, great artists, who I learned to admire deeply (who are simply a tiny handful of the great writers my dad taught me about). But the Irish? They are my tribe, and always will be.
These are extremely difficult times we are all living through right now, and we are weary, tired, bitter and feel as a nation, deeply divided, and rightfully so. Our leaders have failed us, failed our nation, and have deeply betrayed the Middle Class, as we watch our Unions being destroyed. The Nickel and dime wars going on in Washington DC, are not fooling anyone and are only adding to our own feelings of powerlessness. It is no wonder to me at all how deeply fractured my own beloved party, the Democrats have become, and who was really responsible for the way that we on this site have forgotten our party platform, and who we stand for.
I will yell it out loudly until my voice goes raw: We are the party of the Working Man's/Woman party. We are the party that includes every race, creed, color, religion, gay/straight, of equal rights under ever law that our Constitution promises us all a place on the 'shining hill' that has now nothing more than a joke, a long distant memory that has sold to the highest bidder by both parties. Wish it were no so.
What began in our own nation, the Great Unraveling of decent Banking Practices, that Wall St., our bought off Regulators, the feckless SEC and NYSE, the worthless Federal Reserve structure, and our own complicit Congress (actually all three branches of our so called government) brought down, has spread worldwide, and although our shitty MSM rarely reports what is really going on in Europe, because of the Great Economic Plague and Catastrophe 'OUR OWN NATION' started, I wanted to share this video with you, because, as I said in my title to this diary: It is both sad, and funny all at the same time, but that is the opposite coin of life: tragedy and comedy:
Don't you just love this old Irishman? He reminds me of my old crazy Grand dad....an old school lawyer that practiced in Savannah, Georgia for 50 years.
The point being, is that 'what we are feeling here in this nation' is no different than what is going on world wide. These filthy Robber Barons screwed the entire world and now, to pay off their own 'endless gambling casinos' that fucked everyone, they are double, double, triple doubling down to go after the poor, to pay off their fucking worthless 'gambling tabs'...........their toxic debts, and it shall not stand, and it will not stand. Ever.
One of the best articles I've read recently is a guy that I follow all the time: Michael Hudson....here are a few excerpts from his excellent 'reality check' of what President Obama is really doing with this so called, 'fabulous deal with the extension of the Bush Tax Cuts'...which is nothing more than a fake trap door to lead our nation into the final dismantling of the New Deal and our Social Security.
In achieving a giveaway that Democrats never would have let George Bush or other Republicans enact, Obama has laid himself open to the campaign slogan that brought down British Prime Minister Tony Blair: "You can’t believe a word he says." He has lost support not only personally, but also – as the Republicans anticipate – for much of his party in 2012. The problem is that it’s not going to stop here. Monday’s deal to re-instate the Bush era tax cuts for two more years sets up a 1-2-3 punch. First, many former Democratic and independent voters will "vote with their backsides" and simply stay home (or perhaps be tempted by a third-party candidate), enabling the Republicans to come in legislate the cuts in perpetuity in 2012 – an estimated $4 trillion to the rich over time.
snip...
Second, Obama’s Republican act (I hate to call it a compromise) "frees" income for the wealthiest classes to send abroad, to economies not yet wrecked by neoliberals. This paves the way for a foreign-exchange crisis. Such crises traditionally fall in the autumn – and as the 2012 election draws near, it will be attributed to "uncertainty" if voters do not throw the Democrats out. So to "save the dollar" the Republicans will propose to replace progressive income taxation with a uniform flat tax (the old Steve Forbes plan) falling on wage earners, not on wealth or on finance, insurance or real estate (FIRE sector) income. A VAT will be added as an excise tax to push up consumer prices. Third, the tax giveaway includes a $120 billion reduction in Social Security contributions by labor – reducing the FICA wage withholding from 6.2 per cent to 4.2 per cent. Obama has ingeniously designed the plan to dovetail neatly into his Bowles-Simpson commission pressing to reduce Social Security as a step toward its ultimate privatization and subsequent wipeout grab by Wall Street. This cutback will accelerate the point at which the program moves into supposed "negative equity" – a calculation that ignores the option of restoring pension funding to the government’s general budget, where it would be paid out of progressively levied income tax and hence borne mainly by the wealthy, not by lower-income wage earners as a "user fee."
snip...
It is a travesty for Obama to trot out the long-term unemployed (who now get a year’s extension of benefits) like widows and orphans used to be. It’s not really "all for the poor." It’s all for the rich. And it’s not to promote stability and recovery. How stable can a global situation be where the richest nation does not tax its population, but creates new public debt to hand out to its bankers? Future tax payers will spend generations paying off their heirs. The bottom line is that after the prolonged tax giveaway exacerbates the federal budget deficit – along with the balance-of-payments deficit – we can expect the next Republican or Democratic administration to step in and "save" the country from economic emergency by scaling back Social Security while turning its funding over, Pinochet-style, to Wall Street money managers to loot as they did in Chile. And one can forget rebuilding America’s infrastructure. It is being sold off by debt-strapped cities and states to cover their budget shortfalls resulting from un-taxing real estate and from foreclosures. Welcome to debt peonage. This is worse than what was meant by a double-dip recession. It will be with us much longer.
http://www.counterpunch.org/...
Thank you Mr. Hudson, for your great great analysis, but I also believe that this great website, DailyKos, has already figured out what the 'real deal' is all about here with our amazing new Transformational Young President is really all about. President Obama pitched an 'ACE' he had from the bottom of the deck, when he thought no one was looking, and he played the wrong fucking hand, and he is not fooling anyone.
(What, did you think Alan Simpson ("I can't wait for the Bloodbath in April and how he is covering Obama's fanny") was really going to go away? Get a clue folks.
The fucking fake deal was never a deal to begin with, in fact, it was a done deal a long time ago.
But let me tell you this, I still feel like I'm getting a bucket full of ice water on my head every single day of my life, to actually realize, that these 5th Avenue Goldman Sachs Club Arama Mad Men, managed to find the perfect Democratic Candidate, an elegant, insanely charming and handsome, amazing speaker, the first African American President to undo the deal that every single Democrat in my lifetime fought daily in their lifetimes, to keep 'treading water' as the savage Republicans have managed to swift boat and steal every fucking election, the Supreme Court, and every thing else that wasn't nailed down.
And do me a fucking favor ok? Don't get all race card on me. I'm way over that, because I know who I am and where I came from. Try to argue or debate the policy issues here, ok? I mean, if you can rise above the obvious bullshit we've been fed.
And just so you know: My mother is 1/3rd Creole, and 2/3rds Irish. I do have some African American and French blood on her side, and you know what, I'm fucking proud of that too. My mama, was an outrageously beautiful New Orleans/Texas girl, and that's where I got my funny strange and most unruly curly hair from, and my love of jazz and blues.
Just don't even 'go there' because that is not what this is about, at all, and you all know it in your hearts.
Stick to the issues here, ok?
What is really going on with this so called 'capitulation' by President Obama is in fact, more of the same he has been doing from day one. But its all bullshit.
Remember this? I do:
ABC: THIS WEEK - Geithner: Let Bush tax cuts for wealthy expire
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said allowing expiration of the Bush tax cuts for families making more than $250,000 per year was the "responsible thing to do," but he favors keeping cuts for middle class Americans in place. Geithner said he does not believe repealing the tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans will have a negative effect on economic growth. He described private sector job growth as "pretty good this early in a recession." Geithner praised TARP watchdog Elizabeth Warren as "probably the most effective advocate for consumer protection." Seeking to tamp down reports that he was not keen on her appointment to head the newly created newly created Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Geithner said she would be an "excellent leader for that institution," but it was ultimately the president's decision.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/...
And then this weak we get Larry Summers (et. al,) fucking threatening us (one of many threats) that if we don't 'go with the deal' being shoved down our throats, the sky will fall, our economy will fail, and the red seas will be parted and we'll all be drowning in another great depression. Fuck that shit. We already are Larry, and we are fed up with all that crap. BTW Larry, how much equity did you lose in all the 'homes' you currently own? Just askin.....
Home values tumble $1.7 trillion in 2010
By Blake Ellis, staff reporterDecember 9, 2010: 5:55 AM ET
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Can't sell your home for a decent price? You're not alone.
American homes are expected to be worth $1.7 trillion less in 2010 than they were worth last year, according to a report released Thursday by real estate website Zillow. This year's drop in home values is 63% bigger than the $1 trillion dip in 2009, and brings the total value lost since the housing market's peak in 2006 to a whopping $9 trillion.
While the home buyer tax credit helped prop up the housing market in the second half of 2009 and the first half of 2010, home values continued their slide in the second half of the year. Almost $700 billion in value was lost in the first half of the year, compared to Zillow's estimates of $1 trillion in the second half of 2010. "It's a testament to the nearly irresistible force of the overall market correction that government incentives can only temporarily hold back the tide, and that the market will ultimately find its natural equilibrium of supply and demand," said Zillow Chief Economist Dr. Stan Humphries.
And it may not get much better. "Unfortunately, with foreclosures near an all-time high in late 2010 and high rates of negative equity persisting, it does not appear that the first part of 2011 will bring much relief," Humphries said. Only 24% of the 129 markets Zillow tracked increased in total home value this year. Home values increased $10.8 billion in the Boston metropolitan statistical area (MSA), and $10.2 billion in San Diego MSA. The areas suffering the biggest drops in home prices include New York City, which lost $103.7 billion in value and Los Angeles, where home values fell $38.6 billion. The steep declines in home values are pushing Americans further under water every year. In the third quarter of 2010, 23.2% of single family homeowners with mortgages owed more on their mortgage than their home was worth -- up from 21.8% in 2009.
http://money.cnn.com/...
So cut the re bop Larry, we are sick of the bullshit around these parts. Like I said, we paid, and we paid and we are all still paying and it is never ever fucking enough is it?
We 'high information voters' on this site, already figured out the scam, and not only that, we figured how who caused it and what caused it, and who got away with all the fucking cash, got paid off, for destroying our national and international economies. NO ONE IS FUCKING BEING FOOLED ANYMORE.
The only real 'deal' going on in Washington DC is this job: How in the hell are 'they' going to get their hands on the final safety net...you know 'where Bernanke said all the money was: in the so called entitlements we all paid into' to pay off their fucking insane crazy toxic gambling debts. Like I said, President Obama got his marching orders and now, we're all suppose to 'play along, get along, STFU, and somehow act like this is a great deal.'
That 'Ace' Obama, dealt from the bottom of the pack was his last card, only it turned out to be the 'JOKER' someone forgot to remove from the deck.
One too many lies President Obama. One too many trial balloons, where you hid in the shadows and pretended to act like a real leader, instead of a fake paid off 'Referee' in a rigged boxing match, too many times you turned from Candidate Obama, the great great transformational President, into Bill Clinton on Steroids.
Whatever it is you think you are selling the Middle Class, they ain't buying it anymore. Your charms will no longer work on this 'high information bunch of voters' anymore Sir. The jig is up, and we all know from your own actions, where you really stand.
When I was about 15 years old, I was reading a book my dad gave me about President Lincoln. When I was done with it, he (as he always did, made me give him a book report) and I said to him, 'Well daddy, it says in that book that Lincoln suffered from melancholia. What does that mean, because it seems to me he had a lot to be sad over...that what it means right, being sad?'
My dad said, 'You are right, and he had a great weight on his shoulders, but nowadays, if people are sad, they just think a drug will cure that, but in the old days, it was not viewed that way, it was more like a natural time out, a time out of recuperation and meditation and renewal. He told me about how he had looked that up himself and pointed me towards this:
A famous allegorical engraving by Albrecht Dürer is entitled Melencolia I. This engraving portrays melancholia as the state of waiting for inspiration to strike, and not necessarily as a depressive affliction. Amongst other allegorical symbols, the picture includes a magic square, and a truncated rhombohedron.[2] The image in turn inspired a passage in The City of Dreadful Night by James Thomson (B.V.), and, a few years later, a sonnet by Edward Dowden.
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
BTW, I am not saying that medication does not help people these, days, I know it does. My point was that right now in our nation, so many people are in a deep state of confusion, depression and what they called in the old days: melancholia.
We are waiting, and waiting and waiting to be uplifted again, by a great new leader, the one we 'thought' we had voted for: to remind us again, that we have nothing to fear but fear itself. But instead, we get more fear, don't we. That is unacceptable to me, and it should be to you too.
After my dad had grilled me over the coals for my verbal book report on the Lincoln book, (god daddy was such a fucking task master), 'What did you and Granny and your brothers and sisters do during the great depression to stay, you know, happy, not sad? He laughed at me. (I hated when he did that).
He said, ".Well, we did three things every night, once I got home from selling my papers on the streets. Mama would make, usually some good stew...potatoes and such. We'd all sit in the parlor after dinner, and recite poetry, sing songs, and say the rosary. Also, your granny would ask us to tell us all one thing that happened that day that made us grateful."
I said, "What was your favorite song?" Daddy just smiled at me, and said, 'I've sung it to you all your life don't you know?" and he started it again, with his absolutely amazing beautiful voice:
Pennies From Heaven
A long time ago
A million years BC
The best things in life
Were absolutely free.
But no one appreciated
A sky that was always blue.
And no one congratulated
A moon that was always new.
So it was planned that they would vanish now and them
And you must pay before you get them back again.
That's what storms were made for
And you shouldn't be afraid for:
Every time it rains it rains
Pennies from heaven.
Don't you know each cloud contains
Pennies from heaven.
You'll find yor fortune falling
All over town.
Be sure that your umbrella is upside down.
Trade them for a package of sunshine and flowers.
If you want the things you love
You must have showers.
So when you hear it thunder
Don't run under a tree.
There'll be pennies from heaven for you and me.
In case you never heard it, here it is:
<iframe title="YouTube video player" class="youtube-player" type="text/html" width="640" height="510" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/_uROuR3Jm6M?rel=0" frameborder="0"></iframe>
My message tonight is this:
Don't lose your sense of humor, don't lose your joy of life, remember the simple things that will carry us all through these hard times, and remember this: We are a great, and strong and wonderful Democratic Party, bigger and better than any of our leaders, and we shall overcome our current conditions, with resolve, purpose, dedication and we shall prevail, because of those leaders who lead us in the right direction, who we will never forget.
Thanks as always, for renewing my own belief in you, all of you.
Ms. B.