It's gonna take me an hour to soak all this in, but it will be an hour well spent.

Yeah, great prose Miguel and great pix!!

CTMan gets those links up where you vote and send in messages. And my Email is filled with the stuff.

This place--the web--can make you feel you have a say.

The writing is getting so good here that it is becoming a literary blog.

I really enjoyed this. You can almost sing it.

Beautiful. Wearing your 'shades' of wisdom (not to be confused with the mustache of understanding).

Ouroboros... Jorgumandr... Boy can I feel your words. Reads like a drumbeat. Good stuff. Thank you.

Exceptionally well done.

What you elucidate is in part an old story and in part a new one. The way has been paved in the U.S. by convincing the masses that democracy and capitalism are synonymous, and the pap that "what is good for business is good for us." When that failed "we can't afford to lose the corporations." The "market" effectively maneuvered little people's money into their game through retirement "investments" and blew it on fantasy bets - then want social security to play with. Insane - it has always been insane - and remains a funnel from the planet into a few hands with no conscience and no accountability.

Across the world the people revolt. They march in the streets, blockade the government, hold bosses hostages. In the U.S. people gripe and mill but are so atomized that there is little real action or pressure. We seemingly accept the line that the way forward is to transfer public wealth into an exploitative private system to make it "work" again.

Insane. Maddeningly insane with the world and lives in the balance. We create monsters and throw offerings into the bottomless maw of greed and power where they eat each other - further concentrating their power and control.

Most excellent job miguelitoh2o!!!!

Whoa there Miguelitoh. Are those rabbit slippers? I got out my excellent frog magnifying glass and I still couldn’t see. Maybe cowslippers (isn’t that a primrose dance?) I still don’t know how we can Manèges the dragon in those. But I’ve found good sunglasses keep me safe in so many ways…

How many enchaînements can our country go through? I am trying to find your hopeful stream but now Naomi Klein is on Rachael and I’m feeling rough… 11.5 Trillion for Finance and 1 Trillion for Stimulus. Ouch.

Mt St. Helens dropped her ash 29 years ago May 18th. It was a glowing Sunday. I just happened to have a daughter a couple of days later who has since become an accountant. Any relationship? I don’t know…Ever tried to keep a face mask on a newborn? Well it’s almost Mother’s Day and I see a connection. aha!

Still, my daughter doesn’t have 4 billion like Murdoch or a Rush contract (400 million). She doesn’t think like that. Spirit is not money. You wrote it in a loving way. But I’m still pissed. Amaaaaazing multi-meta-linguistic-meme!
Thank you!

Beauty, mate. Aces.

I know we all loved Stevie's song last Fall, but I've been waiting for this other one to come up. It's got a bit more edge, but I think its day is comin'. Nothin'.

"We are amazed but not amused
By all the things you say that you'll do
Though much concerned but not involved
With decisions that are made by you.

But we are sick and tired of hearing your song
Telling how you are gonna change right from wrong
'Cause if you really want to hear our views
You haven't done nothin'."

Miguel, this is one of the best posts I have ever come across. Simple, eloquent and poetic yet packing a mean hammer-with great photos and links to boot.

So I am hesitant to even write this comment. I am normally in full agreement with the 'have hope and get angry' sentiments. But I confess that tonight I feel impotent. But your poem hits me in a melancholic frame and my reaction is more along the lines of
Same shit, different day (with corporate lords and stables of esquires).

Frankly its hard to keep up the rage. Particularly when we win and instead of real change or even some basic accountability we are get some incremental adjustments peppered with platitudes. Sure thats heaps better than what we had, but so what.

It is hard not to feel that the game is too heavily rigged. By the time we might actually win the ballot con, we will probably be too poor a country to effect the change we need. The cash will have moved following the means of production off to populations and governments with even easier populations to control (e.g. china, 1980-).

So today the game has is a bit more sophisticated with some great sleight of hand, but I find myself beating my head against the wall because the result is same as it ever was.

Hopefully tomorrow the melancholy will pass and my comforting rage will return. Til then, i will drink your fine words and reflect.

American individualism and boot-strap self-reliance has devolved to insulated decadence and self-indulged greed. Everything that once made us strong now dissolves us, and we are self-made islands. Alone. Indifferent. I can't remember ever gaining such a clear analysis of how dangerously corroded our "betters" have become, and how isolated we are. Great post!

Bewitched (by your writing)
Bothered (oh so bothered by banks, bonuses, off-shore accounts and, most of all, the incomprehensible single-payer shut-out from health care reform discussions.)
Bewildered (when will Congress get the message and act for the interests of their constituents rather than their corporate contributors?)
Etc.
This blog is magic, M2. Right now, it takes wordsmithing like yours to keep the faith in Change we can Believe In.
Thank you. I'll be reading this again, and again.

Great post. I'll have to view most of the links from home this evening.

It's basically a new art form, isn't it? I mean, with the ability to explicitly embed the links. Of course, it doesn't keep us from also making the allusions and inferences to other (better known) content, as well. And in both ways we can tap into the collective consciousness of these other sources, and while making our present point, still invoke the wisdom contained elsewhere. It's facinating.

I've been affected by this on several different levels. And yes, I'm still angry. But now a little more motivated.

Thank you.

-- ARG

P.S. And a thank you to TheraP, too, for a reference she made on another thread, which helped me to find my way here.