My Favorite Quote of the Day

Here is my favorite quote of the day: "Orion Butt Fungus:

Accounting Fraud. They forced the FASB to accept a rule-change in the accounting methodology called “mark-to-model” which let banks decide how much their assets were worth, rather than letting the markets decide. So if for example a BofA owned a complex security called “Orion Butt Fungus” that was worth 5 pesos on the open market, but BofA was too broke to go out and raise 5 pesos to cover that loss, under the new accounting rules, the government told BofA that rather than pricing “Orion Butt Fungus” at what the market will actually pay for it, why not first ask, “How much would BofA like ‘Orion Butt Fungus’ to be worth, in a perfect world?’” If BofA answers, “Doyee, gee I dunno, how about $500 million?” then under the “mark-to-model” accounting rules, BofA could now value “Orion Butt Fungus” at $500 million, and voila! Their problems are over. That wasn’t so hard, was it? Suddenly, BofA looks like it knows how to pick winners! And no one’s going to second-guess them, because everyone else is mark-to-modeling their “Orion Butt Fungi” too!

It is from an article on Alter Net: 10 Ways the American Economy is Based on Fraud.

Definitely worth reading.

Car Trouble?

Had trouble with my car today.
And spotted an interview with Adam Ant.
Who seems to be as crazy as ever.
"I write songs, I sing, I do records, I dress up"
He is, for better or for worse, Adam Ant.



Car Trouble Video Link

Have you ever had a ride in a light blue car?
Have you ever stopped to think who's the slave and who's the master?
Have you ever had trouble with your automobile?
Have you ever had to push push push push?
Cartrouble oh yeah

Have you seen this poster? Cause it's Awesome!

From: http://blog.imaginaryfoundation.com/blog/04-23-2010/Make+a+difference

Top of the Charts: 1667

let us rather chooseArm'd with Hell flames and fury all at onceO're Heav'ns high Towrs to force resistless way,Turning our Tortures into horrid ArmsAgainst the Torturer; when to meet the noiseOf his Almighty Engin he shall hearInfernal Thunder, and for Lightning seeBlack fire and horror shot with equal rageAmong his Angels; and his Throne it selfMixt with TARTAREAN Sulphur, and strange fire,His own invented Torments.

--Paradise Lost.

--------------------------------------------

Echoes:

Collage "John Milton Bradley Fighting Vehicle" by Jay Larsen

Brought to you by the makers of Twister.

Revenge

Taha Muhammad Ali’s “Revenge”

Revenge
At times ... I wish

I could meet in a duel

the man who killed my father

and razed our home,

expelling me

into

a narrow country.

And if he killed me,

I’d rest at last,

and if I were ready

—I would take my revenge!
*
But if it came to light,

when my rival appeared,

that he had a mother

waiting for him,

or a father who’d put

his right hand over
the heart’s place in his chest

whenever his son was late

even by just a quarter-hour

for a meeting they’d set

—then I would not kill him,

even if I could.
*
Likewise ... I

would not murder him

if it were soon made clear

that he had a brother or sisters

who loved him and constantly longed to see him.

Or if he had a wife to greet him

and children who

couldn’t bear his absence

and whom his gifts would thrill.

Or if he had

friends or companions,

neighbors he knew

or allies from prison

or a hospital room,

or classmates from his school...

asking about him

and sending him regards.
*
But if he turned

out to be on his own

—cut off like a branch from a tree

—without a mother or father,

with neither a brother nor sister,

wifeless, without a child,

and without kin or neighbors or friends,

colleagues or companions,

then I’d add not a thing to his pain

within that aloneness

—not the torment of death,

and not the sorrow of passing away.

Instead I’d be content

to ignore him when I passed him by

on the street

—as I

convinced myself

that paying him no attention

in itself was a kind of revenge.

NazarethApril 15, 2006

---------------------------

Echoes:

I found this in Shambhala Sun.

Clouds over St. Andrew's

In Arlington, WA.
Out shopping with my wife today.
Peace.

Comic Extremism

John Cleese has such a great way of explaining things. Link for those who can't see the video.

Comic Relief

Echoes: Stop that and go fly a kite...

Article from CommonDreams.org: Not Taxed Enough Already: Thousands of Protesters at Illinois Capitol to Press for Tax Increase

Jay Larsen forwarded this article to you from CommonDreams.org.

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Message from Sender:

This is already bigger than the Tea Party "movement", and this is just one state. Reasonable people are willing to invest in the services government can provide.

Not Taxed Enough Already: Thousands of Protesters at Illinois Capitol to Press for Tax Increase
by Michelle Manchir and Ray Long

SPRINGFIELD -- Thousands of protesters bused down by labor unions and social service advocates rallied at the Capitol today in an attempt to pressure state lawmakers into raising the income tax to avoid more budget cuts.

A spokesman for Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White estimated the rally crowd at 15,000, with more than 12,000 marching around the building. That would appear to make it the largest Capitol protest since the Equal Rights Amendment crowds a quarter-century ago.

Click here to read more on our site

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To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good.

Dorothy Takes Us to Task

Stop worrying about whose name gets in the paper and start doing something about rats, and day care, and low wages ... We must try to take our task more seriously and ourselves more lightly.
- Dorothy I. Height, 98, a founding matriarch of the American civil rights movement whose crusade for racial justice and gender equality spanned more than six decades, died Tuesday. (Source: The Washington Post)

Balancing Act

Dolman

Doh manWhoa man

---------------

A proximity collage

Subversive Heretics

Genuine intellectual inquiry is always subversive.
Authentic philosophical questioning is always heretical.
Traditional forces will always try to silence or kill
Those whom the perspective of history
Identifies as philosophical leaders and intellectual heroes.
Jesus, Gandhi, and MLK were all
Subversive Heretics
We praise them now in hindsight
But the conservatives of their times
Had them discredited and murdered.

Who among us today
Has the courage to genuinely question
The intellectual assumptions of our time?
Who among us today
Has the fortitude to overturn the tables
Of philosophical corruption
That fill the temples of our culture?
Who among us today
Are the true subversive heretics?
Who among us today
Would be their disciples?
And who would have them silenced?
-----------------------------
Echoes:
Painting, “Jammed Up at the Crossroads,”
And words by Jay Larsen

Diplomat Fang

My television only gets
Shows from the 70s
The reception is not clear
And the sound is mostly
Static and hummmmmmm
But the plot is crystal
And the motives of the villains
In their self identifying black hats
Are throbbing proof
Of the need for
Heroes

America will see you now

--------------------------------------
Echoes:
Is it me, Christopher Lee, or my new Diplomat?
Words and Collage by Jay

Gone fishing

Instead of just a wishing

Blue Jay

I feel like I should write something profound

Something iconic

Words worth a thousand pictures

Stellar prose poised to launch

Into the air on wings

Of meaning

Silly Blue Jay

Hello Rabbit

Yes, we really do have all we need.
Tell Robot I said so.

-----------------------------

Meanwhilst, back at the Ranch: A LINK

About Face...

Buddha and Jesus?

John Thatamanil asks, What Does the Buddha have to do with Jesus?

"The time has come for religious communities to demand a new kind of clerical leadership. Every religious leader -- Rabbi, Imam, or Priest -- must be required to know a second religious language. Seminaries must develop new curricula adequate to the changing American religious landscape. These institutions must inculcate in students a measure of religious multilingualism.
And all of us, lay and clergy, must demand a new civic culture marked by interreligious hospitality and by a deep desire to learn not just about but from the faith of our neighbors. We must rise to one of the great spiritual challenges of our time: the hard work of integrating multiple religious wisdoms into our personal lives and public vocations."

I am very fortunate to be on intimate terms with Buddha and Jesus. And I have found their approaches to life to be very similar. Culturally, their traditions have been carried forward by very different institutions, but these two men and spiritual leaders have much in common.

They were both predominately interested in how people should live in a world full of pain, hate, greed, and pride. And they both felt that people must rethink their current habits and take up new ways of walking through life bolstered with compassion, humility, and determination. They were both seditious rebels of the finest type. They toppled long-held taboos and caste systems. They crossed political and theological lines to reach out a hand of help and healing to any who had ears to hear their messages of hope.

I believe that Buddhists and Christians have a lot to teach each other.

Watching Japanese TV

I don't understand it.
But it is strangely appealing when too tired to think any more.

Airports are Timeless

Hurry up and wait.
Time runs differently in airports.
Faster and slower in turns.
I am on my way to Chicago.
This is a first engagement with a new customer.
Always an interesting time,
as we get to know each other.

Up up and away...

Heart Sutra of Easter

Form is emptiness.
Emptiness is form.
The tomb is empty.
Jesus is risen.

Happy Easter.