Quote of the day

''If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition and then admit that we just don't want to do it.'' —Stephen Colbert

A tribute to brilliance

Indeed we do, Bill--we miss you. Happy holidays, everyone.

From Jefferson City, with love

Click on the two separate pictures for easier reading.

On 9/11 coverage

If you want to see what I believe is the most comprehensive, informative and ultimately beautiful and even inspiring coverage of the tenth anniversary of the September 11 attacks on the US, get a copy of this past Sunday's The New York Times. Even the advertisements companies took out as tributes to the people and event are simple and, again, beautiful, but they have a separate foldout section, too, called "The Reckoning" that is brilliant. This is one thing, too, that isn't repeated nearly as well online. The paper version is the one to see for the full effects. Any library in the area should have it. Link: http://www.nytimes.com/indexes/2011/09/11/todaysheadlines/index.html

Did someone say "imbalance"?

"The 400 richest families in America now hold as much wealth as the bottom 50% of the country combined." Put another way, these "400 richest have as much as the 150 million poorest." --From the comic strip "Doonesbury" by Garry Trudeau yesterday. Anyone give a damn?

Quote of the day --on Citigroup (or as Bill Maher says "Shittygroup")

"Citigroup...repeatedly rescued by the government since the Great Depression...shouldn't continue in its current unmanageable form...Any bank that needs that much help doesn't deserve to exist." --Nouriel Roubini and Stephen Milm, from their new book "Crisis Economics: A Crash Course in the Future of Finance", quoted from The New York Times Book Review this past Sunday