The battle for the soul of the Democratic Party is under way. And the outcome of this battle will likely not be determined by any one of the rising number of candidates for the party's 2008 presidential nomination, but rather by the Democratic leadership on Capitol Hill. The House of Representatives passed important legislation designed, at least politically, to focus on the needs of our middle class, beset by stagnating wages, failing public education, destructive so-called free trade policies, skyrocketing health care costs, out-of-control illegal immigration and the soaring price of higher education. So in Congress' self-proclaimed first 100 hours, speaker Nancy Pelosi delivered on her promise to have the House pass bills raising the federal minimum wage, cutting interest rates on student loans and helping bring down the cost of prescription drugs. But none of that legislation has passed the Senate. (More...)
We roam together in this; our riveted unknown And witness the same startling things; The wonder of the primordial heavens, The splendor of free will, The blemish of a child’s perfection, The rousing opera, the sprinkles of dream, The ambush of cruel impostors Standing in their steel towers Watching our malevolent worship.
We lounge about in our sightlessness Paying no heed to the bright and living carnage.
Our joyless lips will soon sound off In self-made caverns of want While our souls, on crutches made of profit, Fall headlong into the throes of extinction.
We all see the same cruelty in this unknown, Yet we’re lashing our mottled resolve To the limbs of boneless villains.
So why do we stand agape, Flop-jawed in eyeful dread When our flowers bloom With petals shaped like chains?
The House of Representatives passed important legislation designed, at least politically, to focus on the needs of our middle class, beset by stagnating wages, failing public education, destructive so-called free trade policies, skyrocketing health care costs, out-of-control illegal immigration and the soaring price of higher education.
So in Congress' self-proclaimed first 100 hours, speaker Nancy Pelosi delivered on her promise to have the House pass bills raising the federal minimum wage, cutting interest rates on student loans and helping bring down the cost of prescription drugs. But none of that legislation has passed the Senate. (More...)
We roam together in this; our riveted unknown
And witness the same startling things;
The wonder of the primordial heavens,
The splendor of free will,
The blemish of a child’s perfection,
The rousing opera, the sprinkles of dream,
The ambush of cruel impostors
Standing in their steel towers
Watching our malevolent worship.
We lounge about in our sightlessness
Paying no heed to the bright and living carnage.
Our joyless lips will soon sound off
In self-made caverns of want
While our souls, on crutches made of profit,
Fall headlong into the throes of extinction.
We all see the same cruelty in this unknown,
Yet we’re lashing our mottled resolve
To the limbs of boneless villains.
So why do we stand agape,
Flop-jawed in eyeful dread
When our flowers bloom
With petals shaped like chains?
© 2007 mrp/thepoetryman
Lou Dobbs' commentary