My friend Scot over at Scot’s Magical Mystery Tour takes a break to recall Ronald Reagan on the 4th anniversary of his death. I invite you to read it. With optimism such a rare emotion these days, I trust Scot won’t mind be posting his quote from President Reagan:

And whatever else history may say about me when I’m gone, I hope it will record that I appealed to your best hopes, not your worst fears, to your confidence rather than your doubts. My dream is that you will travel the road ahead with liberty’s lamp guiding your steps and opportunity’s arm steadying your way. My fondest hope for each one of you — and especially for young people — is that you will love your country, not for her power or wealth, but for her selflessness and her idealism. May each of you have the heart to conceive, the understanding to direct, and the hand to execute works that will make the world a little better for your having been here. May all of you as Americans never forget your heroic origins, never fail to seek divine guidance, and never lose your natural, God-given optimism. And finally, my fellow Americans, may every dawn be a great new beginning for America and every evening bring us closer to that shining city upon a hill.” –Ronald Reagan (1992)

Can you imagine these sentiments coming from those maroons running our country now? We are paying an enormous price for politics of fear as they have been practiced for the past seven years. Bush – Cheney – Rove – take your pick. I hope they all rot in Hell. I know that may sound harsh, but the hubris of their malfeasance will be borne by our children for generations.

Tom Frank recently wrote:

…..I’ve never know it to be such a challenge to get people to lighten up and little and have some fun. They stand there, watch, pay or don’t pay, but it’s pulling teeth to get a large part of the audience to show even trace amounts of delight.

Actually, I genuinely think things WILL get better. All of us are like the guys with the shovel after a circus parade. There’s a serious load of elephant shit to pickup, but eventually we will and the stench of recent years will eventually fade.

Take care…..

i/m

I apologize for taking space on a magic blog for this commentary, but it relates to what, I believe, is the major problem facing our country – corporate corruption. Every issue we have either pales in comparison or is caused by it.

As a former corporate animal, I saw it coming – the bad guys were taking over and accountability and fairness went totally out the window. Don’t for a minute think that lame attempts by our government, such as Sarbanes – Oxley, to legislate honesty has a prayer – it only creates paperwork and the appearance of honesty which the bad guys use as cover while they steal this country blind.

This whole subprime mess is no surprise. These guys stole billions and are leaving us with the rancid residue. They knew it was coming, but taking care of me me me was their only goal. Oh and you think they are being punished – the head of Merrill Lynch, which lost 5 billion or so, was given 340 million dollars to leave.

Today Morgan Stanley Announced a 9 Billion Dollar Loss. That’s BILLION – with a B. The CEO – filled with the holiday spirit – announced he would not take his annual bonus since this was his fault. What a fucking magnanimous gesture!!! This guy should be required to give everything he has, and I mean everything, to the poor slobs he stole it from. Unbelievable!

This stuff is happening every day and justified by phrases like business reason, just business, stockholder return on equity etc. These people don’t even have enough of a moral compass to know it is wrong. ….and if you think this doesn’t affect you, just try to sell your house for anything close to what it was worth a year ago.

I don’t know the answer, but I do know it better change. It has gotten progressively worse over the past 7 years as G2 played guns while Cheney and his corporate buddies continued to strip mine this country. Nice legacy George. The bastards kill more people before lunch than Bin Laden can even dream about.

Where’s our moral leadership – where???

Take care………

My mother passed away last week and even though it was expected it sure hurts. She was a strong woman – going out on her own terms. She decided to discontinue the transfusions that were keeping her alive and let nature take its course. It was the right decision.

The end came quickly – too quick for me, but a blessing for her. I’m an only child and there’s not a corner of my life she didn’t touch. If I think of magic, it was the frequent trips to the only magic store in town and the purchase of my first real trick – the Prayer Vase. The magic set at Christmas or the money to buy the latest miracle from Douglas Magicland or Top Hat. 

In her later years she sometimes frustrated me and I got mad – real mad at times (I got my temper from her), but it probably wasn’t fair. That’s something I’ll live with. Today, everything reminds me of her. The human mind is a wonderful thing – the ability to recall the good and suppress the rest is marvelous.

See ya later, Mom…….

Take care………