Arguing the Upside of Being Down

"Author Eric G. Wilson has come to realize he was born to the blues, and he has made peace with his melancholy state. But it took some time, as he writes in his new book, a polemic titled Against Happiness: In Praise of Melancholy.

At the behest of well-meaning friends, I have purchased books on how to be happy. I have tried to turn my chronic scowl into a bright smile. I have attempted to become more active, to get away from my dark house and away from my somber books and participate in the world of meaningful action. … I have contemplated getting a dog. I have started eating salads. I have tried to discipline myself in nodding knowingly. … I have undertaken yoga. I have stopped yoga and gone into tai chi. I have thought of going to psychiatrists and getting some drugs. I have quit all of this and then started again and then once more quit. Now I plan to stay quit. The road to hell is paved with happy plans.

Wilson has embraced his inner gloom, and he wishes more people would do the same.
The English professor at Wake Forest University wants to be clear that he is not "romanticizing" clinical depression and that he believes it is a serious condition that should be treated.
But he worries that today's cornucopia of antidepressants — used to treat even what he calls "mild to moderate sadness" — might make "sweet sorrow" a thing of the past.
"And if that happens, I wonder, what will the future hold? Will our culture become less vital? Will it become less creative?" he asks.

Wilson talks to Melissa Block about why the world needs melancholy — how it pushes people to think about their relation to the world in new ways and ultimately to relate to the world in a richer, deeper way.

He also explores the link between sadness, artistic creation and depression — which has led to suicide in many well-known cases: Virginia Woolf, Vincent Van Gogh, Hart Crane and Ernest Hemingway, for instance.
Wilson says perhaps this is "just part of the tragic nature of existence, that sometimes there's a great price to be paid for great works or beauty, for truth."

"We can look at the lives of Dylan Thomas, Virginia Woolf, Hart Crane and others and lament the fact that they suffered so. Yet at the same time, we're buoyed, we're overjoyed by the works they left behind," Wilson says.
The husband and father of a young daughter also acknowledges that melancholy is "difficult terrain to negotiate in domestic situations." He says there are certainly times when his family hoped he would be "happier," and yet they would not want him to pretend to feel something he doesn't.

Wilson says that by taking his melancholy seriously, his family ultimately will get to know him more deeply and develop a more intimate relationship with him.
"To get to know your partner, your spouse, your friend fully, you really have to find a way to embrace the dark as well as the light. Only then can you know that person," he says."

Source: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18885211&sc=emaf

Breaking News! Obama DEM Front Runner

With the Honorable John Lewis, one of America’s respected black political leaders switching support from Clinton to Obama the democratic nomination changes hands. As you all know until now I have been a Clinton supporter however I too am contemplating backing Obama’s message of hope.

"MILWAUKEE — Representative John Lewis, an elder statesman from the civil rights era and one of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s most prominent black supporters, said Thursday night that he planned to cast his vote as a superdelegate for Senator Barack Obama in hopes of preventing a fight at the Democratic convention.

“In recent days, there is a sense of movement and a sense of spirit,” said Mr. Lewis, a Georgia Democrat who endorsed Mrs. Clinton last fall. “Something is happening in America, and people are prepared and ready to make that great leap.”
Mr. Lewis, who carries great influence among other members of Congress, disclosed his decision in an interview in which he said that as a superdelegate he could “never, ever do anything to reverse the action” of the voters of his district, who overwhelmingly supported Mr. Obama.
“I’ve been very impressed with the campaign of Senator Obama,” Mr. Lewis said. “He’s getting better and better every single day.”
His comments came as fresh signs emerged that Mrs. Clinton’s support was beginning to erode from some other African-American lawmakers who also serve as superdelegates. Representative David Scott of Georgia, who was among the first to defect, said he, too, would not go against the will of voters in his district.

The developments came on a day in which Mrs. Clinton set out anew to prove that the fight for the Democratic nomination was far from over. Campaigning in Ohio, she pursued a new strategy of biting attack lines against Mr. Obama, while adopting a newly populist tone as she courted blue-collar voters.
Mrs. Clinton also intensified her efforts in Wisconsin, which holds its primary on Tuesday and where she and Mr. Obama now have the first dueling negative television advertisements of the campaign.

In the ads, Mrs. Clinton taunted Mr. Obama for refusing to debate her in Wisconsin. And she and former President Bill Clinton prepared for a new fund-raising blitz to try to counter Mr. Obama’s edge of several million dollars in campaign cash.
Yet even as the Democratic rivals looked ahead to the primaries in Wisconsin, Ohio and Texas, Mr. Lewis said he and other prominent African-American party leaders had been moved by Mr. Obama’s recent victories and his ability to transcend racial and geographic lines.

Though Mr. Lewis had praise for Mrs. Clinton and for her historic candidacy, he said he could decide within days whether to formally endorse Mr. Obama.
He also said he and other lawmakers would meet in the coming days to decide how they intended to weigh in on the nominating fight. If neither Mrs. Clinton nor Mr. Obama receive enough pledged delegates to win the nomination, superdelegates like Mr. Lewis may play the deciding role in who wins.

“If I can be used as a mediator, a negotiator or a peacemaker, I’d be happy to step in,” Mr. Lewis said, adding that he intends to speak to both candidates in hopes of ending the race amicably in the next month. “I don’t want to see Mrs. Clinton damaged or Mr. Obama damaged.”
Jay Carson, a spokesman for Mrs. Clinton, said Thursday: “Congressman Lewis is a true American hero, and we have the utmost respect for him and understand the great pressure he faced. And Senator Clinton enjoys incredibly strong support from superdelegates around the country from all regions and races.”

The comments by Mr. Lewis underscored a growing sentiment among some of the party’s black leaders that they should not stand in the way of Mr. Obama’s historic quest for the nomination and should not go against the will of their constituents. As superdelegates, they may have the final say, which is something Mr. Lewis said he feared would weaken Democrats and raise Republicans’ chances of winning the White House.

Still, the Democratic nominating fight clearly has many turns ahead. On Thursday, Mrs. Clinton unleashed the most ambitious mobilization of her forces in weeks, reflecting the intense pressure she is under from Mr. Obama, the political necessity for her of towering performances in the delegate-rich primaries in Ohio and Texas on March 4, and her fresh hope of an upset victory in Wisconsin.

Specifically, Mrs. Clinton is hoping to gain political mileage by turning one of Mr. Obama’s attributes, his oratory, against him. She is warning voters about politicians who give great speeches and make big promises but ultimately do not deliver on them."

If God Wanted W to be President

George W. Bush reportedly told a friend, when he began his second term as governor of Texas, that he believed God wanted him to be President. Well, what if it was true? Judging from the fruits of W’s presidency, I think it’s clear that God wanted George W. Bush to be President so Americans would see that

• “Supply-side” and “trickle-down” economics don’t work.
• National arrogance and recklessness is self-destructive.
• Politics based on fear cannot endure.
• Faith and optimism do not create reality.
• Republicans are not more “moral” than Democrats, just more hypocritical.

And

• Politicians who put little value in government won’t take care of it.

Economic Leadership

What America needs are level headed leaders employing a more pragmatic business approach in addition to an embrace of ethics on policy. A balance of opportunity that favors the worker versus the imaginary rights of businesses and corporations. Not an endeavor to place owners at a disadvantage but an excursion focused on stability, growth and longevity for the worker and ethical business practices towards the consumer.

Recently aggressive legal alterations in the tax code, bankruptcy laws, and courts allowing corporations to renege on many employee agreements such as earned pensions have empowered greed to suck the blood out of the United States' economy.The monetary bowl within the United Sates is finite, especially today as our economy has not seen a major expansion in over 6 Years. As static financial sectors specifically oil, lenders, and housing artificially inflate their pricing; money is siphoned from other industries. This act of being ‘ripped off’ mixed with corruption renders normal economic checks useless in being able to keep our economy in balance. No wonder Former FED Chair Allan Green Span has retired.

In other words as one Industry increases its profit margins by artificially raising its prices, added fees, and variable rate increases it is tantamount to their actually cost of production decreasing. Specific industries engaging in these acts are: the Oil Industry, Health Care, Pharmaceuticals, Energy, and Military & Securities Companies. These practices lead to profits being taking from another industry either through direct business loss or indirectly thru increased cost of production (Ex: the Automobile Industry, Airlines). In essence causing a devastating negative economic prosperity busting domino down effect. A question for you? Has the U.S. economy expanded at a rate greater than prices in gas and housing? If your answer is no then I predict as of January 28, 2008 the United States is currently in recession.

Vouchers/Grants for Private Education

After extensive research the position of Checks & Balances blog in regards to vouchers and or Pell grants generously handed out to families for the purposes of sending children to private schools is in opposition to all such programs. The conclusion is simple; public funds ought to be efficiently used to elevate an education received in public secondary schools to the standards and results seen in private schools. Private institutions inherently create an exclusive infrastructure for creating inequality in the type of students admitted, furthermore certain lower socio economic classes may be priced out while more well to do families would unethically use vouchers on top of personal resources, thirdly using tax payer dollars to fund religious private schools is against the spirit of our Constitution.

Romney Most Disliked Republican

"Romney Leads in Ill Will Among Rivals

TAMPA, Fla. (Jan. 24) — At the end of the Republican presidential debate in New Hampshire this month, when the Democrats joined the candidates on stage, Mitt Romney found himself momentarily alone as his counterparts mingled, looking around a bit stiffly for a companion.

Mitt Romney talks to supporters Tuesday in Coral Springs, Fla. While Romney is surrounded by friendly faces at his campaign events, it's a different story when he's with his rivals for the Republican presidential nomination. They seem to have a deeply felt scorn for him.

The moment was emblematic of a broader reality that has helped shape the Republican contest and could take center stage again on Thursday at a debate in Florida. Within the small circle of contenders, Mr. Romney has become the most disliked.

With so much attention recently on the sniping between Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama on the Democratic side, the almost visceral scorn directed at Mr. Romney by his rivals has been overshadowed.“Never get into a wrestling match with a pig,” Senator John McCain said in New Hampshire this month after reporters asked him about Mr. Romney. “You both get dirty, and the pig likes it.”Mike Huckabee’s pugilistic campaign chairman, Ed Rollins, appeared to stop just short of threatening

Mr. Romney with physical violence at one point.“What I have to do is make sure that my anger with a guy like Romney, whose teeth I want to knock out, doesn’t get in the way of my thought process,” Mr. Rollins said.Campaign insiders and outside strategists point to several factors driving the ill will, most notably, Mr. Romney’s attacks on opponents in television commercials, the perception of him as an ideological panderer and resentment about his seemingly unlimited resources as others have struggled to raise cash.Mr. Romney’s campaign contends that the hostility is driven by the fact that he has aggressively sought to win the early primaries, setting himself up as the chief antagonist, first, to Mr. Huckabee in Iowa and then to Mr. McCain in New Hampshire.

Mr. Romney continues to be a mountain in the paths of both men, as well as Rudolph W. Giuliani, to the nomination."

Toyota Prius sales pass SUV's

Who says there is no market for low cost fuel efficient cars?


"The icon of America's SUV passion falls victim to stubbornly high gas prices and an increasingly stringent regulatory climate.
Latest Market Update
January 23, 2008 -- 16:25 ET

[BRIEFING.COM] There are volatile markets and then there are volatile markets. Wednesday's session was the latter variety, which is to say it was truly volatile.
Americans bought more Toyota Prius hybrid gas-electric hatchbacks last year than Ford Explorer sport-utility vehicles, the top-selling SUV for more than a decade.
The change of fortune, buried in U.S. vehicle-sales data for 2007 and unthinkable a few years ago, will find an echo at this year's Detroit auto show, which starts Sunday.
While Americans' love for powerful gas guzzlers remains strong, a slowing economy and high gasoline prices are forcing buyers to lower their sights."

Former Bush official: Waterboarding is torture

"‘No doubt,’ says Tom Ridge, first Homeland Security secretary"

"WASHINGTON - The first secretary of the Homeland Security Department says waterboarding is torture.

"There's just no doubt in my mind — under any set of rules — waterboarding is torture," Tom Ridge said Friday in an interview. Ridge had offered the same opinion earlier in the day to members of the American Bar Association at a homeland security conference.
"One of America's greatest strengths is the soft power of our value system and how we treat prisoners of war, and we don't torture," Ridge said in the interview. Ridge was secretary of the Homeland Security Department between 2003 and 2005. "And I believe, unlike others in the administration, that waterboarding was, is — and will always be — torture. That's a simple statement.""

White House urged to be less secret

President can start by declassifying daily briefings, advisory group says

"WASHINGTON - The government is lagging far behind in declassifying its secrets and the problem is getting worse as agencies create billions more electronic records containing classified information.

In a report released Wednesday, a joint presidential-congressional advisory group urged greater openness, a sore subject for a White House roundly criticized for secrecy.
The Public Interest Declassification Board said President Bush can take immediate steps to address the issue."

Key figure in CIA tapes case demands immunity

"WASHINGTON - Attorneys for Jose Rodriguez told Congress the former CIA official won't testify about the destruction of CIA videotapes without a promise of immunity, two people close to the tapes inquiry said Wednesday.

Rodriguez, the former head of the CIA's National Clandestine Service, ordered that the tapes, which show harsh CIA interrogation of two al-Qaida suspects, be destroyed in 2005. Rodriguez is scheduled to testify before the House Intelligence Committee on Jan. 16.
Defense attorney Robert Bennett told lawmakers, however, that he would not let Rodriguez testify because of the criminal investigation into the case. Without a promise of immunity, anything Rodriguez said at the hearing could be used against him in court. "