HAPPY NEW YEAR! Let's make 2012 the best yet

This photo taken by Lindsay Beyerstein on Sept. 26th @ Liberty Plaza Park (OWS) best sums up 2011 & looks forward to 2012.

[Thanks to Joe Macare for referring to the photo in his excellent Truthout article "The Year Dissent Came Back"]

The Messiah

The Messiah tonight @ The Community Church. Ann sang, as she does every year

Quote of the Day: On Democracy

Heard @ the UN Climate Change Conference in Durban, SA (via Democracy Now):
"The U. S. Has the best democracy money can buy"

Let's weed out the bad mayors

The latest words of wisdom from Hosni Bloomberg
From yesterday's speech:

And I would, if I had the ability - which nobody does really – to just design a system and say, ‘ex cathedra, this is what we’re going to do,’ you would cut the number of teachers in half, but you would double the compensation of them and you would weed out all the bad ones and just have good teachers. And double the class size with a better teacher is a good deal for the students.”

I have a better suggestion: Let's have half as many mayors and weed out all the bad ones and just have good ones. Bloomberg would be first on most people's weed-out list.