Why is the sea King of a hundred streams?

Because it lies below them.

Therefore it is the King of a hundred streams.

If the Sage would guide the people, he must serve with humility

If he would lead them, he must follow behind.

In this way when the Sage rules, the people will not feel oppressed.

When he stands before them, they will not be harmed.

The whole world will support him and will not tire of him.

Because he does not compete

He does not meet competition.

Tao Te Ching (Ch-66)

If a married man's girl friend is a mistress,

What do you call a married woman's boyfriend?

Dickday (Ch-1)

I hate graphs usually.  Here are some I came across after careful and intense research. The first graph tells you something about your current occupational situation.

The second graph tells you something about your current situation; your place in the universe at this exact moment.

The third graph tells you something about your neighbors down the street and what they may be up to:

I catch CSPAN more than I should really. But the entertainment value during the day beats the hell out of cable news, game shows and the seventy fifth airing of Ferris Bueller in the last month.

At any rate, before I was so rudely interrupted, when Congress is in session and there is actually something happening on 'The Floor'....well that is the worst time to watch.  To be fair, and people around here seem to forget it, there were some really neat votes that took place this year, especially under Grandma Pelosi--my heroine.  When the votes were close it was fun to watch, and when the normal vote of 260 to 165 came down with 8 repubs out to lunch as well as two dems who could not figure out how to push the damn button in time...well that is fun to watch.

But the best daytime CSPAN experience is when our reps are giving grand speeches.  Because when you look around the great arenas of pure democracy, nobody is there except staff, a few tourists and the poor guy who has to sit behind the great big desk and call out some parliamental protocol from time to time in order to convince the cameramen that he is still awake.

Now when repubs give these grand speeches, they usually have these cheap easels.  When I say cheap, I do not mean the cost since the repub signed some purchase order presented by his no good brother-in-law.  I mean in this high tech age, you see this stupid cheap looking easel behind the speaking reub that I could put together with a large kite and string.  And the repub has a pointer in his hand made out of fake wood and will point to a series of graphs that make as much sense as the three I have noted supra.

Basically the point is either:

Therefore, within two fiscal years, the nation will be filing for bankruptcy;  or

And that is why my friends we are all going to hell in a handbasket.

The point never matters anyway.

Back to the pointer though.  Inevitably, the idiot repub will turn around with his pointer and the second or third meaningless chart will fall to the floor as three staff people gasp and four others rush over to put the damn thing back on the cheap easel.

And I will tell you what.  CSPAN should get an Emmy every year for shear determination because the cameraperson never laughs.  I have come to the conclusion that half the time the camera is operated remotely and behind some sound proof booth, the operator is spitting his coffee all over the floor.

Okie dokie. Enough of that!!!!!!!

I did come across an article that rather disturbed me. (As if most articles do not disturb me):

Income inequality in the United States is at an all-time high, surpassing even levels seen during the Great Depression, according to a recently updated paper by University of California, Berkeley Professor Emmanuel Saez. The paper, which covers data through 2007, points to a staggering, unprecedented disparity in American incomes. On his blog, Nobel prize-winning economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman called the numbers "truly amazing." Despite a rising stock market, largely growing employment and a historic housing boom things were not nearly so rosy for the rest of U.S. workers. This trend, according to Saez, only accelerated during the George W. Bush's tenure as President:

"...while the bottom 99 percent of incomes grew at a solid pace of 2.7 percent per year from 1993-2000, these incomes grew only 1.3 percent per year from 2002-2007. As a result, in the economic expansion of 2002-2007, the top 1 percent captured two thirds of income growth."  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/14/income-inequality-is-at-a_n_259516.html

And the accompanying graph caused me great consternation:

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/13/even-more-gilded/

You see this is not one of those 'cut graphs'. A cut graph is one of those where the left column goes from 9,000 to 9,500.   You can make a minor fluctuation look ominous when it is not in fact indicative of any omens whatsoever.

This graph goes from 0% to 6%. 

And I think that it should be shoved up the 'booty' of  every conservative corporate politician in the entire country everytime he or she tells you that the 'liberal' press is attempting to foment class warfare in this country.

Because you see, class warfare is a fact; its battles are being fought every single day on the streets of this country. 

AND GUESS WHO WINS THAT BATTLE EVERY SINGLE TIME?