A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality.

                      -John Lennon

If you live in or near New York City tomorrow would be a great day to come here. It will be around 72° and sunny in Central Park and if you go to Strawberry Fields, you would witness an amazing event, people powered music.  

I like to think of it as the greatest cover band of all time because it is a gathering of people just singing and remembering the life and times of John Lennon. I like to think of it as a day of inspiration because some of those people singing lyrics for peace and love were not even born on John Lennon’s final birthday.

I have trouble trying to capture the emotion and inspiration of these events in words but I’ve been to many and I’ve captured the event in photos several times. Below the fold are pictures from the last of these gatherings. In some ways it feels like going back in time.

If someone thinks that love and peace is a cliche that must have been left behind in the Sixties, that’s his problem. Love and peace are eternal.

                      -John Lennon

Cross-posted at Progressive Blue.

Update: Obama Will Not Sign Bill Seen As Cover For Bank Foreclosures. Apparently a pocket veto.

This is almost comical. If you are a member of the “enthusiasm gap,” have watched the Democrats represent the bankers over constituents and  get the felling that Nancy Pelosi’s recent call for federal probe on mortgage lenders was nothing more than a letter to be forgotten on November third, here’s a little verification for you.  

Apparently another great letter writer, Patrick Leahy who wrote so many sternly written letters to the Bush administration but never got around to a subpoena, is capable of taking action. After claiming “constituents” called him and pressed to have the “Interstate Recognition of Notarizations Act”  pushed through, he got right on it.

The Senate doesn’t seem partisan once they hear their master’s voice. Not a Democratic filibuster for a bill meant to protect bank and mortgage processors from liability, not the Democratic majority voting down “out of state electronic notarization,” but a banker’s bill that passed in the Senate by unanimous consent on the day before they all went back to their states so they can tell constituents how Democrats represent the Middle Class.  

This “debate free” bill quietly zoomed through the Senate.

The bill, passed without public debate in a way that even surprised its main sponsor, Republican Representative Robert Aderholt, requires courts to accept as valid document notarizations made out of state, making it harder to challenge the authenticity of foreclosure and other legal documents.

The timing raised eyebrows, coming during a rising furor over improper affidavits and other filings in foreclosure actions by large mortgage processors such as GMAC, JPMorgan and Bank of America.

Questions about improper notarizations have figured prominently in challenges to the validity of these court documents, and led to widespread halts of foreclosure proceedings.

The Ohio Secretary of State, Jennifer Brunner had a few thoughts about timing.  

I’ve been thinking about that insanity definition. This has not been the first time the White House has taken the left out behind the woodshed. Repeating the same mistakes and expecting different results in a common action found in many places but there is one group that most often comes to mind.

The underlying message from a president that once said “Make me do the right thing” has become “Leave me alone.” The classic case of a person calling for isolation from loved ones is a very common form of denial. “Don’t tell me what to do. I’m doing fine. Go take a look at your own shit” is what is often heard by family members of sick and suffering addicts.  

To the casual observer it would seem like this man is trying hard to get into “Presidents Anonymous” but the sad fact is that there is no 12 Step Program for president’s in a nation where all elected officials are prowling the back alleys of K Street and mainlining enormous amounts of special interest cash. Sadly there isn’t even an Al-Anon for progressives so we don’t have a clear definition on how to address this.  

Note: from Progressive Blue and cross-posted at DailyKos.

In the quest to maintain a Democrat majority it seems easy to overlook the race for New York State Attorney General. Considering a powerful social and economic justice policy position where the jurisdiction includes Wall Street and the traditional influence this office has had over media and talk shows it’s not about majority but justice vs. injustice.

Now Eric Schneiderman who is committed to “protecting homeowners and consumers from bad actors on Wall Street” faces a Republican who has suggested that he would “de-emphasize the high-profile securities fraud cases that defined the tenures of Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo and Eliot Spitzer.” In a nation where the banking lobbyist induced false claim that “sound economics means hands off Wall St.” is too often heard, think back the early 1990’s when nobody seemed interested in the big money crimes and Eliot Spitzer did much to change the national focus.

But Senator Schneiderman represents so much more that that. Not just a politician but a public servant with the energy and willpower to fight for the people. Looking at what this man has to offer in this high profile office with the power to steer the national debate, it seems obvious that a NY loss would be a setback for all Americans.

Because I have nostalgia issues, in other words I think time sucks, I started a series over at firefly dreaming. It is mostly a series that I want to be about the glory days of progressive rock radio. I posted the second one here that was about the morning dee jay at WNEW-FM and was planning to post the May 4th Two for Tuesday but jimstaro had that topic well covered that day.

In the the one I did post, there was an intro;

For most of my life Tuesdays were made more interesting by a tradition at what was once a great radio station, WNEW-FM. A station that introduced progressive rock to New York City, changed a generation from pop singles to album oriented and in maturity deserved the slogan “Where Rock Lives.” The tradition that people from other cities probably remember from other stations was called “Two for Tuesday.”I was wondering if anyone would be interested in participating here.

I really enjoy writing it and and want to make this a cross-posted regular series here. I hope you will enjoy it too. Some Tuesdays will be a bunch of fluff and sometimes I might have a little substance to offer. Today’s was a bunch of fluff but also a thank you note. Any ties to Rachel Corrie, a name that probably should be remembered today, are coincidental.

So I offer a couple of tunes for today as I listen to the New York radio station that took over “Two for Tuesday” from WNEW-FM. Q104.3 carries the tradition but it will never bee the same.  

Sort of cross-posted at DKos as Friday Evening Photo Blogging: Lion Cubs Today!

I took a little trip to the African veldt today.

Oh okay, I never made it out of the Bronx. Today I went to see the three new lion cubs that were born on January 27th and made their public début this week. So give a roaring welcome to Nala, Adamma and Shani as they get used to their new digs. Their big sister Moxie is a very good baby sitter for these 25 pound kittens.