Previously posted elsewhere.

It’s been pointed out to me that I haven’t written a diary in a long while advocating for reform of the criminal justice system. The reasons for that are many. I don’t believe we will see meaningful reform of prisons or the Criminal Justice system until we first reform government and society. If our politicians are overwhelmingly corrupt, and they are, and if you can’t get people to care about bombing innocent people for no good reason or torturing people who may or may not have done anything wrong, and apparently you can’t, what are the chances of getting them to care about the systematic mistreatment of ‘criminals’? I have considerable experience in this matter and I can tell you the chances are slim. I guess I am guilty of feeling a certain amount of despair over the issue. Nevertheless, it is worth a try, and it is fair to say that I am remiss in not having done more to advocate for reform of what is a horrendously screwed up system.

This diary is all about the Beatles.  It is not particularly political or topical, though some politics do sneak in.  I offer it here mainly as a diversion.

I work on diaries like this when I need something calming, something to stave off however briefly the unyielding onslaught of relentlessly bad news – something to ease my woe and soothe my worried mind.  Reminiscing can sometimes do that for me, and what more pleasant subject to reminisce about than music?  Sweeter still, to my taste, the Beatles.  Not to dismiss all the other greats, I love them all, but the Beatles were special in my life.  

Words are flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup

They slither wildly as they slip away across the universe

John Lennon – Across the Universe

The disparity in wealth in this country is obscene, and the failure to restrain the mindless and monumental greed that led to it has been our downfall.

The income of the 400 wealthiest Americans swelled in 2006, soaring nearly 23 percent from the previous year, to an average of $263 million, according to data released Thursday by the Internal Revenue Service. Since 1996, this group has nearly doubled its share of all income earned in the United States.

The top 400 paid just more than $18 billion in federal income taxes in 2006, or an average of $45 million, on a record $105 billion in total income – the lowest effective tax rate in the 15 years since the agency began releasing such data.

The New York Times

When a $230 Billion multi-national corporation mugs one of the little guys – is it even a crime in this day and age?  Not if you ask the multi-national corporation it ain’t.  The corporate gangsters at Microsoft seem to think that their immensity grants them impunity.

This diary grew out of a comment in The Dream Before the Awakening.  The comment was:

Do we really need more hippies?

You can shut out the world for the sake of achieving inner peace or whatever. It’s crazy to pretend, though, that if you get others to join you, the fundamental problems facing our future will go away.

I want to ask people to get engineering degrees, to become doctors, to learn the law, to learn about climate science – and to use this information to do good. Iin this world we need more Jane Goodalls and Barack Obamas, not George Harrisons.

Re-banning torture is fine – but it’s hardly enough.

Torture is one of those words that is just too easy to say.  The facility with which it slides off the tongue belies its terrible gravity.  

The act of torture is cruelty personified.  It is easily among the most horrific deeds of which we are capable.  What could be worse?  Murder and genocide I suppose…but little else.

This diary is in the way of a community alert.  Over the fold is the body of an email being sent out by Don Siegelman about Specter’s hold on the Holder confirmation.  Let’s sound off on this.  These creeps are trying to subvert justice.

The confirmation of President Obama’s choice for U.S. Attorney General, Eric Holder, is being held up by Senator Arlen Specter and others.

Note:  This diary relies heavily on three brilliant videos from the TED conferences.  They’re a little longer than your average music video but they present what I consider to be some very important ideas as well as being very interesting and entertaining.  I urge you to watch them all in their entirety.  I think you’ll be pleased that you did.  Gracias.

Our entire improbable existence is the outcome of a long chain of bizarre circumstances, happenstances, accidents and experiments.  Human society has never been anything more than a jackleg improvised house of cards – the rise and fall of civilizations themselves something of a mirage in motion, houses of smoke and mirrors, patchwork quilts comprised of dreams, hallucinations, insight and insanity, traditions and superstitions.  We’ve been making it up as we went all along.  Human society is an organism unto itself and subject with any certainty only to natural laws.  It is understood poorly at best and nothing at all about it has ever been guaranteed.  As Lithium Cola says, “what made you think any of this was ever going to work out anyway?”

Speaking as a supporter who will cut you no slack when you are wrong, I am mighty proud to have you as my President.

I’ll always be grateful to DailyKos for providing the avenue through which I have met some of the coolest people on the planet.  Way up at the top of that considerable list is a guy named John Hobbs.