For my British pals...

"Humans are only intermittently rational, living mostly in realms of hope, fear, memory or fantasy, lost in the power of the imagination. "

Well said by Polly Toynbee in yesterday's Guardian, as she makes a brilliant, reasonable argument for secularism, that is, a firm separation of church and state, while cautioning the British public that Cameron may be "test marketing" the usefulness of the very same anti-religion persecution complex in UK that has managed to find such a solid, irrational, repressive footing in US politics in recent decades. I don't know why, despite support for the anticipated March for Reason planned in DC in March, members of the political right in American just don't get it. Maybe they DO get it, but find it politically advantageous to play the dumb, inflexible zealot. Polly writes:

"I will defend to the death anyone's right to practice any faith, if it breaks no law, interferes with nobody's rights nor claims undue public policy influence. Church bells, calls to prayer, displays of crucifixes, beards or side-locks are freedoms, alongside bare midriffs and knicker-short miniskirts. Personally, I am affronted by women in face veils, but that's my problem. I will argue against them but freedom of speech, thought and dress are non-negotiable. But so is the right to robust argument that may offend religious sensibilities, including the right to challenge the improbability of the faith itself – and the right to make jokes."

British pals, take heed. The government- sponsored American Revivalist Tent Show is headed your way.

IF you haven't seen this little gem, sit back and enjoy a total crackup. Every time they say Thebenbernank I lose it. If you don't love this, you got a hole in your soul. best moment: "You must be sh**ting me". There are more of these on youtube. But this is the best one. Tho' Sarah Palin talking to Jesus fun.

Finally, there's mischief afoot that may be hopping the pond, coming soon to a legislature/state unemployment office near you. This Guardian article, Work for free and 'be of benefit' to a multinational like Tesco, warns of corruption vis. certain UK laws now require folks who collect unemployment (in UK called "jobseekers allowance" so folks don't forget to look for a job I guess) to participate in various community service schemes where they work full time for zip under the guise of "training for future employment". While this wasn't supposed to have anything to do with the corporate world, the public, private wall of separation has been severely breached and voila! the corporate scavangers have moved into to take advantage. And who's to say they can't?? Fox guards henhouse! How 'bout working the night shift for Tesco, the Walmart of Britain, for no pay, while the corporation dangles the chance of a job someday before your eyes. (Actually you' re only promised an interview. ) The writer distills the message:

."..the crucial point is that unpaid work – bad enough when it applied to supposed "interns", but grim beyond belief when used on the unemployed – is now being built into what some people call The New Normal. Given the thousands involved, it clearly represents a boon to the kind of multinational giants whose profit margins must be creeping upwards thanks to the plentiful supply of people "

Some British companies have refused to particpate in this government fiasco (bravo Sainsbury and Waterstones) that is essentially training the British public to work full time for no pay in return for an unemployment check, a check YOU paid into with your taxes, in collective social agreement (known as government) with your fellow citizens, a covenant to support each other from the common coffer when you can't find a job.

That the public could tolerate such a thing really blew me away. But this mentality that if you're poor, or jobless, you are somehow at fault, lazy, lacking some basic human value, seems to be rooting itself into the western psyche right along with blaming the Greek "lifestyle" (god, at least they have one!) for the mess International Banking got them in. Imagine being forced to choose between destitution or the indignity of working for free. And how are you sposed to look for a job if you're working for free?? It's essentially indentured servitude. Read more about this insidious ruse here, including some of the stores Brits or traveling Americans may want to boycott in the UK that are taking advantage of the unemployed, (Boots, TK Maxx, Topshop, etc).

Those poor corporations. They richer they get the more they seem to disdain humanity, the less human they appear. Soon they'll regress down the evolutionary ladder to resemble lower ape species. Hey, then we can drag those knuckle walkers to the Supreme Court and present them as evidence against their own "personhood."

If we're allowed in court by then.

Oh what they hey, here's Sarah Palin talking with Jesus Christ.