Whether that reality be Hillary, Obama or the Iraq War, the Democrats just set up a drumbeat and repeat it until they have at least their side convinced.

The task for Republicans is to break the spell, not just argue against it.

A dainty thing’s the Villanelle,
Sly, musical, a jewel in rhyme,
It serves its purpose passing well.

A double-clappered silver bell
That must be made to clink in chime,
A dainty thing’s the Villanelle;

And if you wish to flute a spell,
Or ask a meeting ‘neath the lime,
It serves its purpose passing well.

You must not ask of it the swell
Of organs grandiose and sublime -
A dainty thing’s the Villanelle;

And, filled with sweetness, as a shell
Is filled with sound, and launched in time,
It serves its purpose passing well.

Still fair to see and good to smell
As in the quaintness of its prime,
A dainty thing’s the Villanelle,
It serves its purpose passing well.

I was so struck with that example it was sometime before I realized “Do Not Go Gentle” was a villainelle–full of organ swell, gradiose and sublime. I add William Empson’s “Missing Dates” as another fine example of Henley’s failure as a critic.

Missing Dates

Slowly the poison the whole blood stream fills.
It is not the effort nor the failure tires.
The waste remains, the waste remains and kills.

It is not your system or clear sight that mills
Down small to the consequence a life requires;
Slowly the poison the whole blood stream fills.

They bled an old dog dry yet the exchange rills
Of young dog blood gave but a month’s desires.
The waste remains, the waste remains and kills.

It is the Chinese tombs and the slag hills
Usurp the soil, and not the soil retires.
Slowly the poison the whole blood stream fills.

Not to have fire is to be a skin that shrills.
The complete fire is death. From partial fires
The waste remains, the waste remains and kills.

It is the poems you have lost, the ills
From missing dates, at which the heart expires.
Slowly the poison the whole blood stream fills.
The waste remains, the waste remains and kills.

Thank you for your indulgence. A little poetry now and then cleans the waste from the blood.

Jamie Irons

The woman is actually evoking some strange form of sympathy from me. Somebody just slap me and wake me from my stupor.

Whats gonna piss me off is if democrats win this election. Then we discover that GW starts having a martini after meals, rendering him the most fluid communicator the modern world has ever seen.

I previously posted on this. Those who consider Eagleton a victim and McGovern a charlatan are missing the whole picture.

It is time for the US “hollywood” political system to think seriously about a parlamentary system, via proportional representation.

the liberal label has been co-opted and hasnt meant what it meant for a long time… we act and think like it does, but it stands for socialism, not laissez faire anymore.

The US political system was find till we went to socialist land… its been going down hill ever since… massive texes, inflation, keneysian economics, planned economy, pseudo nationalized state supported companies that prevent competition through regulation, fake fronts by dems to park pork, soft eugenics, welfare slavery, and so much more.

the differences in everything are staggering, and only the few old enough to remember know how staggering.