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making others feel free. Sound!

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People don't know that I'm good at

singing the blues and dramatic readings.

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Ted.com is a very hard website to leave. This is the story of an addict.

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• A reply on Conversation: What actions can we take to return power and attention to our congress?

  Feb 26 2013: I believe it has. The executive branch has taken on the responsibility of making laws. I'm sorry if the specific wording of my question betrays myself. I can be quite poor at wording my questions.
  
  I would like congress to regain that responsibility in the voters' eyes. I believe the majority of voters look to the executive branch - including (or especially) the president - to perform the functions of congress, making congress redundant.

• A reply on Conversation: What actions can we take to return power and attention to our congress?

  Feb 26 2013: Although this is a matter of semantics, I agree with you. Now, what are those actions?

• A comment on Talk: Natalie Merchant sings old poems to life

  Feb 26 2013: That put me right back in my mother's arms.

• A reply on Conversation: What actions can we take to return power and attention to our congress?

  Feb 20 2013: Oh I'm sure of it. Now what basic steps can we take to make congress far more visible and symbolic?
  
  http://xroads.virginia.edu/~Hyper/lippman/cover.html
  
  This is a work by Walter Lippman that definitely relates.

• A reply on Conversation: What actions can we take to return power and attention to our congress?

  Feb 20 2013: Generally, yes.

• A reply on Conversation: What actions can we take to return power and attention to our congress?

  Feb 19 2013: Well.. not quite. There were many parties. But, this aside, I am noticing you are just as pretentious - entering the conversation under a specific pretense - as the people you condemned in your original comment. I was under the impression you supported bipartisan politics. I'm also nervous about your sensationalism concerning being lied to. I commend you for having dug deeper. Others haven't.

• A reply on Conversation: What actions can we take to return power and attention to our congress?

  Feb 19 2013: I am immediately unnerved by your resolute assumption that the government is one coherent body. The government is less "cogs within cogs" as it is a weathered, old table, re-varnished multiple times, adapted to fold like a modern card table, with two of its wobbly legs propped up on a book and a few deck of cards. Sure, there are people in politics who want to make big money. But there are far more people who are in politics because it is a day-in-day-out job that gives good benefits and retirement. Then there are the people who get into politics because they offer something constructive. In the end, I think we are all far more impressed by the mystery surrounding such big money, the shadow of it being far more intimidating than the actual thing.
  
  I also think your fast and hard rules sound great, but are completely unrealistic. So many things bank upon the margins of another issue. Don't get me wrong: I'd love it if bills could be limited by word or page count. As for the scrutiny, I'm right along with you there. However, our "cockroach model" media already watches and pressures politics in a way citizens don't naturally have the time for.
  
  That said, I definitely agree with the idea that the presidency should be hired rather than elected.
  
  In the end, I'm looking for something we can start doing tomorrow. The less we have to institute or change, the better. I'd like to work with that metaphorical table without adding yet another thing to it.

• A reply on Conversation: What actions can we take to return power and attention to our congress?

  Feb 19 2013: I am glad we are on the same page. I would add that parties are a natural formation that occurs in a plethora of governmenting bodies. I always like to default to what Washington urged in his farewell address.
  
  So what I am looking for are real steps we can take to strengthen congress' power. I am not sure I agree with your assertion that it actively rejects that power. The people that make up our state and national congress are just as varying in their desires and intentions as their abounding constituents. But, that aside, it is undeniable that congress doesn't have that power, for whatever the reason.

• A reply on Conversation: Touching practices should be implemented into schools' daily regimen.

  Feb 12 2013: This is precisely the reason we need good touch. Our society is so often physically hurt. We should learn how to physically uplift!

• A reply on Conversation: Solving gun violence in the US in today's insane political climate requires a solution that makes it painless for everyone.

  Jan 24 2013: The first three you mentioned are a lot harder to actually commit, I'd say. This shows that there may be some belief that guns are easier to use to hurt people. Perhaps actually less violent? It may have some significance in our discussions even though we ought not to lose sight of the violence involved, like you said.