Homestead mailing list

[Clansgian AT wmconnect.com]

> That is a full stop for me. I once thought that. Then came Bush II. Do  
> you still believe the president does not have real power, especially  
> if his party controls the DC Whorehouse?
> 

Gene, do you remember the bit in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar where Cassius is 
talking to Casca about what they'll do if Caesar becomes king ...

"I know where I will wear this dagger then;
Cassius from bondage will deliver Cassius:
Therein, ye gods, you make the weak most strong;
Therein, ye gods, you tyrants do defeat:
Nor stony tower, nor walls of beaten brass,
Nor airless dungeon, nor strong links of iron,
Can be retentive to the strength of spirit;
But life, being weary of these worldly bars,
Never lacks power to dismiss itself."

That's the kind of power the president has.  He indeed can do great mischief 
if he is wont.  But he can't make the sun rise nor the tide go out (King 
Cnute 
for President!).

The things that face us right straight down the barrel, wolf well at the 
window, is that much of our 'wealth' and economy is tied up in the 
housing/mortgage debacle, that is, people are holding bits of paper that say 
they are due 
amost 170 trillion dollars in outstanding debt and they aren't going to be 
able 
to collect it because the debtors don't have it.   Can the prez reach into 
his 
pocket and say, 'Here, I'll float you loan to tide you over in this.' ??  He 
can't.  Our entire culture is based on oil coming out of the ground to the 
tune 
of 88 million barrels a day and rising.  Can the prez arrange it so that more 
oil will appear in the earth?   He can't.

The point many of us are making is that there are things afoot that are as 
inevitable and immutable as the sun rising and the tide going out and there 
is 
nothing any president can do about it.   </HTML>