IF YOU CAN DREAM AND NOT MAKE DREAMS YOUR MASTER...IF YOU CAN BEAR TO HEAR THE TRUTH YOU'VE SPOKEN, IF YOU CAN WALK WITH CROWDS AND KEEP YOUR VIRTUE..

...YOURS IS THE EARTH AND EVERYTHING THAT'S IN IT...
Rudyard Kipling's total If poem is below

This is my If poem:

If
Two letters that hold the substance in it of what can be

If ballots are given to all who have registered to vote
If shady blocking of voters from voting don't upset justice
If every vote is counted
If every entitled voter votes
If only we demand that truth not be surrendered to
apathy and
what we believe
to be out of our control
If we find ourselves ready to stand and not let our government govern us senseless

If we become the people we thought we were
IF we stop accepting torture for the way the US deals with torture
If we decide that we can only have national security
IF we bring back justice as our compass

IF enough of us show up and take back our country
from the jaws of
a government that would rather we don't want to know
what they have done,
the depths that we've fallen

Take back our country
from the jaws of an administration that has made laws
to assure them of impunity
exempt from our wrath

If we only could be men and women of subtance
and not the idiots who fill heads with entertainment instead of news and history

If we only could find the path we're on is leading us to a bridge too far
from where we would never dream to be.

Above is written by Sandra Hammel
Any copying of this poem must be credited to Sandra Hammel, Human Rights Activist


Here are some of the explanations for the Fall of Rome:

• Decay
  
• Financial Problems
  
• The Dole and Barbarians
  
• Economic, Military, Gradual
  
• Christianity
  
• Vandals and Religious Controversy
  
• Division of the Empire
  
• Lead
  
• Hoarding and Deficit

IF

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!

--Rudyard Kipling

Source: www.swarthmore.edu

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Tina Fey, Jason Sudeikis and Queen Latifa as Governor Sarah Palin, Senator Joe Biden and Gwen Ifill in VP Debate skit
"Washington University
St. Louis, Missouri"
Transcript of the SNL October 4, 2008 VP Debate Skit

My next post will include a great discussion with Bill Maher, Garry Shandling, Christiane Amanpour from October 3, 2008 Real Time show on HBO.

OBAMA - BIDEN 2008
Help Out

This is from www.barackobama.com:

We're right in the middle of a very narrow voting window that could make the difference in this election. And we have to act fast.

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And since Ohio is a key battleground state -- and played a pivotal role in the last presidential contest -- winning in Ohio could help us secure a national victory.

So what can you do to help Barack win in Ohio? You can help us Get Out The Vote -- and tip the balance in this election -- right from your own living room.

Get a list of potential Ohio supporters and their phone numbers right now. Give them a call and make sure they vote early for Barack.