Lady Liberty turns her back.

Linda had a dream last night where the Statue of Liberty had turned her back on New York.

Well, I think technically, she already is turned outward, to welcome the immigrants. But I love the image, and I feel the metaphor. And it works the other way -- turning her back on

" your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,



There is a new book out about the building of the transcontinental railroad that flays the corrupt and mean-spirited men who got rich off the government subsidies. Here's the crux of the mystery:

"...how so many powerful and influential people are so ignorant and do so many things so badly and how the world still goes on." RAILROADED; Richard White.

Sound familiar?