National Constitution Day.

Today is National Constitution Day – celebrating the 225th Anniversary of the signing of the Constitution of the United States in Philadelphia in 1787.

Independence Hall, Philadelphia. September 17, 1787.

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Present at the signing were:

The Signers of the U. S. Constitution

New Hampshire John Langdon Nicholas Gilman Massachusetts Rufus King Nathaniel Gorham Connecticut Roger Sherman William Samuel Johnson New York Alexander Hamilton New Jersey William Livingston David Brearley William Paterson Jonathan Dayton

Pennsylvania Benjamin Franklin Thomas Mifflin Robert Morris George Clymer Thomas FitzSimons Jared Ingersoll Gouverneur Morris James Wilson Delaware George Read Gunning Bedford, Jr. John Dickinson Richard Bassett Jacob Broom Maryland James McHenry Daniel Carroll Dan of St. Thomas Jenifer

Virginia John Blair James Madison, Jr. George Washington North Carolina William Blount Richard Dobbs Spaight Hugh Williamson South Carolina John Rutledge Charles Cotesworth Pinckney Charles Pinckney Pierce Butler Georgia William Few Abraham Baldwin

Rhode Island did not attend the signing – but ratified the Constitution later on May 29th, 1790..

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Dusk in Seattle.

Last week in Emerald City:

Seattle, WA.

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Love of music.

Great city - great music.

In a bout of inspiration – here’s another nice blog tip/ post about the love of music and life in Seattle, WA. A great personal blog with musings about people and everyday things:

“Recently I’ve encountered this question in various forms: “Have you always been into music?” Initially, I was annoyed. Somehow I was hearing it as a criticism. (“Why don’t you take up sewing quilts or some other respectable interest?”) But then I thought about it, and the honest answer is Yes, I have always been into music. And I don’t see what the problem is. Other people go to NFL games, I go to concerts. Other people watch Ellen, I listen to jango. Other people go to movies, I go to clubs.”

Read on...

Mt. Rainier at sunrise..

From last February:

Sunrise in Washington.

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A Dam goes down in Washington.

Two minutes on how to crack and empty a Condit Dam.

Back to the Basics: $1 tax hikes, $3 cuts.

No. Yes. No. Yes.

Once we break the corporate monopolies and cap money into politics – the bigger cleanup of federal government could continue in a rational and productive manner. And fixing the budget is just about finding the right mix of spending cuts and raising revenue – and which areas should be most affected.

Independent economists mostly suggest around 1-3 in revenue and cuts, special interests reject any revenues at all.

From the Hill:

Democrats have proposed more than $1 trillion of tax increases in a $3 trillion deficit-reduction plan that they dropped with a thud onto the negotiating table of Congress’s supercommittee.

The plan proposed Tuesday by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and backed by a majority of Democrats on the panel was presented as a grand bargain that cuts entitlements, stimulates the economy and goes much further than the $1.2 trillion deficit cut required under the August debt-ceiling deal.

Full story.

Daily Pix: Washington D.C.

From the capital:

The Monument and White House.

Six days left.

Corporate troops making problems..

In some ways I think we’re witnessing the practical effects of more corporate money in politics these days.. A small block in one of the chambers is bound to one interest group in society only, which is short-term business profits at all cost. The troops know little or care little about country or society – and nurture the notion that single-mindedness and stubborness is a display of strength and necessary.

Democracy suffers, and business thrives.

And unless someone fights back the influx of money in Congress – things will probably only get worse. This is not a fight over reasonable arguments or even ideology – but just how the games have become rigged in terms of expensive elections.

And only hope at the moment is that business won’t dismantle that state or break it in pursuit of more and more enrichment, by accident or in spite. In the long view we should hope that some new version of the progressive agenda to break monopolies and strengthen the public interest could revive.

In the meantime, only solace seems to be the inherent hubris and promise of self-destruction that is carried within all extremists movements. Let’s just hope the price doesn’t get too high.