In such a spirit on my part and on yours we face our common difficulties. They concern, thank God, only material things. Values have shrunken to fantastic levels; taxes have risen; our ability to pay has fallen; government of all kinds is faced by serious curtailment of income; the means of exchange are frozen in the currents of trade; the withered leaves of industrial enterprise lie on every side; farmers find no markets for their produce; the savings of many years in thousands of families are gone.

More important, a host of unemployed citizens face the grim problem of existence, and an equally great number toil with little return. Only a foolish optimist can deny the dark realities of the moment.

Yet our distress comes from no failure of substance. We are stricken by no plague of locusts. Compared with the perils which our forefathers conquered because they believed and were not afraid, we have still much to be thankful for. Nature still offers her bounty and human efforts have multiplied it. Plenty is at our doorstep, but a generous use of it languishes in the very sight of the supply. Primarily this is because the rulers of the exchange of mankind’s goods have failed, through their own stubbornness and their own incompetence, have admitted their failure, and abdicated. Practices of the unscrupulous money changers stand indicted in the court of public opinion, rejected by the hearts and minds of men.

True they have tried, but their efforts have been cast in the pattern of an outworn tradition. Faced by failure of credit they have proposed only the lending of more money. Stripped of the lure of profit by which to induce our people to follow their false leadership, they have resorted to exhortations, pleading tearfully for restored confidence. They know only the rules of a generation of self-seekers. They have no vision, and when there is no vision the people perish.

The money changers have fled from their high seats in the temple of our civilization. We may now restore that temple to the ancient truths. The measure of the restoration lies in the extent to which we apply social values more noble than mere monetary profit.

Happiness lies not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort. The joy and moral stimulation of work no longer must be forgotten in the mad chase of evanescent profits. These dark days will be worth all they cost us if they teach us that our true destiny is not to be ministered unto but to minister to ourselves and to our fellow men.

Recognition of the falsity of material wealth as the standard of success goes hand in hand with the abandonment of the false belief that public office and high political position are to be valued only by the standards of pride of place and personal profit; and there must be an end to a conduct in banking and in business which too often has given to a sacred trust the likeness of callous and selfish wrongdoing. Small wonder that confidence languishes, for it thrives only on honesty, on honor, on the sacredness of obligations, on faithful protection, on unselfish performance; without them it cannot live.

Restoration calls, however, not for changes in ethics alone. This Nation asks for action, and action now.

Our greatest primary task is to put people to work. This is no unsolvable problem if we face it wisely and courageously. It can be accomplished in part by direct recruiting by the Government itself, treating the task as we would treat the emergency of a war, but at the same time, through this employment, accomplishing greatly needed projects to stimulate and reorganize the use of our natural resources.

Hand in hand with this we must frankly recognize the overbalance of population in our industrial centers and, by engaging on a national scale in a redistribution, endeavor to provide a better use of the land for those best fitted for the land. The task can be helped by definite efforts to raise the values of agricultural products and with this the power to purchase the output of our cities. It can be helped by preventing realistically the tragedy of the growing loss through foreclosure of our small homes and our farms. It can be helped by insistence that the Federal, State, and local governments act forthwith on the demand that their cost be drastically reduced. It can be helped by the unifying of relief activities which today are often scattered, uneconomical, and unequal. It can be helped by national planning for and supervision of all forms of transportation and of communications and other utilities which have a definitely public character. There are many ways in which it can be helped, but it can never be helped merely by talking about it. We must act and act quickly.

Finally, in our progress toward a resumption of work we require two safeguards against a return of the evils of the old order; there must be a strict supervision of all banking and credits and investments; there must be an end to speculation with other people’s money, and there must be provision for an adequate but sound currency.

There are the lines of attack. I shall presently urge upon a new Congress in special session detailed measures for their fulfillment, and I shall seek the immediate assistance of the several States.

Through this program of action we address ourselves to putting our own national house in order and making income balance outgo. Our international trade relations, though vastly important, are in point of time and necessity secondary to the establishment of a sound national economy. I favor as a practical policy the putting of first things first. I shall spare no effort to restore world trade by international economic readjustment, but the emergency at home cannot wait on that accomplishment.

The basic thought that guides these specific means of national recovery is not narrowly nationalistic. It is the insistence, as a first consideration, upon the interdependence of the various elements in all parts of the United States—a recognition of the old and permanently important manifestation of the American spirit of the pioneer. It is the way to recovery. It is the immediate way. It is the strongest assurance that the recovery will endure.

In the field of world policy I would dedicate this Nation to the policy of the good neighbor—the neighbor who resolutely respects himself and, because he does so, respects the rights of others—the neighbor who respects his obligations and respects the sanctity of his agreements in and with a world of neighbors.

If I read the temper of our people correctly, we now realize as we have never realized before our interdependence on each other; that we can not merely take but we must give as well; that if we are to go forward, we must move as a trained and loyal army willing to sacrifice for the good of a common discipline, because without such discipline no progress is made, no leadership becomes effective. We are, I know, ready and willing to submit our lives and property to such discipline, because it makes possible a leadership which aims at a larger good. This I propose to offer, pledging that the larger purposes will bind upon us all as a sacred obligation with a unity of duty hitherto evoked only in time of armed strife.

With this pledge taken, I assume unhesitatingly the leadership of this great army of our people dedicated to a disciplined attack upon our common problems.

Action in this image and to this end is feasible under the form of government which we have inherited from our ancestors. Our Constitution is so simple and practical that it is possible always to meet extraordinary needs by changes in emphasis and arrangement without loss of essential form. That is why our constitutional system has proved itself the most superbly enduring political mechanism the modern world has produced. It has met every stress of vast expansion of territory, of foreign wars, of bitter internal strife, of world relations.

It is to be hoped that the normal balance of executive and legislative authority may be wholly adequate to meet the unprecedented task before us. But it may be that an unprecedented demand and need for undelayed action may call for temporary departure from that normal balance of public procedure.

I am prepared under my constitutional duty to recommend the measures that a stricken nation in the midst of a stricken world may require. These measures, or such other measures as the Congress may build out of its experience and wisdom, I shall seek, within my constitutional authority, to bring to speedy adoption.

But in the event that the Congress shall fail to take one of these two courses, and in the event that the national emergency is still critical, I shall not evade the clear course of duty that will then confront me. I shall ask the Congress for the one remaining instrument to meet the crisis—broad Executive power to wage a war against the emergency, as great as the power that would be given to me if we were in fact invaded by a foreign foe.

For the trust reposed in me I will return the courage and the devotion that befit the time. I can do no less.

We face the arduous days that lie before us in the warm courage of the national unity; with the clear consciousness of seeking old and precious moral values; with the clean satisfaction that comes from the stern performance of duty by old and young alike. We aim at the assurance of a rounded and permanent national life.

We do not distrust the future of essential democracy. The people of the United States have not failed. In their need they have registered a mandate that they want direct, vigorous action. They have asked for discipline and direction under leadership. They have made me the present instrument of their wishes. In the spirit of the gift I take it.

In this dedication of a Nation we humbly ask the blessing of God. May He protect each and every one of us. May He guide me in the days to come.

Source: Franklin D. Roosevelt, Inaugural Address, March 4, 1933, as published in Samuel Rosenman, ed., The Public Papers of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Volume Two: The Year of Crisis, 1933 (New York: Random House, 1938), 11–16.

This looks and sounds familiar... >.<

Rest in peace, Dungeon Master.

You’re 6:49 a.m.

				You’re the time of day right around sunrise, when the sky is still a pale bluish gray. The streets are empty, and the grass and leaves are a little bit sparkly with dew. You are the sound of a few chirpy birds outside the window. You are quiet, peaceful, and contemplative. If you move slowly, it’s not because you’re lazy – it’s because you know there’s no reason to rush. You move like a relaxed cat, pausing for deep stretches that make your muscles feel alive. You are long sips of tea or coffee (out of a mug that’s held with both hands) that slowly warm your insides just as the sun is brightening the sky.

Thanks Tals. That was fun. I don’t know if this is me, but this IS my favorite time of day.

So what exactly did Eli do? He made one great play (that escape from a near sack) followed by hitting that long pass to Tyree. That pass was ill-advised. It could have been picked off. Otherwise, he made a lot of fairly ordinary passes, albeit under pressure. He is the kind of guy who plays online roulette games and keeps winning just by betting on the number 10. Sure, his receivers dropped a lot of balls. What’s new? These are the 2007 New York Giants. Burress has always been a ball-dropper. Luckily, Shockey wasn’t around to add to the pain.

It was the defense that played way above expectations. They even beat Plaxico’s 17-point forecast, holding the Pats offense to two touchdowns. Two touchdowns! That’s way beyond anyone’s expectations. It would probably have been deemed impossible by prognosticators. Five sacks. Huge number of hurries. Kicked the living daylights out of Brady. The only big boo-boo was leaving Hobbs in single coverage in the red zone against Burress. They shut down the running game after Maroney ripped off five straight 100-yard games. The only guys they allowed to roam free were Welker and Faulk, giving up short yardage. None of the trickeration fooled them. They even took away the screen pass.

So give the game ball to defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, who wasn’t afraid to blitz Brady and make him beat them. The Patriots kept getting beat on the edge rush, and when they tried to cover that, straight down the gut. Brady had to hurry his passes, because whenever he’d hold the ball for a long throw, a Giant would come up and nail him as he threw, usually spoiling the pass. The Golden Boy was short, wide, high and generally far less  accurate than the guy who went 26-of-28 a few weeks ago.

So sorry Eli, you shouldn’t have been the MVP of this Superbowl. The Giants defense are the ones that put that ring on your finger, so say thank you to them.

I missed the Superbowl four straight years, usually due to work since the superbowl is on at early hours of the morning, differing a bit depending on what coast it’s being held. I was supposed to have other people with me, but I ended up doing this stag. Doesn’t really matter, I was planning to do this regardless. I thought I owed it to myself after missing it for work so many years. Especially since work for me these days starts late in the morning. Fun thing is I get to blog this, with no one else to keep entertained.

It’s also fun watching it on a big projection screen. I wish they had a big HD LCD, but this’ll do. Sure beats a small screen! And I’m saved the spectacle of seeing Tom Coughlin’s face in HD.

Okay, I hate this preproduction crap. I’ve got the Giants saying all kinds of silly things. This is ridiculous, I don’t know how the players aren’t embarrassed doing this. Resiliency my ass. And Eli looks… unsure.

I still remember how the Pats started this “come onto the field as a team” thing. It used to be that it was like the NBA, with each guy getting an intro. Better this way, I think.

It’s the Pats’ turn for the silly preprod. Brady looks every bit the movie star.

More preprod. No one’s mentioning that Strahan held out the whole offseason to avoid Coughlin’s training camp.

Jordin Sparks’s dad was an NFL player? Probably not a skill player or it would at least ring a bell.

Is Brady the greatest 6th-round draft pick ever?

Jeez, the guy interviewing Brady started several weeks for the 49ers. SF’s a mess.

You know what Jason Taylor wants right now? The Payton Award is nice, but he’d rather get a ticket out of Miami and get a chance to win a ring.

Toin coss. Ronnie Lott cosses, the Giants call tails and get the ball. (The Pats sure have bad luck with coin tosses. I wouldn’t want them to be anywhere near me in an online casino. Spygate means they have very bad karma and deservedly so!). I agree, they’d better batter Jacobs down the line and make the Pats defense stop him. Let Eli play the role of Trent Dilfer on the Bucs. 35 rushes. The first NTG series is gonna be crucial if they’re gonna pull the upset. They HAVE to score a TD to put pressure on the Golden Boy and his crew.

Hxon doesn’t get much of a return. Rush, Jacobs. Let’s see them keep it up! They do, not much there. 4-receiver set, shotgun. They convert 3rd and 5 to Plax, great start for Eli. Play action to Boss. Back to Jacobs I expect. Yep, but not much there. 3rd and 6 again. They have to do better on 2nd down or they’ll get into trouble soon. Conversion to Smith. Harrison is down. Timeout. Giants look good, so far.

Looks like Randall Gay is out for now. You’ve got a rook ar CB out there, but they go back to Jacobs. Love it. The NY O-line is doing fine. Peyton’s here with the face. Another run! Bradshaw’s just as much a power guy as Jacobs. Boss drops it. Another Jacobs run. Eli avoids the rush and converts again! See what a good running game does?

Miss on the long TD play to Plax. Almost picked. Another miss on Eli’s throw, so out comes Tynes for the short FG. 3 points isn’t going to do it, but it’s better than nothing. Let’s see what The Hoodie has for us on offense.

My batteries aren’t gonna last, so I’ll blog the first Pats series, then sign off until halftime.

NYG allows a 43-yard return. You can’t let them have that.

Trickeration on the first play! Interesting. Maroney picks up 9 and then 1. That’s a great start for the Pats too. Brady misses everything on his first pass, then hits Stallworth on a shallow cross. 4-wide shotgun. Conversion to Welker, first down. Short run by Evans. Screen pass to Faulk to get a fresh set of downs. 4-wide shotgun again, pass to Moss is off. Pass goes right through the hands of Faulk. 3 & 10 into the endzone to Watson, pass interference on Pierce. And the Giants are dead here. 4 tries for Brady tog et 7. Maroney carries to the 1 to end the quarter. This has “7” written all over it.

Yup, TD. NYG had better have another logn drive in them, this time for a TD, or they’re quite dead. I’ll be back at halftime.

With Alicia Keys in the background, I’m back! What a sloppy, uneventful 2nd quarter dominated by the Giants defense. No scores, which is amazing. The Giants held the Pats to the lowest 1st half yardage output they’ve had all season. The Pats O-line is getting massacred, and Brady’s been roughed up a lot.

Let’s see, so it went – Maroney scores on a short run, Manning drives down the field and ends up getting picked on a Smith drop. Brady drives down the field but gets stopped by the G-Men. Punt. Giants take a delay of game penalty (Peyton disapproves) and have a botched handoff. Punt. Brady goes three and out with two sacks. Punt. Giants go three and out. Punt. Brady marches down the field and that ends with a turnover after Brady gets hit. Giants don’t convert a hail mary, and the half is over.

The good news: the Giants are playing well, especially with the running game, and their defense is dominant today. The bad news: they’re still down 3-7 and haven’t come close to sniffing a touchdown. At this point, while the Pats are no longer 12-point favorites, they’re still favorites. One big play will win this game, and the Pats are more likely to come up with something like that than the Giants are.

Despite the struggles of the NE O-Line, and the ball that Brady almost lost after getting hit on the pass, the Pats haven’t made mistakes. The Giants vets have made plays. The defense led by Strahan and Umenyiora has been very good. Toomer and Burress have made nice catches. But their kids, Smith and Boss and Bradshaw have put the ball on the ground several times. Eli’s made a couple of mental mistakes that Brady or his bro wouldn’t make.

And now The Hoodie and The Ernie get to make adjustments.

Regardless, I think Spagnuolo’s gonna get an interview with the Skins (and maybe the Raiders) after this is all over. He’s earned a big payday.

They’ve unearthed Tom Petty’s desiccated corpse to play halftime. I’ll be back in the 4th to wrap up what’s looking like a close game that the Pats are still going to win.

I don’t think the Giants change the game plan. They stay with the run game, but they have to stop making mistakes. They have to hope their defense can make good on the Plaxico prediction to keep the Pats to 17 points. If Brady gets 2 TDs, and that’s one good quarter for him, the Gs are in big trouble.

Belichick will fix Tom’s protection, possibly going max-protect or going to some more screens and maybe some trickeration. Let’s see.

Q3. Brady’s protection hasn’t gotten any better, and the Giants are still struggling to score. The question here is whether the Giants defense makes a mistake first or the Giants offense gives the ball away in bad position (or in the worst case, a pick-6). This is a low-scoring game, but it’s one of the best I’ve watched. Brady looks frustrated. The Giants are stil outgaining the Pats. Looks like the two weeks helped the Giants just as much as the Pats.

In a shocker, Belichick goes for it on 4th down and they don’t convert

It’s 11 minutes to go in the 4th and the Giants just scored on Manning’s pass to David Tyree. The Giants defense is looking even stronger, and the Pats defense is bending too far. If the Giants hold here, it looks very good for them.

Moss catches a pass. The Giants kids got to make some plays in that last series and Boss and Smith came up with big catches. Brady’s not sharp today, which is a huge deal. Is the pressure getting to him? Is the beating getting to him? The Giants defense has been pounding on him all day. Another hurry, another miss. Another punt. Chris Hansen hasn’t been this busy all season!

Eli gets the ball back with a chance to make this a two-possession game. If he converts here, all bets are off.

Great scamper by Manning, but he just lofted that ball high for Plax. Another good Eli throw ends with Toomer short of the first down by a yard or two. Punt. In the punting game, Feagles is keeping pace with Hansen. Never thought that that would be a big deal in Superbowl 42 eh?

So Tom gets the ball back, and it’s still a one-possession game with time running out. Anyone’s game, but will this Pats offense really not get a score in the second half? Strahan’s looking like the Giants MVP so far.

Brady to Welker, then to Moss for the first down. Randy’s going down the middle, which means that they’re desperate. Moss hates contact. Maroney carries for 9. Look for a shot into the endzone here. Long enough, pass to Welker for a big gain. Wes has 10 catches. Pass to Faulk who smartly steps out to stop the clock. Welker catches #11, tying a Superbowl record. If they pull this out, he’s the MVP.

Moss ventures back into the middle to catch a pass for first down. This is amazing. Moss is giving up his body to win. Kevin Faulk catches another pass. They’re in full West Coast Offense mode, with Tom spreading the ball around. This is the first Pats drive of the day that looks anything like what they were during the season.

Red zone time. Again, this smells like a score. The Giants need a big stand or a pick here. Brady’s getting the ball out quick. Wide on a pass to Randy, which should have been a gimme. Brady’s feeling the heat. Incomplete to Welker. 3rd and goal now. Wow, great graphic. The Pats have won all three of their Bowls by 3 points, but never with a score this low. That’s ironic because this team broke the NFL single-season scoring record.

Brady to Moss, TD as Butler falls down on the goal line single coverage. Easy catch. Gostkowski nails the extra point.

So now Eli has to get a TD to win. Completion to Toomer down the middle. Incomplete to Plax. Incomplete to a double-teamed Plax. Two minute warning.

So. If Eli gets this done, he erases any remaining stigma of being Eli of old and becomes another Superbowl-winning clutch Manning. If he doesn’t, he’s Ol’ Eli again.

It was unrealistic to expect the Pats to lay an egg.

The Pats defense is fired up.

Complete to a diving Amani Toomer, spot looks short of the first down. 4th and 1. They have to go for it with 1:40 to go. Jacobs easily powers through for a couple of yards to move the chains.

Eli takes off and almost loses the ball. Timeout NYG. 2nd and 5. Manning throws it away and is almost picked by Asante Samuel.

Play of the game. Manning has three Pats grabbing him, and he escapes to throw a long pass that is barely caught by David Tyree at the peak of his leap, with two Pats draped all over him.

59 seconds on the Pats 25. Manning has nothing and tries to take off. Sack by Adaluis Thomas. Giants burn their last timeout. 2nd and 11 now. Almost picked off again! Tyree almost comes up with it, then drops it. Complete to Smith! First down! 39 ticks.

Manning to Buress TD! Hobbs blows the coverage in a one on one situation, and what the hell is Plax doing with single coverage anyway? He’s got 6 inches on Hobbs! Peyton approves.

So. Can Brady do anything with 29 seconds?

Four long shots down the field. First one misses.

Second one ends in an awesome sack on Brady. The Pats O-line got killed today.

Giants in a Cover 3. Moss almost gets it on a double teamed streak on the third.

Last gasp time. 4th and 20 but it doesn’t matter.

Giants win the Superbowl. This game belonged to the NYG defense. Eli was good, managing the game (ha), making important throws and not making any mistakes (that pick wasn’t his fault). The NE defense also did its job, holding the Giants to 17 points. So it was Brady and the NE offense that didn’t deliver.

Lots of money was made in Vegas by the hardy souls that bet on a NYG outright win. Money was also made on the spread, which was 12 at kickoff. And this cements the Superbowl as the most unpredictable culmination of any sport. The Pats have been on both ends now (see the 2001 SB vs the Rams).

For a 17-14 game, this was one of the best Superbowls ever.

Until next year.

I mean, he couldn’t carry A Knight’s Tale.

However, it was all going to change when he took the role that is now one of the greatest in Jack Nicholson’s bio. Playing a terminally psychopathic madman well tends to get you noticed.

Good ol’ Jack stoked the fire when he claimed to have said “I warned him” without saying what about. Maybe playing the likes of The Joker can be hazardous, especially for thespians who like to get into their character’s skin?

While we don’t believe that Jack went wacko, we also don’t really know what Anthony Hopkins has with his Chianti these days.

It will be vaguely discomfiting to watch The Dark Knight now, though. While people flocking to the theaters to see a dead man play a homicidal clown isn’t unprecedented, the rumored tour-de-force performance of a lifetime that Ledger gave as the Clown Prince of Crime stands to go down as one of the most eerie in recent film history.

I know that I’ll be watching.

Matheson’s novel is a meditation on what a man would become if he were all alone. This was captured very nicely by director Francis Lawrence and The Fresh Prince through the first half of the film. The eerie, empty sprawl of a deserted New York City. The struggle with mannequins as the only “people” you “know”. The appreciation of having a dog to keep you company.

It actually put the brilliance of Tom Hanks’s performance in Cast Away in a whole new light. Will Smith had it far easier – NYC and a big dog. Hanks had a deserted island and a vollyball.

Anyway, they had to turn the vampires (Dark Seekers my ass) into your run of the mill ravenous mindless ghouls. Thinking that the audience wouldn’t see the film if it stayed true to the novel?

The whole thing REALLY jumped the shark when it turns out that he really wasn’t the last person on earth, and the title of the film somehow came from Bob Marley’s masterpiece recording.

Sorry. Ricockulous. I checked out right there and was a disinterested spectator when the film got to its insipid climax and thoroughly awful denouement. That was truly BAD. Think of The Village BAD. Yup.

Bottom Line: So, 4 stars for the first half, until the tragic death. Zero stars after that. That leaves us with a thoroughly disappointing two-star forgettable film. Pass.

While I’m not usually a fan of ham-handed Photoshop jobs, a couple of these strike home. I love the Scarlett/Cinderella and Rachel/Snow pics, with the Jess/Pocahontas one not far behind. Gotta admit that the Becks/Prince and Federer/Arthur pics are also decent. (Interesting choice to go with athletes over more Hollywood types, though one could argue that Becks is more celeb than athlete these days.) Not a fan of the Platt & Co./Wonderland and the Giselle/Pan tableaus. (I did catch the Tina Fey/Tinkerbell joke.)

Anyway, some good pics to rotate into the screensaver/wallpaper collections.

Taylor’s 16-year old voice is smoky beyond its years, and her songs have your classic country-lovelorn lyrics that seem to be far beyond her teenage ken. I like the album a lot, and it’s now in my iPod, shuffling along.