Politics thrives on simple clean messages something that played to Obama's advantage in 2008. Stagnant unemployment and the loss of America's AAA rating are as simple and tough as they come. This is the economy on Obama's watch and there's no one left to blame.

I know many writers who first dictate passages then polish what they have dictated. I speak then I polish - occasionally I do windows.

Poetry is the language we speak in the most terrifying or ecstatic passages of our lives. But the very word poetry scares people. They think of their grade school teachers reciting 'Hiawatha' and they groan.

I gave up on new poetry myself 30 years ago when most of it began to read like coded messages passing between lonely aliens in a hostile world.

I decided that it was not wisdom that enabled poets to write their poetry but a kind of instinct or inspiration such as you find in seers and prophets who deliver all their sublime messages without knowing in the least what they mean.

I'm hosting weekend retreats all over America. It is like a 24-hour slumber party for moms. We laugh eat play games get massages win prizes talk about parenting and even cry a bit.

Economic medicine that was previously meted out by the cupful has recently been dispensed by the barrel. These once unthinkable dosages will almost certainly bring on unwelcome after-effects. Their precise nature is anyone's guess though one likely consequence is an onslaught of inflation.

Music in itself carries a whole set of messages which are very very rich and complex and the words either serve to exclude certain ones or point up certain others.

People need to start to think about the messages that they send in the movies.

Not only do I have to live right I have to get some cash for my troubles - it's a scary thing and people need to start to think about the messages that they send in the movies.