Whew!!!

The First Family Still

I was so happy last night when President Obama won re-election in record time against all predictions that we might not know for weeks or months because of all the dirty tricks and fraud and suspected voting irregularities.

Elections have never been easy for me. Much of my youth I seemed to always be voting for the least onerous candidate. And when I was deeply devoted to a candidate they seemed to lose. The 2000 election when Gore had the election stolen from him I was a wreck for weeks. I was so embarrassed for my country. We export democracy and yet we failed at it on our home turf. And when GW turned out to be a drunken fool that leaned on podiums and could not speak proper English I just tuned out.

When Kerry lost to GW in 2004, again by suspected voting machine manipulation, I seriously contemplated moving to Canada. Evidently one hell of a lot of Americans did the same thing. When Barack Obama won the nod of the Democratic party for the 2008 election I didn't dare hope he might win. It was a huge and historic victory. The first black man in the white house! Made up for not having the first woman president in Hillary Clinton.

Had I been the president elect in 2008 as GW Bush and policies pushed the United States off the financial cliff I would have moved to Canada. What an impossible task? There we were as not merely a nation but the world heading for economic free fall. And everyone seemed to believe he was superman. He was suppose to keep us out of the deepest depression the world had ever known and deliver on all his campaign promises. And all against a GOP subset that was determined from day 8 to make him a one term president. And yet he got us the ACA and signed into law a bill to help ensure equal pay for equal work for women. And slowly inch by inch the economy has been improving.

I would not have run again (see previous mentions of moving to Canada) but he did. But there was so very much at stake. With the economy beginning to heal we could not turn it over to a party and the same polices that broke it. And it was clear from the outset that the GOP wanted to return women to the '50's. The 1850's. It was so scary because losing was not an option but also not in our control. There were several indications the GOP was willing to cheat. That was taken so seriously the United Nations sent Election Observers to several key battle grounds. The polls kept saying it was too close to call. This has not been good on my stress levels. But Nate Silver's reading of polling data gave me hope.

I had voted early so on election day I could divert my mind and tummy with something creative with a friend - Nuno felting. And I was so exhausted when I came home I figured I would just go to sleep. But an election junkie I tuned in and watched. At ten o'clock it was all over and Barack Obama was still president of the United States.

I am not sure this will solve all our problems. This campaign has shown that we are a deeply divided nation. Maybe even more divided than the days before the Civil War. But at least we did not turn over the country to the people that broke it in the first place and seemed determined to do anything to get in power including lying, cheating, and bigoted/sexist slurs.

To my list of words I no longer want to hear I add - polls, polling data, cliff hanger, birther, Donald Trump, Romney, Ryan, and Republican. Not another word about 2016 until at least 2015. See campaign reform.

The Wizard of US

I have been doing what a lot of people do, researchers inform us, when times are tough; I have been escaping to fantasy. Yes, even watched again the Wizard of Oz.

Oh, and the entire Harry Potter DVD set to prepare myself for number six just released on the big screen.

I have avoided the health care debate and the beer summit, though I admit to watching William Shatner doing a dramatic reading of Sarah Palin's Farewell Alaska speech, later to be a major motion picture.

This morning I was lured into "hard news" with a time headline on MyYahoo! page informing me that Obama Drops Faster than Bush or Carter. To show you where my mind was I briefly wondered it he had been sky diving or mountain climbing. Seems we are talking polls. Mind you Obama is still over 50% approval reading. How far over depends upon who took the poll.

Both Obama and Carter began their presidencies with polling numbers in the 60's. Obama had a 60% approval rating after his inaugral speech. We thought he was the Wizard of Oz or Harry Potter. With a wave of his magic wand he was going to solve all our problems. And with a wave of his pen he did banish various executive orders which were unpopular.

Then he did not instantly close Gitmo. Nor slap Cheney in a cell there when he defended enhanced interragation techniques. He began the pull out in Iraq but did not silence Iran. He upped troup levels in Afganistan. And the Blue Dog Democrats have slowed his advance on the health care reform. The investment banks and firms are paying back TARP funds but people are still losing jobs, all be it slower than they were losing them before.

Shovel ready projects are being slowed by government red tape, and Fox News is making a lot of noise about "pork barrel" spending and putting our grandchildren in hock. We want him to banish all the naysayers like Potter dispensed of his dragon in Goblet of Fire. So some of us disappointed followers probably gave a negative response to the pollster calling. I know I said, mind still on the Potter movie I was watching, that I felt the economy was better but personally my finances still rather worried me. And no I could not see a time when I could reinvest in mutual funds. And yes, all my friends had withdrawn and spent theirs too.

No, Obama does not have a magic wand. If he did Rush Limbaugh would be in Never, Never Land. I think the Wizard in the Wizard of Oz holds our answer; it is within ourselves. We just need to believe in ourselves. We have looked too long for solutions from others. We need to argue for what we want and need. August recess is upon us. Talk to your Washington representatives.

As to Obama. We just need some patience. And turn off Fox News.

A World without Modifiers?

Let me begin the blog with a modifier. We are not all as alike as the golden rays in the picture here.
And thank goodness for that.

People are diverse and unique and I do think that is wonderful but I also dream of a world where certain things and individuals do not have to be singled out with a modifier. As in first Hispanic female Supreme Court nominee. Or gay marriage. Or first black president of the United States.

Though I hope I live to see the day we have the first lesbian woman president not because of any personal bias but it will mean that we have come a long way as unbiased voters.

Not using (or feeling we have to use modifiers) to identify certain individuals is singling them out and showing that we are not totally accepting of them in that office or action or our lives. When we can say simply Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor she will be free to be the best supreme she can be without regard to race or sex. And we will be free to not add conditions.

I especially am repulsed by the racial modifiers to American. I loathe the term Anglo American. Who picked that? The Hispanic Americans? In this age of increasing ethnic diversity it calls for arbitrary judgments and usually on the part of people that haven't a clue.

And while we are dropping modifiers how about Liberal Democrat and Conservative Republican. Your guess as to what is the modifier here - first word or last word? I like the term Centralist because it usually is not paired with anything to belittle it.

So here is to President Barack Obama, Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor, and marriage between two individuals that want to share their lives together.

Free at Last

I have been up and reading blogs from around the world on what today means to people! I thought I was excited before. I have not been so excited about a new president taking office since John F. Kennedy.

And there were a lot of similarities. My mother was Democratic Precinct Chairwoman and we lived in a decidedly Republican neighborhood. All our windows were broken out of our car one night. And it became so uncomfortable to attend Girl Scout meetings I stopped attending. One of my best friends belonged to a church that was afraid that electing a Catholic president would turn our country over to the evil pope. So she ceased to be a best friend because her mother verbally attacked me all the time. If I could have stopped going to school I would have.

It is a shame when the politics of division effect even school children. And that among all the wrongs I can contribute to GW Bush was his worst: He totally divided the United States into Red states and Blue states. For the last eight years I was afraid to even admit I was a Democrat or, heaven forbid, against any of his policies. If you were not with him you were a terrorist or in league with the devil.

So when Barack Obama takes the oath of office I am likely to be shouting: "Free at last, Oh, God we are free at last." To oppress any group of people for whatever reason also oppresses the oppressors. All the energy gets taken up with finding the enemy and keeping them down. I think I have been most uplifted by the crowd scenes with blacks and whites and all races and creeds shoulder to shoulder elated at seeing our 44th President of the United States. I am proud of people freely expressing their opinions at last. By polls that show that regardless of party or religion we are behind our new president.

I am so proud of our country at this moment. Especially since the last eight years were designed to make this moment impossible. We have been bombarded with a campaign of fear and hatred and division. And to ruin the spirit of a people is worse than ruining its safety, its economy, its self worth, its reputation around the world. Because of that I vote GW Bush the worst president this country has ever had. And I am happy to state he has failed.

We are free at last. Free to hope and dream and work toward a common goal.

Shadow President

Recently on an interview Former President Bush (Daddy not son) was asked about Jeb Bush running for President in 2012 and he replied that it might be too early for another Bush in the White House. At least George (Daddy not son) is still firing on all thrusters as they say on StarTrek.

Son does not have a clue to this day. Polls say that 79% of the American people will be HAPPY to see him gone (no one has bothered to poll the rest of the world on this issue) and yet he has said he hopes to not overshadow Obama after he leaves office.

Frankly I don't see a chance of that. Most people are not aware he is still president. He has gone from being a lame duck to being a shadow president. While Obama visits Capital Hill drumming up support for his economic stimulus package GW is giving "exit interviews." Iraq burned, New Orleans flooded, and the economy crashed and he has remained oblivious to each and every pratfall while he has been in office. What little mistakes he will admit to he blames on others. His spin on his legacy is often laughable if it were not so sad.

He claims to have kept America safe (if his presidency began September 12, 2001); gave us record economic growth( if it ended December 2007); vanquished leading Qaeda terrorists (if you don't count bin Laden and al-Zawahri). He claims to have lead the world in providing food aid and natural disaster relief (if you don't count our own country and Katrina). Only 1/3 of his devout followers even entertain a post-presidency presence for this failed leader of the free world. The rest wish it had ended with the "Mission Accomplished" banner. GW is sure from the perspective of history all his decisions in office will be seen as memorable.

They are now. Horridly memorable. Laughable even if we were not going to have to live with the consequences into the next century if not beyond. We want him and his presidency to go away. If there were time machines we would go back to those hanging chads and riot in the streets for a recount NOW. And while GW has 13 more days in office he really is not president of the United States. Obama is in all but name. He is our hope for a better tomorrow.

Oh, if the previous eight years were only a bad dream.

Seventeen More Days But Who's Counting

Sometimes when you Google an image you get pleasant surprises like this electronic abacus designed in 1990. Cool, huh?

The sentence above is probably a good indication of just how interesting political news has been of late. It seems all about accounting. A million dollar bailout there and a million dollar bailout here and pretty soon you are talking about real money. Now the state governors want $1 trillion. Poor Christmas sales make poor sales tax and the retail companies are asking for relief from the sales tax they have to pay. The trickle down theory of economics at its worst.

President elect (we can only have one president at a time) Obama is going to be on Capital Hill this coming Monday to talk to Congressional leaders about a stimulus package to get the economy going. He would like to sign it on day one of his presidency - January 20th. And the Republican opposition is already lining up.
____________________________________________________________________
"We agree with President-elect Obama that taking action to turn the economy around is job one. We also agree, though, that every dollar needs to be spent wisely and not wasted in the rush to get it spent," McConnell (R-Ky) said. "And we hope that Democrats in Congress don't attempt to shut the American taxpayer out of this process by trying to pass a bill that hasn't been the subject of bipartisan review and that hasn't been available for public inspection."
____________________________________________________________________

And TARP, the troubled asset relief program pushed through the congress by the Republicans and GW. is spending money wisely and not wasting it? And we got an opportunity for public inspection of the bill? And it was subject to a considered bipartisan review? I think NOT.

Why is it the other party always demands that the opposition not make the same mistakes they are making? And does it in a way that sounds like they didn't make any?
____________________________________________________________________
"Let's be clear," said Boehner (R-Ohio), "it is essential that this legislation be debated in a fair, open, and honest way. Congress should have public hearings in the appropriate committees, the text of the measure should be made available online for the American people to review for at least one week, and it should be free from special-interest earmarks."
____________________________________________________________________

Duh? This stimulus package is all about earmarks. It is about building bridges and restoring our interstate highway system. It is about putting people back to work after all the huge outsourcing of industry to China. This is about trickle up economics. Put Americans back to work rebuilding American (not Iraq) and then we spend money at retail stores and car dealerships. They pay sales tax and the states don't need a bailout.

I vote we take any remaining TARP funds after the Republicans have rewarded all their buddies for tanking the economy and throw it in this stimulus package as well.

Seventeen days and counting.

That Was the Year that Was

It is that time of year where everyone in the media comes up with their best and worst list. The outcome of the 2008 election seems to have made a lot of the best lists and number one in most. No surprise as 75% of the population is thrilled GW Bush is leaving office. So his departure is contender for best in 2009.

The rise and then fall of gas prices gets it considered for both my worst and best list. I frankly am joyful about the trend downward. I am frankly waiting for more deflation before buying much of anything. But the best part of rising gas prices was that it got me looking seriously at my driving habits, energy use in my house, etc. I think the earth will benefit in the long run from all the above: Obama winning, Bush leaving, and the blackmail done by oil companies.

One of the things which has to make the best list for me is getting back into politics with the Obama campaign. I had been so turned off by GW cheating himself into office twice I was ready to move to another country. I was even studying Italian. But when I began to blog here about the primary process for my European friends I got involved in the blogging community who was still willing to invest time and opinions in the United States. It was infectous.

And the blogging community proved to be a powerful force for change in this country. I was thrilled to see Obama's campaign take full use of the internet. The FreePress is alive and well in the ether and that is just too cool. That gets number one for me. GW controlled the professional press after 9/11 to a level not used since Hitler. That probably gets number one on worst for about eight straight years in my assessment.

So the economy has tanked. Everyone is asking for a bailout and yet I feel surprisingly optimistic about the American people and our future. Though I do think we should cancel all bailouts to banks, investment companies, and auto dealers and just lower the interest rate on all personal mortgages, cancel all personal chapter 13 bankruptcies, and give tax breaks to all alternative energy systems installed in your homes.

All the remaining bailout moneys can be used to rebuild infrastructure, restore our national parks to their former glory, and develop affordable alternative energy technology and production. I personally want a windgenerator system and a solar well pump.

Dog with a Bone

Not my dog and not my bone. But I have dogs. Two. One that wants to be alpha. And I always give them three bones. It avoids the fights. And lets me take one away anytime I want to let everyone know I am the alpha fur kid.

Obama threw Senator Clinton a really nice bone: Secretary of State. But Hillary Clinton is already fighting over the other bones in the cabinet and nobody has even been confirmed by the Congress.

It seems Hillary is not satisfied with being Secretary of State. She wants pieces of the pie from Treasury and Commerce. She is leaking to the press her plans to expand the role of the State Department to deal with economic issues. And to nominate special envoys. That particular honor may be Obama's bone.

I may have seriously misjudged Senator Clinton. I thought her only problem would be her husband. Wrong. She ran for president and she clearly wants to be president. Or at least Secretary of State, Commerce and Treasury. Not unlike the old office of Health, Education and Welfare. Maybe she wants that too.

I am anxious to see if Obama asserts his place as leader of the pack. If not than Hillary with her Alpha dog genetics will always have the bones in her corner.

BTW I have only fur kids to referee on bone issues so I have time to read the OpEd pieces and blog about them here even though Christmas is but two days away. Does Hillary think with Obama in Hawaii for Christmas she can claim dominance of all the bones before he returns? I bet he finds time to keep up with her issues.

That Made My Day

I know we as Americans are all suppose to be insulted that such disrespect was shown to our President. But not me. Had the threat of Gitmo not hung over my head I might have tried it myself but I only wear a size 6. I am only sorry the old man still has some cowboy reflexes left and he ducked.

I suppose this blog could get me sent to Gitmo - giving aid and comfort to the enemy - the shoe thrower. I understand Cheney is still in favor of keeping Gitmo open and recommends waterboarding as a useful tool. Threaten me with drowning and I will tell you anything - even where the reporter buys his shoes to throw. I recommend steel toed and with taps. Among other things they are nicely weighted for accuracy when thrown.

I think the most disturbing part of this whole incident was the followup interview with Bush. One, he definitely needed his hair combed. And, Two, he did not get it at all. We have got to stop electing delusional people to office. You can included Illinois governors in that statement.

I dug myself out in the middle of the snow storm yesterday to run and get some things from the market. Snowy weather makes me crave clam chowder. Don't ask. And while standing in the check out line with all the other people craving their own snow storm comfort food I perused the titles of articles in the magazines. There was a sad deficit in space aliens and "she is having my baby" articles so I wound up reading the cover of Time Magazine. Almost bought it but it seemed so much more fun to wonder what was covered under the following article titles (heavily paraphrased): Why Obama is looked to as President, and Why Nobody is Looking at Bush as President. Don't they just beg lists?

Sorry Time if I did not get the titles exactly right. My mind was too busy already forming lists. I am still making lists only now I have gotten to paper. Maybe I will buy the magazine when I can dig myself out and see how close I have come to their reporter's concept. Number one on both lists: Nobody has thrown a shoe at Obama, and They threw a shoe at Bush.

We Can Think Again

A funny thing happened on the way to the presidential election. I rediscovered my love for reading essays and editorials.

When I lived in Washington, DC and worked for a US Senator I read the Washington Post and New York Times editorials every morning. It was part of the job description. Morning coffee generally included lively discussions about one or more op-ed pieces.

Since those heady days within the workings of power there has been a dumbing down of America. Even President Bill Clinton hid his brains behind Arkansas folksy talk and stories about hogs. GW Bush and his current White House cabinet openly scorns expertise and avoids words with multiple syllables (not that GW can pronounce them).

But there is a new age as Nicholas D. Kristof writes in his New York Times op-ed piece: Obama and the War on Brains. Seems our new President-elect is an "...open, out of the closet intellectual" complete with favorite philosophers and poets. John F. Kennedy was our last president to be openly intellectual. President Bush, adopted anti-intellectualism as administration policy, and supported No Child Left Behind which merely tests memorized knowledge not your use of it. NO THINKING. Studies show that fully 1/5th of our school children believe the sun orbits the earth. And Sarah Palin thought Africa was a country and not a continent.

Our new President to be thinks. Which all leads me to wonder what Bush and Obama talked about in the White House Oval office for an hour yesterday. Obama talks in paragraphs rather than sound bytes as Kristoff points out in his op-ed piece. Bush frequently does not finish sentences, and is inclined to give you a three word sentence rather than any serious analysis of the situation.

Kristof mentions several White House intellectuals of the past and that it does not necessarily make them good presidents. But thinking people are happier in the company of knowledge and expertise and we are going to need a lot of both to think us out of the mess GW got us into. President Kennedy surrounded himself with the best and brightest and was open to new thought. As Obama puts together his staff, advisors, and cabinet it looks as if he intends to do the same. With the best and brightest in touch with out new leader we have a chance of solving our problems.

During his transition to power I am thrilled that I can come out of the closet about my intellectualism. To quote Kristof again, "An intellectual is a person interested in ideas and comfortable with complexity. Intellectuals read the classics, even when no one is looking, because they appreciate the lessons of Sophocles and Shakespeare that the world abounds in uncertainties and contradictions."

My favorite philosopher is Jean-Paul Sartre. My favorite poets are a rather long list with John Keats and Walt Whitman and e. e. cummings toward the top. Oh, and I now daily read op-ed pieces from the NYT's on the internet every morning. And a growing list of blogs by bloggers who think. I don't even have to get out of the house and go to the news stand which is good since I live a long way from one.

Transition

I began this blog originally as a replacement for my Yahoo!360 blog if it came to that. And then transitioned it into being a political blog in part to explain the primary process to some of my world friends. In that process I learned a great deal.

And than learning has continued throughout the political process. Now I am finding out about the transitional process taking place.

In a world where everything seems to move so fast these days it seemed like an awfully long time from the first Tuesday in November until January 20th when the president-elect is sworn into office and actually takes power. But some things do seem to start happening almost immediately. And is more than just measuring for drapes like McCain joked in the closing days of the campaign.

On Thursday President-elect Obama began getting the same daily national security briefings that the sitting president, GW Bush gets so that he can be up to speed on world issues. And, as we have seen, Obama has begun to put his staff together and begin the vetting process for his cabinet positions. President Bush has promised a smooth transition of power. But we do know from 2001 that does not always happen.

Out-going President Bill Clinton's staff passed off with some urgency information about a possible major terrorist attack that the Bush incoming staff ignored. Depending on what side of the conspiracy theories you are on they either elected to ignore it with willful intent because they figured it was minor and when it occurred might advance their agenda or the were disdainful of any information coming from Democrats. The result was the same: 9/ll. And as it happens Bush/Cheney got to advance their agenda of depriving citizens of privacy and civil liberties and having an excuse (all be it a thin one) to invade Iraq and make millions for Haliburton.

Let us all hope that this hand-off of power is smoother this time and no balls are dropped intentionally or accidentally. The economy is going to be a major hand-off and no doubt GW is ready to see quit to that issue. And Obama seems to have given priority to picking his economic advisers. Will the current White House staff allow them to call some plays early for the sake of the American people and the world? Let us hope so.

As for this blog I am looking forward to learning about the transition process and sharing my views here. But I am also looking ahead to covering some of the issues that concern me most as the US and the world move forward together. Needless to say this list includes global warming, over-fishing of our seas, green energy, water and its misuse, nuclear power plants and their placement on fault line, disposal of nuclear waste in my part of the country, etc. I don't think I will get bored.

Note: Opening illustration is Marcel Duchamp's Virgin Transitioning to Bride.

Heart and Soul

I have voted already but as the old redneck saying goes I still have a dog in this hunt. I am still very carefully watching the process of this race for the White House.

Barack Obama is in Hawaii this morning with his gravely ill grandmother, and McCain is on the campaign trail running one of the most misleading and dirty campaigns in history.

Barack Obama has heart and McCain (like GW Bush) has none. Obama took time off of the most important race of his life to give Toot a hug and kiss because he doesn't think she will make it to election day.

McCain came back from Vietnam to rejoin his wife that had been in a near fatal automobile accident and was still undergoing serious reconstructive surgery and began a year long, and not very secret, affair with Cindy. He later divorced the first Mrs. McCain because sbe was no longer the tall willowly model he had married.

Why do we call him a hero? He that abandoned his captain in a burning plane and then went AWOL from the Forrestal while it was still in flames. Nero may have fiddled while Rome burned but McCain sat in the ready room watching his ship burn on closed circuit television.

Obama said on Good Morning America: "One of the things I want to make sure of is that I had a chance to sit down with her and talk to her," Obama told Roberts. "She's still alert and she's still got all her faculties. And I want to make sure that I don't miss that opportunity right now."

This man has heart and soul. And McCain has none. He is all naked ambition and has already proved he will sell his soul and his honor to become President of the United States. He is willing to betray everyone including his own ethics (frankly, after reading the Forrestal incident, I doubt he had any) to become President of the United States.

This sounds a great deal like GW Bush, who was willing to lie to the nations of the world in order to invade Iraq. Something he wanted to do since his daddy left Saddam alive when he pulled out of Dessert Storm.

We are entering (the economists now admit) a world wide recession. Who do we need at the helm of the ship of state? Someone with heart and sould that will feel what we are all going through and try to remedy it? Or someone with his own comforts and goals at heart that will be worrying only about his record as president? Sound familiar. McCain is more like Bush than he will ever admit. Vote NO to four more years of the same thing.

Note: Opening photo is of the Heart and Soul Nebulae

I Have Voted

In part because New Mexico was one of the states investigated in 2004 by the BBC for voting and registration irregularities I drove the three hour round trip to my county seat to vote early.

I drove through the ranch land dominated by McCain/Palin signs on fences to vote for Obama. I had two Democratic candidates I wanted to support and one I decidedly wanted to vote against. I wanted my vote to count. I did not want problems on election day and have to cast a provisional ballot.

I am a registered Democrat but mostly because in this state the Democrats seem to have more people running in the primaries to vote for. If the Republicans have one for every office in the primaries they are doing well. In my youth I even was on the staff of a Republican Senator who was working to end the war in Vietnam. I vote issues and people. Not parties.

Well, until this whole Red State/Blue State crap. I wore blue to vote but I refuse to be so branded. And I think we need serious reform with the Electoral College. States should be able to divide their electors on the basis of percentage of vote. We can divide our Senators and our Congressmen. I voted for Democratic Senator Udall. He has been my US Representative for a good many years and I like his approach to issues and his response to his constituency. His vacated congressional seat is being hotly contested. I don't like the Democrat Lujan or the Republican so I voted Independent. I don't think he has a snowball's chance in the Bahamas but at least I can say I did not vote and am not responsible for either of the other two.

I wish there had been, like on the multiple choice tests of college, a "none of the above" option. There were a couple instances when I would have opted for that. As it was I chose to not vote for a couple choices merely because I wanted it known that I did not approve of any choice offered me.

If either party learns anything from this election it should be that we do not like the electoral college as it stands today. I makes it so possible, as in 2000, for a person not liked by the majority of the people to be made president, and it leads to sharp divisions at a time when we should unite to solve our problems. And negative campaigning just makes it harder and harder to come together after the election.

If the parties are not going to work together for reform on elections, the electoral college, and campaign financing then we need to start a movement for a Constitutional Convention to change it ourselves.

Derailments

Derailments seem to be in the news lately. Like the commuter train in Los Angeles that hit the freight train. They are now looking at engineer inattention due to text messaging.

And the pick of Senator McCain for his VP of Sarah Palin seems to have derailed the campaigns of both him and Obama. McCain said he was going to run an honest and serious campaign with no lies and swift-boating but that has changed. Obama seems to be walking the thin rail between defending himself against those lies and not taking advantage of a woman that is dissing him every chance she gets.

Meanwhile us voters, who are facing financial crisis after financial crisis, would like some discussion of the issues of the economy. And definitely no more Bush policies on any level. We are paying billions monthly for our efforts in Iraq and now that country is making a deal to sell its oil to China instead of paying us back. Yeah, GW lied and this war was about oil and not WMD but seems he gets derailed on that too.

And it hits me yesterday that even this blog has been derailed. On an immediate level it has been turned from its focus on politics to becoming a forum on religious bias. But I derailed it when I opened my blogs to politics at all. It was suppose to be about my art and my poetry and link to my business website. And my first blogs are that. Then I decided to post some blogs about the primary process which is confusing.

For a while I considered hijacking my blog back but I began to enjoy myself here discussing the politics of the season and can see in the future that I might want to continue in a like vein on issues and bills and the actions of politicians (i.e. I don't think they are public service oriented anymore but professionals after money and glory). So I found myself missing the blog that this one used to be before it was derailed by me. Yeah, I was probably text messaging when the red light flashed and I passed the point of no return.

So I have opened a new blog here: Creative Journey. It will definitely be about art and poetry and the creative process. I am going to make every effort to avoid derailment even though it is fair to say artists hardly have a one track mind. But I have three blogs now (my first was Yahoo! 360 ) and that should allow enough diversity for any eccentric thinker.

Keep the Promise Alive

I give you the next president of the United States.

"With profound gratitude and great humility, I accept your nomination for the presidency of the United States.

Let me express my thanks to the historic slate of candidates who accompanied me on this journey, and especially the one who traveled the farthest -- a champion for working Americans and an inspiration to my daughters and to yours -- Hillary Rodham Clinton. To President Clinton, who last night made the case for change as only he can make it; to Ted Kennedy, who embodies the spirit of service; and to the next Vice President of the United States, Joe Biden, I thank you. I am grateful to finish this journey with one of the finest statesmen of our time, a man at ease with everyone from world leaders to the conductors on the Amtrak train he still takes home every night."

As I watched last night's historic speech I could not help but be struck by the difference in what I have seen in the last eight years. One, he was standing up and not leaning on the podium. He was smiling when appropriate (not sneering at inside jokes), he was clearly sober, and he spoke eloquently. And with words correctly pronounced. Did I mention he was wearing a tie?

But as a viewer there were a lot of difference for me. First, I was watching it on the live feed from ABC news via Internet on my computer. I got rid of satellite TV because of their Hitler attitude on packaging, the endless "take this drug" advertising, and the cost.

I have spent the last few months as gasoline prices rose paring down expenses and cutting down any trips in the car. I have the telephone to the bare minimum, no television, and very few trips to the big box stores to save on necessities. I had my retirement planned but that plan does not work with the current economy brought to you by GW Bush and promised to continue with John McCain and his seven houses. Or is it eight.

Another difference that struck me is that Obama had not only spoken well but staged it all spectacularly. It was the sort of event we have come to expect from the Republicans with all the flag waving and implications that to be an American against terror you have to be one of them. GW Bush and his party made me feel like a traitor because I was against the war in Iraq and his lying to get us there. But Barack said:

"The times are too serious, the stakes are too high for this same partisan playbook. So let us agree that patriotism has no party. I love this country, and so do you, and so does John McCain. The men and women who serve in our battlefields may be Democrats and Republicans and Independents, but they have fought together and bled together and some died together under the same proud flag. They have not served a Red America or a Blue America - they have served the United States of America."

I think I want first and most as we face the next 62 days that we can sit aside the partisan playbook and actually be given a chance to pick our next leader on the basis of policy and not rhetoric or swift-boating campaigns.

As Barack said last night "the times are too serious" and the Republicans don't seem to realize just how serious they are. McCain thinks we are whiners and that our economy is basically sound and that we can drill ourselves out of this dependence on oil. (That last is like a compulsive gambler thinking he is only one big win from being healed.)

Like most Americans, especially older ones, I hate change. I fight it. But I look at the change the same old policies have caused in my life and I know that things have got to change for the better or the promise of America is dead. It is time for a major shift. We have to start thinking out of our nice and insulated envelopes. Winter is coming with the heating bills that no amount of economizing is going to be adequate. The middle class is slipping into poverty at an alarming rate.

And you cannot have a healthy democracy or representative republic without a viable and growing middle class. Wake up. Turn off the mind numbing sitcoms and pay attention. Our time to save the United States is now.

"America, our work will not be easy. The challenges we face require tough choices, and Democrats as well as Republicans will need to cast off the worn-out ideas and politics of the past. For part of what has been lost these past eight years can't just be measured by lost wages or bigger trade deficits. What has also been lost is our sense of common purpose - our sense of higher purpose. And that's what we have to restore."

For the transcript of his entire speech: Real Clear Politics.

This is the ticket

This is just the ticket for me. I really liked Senator Biden in the debates and would have endorsed him as the Democratic nominee but he was one of those very talented men that fell to the wayside in the primary process. So having Joe Biden on the same ticket with Barack Obama just seems perfect for me.

And he has all that experience that McCain keeps saying that Obama is lacking.

I was so afraid Obama would be pressured into picking Hillary as a running mate. We have had too many years of Clintons and Bushes in the White House. We do need a change. The political dynasties have gotten us into this mess. We need a new approach to get us out of it. And both of them have such great smiles.

After eight years of watching the current sour puss in office I need smiles. And people that speak proper English. I want nice manners and leaders willing to talk and not bomb us out of our problems with the rest of the world. So after my bottom of the barrel mood of last blog I am now feeling more optimistic. I look forward to the news coming out of the convention in Denver. And let's hope for a good jump in the poll numbers.

A Herd of Cattle

I must admit to spending more of my attention on art of late than politics. But I have been following Obama's international tour. I bet McCain wished he had never suggested his opponent actually go visit Iraq. Obama has been looking very presidential. Definitely more presidential than GW ever looked. He has not leaned on a podium once.

Meanwhile McCain has been back stateside trying to make bitter little snips at the Democratic candidate. So imagine my surprise today when I caught a CNN video with the latest poll of polls. Seems that McCain is gaining on Obama and that currently they are separated by only three points. Course the margin of error on most polls is plus or minus three points, but I had figured that McCain would be lagging further and further behind. Not gaining.

I worked at one time in Washington, DC for Senator Charles Goodall who had been appointed to take the seat vacated by the murdered Robert Kennedy. Since he was one of the authors of the amendment to end the war in Vietnam President Nixon pulled out the big guns to defeat him when he ran for the Senate seat. We did a poll on polls. And it seems there is a polling factor. Or factors actually.

First any population that is studied has this tendency to start behaving strangely because of the attention given it. i.e. it is not odd to find people who have been called more than once to start giving strange answers to just see what the result might be.

Second people start following the leader. I could as an example get published a poll which said that the majority of the United States Citizens would prefer a dictatorship with Vice President Cheney as the leader. And people would start heading that direction in their opinions. It would appear that we are after all just a herd of cattle and will follow any leader whether they are heading for the slaughter house or not.

And we do not deviate from habitual behavior easily. We hate change. Rather like this herd of cattle pictured above. They had recently been in a small field where they were dropped bales of hay and grain. Load them in a truck and transport them to green grass heaven and what do they do? Head to the random two legged stranger that pulled up to take their picture. They assume I am going to give them hay; fodder for their opinions as it were.

In short we prefer the monster we know over the unknown behind the closet door. McCain we know. He is just like George Bush. Everything he says, even the bitter snipes, sound like GW. Obama on the other had is promising us change; a whole field of new spring grass to munch. But we could get lost. Better to stay by the fence and wait for the pickup with hay.

All this herd got from me is their picture taken, and isn't that what a poll is? A snap shot of the herd's behavior at this point in time. Is it valid? For the moment it is taken. It is out of date by the time it is published even in this fast track digital world. Give these four footed beasts in the picture above another week and they will totally ignore the opportunity for a free meal from a truck. Well, until the nights get cold and the grass starts to die. About the end of October here in the high country. This group will be walking into a cattle truck for a trip to the slaughter house. A couple weeks later voters in this country will be walking into polling booths. Are we going for the slaughter we know or an opportunity to change things?

Under the shoulder pads

Be prepared for a petty blog. Yes, there are some weighty issues out there on the political landscape at the moment and maybe this whole blog is silly but just where are John McCain's shoulders?

I get that since Richard Nixon went on television with five o'clock shadow to debate John Kennedy that making up your candidate to look good on television is a prime objective of any support team. And they clearly failed on covering the age spots on the back of his hand during his Viagra moment.

But for me the whole shoulder pad thing has been carried to the extreme and he is beginning to look like Tammy Faye minus the false eyelashes.

He doesn't have a neck to begin with and he already has the beginning of a stoop (early sign of prostrate cancer or just age), and I understand that he has issues with his arms because of what was done during his imprisonment as a POW. But he has big enough shoulder pads to serve as flotation devices should his plane go down over water. They are so big and stiff that it hinders natural movement. On a recent video of him in a town hall meeting predicting an up turn in terror attacks before the November elections (prediction or promise?) he looked like a robot in a suit of armor.

We are told he is very fit, but where are all the standard political campaign images of the candidates jogging past the capital building? We have Obama playing basketball. And blowing it on bowling but I want to see McCain in gym shorts. Does his workout suit have the same shoulder pads? I have seen women jogging outfits with shoulder pads. I imagine his campaign can rig up some for their candidate speed walking around the mall before the stores open.

Fibbing to the public about the health of our presidents is an old story. FDR made it a point to never appear in a wheel chair or even with crutches though he was severely crippled. We were kept from the truth about the severity of JFK's back issues. It was years after he left office that we discovered he had not drawn a sober breath for his last 13 months in office. And what is the truth about GW falling off the couch? Do you believe the pretzel story?

I am not looking for any national security information to be revealed here. I just want to know what is under that suit of iron he wears? Does he have shoulders at all? And how much bigger are those shoulder pads going to get as the campaign moves forward?

Who was that masked man?

As Senator John McCain sashshays to the left to distance himself from Bush and Obama sidles up to the religious right to emphasis that he has the right moral values it is getting more and more difficult to tell the cat from the raccoons. Or this election from any other.

Wasn't this one suppose to be about change? Didn't us Democrats vote for Obama over Hillary because he was for change and she seemed a bit like the old guard? Wasn't this year the Democratic party was at last going to give us some hope?

Well, I'm not feeling it. In fact I have not blogged here for several days because I was just too stunned at what I was watching happen to all that hope for change. Now McCain is talking about change. But then he was so wonderfully positioned in Columbia when at last the hostages were rescued. Not unlike Bush reading to a kindergarten group during 9/11?

OK, I am a cynic. Seems like I have seen this same song and dance before. But now it seems this may well be our last dance. Because if something does not change one of two things may well happen: 1) we get taken over by another country after we crumble or 2) we finally wake up and riot in the streets.

Any opinions out there on that? Or are we all suddenly silent because we cannot believe what is happening yet again. Well, if it gets down to only a choice between age and beauty I am going for beauty. Got to feel good about something.

Just a Horse Race

My father always said it was the difference of opinion which made horse racing possible. I would think how boring it would be without horses. And horse races. Or contests of any kind. It only seems in politics that I am inclined to think, "How stupid are you to think your candidate is better than mine?"

I believe this thinking first was evident during the campaign of Richard M. Nixon. I recognized in him a certain insanity that seemed reflected in the people that fell into what I have come to think of as "mad dog" supporters. Those individuals who will absolutely no listen to reason or hear a single bad think about their candidate. It was shortly after he resigned from office and was pardoned that I fell into voting for the lessor of two evils. I have always voted. But I will admit I seem to vote for losers. Even with horses I might add.

I voted for Gore and for Kerry. I worked on McGovern's staff. Was clean for Gene. Frequently the candidate I most like is eliminated in the primaries like Biden or Richardson. Since I liked him I just knew Obama was going to lose the fight with Hillary. I was rather shocked that he didn't. So having learned something with age I didn't break up marriages or relationships or kiss off friendships over this primary. I have a few friends that are Hillary supporters. Fewer that believe in McCain. I admit I fall back to the, "How can you be so stupid?" gut reaction with avid McCainites.

A Hillary supporter friend of mine was half apologetic following Hillary's non-concession speech on June 3rd. I think she thought I would rub her nose in it. No, that was one horse race. Now we are on to the second horse race. Who do you like in his field? I am finding this rather refreshing actually. Because during the ten year campaign of G. W. Bush it was hostile and all about make wrong. After 9/11 you were either for the dictator or a traitor. We started whispering in corners. And by his second stolen election we were sure we were going to be burned at the stake or hung from the yardarm. I had anti-war friends during the Nixon years that vanished from the face of the earth. I fully expected it again.

So we have run a long and difficult horse race and we are all still here. Nobody has died or vanished yet. When you live through JFK, RFK and Martin Luther assassinations you start expecting the worst routinely. So far it is just a horse race. And that is good. Now on to the second horse race. Wouldn't it be nice if there was no bloodshed, no cheating, no name calling, nobody dying? Just a race for President of the free world. Wouldn't it be nice if the world was really free.