Hard Choices...already

Hard choices  seem to be everywhere the Obama Administration seems willing to accept a baptism in firestorms created by many previous years of horribly mistaken priorities.  So infrastructure and the bailout frenzy will carry some of the benefits of Obama policy into the economy, the war in Iraq will play itself down on a separate stage, for the next year it will not receive much CHANGE, the economy is the key..and an administration can be tied to failure if it does not appear to grapple with the problem and make some progress.

Energy will be another important area, oil prices will be forced to rise as much as the damaged economies of the West can bear, a potential that progress from the recession will be consumed by rising oil prices, diplomacy is a key ingredient in the need to hold down the habit of gouging the market...difficult since so many national economies depend upon the price and value of oil.

But the stage has been set, the new administration has become a world focus of hope for change...an honest and friendly desire for success, for it is plain now to so many...what a difference leadership can make.

Cabinets...

Cabinet maker choose fine wood for their craft, then work it until smooth and appealing to the eyes.  The design is for the eye but also for the utility of the thing.  Cabinets that don't serve a purpose well wind up on the scrap heap of things...grown useless and replaced by more functional models.

The real President,  Pres.- elect Obama seems to have learned his craft well.  A very deliberate design so far but one aimed to carry the weight of the heavy work ahead.  A nation has become accustomed to the Presidency as a place where progress stops.  Six years ago, General Motors introduced a hydrogen powered car, put a gas pump at 2nd and Mass. Ave near the Senate Office Buildings for the fleet of cars to be fueled by the Congress Members who were given these prototype cars.  They looked like a dream come true...roomy and full powered vehicles running on Hydrogen gas...the most abundant element in the universe.. maybe...but certainly cheap and pretty much everywhere...it's molecules are in every drop of water by the millions...but Republican Party theology said to put the hydrogen car off until the Gasoline boys were ready to set up a supply chain...we would look at it again in fifteen years... and yesterday, hat in hand...fresh from making millions of gas guzzling SUV and trucks, thousands of dreamy car ads for ridiculously low mile per gallon vehicles...fresh off their fleet of private corporate jets...asking the Republicans in Congress and the White House to give 50 Billion or so to keep the companies afloat... hmmm i would say...maybe you should have built that hydrogen car, at least we'd have a reason to hope that American automakers  are at least considering the welfare of their workers, suppliers, customers, and the whole air breathing world out there... AMAZING...

So as the real President plans a Cabinet for a real government, the old phonies keep making real problems....

President Obama...
has a nice ring to it, here he will often be known as Mr. President when I am feeling respectful...Bara-ocky when the mood calls for humor or A - dri- enne!!!...and speaking of smiles, there are these odd looks on faces these days...mention the word President and so many people start to smile...a remarkable phenomenon...hero worship of a politician; little boy..don't you want to grow up to be smart like the President?...been a while since i heard that...since i was a boy...[and your gasoline was still alive breathing walkin' around bitin' stuff]

A leader that makes us anticipate tomorrow with a sense of positive expectation. Confidence is a big part of things..on the day after the terror attacks people turned to President Bush with adoration and respect...he wore that out in no time with a war for the convenience of his friends while the real bad guys are still on the loose...remember the colors of fear...chartreuse alert...hide the small children and savings bonds!!!
President Obama you have an act to follow, and no matter what you do from now on..you have already exceeded the productivity if the Bush second term...you made America smile...with pride...Thank you!!!

Poetry

Now I lay me down to blog
another Right Wing failure to flog
but it is is not so satsfying you see
their mistakes come with a heavy fee

and somehow the point of blame is lost
when the least of us must bear the cost
and watch our futures drift out to sea
to fill ambitious eyes in some other country

and weren't these the same oil brained folks
who cracked our heads like eggs and yolks
to make an omelette of a world of pain
and now they've gone and done it again

first New Orleans sunk beneath the sea
then they hanged old Saddam for our security
and the people who really brought towers down
make GOP campaign footage in turbins and frowns

and there we sit naked, befuddled, and not amused
its our own government got us feeling so abused
and now someone inflates bad mortgage debts
walks off with billions of dollars, no regrets

no... those are left for us to hold near broken hearts
where the sun don't shine, just like some other parts
of the anatomy my left foot would like to see
ohhh, don't let this Administration anywhere near me!

I'd forget about rhymes, and niceties
and remember old grey heads, salty seas
and how my only dearly beloved country
became a hog trough for the GOP

oh man...this election is getting to me!

Thanksgiving...

The collapse of financial institutions and the bailout mean that the deficit may exceed one trillion dollars, which even for an economy as large as the US, is some serious debt. The lack of care in the government under Bush has been matched by the lack of care in private regulation: badly inflated values have come home to stall the markets with uncollectible debt. And while many have walked off with millions, a few with hundreds of millions, the US taxpayer once again pays nearly $700 billion. The Iraq war designed and operated to liberate $Billions for the friends of the political elites has been another success and the taxpayers again have paid.

Now there is continuing discussion of health insurance, and a health provider industry that will not easily accept price control from the government, and people are faced with the prospect of being told the government cannot afford a $30 billion annual expense for universal coverage; and the need to grow new jobs, rebuild aging infrastructure...all potential victims of a budget squeeze between friends in the war business and friends who have performed acts of war on business... I think we are approaching a point in time, when people will no longer accept that their lives are less important than one of the the richest oil producers in the middle east and the world, or billionaire investment people in the the western world; one of those $700 billion payouts could transform life in the United States for the people who pay the bills...IMAGINE THAT... college for anyone who wants to go, medical insurance for all; an effort to train and retrain workers with pay; ...sounds like a reasonable use of a few hundred billion?... and the lessons are out there, by the Billions...now.

McCain and Pain

the signs of the times...

My eyes have seen the glory of days of sunshine, nights of radiant reflection; and now they see the sprouting lawns of America [those blue signs of HOPE everywhere] a rebirth, a renaissance of a great spirit, and then the music of the splendid scene jerks to a halt...McCain and Paiin....

No, its McCain and Pal...er.. Governor what's- her -name...but the point was just so ...poignant

my eyes found truth beneath the advertising...yes, McCain and Pain..the wisdom of myoptic eyes and a brain registering at 50 mph in a 40 mph world. Pain is the insight of this moment, a nation shedding the locked steps of pain and fear, raising eyes and visions above mediocrity ...the fates of the ordinary. A Nation so blessed in bounty, resources and courageous people...so unseemly to be seen hiding in fear, fear of itself...fear of fear...fear for the sake of fear.
Pirates roamed the seas in an earlier age bringing terror and destruction, taking lives for profits. Governments secretly hired them to advance their jealousies and ambitions without showing a true flag...black cloth and bones ...now we have a scourge of terror in the world...created by our own hand in Afghan struggles, created by the proliferation of weapons [we have sponsored], created by the inattention to details of government which also show in slow hand reply to hurricane skies, and feebled bridges rusting away in air too full of acid and heat, the partisan starving of our great cities who vote too blue...we have neglected so much...and enriched too few, trickled down wealth and generous takings of the time and precious lives of our young men and women in uniforms of courage and honor...deserving the best we can give in leadership...receiving far, far less...

McCain and Pain, confusion and delusion... a tandem of beasts beneath an undisclosed master it seems...for we simply do not know where they would make war or when ...but the rest, seems assured...

signs sprung on the lawns, naming hope or pawns, choice or dim chance of peace...prosperity awaits the dilligent attention of a people determined to pursue its interests...fairly defined and considerate of other nations, and peoples.
America rises in Autumn this season of Change.

They Just Hit the Iceberg...

I think I hear a band playing...Nearer my God to thee...; and the deck chairs are being rearranged, pretending to give up Michigan, but they really came too close to the ice and ripped a hole below the waterline. All of the compartments are taking on water... they are sinking ... Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania, Indiana... filling up, falling like dominoes.

This happened in the primaries too, Hillary vs. Obama and it was like an avalanche fell on the opposition... now with so little time before the election, the walls are crumbling for McCain. Last night there was a TV show, and the lesson for America and the world is that no matter who you are, you have to be up to the job- good enough to do what is needed- or people will not give you the job. We saw Senator Biden was up to the job. His many years of service have given him knowledge, his blessings and misfortunes of life have given him wisdom.

We will be fortunate to have him as our next Vice President, and I doubt that he would tell the world that a simply convenient target like Saddam attacked the U.S. in order to arrange a war that feeds billions to his friends in the business world. Seems like this man, Joe Biden has a deep and abiding respect and gratitude for life.

His child serves in the military, when he says the killing in Darfur must be stopped, he understands the risk of our precious assets...our brave young women and men in uniform...he truly knows how precious they are, and how careful we must be when trusted with their well being.

Why the avalanche...well people can see the lack of care and competence on the Republican side, and how much it costs..robbing our future. Losing jobs, energy prices, ... New Orleans and the hurricane...and bailouts for millionaires while poor people die from lack of health care... all over America...you are seeing it; they are saying we have had enough of these pretender Republican governments who play with our emotions while helping rich people play with our money, our careers, our homes, our children's futures...our country.

Paul Newman

Sometimes an actor becomes real... like a figment materializing into something solid, and over a career of remarkable make-believe, many Americans and citizens of a slightly better world must grieve the passing of Paul Newman.

My favorite Cool Hand Luke...had no failure to communicate with the world, he led the way to responsible political activity, humanitarian concerns, even good nutrition... a renaissance man who invented his own brand of complete living.

The Sting like his great movie success is a feeling that something that should have been there, really isn't, Newman really was there... on the side of justice, fairness, a more open and rewarding society. Some people seem to talk about making the world better, others seem to simply do it.

I have an enduring memory of Paul Newman speaking at a noisy Democratic Convention, there on TV, and the crowd seemed indifferent to his remarks, the background noise seemed louder than his voice, and yet he tried... it seemed he tried harder and harder until by the end there was more quiet than noise, more attention to his words, and in the end a joining of the crowd of delegates and his message.

So it seems his career and life had a similar way, the society, the world has lost something that it had learned over time... to treasure.

Something Nice...

I promised I would say something nice today, after being rather...honest ... about Governor what's -her- name... so here goes...

From deep in the bowels of the body of diminished expectation, rumbled the McCain Campaign and a flighty air of wind emerged to paint the election in a color like polluted water from failure to control chemical runoffs; like tinged sunsets from the lack of improved air pollution controls on auto emissions; like the feeling over the human body when exposed to spent kerosene from buses and jet planes. Like the miasma over a nation when mortgage calls dismantle neighborhoods, and the flat blunt hammer fall on the skull of the country when proud financial institutions seem to crumble and fall...like the uneasy feeling when espying rust on an aging bridge or feeling it wobble while idling next to a eighteen-wheels and two containers of cargo that gets more expensive by the mile as oil prices increase during our business day.

How the evening ride home from work can cost more than the ride in, and the little man who changes the gasoline price board has a permanent crick in his neck. From the spasmodic death throes of a misadventure in Iraq, ending with the birth of yet another nation to drain our wealth for oil, and all the forgotten families who gave the lives of their children for a war in error, for the vast portions of the wealth of a great nation now on deposit in the accounts of the friends of a purely political day; now rises the sound of the man who would lead us, and the free world into the future....

he said...TIME OUT!

Well ....time out can be something nice, especially when you are hopelessly confused and overwhelmed.

The Bail Out...!!!

I know I promised to deal with guns, second amendment ya-da yada- but something else caught my eyes, and kind of...hmm... set my thoughts on fire... From the proposed financial bailout legislation:

Section 8[ no kidding it's really called section 8]
Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.

So lets see, we give $700 Billion dollars, [well hundred billion here , there pretty soon it is serious money,] for the cleanup of financial collapse amongst some large ...huge institutions; and those pieces of commercial paper, notes, financial instruments to be dealt with, assets worth $billions...and the stories they might tell of excess and crimes...and even more the Executives... a few Republicans in the bunch, might even have a special "dubya" on the MSN contact list...well they might walk away with golden retirements and bonuses and new solvent companies, debt free; all wrong-doing buried away, forgiven and forgotten...Oh, so much food in this trough ...its like Christmas in September... It's like Iraq without bombers...and the watch word is TRUST ME ....

I THINK WE NEED TO MOVE THE ELECTIONS CLOSER, I THINK WE CAN DO IT TUESDAY...DONT YOU? uh, Mr. Obama...sir, are you busy next Tuesday?

The Red Sea

Looking at the electoral map theses days is the feeling of Moses and the Exodus, the Red Sea looms like a great obstacle and there are long knives at our backs, thundering hooves, armies and minions of...Yikes !! I scared myself!!!

Republicans, not much use to themselves these days, crumbling economy, wall street collapses, failing confidence in the Son of a Bush Administration, he seems to be in hiding considering how many urgent things need his attention: Housing Mortgage crisis, housing mortgage crisis part 2[Fannie Mae], banking crisis Midwest bank failures, Bigger financial institution crises... it rained in Houston and gasoline doubled... If only we had a government to look after at least a few of these.

Now to the elections and Republicans in a punt/give up year put McCain out there, the sense was that Obama/Clinton would be undeniable, and in four years blame the whole mess on them...and win then...McCain names Governor What's -her-Name...and suddenly all those people who wanted a way to avoid voting for a Democrat, a progressive, a brilliant and able man, A GOOD DANCER, a family man whose family actually seems to love him...and a Black candidate now they have an excuse...elect the first woman, Vice President. Some ideas sound good until you look at them, Rosa Parks, Fannie Hamer, Eleanor Roosevelt, Hillary Clinton, Barbara Jordan, Barbara Boxer, Eleanor Holmes Norton...so many strong worthy women...but Governor "I promise I will learn about the Bush doctrine/Iraq war" ... no, not the woman we had in mind, more like the Mother Teresa story played by Betty Boop.

Conversation with a wall...

More deadly than a speeding bullet...the unused ballot; and it is still a problem of great significance. So many have had to struggle to obtain the right to vote. The men and women who fought the Revolution...starved and froze in poorly fed and un-housed winters, I'm here to tell you it is as cold as ice in Pennsylvania winters...well those people were denied the right to vote. Yes they defeated England only to have Jefferson, Washington and others tell them they were not responsible enough to choose their leaders. And it is still true today, a group of Conservative rich white men tell the rest of us we cannot choose the leader...WE DON'T ELECT THE PRESIDENT...the empty spaces in Wyoming and desert in Nevada chooses...Electoral votes choose the President not votes...so now thanks to the brave soldiers of the revolution, who raised hell...after the war too...at least we can vote for the Electors, but the empty land still has more say than people.
So Bush One and the Disastrous Son of a Bush, along with the incredible Reagan were elected by tumble weed- covered desert in the west, and that solid south thing ...which brings me to another THING ...Southern Men, VOTING RIGHT WING ... talk about a group that follows a leader... oh, my!...hope this year they finally lose the lemming act and think, chew gum, and vote...I mean really...is enough...enough!!! WHAT IS SO APPEALING ABOUT WAR AND FAILURE ANYWAY...just for variety, eight years of peace and prosperity... come on guys...health insurance for all deer hunters...what do you say???

Three AM...a Prayer and a Story

Time to get seriously funny here...somebody thinks Governor What's-her- Name is a useful fixture on the national stage...and I agree the race needs a woman principal. Someone to represent the past- to- present denial of national office to women. Frances Perkins was a woman Secretary of Labor, there is now a woman Secretary of State, members of the Supreme Court, U.S. Senators and too many Governors and Congress people to mention...ALL OF WHOM ARE MORE QUALIFIED TO BE ON THE NATIONAL TICKET THAN GOVERNOR WHAT'S- HER -NAME,...so who's on first? Is McCain still ticking and the potential second string leader of the free world is going to read up on the Bush Doctrine and the war in Iraq.

Reagan proved you don't really need a President, Bush proved we can survive the worst of them...but human nature is unpredictable, the future too...crises might develop, and that dread nuclear call at three AM[they always happen at 3 AM] and the hot line is answered by ...oh my...I'm in a sweat, what a day-mare... I dreamed that major banks failed and it rained near Houston...gasoline doubled again...and Governor What's -her -Name was answering the President's phone...pinch me quick somebody... ice water in the face...
It is truly time to pray now... Next winter, late January...Some cold Alaska morning, that we will wake up and find she is still Governor of remedial reading ... Amen

They're OFF

Yes the political race for Presidrent has begun with the image of a horse race...they are off and running; many polls show a lead f0r McCain some say that they polled landlines and cell phones for their results.... the one poll I have found useful is the Washington Post poll this date...suggests 47%Obama/Biden- 46% for McCain and what's her name... Now this is a useful poll because it was conducted after the conventions annnnnnnddddd Only landline phones were called. Now this is where Obama should be far behind, if there really were a preference for McCain this is the poll technique that should show it ...and it does not show well for McCain. The post convention surge often goes away, and the votes don't matter anyway, it is the electoral votes (remember Florida... poor President Gore got Bushwhacked) and electoral votes favor Obama narrowly ... enough to win (270 is the real magic number). Now both have an opportunity, because neither has a real lead or one that can be maintained without considerable effort and effective advertising.

I thought Obama should have picked a woman to be VP, if not Hilary for a dream ticket[my personal preference was Michigan Gov. Grandholm] ...we will see how much it hurts that he did not, wheter Biden can help hold a solid Northeast.

Difference from Denver

Here's a little different take on Obama and the Democrats in Denver, the campaign will be more of a coronation than a contest; and the real tests await in places as disparate as the Arctic and Georgia [eastern Europe] and Atlanta, Ga. - USA and needing water. The contest in the press and media will likely look like a horse race: Obama ahead, McCain closing fast, Obama pulling away at the end. But in reality the young voters will be with Obama, allowed to be under counted in the polls until honesty[ what little there is] requires correcting the polls near the election so that the results will not show the high priced polling companies were wrong.
Fuel prices will spike if weather turns bad but the trend has been down like the US economy. Despite words from all over of good economy, most of us can see closed businesses and dimmer expectations all around us. Infrastructure in the US has some serious issues and water supplies may join bridge safety as a warning sign that some things have been neglected too long. The good news is that people have seen more than eight years of official inaction from the national government where Republicans shut down so many ideas of progress, is that they are leaving soon, but it seems not soon enough... so expectations will be low for Obama but the opportunities to contribute to the improvement of a nation...are enormous. Starting with the Internet, on to health care, rebuilding and improving infrastructure [and jobs that would have to stay in the US] ; race relations- just stop pitting black-white-Hispanic against each other - It may not be a rising tide, but when the waters have been flat and shrinking for so long- and we are not allowed in the Yacht club - even a little wind blown wave is welcome.

Biden Our Time

Senator Biden has always seemed many things to me, as a politician, he emerged as a leader willing to stand for things that money- interests opposed...the hallmark of leadership in the Unites States now and historically... and he has learned to withstand the harsh winds that blow in Washington politics, the ones that tend to put into one's face...you are not worthy... until the people with money say that you are worthy....

Obama -Biden is not a dream ticket, it has no woman, no southern white man, no one with executive experience, not enough experience to convince anyone that they could handle a crisis. Well too bad.. we are already in a crisis [ oil, a contrived war to create another oil power, an economy that does not value the American dream, American worker, the American family] and this ...Obama-Biden is the team that will win.

Now, there will be someone to answer the phone at Three AM more inportant someone to try to use government between Nine and Five to analyze and solve public problems...

the Bush people were leaderless and engaged in sham government...alternately blaming the people, hiding the truth, hiding their own inability...but ALWAYS USING GOVERNMENT TO CHANNEL PROFITS TO PRIVATE SECTOR FRIENDS AND POLITICAL ALLIES by peace or war made no differance...at this they have excelled.

And it is this narrow partisan drive to arrange government so as to funnel monies that will be lost. Lost in transition to a more open government; this will be missed for the next four years, and hopefully...much...much longer.

The Dead Sea Strolls

There is something wrong with a picture of the coasts of the US, covered with areas of dead water...hypoxia waters ...fancy words for not enough air for fish to breathe... and the solution is to blow bubbles... yes someone has thought of aerating the Chesapeake Bay or the the Mississippi Delta, seems a big storm or two...like Katrina and the one that came soon after solved it there...stirred up the waters to a normal balance for a while...but heavy rains also produce more runoffs from fertilizers and the cars we drive... and speaking of agriculture... now we have to drive the food we grow too, ethanol from corn, oil as the base for the fertilizers ...hmmm...then there is this whole tendency to hide the truth, the big storms won't save us, and are not supposed to... not from automobile exhaust and exhausted soils with too much fertilizer, and fertilzer runs into streams, rivers to the seas; and what about the price of food, going even higher if we deplete seafood and fish by using overpriced fossil fuel to fertilize land to make fuel... because fossil fuels are too pricey...hmmm. You know, this would all be really funny; if it weren't happening...yesterday....

Soft news day....

Yes, it will be said SENATOR McCain has more experience and more time has been available to observe his character and ability; that is also the biggest problem with McCain...time has not been an ally - when simple questions turn into looooong pauses without answer, like that thing about health care equity: Viagra "yes", birth control pills for women "no" ...and the answer was...................[well this is a blog i can't possibly pause as long as he did, I will lose all my clicks and wind up with a non profit blog simply here for the use of space]...speaking of cyberspace, it is so important these days, even more so since gasoline prices threaten to empty our highways and strip malls on major traffic areas will be stripped of vendors; the economy has some structural weakness now that we have abandoned economic policy completely to the greed of oil companies; so Internet access and free navigation of the web takes on a fundamental role like freedom to travel. Companies seek to control more and more of the net activity, and Republicans wish to help...web discrimination, pay for better treatment than those who don't pay, how simply "Republican"; kind of like let's run a war with public money and pay two hundred billion in profits to people who would not be caught in a uniform, nor their families, nor their children, children's children...war industry owners and stockholders - mandarins of a puny day [ I like that word "mandarin" for fat-cat rich people], many wealthy people work for peace and brotherhood, one hopes, prays, may God continue to Bless them...

Oh, Zimbabawe...

The Bush doctrine established a rule of international law, that we, alone, have a right to attack anyone we wish...[ an oversimplification, I know...we have to invent phony self defense first; then attack- formalities must be observed] the Obama doctrine will have to be more precise, it will have to be moral, legal and make sense...and contribute to world peace [ oh the burdens of being a caring soul]. Findings and conclusions are ample on records of governments, the public and press. A failed republic, a blatant denial of legal voting rights to a majority of its citizns to change form or leadership of government .

Zimbabwe might take most of a day; perhaps an intense afternoon of phone calls. Western leaders would have to agree on incentives for Mugabe's red carpet exit, and terms for succession until free elections under UN supervision; food and economic relief parameters; broadly the tens of billions to be apportioned from the wealthy nations of the west and middle east...most of a day, perhaps...because the problems in Zimbabwe are difficult, life threatening...but the resolve to make change, comes in a moment of leadership...something not much seen in the U.S. since that sinkhole opened up in Florida and swallowed democracy...

right to bear arms

The founding fathers had not seen my fellow Americans driving cars, sixty mph on the next man or woman's bumper, teenagers with beer or marijuana, behind the wheel; middle aged men in pickup trucks and slow reflexes, with beer and amphetamines, behind the wheel; soccer moms with multitasked lists for their multitask lists, on the cell phone, behind the wheel; and of course: can you say ROAD RAGE...sooo if they act this way with their cars, a State licensed but dangerous instrumentality, why should I trust them with handguns [as an idea i would describe it in two words: IN SANE]. Yet, the wise justices of our Supreme Court ( and this is only a name has nothing to do with how good they are) had enacted just such a thing, but before I get into it, next blog, maybe... back to the founding fathers. They passed the Second Amendment after the Revolution and to give rights to the men who fought the war; something they had neglected to do...the right to vote for example was limited to men who owned property or wealth of certain types or amounts, most of those fellows who shivered and starved at Valley Forge didn't qualify to vote, imagine a democracy where the citizens don't get to vote for their President...oooops... Florida... Bush Brothers...[that could be a movie sort of like the James Gang]...oh well...the right to bear arms, the militia.. if they had wanted every one to have a right to own a gun, couldn't they have just ...said so...Every man has a right from God to own a gun...they didn't; soooo wonder why the US Supreme Court finally found an individual freedom that they liked... they didn't much care for speech, or privacy, or all those freedoms lost to the WAR BY tERROR ... OK ...NEXT TOPIC ...the new right to bear arms, or how much is that armor in the window?

There shall be a close race...

July 4th, truly summer and in election years truly the beginning of the campaigns...shows how unimportant the VP is...because we are clearly focused on Obama. McCain is an afterthought for most voters already, simply wondering if he can manage to win even his home state, so pointless and erratic the image so far...IT WILL ALL CHANGE... the news media needs a race and it will make one, already polls are simmering deeply probing for wedges and divisions, the issues that make even the most poorly qualified candidate a standard bearer for a downtrodden mass...and not to be put out of the limelight...the Supreme Court decided there is a right to bear arms and States will have to avoid banning handguns no matter how many of us are injured in the process...more in a near future blog... Gasoline already priced beyond reason even to semi-conscious Americans, now needs rumors of scarcity , and Republican employers are chiming in, we lost thousands of jobs last month... and Reverend Wright has a new book ...SOOOOO there will be a race, and speaking of race...

Senator McCain...

Some people seem quite at home in the US Senate, it is an exclusive 100 member club, many of the nation's wealthiest and most self satisfied families are there... McCain is there and there he will stay, past November and next year too... the conservative Christians are not coming on board his ship of politics, and suddenly his campaign takes on the feeling of deck chairs, music playing, and a boat with a big hole in it.
Finding electoral votes for McCain seemed difficult from the beginning, but somehow he floated above the rest of the Republican primary entries, so McCain floats but his campaign does not do as well. Votes have the limited role of picking electors who elect the President, the illusion of popular vote was shattered in the Bush era along with many other real freedoms, but votes must come from people, enthusiasm, and effort...the calling card of the Christian Conservatives ...who want a world of war for oil ...er uh...freedom, war against terror , war against sin- whatever that might mean if not taking lives...wasn't there a commandment? hmmm, and it seems, most of all war against rights for gay people. While McCain and these war things sound like a match made in a Washington summer before a fall election [I didn't want to say Hell..so this is quite close]; it looks more and more like we will continue to have Senator McCain.

The power of Definition-- the real power in the Universe?

There is a good chance that the so-called Big Bang occurred after gravity, matter, space, and time had all been in existence, so yet in some sense it - the rapid inflation of matter and energy- is still the beginning of the universe, so something unexpected is in this definition of the Universe; the power of defining things has reared its eternal head.

In politics defining things is all the game. The person who makes his or her definition stick with the voters may win the popular vote if he or she can managed to get them counted. What will be the definition of the political universe in 2008, will Iraq be a central system of Galaxies, or barely noticed dark matter unseen but accounting for so much of the equation. Will the dark energy of gasoline prices degrade the economy to the effect of fearfulness? Indignation? Will the general ideas of change face the checkbook of tax accounting and will the corporations and upper income types feel obliged to listen and nod? or will the word "tax" suck the life from a challenge to excellence once again, a national equivalent of vacuum energy.

What of the question of race will inexperience or vagueness become the watchword for the internal struggle of some minds on the incredibly silly question of skin color?

America paid money for painted stones called pet rocks, cringed at- then loved rock and roll, accepted the world oil shortages in the 1970's, elected Reagan twice, a Bush three times, turned Rap music into the melody of Madison Avenue and advertising; and believed that Saddam brought down the towers- so I now no longer put anything beyond the power of definition.

November Rising...

Election campaigns take on the aspect of a race, where speed to a finish line determines the winner, this looks like a race between a thoroughbred and a plow horse. It is hard to remember such polarity, Reagan was an older man who took on the role of youth and hope, Humphrey and Nixon was a contrast of old smile and old frown; Gore and Bush offered a contrast but people seemed not to notice how limited and un-leaderlike was Bush, nor the patient strength of Al Gore...the fog of Clinton was the perfect cover for Bush.

Perceptions matter so much-
McCain seems blurred and ill-defined while Obama has the benefit of a sharp focus, the public has a firm idea of the man as calm in crisis- a leader. Clinton may wind up being part of the Obama success, for there has been no real suspense for months but the press was able to use the daunting Clinton reputation to sell papers and kept Obama in the role of the man who needed to show something, to answer a call...and clearly, in historic proportions, he has answered every call.

And Now...
A nation now begins the process of turning its trust and confidence to Mr. Obama, and many Republicans may stay home by November, facing reality, but also the acceptance that the fundamentally more able candidate...the swifter horse...will win the race.

Historic Days, Mr. Obama and America

Senator Obama has made many historic moments on his path to the Presidency and today marks another as he clinches the nomination of the Democratic Party. Many might remember this period for the unique achievements of a Black American which no doubt stands in history, but the next four years bear significance too; and America has drifted as if leaderless for most of the past eight years.
The economy has deep problems, and significant strength; an unpopular war lacks a cogent exit strategy that would preserve some semblance of international order in the region; and the American middle class continues to watch its base erode and jobs and careers flow away from our borders. The environment has been largely treated by denial and clouding over issues of serious concern and deepening world impact. But leadership symbolic and factual is of great importance now and in the next four years of the Obama Presidency. The hopes and prayers of millions seeking change and improvement, greater urgency in moving towards our greater potential as a nation...will continue to lift his wings .

A Nation on the Edge

Post trauma, long after the injury, the true effects are realized facing life with new limitations and so a Nation faces future in dire need of leadership and direction, and a reminder of the resilient faith that made it great from its beginning.

A nation borne on backs of misery and misfortune, some have always found great fortune and the dangling possibility of "happiness" has been our sacred touchstone. Now we face self imposed cruelty and ruin...we have ignored our face to smite the ghosts of our enemies, squandered a national treasure in Iraq misadventure; oversaw a civil war not yet ended; and allowed the American middle class - their dreams and security- to be exported to the whim of corporate bottom line.

The middle class in America in in need of careers, futures in business, leadership concerned with their well being. There is a great divide in American politics, the so-called leaders thrive as never before, friends of the leaders thrive on the profits of politically inspired wars, and the middle classes drift into insecurity and dimming prospects... Mr. Obama, if elected, you will have a difficult job, but also the prayers and best hopes of many millions.

No Democratic Loser on Super Tuesday

Obama blew away the underdog label, and has become the frontrunner for the nomination with Clinton gaining strength from the must wins in NewYork and California... rarely has a Democrat won the modern Presidency without winning both NY and Cal, Obama has shown a nationwide base of strength that has been lacking for nearly two decades...grass roots enthusiasm among young people

... Seduced by the Dark Side have they been...

this amazing contribution to the body politic makes Obama the choice here to be the nominee, positional differences and experience differs little in substance between the two[ sitting Presidents, and Vice Presidents have some claim on job expereince, all others bear a similar risk of becoming puppets of unelected puppetmasters]. The young so vital and so less likely to fall victim to Republican devices...oh like Saddam was behind 9-11... and then WMD in Iraq, and how we are all better off giving up our freedom we are supposedly fighting for...and the world environment...this is going to be an interesting election season...