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.