IDYLLING IDEALIST

Will Palin Withdraw?

2008-09-02T12:05:00.004-04:00

www.intrade.com 's prediction market here.

Obama's VP Choice? Hopefully, He Picks A Good Fit Instead Of The Safer Bet

2008-08-11T12:45:00.021-04:00

Yesterday, I got the Obama email that I (and whoever signed up for the email notification) would be the first to know who Obama's VP choice was. As we all know, Edwards is Out. Webb has declined and the mainstream press has their favorites guesses. Yet poor Richardson nary gets mentioned.

I'm not thinking this is a bad sign for him because I think Obama wants the announcement to be a "Holy Crap! Really? " Surprise (Not to mention, not giving the McCain camp any more of head start on the VP bash than need be). Yet, last Tuesday the paper of city which the Democratic Convention will be held, spoke out.

On August 5th, In a Denver Post editorial about who Obama should pick for VP:

"We think there's only one direction to go.
The first test of a vice president is whether he or she is qualified to serve in the top job should the occasion arise. Richardson clearly leads all other Democratic contenders by that standard. "

Yesterday, the Albuquerque Journal 2nd the motion albeit a little lukewarmly so:

"... Obama should take note of the fact Richardson's résumé runs deeper than most politicians. It made him a formidable presidential contender and gives him a serious shot at a top position in an Obama administration. Perhaps even No. 2...In the final tally, his record of service to the nation and the state merit a close look should Obama set up shop on Pennsylvania Avenue."

I'd never heard of a major newspapers weighing in a VP choice before chosen(crazy speculation fests..of course) but for the last month or so, I've been saying somewhat of the same thing. He is indeed a good fit.

The other contenders? Hillary..don't get me started. Chris Dodd, well...bless his heart. Joe Biden, who WOULD round out the ticket, has too many years of consistently sticking his foot in his mouth and is seen as "Old School" (and lord help us if they make him as secretary of state). Sibelius, Bayh, Kaine all great choices but just not what he needs to balance the ticket. You could regard those three as state clinchers but I don't see us winning Kansas plus the Hill army will be pissed to high heaven, I think Obama can win Virginia without Kaine and that leaves Bayh's state..could we pick up Indiana? Of course, there the other choices out there of the mainstream media picks(see mainstream press guesses link) but listing all could make this post even longer and most likely dreadfully dull.

At the very beginning of the Presidential Political season, I wasn't too keen on Bill Richardson. I didn't dislike him, he just didn't do anything for me. I remember when mentioned to me as a VP choice early on, I just nodded to myself and said "uh-huh...yeah, not gonna happen." One, he wasn't all that dynamic, two I thought the Clinton legacy(or perhaps even the whole Wen Ho Lee thing) would taint him, Three, Of all the white liberal outrage for minorities getting there fair share and allegiance to see more political seats diversely filled, it seems the Latino camp always gets screwed on the national level.

In the last year, he's made no gaffes, we've seen nothing taint him(even Carville's voodoo curse and Judas rant didn't stick) and his surprise endorsement of Obama on March 21st, just when Obama needed him the most, did nothing but raise my opinion of him. Maybe it was the beard or that he crossed the Clintons for what he believed, or even maybe for the first time I heard him give a speech that didn't make me yawn but rather fired me up, I just started looking at Bill Richardson in a different light..

Looking back on his career he has all the makings of just where Obama is lacking (And hey it doesn't hurt he's been nominated for the Nobel Peace prize like 5 times.) His foreign affairs experience is exceptional. He's been entrenched in it since Nixon (staff member for Senate Foreign Relations Committee and working for Kissinger State Dept.)

Once elected to congress his main focus was Foreign Relations and in '96 tussled with Saddam Hussein to negotiate the return of captured Americans. Then there is the US ambassador job for the UN. He secured the release of Hostages in the Sudan as well as other work in the Democratic Republic of Congo. These experiences were tremendously helpful in just this past year when he negotiated a cease fire in Darfur. He's even made some headway with Kin Jong Il.

Beyond being loyal to his Hispanic community-known fact but little heard-he's also made great headway with our relationship with the American Indian community.

"as Chairman of the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Native American Affairs in the 103rd Congress (1993–1994). While in the House, Richardson sponsored bills such as the Indian Tribal Justice Act, the American Indian Religious Freedom Act Amendments, the American Indian Trust Fund Management Reform Act, the American Indian Agricultural Resource Management Act, the Indian Dams Safety Act, the Tribal Self-Governance Act, the Indian Tribal Jurisdiction Bill (commonly known as the “Duro Fix”) and the Jicarilla Apache Tribe Water Rights Settlement Act....Richardson created the Director for Native American Affairs position in the Department in 1998, and in January 2000 oversaw the largest return of federal lands, 84,000 acres (340 km²) to an Indian Tribe (the Northern Ute Tribe of Utah) in more than 100 years. Richardson also directed the overhaul of the Department's consultation policy with Native American tribes and established the Tribal Energy Program." wiki

As popular Governor(re-elected with almost 70% of the vote -- and with almost 40% of the Republican vote*)is viewed generally as moderate, "The Cato Institute... has consistently rated Richardson as one of the most fiscally responsible Democratic governors in the nation." wiki

Also, having experience as a Secretary of Energy whilst the nation is blanketed by a energy crisis is a something to tout. He's already presenting a Energy Policy Forum on behalf of Obama today. He's been in the game for a very long time but with a Teflon like ability not seem like the Old Washington Guard.

Even if they do label him as not an agent for "change" metaphorically, him as VP( Besides the Obama as President) is the biggest concept of Change America has seen since it's inception: The first Latino Vice President under the first African American President (I know a lot of the feminists want a woman as VP but come on what is more astounding? A woman as VP or a Latino?) .

There lies the problem with Bill Richardson as VP choice. Will America freak out having two minorities on the ticket? I'd hope not but even I am not that naive to think that all of the sudden racial transcendence will prevail.

I just think that even the most racist person alive can't discount the fact that McCain and who ever he picks as his VP is going to make their life worse not better so they'd vote for any Democrat so they, the voter,can put food on the table***

If he does become the VP running mate, Dave Chapelle gives a sad unjustly justification for Richardson as a VP choice for Obama: as "insurance".

Of course, I don't agree, but this is what he said a while back.

"I could be the first black president. I mean I don't think anyone would hurt me; some people might want to hurt me, but I don't think they'd touch me. Because my vice president would be Mexican for a little "insurance." I mean you can shoot me, but you're just gonna open up the border."

Although IF this idea had any basis of truth and the proposed ticket got elected, we'd see Lou Dobbs change careers pronto become Obama's Body guard himself- which I'd like nothing better than to get that fat pompous racist bastard off the air.

Anyways, we should know in about 10 days or so but Obama Camp if you're listening:

They just look good together.

***I am hoping the Obama camp thinks this too so they will overlook the fear that they need a white person at his side to ease the public minds. In fact I'm betting on it. Literally. Which was pretty hard to do knowing Politics well enough that historically most Candidates would nod at Richardson as a choice and say to themselves..."uh-huh...yeah, not gonna happen." and ultimately pick the Safer Bet.

If You Want To Go To The 2008 Democratic Convention...

2008-08-07T19:07:00.008-04:00

It's almost impossible if you are not a delegate, lucky person who got accepted to volunteer there or a terribly important person BUT perhaps it may be a possible to go to Obama's Acceptance Speech at Invesco Field.

http://www.demconvention.com/invesco/

There is a drop down menu for each states office for Community Credentials. You will most likely have to volunteer in you state some for those credentials. Me...I'm heading to the Organizing (Fellows?) meeting Saturday and then doing some volunteering after which. This volunteer work is not to get me in but it can't hurt my chances. Now, if you are a Colorado resident this will be much easier because the bulk of Community Credentials will go to you but of course there is already a wait list.

http://my.barackobama.com/page/s/invescowaitlist

Fired Up! Ready to Go!

2008-06-03T23:40:00.014-04:00

Okay, so Hillary didn't concede. She didn't even say she's suspending her campaign BUT it's irrefutably over. And all but some really bitter ladies who were stashed 3 floors below(where there was no blackberry reception nor TV to see the worldwide headlines saying Obama IS the Presumptive Nominee) for her Primary Speech... know it too.

I'm convinced , despite what she said, despite what Howard Fineman said**, she was just pivoting to demand VP.

Now, the General election season starts.

McCain officially acknowledged he will face Obama NOT Hillary tonight in Kenner, Louisiana (only a few miles away from my hometown) with possibly one of the most heartless human beings on earth and possible VP choice , Bobby Jindal.

Obama declares "This is our moment, this is our time" and most importantly took back the night as it should have been, a celebration of this monumental historical moment.

So elated, I end my post with one of my Favorite Obama stories retold recently at a Rally this weekend. Fired Up, Ready to Go! Here's him telling it, Labor Day 2007.

Now,"Let's go change the world..."

** Wonkette described as thus "HOWARD FINEMAN ON MSNBC: “The Obama people are saying they’ll only offer Hillary the job [of vice president] if she agrees not to take it.” This, friends, is what the MSNBC hosts describe as bukkake kabuki theater."

I have to admit I did not know what Bukkake meant more than a year and half ago but now because I've been told, this just seems wrongly the funniest thing I've read all night.

"I'll never join you..."

2008-05-22T16:05:00.005-04:00

I'm a sucker for Political Star Wars Spoofs. If done well, the joke never gets old. Note a beardless Richardson as Han Solo.

THE EMPIRE STRIKES BARACK

Don Cazayoux Wins Richard Baker's Vacated Seat

2008-05-04T13:46:00.014-04:00

I awoke to find in my Google reader this morning very good news.

Don Cazayoux has become the first Democrat since 1974 to take the very heavily Republican leaning Louisiana 6th District US House Of Representatives.

Nationally, I know the significance will only be played out that he defeated a extreme right wing Republican, Woody Jenkins, despite disgraceful ads linking Cazayoux to Barack-Guilt-By-Wright-Association-Obama.

BUT what the nationally media hasn't given much spotlight to is whom he is replacing.

The scourge Richard Baker. I hated this guy from the moment I met him. He was an important ally to my old Job's detrimental-to-Louisiana lobbying efforts. He was (and I imagine still is) a pompous, self-righteous prick who only cares about turning a buck for his "friends".

And this lowlife was on some pretty powerful committees,

Member, House Committee on Financial Services
Member, Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance, and Government Sponsored Enterprises
Member, Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit
Member, House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment
Member, Subcommittee on Highways and Transit
Member, House Committee on Veterans' Affairs
Member, Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity
Member, Subcommittee on Health

In 2007 he spent most of his time introducing bills to suspend "temporarily" or extend temporal suspension of dutys on chemicals like, Prodiamine.

Prodiamine is a Group C-Possible Human Carcinogen

His non-existent compassion for the heavy hit minority communities was not only evident in "The Baker Plan" for reconstruction post Katrina but also by flippant outrageous comments like:

"We have been trying for decades to clean up New Orleans public housing to provide decent housing for residents, and now it looks like God is finally making us do it..."

Now I don't know much about Don Cazayoux but I do know for the most part he's not what I'd call a true Democrat due to his anti-abortion and tough on immigration views. Yet despite Don's socially conservative views, I revel in the fact that Richard Baker woke up this morning to see his 20 year old seat that he resigned from was taken by SCHIP supporting Democrat.

My Pick For The Next United States Ambassador to the United Nations

2008-04-19T13:59:00.012-04:00

Cornel West

Seriously, Cornel West.

I was watching him again on Bill Maher last night and I truly believe this man could save our dishonored reputation and standing internationally. His capacity to influence without disrespecting nor infuriating others* is a key necessity we will need to re-establish trust in the international community.

He has prepotent intelligence and the capacity to see problems from all angles with empathetic understanding.

Mostly, you just can't help liking this guy* and that affability will affect relations with our global brethren. He's warm, sincere and his speaking pattern is poetically cadenced.

His expertise is on Race Relations and Religion is surely a fundamental asset in a World filled with animosity based on what you look like and what God you pray or do not pray to.

Cornel West on Bill Maher April 18 2008

*Well except for Lawrence Summers,The Bush Administration and perhaps a few others.

Hillary Clinton IS the Devil

2008-04-13T14:42:00.008-04:00

Because the Tibetan word was too hard to translate into English, The Dalai Lama uses an international hand gesture to describe his feelings on Hillary Clinton. *
*OK, not really and I mean no disrespect to the Dalai Lama. In fact, he's most likely the only living religious leader I've ever respected because he always smiles-no matter what. BUT, I swear if he didn't teach and believe in compassion, I know he would have. Why? Because she IS the Devil.

Today's Double Take

2008-03-31T17:28:00.002-04:00

Did I just see on Hardball, an ad with Al Sharpton AND Pat Robertson sitting on a couch together talking about global warming?

Must have been some weird surreal delusion BUT I swear I just saw it.

Let us google.

Holy smoke, it wasn't some weird delusion.

http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YWI4NDE5YmE3M2I0Zjc2YTRkM2VjZjg4ZmY5M2UyMjc=

Now please, Please, PLEASE, tell me the new Marriott Courtyard ad is not using Sub Pop's darling Kelley Stoltz's Memory Collector. That it is just my imagination.

All That Is Good and Pure in the Universe 04/30/08

2008-03-30T19:54:00.003-04:00

The Chicken Tikka Marsala at Minerva on State Bridge**( This could be on my list indefinitely). A close second, Desi Spice Indian above the Midtown Art Cinema.
Toots & The Maytals Funky Kingston / In The Dark mp3 album is Only $8.99 at Amazon. Funky Kingston being ranked #378 on RS's 500 is an outrageous insult to how good this album is though.
Jeff Clark's Stomp and Stammer. Freshman year at GSU, there was nobody cooler than Jeff Clark who headed up Album 88 for a while (later, became a DJ for the now defunct 99x). He once gave me three CD's for no apparent reason other than I was luckily in his office at the time he was going through promo CD's. I was just some snot nose kid asking too many questions and eying the station's HUGE Record collection.
Countdown with Keith Olbermann celebrates their 5th anniversary on air with MSNBC . Sure everyone likes Tweety but Keith...he's just restores your faith in TV news.
My new hair color.

Honorable Mention...Hillary Clinton's New Video Game: 3AM Call of Duty

**Would not recommend any other food there except for the Garlic Naan and the Lamb or Chicken Pasando.

How Mr. Rogers Saved PBS

2008-03-20T15:37:00.006-04:00

If today was better suited, I'd be writing a post on my other Blog about how Mr. Rogers's Cardigans may be a directly influential causation for some of my more over the top sexual fantasies. Unfortunely, because I'm needed to step up right now for my Husband and Family, my mind musn't linger in that place.

Today, I'm making Puerto Rican style beans. Lots and lots of beans. Enough meals of beans to last for weeks.

Why?

Because rice and beans comforts my family. Me, personally, I can't stand the combo. I abhor the duo so much I rarely make them BUT if this is what they need to bring them to their happy place...I'm going to make sure they have what the need.

Growing up, MY immediate family did not nurture this type of behavior, it came from somewhere else and I'd like to think that some of it possibly came Mr. Rogers. How could the daily watching of the man as a child not become embedded in my subconscious or teach me to try to be a better person when I need to be the most?

Now because I'm at the "watch the beans boil stage", I have time to take a moment to discuss a pivotal point in PBS history.

In 1969, President Richard Nixon proposed cutbacks that included a knife in the back to the Public Broadcasting. They were working from 20 million dollar budget as it was and cutting that money in half would surely lead to the demise of PBS.

Fred McFeeley* Rogers, an ordained Presbyterian minister and a beloved PBS children's television host went before the United States Senate Subcommittee on Communications to fight to save PBS.

Addressing Senator John Orlando Pastore with conviction and heart, he swayed the Senator to believe in his cause.

Mr. Rogers: We made a hundred programs for EEN, the Eastern Educational Network, and then when the money ran out, people in Boston and Pittsburgh and Chicago all came to the fore and said we've got to have more of this neighborhood expression of care. And this is what -- This is what I give. I give an expression of care every day to each child, to help him realize that he is unique. I end the program by saying, "You've made this day a special day, by just your being you. There's no person in the whole world like you, and I like you, just the way you are." And I feel that if we in public television can only make it clear that feelings are mentionable and manageable, we will have done a great service for mental health. I think that it's much more dramatic that two men could be working out their feelings of anger -- much more dramatic than showing something of gunfire. I'm constantly concerned about what our children are seeing, and for 15 years I have tried in this country and Canada, to present what I feel is a meaningful expression of care.

Senator Pastore: Do you narrate it?

Mr. Rogers: I'm the host, yes. And I do all the puppets and I write all the music, and I write all the scripts --

Senator Pastore: Well, I'm supposed to be a pretty tough guy, and this is the first time I've had goose bumps for the last two days.

Mr. Rogers: Well, I'm grateful, not only for your goose bumps, but for your interest in -- in our kind of communication. Could I tell you the words of one of the songs, which I feel is very important?

Senator Pastore: Yes.

Mr. Rogers: This has to do with that good feeling of control which I feel that children need to know is there. And it starts out, "What do you do with the mad that you feel?" And that first line came straight from a child. I work with children doing puppets in -- in very personal communication with small groups:

What do you do with the mad that you feel? When you feel so mad you could bite. When the whole wide world seems oh so wrong, and nothing you do seems very right. What do you do? Do you punch a bag? Do you pound some clay or some dough? Do you round up friends for a game of tag or see how fast you go? It's great to be able to stop when you've planned the thing that's wrong. And be able to do something else instead -- and think this song --

'I can stop when I want to. Can stop when I wish. Can stop, stop, stop anytime....And what a good feeling to feel like this! And know that the feeling is really mine. Know that there's something deep inside that helps us become what we can. For a girl can be someday a lady, and a boy can be someday a man.'

Senator Pastore: I think it's wonderful. I think it's wonderful. Looks like you just earned the 20 million dollars.

That is How Mr. Rogers Saved PBS. (Click here for YouTube link of this goodness in it's entirety.)

Mr. Rogers would have been 80 today.

*McFeeley is his Grandfather's last name. Both he and his son carried/carry it as their middle name.

AND as I'm in front of stove drenched in the smell of beans, humor like the McFeeley in Mr. Rogers makes me smile and the flash of a conjured image of a well worn Cardigan....that just keeps me sane and does wonders to MY well being, making it easier to be person I need to be right now.

An Imperfect Union Can Be More Perfect

2008-03-18T21:46:00.002-04:00

After going through Atlanta's first ever Tornado Friday,my friends and I didn't carry on that much as one would expect afterwords about how the tree behind us was merely feet away from killing us. Sure, we recapped what happened for a bit, how we all had been scared shitless and lucky in a sense. Neighbors were checked on, PBJ's were given out by BM but clean up would have to wait. Rain, nighttime, some previous beer consumption and chainsaws would prove to be a more deadly combination than a Tornado. We started to talk about music instead. I burned a copy of what I had of Supergrass's new album, some favorite tracks from Bon Iver and Carl Hall. Eventually, the conversation turned to Politics.

BE was Pro-Hillary and her fiance BM was Pro-Obama. She asked me directly why did I think Obama is the one who should be the nomination. I have to admit I wasn't very eloquent nor passionate in my response. My Guinness intake for the night and the post-reeling from an overall shite month made my Pros of Obama not sound much different from or better than Hillary. BE was impassioned and had much merit to her reasoning's yet, the bulk of her beef with Obama was she didn't trust a smooth talker. She soundly believed in most cases those were THE Politicians that never got things done. I couldn't argue with that but wanted to explain this was the one person you could actually believe. She pressed on asking what was on most Americans minds Republican or Democrat.

"What candidate is going to do the most for me?" "Which one is going to make my Health care affordable?" "Which one is going to make things better for me financially and who is going to protect me?"

She also brought up the vetting thing, saying they won't find anything else on Hillary but they will find out things about Obama. I wanted to convince her resolutely that Obama would persevere through any vetting AND he was the one but again did not do a very good job on the matter.

I had know idea that by the following Monday the talk we had about financial security and health care would end up hitting home more closely than I though it would.

Around lunchtime Hub came home Monday with all his personal belongings from work. He didn't have to tell me what that meant, but it wasn't just him, it was his whole department was "let go". Not being able to handle one more freakin' thing going south in my life or my family's, I hid in my room and watched the news. After a while, he came up and asked if I was OK.

"Ducky" I replied.

"You look like your world has ended, you gonna make it?"

"Yeah, actually sadder about what's going on in the world." "They are killing and imprisoning Tibetan Monks, BearStearns just got bought for two dollars a share...more people just lost their life savings and they finally got Obama on something that may kill his campaign."

"The Reverend Thing?"

"Yeah, It won't die down. They are going to make everyone think that he won't be able to win the general election because they are going to "swift boat" him on this. So basically...between the last primaries/caucuses and uneasy Super-Delegates Hillary could nab the nomination."

I thought later on it was ironic that I was more worried about Tibetan Monks, other people losing their life's savings and Hillary getting the nomination than our Family's situation...that with Hub being now unemployed,WE may lose OUR house, OUR life's savings and that OUR affordable health care was gone. I guess I just couldn't bare to digest these possibilities at that particular moment.

I wanted to go into a tailspin but for some odd reason all I could say was,

"He is going to give a speech tomorrow on Race and about the Reverend. This is THE test. Not just to save his candidacy but for me personally."

"Why is that?"

"Well, he has to give a speech that will quell all this but he has to do the right thing and not throw his Friend/Reverend under the bridge. He has to make people believe that he is the person he says he is and not turn into the kind Politician we all abhor...one who will do or say anything to win an election. It is a true test in MY faith in HIM."

As much as I wanted to believe without a shadow of a doubt that Obama would not disappoint me, I knew I should brace myself for the possibility. Most people,even ones that you have the most supreme faith and trust in, ones you believe in your heart of hearts is the ideal human being will at one point or another reveal that they are more human than superhero.

Today, Hub and I sat together and watched the speech with a sense of awe. Obama did not let me down nor the country, in fact he made everything I believed about him more concrete. Not only did he NOT sell out his Friend/Reverend out but gave a badly needed perspective on Race in this country so bold because of it's honesty that I could hardly believe he was an actually Politician.

As a white female married to a Puerta Rican who looks Middle Eastern and has a seemingly Mexican last name, I have seen discrimination and issues with "Race" up close and personal.

We could not get apartments in California without using MY last name. Every time we would fly after 9/11, automatically Hub would be pulled out line and go through a stringent search of him and his belongings. We also used to get followed in the grocery store during that time. I know you think these are just perceptions and overstatements but I insist they are true and they are only a few of the examples I could name. Since I'm white,I'm not sure I'll ever understand fully what my family has felt as a Non-White Americans.

Obama's speech today brought to the forefront his perspective of "Race" in this country and what WE need to do perfect the imperfect Union of we citizens of the United States. We have to be honest with ourselves as he has been and change how we look at "Race". It made me think of my own feelings and hypocritical thoughts.

When I went to canvass for Obama in Mississippi, the process was a tad frightening for me because of the neighborhood. I was all alone in an down-trodden neighborhood and have to admit because I thought I saw a drug deal go down, four young males in car seemingly follow me walking down the street and became mad when hardly anyone would open their door for me to talk to them...that maybe I was hypocrite. I told myself that any neighborhood that had fallen on hard times can be unsafe. I told myself, I don't answer the door for most strangers but still...Would I be that scared in a trailer park? Would I have been as mad in a predominately upscale white neighborhood if no one would open my door for me also?

Honestly, I think I would have been BUT these are the questions we have to ask ourselves and answer honestly if we want a "More Perfect Union".

After his speech today, I finally figured out how to convey simply not only why he should be the Democratic Nomination but our next leader.

Barack Obama does not just instill hope and a belief that HE will change the country for the better but has the ability to inspire WE, ourselves to be less imperfect Human Beings and therefore that in itself will make our imperfect Union a little closer to being more perfect.

*BTW according Mr Whul the wording "A More Perfect Union" is a founding father fuck up. He states either something is perfect or it is not, you can't get something more perfect. But I say the phrase has a nice ring to it so...Fuck it.

Here's a transcription of Senator Barack Obama's "A More Perfect Union" speech via Huffington Post.

"We the people, in order to form a more perfect union."

Two hundred and twenty one years ago, in a hall that still stands across the street, a group of men gathered and, with these simple words, launched America's improbable experiment in democracy. Farmers and scholars; statesmen and patriots who had traveled across an ocean to escape tyranny and persecution finally made real their declaration of independence at a Philadelphia convention that lasted through the spring of 1787.
The document they produced was eventually signed but ultimately unfinished. It was stained by this nation's original sin of slavery, a question that divided the colonies and brought the convention to a stalemate until the founders chose to allow the slave trade to continue for at least twenty more years, and to leave any final resolution to future generations.
Of course, the answer to the slavery question was already embedded within our Constitution - a Constitution that had at is very core the ideal of equal citizenship under the law; a Constitution that promised its people liberty, and justice, and a union that could be and should be perfected over time.
And yet words on a parchment would not be enough to deliver slaves from bondage, or provide men and women of every color and creed their full rights and obligations as citizens of the United States. What would be needed were Americans in successive generations who were willing to do their part - through protests and struggle, on the streets and in the courts, through a civil war and civil disobedience and always at great risk - to narrow that gap between the promise of our ideals and the reality of their time.
This was one of the tasks we set forth at the beginning of this campaign - to continue the long march of those who came before us, a march for a more just, more equal, more free, more caring and more prosperous America. I chose to run for the presidency at this moment in history because I believe deeply that we cannot solve the challenges of our time unless we solve them together - unless we perfect our union by understanding that we may have different stories, but we hold common hopes; that we may not look the same and we may not have come from the same place, but we all want to move in the same direction - towards a better future for of children and our grandchildren.
This belief comes from my unyielding faith in the decency and generosity of the American people. But it also comes from my own American story.
I am the son of a black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas. I was raised with the help of a white grandfather who survived a Depression to serve in Patton's Army during World War II and a white grandmother who worked on a bomber assembly line at Fort Leavenworth while he was overseas. I've gone to some of the best schools in America and lived in one of the world's poorest nations. I am married to a black American who carries within her the blood of slaves and slaveowners - an inheritance we pass on to our two precious daughters. I have brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, uncles and cousins, of every race and every hue, scattered across three continents, and for as long as I live, I will never forget that in no other country on Earth is my story even possible.
It's a story that hasn't made me the most conventional candidate. But it is a story that has seared into my genetic makeup the idea that this nation is more than the sum of its parts - that out of many, we are truly one.
Throughout the first year of this campaign, against all predictions to the contrary, we saw how hungry the American people were for this message of unity. Despite the temptation to view my candidacy through a purely racial lens, we won commanding victories in states with some of the whitest populations in the country. In South Carolina, where the Confederate Flag still flies, we built a powerful coalition of African Americans and white Americans.
This is not to say that race has not been an issue in the campaign. At various stages in the campaign, some commentators have deemed me either "too black" or "not black enough." We saw racial tensions bubble to the surface during the week before the South Carolina primary. The press has scoured every exit poll for the latest evidence of racial polarization, not just in terms of white and black, but black and brown as well.
And yet, it has only been in the last couple of weeks that the discussion of race in this campaign has taken a particularly divisive turn.
On one end of the spectrum, we've heard the implication that my candidacy is somehow an exercise in affirmative action; that it's based solely on the desire of wide-eyed liberals to purchase racial reconciliation on the cheap. On the other end, we've heard my former pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, use incendiary language to express views that have the potential not only to widen the racial divide, but views that denigrate both the greatness and the goodness of our nation; that rightly offend white and black alike.
I have already condemned, in unequivocal terms, the statements of Reverend Wright that have caused such controversy. For some, nagging questions remain. Did I know him to be an occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy? Of course. Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes. Did I strongly disagree with many of his political views? Absolutely - just as I'm sure many of you have heard remarks from your pastors, priests, or rabbis with which you strongly disagreed.
But the remarks that have caused this recent firestorm weren't simply controversial. They weren't simply a religious leader's effort to speak out against perceived injustice. Instead, they expressed a profoundly distorted view of this country - a view that sees white racism as endemic, and that elevates what is wrong with America above all that we know is right with America; a view that sees the conflicts in the Middle East as rooted primarily in the actions of stalwart allies like Israel, instead of emanating from the perverse and hateful ideologies of radical Islam.
As such, Reverend Wright's comments were not only wrong but divisive, divisive at a time when we need unity; racially charged at a time when we need to come together to solve a set of monumental problems - two wars, a terrorist threat, a falling economy, a chronic health care crisis and potentially devastating climate change; problems that are neither black or white or Latino or Asian, but rather problems that confront us all.
Given my background, my politics, and my professed values and ideals, there will no doubt be those for whom my statements of condemnation are not enough. Why associate myself with Reverend Wright in the first place, they may ask? Why not join another church? And I confess that if all that I knew of Reverend Wright were the snippets of those sermons that have run in an endless loop on the television and You Tube, or if Trinity United Church of Christ conformed to the caricatures being peddled by some commentators, there is no doubt that I would react in much the same way
But the truth is, that isn't all that I know of the man. The man I met more than twenty years ago is a man who helped introduce me to my Christian faith, a man who spoke to me about our obligations to love one another; to care for the sick and lift up the poor. He is a man who served his country as a U.S. Marine; who has studied and lectured at some of the finest universities and seminaries in the country, and who for over thirty years led a church that serves the community by doing God's work here on Earth - by housing the homeless, ministering to the needy, providing day care services and scholarships and prison ministries, and reaching out to those suffering from HIV/AIDS.
In my first book, Dreams From My Father, I described the experience of my first service at Trinity:
"People began to shout, to rise from their seats and clap and cry out, a forceful wind carrying the reverend's voice up into the rafters....And in that single note - hope! - I heard something else; at the foot of that cross, inside the thousands of churches across the city, I imagined the stories of ordinary black people merging with the stories of David and Goliath, Moses and Pharaoh, the Christians in the lion's den, Ezekiel's field of dry bones. Those stories - of survival, and freedom, and hope - became our story, my story; the blood that had spilled was our blood, the tears our tears; until this black church, on this bright day, seemed once more a vessel carrying the story of a people into future generations and into a larger world. Our trials and triumphs became at once unique and universal, black and more than black; in chronicling our journey, the stories and songs gave us a means to reclaim memories that we didn't need to feel shame about...memories that all people might study and cherish - and with which we could start to rebuild."
That has been my experience at Trinity. Like other predominantly black churches across the country, Trinity embodies the black community in its entirety - the doctor and the welfare mom, the model student and the former gang-banger. Like other black churches, Trinity's services are full of raucous laughter and sometimes bawdy humor. They are full of dancing, clapping, screaming and shouting that may seem jarring to the untrained ear. The church contains in full the kindness and cruelty, the fierce intelligence and the shocking ignorance, the struggles and successes, the love and yes, the bitterness and bias that make up the black experience in America.
And this helps explain, perhaps, my relationship with Reverend Wright. As imperfect as he may be, he has been like family to me. He strengthened my faith, officiated my wedding, and baptized my children. Not once in my conversations with him have I heard him talk about any ethnic group in derogatory terms, or treat whites with whom he interacted with anything but courtesy and respect. He contains within him the contradictions - the good and the bad - of the community that he has served diligently for so many years.
I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother - a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe.
These people are a part of me. And they are a part of America, this country that I love.
Some will see this as an attempt to justify or excuse comments that are simply inexcusable. I can assure you it is not. I suppose the politically safe thing would be to move on from this episode and just hope that it fades into the woodwork. We can dismiss Reverend Wright as a crank or a demagogue, just as some have dismissed Geraldine Ferraro, in the aftermath of her recent statements, as harboring some deep-seated racial bias.
But race is an issue that I believe this nation cannot afford to ignore right now. We would be making the same mistake that Reverend Wright made in his offending sermons about America - to simplify and stereotype and amplify the negative to the point that it distorts reality.
The fact is that the comments that have been made and the issues that have surfaced over the last few weeks reflect the complexities of race in this country that we've never really worked through - a part of our union that we have yet to perfect. And if we walk away now, if we simply retreat into our respective corners, we will never be able to come together and solve challenges like health care, or education, or the need to find good jobs for every American.
Understanding this reality requires a reminder of how we arrived at this point. As William Faulkner once wrote, "The past isn't dead and buried. In fact, it isn't even past." We do not need to recite here the history of racial injustice in this country. But we do need to remind ourselves that so many of the disparities that exist in the African-American community today can be directly traced to inequalities passed on from an earlier generation that suffered under the brutal legacy of slavery and Jim Crow.
Segregated schools were, and are, inferior schools; we still haven't fixed them, fifty years after Brown v. Board of Education, and the inferior education they provided, then and now, helps explain the pervasive achievement gap between today's black and white students.
Legalized discrimination - where blacks were prevented, often through violence, from owning property, or loans were not granted to African-American business owners, or black homeowners could not access FHA mortgages, or blacks were excluded from unions, or the police force, or fire departments - meant that black families could not amass any meaningful wealth to bequeath to future generations. That history helps explain the wealth and income gap between black and white, and the concentrated pockets of poverty that persists in so many of today's urban and rural communities.
A lack of economic opportunity among black men, and the shame and frustration that came from not being able to provide for one's family, contributed to the erosion of black families - a problem that welfare policies for many years may have worsened. And the lack of basic services in so many urban black neighborhoods - parks for kids to play in, police walking the beat, regular garbage pick-up and building code enforcement - all helped create a cycle of violence, blight and neglect that continue to haunt us.
This is the reality in which Reverend Wright and other African-Americans of his generation grew up. They came of age in the late fifties and early sixties, a time when segregation was still the law of the land and opportunity was systematically constricted. What's remarkable is not how many failed in the face of discrimination, but rather how many men and women overcame the odds; how many were able to make a way out of no way for those like me who would come after them.
But for all those who scratched and clawed their way to get a piece of the American Dream, there were many who didn't make it - those who were ultimately defeated, in one way or another, by discrimination. That legacy of defeat was passed on to future generations - those young men and increasingly young women who we see standing on street corners or languishing in our prisons, without hope or prospects for the future. Even for those blacks who did make it, questions of race, and racism, continue to define their worldview in fundamental ways. For the men and women of Reverend Wright's generation, the memories of humiliation and doubt and fear have not gone away; nor has the anger and the bitterness of those years. That anger may not get expressed in public, in front of white co-workers or white friends. But it does find voice in the barbershop or around the kitchen table. At times, that anger is exploited by politicians, to gin up votes along racial lines, or to make up for a politician's own failings.
And occasionally it finds voice in the church on Sunday morning, in the pulpit and in the pews. The fact that so many people are surprised to hear that anger in some of Reverend Wright's sermons simply reminds us of the old truism that the most segregated hour in American life occurs on Sunday morning. That anger is not always productive; indeed, all too often it distracts attention from solving real problems; it keeps us from squarely facing our own complicity in our condition, and prevents the African-American community from forging the alliances it needs to bring about real change. But the anger is real; it is powerful; and to simply wish it away, to condemn it without understanding its roots, only serves to widen the chasm of misunderstanding that exists between the races.
In fact, a similar anger exists within segments of the white community. Most working- and middle-class white Americans don't feel that they have been particularly privileged by their race. Their experience is the immigrant experience - as far as they're concerned, no one's handed them anything, they've built it from scratch. They've worked hard all their lives, many times only to see their jobs shipped overseas or their pension dumped after a lifetime of labor. They are anxious about their futures, and feel their dreams slipping away; in an era of stagnant wages and global competition, opportunity comes to be seen as a zero sum game, in which your dreams come at my expense. So when they are told to bus their children to a school across town; when they hear that an African American is getting an advantage in landing a good job or a spot in a good college because of an injustice that they themselves never committed; when they're told that their fears about crime in urban neighborhoods are somehow prejudiced, resentment builds over time.
Like the anger within the black community, these resentments aren't always expressed in polite company. But they have helped shape the political landscape for at least a generation. Anger over welfare and affirmative action helped forge the Reagan Coalition. Politicians routinely exploited fears of crime for their own electoral ends. Talk show hosts and conservative commentators built entire careers unmasking bogus claims of racism while dismissing legitimate discussions of racial injustice and inequality as mere political correctness or reverse racism.
Just as black anger often proved counterproductive, so have these white resentments distracted attention from the real culprits of the middle class squeeze - a corporate culture rife with inside dealing, questionable accounting practices, and short-term greed; a Washington dominated by lobbyists and special interests; economic policies that favor the few over the many. And yet, to wish away the resentments of white Americans, to label them as misguided or even racist, without recognizing they are grounded in legitimate concerns - this too widens the racial divide, and blocks the path to understanding.
This is where we are right now. It's a racial stalemate we've been stuck in for years. Contrary to the claims of some of my critics, black and white, I have never been so naïve as to believe that we can get beyond our racial divisions in a single election cycle, or with a single candidacy - particularly a candidacy as imperfect as my own.
But I have asserted a firm conviction - a conviction rooted in my faith in God and my faith in the American people - that working together we can move beyond some of our old racial wounds, and that in fact we have no choice is we are to continue on the path of a more perfect union.
For the African-American community, that path means embracing the burdens of our past without becoming victims of our past. It means continuing to insist on a full measure of justice in every aspect of American life. But it also means binding our particular grievances - for better health care, and better schools, and better jobs - to the larger aspirations of all Americans -- the white woman struggling to break the glass ceiling, the white man whose been laid off, the immigrant trying to feed his family. And it means taking full responsibility for own lives - by demanding more from our fathers, and spending more time with our children, and reading to them, and teaching them that while they may face challenges and discrimination in their own lives, they must never succumb to despair or cynicism; they must always believe that they can write their own destiny.
Ironically, this quintessentially American - and yes, conservative - notion of self-help found frequent expression in Reverend Wright's sermons. But what my former pastor too often failed to understand is that embarking on a program of self-help also requires a belief that society can change.
The profound mistake of Reverend Wright's sermons is not that he spoke about racism in our society. It's that he spoke as if our society was static; as if no progress has been made; as if this country - a country that has made it possible for one of his own members to run for the highest office in the land and build a coalition of white and black; Latino and Asian, rich and poor, young and old -- is still irrevocably bound to a tragic past. But what we know -- what we have seen - is that America can change. That is true genius of this nation. What we have already achieved gives us hope - the audacity to hope - for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.
In the white community, the path to a more perfect union means acknowledging that what ails the African-American community does not just exist in the minds of black people; that the legacy of discrimination - and current incidents of discrimination, while less overt than in the past - are real and must be addressed. Not just with words, but with deeds - by investing in our schools and our communities; by enforcing our civil rights laws and ensuring fairness in our criminal justice system; by providing this generation with ladders of opportunity that were unavailable for previous generations. It requires all Americans to realize that your dreams do not have to come at the expense of my dreams; that investing in the health, welfare, and education of black and brown and white children will ultimately help all of America prosper.
In the end, then, what is called for is nothing more, and nothing less, than what all the world's great religions demand - that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us. Let us be our brother's keeper, Scripture tells us. Let us be our sister's keeper. Let us find that common stake we all have in one another, and let our politics reflect that spirit as well.
For we have a choice in this country. We can accept a politics that breeds division, and conflict, and cynicism. We can tackle race only as spectacle - as we did in the OJ trial - or in the wake of tragedy, as we did in the aftermath of Katrina - or as fodder for the nightly news. We can play Reverend Wright's sermons on every channel, every day and talk about them from now until the election, and make the only question in this campaign whether or not the American people think that I somehow believe or sympathize with his most offensive words. We can pounce on some gaffe by a Hillary supporter as evidence that she's playing the race card, or we can speculate on whether white men will all flock to John McCain in the general election regardless of his policies.
We can do that.
But if we do, I can tell you that in the next election, we'll be talking about some other distraction. And then another one. And then another one. And nothing will change.
That is one option. Or, at this moment, in this election, we can come together and say, "Not this time." This time we want to talk about the crumbling schools that are stealing the future of black children and white children and Asian children and Hispanic children and Native American children. This time we want to reject the cynicism that tells us that these kids can't learn; that those kids who don't look like us are somebody else's problem. The children of America are not those kids, they are our kids, and we will not let them fall behind in a 21st century economy. Not this time.
This time we want to talk about how the lines in the Emergency Room are filled with whites and blacks and Hispanics who do not have health care; who don't have the power on their own to overcome the special interests in Washington, but who can take them on if we do it together.
This time we want to talk about the shuttered mills that once provided a decent life for men and women of every race, and the homes for sale that once belonged to Americans from every religion, every region, every walk of life. This time we want to talk about the fact that the real problem is not that someone who doesn't look like you might take your job; it's that the corporation you work for will ship it overseas for nothing more than a profit.
This time we want to talk about the men and women of every color and creed who serve together, and fight together, and bleed together under the same proud flag. We want to talk about how to bring them home from a war that never should've been authorized and never should've been waged, and we want to talk about how we'll show our patriotism by caring for them, and their families, and giving them the benefits they have earned.
I would not be running for President if I didn't believe with all my heart that this is what the vast majority of Americans want for this country. This union may never be perfect, but generation after generation has shown that it can always be perfected. And today, whenever I find myself feeling doubtful or cynical about this possibility, what gives me the most hope is the next generation - the young people whose attitudes and beliefs and openness to change have already made history in this election.
There is one story in particularly that I'd like to leave you with today - a story I told when I had the great honor of speaking on Dr. King's birthday at his home church, Ebenezer Baptist, in Atlanta.
There is a young, twenty-three year old white woman named Ashley Baia who organized for our campaign in Florence, South Carolina. She had been working to organize a mostly African-American community since the beginning of this campaign, and one day she was at a roundtable discussion where everyone went around telling their story and why they were there.
And Ashley said that when she was nine years old, her mother got cancer. And because she had to miss days of work, she was let go and lost her health care. They had to file for bankruptcy, and that's when Ashley decided that she had to do something to help her mom.
She knew that food was one of their most expensive costs, and so Ashley convinced her mother that what she really liked and really wanted to eat more than anything else was mustard and relish sandwiches. Because that was the cheapest way to eat.
She did this for a year until her mom got better, and she told everyone at the roundtable that the reason she joined our campaign was so that she could help the millions of other children in the country who want and need to help their parents too.
Now Ashley might have made a different choice. Perhaps somebody told her along the way that the source of her mother's problems were blacks who were on welfare and too lazy to work, or Hispanics who were coming into the country illegally. But she didn't. She sought out allies in her fight against injustice.
Anyway, Ashley finishes her story and then goes around the room and asks everyone else why they're supporting the campaign. They all have different stories and reasons. Many bring up a specific issue. And finally they come to this elderly black man who's been sitting there quietly the entire time. And Ashley asks him why he's there. And he does not bring up a specific issue. He does not say health care or the economy. He does not say education or the war. He does not say that he was there because of Barack Obama. He simply says to everyone in the room, "I am here because of Ashley."
"I'm here because of Ashley." By itself, that single moment of recognition between that young white girl and that old black man is not enough. It is not enough to give health care to the sick, or jobs to the jobless, or education to our children.
But it is where we start. It is where our union grows stronger. And as so many generations have come to realize over the course of the two-hundred and twenty one years since a band of patriots signed that document in Philadelphia, that is where the perfection begins.

Obama Mississippi Rally

2008-03-10T21:07:00.010-04:00

AND I got as close as the overflow door.

Sadly, I got really lost around town, parking was a nightmare and so I showed up too late to get in. I stood outside the door to listen for a while and ended up chatting with those who were turned away also.

The turn out for this was incredible. There was a concert or sports event feeling to this rally. T-shirts and buttons were sold on the street. I couldn't believe how many people showed up. Not only was JSU Athletics and Assembly center filled to the brink but the adjacent McCoy building that was showing a live satellite feed was filled to the Max.

Have two major problems with this City so far.

1. Too many roundabouts that are completely dysfunctional for good traffic flow.

2. No actual street signs on major as well as minor streets. You kinda just have to guess where to turn the closer you get downtown.

Here's some of my photos because stupid digital recorder, I planned to use to film everything would not work. Hopefully, I can get that freakin' thing up and running so I can record what happens at Obama Headquarters before the canvassing starts.

The Door of Hope. Was told if we stood and waited here, someone would try to squeeze us in. Smiling lady comes out..."Sorry folks, no can do."

Cars like this, came in droves.

Saw many local reporters filming but only one national media outlet.

The official caterer for the Obama Rally, Country Fisherman

Other notes,

Firt time staying in a hotel by myself ever.* It is in a really bad part of town and is kinda scary but had free wifi. Promised Hub I'd be as frugal as possible and have been....only 50 bucks a night.

Ironic part...forgot my computer's power chord so only have about an hour left of battery power. Should have just stayed at a Motel 6 like motel in a nicer part of town instead.

*I traveled by myself to Houston once but never stayed the night, just got right back on Greyhound after the Opera I was traveling to see.

Rolling Stone Calls For A New Hope

2008-03-06T15:08:00.003-05:00

Rolling Stone not only writes a stellar article about him, they (Jann Wenner) heartily endorse him.

"The tides of history are rising higher and faster these days. Read them right and ride them, or be crushed. And then along comes Barack Obama, with the kinds of gifts that appear in politics but once every few generations. There is a sense of dignity, even majesty, about him, and underneath that ease lies a resolute discipline. It's not just that he is eloquent - with that ability to speak both to you and to speak for you - it's that he has a quality of thinking and intellectual and emotional honesty that is extraordinary.
...Throughout the primaries, and during a visit he paid to our offices, we have come to know Barack Obama, his toughness and his grace. He would not be intimidated, and he declined to back down, when Senator Clinton called him "frankly, naive" for his willingness to meet leaders of hostile nations. When one of her top campaign officials tried to smear him for his earlier drug use, he did not equivocate or backtrack. On the matter of experience and capability, he has run an impressive, nearly flawless campaign - one that whupped America's most hard-boiled political infighters. Indeed, Obama was far more prepared to run a presidential campaign - from Day One - than Senator Clinton. And at no point did he go negative with personal attacks or character assassination; as much as they might have been justified, they didn't even seem tempting to him.
Obama has emerged by displaying precisely the kind of character and judgment we need in a president: renouncing the politics of fear, speaking frankly on the most pressing issues facing the country and sticking to his principles. He recognizes that running for president is an opportunity to inspire an entire nation."

Valentines From The RNC

2008-02-11T12:54:00.000-05:00

If the "rebate" checks that jeopardizes your children's economic future wasn't enough of a sweetheart message for you from the RNC this Valentine's Day, stop by their website to pick up free e-valentine propaganda from the Con-Passionate Conservatives.

http://net.gop.com/valentine/Default.aspx

They will supply you with Be Mine's like these:

Hmmm..thinking of a Valentine featuring our most likely Republican Presidential Nominee...

I got it...

(Insert a McCain Picture preferably not nude)

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

I will keep our troops in Iraq for 35,600 days.

I love thee freely, as long as you strive for the wrong "Right"

because conjuring fear is the best Republican might.

I love thee with a passion put to use,

tax cuts for the very rich is my muse.

JFK Had A Catchy Campaign Song too!

2008-02-06T15:59:00.000-05:00

Perhap's not as hip as Barack's and annoyingly, does use the HEADON approach with "KENNEDY!!!"

Nevertheless, kinda catchy.

Via http://www.merryswankster.com/

JFK Campaign Song

I've Looked Outside Yesterday and Saw Nary A Pig Fly...

2008-02-06T10:04:00.000-05:00

...BUT something miraculous DID happen yesterday.

My father voted for Barack Obama.

My Super Tuesday evening was spent with my family. We were celebrating my Husband's 46th birthday. As we were waiting to round up the tribe for Dinner, I asked my Dad who he voted for. I expected Mike Huckabee or Mitt Romney to be the answer. My Dad has always been a predictable and steady Republican voter except for a 1992 vote for Ross Perot(which as a silly uniformed, 19 year old, first time voter, I as well voted for the psycho.)

Ready to go off on my Father, as I usually do, about his Fox News influenced ways, my jaw dropped as my Father stated lowly but unashamed, "Obama. Yeah. I like him well enough."

"Whaaaaat? You're just f*cking with me, right Dad?"

"Nope. Voted for Obama."

Did ice water just arrive in Hell? I wanted to probe further about his revelation but he said little else, except he was still hoping Bloomberg would come in as third party candidate. Then gave me, what I think was a compliment (which is such a rare occurrence that I have to write the once in every 4 to 7 year's event down). "You know girly, you should get a real job writing or something about Politics too. You seem to know a lot about it and you like it. Occasionally, you even know what you’re talking about."

"Huh, well I did start another blog to separate my Political and Social Commentary posts from my Pen Name Blog so I could be untethered from fear of alienating people who might buy my fiction. I did try my best* to weasel my foot in the door into lobbying for an all Good 'Ol Boy stranglehold in Louisiana. I do on a good day, read more than 40 feeds** a day on my Google Readers on Politics. Politics for me, seems like more than a hobby sometimes, so, maybe... one day. Maybe I can do each equally. You never know, stranger things have happened."

He nodded his head. We then talked a bit about the economy and for some reason I thought of his senior statement was in High School yearbook.

He stated he wanted "to become a Senator and do away with Taxes" when he grew up. He said it mostly as a joke but the doing a way with taxes; he'd been dead serious about. The man cannot stand anyone who might increase his taxes and his perception is the Democrats would always do so. Yet, he just voted for Democrat in the Primaries instead Republican for the first time in many many decades-if ever.

Why, what happened?

One, my Dad might have considered it a calculative move to vote Obama because he thinks Obama cannot beat a Republican this November.

Two, He hated Hillary so much that he rather use his vote to see her humiliated than actually have part in picking the Republican Candidate.

Three, He listened to Rush or one of those kind d*ckheads this week and thought McCain was a Democrat in hiding. Decided he couldn't bare casting a vote for a Mormon Massachusetts Governor and didn't want to waste his vote on Huckabee and just in case Democrats win this November, Obama was the lesser of two evils.

Personally, I 'd like to think he meant what he said. He liked Obama well enough. Meaning he just personally liked Obama compared to the other candidates both Republican and Democratic.

In a dream world, I'd like to think, maybe my ruthless pro-Democrat/anti-Bush /anti-Neocon rants just finally paid off after all these years and he's finally given up on the Republican party. That after years of my words going in one ear and going directly out the other seemed to sink in finally enough for him to question Fox News, Conservative News/Talk Radio and his irrational fear of Democrats screwing up the economy.

That maybe my Dad, who defended trickle down economics since Reagan saw our economy going once again in the dumps because of it and finally realizing it will never benefit the middle class.

And more importantly, he saw his taxes go down but the deficit skyrocket and now worries how he's going to be able pay for healthcare in the future.

All suppositions, of course,he never has actually divulged, in detail, any of his inner thoughts so it will always remain a mystery.

Yet I do know this, Obama beat Hillary 61 to 31 percent in my State of Georgia. She got trampled and it was the unlikely votes like my Father’s that helped Obama do it. That makes me one proud daughter this morning.

* I failed, within two weeks I realized they would never give ME the opportunity to do actually lobbying but it was a good thing. I would have liked to been able to get the experience but lobbying for people that stand against everything I believe, would have broken me, I believe. AND anyways, 98 percent of lobbyist are 98 percent evil human beings. I like being a mostly good person, on most days-you just sleep better at night.

**Some of these feeds do not post strictly Political stories and commentary.

HST-Superbowl Sunday 1972 and His Relationship with Technology

2008-02-03T10:28:00.000-05:00

I'm not one for sports, so this day is pretty meaningless but completely pumped up for Super Tuesday. Nevertheless, here's an cinematic account of Hunter S. Thompson's Super Bowl Sunday during the political season of 1972.

"Super Sunday,Dawn. My recollections for the last twelve hours are very dim. All that I know for certain is that shortly after I checked in two third world drug abusers dressed as hotel employees forced their way into my room , ransacked it, drank all my liquor, did all my drug, stole my dinner. If security precautions aren't beefed at this hotel I'm looking for safer accommodations. It's a sad state of affairs when this reporter has to go heavily armed to breakfast...And what a breakfast it is...still alive, still kicking. Uh..can I have another round please...Everything... cocktails, food, ya know Super Sunday got a store up as much energy as you can...day like this could go into sudden death. "

Where the Buffalo Roam-Hunter S. Thompson,Super Sunday 1972

Bonus...read this short tale about HST receiving a Mac in it's early form about two weeks ago. Forgot to post.

"Then came this gem: In the mid-80s, tired of getting Hunter S. Thompson's column copy late, by snail-mail, the editors of the San Francisco Examiner took the plunge and sent Thompson a new gizmo called a "Mac." The relationship between the fabled journalist and his electronic tool was reportedly troubled from the beginning. It ended shortly thereafter, when Thompson called his editor screaming in frustration, grabbed his shotgun, and blasted the youthful Steve Jobs's creation to smithereens. Then he sent back the pieces."

Hunter S. Thompson Reviews Apple's New Mac

Where the Buffalo Roam-Hunter S. Thompson's Relationship with Technology.

An Easy Way to Find Out Who's Donating To Which Presidential Candidate

2008-02-02T18:21:00.000-05:00

The Huffington Report makes it easy for you to search for anyone by first and last name or if you're nosey about your nameless neighbors you can search by zip. Want to see who your boss and/or co-workers are donating to? Huffington even has a search tab by employer.

http://fundrace.huffingtonpost.com/

Bonus Widget

PS

Have I donated yet? Not yet, but for the first time, I actually plan to.

See? This Is Why I Have A Crush on Matt Taibbi

2008-01-30T14:20:00.000-05:00

Hillary Clinton: The New Nixon? click here for Matt Taibbi's new blog post. He's just such an incredibly good political writer. Girly lovestruck sigh. "Oh, Matt."

PS

There is a post from another blog I need to transfer over to Idylling Idealist relating to my ongoing crushdom with Matt. As soon as I do, I'll provide the link to it.

I Hold These Beliefs To Be Self-evident... Articles of Faith: 1 thru 5

2008-01-27T15:58:00.000-05:00

Most Truths are debatable; Beliefs should always be applicable to modification if or when a better truth becomes apparent.
The Golden Rule is the only infallible moral barometer.
The pinnacle of achievement in life is happiness and the equal bestowment of happiness unto others.
We are here and then we are gone.
"To thine own self be true."