OK, so it's be almost a month since we created this site and while I'd like to say we've been too busy to put anything on, that wouldn't be completely true. It's almost like there's so much happening, so much stimulus overload when it comes to politics, the country, our children, our lives, that trying to put any of it down just seems overwhelming. I mean, what can you say when 48% of the country thinks a small town mayor turned governor of the most sparsely populated state in the union, who thinks looking across the Bearing Strait qualifies as "foreign policy experience" (now that would be bridge to somewhere....she could drive across to have high level diplomatic meetings with Putin) is qualified to be President of the United States? PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES!
Maybe the trick is just staying in the now and focusing on the things that actually are in our control. My son turned 18 a week ago today and last night called to ask how upset I would be if he got a tatoo. Since I got my tat when I wasn't all that much older than him, what could I say? At least he called to get my opinion, the tatoo is pretty nice, and he did get it on a part of his body that he can cover when he goes for college or job interviews (his upper arm), so maybe that's what I should be concentrating on.
Nah....I can't think of my son without thinking about what will happen to this country if we're consigned to another four years of the same disregard for the rights and interests of the American public. Four more years of judicial appointments (including at least a couple on the Supreme Court), of unending war, of using the politics of fear to drive this country towards a one-party oligarchy, of saying goodbye to my son as he heads for Canada (or Vietnam, which I hear is a wonderful country these days - wouldn't that be ironic) to avoid losing a limb, an eye, a mind, or a life to a useless war.
I watched a wonderful, but terribly scary, speech by Robert Kennedy, Jr. about the corporate takeover of America, which is only possible because those corporations also control the media from which most of the public gets its information. You can watch the video here It's totally worth taking half an hour, then getting mad enough to do something. There is so much wrong with this country right now, it's feels like shoveling against the tide to try to do anything, but what choice do we have? For our children and theirs, for the millions of Americans who have given their lives to prevent other countries from imposing on us what we're doing to ourselves, we must not give up. I have to believe we can take this country back, we can restore its greatness in the eyes of the world, we can again earn the respect of those who now despise (or pity) us, and maybe I can start being proud to call myself an American again.
Wow....maybe I shouldn't wait so long between posts!
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Sunday, August 31, 2008
De-virginizing the blog
The motivations for this blog (like the internet needs yet another one) were two: first, we got tired of sending letters to the editor of the Miami Herald (many of which were published), but feeling like we were spitting into the wind. The second was watching Barak's acceptance speech this week and feeling that maybe, just maybe, this county still had time to regain its soul. It's been a tough 8 years, and neither of us would have believed this much damage could be done in so short a time. Guess the founding fathers never envisioned their magnificent system of checks and balances running up against the perfect storm of an executive branch that cared nothing for the constitution, a spineless legislative branch, and a judicial branch that had been co-opted by years of Republican appointments.
This country needs to be motivated again by hope, and not by fear (and before we get any further into this, neither Dawn nor I are officially or unofficially part of Barack's campaign, other than as supporters). We do not need to be living as if the United States of America were under an attack that might actually jeopardize our existence - there is no terrorist flotilla off the shores of New York, no terrorist parachuters ready to drop into Chicago. While the attack on the towers was a horrendous act, no one has or can suggest that it will lead to an occupation of Amercian cities (unless it's by our own National Guard) or threaten our way of life unless we do it to ourselves. As Joe Galloway has said, "They would have us believe that a nation of 300 million people must surrender what a million other Americans gave their lives in war to protect in order to protect us from a couple of hundred fanatics hiding in caves in Waziristan." (http://www.mcclatchydc.com/galloway/story/43123.html) It just seemed like a good time to add some comments to the discussion during what the Chinese might suggest is an "interesting time" - it used to be that when the Chinese wanted to curse someone, they wished for them to live in an "interesting" time. We're there.....the possibility of the first black American president, a woman who may be one heartbeat from the presidency whose main claim to fame is her time served on a city council in the middle of nowhere, a resurgent Russia, a never ending (false) "war on terror", the possibility of never ending (actual) wars in the Middle East and South Asia, the rise of China to what will likely be the dominant world power of the 21st century, the possibility of the earth's climate changing to such a degree that the planet will be fundamentally altered, and the potential establishment of an entrenched American oligarchy of energy companies, pharaceuticals, lobbyists, and ex-politicians (Republican and Democratic).
While it's probably said at some time in every election, this November may in fact be a true turning point when, if the wrong choice is made, the tipping point will be reached and our children will have to live in world we would never wish for them. In the meantime, we're praying for our friends and for those we've never met in South Louisiana as Hurricane Gustave bears down on them. As someone who went through Hurricane Andrew in Florida in 1992, I can only imagine the fear and anguish they're experiencing as they watch that storm approach them. God Bless.
More will be revealed.
This country needs to be motivated again by hope, and not by fear (and before we get any further into this, neither Dawn nor I are officially or unofficially part of Barack's campaign, other than as supporters). We do not need to be living as if the United States of America were under an attack that might actually jeopardize our existence - there is no terrorist flotilla off the shores of New York, no terrorist parachuters ready to drop into Chicago. While the attack on the towers was a horrendous act, no one has or can suggest that it will lead to an occupation of Amercian cities (unless it's by our own National Guard) or threaten our way of life unless we do it to ourselves. As Joe Galloway has said, "They would have us believe that a nation of 300 million people must surrender what a million other Americans gave their lives in war to protect in order to protect us from a couple of hundred fanatics hiding in caves in Waziristan." (http://www.mcclatchydc.com/galloway/story/43123.html) It just seemed like a good time to add some comments to the discussion during what the Chinese might suggest is an "interesting time" - it used to be that when the Chinese wanted to curse someone, they wished for them to live in an "interesting" time. We're there.....the possibility of the first black American president, a woman who may be one heartbeat from the presidency whose main claim to fame is her time served on a city council in the middle of nowhere, a resurgent Russia, a never ending (false) "war on terror", the possibility of never ending (actual) wars in the Middle East and South Asia, the rise of China to what will likely be the dominant world power of the 21st century, the possibility of the earth's climate changing to such a degree that the planet will be fundamentally altered, and the potential establishment of an entrenched American oligarchy of energy companies, pharaceuticals, lobbyists, and ex-politicians (Republican and Democratic).
While it's probably said at some time in every election, this November may in fact be a true turning point when, if the wrong choice is made, the tipping point will be reached and our children will have to live in world we would never wish for them. In the meantime, we're praying for our friends and for those we've never met in South Louisiana as Hurricane Gustave bears down on them. As someone who went through Hurricane Andrew in Florida in 1992, I can only imagine the fear and anguish they're experiencing as they watch that storm approach them. God Bless.
More will be revealed.
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