Humor to Start the Day!!

One day a florist went to a barber for a haircut. After 
the  cut, he asked about his bill, and the barber replied, 'I 
cannot accept money from  you, I'm doing community 
service this week.' The florist was pleased and left the shop. When 
the barber went to open his shop the next  morning, there 
was a 'thank you' card and a dozen roses waiting for him at 
his door. 
 
  Later, a cop comes in for a haircut, and when he tries to 
pay his bill, the barber again replied, 'I cannot accept 
money from you , I'm doing community service this week.' 
The cop was happy and left the shop. The next morning when 
the barber went to open up, there was a 'thank you' card 
and a dozen donuts waiting for him at his door. 
 
Then a Congressman came in for a haircut, and when he 
went to pay his bill, the barber again replied, 'I can not 
accept money from you. I'm  doing community service this 
week.' The Congressman was very happy and left the shop. 
The next morning, when the barber went to open up,  there 
were a dozen Congressmen lined up waiting for a free 
haircut. 
 
And that, my friends, illustrates the fundamental 
difference between the citizens of our country and the 
politicians who run it. 
 
  BOTH  POLITICIANS  AND  DIAPERS 
      NEED TO BE CHANGED OFTEN 
                           AND 
         FOR THE SAME REASON!

Walk Naked in America Day!

Don't forget to mark your calendars.
As you may already know, it is a sin for a Muslim male to see any woman other than his wife naked and if he does, he must commit suicide. So next Saturday at 1 PM Eastern Time, all American women are asked to walk out of their house completely naked to help weed out any neighborhood terrorists.
Circling your block for one hour is recommended for this anti-terrorist effort.

All patriotic men are to position themselves in lawn chairs in front of their houses to demonstrate their support for the women and to prove that they are not Muslim terrorist sympathizers. Since Islam also does not approve of alcohol, a cold 6-pack at your side is further proof of your patriotism.

The American government appreciates your efforts to root out terrorists and applauds your participation in this anti-terrorist activity.

P.S. It is your patriotic duty to inform others. If you don't tell at least 1 person, you're a terrorist-sympathizing, lily-livered coward and are possibly aiding and abetting terrorists.

Examine the Myths

As I got more and more involved in photography and the whole political/economy scene was becoming more and more heated, less and less productive, I took all mention or discussion of them off my blog simply because I didn't want to fight with anyone and because it was taking away the joy I found in blogging. But today for the first time in well over a year I read an article that confirmed what I've been wanting to believe, but was afraid I was just being Ms Pie-in-the-Sky as I've frequently been called. The article is by a favorite of mine, Paul Krugman, New York Times Op-Ed columnist, and while I'm not going to discuss it here, I would like to recommend it to those of you who perhaps have some of the same fears and misgivings that I have had.
And now I shall take up my camera and return to the skies and all the beauty there is to enjoy!

Sounds About Right to Me!

While walking down the street one day a US senator is tragically hit by a
truck and dies.

His soul arrives in heaven and is met by St. Peter at the entrance.

"Welcome to heaven," says St. Peter. "Before you settle in, it seems there is a problem. We seldom see a high official around these parts, you see, so we're not sure what to do with you."

"No problem, just let me in," says the senator.

"Well, I'd like to, but I have orders from higher up. What we'll do is have you spend one day in hell and one in heaven. Then you can choose where to spend eternity."

"Really, I've made up my mind I want to be in heaven," says the senator.

"I'm sorry, but we have our rules."

And with that, St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to hell. The doors open and he finds himself in the middle of a green golf course. In the distance is a clubhouse and standing in front of it are all his friends and other politicians who had worked with him.

Everyone is very happy and in evening dress. They run to greet him, shake his hand, and reminisce about the good times they had while getting rich at the expense of the people.

They play a friendly game of golf and then dine on lobster, caviar and champagne.

Also present is the devil, who really is a very friendly guy who has a good time dancing and telling jokes. They are having such a good time that before he realizes it, it is time to go.

Everyone gives him a hearty farewell and waves while the elevator rises ..

The elevator goes up, up, up and the door reopens on heaven where St. Peter is waiting for him.

"Now it's time to visit heaven."

So, 24 hours pass with the senator joining a group of contented souls moving from cloud to cloud, playing the harp and singing. They have a good time and, before he realizes it, the 24 hours have gone by and St. Peter returns.

"Well, then, you've spent a day in hell and another in heaven. Now choose your eternity."

The senator reflects for a minute, then answers: "Well, I would never have said it before, I mean heaven has been delightful, but I think I would be better off in hell."

So St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to hell.

Now the doors of the elevator open and he's in the middle of a barren land covered with waste and garbage.

He sees all his friends, dressed in rags, picking up the trash and putting it in black bags as more trash falls from above...

The devil comes over to him and puts his arm around his shoulder. "I don't understand," stammers the senator. "Yesterday I was here and there was a golf course and clubhouse, and we ate lobster and caviar, drank champagne, and danced and had a great time. Now there's just a wasteland full of garbage and my friends look miserable. What happened?"

The devil looks at him, smiles and says.......

"Yesterday we were campaigning. Today you voted."

What Are People Thinking? Or is That the Problem – They’re Not!

After writing my post on the war in Afghanistan, I was determined to put my grumblings to rest --- again! But when you have a big mouth that isn’t always easy and, as many of you know, I do have one of those. Well, I can always blame Bob Herbert, Op-Ed columnist for the New York Times, for lighting my fire – again, but I do feel that our country is SICK and he says it all so clearly.

In his column today he says that maybe the economic stress has been too much. And considering the last few months, I tend to agree that it would seem to be suffering from a nervous breakdown.

The political debate has been poisoned by birthers, deathers and wackos who smile proudly while carrying signs comparing the president to the Nazis. People who don’t even know that Medicare is a government program have been trying to instruct us on the best ways to reform health care.

There doesn’t seem to be any end to the craziness. The entire Republican Party has decided that is is in favor of absolutely nothing! Stimulus package, health care reform? No way! Forget about both of them! So far there has been absolutely nothing that the Republican party is in favor of and, incredibly, the party’s poll numbers are going up!

Yes, we obviously need therapy. President Obama addressed the public school students today, urging them to work harder and stay in school. According to Herbert, the folks who bray at the moon are outraged. The President has been likened to Chairman Mao and even Hitler. And a fair number of these nut cases have bought into the imbecilic notion that this is an effort at socialist or Communist indoctrination. And, as could be expected, one father from Texas was quoted as saying that he didn’t want our schools turned over to some socialist movement. Are these people nuts? Do they have any idea what they are talking about?

The wackiness is increasing, not diminishing, and it has a great potential for destruction. There is a real need for people who know better to speak out in a concerted effort to curb the appeal of the apostles of the absurd!

In reality the biggest issue confronting ordinary Americans right now – the biggest by far – is the devastatingly weak employment environment. Politicians talk about it, but any aggressive job-creation efforts are not part of the policy mix. But nearly 15 million Americans are unemployed, according to official statistics. The real numbers are far worse. And the unemployment rate for black Americans is a back-breaking 15.1 percent. Five million people have been unemployed for more than six months, and the consensus is that even when the recession ends, the employment landscape will remain dismal. A full recovery in employment will take years.

Joblessness is becoming the norm and there is a real question as to whether the U.S. economy is capable of providing sufficient employment for all who want and need work.
We’re also having serious trouble facing the hard truths about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the terrible toll they are taking on our young fighting men and women. Most of us don’t want to know. It’s head in the sand time all over again. In addition, we’ve put the costs of these wars on a credit card, without so much as a second thought about what that does to our long-term budget deficits.

The serious wackos, the obsessive-compulsive absurdists, may be beyond therapy. But the rest of us could use some serious adult counseling. We’ve forgotten many of the fundamentals, such as: how to live within our means, the benefits of shared sacrifice, the responsibilities that go with citizenship, the importance of a well-rounded education and tolerance.

But, as Herbert writes, the first step is to recognize that we have a problem.

The Doomsayer

Maureen Dowd, NYT Op-Ed columnist had an extremely interesting column a few days ago about Dick Cheney. I was glad to discover that I’m not the only one asking serious questions about the former vice-president and just what he's up to these days.

Questions like, just what is it with Dick Cheney, anyway? The man who never talked is now the man who won’t shut up. The man who wouldn’t list his office in the federal jobs directory, who had the vice president’s residence blocked on Google Earth, who went to the Supreme Court to keep from revealing which energy executives helped him write the nation’s energy policy, is now endlessly yelping about how President Obama is holding back documents that should be made public.

Cheney was asked by Bob Schieffer on Sunday how America could torture when it made a mockery of our ideals and Cheney blithely gave an answer that surely would have been labeled treasonous by Rush Limbaugh, if a Democratic ex-vice president had said it about a Republican president. Doomsday Dick said, “Well, then you’d have to say that, in effect, we’re prepared to sacrifice American lives rather than run an intelligent program that would provide us the information we need to protect America.” And this in spite of the testimony from former FBI agent Ali Soufan and former Bush administration State Department official Philip Zelikow, both of whom have voiced serious concerns about Bush administration interrogation policies and just how effective they really were.

Cheney had five deferments himself to get out of going to Vietnam, but he would rather follow a blowhard entertainer who has had three divorces and a drug problem and who also avoided Vietnam, than follow a four-star general who spent his life serving his country.

Even Republicans are complaining. An official with Bush 1 recently said that he was sure that Bush 41 doesn’t appreciate Cheney acting out and that he is giving the whole party a black eye just as Jeb is out there trying to renew the party.
Cheney unleashed is pretty much the same as Cheney underground: He’s batty and he thinks he was the president. Even Bush 41 and 43 have come to see Cheney differently and I don’t think that either of them has any idea what makes Cheney tick.

He has no coherent foreign policy viewpoint. He still doesn’t fathom that his brutish invasion of Iraq unbalanced that part of the world, empowered Iran and was a force multiplier for Muslims who hate America. He left our ports unsecured, our food supply unsafe, the Taliban rising and Osama on the loose. No matter if or when terrorists attack here – and they’re on their own timetable, not a partisan red/blue state timetable – Cheney will be deemed the primary one who made America more vulnerable. He still loves torture, Gitmo and scaring the bejesus out of Americans. He’s still trying to pull the GOP into a black hole of zealotry.

When Cheney was in the first Bush administration, he was odd man out. Bush 41, James Baker, Brent Scowcroft and Colin Powell corralled Cheney’s “Genghis Khan” side, as it was known, and his “rough streak.” Cheney didn’t care for Powell even then.
According to Dowd, with W, “Back Seat” – Cheney’s Secret Service name in the Ford Administration – clambered up front. Then he totaled the car. And no amount of yapping on TV is going to change that when history is written.

Attitude Adjustment Required!

Just the attitude we need to bring about change and heal differences????? I don't think so!

Mary Ann Glendon, a conservative Harvard law professor who was U.S. ambassador to the Vatican under George W. Bush, has announced that she will not be accepting the Laetare Medal at the University of Notre Dame's commencement ceremony on May 17, NBC's Christopher Wilson reports. In her letter to Notre Dame President Rev. John Jenkins, Glendon stated that she would no longer be accepting, citing the conflict with President Barack Obama's presence as both a commencement speaker and a recipient of an honorary degree.

A Tale Of Two Parties

Chuck Todd, NBC's Political Director, had some intersting things to say about the latest polls this morning.

To paraphrase Dickens, the last six weeks have been the best of times for Obama and the Democrats, and the worst of times for the Republicans. Just consider the latest findings from the NBC/WSJ poll: Obama's favorability rating is at 68% (an all-time high in our survey), 67% say they feel more hopeful about his leadership, 60% approve of his job in the White House, and 49% have a positive view of the Democratic Party (which is also near a high). On the other hand, just 26% view the GOP positively (an all-time low in the poll), respondents blame Bush and congressional Republicans for most the partisanship in DC, 56% think the GOP's opposition to Obama is based on politics, and Republicans lose by nearly 30 percentage points on the question about which party would do a better job of leading the country out of recession. While we have covered all the new administration's ups and downs, it is absolutely clear which party has suffered the most in public opinion these first six weeks: the GOP. NBC/WSJ co-pollster Peter Hart (D) says Republicans "have been tone deaf to the results of the 2008 election. They never heard the message. They continue to preach the old-time religion." Adds co-pollster Bill McInturff (R), "These are difficult and problematic numbers."

Ironically, Obama's high marks come at a time when Americans are increasingly pessimistic about the state of the economy. Only 7% say they're satisfied about the economy, which is an all-time low in the poll. Moreover, 76% believe the economy still has a ways to go before it hits rock bottom. What's going on here? The public doesn't blame Obama for the economy -- even as critics try to attribute the Dow's decline to Obama, and also even as Obama yesterday gave stock advice (!!!). Per the poll, 84% say Obama inherited this economy, and two-thirds of those people think he has at least a year before he's responsible for it. "That's a long leash," McInturff says. "It normally doesn't last that long. But believe me, that's a good place to start." But McInturff warns that while these numbers suggest a patient public, "Americans are notoriously impatient people." So how long does the honeymoon last if the economy doesn't get better?

How High?

Rush Limbaugh might not be what Rahm Emanuel asserted on Sunday when he said that Limbaugh has become the "voice and intellectual force" behind the Republican Party, but frankly it does seem to be becoming increasingly true. When Limbaugh says jump, Republican officials quickly respond, "How high?"

Georgia Republican, Representative Phil Gingrey, criticized Limbaugh back in January, but then immediately called in to apoligize after receiving a slew of complaints from Rush listeners. And now, after RNC chair, Michael Steele, told CNN over the weekend that Limbaugh is an entertainer who can be "ugly and incendiary", Limbaugh gladly returned the fire. And sure enough the chairman called Limbaugh to smooth things over.

Steele's apology yesterday was the second time he has said something during his month-old chairmanship that he has had to backtrack from. Earlier, in a FOX interview, Steele suggested that the three Senate Republicans who voted for the stimulus -- Susan Collins, Olympia Snowe and Arlen Specter -- would face primary challenges, and left open the possibility that those three might not receive funds from the RNC. But the committee reversed course, telling NBC News Political Director, Chuck Todd, "That the RNC has no intention of getting involved in primaries. We work with state parties to elect Republicans and will continue to do that." To put it kindly, it seems as if Steele has gotten off to a rocky start as RNC chair (as Rush himself said) -- primarily due to a lack of message discipline. And some Republicans might agree with this statement from Limbaugh yesterday: "It's time, Mr. Steele, for you to go behind the scenes and start doing the work that you were elected to do instead of trying to be some talking head media star, which you're having a tough time pulling off."

I find it truely disturbing that a man like Limbaugh has the power that he does. What are people thinking? Or is that the problem -- they're not.

Neanderthal Two-Step

That was Bob Herbert’s very apt description of Republican behavior in his Op-Ed Column, as they tried their best to derail the economic stimulus package working its difficult way through Congress. And making sure no one would mistake him for a “class act”, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham from South Carolina ranted and raved about how “This bill is stinking up the place.” That should do it, Lindsey, puts you right up there with the eloquent Bushie!

Obama has gone out of his way to get Republicans to make a genuine effort towards cleaning up the miserable mess that resulted from the long, dark night of GOP control in Washington, but he was rebuffed, and in some cases contemptuously.

Thursday night he struck back, attacking Republican intransigence and its failed policies of the past and then, of course, everyone started complaining that he wasn’t being the nice guy anymore!! Well, whatever, the bill did get passed, although by a very slim margin and a small number of Republicans did finally come aboard.

It’s been clear for years that the GOP is a party without a heart. But, according to Herbert, its pointless obstructionism, its overall lack of any serious response to what is a clear national economic emergency, seems to indicate it’s also a party without a brain. Oh, I’m so glad someone besides me has said that! Someone with a lot more credentials than I have.

Republicans in Washington have behaved like a milling crowd standing in the way of firefighters trying to respond to a devastating blaze. The best that can be said for the party is that a few senators seem to have been able to part the crowd enough to let the rescuers begin to inch forward.

On the front page of The Times on Friday was an article that said the number of women on the nation’s payrolls is poised to pass that of men for the first time in American history. This isn’t necessarily because women have been doing so well, but because men have been doing so poorly Yeah, those guys who used to lap up Rush Limbaugh’s slimy crap while driving to or from work are now having to tune in from their living rooms because the benefits of the GOP’s right-wing, tax-cutting ideology never trickled down to them and they are now jobless. The price of stupidity!

They just don’t get it. Most act as if they don’t understand that in this radical economic downturn the demand for goods and services has fallen off a cliff and that government spending is needed, and needed quickly to replace a large portion of the lost demand. If you haven’t read my post “A Different Take on Recession”, you might take a look and you can see why this actually applies to all of us.

The goal is twofold: to alleviate some of the enormous suffering (something that is easily understood if you have a heart), and to revive the battered economy (equally easy to understand by anyone with a brain – a functioning brain, that is).

John McCain indignantly sputtered that “This is not a stimulus bill; it is a spending bill.”

It was an objection that had been addressed by an incredulous President Obama on Thursday night. “What do you think a stimulus is?” he asked. “Spending is the whole point.”

Wake up guys!

What About the Future?

UPDATE: Daschle Withdraws as Nominee for Health Post
Former Senator Tom Daschle, President Obama's nominee for
health and human services secretary, has withdrawn from
consideration for the post over his belated payment of
$128,000 in federal taxes.

I know that everyone wants to see change happening immediately, change that will help stabilize the economy, bring new jobs for the thousands who have lost theirs, change that will allow us all to be able to breathe deeply again. I also know that the Obama Administration cannot make that happen after only two weeks in office. And, of course, people are already beginning to question why it’s taking so long. And there is the political mumblings about Daschle’s nomination and whether, in spite of a new administration that promised to do things differently, it’s still pay back time to those who supported them during the seemingly endless campaign. I guess we’re all looking for, hoping for miracles and those are difficult to achieve in Washington DC without paying a price. Sad as that is, I’m afraid it is the reality in our world today. It’s still about the money whether it is the fat cats or the rest of us that are struggling on a day to day basis. And are all those that we have counted on to bring that “new day” to our country now being seen as having money problems of their own – as in back taxes, pay-to-play schemes? I do so hope that all of us who have been looking upward for our solutions, don’t fall into the hole dug by those we have trusted.

So, when do we get serious about repairing and rebuilding our country’s crumbling and increasingly obsolete infrastructure? In Bob Herbert’s Op-Ed column today he explores the same question. The catastrophe in New Orleans didn’t do it although according to Douglas Brinkley, who wrote in his book, “The Great Deluge”:
“What people didn’t yet fully comprehend was that the overall disaster, the sinking of New Orleans, was a man-made debacle, resulting from poorly designed levees and floodwalls.”

Even the rush-hour collapse of the bridge over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis wasn’t enough to get us serious. I think, when we are all so personally concerned about how we are going to survive the economic disaster we find ourselves in today, we fail to see that this downturn could be eased by a truly big-time surge of infrastructure investment – we’re not the only ones that seem to be unable to grasp the reality of where we find ourselves.

We’re rushing to bail out the banking industry for what? What kind of country will we have once the bankers are fat and happy again? The U.S. will still be a nation with a pathetic mid-20th-century infrastructure struggling to make it in a dynamic
21st century world.

The American Society of Civil Engineers, in a report released last week, essentially described the state of American infrastructure as dreadful. More than a quarter of the nation’s bridges were rated structurally deficient or functionally obsolete. Not to mention public transportation systems, dams and levees, most of which are more than a half-century old. And then there is our drinking water system. Leaking pipes lose an estimated seven billion gallons of clean drinking water a day. The society gave the nation’s infrastructure an overall grade of D! It is estimated that to put it back in shape would require $2.2 trillion over five years.

There is infrastructure spending in the Democrats’ proposed stimulus package, but it is far too meager to have much of an impact on the nation’s overall infrastructure requirements or the demand for the creation of jobs.

According to Herbert, the big danger is that some variation of the currently proposed stimulus package will pass, another enormous bailout for the bankers will be authorized and then the trillion-dollar-plus budget deficits will make their appearance, looming like unholy monsters over everything else, and Washington will suddenly lose its nerve.

Herbert feels that the mantra will be that we can’t afford to spend any more money on the infrastructure, or on a big health care initiative, or any of the nation’s other crying needs. Suddenly fiscal discipline will be the order of the day and the people who are suffering now will suffer more, and the nation’s long-term prospects will be further damaged as its long-term needs continue to be neglected.

When will we learn from history? Or will we ever? Time and time again an economic boom has followed a period of sustained infrastructure investment. We’re suffering now from both a failure of will and of imagination. Financier Felix Rohatyn once told Herbert that, “A modern economy needs a modern platform, and that’s the infrastructure.”

History tells us the same thing – are we, can we learn from history? I guess it remains to be seen.

The Power of a Dream

There is a documentary film out that is playing in select theaters around the country that has a powerful message. I haven’t seen it as yet, but the reviews and discussions about it are moving. Bob Herbert is one of those who has seen it and wrote about it in his Op-Ed column with the NYT today. The name of the film is “Pray the Devil Back to Hell”. It is the story of a woman and her family had endured the agony of civil war in Liberia who speaks of a dream she had in 2003 in which someone urged her to organize the women of her church to pray for peace. “A crazy dream,” she said.

It must have seemed like little more than wishful thinking and surely not much to fight back the forces of Charles Taylor, who was tyrannical president at the time and the brutally predatory rebels who were trying to oust him from power. Herbert says that the violence was excruciating. People were dying the tens of thousands, rape was commonplace, and children were starving. There were scenes showing even small children whose limbs had been amputated.

According to Herbert, for him it was about much more than the tragic and the ultimately uplifting events in Liberia. It was about the power of ordinary people to intervene in their own fate. Perhaps we could all learn a lesson from this movie. Not that our current problems could in any way be compared to what the people of Liberia suffered, but it does show what people with a common goal can achieve.

The film captures the almost unimaginable horror that war imposes on noncombatants; the looks of terror on the faces of people fleeing gunfire in the streets; children crouching and flinching, almost paralyzed with fear by the sound of nearby explosions; homes engulfed in flames.

It’s the kind of environment that breeds feelings of helplessness. But Leymah Gbowee, the woman who had the crazy dream, would have none of that. And she should most definitely be a lesson to all of us.

Ms. Gbowee not only rallied the women at her Lutheran church to pray for peace, but organized them into a full-blown, all-women peace initiative that spread to other Christian churches and then to women of the Muslim faith.

They wanted the madness stopped. They wanted an end to the maiming and the killing, especially the destruction of a generation of children. They wanted to eradicate the plague of rape. They wanted all the things that noncombatants crave whenever the warrior crowd – whether in the U.S., the Middle East, Asia –wherever – decides it’s time once again to break out the bombs and guns and let the mindless killing begin.

When the Liberian Christians reached out to “their Muslim sisters,” there was some fear on both sides that such an alliance could result in a dilution of faith. But the chaos and the killing had reached such extremes that the religious concerns were set aside in the interest of raising a powerful collective voice.

They had sit-ins, stand-ins; they moved out of the churches and mosques to demonstrate, to protest, to enlist all who would listen in the cause of peace. Working with practically no resources save their extraordinary will and intense desire to end the conflict, the women’s initial efforts evolved into a movement, the Liberian Mass Action for Peace.

Their headquarters was an open-air fish market in the capital, Monrovia. Thousands of women showed up daily, praying, waving signs, singing, dancing, chanting and agitation for peace. And nothing could stop their rallies at the market, not the fierce heat of the sun, not drenching rainstorms, nor the publicly expressed anger of Mr. Taylor, who was embarrassed by the protests. Oh, I bet he was pissed – my words this time, not Mr. Herberts!

But it worked! A tentative peace was established, Mr. Taylor went into exile in Nigeria. The women continued their activism. Three years ago, on Jan. 16,2006, in an absolutely thrilling triumph for the mothers and wives and sisters and aunts and grandmothers who had worked so courageously for peace, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf was sworn in as the president of Liberia – the first woman ever elected president of a country in Africa. Hey, sound familiar? Remember what we have just done? Okay, maybe we should take notice and make sure Obama has the support he needs so that he’s not forced into actions that already have people complaining about being disappointed in him. For God’s sake, for our sake, give him time and the support that he needs instead of the already steady flow of friggin’ criticism!

Liberia is hardly the world’s most stable society. But “Pray the Devil Back to Hell” reminds us of the incredible power available to the most ordinary of people if they are willing to act with courage and unwavering commitment. And let me underline in red, no bad mouthing a president in office for less than a month who is trying desperately to bring people together from both sides to bring about the change that we need. Not to mention our own Democrats who are behaving about as badly as I’ve ever seen! When does the nitpicking stop? When do people and politicians, for maybe once in their life, try to do what’s best for the country instead of squabbling? I have lots of questions, but not so much for Obama as for the rest of us.

To read the whole article without my big mouth, check out Herbert’s column for today.

What Are Politicians in General Thinking These Days??

I posted this briefly earlier, then took it off thinking that everyone is as sick of politics as I am, but that turning away from the things we don't want to think about, don't want to deal with is one of the reasons we're in the mess that we are today. So, I re-posted it. We can't afford to keeping looking away from things we don't want to think about and saying, 'there's nothing I can do anyway'. I will continue to post beautiful things because they are what give us the courage to do what we can about the ugly things not only in our own country but in the world today.

In the daily email yesterday morning that I get from MSNBC's Political Director, Chuck Todd, he seemed to be asking the same question. Unfortunately, the Democrats are acting as childish as the Republicans. This in turn leads me to want to ask, isn't our country's future more important that this petty, small-minded view that seems to be running rampant in Washington right now?

Despite Obama traveling to Capitol Hill to meet with them in private, despite including one of their former members (Ray LaHood) in his cabinet, and despite inviting their leaders over for cocktails last night at the White House, not a single House Republican voted for the stimulus package, which cleared the House yesterday by a 244-188 vote. Predicting that GOP outcome before the vote, the Washington Post notes, House Republican Leader John Boehner put his finger and thumb together to signal the big, fat "O" -- zero. House GOP leaders seemed to go out of their way to make sure reporters knew the message they were sending was directed at Speaker Pelosi, not the president. (As one snarkily noted to First Read, the president met with House Republicans on the stimulus bill more times than Pelosi did). But how closely does the American public follow congressional politics? Won't this look like they are snubbing a president who just days ago reached out to them? Republicans are taking a risk by looking so defiant, especially if this package ends up working. The last thing the GOP needs is another "O" -- obstructionist" -- being tagged to them.

Another Obama Olive Branch: That said, in his statement last night, Obama said that he wants "to strengthen" the stimulus plan before it gets to his desk. It was an interesting word choice and yet another olive branch to House Republicans. (And get this -- Obama didn't include the words "Democrat" or "Democratic" in his statement.) There are a number of Democrats scratching their heads at the House GOP goose egg; we even learned that LaHood was calling his fellow House Republican asking for them to support the legislation. After all, the president has a 70% job approval rating and the package itself has the support of a majority of Americans, who in general appear to believe they want government to do something -- rather than nothing -- when it comes to the economy. Interestingly, the president may have his own issues to deal with in his own party. The more defiant Democrats are thinking, "I told you so," when it comes his GOP outreach efforts. In addition, we've been hearing chatter from congressional Democrats that they'd like the president to act as concerned about winning their support as he acts when it comes to the Republicans. Meanwhile, a coalition of liberal groups is launching a new ad campaign that urges moderate Republican senators to support the economic stimulus.

Status Quo You Can Believe In? Just askin', but what kind of message would the GOP be sending after its 2008 losses by keeping Mitch McConnell as Senate leader, keeping John Boehner as House leader, and keeping Mike Duncan as RNC chair? If that all happens, it's an odd message to send to the party and American voters. Not much change.

Presidential Library

This is Friday, the end of an incredible week for our country and this is my last shot at the former president.

The George W Bush Presidential Library is now in the planning stages
and accepting donations.

The Library will include:
The Hurricane Katrina Room, which is still under construction.
The Alberto Gonzales Room, where you won't be able to remember
anything.
The Texas Air National Guard Room, where you don't even have to show up.
The Walter Reed Hospital Room, where they don't let you in.
The Guantanamo Bay Room, where they don't let you out.
The Weapons of Mass Destruction Room, which no one has been able to find.
The National Debt Room, which is huge and has no ceiling.
The Tax Cut Room, with entry only to the wealthy.
The Economy Room, which is in the toilet.
The Iraq War Room. (After you complete your first visit, they make you
to go back for a second, third, fourth, and sometimes fifth visit.)
The Dick Cheney Room, in the famous undisclosed location, complete with shotgun gallery.
The Environmental Conservation Room, still empty.
The Supreme Gift Shop, where you can buy an election.
The Decider Room, complete with dart board, magic 8-ball, Ouija board, dice, coins, and straws.
Note: The library will feature an electron microscope to help you locate and view the President's accomplishments.

The library will also include many famous Quotes by George W. Bush:

'The vast majority of our imports come from outside the country.'
'If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure.'
'Republicans understand the importance of bondage between a mother and child.'
'No senior citizen should ever have to choose between prescription drugs and medicine.'
'I believe we are on an irreversible trend toward more freedom and democracy - but that could change.'
'One word sums up probably the responsibility of any Governor, and that one word is 'to be prepared'.'
'Verbosity leads to unclear, inarticulate things.'
'I have made good judgments in the past. I have made good judgments in the future.'
'The future will be better tomorrow.'
'We're going to have the best educated American people in the world.'
'One of the great things about books is sometimes there are some
fantastic pictures.' (during an education photo-op)
'Illegitimacy is something we should talk about in terms of not having it.'
'We are ready for any unforeseen event that may or may not occur.'
'It isn't pollution that's harming the environment. It's the impurities in our air and water that are doing it.'
'I stand by all the misstatements that I've made.'...George W. Bush to
Sam Donaldson
PLEASE GIVE GENEROUSLY!

A New Age, A New Way

In his Op-Ed column this morning, Nicholas Kristof, took a look at the remaking of America. He started out with a memory of the Web site The Onion, that deals in satire and in January of 2001 at the end of Bill Clinton’s presidency, it declared “Our long national nightmare of peace and prosperity is over. But what was designed as satire actually proved to be a very shrewd analysis. One measure of the bleak picture of the past eight years is that today The Onion looks equally astute when it says of the latest transition: “Black man given nation’s worst job.”
That man is making an excellent start, and news Web sites all over the world reflect the globe’s eagerness – even desperation – for American leadership.

The Guardian in Britain declared, “Let the remaking of America begin today.” The Independent called Inauguration Day “a day for hope.” In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke of “a truly great hour for America” that offered “a multitude of opportunities.” The Times of India welcomed “a new beginning.” And in Northern Ireland, The Belfast Telegraph asked: “Can Obama save us all?” A BBC poll in 17 nations found that on average 67 percent believed that President Obama would improve America’s relations with the rest of the world; only 5 percent thought the opposite (or maybe feared that if they seemed critical of George W. Bush, they would be waterboarded).

Kristof says that two themes were particularly reassuring in Mr. Obama’s Inaugural Address. One was his inclusiveness, his effort to tug people into his big tent, a huge contrast from Mr. Bush’s years of governing from and ideological pup tent.

His inclusiveness started with his celebration of America as a patchwork of “Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus – and non-believers.” As far as Mr. Kristof knows, no other sitting president has dared to embrace atheists. (Thomas Jefferson did, but not while in office). President Obama was also the first president to use the word “Muslim” in an Inaugural Address. One of the important statements which was taken to be directed toward Iran and Syria, was “We will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.”

The Bush/Cheney years put all the emphasis on “hard power” according to Joseph Nye, a Harvard professor, and they relied on “military hard power” and the result was set backs around the world.

According to David Sanger in his new book “The Inheritance”: “We pursued a path that has left us less admired by our allies, less feared by our enemies, and less capable of convincing the rest of the world that our economic and political model is worthy of emulation.”

The first attempt at soft power is the new White House Web site, complete with a White House blog. And in his speech he focused on soft power alongside hard power: “Our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.” I don’t know about you but, I don’t ever remember hearing any of the leaders of the Bush administration talk about “humility and restraint”. And tempering qualities? Cheney never wanted to temper anything, including his temper!

Professor Nye said that Mr. Obama’s inaugural was a perfect example of smart power. “That’s not going to make our adversaries roll over, but it’ll help in terms of mainstream Muslims and it’ll help in terms of allies. And it’ll give a very different tone to foreign policy.”

Roger Cohen, also of the New York Times, sat 30 feet from the podium and said that while Obama was not at his most uplifting, nor inspiring as he called in sober tones for a new “spirit of service” that will renew America and, through it, the world. And that was not a put down, Obama was making a point, there’s too much work to do for high rhetorical flourish. It was a spare inaugural speech, but there were still powerful phrases and signals that together amounted to an attempt to re-imagine a nation in crisis.

Responsibility, restraint, humility, peace: this is not the hatitual vocabulary of America’s heroic narrative. It constitutes a new lexicon of American power. Are Americans ready to die for responsibility? Perhaps not, but they may well seek dialogue in its name. “The world has changed – and we must change with it,” Obama said. Even change has changed now: no longer a clarion call, it is a responsibility.

Nicholas Kristof and Roger Cohen’s columns are so worth reading today, I would urge you to read them in them in their entirety.

Cheney's Innocent??

Everyone is getting ready for the big day now just days away. Everyone is either talking or writing about the horror that was or the hope to be. Maureen Dowd had her usual sharp tongue look in the OpEd section in the NYT this morning have to admit I enjoyed these opening remarks about Cheney in particular.

"In the past week, I’ve twice been close enough to Dick Cheney to kick him in the shins.

I didn’t. It’s probably a federal crime of some sort. But a girl can fantasize. I did, however, assume the Stay-away-from-me-you’ve-got-cooties stance that Jimmy Carter used when posing with Bill Clinton at the presidents’ powwow in the Oval.

The first time was Tuesday, when Cheney left the ceremony where he gave the oath of office to senators. The senators seemed thrilled, especially Joe Biden, who was getting sworn in for just two weeks and was excitedly showing off a family Bible the size of a Buick. But I thought it gave the ceremony a satirical edge to have the lawless Vice presiding over lawmakers swearing to support and defend the Constitution that he soiled and defiled — right in the heart of the legislative branch he worked to diminish."

Cheney does indeed seem to be denying he had anything to do with Dubya's decisions, that he most definitely didn't manipulate him, that it was Bush's administration all the way. At a going away party for Fox's Brit Hume, Cheney, Wolfie and Rummy, all three, were holding court and appeared blissfully unrepentant about the chaos they’ve unleashed on the world. Hey, they weren't the president, it was all Bushie's doings. I wonder if there are really people who believe that?

Asked by People magazine what moments from the last eight years he revisited most often, W. talked passionately about the pitch he threw out at the World Series in 2001: “I never felt that anxious any other time during my presidency, curiously enough.” Yep, sounds about right to me!

I guess the only thing I can hope for at this time is that we can move forward after the 20th, but it isn't going to be easy or as quick as anyone would like. The legacy the Bush/Cheney administration has left us is one that has all but destroyed this country and everything we would like to believe we stand for.

January 20th can't get here too fast for me!

Happily, He's Almost Gone!

Frank Rich has an excellent OpEd piece this morning and I urge you to read it. This is just a glimpse.

"We like our failed presidents to be Shakespearean, or at least large enough to inspire Oscar-worthy performances from magnificent tragedians like Frank Langella. So here, too, George W. Bush has let us down. Even the banality of evil is too grandiose a concept for 43. He is not a memorable villain so much as a sometimes affable second banana whom Josh Brolin and Will Ferrell can nail without breaking a sweat. He's the reckless Yalie Tom Buchanan, not Gatsby. He is smaller than life.

The last NBC/Wall Street Journal poll on Bush's presidency found that 79 percent of Americans will not miss him after he leaves the White House. He is being forgotten already, even if he's not yet gone. You start to pity him until you remember how vast the wreckage is. It stretches from the Middle East to Wall Street and even into the heavesn, which have been a saafe haven for toxins under his passive stewardship. The discrepancy between the grandeur of the failure and the stature of the man is a puzzlement. We are still trying to compute it."

The whole article is worth reading. It just makes me wonder all over again how this man was ever elected president -- but then he wasn't really, was he? More squirrelly politics and too many people not paying attention, too much shoulder shrugging. I do hope we've learned the lesson to be learned here. And I hope somewhere along the line we get an improved voting system.

The Party of Whiners

From Alberto Gonzales to Rush Limbaugh and everyone in between, the Republican Party is whining as Obama prepares to move into the White House. So, Bush just had bad luck with bad things happening on his watch? Or maybe the GOP’s bad luck just happened to send Bush to the White House in the first place???

But according to Paul Krugman, click here to read his entire column; and I agree, the fault lies with the Republican party itself. Forty years ago the GOP decided, in effect, to make itself the party of racial backlash. And everything that has happened in recent years, from the choice of Mr. Bush as their champion, to the pervasive incompetence of his administration, to the party’s shrinking base, is a consequence of that decision. The conservative think tanks such as the Heritage Foundation specifically urged the new 2000 team to make appointments based on loyalty first and expertise second.

There was contempt for expertise and it in turn rested on contempt for government in general. Ronald Reagan declared that “Government is not the solution to our problem, Government IS the problem. So why worry about governing well?

The Republicans back in the 80s began to take advantage of the situation in the south which originally focused on opposition to the Voting Rights Act but eventually took a more coded form: “You’re getting so abstract now you’re talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you’re talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is blacks get hurt worse than whites.” Or, government is the problem because it takes your money and gives it to Those People.

Krugman says the racial element isn’t all that abstract, even now: Chip Saltsman, currently a candidate for the chairmanship of the Republican National Committee, sent committee members a CD including a song titled “Barack the Magic Negro” and according to some reports, the controversy over his action has actually helped his chances! Is that outrageous or what!

Still there are some commentators warning President-elect Obama against bold action and have held up Clinton’s political failures in his first two years as a cautionary tale.

But America today is very different country from what it was in 1993 – not just a country that had yet to see what happens when conservatives control all three branches of government, but also a country in which Democratic control of Congress depended on the votes of Southern conservatives. Today, Republicans have taken away almost all those Southern votes – and lost the rest of the country. It was, indeed, a grand ride for a while, but in the end the Southern strategy led the GOP into a cul-de-sac.

Krugman believes that Obama has room to be bold. If Republicans try a 1992-style strategy of attacking him for promoting big government, they’ll learn two things: not only has the financial crisis discredited their economic theories, the racial subtext of anti-government rhetoric doesn’t play the way it used to.

Of course Republicans will make a comeback, that’s a given. But barring some huge missteps by Obama, that's not likely to happen until they stop whining and look at what really went wrong. When and if they do that they will discover that they need to get in touch with the real “real America,” a country that is more diverse, more tolerant, and more demanding of effective government than is dreamt of in their political philosophy.

Obama has an enormous task ahead of him and while I surely wouldn’t want to be in his shoes, I do have total confidence that he has the wisdom, the courage, the foresight and the determination to lead this country out of the incredible mess we find ourselves in today due to the contempt that the Republicans have had for government in general.

Inspiring Words

Several people have mentioned Roger Cohen's Op-Ed column in the New York Times on their blogs today and I would like to add my recommendation. It is inspiring. Take a few minutes, you'll be glad you did.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/06/opinion/06Cohen.html?th&emc=th

Let's Give Our American Eagle a Reason to Scream for Joy!

Make sure you vote! Vote for Barack Obama!