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November 30, 2008

Race relations in the age of Obama

Several days ago the Portland Tribune published a very interesting piece on their website. I just wrote about the main theme in it over at Blue Oregon. But I'd like to breech the subtheme of the piece here. Which is race relations. Specifically, I'm thinking of African Americans.

A mile south of Geneva’s, on MLK, Nate Jackson, owner of ’N The Cut barber shop, still can’t shake the image of a young black customer who came in shortly after election day.

’N The Cut has been open only a few months, and Jackson’s shop has begun drawing a young crowd that sometimes hangs out in the afternoon. One of those kids on a Thursday afternoon was a high school junior, a newcomer. After his haircut, Jackson says, the young man asked where he could get something to eat nearby.

Told of a Popeye’s fried chicken restaurant down the block, Jackson says, the young man responded, “I don’t eat chicken.”

And that, Jackson says, led to a heated discussion.

The young man, Jackson says, was equating fried chicken on MLK with a stereotype that he refused to accept in a post-Obama election world.

“He had this new arrogance I’d never seen before, and I think it was because of Barack Obama,” Jackson says. “He was basically saying, ‘I don’t want to be referred to as a minority.’

“This should be recorded for history,” Jackson says. “He’s crossed a barrier. He said it with such a snap – ‘I’m not black. I’m African American. You can’t refer to me as black. That’s in the past.’”

One of the things that I really was curious about as I wandered around the DPO shindig at the Convention Center in Portland was how African Americans felt about Obama's win. I didn't have the courage to... what I thought would be intruding by asking. But there were plenty of African Americans working at the Convention Center as well as many attending the DPO thang. When McCain was giving his concession speech I remember looking around and watching the faces of the African Americans I could see nearby, nearly consumed with curiosity and wonder at how they felt about it all.

Chad Debnam, quoted in the Tribune piece, had a very interesting reaction.

Debnam, who is black, calls himself a Frederick Douglass Republican, after the 19th century abolitionist. He says he voted for Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, both Bushes and Bob Dole. In fact, Barack Obama is the first Democratic presidential candidate for whom Debnam has voted.

Debnam says he attended a Portland State University basketball game two weeks ago and sat next to a couple, both white. He’s sure they behaved differently toward him, and he’s sure it was because of Obama’s election and the overwhelming support Obama received in Portland.

“A lot of the time you see people and they’re defensive,” Debnam says. “It’s like, ‘What do you want?’ They were open. (They thought) ‘I can now talk to this guy because you’re not going to call me a bigot or a racist, because I support Obama, too.’ ”

I sure hope he's right. I think he is. But all I really know is that he noticed what few seem to and that is that race relations are and always have been about the whole equation and not just one part of it.

So what do you think?

Posted by Kevin at 06:55 PM |

November 26, 2008

Free at Last!

That's got to be what Alan Colmes is thinking right now, having announced that he is leaving Sean Hannity's side on Fox News after 12 years of what I can only imagine would have been sheer torture for most people. After all, Hannity is nearly as unbearably pompous as Bill O'Reilly, and Colmes has continuously been the unlucky recipient of right-wing venting and left-wing harrassment for not fighting back hard enough. When Colmes talks about "wing nuts," he knows better than most what a "wing nut" is.

Can you imagine spending 12 years as the convenient punching bag for the kind of people who worship Sean Hannity? And yet, Colmes has remained polite and decent at all times, smiling in the face of an onslaught of venom from both sides. It's been an amazing spectacle, and one I will definitely miss.

If you have appreciated his patience as much as I have, you might also enjoy checking out his website: alan.com. His Thanksgiving post will come in handy for those whose family gatherings involve putting up with smug statements of "fact" by ignorant wing nut relatives about liberals. In my opinion, the site does a great job pointing out the wing nuttery, defending its victims, setting the facts straight, and shining a light on the critical inconsistencies - and true to form, Colmes remains patient and smiling all the way.

Posted by Becky at 02:45 PM |

Whew! Obama Listens to Organic Consumers

If you ever think your voice doesn't matter, consider this: last week, thousands of organic consumers called and emailed President-Elect Obama to ask him to withdraw his nomination of former Biotech "Governor of the Year" Tom Vilsack for USDA Secretary of Agriculture because of his history of support for Monsanto, cloning, and genetically modified foods -- and Obama listened! I must say it concerns me that the man was nominated in the first place, but at least he's no longer in the running. A handy list of alternatives is available if you're interested in lobbying the next President on this important appointment.

By the way, all you foodies for Obama will enjoy this blog, which I found this morning while reading up a little on this issue: ObamaFoodorama. And being a restaurant owner, I am particularly interested in the Obamas' search for a White House chef. It's a neat little glimpse into a facet of White House operations that people don't often think about.

Posted by Becky at 07:50 AM |

November 25, 2008

Forget fantasy football. Fantasy chefs is the new rage

With the impending change in federal administrations the buzz in some circles is over who will end up Top Chef. As both a foodie and a political junky, I have to say that as issues go, this one is just about nirvana for me.

Tim Ryan, president of the C.I.A., has a superb suggestion:

Though he says speculation about celebrity chefs is "like engaging in fantasy football," he believes the Obamas will seize the opportunity to do make changes. He suggests another CIA grad as a candidate - John Doherty, executive chef at New York's Waldorf-Astoria hotel - but said Obama could also shake things up with a rotating cast of big name chefs for state dinners, much in the same way John F. Kennedy invited famed artists and performers to the White House.

"Chefs are great performers. So to take a page from Kennedy's playbook and recognize the artistic performances of the culinary greats, each state dinner could be organized by different high-profile chefs," he said.

That way, Obama could bring in chefs like Thomas Keller and Jonathan Beno - the first American chefs to be granted three Michelin stars - molecular gastronomy guru Grant Achatz or Ethiopian-born Marcus Samuelson of Aquavit restaurant. Such an arrangement would allow the president to "capture some of the star power but in a practical and realistic way," Ryan said.

The first thing that I can remember wanting to be when I grew up was a politician. The second was a chef. I've never cooked for a living, which may be why I enjoy it so much. But it seems to me that the job of Top Chef would have to be an exceptionally challenging one at times - particularly during a State Dinner. Food has to be mass-prepared but has to taste like it wasn't mass-prepared. And as anyone who has spent much time in a kitchen knows, timing is critical. You can't just leave prepared food under a heat lamp for any considerable period and expect it to taste it's best. Lots of seafood, for example, has a very narrow prime where it's neither undercooked nor overcooked. Anything either side of that narrow prime simply doesn't have the taste or, more importantly, the texture one expects of a premium meal. And you can't be serving cafeteria-style food to the most important people on the planet while the reputation of your entire country rest at least partly on how dazzling the meal is. So, it's gotta be very, very challenging to pull off.

The political junkie in me likes the idea of Obama retaining the current Top Chef. But the foodie in me very much likes Tim Ryan's rotating celebrity chefs idea because it would highlight our nation's gastronomic standing in the world. And what foodie wouldn't approve of that?

Posted by Kevin at 02:28 PM |

Dueling approaches to religious Xmas displays

Oregon does it one way, Washington another. Personally, I see merit to both approaches but don't believe for a second that the TheoCons will ever be happy short of turning this nation into a theocracy.

Posted by Kevin at 02:26 PM |

November 20, 2008

Might Fred Phelps have a small point?

I know, I know... he's a whack-job, I agree. And it seems he's coming to Oregon next week to spread his special version of whack-jobbiness in our neck of the woods.

Check the link for Phelps' itinerary while in Oregon. The first stop at PSU is what captured my attention.

You know this so-called institution of higher-learning has a Queer (I thought they did not like being called that) Resource Center and they include fags in their affirmative action policy and nondiscrimination policy and that (wait for it) they have gender neutral bathrooms?

Gender neutral bathrooms... I imagine there are probably lots of people who would be uncomfortable using a communal gender-neutral bathroom without necessarily hating gays. Rape victims, for example.

I'm not saying that PSU's gender-neutral bathrooms are communal. They may not be. I honestly don't know. But there are colleges which do have communal gender-neutral bathrooms.

I guess what I would like to see explored here is the upper limits of Kume-bye-yah inclusiveness and to what extent, if any, those who may not agree with all of it risk running afowl of societal expectations.

Your thoughts?

Posted by Kevin at 12:19 PM |

November 18, 2008

Lieberman keeps post, Merkley expresses reservations

The Senate Democratic Caucus voted to give Senator Lieberman a slap-on-the-wrist rather than take away his chairmanship of the Homeland Security Committee.

One senator, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the meeting was private, said Lieberman spoke openly about the rejection he faced in 2006, when many Democrats supported his opponent during the Connecticut Senate race.

"He spoke earnestly of the pain he felt when he was rejected by the Democratic Party in his re-election and in turn, the rejection he felt from many in the caucus who campaigned against him after decades and decades of friendship," the lawmaker said. "And that put him in a very different place approaching the 2008 election and John McCain was the only candidate for president who asked for his support."

My recollection is that he got pretty strong support from several key Dems during the Connecticut Primary race. It was primarily in the General Election that Dems campaigned for the Democratic nominee. And what else were they supposed to do - campaign against their own party's nominee?

Senator-Elect Merkley (gawd I love saying that!) was questioned by the AP reporter after the caucus vote.

Senator-elect Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., was critical of Lieberman at the caucus and said afterward in a statement that he was "very personally disappointed by his conduct during the campaign." He wouldn't say how he voted on the resolution.

"Serving as a committee chairman is a privilege, not an entitlement and I expressed those views during today's meeting," Merkley said. "Beyond that, I hope we can move forward as a caucus to do the work we were elected to do."

He's right about it being a privilege, not an entitlement. But what's done is done and moving forward is the only pragmatic thing to do at this point. So Merkley is already demonstrating the kind of competence that I'd want to see from my Senator.

Posted by Kevin at 02:16 PM |

Hagel unleashed

Outgoing Senator Chuck Hagel (R-Nebraska) isn't interested in playing nice with the GOP just yet. He called out Rush Limbaugh specifically with a heavy dose of sarcasm.

We are educated by the great entertainers like Rush Limbaugh," said Hagel, sarcastically referencing the talk radio host who once called him "Senator Betrayus." "You know, I wish Rush Limbaugh and others like that would run for office. They have so much to contribute and so much leadership and they have an answer for everything. And they would be elected overwhelmingly," he offered. "[The truth is] they try to rip everyone down and make fools of everybody but they don't have any answers."

Read the rest at HuffPo

Posted by Kevin at 11:09 AM |

November 17, 2008

the wind of change

Just because...

I actually intended to do some research this afternoon/evening for a post and I heard a song on the radio earlier today that I thought would tie in perfectly. So when I got home I went looking for a clip of it. One thing led to another and I ended up digging through YouTube and found an accoustic version of one of the most beautiful songs ever written.

The Scorpions - Wind of Change.

Update: This is interesting. Via Wikipedia...

Military uses
The song has been in use for a number of years by the British Army, upon completing phase 1 training, new solders to the Royal Signals see this song, with a re-done video, to show the true realities of war to new soldiers. This includes a number of graphic deaths of civilians. This video is also shown at the ADSC Glencorse.

After the jump... the song that I'd originally been looking for.

The under-appreciated Shooting Star - Last Chance.

This is a recent iteration of Shooting Star and this performance isn't as tight as the original 1979 track that the radio stations play, but it's the best one I could find.

Posted by Kevin at 08:59 PM |

November 14, 2008

I.O.U.S.A.

This is the condensed version of I.O.U.S.A. The Movie. 30 minutes long but well worth such an insignificant investment of time.

This is serious, folks. Very, very serious.

Posted by Kevin at 06:20 PM |

November 13, 2008

McCain stoops even lower

"I'd never seen anything like that ad. Putting pictures of Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden next to the picture of a man who left three limbs on the battlefield -- it's worse than disgraceful. It's reprehensible."
-- Sen. John McCain (R - Vietnam Vet), quoted by CNN, on the campaign ads used by Saxby Chambliss (R - Chickenhawk) against Sen. Max Cleland (D - Vietnam Vet) in the 2002 U.S. Senate race in Georgia.

Ever the man of principle, McCain is scheduled to campaign for Chickenhawk Chambliss against another Vietnam Vet - Jim Martin (D) in the Georgia Senate Run-Off election.

If you are as tired of the same old "do as I say, not as I do" politics that have turned our nation's capital into a cesspool then join me in donating money to Jim Martin's campaign. It's the least that the unrepentant Chambliss deserves.

(hat tip: Carla)

Posted by Kevin at 08:37 AM |

November 11, 2008

Stop the Viral Pandemic

I repeatedly have seen in the news over the past couple of years reports of the federal, state and local governments preparing for a global viral pandemic. Whether bird flu or smallpox or some other super-bug, plans are underway to prepare for tracking, quarantining, etc. to ensure the survival of the human race. Even the movies are rife with the theme. But I think we're preparing for the wrong kind of virus. There's another far more dangerous one that is spreading rapidly. If left unchecked, I think it just could lead to the end of the United States of America as we know it.

That virus is the lethal combination of extremism and hatred, and it exists on both the left and the right. It spreads easily and turns its victims into mind-numbed zombies (a.k.a. "dittoheads").

The primary infectors on the right - Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity - are right now working feverishly to defeat the only cure for this virus.

The only safety we have is to quarantine the zombies and those who have created them. We must turn them off, tune them out, and disengage from them before they push us one way or the other into hate-filled, reactionary extremism. We must move forward with hope toward healing this divided nation. Those who choose to remain infected must be left behind.

If we don't, I fear a civil war is the inevitable result.

Posted by Becky at 07:42 PM |

Why My Uncle Voted for Barack Obama

The other day, my mother emailed me a brief paper she had received from my uncle explaining why he decided to vote for Barack Obama for President. Being that he is exceptionally bright, is a very successful entrepreneur, has served his country in war time, and is a genuinely good and thoughtful man, I personally give a lot of weight to what he has to say. And I am very grateful that he has agreed to let me post his piece here for you to read and discuss.

Many of our readers would have voted for the Democratic candidate, no matter who that person was. Some Americans, however, had a much more difficult choice to make. I think it is beneficial to consider why some people broke from their party to vote for our next President, Barack Obama.

An Old Friend

Goodbye old friend. My earliest recollection of you occurred when I was watching TV at the Nelson’s across the street. Claude Nelson had one of the very first TVs in Winnemucca, and there I was, a 10-year old kid, viewing the election returns that portended a landslide re-election victory for Ike against Adlai Stevenson and Estes Kefauver. This event occurred almost 52 years ago to the day.

The emotions that struck me at the time were the way Americans seemed to come together and backed the President, no matter what party, after the election was over. We were fighting a “Cold War” against a communist enemy who wanted to dominate the world with their oppressive and evil system of government. Times were much simpler then. Everything seemed to be black and white. The United States had just 11 years earlier saved the world for the second time by ousting the fascists Hitler and Tojo from power. The United States represented all of the attributes befitting its status as the leader of the free world — democracy, free market capitalism with core values, an effective and free press, technology, celebration of the Judaic-Christian tradition, rule of law, patriotism, and a morality of right against wrong that the world had never seen before. Yes, a 200-year old experiment in governance, in values, and in opportunity was thriving and the envy of all nations. At least that was my America. Oh, sure, there were flaws that we ignored in areas such as race relations and other things, but it was irreversibly the way I saw it then. Other perceptions are valid too. I am only describing mine. I loved the flag. I loved the country. Still do. No one can take that away from me. I also loved the way we used to be able to respectfully communicate with each other, no matter the differences.

Tweaks in the armor that was the United States came in the Vietnam era. As Bobby Dylan said, “The times they are a changin’.” And indeed, they were. Lyndon Johnson lied to us. More tweaks. Watergate. More wounds thrust. Gradual, subtle changes overtook my idealistic notion of America. But, our enemy continued to be evil and godless (a metaphor of good versus evil, not a statement on religion). Then in the darkest of days, the end of the Carter years when all was bleak, and dark, and failing, a man came along and talked about “It is morning in America” and “America is a shining city on a hill.” For a period I felt as though we had recaptured that nobility of country that I had known in my youth. And, we indeed did recapture it. Our mortal enemy fell. Now we had the tools to lead the way to even greater glories for all. Our technology was second to none. Our economic, political, military, and moral leadership was beyond dispute. Then, something terrible began to happen under our noses.

A subtle, gradual, almost unnoticeable change began to take place in our country. What was right for America was no longer right for the world. But we fought that notion. Core values disappeared. Ego replaced service in the highest positions of government, politics, business, labor, law, and journalism. Discord replaced civility. “Gotcha” became the cruel game of dominance. The morality bars were consistently lowered. Citizens lost respect for each other. The political parties became toxic, self-serving, unaccountable, and morally bereft. Individual dialog became angry, nonsensical, and filled with hate. Special interests ruled all. We drove away our old friends in the world. The rest of the world lost respect for us. Sound bites and manipulation became substitutes for thoroughness and truth. Common sense took a back seat. Bi-partisanship died. All applicable groups, individuals, and actions for this demise were to blame — presidents, congresses, courts, lobbyists, ideologues, the media, multi-national businesses, labor unions, greed, fear, anger, intimidation, and lack of accountability. In short, we have landed on the precipice that many years earlier Abraham Lincoln had warned us about. “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” And here we stand today right on the edge. It is not all Bush’s fault. It is not all the Democratic Congress or the Republican Congress before it's fault. It is not all the greed of Wall Street speculators' fault. It is not all government’s fault. It is not all the consumer’s fault. But all of these institutions and people within the institutions and many more played a role in the collapse of our society (yes, I did say collapse).

And so, I tearfully say goodbye to the nobility that was. I say goodbye to those principles that made America great. And, I say hello to a new age that has irreversibly and inevitably thrust itself upon us. It is an age which will give us great cause for hope and optimism and inclusion for all. But, it will be a new adventure. It is a future filled with great challenge, perhaps greater than ever. And, it will be different than anything we have known. What worked in the past can continue to be our guiding light. But the pathology that we have infected ourselves with must go and it must go now.

Senator McCain. You have my deepest respect. You represent all that is noble and great about America. No one can demean your record of accomplishment and service. In my humble opinion, you are the best candidate for President we have seen in many years. But, alas, your time has past. It grieves me to say that. We have to find a new way. Barack Obama has the tools to be the leader we need, just as Ronald Reagan had the tools that we needed then. You can lead us to new types of understanding. I pray that you do. We can’t bomb our way into dominance any more. We cannot refuse to sit down and talk with anybody in this new and small world. Done correctly, the world will follow us in bringing down the rogues. It always has and it will again. And, we can bring down these rogues without firing a shot. We can stop being the “Ugly American.” We can’t spend the money we have been spending being the world’s policeman. And, above all else we cannot do anything by ourselves ever again unless it meets a universal acceptance as the right, moral, and ethical thing to do. To paraphrase Dylan, “The times, they have changed.” We cannot go back to the simpler time as much as I would like us to. We must emerge from this present chaos and reorganize ourselves at a higher level of human consciousness.

So, this old friend that I have described is the metaphor best represented by John McCain, the nobility of all that has been the successful portion of the American experiment. The good won’t leave us, but it will transcend the bad that has befallen us and move upward to greater heights and include ever more minions of our fellow human beings. Only Obama has the potential of making such a change at this time. It is time to heal. And, on that basis, I will cast my vote for Barack Obama and pray that he rises above his broken party and our broken system to lead us once again as a united people with the most honorable of intentions and actions. To President Obama, I will be watching. I will be wishing you success. And, I will help you in all ways that I am able if you show the leadership of which I believe you are capable. And to you Senator McCain, continue to fight the good fight in concert with Barack Obama. I know you will. You are a cherished American and I wish you well for always.

Posted by Becky at 08:12 AM |

November 10, 2008

Trans-Siberian Orchestra, what an experience!

Yesterday my teenage daughter and I saw TSO at the Rose Garden.

WOW!!

I've seen a lot of rock concerts in my day and this was definitely a top-tier show. Essentially it's classic music meets "hair metal" gods with a long Christmas story prefacing the intoxicating combination that comprises the second half of their show. The Idaho Statesman (TSO is playing Napa tonight) reviewer Michael Deeds succinctly sums up what TSO is about.

The show is split into two long segments. The first part is TSO's prog-rock opera "Christmas Eve & Other Stories," which features a narrator weaving a tale of angels and peace on Earth.

The second half is a sonic boom: TSO unleashes everything from Beethoven's Fifth (underscored by enough pyrotechnics to make Rammstein proud) to the melodramatic "Carmina Burana."

Yeah, he's not kidding about the pyrotechnics. TSO founder Paul O'Neill told the Miami Sun-Sentinel a couple days ago that they drop "a million dollars every two weeks just on explosives"!

TSO is in such high demand during the Christmas season that they actually have two seperate bands touring at once so that they can meet the demand. It's hard to tell which band we saw in Portland but I believe it included founder Paul O'Neil, who apparently destroyed his knee a few days ago, via onstage antics at a show, and played co-AxeMan from a comfy looking computer chair set back slightly from the front of the stage where the main action was. Paul and his partner in crime... er... co-AxeMan Angus Clark are as skilled and tight in performance as any major rock 'n roll lead guitarist I've ever seen. Perhaps not quite on the level of Eddie Van Halen (who I've seen twice) in terms of ingenuity. But they're both easily as competent at doing what they do as he is and could easily front any band out there if they wanted to.

If you ever get a chance to see Trans-Siberian Orchestra... do yourself a huge favor and leap at the opportunity. They are phenominal!

Posted by Kevin at 11:12 AM |

November 08, 2008

Guest Essay: More Nails, Please

More Nails, Please
By Sankara Saranam

There are still quite a few nails to be hammered into the coffin of the Republican Party and its version of conservatism, warped as it is by what must be the quintessential wedding from hell: bride radical Christian fundamentalism married to groom corporatism. Here are my nails of choice:

First, the Democratic Congress must enact new voting laws that insist on a paper trail in all elections.

Second, Congress must make voting for national elections obligatory, with a substantial tax levied on individuals who fail to vote.

Third, in its education bill, Congress must require all high schools to institute, starting in the 9th grade, mandatory history courses on the religions of the world. For too long have Americans been ignorant in this department. This subject is too important to be left to colleges and the world is too small to consider such academic matter an elective.

It would also be nice is Karl Marx is read in high schools, at least to show how far Americans -- and President Obama -- are from Marx's economic model (unless you are in the US Army). No one need be taught to agree with Marx, but two things become clear from reading him with any depth of understanding: Marx was a philosophical humanitarian and one of the greatest thinkers that ever lived. Marxists in the past might have made a dirty word of Marxism by their actions, which were anything but Marxist, but the same could be said of Christian followers of the Greek's Golden Rule (later preached in the New Testament), which is not tarnished by hypocrites.

Besides, Marx received a great deal of inspiration from ... Benjamin Franklin, and aren't we all Franklinists? (Sadly, no.)

Fourth, Congress must make scientific sex education mandatory for all students, starting in the 7th grade.

Fifth, Congress must strengthen US public education entirely, making it competitive not only with private schools in the US, but with the high standards of schooling found around the world.

Sixth, President Obama must go full throttle with his bottom-up tax plan. As the economic benefits to our society from its implementation become unmistakable, they will illustrate, once and for all, that "trickle down" theory and deregulation not only do not work, but are ruses that permit greed, do not promote self-regulation, and keep the majority of Americans locked in a modern form of servitude to the wealthy.

Seventh, President Obama must similarly go full steam ahead with a universal healthcare plan.

Eighth, President Obama must bring our troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan. He must concurrently be willing to open diplomatic relations with any world leader, all the time.

Ninth, President Obama must insist that Israel obey international law and cease and desist as an occupying force in Palestine. Terrorism in the name of Allah, perpetrated against the United States, will become a concern of the past.

Tenth, President Obama must, in his first term, cut the number of US military bases around the globe in half. America must quit its dead- end job as the world's police.

Eleventh, Congress must nationally set the age of consent to 15 for young men and women. Science has shown beyond a shadow of a doubt that there is no more direct assault on misogyny the disempowering of women, the reptilian drive toward pyramidal stratification of power, and the tendencies toward superstition and belligerence -- key elements of Christian fundamentalism and corporatism -- than permitting and even encouraging our youth to explore their sexuality.

Twelfth, in relation to the issue of global destabilization from warming, Congress must provide subsidies for contraception around the world and serious incentives to women who undergo permanent sterilization. Of course, supporting green technologies and jobs, while stripping non-renewable energy of all tax breaks and incentives, should go without saying.

And finally, just a minor thing. President Obama must take back the Federal Government's power from the Federal Reserve to mint its own money, interest free.

A little payback to the Bush regime is also in order. President Obama must publicly reject the nefarious policies and programs -- including extraordinary rendition, torture, spying on civilians, and suspending habeas corpus -- that have become synonymous with the Bush Administration. A presidential investigation into the believable and scientific causes of the fall of the Twin Towers is in order as is an investigation into the run up to the war in Iraq. What did Bush and Cheney know and when did they know it?

After all that, nationally decriminalizing marijuana use and hemp production should be as easy as a pot brownie.

And of course, if we really went to the moon and if something extraterrestrial did crash land in Roswell, New Mexico, Mr. President, inquiring minds would love to know.

Indeed, those prone to healthy doubt will say you might as well believe in little gray spacemen if you believe the next four years will see these kinds of changes implemented. But a mandate for change has come. Along with that change, we can put legislation in motion that will forever undercut and prevent the right-wing radicalization of the American mind. A nail in time will save nine.

______________________________________________

Sankara Saranam is the author of the
multi-award winning title God Without Religion

Posted by Kevin at 08:32 AM |

November 07, 2008

Way Way Way West of the Beltway

They say that it's a small world and today I had that confirmed in spades.

Oregonian political beat reporter and blogger Jeff Mapes hosted the 2nd annual Way West of the Beltway election contest. Some cool Oregonian swag would go to the winners. Being a political junky, I entered the contest. Unbeknownst to me Carla did too.

The contest rules were to guess to within two decimal places how Jeff Merkley (D), Gordon Smith (R) and David Brownlow (Constitution Party) would carve up the vote in the Oregon Senate election. In case of a tie (which has never happened) the tie-breaker question was to guess to two decimal points what percentage of the Oregon presidential vote that Obama/Biden would get.

So Carla gives me a call this afternoon and tells me that she'd just gotten off the phone with Jeff Mapes. He'd phoned her because she'd came in second in the contest and, being a known quantity in Oregon politics, he had her phone number. Carla asked who had won and Jeff told her that some guy named Kevin Kamberg had won. At which point Carla told him that she knew exactly who that was and apparently Jeff asked her to call me and have me call him since the only way he had to get ahold of me was via email.

Long story, short... Carla and I won. Amazingly enough, she and I were within 0.02 of each other's guess, with mine being off the actual results by only fourteen-hundredths of a percentage point and her's only a slight tick shy of that at just sixteen-hundredths of a percentage point off. And neither of us knew that the other had entered the contest, much less compared notes on it.

While I don't know what her tie-breaker guess was, I'd bet good money that she would have won had it gone to the tie-breaker because I underestimated Obama/Biden's win in Oregon by several percentage points.

It is indeed a small world way way way west of the beltway.

Posted by Kevin at 06:05 PM |

At the End of the Day ...

I got a good chuckle out of Oxford's latest list of top ten irritating phrases. My personal number one irritating phrase is exactly the same as Oxford's - and I swear, on election night, Oregon pollster Tim Hibbits uttered it at least ten times: "At the end of the day..." It's almost as annoying as the persistent mispronunciation of the word "nuclear" by George Bush and Sarah Palin - as "nukular." Fingernails on a chalkboard are more tolerable.

The remainder of the phrases that made Oxford's list aren't nearly as annoying as number one:

1 - At the end of the day
2 - Fairly unique
3 - I personally
4 - At this moment in time
5 - With all due respect
6 - Absolutely
7 - It's a nightmare
8 - Shouldn't of
9 - 24/7
10 - It's not rocket science

I find myself using numbers 6 and 7 on a regular basis. Had I known they were irritating, I personally absolutely wouldn't of been using them.

Posted by Becky at 11:19 AM |

November 05, 2008

A Great Night for America

I wish I had a way to put into words how I feel right now - the tears of joy, the hope, and the elation. These emotions come not from any sort of joy that my "side" won, because in truth the "blue wave" actually has me very concerned, being that I lean red. Rather, the emotions come from a conviction that something amazing and wonderful has happened. All my adult life - every election in which I have ever voted - I have looked for someone who would not engage in the hating game, who understood Americans' hunger for unity, who could give a voice to it, and who had the intelligence, determination, character, and charisma to rally the people behind him and lead them to it. At last, we have found that man. This is a rare moment in history.

Last night as I watched my very conservative husband's frustration melt away listening to President-Elect Obama accept his victory, so much so that he actually applauded at the end, I knew my hopes that he could bring this country back together were well-founded. I look forward to the day when Right and Left can disagree without hating each other or impugning one another's motives and patriotism. I hope that President Obama continues to talk to us and to focus us in that direction and leaves the legislating to Congress.

Finally, I want to say that I was also very impressed with John McCain's gracious and inspiring concession speech. It was a proud night for me, to be sitting next to my two boys watching things unfold and seeing the impact on them of those two impressive speeches at the end of a hard fought campaign. I am very grateful that both of these men understood the long-term impact of their words last night. It was truly a great night for America.

Posted by Becky at 07:50 AM |

November 03, 2008

Madelyn Dunham - R.I.P.

(CNN) -- Sen. Barack Obama's grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, has died following a bout with cancer, Obama and his sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, said Monday.

She was 86.

"She was the cornerstone of our family, and a woman of extraordinary accomplishment, strength, and humility," their statement said.

"She was the person who encouraged and allowed us to take chances. She was proud of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren and left this world with the knowledge that her impact on all of us was meaningful and enduring. Our debt to her is beyond measure."

Obama and Soetoro-Ng asked that donations be made for the search for a cure for cancer in lieu of flowers. A small private ceremony will be held "at a later date."

Posted by Kevin at 02:55 PM |

The human cost of war

I'm 62 years old and have had cancer 4 times in the past 4-1/2 years. The cancer is from Agent Orange exposure in Vietnam and the prognosis is that it will come back every couple of years untill I die. Now I fully intend to beat cancer every time it comes back, but every once in a while I feel the breath of my mortality on the back of my neck. And it inspires me to write down some of my story while I still can.

I'm inspired tonight by 3 events;
1- Finally listening to the entire 76 minutes of Randy Pausch's, "The Last Lecture"
(which is probably responsible for mortalities breath)
2- Listening to an old acquaintance, Liam Clancy (of The Clancy Brothers) sing "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda", which I think explains the epitome of the human cost of war. And why I detest war and the killing and maiming and crippling (not just physically) of human beings, especially the soldiers who have to fight them.
3- Learning that the nephew of an internet friend is suffering from that maiming in the form of PTSD after tours of duty in Afganistan and Iraq. PTSD is an old enemy who dogged me for 12 years, and sneaks up on me now and then even today. It invaded my dreams, destroyed my marriage, stole my sanity, and nearly took my life.

There was a TV Miniseries a year or two ago called "Band of Brothers". It was about the real experiences of the real men of Easy Company of the 101st Airborne Division in WW2. One of the (real) characters in that series was Bill Guarnieri. Bill lost a leg in what history calls "The Battle of the Bulge". The Ardennes forest around Bastogne. When I was a child of 5 or 6 Bill was a neighbor of mine on Daly Street in South Philadelphia.

Another one of my neighbors was Frank Cheatey. Frank also served with the 101st Airborne in WW2. He lost his leg in the Market Garden Campaign in Holland. He and Bill were buddies. Neither of them had prosthetic legs back then. I used to see them coming down the street together, one pants leg pinned up, hobbling along on their two sets of crutches. They used to joke (somewhat morbidly, G.I.s often use morbid humor to hide the pain) about entering a "two-legged race" together. One had lost his left leg, the other his right.

We moved away when I was 7 and I didn't think about either of them for a long, long time.
After coming home from my tour of duty in Vietnam in 1969, I moved back to Philadelphia for 3 years. It was in 1972 that I read in the obituaries that Frank Cheatey had died.

I went to the funeral. There were eight pallbearers bearing Frank's casket. All of them were "Brothers" from the 101st Airborne. Prosthetic legs were better by then and only required one crutch. FIVE of the pallbearers (including Bill Guarneiri) had a prosthetic leg, TWO had a prosthetic arm. As I sit here at my keyboard I can still picture the scene as if it were yesterday.

"Never knew there were worse things than dying"
(lyric from the song)

That's one face of the human cost of war.
There's another, but I can't write about it tonight.
It's about the first time I saw the RESULTS, up close and personal, of some of the bombs that I loaded in Vietnam.

Posted by Mac at 01:08 AM |

Truthiness check: Obama more honest than McSame

Fact Check: The myths that wouldn't go away

Not that it excuses being anything less than 100% forthright with the American people..., but Obama's myths have been more about not being straight about the context than they were about being factually wrong on the substance of the claim. And even there Obama moved closer to the whole truth when challenged on his claims. For McSame it has, and continues to be, the reverse. McSame and Palin continue to fabricate wholesale myths even as I type this up.

Posted by Kevin at 01:06 AM |

November 02, 2008

Wired: "Spinning is easy; debating is hard"

McCain camp chickens out of scheduled surrogate debate on the respective Obama and McCain technology policy positions to be sponsored by Wired.

this very lame back-out is just more evidence that his campaign is more interested in attacks than debates. A campaign like that deserves to lose. - Nicholas Thompson, Wired Blog Network

Posted by Kevin at 12:15 PM |

Doshka!

Ah, now this is a true gem. I've just stumbled across a great blog which will be going on the blogroll as soon as I'm done writing this post.

I set out to throw up a post about Jewish Settler violence/terrorism. First there was today's news that Israeli spy chief fears Jewish extremist plot which I intended to tie in with a piece from a few days ago about an AFP photographer injured by Jewish Settlers in West Bank. But then, as happens so often, something caught my eye... a link to an unrelated McClatchy Newspapers release. Once on the McClatchy site I noticed a link to a post on a McClatchy blog called Checkpoint Jerusalem which is written by the McClatchy Jerusalem Bureau chief, Dion Nissenbaum. And he had written a fascinating post about "a startled anglo-arab woman living and working through the mideast" blogger: Doskha, is this the Middle East?

At first blush Doshka's blog seems to be mostly the musings and observations of a hedonistic, socially liberal anglo-arab woman living, partying and sleeping (both literally and figuratively) in Lebanon, Israel and the West Bank. But once past that first blush impression I realized that Doskha shares my enduring fascination about what makes people tick. Revealed in her posts are startling insights into the minds and motivations of Jews, Arabs and the many Euro-American NGO employees working (and playing!) in the region, nearly all of it filtered through their sexual exploits, both attempted and accomplished. Some of it, though, is just pure, unadulterated voyeurism peeking into the minds of some truly quirky individuals.

Such as Antoine (warning: R rated content), a Lebanese shoe salesman in Beirut. Or Sexed-up Palestinian taxi driver who thinks that if it was only just the one time that he therefore isn't gay.

But it's not all voyeurism and poorly executed pick-up lines. Apparently Doshka is regularly exempted from the usual hyper-security checks imposed on other Arabs at Israel's Ben Gurion Airport and she doesn't like it. Though that too arguably has a hedonistic undercurrent to it.

Posted by Kevin at 09:02 AM |

November 01, 2008

A last desperate grasp for power

"Sadly, this is what we've come to expect from a desperate, dishonorable campaign that will say anything in a failed attempt to win this election," Obama spokesman Bill Burton said in a statement to the Boston Globe.

Obama made a comment at a rally in Iowa saying that his Primary win there had "vindicated" his faith in the American people. McCain attacked Obama's patriotism by responding at one of his rallies that he has always had faith in his country and that America "has never had to prove anything to me." Which elicited the above response from Obama's spokesman.

Even more pathetic than McCain's attack is the fact that it's nonsensical. As Matt Weiss, the 5th commenter on the Globe piece, clarified,

Not only is the attack on Obama's patriotism pathetic, as Obama rightly says, it's also bad English.

When Obama says his faith in the American people was "vindicated," he's saying he was proven right to have faith in them. "Vindicated" doesn't mean "renewed" or "revived;" it means "confirmed" or "substantiated."

This campaign has been so historic and exciting, but the constant barrage of slime, inuendo, jingoism and irrelevance from the McCain side has made me long for the end of it, and for a rebuke of this kind of divisiveness.

McCain isn't the only desperate Republican who has discarded any sense of ethical or moral propriety. Dirty tricksters in Florida are robo-calling Floridians with the patently false assertion that they can vote by phone, in what can only be described as a desperate attempt to suppress the vote. Another faceless Republican group is distributing official-looking flyers in Virginia claiming that due to the expected heavy demand that Republicans would be allowed to vote on November 4th (election day) and that Democrats would be allowed to vote on November 5th. You can see a copy of the flier at the bottom of the Wired post about the robo-calls. Again, the the only conceivable motive is to suppress Democratic votes.

According to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and the New York Times, both the robo-calling outfit and the phony flier group are operating in the Pittsburgh area too. Which points to both being major organized operations rather than the isolated acts of a few malcontents. It's takes serious money and organization to pull off multi-state operations, as these clearly are.

Posted by Kevin at 07:05 PM |