I am Still here

i see i haven't blogged since august. i have plenty to write about, but i've just been busy. So i will get back to this asap.

The Important Things

This week I'm at the beach. Congress is on vacation, the president is going on vacation, I might as well too. I'm here with family, my son and daughter and their families. Seven of ten grand children. It's great. So, no health care issues, no discussion of war... More about sunscreen, walking to boards, whose turn is it to fix dinner, where is Max?, Henry? Sarah? You get the idea. Important things. The most important things.

Town Meetings on Health Care Reform

During their August recess many members of the House of Representatives are meeting with their constituents in Town Hall Meetings. This is normal practice. What is not normal are the disruptive gangs of thugs who are disrupting the meetings held by Democratic House members. These thugs have been organized by Boehner and Cantor, the Republican henchmen, in their futile attempt to discredit and disrupt the right of others to exercise their freedoms of assembly and speech.

Of course,
Boehner and Cantor deny all of this, but everyone knows exactly who is behind it. Funny how that works.

The truth is that our country desperately needs reform in providing health care for all Americans. We need it ASAP. It is about time the Republican stop playing politics and try to begin helping solve the problems, most of which originated with their leadership in the Congress and White House.

Obama Beer

Hey, I'd enjoy a beer with the president too! Will beer belly diplomacy cure racial sensitivity in the United States? No, probably not. I think Gates and Crowley were overly sensitive; both should have cooled it. I do not think there was any racial profiling. They, and the rest of us, should really move on.

But I'm open to meeting with the president to discuss my views on other problems we face... over a beer, of course

The Supremes - Win some; Lose some

The Supreme Court ruled correctly that the white firemen were discriminated against in Connecticut when the test for advancement was thrown out because no blacks passed the test. The test wasn't at fault, everyone had the same chance to pass it.

The Court also ruled correctly in restricting strip searches of teenagers. That action in Arizona was way over the line. The court erred in not allowing the girl to sue the principal and others who carried out the harassment.

The Court erred in ruling that inmates are not entitled to DNA evidence that would prove their innocence. Certainly they would not without such evidence from the prosecution. This ruling is one of the most egregious ever. The whole idea of the justice system is to achieve justice. This ruling is criminal !!!

Michael Jackson - RIP

I'm not much of a Michael Jackson fan. His story is all over the media right now so I need not review. What I haven't read about is the one thing I admire about MJ, "We Are the World." Along with Lionel Richie and Quincy Jones, they wrote and produced one heck of a song that raised a lot of money for hunger in Africa. The invited and coerced so many big name stars to set aside money and ego to join them on that stage. Some stars didn't even get a solo part, but there they were, part of the chorus. It was well done. It was superb; it was wonderful. Thank you for that.

Obama - on track

President Obama returned recently from a very successful trip to Saudia Arabia, Egypt, Germany and France. Good job! We're at a new beginning with the Muslim world; we're insisting on reasonable accomodations from Israel and Palestine, no more settlements, two state solution, recognition of each other, no violence. Respects were paid at Normandy; well said, well done. A good solid nominee for the Supreme Court, and the beginning of a bi-partisan dialogue on health care reform. Well done, Mr. President, well done.

Tazer in Texas

Travis County, Texas, home to Austin (the state capitol). 3rd Precinct. Deputy Christopher Beize, an instructor, zaps a 73 year old woman. She was unhappy about being stopped for speeding (too bad), but she really got angry when Cowboy Beize bumps her toward the curb after he about ripped her out of her car. It's all on the video. She won't sign the ticket agreeing to show up for the court hearing. He threatens to zap her, and finally, he does.
Wouldn't you love to be her lawyer? This is a slam dunk!! Duputy dawg Beize is in deep dog do do over this one. And he's supposed to be the instructor ? If I were Travis County commissioner, I'd bench this boy, fast. I hope their insurance is paid up because they are going to lose this one for a big settlement. Who tazers a 73 year old great grandma? And Sgt Major Gary Griffin leaps to the defense: It was justified for this reason and that reason. My dear Sgt. Major Griffin, there is NO WAY you can justify zapping an old lady like that.

Tazers are a good idea gone bad. The cops just keep zapping the wrong people for the wrong reason. Travis County is so lucky grandma didn't have a heart attack or some other malady besides just being brutalized and traumatized by the local cowboy deputy dawg types. What idiots!!!!

God's Gift to Democrats: Cheney

How many votes do the Democrats add to their rosters every time Cheney opens his mouth? He's just absolutely the greatest gift the Democratic Party could ask for! Yes, he's insane; yes he gets out there and opens his big mouth and only confirms what we already know about him and the Bush administration: they were and are all nuts !!! 9/11 happened on their watch. They got us into two wars and have executed more of our loyal servicemen and women than anyone in history, let alone all the innocent civilians. They never did catch Bin Laden. Then they went to work on the economy and took it from a surplus to a depression! What genius! Count up the votes!

Supreme injustice

The Supreme Court got it wrong in denying the suit against Rumsfeld and the other guy for illegal arrest, restraint and torture. We are not people who torture. That's not who we are. Those responsible for illegal torture should be prosecuted. That includes Rumsfeld and the whole Bush administration. It needs to start with those at the top.

It's Always Something - Gilda Radner

Netanyaho says the Palestinians must accept Israel. He's right. If there is ever to be peace; if there is ever to be a Palestine state then they must accept Israel. I heard on NPR that a California professor (who happens to be Jewish) was taken to task for including in his class the thought (someone else's thought) that Israel is to Gaza as Nazi Germany was to the Polish ghetto. He further suggested that claims of antisemitism leveled at those who question Israel's motives and movements, those who have the audacity to question anything Israel does, is a poor attempt to stifle legitimate debate. I don't know. The question is there.

Neither side has ever sought a real peace. There is always a rocket or a bull-dozed house or an invasion. There is always violence from both sides. Leaders on both sides use peace as a political football.

Gilda was right: "It's always something."

Let's Face It

At Notre Dame, Obama got it right. He acknowledges that the two sides of the abortion issue will never be compatable.. but he encourages us to deal with it. Let's face it, he says, rather than simply ignore it. He's right.

No one is in favor of abortion. Those pro-choice folks out there are not in favor of abortion, they are in favor of the right to an abortion. Obama says lets reduce the number of undesirable pregnancies. One way to accomplish that is to encourage more education about contraception. The Roman Catholic church opposes contraception. They are wrong to do so and we should face that too. The Roman Catholic church does not run this country. Abstinace education doesn't work. Bush proved that. We need to give our young folks the information they need and the contraceptives they need to stop unwanted pregnancies.

Stem cell research is a good thing. Stem cell research using embryos is a good thing too. There are many frozen embryos that will be distroyed. It is right and proper and good for science to use them for stem cell research.

Case closed

Guns DO kill people

I heard that McCain in a speech said that the US need to curtail gun sales in the US to help stem the flow of guns into Mexico. McCain referred to the second amendment "right" to own guns. There is no such right. The right is extended to the states for their militia, national guard troops. There is no individual right and the supreme court has never ruled that there is.

Truth is, all hand guns and all assault weapons should be banned and confiscated. There is no need for them. All gun permits should be immediately revoked. The NRA is a terroist organization and should be disbanded. There.. that takes care of that.

When a broken promise becomes a lie

President Obama made many promises in the course of his presidential election campaign. All candidates do. Now, elected, he is going about the process of breaking those promises. I know, all elected officials do. That does not cushion my disappointment. Obama promised a transparent administration. Promise broken many times. He promised to release pictures. Promise broken (influenced by the Pentagon, where have we heard that before?). He promised to end the illegal military tribunals. Promise broken.

My main concern here is for the integrity of this administration which is slowly but surely heading down the drain. It's unfortunate. It's also a disrespect for the rule of law (another broken promise), when Obama thumbs his nose at a court ruling and agreement concerning release of the pictures. I don't really care to see the pictures, but I care very much about disregarding the law and the ruling of the court to which the administration had agreed.

One broken promise seems to make the next one easier, and easier, and many of these broken promises now appear to be essentially lies. Sad

Yesterday I received an email from President Obama in which he outlined his health care initiatives. My wife and I are caught in that no-man's land between employee sponsored health care and medicare. It cost a small fortune for very little coverage. Hopefully , if we needed the catestrophic coverage, it would be there, but experience tells me it won't be. I know we are fortunate that we can afford this coverage; too many folks can't.

Health care is critical. My grandfather use to tell me that if you don't have your health you don't have anything. I know he's right. As a country, affordable health care that actually covers something needs to be a priority. We need to take care of ourselves. We need to do this.

I know the conservative scare, the bush league tactics. Socialism, they call it. I call it Americanism. It's something we can do; something we must do.

Thank you, Mr. President

Thank You, Mr. President !

It is so refreshing to listen to a president who is articulate, who knows the issues and can speak to them. President Obama did so tonite. No, I do not agree with his continuing the Bush policy of secrets in court. He said he wouldn't do it; but he's continuing Bush's policy. I don't buy his excuses. But I'm with him on most everything else: on Iraq, on the economy, on immigration, on health care. I agree with his attn general when he says that no one is above the law with regard to torture and it's execution and I hope he finds a way to deal with that. Sweeping it under the rug is not a satisfactory resolution. But, overall, I'm pleased and I'm proud. Thank you Mr. President.

Oh Please !

The New York Times today reports that some black directors are upset because August Wilson's "Joe Turner" revival on Broadway is being directed by white Bartlett Sher (who was approved by August's widow). Wilson himself insisted on black directors. So he was racist himself. It's time to get over it. His widow, Constanza Romero, insists it's time to select the best director, not the blackest. Good for her.

I love Wilson's plays. But he wasn't perfect.

Cuba, Si !

It's time to end the embargo. It never really worked anyway. Obama says he wants to start over with Cuba; let's do it. The world has changed in the last 50 years. Fidel has taken a back seat.

Humanatarian reasons are sufficient for us to stand up as Americans and help our neighbors. Let's do it.

Honeymoon

I guess it's over. I voted for President Obama, and overall I would say I'm pleased with his progress thus far. Most of the immediate problems we're facing were generated by the Bush administration, and it's a long, slow road out. I understand that.

Still, there were promises made. Transparency was a promise. Truth was a promise. Now we see Obama issuing "signing statements," where the president says he has no intention in following a law passed by the congress and signed by him. We have another president telling us that he is above the law. I'm really disappointed in that.

We have documents now released that clearly show Bush approved of torture. The letters from the justice department do not make legal that which is clearly illegal, yet the president and his administration are saying it's a time for reflection rather than justice. The director of the CIA says he will oppose any investigation of his operatives who worked under letters of approval from the justice department. Never mind that those letters carry no weight; they are not a court order or a rule of law. What Panetta is saying is that they "were only following orders." Where have we heard that before ? WW II Germany? That is no excuse! Bush KNEW torture was both illegal and against treaties, yet he approved torture anyway. The congress should beging with Bush and work their way down: Investigation, prosecution, conviction, incarceration: justice. So why does Obama plan to ignore this? I don't know. It troubles me.

Easter, resurrection, moving on

It was total chaos. Wall to wall grand children. Would we have it any other way? Endless noise, total toys, two boys, noise, girls, girls, girls. They laugh, they cry, they scream (with pain, annoyance or for no reason at all). The kitchen floor has never looked worse. There are toys every where even after they cleaned up.

But once they leave.....

Silence !

No one now crawling up into my lap, falling asleep in the comfort and warmth of the moment. No one now to play just one more game with; no one now to feed, clean up after, yell at, hug; no one now here who loves me quite the same way.

Oh yes, the love of my life is here; and yes she loves me inspite of all my faults and failures. And I love her for that.

But the silence of their absence reminds me of their presence and the presents, the gifts of their visit.

Good Saturday ?

Yesterday, Good Friday. Tomorrow, Easter. So what it today? Caught between a Rock and a hard place? A season so appropriate to where we are here. We visited the grave a week ago Tuesday, and now ? Our thoughts, our memories sore skyward toward heaven; toward life after death, our life. I guess that's the way it goes.

Life lingers

When someone we love dies, they often do not die all at once. Life lingers. In our minds, in our hearts, life lingers. So the grieving process takes time to sift and sort through memories. Only slowly do we let go.

When it rains, it pours

As though the hip replacement surgery wasn't enough, a grandson needing surgery added insult to injury, so off to help his Mother of 5 while he was attended too. And while we're there, at home, the phone call comes that Mom was returned from rehab to the hospital with a high white blood count, and shortly, the final call, she was gone. Back to Ohio.

Gathering, planning, preparing for the funeral and everything that goes with it: the service, the music, the flowers, the luncheon, this that and the other. Driving to pick up the kids coming in from out of town, arranging a place to sleep.... and so it goes. Kind've running on empty.

And it goes from bad to worse when one want to have everything settled in 30 days, or so it seems. She was a horder. Raised in depression years with nothing, she saved everything. No, you don't understand. She saved EVERYTHING. It's all bound with paper clips stacked and stored in cut off cardboard soup boxes.. every where. It will take a long time. Fragile feelings are frayed and fractured. Everyone take a deep breath and start over. There are three of them, two older daughters and the youngest, a son, the favored one and also the one resident, the caretaker, the executor. It's not easy for anyone. When it rains, it pours.

Beginings

This is new to me, but here I am. I'm in the midst of a family crises here; a death in the family. Those who remain are having to go through the grief process AND at the same time get into dealing with the estate matters all too soon and all too quickly. There is tension, hurt feelings, and it is just a sad difficult way to go through things. We have two more days of this then we're off and out of here for awhile. I'm ready for that.