Sizing up Obama's Team (thus far...)

Here is the run-down of the Obama Team thus far (Updated: Sunday, December 21st, 2008):

Chief of Staff - Rahm Emanuel.
Attorney General - Eric Holder.
White House National Economic Council - Lawrence Summers (Congressional confirmation not needed)
Secretary of Treasury - Timothy Geithner, president of Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
National Security Advisor - Retired Marine Corps Gen. James Jones.
Secratary of State - Hillary Rodham Clinton (Senate seat filled by NY Gov. David Paterson - Dem. - is Caroline Kennedy a real possibility?).
Secretary of Defense - Bob Gates (since November 2006).
Secretary of Commerce - Bill Richardson (Seat filled by Dem. Lt. Gov. Diane Denish).
Head of Homeland Security (God I hate the name of that department) - Janet Napolitano (Seat filled by AZ Sec. of State Janice K. "Jan" Brewer - Rep. - a right wing nut job. As the Arizona State Constitution does not make provision for the position of Lieutenant Governor, Brewer is first in line to succeed Gov. Janet Napolitano - Dem.).
Office of Management & Budget Director - Peter Orszag, director of Congressional Budget Office.
United Nations Ambassador - Susan Rice, former assistant secretary of state.
Secretary of Veterans' Affairs - General Eric Shinseki.
Secretary of Energy - Steven Chu.
Secretary of Health and Human Services - Tom Daschle, the former Senate majority leader.
White House Council on Environmental Quality - Nancy Sutley, the deputy mayor for energy and environment in Los Angeles and the mayor's representative on the Board of Directors for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, is the first prominent gay to earn a senior role in Obama's new administration.
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development - Shaun Donovam, housing commissioner for New York City.
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator - Lisa Jackson.
White House Coordinator of Energy and Climate Policy - Carol Browner, former EPA Administrator in the Clinton administration.
White House Press Secretary - Robert Gibbs.
Secretary of Education - Arne Duncan, chief executive of the Chicago Public Schools.
Secretary of Agriculture - Tom Vilsack, former Democratic Governor of Iowa.
Secretary of the Interior - Ken Salazar, Senator (D - CO), Salazar's replacement to be named by Colorado Democratic Governor, Bill Ritter.
Secretary of Labor - Rep. Hilda Solis (D - CA).
Secretary of Transportation - Rep. Ray LaHood (R - IL).
U.S. Trade Representative - Ron Kirk, former mayor of Dallas, TX.

Prop 8 - The Musical

You've heard all about it on the Stephanie Miller Show. You've probably watched it over at Joe. My. God., But in case you have not yet viewed this hilarious video, I bring you "Prop 8 - The Musical":

"Prop 8 - The Musical" starring Jack Black, John C. Reilly, and many more... from Jack Black

Bush's True Legacy Vis-a-Vis Iraq

BUSH'S TRUE LEGACY VIS-A-VIS IRAQ
Bush on His Legacy: I 'Liberated' Iraq!

Bush on His Legacy: I 'Liberated' Iraqis
President Says He Wants to Be Remembered for Liberating Iraqis and HIV/AIDS Work in Africa
(See JENNIFER PARKER)

Nov. 28, 2008

If by "liberating" George W. Bush means any of the following horrors inflicted on the Iraqi people or consequences experienced by the American people;

1. If by "liberating" Bush meant killing hundreds of thousand Iraqi citizens in a country that had virtually no Al Qaeda cells within its boundaries is "liberating," then yeah, we did that.

2. If by "liberating" Bush meant running hundreds of thousand Iraqi citizens out of their neighborhoods and homes and creating an excess of 2 million refugees then yeah, we did that.

3. If the term "liberating" denotes in any sense turning a secular society (not anti-religion, just tolerant of many different beliefs without one particular strain of one religious belief being forced onto the people by their government) into a hellish mix of dueling beliefs that have car bombs and suicide bombers as one of their fundamental practices (i.e. letting a theocracy take root that demands strict adherence to a very rigid and narrow view of humans in the world and does not allow for any deviation from a prescribed pattern of belief and behavior - the hallmark of most religions if taken to the extreme view...), then yeah Bush is responsible for that.
4. If by "liberating" Bush/Cheney are suggesting a scenario that includes bilking American taxpayers out of billions and billions of dollars to pay for a war that was not provoked and in the final analysis was unnecessary, then yeah we "liberated" millions of Americans from their money to pay for a disaster that would not be happening if it weren't for the asinine decision to invade Iraq in the first place, then yeah, hang the blame for that on Bush/Cheney.

5. If by the word "liberating" Bush is referring to handing out slews of no-bid contracts to war profiteers Halliburton, Kellogg Brown and Root, and Blackwater who have not only cheated Americans but have also murdered Iraqis in cold blood, then yeah our tax dollars supported that.

6. If by "liberating" Bush means running all the doctors, nurses and other professionals out of the country and turning previously functioning infrastructure into non-working, no-longer-available services like water, sewer and electric, then yeah, that is a legacy that the U.S. presence has left in Iraq.

7. If by "liberating" Bush means liberating over 4000 families from the presence of a loved one due to losing life, limb or mind in Iraq, then yeah, we did that.

8. If by "liberating" Bush is referring to the financial crisis that we are experiencing here in the United States that could have been alleviated by moneys that were sent to "fight the war" in Iraq, then yeah Bush did that.

9. If by "liberating" Iraq, Bush is referring to operating a gulag in Guantanamo, torturing prisoners under our control, and operating hidden prisons throughout the dangerous world via the practice of secret rendition (all contrary to the Geneva Convention), then yeah, the Bush administration is responsible for violating a wide variety of international laws.

10. If by "liberating" Iraq, Bush/Cheney intend to suggest that building a case for war that was based on lies and deception and manipulation of information, and if the public had known the truth, then they never would have supported the invasion of Iraq, then yeah we fell for that.

Those are all questionable if not outright illogical definitions of the term "liberating" or "liberation." Interesting that Bush has chosen to hang his legacy on perhaps the most destructive decision of his presidency, a legacy that highlights the many short comings of his greedy, impetuous, stubborn, fear-mongering, incompetent, anti-intellectual administration. It only makes sense that this is the one action that Bush would point to as a way to define his administration - it is a shameful choice for a shameful administration.

What I Am Truly Thankful For....

HAPPEE THANKSGIVING EVERYBODEE!!!

Here is the list of what I am truly giving thanks for at this moment in my life:
1. The blog that saved my life FourFreedoms.com - Thank you Raine, BobR, Livin, Mondo, Star, Velveeta, Tri, Mala and all others 4Fers - I am so glad that you came along when you did, you truly saved my life :-).
2. My job, my house, my boyz (Tulsey & Dylan) - they are all in Tulsa, Oklahoma (the only state that went totally and completely red in this latest election - :-( ) Never-the-less, OK is where I live and I have chosen to stay and fight (for the time being).
3. The Collins Fitness Center at TU (and their recently added three, count 'em, three rowing machines). I have been working out like a fiend, and I do feel much better for it. I, however, have not stopped drinking so the weight is coming off slowly, but it is coming off - and I don't drink as much as I used to :-).
4. The Stephanie Miller Show still starts each and every morning in my world and continues to rock my world - thank you mucho Steph, Jim, Chris, & Rebekah!!!
5. Mi familia - I am lucky that both of my parents are alive, healthy and are enjoying their retirement years, mi hermanas y mi hermano, mi sobrinas y my sobrino (not sure why I felt compelled to report my family in Espanol - perhaps a nod to Sanchez from Montebello, CA).
6. The reality that I have come out of a very dark, dismal place and have hope along with a new president (Barack Obama), and I am so thrilled that I can stay in my house, my job, and keep my boys.
7. My sister and her family driving all the way from North Liberty, Indiana to spend Thanksgiving with her older and single sister - Thanks mucho Neankie and crew :-).
8. I am thankful that Tulsa, OK - the town in which I live - now has a Bark Park - a place where I can take my boyz (Tulsey & Dylan) to try to wear them out so that they won't wake me up at 4:30 or 5:00 in the morning. Way to go Tulsa - you've got the right idea !!!
9. I am more than grateful for the friends who inhabit my life, my workplace and my world. I won't embarrass any of them by mentioning them by name here, but I am sure that they know who they are and I hope that they all know how important they are to me and what a huge difference they all make in my world.

10. I am thankful to be alive in this the winter of 2008, after our country elected the first president of color in the history of this nation. Viva Obama, Obamanos, si se puede, Yes we can and yes we did :-)
11. And finally, I am thrilled to say a big good riddance to George W. Bush and the shadow president, Dick Cheney, who have visited more harm on this country and the rest of the world that we heretofore ever thought possible. Congratulations you two - it will likely take us decades to try to clean up the huge mess that you have left us - thanks, thanks for nothing, you insipid jerks.

That's about it, that's almost all I can think of that I am thankful for this year, I would be remiss if I didn't thank my therapist (HHK), my shrink (KWH) , and the facilitator (IW) of the support group that I attend twice a month. I am grateful that I've lived, or survived, this life. I will go on.... Thank you so mucho. Thanks again. Have a very relaxing and enjoyable Thanksgiving, everyone!
Cheers,
mfaye

For an alternative take on Thanksgiving, please see Robert Jensen's No Thanks to Thanksgiving. Remember that the history that you learned in school, bears little resemblance to what actually happened, especially when the history involves Indigenous people.

Oh the Damage W. Can Do in Just 57 Days...

"If you thought the first 100 days of the Bush administration were bad, just wait and see what the last 100 could bring,” Edward J. Markey (D-MA), Chairman of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming

Oh, can January 20, 2009 come soon enough? Those of us who have tried valiantly to chronicle the disasters that have been perpetrated on the American citizenry by the Bush/Cheney fiasco since that infamous day in December of 2000 when the Supreme Court handed the presidency to George W. Bush, are holding our collective breath and hoping against hope that W. doesn't succeed in implementing any more disastrous policies before the door hits his ass (not to be confused with his face :) ) on his way back to Crawford, Texas. But if wishes were stocks we'd all be retiring tomorrow. Alas, Bush has plans to give seriously dangerous breaks to his base (the haves and the have-mores) in the form of altering laws that impact not just our already strained environment, but also families, workers, and energy resources. All are among targets of Bush's scheme of deregulating the bejesus out of any law that protects our National Parks, Workers' Safety, and the highly successful and popular Family and Medical Leave Act.

"With barely 60 days to go until Bush hands over to Barack Obama, his White House is working methodically to weaken or reverse an array of regulations that protect America's wilderness from logging or mining operations, and compel factory farms to clean up dangerous waste."
President for 60 more days, Bush tearing apart protection for America's wilderness

Imagine visiting the Grand Canyon in Arizona or Arches National Park in Utah and instead of seeing the natural grandeur of these awesome places, your eyes would meet the visage of open mining pits or your nose might notice the stench of coal-fired power plants spewing more particulate matter into the skies above our planet, thanks to the gutting of environmental regulations by Bush/Cheney in their last act of giving the old middle finger to the tree-huggers and others who appreciate clean air and water and an unspoiled view of nature and all of its inhabitants.

Fortunately, Congress is well-aware of Bush's diabolical plans and may employ a rarely utilized act, The Congressional Review Act of 1996. The act has been exercised just once in the past 12 years, but it could become a sweeping tool for Democrats to nullify the late regulatory changes made by the Bush presidency. Environmental activists are compiling lists of regulations they believe Congress should target, including ones covering water pollution at huge farms, pollution control equipment at older power plants, and hazardous waste restrictions.

See “Past is Prologue: For Energy and the Environment, the Bush Administration’s Last 100 Days Could Rival the First 100”

Check out this great animated cartoon by Ann Telnaes (WashPo, Nov. 24, 2008).

Le Beaujolais Nouveau est Arrive!!!

Beaujolais Nouveau began as a local phenomenon in the local bars, cafes, and bistros of Beaujolais and Lyons. Each fall the new Beaujolais would arrive with much fanfare. In pitchers filled from the growers barrels, wine was drunk by an eager population. It was wine made fast to drink while the better Beaujolais was taking a more leisurely course. Eventually, the government stepped into regulate the sale of all this quickly transported, free-flowing wine.

In 1938 regulations and restrictions were put in place to restrict the where, when, and how of all this carrying on. After the war years, in 1951, these regulations were revoked by the region's governing body, the Union Interprofessional des Vins de Beaujolais (UIVB), and the Beaujolais Nouveau was officially recognized. The official release date was set for November 15th. Beaujolais Nouveau was officially born. By this time, what was just a local tradition had gained so much popularity that the news of it reached Paris. The race was born. It wasn't long thereafter that the word spilled out of France and around the world. In 1985, the date was again changed, this time to the third Thursday of November tying it to a weekend and making the celebration complete. But wherever the new Beaujolais went, importers had to agree not to sell it before midnight on the third Thursday of November.

On a more technical note, the wine is strictly speaking, more properly termed Beaujolais Primeur. By French and European rules, a wine released during the period between its harvest and a date in the following spring, is termed primeur. A wine released during the period between its own and the following years harvest, is termed nouveau. Well, enough of that!

It is a triumph of marketing and promotion, mostly due to the efforts of Georges Dubeuf. The largest negociant in the region, he is a tireless promoter of Beaujolais and Beaujolais Nouveau. More than a fifth of his annual production, about 4 million bottles, is Beaujolais Nouveau. All in all, in the last 45 years, sales have risen from around a million bottles to more than 70 million bottles.

Apart from the fanfare, what makes Beaujolais Nouveau so popular? And especially in the U.S. where consumption of red wine is less than 30%? Simply put, Beaujolais Nouveau is as about as close to white wine as a red wine can get. Due to the way it is made -the must is pressed early after only three days- the phenolic compounds, in particular the astringent tannins, normally found in red wines, isn't there, leaving an easy to drink, fruity wine. This, coupled with the fact that it tastes best when chilled, makes for a festive wine to be gulped rather than sipped, enjoyed in high spirits rather than critiqued. As a side note, it makes a great transitional wine for anyone wanting to move from white to red wines.

Finally, the race from grape to glass may be silly, but half the fun is knowing that on the same night, in homes, cafes, restaurants, pubs, bars and bistros around the world, the same celebration is taking place. It hasn't the pedigree to be a classic wine, but it is always good. Any other opinion you may regard as boorish and uninformed.

For more about Beaujolais Nouveau go to Georges Duboeuf's website.

Sat NO to H8!!!

Today I am heading to downtown Tulsa, OK, specifically the Dennis R. Neill Equality Center, where I will make a sign (not exactly sure yet what it will say, but it will definitely convey the sentiment that LOVE is NOT WRONG and should never be constrained by laws, regulations, or the tyranny of the majority who may not approve of who you love). Then I will march with my head held high down the sidewalks of Tulsa, OK (the reddest of the red states - ugh!) and express my ideas about love and marriage to all who care to pay attention. To further inspire me and those of you who have not yet decided how you will spend your Saturday, here is a video that captures the words of Harvey Milk (LGBT Activist and Politician 1930 - 1978).
Watch it and if you don't have other plans for today, think about joining me and many, many others who support equal rights for all citizens of this country:

The Dennis R. Neill Equality Center is located at the corner of East 4th Street (621 E. 4th St.) and South Kenosha Avenue. We will be meeting there to make signs and banners in just about an hour, then we will be marching down to City Hall where we will make our voices heard! Please come join us!!! Thank you and have a great day!

Some Thoughts from Insidethe Reddest of the Red States

By now I am sure that all you listeners of the Stephanie Miller Show and other political geeks who have surveyed the aftermath of this most historical election have not failed to note that not one county in the state of Oklahoma voted for President-Elect Barack Obama. I was not completely surprised, after all my address has been here in Tulsa, Oklahoma for more than seven years, but I was disappointed. I was sad to hear that Stephanie Miller will never come to Oklahoma and hear Chris Lavort agreed that there is simply no reason for Oklahoma to exist. But alas, Oklahoma does exist, and has come to stand for the home of the most-backward, most-conservative, most-regressive, less-evolved people in this country. Oklahoma sends two of the most conservative, narrow-minded, even bigoted Senators to Washington, D.C. (Tom Coburn and Jim Inhofe). Oklahoma is also home to one of the most homophobic, hate-filled state representatives anywhere in America, Sally Kern. But unlike the impression the all-red map may give, Oklahoma is also home to many who run against the stream of hate and fear and homophobia and bigotry. Oklahoma has a Democratic Governor (Brad Henry) and also boasts the headquarters of INDN's List - an Indian organization founded by an amazing Democratic, ultra-progessive woman named Kalyn Free who is a member of the Choctaw Nation and was born and reared in the state of Oklahoma. INDN's List recruits, trains, and supports PROGRESSIVE Native candidates for local, state and national office. Tulsa, Oklahoma also recently openned the sixth largest LGBT Center, the Dennis R. Neill Equality Center, in the country, and has an active, vibrant Gay Community in Tulsa and OKC. Oklahoma City was recently represented by the first gay, Native (Choctaw) man (Al McAffrey) to ever serve in the Oklahoma State House.

I have been admonished by friends who live in Madison, Wisconsin and Albuquerque, NM, and even Los Angeles, California - all true blue parts of the country, that I should leave Oklahoma and escape the oppresive atomosphere that surely hangs over each day I spend in this backwater state. But as Margaret Cho wrote after Bush was elected for the second time by the very same mentality that has kept Oklahoma so very red, "I have chosen to stay and fight."

I have a great job in which I work with fellow progressives who all cast thier votes (I am sure) for Barack Obama. I live in a part of the country that has a rich Native heritage (there are 38 Federally-Recognized Tribal Nations in Oklahoma). I live in a city that has two superb art museums (the Philbrook and the Gilcrease Museums) and a very cool movie theater (Circle Cinema) that brings plenty of independent and foreign films to town. Within a five mile radius of my house I can have any kind of food (Indian, Greek, Mexican, Italian, Vietnamese, Thai) I desire and most of it is close to authentic if not the real McCoy.

On one hand, I am ashamed that my fellow Oklahomans went into the voting booth last Tuesday and by an overwhelming majority (65.4% to 34.6%) cast their votes for McPalin, but I also know that if the 34.6% of us up and left the state, then Oklahoma would be forever lost to the dark forces that promote hate, fear and intolerance. And the land of Oklahoma, that began its life in this country as the Indian Territory, and boasts the last patch of natural tall grass prairie in the country, is better than the redneck image the rest of the nation has of it. Plus never forget that Oklahoma is also home to the Radical Militant Librarian of the Stephanie Miller Show and that's gotta count for something - Rock on Steph, Chris, Jim and Rebekah - please don't forget that you have a fan and a friend in Oklahoma (and I'm not talking about the ghost of Will Rogers or the very much alive Mary Kay Place). So please don't write us off completely...Oklahoma may one day be okay.

Our Eight-Year National Nightmare is Over...

As the dust settles on a remarkable week here in the United States of America, we all pause to say good riddance to an eight-year reign of terror that was visited on the people of this country and, more to the point, the people of this world. The image that will stay with me for the rest of my life from that amazing election night is this one: as CNN announced that Obama had garnered enough electoral votes to secure the presidency the Transportation Workers Union Hall where I was watching the returns exploded in an earthshattering roar. I turned around and saw behind me an African-American woman with tears running down her cheeks and I took a few steps toward her and gave her an immense, hard, long hug that she returned in kind. We had never met before, but in that moment we expressed the heartfelt emotion that filled the Union Hall and watch parties across the country. We had done it, we as a nation had elected the first person of color to the highest office in the land and we were all estatic about what we had just achieved.

I owe an apology to a fellow blogger (Roxie of Roxie's world) who challenged me several months ago about a claim that I made that Indiana was more conservative than the state where I reside - Oklahoma. With Indiana turning blue on the night of November 4th (or the morning of November 5th) and with Oklahoma going so overwhelmingly for John McCain at approximately 7:01pm (the polls closed at 7:00pm) I must admit that I was wrong. Oklahoma turned out to be the only state in the country in which not one single county voted for Obama - I am so ashamed. So in spite of all of my relatives and their "In God We Trust," license plates, Indiana turned out to be much bluer than Oklahoma is red. As I've said in the past, I gotta get outta here... I have an open invitation to head to Madison, Wisconsin, or back to to true blue New Mexico, but I love my job and have managed to surround myself with fellow progressives/liberals who make this blogger forget that she lives smack dab in the middle of the reddest of red(neck) America. What's a grrrl to do? I think I'll stay put for awhile longer, and see what I can do about bringing this backwater around to civilized thought.

Although I must question the wisdom of Roxie's mother, Moose, directing readers to the "ratemyprofessor" site which contains some none-too-favorable reviews of Roxie's mom, er, typist. Oh, what were you thinking?

Yes We Can & Yes We Did !!!

I sat teary eyed and speechless at the Transportation Workers Union Hall in Tulsa, OK as the then Senator Barack Obama (now President-elect Barack Obama) addressed the crowd of over 125,000 in Grant Park in Chicago, IL as the next president of the United States of America! I feel so proud to be an American tonight - so proud to be a small part of the history that was made tonight, and so proud to be a small part of the progress that this country demonstrated it is committed to make tonight. I love the reality that we, as a nation, have rejected the status quo, that we, as a nation, have rejected the regressive, bigoted past, that we have embraced tomorrow, a future that includes all of us, and will take each and every one of us to make that tomorrow a better place in which we all may live. We will all need to live together, in a better world, in a world that we all inhabit and in a world in which we all have a say, that we all have a stake in. WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER, and I love that that is our new collective reality. There is an exciting sense that filled the air tonight - from the liberal, progressive East coast, a wind that blew through even the most conservative, staid mid-western part of this country all the way to the West coast where Obama won handily.

I look at my nieces and my nephew and I am so glad that I don't see any prejudice in their eyes - no bias against someone whose skin is another shade than theirs, or no bias against their Uncle Eric and Uncle Brian or any two people who love each other. In other words, the bigotry of the past - both racial and sexual - is almost over and will begin to less frequently rear its ugly head in our public life. I have faith in our future again. I have faith that tomorrow will be better than today. I believe that tomorrow anything is possible, that anyone can achieve whatever he/she sets her/his mind to do. I don't mean to sound too righteous, but I am so glad that I lived to see this day in this country, my country.

Congratulations President Obama and congratulations to your wonderful family - we love you, we elected you as our leader and we are here to support you. Please carry on and lead us - we are ready to walk with you!

Today IS THE DAY!!!

“I never doubted that equal rights was the right direction. Most reforms, most problems are complicated. But to me there is nothing complicated about ordinary equality.”

Alice Paul, (American Lawyer, Author, Founder, and Social Reformer, 1885-1977)

Today is the culmination of almost two years of seemingly non-stop campaigning. Today is the day that America chooses their next president. I remain cautiously optimistic that Barack Obama, by virtue of his intelligence, his steadiness, his demeanor, his leadership, and his so-well-run campaign, will be our next president. It makes me so very proud of our country, proud that the essential decency of the American people came shining through the fear-mongering, the hate, the bigotry and all the other reasons why some people are giving for not joining this movement forward. Today the progressives will beat back the regressives, the future will overcome the status quo, the past will be dealt with as it must be, but our eight year Bush/Cheney nightmare will finally be put to rest. Thank goodness, thank creator, thank the hard-working people of this country that never gave up.

Last night I went to the Circle Cinema to see for free (courtesy of the League of Women Voters) the film Iron Jawed Angels. The film chronicles the story of Quaker, Alice Paul, and other women who fought for the 19th Amendment (passed just over 88 years ago) that granted the right to vote to all women in this country. It was an inspirational and remarkable tale of the power of a handful of women who refused to accept the status quo and fought like hell until their goal was achieved. It gave me hope and helped me off this ledge that I have been perched on for most of this week. Today, I will sit by the phone and wait for calls from the Democratic Headquarters with names, addresses and precinct information to give other Democrats rides to the polls.
Viva Obama/Biden! Yes, We Can! Si, Se Puede!

A Worrywart Charts Her Future Course

Back in late August of this year Eugene Robinson penned an op-ed piece for the Washington Post entitled The Worrywart Party. In this column, Mr. Robinson admonished the Democratic Party to "snap out of it," and essentially quit worrying and second-guessing all the possible ways that we, as Democrats, may still manage to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory. As either of my sisters would be quick to tell you, I have always been the cockeyed pessimist of the family. So as I sit here in my cozy little home in Tulsa, Oklahoma watching Tom Brokaw grilling John Kerry and giving Fred Thompson many free passes on Meet the Press, I can't shake that sinking feeling that in a few days I will be debating whether to sit in my running car in my garage and say good-bye to a world that is just too broken and ignorant to continue to live in, or put that same car in gear and head north to Vancouver, British Columbia, CANADA, where I and my boyz will make a fresh start, having sold the house and disposed of most of my possessions.

Here are the things that give me hope:
--The fact that Obama is up in the polls and that those polls likely have not taken into account the legions of mostly young voters who have abandoned their land lines and communicate almost exclusively by cell phones and who do not carry with them the prejudices of their parents and grandparents. So I am expecting that the turn-out among young voters will offset or even surpass the dreaded Bradley Effect. This hope is personified in the views of my nieces and my nephew who are all too young to vote but who are solidly behind Obama and are aghast that their grandparents are supporting McPalin.
--The fact that 8 of 10 people admit that this country is going down the crapper and we must change direction lest we end up permanently languishing in a crap stew of our own making.
--Barack Obama, the person, gives me hope. As I survey the long campaign, I have witnessed a steady course, an eloquent orator, sound judgment and a reluctance to give back in slime the disgusting charges that have been levelled against him by an opposing camp that has sunk to new lows in their campaign, despite McCain's earlier promise to run a clean and high-minded campaign.
--The web site (it is so much more than a blog) FiveThirtyEight.com and pieces like the following: Brett Marty's Ten Predictions - From the Gut give me hope (and yes, I do check it early and often each and every day).

Here are the things that have me worried:
--The polls that have Obama up by double-digits in the national poll and up by anywhere from over 100 points and down by a mere 5 or 6 points in the Electoral College.
--The Republican denizens (of which many members of my immediate and extended family are a part) who continue to believe that Obama may not have been born in Hawa'ii and that his record at Harvard University may have been fabricated - I find this to be an odd criticism given that the same people who are questioning Obama's academic credentials put so little value on an ivy league education.
--Probably the thing that keeps me up most nights is the nightmare of 2000 recurring in 2008. I remember so clearly election night of 2000 when I went to bed smiling as the major networks had called Florida for Al Gore, only to wake up the next morning to a horrible scenario that would keep me upset and physically ill for the next month when finally the Supreme Court overrode the will of American voters and selected George W. Bush as the 43rd president of the United States. This same horrible scenario was repeated in 2004 - only the location and subtlety of the subterfuge had changed. And what a price we have paid as a nation and have imposed on the rest of the planet who had no say in the leader of the free world.

Creator, if you are there and if you care at all about this world you have made, please let the voices of hope and change reign on this world. As Studs Terkel titled his last work "Hope Dies Last," a phrase that was coined for him by Jesse Del La Cruz, a farm worker. When times are bleak, they say in Spanish - Esparanza muera al ultimo, “Hopes Dies Last.” Let's all hope that this time hope stays alive.

This post is dedicated to a very special friend who shared this thought with me last night - F.E.A.R. equals "False Events Appearing Real." Here's to a fearless election day, and with many thanks, here's to you, ADB :)

Today I Cast My Vote for Obama, Rice, Oliver & Bullock...

This morning I woke up, made my coffee, checked my e-mail, listened to an hour or so of Stephanie Miller, then I made my way downtown to vote on the first day of Oklahoma's early voting option. It took me about 10 - 15 minutes to find a place to park in a scene that seemed overwhelming and a skosh discombobulated. Once I'd parked my car, and found my way to the end of the line I found that the voting process in Tulsa was more organized and going much more smoothly than I had originally thought. It was a beautiful day here in Tulsa, so there was no problem standing outside in shorts and a t-shirt for about an hour as the line wound itself around the parking lot and into the Election Headquarters. Once inside the Election Center I filled out my green form, then queued up to get my ballot (fortunately a woman standing next to me in line told me that I had missed an important step in the process and hadn't had my green sheet marked with my proper precinct, ballots, and registered party). I rejoined the line behind the woman who had been so kind to direct me to the counter on the other side of the line where my green sheet was properly completed. Once I reached the table where ballots, pens and "I voted" stickers were distributed, I had learned about the 77 year old lady's lunch plans (a tea room recently opened on Harvard), and the fellow in line behind me who was voting in his first presidential election. I took my ballot and solemnly went to a cardboard station where I read the ballot measures again and voted rather randomly for the judges, but I took great care with my vote for Obama/Biden and Andrew Rice (over James Inhofe) and Georgianna Oliver (over John Sullivan) and George Bullock (over Dan Sullivan) - it seems as if the Sullivans produced more than one right-wing political tool here in Oklahoma.

Anyway, afterward I headed home, picked up my doggies and headed for the Bark Park (as I already mentioned it was a loverly day here in Northeastern Oklahoma). Then I took the boyz home and drove to campus where I worked out - the only thing that has kept me sane over the last two weeks :). After working out (20 minutes on the elliptical machine, 30 minutes on the rowing machine, plus 50 ab shots),I stopped by Jim's Coney Island and treated myself to an oregano chicken dinner - most of the half chicken I brought home with me. I voted today, so that on the official voting day I will be available to drive Democrats to the polls. Here are a few subtle questions I have devised to guarantee that the folks that I am shuffling to the polls are actual Democrats: Questions such as "Did you catch Sean Hannity last night?" (Of course, if the answer is "Yeah, it was great" then I drop them off at the nearest Denny's or Waffle House, and tell them to call a cab), or I might speculate that "Global warming is such a scam." and if they agree to this proposition they also will be dropped off at the nearest cafe or corner. Or perhaps I will just tell them that their voting day is tomorrow (thanks BobR!). That's my plan for how to survive and feel like I made at least a small contribution to the Obama victory that I hope is just around the corner. Go Obama/Biden 2008!!!

Sherman Alexie on The Colbert Report

For more information about Sherman Alexie, see the Official Sherman Alexie Web Site.

Are You Suffering from EAD(Election Anxiety Disorder)?

If you, like me, have been unable to sleep, or eat, and can only find fleeting relaxation in a very large beverage or three, and you can trace the cause of this particular anxiety to the upcoming election, then you, my friend, may be suffering from Election Anxiety Disorder.
Articles like this one sure don't help calm my already frayed nerves:
Accuracy Of Polls a Question In Itself
Skeptics Challenge Assumptions Made

Here are a few of the symptoms of EAD (Election Anxiety Disorder):
1. Do you wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat with a disembodied head of John McCain chasing you to Canada?
2. Do you feel sick to your stomach every time somebody mentions Sarah Palin, Alaska, or the phrases "you betcha" or "guys and gals?"
3. Do you refresh the web sites 538.com or HuffPo more than twice every hour?
4. Have you begged your physician for a few xanax or valium just to get you through until next Wednesday?
5. Are you so blasted by the time that Rachel Maddow comes on that you have to stay up and watch her show again (which fortunately isn't a problem, as you haven't slept for at least a week)?
6. Is your credit card bill filled with charges to Obama for America, the DNC, and your local senatorial candidate?
7. Are you so disgusted that you can barely wave to your neighbors who have a McCain/Palin sign in their yard?
8. Do you listen to Stephanie Miller, Thom Hartmann, and Randi Rhodes all day at work until you are about to scream?
9. Are you watching Barack Obama's half hour show on the TV right now?
10. Are you a freakin' nervous wreck and have your friends and co-workers suggested that you ignore politics for the next week, but you know that it would be easier to give up heroin if you were a junkie?

If you answered yes to more than five of the above questions then you are likely suffering from EAD. All I can say is hang in there, stay busy by making phone calls, or voting early so that you can spend all day on November 4th driving other Democrats to the polls. Wear your Obama t-shirts, buttons, and bracelets whenever you can get away with it. Don't give up and know that we'll always have Canada if the Republicans steal 2008 (again), but I am hoping against hope that I don't have to move to Canada, that this year, this time, America will wake up and vote for a real future, a real change, real hope. Vote Obama/Biden 2008!!!

To Those 7% of PUMAs Who Still Have Not Jumped on the Obama Wagon

WARNING - MAJOR RANT AHEAD (you have been warned!)



Nobody effing cares anymore - you are so irrelevant that it is just too easy to ignore you (provided that you live in a state that is going to be so blue it is almost navy - a state like New York, Massachusetts, Maryland or California). So if you live in any of those states nobody freakin' cares what you do on November 4th - you can stay home and masturbate or pick your nose or try to explain why you are so goddamn lame on your flimsy little website or blog or whatever vehicle you may chose to try to explain (or not) why you have decided to hold onto your grudge (whether it be a lingering sense that your candidate, Mrs. Clinton, was done wrong or you are just a closet racist after all - I am not suggesting that those are the only two plausible reasons why you have not yet joined the Obama campaign, but without any explanation from you, we are left guessing). Just don't try to convince any of us who have been working for the change that will benefit you and your family (partner, husband, wife, child[ren], or parent[s]), or that you had anything to do with anything positive that may happen in this country in the next four or, if we are lucky and wise enough as a nation, eight years. Just go away - we obviously don't need you on election day, and we don't need you now or anytime in the future. You have rendered yourself forever irrelevant - so just go away. Buh-bye, now and forever.... OBAMA/BIDEN 2008!!!

For a more nuanced view of the role of race in the 2008 presidential election, please see Frank Rich's piece, In Defense of White Americans, NYTimes, October 25, 2008.

Let's Hear It for Tribal Librarians

This week I attended the National Institute of Tribal Librarians conference held in Catoosa, Oklahoma at the Cherokee Casino. The conference attracted participants from as far away as Alaska and Hawa'ii. It was amazing to meet and talk with tribal librarians who work on reservations and in tribal villages with very small budgets and very few staff. Yet everyone I met had such a demonstrable enthusiasm and love for their work that it was infectious and inspirational to share ideas and stories with each of them.

From the presentation given by the librarian at Jemez Pueblo, NM (Tammy Sandia) to a private discussion with Lena Fall (Whiteriver Apache, AZ), I learned so much about the day-to-day struggles and successes that occur everyday in small, rural tribal libraries across the country.

The conference programs ranged from information on using Wikis as a communication tool within libraries to a very valuable session on how to apply for basic grants from the Institute of Museums and Library Services. I made a presentation on resources and materials that would make up a core Indian law collection. I began by explaining the difference between Federal Indian Law (the law imposed on Indian people by the Federal and, to a much lesser extent, State government) and Tribal Customary Law (the internal ways that Tribal people have resolved conflicts since time immemorial). I also shared my vision - a concept introduced to the conferees on the first day of the conference by noted Choctaw storyteller and keynote speaker, Tim Tingle.

Here is the vision that I read at the beginning of my presentation:

My vision is to see the courts of this country filled with Native attorneys and Native judges who are fighting for, litigating and deciding cases that advance Indian rights, land claims, and other issues that impact and improve the lives of Indian people across the country (and throughout the world). My vision includes the revitalization and growth of tribal courts that will serve to keep alive and promote traditional values and customary law that will go on to be incorporated into federal and state law and influence the decisions that federal and state courts make. My vision also is that tribal court decisions and tribal codes and constitutions and regulations will take their rightful place alongside other cases and laws as precedential authority of the third sovereign, and that someday a Native Justice will sit on the Supreme Court of the United States.

Through discussions prompted by my presentation and conversations that I had in the hallways outside the meeting rooms, I offered to send boxes of surplus law books to nascent tribal libraries whose budgets are so very small or non-existent.

Finally, I took away from this conference a renewed commitment to supporting tribal libraries as places where children (and in some cases, adults) may first encounter books and learn a love of reading that will stay with them and see them through their lives - no matter what their aspirations may be. To be a life-long reader is a great gift that is often imparted by a local librarian, and by giving that gift, a world opens up before a child's eyes and what a wonderful thing that is!

Colin Powell Endorses Obama - Wooo Hooo!

The first thing I heard on NPR this morning was the great news that Colin Powell had endorsed Barack Obama for President :) You all can read all about his endorsement by clicking on the link above, but Powell's endorsement of Obama got me thinking about the other significant endorsements that Obama has garnered both before and after he earned the Democratic nomination on June 3, 2008, That is the date when Barack Obama secured enough delegates to win the Democratic nomination for president. Here's my list of the most important Obama endorsements (in no particular order):

1. Oprah Winfrey (Come on, that $2300/head partay she held for Obama was HUGE).

2. Stephanie Miller (a true Momma for Obama right from the get-go).

3. Senator Teddy Kennedy (when the patriarch of Camelot got behind Obama, people took notice).

4. Caroline Kennedy (another member of Camelot compares Obama to her father).
5. FourFreedoms Blog (a great example of the power of the blogosphere).

6. Many, many Newspapers and Magazines (among them the NYTimes, Chicago Tribune, Esquire, The New Yorker, etc....).

7. The rest of the world (Check out this ABC Poll: World Wants Obama as President).

Here's another web site that breaks down world opinion country-by-country: If the World Could Vote.

8. All but 7% of Hillary-supporters, AKA PUMAs (We knew that most of you grrrls would come around).

9. Bill Clinton (come on, Big Dawg, you can say his name!).

10. Obama's fellow candidates (Bill Richardson, John Edwards, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden - duh!).

11. I know, I know, I said I would stop at ten, but I just gotta mention all of those older, white, working class folks (not to be confused with PUMAs) who put down their guns and their bibles long enough to pin an Obama button on their lapels. Here's a case in point, check out Republicans for Obama.

Way to go people - there are numerous important endorsements that I didn't have room to list, but I must give them a shout out here - Kalyn Free (Founder and Leader of INDN's List and DNC Superdelegate), Senator Claire McCaskill (an early and ardent support of Senator Obama), Al Gore (the man who will always be the 43rd president in my mind), I could go on and on, but I want to get this posted while the Powell endorsement is still hot in this 24 hour news cycle that we all live in. Go Obama/Biden 2008!

The GOP's War on Natives(both at home and abroad)

Palin's Abysmal Record on Alaska Native Issues

Although Sarah Palin's husband Todd claims Native heritage on his grandmother's side of the family (Yup'ik Eskimo), this connection to Alaskan Natives has not resulted in Palin's support for Alaska Natives. In fact, Governor Palin has thwarted progress and advancement for Alaska Natives at virtually every turn. Here are just a few of the ways that Palin has failed to protect rights that matter to Alaskan Natives:

1. Palin has consistently voted and lobbied against subsistence hunting and fishing rights for Alaska Natives (it seems if you can't shoot it from a helicopter, then Palin isn't interested in hunting it). In terms of fishing rights, which are essential not only for cultural survival, but also for the very existence of Native peoples who reside in Alaska, Palin has fought to diminish the scope of the waters that Alaskan Natives can fish, in direct conflict to a Federal Court order that held: "Congress in 1980 had expressly granted the U.S. Interior and Agriculture Departments the authority to regulate and protect Native and rural subsistence fishing activities in Alaska."(Decision entered May 15, 2007, Docket No. 110).

2. Palin Has NOT Supported Tribal Sovereignty
"So extreme is Palin on tribal sovereignty issues that she has sought to block tribes from exercising any authority whatsoever even over the welfare of Native children, adhering to a 2004 legal opinion issued by the former Murkowski Administration that no such jurisdiction exists (except when a state court transfers a matter to a tribal court). Both the state courts and the federal courts have struck down Palin's policy of refusing to recognize the sovereign authority of Alaska Tribes to address issues involving Alaska Native children. Native Village of Tanana v. State of Alaska, 3AN-04-12194 CI (judgment entered Aug. 26, 2008) (Ak. Super. Ct.); Native Kaltag Tribal Council v. DHHS, No. 3:06-cv-00211- TMB (D. Ak.), pending on appeal No 08-35343 (9th Cir.)). "
This attack on Tribal Sovereignty runs counter to established federal law (Indian Child Welfare Act, 25 U.S.C. 1901 et seq., 2000, and numerous federal court decisions, among them, the pre-eminent Supreme Court case on the issue of the welfare of Indian Children Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians v. Holyfield, 490 U.S. 30, 1989.)

3. Palin Has Attacked Native Languages:
Governor Palin has repeatedly refused to accord proper respect to Alaska Native languages and voters by refusing to provide language assistance to Yup'ik speaking Alaska Native voters.

Ángel Franco/The New York Times
Anna Nick, a local elder, is the lead plaintiff in a federal lawsuit demanding that election ballots and referendum questions also be available in Yup’ik. I want to know what I am voting on, she said through a translator. (See the NYTimes, "A Visit to Akiachak").

Why the Colombian Free Trade Agreement Hurts Indigenous Peoples

This is from a Statement issued by the Indigenous Peoples of Colombia:
We act with precise urgency. We risk our lives and offer our lives for life. We struggle with all our capacity against the sophisticated propaganda that is nothing more than well-crafted lies, against laws and measures that impose the interests of others against life itself and justice. We call on therefore, on the wisdom, the serenity and the respect that comes with dialogue. We love and defend dialogue. But we do so mobilized with firmness. We are people of our word and of dialogue. We live it through our assemblies, and within our Life Plans. Everything that we have created is based on a process of dialogue between contradictions and differences. We therefore need and call on an interlocutor who is legitimate, with whom we can dialogue. And we are totally committed to engage in this process.

What is it that we are proposing?
* That the necessary conditions for a process of dialogue are immediately established, in order to discuss the five main points of the agenda that we propose.
* That the dialogue is carried out under the watch and with the backing of legitimate and unquestionably credible persons, and with authority that is recognized in any part of the world.
* That in this dialogue, every sector of society is represented, according to democratic mechanisms of participation, giving priority to the majority of the population that has been excluded, marginalized and exploited.
* That honesty, truth and respect become non-negotiable conditions for the development of this dialogue, and those that violate these principles are excluded from participating in the process.

United State Government Seeks to Undermine the Government of Bolivia

It is no secret that the Bush/Cheney administration is not supportive of the government of Evo Morales, the first Indigenous, democratically-elected president of a Latin American country since the Spanish invasion of that territory over 450 years ago, but it turns out that their dislike of the Aymara Native has manifested itself in several covert actions that seek to undermine Morales' administration. Among the actions taken by the Bush/Cheney administration is one that seeks to suspend longtime U.S. trade benefits for Bolivia because of that country's failure to cooperate in drug-fighting efforts in the past year, the top U.S. trade official said on Friday, but Morales stated yesterday that his country would rather forego the U.S. aid than live under the threat of U.S. oppression (Bolivia Won’t Bow to the US, says Morales).

The above-mentioned stories represent just three ways that Indigenous peoples across the Western hemisphere are struggling to maintain their rights, their liberties, and their very way of life. It is no coincidence that these rights are threatened by the Bush/Cheney/McCain/Palin political party, and all the more reason why we need to elect Obama/Biden in just three short weeks. During the final presidential debate, when asked about the Colombia Free Trade Agreement, John McCain enthusiastically endorsed the Agreement, Barack Obama expressed reservations about jumping into another free trade agreement that may end up supporting a regime that oppresses its own people and may be responsible for death squads attacking union leaders. These are some of the facts that may not receive much coverage, but need to be considered by voters who are about to go to the polls very soon and cast what may well be the most important vote of their lives. Viva Obama/Biden 2008!

Happy Indigenous Rights Day!

"What I have seen in recent political rallies for McCain and especially those for Governor Sarah Palin, frightens me – for Senator Obama’s life and for our country in very dangerous times. I hear the voices of fear – unfounded fear of a black man to serve as our national leader; and I see the faces of hate that such irrational fear generates. They are the voices and faces of fear and hate that we saw in photos and reports in the 1960s of white men and women screaming hate-filled, racist epithets at courageous black children being escorted by soldiers into their first day of a public school, and at the brave young black woman entering the University of Alabama, theretofore not open to blacks. Saying nothing of his qualifications, which to me have been manifestly obvious, the election of Senator Obama will signal to the entire world community a welcome change. America will be seen in a new light, a light in which our enemies and antagonists will find it difficult to make their mischief against us. And here in America we can take a new pride in our system and in our people. More importantly, we can look into the faces of our children, regardless of any color or gender, and tell them in honesty that any of them, if they aspire to it, can become President of the United States. That alone, to me, is worth the risk that those – both serious opposition and cynical bigots alike, see in his liberal proposals and his lack of experience.
Barack Obama is a man for our time, and we must not let that pass."
Charles Trimble, 73, Oglala Lakota, born and raised on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.

Here's a link to news from Indian Country: Indianz.com

Song for Sarah

This great little ditty was posted on Facecrack by Raine of FourFreedoms fame. I now give you all a song dedicated to Mrs. Todd Palin:

The Measure of a Religion

As far as religion goes, I was reared in the Society of Friends (Quakers) and I have throughout my life attended various Quaker Meetings, in Albuquerque, Monteverde, Costa Rica, Portland, and now I have recently begun attending again the Green Country Friends Meeting here in Tulsa. I consider myself Quaker in the way a person whose parents arrived in this country from Italy must consider her/himself Italian. It is my heritage, however, I do not consider myself Christian. That may be a contradiction that my mother and others who practice the Christian religion cannot reconcile, but it makes perfect sense to me. Long ago I decided that one of the best ways to evaluate a religion is to observe those who practice the religion and watch and see how their belief system manifests itself in their lives. Frankly, I have not been very impressed by the behavior of most who call themselves Christian. They strike me as a tremendously judgmental and intolerant lot and quite prone to war and violence although they ofter refer to their savior as the "Prince of Peace."

This week I had two occasions to reflect on religion. On Wednesday evening I went to see Religulous, Bill Maher's cynical and comedic take on the three great religions - Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. Maher's premise, in a nutshell, is that is very difficult (in his case, impossible) for someone to suspend his/her rational thought and believe in such concepts as the virgin birth of Christ, the notion that Adam and Eve were cavorting with dinosaurs, or that scientists the world over are wrong about the age of the earth and a little concept called "evolution." Maher points out the that "faith" by its very definition suggests that there are things, ideas, and beings out there that are not verifiable, but must be accepted as fact if one is to consider her/himself a true believer. That is a suspension of reality as we experience it that both Bill Maher and I are not willing to make.

Ringu Tulku Rinpoche

In contrast to the thoughts I had after watching Religulous, I had a very different experience on Thursday evening. That night I attended a lecture given by the Ven. Ringu Tulku Rinpoche - a Tibetan Buddhist monk and teacher whose talk was entitled "Daring Steps Toward Fearlessness." I was struck immediately by the very realistic belief system that the monk began describing. He talked about how we can change our outlook and ourselves to be more in the present and to show more compassion to others. There was nothing in the monk's lecture that suggested I should suspend my rational thought and accept on blind faith a story that seemed incomprehensible to me. Rather it was just the opposite - the Rinpoche discussed how important is was for a practitioner of Buddhism to become more aware of her/his surroundings, of the reality of which we are a part, and to not deny reality for some notion of an unfathomable faith in a higher power.

In 1987 I traveled to Tibet, and one of my most enduring memories of that trip is the true kindness and generosity of the Tibetan people. The Tibetan people, in spite of their horrible treatment at the hands of their Chinese occupiers, were gracious and friendly to me, an obvious outsider. They welcomed me to join their pilgrimages and shared the chang and tsampa that they had with me, and they were so very appreciative of the photos of their revered leader, the Dalai Lama, that I had brought along to distribute as I traveled through their impressive land.

If a religion can indeed be measured by those who practice it, I must surely take my hat off to the people of Tibet and their particular form of Buddhism. They are so peaceful in the face of such overwhelming strife and violence that the Chinese have perpetrated on them. The Dalai Lama, their spiritual and political leader, to this day counsels non-violent responses to all wrong-doing, a remarkable response when one realizes the extent of injury and violence that has been done to the Tibetan people. Indeed, if John McPalin ends up stealing the election this November I have a notion that I should go to Dharamasala, India (the home-in-excile of the Dalai Lama) and take up Tibetan Buddhism. Om-mani-padme-huum...

Campaign Cartoon (10/08/08)

Tom Toles
Gamblin' Grampy McAbout-to-blow doubles down.
Enjoy!

Downticket Candidates

So everybody is talking about the Vice Presidential Debate (or at least the fabulous Saturday Night Live parody that can be viewed here if you still haven't seen it):



along with the top of the tickets and what kind of strategy each will bring to the debate on Tuesday night. But those candidates aren't the only candidates running. There are a number of candidates who are running for a seat in Congress. Here in Oklahoma we have a young politician, Andrew Rice, who is running an uphill battle against one of the most out-of-touch members of the U.S. Senate (Jim Inhofe). Most recent polls show Andrew Rice within striking distance of Jim Inhofe, and as a resident of Oklahoma I am hoping beyond hope that Rice can send Inhofe back to the Sooner State and bring a real change not only to Oklahoma but also to the Nation's capital.

Another significant challenge to a GOP incumbent Senate seat is Al Franken who, as of today, is leading Norm Coleman in Minnesota. Another important race is out in New Mexico where Tom Udall is running against Heather Wilson for the seat currently held by Republican stalwart Pete Domenici. In Alaska, Mark Begich is trying to unseat the currently indicted Ted Stevens (whose trial is ongoing in Washington D.C.). Other possible pick-ups for Democrats this November include Kay Hagan in North Carolina (who is poised to upset Elizabeth "Enough with the Viagra, Bob" Dole). Jeff Merkley is running a very tight race against incumbent Gordon "I'm just a RINO - Republican-in-name-only" Smith. In Virginia, Mark Warner is up 20% points plus on Jim Gilmore. Last but certainly not least, Jeanne Shaheen is in a very tight race against John Sununu up in New Hampshire. Many of these races will depend on the turn-out and the enthusiasm that voters show for the top-of-the-ticket candidates (Obama or McCain).

Just another reason why it is so important to not only cast your vote for the Democratic ticket (if you claim to be a Democrat!), but also follow through and mark the rest of your ballot for the Democratic Senate and House candidates. Obama and Biden are going to need a working majority to begin the monumental work that it will take to clean up the colossal mess left by the Bush/Cheney administration.

Here's Obama's latest ad to counter the incessant attack ads from the McBush camp:


For a hilarious satirical piece on Mrs. Palin, please read the Four Freedoms Exclusive penned by the fabulous Velveeta Jones.

In Case You Missed the Debate Last Night....

Well, it wasn't the train wreck that we had all hoped for, but Governor Palin's debate answers were vapid, shallow and completely void of any substance. Senator Joe Biden (D - DE) did a respectable job and did show some real knowledge and some detail in his answers. Of course, he didn't announce at the onset that he reserved the right to ignore any questions and not answer a question in the way that the moderator or the audience might expect. Meantime here's a nice summary of Palin's thought-process during the debate (courtesy of Daily Kos).

Senator Bernie Sanders Offers a Bit of Sanity

"Having mismanaged the economy for eight years while continually insisting that the 'fundamentals of our economy are strong,' the Bush administration now wants the middle class of this country to bail out Wall Street. Meanwhile the wealthiest people, those who have benefited most from Bush's policies and are in the best position to pay, are being asked for no sacrifice at all. This is absurd."

Senator Bernie Sanders, October 1, 2008

Okay, okay, I admit that I have probably crossed the line from having a passing interest in politics to being a full-blown political junkie. Here's the proof - it is 4:45pm (CST) and I am watching C-SPAN2. At the moment Senator Bernie Sanders (I - VT) is offering an amendment that actually makes sense - it would place much of the burden of this colossal bailout on those who are responsible for creating this mess. Here is the most salient detail of the Sanders Amendment: "In the case of a taxpayer other than a corporation, there is hereby imposed (in addition to any other tax imposed by this subtitle) a tax equal to 10 percent of so much of modified adjusted gross income as exceeds $500,000.00 ($1,000,000.00 in the case of a joint return or a surviving spouse."

I hope that this amendment is taken seriously and attached to the bill that the Senate is debating today, but I don't hold out much hope for that. I have heard many senators talk about how this piece of legislation may return a good part of the $700 billion tab to the taxpayers who are being asked to front this astronomical amount of money, it may even generate a profit for taxpayers. That makes me laugh if we weren't talking about such a huge sum of money. It brings to mind remarks that we heard during the run-up to the Iraq war that the oil from Iraq would pay for this incursion into a country that had not attacked us. Now almost a trillion dollars later, the Iraq war has not paid for itself. In fact, the Iraqi government has over 10 billion dollars in a New York bank, no lawmaker has susggested that that money be used to pay for the costs of rebuiliding a country that is in shabbles.

So I despair that taxpayers will ever see any reward or repayment for their largesse. American taxpayers will be played the fool again, and again, and we will take it, because our voices are so easily discounted. I am angry at Senator Obama, Senator Dodd, Senator Schumer, and many other Democrats who are so eager to pass this admittedly-flawed legislation. I applaud Senator Bernie Sanders who at least attempted to put the responsibility of this fiasco at the feet of those who caused it. I will hold my breath and wait and see if his amendment passes and makes this bailout a little more palatable to those who will ultimately feel the sting of this bill. I fear that I will pass out when the vote is taken.

Read a Banned Book This WeekMake a Librarian's Day :)

Some of the Banned Books of 2006:

This week is the week that the American Library Association marks Banned Book Week. It is a week to focus on many of the books that at one time in the history of this country have been censored or outright banned and even burned in the public square. We have all heard the story about how then Mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, Sarah Palin approached the public librarian in that town and asked her about the process of removing certain books from the shelves. Mrs. Palin subsequently fired the librarian Mary Ellen Emmons, who was later reinstated after a public outcry over Palin's actions. See Palin pressured Wasilla librarian TOWN MAYOR: She wanted to know if books would be pulled.

Also see ABC Investigates Sarah Palin's Book Censorship:


Book banning is nothing new, but the stalwart defense against censorship has often been taken up by librarians who by their very profession, understand the value of an informed citizenry in a robust democracy. This morning on NPR they presented information about the short-term successful banning of The Grapes of Wrath - a book that the proponent of its banning had apparently never read. See 'Grapes Of Wrath' And The Politics of Book Burning

Here is a list of books that have been subject to bans or community controversy (from the ALA web site):
The “10 Most Challenged Books of 2006” reflect a range of themes, and consist of the following titles:
“And Tango Makes Three” by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell, for homosexuality, anti-family, and unsuited to age group;
“Gossip Girls” series by Cecily Von Ziegesar for homosexuality, sexual content, drugs, unsuited to age group, and offensive language;
“Alice” series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor for sexual content and offensive language;
“The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things” by Carolyn Mackler for sexual content, anti-family, offensive language, and unsuited to age group;
“The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison for sexual content, offensive language, and unsuited to age group;
“Scary Stories” series by Alvin Schwartz for occult/Satanism, unsuited to age group, violence, and insensitivity;
“Athletic Shorts” by Chris Crutcher for homosexuality and offensive language;
“The Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky for homosexuality, sexually explicit, offensive language, and unsuited to age group;
“Beloved” by Toni Morrison for offensive language, sexual content, and unsuited to age group; and
“The Chocolate War” by Robert Cormier for sexual content, offensive language, and violence.
Off the list this year, but on for several years past, are the “Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger, “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck and “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain.

Here is a link to the background of the situation in Kerns Country in Califormia that instigated the banning of "The Grapes of Wrath."

Here's a great review of a book that chronicles the sage of the banning of "The Grapes of Wrath:"
Forbidden Fruit: The Banning of The Grapes of Wrath in the Kern County Free Library

Thank god for the steadfastness of librarians across the country who hold the line against censorship and book banning.