Love is God

One of my heros, Pete Townsend turned his fans on to the wisdom of Meher Baba. I had one of his poems in my wallet for years, but when I looked for it today it was gone. So I'm left with giving you the jist of his words. It amazes me how the ancient wisdom, handed down through the generations, applys to our new sciences.

God is Love and Love must Love.
But Love is One, Infinite and perfect,
And has naught to Love
But itself.

So Love must imagine a Lover to Love...

Back in the 70's I read a Hindu story of Krishna Lila.

It seems there were a group of devout women called 'Gopis.' Their hearts so were filled with the Love of the Love, that they cried day and night in yearning so deep that Krishna's Heart was broken came down and he gave each Gopi her own personal Krishna.

Then there's this Jesus fella.

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see Love."

Eternal Love is something we all carry around. We are Love's imagined Lover. Our Love is as timeless as the Lover that imagined it.

Something to think about.

by Subway Serenade

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From the comments

Hi, all,

My name is Kevin Shaw and I'm the guy in the blue shirt next to Charlie in the blogger's photo. This was my first DemocracyFest and it was a blast. Thanks to everyone that worked so hard to make it a great event.

Yes, I'm the guy that was tossing condoms during Subway's performance of "Comdomaniacs". I'm also the chair of Montgomery County (PA) Democracy for America and webmaster for PA for Democracy and a huge Howard fan, albeit late to the party (Howard's canpaign was pretty much over by the time the 2004 campaigns got to PA). I first heard him speak at a League of Conservation Voters canvassing event near Philly. I was an immediate convert and after working Leave No Voter Behind with MoveOn, found a local DFA group to participate in.

pafordemocracy.com had some software troubles last year and so I had to start over. Here's my old blog, and here's the new site.

So, anyway, thanks to all of you for being so accepting of a stranger in your midst. It was fun banging on Subway's guitar and trying to remember the words to some old songs.

Like Howard said, "I don't know where you'll be next year, but I'll be there!"

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Open Thread

Apparently "math" is one of the top ten searches at Cafe Press. That was my motivation for creating the design you see above.

A couple new shared items here, and I'll probably add more tomorrow. Hope everyone is having a great weekend.

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DemFest 2007 Part II

You can read part 1 here.

On Sunday the Bloggers breakfast was opened by Thankful. As we were about to go around introducing ourselves, those missing could be sensed (OC , JC and Steve Gilliard) and Thankful gave a verbal recognition of them. Monica, sitting where the connection was good, did live blogging for the BFA and listed all who stood up and gave their blogger name. Hey, there is Mainefem. It helped us find each other and match names. Subway did his “official” performance. (Details below).

As we left to break up for sessions, Marcia’s friend volunteered to save our front row table for the big evening event. Our group was not the only DFers on the alert because the rest of the group had staked out the front center and another table in the 2nd row.

It was always very evident of where the true Deanics were because these tables of people were always the first to stand up and cheer. No wonder others don’t quite get us. But I must say, we do know how to have fun.

We had break out groups, and being an organizer for Rockford DFA I wanted to see what Jim Dean and Tom had to say at the DFA breakout session. Most of the time was used to introduce ourselves. I am pretty impressed with what everyone is doing and I have to admit it gave me in inferiority complex. But I have to remember I live in a red-sea and with a relatively small population. Can’t compare with blue, New York City.

There were several good breakout sessions and movies but Paula, Lois and I were on overload. We went back to our room, ordered out lunch then went for a swim. Hey, never let a good hotel go to waste.

At dinner the NH Sec of State, William Gardner spoke. Marcia said he has been reappointed for over 25 years. We asked if he was a Democrat or a Republican. She said neither that position has to be non-partisan. Well she doesn’t live in IL because that is a most sought over elected position. He talked about NH political history, and was basically justifying why NH still has to be the first primary. This picture caught my reaction.

Now what you are all waiting for, Howard Dean’s portion of the event. Planted at the front table I estimated that he would have to walk past us to get in like John Edwards did. But the organizers knew better and snuck him in the back door behind the podium so he just had to jump on the stage. And does Howard look great!. Bear with me on my description. In one word great!


We all felt that he looks like he has lost weight or at least got a great looking suit. Jessica can attest to the fact that he is now eating bananas and sunflower seeds, but Marcia gave him a pound of fudge as he exited so if he starts to gain weight we can blame her for making him fall off the wagon. Dean had on a dark suit with an aqua blue open collared shirt. We will forgive him for not wearing our whale tie. The shirt set off his blue eyes. Howard spoke behind the podium so I can’t discuss pant length or shoes. LOL

I cannot give justice to his speech so hear them for yourselves. He was very passionate, only giving out his trademark grin a few times. He didn’t shy away from the issues including the Iraq war-funding bill.

To exit the stage he only had to walk a few feet to the rear door, but you cannot imagine how many deaniacs can crowd into such a small space. Marcia of course was one of the first people to talk to him. I jumped up and stood next to her as she moved over to the exit door. Lois and Paula also knew to do the same. As he approached us, he pointed at my 2004 Dean for America T-shirt and said with his grin, “I like that shirt!” Paula had given him a picture of her car’s license plate with Dean 2008 and told him the 2012 was still available. He paused long enough for us to get a group picture. I had hoped someone could take it and this too showed up on Johnson’s photo album.


Most people filed out leaving the hard cores and this gave us chance to get a group picture. (I would love someone to label all the people). Still reveling in the after-glow, none of us die-hard Dean fans were willing to leave the conference room. The center was also smart to keep the bar open.. We filled a few tables and sat and talked. Subway volunteered to go back on stage to sing our choice songs. They were filled with political humor and sentimentality. He is such an enlightened gentle soul and this comes through with his music.


A sample of his music.

This time also gave us a chance to finish up conversations. I got to hear Charlie’s escapades in the Florida jail and his explanation on where he was living (answer, everywhere friends will put him up in town). I corned Sal and asked him how he, a Kucinich support, could grill John Edwards on stage about his scheming with Kucinich to take away votes from Dean in Iowa. In the middle of everything Paula and I talked about her losing her mother and Sarah and I touched base about her children and her hassles. Thankful, received my check supporting her brother’s aids fundraiser and Subway and I discussed our mutual love of Harry Chapin music.

Closeness of friendships cannot be judged on the amount of time spent together but rather on the quality and intensity of the time that one does share. We all come from a mutual space of loving our country and being activated to do something about this. We all share the inspiration of Howard Dean bring us to this point. Just knowing that Charlie is down in Florida fighting for a just election system, Marcia is working in her state to make fair laws, and Subway is reaching someone’s heart in the underground of New York, makes my little self in rural Illinois feel not quite so alone.

Thank-you all for such an inspiring weekend thank also to Jessica, and her organizational gang.

Credit to Paul Johnson for attached photos. My cardboard camera didn’t cut it.


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DemFest Part 1

The Magic of Unlikely Friendships
Demfest 2007
by Holly J

What could possibly bring together a Floridian activist, an East Coast state representative a Midwest doctor’s wife and a New York subway singer? Answer; love of country and the inspiration of one man who taught them they could each make a difference.

I (the Midwest doctor’s wife) have never been to New Hampshire before so it was fun to go to another part of the country for Demfest 2007. People came in from all parts of the country in many ways but the airport was very assessable (and nice compared to dumpy O’Hare) so I chose to fly. The facilities were perfect, a modernized rambling hotel with attached conference rooms. The description of a conference center with a mill and ducks was accurate after you drove through “any where USA” shopping malls to get there. I wish I could say I had a taste of New Hampshire but the driving rain and cool weather kept me confined to the facilities.

Marcia (the state representative) and Lois picked me up at the airport. We joined the other crushies in 3 adjoining rooms with 2 queen-sized beds and a bathroom each. This was definitely a step up from the dorm room and shared shower last year. I have no idear if they had heard about us crushies but we were literally the farthest possible and up 3 floors from the conference rooms.

There was no problem finding the other BFAers, just follow your nose to the nearest bar. Well I prefer to call it a lounge. The female bartender was our designated caretaker and stuck with us the entire 3 days, moving from the lounge bar to the conference whenever there was a pay bar to be had. I think I even saw her setting up the buffet. There was a registration table with nametags. They were required for admission and for food. I always appreciate nametags so I am sure to put the right face on the name I already knew.

One by one we straggled in and greeted each other. Thankul showed us her new leopard high heels she was breaking in to wear to a gay pride parade in remembrance of her brother. Sal flitted around the table and Marcia mothered me by seeing that I got food despite the closed kitchen. This is where my story deviates from most of the rest of the BFA crew.

Having worked that day, I encouraged the other crushies to return to the room for crushie time. Marcia pulled out her marvelous picture albums for Lois, Paula and me to oogle over. “Front row” Marcia had up close pictures of all the presidential candidates that have come to New Hampshire. We quickly passed over Hilary’s pictures to spend the time on Howard’s J

After the delicious breakfast buffet, Jim Dean opened the Saturday session. Jim was spiffy in his suit. The rest of us looked more the part of activist wearing t-shirts displaying our favorite slogan. By the end of the day, I looked like a car bumper with stickers and pins professing my stance on the issues.

The big event of the day was John Edwards and they opened up the back to enlarge the conference hall to accommodate around 800 people (my guess). Crushie reports require dress description so here goes. John wore slim style jeans and a dress shirt with open collar and rolled up sleeves. I noted that his hair wasn’t quite as fluffy which is more appealing to me. He has a much smaller frame than I expected. His light southern drawl matched his blue jeans. We had planted ourselves in the front table and off to the left which was perfect because the podium was off center to the right. This forced anyone talking to stay on our side.

John didn’t like the podium, holding the free mike in his hand. He did say all the right stuff for progressives; out of the war as soon as possible, universal health care, and caring for our environment. He did relay how important the grassroots are to get our country on track. Since this time around he isn’t part of the beltway DCers, he knows he has to reach out to us. I do appreciate him coming to talk to us and he even opened up for questions. He was handed a softball question from Marcia but he was scooted off the stage after Sal nailed Edwards with asking if he had a deal with Kucinich at the Iowa Caucus.

Deciding which event to attend is always difficult. We chose the impeachment panel because Marcia was involved with this at her state legislature. Newly elected NH US Rep. Carol Shea-Porter told her inspiring story of her totally grass-root, low cost campaign. She is a natural speaker and a true progressive. Her fellow congressman told us the most disturbing fact of the weekend. The shape of our country is even worse than he has guessed. There was Bush administration damage to our country under “every rock that gets turned over,”

Paula, Lois and I attend Arshad’s DFA Precinct training. His courses are packed with information and his humorous “side comments” is his trademark. Bev Harris’s session drew a big crowd and her findings of “Black Box” election fraud was hidden under the “bolder” she had turned over. By this time a nap called me because my room was in sight near this classroom.

We have already discussed Sen. Mike Gravel on the blog. Sorry no detailed description of him here. He is unappealing to me. I couldn’t really hear much else of what he said after he went off on not taxing corporations. I will leave that up to his supporters.

One of my highlights for the whole weekend was Granny D. Being crushie trained, I was on the lookout for her before her event and there she was, standing in the hallway. And, you could not miss her with her trademark hat. She is even smaller than I have imagined, and at 5’ 3’’ I had to actually look down quite a bit to talk to her. She was gracious and grinned widely for her picture with me. Her speech deviated from her campaign finance reform issue to talk about the hot topic of the day, immigration reform. If anyone can find a link for transcript let me know. She is in the later half of her 90’s and is bright and feisty as ever but being in the medical world, I wanted her to sit down and take a breathing treatment.

I do have to talk about Obama’s representative. (You know I like Obama). It aggravates me to have candidates send in reps but this William McNearry guy was great. Many people had left and were talking but within a few minutes he had us. McNeary is a Black-Baptist minister and we responded like his congregation. He read from his notes tossing the pages on the floor behind him. We rose to our feet to applaud in agreement. He followed up by sitting in the lounge with the Obama skeptics, unruffled by questions thrown to him. We all agreed, we would all vote for him.

I will leave it to others the fill in the “after hours” details. (and will combine the “Subway experience" in part II.)

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No Vote on Gay Marriage in Massachusetts

Also posted at Disabled Americans for Democracy

The AP reports that there will be no referendum on Massachusetts' same sex marriage law. The bill to put the law before the voters was defeated by a vote of 151 to 45. Though it is possible that opponents of same sex marriage will continue their efforts to overturn the 2003 state court ruling that established Massachusetts as the only state in the union where gay marriage is legal, they would now have to start again from scratch. So, equal marriage rights in the Bay State are secure, for now.



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Open Thread

This lolcat picture gave me a chuckle...



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Happy Loving Day!

From Freedom to Marry:

June 12, 2007 marks the 40th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Loving v. Virginia on June 12, 1967 which struck down the remaining interracial marriage bans in 16 states in the United States, ending race discrimination in marriage.

Update: I've written a longer post on this subject over at the Independent Bloggers' Alliance.

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This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
Some momentary awareness comes
As an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,
Who violently sweep your house
Empty of its furniture,
Still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
For some new delight.

— Rumi

Image from Visual Preludes 2006

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Sunday Night Open Thread

Looking forward to getting some more reports from DeanFest attendees. In the meantime, here's an open thread.

New articles to check out in the shared items, by the way. A visit to the Creation Museum, cats doing more of the "be fruitful and multiply thing thanks to global warming", and more.

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Bloggers' Breakfast

Morning all.

Just came fromt the Blogger's Breakfast

We had a moment of silence for Edwin, jc, and Steve Gilliard (firedoglake). There were a couple poster boards showing a range of jc's graphics, several jc t-shirts scattered around the room

Subway was our intro and closing entertainment.

More info over at BFA - Monica is posting great coverage.
Thankful | 06.10.07 - 11:52 am


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Open Thread

You know the drill...

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Desmond Tutu addresses G8 Leaders

From Ecumenical News International

Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu has joined other religious leaders and globalization critics in sending an anti-poverty message to leaders of the Group of Eight industrial nations who are meeting in Germany.

"We can survive only together, we can be free only together, we can be prosperous only together, we can be human only together," said the former Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town to lively applause at a rally during the Kirchentag, the once-every-two-years German Protestant convention, meeting this year in Cologne.

The June 7 rally, outside the city's cathedral, took place the day before the heads of six African nations were due to join the leaders of the G8 countries -- Britain, Canada, France, Italy, Japan, German, Russia and the United States -- for the final day of their northern German summit.

"I want to say to the leaders of the G8, 'I am an African, I am a man, I am a human being ... I am not an object of pity, I am not an object of charity'," said Tutu. "I am an African, I am your brother."

The open-air gathering had a live video link to an anti-poverty concert in Rostock where rock stars were trying to put pressure on the G8 leaders meeting nearby in Heiligendamm, behind a 12-kilometer-long fence topped with razor-wire.

"The message of the Kirchentag is clear; we say: Pull down the barriers between those who decide and those who are affected by the decisions," the president of the Protestant convention, Reinhard Höppner, told the Cologne rally. "We say: Do not put your efforts into growth that violates the dignity of people."

More here.

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Greetings from DeanFest

Update: Monica checks in at the BFA blog.

Charlie Grapski checks in from DeanFest

Hey everyone. Here in New Hampshire. Arrived yesterday and it was quiet - till Jessica arrived. :)

Charlene got in a bit later. And I ran into TTT in the hall about midnight.

Denise and I just picked up Subway from the bus station.

Settling in and getting ready for a good weekend.

I'm sorry to hear about many of you who are not going to be able to make it this year. Hope you guys are well - sending a hello from NH and letting you know you guys are missed. Hey Renee and Demetrius wish you were here. If anyone hears from Donna tell her I am also sad to hear she can't make it this year. Who is going to be my assistant in my talk?

Its always good to be around this crowd. It makes the rest of the year bearable knowing who else is out there fighting to take back our country.
...
Oh and listner wish you were here.
...
Cat and puddle (just getting through the messages to see who has been on) - good to see you too. Jessica said you were coming Puddle but I learned a bit ago that you too will be absent this year.

To all of you - we wish you were here and I'll try and get on and give some updates during the weekend.

Charlie

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Bonus Open Thread

I couldn't pick just one of these, so you're getting two pics in tonight's open thread.



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Team Hillary is push-polling

Swopa at Firedoglake points us to this report in the Iowa Independent.

Then, Eness-Potter got a glimpse of what may become the positive side of Clinton’s message: “During Bill Clinton’s administration, the Clintons helped to create 100,000 jobs in Iowa. After hearing this, is your opinion of Sen. Clinton higher or lower?” The caller went on to ask a few questions about Clinton’s campaign platform, asking whether specific campaign promises, as worded by the campaign’s pollster, make Jason more or less likely to support her.

But the survey didn’t end there. As Eness-Potter’s patience continued to wane, the caller started into the negative questions about Clinton’s opponents. Although he cut the caller off fairly quickly after he saw where the caller was headed, he recalled two questions -- one about Sen. Barack Obama and the other about former Sen. John Edwards -- that were particularly memorable.

On Sen. Obama, the caller’s question had to do with the war: Paraphrased, it was “Sen. Obama boasts of his consistent opposition to the war, but he has contradicted himself by voting for appropriation bills to fund it. Does this make you approve of Sen. Obama more or less?”

And on Edwards, the subject was, predictably, about his $400 haircut a month or so ago.

It was roughly at that point in the call that Eness-Potter excused himself and hung up –- after the caller admitted to him that the survey was commissioned by the Clinton campaign.

He hung up forty minutes into the call, by the way.

danl318 at My Left Wing posts about similar tactics in New Hampshire.

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Yet another open thread

Time for a new thread, I guess. Here you go.

adopt your own virtual pet!

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How Scooter saved Halloween

One of the letters to the judge who was going to sentence Scooter Libby was sent by Mary Matalin, but also signed by her husband Skeletor. I mean Gollum. Oh, you know the one--the Democratic "pundit" who wanted Howard Dean ousted as chair of the DNC as punishment for the 2006 midterm elections. Anyway, Matalin and her main ghoul wanted the judge to know what a swell guy Scooter is. By way of illustration, she told the touching story of one time when the Scooter saved Halloween for the Cheney grandchildren at an "undisclosed location".

In a truly nausea-inducing segment of the letter, Matalin makes this case for the convicted felon who outed a CIA agent:

My lifelong view, which has only been validated in adulthood, is that kids are the most honest and true evaluators of people. Watching my children with Scooter, and all children with him, you'd think he hung the moon. He is gentle and caring. He is genuinely interested in others well being and still inspires me to this day. He is a compelling teacher and extraordinary role model for integrity and humility.

I have seen what this trial has done to my own kids, just their reading about it. I cannot imagine the toll on Scooter and Harriet's young ones. Setting aside the pain of the Libby family, my girls just don't understand. They are old enough to intellectually comprehend the facts of the case but associating these "facts" with "Mr. Scooter" remains a complete disconnect to them.

My family is praying the wisdom and mercy you bring to bear in determining Scooter's future will include a consideration of his family, the price they have already paid and what further justice would be served by additional devastation to them and the many other children who love Scooter.

I was going to comment on that, but at the moment I'm speechless. But I'm sure some of you can think of something to say, so I'll just open up the floor for comment on all of this.

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Open Thread

Decided to post an open thread before work, just so I could post this kitty.

Talk amongst yourselves.

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There has to be a better way

Last night, on my way to my last EfM seminar meeting of the year, I decided that I should put up a thread about the Democratic debate before heading out. Given that this is at least partly a political blog, I guess I thought I should. But my heart wasn't in it, because, frankly, I just don't care about the debates at this stage of the game.

Blogs are often seen by presidential campaigns as ATMs. If you are the proprietor of a high-traffic Democratic (liberal, progressive, whatever) blog, the upshot is that those who are running for office will treat you with some respect--because you are now Somebody That Matters. Your voice and influence could mean money in their campaign coffers and ballots in the box for them, so--goodness--you might even be deemed as deserving of the time of day as some of those high stakes corporate donors!

Almost a month ago, I wrote about "prophets and kingmakers", concluding that, while there's more money in the kingmaking gig, that role is not a very good fit for people who are mainly concerned about bringing about positive social change. A couple weeks later, in response to a diary about "the real gatecrashers", it struck me that the big problem with the whole "crashing the gates" model is, in fact, those damn gates.

I never consented to gates.

And it's become really clear to me over the past few years that we're not going to make anything better simply by installing a different group of people inside the castle. Trusting that they will "remember who got them there"--when the truth is, everything changes once they get inside those gates.

So I really take issue with the whole set-up where few are on the inside and many are on the outside. Similarly, one of the main drawbacks to being a "kingmaker" is that somebody is being made king.

I know these are metaphors, but there's something I think we forget too often. When we elect a president, we're not choosing someone to be our boss. We're hiring an employee for an important job.

Also, *we* need to be setting the agenda, as I noted here

I remember when Jim Wallis came to Columbus last spring, he said something about Martin Luther King. I don't have the exact quote, but it was something like, "he never endorsed a candidate, but he was able to get politicians to endore *his* agenda.

When I attended that B.R.E.A.D. assembly, I was impressed that so many people were willing to come out on a Monday night to demand fair treatment for a segment of the population that politicians may feel that they can safely ignore. These people showed up not for a political party or candidate, but in support of a shared value. WE were taking the lead, and telling the politicians and elected officials that *they* need to get on board.

So, no, I'm not interested in being the Democratic Party's ATM. I want to be--*we* need to be--the party's conscience instead.

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Debate in New Hampshire

FYI, there's a debate tonight among the contenders for the 2008 Democratic nomination for president.

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Open Thread

I got a chuckle out of this picture

A few new posts in the shared items, by the way.

Talk amongst yourselves.


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My God does not fear science

I struggled for a title for this post--indeed, I struggled with what to post about the Creation Museum, or even if I should post about it. It does seem ripe for mockery--anything so utterly filled with animatronic creatures is probably going to get a lot of that. The thing is, I *don't* want to make fun of what these people believe. But it does make me sad...

A photo from the official Grand Canyon web site.

During some down time at work, I read an article from last week's Columbus Dispatch about the opening of the Creation Museum. It's not available for linking any more, so I looked for another article and found this one at Salon. The teachings about the Grand Canyon are fairly new to me...

In Ham's view, the great flood explains not only where scientists find fossils today but also the topography of the modern world. The Grand Canyon, he informs me, was made in a matter of days or weeks as the waters of the flood rushed away and the land was reclaimed. In the exhibit, you walk through a winding canyonlike corridor with spinning, dizzying lights into a wide-open room with videos, exhibits and diagrams explaining the hydrology of instant canyon-making. Ham says that instant canyon-making is based on the fact that volcanoes, such as Mount St. Helens, created reservoirs of water for a time in their altered topography. When those reservoirs breached, deep grooves were cut by the flowing water, leading to the fast formation of canyons.
...
Inside the Confusion exhibit, I strike up a conversation with Tim Shaw, a high school student visiting from Florida. "I don't care how long it took to make the Grand Canyon," he tells me. "It's not how old it is that matters to me. What matters is being right with God. Darwin's theory has no God. It can't be right. I don't know if this story is truer than Darwin's theory, but I do know it's better."

I do empathize. When I first started to tenatively question some of the things I'd grown up believing, it was kind of anxiety-inducing. Sort of like I was tugging at a loose thread and could end up unraveling *everything* if I wasn't careful.

I suppose I should point out, though, that it wasn't creationism versus evolution that I was struggling with. *That* was never presented as problematic, and I was taught the theory of evolution in science class at the Catholic elementary school I attended. In the Dispatch article, Ham is quoted as saying that there is a "cultural war" going on between secular humanism and the Christian worldview. I disagree. Maybe evolution is threatening to *his* version of Christianity, but it has never been anything but compatible with mine.

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Write to the Archbishop of Canterbury

I just saw this on the web site of Integrity, and thought it was worth front-paging.

On May 22, the Archbishop of Canterbury announced (through a spokesperson) that the Rt. Rev. Gene Robinson, the openly gay Bishop of New Hampshire, would not be invited to attend the Lambeth Conference in the summer of 2008. Integrity responded with a strongly worded press release.

The Lambeth Conference is still over a year away. It may yet be possible to persuade Rowan Williams to change his mind about inviting Bishop Robinson to Lambeth. Integrity encourages all of its members and friends to write the Archbishop of Canterbury about this issue... (Click)

Susan Russell, President of Integrity, discussed the Lambeth invitations with Welton Gaddy on State of Belief last week. Click here for a transcript of that segment.

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From the annals of unhelpful advice

This past Monday, I spent my day off from work trying to help my son salvage a project for his science class. I explained the course of events that led to this emergency data collection here and elsewhere. The basics--Son in Ohio is almost 14, has a diagnosis of Asperger's Syndrome, and is taking 8th grade science and math as a 7th grader. Demetrius was told on Friday that Son's grade was in jeopardy because he didn't have the data collected for a major project that was due this week. I put out an appeal for help, and the response was amazing. Son ended up with about 50 subjects for the study he was doing, when he was only trying for 32. Since I asked for help publicly, it seemed right to offer a public update of how the project went.

I wish I had a happy ending to report, but at the moment there isn't one. At least not for this project, but we continue to press forward in our efforts toward positive academic outcomes for our gifted, special needs son. We don't expect the job to be easy, or to have any magical "happily ever afters", but after all these years, it's kind of disappointing that we still need to butt heads like this with people who are supposed to be helping.

From a very unhappy e-mail I received from Demetrius when I was at work on Tuesday:

Apparently, after (teacher) told us on Friday that (son) might be failing science and math, we were supposed to spend our weekend consoling him to that fact instead of trying to help him. She keeps going on that (son) needs to take responsibility for his procrastinating.

Son's grade may still be salvagable, but the bigger issue is that his teacher is still saying stuff like this. "He has to take responsibility", he "has to learn" to do X, Y, or Z. Thank you for that headline from the esteemed research journal, Duh. Yes, of course he has to learn those things. When is someone going to start teaching him those things? Or even talking seriously with us about putting together a plan for how we are going to work together to teach him those skills?

I mean, what kind of social Darwinian attitude is it to say of an individual with any deficit, whether it be physical, cognitive, or emotional, "you're just going to have to learn"? How about tossing a non-swimmer into the deep water, and then "helpfully" shouting "You'd better start swimming or you'll drown!"

Shocking as it may seem, I really expect better than that from the people who are charged with providing my son with that Free Appropriate Public Education to which he is legally entitled. I'm even so bold as to expect that his teachers remember that Asperger's Syndrome is, by definition, a pervasive developmental disability--meaning that it affects many areas of his life. It's not just a social deficit. Yes, my son is classified as gifted, but that pervasive disability of his still has a cognitive component. He has trouble with something called "executive function", a set of skills involving

1. Working memory and recall (holding facts in mind while manipulating information; accessing facts stored in long-term memory.)

2. Activation, arousal, and effort (getting started; paying attention; finishing work)

3. Controlling emotions (ability to tolerate frustration; thinking before acting or speaking)

4. Internalizing language (using "self-talk" to control one's behavior and direct future actions)

5. Taking an issue apart, analyzing the pieces, reconstituting and organizing it into new ideas (complex problem solving).

And since that is a deficit our son has, it's something he needs help with. More effective help than urging him to "get organized" or "stop procrastinating". As far as helpfulness goes, those suggestions are right up there with "You'd better start swimming or you'll drown!"

Haloscan comment thread

New thread

Thank you to Cat for this link to Al Gore's appearance on the PBS Online News Hour. MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann has video of Gore's segment on that program posted online as well.

I took down the Cafe Press topic ads, because they won't work after today. Need to make our own ads to replace them, but in the meantime, here's the link to our store.

Haloscan comment thread

Open Thread

Just a couple of links and a picture tonight...

The Rev. Susan Russell, President of Integrity (a coalition of lesbian, bisexual, and transgender Episcopalians) was a guest on Air America's State of Belief this past weekend. I've posted a transcript here.

I've got a new post up at My Left Wing: Becoming a butterfly (and other "uplifting" thoughts). Some of you may have seen at least part of that before when I posted the butterfly metaphor here last October. But it seemed like time to pull that one out again, along with some other things.

Finally, if I go with a baby moo-cow for tonight's moment of cuteness, ya think Phil might mosey his way over here and comment in person? Just a thought...



And one more thing--which I know won't work for everyone, but I figured those of you who can watch videos might appreciate it...



P.S. Happy birthday to Bishop Gene Robinson.

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Caregiving

I'm not the only person who cares for a disabled loved one at home, but sometimes it feels that way. As I read about the wounded veterens returning from two failing wars, my heart breaks for those family members who were just getting by and now have lifetime responsibilities dealing former soldiers with brain injuries, post traumatic stress disorder, or other conditions that will prevent them from having a normal life themselves with those who love them.

Folks here know that I'm rarely away from for more than a few hours at a time. In fact, if my wife's daughter hadn't agreed to spend the weekend at our place, I'd never be able to do something like DemFest. I also have a unique form of therapy for myself for when the stresses of caregiving overwhelm me. I can take my guitar into the subway and scream at the world for a couple of hours, and this has kept me balanced through the years.

I've heard about the ways that our veterens are being screwed nine ways to Sunday by the greedy cowards that sent them off to fight their war crime. Men and women who have sacrificed so much are being screwed out of their rightful benefits. They return home and for many, their middle class existence is a thing of the past and wife or husband, parent or sibling is now faced with the double hardship of caring for a severely disabled person at home and trying to keep the roof over their heads, or their children in school.

If only this great nation could provide for these caregivers with the same benefits we afford to foster parents, we could lift some of the burdens that they bear, and even help to keep these families in tact. The cost to the system for home care by a family member is far less than care in a nursing facility, and far less than that of sending someone from an agency. A way should be found to share the cost saving with the overstressed, burned out and forgotten people who are in fact on the frontlines for those who cannot otherwise help themselves.

Subway


Haloscan comment thread

Cindy Sheehan resigns as "face" of the anti-war movement

In a Memorial Day essay, Cindy Sheehan wrote, in part:

This is my resignation letter as the “face” of the American anti-war movement. This is not my “Checkers” moment, because I will never give up trying to help people in the world who are harmed by the empire of the good old US of A, but I am finished working in, or outside of this system. This system forcefully resists being helped and eats up the people who try to help it. I am getting out before it totally consumes me or anymore people that I love and the rest of my resources.

From the comments here at HEP:

True prophets always run ahead of their time.

It takes time for the words of a prophet to come true.

In my experience, visionaries are enough ahead of their time that they are resisted every step of the way by the people in power. For reasons I do not understand, however, once the prophet stops speaking, something frees up and changes. I have lived this over and over, and I too needed to step back. Any of us is only called to speak out for a time.

You did it, Cindy. You were heard and what you have done has changed the situation. We may not see the true results of this for awhile.

But consider that most mystics and visionaries -- all through history and cross culturally -- were persecuted by their own people in their day. John of the Cross and Martin Luther King, Jr., for example, were both thrown into prison and wrote golden things from there. Now John of the Cross is considered a "doctor of the church" and King has a national holiday.

You have definitely not failed your son, or us, or failed at all, Cindy (and the spirit of your son knows this). It is the greedy and the arrogant (in any of us) that has failed. But the opera ain't over.

If you do not feel you have the words and energy anymore, then this calling is no longer on your shoulders. {Hallelujah, eh?} Thank you for carrying the torch for us, lighting up some wrongs, and for passing the torch when the time came.

Just go ahead and continue to be authentic. That's what got you into this and that's what got you out of this. Authenticity is good stuff. May you know in your own day the peace of seeing the fruit of some of your heroic efforts.

With Gratitude and Hope, listener in Vermont

Haloscan comment thread

Open Thread

From Cute Overload.

Halocan comment thread

Gore: Drive for domination has put us in greater danger

For anyone who hasn't seen this, Al Gore has a commentary in a recent edition of The Guardian:

A drive for global domination has put us in greater danger

The pursuit of "dominance" in foreign policy led the Bush administration to ignore the UN, to do serious damage to our most important alliances, to violate international law, and to cultivate the hatred and contempt of many in the rest of the world. The seductive appeal of exercising unconstrained unilateral power led this president to interpret his powers under the constitution in a way that brought to life the worst nightmare of the founders. Any policy based on domination of the rest of the world not only creates enemies for the US and recruits for al-Qaida, but also undermines the international cooperation that is essential to defeating terrorists who wish to harm and intimidate America. Instead of "dominance", we should be seeking pre-eminence in a world where nations respect us and seek to follow our leadership and adopt our values.

Click here for the rest. I found this via a front page post by gottlieb at My Left Wing. The picture is from gottlieb's essay.

Haloscan comment thread

And it isn't even April 1...

The source isn't The Onion, today isn't April Fool's Day. So, help me out here--how can these people POSSIBLY be serious about this...

Business chiefs and lawmakers criticised the use of the term McJob Thursday as fast food chain McDonald's launched a campaign to get an influential dictionary to change its definition.

Figures including Sir Digby Jones, former head of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and David Frost, director-general of the British Chamber of commerce, complained that the term was "insulting" and "out of touch".

The Oxford English Dictionary (OED), seen as the definitive guide to the English language, describes a McJob as "an unstimulating, low-paid job with few prospects, esp. one created by the expansion of the service sector."

Okay, I fully understand the business industry folks not liking that definition, but the proposed change is going to make people laugh out loud.

But Jones, Frost and 13 others said in a letter to the Financial Times that the dictionary should change this "to reflect a job that is stimulating, rewarding and offers genuine opportunities for career progression."

Their letter coincided with a push by McDonald's to get the OED to change the definition -- it is launching Thursday a public petition in British restaurants and on the Internet.

In recent days I've heard Al Gore speaking on The Daily Show and elsewhere, as part of his promotional tour for his new book The Assault on Reason. It's pretty distressing to realize how much financial interests have morphed the "news" into a different sort of creature entirely. That's bad enough. But, the freaking dictionary?

The letter has to be, at least to some extent, tongue-in-cheek. Jones, Frost et. al. can't seriously expect the OED to change a definition to the opposite of its everyday usage. If society ever sinks to that level, the chimps may want to deny that they're related to us.

Haloscan comment thread

Exciting DemocracyFest News!

From Jessica

Greg Palast, author and progressive journalist, has joined the list of speakers for the 4th Annual DemocracyFest. Other speakers include Sen. John Edwards, Gov. Howard Dean (free and open to the public), Sen. Mike Gravel, Bev Harris, and more! See the schedule and get your tickets at http://www.DemocracyFest.net

Trainings and panels offered include Impeachment, Creating Community Websites, Service Politics, Anatomy of a Grassroots Campaign, Framing, Peak Oil, Election Law, Democracy and the Religious Right, Pollworker Training, Making the Most of Grassroots Volunteers, the DFA Training Academy, and more!

All this plus lots of live music, films, and most importantly, networking with liberal activists from across the country. Don’t miss this chance to form working relationships that will have a lasting effect on our issue-based activities and our efforts to elect fiscally responsible and socially progressive candidates.

The 4th Annual DemocracyFest will take place June 9-10 at the Wayfarer Inn near Manchester, NH. More information is available at http://www.DemocracyFest.net

Haloscan comment thread

Howard Dean on Ring of Fire

Thanks to floridagal for the heads-up that Howard Dean was going to be on Ring of Fire this afternoon. Below is a transcript of most of the segment. The main thing I'm missing is the name of the person interviewing Howard. Apparently it is someone who worked on his presidential campaign.

Ring of Fire: When you were out there doing the 50-state strategy, how important was it that there was a balance, particularly of radio, in the world?

Howard Dean: Well, as you know, right wing radio is, as I call it, "hate radio", and it takes advantage of the very worst that people have to offer. They're always appealing to people's bigotries and people's prejudices and racism and all that other stuff. So, what I like to think of Air America as, is a place for optimism and idears. And I think that's really by and large, what it's been. We need a place where Americans can tune in and listen to things that are going to be good about America. Different ways of doing things, and not the kind of fearmongering and hatemongering that goes on on the right.

Ring of Fire: Speaking of which, last week we saw the passing of Jerry Falwell, and Republicans were jumping all over themselves to eulogize him. What do you think his legacy is to the political process.

Howard Dean: I think he has been an incredibly divisive person in terms of American history. He did appeal to sometimes the very worst in people--the anti-gay stuff, the racism that was going on at Liberty University with White folks not being able to date Black folks and stuff like that. So, you know, it's a mixed bag. He certainly was a potent political force in the Republican party, but in some ways he represented the worst of the Republican party.

Ring of Fire: And we saw, what was so interesting, in the debate a few weeks ago, three Republican candidates raising their hands saying they didn't believe in the theory of evolution. Isn't this part and parcel of appealing to the Falwells and the Pat Robertsons of the Republican party?

Howard Dean: Those folks are a passing generation. The Democrats are actually starting to reach out to Evangelicals. Young Evangelicals would rather hear what we're going to do about Darfur, poverty and global warming than they would beat up on their gay neighbor. And you know, in some ways, Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson and Oral Roberts and these people are dinosaurs. They're people who represent the anger part of Christianity, and there really is no justifiable anger part of Christianity--they're showmen, they make money off it. But the new generation are people that are emphasizing what was really in Jesus' message, which had to do with reaching out to people, taking care of the least among us. It's a much more American message, and the young, smart Evangelical preachers are creating *huge* congregations with that kind of a message of hope. And that's something the Democrats can work with, and I'm looking forward to that.

Ring of Fire: Well, you have been reaching out to them. We've talked about that in the past. And that's a perfect opportunity to talk about the fact that you have not written off any state in the union. I want us to tick this off...in two years as chairman, the Democrats took control of the House of Representatives, took control of the Senate, won a majority of the nation's governorships, and added ten new chambers in state legislatures. And then, James Carville said you should step down the next day, because, of course, that makes sense...

Howard Dean: The generations are passing in every institution, including ours. (Laughter). Look, I didn't do all that stuff by myself, without Chuck Schumer we don't win the Senate, and without Rahm Emanuel we don't win the House. It was a team effort. But, what we did do is go into new territory. Territory like Kansas and Minnesota and upstate New York--territories that hadn't been aggressively attacked. And of course we're delighted that we won the majority in the House and the Senate, but the really exciting thing is that we forced the president and the vice president to be campaigning in Idaho and Nebraska the last two weekends of that campaign.

Ring of Fire: You put them on defense.

Howard Dean: You gotta be playing offense all the time. When you start playing defense, which we've been doing for thirty years, then you're not winning. And now we're winning, and we're winning because we're asking everybody for their vote. There's not a vote that I'm afraid to ask for, and we do not have to give up our principles to ask people that don't agree with us for their votes. People will respect you if you respect them, and that's something we've learned by watching the terrible mistakes of the president. The president has not just been incompetent because of his policy mistakes. He's been incompetent because he set out from the beginning of his presidency to only be the president of half the people. And we want to be the president of ALL the people, including those that don't vote for us.

Ring of Fire: And you took the words right out of my mouth, because, in fact, not giving up our principles involves being able to stand strong in opposing this war. And we saw candidates in unlikely places, people like Jim Webb in Virginia, John Tester in Montana, who, in red states, ran against this war and won majorities.

Howard Dean: That's right. I think that people understand now that when you don't tell the truth about why you're going to war, the war effort's not likely to be successful. And the president and his folks simply didn't tell America the truth.

Ring of Fire: I've asked you this before, Governor--what does it feel like to have been essentially four years ahead of your time? (Laughter) You were a lonely voice--within the Democratic party, I might point out, calling for an end to this war. How did it feel to you watching people come around?

Howard Dean: You were part of that campaign, and I think you remember the day that I said capturing Saddam Hussein would not make us any safer, which created a huge uproar. Unfortunately, "I told you so" is not a good campaign slogan. So, I'm happy doing what I'm doing. We have a *great* field of people running for president. It's a great time to be chairman of the DNC, and I'm really looking forward to seeing our presidential candidate win.

Haloscan comment thread

jc, aka Judy Lynne Cadoret

More pictures of jc and her family can be found at puddle's blog.

Thank you to Denise for passing along jc's obituary, which was just published in The Daily Advertiser

MURRAY, Ky. - Judy Lynne Cadoret, 50, passed away May 13, 2007 at her family's home in Murray, Ky. after an extended period of declining health.

Judy was born March 20, 1957 in Rutland, Vt. to Warren J. (Jerry) Cadoret Jr. and the late Ramona (Mona) Cook Cadoret. The family traveled extensively, and Judy's childhood was spent in Louisiana as well as Colombia, South America and the Republic of South Africa .

She graduated in 1974 from Buras High School (Buras, La.) where she was editor of her high school yearbook. In 1978, she graduated Magna Cum Laude from Nicholls State University (Thibodaux, La.) where she had also worked as a Coach and Trainer for the Women's Athletic Team. Judy then returned to Buras High School as a Teacher (Art, Industrial Arts/Woodworking, and Health & PE) and was also Head Coach for the girls' basketball and softball teams and Assistant Coach to the girls' volleyball and track teams.

Four years later, in 1982, she moved to Lafayette, La. where her love of teaching continued and she found an outlet by helping her friends and neighbors improve their computer skills. There, she attended the University of Southwestern Louisiana where, in 1987, she acquired her second Bachelor's degree, again graduating Magna Cum Laude. At the time of her death, she had also partially completed her Master's Degree at the same university. Judy resided in Lafayette for 24 years. There she had been employed in the City Prosecutor's office as a Paralegal and later worked in the law office of Doucet-Speer as a Paralegal and Bookkeeper. She also held a Notary Public commission. Judy became a master of the computer and, in mid-1998, she formed a home-based computer services, transcription, and record-keeping business, which she maintained until 2006.

Judy was a sensitive soul who possessed a deep love of animals (especially her kitties, Xena and Gabby). She was also a champion of equality and individual rights who despised any form of racial or gender prejudice. Though preferring to stay out of the spotlight, she was politically active in promoting her beliefs through her graphic design work for candidates of like mind. She was a dedicated "blogger" and enjoyed debating political issues on the internet.

Judy was an accomplished artist who had her hands in everything: drawing, calligraphy, ceramics, painting, woodworking, stained glass, photography and computer graphics. Her most recent project was formatting and publishing the book Mona's Musings written by her mother.

Judy was preceded in death by her beloved mother, Ramona (Mona).

She is survived by her father, Warren (Jerry); her sister, Jan; and her brother, Jay. She leaves behind many extended family members and friends who will miss her exceptional talent and wit.

Published on May 26, 2007.

We miss you, jc. But we feel honored and blessed that we got the chance to know you.

Previous posts:
Remembering jc
From Thankful...

Haloscan comment thread

Good Morning

This week, when he was not working on something for a client, Demetrius was perfecting this bizarre little creation...

I made this half-pony / half-monkey monster to please you!

By any chance does anyone here know where that comes from?

My morning so far...I just started up the computer a little while ago, and as I sat down at my desk, both cats came into the room. Stevie jumped into my lap and snuggled up against me, and Cat Girl meowed softly, looked up at me, and rolled on her back.

Oh, that's right...Daughter in Ohio is sleeping over at a friend's house, and went there straight from school yesterday. Which means the cats probably haven't been fed since yesterday morning. Went upstairs and, yep, their dish was empty. So of course I fed them.

I do love that they asked so nicely. :)

So, how is everybody's weekend so far?

Haloscan comment thread

Sarcasm Society

Just discovered a link to the Sarcasm Society web page via StumbleUpon. Check out the tagline: We would love to hear what you think!

Hope everyone is having a great Friday night (and, no, that was *not* sarcasm).

This is an open thread.

Haloscan comment thread

A puddle ponders its place

You may have heard around the tubes that today is the opening of the Creation "Museum". May 25 is also Towel Day, in honor of Douglas Adams, so this seems like a fitting time to repost this excerpt from a Douglas Adams lecture:

I mean, there's no other conclusion you can come to. And it's rather like a puddle waking up one morning--I know they don't normally do this, but allow me, I'm a science fiction writer (laughter). A puddle wakes up one morning and thinks "Well, this is a very interesting world I find myself in. It fits me very neatly. In fact, it fits me *so* neatly, I mean, *really* precise, isn't it? (Laughter) It *must* have been made to have me in it!" And the sun rises, and he's continuing to narrate the story about this hole being made to have him in it. The sun rises, and gradually the puddle is shrinking and shrinking and shrinking, and by the time the puddle ceases to exist, it's still thinking, it's still trapped in this idea, that the hole was there *for* it. And if we think that the world is here *for us*, we will continue to destroy it in the way in which we have been destroying it, because we think we can do no harm.

Haloscan comment link

Al Gore on tonight's Daily Show

Just a reminder that Al Gore is a guest on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart tonight. He is scheduled to discuss his new book, The Assault on Reason.

Update: Holly asked in the comments whether Howard Dean had said anything about the Iraq funding bill. I just found this at the DNC blog

"Dean: Democrats Must Keep Our Word to the American People"

Governor Dean speaks out about Iraq and the responsibility that Democratic leaders have to the people who voted them into office.
...
"The American people loaned us that power, and we know that we have to continue to earn their trust so that we can earn their votes and win back the White House in 2008. We must keep our word to the American people."

Click here for the rest.

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Olbermann: The entire government has failed us on Iraq

Keith Olbermann did a special comment on the Iraq funding bill this evening

Few men or women elected in our history—whether executive or legislative, state or national—have been sent into office with a mandate more obvious, nor instructions more clear:

Get us out of Iraq.

Yet after six months of preparation and execution—half a year gathering the strands of public support; translating into action, the collective will of the nearly 70 percent of Americans who reject this War of Lies, the Democrats have managed only this:

Click here for the rest.

For other news of the day, check out my Google Reader shared items here.

Haloscan comment thread

Some thoughts on courage

Originally posted last night at the Independent Bloggers' Alliance

At the end of the work day, I do a brief scan of blog headlines to try to get up to speed on what's happening out there in the wide, wide world (channeling the Poky Little Puppy). This evening, a predominant theme is that the Democrats "caved" on Iraq. Quite honestly, I'm not sure what I think about that. The thing is--I just don't have the time or interest to follow this story (and others like it) closely enough to have a genuinely informed opinion on what constitutes necessary political courage versus wisely playing the cards you've been dealt. So, guess I'm not cut out to be a political pundit.

But I've been thinking a lot about courage in the past 24 hours, after hearing this man speak at a forum at my church

His name is Davis Mac-Iyalla, and he is the founder of Changing Attitude-Nigeria, a support group for Gay and Lesbian Anglicans, and he is visiting the United States to call attention to the persecution of LGBTs in his country. Even attending a GLBT-affirmative event--something I didn't have to think twice about here in central Ohio would subject me to tremendous risk if I lived in Nigeria. If a draconian "Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act" were to pass, the penalty for being openly "straight but not narrow" would be a five year prison term.

From time to time, I have wondered, if Demetrius and I were born at a different time...if we had met in 1964 rather than 1984...would I have had the courage to follow my heart and marry outside my "race". It's not an easy question to answer. Mind you, part of the difficulty is my tendency to ask pesky, practical questions, such as, "Where would we have met?" and "How likely is it that we could have spent those long, casual hour together with our mutual friends?" But the basic question I ask myself is, "Would I have the courage to be that kind of pioneer? Could I really be that brave?"

Last night, I was faced with a new question: "Would I have the courage to risk my personal safety--possibly my life--in order to make hostile religious and political authorities acknowledge that I exist?

That's an easy one, and I can answer it right now.

Nope.
No. Freaking. Way.

So I couldn't help but be awed, humbled, and impressed to hear Davis tell his story. From a statement on the first anniversary of Changing Attitudes-Nigeria,

In the first year, we have many achievements to be proud of, including our impact on the life of the Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion, which had previously denied that lesbian and gay people are members of the church. The Church was so disturbed by our visible presence that it attempted to discredit the organisation, at the same time falsely claiming to be open to gays.

At last night's meeting, Davis Mac-Iyalla described being arrested after one of the early meetings of his organization. He and his fellow members were beaten, and were held for three days without food or water (and without charges), before finally being able to get the bribe money so that his jailers would release him. And not long after that experience, he led the first national meeting of CAN, which was attended by over 1000 GLBT Anglican Nigerians.

I encourage you to read more about Davis Mac-Iyalla and Changing Attitudes-Nigeria. This is not an Anglican issue, or a GLBT issue, or a Nigerian issue--it is, quite plainly, a human rights issue.

The Daily Office (Sponsor of Davis Mac-Iyalla's U.S. tour)
Changing Attitude UK (The director of this organization was instrumental in helping Davis get Changing Attitude Nigeria up and running)

Also posted at My Left Wing, Street Prophets, Booman Tribune, and ePluribus Media

Update with regard to funding:

The people who wish to silence Davis and others like him are very well funded.

Changing Attitudes Nigeria is not. Josh Thomas, who arranged Davis Mac-Iyalla's U.S. tour, and who operates the Daily Office web site, is helping him raise the money needed to continue his work in educating the rest of the world about the plight of GLBT people in Nigeria. Donations are being accepted here.

Haloscan comment thread

Happy Birthday National Nurse Teri

You can honor Teri's birthday by visiting the National Nurse web site here (and visit the store here). And, if you haven't already done so, you can sign the National Nurse petition here.

Haloscan comment thread

Gate-crashing, gate-keeping, etc.

In response to an essay entitled Who are the real gate-crashers?, I commented:

Eureka!

I've finally figured out the problem...

It's those damn gates!

I never consented to gates.

And it's become really clear to me over the past few years that we're not going to make anything better simply by installing a different group of people inside the castle. Trusting that they will "remember who got them there"--when the truth is, everything changes once they get inside those gates.

It seems like work--or at least the time I need to unwind, relax, and shift gears *after* work--keeps getting in the way of my blogging. I keep starting to post about this topic, and never quite end up with the essay that I know is in my brain somewhere. I think the closest I got was in Prophets and Kingmakers, especially in the comment I appended to it

I remember when Jim Wallis came to Columbus last spring, he said something about Martin Luther King. I don't have the exact quote, but it was something like, "he never endorsed a candidate, but he was able to get politicians to endore *his* agenda.

When I attended that B.R.E.A.D. assembly, I was impressed that so many people were willing to come out on a Monday night to demand fair treatment for a segment of the population that politicians may feel that they can safely ignore. These people showed up not for a political party or candidate, but in support of a shared value. WE were taking the lead, and telling the politicians and elected officials that *they* need to get on board.

Still working on putting all of this into words, but the crux is that I've had a realization in the past few weeks...

When your main goal is to "elect Democrats"--and I'm not just talking about the orange place, but any political group with that goal--it becomes difficult to do the job of "holding elected officials accountable". Because heaven forbid we openly criticize the Democrats who *are* in office (Lieberman is a noteworthy exception). I mean, what of "they" hear us criticize? We don't want the Republicans to win, do we? If we criticize Democratic leaders, we're emboldening the Republicans!

As far as I can tell, if I commit to playing the game of party politics, and agree with the premise that getting more Democrats elected, I'm not allowed to hold elected Democrats accountable. I must instead, shut my piehole, for now. But one day--ONE DAY--once we have that solid majority, and a Democratic president, and...and a unicorn, while we're at it.

But the important thing is that we keep trying. Because if we keep doing the same thing over and over again, it's BOUND to pay off eventually!

Isn't that right, Chuck?

Haloscan comment thread

The Food Stamp Challenge

I saw this in the newspaper at some point this week, and had Demetrius post a link to it in the comments. I meant to follow up with a front page post, but it slipped my mind with everything that's been going on. Still, I think it's worth drawing attention to while it's still more or less timely:

From Tim Ryan's web site:

(Washington, DC) Congressman Tim Ryan (OH-17) will participate in the Food Stamp Challenge, an effort aimed to raise awareness of the hunger problem faced by 38 million Americans nationwide, including 13 million children. The Food Stamp Program provides over 25 million people living at or below the poverty line with a means to afford basic foodstuffs.

Click here to read a Washington Post article about the challenge, and here to see Tim Ryan's blog entries about his experience living on $3 of food per day this past week.

Note: I spent 20 minutes this morning trying to fix the link to Tim Ryan's web page, and no matter what link I used, once I pasted it into Blogger, I got a page not found message. The link I use at the beginning of this post is a link to a Wikipedia article about Ryan. At the bottom of that page, there is a link to his home page, which works when I click it. Or copy and paste http://timryan.house.gov into your browser window. Thank you, Jessica, for pointing out the "page not found" error message. Wish I could figure out what I'm doing wrong with the link. I mean, I *do* know how to make links--why can't I get this one to work?

Haloscan comment thread

Remembering jc

From March 20, 2006

The picture of jc's cats is from the collection of "who we are" response ads to the "latte drinking, sushi eating" attack ads.

Here's one of jc's graphics that was featured on Blog for America, once upon a time, in a galaxy far, far away...

And here's another...



Links to some of this amazing, hard-working, talented woman's web sites...

Graphics for America
Take Your Country Back
The Blog Family (includes the birthday calendar)
jc's designs blog

I just copied and pasted the links and graphics seen above from last year's birthday thread for jc. I can add newer links--or links I may have forgotten, tomorrow.

Here's a link to the virtual candle page I set up for jc and her family.

Haloscan comments thread