I just can't get enough of our new President

Y'all know how I feel about our new President. My life's goal is to have a slow dance with him. Is that strange?

In the interim, watching from afar will have to do. LOVED this:

All hail these torturous times!

"I will never relent in defending America no matter what it takes." - George W. Bush (otherwise known as DUBYA according to his Mama)

Yes, indeed. The end justifies the means. We've been kept SAFE from those 14 men living in a cave for eight full years now. Doesn't anybody get it? The torture of those held in secret American detention camps around the world has MADE US SAFE!

Oh wait ....... wha? Turns out that the guy who gave up his information immediately was saying the same thing after being waterboarded 189 times? Well why the hell didn't they waterboard him the 190th time! No doubt that would have done the trick. I mean, it's like gambling ....... it's like pulling the handle on that damn slot machine. Just ONE MORE TIME and I'll win the jackpot. ONE MORE TIME!

Oh sure, now yer gonna tell me that I can't prove a negative. I can't actually PROVE that torturing prisoners held without due process, without lawyers, without any kind of legal representation and without being given any rights, has kept us safe for eight years.

Well maybe I can't PROVE it. But hey, I know it in my heart. I KNOW that's the reason no one has blown up or supposedly hijacked a jetliner and run it into more of our skyscrapers. The heck with this guy:

Who did it?

The world is full of nut cases, ya know?

Logic tells us that 14 guys in a cave are WAY more adept at attacking the world's most technologically (for now) advanced nation in the world ......... with the world's largest and best defense system, than anyone from INSIDE the US of A.

But back to the matter at hand. Torture. The best, safest, most effective way of keeping our nation safe. So PRESIDENT (our President ... ya, right) Obama thinks that in the past (and you just KNOW he's pointing right at DUBYA, as always) we've lost "our moral bearings."

Well first of all, how dare he criticize the man who kept us safe for EIGHT YEARS following the cavemen's attack. How DARE he suggest that torture is not the moral high road (isn't it?).

I mean, FOX news is my gospel and they think it's the way to go. So I'm just sayin' ........ well ....... what other choice is there?

Oh sure, yer gonna say that in order to lead the world (which is what we've always wanted, right?) we must walk the walk, talk the talk (oh, and mean it, too?) and actually lead via a higher moral compass. But really, where will that get us?

I can't think this hard. It's too troublesome to have to imagine a world where we take the time to contemplate, understand, and empathize with those in the world of different beliefs/lifestyles/environments. I could go on but hey, my brain is hurting already. I mean, just try to imagine it: TALKING? Compromising? Understanding? Puhleeeeeeeeeeeease!

Time for me to go turn on the screaming rantings of Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly. Now there's something that doesn't torture my brain to understand. Why? Because it's so simple!

Rush Loves the Constitution .... dontcha know

Ok Rush, you "love and revere our founding documents, the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence."

Um ...... where were these words during Dubya's administration?

Hmmm .... well ..... maybe we should just turn to the Republican mouthpieces for some more truth and facts ........ shouldn't we?



Ummm ...... ok, that didn't work, either. Let's see. What can we turn to these new Republicans for .... must be something ....... ummmmm ....... OK, got it. I know this is old, but this'll give you a chuckle. These Republicans are SO damn funny!



Oops. Not funny. Racist, factually wrong, racist ...... should I go on? No, ok. Let's try again. I know that new Republicans are good for something. I know they are!

Ok, here we go ........

Hmmmm .........

Dang ...... Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Dubya ...... I'm searching here.

Sorry. Can't find the truth here anywhere. Umm ......

Try this on for style. Explore the difference between this, and the above. Let me know what you think.

This is the best they can do?

I listened to our President last night and found myself renewing the hope for our futures which I have had for the past four months. To say that it is incredibly uplifting to hear our President speak to us with eloquence and intelligence, as though we are, indeed, intelligent enough to understand him, is understatement. Yowza! Now already there's a change I can live with!

Then the Republicans send Bobby Jindal on as their rebuttist (and I quote Dubya here ...... ok, not really ..... but he could have made up this word if it sounded even stupider). Bobby Jindal, Governor of Lousiana. Yes, Lousiana. Where the hurricane Katrina decimated its most famous city. This is what Republican Governor Jindal (of Lousiana) had to say, and I quote:

"the government didn't help us out during Katrina, so we know not to look to them for help during this economic crisis".



Now to quote Rachel Maddow when asked about Jindal's response: "ah .... a .... ah ..... bwa bwa bahhhhh...... I don't even know what to say right now".

Yep. Me, too, Rachel.

We hate to belabor the obvious (but often do it, anyway), but, ah, does Gov. Jindal recall that BUSH was President during Katrina? Hey, Bobby! Bobby! Pay attention now! Bush is gone! WE VOTED OUT THE REPUBLICAN ADMINISTRATION! We have a new President now! Hello??

This is the best that the Republican party can offer up to rebut President Obama's well thought out, well laid out speech, keeping the American people informed every step of his way just as he said he would in his campaign speeches? Wha?

Jindal's argument is that since the federal government couldn't do anything productive for New Orleans following the Katrina tragedy, don't expect any help, at all, for anything in the future.

First of all would someone please ring Bobby up and catch him up to date on who's Prez right now? Second, could someone alert him that perhaps when he offers up a rebuttal directly following the President who speaks to us as though we are intelligent, thinking adults, he MIGHT not want to speak V E R Y S L O W L Y, using only grade school terminology and two syllable words.

Oh yes, and THIRD. Someone ...... please ........ someone ........ let Governor of Louisiana Jindal know that not only is there $5 billion in Katrina government aid still unspent in Lousiana (his state) ....... but that turning down the money coming to Lousiana via President Obama's stimulus package means that YOU are denying your state the federal help it could receive.

Sigh.

Has our country finally entered "the new age"?

It's hard to imagine that anyone could be thinking of anything besides the outcome of the election at this point in time. Historic, moving, enlightened, hopeful, gratifying ....... well, I could go on.



Out walking before sunrise this morning, enjoying a lightness in my steps which wasn't there yesterday (possibly something to do with my new pink Crocs covered in "diamonds" ...... but I think it's more than that), I felt the tired elation of staying up late to hear the hopefulness and wisdom of President-elect Obama's acceptance speech (recording it to listen again today). Of course we have a long way to go but now is the time to revel in this moment in history. Those of us who voted for Obama are the catalysts of this historic moment. I want to feel it, reflect on it, and promote it.

I couldn't help but reflect, also, on McCain's concession speech. Had he chosen to run a campaign with a graciousness similar to that of his acceptance speech, might he have won the election? Definitely a possibility. The fact that he chose to go low-level with fabrications, anger and the usual misleading accusations helped him lose. I'm not complaining. In fact what pleases me is to recognize that it's clearly not the direction most of us wanted to go any longer. We're onto the fear mongering to get votes .... the out of context 6 second soundbites to misconstrue ........ and the pubescent grimacing and rolling of eyes during debates. Level headedness has conquered the right wing's continuing attempts to spread panic in order to gain votes. Isn't it about time.

As for the red eyed Ms. Palin, her return to Wasilla cannot come fast enough, although I pity Alaska for their choice. The Republicans made a stab at appealing to their fringed far right and to women, and women saw through it. Palin and the Republican party's attempt to set women back decades has failed. The fact that they showed us their true agenda is enlightening and powerful.

Our country now needs to take steps to unify and to heal, and President Obama will be the one to lead us in that direction. It's a new chapter in our country's story. So many memories come to mind: Martin Luther King, John Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy. A chapter of hope which began with the horror of slavery. A chapter of change which began with the fear and cynicism of the far right and is ending in the rich ambition of promise.



Here is my hope: that this is the end of apathy. I hope that our country as a whole will now embrace change, grasp the path to a higher road and now truly enter this new age of Aquarius which was promised to us.


Blessings and peace.

Who has come a long way?

I got to thinking the other afternoon about Sarah Palin and O.J. Simpson. Not that there is any connection. Well other than societal and political issues o' the day. Let's throw Mr. McCain into this mix now, too. Now that he has given veracity to the shouts of "terrorist" coming from his supporters. That would be aimed at Barack Obama, of course. Barack Obama is a terrorist. That's the Republicans' new chant. And yes, this actually did occur, and John McCain said nothing. NOTHING.

Does it occur to us that these three people are setting us back decades in our race relations, decades back in Feminism and ........... well, about as far back as yesterday where older middle aged white men are concerned. But there you see my own prejudice slipping below my skirt an inch or two.

If there ever was a time for good public manners to reappear it would be now. If there ever was a time for good people to speak out, it is now. Now is the time for all good women (and men) to come to the aid of their country. For the first time since the Revolutionary War we need ....... no we MUST have good people stand up and say this is enough. We've had enough. If you can't speak publicly then do it with your vote. No one of sound mind and heart can vote for someone who allows his opponent to be called a terrorist. No one of sound mind and heart can vote for a woman to be our Vice President who must read from note cards in order to have anything of substance to say, and even then she gets her facts wrong.

O.J. managed to divide the nation by color. The Republicans AND the Democrats had a chance to bring the country together, finally, in support of a woman running for high political office. Instead they threw Sarah Palin into the mix for all the wrong reasons. John McCain could have proven that even white life-long politicians can resist appealing to the lowest common denominator with his campaign ......... but he didn't.

There will always be the Rush Limbaugh fans and Howard Stern fans out there amongst the most insecure of our society. The ones who must lower themselves to a state of prejudice and hatred in order to feel their own "power."

It's time to publicly reject these attitudes. Time to bring back good manners and gentlemanliness. Time to rise above bad language, hateful insinuation, acceptance via omission of people who shout "terrorist" and appealing to the lowest of human nature in order to garner votes for a failing campaign. In fact it's time to raise society to a higher level in general. A higher spiritual plane on which we view each other with a gentility that has been largely left unused for decades.

I hadn't intended this BLOG to morph into a treatise of a spiritual nature. But since I've ended up at this point, please refer to this link to read the BLOGS of Deepak Chopra, who has it way over me where it comes to spiritual issues and most everything else for that matter:

http://www.myspace.com/deepakchopra

It's time for change and not just political change, although a vote for Barack Obama is a vote for societal change, also. It's time for all good people to step up and demand something better.

What happened to the notion that "change is in the air"?

"Bobby is seen through the eyes of twenty-two characters. The hope, excitement and notion that a change is in the air, which Kennedy ignited in us all, black and white, rich and poor, young and old was extinguished that evening in June. From young men in their late teens to early twenties, facing the possibility of shipping off to Vietnam, to the retired doorman of the Ambassador, who has greeted the likes of every U.S. President from FDR to Johnson. From the hotel staff to the guests whom occupy the suites, to the "Youth of Kennedy Volunteers", all ages and genders are represented in screenplay."

- From the synopsis of "Bobby", 2006 movie

The movie "Bobby" is on HBO this afternoon and I'm taking a break from my hectic schedule of taking bubble baths and eating bon bons to watch. There's another line in the movie,"Now that Dr. King is gone, no one left but Bobby." The film features many news clips of Bobby Kennedy, including people who were thrilled to just "lay their hands on him."



This got me to thinking about today's political climate. What happened to the audacity of hope we were feeling which now seems to have turned to the repetition of despair? Repetition of the fear and despair felt four years ago and eight years ago. Four years ago we were thinking, "how could this happen again." Eight years ago we were aghast at what was happening directly in front of our eyes: the installation of a President of the United States who was not elected by the people, but by the Supreme Court.

Forty years ago (and I remember this, thank you very much), there WAS change in the air. There was hope in people's voices and energy in their spirits. Where is that now? Perhaps I'll see a tidbit tomorrow night when I go to Obama headquarters to offer my services. To date I haven't seen much of it. In fact lately, Democrats already seem to be ramping up for their next defeat. We're watching the polls and instead of feeling "change in the air" we're saying "how can people be so stupid", "how can the polls be so close", "how can the Republican lies be working again?"

Forty years after the assassination of Bobby Kennedy a black man is in the running for President and we have lost our hope? What has happened to the collective liberal soul? What has turned us to such wimps, so ready to believe the Republicans who tell us we are the establishment and THEY are the mavericks.

Have we become our own self-fulfilling prophecy? We so believe we're not going to take back this election and install the audacity of hope that our collaborative liberal conscience has already shot us down the rabbit hole?

It's a dead heat right now. Watching the political ads for Robert Kennedy, Jr. make me wonder why the Democrats are not putting out similar ads right now. They are talking about war, pollution and social change. Hello? Have I heard that somewhere lately?

Say it with me now: President Obama.