Living Well is the Best Revenge

Lucky Me

2011-12-31T14:23:00.000-10:00

One fine day spent with TNT's top drama The Closer cast and crew, a bunch of really terrific people who made us feel welcome and appreciated.

Candy Drawer

2011-12-31T14:19:00.000-10:00

Brenda Leigh's candy drawer - how does she stay so thin?

Happy Happy

2011-12-31T14:17:00.000-10:00

Corey, Dee Dee, Natalie, Kathy

Here Today Gone to Miami

2010-09-30T12:22:00.000-10:00

The Ultimate Job Perk Ever

2010-07-17T16:21:00.000-10:00

Good Morning: Sir Ian McKellen on Waiting for Godot

2010-07-10T10:49:00.001-10:00

And...CUT! - LA Times Magazine

2010-04-22T16:02:00.001-10:00

And...CUT! - LA Times Magazine

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My Dad

2009-11-07T10:51:00.003-10:00

It is the 10th anniversary of my father's death. The following article was published in the Honolulu Advertiser shortly after I moved to Hawaii.
_______________

Two men who had the strongest impact on my life both died within weeks of greeting the new century. Both were in their 80's and both lived exemplary lives and each succeeded far beyond their original modest goals.

They both formed me, even though they didn't know each other. One I knew from birth and every day thereafter; one I met briefly, only once. From them I learned value and integrity and perhaps most importantly, to accept all people as equal no matter their color or their beliefs or their status. Each gave far more than they got.

I was a rambunctious child, and my dad guided me into sports to burn all that energy. I never shared his love of golf, but I did well in tennis, gymnastics, softball and whatever the guys down the street were playing. That was okay, but I had a higher calling in those days and that's where the other man came in. He rode his revered white horse alongside his faithful Indian companion and literally saved people's lives and their farms from evil men. This seemed a good choice of profession to me. Okay, my horse wasn't quite so magnificent and I wasn't allowed to cross the river during the rainy season and there weren't really enough evil-doers in my town to make a career of it - even if I was willing to forego school to do it. Instead, I watched every episode of the Lone Ranger and absorbed his message - that good and bad is based on deed, not on race or creed or color. If perhaps those days had more absolutes and less gray areas than today the concept has never wavered.

My dad was not famous; the idea appalled him - except for occasional remembrances about his college basketball prowess and his vocal similarity to Perry Como. He lived a quiet life, kept the same job for years and was happy to do so. He never really understood my wanderlust and need to keep pushing and challenging, but he never held me back or tried to say I shouldn't. He was proud of all his children because we stayed clear of drugs and drinking and driving, paid our bills - even if he had to occasionally add to the pot. He wanted nothing more from us than to be good and productive people. The only thing he ever insisted on was that we invest in a retirement plan. He would stoop to any level to get our money and get it working for us. Today I'm grateful, at 15 it felt premature.

Clayton Moore, the actor who is best known for portraying the masked Lone Ranger, insisted on never being seen in public without some eye covering. When the producers wanted a new, younger lead for their upcoming movie and went to court to bar Moore from wearing a mask, he wore dark glasses. He continued to live an upstanding life, long after the series ended, insisting he would never let down the millions of fans for which he was such a strong role model. How different that is from many of our so-called celebrities of today. A few years ago I appeared an hour early for a book signing of his autobiography, feeling kind of silly that I was still so in awe of this man, now in his late 70's (not to mention my age). The line was already out onto the sidewalk, and the store had to send to a rival store for more copies of the book. We are hungry for the good guys.

I learned all that is important to me from these two men, quiet heroes in their own way, lessons instilled before I was 10 and I hope I can say never wavered from. Lessons about value, about duty and obligation and being fair, working hard and giving back. Sure, life has some curves, some days or months, even years, can incur real setbacks. Yet no matter how dark it seemed, somewhere deep inside myself I knew that everything would turn out all right in the end. The Lone Ranger would come galloping up or my Dad would write a check or offer words of comfort or - surprise - I would figure out a solution on my own. Even now, with their recent loss, I don't feel alone because both men and their examples of living are always within me.

Tabloid Hell

2009-07-07T16:09:00.002-10:00

Since President Obama was elected I've been less inclined to blog. Simply put, I'm less angry and chagrined. I feel that finally we have someone leading our country that deserves the job and is actually doing the job. Sure, I voted for Clinton, but held my nose. Don't get me started on Bush, both of them. The only good thing about Bush pere was Dana Carvey. Bush fils had nothing good about him. Except his colossal f***ups gave the electorate the gumption they needed to reach way out into the unknown. And boy, did we score!

So that leaves me with not much on my mind. I don't know if that's a cop out, what with all the calls to service and all. I know I should be doing more for my community and the world but it seems like I've been pushing boulders uphill for decades and frankly, I'm ready to hang back for a while.

At first it was fun watching the Republicans unravel. They deserved it, marching in lockstep behind such a dolt. But lately it's like throw a rock and you'll hit a self-destructing Repub. Mark Sandford has taken adultery to new lows and seemingly relished doing his public pennance. Thankfully we didn't have to watch his wife staring hurt and gooey-eyed at him. She took the kids and bailed, good for her.

Now Sarah Palin. All this talk of her chances in 2012 is just stupid. Read my lips, it's over. A friend is soon vacationing in Alaska and I said bring home the gossip, what they're really saying about her up there. She wasn't doing all that well at the job she bailed on but the real reason she left was money. Ethics violations caused her to repay her family travel. As governor she has to watch what she spends taxpayer money on. As a freelance speech giver, with her star quality and few others - maybe Rush Limbaugh and his jiggle speech - she can command the really big bucks. Just ask Bill Clinton how to go from decent money to obscenely rich - a few pep talks a month with photo ops and it pours in. The far right needs a celebrity to call their own and she fills the bill but getting to the lower 48 is not easy as a sitting governer who can't bring her family on the public trough and worse, those pesky consituents think she should stay put, govern the state she was elected to govern.

So for a while it's silly season on the right. They'll get their act together eventually. Even Norm Coleman saw the light and let Al Franken be seated a mere seven months after the election. Okay, he didn't so much see the light as he saw the inevitable and realized he could run for governor and probably win, name recognition being what it is. All that free publicity fighting for your cause translates into votes if you don't go so far out that you get stupid. He stopped just inches short of that.

But really, it's no longer interesting. We're losing the art of intelligent conversation. Too hard to get attention. Obama would be a great president even without his rock star quality but with it he can get the attention we as a nation need to go forward. It has been a really tough year and not likely to get better for a while. Knowing that a grownup is in charge, someone who knows what the job is, who can play politics but is not of politics, that is a gift. We as a nation needed him desperately and we rose to the occasion. After years of voter apathy, this election was everything this country was meant to be.

Misery Does Not Love Company

2009-06-10T14:40:00.002-10:00

I have the flu. A really nasty one that won't go away. I have no time for it. I never have time for it. I had a lovely trip to Europe to see family and friends and theatre and all good things. I returned home full of vigor to restart my body and restart my life and read my Yoga Journal cover to cover.

Cough cough. So it began. Nearly two weeks later I sound like a freight train rumbling through the station. Sleep is easy, medicated to the hilt. And still, every morning I wake up, still sick. Sometimes worse, sometimes almost a glimmer of better, but overall definitely really sick. The doctor says it has to run its course, and it's not the current trendy swine flu. No this goes by the uninspiring name of "seasonal."

I'm wondering why my body betrayed me like this. I was really going to give it good nourishing food, more yoga and meditation. I was serious this time, a new improved me. Why didn't my body believe me and do it's share? Is this my subconscious sabotaging efforts to be better? Am I secretly a loser hanging on to a foolish possibility of change when it's all predestined from birth - like who gets to be Brad Pitt or Michelle Obama? I'm sure they work hard and deserve themselves and it probably wasn't easy and maybe their work ethic is ten times mine but really, I was on a roll. I had a plan!

Then my body said oops, not yet. Momentum is now so far behind the only way I see to catch up with chores fallen by the wayside is to throw everything away and start over.

Now that I think of it, maybe I tried to change with the same old junk. Maybe the junk goes first then the change. I'll try that next time.

Meanwhile I've lost five pounds, no appetite with all the meds. So maybe I'm not so far off course after all. I guess there are worse diets out there. But it probably wouldn't kill me to give away a lot of junk, either. Maybe this is my wakeup call, that maybe my body said sure, I can take off that pesky weight and then we'll buckle down to serious exercise. Maybe this is me in action!

Or maybe I just have the damn flu.

Keep your ears stiff

2009-05-16T05:24:00.005-10:00

A German acquaintance said that to me today. I'd never heard the phrase but I suppose the American equivalent is hang in there.

Attitude is everything or as Abraham Lincoln was credited with saying - Most people are about as happy as they decide to be. Have you ever noticed that unhappy people tend to wear it like their only coat, holding tight to all their misery, sharing with anyone who can't get away quick enough. Oh sure, stuff happens to us all making us angry, miserable, in pain and any number of things that can ruin a perfectly good mood. The difference is that unhappy people use any less than perfect event to add another layer to their misery, like adding a rumpus room onto their house and then accumulate all the junk that goes into it.

Happy and successful people by their very attitude save a lot of that grief. They're strong enough they don't get trapped into playing another person's game, if only because miserable people steer clear of them. I had a boss that hated good cheer. When he treated me with disrespect I upped the joy - to everyone but him. I'd like to say he came around and it's now a successful relationship but far from it. However, there's not much he can do because my work output is excellent and others have noticed. Okay, that's not always the best way to handle things because ultimately he is my supervisor and does my evaluations and approves various requests but I finally filed charges against him and I did that because I simply got brave enough to do so. Really, it took a lot to risk it because I had to assure myself I was worth the respect and not live in fear of losing a salary especially in this economy.

It's hard to do the right thing because it's not always appreciated and occasionally there are repercussions. But by respecting yourself enough to take the risk and understand the potential consequences often the lesson learned and the progress made will outweigh and downside. Yes, it might not. That's why it's called experience.

I often hear things happen for a reason. Maybe. It's a good debate and conversation over a glass of wine. I tend to prefer we make our own luck. And that's all about attitude. Face forward and take a giant step. Then when you fall back it might be only a small step. That's progress.

Making a List

2009-05-03T17:48:00.000-10:00

Time’s list of 100 most influential people came out this week and I’m not on it. I didn’t expect to be since I’ve led what could be called an ordinary life. Some close brushes with fame through working at a Hollywood Studio and in a Governor’s office when he ran for president. I read most of the bios in Time, being a fan of bios overall, and I usually do that sort of personal connection that people do. You know, kind of like Stanley Kowalski’s “couldda been a contendah.” Except for, well, probably laziness, which I prefer to call well-rounded behavior, I could be there, too. I’ve never known a successful person who didn’t put everything they had into it. Talk to their children.

I pay my bills, am solvent and well employed – so far – in this economic meltdown. I raised and educated a child as a single parent, finishing college after my divorce since I rushed into marriage like all my friends. Nothing sends a young woman to the altar faster than being the last one in the group to marry. It wasn’t like today, when single can be a badge – although as I get older it gets less interesting, or maybe I do. Back then couples couldn’t live together without marriage, now it seems everyone does. Straights brag “who needs a piece of paper to show our love” and gays desperately want to marry to show theirs. Sometimes life is just mixed up. Have you ever liked a guy who liked a girl who liked another guy and so on, everyone unhappy and lovesick? I remember thinking if everyone took one step backward and hooked up half would be happy and the others would adjust. Nothing crashes further and faster than burned out love. The country music genre depends on it.

I thought that as I got older things would settle down a bit but that’s not proving to be so. I am really mad at the financial community who thought we were pawns in their egocentric games of my weenie earns more money than your weenie, just another male version of who’s got a bigger one. Seriously, couldn’t they have sent in for some of those spam-generated products and left my 401K alone? I’m angry because I saved my money and paid down my mortgage, one that I can afford, and don’t have a room-sized plasma TV. I upgrade my possessions as they are needed not when the next toy comes out. I’m not broke but I will work another year or so past my planned retirement like plenty of other people because of those so-called masters of the universe who weren’t even masters of their own impulses.

So how does one live well in these times? By remembering there is lot out there that’s good. We had a food drive last weekend and the amount soared above expectations. People got it; this was the year to help. Everyone is hurting but no one should be hungry.

Electing President Obama shows that we have, as Lou Grant said to Mary Richards, “Spunk.” He may have hated spunk – although he didn’t really – but it’s great for our country. As our new president, that spunk is what will take us out of the dark place we’ve been. The Bush election may have been stolen or it may have just been diabolically clever and 9-11 may have set things in motion or it may have been an excuse but bad heart equals bad actions. Hoo boy, did we get bad actions, lies and torture, bullying and lack of attention, the gamut of Murphy’s Law.

We need to take stock of what we have, focus on the half full glass filling up. Remembering life isn’t a game of winning at all cost. All those stories of Little League parents going nuclear so little Johnny or Sally can shine. Bribing and browbeating teachers to complain about a grade when here’s a thought, try having your kids do their homework.

Schools are a disaster in many areas because those who can afford it go to private school leaving public schools to teach the problem children, the poor children, the hungry children who can’t concentrate. Rich areas have good public schools and there are bright spots in poor areas but overall it’s shameful. Teachers are such heroes, every day out there on the front lines, making the world just a bit better when they reach out to a child. Yet we idolize sports icons that brag about sleeping with thousands of women. We gasp at steroid use when even me, who doesn’t follow sports at all, have been reading about it for years. When someone’s neck grows by four inches, hey, it ain’t from pushups.

We all know what’s right. We all think we believe it. But we get caught up in trying to stay ahead or afloat. That’s getting tougher. But all of it, ALL OF IT, was preventable. We sent to Congress too many boobs with hands in the till, we let money buy our vote because sound bites are easier than reading the facts. The good ones were squeezed out because they couldn’t compete in a crooked game. I know so many people who never voted until Obama came along and then it was to jump on the bandwagon, I’ll bet. Not enough people want to make an effort to do what matters. They want what they want and most of all don’t want to pay for it. Too many people want lower taxes and then have government as daddy, writing the checks. Oh so easy then, gimme lots more money to get into debt with.

Now we’re all rushing to go back to basics because we finally found a leader who makes it seem cool again. I read we get the government we deserve and thankfully we deserve this man. Even better, he seems to think he deserves us; that we aren’t beyond help, we’re good kids who sashayed out behind the school to cadge a smoke. We got caught and have to clean the graffiti off the walls for a while to show us the error of our ways. And we’re finding it’s really cool to help make it better. Like a pebble thrown in a pond it ripples out into something worth looking at. The tiny pebble is not influential but the ring of movement it creates can sure build momentum. We need our influential people but they can’t do it alone. They need us as much as we need them.

Each day if everyone did one thing to make something better then wrote it down before bed, thinking about how it felt and slept with it under the pillow. It’s how Obama won, one vote at a time.

Return with us now to Yesteryear

2009-03-30T09:58:00.002-10:00

Everything comes around again. Growing up we lived by my father's credo of living below your income aka saving for a rainy day. He bought store brands on sale, in fact almost everything was bought on sale. Cars were maintained and kept longer than anyone we knew. There were many embarrassments as we became aware of our better endowed friends. His telling us he was probably worth more then they were fell on deaf teenage ears.

Everything comes around again. Sure, there were years during my early days of having a salary - first get a really cool car! Friends were for impressing. Gradually, as it does for most of us, we retreat to the familiar and as my daughter grew and became self-sufficient, no longer draining resources, I found a job to my liking and having spent many years in a shop till you drop mode, I pretty much had what I needed and found the ultimate in bargain shopping: a tax-free company matched 401(k). It was actually free money, as if I got a substantial raise.

Add in market growth which, alas, cannot now be done thanks to those who thought they ruled the financial universe and complained about their measly $40 million bonus payments.

Plenty has been written about that anger and certainly I share it but how to live well now? It turns out that the lessons of my childhood, about not buying what you can't afford and having some money put away - as a child of the 60s I call it "f*** you money" - I can now afford to take advantage of all the bargains out there. I donated my two-decade old TV that didn't get above channel 64 and splurged on a nice flat screen at a huge discount.
I read all those articles about how people are saving money in this economic crisis. Except it turns out I already do most of them. It's how I live. Thanks, Dad, you may not have thought those lessons stuck when I came home with yet another pair of shoes - you can only wear one at a time, he opinied - but it was a phase. During a mortgage meltdown I own my home, am saving for a remodel not refinancing, have a well balanced portfolio that yes, has taken a hit but is still solvent. (Most of it started and insisted upon by you.)

Living well is really about common sense. Do you need this right now? Is it within your budget? Eating well saves on health care costs. Maintaining your car rather than going plasma TV avoids car payments and higher premiums. So many things can be accomplished if you just wave at the Jones' and not try to keep up with them. Oh, they're in foreclosure?
Thanks Dad, for life's financial lessons. It has never served me so well. Now others are jumping on the bandwagon and the thing you feared most in life - being trendy - has finally caught up to you.

Living Well Really is the Best Revenge

2008-12-24T11:10:00.002-10:00

2008 will go down as the year everything changed. It’s tempting to call Obama the new savior and while there is certainly some truth in being saved from Bush’s reprehensible policies, he’s left us with such a huge pile of garbage that it feels unfair to load Obama with more expectations. But it does make the holiday season more upbeat even though there’s a deepening economic crisis. This meltdown has many tentacles and those who are to blame want to get out intact and find a fall guy. You don’t work Wall Street if you don’t have nerves of steel and even in their panic they understand their mantra: “Save Thyself.” It will be years before the damage is sorted out and the economy begins a new period of growth as it always does.

Rachel Maddow – she of the left leaning in-your-face quasi nightly news show on MSNBC - and I share many common ideas but the top of the list if the word “Infrastructure”. She calls it sexy; I call it the most important thing we can do to gain our self respect. When you allow schools and roads and bridges and dams to fall into disrepair, people will die, children will not reach their potential and lawsuits will eat away more money than the repairs. Yet year after year these projects are put on hold by politicians rushing to please their donors, usually developers that want a tax cut to create more need for infrastructure without having to pay for it. New stuff you can sell wins every time and taxpayers get stuck with the costly improvements. That’s politics as usual and having worked in the legislature I’ve seen it first hand.

But now the grownups are in charge. It won’t be a quick or easy fix and without those who knocked on doors and made calls being vigilant elected officials who line their own pockets and those of their friends will prevail. It will take a while to clean them out and level the playing field. Seniority in Congress translates into way too much power and it’s often a gradual slide into what’s good for them is good for everyone.

But as 2009 begins I want to change focus. I titled my blog Living Well is the Best Revenge as a kind of attitude against being negative. I think it was probably first said by a woman dumped by her husband for a much younger model. Take his money, start a business and should loud and clear that it was the best thing that ever happened. At first it’s a total fake job, putting on a happy face with makeup. Soon enough, with practice, it’s real. It applies to anything, especially now when jobs are disappearing faster than cookies at Christmas. You can’t spend money but you can put up some attitude, you can look forward not backward, you can make the best of what you have.

I will venture a guess that most people fail because they complain. I don’t mean legitimate gripes to fix a problem, I mean they complain about their bad luck and keep track of who got more and soon it consumes them and that’s all they think about and how to get even or get their share, which usually means more than their share to catch up. But how about twisting that ball and seeing everything from a different angle? How about seeing not what’s wrong but what’s right? This isn’t new material; it’s been said in every way possible. Put a spin on it, stand up tall, face it as a mountain to climb. You’d get all the right equipment, you’d study the weather, bring some food; in other words you’d prepare yourself. Same thing in any crisis, preparation is the key. The key to survival is facing it head on and choosing your options.

So I want to refocus myself. It’s time to bring about a new prosperity and a new attitude and a new value system to our communities. It’s time to care about the whole picture, not just grab what you can while you can. It’s time to expand hopes and dreams and if you can’t pay for them right now you can study up on them – libraries are still free – and you can still volunteer and help an elderly neighbor, you can still be counted on.

Every day do one nice thing for someone – including yourself – which you wouldn’t ordinarily do. Some thing small like park between the lines or something more substantial like form a support group; there’s literally a million choices to make the world – and your life - a better place. And if you suddenly find yourself out of a job, between the paperwork – could they possibly have more forms to fill out? – and the networking, clean out a closet, study a new subject or learn a language, take the kids to the free events, every city has them even in down times, or to the park and make up games to play. Rearrange furniture for a new look, plant some flowers, refocus how you think. I won’t mention exercise because anyone who doesn’t know that’s important isn’t reading this.

At first it feels like walking underwater. You want to crawl into bed and suffer through your misfortune. You want to blame everyone who you believe caused it. But if you do that, you won’t crawl out of your hole and you may just dig yourself into a larger one.

Living well is not only the best revenge; eventually you’re going to make it happen.

ObamaRama

2008-12-11T12:38:00.002-10:00

I've been remiss at writing on my blog and the reason is pathetic - I'm happy. Obama has won. I have nothing more to say. I have no opnions. My world is being serviced properly by responsible people who believe like I do. I wander through my life with a vague smile on my face, the kind that used to signal organic substance but now says, after decades of political activism, everybody got it right. What more is there to say?

Well, sure, plenty but have you checked the blogs? Someone - many someones - have already said it. After years of feeling like I'm skipping to my own drummer when all others are crisply marching I am completely in tune with everyone!

Does that mean I'm no longer special, above the fray? Nah, just way ahead of my time or maybe too lazy to get out and find like minded friends. Turns out they were there all along. I sort of chose who was handy, sprinkled with a few politicos like myself but overall my intellectual curiosity was not meshing or being satisfied.

Now, oh now I'm am so on it. My only regret is that I'm not Tina Fey but like everyone else I practically exploded with ecstasy - the emotion not the substance - the first time I saw her on SNL as Sarah Palin. I knew then the election was over. Just as I always felt that George HW Bush lost because Dana Carvey did him better; so much better that watching the real deal felt phony.

I'll have to let go of my passive joy and look around for new passions. The world is not perfect, there are things to do and places to go. It's just that the loathing of the Bush presidency sucked up all the other oxygen; it was eight years of searching for the exit sign. Now it's here, it's well lit and it's a stampede going through.

To those who didn't vote for Obama - I'm guessing you're already telling people you knocked on doors for him, practically a top adviser, that you knew all along he was gonna pull it out.

This guy's a keeper.

Obama Comes Home

2008-08-10T09:16:00.002-10:00

OBAMA 'OHANA

This week Senator Barack Obama is vacationing in Hawaii. He was born here, graduated from high school here and his family still lives here. He hasn't had time to return since Christmas 2006, when he talked with family and friends about running for president.

Since then it's been - to say the least - a whirlwind experience. He's by many accounts likely going to be the next president of the United States. Nothing is for sure in politics but for now, we in the islands are basking in the glow of our native son.

Here's my experience of his arrival. Check it out.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kathy-harter/obama-ohana-democratic-no_b_118008.html

Is it passion or is it anger?

2008-04-23T12:39:00.003-10:00

I've been wondering what makes a woman so relentless in her quest against all odds, far beyond just being a fighter and into obsessive desperate behavior as if without it her oxygen will be cut off.

It came to me. Her husband took what should have been terrific years - first lady of a state and then the nation - and turned it into a tawdry sideshow of his/their sex life. It wasn't a vast rightwing consipiracy, it was titilation fodder for some emerging cable news networks. I can't imagine a more humiliating experience. And so public.

Yet here they still are, and now her fortunes are rising while he's relegated to backyard incendiary remarks. If she's president she becomes an historic figure while he's a footnote, notable only for his impeachment and maybe being the first First Husband.

Could her campaign be the ultimate revenge? Could it be her deep rage at her husband's chronic infidelity that drives her and not passion for the American people? How else to explain her inability to face the truth about delegate counts, just as she seems to avoid the truth about the definition of marriage. (Call me old fashioned but isn't fidelity right up there?)

And to Clinton supporters I would remind them: do you really want that circus again? The behavior that left Al Gore in a bind by not being able to run on the Clinton administration successes? And a country so exhausted from it all that Bush and his fake morality looked good?

Think about it. The Clinton years came with a very high cost. She doesn't have experience, she has a very thick skin and a white hot rage at the injustice of it all.

Can't say I blame her but while she insisted that she was not just like Tammy Wynette standing by her man I'd tell her to listen to another Tammy Wynette song: D I V O R C E.

But please don't make our country pay for it again. The well is drying up.

My left arm

2008-02-20T15:04:00.006-10:00

Barack Obama's half-sister and her husband get to vote for him for the first time! That other arm on the table is mine, my little claim to fame, as Maya Soetoro-Ng said to me: This is so exciting, this is so exciting.

It definitely is.

And for those who want to know where he came from here's a great article on his mother, a strong role model for an extraordinary son.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23623222/

The Time Has Come

2008-02-20T11:12:00.003-10:00

Last night I went to my caucus site in Hawaii to vote for Barack Obama. As a child of the 60s, political movements and especially anti-war movements have been a part of my life. I jumped on the Howard Dean wagon early on. It stymied me why people could not see the futility of the Iraq War at once. George W. Bush did not make a case for that war. Were we so desperate to strike out that any violent act on our part seemed just?

I've gone to many caucuses here; none have filled the school cafeteria. It's mainly party business with a preferential preference poll tacked on, the candidate generally decided. Occasionally a group would make a stand - Dennis Kucinich had a vocal group, Dean was already out last time - but otherwise it's an orderly event, a bit boring, picking delegates and officers for the state and county conventions. Those with vested interests showed up, the casual voter did not.

Last night had lines around the caucus sites hours before the event. Few knew the rules, that a caucus is different and usually done when everyone is seated. But with several thousand waiting, that changed quickly. Groups voted in waves and left; it was nonstop for two hours. The excitement - and not just because Obama is homegrown, few of the crowd were from Punahou, his school. There were old and young, working and not, educated and not so much. There was, in short, a complete cross section of the electorate, many registering for the first time.

That's a movement. Chuck Todd, the NBC political reporter http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23258192/ has some interesting insights into this race. But he wasn't in that room, he didn't see people who had little in common except their realization that this country deserves better than the same junk they've been fed. He didn't see two thousand people squished into a cafeteria to make their voice heard, not for the measly 20 delegates we get, but because they wanted to matter.

Hillary Clinton is losing because as the kids used to say, she's so five minutes ago. She's running her husband's campaign all over - hey, it worked once. Loyalty to the Clintons is everything, it trumps even common sense. As the underdog - as they were in '92, it's easy to take risks. No longer. She took no risk. She played it by the numbers. And tried to maneuver after the tidal wave came ashore.

Barrack Obama is on fire. I'm sure Clinton will get down and dirty - we ain't seen nothin' yet - to salvage what she's grown to believe was hers. She put all the pieces into play, the establishment Dems, and took the voters for granted. As they say in Hollywood, she began to believe her own press.

It's a new century. We deserve a new leader.

And Away We Go....

2008-02-06T09:07:00.000-10:00

Wow, who knew the division would now be within the hearts and minds of the Democrats? We are faced with two equally talented choices - one is "the bridge to the last century" and one is "the audacity of hope." We as a nation - because it's a probability that the winner of the Democratic ticket will win in November - must now decide whether it's time to take that leap of faith and aim for structural change or go with a more tested method of governance. Clinton is yesterday no matter how much she talks of change and no matter how precedent setting as a woman; and Obama represents that moment in life when you go with your gut, when it just feels right.

People who have never been involved in politics are joining those of us who always loved it. My first envelope stuffing was for Bobby Kennedy and Another Mother for Peace. It feels like deja vu all over again. Howard Dean - I believe - set off a movement that derailed him, the timing was not quite there. Bush hadn't hit bottom and then sunk further into his self-made quagmire. But I heard Pat Buchanan, a man I've never agreed with, say this war is a disaster, and that John McCain is a hawk and we'll be in one war after another if he becomes president. I didn't hear him say it, but if given the choice he is likely to vote for Obama. And that, voters, is proof that Obama can bring people together.

Right now Barack Obama is 4 delegates up. It's gonna be a fight, the Clintons have a machine right out of Republican playbooks. But sometimes that doesn't matter, sometimes the time is so right that nothing can derail. Ironically, one of her stumbles was about Martin Luther King. He was not the first one with that message, nor the last; but he was the right man at the right time and it was his message that resonates the most.

Let it be that time again.

OBAMA RAMA - Obama Wins South Carolina

2008-01-26T18:20:00.000-10:00

I could kiss South Carolina, everyone in it right now. Logistics aside, I have never seen a state or an electorate take the reins so firmly. By trouncing the Clinton trash and bash machine, across all age and ethnicity, they have resoundingly said, we really can take our country back. We, as voters, matter. We are not fodder for manipulation and smear.

I just listened to Barack Obama's victory speech. I have heard a zillion or so political speeches in my life; I've been actively involved in politics since college, and worked on many campaigns, my first one was for Jerry Brown in his first quest for California governor. We were a mostly young group, smart and arguably the first wave of baby boomers in action. We had hope, and lots of dreams.

Then it went still. I dunno, maybe we were raising the kids, chasing promotions, still inhaling, and sort of figured the world would come out the way we wanted it do. Basically, we fell asleep at the switch, as we did our yoga and recycled, ate our organic food and focused on a better us and raising free spirited and brilliant children.

We got through Reagan; after all he was so upbeat even though a bit suspicious with his governing policy. But oh well, Carter came along, and we'd brought the Civil Rights movement into focus. Change was still out there, chugging along, as our society integrated, if not exactly well at least forward. The government as a whole, worked. Or at least enough that we could get on with our lives.

Then we met George W. Bush. His father was a bit of a dud but he was soon out. The Clintons brought lots of promise, they looked and tasted just like us. Except while there was a lot to like, and it was an energetic time, at the end of the party, when everyone went home, you were left with an unease, that maybe the fun they brought, and the energy were not quite, well, nice. Sure, running a country isn't a church bazaar but still, we're the only superpower, can't we have some class about it?

While we were pondering this sense of discomfort, the Republicans went after them with such vitriol we were forced to defend him. Like your pesky younger sibling that you get to beat up on, but you'll beat the crap out of anyone else who tries. And here's the ultimate trick, and frankly it's a page out of al Qaeda or any other gang that wants to commit crimes - put the attention on some hot button issue while you're off somewhere else setting the real crime in motion. Obfuscation, diversion, simple and effective. The Republicans went after the Clintons with such ferocity that we didn't notice they were setting up shop in evangelical churches and priming the conservative pump for the next election. They had already cleaned up the ex-prez's drunk son, painting him with Christian creds and putting the entire party behind their anointed heir apparent: a brother in Florida had his marching orders to tinker with the democratic election lists, move polling places, promise the election commissioner riches to come if she played stupid. Didn't seem much of a stretch and off they went.

It worked. We got Bush fils. His father had class and decades of public service. You could disagree with him without raging against him. He had some common sense. But it all changed when he lost to the Clintons. War was declared on them. No wonder W found his own war, when he checked in more or less sober for probably the first time in his life, that's what he saw. A rich boy who had been bailed out all his life by daddy now had the most powerful post in the land. Oh my that must have felt good, stick it to the old man he could never best. As it happened, he too was in danger of having only one term due to his ennui and then planes went into New York skyscrapers. The military industrial complex had found a kindred spirit.

Republican hatred infiltrated the Clintons, for what was done to them. And so Hillary began to run. They spent a lot of time writing books, building the democratic machine. If they Repubs were nasty, they would be nastier. They would build a bigger and better machine, same song different verse.

Well, all I really want to say is, THANK YOU SOUTH CAROLINA, YA DONE GOOD! You did exactly what you were supposed to do and with a whole lot of class. We still don't know how Super Tuesday will play out, or the ultimate outcome, but for now we can all feel proud of being American.

And Away We Go.....

2008-01-16T12:32:00.000-10:00

I've been voting a long time, every election since Bobby Kennedy. He was shot and killed that night. I was pregnant, my husband was out - later determined to be not a good thing - and I suppose it was the beginning of my adult reality check. Cheating husbands, and to my way of thinking a God that would let John and then Bobby be murdered. It was wrong, not just wrong in the legal and moral sense but in a world order sense.

I have waited a long time to feel something approaching optimism. Oh sure, I worked for McGovern, Muskie, Dean, even Perot caught my fancy, hoping that someone could make the system work. Instead we got Nixon and Reagan and - I can hardly say the word - Bush, not one but two. Someone once said we get the government we deserve. Hoo boy did we as a nation do bad things to get that bunch of greed-is-good and war-is-better gang. Well, of course greed isn't limited to government, apparently, we elected those who would satisfy our very own greed.

But finally, I believe we have figured out that we went too far. The rich get richer and the middle class get screwed while the poor at least have little to lose. So this election has finally given me the optimism I seek; that finally voters have become actual voters, studying the issues, listening to the candidates, really trying to figure out which one of them can lead us into something approaching decency. Sure, we need strength, there really are bad guys out there trying to harm us. We need lots of attention to economics without bailing out every corporate crook out there. Here's a concept: stop them before they suck out the marrow. The housing crisis was preventable, and a credit crunch followed and now a debt overload looms. Bush's answer to 9-11 was BUY. Show those terrorists we won't be cowed, buy and buy and buy some more. Hey, it's easier than diplomacy.

The pendulum has swung. Finally, voters are actually grabbing the reins. The fact there is no clear front runner yet and all the attention is on an election almost a year away is both an offshoot of too many news shows - even if most are closer to entertainment - but even so, it's about who will lead our country. Yes, the media has to manufacture controversy, like Senator Clinton's remark about LBJ and MLK, but even that gets a discussion going.

I am optimistic if for no other reason than every single candidate running - including those who have dropped out - are solid candidates. They have experience and intelligence and a desire to make us better. I would prefer McCain not be such a hawk especially considering his past but it's maybe because of it, I don't know. But I know he's sincere. Romney appears plastic but I think he's competent. I love Obama, such style and class and an ability to soar above the venal. Clinton I'm tired of but I believe she will be a great president. Huckabee is a charmer. I know Edwards deserves more attention than he's getting but the fire just isn't lit - but he's truly the best about America. Whomever becomes president will I believe set us on coarse to be the country we really do deserve to be.

It's about time.

Backwards They Went

2008-01-08T18:36:00.000-10:00

New Hampshire folded like a poker player with a pair of deuces. Iowa surged forward, full of possibilities, and the polls in New Hampshire said they would, too, that they were were an ornery bunch. But in the end they voted for McCain - last century's candidate - and Clinton, last century's president, er, first lady.

When it came time to stand tall New Hampshire stuck to the known. This might not be so bad except they have this reputation as Independents, their history goes way back to the beginning of a new country. They've lost their roots, they've lost their way.

Not that I don't think McCain and Clinton are fine candidates and supposedly fine people. They've certainly been through the fires; both have been trashed by Republicans, those nasty do-anything-to-win kind of Republicans. But they are last century's politicians and if we don't get out of the quagmire that Bush and pals put us in we will be set back decades.

The time to get rid of Bush was four years ago, the damage since then is huge. But the voters then, like nervous children, peed their pants and voted Kerry the Democratic nominee, the establishment candidate. Then John Kerry kept silent while supporters of a draft dodger trashed his honorable and heroic war record. The guilt of the Viet Nam war followed us still. Look at your stock portfolio and the dollar dropping, all a reaction to our huge debt that's out there to keep this war going.

Iowa showed us the way, New Hampshire ran like hell. The two winning candidates are still fighting George Bush's incomprehensible war. Where oh where has New Hampshire gone?

IOWA RULES!

2008-01-04T09:45:00.000-10:00

I know it's been a while since I've added to my blog but as an avid reader I found that most of my thoughts were already out there, that I no longer felt alone in my distrust and fear of Bush and a wwar waged under false purpose: maybe to save an airless admin, maybe to enrich his friends, maybe sheer incompetence. 9-11 blew off our center and everyone scrambled to feel safe again. We look to our leaders and if they sound strong we tell ourselves they are strong. We don't want to think they could be wrong and more interested in the spin than the facts, that's almost as scary as terrorists attacking us again. Instead we let our own government attack us - secret eavesdropping, torture, lies, stonewalling, all with a swagger that belies anyone to believe it's anything other than a thick-brained bully. Some people wanted that bully, because some mistake bullying for strength.

And then Iowa on 01-03 reminded us what we're really all about. They showed us the absolute definition of democracy and citizen involvement. They trudged through snow and long speeches and downloaded position papers, thinking, talking, carrying the discourse everywhere they went. They agonized and read and made phone calls and in the end they did it exactly right. They chose a new beginning and the end of an old war. Clinton lost as much because they are tired of same old same old as for siding with the hawks that the surge is working. Iowans know better. Edwards can't match Obama's star power but he had a clear new message. Coming in second may ultimately eliminate him, but it also sent a clear message about what voters want.

Obama's resounding win in the first real test of the 2008 presidential election gives this nation a new way of looking at everything. There will soon be blazing attacks against him, many racist and a lot of lies covered by innuendo covered by mud. That's part of our country, too, people who can't see past their own hatred.

But for now, from Iowa, the best of who we are stood up and said we're going to do the right thing.

Life is just a Bowl of Priorities

2007-08-07T11:45:00.000-10:00

Few things are simple. Decisions made with a group are not decisions at all but compromises. The divorce rate is high but I'm amazed anyone stays together because each half wants something the other does not. So marriages either become bastions of compromise or long suffering "for the children." Which usually means for the money. Staying in a challenging marriage is chosen over a lower standard of living.
So you can imagine the difficulty as a legislator, trying to spend the taxpayer's money. They have to make decisions to please thousands of constituents enough to get reelected or at least not make too many angry enough to work against them. That has to be tough.
What got me thinking about this was the collapse of the bridge in Minnesota. That's one of our bedrock states, you rarely hear of bad things coming out of Minnesota. They have Garrison Keillor and Mary Tyler Moore's alter ago, Mary Richards. It may be cold a lot but the people are sturdy. The bridge that collapsed got a 50 out of 100 and was in line for repairs, but not considered dangerous. Half-empty or half-full? No one seems at fault and so far at least no one seems to be finger-pointing. But it does bring up the subject of infrastructure.
Infrastructure is not sexy. If you do it well no one notices. After all, it's not news when a bridge doesn't fall. It's the way its supposed to be. Hurricane Katrina didn't flood New Orleans even though those in charge would like it so - the levee splitting and spilling thousands of gallons of water did. That levee was man-made and man-repaired, by our own government's Army Corps of Engineers. Turns out it was designed badly and maintenance ignored. No wonder George W. Bush didn't want to go anywhere near the area following the disaster, then distancing himself with, "Heckuva job, Brownie." I'm sure his "cover-my-ass" advisors told him that much.
Politicians need to spend money for things that bring votes. Pork - a smelly name - is now "earmarks", i.e., I've earmarked a few choice things for my district. Sounds like they saved us a piece of cake.
The Iraq War is running a tab of trillions - a billion here a billion there, pretty soon you're talking real money - and so far at least serving no purpose except killing people. Yet still they continue, no one quite able to figure out how to disengage. It's a complete shambles, where to start. Even if someone said get out tomorrow, an army can't move that fast and you can't do it gradually and leave the remaining unprotected.
But all the money spent on Iraq would have paid for all our country's infrastructure repairs with enough left over to give health insurance to all. The critics say they don't want another government program. What do they think the Iraq War is, if not a government handout to the so-called military industrial complex? That's a large umbrella - food, vehicles, clothing, equipment, construction, etc. Not only tearing apart a country but rebuilding it, too. Huge profit there. And now it seems that 30% of our weapons went missing, presumably in the hands of enemies. We are not only spending our tax dollars on arming the US military forces but the Iraqi ones, too, or worse, our future enemies. Maybe even al Queda. That's some irony.
I've always paid the rent first then the other ongoing bills then decided what I could afford to splurge on. As a result I have money in the bank, good credit, a home and most of all, security for my future. Those are my priorities honed in me by my Dad, an exemplary saver, as many in his generation were. He'd seen poverty during the depression and never wanted his children to suffer for lack of money. To him, having an old car or TV was not suffering, but not having money to buy necessities, that was. My Dad took care of his family because he understood that was his job.
If only our politicians cared more about taking care of their constituents and not just about getting their vote. If only they did their job.

Declare Independence from King George..... Again

2007-07-06T08:36:00.000-10:00

I'm already tired of the Scooter Libby pardon ranting. Not because I don't agree with the cries of hypocrisy and the potential detriment to our justice system, but because few are doing anything concrete about a president that cares little about the American process. Neocons are not Americans, they are power-mongers. They want to rule and they want all the spoils. In their eyes, might is right, no subtlety. This is not new information; in fact it's been 6 years of voter abuse beginning with the election.

Talks shows play into this, everyone gets to be heard but in the cacaphony does anyone have an answer? Or the will to pursue that path? Everyone today is a pundit, some are loud, some are thoughtful, most want to make money from it. Chris Matthews of Hardball was more interested in whether the Joseph Wilson's attorney thought the sentence for Bill Clinton was fair than in anything she might say on the Libby pardon. I began to wonder if he socialized with Libby, since he loudly and consistently pulled the topic away. She's representing Valerie Plame in her career meltdown thanks to a few people in the Bush Admin. and not representing the Clintons. Her opinion doesn't matter unless you want to keep her from pointing out the obvious: that whether the Bush Admin broke the law or not, they ruined a career CIA agent. It's okay, say the Bush defenders, because she wasn't covert. The CIA says otherwise but regardless, how about serving her country? That's not worth protecting?

Matthews then let a Papa Bush Justice offical ramble on and on about the bad things Clinton did, and the good things Libby did, and how nothing was proved. In other words retrying a case that had already been through the jury system. I used to respect Matthews; no more, he seems to want to fill Bill O'Reilly's shoes of blustering non-sequiturs. O'Reilly has been lessened since the love affair with Bush is so over.

So why is everyone still afraid? Because bullies are scary. They know that and use it to their advantage. Republican politicians are caught with their knickers in a twist, to be sure. Their constituents are getting frustrated but to go against this gang of thugs will see the money dry up. It's hard getting hit from both sides but they have only themselves to blame. They were in lockstep for 6 years partly from fear, partly the perks and partly from the Repub distaste for criticizing their own. Even when Bush did that to McCain way back when they still followed him. Did it never occur to them he was never a true Republican, that was only the label his gang of thugs used to suck up votes? Or were they afraid that Bush would attack them as he did McCain?

The Democrats are not much better. A few hearings, a lot of press conferences denouncing the White House and excuses about not having the votes. Congressional leaders want to keep their power just like everyone else. Keep the noise coming because it drowns out those who might actually accomplish something. We elected Ronald Reagan because he told us what we wanted to hear. We felt secure. Bush used that same premise and promised to keep us safe from terrorists. But who will keep us safe from him?

This week we celebrated the day that the Declaration of Independence was written. Specifically, it was to free us from the tyranny of King George. I think it's time we did it again.

Hypocrisy walks among us

2007-06-25T16:15:00.000-10:00

The immigration debate is heating up again, now that the war issue has chosen up sides and continues forward, no one really interested in stopping it. Those facing reelection pretend they are or will or might and speak loudly but carry a little stick.

Same with immigration. I lived in California for 40 years so I'm pretty familiar with illegals and the advantages and disadvantages. The difference now is that the problem isn't limited to large coastal cities - easily ignored - but has permeated the heartland. They tend to welcome the first wave or at least treat them with benign neglect. Soon, however, as it goes from dozens to hundreds to thousands of poor people that impacts everything: schools, traffic, emergency rooms, shelters, neighborhoods.

Feeling isolated, needing to say under the radar, these groups congregate in ever growing numbers. People take notice and begin to worry. Yes, they add value by filling bottom-rung jobs but why so many. Because everyone benefits - schools are paid for every child, legal or not. Anyone with a rental soon learns they can look the other way as 20 people live in one unit and then charge more while ignoring repairs. Then get outraged that the two families they rented to soon brought over four more families to sublet. It's equal opportunity sleazy behavior.

Forged documents aren't even a challenge to get. Anyone wandering a border town or certain parts of LA will be approached with an offer of $500, the going rate for social security card and drivers license. This protects the employer from prosecution.

Take away the jobs, take away the illegals. But ask communities where that was done. The economy suffers. Plenty make money off the cheap labor. Many can't find replacement workers at the same price. It's a trickle down effect. So while people complain that it's a problem few are willing to lose the benefits.

There aren't enough border agents to do the job. President Bush says he's fighting terrorism but our borders are porous, thousands traipse across daily with forged or stolen documents. Soon enough terrorists will figure out that learning Spanish will get them into our infrastructure.

The Iraq War is costing us billions if not trillions of dollars and accomplishing little. In fact, it's arguably making the Middle East more unstable and long term even more expensive. Again, while many discuss it, look at the cottage industry sprung up around this war, the books, the pundits, the consultants, the talk shows. The soldiers over there risking life and limb are almost an afterthought, a political sound bite. "If you don't support this war you are putting soldiers in harms' way!"

What if we had put all that money, all those billions into hiring and training border guards and airport screeners and the latest techno-gadgets so that we can track every person in this country? Not big brother-like, invasion of privacy, just knowing who is not supposed to be here. A person with an expired visa would be dispatched home because the State Dept would be given the resources to do so.

This war is a black hole sucking up money. We don't want to fight terrorists or stop illegal immigration, we just want to feel good about doing something. That ambivalence opens up a great wide vacuum for our politicians and our pundits to offer us sound bites instead of solutions. As citizens we don't want to be bothered, with 300 cable channels and phones that go with us, we got stuff to do. We want illegals to clean up after us and serve us but not march and demand basic rights. Now, realizing they are 12 million strong and infiltrating every industry, they are beginning to realize they can demand. Politicians see voters, business sess cheap labor, neighbors feel superior, human rights workers see purpose.

So really, what's the problem?

Bill Richardson Rocks

2007-06-02T11:16:00.000-10:00

Jay Leno introducted New Mexico governor Bill Richarson as "the most qualified candidate you've never heard of." Don't get me wrong, I think Obama's terrific, and would love him as veep since he's a tad inexperienced, and Hillary, well I'm just tired of her and her husband. He did well, now move over. John Edwards hasn't quite managed to soar above the crowd even though he's been campaigning full time since last election. The others.... there are others?
So I signed on to Richardson. He's a grownup after years of posturing oedipal complexes run amok.

Check out Bill Richardson's Blog - he's one of us!

Jerry Brown Sues EPA

2007-05-22T09:24:00.000-10:00

Jerry Brown continues to be at the forefront of the issue of global warming. As governor of California he presided over one of the first Earth Days. He has continued to speak out and now as Attorney General he is suing the Bush Administration for their lack of effort to protect our climate.

Disclaimer: I worked for his first gubernatorial campaign during college, followed him into the Governor's office, and learned a great deal about politics and life. His passion for making the world a better place continues.

Newsweek has a nice interview. Jerry Brown speaks on California's efforts to lower vehicle emisions

Nothing will come of nothing…..

2007-05-05T10:36:00.000-10:00

This is a quote describing:

1. King Lear’s admonishment to daughter Cordelia
2. The Bush troop surge
3. Alberto Gonzales’ brain cells

Cheerio, fellow bloggers, I’m off to Stratford-Upon-Avon for a spot of theatuh.

More specifically, I’m going to see a long-time acquaintance, Sir Ian McKellen, whom I’ve seen many times on stage long before he was Gandalf or Magneto.

The Royal Shakespeare Company is doing the entire works all year and my schedule did not allow me to see as much as I wanted to so I chose some highlights, specifically Ian doing King Lear. When I first met him he’d just done Hamlet and was taking Acting Shakespeare on the road. I must’ve seen that show two dozen times, including my “star turn” as a dead French soldier complete with a stage bow. I was hooked.

For the next weeks I will be wallowing in classic English and feeling quite posh. I won’t be near a computer or newspaper and maybe when I return the Bush Admin will just be a bad dream. Hey, they did it on Dallas and Newhart!

Pundits Unite!

2007-05-03T15:53:00.000-10:00

Freeway Blogger from my home state has a contest for public displays about Free Speech. A picture and a few words can really bring it home. Check them out.

Picture this

How Low Can He Go?

2007-05-02T15:52:00.000-10:00

I saw a quote from Bush on Huffington Post. He said, "Either we'll win in Iraq or we won't." Even for Bush, it's a new low of awful. How can someone who invested so much time, money - huge amounts of money - and lives more or less shrug off the results? As if he's saying: Oh, well, I failed again, no biggie.

I don't get him, or anyone who still thinks he's functional. And they exist, they call in to C-Span. As if we just have to give this war a chance. As if 5 years isn't enough time to see something worthwhile. As if.

This gang of thugs put all their energy into taking the election spoils and what's the best spoil of all? The War machine. Big money in wars if you're part of the military industrial complex. Since Viet Nam, defense has suffered the same downsizing as most of America. Except when you control the Pentagon you have more clout than if you're a union guy in Detroit.

Usually the War Machine at least brings some money home. In this case, they took it to Dubai. Yes, I mean Halliburton. Cheney, who orchestrated this war by all accounts, used to head it. His pals. They cranked up the PR machine, doused anyone who questioned the logic and sold it as patriotism. They left no opening for commone sense. If I were a conspirist I might even wonder if they helped the Bin laden group along the way. There are subtle ways to foment rage, especially in young males eager to make a mark.

Or maybe they just found a horse to ride, that it was a plan all along merely waiting for a perfect storm of opportunity. And after 30 years of peace folks forget, a new generation ignores - after all there's no draft, which is what really started the opposition to Viet Nam.

I'm sad for all the opportunity this country has lost and the victims of Katrina who still don't have their lives back because their government has other priorities. Sad for people who think this war was about fighting terrorism and not just a more macho pursuit rather than a softer pursuit of diplomacy. George W. Bush was raised a super rich kid. Daddy had power and money. He was given companies to run, none successfully.

And now he shrugs yet another fiasco off, his presidency. He knows failure, it's followed him all his life, with no repercussions. He seems to no longer care. For George W. Bush, there is no there there.

Last one out turn off the lights...

2007-04-18T13:39:00.000-10:00

Wolfowitz A Disgrace

Now it's Wolfowitz' turn to be frog-marched out, with his dingy caught in the wringer. Literally, apparently. As the head of the World Bank, the gang that dispenses help to poverty-racked nations, he first made sure his friends got the good jobs when he arrived, to his most recent abuse of power: jacking up the cost of hiring his girlfriend. Irony used to be funny, now it's frightening.

He only landed at the World Bank after a topspin slam from the pentagon after presiding over the worst disaster ever of a warplan. Just when you think this group can't sink lower, look out here comes another fresh one. Hell, it's like following a herd of cows with diarrhea.

I said once about Nixon, "yeah, but at least he's smart." You sure can't say that about anyone in the Bush Administration.

The State Totters.....

2007-04-16T09:37:00.000-10:00

The news is full of the Virginia Tech shootings. Nothing is more horrifying to a parent. Somehow it makes the current state of politics seem less urgent. It's tempting to find a correlation between a corrupt government and an insane person. Thanks to the conservative right-wing we-demand-our-guns culture it's easy to purchase one but I imagine it's far more complicated.

The war rages on, with no one having a solution, Alberto Gonzales is in the death throes of his job, Paul Wolfowitz failed horrifically in designing the war and was then put in charge of world bank whereupon he promoted - along with a huge salary bump - his mistress. Where are the days when miscreants turned in their resignation immediately? Both Gonzales and Wolfowitz should be gone by now. Don Imus, a total jerk to be sure but not killing soldiers, was out in two weeks, because of the public outcry that this time he really had gone too far.

Imus has bosses that answer to the market and advertisers were cancelling in droves. But the government is a different animal. We can't withhold our taxes to protest. We can hold signs, call our reps in Congress, make lots of noise but ultimately we are powerless to change unless those in charge care about our opinions.

The Republicans are not listening, they are fighting back. They took the loss of last November and went on the offensive. A few have said the war is wrong and Gonzales should go but the majority are hanging tight, believing that will salvage what is left of their pathetic reign.

It's a troubled world and what troubles me most is that I think America, who as the lone superpower should be a leader to stand tall and proud, instead has become a bully, preening with might. It's what brought down Greece and Rome and Britain, all who once reigned supreme.

Bush and Rove offend me. They act as if the American people are necesssary but unwanted impediments to their arrogant power-grab. They couldn't win the election on their ideas so they calculated to steal it, by discretionary cleansing of voter rolls, by reworking districts aka gerrymandering, and by placing loyalty above competence. They speak of spreading democracy in the middle east even as they abuse it at home.

Shakespeare in The Tempest had Prospero say, "The state totters." He said it best.

IMUS = ASS

2007-04-11T13:36:00.000-10:00

Make him repeat over and over, I'm an Ass, I'm an Ass....

I won't speak to the racial aspect, others do it better. But how many listeners of Imanas would like their daughters called a "ho", and think it all in fun? Especially a daughter who has managed to get into a good college and play college-level ball. Hey, jerk-off, it ain't easy! Easy is sitting in front of a microphone and spewing idiotic remarks. Any ass can do it.

A few pundits who appear on his show to flog their book or for the money and/or recognition so they can write a book to flog, tried with a straight face to say what a great guy he is and how remorseful. And yet this "remorseful" man managed to call a group of young women who narrowly missed winning a championship "ho's".

That's just mean. Remember what your mother told you? Pick on someone your own size? Well, his size is teeny tiny, and the Rutger team's is huge. They showed more class in one press conference than he has in a lifetime. They will survive, and probably thrive. They are motivated and will put this behind them because after all, who really cares about this buffoon's thoughts?

I applaud the advertisers who are boycotting. I think free speech is important and had he said it about public figures - say, millionaire pro ball players - it might have been a bit tasteless but still his right. But a team of teenage basketball players? Who'd just narrowly missed winning a big championship? Obviously he is missing the decency gene.

That's why to me, the race card is not as important as that target. It's a valid argument that rap music spews the same virtriol. But this was personal, this was directed at an innocent few, and is therefore far different than free speech and racism, which can use a lot of discussion about boundaries.

As a parent, I'm angry. As a human being I'm appalled. This isn't about being a shock jock, testing boundaries, it's about being a dirty old man.

Change, I want Change

2007-03-26T10:06:00.000-10:00

I've been away for a week, visiting the kids. I return, check my usual blog pals and what's going on, and yes, they got the troop withdrawal deadline into war appropriations bill. I'm not sure how much of a victory that is, the more we learn of profiteering - Time Magazine, Cheney on cover - about the Blackstone security company and how much money they get for services. Much more legitimate than Halliburton to be sure, but - again - due to bad planning this Administration has to pay top dollar for security services.

Gonzales is still not out. It's bound to happen but as scandals unfold so rapidly it's also possible he'll dig in his heels and slip back under the radar. I'm not sure what he did was so far out of line, it's the general incompetence he should be removed for. Firing attorneys because you disaagree with them, even when you appointed them, is bad form and needs to be handled better. Also in Time this week - yes, I get my news from many places but as I said I was traveling and take the latest issue with me - is the Texas Connection in this White House and how long time buddies and supporters were hired, not competent people. Does the name Harriet Miers ring a bell?

The War is, if anything, worse. And still this President rages on about it. True, if he lets go of "terrorism", he has nada, nothing, zip, bupkus, zero to sustain his presidency. History will point to him as a major setback in foreign relations. So he charges on, like a desperate gambler, telling himself he's just one hand away from a big score and salvation, when everything points to the contrary. Does the name John Bolton ring a bell?

The big news, though, in our house is Al Gore running for president. Oh yes, we are hot for that. He's seasoned, no longer stiff, certainly experienced and wise, and frankly won the election 8 years ago. It was the Bush Machine - brother in FL, father's Supremes - that maneuvered us almost to a constitutional crisis. At this moment in time I lean to Bill Richardson. Hillary has lots to favor but completely blew it on the War, and years ago on health care, too secret. So while she's politically bright she can also go tone deaf. Obama is a joy out there and I could happily vote for him, but I've followed too many bright stars over the years who can't sustain the full exposure of a national campaign. Richardson, though, isn't quite lighting up the horizon; still, he's got what it takes. Edwards, too, a great person I'm confident would do a great job but seems to still be on a high learning curve on the national scene. But Gore, he's got it all and more. What he lacked the last time he's got now in triplicate - Star Power.

My daughter made me promise that Al Gore would run. She worries for her children's future. So I told her he's doing everything correct for a run and that yes, he would.
SO AL GORE, ARE YOU LISTENING? I PROMISED HER YOU WOULD RUN FOR PRESIDENT IN 2008. YOU HAVE CHILDREN, WOULD YOU MAKE ME BREAK A PROMISE?

Valerie Rocks

2007-03-17T16:13:00.000-10:00

With her movie star good looks and a career most people only dream about, a handsome husband and twins at home, I'm betting this woman will be the final nail in George W. Bush's presidential coffin. Scandal after scandal has weakened him, to be sure, but she will be the one to remove the curtain that reveals the fakery of Oz.

Her testimony was succinct and clear. Until her appearance before Congress, she kept silent. The bottom line is that whether or not she is determined to be covert according to the statute at the time of her outing, her career in intelligence was ruined by her own government, a gang of thugs determined to have their own way, damn the consequences. In order to start a war they were determined to have, she was, as Rep. Waxman said, collateral damage. On the heels of the horror at Walter Reed, Alberto Gonzales inept fumbling of his department - maybe Karl Rove has been too busy to coach him - she is a very bright light shining into their very dark corners.

She also has a book coming out, and the resultant book tour. She will be everywhere, telling everyone that this Administration had only one goal, to rush into war. And they were willing to expose an fearless and dedicated American intelligence agent to do it. She did nothing at all to deserve what happened to her; she was merely a bystander as her husband exposured their lies. Discredit him by discrediting her.

The Wilson's are photogenic. That should not be an issue but it tends to make people more credible. They are also rational, intellingent and charming. Just looking at her, you feel she got real secrets for us, a credit to the CIA. How many men would resist? And now it's over, she's done. Sure, she'll be a celebrity for a while, the book, then a movie, all the while Bushies will be twisting in the wind.

I'm sure if the Wilsons had a choice they would return to anonymity. They had a good life. But Rove or Cheney, or both, decided not to honor years of service to our country. Their arrogance at making that decision will ultimately be their undoing. Cheney looks more like the devil each time he appears, Rove keeps smiling like some wooden dummy as everything he thought he built derails, and Bush, well Bush looks as if he's the class loser in the dodge-ball circle, twisting and turning while he gets pounded.

The Wilson's may not come out of this better for the experience - she chose as she said, a "below the radar" career. He was an ambassador and appears to have an easier time talking about it. And they have small children, that tends to overrule all else in a family. They will be fine and they will likely be the final push that brings down this president as people grasp the enormity of what was done to them. But I don't think they will ever say it was a good thing. But they will be able to say they survived, and most of all, that they did the right thing. Who can ask for more?

History is a Tough Taskmaster

2007-03-15T08:51:00.000-10:00

The Bush Administration is wasting a huge amount of energy dodging left wing bullets. And it's entirely their own fault. First, the recent election was a referendum not just on Iraq but the Iraq that sprung from secrecy, bully pulpit and arrogance. I am against this War. I want us out. That was my position from the beginning. A preemptive attack is wrong. It lessens us.

However, I happen to agree with some of the principles laid out to go into war. Terrorists are a threat to the world and after 9-11 specficially to our homeland. We have a right to protect against future attacks. Also, peace in the Middle East is an honorable goal. The fact that it goes back generations and the causes are convoluted beyond comprehension, even by the participants, doesn't mean we should just give up.

The Bush Administration failed on every single effort to achieve any kind of positive result. First, they rushed. They knew better than the UN, our allies, common sense, their own military leaders. They bullied our allies into a watery support, only Tony Blair jumped in with any enthusiasm. (And is now forced to leave office because of it.)

Due to the rush, and minimal military preparation, relying on National Guard members who train on weekends for local emergencies, great people all but rushed into full-time service. They rose to the challenge but were given minimal support in the field, without effective body armor, vehicles to withstand bombs, military leaders afraid to speak out - the ones who did were put out to pasture. Still, their patriotism heroically persevered.

Then non-bid contracts went to Halliburton. If your bathroom suddenly springs a leak you don't worry about getting the cheapest plumber but the one who can come immediately. This mega-corporation, VP Dick Cheney's prior job was as CEO, sucked up money like Hoover's best windtunnel vac. Talk about giving your friends the combination to the vault. No one actually looked at the receipts, too many too fast. Question anything such as Joseph Wilson did and the Bush Admin came at you stronger than they did the enemy. Because if you so much as said, "Maybe there's a better way," you WERE the enemy.

A country founded on free speech was in danger of losing it. Anything was okay as long as the world terrorist was used as justification. This wasn't leadership, this was a schoolyard bully.

Incompetence was covered up, ignored, spun into a bizarre web of lies and verbal attacks. It was all spin. The emperor had no clothes and everyone became afraid to say so. Until Howard Dean dared and it turned out plenty wanted to say so. Bit by bit the fraud and negligence and incompetence, the power-hungry, the crooked, the morally bankrupt were exposed.

The Walter Reed scandal stands at the top of this toxic heap. When you send soldiers to war and then don't prepare for their return you are soulless. Wounded, they are of no use, either return them or ignore them. Those who gave the most now receive the least. Yet this Admin does not know shame. They repeat, almost daily, "Mistakes were made..." as if that absolves them. Sure, we botched the war, they seem to be saying, and care for the wounded and put us into debt doing it and ignored everything else that still matters but let's do it again.

It always comes down to what Lincoln said, "You can fool all of the people some of the time and some of the people all of the time but you can't fool all of the people all of the time."

Maybe had Bush read history books instead of drinking his way through college, or actually done his duty in the National Guard rather than drinking his way through Alabama, he wouldn't be dodging so many bullets now. His bullets are metaphorical but for our soldiers they are real. And he is not protecting them.

Mistakes were made....

2007-03-13T11:25:00.000-10:00

I'm getting really tired of that phrase even as I wish I'd had it to use as a teenager. Because it's beginning to seem a lot like confession. Sin like crazy all week, spend a few minutes doing penance with your priest, without any real remorse.

Face it, if you don't do anything wrong, you don't need to confess. And doing the right thing is not that hard. Unless that's your purpose.

And it's been said many times - it's not the crime it's the coverup. You will get caught. But now it appears there's another step. Get caught and say, "Mistakes were made, but...." meaning all will now continue as usual.

It's not mistakes, it corrupting power and/or incompetence. If taxpayers acted like shareholders these "penitents" would be gone. That's the price of mistakes.

Let's start using the phrase, "You're outta here...."

Shame

2007-03-12T12:29:00.000-10:00

I listen to C-Span a lot, which I suppose makes me a Wonkette, and my favorite is Washington Journal. Although it's on from one a.m. HST, and I prefer sleep since I get up at 6am for work, it started when I couldn't sleep and turned on the TV to keep from replaying how tired I would be. Now when I wake up it's the first place I go.

I mention this because at first I listened to the call-ins because I couldn't figure out how George Bush had any support. It was so clear to me that he was leading us down a really awful path. He was tromping on Democracy at home in order - he said - to bring it to the Middle East. Okay, sure that was an easy lie, it was oil, and Halliburton, and UAR buddies and all the rest of the war machine corporations. Plus, he's just a wannabe cowboy. Raised with money, hell-raiser at Yale, alcoholic they cleaned up to enter politics. Who supported him, and why?

Those who now call in and say, "Yes, mistakes were made, but...." Ya think? Mistakes that cost our servicemen and women their lives, a divided country, trillions of dollars spent to destroy a country and our reputation. Katrina is almost a bigger shame. Because that's within our border. Our citizens. The waste and fraud and stupidity and incompetence can all fall at his doorstep. They keep calling him the commander-in-chief. Had the national guard been on standby in Louisiana instead of in Iraq, lives would have been saved.

Of course the dam failed because of years of neglect from pretty much everyone, but the cleanup is all this Admin. FEMA was a throwaway, of no interest, so they put in a low level supporter with zero experience. A good fall guy. Lots of good fall guys for this Administration. And still they support him.

Have people gone stupid? Just to protect themselves from gay rights? That right wing group, afraid of what a few gays can do are willing to support a man who probably has zero interest in gays one way or another, but panders to them to get elected. That was the swing vote. Sure, his swagger looked tough after 9-11, we were scared, easier to believe he knew what he was doing. But what's the excuse now?

His approval rating is at 30%. And still he serves. He cost Tony Blair his job. He put us into so much debt it will be a decisive factors for years.

I still wonder why anyone at all supports him.

onward and upward

2007-03-10T12:00:00.000-10:00

I'm feeling really good right now. It's not that I wish all the evils that have befallen the Bush Admin - and now the Justice Report says FBI overstepped, the same month they fired attorneys because they could. This group is just a gang of thugs. Libby found guilty. So what if he was a scapegoat, doesn't make him innocent. Sure he tried to use his a puppy dog expression to win sympathy but he's really the runt of the litter. In other words, the country is paying attention. What looked like strength was really bullying. Karl Rove is not a political genius, he's simply a mathematician who counted electoral votes and then picked the state for the showdown. Another Bush state. And Daddy's supreme court. Then start a War because that's the fastest way to get you rich and pay back those who helped put you in office.

Whoops, some cynicism crept into that. Hard to avoid. I feel we as a country are now listening and debating and righting our ship of state. But it's also one reason I don't like Hillary. The Clinton juggernaut has all the makings of left wing thugs. The win at all cost mentality may work but the cost keeps mounting, the dike begins to spring holes faster than can be repaired.

But for now, this beautiful Saturday morning in Hawaii, I'm listening to the score of Gladiator, it's amazing music, and did my yoga and am feeling as good physically as I have in a long time. I've been careful about diet, as much organic as I can find, fresh not processed, cutting portions - more later if I must but not all at once. Vitamins, sleep, diet, exercise - hey, it works. Not a quick fix, I've been slogging along to varying degrees of success for quite a while now but as I age, and bits of creaky creep into joints, I had to clean up my act.

I savor the moment. As an added bonus I got a chunk of change back from taxes on my Prius I got last year, my political statement on wheels. Life is good. I wish you all the same. Make a decision to go forward, one step at a time.

From the Desk of Patrick J. Fitzgerald: GUILTY..!

2007-03-07T15:59:00.000-10:00

From the Desk of Patrick J. Fitzgerald: GUILTY..!

All Things Must End

2007-03-07T13:29:00.000-10:00

No, not me. I learned to blog From the Desk of Patrick J. Fitzgerald and while he may move on to other things I hope to keep my voice up. Blogs are a great thing. Everyone who wants to gets a say. What is more important to democracy.

Today the person who kept up the PJF blog announced his retirement. It's understandable. It was so well done, so comprehensive that it sucked up whatever air he (or she) had. I find it hard to imagine anything more interesting out there but probably there's plenty. Life doesn't end because one foolish and corrupt member of the current Admin is found guilty on 4 of 5 counts. (Or as Stephen Colbert, my other idol put it, "Innocent of One Charge!")

So to any of you who wander in from the PJF blog, maybe wanting to be a PJFlygirl, welcome. Come back. I posted my email. We're all still out there, there is plenty more to do, keeping an eye on government never stops because the players all think they can get away with it. Power corrupts, and no one ever learns it's actually the cover-up that brings them down.

Onward and upward, to all of us. A Merry Fitzmas toast to us all, whoever we are.

Handicapping is fun

2007-03-03T08:15:00.000-10:00

Everyone else seems to be weighing in on the 2008 election and who's hot and who's not. So here goes.....
Hillary Clinton - I'm just tired of her. Too many incarnations. Something. Standing by her pig of a husband - mind you I thought he was a pretty good president, but the moral fiber of rope. She said she wasn't just standing by her man like Tammy Wynette and then she stood by her man, but even Tammy Wynette got out of that one to her cheatin' George Jones. But more than that, the secret health care initiative that busted because it came out like a burst dam scaring everybody. Bad. Aren't we all furious at George W. for his secrecy vis a vis Iraq? I think she's a good Senator, but when you get too ambitious you get too programmed and forget why you're running in the first place. She's reached that level, she's got a plan - the good news - but it's whatever the polls show - the bad news. Plus she rammed Obama because of what David Geffen said. Hey, he's a gay billionaire, beholden to no one, he can say what he wants.

Barack Obama - I live in Hawaii, and grew up - age 7 to 15 - in Kansas. I feel like we're practically related. Then again, most people after listening to him, feel that way. He touches everyone. Sure, not so many specifics - but the Bush Admin is nothing if not specific and look where that got us - and maybe not so much experience - I repeat, the Bush Admin.... you know the rest. But he's bound to make some blunders along the way, being a newbie and honest, and I've watched - and worked for - many shining stars that flamed out. But I wish him well, for all our sakes.

Bill Richardson - a personal fave. Experienced in the good way, but having actually done the work. Solid, steady, hard-working, what the real America is, or thinks she is anyway. He's even Hispanic, should be that growing - and growing - group into the polls for him. We can do far worse than another Bill, President Richardson. Let the movement start here! (okay, he started it, but I can be a groundswell.)

John Edwards - he's just not connecting. He has all the right moves, a perfect family story, a good guy, wonderful wife, and maybe that's the problem, he's too good, thinks running for president is like student council. If it were a Richardson/Edwards ticket, the winner would be America. Except for the far right. They're only happy if no one has any fun or common sense.

John McCain- sold his soul to the Devil Bush. Or more accurately Karl Rove, who told him he'd be in his corner if he lockstepped the prez on Iraq. Because McCain's change over was just that fast, deal made. Perception if not reality. But I don't see Rove in his corner, already reneged and barely started. What, he's holding back until Giuliani trounces him?

Rudy Giuliani - loved him as prosecutor, a good figurehead after 9-11, tough, in charge, but his personal life makes Bill Clinton look chaste. That baggage will need a freight car to haul. Plus, they jumped on Howard Dean for one excitable whoop. Rudy's temper is lengendary, he won't be able to stop it.

The others? They're just there for the fun of it. Oh sure, they dream big, and some are decent beings, especially Joe Biden, but mostly it's an open field and they figure why not, get some name recognition, try again or earn big bucks on speaking trail, or lobbying. Besides, you get all those secret service people, and advance people, you get driven and fussed over, hey we should all get to run for prez, it's exhausting but great fun.

McCain speaks with forked tongue

2007-02-22T10:31:00.000-10:00

I agree completely with Senator McCain, that Donald Rumsfeld is the worst defense secretary in the history of the world. His skill is as a political infighter not battle. But his recent incompetence overcame even his skill at that.
However, Senator, this appears to be a bit of jumping on the bandwagon, trashing the man after he's gone, disappeared from sight. I would respect you a lot more if you had done it while he was actually committing these atrocities. After the fact does no one any good and makes you look like a cowardly bully who stands back and yells, "Me, too!"
And as to your calling on sending more troops, that's just the other side of incompetence. Too few to get the job done early on, and too many after it's too late. The reverse had a chance of success, and it's way past military action now. Bush waged war to prove his balls were bigger than his father's; are you now wanting it to prove your goverment should have sent more troops to Vietnam and saved POWs?
War is nasty, no one wins. Sometimes there really is no choice, but usually it's a political reason and it has to do with oil and profit. And trying to rally a base to become president.

So now Google owns the world

2007-02-19T12:12:00.000-10:00

So after a few false attempts I moved my blog over to Google. It was some trouble, reading more stuff, and I wrote a perfectly nice introduction then during preview I accidentally closed it and lost my very first blog on Google. I was perfectly happy before, now I'm not, because I have to write it all over again and I've forgotten how I said it. Besides, I liked what I said and it was several paragraphs and if I have to spend more time, then I'll become a blogger without a life. Usually you get a box that says are you sure you want to lose everything, but I didn't, so I did.

Change can be good or it can be a nuisance. It's usually the latter. Because those who force it upon us, like Blogspot, are at the top of the chain and don't think of the little things. I debated even sticking with it, why bother, if I had to start over, go somewhere else, but in the end I fell into step, it seemed easier. And would have been if not closing the window to return to previous page rather than click back arrow hadn't lost it all.

A cozy blog versus a snippy one. All because I HAVE TO change to Google or go away. Not their fault, they didn't MAKE me click the wrong arrow, they just made me read pages of stuff to be sure I wasn't agreeing to something weird. Just more marketing. They can probably check my web browsing, send me "personalized" messages to buy and join and otherwise limit my span. Some days I think the Internet hasn't expanded our horizons, just given marketers better ammunition to blindside us.

I no sooner got Windows XP on my computer than here comes Vista. Is it better? Sure, if you're a budding movie maker or can't take less than a thousand pictures of your kid to throw out there, so that he/she's famous just for eating. Do we all want Paris Hilton as a child? Ooops, pardon, she's more famous for not eating.

I'm going to go read a book. My web life is being sold and used for the purpose of others gaining wealth. But my easy chair is mine alone.

An exciting election

2007-01-24T08:53:00.000-10:00

Sure, it's supposed to be too early and lots can and will happen to change the dynamics but the rich field of candidates should excite everyone. I mentioned Obama previously but I'm also excited about Bill Richardson and John Edwards will hopefully do well. He was saddled by Kerry's lack of clear insight last time, and his own inexperience against Cheney, but may now have the maturity needed. I would still go with Richardson, the most experienced in the field.

As for Clinton, I know she's the fave, but frankly she's been all over the map re the War. She has many fine qualities, not least of which of first really formidable female candidate, but that's not enough. Ultimately I doubt she will prevail, she just dooesn't have that comfort zone personality voters lean toward.

The depth of the field, adding Joe Biden, is awesome. Biden is definitely a class act but I don't think he can go all the way. But the dialog ought to be the best we've ever had in an election cycle.

I hate to say it, but maybe we needed Bush to bottom out so we could wake up and pay attention. I thought I was going to throw a heavy object at the television when in his state of union address he said we had to get the deficit under control. You mean the deficit you created? That reminded me of the definition of chutzpah - a guy kills his parents then asks the court for mercy because he's an orphan.

Barack in 2008

2007-01-17T16:35:00.000-10:00

In Hawaii, Barack is a native son. He may be a Senator from Illinois but he was raised here, we made him. Okay, his family too - and what a near-perfect melting pot, that says more about America and our future. So for a whole bunch of reasons he will elevate the dialogue and the stakes in the 2008 election.

Maybe it's time for a grownup to run - and hopefully win.

HAU'ILI MAKAHIKI HOU

2007-01-09T10:59:00.000-10:00

'Tis the New Year and Nancy Pelosi has - gasp - a plan, something we haven't seen in Washington in a while. While it may not all pan out and there's a ways to go, it's so refreshing to see grownups at the helm.

Bush's so-called "plan" seems to be, "Hell, it didn't work before, so let's do it again!" If more troops were the answer, why not do that a year ago, or three?

So I am chuffed to begin a new year on such a hopeful note. Voters tend to get the government they deserve and it finally seems they're paying attention. A cowboy at the helm may remind us of our wild and woolly days - great fun in the movies but not so great in actuality. Our Founding Fathers were intellectuals who took their responsibility very seriously. I don't know if this group is up to those standards but at least they are trying to restore some order after years of chaos.

Is it always the Dems that have to clean up after Repubs or does it just seem that way?

GOBBLE GOBBLE

2006-11-22T16:57:00.000-10:00

So much to be thankful for this year, family is well, and Dems in Congress. To approach the holiday season in a spirit of hope is a fine thing.

Of course there is Darfur, and other troubled spots, a war that will be tough to extricate, but maybe just maybe we are ready to spread real democracy around the globe, not the war machine spoils we have now.

It's hokey but it might work, if once each day we all have a positive thought and an action to bring peace to all.

Yipppee

2006-11-09T10:42:00.000-10:00

The Ship of State has finally righted itself. The voters have shown that while they generally prefer to stick with the familiar, when enough is enough, it's over! So while George Bush put us in Iraq with lies of bringing democracy to the Middle East, and trying to quash it at home, the majority of us said that's not what this country is about.

Watching Bush practically take credit for the new bipartianship was cheesy, but then again, he's always been about spin rather than substance.

Sure, plenty of work to do, lots of muck to clean, but like after a really great spring rain, it just smells good.

Congratulations to the voters, for paying attention. It's a cliche, but true, politicians work for us. When they forget that, it's over. And a special raspberry to Tom DeLay who thought he could guarantee Republican victories by gerrymandering districts - you're a poster boy for everything that went wrong. Bully boys like you are just stupid.

How good it feels when the system works.

10 SURE-FIRE WAYS TO SOLVE THE ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION PROBLEM

2006-10-27T15:03:00.000-10:00

1. Become a vegetarian. The meat packing industry hires many illegal immigrants, not because they want to break the law but because hey, it’s tough finding folks willing to chop up dead animals all day long. Those that enjoy it are usually behind bars. Anyone who has a career choice, won’t. And if you drink milk, the average cow prefers a 5am and 5pm daily routine. Otherwise they explode and who’s going to clean it up, which brings us to the next solution.

2. Plant a garden. Remember the farm workers? We felt so noble boycotting lettuce to get them fair treatment. How’s that working out? We treat them so well they all want to come. So if you really want them to leave, stop buying fresh produce and grow your own! Start a community garden and get to know your neighbors! Make a chart, showing whose day it is to weed the damn thing. Serious fines and punishment for those who shirk. This is serious, folks, there are 12 million, all of whom have jobs, every little bit helps.

3. Clean your own house. Maids used to be black. Since blacks used to be slaves, it was a step up. We called them mammies. We sucked as human beings. Now that illegals do it, we give them a tiny bed, a broken TV, 14 hour workdays with ½ day off occasionally, all for $50 a week and tell them how lucky they are to have a job. But they’re in America and know if they can learn the ropes they can secretly give you the finger and move on. Who can say, “Take this job and shove it” in Spanish?

4. Raise your own kids. See above.

5. Mow you own lawn. Remember that? Kids and yardwork and Saturday spelled America. Now there are parents afraid to alienate their kids by giving them chores. Ever see a guy with a leaf blower that wasn’t Hispanic? Anyone over 40 remembers raking the damn things and seeing how unfair life could be when the wind blew it back. Back in the day, Japanese did it, now they own half of us.

6. Wash your own car. Remember Saturdays with Dad and the hose and water fights when he wasn’t looking? Check out a car wash, 40 guys running around on a hot day just to bang your mirror sideways. Washing a car is just not fun when there are so many video games and so little time – that’s why your teenagers disappear with their iPod, Sidekick and cell – which mysteriously doesn’t work when you try to find them.

7. Live in a smaller house. Studies show construction is one of the largest employers of illegal immigrants, again not to break the law but hey, that’s a tough job. Sure you get a great bod, and hit on women, but you can do that much better in an air conditioned gym with a personal trainer and custom juice blend. Do you absolutely need 9 bedrooms and 6 baths? McMansions need lots of McLaborers.

8. No fast food. This one will take care of itself because you won’t be tempted to do takeout once your garden is up and running All those tasty lettuce leaves, extra-large penis-shaped zucchini and seasonal cukes will make you forget In-n-Out burgers.

9. Pay more taxes. More taxes beget more police to get down and dirty on those pesky perps who clog our beloved freeways sans license and insurance. You may have less money in your pocket but you’ll be home to eat dinner with the kids as traffic flow improves. Also, insurance scams will disappear once there are enough officers to investigate every accident. PS - A caveat. You in LA should only do cocaine at home, because the city will be lousy with cops looking for erratic drivers. They may racial profile but they won’t ignore crossing 4 lanes twice in 90 seconds.

10. Buy Mexican. Issue all Social Security checks in pesos. Millions of baby boomers are retiring. 12 million of them, in fact. An even steven exchange. All those service industry workers can return home to their families to take care of them. Bonus: No more feeble parents around, sucking up our time and energy. Money goes so much further south of the border. Really, it's a two-fer. Illegals return home for the new jobs, we lose non-productive geriatrics. Then our country will again resemble the vast open spaces like our founding fathers intended.

And here are the ten reasons why we will never resolve the issue:

1. The US Government considers it foreign aid.
2. People need someone to blame for whatever they’re upset about and ILLEGAL immigration is a one-size-fits-all bitchfest.
3. We pay more. Until they can live well there, they will come here.
4. The business community saves a bundle. Sure, they say they can’t find anyone to take the job, but what they mean is that legal employees have become ungrateful and greedy, demanding all those pesky extras, like health care, safe working environment, days off and pensions.
5. All their friends are here.
6. We can’t solve our own societal issues like crooked politicians, crime and poverty, let alone resolve theirs.
7. Restaurants would institute a surcharge, like shipping companies when oil prices go up. The cost of eating out would be so prohibitive we’d all have to go to Mexico for our food.
8. Schools may complain about kids who don’t speak English but they get extra money to teach them. Cops, lawyers, translators, mom & pop stores, car thieves, will lose their jobs.
9. The housing bubble won’t just burst it will explode if 12 million people leave. (One plus: Those gouging landlords who charge $500 week for a ratty mattress in a room with 8 others, good riddance.)
10. The US still consumes massive quantities of illegal substances and they still come from south of the border. Get rid of drugs and our economy collapses – prisons, lawyers, trials, lawyers, bodyguards and sellers of yachts, Mercedes’ and everything else paid for in cash by drug lords. Not to mention all the things we replace because it was stolen by someone feeding a habit.

Bottom line – Get over it. Illegal immigration is what politicians talk about when they want to divert attention from their real screw-ups. It’s a gift to business without resolving issues like minimum wage and health care. Everyone who buys produce or meat, or buys a house or uses a gardener is a contributor to the problem. The nasty dirty truth is we want all those illegals to do the work at substandard rates; we just don’t want to see them. And with an estimated 12 million, that’s getting tougher.

Is Stupid Catching?

2006-10-02T17:05:00.000-10:00

Re Rep Foley
How can an elected official be so stupid as to put suggestive material in an email. Emails never go away.

And yet for over a year - that we know of - he has gotten away with it. Does no one in Washington care about decency?

So quit griping about the press, they seem to be the only ones paying attention.

Oh, and Dennis Hastert is JUST NOW disgusted by behavior he's known about for over a year. Yes, the timing has all the stink of politics, but had the oversight committee - oh, there isn't one? - sure didn't nip it in the bud.

Rule of thumb - if you want to be a pervert, try not to run for office. Although this guy ain't a newbie, so someone knew.

Clean your damn house, Repubs. You'd still be in power after November elections if you just had a teeny bit of common sense.

Election season is upon us

2006-09-06T09:28:00.000-10:00

I hope everyone is getting out the vote. It's time to hold the Bush Administration accountable for their ongoing incompetence, not just the War in Iraq although that is by far the most egregious misuse of power in a long time by our government, but if anyone who watched Hurricane Katrina repairs a year later and votes for incumbents, shame on you. YOUR GOVERNMENT FAILED YOU, TAKE ACTION.

What next?

2006-07-27T15:18:00.000-10:00

I'm beginning to think the Bush Administration, having failed in one attempt at War, are now having another whack at it.

This is like a compulsive gambler who, having lost the mortgage payment decides to raise the stake and gamble even more money he doesn't have in order to regain his money, thereby adding even more debt until it begins to erode everything.

Round and round and round we go...

2006-06-30T13:51:00.000-10:00

You are driving in a car at a constant speed. On your left

side is a valley and on your right side is a fire engine

traveling at the same speed as you.

In front of you is a giant galloping pig which is the same size

as your car, and you cannot overtake it. Behind you is a

helicopter flying at ground level. Both the giant pig and

the helicopter are also traveling at the same speed as you.

What must you do to safely get out of this highly dangerous

situation?

Get off the children's Merry-Go-Round, you're drunk.

DRIVE SAFELY - IT'S FOURTH OF JULY
Our nation's birthday.

As we age, we wisdom....

2006-04-14T15:57:00.000-10:00

I seem to be void of original thoughts these days but others have stepped up to fill my void.

Check out these pearls of wisdom.

http://www.frontiernet.net/~jlbeam/specials/life/life.htm

Is it just me or....

2006-03-30T10:49:00.000-10:00

are the Dems finally getting some gumption? They seem to be finally finding a voice, and beginning to own security issues and speak with authority. Jack Murtha, Russ Feingold, Nancy Pelosi, Loretta Chavez, and others are beginning to sound like Democrats not afraid-of-Bush weenies.

They're not there yet, in terms of reaching the voters in November. As of now, the Repubs may be voted out but not because Dems are voted in. In other words, it's better for all if people vote FOR not AGAINST.

Keep up the good work but stay focused on solutions not name-calling. It's what we can do that's right, not what they did that's wrong. Everyone who is listening knows that already, they know of the scandals and failures and lies. What voters want is integrity.

These boots are made for walkin'....

2006-03-11T13:43:00.000-10:00

...and smashing all the faces of all public servants who serve themselves not the public. A good kick in the gonads not a bad idea either.

Every day it seems someone else "resigns" which is between "denies" and apologizes" before the noose tightens. They are finding out that crime really doesn't pay. You'd think they'd learn. No matter how much you earn while on the take, the lawyers will eat it up keeping you out of jail.

Hey, maybe it's all a plot by the lawyers! Get Bush into office, then wait and watch, knowing that sooner or later that disgustingly immoral group will put all your kids and your grandkids and their grandkids through college from the billable hours while they pretend everything they did was for the good of something or other.

Poetic justice.

Punxsutawney Dubya

2006-02-03T09:40:00.000-10:00

This year, both Groundhog Day and the State of the Union Address fall on the same day. As Air America Radio pointed out, "It is an ironic juxtaposition: one involves a meaningless ritual in which we look to a creature of little intelligence for prognostication, and the other involves a groundhog."

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2005-12-28T19:05:00.000-10:00

C-SPAN Rules!

2005-12-22T13:11:00.000-10:00

There I was watching C-SPAN as I do, and Brian Lamb was doing one of his terrific Q & A sessions with an unfamiliar - to me - guest.

Turns out Randi Rhodes is a talk radio person with skills out of the park. I was entralled and am desperately trying to find her call letters. She says what I think and often say, but to a much smaller audience.

Radio syndication is an iffy thing in Hawaii.We have great weather and people but sometimes distance has a price.

Washington Journal I love you; it's the only good thing for not always being able to sleep through the night. Talk about addictive - I've occasionally wakened after a great night's sleep and said, darn I missed Washington Journal.

Ring a ding ding

2005-12-12T14:05:00.000-10:00

Whoa, Christmas is almost here! I spent the entire weekend getting out cards and letters and packages ready for shipping then vacuumed my floor and feel all bright-eyed and bushy tailed for the season's cheer.

So many new experiences this year - my first blog and connecting with people who believe as I do about this war.

I'll soon be traveling and have too much stuff to carry my laptop. Besides maybe a few days away will be good, remembering what it used to be like before the world became a small community.

No secrets anymore. When Gov. Bill Richardson can't even fudge on his youthful athletic prowess, it's time for all politicians to get smart. IT'S NOT THE CRIME IT'S THE COVERUP!
(Okay, sometimes it's the crime, Duke.)

From Hawaii I say,
Mele Kalikimaka
Hau'oli Makahiki Hou

Getting interesting

2005-12-06T16:51:00.000-10:00

Things seem to be heating up in the political arena.
What is it about power that corrupts? I mean you have it, why abuse it?

Because you can.

Because it's addictive and you move the boundaries in order to keep it.
You want more, like any drug it's never enough.

Or maybe too long away from reality and the colors change.

When winning is more important than doing the end is in sight.

The Bush Administration is like a termite-riddled house.
You can see some of the rot but what's underneath is the serious problem.
Thank you Pat Fitzgerald, Cindy Sheehan and Jack Murtha.

News cycle

2005-12-03T19:59:00.000-10:00

Just signed a petition for Nancy Pelosi who is aligned with Jack Murtha, the Dems a bit late to that table but I think the country is moving faster than politicians. No surprise. Everyone has been slow to realize this war was a bad idea from day one and is getting worse. The prez claims victory at every opportunity which makes it ever more clear he has no clue. No, that's wrong, he doesn't care what anyone else thinks.

Remember the Blue Brothers, on a mission from God? It was funny then but it sure isn't now.

I spend all my free time joining and talking to the community that has always known that this war is about oil and one-upping daddy and arrogance and stupidity. But the government when it chooses to run amok has great power to silence dissenters. For a while. Then it becomes a cacophony of outrage.

All I want for Christmas is sanity in our leaders.

Giving thanks

2005-11-24T12:47:00.000-10:00

For Cindy Sheehan who gave voice to a movement

For Patrick Fitzgerald for being hard working and tenacious

For Jack Murtha for speaking out loud and clear

For all of those who have brought back hope that the system works

For friends who are there when you don't expect it and for when you do

And most of all for my new grandchild and her big sister

Kit and Blue are two.....

2005-11-19T19:51:00.000-10:00

The calvary is coming!

2005-11-19T14:43:00.000-10:00

After Howard Dean's campaign and watching John Kerry douse every fire of passion around him I could barely breathe from disappointment. I watched liberal Democrats petrified of saying or doing anything that could get them un-elected. I felt I had wandered into an alternate reality, where up was down and down was up.

I took a grown-up job out of politics and hunkered down. Oh sure the occasional CSPAN show or Jim Lehrer News Hour. The Bush Admin spewed lies and spin and spewed out talking points, the louder the better, to drown out dissenters. It hurt to watch. I licked my wounds. I stayed uninvolved, wondering how we got to such a mean-spirited place. In college I studied documentary film making and using film as propaganda, in part to help me understand how a Hitler could come to power. Slow and steady, blame others, eliminate opposition swift and hard, those were his tools. And I began to see the same thing happen here, wondering why our nation so full of decent and good people, lay dormant. They were given a diet of fear, of terrorists, of losing a job, of not being able to pay for college, and more terrorists.

Reporters covered handouts. They stood in a group, like so many buzzing insects, all reporting the same thing. A few brave souls managed to get in a few words but they were quickly extinguished. Howard Dean was brought down first by the DNC; his own party did not want a diversion from their steady drip of "same old same old."

Friday October 28. I knew indictment(s) were coming, a glimmer of hope was building. I watched, entralled. Plain talk. Legalese for dummies. Bad things done, issued indictment, further investigation.

Someone to believe in again. Patrick J. Fitzgerald, I salute you, for breathing air back into our lifeless bodies. Maybe you weren't the first, or even the loudest - although from the fear Bob Woodward showed, I guess subpeona power has some cache.

I stole this picture off a web site because it's really cool, and I want it on my site.

Then just when I'm happily sucking up all this new information along comes Rep. Jack Murtha, and wow, what a blast of plain talk.

Here is my favorite part:
"I like guys who've never been there who criticize us who've been there," Murtha said. "I like that. I like guys who got five deferments and never been there and sent people to war and then don't like to hear suggestions that what may need to be done."
Oops, I forgot the George Bush National Guard in Alabama part, but it's there in spirit.

My Meanderings is dedicated to the above persons and others who ring loud and true, this holiday week I have hope. Hope is our life force.

And yes, bring our soldiers home. Give them hope as well. They deserve that much, and far more.

Say it ain't so...

2005-11-16T16:51:00.000-10:00

I am appalled at Bob Woodward's total disregard for facts and the Washington Post readers. He has been blatantly spewing the Administration line. His loyalty is only to his book deal. He seemed awed by his access to George Bush. Well, duh, you became their shill.

He is no longer a reporter but a society columnist, reporting on gossip and handouts from politicians. He has become the story.

Journalism is in mourning today.

movin' on

2005-11-15T11:19:00.000-10:00

Ah well fun while it lasted. The world keeps spinning, onward and upward. Things change, things stay the same and some days all I do is get older.

PJ's Patrol

2005-11-12T20:34:00.000-10:00

Rhinstone Cowboys

2005-11-11T08:36:00.000-10:00

I noticed in the paper that all the big guns in the Bush Admin are out in force today, spinning their spin better than Will Rogers ever did his rope. They are exhalting our soldiers in canned speeches to safely Republican groups, heaping praise upon them - rightfully so - but wait, what is that rumbling sound of discord? These speeches give lip service to the value of our soldiers in order to drown out the countering argument that by cutting the VA budget, our returning soldiers will not receive full medical benefits; no matter that it's Iraq War related.

It's a cliche but it fits: Put your money where your mouth is!

Our soldiers are on the front line of a badly planned and horribly executed war. Many have lost lives and far more have lost limbs and even more will return home with post traumatic stress disorder. Hard to quantify but nonetheless real to the families. At the very least we owe them top quality treatment. That's how you support our troops, not with speeches but with action.

This Administration has more sparkle and glitz than a rodeo queen. And about as much substance. (My heartfelt apologies to rodeo queens everywhere, it is a worthy endeavor. I wanted to be one but my parents made me settle for a cute cowgirl outfit instead.)

It's getting interesting....

2005-11-09T18:16:00.000-10:00

The elections gave me hope. Voters are out there and they are paying attention. Betrayal is a funny thing, it cuts deep. When you promise to restore trust and dignity to the presidency - and while I adore Bill Clinton, I don't often use dignity in the same sentence - and then you lie about almost everything, well that betrayal starts seeping into pores.

Karl Rove wanted a conservative agenda out there. He searched for a candidate who could get elected. George W. Bush to the plate. Okay, he was an alcoholic failure, but he had that name. Clean him up, get him to church, pump him full of stump speeches, and get him governor of Texas. How hard is that? They don't mind failures, if they come from rich families. Part of the folklore. The rest is easy.

The Christian right was aching for a candidate with backing. Organize them, and denounce abortion and gay rights, count red state electoral votes and badda bing, ya got a viable candidate. (And it sure doesn't hurt that Daddy knows just everybody who ever won an election and your very own brother is Gov of a hell of lot of electoral votes.)

I read today that Karl and Dubya have been together 32 years. (Eeeuuuww, how gross is that...) This has been a steady march to power. Picking up Cheney and Rumsfeld, hell, that was just a side issue, might as well suck up some oil profits while you're at it.

I wish I weren't so cynical. I want to believe that they had a real plan, even if I disagreed with it. But they don't, they haven't a clue. Clueless in Washington. Okay, that's an oxymoron.

But just as I was wallowing in these thoughts of despair along comes first, Howard Dean - a bit noisy, sure, but hey he tells it like it is. Music to my ears. The Moveon.org spewed it all about and I knew I wasn't alone! Then watching Patrick J. Fitzgerald on TV I was practically cheering. Calvary to the rescue! We are saved! The Dems have finally gotten some gumption, they may actually put together a plan. Finally!

I burrowed down deep when Bush was elected. It simply hurt too much. The anger was too much. I had to turn it all off to survive. Body blows need time to heal.

Now, where's my horse? I'm off to do battle! (A war of words, not of fallen soldiers. I hate them for taking sons and daughters, husbands and wives, and calling it patriotism when greed is more accurate. Our soldiers deserve better leaders.)

The lies foretold

2005-11-08T13:01:00.000-10:00

Lies, lies, everywhere lies.

Reagan succeeded and Bush tries to emulate by insisting everything is hunky dorey. Just follow me, folks, and life will shine. Like lemmings. Spin the spin, sucker punch the opposition. War is hell and keep driving those gas guzzling machines as Haliburton rakes it in.

To me, from day one, it seemed clear that Saddam was into the huge profits made from the oil for food bargain with the devil. Why focus on nuclear weapons - dangerous when wet - when billions are foisted on you in exchange for oil, er um excuse me, food.

Bush and Cheney are oil men and we invade an oil-rich country? Have we forgotten how to think? I blame the Democrats, too, they rolled over and played dead.

We are fighting a War over oil rights, couldn't we just for a year or two, think to lessen our emergy use? How many SUV's were sold since the War began? Can anyone justify a Lexus SUV with 2000 dead American soldiers?

There are those who like the Bush Swagger. It's arrogance without substance, a schoolyard bully in a suit and tie.

When Howard Dean burst onto the scene, I felt I could breathe again. Someone was out there, many as it turned out, to say the war is wrong, the administration is wrong. Lies are not policy. Arrogance is not control. Self-righteousness is not power.

It's not too late, let sanity rule.

Kit Neill Meanderings

2005-11-07T10:55:00.000-10:00

I came of age during the Viet Nam protests. I am proudly liberal. I believe in people, at least in those people who try to do the right thing. I am so grateful to Patrick J. Fitzgerald for being straightforward and clean, for being competent and choosing to fight the bad guys.

This is my first post. I don't yet know which direction I will take. I am a political animal, it is my life force. The Bush era harkens to the Nixon era to the McCarthy era, when dissention was punished. Democracy is fundamentally dissention or the right to have it, anyway. Open discussion is why we are better and if we lose that we are worse than those who never had it.

I hope Karl Rove goes down in a ball of flames that engulfs GW. They got elected on a platform of restoring trust in government and as is often the case, when ya gotta say it, you ain't got it.

Right now I trust Fitzgerald. Knowing there are people like him out there brings hope.