Anger

Post politics tweeted an article about the anger at a McCain/Palin rally.

Those irritable rally-goers (enlightening Rolling Stone article on McCain)helped elect Bush twice- their anger is completely misguided. The country has not gone to hell because of Nancy Pelosi (she has been the speaker for 22 months), I dont think she and Harry Reid are strong or effective leaders but they didnt get us in the really critical situation we are in now.

I am angry- angry that Bush lied to us about why we needed to go to Iraq, angry that that I got a rebate check when we needed to pay the debt down or for the wars we are involved in, angry that thousands of our troops have died and are wounded, angry that Republicans dont make Veteran's issues a priority, angry that we let a genocide happen in this decade, like we did last decade, angry that we are no longer the country to mirror, angry that freedom now means unwarranted survelliance, angry that 9/11 is so politicized, I am angry at anyone who wants to tell me what to do w/ my body, well I could go on.

As angry as I am at everything that McCain stands for including the awful way he is running the campaign (we dont call him McSame for nothin'), my side has lost a lot of elections- we will still have to call the winner, Mr. President, come January 20th. I see McCain/Palin hate speech and rally-goers anger very dangerous and indicative of how they would run their administration (the rest of us dont matter- just like GW).

Vote Obama!

Sweet 16 party

Feelin' a bit gipped this morning after reading about this $300,000 16th birthday party in the WaPo. I am sure given the financial distress of my youth (and that is was a long time ago now), we could have cut the price to $75,000-$100,000, I wouldnt need two of the hippest rappers, or mock papparrazzi or invitations in the shape of credit cards, or well ANY OF THIS CRAP. Geez- bake a cake, make her favorite dinner and give her a carton of cigarrettes (a la Judd Nelson's character in Breakfast Club), ok maybe a gift card to her favorite restaurant.

One of the boys in the article is asked whether he knows her and he replies "eh". "Eh" is right.

'splainin the army to the boys at bedtime

"What is armies?" David asks, Andrew echoes the question.
"An army is a group of..." I am interrupted in the middle of my wonderfully vague statement.
"Do armies carry guns?" Andrew asks getting to his bottom line.
"Yes" I hesitate.
"Why do you ask?" I ask frantically thinking of what to say.

The boys then explain they saw the photograph that is tied to this article. They explained it something like a man carrying a boy, wearing camaflage, the boy looked scared. We discuss armies, soldiers, the military not in much detail but explaining how grandpa, Pauline and Grandma Sherry have all served in the military.

"Why was the boy scared?" David really can see himself in that photo- he is 5 now, why would any boy need to be so scared?

I think about the story tied to the follow-up article and how scared that soldier and the boy must have been and my heart is breaking. I tell the story of a brave man carrying the boy away from harm and how soldiers protect our freedom. I explain very briefly how some want to harm us ("why?" David asks, why indeed). I talk about being peace-loving people and others arent so peaceful. And we are in Iraq to protect the peaceful people of Iraq who want freedom from the people who would scare them.

Who is this person explaining this? Karl Rove? No, it is me. Thankful the boys cant read a 1500 word article, thankful they didnt see the picture on the front page a few months ago of a person holding a wounded child, who died later and most certainly looked dead in the photo (all I can think about is the shoes the child was wearing- really cute sandals, absolutely something my children may wear). I cant find the link to the WaPo photo/article.

Andrew wants to be a soldier, David an astronaut. Those are both noble, brave professions I tell them, praying we end this war soon and somehow find a way to be a force for peace in the world.

"What is the government?" David asks, I say "time for bed".

I have an idea- dont kill police officers

Don't kill cops, then the jailers will not have the opportunity to kill you. For the record, I prefer a system where the court system handles the criminals, not those who espouse vigilante justice since our system relies on innocence till proven guilty. At the same time, I do not have any sympathy for accused cop-killers who are found dead in their jail cell.

I am sorry for the accused's grieving family, clearly the person who killed the accused should be tried/convicted/punished for the crime. But seriously, this never would have happened, if that thug didnt kill a person who was doing his job to protect the community from thugs like him.

I grieve the loss of that police officer-whose partner died several years ago while on duty, who started a fund to support his deceased partner's family, whose children will never have daddy come home again, whose wife will now struggle to keep her family together without his income and meager insurance. Dont kill police officers and you probably wont end up dead in a holding cell.

Mini-lecture- it completely undermines the trust we have in the police/sheriff's department if accused people end up dead. Prince Georges county, MD will likely not recover from these murders any time soon. If you are an officer in that County, how will you ever get witnesses to cooperate with you? how will juries trust what you are saying when it could just be expedience? how can you go out and do your job when this guys' cohorts put a target on your back? Understatement- nothing good will come from this.

Governors, Hillary and Britney

Bill Bolling is not running for Governor. I am shaken a bit by this news. Chris tells me his theory is that the new Republican strategy is to nominate someone quickly then let the Democratic infighting destroy any chance of the Dem nominee to win. Evil Genius.

I particularly appreciated the quote by a Brian Moran staffer in the Post (?) perhaps Progress article "Jesse Ferguson, communications director for Moran, said the nomination contest with Deeds appears likely to be settled in a statewide party primary in June of next year. “Virginians for Brian Moran has 10 full-time staff,” as though that somehow makes Moran a viable candidate. To have ten staffers for 14 months is wasting the campaign's resources early, this is a long primary fight (June 2009 is the vote), staff gets tired, loses momentum and worse ... insular thinking. But heck that is just my theory and I am Senator Creigh Deeds supporter so take it what you will. Also I strongly urge Delegate Moran to drop out and run for Attorney General or LT Governor. I admit I have no great influence over anyone.

I say these things only as an individual, the Party in the City has no position on either of these candidates and will work equally strongly to elect either one of these fine candidates.

Other topics of interest- Hillary over exaggerates her role in these foreign policy issues. She will not be able to beat McCain on that issue period. The post said today she is trying to convince superdelegates she is more 'experienced' yes, in manipulation and lying, not really in public policy- if you are a superdelegate, dont buy it.

It was great to see Britney Spears on "How I Met Your Mother" last night. She did a good job, certainly not awful. IMO the best part is she looked healthy. As you know I worry about her, mostly for her children's sake. I am glad she is under care that is likely not to harm her any more.

Hillary is jealous

I love the "shame on him" quotes, especially on a Saturday. She is acting like his grandmother.
She just cant get away with the same tactics that are successful for Obama. This shame on him stuff is the tactic out of the Rovian playbook, not the mailer. The mailer is every political consultant's playbook.

Foul-stop whining

Howard Kurtz's article today focuses on the network's decision to cut to the Obama speech on Tuesday while Hillary was speaking (and had a tangetial element of the alleged breach of etiquette made by Obama).

I think it was a great political move by Obama, experienced & calculated political move even. I didnt get to watch it- and I would be annoyed if the situation was reversed. But here is the situation, Hillary is going to go on and on, in her monotone voice, she is not going to concede, further she likely will throw verbal jabs toward Obama for the balance of her speech. And she went on stage an hour after she was supposed to- is it really cutting away if you dont follow the rules? (we could use that same analysis in FL and MI too).

What would you do? Of course, you take the stage away from her- you are the winner, you define the night and the agenda. Experienced, politically savvy move on Obama's part.

Another reason to vote for Obama

Hillary thinks we need to "get real" about the issues facing America and vote for her. What is she thinking- that we are so blinded by the rhetorical superiority of Obama that we voters arent thinking realistically?
Hillary's arguments are circular, she is negative on Obama and voters, America is drowning in bad things (the Rovian politics of fear over accomplishment) so we should vote for her? I am still at work so I wont be able to complete that logic- someone else can, but I did want to put in this post "Rovian politics of fear" as a Hillary principle in opposition to Obama's politics of hope and "can do"ness. The voters dont need to get real, we are perfectly well aware of the 8 years of travesty we are enduring, she is just part of the problem, not the solution, she should get real and drop out already. How much longer is she willing to divide the party for her own personal ambition (maybe not divide-perhaps 1/4 it)? We will see if she can put any interests above her own in the next week or so...

A little bit of bragging for Sherry!

As those who know me, well know, I have been bragging to all those around me about my step-mother. She was recently deployed to Germany to serve on C-Cat flights from Germany to Andrews Air Force Base. She is a nurse in the Air Force. She returned home the day after Thanksgiving. It is not easy being home and not directly supporting the injured men and women who serve our country so valiantly in Iraq and Afghanistan (not to mention lots of other places). C-Cat (and I am totally guessing at the spelling) flights fly injured troops from one theater back to the US. Sherry is an intensive care nurse so she flew with the most injured, most needy troops. I am moved to tears by her descriptions of these men and women, their bravery and selflessness (she says they never take credit for their actions, they always find someone else to give credit too, who always throws it right back at the other, and it isnt false, it is genuine- so different than our lives here). SO of course having been serving for six months the war and its injured, it is difficult to transition to bureaucracy and apparent indifference to the wars we are fighting overseas.

So, one Sunday she is invited to give a briefing to a VIP, not a General or other brass but to Gary Trudeau, of Doonesbury. She spoke to him for hours, he asked all sorts of questions and took a lot of notes. The result is the current storyline in Doonesbury. Trudeau made Sherry a doctor in the storyline.


Sherry by telling her story to Trudeau continues to make a difference for those troops at war. And Doonesbury with his kind light shining on these stories makes a difference because who else is going to tell the stories if he doesnt? So far, my conclusion is no one. So thank you to Sherry for her service and to Doonesbury for bringing a little piece of the war into focus for us. [click on images to make them bigger- and dont forget to read the rest of the story as it becomes available in your favorite newspaper or on the previous link].

Housing First

The housing money has been allocated for 2007. One decision the task force made was to partially fund Region Ten's proposal for the Housing First program. This program provides housing and intensive social work for dual diagnosed homeless folks. This article by Marc Fisher recently outlined the District's program. The project is innovative, cost saving and literally gets people into homes. This project is much cheaper than continually arresting or temporary detention in a mental health facility.

I hope the community will continue to support this program in the coming years either through housing money or other community investment. Region Ten is a under-funded but hard working organization that works with people virtually no other organization does- innovation and support is essential.

The Washington Post affair- break up or no?

I might have to break up with the Washington Post. I have subscribed to the Post for the past decade. I love it- 3 pages of comics, sometimes they write about cycling, if I have time to read the A section, I have more to say and a better understanding of a situation (but I always assume it is at least partially missing info pertinent to the situation as we all should assume). I particularly LOVE the online chats and blogs the Post offers online (and that they were so quick to embrace the online genre and make it relevant to modern users). And I love, love, love reading a newspaper not the online news- I just read headlines on the internet so it is unlikely I would know stuff anymore (except about Brittany Spears and entertainment news, I read that crap). Finally the food section's annual cookie section is a favorite (I know I can still buy the edition of the newspaper). (It came out this week, honestly I was a bit disappointed because the cookies were too fancy and complicated, I dont have time for that during the holiday season).

So why would I break up with the Post? I dont have time to read it and it is expensive. I also receive the Progress, admittedly not a great national/local newspaper, but it at least covers some local issues. I have enough time to read the not lengthy Progress- although for the love of God, please get Zits and Baby Blues in the comic section (those two comics may be the reason I dont break up with the Post).

What newspapers do you get, wish you could get, or are you done with paper?