Tired of Politics for Today, Reflecting on Peace

"It is isolation that is critical to war. You can't be abusive when you realize your connectedness."

-David Kadlec

Jon Stewart - On the VP Pick

Just too funny not to share.

The Sunday Morning Muse, August 31, 2008

Gag Alert.

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I've already seen that image of Sarah Palin holding a gun 10 times. And that Down's Syndrome baby? Heard the story at least 6 times and she was only nominated on Friday. I may have to impose a TV blackout until the election. I feel really sick. It's about images over substance. Period. And my stomach can't take it. Can things get any lower?

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Why not nominate me!! I'm from a swing state and I have a Bachelor's degree! (I didn't win any beauty contests, but I clean up good!) Shucks. Hey.... how about you handle all that foreign policy..... like wars, and the Mideast... and that Taliban thing, and I'll just be your Erin Brockovich and toss my hair, balance that baby on my hip, point a gun with my other hand, and go after corruption.

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All women should be insulted. This is one former Hillary supporter who "gets" it. McCain must think that women are interchangeable... just put one out there and we'll vote for her, to hell with what we really believe in and what Hillary championed and worked so hard for.Does he think we are that stupid? And the obvious pandering for the single issue gun votes and single issue anti-abortion votes at the expense of the possible future leadership of this country.

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And poor Lieberman. That lead balloon fell pretty hard. It would have been a maverick choice.

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But it's back to Guns and God....

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Shame on you McCain.

Michael Palin- Lumberjack Song

I really have no comment on this. (long lost relative of the VP pick?)

38 Million People Watched the Speech . .

(AP)

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More people watched Obama speak from a packed stadium in Denver on Thursday than watched the Olympics opening ceremony in Beijing, the final "American Idol" or the Academy Awards this year, Nielsen Media Research said Friday.
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That is amazing! I hope they all vote...and go out and get 10 more people to vote. (Or is that too many people?) I'm very proud of him. It was a great speech. And the stadium full of 80 thousand people did so much to heighten the experience, adding to the excitement of this historical event. I got goosebumps toward the end. . . even PAT BUCHANAN liked it.

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Later I reflected on how my choice for President was a journey that meant compromises. I was a Kucinich die hard Democrat..... who moved to Hillary (after much back and forth between her and Obama.) ... but I got behind Obama soon after he was nominated because I am smart enough to know that getting a Democrat elected in the fall is more important than anything else. We simply can't go on like the last 8 years. And yes, that's even more important than simply putting a woman in the White House. (I guess ya know I ain't falling for McCain's half baked Alaskan scheme of putting a woman on the ballot to try to appeal to undecided women. She's no Hillary.)

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A curmudgeon-like 72 year old McCain who can't/won't operate a computer, (translation: intellectually UN-curious), and a 44 year old former beauty queen mother of 5 who hasn't even served 2 years as a governor, who no one has heard of, whose claim to fame is being a mayor in an Alaskan town of 6000 people. But wait! She's anti-abortion---- and pro gun!!!!!! She's our gal. (snark) This is the best Republicans can do? A heartbeat away.... a 72 year old heartbeat away from being POTUS.

Clara Barton Said. . .

I have an almost complete disregard of precedent, and a faith in the possibility of something better. It irritates me to be told how things have always been done. I defy the tyranny of precedent. I go for anything new that might improve the past.

--Clara Barton, Founder of the Red Cross

(Photo: circa 1851)

If I had to Write a Speech for the Convention. . .

I'm writing this before THE BIG SPEECH tonight at the Democratic National Convention. I can't imagine sitting down with a blank sheet of paper trying to come up with a speech to accept the nomination for President. It would be agonizing. Here is the thought process I'd put into it:

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1. Well, I better not talk more than a half hour because I'll lose my voice...and everyone's attention. Keep it short. Short words, short sentences. Short. Don't Rabbit Trail all over the place.

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2. I suppose I could look at all the "old" speeches and see what they did. But this is a two edged sword...because even if I don't intentionally plagiarize something, I may still unintentionally do so because my own ideas about what to say will naturally be in the same ball park, since these speeches say basically the same things but in different ways. I did this in third grade. I had to write song for music class and it sounded curiously like some a minuet I learned playing piano.

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3. Do I drum up personal hard luck stories of people whom I have met on the campaign trail? (You know... like the poor mother in Idaho with 10 kids and a poodle who lives on SSI since she got hurt from her job at the plant before it closed and 2000 people were left jobless....and then her husband got killed when their trailer fell on him when he was trying to put in new copper pipe after thieves stole the old pipes?)

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4. Do I tell people what I really want to do with the country or hold back a bit so as not to upset my political enemies who are chomping at the bit to criticize every idea I have and every word I say?

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5. How much religion should I throw in? The whole God Bless America thing is wearing thin on me. It seems self serving somehow. Maybe Tiny Tim's "God Bless us--- Everyone." But that's plagiarism. Oh well.

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6. And how much personal stuff do I put in? Thanking people is a slippery slope. You always forget someone.

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7. Bill Clinton was always good with a clever turn of the phrase... like last night's 'power of example' versus 'example of our power' thing. And who can forget Kennedy- "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country!" Aunt Millie picked up on that and I remember as a kid, whenever Millie would get ready to leave our house after a party, she'd say... "Well, I'd better go...and see what I can do for my country!" And she'd laugh.... usually she was full of Schlitz beer, so it was funny when she said it. Probably not as funny reading it here.

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8. Finally, I'd need a big ending. The media is so overhyped on everything, it's hard to really suprize anyone anymore, or come across with something genuinely new. Maybe that's why they all just still go with God Bless America, anyway. I'd probably end up saying that, too, simply because I have spent so much time writing it, that I just want to get done.

Let It Rain- Clapton

Finally get a day off...and it rains.

Bill Clinton Says. . .

My fellow Democrats, 16 years ago, you gave me the profound honor to lead our party to victory and to lead our nation to a new era of peace and broadly shared prosperity.

Together, we prevailed in a hard campaign in which Republicans said I was too young and too inexperienced to be commander-in-chief.

(APPLAUSE)

Sound familiar?

AUDIENCE: Yes!

CLINTON: It didn’t work in 1992, because we were on the right side of history. And it will not work in 2008, because Barack Obama is on the right side of history.

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(and the best line of the speech...)

"People the world over," Clinton said, "have always been more impressed by the power of our example than by the example of power."

Christians and Pagans

It's far from December, but I had this song in my head today and found it. Enjoy!Maybe I can learn it on the guitar by Solstice.