Pondering the world

"Will Mitt pick up nude voters?" Say what?

That's what happens when you're scanning through Facebook and only half-listening to the political news.  I actually heard it twice:  "Will Mitt pick up nude voters?" Then I realized they were reporting that Newt Gingrich had not carried some of the southern states and were speculating whether, if he dropped out of the race, voters who would have gone to Newt would transfer their votes to Mitt Romney. Oh.... "Newt voters."

Carl Rove and Mary Poppins--the odd couple

Last week I was watching some political news and a commentator said one of Carl Rove's quotes is that "if you're explaining, you're losing." This was in response to the back-peddling being done by both Mitt Romney and Rick Perry regarding policy issues they previously promoted and are now trying to explain away so they can toe the current Republican party line.

Another famous person followed the same tack. If you'll remember, Mary Poppins very brightly and firmly informed Mr. Banks, "I never explain anything."

If Mary Poppins were a real person and around today, would she be a Republican?

 

it only counts if you vote

It doesn't matter what your political opinions are--they don't count if you don't vote.

We voted today.  Now we wait and see what the rest of the country does.

I want a felon as mayor, don't you?

I just love Albuquerque politics.  We get a fair number of reasonable candidates and some truly bizarre characters as well.  Maybe they feel their mission is to provide entertainment value.

The following is from Wednesday's Albuquerque Journal:

    Mayoral candidate Rudy Serrano is no stranger to the local courts and jail.
    He faces pending charges in two cases — one alleging aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, the other receiving or transferring a stolen motor vehicle.
    "Of course, I'm innocent," Serrano said Tuesday in an interview. "I'm not only innocent, I'm a victim."
    Serrano said in the aggravated assault case, he was simply trying to drive away from men banging on his car because he wanted to escape an attack. Charges were filed in August 2006. As for the 2004 stolen vehicle case, Serrano said he was a passenger in a vehicle that turned out to have been stolen.
    Serrano added that he has been fighting the criminal justice system for years, has been targeted for speaking out against public officials and has been mistreated in jail.
    He has been booked into the city jail seven times, according to court records. The records say he was found guilty of shoplifting in 2004, though he maintains his innocence.
    "I have never been found guilty of anything — that I can tell you for sure," he said.
    Serrano, a Republican, is one of seven people running for mayor. He is gathering signatures to secure a spot on the ballot, but he isn't seeking public financing for his campaign.
    Serrano, 42, said he now works in telecommunications but he used to be a massage therapist and has done hospice work, too.
    "The main (issue) I've been fighting for is education," Serrano said. "My kids had to move to Rio Rancho because there's no future over here."

(Regarding that last quote....  what???)

When someone has actually been convicted of something, that's pretty bad, and that person should not aspire to hold an elected political office.  But even if he wasn't convicted, he still has several cases pending against him and has spent enough time in jail to be "mistreated."  In my opinion, that's an indication that the guy uses fairly bad judgment.  Not the person I want to head up my city government.

two things I wish I heard more

I heard President Obama's address to the Conference of Mayors last week.  I have been otherwise occupied for the past few days, so I didn't get to hear his address address to the Governors' Conference on Monday.  Whenever he speaks, I feel like Obama conveys a sense of hopefulness and urgency, and calls for personal responsibility and accountability. 

It struck me, however, that there was something he didn't say at the end of the address to the mayors:  "All right, ladies and gentlemen.  Let's get to work!"

I hear and see lots of people in the wait-and-see-what-happens mode, both politicians and average citizens.  So here's another statement I'd like to hear:  "Get up off your butt and start doing something!" 

Can I be any clearer than that? 

There IS one thing I miss about George W. Bush

With the end of the George W. Bush presidency we've lost the many opportunities to laugh at his tortured English (see the top 25 Bushisms).  I'm afraid we will no longer be presented with new words like "misunderestimated."  or asked, "Is our children learning?"  Barack Obama is intelligent, extremely well-educated and articulate.

This is not just my loss.  The political pundits have been bemoaning the loss of material from our 43rd President.  Even if it was a slow news day, they knew they could count on a newly minted vocabulary word or convoluted turn of phrase.  Even a simple misstatement of fact was a given.  All he has to do is open his mouth.

My favorite quote about Bush comes from the late Ann Richardson:  "Poor George.  He can't help it if he was born with a silver foot in his mouth."

My personal opinion?  "Poor George.  He failed his class in English as a Second Language."

if they can survive Inauguration Day, they'll be fine

How many of us could survive the grueling pace expected of this vibrant couple?  By the time I arrived at the B&B to start making breakfast, the Obamas were already attending an early morning Inauguration Day church service.  How fitting that they should begin the most important day in their lives attending a worship service.

As they day went on, the pace picked up and the events were packed into an incredible schedule, carefully choreographed by a staff of hundreds as it must have been.  Just the security guards and personnel alone numbered 40,000.  As the day went on, I became somewhat weary and overwhelmed, and I was just watching it on TV!

As near as I can tell, here's a rough approximation of the Obamas' schedule for the day in simple bullet points:

• rise before dawn
• dress and have breakfast (they would need it)
• limo drive to an early church service
• limo drive to the White House
• coffee with the Bushes
• limo drive with the Bushes to the Capitol
• inauguration ceremony
• signing documents inside the Capitol
• lunch with Congress and dignitaries, with some anxious medical incidents for good measure

• limo ride to the parade reviewing stand--walk part of the way (when was the last time a President did that?)
• several hours reviewing the inauguration parade--smile so much it hurts
• limo ride back to the White House
• have some dinner
• change into fancy clothes
• attend TEN inaugural balls, giving a short speech and dancing at each one, managing to look like they're still having a wonderful time

To be honest, I had to stop watching at about ball number six.  I forget which one that was.  At about 2:30 a.m. my time, I woke up and thought, "finally, they're finished for the day.  I hope they can get some rest now."

I wouldn't be surprised if the Obama girls get to stay home today.  After all, yesterday was a very long, exciting day.  And I hope Michelle gets to sleep in for a bit.

I understand Barack Obama was planning to get up at his usual early hour and get to work.

proud to be an American once again

For the past eight years, I've been less than enthusiastic about declaring myself to be an American.  The longer the Bush administration went on, the deeper and darker the secrets, the worse the atrocities, the more stumbling on world politics and policy, the more reluctant I was to express my support of my country and our President. 

I was not alone in becoming an "apologist."  When speaking to foreigners, I found myself expressing disagreement with President Bush, apologizing for the wars to which I am vehemently opposed, and agreeing with their astonishment that our government would even consider invading countries based on what they might do.

This statement is difficult to make.  I am a Vietnam-era veteran of the United States Army, having served honorably for four years.  I marched with my high school chapter of the National Honor Society in the inaugural parade for President Richard Nixon.  While my patriotism and activism has always been quietly performed in the background, I am to this day deeply moved by patriotic songs, military anthems and rousing marching music.

Today the world, our nation, and we as its citizens have changed forever.  As a country, we have reclaimed our founding principles and done the right thing.  

And finally, once again, I am proud to fly the flag and proclaim to the world that I am an American.

invocation by Bishop Gene Robinson

Below is the text of the invocation by Bishop Gene Robinson, the openly gay Anglican bishop, at the Lincoln Memorial on Monday.  The HBO broadcast began five minutes into the concert, after the invocation by the bishop, which was intended to placate the gay community after the controversial selection of Rick Warren, a notoriously anti-gay rights pastor, to perform the invocation at the inauguration. 

The entire premise of the Obama campaign that created such synergy and enthusiasm was that we are not just white or black or Asian, "...we are not red states or blue states... we are the United States.  We are one people."  Ironically, the theme of the concert was "We Are One."

Whether the invocation was deliberately or inadvertently excluded, it deserves to be read and shared:

"O God of our many understandings, we pray that you will bless us with tears - tears for a world in which over a billion people exist on less than a dollar a day, where young women in many lands are beaten and raped for wanting an education, and thousands die daily from malnutrition, malaria, and AIDS.

Bless this nation with anger - anger at discrimination, at home and abroad, against refugees and immigrants, women, people of color, gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people.

Bless us with discomfort at the easy, simplistic answers we've preferred to hear from our politicians, instead of the truth about ourselves and our world, which we need to face if we are going to rise to the challenges of the future.

Bless us with patience and the knowledge that none of what ails us will be fixed anytime soon, and the understanding that our new president is a human being, not a messiah.

Bless us with humility, open to understanding that our own needs as a nation must always be balanced with those of the world.

Bless us with freedom from mere tolerance, replacing it with a genuine respect and warm embrace of our differences.

Bless us with compassion and generosity, remembering that every religion's God judges us by the way we care for the most vulnerable.

And God, we give you thanks for your child, Barack, as he assumes the office of President of the United States.

Give him wisdom beyond his years, inspire him with President Lincoln's reconciling leadership style, President Kennedy's ability to enlist our best efforts, and Dr. King's dream of a nation for all people.  Give him a quiet heart, for our ship of state needs a steady, calm captain.

Give him stirring words; We will need to be inspired and motivated to make the personal and common sacrifices necessary to facing the challenges ahead.

Make him color-blind, reminding him of his own words that under his leadership, there will be neither red nor blue states, but the United States.

Help him remember his own oppression as a minority, drawing on that experience of discrimination, that he might seek to change the lives of those who are still its victims.

Give him strength to find family time and privacy, and help him remember that even though he is president, a father only gets one shot at his daughters' childhoods.

And please, God, keep him safe. We know we ask too much of our presidents, and we're asking far too much of this one. We implore you, O good and great God, to keep him safe. Hold him in the palm of your hand, that he might do the work we have called him to do, that he might find joy in this impossible calling, and that in the end, he might lead us as a nation to a place of integrity, prosperity, and peace.  Amen."

Tuesday is a horn-blowing occasion!

Car horns are an important accessory in Albuquerque.  Every festive occasion requires the blowing of said horn.  Getting married?  Part of the ritual is to cruise up and down Central Avenue blowing the horn.  Hot date?  Beep-beep-beep for the sheer joy of it.  New baby?  Let 'er rip!

I'm beginning the celebration today, the last full day of the presidency of George W. Bush.  For eight years, I feel like I've been in a political--if not emotional or economic--depression.  Dark days with no end in sight.  Every time I thought it couldn't get any worse, Dubyuh showed us it could.  Early this year I began to see a glimmer.  In November, I could see the light at the end of the tunnel.  Right now the train is barreling down upon us. 

I'm glued to MSNBC today to watch the festivities and hear of the "lasts."  Bush's last day in office.  Almost all of their belongings are now packed up and out of the White House.  His last trip to Camp David.  His last ride in Marine One.  I felt like this day would never come.

So tomorrow I'll be glued to the TV to watch this historic event.  I'll be flying my new old American flag (found it!).  And right after the inauguration is done, I'm going to take a drive up Central Avenue, blowing my horn with everyone else!