Just About The Only Thing That REALLY Matters

This song just kills me. The video takes me to another place altogether...
Right now I really need this inspiration.

Right now I need THIS to be what my life is really about.

It's not about Obama... It's about life counting for something... really.

Taking Cover... Round Two

Ike is working up a head for destruction and an intention for New Orleans. Already a Cat 4, it's bearing down on Cuba's eastern side, and that is already not a good thing.

When Ike pushes over Cuba, the storm will lose some power, but then it heads into an overheated Gulf of Mexico, already hopped up and ripe for the increase in force that the Gulf's high 80s temperatures is almost assuredly going to add.

Folks just getting back to their jobs in New Orleans on Monday are likely to find that they have to retreat again on Tuesday.

It's mind boggling... it's frustrating... it's scary.

It makes the overwrought issues of my life feel COMPLETELY inconsequential.

All I've got to say, is that I'll be prayin'... again.

Amnesia Central

The Republicans spent most of the last week and ALL of last night trying to pretend that THEY haven't been the ones in charge of the country for the last eight years.

They tried to pretend:

1) That it wasn't on THEIR watch that 9/11 took place. As they have for the last 7 years, they ignored the arrogant, ignorant, self-aggrandizing attitude of the incoming Bush administration that ignored the warnings they were given. They tried to pretend that Bush and Company didn't ignore security briefings and detailed reports exploring the possibility of the very thing that happened, and happened while Bush was just coming back from vacation.

2) That it wasn't on THEIR watch that we entered a quagmire of a war built up on the basis of lies by all involved, with an enemy that was set up by the VERY SAME PEOPLE who chose to fight it, for reasons that had nothing to do with a threat to the U.S. or even retribution for attacks against us, and with the sacrifice of men and women who were not properly prepared, supported, or equipped (and not by a Democratic controlled Congress, by the way... but by a REPUBLICAN controlled Congress).

3) As recently as last night, they tried to avoid the fact that it was a Republican administration that established us in Iran after setting up the Shah (a man at least as bad as our other "friend" Saddam), and that it was their beloved Ronald Reagan (along with George Bush Senior... the former director of the CIA) who treasonously engineered the continued capture of American hostages and then finally their release on Reagan's inauguration day. A deal brokered with arms for Iran, provided by business cronies of the Reagan administration and used to subvert Congress. an entire - and ongoing - process that has us EXACTLY where we are today.

4) That we are "hated" for our freedom, when the clear evidence is that we are "hated" for our reckless, insidious, and violent abuse of OTHER'S freedom.

5) That it wasn't on their watch that Bush and McCain laughed and joked and ate cake, while New Orleans (the second largest port in the U.S.) went under, and stayed under, water.

6) That it wasn't on their watch that the largest budget surplus in U.S. history was turned into the largest budget deficit in just 8 years through the haphazard policies of a renegade president, a thieving vice-president, and a complicit Republican controlled Congress.

7) That it's "Morning In America" and the Reagan Republicans have come back to save us from the Democrat's Debacle.

This debacle belongs to The Republican Party... and it belongs to John McCain. He not only has inherited it - a fact he spent the week (and the night) trying to avoid - McCain helped to create it!

It IS Morning in America... and THIS IS YOUR BRAIN ON HOPE!

So long John... Don't let the door hit ya on the way out!

Busy Making Other Plans

I've been having an interesting experience over the last few weeks. Actually this experience has been playing out for me over the last year. It just happens that because of certain significant events in my life, the focus of this tends to become extremely sharp during the last of August and first of September.

Whether it's fretfully watching the progress of Gustav (or now Ike) approaching, in, and through the Gulf of Mexico, or alternately laughing hysterically and biting my nails over election events, busting my chops to drive in new work and new business, or filling my mind with grandiose ambitions for hopeful personal futures, I am fully aware that LIFE is happening on a whole other level.

This was especially the case with my Bubble Day last Monday, but it was also the case this weekend as we simply threw up our hands and glided our way into Dry Creek for Bella Winery's Labor Day Weekend celebration, a laid back, easy to take, day on the grass with good wine and Mitch Woods at the keyboard. This was followed by a friendly party at a friend's house down the street, and then yesterday, an invitation to take the last of the afternoon off and join some friends for tasting and touring at Petaluma's own, Lagunitas Brewery.

The plans are still there... the fretting, the conniving, the hoping and dreaming... but life keeps going on anyway, and at times like this, in late summer wine country, I find it very hard not to echo the sentiment of a friend of mine in Sonoma, who once last fall made the observation that we "live like kings!"

Values, Voting and Vetos

The above graphic from Salon shows Governor Sarah Palin's use of line item veto to cut $1,100,000 of funding (more than 20%) for Covenant House, a home for teen mothers.

I thought about that for a while, in light of Sarah's new status of Vice President/Grandmother in waiting, and decided to write about it over at George Washington's Cousin.

Adrift in the Home of the Free Part Deux

I'm not a major fan of Amy Goodman's Democracy Now program. While on the one hand it always seems to me they do good work, and they have a history of paying attention to the things that matter, they also come off amateurish, overwrought and ineffective.

NEVERTHELESS... Amy Goodman and the folks that work with her serve a VERY important purpose in the ongoing reportage of incidents, material, and secrets that would not otherwise see the light of day (even if the daylight they see is extremely limited). In the midst of their reporting they regularly enter the fray of the controversies and protests that they are covering (as far back as 26 years ago, Pacifica reporters were broadcasting from jail when I was arrested with several thousand other protesters at Lawrence Livermore Labs).

Yesterday two producers from Democracy Now, and later Amy Goodman - who was working to get them released - was arrested as well. The above video shows her personal citizen/authority interaction.

This is the general nature of police forces under such circumstances, and particularly the case under present circumstances, present legal convolutions, and the present administration.

As of this writing, Amy, et al have been released, but are still under indictment.

This is not America!

Short Attention Span Theater

The Republican's are already getting all self-congratulatory over how they've handled the catastrophe of Gustav three years after Bush and McCain served up birthday cake while New Orleans drowned.

Everybody's breathing a sigh or relief and patting each other on the back for doing a better job this time around (so far...) as if that excuses them from the travesty of Katrina three years ago and the ongoing incompetence, callousness and irresponsibility that has continued to plague relief efforts to this day.

This time George, who likely was looking for a way to get out of a disastrous speech to close out his horror of an administration anyway, got served up a reprieve. Instead he wound up in Texas looking as bored and dull-witted as he did when he attended Kermit Ruffins concert at the White House and reminded him to "...make sure you pick up the trash when it's over.".

So far, the best thing about Gustav is that we won't have to suffer through Dick Cheney's speech, while the "Maverick" tries to make us forget that gargoyle of a Vice President by soft-peddling us Little Mary Sunshine. McCain and Ms. Lightweight headed off to Mississippi to make sure they were seen looking concerned about storm damage rather than shoving pieces of birthday cake into each other's mouths like fawning teenage newlyweds.

SPEAKING OF WHICH... Mama Palin and her family offered us up an interesting thought on the office when she acknowledged that her 17 year old daughter is pregnant. I seem to remember a moment in Barack's speech the other night when he said "...regardless of whether or not we agree on abortion we can all agree on the need to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies." I'm guessing this isn't going to be a major focus of the McCain/Palin campaign over the next two months.

And the beat goes on... Happy Labor Day!