Stop-Loss

With our country in its current quagmire of war, debt and scandalous ethics, we are in a must-act, STOP-LOSS situation.  We have to make it our priority to cut our losses in the two wars in which we are engaged, stem the financial meltdown and return to ethical government.  Obama is all about reconciliation and our citizens should get on that bandwagon.  To accuse, to defame, to get even, will not solve any problems at hand.

The term “stop-loss” is most commonly used to describe a type of transaction in the stock market.  A stop-loss order is entered to limit one’s risk, or losses, on the downside.  For example, if an active trader wants to take a chance on a volatile stock for the short term, upon entering his “buy” order, he would also enter a “stop” order for those same shares.  Maybe he would place the stop order at 10% below his purchase price.  In this way, the trader is making an unemotional decision to cut his losses right from the get-go.  Additionally, if an investor has large gains in a particular stock he has held over time, he might enter a stop- loss order to protect his gains.  If his profit margin continues to increase, he can move up the limit of that stop order accordingly.

Applied to our military currently serving on two war fronts, the term “stop-loss” means :

Stop-loss, in the United States military, is the involuntary extension of a service member’s active duty service under the enlistment contract in order to retain them beyond their initial end of term of service (ETS) date.  (Wikipedia)

This military’s use of stop-loss is at best, unfair and dishonest.  At worst, it is criminal.  To require that our servicemen return repeatedly to war zones, above and beyond their initial contractual agreements, is nothing short of abuse of our military personnel.  Trust me, if we had a draft, not a volunteer military, this would never be happening.  The public outrage would be so loud that this policy would be done away with at once.

Obama is correct in his view that the real war we need to deal with is in Afghanistan.  Any future terrorist attack on the U.S. will  have its origins, whether in theory, dogma or actual training and planning, in the mountains between Afghanistan and Pakistan.  Obama is on point when he says we must turn our attention to that area for the sake our national security.  We must adopt a stop-loss attitude to that area of the Middle East.

How can we do that?  First of all, we must be willing to learn more about that region.  It is imperative for peace that we grasp their history, religious beliefs, tribal factions, and economy.  To institute economic or military sanctions before we even understand the problem is not a solution.  It is just a strong-arm, short term measure.  It won’t help them and it won’t help us.

Hamid Karzai, the leader of Afghanistan, is called the “Mayor of Kabul” for a reason.  His country, economically driven by the growth and sale of the poppy, is ruled by tribal leaders.  There really is no central government.  The different factions each rule over their own territory.  So indeed, Karzai is simply the mayor of the capital.

In order for us to have some success in protecting ourselves against terrorism, we must learn these peoples’ histories and their current ways of life.  Foremost, they must be taught a new way to earn money other than growing poppies and selling heroin across the globe.  So far, they have not been given any viable alternatives to earning their living. Then we can sit down with them and try to work things out for both parties.  This sounds simplistic, but remember the USSR’s many-year invasion of Afghanistan?  The USSR spent so much money on trying to defeat the rebels in Afghanistan.  They never did make any headway and, eventually, the USSR’s foray into that country was one of the main reasons that the Russian Communist government collapsed.  The Russians spent and spent and spent on arms, hoping that would eradicate the radical elements.   It did not work.  How much more beneficial it would have been to both sides had they sat down and discussed matters, gotten to the root of the problem, and worked out a mutually satisfying solution.

War, as we know it, is outdated.  We need to exercise a stop-loss policy on new wars.  We must use different methods of solving problems.  Enough of this folly and destruction.  What differentiates human beings from other life forms here on earth is our ability to reason.  It is time we used that ability to our advantage and stop acting like savage animals.

It it necessary also for us to apply this stop-loss to our economy.  It is NOT socialism for the U.S. to offer assistance to banks, insurance companies, etc. in order to try and stem the tide of total financial collapse.  Most of these measures are in the form of loans and are temporary in nature.  When the Republicans call this socialism, they are just being inflammatory, just trying to get votes in this hotly contested election.

This brings me to another phenomenon that I have experienced over the last two weeks.  There is an incredible BACKLASH  to a possible Obama victory being expressed by Republicans.  For Heaven’s sake, Obama hasn’t even been elected yet!  How can there be a backlash if the causal event hasn’t yet occurred?  In anticipation, these Republicans are using fear-mongering and propaganda to cover up their desperation over a prospective Obama Presidency.

Let me cite some examples of this that I have experienced.  Many of my longest and dearest friendships are with people who are Republicans.  It never interfered previously with our relationship, but it is getting to a tipping point.  One friend said to me last week that how could have Obama titled his first book, “Dreams From My Father”  when his father wasn’t in his life?  I asked her if she had actually read the book.  She answered “No.”  Then I told her that maybe she should read the book and the title would become clearer to her.  Continuing our discussion, she said that the Democrats, who have had the majority in Congress for the last two years, are the ones responsible for our quagmire on various fronts.  I told her that yes, the Democrats DO have a SIMPLE majority, but they have only 51 Democratic senators (if you count Traitor Joe as a Democrat) and that does not come close to the 60 votes they need to override a Presidential veto.  Bill O’Reilly spewed this propaganda on his radio show about six months ago.  Garbage!  Do your homework.  A simple majority is useless in the Senate.  Unless one party has the 60 votes to override a veto, there is no control.

I am sick and tired of people resorting to using sound bites as their political rationale.  They need to make the effort and dig deeper.  They owe it to themselves, their children, their country.  All the information is out there, but one must do the homework.  I have told my various friends who are attacking Obama and warning me that they will “hold me accountable for the next four years” if Obama wins, that my politeness is gone.  If they have the nerve to speak lies out of desperation, so be it.  But I will not sit there and accept their stupidity.  So I say to them:  say what you must, but if  you do not know the facts, get out of my way.  I no longer will waste my time on your inflammatory, fear-mongering, last-ditch efforts.  And on top of that, I should be polite?  No way.  No how.

McCain has (yet again) changed his campaign message this week.  He is now telling people that it would be outright dangerous for Democrats to hold the Presidency and the majority in both the House and the Senate.  He used the term “liberal” to describe this triumvirate of power if the election favors the Democrats across the board.  Inflammatory and desperate.  I for one would finally welcome a majority in our government because something might actually get done.

I also think is it fallacious for people to automatically assume that the candidate who DOES get elected next Tuesday will be the worst form of himself.  I do not like McCain and I detest Palin, but it might be possible that, if elected, they would rise to their highest achievement levels, not their basest.  The same holds true for Obama.  It is so self-defeating to expect the worst in a person, especially before he even starts the job.  This is the backlash I have seen.  Ironic, isn’t it?  A mean, vengeful backlash even before the election has happened.  I will not respond to these threats, but I will answer with facts.  I am better than their miserable desperation.

That is exactly what Obama has taught me through his calm, ruffle-proof temperament.  Not for even a minute has he strayed from his professional, reasonable and logical attitude.  It is working.  Hit your “enemies” with reconciliation, i.e. what can I do for you to make us get along better?  My mom, G-Momma, had her own way of describing this need for us to all get along.  She said, “You catch more flies with honey.”

Let us work together to put a stop-loss on this insanity, starting at the level of the individual, progressing to our leaders and finally, spreading to the world at large.

SARAH: Plain and Tall

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Please DO click on the links below for some rip-roaring Halloween laughs.

http://www.videosift.com/video/A-Chorus-Line-Dance-Ten-Looks-Three

You may view  me as harsh in my treatment of Palin.  That is okay.  This election IS very personal to me.  I am sure Palin is a basically “good” person.  She might even be fun to hang out with.  However, no matter what her endearing or charismatic qualities may be, she is NOT qualified to be my leader.  If the Republicans lose this contest next week, I daresay that Palin will emerge in 2012 or 2016 as a much more refined candidate.  First off, she will have taken elocution lessons, enabling her speech patterns to more resemble the innate tree structures that we humans are supposedly all born with.  Secondly, she will, just maybe, read up on domestic and foreign policy, and throw away that World Atlas that backs up her statement that Russia is visible from Alaska.  She will have to do better than that in terms of foreign policy experience.

Am I slinging mud?  Yup.  If McCain and the Republicans had the stupidity and gall to select Palin as their VP choice, playing the Americans for fools and putting our nation at risk, slinging mud is the least I can do to somewhat “right”, to offset,  this reckless and dangerous choice.  I deserve better and so do my children.

Sarah Palin:  TRICK —– OR TREAT?  Either way, she’s going down:

The Wisdom of The Ages

My friend, my hope, Lilley, just sent me this piece.  I knew I must forward it on to you:

http://margaretandhelen.wordpress.com/

Even at the last Presidential debate, I just could not understand how some voters could still be “undecided.”  Once again, I think these people refuse to do their homework, i.e. to read and educate themselves.  They want their country to provide them with all that is necessary for their comfortable and prosperous lives, all the while not investing their own hearts and MINDS in the process for making our country a better place.

People need to take personal responsibility for their lives, and not wait on government to decide the outcomes.  The above author, gently yet forcefully, gets this message across to those Americans still sitting on the sidelines.

Check back later.  It is going to be a WILD RIDE with Yo Mama on Halloween!

The Way Home

In all of my 57 years, I have never seen anything like it.

I just finished watching Obama’s paid half hour advertisement.  His journey has been historic.  When he started out seeking the Presidency almost two years ago, his message of change was simply a slogan.  Over the ensuing months, he has turned his slogan into specific policies…….and a movement   His campaign has been a model of organization, a magnet for talented people and an energizing force for the citizens of America.  As a candidate, reacting to crucial international crises and the fiscal meltdown here at home, he has proven himself.  He is a quick study, explains his ideas plainly yet fully, and above all, he is honest.   He truly wants to better the United States and the the existence of its citizens.

I do believe he will continue to be upfront and forthright with Americans.  He has established a rapport with the electorate.  He instills confidence and trust.  Not only is he is a healing figure, but also he offers us innovation.  This country is in such bad shape on so many fronts that when I imagined him winning this election, I thought that the best he could do over a four year period would be mainly recuperative, i.e. just getting back our footing to where we were around 2000.  Now I believe that, if elected, he can take us much farther, not just neutralize the Bush years but also make our lives, government and international stature better.

He will do this for us if he is given the chance.  He is deeply invested in the forward progress of our country.  And so are we, his supporters.  This was another goal of his that he set out to reach:  he said he would help us if we would help ourselves.  I have never seen anything like the youth of this country during the last year.  They have been totally mobilized, whether nor not they are old enough to vote, crisscrossing the country to give this man a chance.  I have never seen so many conservative public figures such as legislators, media representatives and military personnel all come together to support this man.  I have never, EVER, seen anything quite like this phenomenon of the man we call Barack Obama.

He will work for us.  So too, we must continue to work for him.  For those people who believe that our future is better off without Obama, I urge them to take a look outside of their pocketbooks.  They need to Invest in something other than their own financial health.  Dare to consider the overall well-being of our country.  This is what patriotism is all about.

Many people tell me that I am too emotionally caught up in this election.  You bet I am!  When I brought my two children into this world, it was with a promise of giving them a healthy and sincere upbringing.  I devoted myself to giving them the best chance I could that they would enjoy life, be well-educated, have a fulfilling trade to afford them a decent living and above all, be able to transmit those values to their children, the next generation.

And so the journey continues.  Obama will teach us how to make it even more worthwhile.  He has taken a promising slogan and turned it into reality.  Now we just have to vote in order to enable him to take the message home.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQFIsfQKBuU&feature=related

Scientific Americans

During the last eight years, the Bush Administration has dampened, if not completely doused, the advancement of science in our country.  This policy has had huge repercussions in our schools all the way up to our economic endeavors and successes.  While my expertise in this area is practically nil, my observations are keen.  Because I do not have the knowledge or even the proper vocabulary to write on this issue, I will guide you to a couple of links that will explain the situation much better than I ever could.

This was an editorial in Science Magazine:

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/321/5897/1741

The author summarizes how the repudiation of science during the Bush years has placed our country at risk in terms of education, ability to compete economically and inevitably, a viable and reputable stance in the international world.  The dire cloud, scientifically speaking, that we have been under for the last eight years does not bode well for maintaining one’s status as the “leader of the free world.”

The major reason we have fallen into this medieval vacuum of scientific thought and production is the ascent of the religious right.  Most top scientists will tell you that science and religion CAN, and should, coexist side by side;  a belief in one does not obviate the other.  It is not an either/or situation.  However, these religious fanatics are not of that reconciliatory persuasion.  They believe that in THEIR  religion, scientific thought, advancement and method have NO place; to support science is a repudiation of God.

This is the exact point where we must remind these people that our Constitution plainly states that government and religion must remain separate.  Period.  Yes, we are guaranteed freedom of religion, but not in our public schools or any other publicly funded venue.

This attempt to deaden scientific inquiry starts very early, in grade school, and then invades all aspects of our culture.  The current movement to teach intelligent design in our public schools has NO PLACE — AS DEFINED BY OUR CONSTITUTION.  Fine: teach intelligent design in church classrooms, but keep it out of the schools that my tax dollars support.  From this specific issue, the decline of scientific thought progresses through later schooling until, at the college and post-graduate level, funding for research wanes.  Thus, our best scientific minds can not get the support they need to carry on innovative research.  This in turn, mushrooms to affect our industrial and financial productivity domestically and internationally.  This current Dark Age we are in is responsible for the shrinking individual mind as well as our declining position in the forefront of science and world leadership.  This is not an overstatement, but simply the sad truth.  Not a good place to be.

Jane Smiley wrote the following article that clearly exemplifies this religion versus education battle.  Please read each paragraph, each word, very carefully.  It is the best explanation of why we need a new outlook and policy on science education and funding in this country:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jane-smiley/goodbye-cruel-world_b_138755.html

Fanaticism has no place in the education of our children.  We can not let ourselves run a country that juxtaposes education and scientific inquiry with religious theism.  It is destructive to say you can not reconcile both topics, but must choose one or the other.  Faith, religion and spiritualism have a necessary role to play, but it is not the ONLY role one should consider.

This has been a difficult post for me.  I have observed the disappearance of scientific thought, through early education on upwards, translate into a lack of scientific funding, and explode finally into a black hole of international disrepute.  Surely this can not be beneficial for our children’s prospects.  And if you know Yo Mama at all, you know that my first and foremost priority in life as well as this election, is the children.

So listen to Obama.  Turn off your televisions and read to your kids.  For heaven’s sake, talk to them.  Monitor what they are being taught in their classrooms and speak up to the proper authorities if necessary.  In terms of advocacy, YOU are all your kids have.  Educate yourselves so that you can educate them.  Our children are our best hope for a better, decent, honest and prosperous world.  Speak the truth to them, foster their intellectual curiosity and encourage them to seek answers, even if unpopular, through honed inquiry methods.  Do not permit them to take the easy way out by using ignorant excuses.

This is what it is all about, folks.  An educated, enlightened human race working together for the betterment of all is heads and heels above the battering of intellectual progression.  Scientific advancement must be fostered from an early age and then financially supported to bring it to practical application.  Science specifically, and education generally, IS the bedrock of our existence.

Use it or lose it.

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/10/the-winner.html

YES WE CAN.

Ahoy!

I am on edge and nervous about the election.  I do not want to count my chickens before they hatch.  However, I am cautiously optimistic.

My brother, who will be 68 years old on Election Day, has just come through major heart surgery.  He sent me the song below, “When The Ship Comes In”, written by Bob Dylan and performed here by Peter, Paul and Mary.  His anticipatory elation about this election, as expressed symbolically in the song, is partly due to his gratefulness about the positive outcome of his surgery.  But I do not doubt, not for one minute, his hope for a true transformation in our country on Election Day.  He has waited a lifetime for an event such as this might be, and I wish him an early, Happy Birthday and hope his wishes come true:

http://video.aol.com/video-detail/when-the-ship-comes-in-peter-paul-and-mary/394597010

I am laying low.  I have voted early in my county and now, besides helping to fill up Obama’s coffers this last week (and I encourage you to do the same), I will work to entertain you.  I have one last serious post left in me that I will tackle later today.  It will address the war against science during the last eight years.  Then on Halloween, get ready:  I will have pictures and music that will make you laugh out loud.  I am planning a live blog on election night.

Let’s stay cool and calm.  There is a good chance that our ship is coming in.

Sunday Semantics

The person in charge of hiring at The New York Times should get a medal.

This newspaper’s editorial staff is phenomenal;  not because of their political proclivities, but because of the quality of their output, their delivery.  These writers take current news, factual, trendy, whatever, and create pieces that are cohesive, mind-shaking and, above all, humorous.

In today’s paper, Maureen Dowd outdid even herself.  In discussing Palin’s shopping spree, Dowd nailed the downfall of the Republican Party.  She couched this decline in the trivial context of Palin’s champagne tastes for herself, but a belief in the Walmart, Joe Sixpack life for the rest of us.  Dowd used her wry sense of humor to drive home the fallacy of Republican philosophy versus Republican reality.  Her humor is even more effective than the most serious journalism.  Her column today was the final nail in the coffin for Palin specifically, and the  Republicans overall:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/26/opinion/26dowd.html?hp

The more wide-ranging implication of this silly shopping spree is very serious.  The Republican incumbent senators, Liddy Dole in North Carolina and Norm Coleman in Minnesota, are in extremely tight races for re-election.  Wouldn’t it have been so much more productive for their party to have poured funds into their teetering races rather than to have spent the money on Palin’s clothing and make-up?  These twisted  actions carried out by the Republicans are so far-out, so demented, and so out of whack with what is really important, that the result is nothing short of hilarious.   But remember, and this is what what really drives  us to fight harder, humor is just a hair away from the depths of a hopeless, pathetic existence.  The ability and NEED to laugh is a coping mechanism.

Humor is a powerful tool.  A funny person often belies his own intellectual ability and insight.  Do not be fooled.  The successful use of humor is dependent on one’s deep intellectual capacity, a weaving of the facts, a keen power of observation and a polished delivery.   When honed well, these qualities not only produce laughter, but also instill a deeper meaning to the audience.  This is the genius of comedy, whether written or spoken.

The reason I began this website way back in February was for the children.  Specifically, my children and their friends.  During their lifetimes, they never have had a national political figure, an inspirational, truly educated and education-loving person who offered them the hope for much needed change, honesty and a dedication to the greater good.  My offspring, being their twenty-something selves, have had limited life experiences.  However, the primary experience they DID have was their education, so that drew them towards Obama.  Education provided the common ground for the joining of forces between Barack Obama and the younger generation.

One of the best effects this campaign year has had on the younger generation has been to infuse their lives with humor.  As a result, they now appreciate candor, but have a deep respect for perspective.  The children may get some huge laughs from the idiocy of our past and present leaders, but they also are figuring out the qualities that a decent leader must embody.  Thus, laughter and humor have provided our children with a desire to go further, to push harder, for a cause or person they believe in.

Back to my friends at The New York Times.  Frank Rich, my numero uno journalistic hero, has another amazing column today.  He took the seed of an idea, i.e. the supposed racism of white, working class America, and turned it around on its heels:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/26/opinion/26rich.html?hp

Rich consistently demonstrates writing prowess because he takes an original idea (oftentimes the opposite of current accepted thought), backs it up with research and facts, and then presents it to the public in a cohesive, straight forward manner.  He can not help but reach even those people who claim “not to get it.”  That is the true mark of a successful writer.

The icing on the cake, however, is Judith Warner’s Op-Ed contribution in today’s Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/26/opinion/26warner-1.html

For me, this article says it all.  My interpretation is the following:  men and women in America HAVE reached gender parity.  An asshole woman can  now scale the career ladder as successfully as an asshole man.  Long live mediocrity!  If sexual equality means abiding by the lowest common denominator, so be it.  WRONG!  Sarah Palin had the chance to rise to the occasion, to be a representative of decency, honesty and working for the people.  But then, of course, she was not anywhere close to being that person BEFORE she was chosen as McCain’s VP, so why would I be so naive as to think she would embody those idealistic traits AFTER her selection?  Evolution is not a part of Palin’s vocabulary, in theory or in practice.  Clearly she is quite content to remain in her run-of-the-mill fen of a superficial life, although all the while clothed to the nines.

These New York Times journalists have brought reality to the surface.   Through their keen sense of insight and observation, their refined writing skills, their dogged research of the facts and their (often) humorous presentation of the material, they have taken political commentary to the next level.  They have reached the people.  They have gotten across the message.  They have done their civic duty.  Mission accomplished.

So dear Personnel Manager of The New York Times, wear your medal proudly.

No Surprise

Are you surprised?  I am not.  How would you like a runaway rogue in the White House?

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/10/25/mccain-aide-palin-going-rogue/#more-26388

Understandably, the McCain camp is at a loss for effective strategies.  Just as in the case of Hillary in the last couple of weeks of the Democratic primary race, a candidate who is behind in the polls at this late date will adopt a no-holes-barred path.  The staffers, advisers and candidate totally decompensate.  If necessary, they will resort to eating their young.

I think Palin’s untamed ambition is stunning even the  McCain campaign handlers.  It is one thing to be dictatorial in one’s own career.  It’s entirely another issue if one is blindly driven to rule the world, our country and you and me with a dictator’s iron fist.

Wait.  Listen carefully.  Ssh!  I hear an echo: “Symmetry.  Just rewards.”

Get lost, Palin!

Ratchet It Up

Keep plugging away.  Open your pocketbooks, get out on the street, talk to people.  Today and tomorrow —– because the tide is turning!

http://vodpod.com/watch/643792-message-of-hope?pod=rimofheaven

Andrew Sullivan calls this next video “genius”.  I agree:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03fcGelz8Hw

And just in case you need more laughs this weekend:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ly02j7Mycrk&feature=related

Clarity At Last

Lo and Behold!  I finally achieved some clarity on my revulsion of Sarah Palin.  Allow me to share.

The hypocrisy, greed and public disdain that  Palin and the RNC has shown by her exorbitant shopping spree for herself and her family is symptomatic of what ails this country.  I understand that having been thrust into the national spotlight, Palin might have needed some appropriate clothing.  She is not a  wealthy individual, and her campaign stops in varying climates necessitated the purchase of some basic apparel.    I admit that a large part of a national campaign involves staging:  big and beautiful venues, balloons, confetti.  I also will allow some credence to the belief that Palin’s image and her haberdashery may fall into that category of “staging.”

What galls me is that she shopped at the the toniest of stores, bought the hottest of all fashion labels and paid the highest of prices.  What?  Walmart is good enough for hockey moms and Joe Sixpack, but not for Sarah Palin?  She bought her daughter a purse, one that had the name of Louis Vuitton on it.  Is that an appropriate necessity for a fourteen year old?  Is that not the height of indulgence?   Palin, in all of her phony rhetoric of fighting for small town America, just thumbed  her nose in the air at the people of America.  I have returned to this Republican greed and hypocrisy over and over again in my writings:  same old, same old;  the emperor’s new clothes; the goose and the gander; do as I say, not as I do.  Palin’s shopping spree is a slap in the face to the people of our country.  She would have us believe that she is just “one of us”,  but she is lying.  In line with the historic Republican doctrine of serving the rich, Palin, not for one moment, believes herself to be just average.  However, given the chance, she instead acted like she was the Queen of Fifth Avenue.  Thus, since the campaign funds were made available to her, she chose to spend them on material items that would corroborate her elite status.  To constantly state that she is just a regular hockey mom with small town values is nothing short of fiction.  Make that science fiction.

Additionally, her support for the Republican platform is just as fake as her social stance.  The RNC platform calls for sexual abstinence until after marriage.  Palin stands by this unrealistic outlook, even though her first child was born after only seven months and 21 days of marriage, even though her seventeen year old daughter is pregnant out of wedlock.  What, according to Republicans and Palin, is required of the masses is clearly not applicable to individual, holier-than-thou members of the Republican party.  Doggone it.  Sarah Palin can not maintain order and morality in her own home.  How in tarnation is she going to maintain order in the White House?

I had dinner last night with a very bright twenty-something.  When I posed the puzzling question as to why I am so incensed about Palin, my friend gave me a reasonable answer.  She said that Palin presents herself as a regular mom who also has a high-powered career.  Palin wants us to believe that women can “have it all”.  The reality of Palin’s situation is that she does “have it all”, because she receives A LOT OF HELP.  And the majority of that help is paid for by our tax dollars.  Although Palin presents herself as a tidy package of American middle class normalcy, in no way, shape or form is her life a standard and reality for the average American woman and mother.  So my friend made me understand my outrage.

As a corollary to that outrage, I also understand better my disgust with the Republican Party for allowing that hypocrisy to flourish.  Palin’s actions are truly symbolic of the underlying dogma of the Republican Party.  One of their standard procedures has been to substitute image and immediate poll results for real substance and effective policies.  McCain destroyed any semblance of good judgment he had when he chose Palin as his running mate without properly vetting her.  Similarly, McCain’s endless citing of Joe the Plumber, a strategy that has clearly backfired, is also representative of his refusal to use his brain in actually obtaining the proper and true information of a person the campaign wants to use to their advantage.  McCain never did his homework properly on Joe, trading verification for impulsive glory of the moment.  Joe the Plumber is not a licensed plumber.  His idea of starting a small business worth $250,000 is no more than a twinkle in his eye.  He makes about $40,000 a year and has a large tax lien against him.  But hey, McCain’s attention has given Joe better prospects:  he has hired a lawyer for a prospective book deal.

Thus, this dichotomy of words versus actions by the RNC, McCain and Palin is a flat-out insult to the intelligence of the American people.  Finally though, I think we are catching on.  Hopefully, our anger and sense of fair play will be reflected on Election Day.  We are not the idiots;  McCain and Palin are the buffoons and I do believe that their incessant violation of the less tenable Republican planks will bite them in their elitist asses.  Of course, on the other side of the coin,  this dynamic duo uphold their Republican right to good old privilege.

The following photo shows how I spent my time last weekend trying to alleviate my nervous energy.  This sign took me six hours to complete, and with each brushstroke I felt some of my outrage ease.

Today, one of my neighbors, a Republican but nevertheless a decent and entertaining man, made some funnies about the sign.  His comments were all in jest.  However, at the end of our conversation, he did throw in a little jab that should Obama win,  I will be held accountable for all that happens in the next four years.  I took a deep breath, modulated my voice and replied calmly.  I told my neighbor that, if the stars, moon and planets are aligned correctly, we will get the chance to work with President Obama for the next four years.  Obama is not perfect, and especially now with the global financial meltdown and problems that we have never faced before, mistakes WILL be made.  However, whatever happens, McCain/Palin will be out of the picture, losers and irrelevant.  Thank heavens we will NEVER have to experience their lack of intellectual curiosity, their dearth of due diligence in selecting staffers, their pandering to special interests and lobbyists and their raping of the American economy.  So yes, give me an imperfect Obama any day over the obvious and blatant ineptitude, greed and hypocrisy of the Republicans.  It is a chance that I will gladly run with.

Throughout the primary season as well as the national election, Obama has proven himself.  His intellectual prowess, his disciplined temperament, and his consistency of policy has been a model for leadership.  Furthermore, the effectiveness and professionalism of his campaign organization has been top-notch.  Obama’s neck-and-neck battle with Hillary for the nomination was tight, but his early, astute planning paid off, even if it did come down to the wire.  So it is with Obama For America in the national Presidential race.  His strategy of going person to person, door to door, neighborhood to neighborhood, precinct to precinct, and state to state is an example of orderly, leave-nothing-to-chance organization for the popular vote as well as for the electoral vote.  As a result,  my confidence in his previous actions serve to reinforce my confidence in his future leadership skills.   My belief in him is well-deserved and unshakable.

So, loyal readers, in the very words of Sarah Palin, “my heels are on and my gloves are off.”  Any politeness and reserve that I harbored regarding people’s decisions to vote for McCain/Palin has just flown out the window.  Any remainder of civility regarding this election that I might have had, is gone.  Kaput.  If you see me coming, get out of my way.  But listen up, Buster.  Yes, we DO need change.  However, what we really need is a revolution of public policy, institutional ethics and personal responsibility.  And that is exactly what we will get should we be so fortunate to wake up on November 5th and have Obama as our next President.

The quest for change continues; but the call for revolution is even louder.  Purpose has been layed out right in front of my eyes.  Clarity.