* One of the few things more difficult to give up than vanity and potato chips is power. On January 20th Barack Obama will assume a presidency that over the last eight years has gone far beyond the authority and secrecy exhibited by previous chief executives. The Bush overreach is broad and includes signing statements altering the intent of legislation, ignoring international laws and agreements, circumventing the Constitution and politicizing virtually every department of the federal government to its own advantage and that of its favored special interests. This occurred because the Bush team was resourceful in finding and inventing ways to avoid congressional and public oversight. President-elect Obama has noted on many occasions that his presidency would be responsible and transparent. The transition period appears to adhere to this commitment. The real test will be when he is in power. Will Obama and congress correct the loopholes and constitutional fissures that allowed the executive branch under George W. Bush to go unchecked or will the aphrodisiac of power be treated like a bowl of potato chips at a pot party?

*Virginity Pledgers ~ Sex Education Deniers – “Teens who take virginity pledges are just as likely to have sex as teens who don't make such promises -- and they're less likely to practice safe sex to prevent disease or pregnancy.” This is the finding of a recent study at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Anyone who has been the parent of teenagers will not be stunned by this study. Pledging responsible behavior is always to the good. The failure of “abstinence only” is not preparing a teen for the realities of disease and unwanted pregnancy should the pledge be broken.

In a related story that is in the category “only in America,” Alaskan Governor and religious fundamentalist Sarah Palin’s 17-year old daughter Bristol has been offered $300,000 for the first photos of her baby Tripp, born this week out of wedlock. Perhaps the photos are being acquired to adorn an “Abstinence Only” poster.

* Re-runs ~ a slice of Americana – On Christmas day I was watching a one or two-year old episode of House. A Caucasian Dr. House is treating a senator who is African American and considering running for president of the U.S. House tells him to forget this ambition by saying, “It’s not called the White House because of the paint job.” The shelf-life of many of our entrenched perspectives grows increasingly shorter.

* The other day I saw the movie Doubt. The performances of Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Amy Adams are outstanding and the production is riveting. About halfway through the movie people sitting behind me began talking, a distraction most of us have experienced. My companion turned to the group and asked that they be quiet and they acquiesced. In another part of town this same day a similar event occurred with a different result. A movie patron asked a family sitting near him to be quiet. They chose not to be cooperative. The annoyed patron left his seat and approached the talkative clan. When the father of the chatty family stood in defense of his family he was shot in the arm and the shooter was subsequently arrested.

While reading about the shooting incident I thought about the horn blower in heavy traffic, or the line jumper in a busy supermarket or the star receiver of the hated Dallas Cowboys scoring a touchdown, or a patron talking during a movie when I said to myself, “If I had a gun I would shoot the bastard.” It is fortunate we are held accountable for our actions, not our thoughts. The temptation to cause harm with a weapon, an action or even a word is an ever-present balancing act for us mortals.

* I wish that she had been my high school French teacher ~ grades dreamed of but unearned – In an interview on CBS this past Sunday Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was asked, “What kind of grade do you give yourself and this Administration on foreign policy?” Her response, “Oh, I don’t know. It depends on the subject. I’m sure that there are some that deserve an A-plus and some that deserve a lot less. … We’ve left a lot of good foundations.” I am sure that good foundations could be found at Victoria’s Secret or Bloomingdale’s lingerie department. Foreign policy foundations established under Bush would not support the weight of a silk thong. The world is more unstable and violent today than it was eight years ago. The Bush administration did much to contribute to this situation. If I had conducted the interview I would have asked Secretary Rice which foreign policies earned an A. Truth be told, the “F” I received in French class is the same mark Bush and Rice have earned in Foreign Policy.

* The good old days – Remember when one of the most prominent arguments in a divorce settlement was over who would get the house? With one in six homes worth less than the mortgage owed on it the fight is now over who gets stuck with the property. Some couples are deciding to stay together because there is no asset to help them start over. That Roman god Cupid is some trickster!

* Speaking of the good somewhat old days – More than enough people have more than enough reasons to make saying goodbye to 2008 more bitter than sweet. Sue Katz at Consenting Adult explains why she is throwing a great big shoe at 2008. Ms. Katz rarely misses her target.

* Salacious foreign policy – The CIA has been distributing the erection enhancement drug Viagra to Afghan chieftains in order to lure their support. One would hope that the support lasts more than four hours. One wonders if libido-dampening drugs had been administered to the bring-it-on Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld chieftains in 2003 the Iraq invasion would not have occurred. Call it salacious fantasy.

* The test of freedom - In recent weeks there has been discussion at this blog about gun control and gun rights. Through this discussion I was introduced to the blog Sensibly Progressive that speaks from the perspective of pro gun rights. I highly recommend a recent post titled, Guns are empowerment ... but empowerment is not always for the best. It is a thoughtful and multi-layered look at the issues surrounding the tragic story of a man dressed as Santa Claus who massacred nine people at a Los Angeles Christmas Eve party. The following observation is best read within the context of the article but stands alone as a universal truth: “ALL freedoms are dangerous, because freedoms are empowering and humans are a complex species that will use empowerment both for the greater good and for evil.”

* Woe is me ~ woe is us – Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales sat for an interview with the Wall Street Journal. In a self-pitying display of cluelessness he said, “I am a casualty of the war on terror.” I would suggest that 50,000 Americans and a much greater number of Iraqis have suffered life and limb casualties as a result of the referenced fiasco. Mr. Gonzalez is a casualty of self-serving ignorance. This Harvard-educated lawyer never understood the transition that was required going from President Bush’s personal lawyer to White House counsel to Attorney General. As our nation’s highest law enforcement official AG Gonzalez’ fiduciary responsibility should have been to the American people – not the machinations of Karl Rove and Dick Cheney. Under Gonzalez’ watch the Justice Department placed its head under a pillow while the Bush administration strafed national and international law. Under the Gonzalez watch the independence of the department was deeply compromised. I expect we will learn a great deal more about Mr. Gonzalez’ damaging incompetence in the ensuing months as more is learned about the Don Seligman and other questionable prosecutions, the firing of prosecutors perceived as not in tune with the Bush agenda and Justice’s hiring policies that precluded lawyers with a hint of being liberal, gay or a Democrat. If Gonzalez thinks he looks bad now, the worst is yet to come. To the rhetorical question that Gonzalez asks, “What is it that I did that is so fundamentally wrong, that deserves this kind of response to my service?” Think Progress offers detailed answers.

* Chinese wall is not so great – Added to the continually growing list of Chinese-produced products that pose a health threat is dry wall. A number of counties in Florida are reporting that dry wall from China used during the construction boom in 2004 and 2005 may be emitting one of several sulfur compounds including sulfur dioxide or hydrogen sulfide. “Some common symptoms are irritated eyes, coughing, sneezing, difficulty breathing, and symptoms similar to bronchitis and asthma… exposure to hydrogen sulfide can be deadly.” Among the umpteen million problems that Obama needs to address is safety inspections of imported products - a responsibility too often abdicated by the Bush administration and American importers.

A complex society requires oversight. Bush and Republicans argued and governed otherwise. I suggest that a corollary to laissez-faire capitalism is lazy government. Conservatives are fond of warning us about too much government. They had their eight years in the sun and it has been a failure of monumental proportions culminating in burdensome debt, a crumbling financial structure and unsafe products, unsafe air, unsafe water and reduced work place safety. With a U.S. population of over 305 million (2.7 million people were added in 2008) conservatives calling for smaller government simply is not practical. What is required is a liberal dose of intelligent governance.

* “In the long run the pessimist may be proved right, but the optimist has a better time on the trip.”
Daniel L. Reardon

During one of the most memorable nights in my lifetime, a night reminiscent of the hours before the birth of my daughter, I anxiously watched America choose its 44th President, Barack Hussein Obama. His skin color was not a deal breaker. His middle name was not a deterrent. Over the next days, weeks and years historians, political scientists and folks sitting in diners with coffee in hand will be debating the factors that lead to Democrat Obama being selected over Republican John McCain. The significance cannot be debated.

My personal elation was threefold:
~ I intensely believed that Obama was the better choice to lead America at this critical and complex period fraught with dangers and challenges. Our country requires a dramatic change in emphasis as to whose interests it serves domestically and, of equal importance, the direction of foreign policy.
~ This election demonstrated that a national political campaign can be successful that does not base its strategy on negativity and divisiveness, accusation and innuendo. One can only hope that the Republican Party, which continued to utilize the Atwater and Rove political tools of shlock and awe in this election, will abandon the strategies that the American people in 2008 emphatically rejected.
~ Pride that the United States of America took a huge step toward being a more inclusive society.

At 11:00 PM on November 4, 2008 it was announced that Obama had surpassed the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency. I saw the tears on the face of Jesse Jackson, a leader of the African American community who, in recent years, was characterized as attacking and divisive. Few of us could stand in the shoes of Mr. Jackson and understand the dangers and challenges he faced as a leader in the civil rights movement that began in the 1960s to break the stranglehold that communities, particularly in the South, had over Black citizens. Over a two-hour period this night, each time that the camera focused on Mr. Jackson’s face, tears continue to flow from a depth that I imagine is beyond my comprehension.

I listened to another pillar of the civil rights movement, long-serving Georgia congressman John Lewis. He discussed what it meant to him and the African American community for a Black man to be elected to the nation’s highest office. It is certain that many viewers, even the majority of us that did not directly experience his history, shared his pride, emotion, and moist eyes.

Eugene Robinson is an African American and columnist for the Washington Post. I have listened to him during many of his appearances on political talk shows, his commentary always impersonal and analytical. Following the announcement that Obama won the election Mr. Robinson offered observations about what Obama’s success meant to him on a movingly personal level and the joy and pride he shared with his aging parents in a telephone conversation minutes before.

Channel surfing to ABC I listened to an interview between a White seasoned newsman and a younger Black reporter speaking from his hometown area of Lynchburg, VA. The older reporter commented about an assignment early in his career when he was sent from the North to cover a story in Lynchburg. He described his shock to find restrooms labeled Men, Women and Colored.

This morning I made my usual stop for a bagel and coffee. As I entered the store I saw a White customer high-fiving with an African American employee. Although the employee knew me we had never discussed politics. When I commented that last night was very special she offered me her hand in a high-five gesture.

The Obama election will not automatically eradicate what is a dwindling but still existing degree of racial prejudice in our country. It seems to be a characteristic of human nature to distrust that which is different. The candidacy of Barack Obama did make a major contribution toward the understanding that as Americans we have a common interest and a common bond. The election of Barack Obama, supported by a very significant electoral vote majority, is a threshold moment for human relations in America we can share and admire and celebrate.

* The Bush effect
One wonders if the Democrat Obama could have won this election if not for the damaging effect the Republican Bush administration has had on our country. The Republican candidate McCain was seen as a strong supporter of Bush doctrine and policy - no matter how consistently the McCain campaign attempted to distance itself from Bush. The country was desperately ready for change.

Although I have been a very vocal critic of George W. Bush I believe he did have a positive influence on the positive public perception of African Americans serving in high-level federal positions. Among the Bush appointments of African Americans to very significant positions in his administration were Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice. These appointments, in no small way, helped pave the road for Obama’s journey to the White House.

* The Howard Dean effect – Not to be forgotten in the Democratic success this election cycle is the wisdom and influence of the former governor of Vermont and current Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, the central organization of the Democratic Party. It was during his unsuccessful presidential candidacy 4 years ago that a 50-state strategy for the Democratic Party was conceived. For many years prior to that time Democrats ignored states it deemed unfavorable to its success. Mr. Dean changed that strategy and it was a building block diligently implemented by the Obama campaign.

* ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL
An excerpt from the Declaration of Independence, adopted by the Continental Congress July 4, 1776.

* On Sunday morning two AP headlines caught my attention – “It’s Race Against Time To Save Ike Stalwarts” and “Feds, Wall Street Race to Save Lehman.” The first headline refers to the humanitarian efforts to save human beings in the aftermath of a natural disaster – hurricane Ike, that devastated large parts of Texas. The second headline refers to a man-made disaster - the potential bailout of another financial institution that has been managed by seedy and greedy millionaires. They were enabled by an incompetent federal government and an impotent congress blinded by the campaign contributions and lobbyist gifts funded by these same financial mega corporations now facing bankruptcy.

A competent parent knows that a teenager needs guidance and oversight – the same constrictions needed by commercial institutions that are myopically consumed by profits. This greed on steroids is devoid of ethics, integrity and the concept of the common good. We are now told that it is in our interest to use billions of dollars of taxpayer money to keep private companies like Bear Stearns and Lehman and quasi governmental companies like Fannie Mae and Fannie Mac from being flushed into oblivion. These same companies who fought every suggestion at oversight and regulation, whose policies consciously screwed over so many Americans, are now asking the American taxpayer for handouts. Neither the executive branch nor congressional branch of the government exercised their fiduciary responsibility to the American people.

Monday morning headlines: BLACK MONDAY; World Stocks Sink; U.S. Stocks Set to Sink at Open; Merrill Sells Itself to Bank of America; Lehman Files for Bankruptcy; FED Takes Emergency Steps; Insurance Giant AIG Scrambles for Cash; Banks Roll Out $70 Billion Loan Program. I am waiting for the next Republican politician to extol free enterprise free of regulation. I am waiting for the next Democratic politician to exhibit a patriotic spine and tell the American people that they will fight for legislation to achieve two goals: real ethics reform that actually minimizes the influence of lobbyists; public financing of elections so that the legislators are not in the pockets of special interest groups and so that legislators are not spending so much of their time trolling for campaign contributions from banks, insurance companies, oil and gas companies, insurers and pharmaceutical companies. Any congressman that does not support such measures should be thrown the hell out of office.

Monday afternoon – McCain tells a rally in Florida, "The fundamentals of our economy are strong." If this is a result of McCain listening to his economic advisors they are bigger derriere orifices than Bush’s financial team.

* Why Black Monday occurred:
1.) Incomes shrank for most Americans over the last expansion.
2.) But Americans kept spending thanks to a mammoth increase in household debt.
3.) To increase the amount of debt in the system, lending standards were lowered.
4.) Lowered lending standards have led to a higher default rate from borrowers.
5.) Higher default rates have lowered the value of all the collateral backed by mortgages.
6.) Lowered collateral values have killed the balance sheets of literally every major financial company.
So wrote Hale Stewart at the Huffington Post. He provides details about each of the above points in an interesting and informative article. Stewart’s piece and other writings this week would lead one to conclude that a Republican president, a Republican congress and an Alan Greenspan-led Federal Reserve became too cozy with America’s major financial institutions and that created a perfect storm for financial disaster. Their arrogance and greed led them to believe our current crisis could not happen. I suggest a read of this article to determine if there is merit to John McCain’s claim that the fundamentals of our economy are strong.

* Six alarm fire – On Tuesday John McCain called “for a high-level commission to study the current economic crisis and claimed that a corrupt and excessive Wall Street had betrayed American workers.” A commission may have some merit even if we know what happened. What was missing in McCain’s exhortation was mention of the commission by him and his Republican Party being a party to this debacle. It is reminiscent of the pyromaniac that sets a blaze and then calls for the Fire Department. Perhaps the American voter will begin to understand that a McCain presidency is akin to appointing the arsonist the Fire Chief.

* The pieces of the puzzle continue to come together – From the Progress Report: McCain and his running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK), published an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal (on September 9) that called lobbyists "primary contributors" to the crisis. One of these lobbyists though, is McCain's own campaign manager, Rick Davis, who "served as president of an advocacy group led by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that defended the two companies against increased regulation." Davis challenged even the smallest reform measures intended to make sure that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were being held more accountable for their actions. This helped the mortgage giants, "consistently [beat] back congressional efforts to increase oversight, even after a major accounting scandal in 2003 resulted in a $400 million fine for Fannie.

In an effort to provide full disclosure it should be noted that Rick Davis is only one of 120 lobbyists working for the McCain campaign. That McCain is one heck of a lobbyist basher!

Also earning special mention is the economic advisor to McCain, former Senator Phil Graham. While a senator and then as a lobbyist Graham opposed any legislation that would have regulated financial institutions – regulations that may have averted the financial crisis gripping America and the international community. I wrote about Mr. Graham in July of this year. His hands are as dirty as his pockets are full.

The Republican Party and the lobbyists took their relationship to a new level at the beginning of the Bush administration. It was spirited by then Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) who led the K Street project - a marriage od Republican politicians and lobbyists that threw open the doors of congressional access to the likes of Jack Abramoff, former ultra lobbyist and current resident of a federal prison. Santorum was rejected for re-election in 2006 but the effect of his efforts to put the federal government up for sale continues today.

* Speaking of money ill-spent – George Bush has given Pakistan billions of dollars to be our ally in the global war against terrorism. This week the Pakistani government ordered its troops to fire on the U.S. military if it conducts raids in Pakistan against terrorists and their supporters. Yes, the world is a complicated place. Let us hope that the next president has the ability to navigate such treacherous terrain. Someone who has not rubber-stamped Lost George.

* What is an over-worked secretary to do? - Speaking last week to the annual Conference of the White House Initiative on National Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice admitted that there are too few African-Americans in her agency. "I can go into a whole day of meetings at the Department of State -- and actually rarely see somebody who looks like me," Rice said. "And that is just not acceptable." Since January 6, 2005 Rice has been in her current position working around the clock to cover the errors of her boss. There simply has been no time available or inclination to change the State Department from looking like the Republican National Convention.

* You would too - Thirty-two of the nation’s leading historians have sent letters to congressional leaders calling on them to strengthen the Presidential Records Act (PRA). They are concerned that as the Bush administration prepares to leave office they are ready to expunge the record on its tenure. Expunging the record makes perfect sense. Their “record” is one of incompetency, lies and illegal activities. One would have to be in a vegetative state to not try to hide such documentation. Destroying the records will also help keep some of them out of prison.

* Last weekend in Andover, MA legal scholars, lawyers, and activists came together for "JUSTICE ROBERT H. JACKSON CONFERENCE: PLANNING FOR THE PROSECUTION OF HIGH LEVEL AMERICAN WAR CRIMINALS. As the insulated and self-protected members of the Bush administration leave the White House in January 2009 I am surer that they will be looking over their shoulders than they were “certain” that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. Thousands of Americans were culpable in the use of torture, breaking the law and the ever-present “cover up.” Unlike a tragic Italian opera this will not be over when the fat lady sings the aria Arevaderchi.

* Get your free score card - If you are having difficulty keeping up with the McCain lies a new website sponsored by the Democratic Party will help you. The name of the site is Count the Lies - McCainPedia.org. This website will need a server capable of handling substantial gigabytes of memory.

* That Grand Old Party – The Michigan Republican Party is attempting to question voters’ eligibility whose homes have been foreclosed. “According to voting rights experts a foreclosure notice does not mean that a person is no longer a resident -- making it an inadequate basis for a challenge.” I imagine that GOP strategists have strategized that more Democrats have homes that have been foreclosed than Republicans. Thirteen U.S. Senators have petitioned the Justice Department to prevent disenfranchisement of voters who have lost their homes.

* A wealth of insight – NY Times op-ed columnist Frank Rich once again offers a cogent and perceptive analysis of the presidential race. I highly recommend a read of this in-depth article for which a summarization would not do it justice. I will note his concluding recommendation to the Democratic presidential nominee: If Obama “focuses voters on the 2008 McCain, the Palin question will take care of itself.”

* "No nation is permitted to live in ignorance with impunity."
Thomas Jefferson