* Each new administration brings with it catch phrases to sell its programs as aggressively as a pharmaceutical company convincing large portions of the population that they suffer from fibromyalgia or erectile dysfunction. From “The Great Society” to “Global War on Terror” to “Abstinence Only” both good and bad policies are wrapped in sound bytes that are the envy of Madison Avenue. The Obama administration is no different.

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates tells us that the troops we are leaving in Iraq will no longer be called “combat brigades.” The new term for these military forces will be “advisory and assistance brigades.” Since change is good the Defense Secretary did not stop there. The U.S. Command in Iraq will be re-designated "transition force headquarters" after August 2010. The Army must have felt that the Secretary needed an upgrade in sophisticated phrasing. Instead of "Advisory and Assistance Brigades" the Army is using the term "Brigades Enhanced for Stability Operations" (BESO). This may be progress linguistically but falls far short of Obama’s campaign promise to remove U.S. troops from Iraq by the middle of 2010. There is no word yet on how the Iraqis feel about re-labeled combat troops being in Iraq after the already agreed upon removal of U.S. troops by June 2010. My guess is that they are still trying to translate "Brigades Enhanced for Stability Operations" into Arabic.

Presidential administrations also tend to be competitive in some respects with previous administrations, especially if they represent a different political party. The Obama team is no different. In a recently leaked e-mail to Pentagon staff, Dave Riedel of the Department of Defense's office of security review wrote: "This administration prefers to avoid using the term 'Long War' or 'Global War on Terror'" -- a message he asked recipients to "please pass on to your speech writers." The preferred catchphrase is “Overseas Contingency Operation (OCO).” Some may say that OCO sounds more like an emergency appendectomy while visiting Uzbekistan but I kinda like it. “Global War on Terror” is a bit neoconnish for my taste and not very stealth. Using “Overseas Contingency Operation” allows us to sneak up on those terrorist bastards before they know what hit them.

As I observed this creative use of language I began to think of other phrases or terminology that do not contribute squat to solving problems but at least distracts one from the burdens of the day:

~ Instead of noting 700,000 job losses per month we should call them “interim disemployment economic adjustments” or IDEA. Somehow, 700,000 IDEAs has a much more positive connotation than “jobless” and will more quickly restore the confidence that we are told the economy needs.

~ Much of the economic tsunami that has enveloped our country can be attributed to Wall Street’s invention and abuse of derivatives. These are instruments made up of mortgages that often should not have been granted, then packaged and re-sold to other financial institutions with the intent of further re-selling them to other geniuses. When the housing bubble burst (home values precipitously fell) the weakness of these “financial instruments” became apparent and the proverbial shit hit the fan. Perhaps a derivative should have been called “Duck!”

* Protecting the Troops ~ and other works of fiction - I have commented on a number of occasions about the shoddy and incompetent work private contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan committed while building facilities for US troops. At least 18 military have died from electrocution. Years have passed as this problem has been ignored and covered up. “Task Force Safe” has now been instituted to inspect these buildings. Their findings: “Thousands of buildings at U.S. bases in Iraq and Afghanistan have such poorly installed wiring that American troops face life-threatening risks, a top inspector for the Army says... Of the nearly 30,000 buildings the Army's "Task Force Safe" has examined so far, Childs said more than half "failed miserably." And 8,527 had such serious problems that inspectors gave them a "flash" warning, meaning repairs had to be completed in four hours or the facility evacuated.” More than 70,000 buildings in Iraq have yet to be inspected. More than half of the less-than-inhabitable structures to date were constructed by Dick Cheney’s best buds KBR, using cheap and inexperienced foreign labor. Among the many disgraces that history will associate with Bush’s Iraq invasion will be the Bush administration’s abandonment of the troops and the screwing of the American tax payer by private contractors.

* If you cannot afford your prescriptions there is a solution ~ eat more fish – A pilot study funded by the EPA found that, “Fish caught near wastewater treatment plants serving five major U.S. cities had residues of pharmaceuticals in them, including medicines used to treat high cholesterol, allergies, high blood pressure, bipolar disorder and depression. The next time I need a re-fill prescription for Lipitor I’ll ask my physician for a fishing license. I will lower my cholesterol for free with the added advantage that the relaxation of fishing will help me avoid the need for blood pressure medication. Perhaps a degrading environment is not as bad as those liberal fear mongers make it out to be.

* What do the financial gurus under Bush and Obama have in common? They have strong ties to the financial world they are supposed to oversee and they opposed oversight and regulation of the financial services industry as it greedily spun out of control. They were given responsibility to police their friends and a broken system they helped create. That does not leave me with a great deal of confidence in Geithner and Summers and the team Obama has chosen to navigate the shark-infested waters of this economic crisis. It is not change I can believe in.

* Laboring for fairness - When an issue is complicated how does one know whether to be for or against it? In the case of the Bush presidency I learned that if Bush was for something, I was against it. This was not a purely partisan Pavlovian response. It was a result of observing failure upon failure upon incompetence. In the case of unions I strongly believe that it is time for the labor movement to be stronger as part of the renewal of America’s economy and to keep the middle class from facing extinction. My contrarian Bush principle applies to the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) - a measure intended to make it easier for American workers to form unions. Who is against this Act? AIG, Citigroup, Bank of America, FOX News, Wal-Mart, The Heritage Foundation and a host of other major corporations and organizations on the right of the political spectrum – a movement designed to protect and enhance the well-to-do royalty of our society at the expense of the overwhelming majority of Americans. What do the EFCA naysayers have in common? Their actions and philosophies are at the very core of what bankrupted the American economy and the capitalist soul. Capitalism is a proven viable economic system, IF, it is tempered with government oversight and an empowered labor force.

* “It is one of the characteristics of a free and democratic nation that it have free and independent labor unions.”
Franklin D. Roosevelt

“Our labor unions are not narrow, self-seeking groups. They have raised wages, shortened hours and provided supplemental benefits. Through collective bargaining and grievance procedures, they have brought justice and democracy to the shop floor.”
John F Kennedy

* Being special does not abdicate responsibility – Most of the people reading these words find themselves in a most unique moment in the history of humans who have walked on this planet. We enjoy a standard of living and a sense of peace and safety rarely found in history books or what is the reality for most of the people in the world today. For those of us “special” individuals there is a sense of entitlement that is insulating in its nature. It affects all political affiliations in this country and it seems to have been especially embraced by the Republican Party over the last 3 decades. It removes us from the poverty, violence and subjugation so prevalent throughout the world and including parts of this blessed country. As individuals there is a limit to what we can do about it. We depend upon our government, our representatives, to take needed action both domestically and internationally. What we can do is pressure our elected representatives to do what is right and take greater care in those we elect.

This caveat is required because too many of our representatives have failed us. Too often our government has added to sorrowful conditions internationally and proved inadequate in alleviating undesirable conditions domestically. These conditions did not begin with the Bush administration but it was during this administration that abuse of power militarily and economically and an ignorance of people with needs reached its respective heights and depths. I believe that much of the support for Obama’s candidacy was a reaction to this misguided policy. To the President who so woefully presided over eight years of reversal for the American people I eagerly say farewell. To the man about to take office, Barack Obama, I wish him wisdom, forbearance, humility and good fortune because the fate of Americans and many of the peoples of the world are now dependent upon his guidance.

* Quote of the Week – “The United States does not torture. We will abide by the Geneva Conventions. That we will uphold our highest values and ideals.” The words were spoken by Barack Obama at the press conference introducing his Intelligence Team on January 9, 2009. An incredible number of Americans volunteered to help elect Mr. Obama. These were some of the words and more importantly the actions we want from the President of the United States of America.

Broadcasts this week featured President Bush saying the exact same words “The United States does not torture,” in news clips from years past. (The evidence and Mr. Bush’s own words during his legacy tour the past two weeks showed this statement to be a lie.) I trust that Mr. Obama will prove to be a president we can believe.

* Letter of the Week - A group of scientists at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have sent a letter to the Obama transition team about widespread managerial misconduct in a division of the agency. "The purpose of this letter is to inform you that the scientific review process for medical devices at the FDA has been corrupted and distorted by current FDA managers, thereby placing the American people at risk." In the letter FDA dissidents alleged that agency managers use intimidation to squelch scientific debate. In the Bush administration business interests took precedence over the interests of the American people and avoided scientific findings like they were a communicable disease. I would not be surprised if similar letters are being sent from the Dept. of the Interior, the EPA and a plethora of other federal agencies. I am optimistic that such an anti-intellectual approach to government and special interest generated “under sight” will improve with Bush’s departure.

* Responsible approach to our environment ~ our lives are at stake – Last week I discussed the health threat resulting from the lack of regulation and guidelines for the byproducts of coal-fired facilities. “Senate Democrats said…they want stricter rules for toxic ash from coal-fired power plants following a massive spill in Tennessee that has threatened drinking water and caused health fears.” Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) said, "The federal government has the power to regulate these wastes, and inaction has allowed this enormous volume of toxic material to go largely unregulated." Inaction is the operative word. Taking action following a disaster is positive. As the Obama administration designs it economic recovery program preventative programs should be an important element. Recall that is was known for a long time that the levees in New Orleans were inadequate to keep the city from flooding under certain conditions. The price for upgrading the levees would have been a lot less than the costs that resulted from the Katrina disaster. And how many lives would have been saved? The staggering cost of the Tennessee cleanup will possibly be in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Health issues aside, lack of prevention is stupid economics. And NO, health issues are not aside. It is the tragic consequence of ignorant economics.

* The Word of the Day ~ “Confabulation” is defined as familiar talk or conversation – Last Saturday my Yahoo home page offered this word of the day. It accompanied news on the same page about Illinois Governor Brad Blagojevich’s impeachment, Mayor of Baltimore Sheila Dixon’s indictment on theft and perjury, more news about the Ponzi embezzler Bernard Madoff and news of additional mini-Madoffs. These are the current faces of the disease of fraud and dishonesty running rampant throughout our society. Feeling helpless we confabulate about these matters and shrug our shoulders. I have a sense that as a society we have become too accepting of much that is wrong and what such a development forebodes.

* Lack of accountability contributed to this mess ~ it will not get us out of it - When Barack Obama was asked about investigating possible crimes by the Bush administration his response was “we should look forward as opposed to looking backwards”. I found this response condescending and irresponsible. Eight years of unaccountability, marked by very responsible individuals and organizations identifying the breaking of laws cannot be swept under the national carpet. It only keeps the door open for further abuses by the Obama administration or future administrations. Fortunately, there are some responsible people in Congress (this is not a typo) who do not accept Obama’s somewhat glib view:

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) said, “I think that there’s a lot that remains to look at, and I appreciate that President Obama doesn’t want to make it his purpose as a new president, with America in real distress in many directions, to go back and look at all this, but I think we in Congress have an independent responsibility, and I fully intend to discharge that responsibility.”

Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), Chairman of the House Judiciary committee “got behind a very different approach, releasing a nearly 500-page report that recommends establishing a blue-ribbon commission -- along the lines of the 9/11 commission, but with subpoena power -- to investigate whether crimes were committed” by members of the Bush administration. “The report also advocates an investigation by the Justice Department, potentially involving a special prosecutor. And in addition to focusing on issues of torture, wiretapping, and the like, the report also recommends continuing to probe matters like the leaking of the name of former CIA agent Valerie Plame, and the US Attorney firings.”

For two months we have listened to Bush and Cheney and their supporters/spokespeople weaving a legacy web as disingenuous and delusional as much of Bush’s presidency. I suggest that it is imperative the truth be told.

* The rule of law – In a speech last June the man Barack Obama has nominated for Attorney General, Eric Holder, said: "I never thought I would see the day when a Justice Department would claim that only the most extreme infliction of pain and physical abuse constitutes torture and that acts that are merely cruel, inhuman and degrading are consistent with United States law and policy, that the Supreme Court would have to order the president of the United States to treat detainees in accordance with the Geneva Convention, never thought that I would see that a president would act in direct defiance of federal law by authorizing warrantless NSA surveillance of American citizens. This disrespect for the rule of law is not only wrong, it is destructive in our struggle against terrorism."

Holder is the nominee that Senator Arlen Spector (R-PA) is opposing for Attorney General. It appears that my “esteemed” senator from Pennsylvania prefers Attorney Generals who range from overly partisan to incompetent such as Ashcroft, Gonzalez and Mukasey – appointments he did not block in his Judiciary Committee. Spector never tires of hearing himself pontificate but many of us in Pennsylvania are exhausted. Should Mr. Spector decide to run again in 2010 he has my commitment to work for his defeat.

* Making the big decisions, or, it’s not my ass on fire – On Wednesday I watched VP Dick Cheney being interviewed on PBS. Jim Lehrer asked Vice President Cheney about the American soldiers who have lost their lives in the war in Iraq. Lehrer asked, "Mr. Vice President, getting from there to here, 4,500 Americans have died, at least 100,000 Iraqis have died. Has it been worth that?" "I think so," Cheney responded. Mr. Cheney failed to note that none of his children or grandchildren lost a life, an arm, a leg or their eyesight or sanity in Iraq.

* “Sometimes we are so caught up in who's right and who's wrong that we forget what's right and wrong.”
Author unknown

* Israeli government not always right ~ Palestinian people not always wrong, but often wronged by their leadership – Many of us in the United States have a cultural and/or emotional connection to Israel. Others see a political connection to Israel as an American ally and some Christian fundamentalists see the connection as biblical. Regardless of the connection it would be unbalanced to say that Israel can do no wrong. The defense of Israel’s actions in Gaza predominates in the mainstream media in America. Bush’s neocon support of Israel and Obama’s silence about the attacks further the one-sided American perception of this conflict. I suggest that the debate encompass contrasting views such as Glen Greenwald at Salon.com in an article titled “Orwell, blinding tribalism, selective Terrorism, and Israel/Gaza,” the website Dissident Voice that discusses Top 5 Lies About Israel’s Assault on Gaza and Jstreet.org “the political arm of the pro-Israel, pro-peace movement.” In Israel there are strong demonstrations against the Gaza military action and Consenting Adult offers some insight including the observation that the attacks are really about Israeli domestic politics.

Marty Kaplan writing at Huffington Post soul searches the myriad moral and political dilemmas confronting the long-suffering Israelis and Palestinians. For those wondering why Israel launched their Gaza attack at this particular time Lisa Gans writing at Huffington Post suggests: “But the fact that Israel decided to launch this massive attack on the Gaza strip in the waning days of the Bush administration suggests that Tel Aviv, at least, thinks that the days for such an action might be limited… Nothing in the events leading up to the now nine day long assault (as of January 5th) on Gaza created a sense of urgency that justifies the scale and speed of the Israeli action… Rather than being a sign of support for the Gaza offensive, Obama's refusal to comment at all may suggest that, while he is unwilling to interfere in the White House's ability to conduct foreign policy, he may not be supportive of Israel's actions, and that he intends to take a different tone from the current administration tone in office.”

A final thought, at least for the moment. Let us not forget, although the Arab world will, that Hamas (like Hezbollah in Lebanon) chose to secret their armies and weapons in hospitals, schools and mosques and use civilian populations as shields. Let us not forget the suffering imposed upon the people of Gaza through Israeli blockades and policies prior to the current hostilities. And let us not forget the decades-long abandonment of the Palestinian people by the surrounding Arab governments who see the Palestinians as pawns. There are no heroes.

* Quote of the Week ~ On Monday Barack Obama announced the appointment of Dawn Johnsen to serve as the next Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC). It is the office that issued the torture memo justifying the behavior of the Bush administration in Guantanamo and other venues of disgrace. In an article in Slate on April 3, 2008 Ms. Johnsen said the following: “But we must regain our ability to feel outrage whenever our government acts lawlessly and devises bogus constitutional arguments for outlandishly expansive presidential power. Otherwise, our own deep cynicism, about the possibility for a President and presidential lawyers to respect legal constraints, itself will threaten the rule of law--and not just for the remaining nine months of this administration, but for years and administrations to come.” Contrary to former Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez, whom I spoke about last week, Dawn Johnsen gets it. Thanks to Think Progress and Salon’s Glenn Greenwald for bringing this to our attention.

Greenwald is a constitutional lawyer who I have come to highly regard. He points out that “The Office of Legal Counsel, inside the Justice Department, is probably the most consequential federal government office that remains relatively obscure. The legal opinions which it issues become, more or less automatically, the official legal position of the Executive Branch. It is his opinion that Johnsen may be Obama’s best pick yet to serve in his administration.

* Hobby of the Week ~ Navel Maniac – The name does not refer to pirates off the coast of Somalia. Navelmaniac.com is a web site featuring photos of peoples’ navels. Since 1999 the photographer and web author stops men and women on the streets of Brussels and, with their permission, takes a photo of their belly button. On behalf of my readers I spent two hours looking at the vast collection and concluded that Belly Button Identification (BBI) could potentially replace finger prints and DNA in crime investigations. I sheepishly and salaciously concentrated on female buttons but sometimes could not tell the difference. I do not know if this brings into question my eyesight, my sexuality or the admonition to “get a life.” Since my travel agent Sheila reads my blog please consider this as a request to provide airfare and hotel accommodations for Brussels and a digital photo of your navel. In a world increasingly burdened with one crisis after another such a benign activity may prove beneficial to one’s mental well-being.

* Question answered ~ a moment of “a hah” – I have wondered why the Republican Party suffered dislocated shoulders throwing their arms around Sarah Palin in support of her vice-presidential nomination. Her Alaskan proximity to Russia seemed lame in establishing her foreign policy credentials. Her almost total lack of experience was a weak argument for “the fresh face” syllogism. Not every Republican is a religious fundamentalist. Finally, I have an answer to my quandary that makes sense. She understands how Republicans do political business (okay, Democrats too). An investigation of Palin appointments by the LA Times found: “More than 100 appointments to state posts — nearly 1 in 4 — went to campaign contributors or their relatives, sometimes without apparent regard to qualifications; Several of Palin’s leading campaign donors received state-subsidized industrial development loans of up to $3.6 million for business ventures of questionable public value.” In being guilty of being redundant I repeat the mantra that until we have public financing of elections, pay-to-play politics will prevail. You betcha!

* When the cupboard is bare one alternative is to eat crow – Marty Weisberg at Slate.com maintains an updated list of Bushisms, comments made by the President that usually do not make much sense. A Bush comment made this week but not yet added to the list is perhaps iconic of all that has gone before it. During a luncheon meeting with the Weekly Standard: “On domestic policy, Bush was asked if he made progress in some areas for which he hasn't and probably won't get credit. Topping his list was his unsuccessful drive in 2005 to reform Social Security.” By “reform” Bush meant “privatize.” He invested considerable time, energy and expense to sell this program to the American people. It proved to be a thorough dud that never came close to acceptance. Given the collapse of financial markets we can only say, “Thank goodness.” Given that a failed initiative tops his list of “making progress” we can only say, “Good riddance.”

* Clean Coal mythology – I recently noted the sludge spill from a coal-fired electric plant in Tennessee could wind up being an environmental disaster. It has not received that much attention in the mainstream news. However, the NY Times learned from the Tennessee Valley authority that in 2007 the plant’s byproducts included: “45,000 pounds of arsenic, 49,000 pounds of lead, 1.4 million pounds of barium, 91,000 pounds of chromium and 140,000 pounds of manganese. Those metals can cause cancer, liver damage and neurological complications, among other health problems.”

The holding pond that yielded the spill contained byproducts accumulating for decades. For days after the spill authorities maintained that the spill was not toxic. We now learn that, “Elevated levels of lead and thallium and what the EPA called “very high” levels of arsenic have been found in water samples taken near the site of the spill.” What should have taken hours to test took days. No surprise and screw the public. “The spill has reignited a debate over whether coal ash should be regulated as a hazardous waste. In 2000, the E.P.A. backed away from its recommendation to do so in the face of industry opposition, promising instead to issue national guidelines for proper ash disposal, though it never did.” No surprise and screw the public.

It is important to note that the Tennessee ash dump is not unique. There are 1300 similar coal ash dump sites across the U.S., most of them unregulated and unmonitored and that contain billions more gallons of fly ash and other byproducts of burning coal. “In 2007, an E.P.A. report identified 63 sites in 26 states where the water was contaminated by heavy metals from such dumps, including three other Tennessee Valley Authority dumps. Environmental advocacy groups have submitted at least 17 additional cases that they say should be added to that list.” This raises two questions: how many other locations are being contaminated since regulation and monitoring is lax to non-existent?; when will the EPA become as responsible to the American people as it is to the energy industry?

A final thought, at least for the moment. The standard for determining the cost of any fuel is the amount of energy it generates. It does not account for the real cost to our society that must include the cost of cleaning up the toxic effects of these fuels. It appears that the cost of addressing the toxicity from coal use in our air, our water and our bodies has yet to enter the calculation. It will be substantial.

* We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.
Native American Proverb

* It is horrifying that we have to fight our own government to save the environment.
Ansel Adams

* Change You Could Believe In – I have never paid much attention to the multiple Inaugural Balls that follow the swearing in of a new president. The little that I recall from four years ago was that the cost was considerable. I am confident that the special interests made sure to inject their ample resources into these extravagant hooplas. I would like to suggest the following to President-elect Barack Obama: Following your inauguration ceremony immediately proceed to the Oval Office with your Cabinet and begin addressing our nation’s serious problems. Cancel the balls and parties, the regalia and pomp and get to work. If you do a good job over the next four years you will be re-elected. That will be the time to take a breather and celebrate. Knowing that George W. Bush has left the White House is a party in itself - for the entire nation.

* Change We Hope We Can Believe In – Obama’s cabinet is being called by many pundits “smart, experienced, non-ideologues”. It will be quite a while before we have a sense of impact of Obama’s presidency, his policies and appointments. He certainly seems to have gotten off to a good start. I personally ignore the drama surrounding Hillary Clinton’s probable nomination for Secretary of State as well as the minutiae being mined about other appointees. This country desperately needs leaders who are smart, experienced, non-ideologues. The person we elected to lead us through this period of grave crisis should select the talent he deems prepared and capable to develop and implement the requisite policies and programs. Now is not the time to carp and critique.

* Change We Can Participate In – I received an email on Monday from MoveOn.org asking for a monthly donation of $15.00. The objective - to offset the influence of huge amounts of money special interests will spend through their lobbyists to impede bold Obama initiatives on healthcare and energy. Anyone is welcome to use their financial resources to assist America moving forward. However, this is a belting-tightening time for most Americans and I would like to suggest an economical and perhaps more substantive way to influence our country’s path. It is called “activism.” Much of the money lobbyists have funneled to elected representatives has been used for re-election campaigns. If nothing else, politicians want to be re-elected. That is where you and I enter the dynamic. Since we are the ones that cast ballots, if we are sufficiently vocal, we have an excellent chance of gaining politicians’ attention. The website VoteSmart.org enables one to identify their Senators and Representatives and how to contact them. As a group we have the potential to be more powerful than the lobbyists and their masters. It requires each of us to take an interest in our self-interest. If we as citizens are not engaged, the government becomes an oligarchy of demagogues and special interests. The last eight years is testimony to such a fate.

To be an activist requires knowledge. The Dailey Kos political blog is launching a new website Congress Matters. The objective of the blog: “By watching, learning, analyzing and discussing the daily activities of the Congress, we hope to improve our effectiveness as advocates and activists. We'll pull back the curtains on how Congress conducts its business, both public and "private" (i.e., within the party caucuses and conferences), explain floor procedure and rules, and even throw in a little gut feeling when appropriate to try to get a better picture of what's going on, and more importantly, what we can do about it.”

Some of the organizations/websites that I feel are resources for people seeking to be better informed:
Common Cause
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
People for the American Way
Free Press
Center for American Progress
Human Rights Campaign
Amnesty International USA
1 SKY
Servicemembers Legal Defense Network
Pro Publica
True Majority
League of Conservation Voters
Corporate Accountability International
This list is far from inclusive. In the future I will suggest additional organizations I deem worthy of consideration.

* Quote of the Week – “This isn’t about big government or small government. It’s about building a smarter government that focuses on what works.” Barack Obama, November 25, 2008

* Hallelujah ~ I have found a new Pastor! – Seven Days of Sex was the title of the sermon that Pastor Ed Young gave his congregation earlier this month. “Young challenged his parishioners to have sex with their spouse every day for a week to see how it benefited their relationship.” The Baptist pastor bases his “sexperiment” on Christian ideology – that God created sex for husband and wife. I can’t wait to show the video of the sermon to my rabbi – an ecumenical action on my part that is in tune with the new effort in our country to identify areas of common interest and move away from more recent divisiveness and isolation. I would like to suggest a new rallying cry for America – “Sex, Patriotism and Rock and Roll.”

* Speaking of “ecumenical” – “President and First Lady Bush recently sent Jewish community leaders invitations to a Hanukkah reception at the White House next month. But as the New York Post reports, the invitations “raised more than a few eyebrows” because the image on them was that of a “Clydesdale horse hauling a Christmas fir along the snow-dappled drive to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.” Ho, ho ho! Oy, oy, oy!

* Being dragged into the 20th Century – “State (South Carolina) GOP chairman Katon Dawson, who is campaigning to lead the national Republican Party organization, has resigned a 12-year membership in a whites-only Columbia country club… Dawson said he began working to change the club’s admissions practices in mid-August after reading about the deed in an article in The State.” After being a member of a club with racist policies and no black faces on members for 12 years, it took an article in a newspaper to alert Mr. Dawson to the situation. Maybe when other members were saying no “Coloreds” allowed, Mr. Dawson thought they were saying no “collards” allowed. Apparently the Republican Party has not reached rock bottom in spite of its considerable efforts.

* Being dragged into the 21st Century - Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Cindy Lederman Tuesday declared that Florida's 50-year-old ban on gay adoptions unconstitutional. Judge Lederman said, ''It is clear that sexual orientation is not a predictor of a person's ability to parent.''

* I love contests – The Nation magazine has a contest for readers to offer suggestions, in 25 words or less, what President Bush should do after he leaves office. The response I submitted: “Nothing”!

* Intelligent and responsive governance – Two weeks ago I noted a report by Pro Publica (Journalism in the Public Interest) how gas drilling is resulting in carcinogens entering our water supplies. This week New York City and state politicians called for the state Department of Environmental Conservation to hire an outside consultant to evaluate the impact gas drilling could have on the city's watershed, and to hold public hearings in New York City and in the watershed region. It seems appropriate that we each ask our city and state representatives what respective local governments are doing to ensure the safety of the water we consume. Over the last eight years the federal Environmental Protection Agency saw its mission as protecting industry. I hope and optimistically expect this will change in an Obama administration but, some of the responsibility should be assumed by each of us to pressure and hold accountable our representatives. Our dependence on the “other guy” to do it came up short.

* No pardon in this season for a duck – An article by Joe Klein of Time Magazine summarizes the presidency of George W. Bush. It should be read in its entirety for its incisiveness and as precursor of assessments that will follow in the days and decades to follow. One sentence from this article, that generates more pathos for America than for Mr. Bush, Klein writes, “At the end of a presidency of stupefying ineptitude, he has become the lamest of all possible ducks.”

* “Consequences, Schmonsequences, as long as I'm rich.”
Daffy Duck in 1957 film Ali Baba Bunny

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.

Regardless of the outcome of the presidential election on Tuesday its close will be welcome. Presidential politics have been in the forefront for almost two years and in recent months the calls, the mailings, the emailings and the television and radio ads have become burdensome. At the same time, the number of voter registrations and anticipated voter turnout should be a high mark in our democratic tradition. There still are concerns about Republican attempts to disenfranchise voters not prone to the GOP and unreliable voting machines, but these potential disruptions can lead to systemic improvements if the activism seen in this election remains energized. Safeguards for voter rights and voting systems require an upgrade.

McCain and Obama continue to offer striking differences in content and demeanor. Obama concentrates on issues important to Americans. The McCain campaign concentrates on characterizing Obama as a Socialist, a Marxist and a supporter of terrorists. Perhaps Mr. McCain does not sufficiently believe in his own platform that he has to emphasize empty issues that lack gravitas. Obama’s tax plan, ideas for economic recovery, foreign policy strategies, energy solutions and prescriptions for health care inadequacies and inequities is what most of us care about. A poll on Thursday indicated that 59% of voters felt that Sarah Palin was not prepared to be Vice President. The Palin selection was emblematic of a McCain candidacy constructed to appeal to a narrow base and plagued by impetuous execution. The Palin nomination understandably brought into question McCain’s judgment and ability to make sound decisions. Questionable economic stances and neocon/myopic foreign policy have not added to his appeal or credibility. The John McCain candidacy has proven to be a disappointment for many Independents, Republicans and even Democrats who once admired the long-serving Arizona senator.

* Under the radar ~ Leadership and Organization – The polls indicate that McCain is still within striking distance to win this election. What the polls do not show is the comprehensive ground game that the Obama campaign has designed and implemented. The Obama campaign has established offices and built an army of volunteers across America that is beyond the scope of previous national campaigns. One aspect of this effort was registering voters and it did so in record numbers. The other aspect is directed toward voter turnout. This weekend millions of registered Democrats will be visited by Obama volunteers. They will be reminded to vote, provided with information about voting locations and hours of operation and offered rides to the polls where needed. On Election Day these same registered Democrats will again be reminded to vote and a huge number of legal experts will be deployed around the country to protect against voter intimidation and vote stealing. The Democratic Party will be far better prepared this year to deal with Republican shenanigans than it was in 2000 and 2004.

* McCain ~ Change you don’t want to believe in – The McCain-Palin campaign did not invent racism and hate in America. Evidence of these ugly facets of human behavior can be seen throughout American history. However, one would think that a national political party seeking election to the highest office would go way out of its way to avoid any taint of such negativity and divisiveness. John McCain proves this premise incorrect. A survey of news outlets and blogs provides numerous examples of increasing expressions of hate and meanness, racism and homophobia - a result of the pandering McCain/Republican political campaign. I lay responsibility for these cancerous expressions at the feet of Senator McCain and Governor Palin. Regardless of the outcome of this election their candidacy was a big step backward for American principles, a regression stained with shame that will not disappear like political lawn signs on November 5th.

* The Bush Effect ~ Lest we forget – President Bush is still in office and still intent on his damaging policies and reign of error. A Washington Post article on Friday provides the details. “The White House is working to enact a wide array of federal regulations, many of which would weaken government rules aimed at protecting consumers and the environment, before President Bush leaves office in January.” If there was not such a damaging track record by the Bush administration I would have thought the article was a Halloween trick. It reminds one of an April 1st fool: lift constraints on power plants, mines and farms; clear obstacles to some commercial ocean-fishing activities; ease controls on emissions of pollutants that contribute to global warming; relax drinking-water standards; and lift a key restriction on mountaintop coal mining – a type of mining that damages the environment and has destroyed communities.

* Karl Marx meets Grouch Marx – Representative Steve King (R-IA) tells an audience in Sioux City that Obama is even more extreme than a Socialist. With Obama America will wind up with a totalitarian dictatorship. And, bless his little heart, he informs the audience that only Republicans have a legitimate claim to representing freedom as America knows it. From the Farm Belt – it’s Saturday Nigh Live. If one does not laugh at this crap one would cry.

* Let freedom ring – My efforts and my vote support Barack Obama. A number of Republican/conservative friends have told me they will vote for John McCain. I am disappointed in their decision but understand that all of our votes are valid. When the election is over we will move forward together. One cannot ask for more in a democratic society.

* “Bad politicians are sent to Washington by good people who don't vote.”
William E. Simon (1927 – 2000) 63rd U.S. Secretary of Treasury

* Politics in need of a Thesaurus – John McCain and Republican brethren are accusing Obama and liberals of having an agenda of Socialism. They fail to comprehend that “Socialism” and “fairness” are not synonymous. They fail to recognize that sharing the bounty is good for everyone. Our society works best when there is an engaged work force earning a reasonable wage. That has nothing to do with the indiscriminant distribution of wealth or resources. Ultra-conservative Henry Ford understood this principle. He paid his workers a higher wage than what was the standard at the time. He realized that if employees had sufficient income they would also become customers for the automobiles he produced.

In more recent years the marriage of Republicans, conservatives and special interests has resulted in the abandonment of the common good. Declining wages, increasing unemployment and dramatic increases in the concentration of wealth are evident in every study that examines U.S. economic conditions. Adjusting economic policy in order to revitalize what had been a vibrant middle class is not Socialism. It is intelligent Capitalism. On the other hand, not adjusting economic imbalances is exactly what leads to conditions that have spawned Socialism and Communism and revolution. I would suggest that Senator McCain and his Party are also in need of history books.

* Different roads offer a clear choice – I watched appearances of McCain and Obama this week. When McCain made a comment about Obama the crowd booed. McCain paused to allow the boos to resonate and then continued with his comments. When Obama made a statement about McCain there was a smattering of boos in the audience. Obama held up his hands in a halting fashion and said to the crowd, “We will have none of that.”

* A prescription for conservatives – It is understandable that some Republicans and conservatives find the McCain-Palin ticket unappealing but have anxiety about voting for a Democratic candidate or a Barack Obama who is perceived as left of center in political philosophy. Since I already prescribed Xanax for nervous voters in the previous blog I offer a non-pharmaceutical alternative. The website Conservatives for Change is a project featuring Republicans and Conservatives who, in their own words, explain why they are voting for Obama. Perhaps peer experiences will ease the transition. See McCain Effect below.

* Does McCain suffer from dementia, ignorance or bovine excreta? John McCain was interviewed on the Don Imus radio show. In reference to his VP selection Sarah Palin, McCain said, “I think she's the most qualified of any that has run recently for vice president, to tell you the truth.” McCain therefore concludes that Governor Palin possesses superior qualifications to that of Al Gore, Joe Lieberman, Dick Cheney and George H. W. Bush. Perhaps this explains McCain’s affinity for George W. Bush and why many serious voters have difficulty taking McCain seriously. In the categories of ”irony” “ludicrous” and “my mirror is broken”, this week McCain accused Barack Obama of being willing to say anything to win the election.

* Bradley Effect - Each day polling data increasingly favors Obama. Many supporters of the Illinois senator take this news favorably but with tempered optimism due to the Bradley Effect. Twenty-six years ago Los Angeles mayor Tom Bradley, an African American, ran for governor of California. Prior to the election he led in the polls by 20%. He lost the election to George Deukmejian, a White American. It was concluded that many voters polled before the election said they favored Bradley but when it came time to pull the lever they could not vote for a Black man. I have seen comments suggesting that polling is significantly more sophisticated today and that more recent races between White and Black candidates demonstrated that polling reflected the final results. Such observations have not reduced the apprehension of many leading up to this year’s election.

* McCain Effect - I have been wondering if this year’s election may produce a McCain Effect. It appears possible that some Republicans and conservatives, as well as Whites who are reluctant to vote for a person of color, have told pollsters they will vote for McCain. Is it possible that some will stand in the polling booth and decide that deep down inside, in opposition to their inclinations, Obama is the right choice to be our nation’s 44th President?

* Palin Effect ~ defining a terrorist – I never imagined that my East coast major metropolitan viewpoint would be the same as someone from Alaska. What I did not realize is how far apart these perspectives can be. NBC’s Brian Williams interviewed Sara Palin this week. In the context of the 1960’s actions by Bill Ayers, Williams asked Palin if an abortion clinic bomber is a terrorist. Most would agree the question is moot but I find the answer telling. Palin responded, “There’s no question that Bill Ayers via his own admittance was one who sought to destroy our U.S. Capitol and our Pentagon. That is a domestic terrorist. There’s no question there. Now, others who would want to engage in harming innocent Americans or facilities that uh, it would be unacceptable. I don’t know if you’re going to use the word terrorist there.” Am I being cynical wondering if the darling of the extreme religious-right subtly is implying that an action is somehow more excusable if it is performed in an interpretation of the Almighty? I believe we call such folks “al Qaeda.”

* Economic realism – The implosion of Wall Street highlighted many Republican and conservative philosophies and policies that have been somewhere between bad and devastating for the vast majority of Americans. All of their recent finger pointing and misleading blame game tactics do not alter the results. As noted above the employment record is another proof-is-in-the-pudding moment. Republicans would have us believe that tax cuts for the wealthy will lead to greater investment in industry which will lead to greater employment. There may have been some merit to this strategy under different economic and workplace conditions but certainly not as it has been applied during the Bush administration. Articles this week pointed out that Clinton created 23 million jobs while Bush created 4.8 million. At the beginning of the 21st century the Trickle Down Theory may apply to a toddlers right leg but, as a strategy for the American economy, it has dried up. I would expect that under an Obama administration we would see intelligent tax incentives for business aimed at increasing employment while reducing the existing tax cut policies that are devoid of responsible requirements.

Another Republican strategy that I expect will merit demise is anti-unionism. The 20th century offered a history of the battle between unions and business. Each side had their victories and losses but what is clear is that when either side became too strong the common interest was hurt. Today we again see the result of business having become too dominate in this relationship. The unwritten contract between business and the Republican Party has resulted in union membership in private industry falling from 30% after World War II to 8% today. “The decline in union membership paralleled with a decline in real wages, retirement benefits, and quality of health care. To ensure that workers who wish to organize are able to do so, the House passed the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) in March 2007 with bipartisan support. In the Senate, however, a group of 48 conservatives successfully blocked the measure with a filibuster threat three months later.” I anticipate the passage of this bill in the next Congress.

* The Roots of Violence: Wealth without work, Pleasure without conscience, Knowledge without character, Commerce without morality, Science without humanity, Worship without sacrifice, Politics without principles.

Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869 – 1948) a political and spiritual leader of India

* American heritage – I have often wondered why, in a country so blessed with the footing of democratic and religious freedoms, there is much evidence of hatred and prejudice. Civil rights did not become a legal reality until the 1960s and even then it was not simply an extension of rights to all citizens. It required a big bang of legislation and legal enforcement. At this moment religious tolerance appears to be experiencing a backward spiral as the Republican brand encourages the narrowness and overreach of the religious-right. As we survey our country in the beginning of the 21st century that which permeates our presidential elections are issues of race, religion, hate and fear. It characterizes George Bush’s candidacies and administrations. Some may excuse these patterns as merely Rovian politics but, such seeds of ill will require a compatible environment to root. At one time I hopefully and naively believed that our society and much of humanity were on an ascending plane of betterment and concern for the common good. Our “avowed” commitment to faith in a universal influence and “belief” in individual freedoms has too often been as much surface as substance. How does one explain this failure to build upon the tenants of 18th Century Enlightenment that inspired the foundation of our country and the structure of our political framework?

Future generations of sociologists, anthropologists and psychologists will render theories and opinions as to the contributing factors that kept us underachievers of the democratic ideal. DNA experts may find genetic markers that preclude humans at this stage of evolutionary development from achieving the promise of fair, tolerant and moral behavior. With respect to America, perhaps there was a “genetic” flaw endemic to our founding. I thought about this on a recent visit to Monticello, the home of one of the greatest of our founding fathers – Thomas Jefferson.

By almost any standard Jefferson was a Renaissance man. Science, agriculture, botany, arts and letters were within his interest and grasp. He wrote the Declaration of Independence and thereafter spent 33 years in public life, including serving as President of the US from 1801 to 1809. Embodied in the Declaration were the words “all men are created equal” and have a right to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” In opposition to these lofty ideals, during Jefferson’s lifetime he owned over 600 slaves. This contradiction was noted by the Marquis de Lafayette, a Frenchman who believed in the idea of liberty and rights of man and who lent his considerable efforts to the American Revolution. Thirty-five years after the revolution he visited Jefferson at Monticello. A slave later related how Lafayette was critical of Jefferson for his support of slavery. Jefferson responded that perhaps some time in the future slaves would be free. Perhaps some time in the future the idealism and lofty goals enunciated at our nation’s birth will be broadly fulfilled and hypocrisy will be as ugly a footnote as slavery.

* Yes Virginia, democracy has been saved – The Virginia State Board of Elections has ruled that, “voters won't be allowed to wear clothing featuring John McCain or Barack Obama when they head to the polls on November 4th.”The ACLU says the ban violates the First Amendment’s right to free speech. “The board, however, said it has to weigh that against the right to vote free of undue influence or the tension that candidate advocacy might create.” I suggest that we all take a Xanax and go to the polls nude. This will abate our tensions and preclude undue influence should another voter be wearing a White shirt or a Black skirt.

* Quote of the Week – “Democracy and capitalism are the two great pillars of the American idea. To have rocked one of those pillars may be regarded as a misfortune. To have damaged the reputation of both, at home and abroad, is a pretty stunning achievement for an American president.” From an article by the Mayor of London Boris Johnson, referring to Iraq, the Wall Street meltdown and the Bush legacy.

* Halloween arrived early for Republicans ~ the tricks have far-exceeded the treats – In July the McCain campaign stunned the political landscape by announcing that Sarah Palin was the selection for VP. The attractive and bubbly governor of Alaska was costumed as a reformer with executive credentials and she enthusiastically enhanced the façade by claiming foreign policy experience. McCain certainly was not fooled by Palin’s background because it was as empty as some of McCain’s campaign appearances. Palin was an offering to the religious-right and hopefully an attraction to women and small town and rural voters. She has agreeably accepted the role of attacking Obama and memorizing campaign sound bites. She has objectively done nothing to enhance her credibility as someone actually qualified for the position. What do the American people think about Ms. Palin three months after her grand entrance and two weeks before the election?

Two polls released on Tuesday indicate that the Palin selection is being seen for what it is – a trick. “Palin's qualifications to be president now rank as voters' top concern about John McCain's candidacy… Fifty-five percent of respondents now say Palin is not qualified to serve as president… for the first time, more voters have a negative opinion of her than a positive one. In the survey, 47 percent view her negatively, versus 38 percent who see her in a positive light…opinions of Palin have flipped in the last month, especially among the female voters she was expected to attract to the McCain ticket… Women, especially women under age 50, have become increasingly critical of Palin: 60% now express an unfavorable view of Palin, up from 36% in mid-September.” On November 4th it is likely that Christmas will have arrived early for the Republican ticket as the voting public appears ready to say to McCain and Palin, “Ho, ho, ho” and vote “Bah, humbug.”

* Speaking of costumes – The Republican National Committee has spent $150,000 to clothe and coif Sarah Palin and her family since her coming out party as VP nominee. The “values” mom who prides herself on appealing to regular folks and “real” Americans did not do her shopping at Wal Mart. "According to financial disclosure records, the accessorizing began in early September and included bills from Saks Fifth Avenue in St. Louis and New York for a combined $49,425.74. The records also document a couple of big-time shopping trips to Neiman Marcus in Minneapolis, including one $75,062.63 spree in early September. The RNC also spent $4,716.49 on hair and makeup through September after reporting no such costs in August." John McCain’s experience and knowledge of government may not have rubbed off on Ms. Palin but his wife Cindy certainly has become Sarah’s big sister when it comes to fashion and cosmetics. One can only hope that she does not spill beer on her haute couture. You betcha!

* Cause or effect? ~ the dumbing of the electorate - As the 2008 presidential campaign nears the end game fewer and fewer important issues are getting attention. It would be difficult to recall the last, if any, discussion about illegal immigration and an approach to the 12 to 20 million people residing in our country illegally. Iraq and Afghanistan are in deep background and one could conclude that Pakistan does not exist. Silence has accompanied the issues of food and product safety, greater inspection of food imports, broader inspection of shipping containers entering the country and increased security at chemical plants. Never on the table was discussion about our dwindling water resources and increasingly polluted water supply. Neither candidate, beyond promising to clean up Washington, addresses campaign finance reform or stronger congressional ethics rules and oversight or increased restrictions on lobbyists. After you have heard an Obama or McCain campaign speech one time there is no need to tune in to another. Both campaigns approach the listening public as if we do not have the ability to understand more than one issue at a time or two issues in a week or 3 issues in a month. Since campaigns are scientifically researched and designed to attract the maximum number of voters perhaps they have concluded that John Q. Public or Joe the Plumber cannot intellectually multi-task issues. Perhaps they are correct.

* “Half of the American people never read a newspaper. Half never voted for President. One hopes it is the same half.”
Gore Vidal - American novelist, screenwriter, playwright, essayist, short story writer and politician.

* Naked on the right - The demise of the most recent version of conservative economic and political policies has the populist talking heads of conservatism in a dither. Examples include Neil Cavuto and Rush Limbaugh from viral broadcasting and the right-sided writing of the Washington Post’s Charles Krauthammer. They currently are desperately grasping for a hold on respectability and relevance. In order to protect their message they have concocted faux targets to divert attention from misguided and wrong counsel. One of their disingenuous maneuvers is to place the blame for the current financial crisis on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.” Look out for those liberal-supported policies designed to assist lower income families to invest in homes.” “Those damn left-wingers.” Fortunately, there are still some in the Fourth Estate doing their job.

The McClatchy Newspapers Washington Bureau just removed the wheels from the canard that conservatives are riding. The article is titled “Private sector loans, not Fannie or Freddie, triggered crisis.” It was an unregulated private sector gone wild that brought our economy to its knees, not regulated government-assisted programs. I highly recommend a read of this article as an aide to understand what took place and, just as importantly, guidance for future policy. Republican conservatives bemoan the fact that the current financial crisis has altered the parameters of the upcoming election. I agree that it is unfortunate. We all had to suffer the effects before their failed policies were laid bare. The policies that they promoted should be evaluated and voted upon by the electorate, without spin and din.

To borrow an often used phrase of Barack Obama, “Let me be perfectly clear.” I do not advocate a national discourse devoid of conservative ideas any more than it would be appropriate to give voice exclusively to liberal thinking. It so happens that conservatives have dominated the national landscape while their views were implemented dishonestly and incompetently by President George W. Bush and the Republican Party. Liberal thinking and the Democratic Party are not without criticism. Going forward America’s best chance is a synthesis of views from all positions. It is likely that the first step will require that the political house be cleaned, with many more Republicans than Democrats being left for the trash pickup. A return to normalcy will be accompanied by a return to balance. At some point in the future this lesson will be forgotten and the process will cycle again. At best, we can hope for less dramatic swings of the political ideology pendulum and greater integrity in the people that we elect.

* Agreeing to disagree – I almost never agree with neo-con, conservative and Bush war cheerleader Bill Kristol. His column in the NY Times on Monday October 13th was no exception. Kristol wrote, “It’s time for John McCain to fire his campaign.” This comment comes after previous Kristol comments suggesting the McCain campaign do what he now criticizes. I say leave well enough alone. This is a McCain-selected campaign team of lobbyists, neo-cons, deregulators and slime campaigners scraped like barnacles from the Karl Rove ship of ghouls. They represent the political and economic philosophy and foreign policy that has put this country and its citizens in peril. My friends, I say do not fire them. Allow them to go down in flames with the current icons of these failures, Senator John McCain and Governor Sarah Palin. I wish them GOP – Get Out of Politics - after the election.

* Clunk - That thud you heard this week was the approval rating of George W. Bush. Declining to 23% it surpassed Richard Nixon’s low of 24% and is a point away from the lowest in 70 years of polling, set by Harry Truman in early 1952. The ABC News/Washington Post poll also found that 90% of Americans believe that the country “is on the wrong track.” Contrary to Mr. Bush’s daydreams and prognostications, history will not absolve him of what will be one of the worst executive tenures in American history. I believe that as we learn more about a Bush administration that has been wrapped in secrets and deceptions the perception of the Bush years will worsen. The face of G.W. Bush will not displace the portraits of Washington, Lincoln, Jackson, Hamilton or Franklin on our folding money – even if there is any money left.

* Mea culpa – I recently criticized the Clintons for not campaigning more on behalf of Barack Obama. Perhaps their appearances were not showing up in my news sources. On Sunday I watched their speeches in Scranton, PA and both Clintons are active on the campaign trail promoting Obama, the jobs he will create and reinforcing the idea that we do not need a continuation of Bush-like policies. We each can ask ourselves what we are doing to bring about a change from the disastrous policies of the last eight years. The Obama campaign is urging people to volunteer at their local offices leading up the election on November 4th. With less than three weeks remaining before the most important presidential election in our lifetime there are opportunities to get out the vote, work at polls, help people to get to the polls. If you have been unhappy with the course our government has taken, the time to do something is now.

* Welcome to the 51st State of the United States ~ the police state - Talk about unfocused and misguided policy. Over the last couple of years we have seen evidence of federal, state and local police bodies targeting anti-war groups. Unlike the protests during the Viet Nam war evidence of violent intentions or behavior is lacking and yet the free speech of protesters is seen as terrorist activity. The latest example of such blurred vision and perhaps illegal action was committed by the Maryland State Police. Sisters Carol Gilbert and Ardeth Platte, each serving the Catholic Church for over 50 years, have been placed on a national watch list due to their participation in anti-war protest activities. “They were among 53 people added to a terrorist watch list in conjunction with an extensive Maryland surveillance effort of antiwar activists.” Many voices in our society are quick to criticize the efforts of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) but it is actions like that of Maryland law enforcement that reinforces the need for civil liberty watchdog organizations. Note: This portion of SVN is being written anonymously since I will be driving through Maryland later this week. You can be sure I will not be wearing a nun’s habit.

* Unwelcome results of government spying on citizens – The National Security Agency (NSA) is the primary eavesdropper on our communications. Bush has tried at every opportunity to allow such spying without oversight or court order. Before Bush the courts had to issue a warrant for a U.S. citizen to be spied upon. Recent legislation removed restraints and that is troublesome in a free society. Power unregulated gets abused. It is a natural law. In an ABC report, “two former military intercept officers who worked at the NSA charge that the government spying agency listened in on calls to the United States made by soldiers, journalists and human rights workers working in the Middle East, even after it was clear that the calls were not in any way related to national security. The NSA officials regularly passed around salacious calls such as the private "phone sex" calls of military officers calling home, according to the report.”

In the next administration and congress oversight of spying should be revisited and protections from spying abuse legislated. One J. Edgar Hoover was enough for this country. Hoover was instrumental in founding the FBI in 1936 and led the organization until his death in 1972. Known for abusing his power and exceeding his jurisdiction U.S. leaders feared him because he compiled secret files on them, information often collected illegally. His dirty tricks program included “infiltration, burglaries, illegal wiretaps, planting forged documents and spreading false rumors about key members of target organizations.” Hoover was not bashful about using these files to achieve his end. This is not an America that I envision.

* “The fact is that censorship always defeats its own purpose, for it creates, in the end, the kind of society that is incapable of exercising real discretion.”
Henry Steele Commager (1902 – 1998) American historian

* The real Reality Show - You get home after a long day, enter your house and find that the TV, stereo, jewelry and paintings are gone. You stagger for a moment and then reach for the telephone to call the police. Before you can dial, a voice from behind you says, ”Put the phone down and raise your hands. I still want everything that is left in your wallet.” Welcome to Wall Street, Bush Boulevard and Paulson Highway to Up Yours – I’ve Got Mine. The financial industry bailout proposals this week by the Bush administration made the Savings and Loan failures of the late 1980’s look as harmless as a broken piggy bank.

The bailout proposals being discussed will cost taxpayers amounts so far projected to be between $700 billion and $1.8 trillion. The initial Bush plan proposes that the Secretary of the Treasury, an unelected official, would administer the funds with no congressional or court oversight, his decisions can never be questioned or reviewed by any authoritative body and there will be no penalties for the previous actions of the Wall Street bandits. This next part is a classic: if financial industry executive compensation is restricted, it would be a deal breaker. Bush and Paulson then dust off the Iraq invasion marketing campaign: FEAR. Accept this proposal immediately because if we delay there will be a mushroom cloud over Wall Street.

As the crook takes the money from your wallet the police arrive, having been alerted by your silent alarm. The first thing they do is sit everyone down at the kitchen table and serve coffee and Cheese Danish. Then they let the perpetrator walk away with your TV, stereo, jewelry, paintings, cash and a wink.

Update: After Paulson was excoriated by Republicans, Democrats, the media, and public watchdog organizations for requesting a bailout plan with no oversight by anyone but himself he has changed his tune. Testifying before the Senate Banking Committee Paulson said, “I didn’t suggest oversight in the bailout plan because that would be presumptuous.” This is in contrast to almost every other sentient being who feels the plan as a whole is presumptuous. And, Paulson perjured himself when he made this statement. Paulson’s plan released last weekend explicitly denied any review at all of his actions: “Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.” What else would one expect from a Bush appointee but lies and arrogance?

* King Bush does cares about his subjects ~ at least the Barons of Industry – He is treating the greed-bloated conniving crooks and manipulators on Wall Street as if they were his close buds at Exxon Mobil, Hess, Chevron et al ad nausea. Run your businesses in a manner that will suck every dollar possible from the consumer, function with inadequate oversight toward the common good, be protected by the government regardless of the offense and if you get in trouble the taxpayer will cover your ass. And who is the taxpayer bailing out? “In 2007, Wall Street’s five biggest firms — Bear Stearns, Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, and Morgan Stanley — paid a record $39 billion in bonuses to themselves... Those 2007 bonuses were paid even though the shareholders in those firms last year collectively lost about $74 billion in stock declines — their worst year since 2002.” But then again, George is not big on accountability.

*The sound of silence – There is one benefit to the financial crisis. Republicans have finally shut up about their flagship demand for free and unregulated markets. Abject failure will do that to soapbox charlatans.

* Ka-ching – One would think that with the billions of dollars lost by financial institutions there would be no resources left for political contributions. Wrong again! The LA Times is reporting that contributions from financial companies and their lobbyists to Obama amount to $22.5 million and to McCain $19.6 million. Additionally, the industry has given heavily to members of the congressional committees in charge of legislation and the bailout. Recall a previous time in American history when the battle cry was “No taxation without representation?” Can you say, “Public financing of elections?”

* Derriere Orifice of the Week 1 ~ and maybe the month – “Neil Cavuto, host of Fox News' Your World, conflated giving home mortgages to minorities with risky lending practices, suggesting that efforts to increase homeownership among minority borrowers contributed to financial problems at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.” I am not sure if he is just stupid or a stupid racist. For those of us who are not challenged intellectually or morally, here is what did occur: “But even if 100 percent of bad debt had been produced by people of color, the reason for the financial collapse is that debt was chopped up and marketed as mortgage-backed securities to financial institutions all over the world. If the debt hadn't been sold, making many people very rich, the bad debt wouldn't have been integrated into the rest of the financial system and it would have just led to the collapse of the original institutions providing mortgages. In other words, it wasn't the debt itself; it was the very lucrative selling of the debt that got us where we are today.” Conservatives using white resentment as a political tool may have worked for Ronald Regan and George Bush but, I for one resent it. Mr. Cavuto, FOX you.

* “Good” is a relative concept –On Friday night I spilled a glass of 2005 Cline Zinfandel with dark fruit flavors on myself. It was a result of laughing at NY Times columnist David Brooks’ comment during PBS’ News Hour. He commented that Bush has had a pretty good past 3 years. Excuuuuuuse meeeee! If one considers that Bush has not been impeached, imprisoned or institutionalized for incompetence one can say he has had a pretty good 3 years. If one considers the state of our country…

* Poor judgment or dishonesty? – McCain’s campaign manager is Rick Davis, a lobbyist who fought regulation of financial institutions. This week McCain was adamant that Davis had no involvement with mortgage giant Freddie Mac for the last several years and said, “I'll be glad to have his record examined by anybody who wants to look at it.” The NY Times and Newsweek did look at it. Until last month mortgage giant Freddie Mac paid a firm owned by Davis $15,000 per month. The payments stopped when the federal government took over Freddie.

David Donnelly, director of the watchdog group Campaign Money Watch, said: "John McCain's campaign manager and Freddie Mac essentially had a secret half a million dollar lay-a-way plan. For almost three years, they made secret, monthly payments of $15,000 to Rick Davis for apparently no other work than for him to provide special access to a future McCain White House in exchange. If McCain knew about this, his presidential campaign should be over. If he didn't know about it, he ought to fire Rick Davis immediately."

* Shooting from the lip – In recent years the National Rifle Association (NRA) and the Republican Party have bonded like a high-power scope on a sniper rifle. “The NRA is circulating printed material and running TV ads making unsubstantiated claims that Obama plans to ban use of firearms for home defense, ban possession and manufacture of handguns, close 90 percent of gun shops and ban hunting ammunition.” At the above link you can see details of how disingenuous these claims are as well as how the ad is designed to appear to be coming from the Obama campaign. Watching the world of politics and governance leaves one with a soiled feeling. It is the reason that most of us would rather watch Dancing with the Stars than a bunch of power hungry and less than honest leaders of what was once something close to a Great Society. The Great Tragedy is that by chasing us away they further empowered themselves.

* You can run but, you can’t hide forever – “A federal appeals court on Monday ordered the Bush administration to hand over photos depicting abuse of prisoners held by the US military in Iraq and Afghanistan.” ACLU staff attorney Amrit Singh said, “These photographs demonstrate that the abuse of prisoners held in U.S. custody abroad was not aberrational and not confined to Abu Ghraib, but the result of policies adopted by high-ranking officials. Their release is critical for bringing an end to the administration’s torture policies and for deterring further prisoner abuse.” It would not surprise me if one of these days an international authority investigates the possibility of war crimes committed by the United States. What is astounding to me is that I would ever imagine such a thought.

* A religious experience at the U.N. - On Tuesday President Bush gave his last speech to the United Nations. Those in attendance heard “Thank God” whispered in 102 languages.

* “The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted."
James Madison (1751 – 1836) a Founding Father of the U.S. and its fourth President (1809 – 1817)

* Terrorists or the marriage of elected officials to lobbyists ~ which is the more dangerous threat to Americans? In a NY Times book review of Thomas Frank’s “The Wrecking Crew” we learn, “The increasing supply of lobbyists, Frank observes, “should have driven the price of lobbying down, not up. … The most credible explanation … is that clients grew more and more confident that their lobbyists could deliver something of value in exchange for their fees. … The reason companies started buying, in other words, was that Congress began selling. Special-interest earmarks in legislation by members of Congress have exploded in number, while careers in elected or appointed office are apprenticeships for lobbying jobs.”

Since congress sets the rules for lobbyists and their interaction with elected officials the public is virtually defenseless against their self-aggrandizement. In the last decade ethics oversight of congressman has been virtually non-existent. Given the existing circumstances foreseeable change is not likely because the inmates are running the prison. Where is the public outcry? It is distracted by nonsensical issues promulgated by Republican spinmeisters, buoyed by the myopic pleas of the religious right and too often reinforced by corporate media magpies. Nor should Democratic congressmen be held blameless. There is some merit to their argument that their bare majority in Congress is insufficient to bring about meaningful change but one wonders if this is not also a cover for their complicity in the lobbyist culture. And, we the people are not blameless. Every poll demonstrates that the American people are completely fed up with Congress but when polled about their own elected officials they would return them to office. If this is a result of being comfortable with the devil that you know, welcome to hell.

~ Bovine excreta of the week - In an interview on Wednesday McCain said about lobbyists, “Whenever there’s a corrupt system, then you’re going to have these birds of prey descend on it to get their share of the spoils. … Lobbyists don’t come to my office. Because they know they’re not going to be an earmark. They know they’re not going to get a pork-barrel project… I think there are too many lobbyists in Washington.” For the record, McCain has at least 159 lobbyists – on leaves of absence - running his campaign, fundraising, and shaping his policies. ProgressiveAccountability.org lists the names, firms and issues.

* Another wedding you don’t want to attend ~ John McCain and corporate America – From ThinkProgress.org “The Hill reports that the CEOs of the 100 biggest Fortune 500 corporations have given approximately 10 times as much to John McCain as they have to Barack Obama. One explanation for this “generosity,” as outlined by the Center for American Progress Action Fund, is that McCain’s proposed corporate tax cuts would result in a $45 billion tax giveaway to the 200 largest corporations in America and a total of $175 billion in corporate tax breaks. Wal-Mart, Exxon Mobil and ConocoPhillips would each receive over $1 billion in tax breaks. It is obvious that their campaign contributions are a most prudent “investment.” Given the current federal debt, the fragility of the American economy and the deteriorating financial condition of most Americans this country cannot afford the corporate tax reductions that McCain proposes. If McCain and corporate America consummate their marriage close to 300,000,000 Americans get screwed without the benefit of an orchestra or a honeymoon.

* Like Vana White, just flipping letters ~ Wal-Mart / Mal-Mart – The leading retailer in America once again demonstrated its disdain for integrity, employee rights and probably federal law. The Wall Street Journal reports, “Prominent labor groups are seeking an investigation into whether Wal-Mart Stores Inc. violated federal election laws by telling employees that electing Democrats would lead to passage of legislation making it easier to unionize companies.” The article outlines a number of misleading claims aimed at intimidating employees of the Arkansas-based retailer. To learn more about this egregious icon of 21st Century corporate culture I suggest a visit to WakeUpWalMart.com and The Real Wal-Mart Facts. Their track record of being an irresponsible employer is only the tip of the iceberg.

*Where did I put that house? – Most of us have at one time or another misplaced the keys to our house. It is especially rare to misplace a house. Meet John McCain. On Wednesday McCain said he was unsure how many houses he and his wife Cindy owned but his staff would get back to the reporter who made the inquiry (USA Today reports that the McCains own 12 luxurious homes valued at over $10 million). The damn biased media have to stop asking the Senator from Arizona such nuanced questions. Before you know it they will begin asking him meaningful questions about the U.S. economy, where it is likely he will trip over his lip.

* McCain says he has strong national security credentials – The Jed Report provides a video of John McCain appearing on Larry King Live in 2001 saying, “if he'd been president, he'd have picked Donald Rumsfeld to be his Secretary of Defense and Dick Cheney to be his VP.” We unfortunately know how that scenario worked out! Is there any doubt that Cheney would have manipulated McCain the same way he pulled the strings of George Pinocchio Bush?

* I could use some friends in high places ~ versus friends who use to get high – This week I wrote a check to pay my county real estate tax. On that same day I read an article about the Governor of Nevada. It seems that the “honorable” Jim Gibbons (he is facing ethics and criminal investigations on unrelated matters) will face the state Ethics Commission for his role in securing a $5,000 tax break on his property near Lamoille, Nevada. The tax break allowed Gibbons to pay only $40 in state taxes for 40 acres of land. One dollar per acre! My annual property tax calculates to five dollars per square foot! Talk about inspiration to run for public office!

* Were you heartened when so many of our national leaders spoke out about Russia invading Georgia? Typical of the responses was the comment by Mitt Romney who said, “Russians have shown their willingness to act militarily against a sovereign nation.” His outrage and hand wringing was matched by the likes of Bush, Rice, McCain, Lieberman, Graham and every neocon this side of the military-industrial complex – all of whom strongly and complicity supported the U.S. invading the sovereign nation of Iraq.

* It has been leaked to the media that Joe Lieberman has been vetted as a potential Republican VP selection. As much as Lieberman has kissed-up to the Christian religious-right and embraced McCain/Bush policies it could be argued that the possibility is credible. I believe that this Jewish Senator from Connecticut has as much chance of being John (America is a Christian nation) McCain’s running mate as George Bush has of his profile being chiseled into Mount Rushmore.

* Corruption: the dishonest exploitation of power for personal gain – the web site Obsidian Wings did a Google search for “Bush administration + corruption.” The result was 2,640,000 web links. The article was pointing out the corruption this country has been subjected to over the last 7 plus years as a prelude to its comments about Medicare fraud. Misleading comments by Medicare officials in 2006 led Congress to believe that its efforts to reduce fraudulent and improper claims were successful. “But according to a confidential draft of a federal inspector general’s report, those claims of success… were misleading… Medicare officials told outside auditors to ignore government policies that would have accurately measured fraud, according to the report. For example, auditors were told not to compare invoices from salespeople against doctors’ records, as required by law, to make sure that medical equipment went to actual patients.” I say let’s not be too critical of these Medicare officials. They were wearing their American Flag pin on their lapels during testimony thereby providing them immunity from perjury.

* George Bush’s Peepness Envy ~ England’s spying program on its citizens may be bigger than his – An investigation by The Sunday Telegraph found, “In one week, the average person living in Britain has 3,254 pieces of personal information stored about him or her, most of which is kept in databases for years and in some cases indefinitely… The data include details about shopping habits, mobile phone use, emails, locations during the day, journeys and internet searches.” A recommendation for college students: if you read this article it will not be necessary to read George Orwell’s “1984” next semester. “The book has major significance for its vision of an all-knowing government which uses pervasive and constant surveillance of the populace, insidious and blatant propaganda, and brutal control over its citizens.”

The Washington Post this week published an article about the amount of data the U.S. government is collecting on its own citizens when crossing the borders with Canada and Mexico. Like the terrorist watch list so much information is being collected, ostensibly to protect us, it is doubtful that anyone is actually protected as the system drowns in data.

* “People say that President Nixon had phlebitis. That is simply not true. You don’t screw over 200 million people and get phlebitis. You get syphilis!”
My recollection from a Jackie Mason performance about 20 years ago.