Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Cheats, Lies, and Letters from Citi

Like millions of others I received a letter from Citi in early December saying in zero-point type that my interest rate was going to leap sky-high unless I wrote or called Citi.

What would you guess the percentage to be of letter recipients who called? Or wrote? Two percent? Likely too high. How many even read the letters? Citi counts on recipients’ failure to act, I'll bet.

I called immediately and told Citi that “nope,” I was not amenable to its high rate and I wanted to cancel the card immediately.

Whoa, buster! Do you know what it takes to cancel a credit card? Try about 45 minutes, that’s all, after you talk with Yaseen, Tanish, Hammad, and Jamaal who urge you to terminate termination and if you terminate termination, Citi promised to reduce my interest rate. Imagine!

After wheedling the rate down to 3.99% (and I do believe I could have gotten Citi down further had I kept pushing which occurred to me ex post facto), we hung up.

Well, la de da, can you imagine the shock and surprise which grabbed me when I opened an envelope from Citi about 10 days later, and, hang on, the interest rate was not 3.99%, but 11.99%. Oh, me. Silly error!

I suppose Citi thought I might ignore this envelope, too.

I slashed and burned the telephone wires to reach the bleeping (thanks, Patrick) Citi again.

“Oh, no, no, no, Ms. Patricia, we did not mean for it to be 11.99%, but you are supposed to receive 3.99%,” said Aamir, one of Citi’s 10,234, 532 employees in India.

“Then why does it say 11.99%?” I asked.

“Oh, oh. We will make that change right away,” Aamir said.

I asked Aamir to tell me the date of my earlier marathon discussion with Citi.

“Oh, Ms. Patricia, it was December 6,” Aamir said, reading the record.

“Isn’t that odd that my letter from Citi which changed my interest rate to 11.99% rather than 3.99% is dated December 6?” I said.

It pays to read your mail. It pays to scream and yell. It pays to be able to walk away, Renee, from the liars and cheats that your U.S. government handsomely rewards for malfeasance.

Rejected by Sen. Webb and Cong. Moran

Interesting, isn’t it, that almost identical letters from Sen. James Webb (D-VA) and Congressman James Moran (D-VA) arrive on the same day, rejecting my request for Inauguration tickets?

Who put the wording of the letters together? Better still, who gets the tickets? Sadly, my 24-year-old son serving in the Army, a young skeptic, said to me: “Mom, their cronies get the tickets.”

Will the offices release the names of the ticket holders? If not, why not? Why doesn’t the MSM write about that? Huh? Huh? Write about seats the MSM gets? Are you kidding?

Here is most of the wording:


Thank you for contacting Senator Webb's office regarding Inauguration tickets. As you may know, the Senator's office has received more than 35,000 total ticket requests and has been allotted only a few hundred tickets. (Who gets them?) Unfortunately, at this time, we are unable to accommodate your request for tickets to the Inaugural Swearing-In Ceremony on the West Lawn of the United States Capitol. However, please note that the remaining sections of the National Mall will be open to members of the public who were unable to obtain the limited tickets available. (Now isn't that sweet? On the Mall with 4 million others!)

We wanted to give you this status update well in advance of Inauguration Day so that you can plan accordingly. (Oh yeah? What am I supposed to do? Set up camp on the mall for three weeks? You think the Park Service and Secret Service will okay my plans?) Please also be aware that in addition to the public viewing area on the National Mall, there are a number of events during the week, including the Inaugural Parade, that do not require tickets. (Oh boy! I'll get to see the parade upfront and right on the Avenue! I wish.)

Due to the extraordinarily high interest in the Swearing-In Ceremony, Senator Webb has sent a letter to Senator Dianne Feinstein, Chairman of the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, requesting additional tickets to account for Virginia's proximity to Washington D.C. Should Senator Webb receive additional tickets from the Inaugural Committee or any other source and be able to accommodate your request, we will be sure to let you know. (You mean I have another chance? I am waiting in the wings, Senator Webb. Thank you!)

The Swearing-In Ceremony is the only Inaugural event to which our office has received tickets. Please see the links below for updated information on other Inaugural events that may interest you.


Senator Webb and Congressman Moran: Who got your tickets? Inquiring minds would like to know
.

Friday, December 19, 2008

Eugene Robinson: Clinton Flak

Say it ain’t so, Eugene!

Say I misread the column yesterday and it was not written by you, but it was actually a paid ad which found its way to the Post’s op-ed page. It read like one.

“Only” 13 donors gave the Clinton Foundation $10 million or more. Only 13? Like you wrote: "Hey, times are tough." Poor Bill; poor Hill. What's a body to do?

Your own newspaper on the front page and others raised concerns about this special, conflicting self-interest relationship.

Is this the way it will be during the Obama administration? Pandering to the cabinet? The Harvard-educated, "lily white" in everything but color, elitist cabinet?

Let's see...hmmmm...the taxpayers give to the government. The government gives to Freddie. The government gives to Citi. Citi raises interest rates on the taxpayers. Freddie gives to Bill. Citi give to Bill. Bill gives to Bill! What goes around comes around; is that it?

Why aren't thousands screaming? Is it because, once again, "our representatives" sit with their hands out and receive some more and reap what they can from the coffers of the taxpayers?

Cartoon idea: Hillary is seated at a round table in a tent with a map of the Middle East behind her. Guards stand nearby. There are papers on the table. She is wearing a skirted suit and flashing a big grin from ear to ear. Seated with her is a sheik wearing wraparound sunglasses, sandals, white head dress and long white robe covering his entire body except for hands and face, and a sword is affixed to his cloth robe belt. He looks rather glum as he handles some of the scattered papers on the table.

Hillary says: “Yes, Chic (sic), I think I can arrange a meeting for you with President Obama.”

Below the table is a serpent with the head of Bill Clinton wrapped around her legs holding dollar bills in his teeth.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Shoes for Bush in Washington, D.C.





As I approached the scene 20 minutes past the 11 o'clock hour in front of the White House Wednesday, the atmosphere of the Code Pink rally to memorialize Sunday's shoe throwing incident at George Bush was almost that of a garden party on pavement. The press vastly outnumbered the few activists who showed up, and together they stood around laughing, smiling, talking on a cloudy, cool day.

Some of the 20 activists threw shoes at the weaving, unsteady "George Bush" life-sized bobblehead dressed in mask and prison garb and holding "dollar bills" which he periodically offered to those nearby. An abundant but permissive, polite police force stood back, under worked by the small crowd.

Attending were Dana Milbank with photographer in tow, and David Swanson of AfterDowningStreet.org who graciously consented to yet another interview when approached by an Arabic cameraman and a reporter. A girl, about 8, dressed in pink, explained her presence at the rally to a television crew.

Was the Christmas message affecting everyone?

I added my old shoes to a small pile in front of "Bush" and sadly took note of the rows of shoes with widows' and orphans' names attached, like headstones at a cemetery.

A likely Code Pink representative "rescued" Bush when a senior citizen with a long grey beard beat the bobblehead with several shoes which were scattered hither and yon on the street, much like the bodies of the the injured and the dead from a bombing in Baghdad today.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

A wasted pulpit: Laura Bush

For eight years she commanded the rostrum. Or could have. But did not.

For eight years she could have visited classrooms, read to children, visited school libraries, drawn enormous attention wherever she went to the plight of reading among schoolchildren in this county, but she did not. Consider the press she would have attracted to the sad condition of thousands of school libraries!

But she did not. Why not?

It's too late now, Laura Bush. You, a librarian, who I imagine knows something about the poor performances of our children compared to those in other nations.

You whose husband shepherded the ill-fated No Child Left Behind to its certain death.

You wasted your pulpit! You gave up eight years to be a doormat and do absolutely nothing. Do you want your daughters to grow up to be like you?

Your chance is gone to help children read better, to show their parents how they could have read to their children for just ten minutes a day. You could have been a role model for mothers everywhere.

Michelle Obama is different from you, and I have not one shred of doubt that she will use the pulpit firmly planted in front of her, unlike you.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Oh, Please! "Please Donate"

Good grief! Won't these people ever stop?

“Please donate” to Barack Obama. To the man we keep hearing has $30 million in the bank from leftover funds!

Please!

The"asks" came in two emails, no less, on consecutive days. The nerve of those people!

First, David Plouffe, Obama’s campaign manager, writes asking that we continue, c o n t i n u e, campaign meetings at home. Please! Can we ever get a break? We are supposed to do this for the next four years?

To promote Obama’s platform? Please don't try to kid me it's "our" platform.

“At the house meetings, you'll reflect on our campaign, discuss the future of this movement, and identify some ways to get involved in your community.

"Meeting hosts will report back, and your feedback will be instrumental in guiding this movement through some important and unprecedented territory.”


When I saw the “Please donate” button on Barack Obama’s page, I was stunned. Was this an old page, I wondered, fearing the answer.

”Your donation will support the Democratic National Committee and help recover the enormous resources they committed to this campaign.”


Get real, people! Did not the voters of this nation just send a zillion billion more Democrats to Congress and the U.S. Senate? Another Democrat is busted for bribery, and you are asking us to fund more Democrats? In this economy?

What about the "little people," you know the ones who don't count, the ones in the middle and below the middle who actually need some of Obama's leftover cash? The ones who don’t feed off the public’s tit?

Is it not stupifying that Obama's team has the audacity to send out solicitation letters six weeks after we worked feverishly to elect him, and here he comes asking for more!

How about the big bailout money going to an entity other than the fat banks, and the execs who fly in and fly out like witches on broomsticks crying “poor mouth”?

Why do the taxpayers bailout Citi which forked over big bucks ("multi-millions") to fund Bill Clinton’s latest “global” meeting? (The taxpayers pay the government which pays Citi which pays Bill Clinton who pays Bill Clinton who pays Bill Clinton, and who is Secretary of State and he's not going to wave influence?)

The election’s over, the results are sealed, the people are forgotten to feed the coffers of the corporations, the greedy fat cats who need more and more and more.

What hath we wrought?

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Inauguration and Fairfax County Democrats

And you thought you were planning ahead?

How about camping out on Pennsylvania Avenue five days before the big event? That’s the plan, and how many more are going to throw down land claims? This place is going bonkers.

Then there’s the group trying to come up with the down payment for yet another Inaugural Ball, the "Grassroots Ball," to be held January 19 at the Ronald Reagan building ($52,000 deposit, and they are getting close) which, at the stroke of midnight will turn the pumpkin carriage scene into feet and legs to move to the Mall to stake out more land claims (if there is any land left at that bewitching hour, just precious few before the Big Event).

But where’s my date? Yeekers, yikers!
I'm late, I'm late for
A very important date.
No time to say hello, good-bye,
I'm late, I'm late, I'm late


Meanwhile, back in Fairfax County for a meeting Wednesday night of 30-some always strong willed Democrats, the “Brigades,” who just can’t give it up! ("We live it up!")

Echoing the statements of several present, Dewita Soeharjono, campaigner/canvasser extraordinaire, said she knocked on doors in Ohio and Pennsylvania for Mr. Barack Obama. One Middle Easterner said he traveled to 19 states for Obama. An official from the Fairfax County Office of Elections attending the meeting "on her own time" said the Obama effort to register voters was more than extraordinary, and she praised the group for its unearthly muscle, energy, and verve.

Thank goodness Virginia has elections every year to help satiate the political junkies who have it in their blood to run and run and run, or help others to run and run and run.

Seems like the 2009 governor’s race finds the determined Democrats supporting Brian Moran; the less-determined, supporting Creigh Deeds, and the Clintons, Terry McAuliffe.

Jon Bowerbank from Russell County, a candidate running in the Virginia 2009 race for Lieutenant Governor, had a spokesperson present, and Mark Keam formerly of Sen. Dick Durbin’s staff and huge Obama supporter, is running for State Assembly, a supporter announced. Where was Creigh Deeds' representative? A man supporting Brian Moran for governor spoke up, urging the group to support him.

Although McAuliffe has lived in McLean about 20 years, why does he seem like a carpet-bagger? Could be he’s never traveled south of McLean? Give that man a road map, one Republican said, so he will know the difference between Norton and Norfolk!

Sunday, November 30, 2008

The Book: What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception by Scott McClellan

We read so you don't have to but you'll want to

The critics fuss about the lack of “new stuff,” but for political junkies like me it’s loaded.

He has lots of detail and background on scenes, like what the White House was doing exactly where and when Katrina struck, the setup and disagreement over The Famous Silhouette Shot of George Bush from the plane overlooking New Orleans.

Like what went on behind the scenes on September 11, 2001.

I've always heard it's a sign of good writing when you can write like you speak. You can hear Scott McClellan's voice echo every single word. He speaks from the heart, thoroughly disillusioned and honest.

He was floored by the discovery Karl Rove had lied to him, and so did Bush resulting in McClellan's realization that McClellan had misrepresented truth to the media.

As much as I loathe him, George Bush does come off as more of a person with perhaps a smidgen of feelings for those he has caused to die and wound. He visits Walter Reed sometimes, and is upset by the mayhem and destruction he encounters, surprisingly.

He is still hardhearted George, unable to accept or hear any opinion which may be different from his which led to his downfall. He is driven to establish democracy in the Middle East. (Why? In his simplistic way, did he think he was playing little boys games, that it would be easy to crash and burn a land, kill residents, set up a new way to govern and think citizens would like you? Why is his way "the best way"? Who appointed George Bush, God? But I digress.)

Like the Emperor With No Clothes, Bush has his circle filled with "yes people" who came to believe in the mission and never questioned it. (Or if they did, they kept mum.) (Hello, President-Elect Obama: Reminder!)

McClellan faults the "perpetual campaign" begun by Clinton aides for creating the monster Washington has become: Always spinning. Always vying for the goal for the team at the cost of cohesive victory. The selling of the Iraq War is described. Colin Powell was the only one of the leadership team who tried to slow down the attack on Iraq. (Only 4,207 American soldiers now dead, 30,832 wounded "officially," more than 100,000 "unofficially," and 1,288,426 Iraqis have died as a result of Bush's invasion, but this is not in the book.)

As it dozes with the bailouts, the press fell asleep at the wheel before the Iraq War began, accepting in a baby spoon whatever the Bush administration fed it, McClellan says.

On pages 157-158 he sings the praises of the "liberal media" (or what's left of it), that it works for the common good of the minority, seeking to represent it unlike the centrist, conservatives presidents and congresses who, beginning more or less with Gerald Ford, have presided with their pro-business and narrow minded methods and legislation.

Karl Rove is portrayed as the Machiavellian monster that we abhor and admire. Cheney is his secretive self, sometimes "off message." Only all good things said about Andy Card.

A highly recommended book. Where is Scott McClellan now? I know he makes a mother proud.

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Barack and Michelle Write a "Thank You"

Astonishing.

That the president-elect's team, which thinks of everything, also thought of this.

That only hours after the election total was final in the wee hours of November 4, 2008 that the president-elect's team texted me and thousands, no millions, of others saying "we" did it!

"We!"

Now yesterday comes this without even a solicitation for cash!

Dear Ms.----,

...America is a place where anything...is possible.

Ours was never the likeliest campaign for the presidency...Our campaign was not hatched in the halls of Washington -- it was built by working men and women, students and retirees...

It grew from the millions of American who volunteered,and organized...

(The best part:)

Patricia, this is your victory....The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. And we will be asking you to join in the work of remaking this nation...What began 21 months ago in the depth of winter must not end on a night in autumn.

Patricia, this is our moment....our time -- to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity...to reclaim the American Dream...we will respond (to negativism)with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes We Can.

...please accept our deepest thanks. We will never forget you.

Sincerely,

Barack Obama Michelle Obama


Now we are locked up rock solid for yes we did, yes we are, yes we can.

Do You Hear What I Hear?

Said the little people to the big whigs on the hill,
"Do you hear what I hear?
Ringing through the air, big whigs on the hill,
Do you hear what I hear?
A change, a change high above the trees
With a bank as big as the sea,
With a bank as big as the sea.”

Said the right wing to the little man,
"Do you see what I see?
Way up in the sky, little man
Do you see what I see?
The planes, the planes heading to DC
With the jets carrying GM in our sight,
The banks take the cash with their might.”

Said the little people to the mighty king,
"Do you know what I know?
In your palace warm, mighty king,
Do you know what I know?
The cash, the cash going to fatty cats
And there's none left for us, mighty king,
There is none left for us, mighty king.”

Said the voters to the mighty king,
"Do you see what I see?
A child, a child shivers in the cold
Let us bring Freddie silver and gold,
Let us bring Fannie silver and gold,
Let us bring the Bear silver and gold,
Let us bring AIG silver and gold,
Let us bring Citi silver and gold."
And leave the child to chill in the cold.

Said Obama to the people everywhere,
"Listen to what I say!
Pray for peace, people everywhere,
Listen to what I say!
My change, my change coming in the night
I will pray for peace and swing right,
I will pray for peace and swing right.”

Monday, November 17, 2008

Overheard at a Party of Democratic Activists

Where: Tysons Corner, Northern Virginia

When: Saturday night

How many: 50

What: Support for Terry McAuliffe in his race for Virginia governor: nada,
zero, nothing

Other candidates: Brian Moran, most favored, and Creigh Deeds

Friday, November 14, 2008

80% of the Deaths: "Noncombat Related"

Eighty percent (that's right: 80%) of the deaths of our soldiers in Iraq listed in Wednesday's Washington Post (p. A14) were caused by "noncombat related" reasons.

Why?
How?
Accidents?
Illness?
Heart attacks?
Suicides?
Are soldiers shooting soldiers in "friendly fire"?
Are guns going off inside tents?
Food poisoning?
More of the poisonous showers we heard about last winter?

We should be outraged!

In June, 2007 when I inquired about these "noncombat related" deaths from Mary Hadar, the Post's editor of "Faces of the Fallen" which, sadly, run too often, she wrote me that the Defense Department frequently spends six months investigating "noncombat related" deaths, and reasons for them are seldom supplied quickly. The Post tracks them in local newspapers to try and determine why and how soldiers die.

Who tracks these "noncombat related" deaths cumulatively and the causes? Anyone? Does anyone care? Hello! Hello! Anyone there?

Certainly it seems that some of the causes of "noncombat related" deaths would help to prevent others. Does the Defense Department try to cover them up to spare embarrassment? Dereliction of duty?

We taxpayers and families demand to know. We are footing the bill not only in dollars but, more importantly, in lives, past and present.

Names of the soldiers listed November 12, 2008 in the Post who died for "noncombat related" reasons are:

Pfc. Bradley S. Coleman, 24, Martinsville, Virginia

Sgt. Scott J. Metcalf, 36, Framingham, Massachusetts

Spec. Adam M. Wenger, 27, Waterford, Michigan

Pfc. Theron V. Hobbs, 22, Albany, Georgia

and Staff Sgt. Timothy H. Walker, 38, Franklin, Tennessee was killed November 8 in Baghdad.

For what did they die?

Sunday, November 9, 2008

Dear Judy Feder

I hope you won't give up. I hope you'll try again. I hope you run against the impermanent Frank Wolfe. You’ve got the spunk, the dynamo, the personality, the smarts to do it. We need you as our representative! Don’t give up! We are proud of you.

Here are some suggestions to put to work in two years:

When you came to the Sierra Club meeting in McLean on October 2 and your aide passed around a “sign up” sheet, no one ever contacted me about coming in to help you. Was the McLean office location announced?

When I visited your campaign office in McLean one Sunday to canvass for you, the staff told me all the walk sheets were gone. How can that be? With so many homes to visit, why were there none? No one asked for my name or contact information.

I took off for the Obama field office on Kennedy Drive to pick up walk sheets and wound up canvassing not only for Obama and Mark Warner, but for Jim Moran who did not need my help.

The week before the election I came by your office on two nights to do whatever I could to help, and no one asked me to sign a sheet or for contact information. The second night someone did ask my name. I assembled walk packets on both nights.

If my contact information was not sought, was it sought from other volunteers?

We all know the incredible organization Barack Obama’s team practiced. Lessons to be learned!

Within 30 minutes on November 2, I received three telephone calls from Barack’s Falls Church office following up my promise to drop lit on Monday night and to work at the polls on Tuesday. These were in addition to all the many telephone calls I received throughout the campaign from Falls Church asking me to help, to call, to canvass, to come to meetings, to blog, to vote, to cook, to whatever! Just come and do it, they implored. In the early stages someone called me weekly, then the calls became more frequent. They were never irritating, just friendly reminders to a political activist who welcomed the calls, that I agreed to help and when could I get there?

We know follow-up and organization are critical and that money talks!

I hope you accept these recommendations in the spirit in which they are sent for I want you to win, and I know you can do it! We need you in D.C.

Sincerely,
Patriciadc

Friday, November 7, 2008

Joy in the World: Mark Warner's Election Night Party

There’s a party going on!

If I closed my eyes I was sure I was at a University of Tennessee football game (back when the school had a team) for the screams and cheers were just as loud and deafening. How happy not to be in Tennessee!

At the McLean Hilton, anywhere from several hundred (the Washington Post) to about 1,000 (my count) to 3,000 to 4,000 (an exuberant reporter who shed his “media” badge to jump in and clap and shriek with the rest of us) attended Mark's party to watch, scream, and cheer (most of) the projections which flashed across huge television screens, one to the left of us (CNN), one to the right of us (MSNBC).

Meanwhile: the media sat glumly behind us on its platform.

Shouts of joy drowned the ballroom when MSNBC projected a state for Obama, then, moments later ear-splitting screams when CNN called the same state for Obama (and vice-versa). Boos erupted when Tennessee was called for McCain, and later, when Sarah Palin's face was screened during John McCain's concession speech.

Off and on the stage: the “senior” senator from Virginia, James Webb; the governor, Tim Kaine; the winner and host of the magnificent buffet, Mark Warner; newly-elected congressman, Gerry Connolly.

Moments after Warner, Webb, and Kaine paraded on the dais for the first time for Senator-Elect Warner's victory speech, here they came again with their families for Gov. Kaine's announcement of a special telephone call just received.

The floor moved, the walls quivered, the lights twinkled and his pearly whites glistened when Tim Kaine exclaimed: AP was calling Virginia for Barack Obama!

The jubilant mass raised fists, shouted, cried, danced, and Gov. Kaine said Virginia’s electoral votes had delivered the presidency to Obama, but it was not Virginia.

An Arab American woman came up to me and sorrowfully asked where I, an Anglo-Saxon, had gotten my "Arab Americans for Obama" sticker which I wore proudly on my dress. I peeled it off and gave it to her who later wore it plastered to her cheek.

I passed Fairfax County Supervisor John Foust who smiled broadly: "It's a great day to be an American." He paused: "It's a great day to be a Democrat!"

To my pal in Blacksburg worried on Monday about the outcome, I said: "Don't you worry, Ann! We 'Communists' in the Great State of Northern Virginia will deliver for Barack Obama!" And we did...with sincere and everlasting joy.




.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Pollwatching in Northern Virginia

Voting went off without a hitch today at my precinct at Tysons Corner where I was a pollwatcher for the Democrats.

When I reported “for duty” at 5:30 a.m., about 100 persons whom I could see in the dark to count, stood waiting for the polls to open at 6 a.m.

By the time I left at 2 p.m. some provisional ballots had been cast, but no serious, not even mild, problems had occurred, other than one of the touch screen machines breaking down twice which was restored to duty shortly thereafter by whom or what? I do not know.

(What happened? How do they know those votes are saved? In pollwatcher school, we were instructed to cast paper ballots when possible, but most people, not realizing I think, the paper trail left by paper ballots, wanted to stand in the longer line for the machines.)

One woman who missed the voter registration deadline of October 6 and had only registered to vote last week, showed up “hoping,” and even she voted by provisional ballot. That she could even submit a vote was an indication of the progressive attitude of voting officials who generally approved every questionable voter.

Two other representatives of the Democratic Party joined me “inside”: an attorney who stayed all day and another pollwatcher. We had three people outside. Throughout the day the Good Providence Democrats brought us doughnuts, coffee, bananas, and paper bag lunches they had made.

In addition to monitoring the voting process, our chief duty was to record the names of voters on the Democratic list whose names were picked up by runners at 9:30 a.m. and at 2 p.m. for submission to the data bank so that the party and volunteers could contact non-voters to urge them to get to the polls before closing at 7 p.m.

No McCain representatives came to pollwatch and from the window, I could see only one McCain supporter outside who didn’t stay long, maybe because those high heels were too high. She was dressed like Cindy McCain, in leather coat and dark hose. She violated the 40’ rule by leaving her “McCain/Palin” stickers on her red coat when she entered the building twice, but no one reported her. If it had not been for the elderly woman wearing a diamond donkey on her chest whom no one criticized at my book, I would have reported Cindy McCain’s violation at Tysons.

Then there was the man who returned for his “I voted today” sticker so he could go to Starbucks, he said, and get a free cup of coffee. This was the same man carrying a Salvatore Ferragamo purse in a bag which he was returning to the store, he said, for his “significant other” who wanted a bigger Ferragamo emblem to show off. “You see what you women make us do,” he laughed. No wonder he needed free coffee!

In the early morning voters told us they waited one hour and 15 minutes to vote, but by lunchtime, lines had vanished.

Without question the most thrilling part of the day was witnessing “Alex,” whom I registered to vote, show up to cast his ballot and seeing my neighbor, a naturalized citizen from China who works for a federal agency and feared for her job security if anyone found out she supported Barack Obama, vote for the first time.

Now it’s time to get ready for the big Mark Warner party down the street. It’s a good thing it’s nearby so I can crawl home.

Happy days are almost here again!

Monday, October 27, 2008

"It's Over," He Said

"I told my staff last week it's done.

"For the first time in my life I voted for a Democrat today (Saturday). I voted for Barack Obama."

We struck up a conversation in a Tysons Corner store, and while I nodded to his words trying to keep a lid on my mouth so not to interrupt him, mentally I sprang to the ceiling and screamed, leaping from one light fixture to another before I floated down to the floor, trying to confine exuberance and enthusiasm.

He was 60 years old, more or less, and out shopping with his mother and wife.

"We didn't need that tax break," he said. "I know I didn't need it. No, I am not discouraged, I am totally livid" he exclaimed, before launching into emphatic criticism about the damage to the Republican party by members of the Republican party.

He leaned over and almost whispered: "You know his grandmother took him out of Indonesia and put him in Hawaiian schools. You know most of the people in Indonesia are Muslim, don't you?" Hhmmmnnn, I hmmmnnnnned.

But you know what? Colin Powell said "so what" if folks are Muslim! Who cares? And if it was so much of a big deal, why'd you go off and vote for him, tell me that! I mused to myself, trying to keep volatility behind closed doors. I had already been attacked at Tysons Corner once for critiquing Ms. Sarah Palin in a song to her by her children, and I didn't want to have another brawl right here in the middle of Tysons Corner.

Meanwhile, up in Long Island, two Republican sisters of a Northern Virginia friend of mine (who is canvassing for Barack Obama right now, and my friend was a Hillary supporter) are voting for the first time in their lives for, that's right, sistah, Mr. Barack Obama!

Happy days are almost here again.

Friday, October 24, 2008

Santa Claus at the Washington Post

Is it just me or what's with the Washington Post and the Tysons Corner Santa Claus?

I mean, huh?

Three front page stories (of the Metro section)for three consecutive days, bam, bam, bam about a displaced, fired Santa at the Mall?

What? You've got to be kidding.

Is the Santa, whom the Post "saved" and who now has been rehired due to the publicity, the promotion, the free space, the video, the audio, the negative stories about the mean ole Mall in the newspaper, maybe, the uncle, the father, the brother, the partner of a top staff member at the Post?

Or, is this "happy news" the Post is producing to reduce even more losses of younger readers? You tell me. I mean, really, I thought I was reading a "Parade" edition of an "international" newspaper.

Have interns taken over? The Post's reduction in staff is telling.

What's up, Santa?

Feliz Navidad!

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Bailout cartoon idea

(This one has likely been used already, but anyway, for what it's worth):

Scene: The sinking of the Titanic (labeled "The Economy"). Huge waves are filled with Chinese sharks.

A gigantic iceberg named "Sub-Prime Loans" stands nearby.

The "Economy" has already hit the iceberg and is sinking almost at a right angle to the ocean just like you remember from artists' renderings.

On deck at the front of the ship which is tipping: Henry Paulson, Ben Bernanke, George Bush, and white men all dressed alike in suits and ties jumping into lifeboats while Paulson, dressed as Captain Hook, waves his hook around which has a dollar bill punctured by the hook that flaps in the wind.

Capt. Hook shouts: "Jump for your lives, men. We don't have much time!"

Left standing aimlessly on deck, yep, you guessed it: Men, women, and children, shabbily dressed who are, indeed, "The American Taxpayers."

Signs of the Times: Dupont Circle

Time: 12:10 p.m.

Day: Wednesday

Place: Lawson's Gourmet at the Circle

Crowds: None

(Est.) Percentage of Empty Seats: 75 (!)

Why is that? Next door at the more popular Cosi's, seats sat empty, too (though not as many). Rather than lunchtime, it seemed like snack time in mid-afternoon at Lawson's. One of the staffers was even seated eating lunch at one of the vacant tables at 12:15 p.m I guess she had nothing else to do. At lunchtime?

What does this mean? People bringing lunches? In D.C.? Incredible. The day was too blustery and chilly to eat outdoors where the Circle was practically vacant of people.

Despite all you hear and read that the District is not affected too much by worldwide economic conditions, don't believe the hype. Just take a gander around and see the truth. Restaurants (and boats) are the first things to go.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

I interrupt this programming to

spend every possible available moment until November 5, 2008 canvassing, calling, cooking, hosting, volunteering, writing, blogging, driving, pollwatching, writing checks for the Democratic cause, namely:

To elect Barack Obama President of the United States

and many other notable Democrats, too, like

1. Mark Warner, candidate for the U.S. Senate (VA)

2. Judy Feder, candidate for the 10th Congressional District (VA)

Please send Judy a check:

Judy Feder for Congress
6816 Tennyson Drive
McLean, VA 22101

3. Jim Martin, candidate for the U.S. Senate (GA) running against the sleeze, Saxby Chambliss who
defeated our own Max Cleland because Max wasn't "patriotic" enough! Max, triple amputee
from Vietnam! That was the Karl Rove - George Buzh duo at work. Let's beat them now! Here's
your chance. Please send a check to:

Martin for Senate
P.O. Box 7219
Atlanta, GA 30357

Thank you. This programming will resume in November, 2008.

Monday, October 20, 2008

Veterans Rally for Obama in Fairfax

About 300 persons came to listen, talk, and eat at the Obama Rally for Veterans and their families on Saturday at the Veterans Amphitheatre in Fairfax, VA on a cool, windy, sunny, but sometimes cloudy, day.

Retired generals, captains, and a congressional candidate blistered the Bush Administration from the pulpit in expounding upon many reasons to support Barack Obama for the presidency.

Retired Colonel Larry Wilkerson who formerly served as Chief of Staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell was the harshest Bush critic, calling the administration the most corrupt and incompetent that he has known, “and I am a Republican,” he thundered. The Bush team has torn the Republican Party completely asunder, he said as his words and phrases built to a crescendo.

Torture was a hot topic during the afternoon, and the speakers joined throngs everywhere, including both presidential candidates, wanting to close Guantanamo prison and send a message heard ‘round the world.

A former president of the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, retired Captain Paul “Bud” Bucha, was so effective a speaker one wondered why he does not run for political office.

“Only” 41% of the soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan seek counseling to help them recover from emotional injury, but 100% need it, Capt. Bucha exclaimed. “I’ve only been in counseling six months,“ he shouted to the audience, “and my doctor wanted to know why it took me 40 years!” Capt Bucha served in Vietnam and was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Nixon in 1968.

Gerry Connolly, Congressional candidate from the Eleventh District, was the first speaker. Other retired officers who spoke were Major General James Kelley, Brigadier General David McGinnis, Capt. Wesley Moore, and Capt. Angie Morgan.

Sponsors were the Fairfax County Democratic Committee and several area restaurants which provided food (not pizza !) gratis.

Tents shaded “Seniors for Obama” and “Veterans for Obama” where plentiful bumper stickers, yard signs, sign-up sheets, and political paraphernalia were available. The folding chairs were all filled during the speeches, and attendees stood and listened intently. Several retired veterans asked questions after the speeches ended, and the speakers took turns answering them.

Large and small Obama/Biden signs surrounded the amphitheatre where we initially planned to only stay an hour, but the words and passions of the military speakers hypnotized us, and we departed after the end.

Here are photos of the event taken by David Otto:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dwotto/sets/72157608154992786/

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Letter from Sen. Jim Webb

(My letter to Sen. Webb (posted on July 21, 2008), included one paragraph about Iraq. It began with a query about Sen Webb's endorsement of FISA and my inability to understand his reasoning for voting for it, and my letter described an entirely different subject, also: my suggestion for a new law, the Airport/Airline Recycling Act. I suppose the letter templates his staff uses only address one subject. What's a body to do when multiple subjects are included? Anyway, Iraq, at least, is "on his mind" (maybe). It's the subject of many letters I have written to Congressional members.)

September 26, 2008

Dear Patricia:

Thank you for contacting me regarding the U.S. presence in Iraq. I believe that we must move forward to end our military involvement there.

The invasion and occupation of Iraq began in the absence of a clearly articulated strategy that should have defined our national objectives as well as the circumstances that would bring about an end point to our military presence in that country. Five years later, the American people are still waiting for the kind of political and diplomatic leadership that will end the occupation, stabilize the region, and allow our country to focus on other, vital strategic challenges around the world.

The U.S. occupation has tied down our military forces on the streets of Iraq's cities while the forces of international terrorism are still at large. Only when our political leadership matches the high quality of our military performance will we be able to resolve our current occupation of Iraq. And it is clear that we are not going to see that kind of leadership from the Bush administration. It is imperative that the next administration place great emphasis on robust diplomacy in the region to a degree that allows us to reduce our presence in Iraq and increase stability in the region.

In the coming months we must guard against allowing this Administration to position the next President into a situation where we have agreed to support a long-term military presence in Iraq. For more than six years, the administration has been less than open with the American public or Congress about its long-term intentions in Iraq. We must ensure that the future military presence in Iraq is decided not behind closed doors, but through the open air of free debate, including congressional consent.

As the debate on U.S. involvement in Iraq continues, Congress must protect the welfare of our troops and their families. For this reason, I introduced an amendment in 2007 to the defense authorization bill to require that active-duty service members and units have at least the same amount of time at home as the length of their previous deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan. National Guard and Reserve units and members would have a minimum of three years at home for every year that they are deployed and would not be mobilized for longer than one year. These adjustments in today's rotational cycles would have eased the strain that our service members and families now experience. Repeated deployments with inadequate dwell time are taking their toll. The Army's active-component suicide rates, for example, have doubled from 9.8 per 100,000 in 2001 to 19.7 per 100,000 in 2007-an all-time high.

The Senate voted on my dwell-time amendment in July and September of 2007. Unfortunately, passage of this amendment also was prevented by a filibuster on both occasions, although the amendment was supported by a majority of the Senate.

On June 30, 2008, the President signed the FY 2008 Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act into law, which included about $162 billion to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. This funding is necessary to provide our troops with essential protection and equipment to carry out their mission. In addition, this law included landmark legislation I introduced to provide post-9/11 veterans with comprehensive educational benefits. This bill properly provides a modern and fair educational benefit to address the needs of those who answered the call of duty to our country, often at great sacrifice.

As a combat veteran and as a member of both the Senate Committees on Armed Services and Foreign Relations, I appreciate you taking the time to share your concerns on this important matter. As the Senate continues to debate the United States' involvement in Iraq, be assured that I will continue to pursue responsible policies that are fair to our troops and will ultimately enable American forces to leave Iraq.

Thank you once again for your correspondence on this matter. Please be assured that your views are very helpful to me and my staff. I hope you continue to share your views with us in the years ahead.

I would also invite you to visit my website at www.webb.senate.gov for regular updates about my activities and positions on matters that are important to Virginia and our nation.

Sincerely,

Jim Webb
United States Senator

Friday, October 10, 2008

RFK at Archives

It is impossible for a 60s girl to watch the 30-minute film, ‘Robert Kennedy Remembered’ without shedding tears.

He was a man so different from most of the “leaders” today, especially when contrasted with the greedy so and sos on Wall Street and their representatives.

To hear him beckon his listeners at a impressionable age to stand up and be counted in the public servant’s world is to suddenly realize some of the emotion, history and perhaps, reasoning and understanding behind the urgency and willingness to try and make a difference somewhere, like he did.

At the National Archives recently about 200 gathered to see the film originally created as a tribute to Kennedy for the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, only two months after his assassination in June, 1968.

Part of the evening included a panel discussion about Kennedy led by his close
friend and confidant,John Seigenthaler, le pere, who was joined on stage by Jules Witcover, the columnist, Peter Vogt, the producer and director, and Robert Wykes, the composer for the film.

Like a 60s girl Mr. Seigenthaler was emotional throughout the evening as he said he is whenever viewing the film.

Mr. Witcover called the 1968 Chicago tragedy a “police riot.” Mr. Seigenthaler said there was “war in the streets, stink bombs in every hotel. The convention was disorderly from the first day to the last.”

One panelist said President Lyndon Baines Johnson wanted screening of the film to be withheld until the convention’s end, fearing the adulation and fawning which did indeed happen. A 17 or 18 minute non-stop ovation greeted Teddy Kennedy when he stood at the podium.

Eventual nominee Hubert Humphrey played no role in the film or its screening, a panelist noted.

The occasion at Archives was the Second Annual Charles Guggenheim Tribute Program, named after the famous documentary film creator who was represented at Archives by his business partner and daughter, Grace Guggenheim. According to the program, Mr. Guggenheim, who died in 2002, made more than 100 documentaries and won four Academy Awards, the George Peabody Award and three Emmys and created the RFK tribute film.

Introducing the panel was the U.S. archivist, Allen Weinstein. Has anyone ever attended an event at Archives where Mr. Weinstein did not perfectly capture the moment with his personal anecdotes, of which there are so many, and his brilliant beginning of any presentation? He is another of the thousand thousand Archives' treasures.

Preceding the film were five of RFK’s political advertisements created by Guggenheim for the 1968 campaign, so honest, simple, and poignant, they become poetry compared to the slash and burn content of today’s messages. A viewer could not escape the sincerity and genuineness of Robert Kennedy, a person who sincerely cared about those less fortunate than he. His mission leaped across the stage.

Consider it:

Excluding the calamity wrought by Katrina, when was the last time you saw a picture in a magazine, in a newspaper, on a news channel, on the Internet of poverty-stricken people? In Appalachia? In slums of any large city? Or heard or participated in a conversation about the same? They are the forgotten people whose existence is brought to life by films and words of Robert Francis Kennedy. He lives!

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Reelin' and a Rockin' in Falls Church

It's the way it is at Obama's headquarters on South Washington Street.

The buzz grows louder. The hum increases. The smiles and energy balloon. The momentum is getting bigger and louder and moving fast!

Every time I walk in the door I am astonished by the number of volunteers who are working the phones, filling out tally sheets, inputting data, welcoming newcomers, turning in canvass packets at 9 p.m. on a weekday night.

And the food! Never have I seen so much at a campaign office. Plates of cookies and vegetables with dip are placed conveniently on tables where telephone calls are made.

Kyle and Jon, both amazingly still standing, run a focused, energetic, fun-filled office, and that's what it's all about, isn't it, Alfie?

You want fun? You want frolic? You want to contribute to the cause? And be around like-minded individuals, brimming with enthusiasm, laughter, and purpose? It's the place to come, to be, to wake up to a new day and, dare I say, change.

I don't know if Chuck Berry is supporting Barack Obama and Joe Biden or not, but Berry's lyrics surely come in handy, and I'll bet he wouldn't mind if I sang a few verses from his tune:


Well, I looked at my watch it was nine twenty-one
'twas at a campaign office havin' nothin' but fun.
We were rollin' reelin' and a- rockin'.
We were callin' and a- rockin' and rollin' till the break of dawn


Well, I looked at my watch, it was nine thirty-two,
There's nothin' I would rather do than politick with you.
We were rollin', reelin' and a-rockin'...
We were callin' and a- rockin' and rollin' till the break of dawn

Well, I looked at my watch, it was nine forty-three,
And every time that I would call, the results astounded me.
We were reelin', reelin' and a-rockin',
We were callin' and a- rockin' and rollin' till the break of dawn

Well, I looked at my watch, it was nine fifty-fo'
I said, "You've got to dance Obamaman, go, go, go!"
We were rollin, reelin' and a-rockin' ...
We were callin' and a- rockin' and rollin' till the break of dawn

Well, I looked at my watch, it was ten o-five,
Man, I didn't know whether I was dead or alive!
But I was rollin', reelin' and a-rockin'....
We were callin' and a- rockin' and rollin' till the break of dawn

Well, I looked at my watch, it was ten twenty-six,
I couldn't stop acallin' cuz that's how I got my kicks!
We were reelin', reelin' and a- rockin'
We were callin' and a- rockin' and rollin' till the break of dawn

Well, I looked at my watch, it was ten twenty-eight,
I gotta get my calls in before it gets too late!
We were reelin', reelin' and a- rockin'
We were callin' and a- rockin' and rollin' till the break of dawn

Well, I looked at my watch, it was ten twenty-nine,
I had to hold him on the line since he was just so fine,
We were reelin', reelin' and a-rockin'
We were callin' and a- rockin' and rollin' till the break of dawn

Well, I looked at my watch, and what to my surprise,
The polls were coming in and they were more than twice John's size!
We were reelin', reelin' and a-rockin'
We were callin' and a- rockin' and rollin' till the break of dawn

Well, I looked at my watch, and it was time to go,
The party leader said, "We ain't callin' no mo'!"
We were reelin', reelin', and a-rockin'
We were callin' and a- rockin' and rollin' till the break of dawn

Monday, September 22, 2008

A Love Song to Robert D. Novak

Dear Bob,

You don't know me

You gave your book to me
And then you said "hello"
And I could hardly speak
The pen was flowing so
And anyone can tell
You know your words so well,
No you don't know me

No you don't know the one
Who respects your every word
Who admires the work you do
And all your stories, too

No, you don't know the one
Who thinks you are the best
Out of all the rest
No, you don't know me.

Oh I'm just a fan
That's all I've ever been
'Cause you don't know me.

No, you don't know me

For I never knew the illness that struck you
Would claim your colummmmmnnnnn, too
Afraid and shy, those words do not apply
To you, or the DC zoo.

You gave your book to me
And then signed it, too,
And so did Geraldine

And I am so proud
To have read it all
To have reminisced
About the things not bliss
For it's you I miss
And your skills upon the Hill,
And your words to read
About all the greed,
I know it's not the same,
The page without your name
No, you don't know me


About a year ago I was lucky to attend one of 26 fundraising dinner parties on Capitol Hill,held to raise money for libraries. Each home featured a different book, and my friend, Claire, and I chose the home highlighting The Prince of Darkness by Robert Novak, a tell all, great book filled with delicious tidbits and real "meat" which I had just completed.

The fundraiser, A Literary Feast, is an annual event sponsored by the Capitol Hill Community Foundation. (Upcoming October 25, 2008.)

The announcement for "our" dinner party hinted at a "special guest" at the princely dinner.

The book was so well-written! I carried it back and forth every day on the Metro going to and from work. The weight of it all: 662 pages and filled with details going back for many years, with names, salaries, conversations, events, exchanges all described. Of especial attraction to political junkies like me.

Only a couple of months before, I went to Politics and Prose to hear Mr. Novak tell a SRO crowd about his autobiography which includes description of his cancer bouts. Although he is of a different political persuasion than I, his arguments and life in politics are fascinating, and his book is no less.

As a matter of fact, of all the political books I have read in the past decade, it's on top for autobiography, and all political aficionados are enraptured by political biography, aren't we?

His predictions for outcomes in congressional and presidential races are uncannily, usually, right on target.

Below are comments about the dinner and conversation which I sent to close friends last year:

Robert Novak said he "hated" Rudi Giuliani, and why, he did not say.

He predicted that Mitt Romney might win Iowa, NH, and definitely Michigan, but that Giuliani was growing (in numbers). He said Romney's religion was a real problem for Romney.

He said Fred Thompson might be the Republican VP candidate, but "VPs don't matter in an election." Someone made fun of Thompson's accent. And makeup.

Novak said Obama would never be Hillary's VP mate, and that Hillary could implode at any time. Her running mate "today", which whom the crowd agreed, would be Evah Bayh.

When asked about the effect of Bill Clinton on the race, Novak queried the group of about 18 persons: Where had Bill been the last six years? The loud rejoinder: "In Canada!" (news to me.)

He said that if Hillary lost Iowa, it would be huge news. (The group believed that Hillary's election was far from certain. This group was all political junkies, of course! Why else were we there?)

Rather than the Iraq War, Novak said the 2004 key issue was John Kerry's "electability."

Novak talked about Jimmy Carter's dishonesty (which is mentioned in the book).

Contrary to public opinion, Novak said Congress was not Bush's rubber stamp since Bush's plans for social security overhaul and tax reform had "gone nowhere."

Novak agreed with an assessment that the U.S. Congress was nothing but a cesspool saturated by corruption and greed. Term limits, he said, would be one way to end the morass.

In only one or two cases, he said, did members of Congress actually "get better" after coming to DC, and I did not have the opportunity to ask which one or two they were.

When asked about the paralysis of the "Do Nothing Congress" and the absurdity of Nancy Pelosi and Party taking "credit" for a year of doing nothing (Ed's note: This was Fall, 2007), Novak said Congress was filled with self-adulation, totally unreceptive to criticism of any kind.

He mentioned the insanity of Pelosi and Party spending one month talking about the Armenian Resolution.

Novak said Iraq was a "fiasco" and the way to end it was to "get out."

He said the Democrats would definitely pick up Senate seats next year (2008) and "a few" House seats, but not many.

Mrs. Novak, who figures prominently in his book, also attended: a beautiful, kind woman who is almost shy and does not appear to welcome speaking in groups.

Before dinner Mr. Novak read for about 15 minutes from his book and answered questions. He graciously signed copies and when I asked Mrs. Novak to sign my copies also, she kindly complied.

Hosts were Carol and Bill Press, owners of a gorgeous Capitol Hill home, friends of the Novaks, and wonderful hosts, who had available about 20 copies of the book for guests. Bill Press of MSNBC and CNN fame, and Carol is an artist, a weaver with her own studio.

Menu: red and white wine, miniature crab cake hors d'oeuvres, tomato and lettuce with some kind of special cheese, roast tenderloin (I think that's what it was), mashed potatoes, herbed green beans.

Dessert was served a few blocks away at St. Mark's Episcopal Church where dancing to a jazz band and wine made it an extraordinary night of lovely darkness.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Asleep at 10 p.m.: The Washington Post

Letter sent to the Post's Ombudsman, Deborah Howell, September 18, 2008

Dear Ms. Howell,

Did the Post close early last night which may offer explanation for the reasoning behind placing a feature today on the deaths of two 90-year-olds on the front page and leaving the helicopter crash which killed seven of our soldiers for page 15?

With its placement, lack of coverage and six paragraphs, the Post says to its readers that four nonagenarians out on a date and featured in 33 paragraphs with three pictures are more important than the deaths of seven of our soldiers in Iraq. Astonishing.

Would not this feature of celebration of the couples out having dinner have been more appropriate as the weekly obituary story?

Why are paragraphs devoted to ketchup and chicken more important than a small story in "Around the World" about our soldiers who died giving up their lives for us? I fail to understand.

Yahoo
had a lengthy story about the helicopter crash before midnight last night.

Is the Post so immune to the Iraqi conflict and deaths of our troops that it fails to understand the significance and meaning of it all?

Had the editor left post before 10:30 p.m.? The page was already made up? There was no one on hand with the desire or energy to change makeup for another helicopter crash?

I hope you are able to provide me with a reasonable explanation, none of which are listed here.

Sincerely,

Monday, September 15, 2008

Sarah On A Leash

Well, isn’t she?

Why not?

Suppressed.

Muzzled at the mouth by a “chastity belt."

Robotized.

Taught to heel and speak when ordered.

Brought out to parade and prance when called.

Is this not sexism at its worst?

Prithee, I beg you, do come and present your arguments to the contrary.

Thanks, but no thanks.

Hallo! Hallo! This does speaketh of a poem, forsooth to say...

Harken! The words, alas, they flow like oil through an Alaskan pipeline. Forthwith, speaketh or forever hold your tongue, knave!


Johnny had a little dog,
Little dog,
Little dog,
Johnny had a little dog,
Her fur was dark as night.

Everywhere that Johnny went,
Johnny went,
Johnny went,
Everywhere that Johnny went,
The dog was sure to light


Forsooth, come and present your arguments, your songs, your poetry, whatever, to the contrary, alight and enlighten us, Readers!

Thursday, September 4, 2008

"Don't Cry For Us, Sarah Palin" Sung by Her Children

(With apologies to Andrew Lloyd Webber and "Don't Cry for Me Argentina")

Don't cry for us Sarah Palin
The truth is you often left us
All through our wild days
Your mad existence
You made us promise
To keep our distance

It won't be easy
You'll think it strange
When we try to explain how we feel
That we still need your presence
After all that we've done
You won't believe us
All you will see
Is the child you once knew
Before you left us
For a new addresstus

Don't cry for us Sarah Palin

You had to let it happen
You had to change
Couldn't stay all your life here with us
Looking out at the mooses
While we're running looses
So you chose freedom
Running around trying everything new
But nothing impressed you at all
Not Cindy's dress or her shoe

As for your fortune and fame
We never invited them in
Though it seemed to the world
They were all you desired
They are illusions
They're not the solutions
They promise to be
The answer was here all the time
I love you and hope you love me

Don't cry for us Sarah Palin
The truth is you often left us
All through our wild days
Your mad existence
You made us promise
To keep our distance

Have we said too much?
There's nothing more we can think of to say to you
But all you have to do
Is look at us to know
That every word is true

Saturday, August 30, 2008

The Book: Jimmy Carter's "A Remarkable Mother"

It didn’t seem to me that Jimmy Carter had much of a presence at the Democratic National Convention. Won’t he help the ticket in Georgia?

Never mind.

Year ago a librarian thrust one of his books at me urging me to read it. I had never read any of his books. To be nice I checked it out. I read it. I was impressed. Don’t ask me which of his many books it was: I have no recollection, only that I thought it was well written. Like this one, A Remarkable Mother which I think would have been better titled: An Astounding Mother!

It’s short but enlightening, a “fast read,” about Miss Lillian. Carter writes matter-of-factly with a great deal of humor about his mother who heavily influenced his life, as most strong-willed mothers impact the lives of their children. (Ask Scott McClellan, George Bush, Bill Clinton, and the list goes on.)

If you have any memory of "Miss Lillian" (being of a certain age), it’s a great book, especially for independent women and “wannabe” independent women. It gives one hope that life and activity continue well past the sitting stage.

In the summer of 1976, the year Jimmy Carter was elected, we took a detour off Interstate 75 in Georgia, on our way to visit my parents in Florida, to stop by Plains. In what memory tells me was a converted, painted, remodeled barn adorned by American flags which served, I suppose, as Carter’s Plains headquarters, sat Miss Lillian who talked as animatedly to us as if we were old friends. Our three-year-old daughter sat on her knee.

Miss Lillian was an uncommon woman who joined the Peace Corps at age 68, who made a difference not only to family members but to hundreds of people in India where she was stationed. She was a breath of fresh air in stale Washington. How delightful to be able to find someone of her personality there now!

Many highlights of President Carter’s own life are intertwined throughout the book. It is painful to read that upon Carter's graduation from the U.S. Naval Academy, his grandfather, “Jim Jack," didn’t recognize him and practically waved him away when Carter, in uniform, visited him in a drugstore in Richland, Georgia where his grandfather was passing the time of day with other “loafers.”

The deaths of Carter's sister, Ruth, and mother within one month of each other, from cancer, which also killed his father, were hard.

The cover is nicely designed, and the photographs add much to the book which remind me of another prolific author who also happens to be a politician who does his own work, too, I believe: Senator James Webb from Virginia.

This summer I saw Webb interviewed on (I think it was) Jon Stewart’s “The Daily Show” about his newest book, which may still be on the bestseller lists.

Sen. Webb remarked he had rather be writing than doing anything else. Then why in the world, I mused, is he in the U.S. Senate? I haven’t read any of his books: too manly for me, but where was I? Oh yes, Jimmy Carter’s mother.

A model for us baby-boomers who fear age, numbers, and reluctance to try all those things we want to do but instead, abandon dreams and cave in to society and expectations. Not Miss Lillian.

Sunday, August 24, 2008

The Book: "White House Ghosts: Presidents and Their Speechwriters" by Robert Schlesinger

Here is another title for political aficionados, and although it's not well written, much of the information is new and well researched.

It is astounding how many "fly by the seat of your pants" speeches are written at one time or another for most presidents. The public personas of the men are, strangely to me, the private personas.

The title is terribly wrong for a reader who might spot it on the shelves or on the table at a book store, and likely consider it another in the innumerable books about
"ghosts in the White House." The cover is a jumbled mess.

When was the last time you read a non-fiction book which gave you cold chills? It happens in the section on JFK. His Berlin speech. Truly, incredible.

Another speech he delivered on civil rights was not ready until seconds before he went live on the air. Robert Kennedy and JFK both believed JFK would have to speak extemporaneously since Ted Sorenson, JFK's speechwriter, was still plowing away at the speech, only having received a few hours' notice that it was scheduled.

Not until late in President Eisenhower's term does the book really take off. (It begins with President Roosevelt.) I never knew quite the bore Eisenhower was. Did you know he had a stroke in office? Truman was a man of his own.

Increasingly, I have come to admire and respect LBJ. This book reinforces my impressions. He demanded speeches which captured headlines, and his speechwriters generally succeeded.

Jimmy Carter was quite the control freak, and his dull speeches reflect it.
Ronald Reagan is the "happy go lucky" guy you know. Bush I is the same guy you always liked, no matter what your political persuasions: One who shuns "I" and is quite emotional.

Bill Clinton was often unprepared but was successful ad-libbing many speeches. On the way to deliver a speech in Annapolis, he spilled coffee on his shirt and took a loaner shirt right off the back of a Secret Service agent. Accidents happen.

Was there an editor? It is doubtful that any editor had much time with this book since it is rushed and crammed. "Forth Worth" (p. 163), "he had been snuck" (p. 352), "upon which he had campaign" (p. 405).

The book opens closed doors and provides good background information on "modern-day" presidents, their staffs, their skills and resources. It gives a reader appreciation for the many talents employed in speech writing. Some readers will be surprised to learn that not all presidential speeches are thought out. Some must be "vetted" up to 20 times by agencies, eyes, and departments, input which often damages the finished product.

The book peters out towards the end with the advent and reign of Bush II, and it seems to close too quickly, as if Mr. Schlesinger was hurried, but, after all, the final subject is unattractive and chilling, and who wants to dwell on the devil?

The speeches prepared for reasons and justification to attack Iraq are sickening, but who in the Bush administration is counting deaths and injuries? Present official numbers are 4,146 American soldiers who have died, and 30,561 American soldiers, wounded. Estimated are 100,000 American soldiers wounded but only 1,252,595 Iraqi civilians killed as the result of our attack on Iraq. Who reads books in the Bush administration anyway?

Friday, August 22, 2008

On Vacation: The Washington Post and 99 Words: Continuing Failure of Iraq War Coverage

Letter sent to the Washington Post's Ombudsman, Deborah Howell, August 21, 2008


Dear Ms. Howell,

On a day when the New York Times carries four major stories on Iraq in its front section, when the Wall Street Journal carries a story about Iraq on p. 1 above the fold, when Yahoo News lists Iraq among its Top Five stories at midnight this morning, the Washington Post has three paragraphs about Iraq. Why is that?

Once again, I hope I am wrong and that I overlooked your Iraq story, but flipping the pages twice, I am unable to locate anything more than 99 words in two of your editions today.

Sincerely,

PatriciaDC

Cartoon Idea: Democratic VP Choices on Stage

Idea submitted on posting to New York Times August 22, 2008:

Setting
: A stage of "Miss America" beauty contestants who are the Democratic VP contenders, standing in bathing suits and drawn proportionately (ht., weight, age, etc.); Obama in suit and tie is crowning the winner who is ? Contestants have their sashes crisscrossing their chests with

Bayh: "Mr. Indiana"
Hillary: "I AM Hillary"
Biden: "Mr. Foreign Policy"
Kaine: "Mr. Virginia" and "Mr. South"
Richardson: "Mr. Latino" and "Mr. West"
Nunn: "Mr. Georgia" and First Runner-Up, "Mr. South"

Who else?
Caption: "There S/He (finally) is..."

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Rachel Maddow Extraordinaire

Comment sent today to the New York Times:

Stunning, isn't it, that a network would actually appoint a female with some brains without dyed blonde hair who doesn't wear transparent, tawdry clothes or gloss or jewelry or plunging necklines or flirt with colleagues or show leg or do any of those other things all the other females, the "fluff bunnies," do? Who has short, unsexy hair and wears monochromatic suits?

What are the networks coming to?

Egads! Might they think some of their viewers actually have brains who are uninterested in the sexual relationships of their announcers or the mumbo jumbo of Hollywood Vulgarities but, instead, are actually interested in content? Astonishing!

Monday, August 18, 2008

Buzh Bully Buzh

Is it not ironic that the World's Biggest Bully accuses another country of the same? Is this not a laughable offense?

Bear with me and insert different words where the Biggest Bully has directed verbiage at Russia:

Quoting from the Swamp of the Chicago Tribune, August 15, 2008 with editorial changes:

Buzh (Putin) , reminding Russia (the U.S.) that "the Cold War is over,'' called on Russian leaders (Buzh; no reason to cite "other leaders" in the U.S. since there are none in Congress) today to withdraw military forces from Georgia (Iraq).

Russia (the U.S.) has "damaged its credibility,'' Buzh (Putin) said, accusing the Russians (the U.S.) of "bullying'' their neighbors (countries which have oil).

"Unfortunately Russia has tended to view (my) spread of freedom and democracy as opposed to its interests.'' (Reader, can you imagine not supporting the practices of a bully? The audacity!)

Warning that Russia (the U.S.) stands to isolate itself from the modern world if it cannot respect the autonomy of free neighbors, Buzh (Putin) contends that the Russians (the U.S.) will face consequences for the invasion of Georgia (Iraq).

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is in Tbilisi, the Georgian capital, attempting to secure the framework of a cease fire. Rice will join Buzh at his ranch outside Crawford, Texas, on Saturday, to play the piano and lull Buzh to sleep for his afternoon nap after he has been thrashing about all day in the brush at his Texas ranch where he fled to recover from the hazardous duty of watching the Olympics for 15 days straight, frolicking with bikini-clad women on Beijing's sandy shores, among other responsibilities.

"She will bring me up to date on what she has seen and heard, in Georgia as well as Paris,'' said Buzh. "I mean France, she did not go to Paris." (Actual quote.)


Bullying: A Handbook for Educators and Parents by Ian Rivers, Neil Duncan, and Valerie Besaq was published last year by Praeger.


The bully learns it is possible to gain emotional, social or monetary benefit from the bullying , so their (sic) modus operandi may become habitual. They learn they can use dominance for their own purposes...(p. 29).

A lot of bullying...contains an element of fun and entertainment for the attackers. The public humiliation of their victim adds to their attacks... Boys who bully are often school leaders begging the question, why do they do it? "They are bullying, autocratic leaders rather than benign democratic ones." They lead and bully for their own purposes rather than for those of the group. (pp. 16-18).

Perpetrators of bullying are more likely to have been convicted of crimes in adulthood compared to peers and have a 1 in 4 chance of having a criminal record before age 30 (p. 136). Perpetrators often have parents who push them to excel beyond what is normal at the expense of others, if necessary (p. 19).


Characteristics of whom?

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Failure of Iraq Coverage in Washington Post

Letter sent to the Washington Post August 14, 2008


Dear Editor,

I hope you are able to correct my oversight and tell me where among the WASHINGTON POST pages today is a story about Iraq. I am unable to find one, even a short paragraph in your "Around the World" summaries.

With 140,000 of our troops stationed in Iraq and a soldier's death reported last night on Yahoo, surely the POST has not abandoned Iraq to carry a story (on the front page) about ping pong in China or a long diatribe in the latest book attack on Barack Obama or a long story about a "religious center" in China for the Beijing athletes, has it?

With the POST continuing to ignore the seemingly ceaseless tragedy in Iraq, it is no wonder that our troops feel little, if any, support from home. "Why are we here?" must be a constant refrain heard in the barracks. Gone, and they are forgotten.

Sincerely,

Patriciadc

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Major Mayor Fitness Fenty

The Washington Post carried a story today about Washington Mayor Fitness Fenty. The story is big enough that you might think Adrian Fenty committed a felony, but no, he had a serious biking accident. The story describes witnesses’ accounts of the accident and how Mayor Fenty’s injuries affect his appearance and persona and blah blah blah.

What’s wrong with his image? Why not protect it? I like a mayor (or any elected official, a President?) who’s physically fit and proud of it. I like an elected official to be always dressed up and looking reverential, like he is ready to make a speech or meet someone important, like, like, maybe, somebody like me? I like an official who tries to make a good impression, who cares about his appearance.

Mayor Fenty is always sharp and distinctive. His nicely fitting, tailored suit is consistently buttoned; and he wears a colorful tie. His shoes are polished, and he is cleanly shaven. Rather like Candidate Obama.

Is there something wrong with dressing presidential? Or acting like a president? (Well, most of them anyway.) Is there something wrong with showing respect not only for himself (or herself) but also for the audience?

Wearing a golf hat, sunglasses, and golf shirt shows you are headed for the golf course, not the the highest elected post in the world.

In April I canvassed for Barack Obama in York, Pennsylvania, a day Mayor Fenty also came to town to canvass. There we were in our “glad rags” and there was the Mayor, all fit and proper, suited up, bright tie, nice suit, warm and gracious, greeting us at the gathering spot for canvassers, in a church. He said a few words to the 30 or so volunteers and shook hands with us all.

What struck me in York was Mayor Fenty’s appearance and enthusiasm. Honestly, I can’t recall much of what he said since I was so taken by the moment. And him.

Take a look at other world leaders and ask yourself: Do I want this guy making major decisions which will affect my life and those about me? Or, do I want a golfing buddy?

Image is everything, dearie. And don’t you believe otherwise.

Thursday, July 31, 2008

We Interrupt This Program to Bring You the World's Worst Airport

Why do I feel like I am in a washing machine when I am at Atlanta's airport? I mean, coming and going, daytime, nighttime. Who in her mind would want to change planes at this human crossroads of chaos?

The view from the air, the crisscrossing of the highways and interstates and cars, trucks, trucks, and cars on the red clay soon gives you to know you have lots to dread, for awaiting you below is a human tornado full of bodies churning up. Whenever I land at Atlanta, I am always so happy I don't live there.

Is it because Atlanta is the nation's busiest, and all the people walk up and down, across and yon, hither and dither all over you, yakking into their cell phones, or screaming at someone nearby?

My goodness gracious sakes! The food court at E concourse? Like it is not noisy enough, my gosh, and there on Wednesday afternoon was a real pianist playing his instrument, and why? Who can hear music when shouts and yells at the fast-food court raise the decibel level to that of a space ship lifting off from Cape Canaveral? I mean, really!

When we (Delta) taxied to a gate upon arrival from Albuquerque, we were kept waiting on board 30 minutes while an airport crew readied itself(you could see them from a window) and the pilot announced, "wing equipment repair" needed to be made. You mean, the repair could not wait until we de-planed? You got that right, sista.

Talk about a dichotomy: Albuquerque, location of gentility, manners, charm, and beauty. The security staff doesn't growl (Atlanta), bite, or snap. And, it has recycling bins!

Atlanta recycles? Oh, please. The woman at the information booth at E looked stunned at the question. I suppose it would make too much sense for the world's busiest (it gloats; who would want this appellation?) airport to recycle containers and trash. Who's got time? Inclination? Money?

The only bright note I found at the Atlanta airport was the organic restaurant, Natures Table Bistro, where the cucumber dill salad and the vegetarian chili were scrumptious. The woman dishing it up gave me a sample, and the man finishing up orders told me water was $300/cup (no typo). For just about $8, the airport food was surprisingly good. (I drank tap water.)

Upon arrival at BWI, I was knocked off my feet in a ladies room to find, hold on, freshly cut flowers in a vase with a pink ribbon. I mean, at an airport?

Maybe Atlanta could go to school in Albuquerque and Baltimore and learn some manners for it surely ain't got no Southern charm left. No one calls it a Southern city anymore, and it shows.

Celebrate Iraq! Dance to the Music!

Buzh celebrated today the declining numbers of deaths of our troops in Iraq.

Bring out the champagne and cake! What, still below 5,000? Let's clink our glasses. Yahoo! Jump up and down. What an achievement, Mr. Buzh.

What? To celebrate, will you call up Cheneygang and plan a party?

Oh! Ambassador Ryan Crocker was "able to walk through Sadr City" last week? Marvelous! It only took the lives of 4,122 of our soldiers, the malicious wounding of 30,409 other American troops and the deaths of almost 95,000 Iraqi civilians, only 95,000, to afford Crocker a nice little walk. How sweet it is.

Thank you, Mr. Prezident. Will you, please, walk through Baghdad today?

(You would think the CNN scribes could at least list the number of deaths in this story, but that would be too much trouble and cause them to veer too much from Buzh's mouth release.)

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Starbucks Does Not Recycle

Scene: Los Alamos, NM



Date: Sunday, July 27, 2008



Time
: 4 p.m



Two teenagers re-enter the Starbucks across from the P.O. carrying empty Starbucks containers and ask the barista who is cleaning:



Do you have a place to recycle these?



Barista shrugs his shoulders, makes no verbal sound and continues sweeping.

Monday, July 21, 2008

Cartoon Idea: John McCain on the Mountain Top

Cartoon idea being born...DING DING DING...McCain in Middle East wearing sunglasses and hat, standing on Pakistan/Afghanistan mountainous border, in shirt sleeves with aides, Rudi (and mt. goats) standing around, surrounded by troops loaded wi. rifles and helmets... saying something like "Where are we? What time is it?" Then he could be saying something really profound like "After we send troops to India to finish off the Taliban, we'll send a brigade to South Korea to battle the axle (sic) of evil" or some nonsense.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the mountain stands Barack Obama in all his glory tour with a halo above him and saying...saying...you finish it...