Election Dissection

Our latest episode of IGE Talks is now online. I moderated the discussion of this year's election results, which was recorded one month after the votes were cast.

The Election of Barack Obama as President of the United States of America

This has been an extraordinary week. Of course. The USA just conducted the most interesting, wide-open and unpredictable presidential election of my lifetime, and every form of news media known to humanity has been filled with analysis and opinion on what it all means, how it happened and what we might expect to happen now that we have a winner.

I'm going to offer just a few thoughts on what the successful (from my perspective) outcome means to me. I've already explained a bit about why I supported Obama so I'll try to not repeat myself here. I'll focus on what I did on Election Night and how the situation looks to me right now.

After I had finished walking my second route, going all the way into the dark of the evening to log on my printouts who had and who had not yet voted, I drove back to the union hall that I and the other Wyoming/Kentwood volunteers were working out of. I listened to Ed Schultz on the radio and took great encouragement from the positive "we're gonna win!" vibe that the liberal talk show host was projecting to his audience, but I was determined to avoid any sign of complacency or presumption that this thing was in the bag. Even with the McCain campaign pulling out of Michigan back in October... even with all the data from daily tracking polls pointing to a not-so-close outcome in the Electoral College... even with the enthusiastic response that I was getting from those who I had caught at home who had already cast their vote for Obama, or who were happy to assure me that they were determined to get to the polls as soon as their partners got home... none of that served to dissuade me from doing my own tiny bit to push the campaign through the finish line at the fullest sprint we could possibly muster. It wasn't just about winning at the national level, or even at the state level, since it seemed all but guaranteed that Michigan's color would remain blue on the political map. It was about winning BIG - because President Obama needs the strongest mandate based on broad and convincing support, and as he's said over and over again, it's really not so much about him as it is about as many of us as are able and willing to get involved, and to stay involved. And the key to getting that process started, for those who hadn't already enlisted in the campaign as volunteers, was to turn out as many of my fellow citizens as possible so that they could, in the future, look back and say to their kids, families and friends, "yes, I helped get the Obama years started! I supported Barack back when it seemed incredible that he would ever be elected president!" And it wasn't just about winning BIG either - it was about winning our local community if at all possible. Grand Rapids, Kent County and Western Michigan have long been considered bastions of Republicanism, bouyed by the conservative activists and philanthropists associated with the Amway Corporation (Rich DeVos and Jay Van Andel and their children) and Focus on the Family (particularly the late Ed Prince who was a major patron of James Dobson back in the early years, and whose son Erik Prince is the CEO of the notorious Blackwater Corporation which benefits enormously from the Bush/Cheney privatization of war in Iraq and elsewhere.) Our most famous political figure is, of course, former President Gerald Ford, and our second-most famous is probably Senator Arthur VandenBerg, a staunch opponent of FDR and the New Deal who showed genuine strength of character and personal growth in his public conversion from pre-WWII isolationism to an internationalist perspective, to the point that he helped in the founding of the United Nations. So much for the history lesson, but to be sure, Grand Rapids still serves as a happy hunting ground for Republicans when it comes to both votes and fundraising. President Bush has been here on several occasions, as has Dick Cheney, though they tend to hobnob with their more affluent supporters in limited access venues, quite unlike Obama, whose two trips to GR (so far!) have been in the Van Andel Arena (where John Edwards endorsed him last April) and the outdoor Calder Plaza in the middle of downtown on the very day this past October that the McCain campaign announced they were ceasing their operations in the state!

Well I'm happy to report that Kent County, Kentwood and my hometown of Wyoming all went in favor of Obama! I take great personal satisfaction in this accomplishment! Wyoming is dealing with a fairly difficult set of economic problems, with General Motors announcing just a few weeks ago that they're closing a local plant that will cost our town over 1000 good-paying jobs and over $1 million a year in tax revenues straight up, plus the other costs associated with the job losses. Such terrible economic news is hardly a boost for the Republicans, which I'm sure tilted the city toward the Democrats... but Wyoming is still seen as a pretty stodgy community, full of older folks who are resistant to change and presumably skeptical about the idea of an African-American president. Let's just say that Obama was never seen as a likely shoo-in for the local voters here! And since Michigan was robbed of a true primary this year (long story, don't ask me to repeat it here!) it was really unclear as to who would carry this area. McCain's military background and maverick image made him appealing to a lot of my neighbors, I'm sure.

But no matter... we won! Kent County went for the Democratic presidential candidate for the first time since 1964, the year of Lyndon Johnson's epic blowout! (And even then, some of the communities around here went strongly for Goldwater!)

I didn't know anything about the local results until Wednesday afternoon though, when I got home and read the local paper. (Yes, I still read the newspaper!) The big result, what mattered to me most, was of course how the big enchilada got sliced. I was hoping for an EC result somewhere in the 340-350 range, just to cut the drama and seal the deal, but if it got down to it, I was happy just to get us to 270! So after my days work was done, when it was simply too dark and creepy outside to be knocking on strangers' doors at night, I got back to the HQ and asked... "Where's the party?"

I was told to show up at a place called "Mosaic Space" located almost smack dab in the middle of downtown Grand Rapids, on Division near Fulton (the intersection where all of the street addresses begin from zero and work their way out on the four points of the compass.) So that's where I went. I decided not to spend Election Night at home - my wife had reservations about both of the major party candidates, and I was definitely in the mood for a more partisan crowd. Even if the unthinkable should happen and McCain pulled off the Upset of the Century, I wanted to be with my fellow Obama supporters to offer consolation, and to get the most up-to-date legal advice and to plan our riots for the next day (just kiddin'!)

So I got to Mosaic Space and was pretty impressed by the comfortable venue, the free and tasty eats that had been provided, the big screen TVs (tuned to CNN and the local NBC affiliate) and the sound system. As well as the crowd, of course! I saw a number of volunteers there and also, after a few minutes of wandering around, a couple of my friends from IGE. That was really great - since there are those within IGE who eschewed Obama and sought to raise support for Green Party candidate Cynthia McKinney or good ol' Ralph Nader himself. Sorry folks, not this year, we have a real progressive champion who actually had a chance to win and transform American history, society and culture in the process! No diddling around with third parties this year, no way!

So my friend Laura and her son and my other friend Diane became my main hang-out buddies and that made the night just perfect. We chatted, listened to music and basically just built up our hopes as the pivotal early states were called... Pennsylvania, where McCain seemed intent on making his final stand and delivering a shocker... when that big block of EVs was called for Obama, a big sigh of relief swept across the house... then when OHIO was called, the fists were pumpin' and bumpin'! We all know how crucial OH is to Republican candidats in particular, and Obama winning there did a lot to sweep away the ghosts of 2004. Those two states really lifted our balloons, so to speak. I think Virginia was called for Barack somewhere in that late stretch as well. New Mexico and Colorado were looking good, Indiana was too close to call... we knew that we were closing in!

In the meantime, photographers from the Grand Rapids Press were swarming around the room with their impressively large-lensed cameras taking pictures of people. You can see some of them here, though I was apparently not deemed photogenic enough to make the cut for those published to the web!

Then, at 10:50 p.m., NBC broke off its national coverage to give affiliates a chance to update on the state and local races. I think it was Brian Williams who urged viewers to hang on until 11:00 p.m. when "some major announcements" were anticipated. So we did. Like, were we gonna go anywhere anyway?

Silently, suddenly, the clock switched to 11, and a simple graphic popped up on the screen. A picture of Barack Obama. The words "Elected 44th President of the United States." Eyes lock in on the screen, scan the words, register their import, absorb the new knowledge. Euphoric bedlam ensues! Music blasts! Kool and the Gang's "Celebration"! The O'Jays' "Love Train"! Stevie Wonder's "Signed Sealed Delivered"! Oh we danced and jumped and shouted and hugged and hi-fived and had ourselves a nice loud party. A bunch of perfect friends and strangers ushering in an era that we'd longed and worked and sacrificed for... some longer than others, but all united in sheer joy that our cumulative efforts had led to something so wonderful, so amazing, so marvelous to behold, and to be a part of.

Barack Obama had won the election, and we helped make it happen. It is by far the most significant historic event that I have ever been a part of. I'm really glad to have helped in my infinitesmally tiny way!

The festivities continued for some time... the room was noisy and stayed noisy until we saw John McCain emerge on stage in Arizona to give his concession speech. We couldn't hear the first few moments of his comments since the music was still blasting, but once we shouted the DJ down, we got to hear a fairly classy and dignified acknowledgment of reality by our vanquished foe, now resuming his customary role of patriotic citizen supporting a president who had thwarted his own political ambitions. His words were measured and gracious enough to earn a bit of admiration from me and others in the room. It was easy to be magnanimous, now that we were on the other side of the finish line!

Well after that was done, the party scene started to break up a bit. I figured that I could get home in time to hear Obama's victory speech from Grant Park and so I left the loft and headed back to my car. I could still hear people shouting, horns honking, such an awesomely happy and enthusiastic vibe hovering over the whole downtown area! I called a friend on the phone to celebrate the occasion at a distance, capping off my celebrations for the night. I got home just in time to flip on the TV and watch in amazement as President-Elect Obama came out to address the joyous throng and millions of well-wishers across the nation and around the world. It was an enthralling moment, and of course Barack delivered the goods, addressing us in just the right tone of inspiration tempered by sobriety. He, and we, recognize that however monumental the task was to enact this transformative moment in American politics, the true challenges still lie ahead. The campaign is over... now it's time to go out and create a legacy for our movement, for our nation, for our future.

Yes We Can!

So now we look ahead.

Mid-GOTV Blogging Break

I've already been out hitting the streets this morning as part of the local Get Out The Vote effort for Barack Obama here in my hometown of Wyoming MI. I started around 10:00 am and spent several hours knocking on doors and buzzing apartments, reminding recently registered voters that today was the day to get out and finish up the deal by voting for Barack Obama and all the other important stuff to be found on this year's ballot. I have to tell you, though I think what I and thousands of other volunteers (a million or more perhaps? I don't really know...) are doing is really worthwhile and important, it seems in some ways that there is already a LOT of motivation on the part of people to get involved in this year's election, and a LOT of enthusiasm to help make Barack Obama the next President of the United States. What's happening out there is a drama still unfolding, but if the polls hold up and the prognosticators are on target, I know that a strong and sustained sense of exhilaration is going to sweep across big sections of this country as we finally and at long last see a decisive reversal of the forces that put George W. Bush and his cronies in the White House. I am not yet quite ready to delve into the implications of an Obama win until I see the headlines and hear the victory/concession speeches myself - at least not here! :o) But I'm thinking them through already and will spell out some more of my thoughts when the time is right.

For now, I'm just taking a little breather at home before heading out for the afternoon and evening shifts. It would be easy for me to say that Michigan appears to be in the bag for Obama - but my involvement in this campaign isn't really so much about "helping him win" as it is about really stepping forward in my own small way to be part of this much bigger and historical phenomenon, of watching the USA become a nation that is once again on the right track and closer than it was yesterday to living up to the fullest implications of its founding ideals. Obama is the kind of person (regardless of his race) that I have long sought to support for our national leader - so now it's my time to step away from being part of the skeptical (though loyal) opposition to taking on a full sense of identification with the administration-in-power... assuming, again, that my fellow voters come through as expected and elevate Barack Obama to the Presidency of the United States of America!

Barack Obama for President

For reasons that aren't even all that clear to me, I've largely bypassed the opportunity to offer frequent updates on my thoughts regarding what has undoubtedly been a very interesting and comment-worthy presidential election campaign. One factor that I will mention here is that this process has been incredibly suspenseful and even stressful for me as I (and many millions of others) await the final outcome. The resulting anxiety has, I think, served to cramp up my writing on the topic. While I have paid a lot of attention to presidential races throughout my adulthood, this is the first one that I've gotten personally involved with as a volunteer and financial contributor. (Well, I might have donated something to Kerry in 2004 but it wasn't much if I did...) And even more than the work I've done, I am simply so invested in the idea of a President Obama and not seeing the Republicans run the Executive Branch for another four years that I can hardly stand to contemplate the scenario. Bush manifestly does NOT deserve to have someone from his own party serve as his successor! And Obama has run such an impressive campaign... if merit has any place in the process, then Barack Obama has clearly swept that category!

Anyway, here we are... the Sunday before Election Day and I'm going to try and summarize the impressions that this last year-and-a-half of serious electioneering has left on me. First of all, it's utterly unique and unprecedented in my experience to arrive as early as I did on a preferred candidate and then see that person ascend to the party nomination and now appear to be poised for victory, according to all the polls and just about all the pundits. I have nothing to compare it to, that sensation of declaring early-on support for a politician who then goes on to take the rest of the nation by storm, surprising the experts and the skeptics alike by actually overcoming the longshot odds stacked against him. I am much more used to rooting for the true underdog, the person or perspective that gets ruled out by the majority pretty quickly in the process. And I really don't think that my perspective has shifted all that much vis a vis the issues (though I know of course that Obama has plenty of critics on the left who consider him too corporate, not progressive enough, too willing to resort to militarism, etc.) I just think that more people in the country have caught on to the shortcomings of big-government conservatism and the backwardness of so much that the national Republican coalition has embraced in its platform and the solutions it offers to our nation's problems.

It's one thing for Republicans to belittle Obama on the basis of his being a "celebrity" (a charge that really collapses under any objective reflection on the celebrity status of both McCain and Palin, the former, a long-cultivated romance with the news and entertainment media and the latter, an absolute textbook case of overnight sensation pop-stardom.) But with the expected gains Democrats will enjoy in both sides of Congress, there's clearly an emerging strain of collective disgust with what the Republican Party has offered. Myself, I think it is only reasonable that the party in power from 2001-2007 should suffer rebuke for the numerous calamities that took place in our nation over those years. Though I have to admit that my views skew Democratic most of the time, and I'm intrigued by what Pres. Obama and a more liberal congress might achieve in the way of true reform in the years ahead, I also sincerely hope that the coming housecleaning among the Republican ranks will result in a party that is less willing to resort to simplistic and divisive appeals to fundamentalisms of various sorts in order to win votes.

But so much for analyzing the state of our main political parties. I want to talk about Barack Obama because he really is the main event of this political season.

I hold Senator Obama in high regard. I can't recall a political figure of any stature who has consistently held my attention and communicated his views to me in as effective a manner as he has. I know that Reagan and Clinton have legions of fans who extol their masterful touch with the voters, but with me, they both just seemed to miss the mark more often than not. Obama delivers the message in a way that indicates he knows what he's talking about, he appreciates and understands perspectives that are different from his own and he's not ideologically locked in to pursuing a predetermined outcome. I trust the sense of personal authenticity and commitment that he's bringing to the job of president, and the way he seems determined to govern without a chip on his shoulder or an old axe to grind. He's got a cool sense of humor, an informed sense of history and a nice balance of self-confidence, humility, personal discipline and a willingness to connect across the wide sociological spectrum of American citizens (and world citizenry too, while we're at it.) The prospect of Obama representing the United States of America in any number of foreign contexts totally appeals to me. He will put the nation's interests first as is his responsibility but I am strongly persuaded that he'll do so in a way that doesn't assume that concerns like the environment, social justice or human rights are bargaining chips at his (or anyone's) disposal. His foreign policy offers our nation its best chance at moving toward a genuinely elevated regard for human rights and international cooperation that are not nearly as subjectively skewed by the ideological paradigms of the Cold War or Bush's largely incoherent and selectively applied "War on Terror."

Another important dimension of Obama's candidacy is an obvious one - his status as an African-American, though not one from the more typical background with family roots that go back to the 19th century, slavery and the Jim Crow era. Much has been written about this and I can't even begin to offer new insight on it, but my own personal experience of attending a few local Obama rallies and discussing his candidacy with a number of African-American acquaintances leads me to believe that this constituency, and by extension our nation as a whole, would experience a significant benefit from seeing their hopes realized by an Obama victory in the election and his rise to the presidency. Of course this would at first be more of a symbolic and cultural affirmation - but I happen to believe that symbols and culture count for a lot. And the other outcome, to see Obama come this far only to fall short at the last minute, would lead to seriously negative results. Not that those negatives would rest directly upon McCain or the Republican Party but the 'downer' effect of another Republican presidency in 2009 would be really hard to overcome, in my opinion. To me, that is the much bigger risk that we really cannot afford - forget Obama's supposed lack of experience or leftward tilt on policy issues... the real threat to our national well-being is the collective cynicism, apathy and resentment that would result from a perceived lack of political accountability for the Bush administration and its many large-scale failures over the past eight years. If that crew doesn't deserve an electoral spanking, then I never want to hear the phrase "throw the bums out" used in connection with political campaigns ever again! Seriously... I think about it and I still don't see how anyone who believes in performance-based accountability can consider voting for the ticket endorsed by both George W. Bush and now Dick Cheney!

OK, now that I've started this, I'll try to stick with it. I will have more to say about the Obama campaign and the results it achieved in 2008 in the days ahead.

Conspiracy Theories TV Show

http://www.iserv.net/~ige/talks/

The latest episode of IGE Talks is always featured at this link. Our October installment was hosted by me and dealt with the topic of "Conspiracy Theories." You can hear a few of your fellow citizens spin out their own explanations of what's Really Going On as well as my own armchair analysis of what makes us more inclined to buy into the "minority report" version of conventional wisdom.

It's Time To Get Up

This morning I'm in Detroit MI for the purpose of attending a Roots and Wings conference sponsored by the Reclaiming Youth Network.

I'm awake early. I woke up with a lot on my mind. The political season is heavily upon us. The United States economy is in a shambles and the nation is nearing a serious day of reckoning.

I'm thinking about Barack Obama.
I'm thinking about Chicago.
Illinois.
Land of Lincoln.
The Great Lakes.
The Upper Midwest.
Rust Belt.
Northern States.
Blue America.

We've had enough of the Mess from Texas.

I don't think the Arizona Retirement Community option is what this country needs to be turning to at this time.

It's time to put the US of A on the broad shoulders of the Windy City. Time to tighten up the bread basket. Time to get back to the guts and grit and grim determination that gave our nation heft and balance and flat-out production. The Sun Belt is nice, and we all love Cali and the Coasts. But this seems to be the time for the industrial core of our nation to reassert itself as the engine that's going to push us forward into the 21st century - smarter, cleaner and tightly focused. That's what I'm feeling this morning.

Watch this video!

Update

My life is going along just fine. My dad is visiting here for the summer, up from the Caribbean and Central America where he usually resides on his sailboat, visiting his family and sitting out hurricane season during our warm and pleasant months of the year. I haven't found much to blog about re: current events or my personal life, but I've enjoyed watching movies and writing short essays about them. So in case you haven't checked it out yet, my current blogging action is happening over at criterionreflections.blogspot.com - I would like to dialog on the films I review there even if you haven't seen them recently or ever.

"McCain=Bush" = Thoughtcrime

I don't get this. What can be the rational basis that explains what you see happen on the video below? A 61-year old librarian wants to hold up a very simple, non-provocative, handmade sign but is threatened with arrest, ticketed and escorted off the premises of a public event held on city property in Denver CO.



Can anyone give me a sensible legal argument that supports this, other than "the cops and Secret Service say so"?

Power Outage

On Tuesday I wrote about how we were working around the house, getting the basement and yard and household in general together this week, partly in preparation for my dad's arrival and partly just because it needed to be done. As often turns out to be the case in this world, these plans were rudely shoved aside and crumpled up by forces of nature beyond our control.

Wednesday afternoon, just shortly after I had helped Julie install some trellises in our new planter beds in the backyard, I came indoors to return to the "fine detail" level of organizing and sorting through stuff in our basement. I have stacks of books, CDs, videos and DVDs that need to be sifted in order to determine what's worth keeping, what I can sell, what I should donate and so on. I'm in one of those rare (for me) moods to minimize my accumulation of clutter and I want to take advantage of that impulse. I know I will be a better person and experience a higher quality of life if I take a more disciplined approach to my collector's mentality.

After getting into it a bit, Julie and Lys came scurrying into the house, informing me that the sky was darkening, the wind was picking up and a big ol' storm was about to blow. I was fine with that - a good old fashioned cloudburst is always kind of fun and since I was pretty much consigned to indoor work at this point, I figured it would be no problem at all to give our lawn and plants a big dose of free water.

We turned on our downstairs TV to see what the forecast had to say and saw the local newsroom in a bit of an uproar. The storm was big enough, apparently, that the channel found it necessary to not just have the storm warning ticker running underneath the regularly scheduled program, but instead, they put the cameras on in their weather center and treated us all to that "you are there" experience as their sophisticated equipment brought us into vivid, personal contact with the advancing winds and tumultuous downpour of rain as the storm swept across Lake Michigan, then Ottawa County, then Kent County (where I live.) Things developed so abruptly that WOOD-TV 8 assigned their chief political reporter, Rick Albin, to provide the on-camera narrative - their weather people being busy and their regular anchors perhaps unavailable at the time. I recall Albin leading a hand-held cameraman through a corridor, to the back door of the studio where they showed just a fierce cascade of rain coming down - and at that very moment, our electricity went out, our basement plunging into near darkness.

Now we live pretty much "in town" though it's not the city of Grand Rapids, so when we have power outages, they are usually pretty short-lived. In fact, I wouldn't have been surprised to see the power come back on within the next five minutes or so, except that the storm was unusually intense and showed little sign of diminishing anytime soon. So upstairs we went, given that the small windows in our basement did not allow enough light to continue our project (especially since it was so dark outside, even though it was 2 o'clock in the afternoon.)

As the blackout stretched out over the next hour or two, I decided to take advantage of the quiet and read a book I've been looking at lately, titled Deep Blues (a history of blues music, focusing mostly on the personalities and sounds that emerged from the Mississippi Delta region.) I was feeling a little nappy, laying there on my sofa in the warm, humid afternoon, reading about the Great Flood of 1927 (which inspired some notable blues classics) when I heard Julie exclaim "Oh no!" from the back entry of our house. The one that leads to our basement.

What she saw was a shallow pool of water at the bottom of our steps. Running down, we recognized instantly what had happened - the sump pump had shut down and all that groundwater was seeping back up the drain and onto the floor of the basement!

That set us into pretty furious action - Julie started bailing water while I scrambled to pick up as many items sitting on the floor as we could. Fortunately, most of our important items had been stacked up on tables or were sitting in bookcases, the bottom shelves still high enough to remain untouched by water. Still, we knew we had a lot of work ahead of us. The rain was continuing to fall and by this time, we recognized that restoration of power was not likely to happen for quite some time. We called Derek back (via cell) from a friend's house and when he and Ben got here, we set up a bucket brigade. Lys filled pails with water from the dormant sump pump's hole in the floor and the four of us (Julie, Derek, Ben and me) hauled them out to the drain in front of our house. It was still raining - so just imagine a big ol' soakin' sloppy mess as one five-gallon pail after another sloshed up the stairs and out the back door as we repeated that cycle countless times over the next hour or so.

Once we had brought the overall water level down below floor level, we took the opportunity to drive down to Julie's brother's farm. He had a robust generator he could lend us - that hog puts out enough current to power up his house, his barn, his wells, the works... More than we really needed but it was the best deal in town so we took it. It took four guys to hoist it into the back of our minivan (we have a nice big greasemark on the carpeting to remember it by now) but we got her in and got her out and by 10 p.m. or so, we had restored our connection to electrified life - sump pump, refrigerators, a couple of floor lamps, fans and dehumidifier in the basement...

But what a loud old beast that generator proved to be. Our neighborhood was fairly humming with the sound of gas-powered engines keeping their respective homes at least partially lit - but I'm sure we had them all beat when it came to decibels. And a gas guzzler too! I was dropping two gallon cans into that thing after three-four hours, and as the outage stretched over the next two days, you can figure for yourself that I was not only spending a lot of money (about $9.30 every time I filled the two jugs, with gas at $4.199 p/g) but also not getting much good sleep, since I didn't want to let the noisy brute run out of gas and had to top off the tank through the overnight shifts on Thursday and Friday a.m.'s.

Thursday morning was spent tearing out our old carpet (it had been flooded several years ago and it just didn't seem to be worth trying to save it now - we still remember what a hard time we had getting the mildew smell out and had no desire to repeat that experience.) All our furniture, bookcases, tables, computers, etc. had to be reshuffled as we sliced out the carpeting strip by strip and dragged the dripping bundles up the stairs. We now have added incentive to clean out the clutter as the prospect of putting it all back together just as it was seems not merely futile, but actually repugnant. This is a great opportunity to get a fresh clean new arrangement for our downstairs living space so I'm looking at this situation as more of an opportunity than a calamity. But for now, the downstairs is a heap. No getting around that!

Anyway, when I called Consumers Energy on Friday morning to see when power was expected to be restored, the recorded message said "Saturday, July 5 at 11 p.m." That seemed unacceptably slow to me, but what could I do? I figured that they were just buying themselves time and avoiding making any promises they couldn't keep. So with the house now safely dried, the sun out, and everything looking pretty stable, we decided to shut off the generator for a couple hours and go see a movie. We chose a matinee showing of Wall-E as our Independence Day family movie outing (it was fine, well-produced and clever mass consumer entertainment up to Pixar's reliably high standards) and when we came back, we were delighted to see lights on in our house again. Civilization had imposed itself back on our household and we were happy to return to our bondage on The Grid.

Organization, Home Work, New Beds

My priority list for this week has been heavily home-focused. I'm taking time off work in order to get my house ready for a long visit from my dad, who's chosen West Michigan as his destination of choice for riding out the Caribbean hurricane season. His boat is (presumably) fully prepped and safely locked down somewhere in the vicinity of Honduras (or maybe Guatemala) and he'll be flying in over the upcoming fireworks displays being launched across our land, as his plane is scheduled to land in Detroit around 10:30 p.m. on July 4. Could be an interesting display if he happens to get a window seat!

A friend of his will be picking him up and my plan (details yet t.b.d.) is to meet them somewhere around Lansing (mid-state) on Saturday. And we'll improvise the rest from there. But at least Dad will have a prepared bedroom awaiting him, with a nice new cozy twin bed that we just set up tonight. That's a big part of what I've been doing the past few days, since finishing up work on Friday - getting my basement organized, cleaning out Alyssa's old room (she now lives upstairs where our twin sons used to stay) and reducing our accumulated clutter at least enough to increase the living space and keep the storage down to single layers of boxes and plastic tubs, rather than piles that accumulate in unsightly heaps in our utility room.

We still have some ways to go and probably won't be done sorting it all before Dad gets here but at least his room is prepped and our storage room is orderly. The problem zone is our downstairs "family room" (where we really don't hang out all that much, due to clutter and lack of furniture.) But give us time.

The other big project of the week is whipping the last big chunk of our yard into shape. We used to have a garden behind our garage but too much shade and invasive rodents (a woodchuck and a bunny have been spotted as recently as this past week) and subsequent general neglect reduced it to a wasteland. But Julie had an idea and she sold me on it so we've built three raised beds, one for tomatoes, one for herbs and strawberries and one for flowers, after doing some clearing and leveling. Now the beds are filled with dirt, consisting of a mix, equally divided between the three, of 32 bags of top soil, 20 bags of horticultural grade compost, 19 bags of cow manure and 1 bag of Canadian peat. Pretty rich stuff compared to the stony, dusty soil that our poor struggling tomatoes, herbs and strawberries have had to struggle through the past few growing seasons. So I look forward to seeing some nice verdant growth springing forth from these beds this year and for years to come.

New Blog o' Mine

I just opened up a third blog, believe it or not. It's called Criterion Reflections - a place for me to record my thoughts about my ever-growing collection of arthouse DVDs released by the Criterion Collection. More explanation is provided there - I'm just letting you know. There's also another link in the right-hand sidebar in case you forget to bookmark the new blog immediately upon reading this!

The Obama FISA Thing

What follows below are writings lifted from a series of emails I've written the past couple days regarding Barack Obama and the FISA legislation that's moved through Congress this week. I assume that you the reader have some background on the issue and the controversy it's triggered within some of Obama's supporters on various liberal/progressive netroots websites. If you need more background, try this column to start. Or do your own research. These comments may be a bit redundant in some places, since I've spliced a few messages into one piece, without spending much time editing it all down. - DB

The Obama FISA thing. Disappointment is a good reality check and an important right for Obama supporters to reserve. He would do well to come out with a clearer statement on these surveillance issues - the tricky part is that it's not all that obvious on how it will play out politically. I'd like to see him be bolder in accusing Bush of criminality but that wouldn't play too well in the "center." He has to fend off the "raving liberal Marxist soft on security" albatross that some will try to wrap around his neck.

The new element here is that Obama is now experiencing power he's never had before. And he's also got be be very careful in how he positions himself - he's playing it safe and centrist, and perhaps, realistically, not distancing himself from the executive authority that Bush's precedent may end up giving him. Calculations we're not really happy or comfortable seeing him make but that's the position he's in.

The HuffPo article (linked above) notes strains between Obama and his supporters in the netroots. Felt mostly by the activists at this point - while I'm sympathetic with the dKos perspective and would be happy to see Obama be as fearless and all out in his opposition as Dodd and Feingold, I'm not surprised to see him playing it cautious. The one thing that I just don't know about the warrantless wire-tapping is just how extensive it really was - I have a huge mistrust of the Bush Admin. on the gut level and expect that they've abused their authority on countless occasions. Obama's campaign though has really not been about "impeaching Bush" or otherwise going after the bastards in a take-no-prisoners style. In their primary runs, Kucinich and even Dodd tried that approach and they certainly got some interest from me as candidates because of it - but that's not Obama's thing and I can understand why. If he were to turn attack-dog now it would limit his prospects and in a way risk lending credence to this idea his opponents are trying to pin on him of being a "typical politician."

Reality is that Obama has to avoid creating too obvious an opening for the smear campaigns that have done such a good job taking down the Democrats since 1968. Think about it - only Nixon's impeachment and a substantial wildcard from Ross Perot mixing things up gave the D's a chance to occupy the White House in the last 40 years. Obama's chances are pretty good now but he's neither impervious nor invincible. I totally get the frustration of the activists and BushCo is so badly overdue for the humiliating takedown they have earned and deserve. I just don't know that it suits Obama or the Democratic Party so well to have Barack be the guy leading that effort. If the Democrats are evenly split on supporting this crappy legislation, is Obama really strong enough in the "backroom" sense of the word to turn them around? He's still establishing his power-base - I hope he sees the need that many of us have for him to begin exercising his clout in a way that isn't content to merely inspire, but also to confront when confrontation is necessary. This situation also offers some definition of what is needed from a potential vice-president - someone who can go out and make a passionate, ass-kicking statement that is in sync with Obama's message but does so with a different/complementary style.

My intention throughout this campaign is to almost certainly give Obama much benefit of the doubt on managing his political efforts - he has earned my confidence in knowing how to maneuver through the Scylla and Charybdis of a national election and that's the most important thing he can focus on at this time - winning the vote. His current lead in national polls and the way he compares so positively against John McCain, along with our own yearning for a bold progressive champion to realign the national discourse can, I think, serve to obscure from us the fact that Obama is still working against formidable odds when it comes to him and Michelle actually moving into the White House next January. My hunch is that 98% or so of the people criticizing Obama for "capitulating" on FISA are white and don't have anything close to the level of pressure, scrutiny and tripwires surrounding them that Barack has, and has had to live with throughout his adult life... so I doubt that they can really identify with what he's dealing with as he makes his decision on how to handle this legislation.

I think he's actually quite wise to avoid making a particular piece of legislation his moral/ethical/principled "line in the sand" - especially an issue that, frankly speaking, is much too subtle and complex to convey to the majority of voters who probably still don't feel too threatened by concerns that the government is spying on them. I've heard some of my own relatives say things like "I have nothing to hide so I don't worry if the government hears what I'm saying on the phone." Not that they are pleased with that prospect, but it's just not a gut-check issue for them compared to other things like the economy, the war, gas prices or the general direction that the country is going in. This is an issue that resonates much more strongly with idealists and reform-minded types like ourselves and needs to be kept in a "big picture" perspective.

Spring Clearance Post

Very quick rundown on things I could have blogged about if I'd felt like it...

Derek had his graduation open house.



































I attended a poverty simulation workshop.

Had a pleasant Father's Day.



I watched some pretty good movies from the Criterion Collection (my favorite media-related pastime these days): Schizopolis, Pandora's Box, Good Morning, The Blob, Andrei Rublev, Walker, Fishing With John, Diary of a Chambermaid, Band of Outsiders... I think that pretty well covers what I've seen since I watched Contempt (most recent blog post here.)

I'm reading John Updike's Rabbit Redux (slowly working through all four of the Rabbit novels.) This one is set in the late 60's - an interesting time capsule to read a book written at that time that covers the state of affairs in American suburbia regarding attitudes on marriage, the space program, the Vietnam war, race relations, sex, drugs (but so far not rock-n-roll so much) and all that stuff. I was just a kid at the time, a few years from having my eyes opened and my mind blown as I came into fuller contact with the world as it really is.

Work is full of angst, uncertainty and excitement as the agency consolidates programs, erects new buildings, reassigns job roles, cuts positions, hires new staff, loses others and looks down the road to a time when we just might be able to settle into some new routines. I'm writing grants, doing trainings and thinking about my present and future possibilities.

One of my sons just got a job at Pine Rest.

I got my stimulus check. It's pretty much going to pay for some car repairs and bills. Just threw it in the account with everything else, no special purchases planned but $1200 always comes in handy I suppose.

Barack Obama seems to be well on his way to a successful bid for the presidency though we still have a lot yet to happen before we really know how it will all turn out.

I think that sufficiently covers it for now.

Le Mepris (Contempt)

Jean-Luc Godard's films of the early 60's turn out to be a wonderful and rewarding discovery for me. As my explorations of the great works of cinema over the past 80 years or so continues, it was only a matter of time before I got into the French New Wave. As a child of the 60s myself, I find it fascinating to see what was considered edgy and innovative at the time I was coming into the world. My first exposure to Godard was in his debut feature Breathless. Shortly after I picked up that rewarding and entertaining DVD, Criterion released Pierrot Le Fou, which I bought based on good reviews, a discount price and a $25 certificate to Amazon.com. Pierrot Le Fou became a major source of inspiration to me - I blogged about it earlier and continue to replay various scenes and sequences in my mind, and occasionally on my computer and DVD player as well. As I studied Godard's career, I learned that Contempt (Le Mepris) is even more highly regarded by critics and fans alike. So I made that my third choice for a Godard DVD (and I've since purchased Une Femme est une Femme, which I've watched and enjoyed and will write about some other time.)

Watching Le Mepris twice now, once with the commentary track, made a significant effect on my understanding of marriage, particularly what goes on when misunderstandings, miscommunication and unmet/unspoken needs lead to a loss of respect (or "contempt") between spouses. That's the essential problem at the heart of this story, though I'll mention in this review many other dimensions meriting exploration.

Set in Rome, and later, on the island of Capri, the plot revolves around a French writer (Paul) who has been hired by an arrogant American film producer (Jeremy Prokosch, played by Jack Palance) to take charge of the script for an adaptation of Homer's Odyssey. Prokosch is unsatisfied with the "arthouse" approach to the material favored by his German director (cinematic pioneer Fritz Lang, playing himself, though he's a character in the film - this production is fictional.) Prokosch is highly driven, egotistical and highly controlling - all essential ingredients to his success in the film industry, of course. He also takes leering notice of Paul's beautiful wife, Camille (played by Brigitte Bardot.) Unlike Bardot's usual sex kitten roles, her character here is modest, somewhat provincial and doesn't enjoy the attentions and flirtations of men other than her husband. However, in the first encounter involving the couple and Prokosch, Paul commits a serious blunder in allowing Camille to ride without him in the producer's loud red two-seater sports car. Stemming from this incident, and others that compound her dismay, Camille sees Paul as lacking strength and appropriate concern for her as he allows her to be alone with the American for an unacceptable length of time while he tends to other matters on his way over to the producer's villa. This significant breakdown between the two of them opens a fissure that grows ever wider throughout the course of the film, as Paul exasperatedly tries to understand what bothers Camille and only adds to his frustrations by his unsuccessful attempts to repair the damage.

There are three basic sections to the film - the first (after a very memorable and sweetly intimate prologue with Paul and Camille talking in bed) is set in a film studio in Rome, where we get to see rush clips of the Homeric epic in progress. This establishes a nice literary tie-in where the tensions between Paul and Camille are played out against the background of separation and tensions involving the mythic Ulysses, his wife Penelope and the suitors who vie for Penelope's affections. Godard also offers his own insights and commentary on the state of contemporary cinema as a multicultural milieu where things like financing, artistic freedom and creative control don't always work so well - note the various nationalities mentioned above. The film handles the cultural mix in a realistic though unconventional approach (especially at that time) with a polyglot soundtrack featuring characters speaking their respective languages to each other, facilitated by a secretary/translator who mediates between them all and provides some subtle variations via her interpretations of what they say to each other - a small touch that I really enjoyed, even though I'm as much of a dummy monolinguist as the stereotypical American portrayed in European cinema!

The second section is a long (half-hour or so) sequence set in Paul's and Camille's apartment where their relational collapse is played out in a naturalistic, non-stagy manner. They more resemble a couple at home speaking words that don't require full explication or dramatic framing to get their point across. As the commentary track pointed out, in a standard Hollywood movie, the exchange would take place in a few minutes, with standard over-the-shoulder shots as the performers looked directly at each other, music would cue us to know that something sad or shocking or bold had been stated and the plot would quickly advance to its next stage. Here instead we are given a more extended study of how moods and attitudes fluctuate, shift and are settled into as one and then the other says just the wrong thing, internal choices and calculations are made, and an undeclared course of action is established in the privacy of each mind while the other struggles to read the cues of what they might expect to see from their spouse. The filming, colors, staging and script of this section are quite remarkable and I can imagine that I will return to this section in the future just to get more insight on the interrelational dynamics explored in the scene. Though I haven't seen many other Bardot films, her acting here was excellent. One of the short bonus features on Disc 2 of the package is titled "Paparazzi," filmed at the time Le Mepris was being shot, that showed just how crazy popular Bardot (introduced as "the most photographed woman in the world" was at that time. She reminded me of no one else as much as Britney Spears, and I can't help but think that Britney's stylists must have studied Bardot's career - the resemblances are too much to be a coincidence.

After the apartment scene has run its course, the action shifts to an amazing locale, a large fortress-like home built on a rocky outcropping on the southern edge of Capri. The blue Mediterranean waters, the breathtaking scenery, impressive architecture, more "film within a film" of actors in Homeric garb, and BB's demure nude sun-bathing on the chateau's terrace roof - well let's just say there are some memorable images for the camera to focus in on. This section brings all the drama to its tragic climax as Paul, Prokosch, Camille and Lang all have their moments of encounter, confrontation and disclosure. As with most Godard films, one is often reminded that we're watching a film - even though most of what we see is very naturalistic, there are moments of high stylization and the camera work is often so deliberate and self-conscious that the viewer has no choice but to take note of it. Godard's deep knowledge of cinematic history, technique and possibilities have drawn me in quite swiftly and I am eager to continue delving into more of his work!

End of the Road

No, this post has NOTHING to do with the presidential aspirations of Hillary Clinton! I will do my own blogging on all that some other time. I have to catch up on what I did Monday night right now - keep it all in order.

So the end of the road for two heroic endeavors came on the same night, at the same event as a matter of fact. The famous American rock band Van Halen finished up its 2007-08 World Tour, and I wound up my career as a volunteer worker for the Wyoming Park Marching Band, at Grand Rapids' own Van Andel Arena (actually, Grand Rapids' mayor had officially renamed it the "Van Halen Arena" for that day - such a special occasion!)

Let's cover the band first, since that's more likely to hold your interest. Van Halen has been around for a long time, over 30 years as a matter of fact. Their debut album came out in 1978 and one of my favorite stories to tell from all the arena concert going I did back in the 70s was that I saw Van Halen on their first national tour when they opened for Black Sabbath. The LP had been out for awhile and anyone who's ever heard it knows just how blazing and bodacious the guitar solos are on that album. Even though Eddie Van Halen's guitar techniques are now quite familiar, widely copied and part of the hard rock canon, at the time, his sound was so innovative and new that I and many of my friends cynically figured that it had as much to do with studio tricks and overdubs as it did with what the dude could do on stage. So when we shuffled our way to the general admission floor of the Oakland Coliseum, we were utterly blown away just moments after the lights went down and this maniacal human cyclone named David Lee Roth sprang out leaping and flailing his body around the stage while a completely huge brain rattling roar buzzed every molecule of air bouncing off 10,000 or so pairs of eardrums. Van Halen, we learned, were not just your ordinary band of hard rockers. Eddie and his accomplices were indeed producing, live and on stage, those totally freaky sounds we'd been hearing on our turntables and cassette players in the weeks leading up to the gig.

So that was my first acquaintance with the band, and even though I went on to see them perform live a number of other times over the years, nothing I ever saw from them topped that glorious first impression. And I really don't think they ever got any better, though they produced some pretty catchy tunes over the years and became a truly larger-than-life presence in the annals of rock history. Part of that story though was the ignominy of what VH eventually devolved into, as Roth became a frivolous and silly showboat, Eddie struggled with alcohol and drug abuse and in many ways ran out of ideas for how to use his prodigious guitar-playing gifts as his compositions became increasingly pedestrian and he seemed to stop growing in musical imagination. Of course, the acrimony between Roth and the rest of the band grew to the point where the singer was booted out and replaced by a shouter that I never really cared much for, Sammy Hagar. And the saga continued for awhile, though I lost interest for the most part after their second album, following the remainder of their career from a distance, hearing their pre-Roth-split albums mostly due to their ubiquity on the radio or in friends' collections and paying little heed to the Van Hagar era in general.

Still, when I heard last year that at last, David Lee Roth was returning to perform the songs he helped make famous, I thought it was a good thing. (Not everyone agreed.) I had a chance to work the previous Van Halen show a couple years ago at the Van Andel, and I enjoyed the chance to listen in on a bit of Eddie's pre-concert jam session. But when I heard Hagar singing songs from those first few albums, I didn't think he did them justice, and as far as I was concerned, those were the only tunes that really moved me. Getting Roth back as their front-man, and replacing departed bassist with Eddie's (and Valerie Bertinelli's) son Wolfgang, was the right move - even though VH had no plans to record new music. They were, in effect, a very loud, technically proficient oldies band with a right to select freely from a pretty impressive back catalog of songs.

Well, there are many such groups who fit that description coming through the arena circuit these days. Yes, I'm talking to you, The Police! ;o)

Anyway. I hadn't really even planned on working this show. My days of needing to raise funds for my high school sons' band expenses ended late last year and to be honest, the lineup of shows I had to choose from and the more restrictive expectations for volunteers had taken some of the fun out of it for me. Plus a lot of the folks I used to work with had also moved on. So it wasn't feeling much like my scene anymore. I figured I was done.

But a couple months ago, I was called in desperation - the boosters needed more bodies to work the Jonas Brothers show (they had opened the same place for Hannah Montana earlier this year) and I agreed to help out in a pinch. Then, at the graduation ceremony last week, I was told that they still had room to add workers for Monday's Van Halen show. Realizing that I had begun my VAA career working a Metallica gig, I quickly understood that it just didn't seem right finishing up with a Jonas Brothers concert. Van Halen, on the other hand, provided the perfect bookend to a rather memorable and enjoyable sideline that helped pay some of my kids' educational costs.

And it so happened that Grand Rapids was the very final show in their tour! It was the last city listed on the bottom of the commemorative T-shirts, though I have no idea why they wound it up here. I do know that the concert had been postponed so maybe they just tacked it on at the end. I would've thought something happening in LA would have provided a more rousing homecoming, but for all I know, maybe they've worn out their welcome there and would rather finish things in front of a bunch of fired up, formerly mulleted midwesterners...

So I got to hear the show from the back of the arena, working a steakburger stand that wasn't the familiar stomping grounds where I'd spent most of my time working over the past several years. But it worked for me. The crowd was a lot mellower and less intense than I was expecting, judging from previous metal shows (including the earlier VH gig I mentioned, which was kind of a disaster as I recall due to malfunctioning beer taps, etc.) Maybe it was due to it being a Monday night - or that the Detroit Red Wings were possibly on the verge of winning the Stanley Cup and people were preoccupied with that (though they went on to lose in triple-overtime late that night, the Wings did get the job done in Pittsburgh tonight, as I was writing this post as a matter of fact!) But whatever the reason, the scene wasn't the madhouse I thought I might have been in for... which was fine with me.

What I did enjoy, aside from the always enjoyable banter with customers out to have a fun night listening to some of their favorite music, was hearing that classic Van Halen sound, coming through the amps loud and clear, with Roth's trademarks yelps and howls playing off the arpeggios and glissandos flicked out by Eddie's flying fingers. The band was tight and dynamic, and stuck firmly to the early albums, from the debut up to Roth's finale with the band, 1984. (They also threw in a nice cover version of the blues classic "Crossroads" made most famous by Cream, but based on Robert Johnson's "Crossroads Blues.") I figured that there was no way that Roth was able to keep up with the acrobatics and beyond-embarrassing flamboyance of his younger self, but after our stand had closed down and I'd been released from my behind-the-counter bondage, I snuck into the bowl to get one last glimpse of a free concert, just in time to hear the set finale, "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love" followed by the encore "Jump!" And that was a pretty cool ending to the thing as the mirror ball gleamed and giant confetti cannons shot off all around the stage filling the arena with millions of colorful fluttering scraps. Even though my suspicions were correct - Roth by that point was just marching around the stage, not hurtling himself through the air either by leaping or suspended from wire cables - he still has considerable stage presence. And Eddie Van Halen looked healthy, fit, happy and able to genuinely enjoy himself. Playing up there with his son has to be an incredible kick for him - I think of the satisfaction I get from seeing Derek graduate with such distinction! At the end of the regular set, and then after the encore, the band members took their applause and gave each other long and genuinely heartfelt hugs. They are, after all they've been through, survivors - making essentially youthful, free-spirited music that for many captures a time in life where those sounds fit just perfectly with what was going on in and all around us. Though the band's future is very much up in the air, Roth asked the audience if they'd be up to seeing them again "the next time"... so I guess it remains to be seen just to what extent Van Halen will continue to run with the devil, dance the night away, get hot for teacher, rock the cradle or just plain jump.

(Here's the Grand Rapids Press' review of the show. I think mine is better and I only got to see two songs!)

June Flowers

Some pictures from around my yard from yesterday afternoon...

Brian and Linzy's Wedding

Ordinarily I wouldn't bother to post wedding pics on this blog but last night our family attended a really nice wedding for my niece Linzy (my wife's brother's daughter, the last of four to be married) and her new husband Brian who is my favorite guy to hang out with at family gatherings with the in-laws. I'm so glad he's married in now! They are a fun and totally wonderful young couple and I have a few pics to share so bear with me...

The couple chose a nice spot for an outdoor wedding - Linzy's backyard! Her family has a place out in the woods and I applaud their choice for the location rather than the traditional church where I've been to sooo many weddings over the years. I always like it when a couple tempts fate and plans an outdoor ceremony here in Michigan. It was storming hard on Friday morning and a bit rumbly, damp and windy on Saturday morning - but when it came time for the big event, everything was PERFECT. Above you see the arbor where they said their vows. What a lovely spot, and everything took place just after 7 p.m. when the light had that warm and special glow coming down through the fresh green leaves.

Here's a close-up of one of the big arrangements that Julie made - yes, she's a florist who does very excellent work. Anyone privileged to have her do their wedding flowers will be highly satisfied - they always are!

Here are my three sons (Curt, Brandon, Derek) and Daniel, the piano player, all lined up for the garter toss. Curt and Derek nervously scan the crowd looking for more eligible bachelors who will reduce the odds of them having to catch the dreaded omen of impending marriage, while Brandon contemplates whether it's more impolite to stand with his arms crossed or his hands in his pockets.Linzy has three beautiful sisters, Christin, Emily and Kate, all of whom are married (Emily is actually the youngest) and what a lovely bunch they made standing in Linz's honor. Of course, Julie made that arrangement too.

And finally, here's the celebrated newlyweds themselves. Aren't they just about the sweetest lil' couple you've ever seen? I'm so happy to be their cool Uncle Dave!

A Rebuttal

This column, printed in this morning's edition of my local paper, annoyed me quite a bit so I'm using my blog to tell off the writer, Jay Bookman (columnist for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.) He begins by addressing the recent disclosures by Scott McLellan regarding Bush's flimsy pretext for war against Iraq and the media-enabled manipulation of the American public. Bookman seems interested in getting on the right side of the issue, for the most part aligning himself with the now-conventional wisdom that the Iraq invasion was "poorly thought out and an act of gut instinct" by Bush, who was fixed on having the war way before it began and factored many political calculations into the decision-making process. Bookman also serves him and his professional colleagues a hefty batch of humble pie when he states "at a critical time in the nation's history, the media failed to do it's duty under the First Amendment, and it - we - failed the American people as well."

How nice of him to admit that. The column would have been twice as good if he'd just stopped there.

What bothered me was his conclusion, as indicated in the column's title, "Nation as a Whole Guilty of Self-Deception at War's Outset." Another quote:

But here's the hard part: Much of what is now being said of Bush and his administration can also be said of the nation as a whole. The president was far from alone in preferring to think with his gut, not his brain, in deciding to invade Iraq. If he had not reflected the national mood so well, he could not have led us so easily into such a bad war.

Furthermore, the fact that Bush was re-elected in 2004 suggests that self-deception can be a national as well as personal phenomenon.

It is wrong -- tempting, but wrong -- to try to scapegoat one man for the mistakes of the past seven years, even if that man is as powerful as the president. Our institutions have failed us, and we have failed ourselves. For that failure, we will pay a heavy price for years to come.

To which I heartily respond: Bullshit! How dare he drag "the nation as a whole" into taking responsibility for Bush's crimes and incompetence. There were millions of us who protested the war, saw the shams and the scams behind all the run-up, knew that the course of action had been charted since before 9/11/01 and put into serious overdrive shortly afterward, regardless of how often Bush mouthed cute denials like "there are no plans for invading Iraq on my desk," such a deceitful technicality. There was no "national mood" pushing us to go to war against Iraq - only a degree of manufactured consent that cowed most people who didn't study the issue all that closely to go along with the program. (Though maybe living as Bookman does in Georgia, his perceptions were skewed by all the hardcore wingnuts in his vicinity. I sure get that impression from reading the comments he generates on his website...) If Bush had truly reflected the national mood, rather than pushing as aggressively as he did for the invasion and ridiculing non-militaristic approaches to the problem of Saddam Hussein, his approach would have been sober, patient, and measured, recognizing the complexity of the issues and the strong ambivalence that was present in our society - if the dissenting voices who worked so hard to be heard had been respected, listened to and considered.

Bookman's conceit is that McLellan and other critics of Bush are trying to "scapegoat one man for the mistakes of the past seven years." By broadening the circle of responsibility to "the nation as a whole," he evades the painful (to him) reality that he and the supposed experts who sided with Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, Powell and many others are no longer fit to be trusted when offering their opinions on matters this serious. The true lesson of the tragedy that is the Iraq War is that its early critics and protesters were correct in their appraisals of what was going on and deserve to be taken more seriously in the future than they were at the dawn of this new millennium. Justice would require that Bush and the neocons who led our country into this mess would spend the rest of their lives making some kind of restitution to the hundreds of thousands of families whose lives have been wrecked by their arrogance. Instead, we will see them skimming profits, making deals and as in the case of Scott McLellan, even being lauded as some kind of bold apologists for the truth when they step from behind their spheres of privilege to state what's been so obvious to so many of us for such a long long time.

From Our First... to Last... Day of School!

Pre-school days, back when Alyssa was still taller than her brothers

Alyssa gets us started as a school-going family on her first day of Kindergarten

The twins weren't quite ready to start school but they (and Derek) wanted in the picture anyway

Alyssa will show Brandon (blue straps) and Curt (red) how to behave at Godfrey Elementary

Derek hammed his way into the pic though he was still not ready to join his sibs at school

Finally, all four kids are ready for class - backpacks on and ready to learn

Alyssa was heading into 5th grade - we were looking for a better neighborhood by the next summer

And here we are in our new (still current) home on Clarion Avenue. Alyssa went to Newhall Middle while the boys went to Parkview Elementary

Curt wore red, Brandon wore blue - that was the shortcut for telling them apart at a glance

Alyssa and the twins went to Newhall this year while Derek walked himself to Parkview

Curt's UFO pendant makes its debut - Alyssa entered Wyoming Park HS

Curt wears glasses now so we don't have to bother with the red/blue color scheme

The twins are freshmen and Derek is again going to school by himself at Newhall

Alyssa's senior year begins!

Derek looks every bit like the geeky 8th grader that he was! Sean H. takes Alyssa's spot

Brandon and Curt are big ol' seniors - Derek's now a freshman, playin it cool

I couldn't find our first day pic for 2005 so I took this shot from that summer's band camp

Derek's all by his lonesome for his junior...

...and senior first-days of school. Notice the wardrobe upgrade!

And here it is... the Blakeslee siblings, on Our Last Day of School

...all in all, I think they turned out pretty well!