Yes We Did!

I didn't get to watch the innaguration live today because, thankfully, I have a job. I wanted to watch it and I did get to see most of his speech on my lunch break.

Today we got to see that what my Ivan's Dad said to him as a child is true; anyone can be president! If you grew up a person of color, or a woman, you never thought you could be elected president. But the election of Barack Obama has shown us that, indeed, that Ivan's Dad (like many other Dad's) was right...do well in school, do the right things, study hard, work hard, and be good to people and you will achieve great things.

I am excited for the future of our country. For the first time in years, I felt like we didn't just settle on a candidate. We have a good man leading us.

Hooray for us!

And hooray for our new president!

Goodbye Dope, Hello Hope!

After my doctors appointment today, Ivan and I went out to Steele's Creek Park and enjoyed a beautiful walk in the snow. We watched the ducks flap their wings in the water and the cardinals and blue jays fight over berries in the bushes. It is, as U2 sings it, a beautiful day. And it is a hopeful day.

The past couple of years I've been down because our world has been a mess, our president an embarrassment, and my own health, and the one I love, precarious. But today, we left the doctors office hopeful in so many ways. I am doing better this winter than I have in the past few years. And Ivan has seemed to adjusted to the early morning dialysis schedule down here.

As we walked, we talked of our upcoming plans for the rest of the winter. And we couldn't have helped discussing how this spring, we would love to meet up with some of his family in DC and see the Cherry Blossoms in bloom and enjoy out nations capital with a new leader in place.

We are hopeful; more hopeful than we have been in years. It's not that Obama is suddenly going to eliminate racism, economic inequality, two wars, and health issues with a wave of his hands. But unlike the last two presidents, he comes to office with a majority of Americans excited and willing to give him capital. Bush said he had capital after his second win and yet he failed to build coalitions. Obama is very well aware of his capital and has for months, tried to build coalitions.

As we celebrate MLK day, I can't help but smile when I think of how racism is dying in this country. When you look at the crowds in DC, you see millions of people of all races, celebrating the inauguration. I live in a part of the country where some people still have George Wallace stickers in their house (or barbaque places). Times are a changing...Thank God!

Speak Little, Listen Much

Saint Ignatius of Loyola said speak little, listen much. Maybe the followers of the GOP need to take that advice if they want their party to survive the twenty first century.

Over a week after the elections and still many Republicans fail to see why they not only lost the election, but lost it on a bigger scale than first recognized. The GOP showed on many levels that it is out of touch with the one part of the electorate that Ronald Reagan knew better than anyone else: the Middle Class.

The GOP just doesn't get it. Late last year and earlier this year, when gas prices continued to rise and people started losing their homes, they kept denying that our country was in a recession. They kept insisting that yes, the economy has slowed down however, it's just people who shouldn't have taken out house loans that are losing their homes. And as we have learned, they were wrong.

The Middle Class saw their home values dropping and their salaries not keeping up with rising fuel and healthcare costs. During the GOP Primary debates, McCain was asked how he would fix the economy and more than once he commented how he was not an economist and he would have the smart guys look at how to fix things. The problem is, those smart guys are the ones that got us into this mess in the first place!

This election cycle, much like in 1992, 1980, and 1932, the middle class was listening and they were not falling for the lies. Make no mistake, our economy is facing an even bigger crisis than it did in 1980 and 1992; this is a global mess much like 1932. And what President Elect Obama and his economic team have to figure out is how do we make the economy grow without a great manufacturing base (we lost a lot of that thanks to NAFTA).

The Middle Class is scared and that is why they voted in big numbers for Obama. Besides the fact that McCain failed to even utter the phrase "middle class," many people were bothered by how the GOP seemed more concerned with throwing mud than offering solutions to our economic woes.

And a week after the election, that is still happening. Instead of trying to figure out what wrong in this campaign, many conservative leaders are still throwing insults at Obama. One Congressman, Paul Braun of Georgia, claimed that "We can't be lulled into complacency. You have to remember that Adolf Hitler was elected in a democratic Germany. I'm not comparing him to Adolf Hitler. What I'm saying is there is the potential of going down that road." Rush Limbaugh is even claiming we are in an "Obama recession." Then Rush went on to complain that Obama is being partisan by hiring Rahm Emmanuel.

Seriously Rush? Really? Was he the President the past eight years? Am I missing something or are you again on another one of those highs you get when you mix your prescriptions?

And here is the funny thing, Lindsay Graham, McCain's buddy and former middle of the road guy himself, even agreed that the hiring of Emmanuel was a good thing. Hmmm...maybe Graham has awoken from that eight year conservative coma that he and McCain fell into after they let Bush steal the nomination in 2000.

What the GOP needs to do is shut up and listen. Instead of yelling from the pulpit words of hate they need to listen to the screams of the middle class that put them in power in the first place that times are tough and we need help; we need our government to quit protecting the rich and help the middle class grow instead of shrink.

Reagan always realized that if you kept the middle class base happy, you won elections. He learned that lesson the hard way in 1982 when the GOP lost several Congressional seats during a scary recession. But Reagan wasn't always a genius; he believed in the misleading theory of "trickle down economics." Well any one that has worked in middle management can tell you that the only thing that ever trickles down from above is shit; at the bottom of the troft, you get nothing but morsels.

What is even scarier for the GOP is that they lost the middle class and the rather evasive youth vote. The under twenties actually showed up this last election and voted by some estimates over seventy percent for Obama. And usually how you voted as a twenty something determines how you vote the next decade.

To counteract this, the GOP needs to listen...but not listen to the voices of hate and division within their party. They need to step away from the religious and conservative nuts that got them in this place and realize that first of all, the middle class needs help. Great countries only survive if their middle class is vital and healthy. The GOP needs to quit trying to win on "small" isolated issues like abortion, the death penalty, and gay rights. Instead it needs to focus on how to create jobs. Sorry, I can't feel sorry for people that have to pay capital gains taxes when I am trying to figure out how to meet my copayments on medical bills. And with my health insurance going up eight percent, I know that if I do get a raise next year, there is no way it's going to be high enough to pay for that difference. Where is the extra income going to come from?

Until the GOP can answer those questions with sensible solutions that actually make sense and can work (without throwing around crazy trickle down theories), they have lost me as a voter. I have little respect for a party or it's followers that continue to throw out words of hatred and malice.

The Celebration!

Short Like Yoda would like to remind all her friends who were/are enemies of the empire to remember the past twenty four hours. Lets never forget how positive all of us felt this morning as we downed our coffee to the realization that we are coming out of the thaw; like walking into Spring after eight years on the ice planet Hoth.

Barack Obama is the President Elect!

Lets enjoy this week...celebrate...party like some crazy Ewoks and remember how we achieved this by working together. And only by working together can we make things better.

THis is how I feel (click on the link!):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEniXyEwmzo

Yoda Happy!

Go Vote!!!

Sorry it's been a few days since I have blogged however, I brought down my Ivan from New York. On the way home, we saw a group of young Obama supporters in New Jersey who were on their way back from a rally in Pennsylvania. They were excited, like most Obama supporters, and believed that change is a coming.

And hopefully those young folks are right.

So, if you haven't voted yet, get your tukus to the polls because they close soon in Tennessee and Virginia. And if you have voted, good! Isn't awesome to live in a democracy, as flawed as it can be?

If you are a political junkie, tonight is going to be a lot of fun. Enjoy it!

I've voted...have you?

I have worked in phone banks before, for the other side. Never did the candidate show up and fire us up like this.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGraCrU_mR8

You know...that one!

My mom is seventy eight years old and she has lived through the Great Depression, World War 2, Korea, Vietnam, the killings of Jack and Bobby Kennedy and put up with kids and a Navy husband.

Basically I am saying she's suffered through some serious shit.

But when my mom, who's body may be broken but her spirit far from it, says that McCain looked so old last night that she felt sorry for him, well that says something.

My seventy eight year old mother thinks McCain is too old to be president and yet, she may well still vote for him because he served in the Navy and, well, she says "you know those Navy men."

I've reminded her all to well considering our father, her late husband, was in the Navy for over 30 years. And during that time, we had great healthcare benefits. When my father was dying, we didn't have to worry about paying medical bills; his benefits paid for it all. So when McCain acts as if he knows something about going without healthcare (as he claimed a few weeks ago), I know he is full of shit.

The man, when he left the Navy, had the same retirement benefits that my father did...except he had a bigger benefit check. And as a son of a Navy man, he always had good coverage. And as a senator, he has even better benefits.

So help me understand something...how does McCain empathize with the middle class that is struggling with higher copays or just "no pay" as it applies to some people's benefits?

Sigh....

He's out of touch; we're out of his mind. If I were Obama's campaign manager, I would create an ad of a dottering McCain at the debate, wondering around in a circle with the old Hall and Oats song playing, while pointing over to Obama saying "that one."

Unless Obama does something stupid, or the polls are lying, we may have seen one of the last bitter gasps of the McCain campaign last night. The polling numbers clearly show that people thought McCain looked bitter and mean. And although Obama didn't give a knock out performance last night, he was sure and steady...and that usually wins the race.

I think I would rather have "that one" be my president than the one who seems frustrated and angry and has no clue that we are going through out here in the wilderness.

You want 4 more years of this?

Sorry if this blog sounds angry however, what I've seen over the past few days has really pissed me off.

I keep hearing people everywhere...work, the grocery store, the gas line...saying how they want to see change. They want our country to change. When are things going to change? And yet, when I ask them who they are voting for or what do they think about Obama, I get similar answers "I don't trust him" or "I don't know if I will vote."

Well, here's what I think...if you do not vote for Obama, you will not be getting the change you want. If you vote for McCain, then you are just validating the last 8 years of bullshit. If you vote for McCain, you are basically saying, "Ok, I want the status quo."

Have all of you forgotten what it felt like in the days after 9-11 when we felt unified? We were scared yes, but supportive of each other. And then what happened? Two bullshit wars: the invasion in Iraq and the crazy culture war brought to you by the same white wing wackjobs that are trying to get you to focus more on lipstick on a pig than inflation, foreclosures, and the fact after 7 years, we still have yet to catch or kill Bin Ladin!

Do yourself a favor...think back...are you better off now than you were 8 years ago? And ask yourself, if you knew that Bush was lying to get into Iraq, would you have agreed to the war, especially knowing that it was going to stretch our troops thin and thus, disable our search for Bin Ladin?

Tonight, I saw an ad on MSNBC from the McCain camp that said that Obama was disrespectful to Palin. Wait...where do they get that from? Now they are just making shit up, trying to get you to avoid paying attention to what you are paying at the pump or the fact you haven't gotten a decent raise in 5 years and can't pay those medical bills or pay off those credit cards (that you paid some of those medical bills on if you were like me).

If you vote for McCain, you get what you deserve...you deserve 4 more years of bullshit.

It's A Trap!

If you think that John McCain picked Sarah Palin just to get the white, middle class vote or the Hillary vote, think again. In the words of the great Admiral Ackbar at the Battle of Endor, “It’s a trap!”

Here is what the McCain campaign is trying so desperately to do: they want you to forget the last eight years. It’s sort of like in “Wayne’s World” when Wayne and Garth do their flashback sequences. Imagine Republican hands waving in front of you and they do “dad a doo, da da a doo” (translation questionable!) and suddenly…voila! The past eight years of foreclosures, high gas prices, inflation, and unemployment never happened, the GOP elephant roars! Well except for 9-11. By God! Don’t you forget 9-11!

Do yourself a favor: avoid the crazy hype from the last few weeks of conventions and look at what has been going on in our economy over the past eight years and ask yourself “is the country better off than it was eight years ago?” Only someone in the upper income bracket will answer yes. The past eight years were a disappointment. And I have every right to be angry about the last eight years because I was idiotic enough to vote for Bush twice!

That’s right, I voted for the man twice. In 2000, I voted for Bush because like most people that live in Tennessee, I disliked Al Gore and his Senator Palpatine twin, Joe Liberman. In 2004, I voted for Bush again because I actually believed that we were doing the right thing in Iraq; there had to be WMD’s in Iraq! Of course, just a mere few weeks after the election, I found out how wrong I really was. The damn war was just a way for Cheney and his friends to make more money while thousands of young Americans die. The whole hocus pocus of “the terrorists are coming through Iraq” was brought to you by Bush, Inc.

I wish I could take my votes back but unlike Wayne and Garth, I can’t force a flashback. And unlike the Republicans and the people that are following them, I have learned my lesson. Unfortunately for the Republicans, I can not forget how Bush and crew betrayed my trust. My vote showed my trust in them to make things right. They never made things right; instead, they just followed the “right” ideology.

If you believe that McCain is a “maverick” think again! This is a guy that over 80% of the time has agreed with President Bush on the issues! When he spoke Thursday night, what did he say that he would do to help the American economy? Can you even remember? How is he going to help curb the over 7,000 foreclosures that are going on each day in this country? How is he going to help those families keep their homes? And pray tell, what did he say he was going to do to help the Veterans of this current war? Did he, a former Navy man and POW, even mention the Veterans? And were any of you McCain supporters smart enough to catch that it wasn’t Walter Reed hospital in the background but another building (it turns out it was a school).

What the Republicans have tried to do is get the Middle Class and Independent voters forget that we have had eight straight months of job losses and rising prices at the grocery store. Salaries are not keeping up with inflation and many Americans, while employed full time, have Healthcare plans that are expensive or lacking in coverage. With companies planning to increase the deductibles their employees have to pay and the possibility that the economy will continue to slow down through 2009 (no matter who gets elected), why would we even want four more years of the same old solutions?

Don’t fool yourself: drilling in Alaska and offshore is not going to help ease the oil crisis. The only way that will be solved is if we change our way about energy consumption. And despite what the Republican vice presidential nominee says, there is no way to cleanly burn coal.

The same old thinking has not worked in Washington and Republicans have another thing coming if they believe they are not in trouble. Republican congressmen know this; they hear it from their constituents. Just recently, in my district, first term Republican Congressman David Davis failed to get his party’s nomination after stories of his pandering to big business and standing by President Bush, right or wrong.

For years Republicans have been preaching “trickle down economics” and “thousand points of light” helping the middle and lower classes. And yet Palin slapped so many people in the face with her snarky remark concerning community leaders. What cracked me up was that many in the audience were laughing at her comment. Hmmm…and so many of them are community organizers themselves!

Both parties need to quit pointing fingers at each other and need to focus on how they are going to fix this economy and the mess we face overseas. Right now though, I get the feeling that Republicans are in the same bubble they were in during the reelection runs of Bush, Sr. in 1992 and Hoover in 1932. In both times, the middle class was in crises. And both times, their struggle was ignored.

Finally, ask yourself this…what kind of world do we live in where a bunch of rich white people like to refer to Barak Obama as elitist? Wait a second…a black man raised by a single mother is elitist? Just because he made something of his life and attending the same schools many of these same people attended? Honestly, I don’t get it.

But I do get it when Admiral Ackbar yells “It’s a trap!"

Trap indeed.

An Apology From Andrea

Remember the bulletin I posted last week concerning MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell and her comments on Southwest Virginia? Well, Andrea has apologized.

We now have an end to the crisis!!!

Thus, fair being fair, I wanted to make sure that everyone knew. By the way, how awesome was it that so many people wrote, emailed, called NBC from the "Fighting 9th?" Below is the story from Media Matters:

"On the June 9 edition of MSNBC Live, anchor Andrea Mitchell apologized for comments she made on June 5 regarding Sen. Barack Obama's appearance that day in Bristol, Virginia. As Media Matters for America and the Huffington Post noted, on June 5, Mitchell described the area as "real redneck, sort of, bordering on Appalachia country." From the 1 p.m.ET hour of the June 9 edition of MSNBC Live:MITCHELL: And now, a point of personal privilege. I owe an apology to the good people of Bristol, Virginia, for something stupid that I said last week. I was trying to explain, based on reporting from Democratic strategists, why Barack Obama was campaigning in southwest Virginia, but without attribution or explanation, I used a term strategists often use to demean an entire community. No excuses, I'm really sorry. As they say, when I make a mistake, it's a beaut."

Here is the link: http://mediamatters. org/items/200806090004?lid=354855&rid=9279711