October 30th, 2008

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We're back!!



We are as thrilled to be home from Italy as the "kitties" are to have us here.

I feel myself stretching back into shape, changed by all I've seen and absorbed.   Maybe now I better understand why people claim territory, need space.  I unwind like a spring, open like a fan and turn like a peacock to spread and view my now more colorfully feathered and fascinating tail.  

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continuing thoughts -




I usually feel my parents who have passed, my father in 1969 and my mother in 2005,  around me, but I felt it especially strongly in Italy.  Perhaps because one is so aware of history there, one is more aware of their own history.  Memories flood.   I felt my parents walking with us through the streets, watching in the clouds above, sharing in the joy, expansion, observation, intake, and detail.  

My uncle knew stone, limestone, marble, and granite,  and one time walked with me around SF and explained about the marble and granite in the buildings we passed.   About thirty-seven years ago, he took a trip to Italy and came back inspired not just about the stone but about the wine, and the new information that you could enjoy red wine with turkey and white with beef.   There are no rules in Italy about what wine to drink.   That was when most Americans were less secure in their choices of wine and awareness of their own taste.   I wanted him to be with me on this trip to explain more about the stone, to enjoy the wine.

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book lovers

George Will -



Call Him John the Careless

 

 

By George F. Will

Thursday, October 30, 2008

From the invasion of Iraq to the selection of Sarah Palin, carelessness has characterized recent episodes of faux conservatism. Tuesday's probable repudiation of the Republican Party will punish characteristics displayed in the campaign's closing days.

Some polls show that Palin has become an even heavier weight in John McCain's saddle than his association with George W. Bush. Did McCain, who seems to think that Palin's never having attended a "Georgetown cocktail party" is sufficient qualification for the vice presidency, lift an eyebrow when she said that vice presidents "are in charge of the United States Senate"?

She may have been tailoring her narrative to her audience of third-graders, who do not know that vice presidents have no constitutional function in the Senate other than to cast tie-breaking votes. But does she know that when Lyndon Johnson, transformed by the 1960 election from Senate majority leader into vice president, ventured to the Capitol to attend the Democratic senators' weekly policy luncheon, the new majority leader, Montana's Mike Mansfield, supported by his caucus, barred him because his presence would be a derogation of the Senate's autonomy?

 

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November 4th -

I've been watching the infomercial for Barack Obama. Part of me feels concern about this kind of coverage and yet it is essential right now, and yet, what if the "other side" had this kind of money. Well, maybe they have and now, "our side" is speaking.

We have to take care of our people, and medical costs are beyond the reach of almost everyone at this point. It is wrong.

We saw it in Italy with the protest there. We see it here now with the support for Barack Obama. It is time to unite for the good of us all.

I also want to mention Proposition 8 in CA.

Ginahelen has requested each of us on LiveJournal post the following statement and so I do. I don't know how much those outside of CA are aware of Prop 8 but I believe it is national and I know it is international news. Obama is for no on 8. Wikipedia discusses and presents the issue if you are not familiar with the history of it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Proposition_8_(2008)


GinaHelen:

Copy this sentence into your livejournal if you're in a heterosexual marriage long-term relationship, and you don't want it "protected" by anyone who thinks that gay marriage hurts it somehow.


Here is Barack Obama in support of uniting us all.

http://www.searchles.com/channels/show/5817
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Mark Morford on Hate's Last Stand!!



Hate's Last Stand


It's racism and homophobia, neck and neck, down to the wire. Can they hang on?

By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist


Wednesday, October 29, 2008


Let's not get carried away.

Let's not go so far as to suggest we're about to enter into some sort of fluffy utopian tofu puppy happyland where nipples fly free and consciousness expands and the fetid rivers of racism and homophobia that course through the American heartland like acidic sewage somehow magically vanish, somehow become dramatically curtailed, should the twin forces of progress known as President Obama and a vanquished California Proposition 8 somehow come to pass.



Let's not be naive. Just because it looks like the Western world is about to get its first black intellectual president, just because the nation's most influential and populous state could very possibly decide, finally and forevermore, that two adults of the same gender can get married without the cruel hammer of religious ignorance crashing down upon their heads, well, this can't possibly be a sign that racism and homophobia, two of our three most revered national pastimes (don't forget the sexism!) are going away anytime soon.

Unless it can. Unless some of our darkest cultural demons could finally be up for a major exorcism. Could it be true? Could this vote, at the very least, be one hell of a giant step forward in the fight against two toxic beliefs that have poisoned the American mindset for ages? Let me suggest: You're damn right it could.

Maybe you're not convinced. Maybe you need a sign, some sort of indicator of what's truly at stake, something that proves we are at a turning point not merely of tax brackets and energy strategy and foreign policy, but of the very tone and flavor of who we are and what we value as a nation. Yes? Easy enough.

Here it is: Just listen to the screaming.

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Bringing it painfully home -



We receive this today from a friend. He has his own business in downtown Mill Valley. He works long hours. He and his wife bought a house, a fixer-upper, a few years ago, and have worked hard to make it a home. He, his wife, and child, are the people following the teacher. It's heart-breaking to realize how far this disaster goes, and the car companies, who would not make responsible cars ask for a hand-out. These are the people we want to help and who help us. These are our neighbors, our friends.