Dear World (and by “world” I mean the 14 people out there who still read me),

So. So, so, so.

It is Sunday, January 4th, 2009.

We have a new president moving into the White House pretty soon.

Things are a mess in Gaza. Israel, I would like to ask you: While the rest of us are talking “hope” and “change” and “substance” in the new year, why do you feel the need to kill others? Please stop now. Obama seems to be pretty pro-Israel, pro-hawk, yes? Wanting to hunt down Bin-Laden and all. Maybe Israel is wanting to get in a few punches now, just in case they’re not allowed to later?

Unfortunately, as hopeful as I am about the new American administration, I think Israel is going to continue to be allowed to do whatever the hell they want to do. Israel = bully.

Why is it that while our nation’s schools are focused on policies of no-bullying, no physical violence, no verbal, sexual or mental abuse, no murder, certainly, the grown-ups can’t follow suit? Do as I say not as I do, aiiiiight?

The year my daughter started kindergarten, one of the first-graders wore a button everywhere that said

PUNCHING

with a black line drawn through it.

“Who gave you that, K?” I asked him.

He was all, aw shucks, smiley. “My teacher.”

Smart teacher.

No punching. Just love. And hope for a better world.

I have been meditating, writing in my journal and studying every day. It has helped with the chaos.

After a long, sometimes bumpy winter break (ice, snow, rain, snow, snow, sunshine, flooding, ice), we are heading back to school and work tomorrow. I’m thinking 6 a.m. should be pretty fun, especially since I’ve been sleeping until 9, 10, 10:30 a.m. every day for almost three weeks. Whatever it takes, that’s what I’m saying.

I saw on the news that the Estacada Library underwent a ton of damage (to books, computers, building) during the most recent bout of flooding. If you have a few dollars to spare, I know they would appreciate it.

Estacada Public Library
825 NW Wade
Estacada, OR 97023

peace,

wm

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Alternately titled, “Abbie Hoffman Killed Himself Because of Idiots Like Me.”

We just finished watching “Chicago 10″ and it was good. Better than good — it was great. (more…)

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(Thank you, Tracy Morgan.)

(Congrats, Mr. Obama. We love you.)

“We are not as divided as our politics suggest. That we are one people, that we are one nation, and together, we will begin the next great chapter in the American story, with three words that will ring from coast to coast, from sea to shining sea: ‘Yes, we can.’”

– Barack Obama

“Clear Eyes! Full Hearts! Can’t Lose!”
– Friday Night Lights

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a note from my comrade, Mr. Juneteenth:

“Greetings,

There will be no cheat in this election.

No FEAR.

Man is not in control of the outcome this time.

Respect, responsibility, accountability, productivity and peace now dominate the landscape.

History is no longer a casualty of manufactured disrespect.

History shall reflect an unheralded transparency that shall expose those who continue to defile it.

The only vote that matters is the one in which history triumphed over ignorance and disbelief in this time when it is needed most.

You shall witness the greatness of respect and goodness that tip the scales of injustice, you shall witness a landslide that will co-join history to repair a world.

Respectfully,

Mr. Juneteenth”

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Go, Rudy! Go, Obamer!

(Seriously. I need to interview my grandma and put her on the World Wide Web. I highly encourage this sort of activity.)

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Happy, happy weekend to y’all! I’m in trainings and busy the next few days, but Will Post As Able.

love,

your girl,

wm

ps — vote. VOTE. VOTE!!! Go, Obama!!!!

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I’m talking to one of my Jeff Demo friends today and I say, You know last year, when I thought the Demos weren’t going to take both titles (men’s and women’s, 5-A b-ball), I’m not saying that I would have died, had they lost, but I would have died if they lost.

And now I’m feeling like, if Mr. Obama loses, I’m gonna die.

She says, He’s not losing and you’re not dying.

With that in mind, I taped the debate today between Mr. Obama and John McCain and… here we go. I’m fidgety, I’m a little aggravated, I’m having trouble watching this, because my heart is pounding so loud.

Lady from the audience: How can we trust either of you, when both parties are the ones who got us into this mess?

Me: That’s what she said!

Tom Brokaw: How can we all stop getting drunk?

Me: Don’t drink and drink!

My husband: I was really hoping to watch this.

Me: Yeah.

That reminds me of a joke Zip-Zip told me:

Sitting behind a couple of nuns (whose habits partially blocked their view) at a Toronto Maple Leafs Hockey Game, three men decided to badger the nuns in an effort to get them to move. In a loud voice, the first guy says: “I’m moving to Manitoba, there are only 100 nuns living there.” Second guy says: “I wanna go to Nova Scotia, there are only 50 nuns there.” Third guy says: “I want to go to Newfoundland, there are only 25 nuns living there.” One of the nuns turns around and says: “Why don’t you go to Hell, there aren’t any nuns there.”

Back to the debate:

Mr. Obama: …we need that money at home!

Me: Tell it like it are, Barack!

And… one more from the Anti-Christ:
Mr. McCain: If it’s left up to me, we’ll win this war.

Me: We’re not leaving it up to you.

Go, Mr. Obama, go. Win this race. (McCain didn’t do well in the debate, in my opinion. How can you tell he’s lying? His mouth is moving.)

Go, Mr. Obama. Win it.

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I am not fond of propaganda. I am not fond of people telling me that I should hate and hate some more when you know all I want to do, even in my darkest, saddest moments, is LOVE and LOVE SOME MORE.

I want that love spread around. I want us out of Iraq. I want people to stop hurting each other, killing each other, with our words, bombs and guns. Those of you who are not in the United States, you will please remember that many of us are against America’s war against Iraq. When I first heard the news on Sept. 11th, 2001, my thoughts went in this order:

1) That can’t just have happened.
2) It couldn’t have been an attack, it was an accident. It was a freakish, hideous accident
3) It was an attack.
4) Now America will have to “get back” at someone. Now Bush and his cronies will want to lash out, bomb civilians, kill everyone they can.
5) No, they won’t.
6) They can’t.
7) They’ll learn from this. They’ll turn the other cheek.
8) No, they won’t.

So for the Oregonian, our “paper of record,” to include a hate-mongering DVD in the Sunday paper… this is just as horrible to me as knowing how German-Americans and Japanese-Americans were treated here in the U.S., during the Second World War.

You can tell me a lot of things, but you cannot tell me to hate.

Here is an extremely moving video that Portland, Oregon, radio host Opio Osokoni put together of the protest outside the Oregonian. Portland political activist Anne Trudeau and several others are interviewed. In the words of Portland blogger Terry Olson:

“Any doubt that the DVD Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West isn’t an endorsement of McCain should be dispelled by the fact that its newspaper distribution occurred primarily in swing voting states.”

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Thank you, James Rainey of the L.A. Times. Old-school journalism. That’s right. And thank God, because you’re not going to get a “tough” interview from Katie Couric. Here’s Rainey, on Couric’s interview with Palin:

“…(Palin) struggled to respond to Couric’s suggestion that the $700-billion bailout might be better funneled through middle-class families instead of Wall Street firms.

‘That’s why I say I, like every American I’m speaking with, we’re ill about this position that we have been put in . . .’ Palin began, before meandering off in fruitless pursuit of coherence.

But I’ll let the governor speak for herself:

‘ . . . where it is the taxpayers looking to bail out. But ultimately, what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the healthcare reform that is needed to help shore up our economy. Um, helping, oh — it’s got to be all about job creation too. Shoring up our economy, and putting it back on the right track. So healthcare reform and reducing taxes and reining in spending has got to accompany tax reductions, and tax relief for Americans, and trade, we’ve got to see trade as opportunity, not as a competitive, um, scary thing, but 1 in 5 jobs being created in the trade sector today. We’ve got to look at that as more opportunity. All of those things under the umbrella of job creation. This bailout is a part of that.’”

(Wacky Mommy here: Say whu? As my grandfather would say, “Girl, that doesn’t make any damn sense.”) Back to the L.A. Times:

“That mind-bender prompted Couric to muse, almost charitably, on ‘The Early Show’ that Palin is ‘not always responsive when asked questions, and sometimes does slip back to her talking points.’

It didn’t go much better for Palin when she tried to clarify the mystery of what her state’s proximity to Russia has taught her about that nation. Anyone south of the Arctic Circle would have seen this question coming and had a ready answer. But seemingly not the governor.

‘We have trade missions back and forth,’ Palin told Couric. ‘We, we do, it’s very important when you consider even national security issues with Russia as Putin rears his head and comes into the airspace of the United States of America, where, where do they go? It’s Alaska. It’s just right over the border. It is from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right there. They are right next to, to our state.’”

(Please, y’all. Vote. Get your friends to vote. Vote early. Vote often. And let’s start working on getting coherent in this country. wm)

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What time is it where you are? Ready for drinkies? I am going to have a glass of red wine, and we can talk. ‘K? K. (It’s a Bonterra Merlot. Niiiiiiiiiiiiiice. Thank you, R from Seattle and Chicago.)

“Don’t drink and drink.”
– Wacky Mommy

I am having a life chock-full of fun over here, Internets. Cleaning, cooking, ironing. Working, picking up kids, shopping. Sleeping? Exercising? Working, putting off my online class ’til October. We have the garden to harvest, the patio furniture to bring in and let’s not even talk about the political season and the conversations I have been having with various political types who show up on my porch.

Me: “It’s a private vote.”
Them: “Would you mind telling us how you would vote, were you to vote today?”
Me: “It’s a private vote. We vote privately in this country.”
Them, walking away: “Jeez, a lot of anger!” (more…)

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