In search of a new identity

With the GOP in search of a new chairman, let me toss a few names into the party hat.

Donald Duck. Why not? He is a white anthropomorphic (lame) duck who usually wears a red tie.

Michael Vick. Why not? He's known to be good in a dogfight.

John Abdo. Why not? His latenight TV ads say he's a pro at flexing some muscle.

Elizabeth Hasselbeck. Why not? As The View's conservative voice, she's used to being ignored.

The Coen Brothers. Why not? These guys know what no country for old men is.

It's a good day

Today President Obama signed his first piece of legislation, the "Lilly Ledbetter" Fair Pay Act.

For those of you who don't know Lilly's story, for years she was paid much less than her male colleagues for doing the same work. Even worse, she had trained many of these men. Experts calculated that over the years Lilly lost more than $200,000 in earnings, plus social security and pension monies.

And so, Lilly went to court. The Supreme Court.

Unfortunately in 2007, the George Bush-led justices ruled against Lilly. While they found she had indeed experienced gender discrimination, she was not entitled to damages because she hadn't filed her lawsuit within 180 days of that first short paycheck.

Truth be told, Lilly didn't discover the discrimination for more than 10 years.

And the truth is, even in the 21st century, women make 77 cents on the dollar.

As the President this morning put his pen to important paper, he took note of the historic importance of this legislation. He signed the bill not only for Lilly, but for the tens of hundreds of thousands who came before her.

It's a good day.

Hindsight is always 20/20 - but January 20?

Why weren't GOP members of the House and Senate telling President Bush last year about their "better" economic stimulus program ideas?

Why didn't SEC investigators know anything last year about all the ponzi schemes?

Why didn't the Illinois legislature speak out last year about Gov. Blagojevich's objectionable activities?

Why didn't FDA inspectors uncover the dirty Georgia peanut plant last year before the salmonella outbreak?

Why didn't the former Administration last year seek to ensure that all Americans would be connected in the digital TV transition before a February '09 deadline was set?

A few things that make me wonder...

Where do COBRA employees get health insurance when they get laid off?
Will Gene Rodenberry's ashes "live well and prosper" in space?
Did Blagojevich's kids wash his mouth out with soap?
Why is it legal to auction your virginity online, but not sell it on the street?
What do unemployed workaholics do?
And how can the White House save us if they can't even save their email?

You're kidding me, right?!?

Citibank -- a $50 million corporate jet?!?
Merrill Lynch -- $1.2 million redecorating?!?
World Economic Forum -- Davos resort?!?
Pope Benedict XVI -- Bishop Richard Williamson?!?
Blagojevich -- Ghandi & Mandela?!?
Limbaugh -- the voice of the GOP?!?
Hollywood -- Mall Cop?!?

What a bunch of monkeys.

The state of the State

Hillary took charge today. So what can we expect to see from our new State Department?

A new dawn for diplomacy.
A new interest in development.
A new request for thinking outside the box.
A new call for informative debate.
A new era for America.


New sounds good.
Improved sounds even better.

And so with a plan "to make good on the promises of this new administration," hopefully the best is yet to come.

Taking the plunge...

Day one and Mr. Obama took the Presidential plunge. Okay, first he enjoyed 10 minutes in silence in the Oval Office and a few prayers at the National Cathedral, but after that he dove right in.

He froze some executive White House salaries. Okay, that one was easy. It was only 28 degrees.

He called for greater transparency. Well, it's clear we deserve it.

He telephoned Arab and Israeli leaders. Hellooo!?!

He met with his top military advisers. High time we get outta there, boys.

He limited the influence of lobbyists. Ethically speaking, a nice move.

He's suspended Gitmo hearings. Hear ye, hear ye.

He greeted formal White House visitors. You break it, you bought it?

He retook his oath of office since Chief Justice John Roberts flubbed it the first time. It's always better the second time 'round.

He met with his economic team and Pentagon top brass. Takes money to run a war.

He spoke with the Ambassador to Iraq. Enough said.

He congratulated Hillary. After nearly two years it's about time, no?

I can't wait to hear about Day Two.

What to do, what to do...

Give Chu, Duncan, Napolitano, Salazar, Shinseki, Vilsack and Orszag a call.
Rescue the economy.
National Cathedral thing.
Rescue the economy.
Halt Gitmo prosecutions.
Rescue the economy.
Bolster troops in Afghanistan.
Rescue the economy.
Talk to Hillary about a Mideast envoy.
Rescue the economy.
Firm a timetable for Iraq withdrawal.
Rescue the economy.
Check in on Geithner's confirmation.
Rescue the economy.
Don't forget to send email to Mike Myers on his Razzie.

Feelin' glad all over

Today I feel a renewed sense
of pride over shame,
spirit over apathy,
and hope over fear.

Yup, in the words of Carl Perkins, the Beatles, Dave Clark Five, Suzi Quatro and Quiot Riot, I'm feeling "glad all over."

Serving at the pleasure of the President

In a speech in 1856, Abraham Lincoln said "Our government rests in public opinion. Whoever can change public opinion, can change the government, practically just so much."


And so today, January 20, 2009, I am happy to serve at the pleasure of the President.

#44

I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

George Washington, 1789-1797
John Adams, 1797-1801
Thomas Jefferson, 1801-1809
James Madison, 1809-1817
James Monroe, 1817-1825
John Quincy Adams, 1825-1829
Andrew Jackson, 1829-1837
Martin Van Buren, 1837-1841
William Henry Harrison, 1841
John Tyler, 1841-1845
James Knox Polk, 1845-1849
Zachary Taylor, 1849-1850
Millard Fillmore, 1850-1853
Franklin Pierce, 1853-1857
James Buchanan, 1857-1861
Abraham Lincoln, 1861-1865
Andrew Johnson, 1865-1869
Ulysses Simpson Grant, 1869-1877
Rutherford Birchard Hayes, 1877-1881
James Abram Garfield, 1881
Chester Alan Arthur, 1881-1885
Grover Cleveland, 1885-1889
Benjamin Harrison, 1889-1893
Grover Cleveland, 1893-1897
William McKinley, 1897-1901
Theodore Roosevelt, 1901-1909
William Howard Taft, 1909-1913
Woodrow Wilson, 1913-1921
Warren Gamaliel Harding, 1921-1923
Calvin Coolidge, 1923-1929
Herbert Clark Hoover, 1929-1933
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1933-1945
Harry S. Truman, 1945-1953
Dwight David Eisenhower 1953-1961
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 1961-1963
Lyndon Baines Johnson, 1963-1969
Richard Milhous Nixon, 1969-1974
Gerald Rudolph Ford, 1974-1977
James Earl Carter, Jr., 1977-1981
Ronald Wilson Reagan, 1981-1989
George Herbert Walker Bush, 1989-1993
William Jefferson Clinton, 1993-2001
George Walker Bush, 2001-2008
Barack Hussein Obama, 2009

Today we all have a dream...

...With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

And this will be the day -- this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning:
My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.
Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim's pride,
From every mountainside, let freedom ring!

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.
Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.
Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.
Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.

But not only that:
Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.
From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:

Free at last! Free at last!
Thank God Almighty, we are free at last

~ excerpted from a speech by Martin Luther King,
August 28, 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C.

The more things change....

I used to live in Washington DC and, well, let's just say that back then it was quite a different time in the city.

Residents of the District of Columbia we were not permitted Congressmen, Senators, or the right to vote for President.
The first Metrorail line opened with only 4.6 miles of track.
Reagan International Airport was called National.
The shopping mall on Independence Avenue was a U.S. Post Office.
There was a ban on rock concerts at Constitution Hall.
The Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Vietnam War memorials didn't exist.
Madam Tussauds and the International Spy Museum hadn't come to town.
The Supreme Court was all-male.
And Martin Luther King's dream was just that -- a dream.

As S. E. Hinton wrote - that was then, this is now. But it often seems that the more things change, the more they remain the same.

The unemployment rate was/is at an all time high since the 1940s.
White-collar crime was/is a major headline.
LGBT activists were/are rallying.
The dollar exchange rate was/remains low.
Home prices were/are declining.
We were/are in recession.
Our government was/remains wary of Russia.
There were/are tensions in China and Iran, turmoil in Kabul and the Somali, and trouble on the Korean peninsula.
The UN was/still is negotiating peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors.

And so in this brand new year, and with a brand new Administration, I look forward with brand new hope of change for the better, no, the best.

The Tides of Change
The ghost of dawns forgotten and to be,
Abides a moment in the twilight's grace.
~ George Sterling

Going, going and soon gone...

Madonna's nude photo to the highest bidder... 3.2 million homes to foreclosure... and everything with peanut paste from the shelves?

Amy Poehler from Saturday Night Live... Citibank to a split... and Run-DMC to the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame.

Sarah Palin's name from the pre-inaugural invite list... Bank of America to the poorhouse... and Ricardo Montalban to the big Fantasy Island in the sky.

Boy George to jail... Circuit City out of business...
and Bernie Madoff finally to court?

Congressmen and Senators to YouTube... GW and his wife back to Texas...
and the Obama's to the White House!

You say goodbye, and I say hello.
Hello, hello.

I believe in miracles...

...and not just Smokey Robinson's Motown group, the Ramones classic or you sexy thing by Hot Chocolate.

I'm talking about miraculous stories in real life throughout the centuries... Cyparis at Mt. Pelee, Elizabeth Proctor during the Salem witch trials, Molly Brown on the Titanic, Elie Weisel during the Holocaust, the 1972 Uruguayan rugby team in the Andes, Nelson Mandela and Apartheid, everyone who survives cancer, and now each and every single passenger and crew member on US Airways Flight 1549.

Oh What a Night

I don't know about you, but Thursday nights you'll find me typically in front of the TV, remote in hand, flipping the channels to catch CSI, 30 Rock, Ugly Betty, The Office, Bones, and re-runs of House, of course.

So I'm kinda peeved President Bush chose tonight for his 15 minute goodbye and thanks for all the fish address. Couldn't he just use Twitter? Or have Laura send us an email? Stamps are still pretty cheap, how about mailing us all letters? You know, give the Treasury Department a little boost on his way out the door.

And if he just had to go on TV, why not do it last night? I'm sick of watching Simon Cowell prey on the young and talent-less. Monday night would've been good. A quick ta-ta before Two And a Half Men? Or Tuesday night, just as long as he didn't interrupt The Mentalist - I like that Simon.

But no, he had to pick Thursday AND during the primetime hours of my life. What is it with this guy? He can't even leave office without ticking me off.

Glad, sad, mad, and bad.

To quote Howard Beale in Network, I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore.

There are way too many bad things going on these days. And other things making me sad, glad, and mad.

For example, these three things make me glad...the return of Scrubs, rents seem to be coming down, and Slumdog Millionare won the Golden Globe for best picture.

Three things that make me sad... Amy Winehouse, that No Child Left Behind isn't working better, and Gil Grissom leaving CSI.

Three things that make me mad...most reality television, the rise of Joe the not-plumber, and the dumbing down of America.

And three things that are just plain bad... suicide bombers, Bernie Madoff free on bail, and Roger Clemens in denial.

When the Whistle Blows, Game Over

Here are just a few whistleblowers in the news:

The National Security Agency insider.
The Department of Justice wiretappers.
The FBI agents investigating Sen. Ted Stevens.

The Leo Burnett Army account staffers.
The Wells Fargo employee a the Cupertino branch.
The Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing worker.

The eight state troopers in Connecticut.
The EPA employee investigating Oyster Creek, our oldest nuclear facility.
The air controller at Memphis International Airport.

The murdered World Cup committee member.
The woman who reported the wrongdoings of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevic.
And finally, the author of the detailed November 2005 memo to the SEC, identifying 29 red flags about Madoff, all leading to fraud.

Someone is having a case of the Mondays

If you don't have an office space, don'tcha just hate Mondays?

According to the Press Association:

In 2008, more than 2 million people were put out of work in the US. Not since 1993 has the jobless rate been so high. Unemployment spiked at 7.2 percent in December. Without dramatic action, unemployment could reach double digits. And the economy could fall $1 trillion short, a total $12,000 in lost income for a family of four.

Sigh.

Saturday's news, kinda like "Gift of the Magi"

Somali pirates drown with million dollar booty.
A Sopranos "actor" leaves crime show, commits real-life murder and goes to prison. Billion-dollar bailouts in the US continue, but don't add up for taxpayers. Several Alzheimer drugs that help save our aging minds have been found to raise the risk of death for the elderly. Sunday's Golden Globes promise real Hollywood entertainment, but the 2008 award statues got a facelift. Russia requires a signed document from the EU to resume gas shipments, Gazprom's "black ink" remains unavailable. And last, but not least, the Director of the Center for Disease Control resigned, unhealthy leadership cited as cause.

If you don't get the cosmic irony of today's news, how about this? Eartha Kitt, famous for her song Santa Baby, died Christmas Day, 2008.

Am I wrong, or did O. Henry get it right?

More of the same, only different

Would we change the "trickle down" to a downpour? Could the stock market slide up when companies don't downsize? Should Madoff's rich diet be the end of him?

Would the FDA stop corruption not just complain about it? Could Wall Street give back to US and not the Inauguration? Should there be room for debate without Limbaugh?

Would China ban tainted milk and toys while they ban diet pills? Could Sarah Palin stop complaining about the media, to the media? Should we get Jack Sparrow & Will Turner to take care of those Somali Pirates?

Jussayin'

Would, should, could I make a suggestion?

Would Wal-Mart roll back their prices to 1929? Should NBC give The Apprentice a pink slip? Could Ann Coulter keep her mouth shut?

Would Joe the Plumber get out of the news, not into it? Should Aniston-Pitt-Jolie take their triangle elsewhere, perhaps Bermuda? Could the Real Housewives everywhere be foreclosed?

Would the Senate get its act together?
Should our U.S. Representatives clean House?
Could Obama change the world?

I sure hope so.

Other suggestions welcomed.

Thursdays

Did you ever wake up and get that funny feeling? The kind of feeling that stays with you all day? I get that feeling on Thursdays, the day of the week I came into this world. On Thursdays I begin to resent the long work week. And the day I start looking forward to the weekend.

Do you know how Thursday got its name? Thor, the Norse God of Thunder. The Scandanavians believed that while he crossed the skies in his chariot, Thor shot bolts of lightening out of his hammer. In the 6th Century, the Angles and Saxon's invaded England, carrying with them the belief in Thor as they wandered and warred. And when Germanic tribes suplanted the Roman residents in England, they also suplanted their god, replacing Jupiter with Thor. And that's how the fifth day of the week came to be called Thorsdaeg; translating into our American Thursday.

Did you ever notice how Thursdays pop up randomly in history?

Since it was declared an official U.S. holiday by Abraham Lincoln, Thanksgiving always falls on the fourth Thursday of November.

The third Thursday in November in France is known as La Fête des Vins Primeurs, celebrating the year's new Beaujolais Nouveau wine.

On the fifth day Thursday, according to Genesis, God commanded the seas to bring forth the creatures of the world. And according to the King James Bible, Thursday was the day of the Last Supper.

Another Thursday in 2004 the Red Sox won their first World Series in 86 years.

And in the U.S., Thursday primetime is considered to be the most popular night for television.

And so today another Thursday comes and goes, just like the child.

Warning! Warning! Danger! Danger!

The 111th Congress.
The SEC.
The job losses.
The manufacturing industry.
The housing market.
The deficit.
The recession.
The Administration.
The wars.
The end?

Warning, Will Robinson.

Another super Tuesday?

According to Wikipedia, the term "Super Tuesday" in the U.S. refers to the Tuesday (in February or March) of a presidential election year when the greatest number of states hold primary elections to select delegates to national conventions, at which each party's presidential candidates are officially nominated. More delegates can be won on Super Tuesday than on any other single day of the primary calendar, and, accordingly, candidates seeking the presidency traditionally must do well on this day to secure their party's nomination.

According to U.S. history, since 1845 our congressional elections have been held on the first Tuesday following the first Monday in November. Every two years, in even-numbered years. And every four years on the first November Tuesday we vote for a president.

This first Tuesday, January 6, 2009, 97 out of 100 U.S. Senators are back to work, with a few new ones sworn in. And some not.

New Yorkers must wait to find out who their appointed Senator will be; the man appointed Senator in Illinois might have to wait to take his oath, and the senatorial winner in Minnesota, well, he just waits.

A really super Tuesday, no?

Perception v. Reality

As the disconnect between perception and reality continues to widen, 2009 is the year for a reality check.

Perception: The SEC exists as the Wall Street watchdog. Reality: Many employees leave the SEC to work there.

Perception: America has no money to spend for new infrastructure. Reality: The US just spent $700 million to open a new embassy in Iraq.

Perception: The European Union is discussing Gazprom with Russia.
Reality: Russia isn't in the mood to talk.

Perception: All the news that's fit to print.
Reality: Leading newspapers sell front-page advertising.

Perception: China cracks down on Internet porn to protect minors.
Reality: Children suffering from China's toxic toys and milk.

Perception: All parents need to do is say "no."
Reality: No just doesn't work.

Perception: Marley & Me is a good movie.
Reality: The book was so much better.

And it's January one, two, three, four....

What are we fightin' for? Oh yeah... peace.

But the battle rages on for equal rights, the cures for disease, so that no child is left behind, and, the chance to change the world.

Day One - 2009

Now that it's January 1st, let's see what has changed since last year.

Hmmm...

A pro sports figure made a fool of himself (a stupid shout out to Charles Barclay)... Cuba celebrates 50 years of Communism (two censored shouts out to the Castro brothers)... a coupla crooks hit the celebrity news cycle (two ripoff shouts out to Queen Latifah's thief and Dane Cook's half- brother... another energy pipeline cut (a cold-hearted shout out to Russia)... some US states can't decide who to call "Senator (three partisan shouts out to Illinois, Minnesota and New York)... there's a halt to cease-fire (a never-ending shout out to the Mideast)... and trouble continues to brew(a few shouts out across the globe to India, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and the pirate-ridden Somali coast).

Nope, just more of the same.