AL QUAIDA AND FOX NEWS ARE FLOUNDERING - - THE FUNDAMENTALIST'S HAVE LOST THEIR COMPASS POINTS -but not Rush

The fundamentalists woke up November 5 only to discover that their compasses had stopped working.

The world economy is hanging on a brilliant, unflappable ray of sunshine named Obama waiting to break through the dark clouds. In this limbo period the wing nuts are divided, defeated and gasping for oxygen.

Al Quaida responds to the election by spitting out a racist smear.

Sean Hannity interviews, newly minted Fox "consultant" Karl Rove and makes Rove look like a moderate reminding Hannity, in essence, that he might want to wait until the theatre opens before shouting fire.

You can't say they arent trying. Hannity's web page came up with a reminder that AG nominee Eric Holder defended the seizure of Elian Gonzalez. There's a pressing current issue!

Confirming the breath taking sea change the NY Post and the Wall Street Journal ran editorials praising Obama.

From the WSJ editorial 11/28/08 "Obama's War Cabinet"

With these personnel picks, Mr Obama reveals a bias for competence, experience and continuity. Hence the caterwauls from his left flank"

They can’t figure out how to justify praising Obama’s intial appointments and they certainly can't suggest that they might have bet on the wrong horse so they have concocted an “angry” left wing and an alienated “anti war faction” to preserve an illusion of daylight between themselves and Obama's supporters. The "caterwauls from his left flank"? Turns out to be one posting on the Nation's web site from someone who disagrees with Obama. Its the Murdoch theory of journalism - if the facts you need to make a point don't match the reality - be creative.

From the NY Post editorial 11/28/08

Opposition to the Iraq War may have helped Obama make it to the White House, but now that time to govern is nearing, he's choosing people who bring a
reality-based worldview to the security challenges facing the nation.

In other words that silly opposition to the most disastrous costly dishonest foreign policy fiasco in American history vs post election realpolitik. They do have a point - "keep Gates at defense" would not have worked as a campaign platform This is about Obama's extraordinary reservoir of trust and good will at a time of financial collapse and two hopeless wars.

On the Fox News web site we see this headline

“Liberals Angry Over Obama Keeping Gates as Pentagon Chief”.

Who is this crowd of angry liberal's - two former congressional staffers. One used the word “disappointed” because of Gates prior support for torture and another guy would have preferred Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska or Sen. Sam Nunn of Georgia. Thats it - no kidding

Liberals are angry? - oh no - man the barricades - take to the streets - where's Jean Val Jean?

What the heck are these guys talking about? This is the happiest time in the history of American liberalism. They will have to do better and they probably will but boy are they having an identity crisis - or what?

Then there's Rush Limbaugh the guy who has never troubled himself with facts before smearing sends a not so coded shout out on his web sight to his neanderthal bigot demographic observing with dismay that the press "dutifully stood up" as Obama walked to the podium for his press conference. A demonstration of respect for the President Elect of the United States and he's pissed off. So much for patriotism and supporting the Commander in Chief in war time. Like the troubled overweight adolescent bully yelling sarcastic insults from the corner of the playground, Limbaugh contemptuously called Obama "the Messiah" in the same posting.

The right wing locomotive has stalled but its not derailed. Limbaugh - todays Father Couglin - the hate spewing, radio demagogue of the 1930's - not missing a beat is preaching his own coded hate filled message to today's lunatic, angry, fringe - the nut jobs we all worry about.

Even the image of a marginalized Limbaugh is part of a reshuffled political landscape unimaginable before the election. Whatever the right needs to do to realign itself behind Obama is OK by me - Murdoch gets it. Obama is and promises to be unlike any leader America has seen since Roosevelt.

We got our country back!!!!

From the rally in Cleveland Ohio Sunday November 2, 2008


















Door to door getting out the vote Loraine County Ohio








Poll watching and voter protection in Oberlin Ohio





and our stock appears to have gone up in the marketplace of nations . . .


From a friend in France

Dear friends.
America we love is back…
I have already forgotten the former President’s name … who was it???
Obviously, a Bushless White House is the one we prefer.

All the best to you and you and your family, I hope we’ll meet again next year, we would like to come and see what America looks like with Obama..
Congratulations.
Regards
Jacques

From a friend in Belgium
Congratulations America!

A great day for your country and the world!

Peter

more from other French friends


Congratulations ! you can be very proud again to be Americans, you did the right thing, I was amazed by his speech in Chicago, Let"s hope he will be able to carry all the necessary changes.

BRAVO !

Pia and Jean-Pïerre

a friend in Ohio received this from France

I cried when I heard Obama's speech and saw all these faces listening to him. In fact I even cried hearing McCain's speech which was almost eloquent. The capacity of Americans to be... Americans is great. In France and Europe in general people tend to be or pretend to be cynical and that is disturbing.

Love

Hubert

. . . and finally from a relative in Canada

All sorts of people here saying they are proud to be American now, and I had no idea they were. But I feel the same way. What a distance has been travelled! Congratulations to all of you there, and much love, Alice

HEADING TO OHIO FOR ELECTION DAY POLL WATCHING

My wife and I have downloaded the “Ohio Voter Protection Laws in a Nutshell” and Sections of Title 35 of the Ohio Revised Code and we're headed to Ohio to combine a visit with our kid in college with some "get out the vote" work and "voter protection" poll watching. Based on the training sessions, the on line trainings, the emails from organizers and the word from our network of friends is that there is an army of volunteer lawyers headed to polling places in battleground states to stop republicans from suppressing votes and/or stealing another election. The bottom line is that we are up against people who don’t really believe in universal suffrage and playing by the rules.

Hard to forget the documentary film about Florida 2000 that showed screaming, wall pounding young republican congressional staffers trying to prevent the Board of Election vote recounting (remember the hanging dimpled chads) while the Supreme Court was waiting in the wings to put the final fix in like old time bought and sold street corner pols.

Hard to forget the election day police road blocks to intimidate Afro American voters or in Ohio 2004 when Republicans, led by the then Republican secretary of state, litigated until early morning on election day to allow partisan vote challengers (one from each side) to be inside polling places challenging voter credentials.

Hard not to be terrified about the transparent republican goal of purging voters from registered voter lists because they moved, or because a data entry clerk at social security or the dept of motor vehicles put in a wrong digit.

The republican voter suppression campaign uses the myth of voter fraud as a cover. In the last debate McCain hinted that we can probably expect a post election day fraud spin. A key component of the fraud myth is ignoring the obvious distinction between registration fraud and voting fraud. Lets assume someone is able to register Mickey Mouse [ala the Acorn fake registrations]. The fake person still has to show up at the polls, get past poll workers and into a polling booth. The bogus fear is that a poll worker will say - “Right this way Mr Mouse. Oh and by the way sir - I’ve always loved your work.”

[The other important fact is that although fake registration forms (obviously a bad thing that should never have been allowed to happen) will not generate any fraudulent votes, a machine that flips your vote from who you chose to someone else could, without anyone being able to figure it out, change thousands of votes... ]

They also know that in poor Afro American districts forcing people to come up with photo id is a good way of stopping people from voting. As recently as April the 6–3 decision in April written by John Paul Stevens, Crawford v. Marion County Election Board ,upheld a 2005 Indiana law requiring voters in that state to produce a government document with a photograph at the polls.

The following is from Obama: The Price of Being Black By Andrew Hacker The New York Review of Books Volume 55, Number 14 September 25, 2008

Requiring a driver's license to vote has a disparate racial impact, a finding that once commanded judicial notice. To apply for the state ID card that Indiana offers as an alternative, moreover, nondrivers must travel to a motor vehicles office, which for many would be a lengthy trip. While licenses do not record race, Justice David Souter cited relevant studies of the race of license-holders in his dissent, which was joined by Justices Stephen Breyer and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. In one survey, made by the Department of Justice in 1994, black residents of Louisiana were found to be four to five times more likely not to have the official photograph needed for an identifying document. (Not to mention access to a car; recall how many couldn't leave as Katrina approached.) A Wisconsin survey published in 2005 was more precise. No fewer than 53 percent of black adults in Milwaukee County were not licensed to drive, compared with 15 percent of white adults in the remainder of the state. According to its author,
similar disparities will be found across the nation.

In contrast Ohio allows voter identification at the polls to include proof of who you are based on knowing the last four digits of your social security number, or producing a current utility bill or pay check or other government document with your name and address.

It would be very interesting to compare the Republican and Democratic budgets for voter registration campaigns.

To be continued tomorrow from Ohio . . . .

McCain/Palin mobs are going gaga about this no last name thing - isnt that what they did in the middle ages, before last names were invented?

Its a new low in the history of dumbing down. The entire Republican campaign platform has been reduced to three words - "Joe the plumber"

McCain and Palin are now jazzing up their dwindling crowds of mean spirited diehards with this weird no last name fetish. McCain cracks himself up with how clever it was to come up with a campaign theme inspired by the middle ages - when all a guy needed on his ox cart license was Nigil the weaver's boy or Cecil the Sundial setter.

Is McCain running for President or Sheriff of Nottingham? I guess its just more nose crinkling small town harkening back to a simpler time when goverment wasn't squandering our hard earned tax money on those gosh darn wasteful earmarks - like sewers and running water.

THERE IS ONE QUESTION IN THIS ELECTION -ARE AMERICANS AS STUPID AS REPUBLICANS ARE HOPING WE ARE?

Sarah Palin told supporters at a rally in Nevada, " we're going to Washington D.C. to shake things up", she said to approving screams from the crowd" NY Times Sun 9/14/08

So crowds are cheering madly as McCain and Pailin promise to shake things up by rescuing Washington from the Republicans. Hello - is anyone home?

I feel like we are living in that scene in Blazing Saddles when the Sheriff (Cleavon Little), about to be attacked by a threatening mob, takes himself hostage and threatens to shoot himself if they come any closer. The idiot towns folk are frozen in their tracks - someone says "I think he means it" - and they all start slowly backing away".




A friend e-mailed with this observation -

this is really the most amazing political phenomenon of our age: I can't quite get the right analogy for this successful leading of working people to believe that the GOP are on their side, while enacting policies which badly screw them: the distraction faked by the pickpocket just before they hit you; the magician's distraction of the eye before he pulls the card from his sleeve; people buying again and again from the same snake-oil salesman who came by last yr even though they got sick from the stuff. Lincoln never addressed this formulation directly, but maybe you can fool most of the people most of the time

BARKING BACK

A FRIEND'S RESPONSE TO -

“THE MCCAIN EXPERIENCE MYTH- WEDNESDAY AUGUST 27, 2008”
AND TO
"MEMO TO HILLARY HOLDOUTS WHEN RUDY AGREES WITH YOU ITS TIME TO GET OVER IT" -MONDAY AUGUST 25, 2008

MY FRIEND WRITES

Thanks for the heads-up. Good job. I was curious and glanced at McCain's Senate website. I imagine he might say that simply being in the senate for as long as he's been, he picks up foreign policy experience. You can see lots of trips abroad he's made, speeches he's given that might suggest he has studied up on foreign affairs. But I think ultimately you're right in that his main claim to foreign policy expertise is that he fought in a war, was imprisoned and tortured. Good credentials in anyone's book. Re: Your Hillary/Rudy entry. I have to admit I had a little consciousness raising by my sister in law, who absolutely will vote for Obama with no hesitation, was one of those Hillary supporters who loved the idea of a major-party candidate who was a woman, that their time had come, that whether or not Obama did anything wrong, the fact remains that this upstart with no experience and just a lot of charisma, pushed her out of the way without paying any dues whatsoever, and anyway, it was their turn. Not to mention an absolutely unshakeable belief that Hillary got a raw deal from the media while Barak had a free ride. She was furious that anyone would question the appropriateness, for example, of Hillary supporters insisting on a roll call vote to demonstrate the wide support she had garnered. I say all of this just to say it brought home the depth of feeling that Clinton supporters brought to the convention and to this moment. Which only leads me to say that (a) my personal reaction to the H.C. supporters was the same as yours ("get over it!"), but (b) I have come to believe that the moment requires more sensitivity to their feelings. So if you send any more messages to your wide and ever-growing audience, I might suggest gentler tools of persuasion. It drives me crazy that somewhere close to 20% of H.C. supporters say they'll either vote for McCain or at least not vote for Obama (I forget which). To tell the truth, I think Hillary herself really came through at the convention, and said best what we all want to say to her supporters: Did you vote for me, or do you care about that woman without health insurance, that returned Iraq veteran needing services? O.k., that's my two cents. D

MY RESPONSE

Constructive criticism appreciated and duly noted - but I think I disagree. Although I accept the criticism that I might be too aggressive and strident and should probably calm down.
My feeling is that this election is a war to get the country back from violent fundamentalists who lost the election and responded by seizing power in a bloodless coup and have set the US on a disastrous downward spiral.

Hillary had one thing she needed to do - make sure that there is unity and no voting block of pissed off supporters for the Republicans to go after and she just did not do that. It was an obviously great speech but she talked mostly about her own achievements and was not as enthusiastic about Obama as Bill was. For Hillary to go into the convention talking about people voting their conscience instead of urging her supporters to unite around Obama to get these bastards out was unacceptable.
Instead her self centered speech convinced me more than ever that there is too much day light between the trajectory of her own career and doing the right thing - i.e. her cynical vote for the war. I even have my doubts about the strength of her support for Roe if her career plans conflicted. After her speech it was very clear that letting the Clintons near the White House would make them media magnets and a side show of implied second guessing. It would have been a disaster. Would I feel this way if the Obama and Hillary roles had been reversed - probably not.

Did you happen to catch Geraldine Ferarro on NPR today praising McCain's VP choice and refusing to say who she is voting for. Ferraro, who was forced out of the Hillary campaign leadership when she refused to back down from her comment that Obama is where he is because he is black has now morphed into a living metaphor for the politics of self centered snits. In her case it's a purely racist, self centered snit.

The fact that people who supported Hillary could now vote for McCain reveals that they were not in it because of values shared with the rest of the Democratic party.

Sorry to be so unrepentant
Love Bob

D RESPONDS

This could go on forever, but just a few responses. STOP - I started writing a whole long response and then stopped. You think she was self-centered and didn't do what she needed to do. I think we could not have hoped for much better, and I listened carefully to that speech expecting the worst and really being surprised at the effectiveness of the unity message. You're turning me into a Hillary defender - you say there's no position she wouldn't change if it would help her career, but told me I was off base when I complained that Obama was modifying virtually every decent view he had earlier espoused (in order to help his career). Last point, I actually think that her career interest was best served by making the strongest possible plea for unity. To the extent she failed to do that, and could be perceived of as a divisive force within the party, I think it would not help her career at all.
Vive la difference. D

Unlike McCain - Obama never bought the Bush WMD/Iraq - Al Queda war hoax

John McCain not only bought it without question but quickly became one of the leading neo con men pushing the big lie with no weighing of the human, geopolitical or economic consequences

"The Right War for the Right Reasons"

by John McCain, New York Times, Op-Ed, 3/12/03 [excerpts]
. . .
. . .

After 12 years of economic sanctions, two different arms-inspection forces, several Security Council resolutions and, now, with more than 200,000 American and British troops at his doorstep, Saddam Hussein still refuses to give up his weapons of mass destruction.
. . .
The critics also have it wrong when they say that the strategy of the United States for the opening hours of the conflict -- likely to involve more than 3,000 precision-guided bombs and missiles in the first two days -- is intended to damage and demoralize the Iraqi people. It is intended to damage and demoralize the Iraqi military and to dissuade Iraqi leaders from using weapons of mass destruction against our forces or against neighboring countries, and from committing further atrocities against the Iraqi people.
. . .
The force our military uses will be less than proportional to the threat of injury we can expect to face should Saddam Hussein continue to build an arsenal of the world's most destructive weapons

----------------------------------------

AMERICA NEEDS A LEADER NOT A WARRIOR WHO DOESN'T ASK QUESTIONS

THE MCCAIN "EXPERIENCE" MYTH

Item - The McCain campaign issued a press release on 8/23/08 that the Biden VP selection demonstrates Obama's lack of foreign policy experience



WHERE'S JOHN'S FOREIGN POLICY EXPERIENCE?

CAN YOU FIND IT?

COME ON - LET'S SEE IF WE CAN FIND ANY IN JOHN'S WIKIPEDIA BIO



John Sidney McCain III (born August 29, 1936) is the senior United States Senator from Arizona and presumptive nominee of the Republican Party in the 2008 presidential election.
McCain graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1958 and became a naval aviator, flying ground-attack aircraft from aircraft carriers. During the Vietnam War, he nearly lost his life in the 1967 USS Forrestal fire. Later that year while on a bombing mission over North Vietnam, he was shot down, badly injured, and captured as a prisoner of war by the North Vietnamese. He was held from 1967 to 1973, experiencing episodes of torture and refusing an out-of-sequence early repatriation offer; his war wounds would leave him with lifelong physical limitations.

Amazing story of a 33 year old fighter pilot's suffering and bravery in 1969 - but is that a reason - 4 decades later- to give this 72 year old man the codes to start a nuclear war?

Let’s keep looking - maybe the relevant foreign policy experience is coming up . . .

He retired from the Navy as a captain in 1981 and, moving to Arizona, entered politics. Elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1982, he served two terms, and was then elected to the U.S. Senate in 1986, winning re-election easily in 1992, 1998, and 2004. While generally adhering to conservative principles, McCain has gained a media reputation as a "maverick" for disagreeing with his party on several key issues. After being investigated and largely exonerated in a political influence scandal of the 1980s as a member of the "Keating Five", he made campaign finance reform one of his signature concerns, which eventually led to the passage of the McCain-Feingold Act in 2002.

whoa - just a minute - "a member of the Keating Five" - that wasn't an 80's rock band- wasn't that one of the largest political corruption frauds in American history and didn't he just miss being indicted?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keating_Five

He is also known for his work towards restoring diplomatic relations with Vietnam in the 1990s,

so this more recent Vietnam experience was just a tad under 2 decades ago - that can't be all there is - can it ?

and for his belief that the war in Iraq should be fought to a successful conclusion in the 2000s.

he bought Bush's Iraq/Al Queda hoax hook line and sinker and he was one of the earliest and most prominent uncritical cheerleaders for the most disastrous dishonest use of American military power in modern history - now, without a shred of ciritical insight into the invasion of Iraq, teh best he can come up with is escalation without an exit strategy -

he may not have much foreign policy experience but it does tell us something about his "judgment" and that he doesn't need a proven securitythreat before sending our armed forces in harm's way

lets keep going - were almost at the end -

wow- its not that long a resume for such an old man - is it?

McCain has chaired the powerful Senate Commerce Committee, and has been a leader in seeking to rein in both pork barrel spending as well as Senate filibusters of judicial nominations.

no - its not there

McCain lost his bid for the Republican nomination in the 2000 presidential election to George W. Bush. He ran again for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008, and gained enough delegates to become the party's presumptive nominee in March 2008.

Jeepers creepers - is that it ?

That's the foreign policy resume he's bragging about?

Republicans wouldn't be trying to fool people - would they ?

MEMO TO HILLARY HOLDOUTS - WHEN RUDY AGREES WITH YOU ITS TIME TO GET OVER IT

Rudy Guliani was on the talk show circuit this weekend offering his unbiased opinion that choosing Hillary for VP was a “no brainer”. They know that fanning this flame is the key to Republican victory.

Hillary lost because she wasnt likeable enough. When a comedian is not getting laughs its because she’s not funny - its not because the audience is sexist.

a maybe - just maybe - all those white working class folks were motivated to vote for her not because of who she is but because of who she was running against - does Hillary Clinton really want to embrace "white backlashers" as a voting block?

She also lost because she voted for the war she knew to be a hoax because she cared more about her own career than whats best for the country.

Get over yourselves. This is not about chosing a class president This is not just about John McCain vs Barack Obama. This is about taking our flag and our country back from violent, lying, fundamentalists who stole the White House and have no respect for human life - unless you're an embryo or in a coma.

We need to get our country back from Republicans who have one defining theory of government which is - everything will be ok if rich people can just get more money.

For the sake of our children - keep your eyes on the prize.

A CAVEMAN TRIES TO UNDERSTAND A SCIENTIST ABOUT THE CELL PHONE CANCER THING

FREE hit counter and Internet traffic statistics from freestats.com

When the latest new health scare/alert sends me into a tizzy I usually turn to my brother in law Myron the psychiatrist/scientist for help. Here is my caveman response ("cm" in bold) to Myrons email.
------------------------------------
Dear Bob
It is true that radio frequency radiation passes into the head from a cell phone,

caveman (cm) - radio frequency radiation into head - me no like

and it is probably true that substituting a Bluetooth earpiece for holding the phone against one's ear exposes the head to even more radiation.

cm- fuggetabout bluetooth

A metal shield is kind of dumb as a protective
strategy,

cm-fuggetabout dumb protective shields

but using a plastic tube to conduct sound to the ear from a little speaker located on one's lap would definitely reduce radiation to the head.

cm: lets get little speakers for our laps

However, one's lap would then be exposed to more radiation. Which region is more important will vary, of course, between people and changes as one ages.

cm: fuggetabout little speakers for our laps

Radio waves do not have enough energy to strip electrons away from
atoms and hence cannot influence ordinary chemical reactions.

cm: me feel better about radio waves

Even visible light cannot do this despite having far higher energy per photon. It is only when one gets into ultraviolet, Xray and gamma ray frequencies that you have ionizing radiation (see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ionizing_radiation ).
The radiation from a microwave oven cannot ionize... it only heats.

cm: finally - me happy - I can walk around with a microwave held up to my head or in my pocket without getting cancer


The amount of heat produced by a cell phone is so tiny that I don't think you could
measure the rise in temperature in the ear or anywhere.

cm: me like it when scary things cant be measured

However, for years, doctors have used "diathermy" machines to treat
orthopedic injuries. These emit high-frequency radio waves, like a
microwave oven (in fact, those waves are microwaves) and penetrate
deeper into muscles more rapidly than would a heat lamp or hot wet
towels. The warmth, combined with massage, is supposed to relax the
muscles and reduce pain and inflammation. The intensity of the
diathermy radiation is thousands of times greater than what is emitted
from a cell phone. There has been no evidence of diathermy causing
cancer.

cm: me getting sleepy

Radiation induces cancer by disrupting DNA. It knocks electrons off
the DNA or nearby molecules, making them available for unusual
chemical reactions. Only ionizing radiation can do this. Again,
visible sunlight, which is thousands of times more energetic per
photon than radio, can only heat up one's skin. It is only the
ultraviolet, again far more energetic per photon than, say, green
light, that can ionize anything and cause a sunburn or even induce
tanning.

cm: zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

What this boils down to is that rumors, anecdotes, conspiracy theories
and pseudo-scientific polemic constitute the only basis for the
fantasy that cell phones next to the ear are more dangerous than a
cell phone in one's pocket.
As for radio waves, we are flooded with them, such as from radio and
TV broadcasts. A wire can pick up lots of energy from radio waves in
the air, a really lot. A so-called crystal radio set gets all its
energy from the antenna. You string a wire up to capture the radiation
that hits the wire, then pass the electricity through a coil and
capacitor that blocks out over 98% of the power and allows only a
little fraction to pass through... the fraction that is at the
frequency of a particular AM broadcast station. There remains enough
power in this fraction to produce sound in an earphone, with no
amplification, no batteries, no external source of power. There is a
lot of radio energy passing though us all the time, but, like I say,
it is non-ionizing and there is no serious body of evidence showing
any cancer risk.
As for using a little tube to conduct sound into the ear as little
puffs of air, this was how certain headphones in airplanes used to
operate. Nowadays, people plug electronic headphones into jacks on the
armrests, but one used to plug tubes into armrest holes. I think that
the fidelity of sound degrades when it has to pass through a littletube like that, so that it may be more difficult to decipher
conversations using the WaveShield RF1000 compared with a good
Bluetooth headset; and the latter usually includes a noise-cancellingmicrophone that supports hands-free operation when driving, walking or
eating. The little plastic tubes are better in an MRI machine...
that's how the technician talks to you and how they play music to help
you relax and enjoy.
Love, Myron

CM - me waking up in sweat. . . physics exam tomorrow . . . forgot to go to class

So Myron - Is it possible to answer the following true/false question?
Q Do cell-phones, in fact, emit enough radiation to cause cancer?
Yes or No
Thanks
Love Bob

stay tuned . . .

THE NYC RUSH HOUR SUBWAY CAR -THE KEY TO WORLD PEACE

FREE hit counter and Internet traffic statistics from freestats.com

It may not seem like it when you’re struggling to stay vertical in a packed NYC rush hour subway car - praying that the smelly guy is not you - but that human mush is a model for world peace.

Like the earth - the subway in rush hour is not big enough. There’s not enough fresh air, light, and clean space. People shuffle onto those packed iron beasts from every walk of life lugging with them all the available racial and ethnic hostilities and isms but for the most part - they get along.

Of course you’ve got your jerks, your door blockers, your leg spreaders and the occasional early morning condemnation to eternal hell but mostly its regular folks who just want to get where they going - everyday people who give up seats, keep comments and judgments to themselves; pull out a napkin to wipe water from the seat next to them so a stranger can sit down, hand a mom the rubber toy fallen from the stroller or help the lost tourist, the disabled, the sick, the elderly while perfecting the New York art of not getting caught staring -every day folks quietly making it work

In the worlds hot spots - the Middle East, Africa or the Balkans - extremists set the agenda. Things are not going to get better until the agenda is set by regular people with no ax to grind - like New Yorkers in the subway - who just want to get where they are going - quietly making it work

Photo by Markus Hartel (markushartel.com)

I AM AN UPPERWEST SIDE LIBERAL- I LIKE IT WHEN OBAMA MAKES ME UNHAPPY-IT CURES MY MCGOVERN ANXIETY

FREE hit counter and Internet traffic statistics from freestats.com

Obama supporters are worried about his swerves into right wing territory this summer - telling evangelicals that he will expand faith based initiatives -expressing a pro death penalty sentiment in agreement with Thomas and Scalia and recently an opinion in favor of FISA's warrantless wiretapping.

Im more worried about not getting our country and our flag back from the violent fundamentalist nuts with no respect for human life who stole the White House along with our wallet and car keys and for 8 years have been plowing the nation's car into buildings and pedestrians all over the globe.

One thing is clear - I don't have a clue.
I will never understand how Americans were persuaded twice to vote for this idiot frat boy prince. So Im not sweating Obama's recent swerves to the center and right because if he makes guys like me unhappy thats good.

He won't win this election if he cares too much about what people like me think of him. In fact when I like him too much I start having 1972 Nixon 49 McGovern 1+DC - "don’t blame me Im from Massachusetts - anxiety attacks

So you keep swerving Mr. Obama. What matters now is getting our wallet and car keys back - then we will figure out how to dig our way out from under W’s legacy of lies, bloodshed, squandered billions and anti US hatred.

BARKING BACK - Friends weigh in with responses to the "barking" about Obama's swerve

FREE hit counter and Internet traffic statistics from freestats.com

"Well stated. I wish I could get comparable pleasure out of Barak's becoming a moderate Republican. I agree that if a candidate was remotely as progressive as we'd like, he'd have no chance at winning. And nothing that he does will so disenchant me that I wouldn't vote. Not a chance. But I have to admit my stomach turned when in the course of two weeks he sounded or tried to sound like he agreed with the pro-death penalty dissent on the court and agreed with the pro-gun owner majority on the court, then he opted out of federal financing on his campaign, hedged on withdrawal from Iraq, and more. All this a week or so after he waffled on his willingness to talk with even foreign leaders we don't like. Without a doubt I'll still vote for him, but at some point I may have forgotten why. Will his campaign reform efforts, Supreme Court appointments, and Iraq strategy and foreign policy decisions be based on these latest statements? Or can I, as some friends argue I should do, rely on the belief that he really is progressive but will only let that fact emerge once he's been elected? "


---------------------------------------------
"I'm with you--although i just hope he doesn't pass the center and join the right!"

---------------------------------------------
"On the other hand

The ideals that a politician actually holds inside himself, let alone those he openly espouses, and let alone those that remain by the time he enters office, rapidly degrade through enlightenment to reality, repeated compromise, pervasive peer pressure, and the corruption that inevitably accompanies power. Whatever he once may have been, 0bama is now very much a politician, very much subject to external manipulation, and not just until the election. That is, he can be steered so that harsh pressure from progressives may be well worth exerting. If he takes the support of progressives for granted, he will act like a "centrist" and could turn out worse for the country in the long run. If many progressives turn away in disappointment and he loses, that may even be best.There is something to be said for letting McCain be elected. It could be that the country's current problems will worsen no matter what, and whoever is president will be blamed. A full economic depression, a war of annihilation between Iran and Israel, a widening of the chaos in Africa, severe disruptions caused by global warming, including all sorts of of diseases, agricultural disasters, rioting and mass migrations all occurring during Obama's presidency would cause the country to quickly turn to a frankly dictatorial "man on a white horse" eager to declare emergency and substitute authoritarian rule for the already flagging American experiment in freedom..On the other hand, if the country gets the president it seems to deserve there would be an opportunity for another Roosevelt-like administration to follow. Obama would have a clear mandate and would be pushed by an outraged public to prosecute the people illegally profiting from the war, to break up the de facto monopolies, to balance the Supreme Court, disband the CIA and perhaps to form an uneasy alliance with China against Russia and our other enemies so that when we finally go down we would go down more gently."


-------------------------------------------------------------
and someone else sent me this link with more on the subject
http://www.laweekly.com/news/dissonance/dissonance-obamas-middle-ground/19203/

THE NYC CRANE DISASTERS

FREE hit counter and Internet traffic statistics from freestats.com

Mr. Bloomberg responded angrily during a news conference to the suggestion that the Department of Buildings had failed to ensure public safety.

“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the D.O.B. — D.O.B. didn’t crash; it was the crane that collapsed,” Mr. Bloomberg told reporters. “Keep in mind that construction is a dangerous business and you will always have fatalities.”

TWO DISASTERS IN TWO AND 1/2 MONTHS - MR MAYOR ISN'T IT TIME TO ADMIT THAT DOB DID CRASH - BEFORE THE THIRD?


May 30, 2008 / 91st Street



March 15, 2008/ 51st Street

(an unpublished letter to the NY Times)

The deaths and injuries caused by two recent crane collapses were both tragic and miraculously limited. For decades New York City's development philosophy has been that what’s good for the real estate industry is good for the rest of us. The Department of Buildings, our “cop on the beat” was left underfunded and understaffed. The Guliani administration changed the rules to allow architects hired by builders to “self certify” zoning and housing code compliance. The real estate industry has now forfeited the right to this degree of trust.
Its time to remove the fox from the henhouse door before there is a third crane disaster. High rise crane projects need to be halted pending a safety procedures review that is similar to what NASA did following the Challenger disaster. New Yorkers have a right to be assured by competent independent experts that they can live and work near high rise construction sites without fear.