Merry Christmas?

It seems like every year about this time I receive forwarded e-mails reminding me to say “Merry Christmas” and not “Season’s Greetings.” It is Christ – mas! We are celebrating the birth of Christ! Remember? Okay, point well made, especially if you are a Christian. Unfortunately, like it or not, Christmas has become a secular holiday to many. Other religions also celebrate their particular beliefs around this time as well. It all gets rather confusing. What should the proper greeting be at this time of year when meeting people where their faith, religion or beliefs are an unknown? Should I assume everyone I meet is Christian and wish them a Merry Christmas? Should Christians or Muslims be offended if someone, let’s say of the Jewish faith, wished them a Happy Chanukah at this time of year? It can almost make you paranoid.

I grew up with a holiday tradition filled with a mix of Baby Jesus, shepherds, angels, Santa Claus, reindeer and Christmas trees, but most important…PRESENTS. Even our Christmas music reflects this mix of secular and religious themes when we listen to Here Comes Santa and O’ Little Town of Bethlehem play in the stores as we shop for our Christmas gifts. Our memories of the sights and sounds and the smells of how we celebrated Christmas growing up are so ingrained that we do not even realize the secularization of the holiday. It has become a part of us, our culture.

This really hit home when last year Wal-Mart announced that Santa would no longer be in the stores during the Christmas holiday. This caused an uproar among leaders of several Christian Churches here in San Antonio. There were editorials calling for a boycott of Wal-Mart stores unless they agreed to bring back Santa Claus, this symbol of Christmas. It was really quite amazing to see such an outpouring of emotion from the Christian community. For some reason I never thought of the image of Santa Claus as a symbol for the birth of Christ, yet all my life the two have gone hand in hand. Again, it has been our cultural mix at this time of year and we accept it.

My daughter and her husband have an interesting way of keeping the Christ in Christmas and yet preserve the tradition of gift giving and celebration. Our granddaughter was brought up with the idea that Christmas is Jesus’ birthday. She gets to wear a party hat with noisemakers and mommy bakes Baby Jesus a birthday cake. Everyone gets presents to celebrate the event. Yes, Santa is still out there in the malls, but in this Christian household, they celebrate Jesus’ birthday. I think it brings up a very good point. If Christians wish to keep Christ in Christmas, it has to start in the home. What will your family TRADITIONS be? You have the power to create them. They are the ones you will remember the rest of your life.

Lisa and I have scaled back our Christmas gift giving and celebration since our move to San Antonio. We spend a quieter day with her mother, brother and his wife exchanging one or two inexpensive gifts. My memories still linger this time of year, however, to other family Christmases past when my mom was still alive. Our extended families would gather for the big present blowout and feeding frenzy. It was stressful, beautiful, exciting and noisy with laughing children running throughout the house with their treasures. There was plenty of wonderful food and time to get caught up on our lives. That was my tradition for many years, but it was a more secular celebration. Not much room for Baby Jesus. I guess the bottom line is Christmas is what we choose to make it…

Merry Christmas and Season’s Greetings to all of you!

FOOD for THOUGHT...

Of Moths and Men

Before Lisa and I moved to San Antonio, we voted for Rob Blagojevich as he ran for governor of Illinois. He was young, a democrat and promising reform. His opponent, Governor George Ryan, was an old guard republican steeped in institutional corruption. There was talk that Ryan was about to be indicted on federal charges. It seemed like a “no brainer” at the time. Rob won the election and a few years after our departure won a second term as governor.

So, what happened? How did he go from this fresh faced reformer full of promise on the Illinois scene to a common thug, a shakedown artist selling President-Elect Obama’s former senate seat to the highest bidder among other despicable scandals designed to bring him more wealth and power? At one time, he had it all and now he faces a criminal trial and impeachment. His political career, his reputation has been destroyed. What didn’t he get?

Too many politicians enter public service for the wrong reason or they allow themselves to be corrupted along the way. The allure of personal wealth and power become addictive. Politicians become adept at telling us what they think we want to hear so they can win our votes. We just finished a two-year presidential campaign where the charges and counter-charges crowded out the issues that should have been at the forefront. If you want to win, if you want to be effective, you have to “play ball” or you are left in the dust of history. Such is our political system today. Perhaps it has always been thus.

We want to believe what politicians tell us. We want to believe in their virtue, but deep down we know how the game is played. We know there are compromises and deals behind the closed doors away from the light of public scrutiny. When their greed and arrogance finally expose their misdeeds, we are shocked, disillusioned and outraged at their betrayals or we become cynical and come to distrust all who would seek public office. Those who seek office with the courage of their convictions, to actually serve the public and make the world a better place, are rare. To be an effective leader in a sea of self-serving politicians…is rare indeed. The lure of wealth and power are like moths to the flame.

Eventually they are consumed.

FOOD for THOUGHT...

What Next?

So, now we have a new president-elect. He hit the ground running, trying to put his new administration together. I wish him well.

The economy is still falling along with the markets….one gloomy report after another. To me it is clear that creating jobs and keeping people in their homes are our top priorities. If the economy is based on people buying goods and services, then it seems to be a “no brainier” that if people are facing layoffs and foreclosures, then they sure as hell are not going to go out and spend money on anything but the necessities of life. The more people cut back on their spending…the deeper the recession gets.

So how do we create jobs? Well, what do people need? They need housing, transportation and food. They need heat and energy to run their homes. So start with those basics. Each of these basic needs can turn into thousands of jobs.

We need alternative fuels so that we do not have to be hostages to countries that hate our guts and seek our destruction. I cannot wait for the day when we can turn off the foreign oil spigot and say thanks, but no thanks. We have the technology to reduce our dependence on foreign oil right now with wind, geothermal, solar and biofuels. (Forget nuclear until we figure out what to do with all the radioactive waste it generates.) We are just getting started on these, but there has not been a national commitment made. What if each house and building had solar panels, wind turbines, and geothermal heat? What you do not use goes out into the power grid. Picture factories making those panels and turbines. JOBS!

Transportation! My god, what has Detroit been doing all these years? They have been cranking out the big gas guzzling hummers and SUV’s that keep us tied to those Middle Eastern nations that hate us. Get rid of the internal combustion engine! Hello! We have the technology to go with hydrogen cell, natural gas, and electric and yes even water engines. Make it a national priority. If we can land a man on the moon, we can invent a new type of engine to run our transportation network. We have just never had the political will before. The oil lobby has held our congress in the palm of its hand for decades. New cars, new trucks, new engines…JOBS!

Related to transportation, what about our nation’s infrastructure? We have crumbling bridges and highways that need our attention so that we can get our goods from point A to point B. Perhaps we need an updated version of FDR’s WPA to put people to work fixing not just our highways, but also our schools, parks, zoos and public works. I guess that might just create a few…JOBS!

Growing food and biofuels…hello Farmer Brown! Do not grow your corn, wheat, and soybeans to be burned up in some gas-guzzler. We need that stuff for food around the world. By using it, you are starving people who can no longer compete with our cars for the grain they need to live. Do your homework and think about things like switch grass with more bang per gallon. It grows free with no chemicals and fertilizers needed. While we are at it, let’s buy our food and produce locally. We use so much fuel to export what we can grow right here. All of these extra agricultural potential and new crops mean…JOBS!

Our homes! Let’s find a way to keep people in their homes. Did it ever make any sense to put people into more home than they could afford with adjustable rate mortgages? The greedy bastards that thought up that scheme should be hung. All those failing banks caught up with these toxic loans should now use the federal bailout money to put people to work restructuring these loans into fixed rate, 30-year mortgages that they can afford. If they cannot afford that then work out a rental agreement while they search for housing they CAN afford. Foreclosing on families and evicting them from thousands of homes that now sit vacant, subject to vandalism and neglect makes no sense. Everybody loses. The banks lose big time when the value of this vacant property they are forced to acquire drops like a rock in a market where resale is unlikely. Put people to work in the banking industry restructuring mortgages. You guessed it…JOBS!

Therefore, if we keep people in their homes, if we become the innovators and create new jobs, if we make transportation fuel efficient and affordable, people will go out and buy goods and services again and the economy…it recovers and grows. It is a “no brainier” folks. All we need is a national commitment and leadership. The technology is there, but do we have the political will to get started and see it through?

FOOD for THOUGHT...

Voting For

Well, by now we know that Barack Obama has won the election and will be our next president. Some of you are very, very disappointed and some of us are elated. Some of you are very afraid and some of us can now breathe a sigh of relief.

My wife made an interesting observation last night. She said that in the last two presidential elections we voted AGAINST Bush rather than FOR Gore or FOR Kerry. When I thought about it, it dawned on me that in both races we were not excited about either candidate. We saw each as the lesser of two evils. However, in this race of 2008, we felt inspired and hopeful by this articulate man who has lived in two worlds, one white and one black. We were inspired by his words of hope after eight years of Bush and Cheney and their Neocon comrades. For the first time, in a long time, perhaps…ever, I voted FOR someone.

Our country is in shambles. In all fairness, it was not the fault of any one party or any one administration or president. God knows there is enough blame to go around for all of us. President Obama has inherited a deep pile of dung created by years of self-centered greed and short sightedness. Partisanship between the liberal Left and the conservative Right has brought this country to its knees. Power politics has blinded us to the beauty, the true strength, the fairness and the common sense of this nation.

Some of you may be tempted to say, good, let Obama fall flat on his face and the “other side” will be back in four years to clean up the mess (he?) made. But you see it is not his mess alone. We all had a hand in it. If we can somehow get past the partisan, political bickering and finger pointing, if we can get past our fears and yes, even our prejudices… we might just discover that we all have work to do. We all have sacrifices to make. BUT, if we all pitch in, help our new president…, and help each other, we might just climb out of this stinking hole that we dug and breathe fresh, clean air again.

So, it really is up to us. We can continue to be a nation that looks at the things that divide us or we can come together, roll up our sleeves and get to work. God knows, we have plenty to do, but for the first time in a very long time, I have hope. I have hope that we will see that we are ONE people, one nation and that together we can realize a tomorrow filled with promise. We have this moment in time. What will we do? What will you do?

As for me, I voted for…not against.

FOOD for THOUGHT...

It Just Keeps Getting Better!

The immortal words of the great Republican icon, Ronald Reagan: “Well, there you go again!”

I had almost forgotten about the Savings and Loan Scandal of the late 80’s and early 90’s and the “Keating Five.” One of those five was John McCain seated in front of the Senate Ethics Committee for his part in this scandal. I know, I know… he was exonerated, but was he really. He received a slap on the wrist…something about his poor judgment and then he went on to be the “maverick” senator he portrays himself to be. That poor judgment and the belief in financial deregulation, coupled with greed and arrogance cost the American taxpayer over $100 billion to bail out the mess it created.

The lessons were never learned. Hardly ten years later, during the Clinton administration, there was the idea that we need to loosen lending regulations so that low and middle-income folks could buy a house. It was an American dream that turned sour, then rotten to the core. This time both Republicans and Democrats in congress decided to get into it with both feet and do for the banking and investment companies what Keating did for the savings and loan industry. Let Wall Street regulate itself! Once again, the American taxpayer is stuck with the bill for the mess created…a whopping $700 billion this time ...and counting.

And guess who is running for President as America heads into financial ruin? It is John McCain. After all these years promoting deregulation, now he is calling for regulation of those Wall Street scoundrels, as if he had invented the word. I don’t know, should we trust him? It is funny how history just keeps repeating itself with the same ol’ bad actors.

I am voting for a new play and a new cast.

FOOD for THOUGHT...

What a Mess!

After eight years of a Republican administration and a divided congress (controlled most of that time by Republicans and Presidential vetoes), our country is in one hell of a mess! We are spending $10 billion a month to fight wars on two fronts halfway around the world. Homes are going into foreclosure at an alarming rate. Large investment firms are falling from bad loans and now a $700 billion Wall Street bail out bill is being foisted on the American taxpayers at the point of a “gun.” America is on the verge of bankruptcy and depression in more ways than one. Our values and our way of life are standing at the edge of a cliff overlooking a very deep hole.

The last eight years has seen the building of “Gitmo,” and the use of the terms like “extraordinary rendition” and “enemy combatants” to excuse human rights abuses as this administration ignored international conventions and treaties with impunity. This administration denied torture allegations even as the world viewed pictures of our abuse of prisoners at Abu Grebe in Iraq. Our own Supreme Court told this administration they could not sidestep due process in their treatment of prisoners (being held for years without charges in Cuba).

Our constitutional rights and freedoms at home have come under assault during this republican administration. Not even our libraries and our e-mails are exempt. With the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, the Patriot Act, the TSA and unauthorized wiretapping this administration has created enough fear and mistrust in this country to destroy our very foundation and this nation’s founding values and protections. We were told these encroachments were necessary to keep us safe from the bad guys. We were told many things by this administration. With Dick Cheney and others, our government has become one of secrecy and hidden agendas. Little by little, the America we once knew changed under this administration, the Republican Party and this divided congress.

This country has been drained, sucked dry of its wealth and its worldwide respect. The past eight years has been a disaster. This administration has burned our bridges of good will around the world and now… destroyed our economy with deregulation and mounting debt. It has come to this all in the name of greed, special interests and political partisanship!

Enough is enough, my fellow Americans! It is time to take our country back. Elect a new party, a new leader and a new administration. VOTE. Please vote in November while we still have a country left.

FOOD for THOUGHT...

Issues or Character?

I watched the Republican National Convention this past week. I sat through the speeches of Fred Thompson and Mitt Romney. I heard the shouts of “Drill, baby, drill!” I listened to the hatchet job, the mockery and the smears of Rudy Guliani’s keynote address. I watched and I listened to Gov. Sarah Palin accept her nomination as the first woman VP candidate. I listened to her additional mockery of Barack Obama and his community organizing experience in Chicago. I watched as she brought the house down with cheers and shouting, “USA!” Then finally, the next night I stayed up and watched John McCain give his rousing, inspiring acceptance speech for his presidential candidacy. I must admit I was impressed by his speech and all the other speeches that portrayed John McCain as an American hero. There could be no doubt that years of torture in a Vietnamese POW prison forged the man into a true American hero. I surely do not doubt his love for this country nor his patriotism. I too, rejoiced as the balloons and confetti fell on McCain, Palin and their families to the cheers of the convention crowd. I have to admit that it was a great speech.

Later, in the wake of the Republican National Convention, a wave of hopelessness washed over me. Someone from the McCain campaign stated that the election would be won on personality not the issues. The convention was short on the many issues that confront us but long on the personality of McCain and Palin. How indeed could Obama measure up to a true American hero and a political “maverick?” How could Biden possibly compare with the “gun-toting mother” and governor from the state of Alaska who can “field dress a moose?” As governor and commander–in-chief of the Alaska National Guard sitting on the border with Russia, who could dare to challenge her “foreign affairs experience.” And, do not forget...she is the first woman candidate for VP. McCain and Palin are larger than life personalities to be sure.

In a world where image often trumps substance, I wonder if America will bother to see beyond the Republican distractions, this negative campaign of smears, fear and lies. Will anyone listen to Obama and Biden’s message of hope and “Change We Can Believe In?” Will voters forget the eight long years under this current Republican administration and our nation’s slow, steady slide into the toilet? Will voters remember that John McCain voted with Bush 90% of the time or that he is willing to keep our forces in Iraq 100 years (at a cost of $10 billion a month)? Will post-Hillary women voters understand that Sarah Palin stands for zero exceptions for a woman’s right to choose when it comes to abortion—even in cases of rape, incest or to protect the life of the mother? I wonder if women even noticed there was nothing said by either candidate about protecting equal pay for women for equal work. Ah, but she is the first woman VP candidate ...so who cares. Drill, baby, drill!

I suppose it is more stirring, more patriotic somehow to hear about a brave American soldier and his sacrifice for God and Country than it is to hear about a young man who goes into a blighted inner city neighborhood to try to make changes and bring hope and prosperity to people without hope. Community organizers, like Obama, have worked for things like the 8-hour workday, equality, public transportation, healthcare for kids and safe neighborhoods, but who cares about stuff like that? Sarah and Rudy were right to make fun and mock Obama at the convention, I suppose, after all they do have “executive experience”...and Barack does not. Instead, Barack has had life experience. He has lived with his feet planted in both a black and a white world. He has lived in poverty and wealth. I guess Military service and political office trump all that people-to-people and human interaction stuff. Waving the flag is more exciting than discussing the issues.

Perhaps the McCain camp is correct. This election may be decided on personality rather than the issues. If you throw enough mud and dirty the waters so that the issues and the record of the past eight years are never discussed or debated fairly, then I guess it all does come down to... personality, but I cannot help thinking that character may be the deciding factor. What will be the character of each candidate’s campaign from this point on? More of the same or real change?

FOOD for THOUGHT...

An Open Letter to Senator Obama

Dear Senator Obama,

We have had 8 years of “smear and fear” politics thanks to Karl Rove, Dick Cheney and the Republican boys. I am deeply disappointed in your recent back and forth sniping with Senator McCain, who seems intent on waging another negative attack ad political campaign. Please, please, do not sink to their level. I know that you are probably surrounded by slick campaign gurus that have convinced you that you cannot possibly win unless you do the same, but we were hoping for something better this time. In this eye for an eye back and forth, the issues are getting lost.

I do not care if Senator McCain can remember how many houses he owns. I do care if you can explain the difference between your healthcare plan and his. I want to know why your plan is better. I care that politics as usual is tearing apart and dividing our country more and more. We wanted CHANGE. We wanted HOPE. What happened to the “audacity” of that hope? Where is the man who spoke those inspiring words at the 2004 Democratic National Convention? I want him back.

I want a campaign of ideas, vision and hope. I want a leader who will roll up his sleeves and begin to clean up the mess left to us by the Bush administration. I want a leader who will encourage the best and the brightest to find solutions. I want a leader who will use diplomacy before military force. I want a leader who can begin to heal our deep divisions and bring us together as Americans.

Senator Obama, are you that man?

FOOD for THOUGHT...

I am Voting Republican?

I received a sarcastic e-mail from a friend entitled, “I’m voting Democratic.” The sarcasm and characterization of Democrats and liberals was somewhat surprising. It made me think. Perhaps I have been wrong all along. I have been receiving abundant e-mails from friends and family reassuring me that Barack Obama is a dangerous man. He is someone to be feared. His name, his looks and his message are suspect. It took me a while, but I finally decided that I should vote Republican.

I am voting Republican because I just love the way our Republican president (or vice president?) has run our once respected country these last seven years. Who else could have taken us from a budget surplus under President Clinton to record national debt? Who else could have taken us from gasoline prices at the pump under $2.00 per gallon to over $4.00 per gallon while oil company profits broke all time records? Who else would have had the courage to cut taxes for the wealthiest 5% of taxpayers and start a war on two fronts costing us billions of dollars a month? Who else would have had the courage to break long-standing treaties and international conventions costing this country our moral standing and respect in the international community? God bless George W. Bush and his party for single-handedly dismantling our constitution and our Bill of Rights to keep us safe from another terrorist attack. “Just go shopping!” was his message to America after 9/11. America loves to shop.

I'm voting Republican because I know I can count on John McCain to carry on the same high level of experience in local and foreign affairs that have led to war, record national debt, a mortgage crisis and a national recession, if not outright depression like our parents survived in the 1930's. I want MORE of the same! Forget “a change we can believe in!” Give me business as usual! War and hard times make us stronger. Just ask our parents and grandparents. Wars test our national resolve and boost our economy.

While we are at it, God bless the good old American gas-guzzlers that made the oilmen rich and powerful. In turn, these men owe a tremendous debt to Detroit. While the rest of the world was working on smaller more fuel-efficient cars, Ford, GM, and Chrysler were cranking out Hummers, SUV’s and large pickup trucks. That is what America demanded. Thank the Lord McCain has joined the oil boys in calling for more offshore drilling and development of our national wildlife refuges so we can have a little more oil ten years down the road. Not only that, but John wants to build a bunch of nuclear power plants. Forget three-mile Island and Chernobyl for a moment. Now, I know we do not have a safe way to deal with the substantial radioactive waste they would generate, but we can deal with those problems down the road. Forget about extending federal subsidies for the investment and development of wind and solar power. Forget development of alternative and renewable energy sources. Forget drilling those substantial oil reserves that exist on land already leased by the oilmen right here in the United States. There are beaches to blacken and natural areas to exploit. Do not even get me started on coal mining and coal burning power plants. Fossil fuels rock, baby! Use up all the resources that we have first. When the oil runs out, then we can look at these other things. Let us live in the now...my friends.

I am voting Republican because I believe in a strong vice-president. Dick Cheney has done an outstanding job running his secret shadow government from his "undisclosed location". He proved that no one is above this administration's vindictive revenge...not even active CIA agents. The secret, hidden agenda and loyalty to that agenda is what matters. He proved that his top henchmen were loyal enough to take a bullet and fall on their sword for him. We need MORE of these kinds of people in our government... zealous bureaucrats ready to utter lies and misinformation at a moment's bidding from above. We need MORE secrecy in our government, if we are going to defeat global terrorism. Right on, Dick!

I am voting Republican because they know how to get the most talented people to mismanage their wars for years and years without any progress (Bin Laden is still at large I hear). After all, isn’t that what congress is all about? Immediately after the 9/11 attack, we had worldwide sympathy and yet this administration still managed to get the rest of the world to hate and more importantly... fear us. This administration put our diplomats on the bench and rode off into the sunset firing their six-shooters and shouting, “It is our way or the highway.” God Bless these hard working Republican public servants...wherever they are now (writing their memoirs and tell-all books I hear). Thank God for their ability to keep us all living in FEAR. Fear keeps us on our toes and ever vigilant against those who covet and would destroy our way of life. Sometimes we have to sacrifice our rights and freedoms to feel...safe.

I have seen the light at last. If we cannot beat them...JOIN them! Long live President John McCain, the oil industry, Detroit and the shadowy power brokers behind the scenes! I am voting Republican.

FOOD for THOUGHT...

The Motorcycle

The summer I graduated high school was a tumultuous time in my life. Not only was I subject to the lottery drawing for the draft, but I had applied to several state colleges and was waiting to hear something from their admission departments. My future was at a crossroads. Would I be going to Vietnam or to a college campus in the fall?

That summer my dad decided it would be fun to look at motorcycles. We went to the local Suzuki dealership and listened to the sales pitch. My dad was a sucker for “the pitch.” He loved trading in his last car for the latest model. He would bring it home and “surprise” my mom with his newest acquisition. We fell for a little Suzuki 80. It was intended to be a dirt bike, but it was just big enough to be allowed on the streets...with an optional package that installed brake lights and turn signals. The dealer threw in a helmet, even though the State of Illinois did not require one at the time. Dad said it would make my mom feel better about his little purchase, if I had a helmet. The dealer gave us a few lessons and pointers and then we loaded that baby on the optional rack the dealer had installed on the back of our car.

My mother was not happy, to say the least. Both Dad and I had to do some fast-talking. I could take it with me down to school in the fall. It would be a cheap, easy way to get around. I wouldn‘t have to borrow the car...so much. The biggest reason to let me keep it was the safety helmet. I promised to wear it, even though the state did not require it. Since Dad had taught me to drive his black 1967 Volkswagen Beetle, I already had some idea about how to work a clutch and switch gears. We gave her a demonstration around the court and up and down the street. See how safe?

My first solo trip out of the subdivision where we lived scared the hell out of me. I had just turned onto the highway, winding through the gears and cruising up the road. Suddenly, a car backed out in front of me onto the highway from his house along the side of the road. My life began passing before me and I could just picture my mom yelling at my dad, “I told you so!” I hit the brakes hard and was amazed that I stopped my bike in time without fishtailing all over the road. I realized for the first time how vulnerable I was. For a while, I took side roads and avoided divided highways until I got a better feel for the motorcycle. Soon switching gears and leaning into the turns became automatic. I did not tell my mother of my first encounter until much later. I used it to reassure her that the motorcycle had good brakes. She was still skeptical.

Later that summer, I rode my little Suzuki 80 over to my friend’s house. Ross was home and his parents were going out for the evening. After they left, Ross and I helped ourselves to his father’s bar in the living room. Ross produced some Switzer-Sweets mini-cigars and we proceeded to be “big-shots” for the evening. I decided to leave before his parents came home, but feeling“cool” with my motorcycle by now, I left some “doughnuts” (tight, circular tracks) in Ross’ front lawn. Ross was impressed...unfortunately, his mother was not. As usual, Ross had some explaining to do. His mother did not appreciate that it was my way of paying back her son for leaving tire marks in my driveway as he held the brake and stomped on the gas, spinning his back tires. (It was sort of his signature.) His father never could figure out why his son went through a set of tires in just one summer.

I loved that motorcycle. By now, I was riding it out into the country on longer trips and avoiding the stop and go traffic of the suburbs whenever I could. Unfortunately, the suburbs of Chicago were spreading quickly out into the remaining countryside. I would stow my helmet on the seat behind me and just feel the wind and the freedom of the open road. I enjoyed the small patches of open fields and trees before they were gobbled up forever. I finally understood why people felt so passionate about their bikes and their rides across this country. That summer I got a taste of that wonderful freedom and power. It was my summer of transition from boy to man.

As fall approached, I had been accepted into Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. It was a seven and a half hour drive from Chicago. I planned to bring my motorcycle with me to school. What I failed to do was check out the university’s policy on parking spaces for freshmen students. The university did not issue parking permits to incoming freshmen. It was not until we arrived with my bike and all my stuff that I learned there was no place for my bike. I did not know anyone off campus who might have a space, so Dad had to take it back with him. I think secretly he was glad, since he did not get much of a chance to ride it that summer.

My family moved to a new house in the country near a small town northwest of the Chicago suburbs while I was away at school. My dad sold the little Suzuki 80 to his neighbor, a fellow pilot and captain with American Airlines. One morning our neighbor was chasing chickens on the bike in his front yard. He hit a hole, wrecked the bike and broke his leg. It almost ended his flying career with the airlines. When my dad told me the story, I could almost hear my mother saying, “See, I told you so. I rest my case.”

I never had another motorcycle. I bought my dad’s old ‘67 VW Beetle the next year for $500 and drove it down to school. I found a place to park off campus. I never forgot that wonderful summer when my life was changing. That summer I took risks...I was immortal.

FOOD for THOUGHT...

Can We Believe Those E-mails?

You know if I believed all those e-mails sent to me by my family and friends lately, I would be convinced that Obama was a tax raising, flag hating, godless, Muslim terrorist bent on destroying our country. Why in the hell would any right-thinking American patriot vote for this man?

Lately, I have spent a great deal of time sending e-mail replies directly from the http://www.snopes.com/ website that refute many, if not all of these outrageous forwarded e-mails. I remind my friends and family that we are in an election year and that many false and misleading things are being put out there on the internet about the candidates. If we simply forward them on to others without checking their veracity, then we are guilty of spreading those lies and half-truths. I also find it very interesting that the majority, if not all, of these forwarded e-mails are negative toward Obama. I am still waiting for equal time on negative McCain e-mails. Are there no concerns about a 71-year-old man who would continue Bush policies...the status quo for another four years?

What I feel is a campaign of fear against Barack Obama. Rumors and outright lies about the man and what he stands for are being circulated on the internet. These e-mails keep insisting repeatedly that he is a Muslim. Just look at his name, for heaven’s sake: Barack Hussein Obama. Can we trust anyone named after their father and grandfather? (George W. Bush and George H.W. Bush...hmmm) Then, of course, he went to that black Christian church for twenty years (wait a minute, I thought he was a Muslim?) where that crazy black minister of his keeps damning America in that endlessly played video clip. Surely, that should be enough to make us all afraid. Fear! Fear! Fear! That is what is being peddled here folks...FEAR.

So why do I support such a scary man? Well, it goes back to Obama’s keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. It was his words that captured my attention:

“It is that fundamental belief--that I am my brother’s keeper—that makes this country work. It’s what allows us to pursue our individual dreams and yet still come together as one American family.

“E pluribus unum. Out of many, one.

“Now, even as we speak, there are those who are preparing to divide us, the spin masters and negative ad peddlers who embrace the politics of anything goes. Well, I say to them tonight, there is not a liberal America and a conservative America—there is the United States of America. There is not a Black America and White America and Latino America and Asian America—there’s the United States of America.

“The pundits like to slice-and-dice our country into Red States and Blue States; Red States for Republicans, Blue States for Democrats. But I’ve got news for them, too. We worship an awesome God in the Blue States, and we don’t like federal agents poking around in our libraries in the Red States. We coach Little League in the Blue States, and yes, we’ve got some gay friends in the Red States. There are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq, and there are patriots who supported the war in Iraq.

“We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the Stars and Stripes, all of us defending the United States of America.”

I read one of Obama’s books, Dreams from My Father. I read about his early life being the multi-racial child of a white mother from Kansas and a black father from Kenya. I read about his time living in Indonesia with his mother and his Indonesian stepfather. I read about his being raised by white grandparents in Hawaii and his struggle to fit into two worlds, one white and one black. I read about his efforts to work with Christian churches to organize and improve the lives of black residents living in Chicago’s poverty-stricken south side communities. I read about his struggle to know an absent father (that he only met once before his death) by meeting his extended African family in Kenya. I read about his struggle to go to Harvard Law School so that he could fulfill those dreams from his father. I have a better understanding of the man who might be our next president. I have a better feeling for what drives, what makes Barack Obama tick.

Finally, as if his words and deeds and his background were not enough to bring me into the Obama camp, there was a Newsweek article a few months ago that convinced me of his leadership ability. The article was about how the campaign workers in each camp felt about their organizations. Obama’s campaign workers genuinely liked their boss and their coworkers. They felt that they worked as a team and were held in mutual respect. Barack listened to them and wanted all their input before making a decision. This was at a time when other candidates were firing campaign managers and there was a lot of stress and fear driving the organizations. The article concluded that the Obama camp must have been doing something right for their candidate, a dark horse, junior senator to rise up out of nowhere and become the likely National Democratic Candidate for President of the United States of America.

Yes, I have hope for Barack Obama and I have hope for change. After eight long years of divisiveness, partisan politics, congressional gridlock, anger and fear, after the destruction of our economy and this country’s good reputation...you can bet I want change from George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. This country needs to heal. This country needs to come together. This country needs to feel proud again. We can no longer be some lone cowboy ideology threatening the rest of the word, but we can be the United States of America, home of the brave and land of the free.

When you get those hateful, fear-filled e-mails do not become part of the campaign of fear. Read, investigate and check them out.

FOOD for THOUGHT...

Ross Stories

Most people can look back on their school years and remember a best friend. They were your pal, your buddy, the one person with whom you could just hang out. Our best friends made us laugh and emboldened us to do things that our “little voices” told us might not be such a smart thing to do...but you did it anyway.

In high school, Ross was one of my best friends. “Ross” was actually his last name because we all went by our last name in those days. Ross intrigued me with his Texan twang and way of talking. He was so different from my other friends with our Midwestern speech. He stood out as much as he fit in. I gave up trying to correct the way he would pronounce certain words and phrases like... I (pronounced “eye”). Ross would pronounce it as a short “a” like the “a” in bat. Instead of saying, “smell this,” Ross would say, “smell of this.” His Texan twang only enhanced his “gift of gab” for lack of a better term. Ross was a talker. He could give you the most detailed, drawn-out explanation about anything, leaving you shaking your head and wondering what the hell he just said. Ross’s parents were the main recipients of his “explanations” when they would ask him where he was going as we headed out the door of his house.

One day Ross and I were sitting in the school library. We were supposed to be doing research for a term paper, but we became distracted by the new copy machine outside the librarian’s office. Today, copy machines are commonplace, but when I was in high school, they were a marvel of technology. You could make instant copies (photographs) of anything you could put on the scanner. Back then, copiers used special light sensitive paper that felt chalky, but still it was amazing. We decided to photocopy the front and back of a dollar bill. After cutting out the images of the bill, we glued them together.

Ross was in the process of coloring our “counterfeit” bill with a green marker when the little, blue-haired librarian came upon our enterprise. I watched as she took my friend by his ear into her office. I thought we were done for. I pictured us on the 10:00 news: Teen Counterfeit Ring Busted by School Librarian! A few minutes later, Ross came and sat back down at our table. “What happened?” I said.

“Well, aah don’t know what happened. She asked me what aah was doin’ and so aah was tryin’ to explain it to her. You know aah was just sittin’ there talkin’ to her when she starts cryin’ and telling me to get out of her office, just to leave. Aah don’t know what aah said to get her so upset. Aah was just talkin’ to her and now she’s cryin’,” said Ross, looking rather shaken.

On another occasion, Ross and I were sitting in the school lunchroom. It was crowded and noisy as kids were coming in for their short lunch period. Ross wanted to get the attention of someone at the next table over. He took a pat of butter from his tray and poised it on his plastic knife. Calculating its trajectory, he let it fly. Unfortunately, the school’s most unassuming “nerd” was sitting directly across the table from Ross. Splat! It struck the poor kid right between the eyes or rather his black horn-rimmed glasses, right where the white tape joined the two lenses. Some of the butter spattered his plastic pocket protector with its array of four pens.

Ross was hauled off to the assistant principal’s office. At our school, you went to the assistant principal’s office for serious matters of discipline. His nickname was “Tonto” (like the Lone Ranger’s Indian sidekick) and he was a buzz-cut, no nonsense ex-Marine. There were “rumors of torture and death” associated with a visit to Tonto’s office. I thought Ross was a “goner.” Later, I learned that Ross’s “sentence” was to take his lunch in Tonto’s office for a whole week. I tried to imagine what it might be like to try to eat my lunch with Tonto scowling over my every bite, beating me with a rubber hose as I choked down my green Jell-O. It sent chills down my spine. You can imagine my amazement when Ross joined me for lunch the next day. Again, I asked, “What happened?”

“Well, aah don’t know. Aah was just sittin’ there talkin’ to him and eatin’ ma lunch when he starts yellin’ at me and tellin’ me to get out of his office and not to come back. He just kept yellin’ to get out,” said Ross. “Aah was just sittin’ there talkin’ to him. I don’t know what aah said.”

One winter night, Ross and I were driving down some snow packed residential streets in his father’s old Nash Rambler station wagon. He came up with an idea. Let’s see how far we can skid the car sideways down the street. We got a few good slides, but eventually decided that we should not push our luck and looked for a quick exit from the neighborhood. We spotted a set of tracks leading across a wooded vacant lot to the next street over. We almost made it to the other street when we got stuck in the snow and mud. We sat in the car contemplating our predicament when we realized we had a six-pack of beer in the back seat. Since it did not look like we were going anywhere soon, we chose to drown our sorrows.

Eventually, we climbed out of the car and made our way to the house across the street. We rang the doorbell and an off-duty police officer with his gun still in his shoulder holster answered the door. We stepped back and tried not to breathe on him as we asked to use his phone to call a tow truck. I pictured him pulling his gun and arresting us right then and there...if for no other reason than stupidity. Ross “explained” what happened, but rather than yelling and telling us to leave, get out...the police officer said cars were always getting stuck there and he would call the tow truck for us. We marveled at our good fortune. We had just enough cash to pay the tow truck driver when he came. The old Nash was covered with mud by the time we were headed home. I knew Ross’s dad would want to know where all the mud had come from, but somehow I felt my friend would be able to “explain” it in true Ross fashion.

I have a treasury of Ross stories. He was one of a kind. Unfortunately, we lost touch over the years, but I remember those times, those small adventures we shared before I went off to college. We did a lot of stupid, dangerous things that young men do when they feel those first pangs of independence and think they will live forever. We were pals. Ross loved nothing better than to go fishing and I suppose I will always have that picture of him in my mind as he explains how to bait my hook.

FOOD for THOUGHT...

The Lord's Prayer

My wife came across an interesting website dealing with the Lord’s Prayer. If you go to this site, www.thenazareneway.com/lords_prayer.htm , you will find several translations of this well-known prayer. In Christianity, it is revered as the prayer given by Jesus to his followers. Christ’s words were translated into Greek, to Latin, to Old English, into King James English and finally to a modern English version of the prayer.

The Lord's Prayer Dated (1700- )

Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

Those of us brought up in the Christian faith, grew up reciting these familiar words in church, but just how did we arrive at this particular translation? If we consider that Christ himself spoke the Aramaic language (a language still spoken today in parts of Lebanon and Syria), how would a direct translation read? The problem is that Aramaic can be translated on many different levels with many words having more than one meaning. The website presents several of these translations from the original Aramaic. To the upper left is a copy of the original Aramaic text and below one of those translations:

The Prayer To Our Father (in the original Aramaic)

Abwûn

"Oh Thou, from whom the breath of life comes,
d'bwaschmâja

who fills all realms of sound, light and vibration.
Nethkâdasch schmach

May Your light be experienced in my utmost holiest.
Têtê malkuthach.

Your Heavenly Domain approaches.
Nehwê tzevjânach aikâna d'bwaschmâja af b'arha.

Let Your will come true - in the universe (all that vibrates)just as on earth (that is material and dense).
Hawvlân lachma d'sûnkanân jaomâna.

Give us wisdom (understanding, assistance) for our daily need,
Waschboklân chaubên wachtahên aikânadaf chnân schwoken l'chaijabên.

detach the fetters of faults that bind us, (karma)like we let go the guilt of others.
Wela tachlân l'nesjuna

Let us not be lost in superficial things (materialism, common temptations),
ela patzân min bischa.

but let us be freed from that what keeps us off from our true purpose.
Metol dilachie malkutha wahaila wateschbuchta l'ahlâm almîn.

From You comes the all-working will, the lively strength to act,the song that beautifies all and renews itself from age to age.
Amên.

Sealed in trust, faith and truth.(I confirm with my entire being)

I find it extremely interesting that much of our modern faith and understanding of that faith come to us from translations made by men, religious scholars and filtered by years of human history. Can we ever really know Christ’s actual words and their intended meaning?

FOOD for THOUGHT...

Teaching Abstinence

I suppose the debate still rages on about how to deal with teen pregnancy and STD’s. One side says the only way to deal with it is to teach sex education, including birth control and to supply that birth control to those who ask for it. Their argument is that some teens will engage in premarital sex whether society condones it or not. The other side argues that if we teach these kids about sex and then give them birth control on demand, then it will only lead to more pregnancies and more problems. It is like giving teens a green light to engage in behavior that will have grave consequences on the rest of their lives. Schools should teach only abstinence, they argue. You wait until after you are married to have sex. Just say NO!

It struck me that what our schools should be about is teaching...responsibility and respectability. What if we taught our teens to be responsible human beings and good citizens in the world? What if we taught them, showed them the consequences of not being responsible for their lives? Teaching sex education and abstinence in exclusion or in isolation of the other has not worked and it will not work. Giving children knowledge without some sort of moral compass or value system to APPLY that knowledge is handicapping them. They are not getting the bigger picture on which to base their life decisions.

Today our schools are so focused on teaching math and science, often to the exclusion or minimization of things like music, history, art, geography and even civics. We teach teens how to take and pass multiple-choice tests, but not how to balance a check book or create a budget. How many teens today can name their state or US congressional representative or senator, or how a bill becomes law, or what the Bill of Rights mean? How can we expect our teens to become responsible, caring citizens, if we are not even teaching them the basics that will prepare them for life? We teach them things in isolation and forget about how these things relate to each other, how one thing relies upon the other and so on. We fail to relate actions to consequences. Too often, our schools just teach...subjects.

What if we taught parenting in every school? I know some schools have been innovative with programs that involve surrogate children in the form of dolls and even eggs. The students are paired off and for a certain amount of time, they have to take care of this “baby” and meet its every need 24 hours a day. By many accounts, it has been successful in making the teen “parents” realize that having a child in high school can really cramp their social life. It wears them out and yet does little to fill their need for someone to love them. But, what of those inner-city schools that do not have the funds for clever programs? They live in a world where it is normal to have children out of wedlock, raised by a single mother and an absent father. For too many teens, that is how the world works. Who is going to teach them any different? Who is going to teach them a bigger view of the world when that is all they know?

I know, I know, it is not the school’s job to teach parenting, morality or ethics, right? Shouldn’t that be the job of the parents? But perhaps it is time to try something different before another generation of kids is lost, set adrift, in a world that has no relevance, no moral compass...no vision. We have generations of parents now that have gotten lost themselves. They do not know how to parent. A single mom with several kids, working a bunch of jobs to make ends meet, fails at being a parent. A wealthy, dual career couple, absorbed by their corporate lives, fails at being parents. Their children grow up without roots, values or traditions because there is no one there to teach them about life, about responsibility and relationships. They are taught things in isolation that have no relationship to their world and their lives. They grow bored, drop out of school and join the growing number teens with no vision, no compass, no idea that a bigger world exists. They only know what they have been taught.

If we are going to teach abstinence, then let us teach our children to abstain from things that will limit them. Let us teach them to abstain from people who would turn them into hard, heartless beings that care little for anyone around them. Let us teach them to abstain from things that will crush their hopes and dreams. Let us teach them to abstain from things that block their vision of the world.

FOOD for THOUGHT...

Sacred Stories

I have been reading Barack Obama’s book, Dreams from My Father, and parts of his early life have resonated with my own. No, I was not the multi-racial child of a black father and white mother, but my father was out of my life at an early age and I was raised by a single mother in my early years. Later, I was adopted by my mother’s second husband. My maternal grandparents played a big role in my early life, yet I knew very little about my father’s side of the family. The parallels of our early lives are striking. Obama’s attempt to reconnect to the father he never really knew hit home as I read his book.

In his book, Barack tells about his days as a community organizer in Chicago’s Altgeld neighborhood. In listening to the stories of some of the residents, he uses the term “sacred stories” to describe their lives and their memories. It struck me that I, too, have sacred stories, stories of my father, B. R. Hammond. In honor of Fathers Day, I thought I would share one of my sacred stories.

My earliest memories of my father are shrouded in fog with images of black and white photos to give me clarity. Mostly, I only remember my mother and me living in a series of small apartments and time spent with my grandparents, Roy and Elsie Hembree. I remember only one visit from my father to our apartment. He talked mostly to my mother. I do not remember anything he may have said to me. Apparently, he had told her he was going to marry his third wife and would not be coming around as much...or again, as was the real truth. He left and that was the last I saw of him until I was 10 years old. I was at my Grandma Hammond’s funeral and I was standing at the casket when he got up and came over. He stood next to me and asked how I was doing. Then he asked how my mother was, even though she sat in the same room with the other relatives and ex-wives. His once dark wavy hair was already gray, almost white by then. It is funny, but I do not remember what I said. I am sure it was short and cryptic, as only 10-year-old boys can be when they are suddenly faced with discomfort. I did not know that it would be the last time I would have a chance to say anything to my father.

Bernard Ray Hammond grew up on a farm in central Illinois. He had a sister, Dorothy. His parents were hard working and well-respected farmers. When World War II broke out, he enlisted in the Army Air Corp and became a fighter pilot. He was trained to fly P-38 Lightnings in the European theater of Italy. The P-38 was the fastest fighter in those days before jet fighters came on the scene. His wing commander told my Aunt Dorothy at my father’s funeral that “B.R. was either the bravest pilot I have ever known or the craziest.” He won the DFC (Distinguished Flying Cross) for his meritorious service in the war.

By all accounts, the war changed my father. I watched a PBS program on television about the fighter pilots in World War II and how their lives were a living hell, not knowing from one air battle to the next if they or their friends would make it back to base. Some pilots watched as one by one they lost their closest friends. Their buddies were shot to pieces and died in fiery crashes leaving them as lone squadron survivors. Many pilots stopped making friends and withdrew into the business at hand. When the war was over, my father came back to his small hometown and never flew again. I do not know what he did for a living, but at some point, he and a partner bought a tavern on Main Street near the train station. I suspect he drank to forget the horrors of war.

My father’s first marriage ended in divorce. He had a daughter by his first wife. According to my mother, he loved his daughter dearly and fell to pieces when his ex-wife took his daughter to live in California. He went on to have a series of affairs that produced at least two other daughters. My mother was his second wife. I suppose he saw in her a chance to turn his life around. They had a small house in town, by some of the black and white photos I have seen. Then one day, my mother found some letters in a duffle bag in the attic. The mother of one of his illegitimate daughters had begged him to marry her to give her child a name and spare her disgrace. My mother confronted him and sometime after that, they were divorced. I think I was only about two at the time. My father would marry yet a third time and that marriage would produce three more daughters as I recall. I was his only legitimate son until another affair, perhaps during his marriage to my mother. That affair produced another son.

When my mother remarried, I was about six. Her second husband, Dick Ortman, wanted to legally adopt me and change my last name from Hammond to Ortman. Well, my father was not about to let that happen. He opposed the adoption and especially the name change. My Grandma Hammond took him aside and laid it all out for him. She told him that he had not been much of a father to me and that I now had a chance at a new life. He finally gave in with the condition that since I would be living on a farm, I needed a gun. He bought me a BB gun. My mom gave it to me when I was a little older.

It was not until after my mother remarried and we moved to the suburbs of Chicago, that I learned I had all of these half-brothers and sisters. In fact, I had gone to church and to school with most, if not all of them. The older of the two daughters went to my grade school and the other daughter, whose mother had begged my father to marry her, went to my church and was a good friend of mine in our church youth group. If she knew about our relationship, she never let on. Neither did any of the others that surely must have known at the time. Looking back, I realize now that she and I looked a lot a like, but I never saw it. My father’s second son was only about a year younger than I was and he went to my grade school as well. We hated each other. In fact, one day at school, we were in the gym playing basketball and he was teasing a smaller kid to whom I was talking. When I confronted him, he made some smart remark to me and I decked him. For the first time in my life, I saw red and I reached out with an upper cut and landed him on his butt up against the stage. You can imagine my surprise... and his...when we saw each other at my Grandma Hammond’s funeral. Strange, but I do not remember asking why he was there. One of the daughters from my father’s third marriage contacted me after my father’s death and wanted to meet me. I was in college at the time. I had decided not to attend his funeral and for some reason I felt it was not a good time to meet her and my other half sisters. She begged me over the phone and I refused. I wished them well and told them that our father would want each of us to go out and be the best person we could be or some such thing. I wish now I had met with them. We do many things we later regret.

My father was divorced from his third wife and living with a woman in Chicago at the time of his death from throat cancer. He had been a smoker most of his life. He had had several operations and part of his lower jaw had been removed. According to my Aunt Dorothy, my father did not want anyone to see him in those last days. To this very day, I regret not having the courage to sit down and get to know him, get his side of the story. I pictured that some day I would walk into his bar and introduce myself to him and we would have this long talk, but it never happened. My first wife, Linda, and I went for a visit to see my Aunt Dorothy and Uncle Al years after my father’s funeral. She was a wealth of information and gave me a handwritten copy of my family tree. She and my Uncle then drove us out to my father’s gravesite in the family plot. When we returned home after our visit, I went into our bedroom and wept long and hard for my father. I still keep in touch with my Aunt Dorothy from time to time. Her husband has passed on now. She remains my contact with the father I never knew.

Years later, I had a dream that I was in a plane and that my father, B.R., and my adopted father, Dick Ortman, (both pilots in life) were teaching me how to fly. Sitting on either side of me, they taught me how to climb and bank the plane. They were showing me how to navigate by markers on the ground. We landed and did take offs. It did not seem odd in the dream that they knew each other and were friends. At some point, I realized that both men had passed on and that this was their gift to me. I woke up and have never forgotten their gift. It was a beautiful and peaceful dream.

So now, you have one of my sacred stories. I would love to hear yours, if you care to share them.

FOOD for THOUGHT...

Vision Quest

I am part Cherokee Indian. There is a tradition among Native Americans to go on a vision quest. As I understand it, it is a time to seek a vision, to attain clarity about a person’s spiritual path. What is next? I have watched my wife follow her vision for almost 8 years now. It has been amazing seeing her vision to become an artist unfold before my very eyes. I envy her dedication and focus. Somewhere, deep within, my Native American blood is calling for a vision quest of my own. My Spirit has been suffering and I need to get insight...I need a vision.

Since being diagnosed with diabetes, almost a year ago, when my eyesight was affected, I have had to face up to the fact that my life here is only temporary. Our bodies wear out and eventually they go back to the earth. We only borrow them and our time here is short in the scheme of forever. There is still much to learn in the time I have left and I have learned a lot these last few years. Much has been revealed. The old saying that “when the student is ready...the master will appear” has been so true in my case. I cannot tell you how many times the right book, tape, video or person has come along to enlighten me when I was ready. It has been incredible, but now I feel a piece of me is missing.

When I was younger, I enjoyed painting with oils and acrylics. That part of my life was “put on the shelf” once I married and my daughters came along. I got busy trying to earn a living. I dabbled with cartooning for a while and tried to syndicate a cartoon strip, but when I got divorced that too went up on the shelf in a big box. Later, I felt the need to write so I wrote nine books of poetry and a series of short stories. Some got published and then my big break came when I published my book on The Alamo in 2007. It has been wonderful, but now I feel that I am at a crossroads...I need a vision.

After 56 years on this planet and all that I have been blessed with, it almost feels silly to think that I should need a vision to tell me who I am and where I go from here. I hate to think that I somehow peaked and it is all downhill from here. I know I am a creative person, but the juices just are not flowing these days. I feel a restlessness and a growing frustration. I know that diabetes can sap your energy and make you cranky, but still that does not seem to explain everything I am feeling. I have so many blessings and yet there is a piece of me missing in the bigger picture of my life.

Lisa and I have been into Eckhart Tolle and his book, The Power of Now. He explains that the past is gone and the future has not happened yet. All we have is the present moment, the here and the now and that is all that we will ever have. I have spent a good part of my life fretting over my past and worrying about the future. I feel that I have lived everywhere, but the here and now. Today, I went for my morning walk and I tried to stay in the present. When I did, this wonderful sense of peace and thankfulness came over me.

On to my vision quest! Wish me well.

FOOD for THOUGHT...

Hope

For me, the last five years have been frightening and without much hope. I have watched my country go from being a respected beacon of liberty and a champion of human rights to one of the most hated and feared nations on earth. My country has grown fearful and controlled. New agencies like the TSA (Transportation Security Administration) and Homeland Security are slowly compromising our constitutional rights and freedoms in the name of being safe from terrorism. Over the last five years, things like the Patriot Act allowed the government to monitor my e-mail, the books I check out of the library and the movies I rent. This administration chose to bypass FISA courts and pursue unconstitutional domestic spying. It even “outed” a CIA agent when the agent’s husband dared to expose a lie about Bush’s evidence for invading Iraq. With pictures seen around the world, this administration has been exposed for its violation of international conventions and human rights in places like Abu Ghraib and “Git’mo.” With its questionable “military tribunals,” it has jeopardized bringing the truly bad guys to justice by holding and secretly torturing guilty and innocent prisoners alike for five years without due process.

Over the last five years, my country has gone from a peacetime economy with a surplus under Clinton to massive debt under the Bush administration, as we fight a war costing billions of dollars a month and no clear end in sight. Our banker to fund our debt is also our biggest economic rival and supplier for just about everything we buy. To add to our national economic pain, the price of oil has skyrocketed well beyond the rising world demand with the fall of the U.S. dollar. It has caused the price of gasoline to more than double in less than a year. To make matters worse, this administration’s call for more bio-fuel production has led to even higher prices for corn, wheat and rice. Grain needed for food is increasingly diverted to fuel production to help offset the rising price of oil and our dependence on it. Food riots are now breaking out around the world because of the sudden rise in price. Our economy has been shaken to the core. Together with the recent mortgage crisis, this has not been a good five years, folks. We need some good news.

We are nearing the end of a very close Democratic primary race for president. The new president, Republican or Democrat, will have to deal with one hell of a mess, a costly war, an economy in crisis and the effects of global warming. Only one of the three candidates still standing has offered me hope of change.

There was a time when I actually considered John McCain for president. He has left his mark on congress and his reputation for being a maverick politician is well known. Once upon a time, he intrigued me. However, John McCain’s commitment to our involvement in Iraq “for a hundred years if needed” finally soured my interest. We cannot afford the overwhelming cost, the loss of lives and the loss of our national reputation to honor his (Bush’s) commitment to “win” in Iraq. What does a win in Iraq even mean? What does it look like? How would we know it? Unfortunately, I believe John McCain as president would mean another 4 years of the Bush administration. It would mean more of the same old stuff that has not worked. Not much hope...not much change.

I had hoped that Hillary Clinton would choose not to run. Too much baggage from her husband’s years: Travel-gate, the health care fiasco, Bill and Monica and a presidential impeachment. Still, I was excited about having a viable candidate for the first woman president. I had no doubt that she would be tough enough for the job, but the first Clinton administration left our country savagely divided along partisan lines. Things turned nasty and there was bad blood. Her presidency could be seen as a vindication for her husband and that would not sit well with Republicans. As I saw in her primary campaign, Bill Clinton played a big role in her run for office and I do not imagine he would lay low once she was president, opening her presidency to scandal and conflict. Some hope perhaps...but not much change.

Then there was this dark horse, a junior senator from Illinois. He gave this speech at the last Democratic Convention in 2004 and I remember thinking that we would hear more from this man. Barack Obama talked about how there were not blue states or red states, but there were only the United States of America. When he emphasized united ...for the first time I actually believed that we might all come together as ONE nation and get something done. He was not talking mean partisan politics...he was talking unity. He was talking about healing this country and giving us direction. He was talking about change from the old Washington backbiting and gridlock. During the primary, he talked about ending this war. He talked about finding solutions. He talked about using diplomacy and talking to our enemies. This struck fear in the hearts of those that truly believe that the best defense is a strong and angry offense. It can only be through mighty force and blood sacrifice that our country will survive. If dialogue with our enemies is weakness, then what has our blood sacrifice, our torture of prisoners, and cowboy talk done to make this nation stronger and more respected? Are we any safer?

Barack Obama has given me hope.

FOOD for THOUGHT...

Telephones

In my 56 years on this planet, I have seen an amazing evolution. I am talking about the telephone. I moved to a small farm in central Illinois when I was about seven years old after my mother remarried. Our old farmhouse had one crank phone to connect us to the rest of the world. There was no dial, no touch-tone buttons, just a black hand set that sat on a black case with a hand crank on the side.

Our phone was on a “party line.” A party line was a circuit that included the phones of at least five other homes in our area. Other circuits connected more homes and all these circuits were tied into a Central Office located in our small town of Martinton, Illinois. The Central Office is where the operator connected the calls to outside lines. I learned that this part of Illinois was among the last in the country to operate with crank phones on party lines with a local central office. The rest of the world was dialing their numbers on private lines.

If you needed to make a call, you had to pick up the handset and turn the crank in a clockwise motion for several turns. Eventually the operator would come on the line and ask for your number. The operator would then dial the number and connect the call. Now to receive a call, you had to listen for the length and number of rings on your phone. Our house was five short rings. When we heard our signature ring, we picked up the handset and took the call. Now one of the problems was that at least five other houses on our party line would also hear our ring on their phones as well. They could pick up their phones and listen in to our calls.

There was proper phone etiquette when using a party line. Officially, customers were not to listen in to other calls, but from time to time, everyone did it, even the town’s operator. Before ringing the operator, you were to listen first to see if anyone was on the line. If someone was on the line and you had an emergency, the other parties were to get off and yield to your call. Finally, you were expected to watch your language while using the phone. This last one got my father into trouble one day. The operator asked my dad to come into town for a meeting at the Central Office. It seems that two, elderly, maiden sisters on our party line overheard my dad swearing on line and had lodged a complaint. My father reminded the operator about the rule of not listening in to other people’s calls and in no uncertain terms was he ever to be summoned to the Central Office again. That was the last time.

The Central Office was located in the home of the operator so he and his family took turns manning the switchboard and placing calls. Occasionally, an operator was busy or not around and this led to hard feelings when people needed to place a call. If the operator and his family went on vacation or would be away from home, they had to train a replacement or get someone from the Central Phone Company (later called Centel) to come to their house and take over the operation.

Somewhere in the mid 1960’s our phone system finally entered the twentieth century. We got dial phones. We no longer had to listen for the five short rings to pick up our calls, but we were still on a party line. We would still have to listen on line before dialing our number, but no one else on our party line could hear our ring. We had arrived.

I went to work for Motorola just as the cell phone allowed people around the world to go wireless. We could take our phones with us. We could make calls anywhere there were cell towers to connect us. At first, they were the size of bricks, but eventually they shrunk to the size of our palms and fit in purses and pockets. After cell phones were equipped with cameras, pictures, voice and text could travel the world. With the advent of Apple’s I-Phone, we now have access to the internet and unlimited information. GPS on newer phones can now track our comings and goings and tell us how to get from point A to point B. Simply amazing!

What is even more amazing is that despite all of our advancements in science and technology... we are still using crank telephones when it comes to world peace, dealing with poverty and saving our planet and its dwindling resources.

FOOD for THOUGHT...

A Catastrophic Emergency

I read an internet column by Betsy Hartmann on the following link at CommonDreams.org : http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/03/06/7525/ and it outlined one of my worst fears about the current administration...they might not go away. Like Putin in Russia, this administration might have put in place a way to stay in power. Our 2008 Presidential Election in November could be put on hold for national security reasons following a “catastrophic emergency.”

Betsy Hartmann writes in her article:

On May 4 last year, the White House issued the National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive, key parts of which remain classified and hence shrouded from public view. The directive outlines procedures to respond to a “catastrophic emergency,” defined broadly as “any incident, regardless of location, that results in extraordinary levels of mass casualties, damage, or disruption severely affecting the U.S. population, infrastructure, environment, economy, or government functions.”

“The Bush legal team has pushed a controversial theory that the Constitution gives the president an unwritten power to disobey laws at his own discretion to protect national security,” writes Charlie Savage in the Boston Globe. He quotes legal specialists who describe the vagueness of the new directive as “troubling”.

This presidential directive because of its vagueness and classified secrecy could give this sitting president the power to stay in office if national security is threatened because of a “catastrophic emergency.” What then might be considered an emergency of this magnitude? Hartmann lists several real scenarios that could trigger this Presidential directive:

1) War with Iran. How often have we heard Vice President Cheney threaten to bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities? It would be an act that would further polarize any allies left to us in the Middle East. Most experts in the region agree that such an act would be disastrous for the United States.

2) The assassination of a presidential candidate. We only have to remember the assassination of Robert Kennedy during the 1968 presidential election. Nor should we forget the reaction to the slaying of Martin Luther King.

3) Another terrorist strike on the level of 9/11 or worse. We gave up so much of our personal liberties and freedoms out of fear of another attack. Can you imagine what Americans would be asked to hand over after another attack?

Well, certainly the Supreme Court would protect any abuses of this presidential directive, including any attempt at the suspension of national elections. Not so fast. Do not forget the high court’s part in Bush being declared the winner over Gore after the mess in Florida in the 2000 presidential elections. Bush has been given the opportunity to stack the Supreme Court “deck” during his terms in office and I do not think anyone can be certain of the court’s impartiality.

Yes, I am paranoid. My regular readers can testify to that. I do not trust Bush and I especially do not trust Dick Cheney to do everything they can to hold on to power. They see a new Democratic administration that would finally pull the plug on our Iraq War as a real threat to our national security. More over, the Neocon Legacy in history is at stake. Will this administration allow Iraq to become “Bush’s Vietnam,” or will they find a way to stay in power long enough to prove history...wrong?

My fellow Americans, we are in a catastrophic emergency! We have been in this emergency since George W. Bush first took office. We cannot afford to let our one opportunity for change, the election of a new president, a new administration, be taken away with some slick power maneuver. We have too much at stake to keep on doing the same old political things and getting the same old results. If ever there was a time for bold new leadership and ideas...now is the time.

Global warming and rising oil and gas prices could turn out to be our “kick in the pants” to get serious about solutions. The old political ways just do not work. The Us vs. Them mentality has gotten us into this mess. We have spent, used up our young men and women, our economy, our resources and our reputation in the world with lies and hubris.

We must safeguard our sacred rights and precious freedoms as Americans. Let’s not forget those values and ideals that shaped this country and who we are as a people. It is time to cast off the heavy burden of fear that this administration placed on us after 9/11. Yes, there is danger in the world. We are hated and despised. There are those who wish to do us harm and destroy our way of life, but we do not have to relinquish our constitutional rights and freedoms to a government that would have us live in fear of the next attack. We must live in the light of truth and set an example for the world once more. But respect is earned. We will have to work hard to get it back.

Americans will have to become the innovators once again. We will have to learn to save our precious resources and reduce our carbon footprint on the world. This will call for great sacrifices from all of us. We must find a new engine to power our cars, trucks and planes. We must be at the forefront in solar and wind technology. We must recycle on a massive, national scale. These changes will in turn create jobs and help restore our economy. They will improve our environment.

Bush and Cheney have had their day. We must have change, now. Do not let fear finish off this once great land of ours. We have things to do. We must roll up our sleeves. Do not let fear take away our right to vote for change and live in freedom! Let us say good-bye to George and Dick once and for all. It is time for all of us, Democrats, Republicans and Independents alike to stop the poison and work together to do what is right for America. It is time for CHANGE.

FOOD for THOUGHT...

A Perfect Storm

I remember a movie I saw a few years ago. I think it was titled, A Perfect Storm. It was about this fishing boat that went out to sea just as several contributing factors for a monster storm were coming together. The weather forecasters called it a “perfect storm” and it swallowed up this boat and its crew and wreaked havoc on the northeastern coast of the United States.

I feel like America is headed for “a perfect storm.” Every day the price of a barrel of oil reaches a new high. The price of gasoline is well on its way to $4.00 a gallon. The cost of food and other items are rising quickly. Confidence in the U.S. dollar is dropping. The fallout from the mortgage crises is still rippling across the investment banks of the world leaving more and more homeowners to face foreclosure everyday. How did so many things get this bad so fast?

For decades, cheap oil and gas have allowed Americans to live a wonderful life. We guzzled gas and oil like there was no tomorrow, no end to this resource. We were certain that the oil producing countries of this world would always be there for us. We became hooked, like an addict, on this dope that fueled our economy and our wasteful lifestyle. We could waste it. There was plenty more where that came from. It was cheap! We had no need to develop more fuel-efficient cars and trucks. We had no need to think about alternative fuels and different kinds of engines. We had no need to worry about the cost to the environment. Global warming was just a theory. No one saw the clouds of political unrest that would lead to hostility by those oil-producing nations. No one saw an arrogant war that made us one of the most hated countries in the world. Finally, no one saw the competition for this precious resource from China and India as their countries modernized. We were the biggest customer “junkie” on the block.

Americans talked a lot about our dependence on foreign oil, but did little to end it. In fact, we grew even more dependent as the discussion grew louder. Bio-fuels became the rallying cry. We will help solve our addiction for oil by growing our own fuel! Great idea! Our leaders jumped on the bandwagon. Soon there was a call to build more plants to turn even more corn into ethanol. Farmers rejoiced and the price of corn began rising. Forego the other crops and plant more corn! And they did to the exclusion of other crops. No one foresaw that farmers and ranchers would have to pay more to feed their livestock. The price of beef and milk began to rise. No one foresaw that the cost of his or her cornflakes and corn chips would also become more expensive. No one even thought about all the other grain needed to feed the rest of the world or that people might go hungry. Recently, the cost rose and the supply dropped for those other grains leading even American suppliers like Sam’s Club and Costco to resort to rationing. What the hell was that?

By the way, someone forgot to tell us that there is less “bang” per gallon of ethanol compared to a gallon of gasoline. Even though our MPG (miles per gallon) burning ethanol would be lower than gasoline, at least we grew it! We did not import it. Why invest money in updating old oil refineries to make them safer, less polluting and more efficient? Why build new oil refineries at all? Therefore, we did not. In fact, the oil companies began to realize that there was a big profit in limiting and controlling the supply of gasoline on the market (independent of the rise or fall of the cost of a barrel of oil). Did you ever wonder why it takes forever for the price of gasoline to drop at the pump when there is a drop in the price of oil and why the pump price rises immediately when the price of oil rises? I have heard it said that market speculation is now behind the skyrocketing cost of gas at the pump, not unlike the housing boom that recently went...bust.

Speaking of housing and mortgages, no one saw the problem of selling variable rate mortgages to families who could not afford them. When the rates invariably increased, the homeowner’s monthly mortgage payment quickly rose beyond their ability to pay. An explosion of homes across the country were quickly forced into foreclosure. Another problem: no one questioned that many of these families made little or no down payments on these sub-prime mortgages so they could just walk away leaving banks and lenders holding bad debt. No one saw the cost of this unregulated greed. Too many lenders were only interested in pushing paper and making their commissions. Let someone else worry about the consequences of all these bad loans. No one questioned the ratcheting values of these homes during the boom. There was money to be made from pushing value and churning real estate. As long as you could buy, sell, and move property the market was hot. No one saw the pin that burst the bubble.

So now, we watch the skies darken over our “little boat.” We see the waves rise and fall higher and deeper. The wind blows fiercely in our face. We are heading into our “perfect storm.” No food, no affordable fuel and no home may be left to give us a port in this coming storm. If ever there was a time for bold leadership, new ideas and sacrifice...this is that time. The party is over. There comes a time to pay for our greed, our lack of vision and our lack of caring. I pray that we survive our perfect storm.

FOOD for THOUGHT...

Gramps & the Big Sister

Some big news happened last week. My oldest daughter, Heather, gave birth to her second daughter making me a grandpa again. Ashlyn Grace Derr came into this world just after midnight on 4/15/08. Her arrival was met with much joy. Not only was I a grandpa, but Ashlyn’s older sister, Emma, was now a BIG SISTER. This was a much anticipated...promotion. It was a position of great responsibility, not to be taken lightly. Little sisters have much to learn, things that only a big sister can pass along. Emma was ready.

I don’t know where the years have gone. It seems not that long ago that I had this picture of Ashlyn’s mother burned into my memory. Heather’s tiny little hand reached up and grabbed the side of the warming tray after her birth. I had been in the delivery room and was among the first to welcome my daughter into this world. Her hand seemed too small to be human, but there it was and she has had a tight grip on life ever since.

Being here in San Antonio, I miss seeing my daughters and my grandchildren. Their lives are whirling by too fast. I thank God for the pictures my daughter sends me from time to time. Our get-togethers, although too few, have been precious. I wonder, though, if my joy at being a grandpa again even comes close to the joy of being a Big Sister in the Derr household right now.

FOOD for THOUGHT...

Ego and Being One

I have been reading and listening to a lot of New Age philosophy and thought over the last few years. I have explored many different sources. More recently, I have been listening to Eckhart Tolle, the author of several books: The Power of Now and A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose. Currently, he and Oprah Winfrey are doing an unprecedented, online, worldwide study of his second book. In his books, there is much discussion about human ego and awakening to who we really are. Some of it can get deep and I struggle at times, but I am slowly gaining an understanding of his message.

Two basic concepts are at odds with each other when it comes to understanding who we really are and why we are here. Spiritually there is a concept that we are all ONE, coming from the One Source, The Great Creator, Universal Consciousness...God. If you can get your mind around that one, move on to the other concept of ego. Ego is who we think we are, who we perceive ourselves to be. Our ego tells us that we are separate and unique from every other human being. We are who we are, who we see ourselves to be. Some egos see themselves as better than or inferior to others, but the overriding concept is that we are separate and not part of any whole.

If you think about it, our egos explain a lot about human behavior and history. If we all see ourselves as unconnected, unique beings, then what we do or do not do to each other is often without consequence, especially if our egos have convinced us that we are better than some other person or group of people. Our egos can tell us that some beings are not really human at all and that to kill or torture them is acceptable. That helps me to understand things like the Jewish Holocaust in World War II, the Killing Fields of Cambodia and even the Spanish Inquisition in which thousands of human beings were tortured and killed by other human beings.

Killing out of self-defense and killing out of a sense that we are somehow better than, more enlightened than, more patriotic than, more moral than, or simply more powerful than others is quite a leap. The acceptability of killing out of a sense of superiority is one of the biggest lies of the human ego. What we cannot see because of ego is that we are all connected. We are all one body of spiritual consciousness. Again, that is a big concept to accept, but stay with me.

Picture your body with its millions of individual cells. Groups of specialized cells make up different parts of our body. Your body has a head with eyes and ears and a brain. Your trunk has a heart and other organs. You have two arms and two legs. Somehow, you sense your body as a whole being, not just a bunch of individual cells loosely connected, independent from one another. If you stub your toe, your whole body feels the pain. If you cut your finger, your body bleeds.

Assuming we love and respect our bodies, would we consider chopping off our fingers, our arms or our head? How could one part of our body feel superior, more valuable or more expendable than other parts of the body as a whole? Every part, every cell is important to the health, function and well-being of the body. The death of any cell diminishes the whole body.

Are we any more valuable than, more important than, less expendable than other human beings?

FOOD for THOUGHT...

First Jobs

Can you remember your first job? No, I am not talking about things you did around the house like make your bed and take out the trash to earn an allowance. I am talking about your first paid job for something outside of the house. If I had to guess, I would say that a fair number of kids and teens do not have the experience of a first job until later in life these days. Mom and dad fork out the cash so the kids can just hang with friends whose parents do the same. It might be surprising to learn just how many young adults could go all the way through college before experiencing their first real job.

My first job was working on my father’s chicken farm in central Illinois. I was paid a wage of $30 a month. My cousin and I were expected to gather eggs every day and pack them for shipment. I learned that chickens did not stop laying eggs because of holidays or birthdays. They did not stop laying eggs because it was freezing cold or over 100 degrees. Just like dairy cows, they kept right on producing a product every day, rain or shine. In the summer, it was hot and smelly inside the chicken houses. Flies and dust were in the air. In the winter, the eggs would get so cold it was like picking up ice cubes, unless you happened to pick up a freshly laid egg...ah.

When I was paid at the end of each month, I thought I was rich. My parents never let my sudden wealth go to my head, however. They opened up a savings and loan account and each month we made the trip into town so I could make a deposit. They instilled in me the idea that we saved our money for those special things we might want to buy. It was our money...but we had to be careful how we spent it. They taught me the value of a dollar. My “special thing” was a guitar. It cost me two months wages as I recall. I took a few lessons but never learned to play. I hated to practice.

Looking back on my first job, I am glad I had the experience, but I also realize that I missed out on hanging with friends and having more time to just explore and be a kid. Unlike many kids today, I learned how to handle money at an early age. I learned that sometimes you have to wait and save up your money for those things you really want. The concept of a charge card, credit and instant gratification was a long way off.

I held my first job of “egg collector” for about 6 years. When I turned 16, my family moved to the suburbs of Chicago. There, I found that the privilege of driving was expensive so I started my next in a series of jobs. What an interesting collection of occupations in my lifetime... egg collector, pumping gas, selling newspapers, babysitting, customer service, regional sales service, buyer, purchasing agent, senior buyer, technical writer, tour guide, freelance writer, author and historical interpreter. None of these jobs had anything to do with my college degree. I earned a Bachelor of Science degree, majoring in biology at the University of Illinois. I was “supposed” to become a dentist, but life had other plans for me. And so it goes.

Care to share your first job(s)?

FOOD for THOUGHT...

Iraq: Five Years and Counting

Five years ago, my mother was still alive. Five years ago, Lisa and I were still living in a small one-bedroom apartment in Chicago. Five years ago, the United States was still respected and feared in the world. We had friends and allies who mourned our loss after 9/11, sent their condolences, and shared our outrage. Five years ago, our economy was still sound.

Five years ago, we could hardly imagine the impact of the creation of Homeland Security, the Patriot Act, domestic spying, suspension of Habeas Corpus and the sanctioned torture of terrorists in violation of international treaties and conventions on our own constitutional rights and freedoms. Five years ago, we had no idea our economy would be crashing, our dollar dropping, the price of oil and gas skyrocketing and that our national war debt would be approaching billions and trillions of dollars. Five years ago, nearly 4,000 young, American men and women were still alive and cherished by their friends and families. They had not yet learned of IED’s and the horrors of war.

It was five years ago that I sat in my brother’s living room watching his big screen TV. We were focused on the nighttime skyline of Baghdad in Iraq. Bush’s deadline for Saddam had passed and the whole world waited to see if our country would actually invade Iraq. It was history in the making. Our new president was talking tough. I wanted to believe that we had no other options than to go to war. I wanted to believe that Iraq was developing weapons of mass destruction. Bush and Cheney had convinced us of the link between Iraq and Al Qaeda. As a nation, we were scared and angry. We wanted to see someone pay for our national pain and humiliation. We wanted to show the world that we were still the most powerful nation on the face of the earth and that if anyone dare attack us...there would be consequences.

And there were.

FOOD for THOUGHT...

The Texas 2-Step

Lisa and I participated in the “Texas 2-Step” last week. Down here in Texas, we get to vote twice. Texas also has this great idea called “early voting” where you have two weeks before Election Day to cast your vote at ANY early voting site (not necessarily your regular polling place). Therefore, in Texas, if you cannot find the time or place to vote at least once...you should be horsewhipped!

First, we voted in the Texas Primary. Since we voted early and our polling place was at our local library (in walking distance from our house), voting was a breeze...no lines...in and out. We used touch screen voting machines that let you review and change any of your choices before it is submitted electronically. My only problem is that there is no paper ballot created in case of a challenge or a recount. I have to have faith that my vote really does count and that it cannot be altered or lost, but that is a whole other issue. What amazed me was that despite having two weeks to cast their votes, many Texans waited until the last minute to vote on Election Day. Because of the huge interest in the Democratic Party race, there were long lines at the polling places and people were complaining about having to stand in line. Some left and did not vote out of frustration. Well, hello people! You had two weeks to vote!

Second, we learned that not all of the Texas delegates would be chosen by voting in the primary. Texas also has a caucus system after the polls close on Election Day. The caucuses choose 1/3 of the total state delegates. Apparently, it is a holdover compromise when Texas went to the primary system 20 years ago. Texans do not give up their old ways easily, especially when it comes to politics.

Lisa and I arrived at our polling place around 7 pm just as the polls were closing. Because so many people turned out, there was a long line out the door and into the library parking lot. By law, anyone in line when the polls close must be allowed to vote and the caucuses cannot begin until the last person votes. We made our way through the line of people still waiting to vote in the primary and into the caucus crowd gathering in the Children’s Section of the library. We looked for our precinct number on one of several tables and stood with others already gathered there. It was pretty much wall-to-wall people and very noisy. Any Republicans were invited to attend their own caucus at the other end of the library. Volunteers circulated and called out for anyone who was willing to help fill out forms and verify identification at each precinct table. It was hard to hear what was going on and it took a while to get enough people to help.

Finally, sometime after 8 pm, we were told that the last person had voted and that the caucus could begin. We were told to form lines and approach our precinct tables in an orderly manner, but there were so many people that lines were hard to discern. Eventually, we approached our table and produced our driver’s licenses and voter registration cards. Once our information was checked, we were allowed to fill out the next line on the multi-line form. You could see everyone’s name, address, phone number and his or her candidate’s choice before yours on the large sheet. So much for privacy! We finally made our way out of the library around 9 pm after two hours of being on our feet. Some caucuses at other locations finished even later with far more confusion and even a few fistfights according to the news. It was an interesting process, but I am not sure I would participate again.

The next morning, we learned that Hillary had just barely won the primary, but that Obama looked as if he might win the caucus vote and take the majority of the total delegate count for the state. The caucus votes will not be officially determined until the State Democratic Convention in June. All I can say is... what a system! The news media was excitedly reporting that this election exceeded all expectations and that the Texas vote had been a “record” turnout. The last I heard the statewide voter turnout was around 33% of all the registered voters. So that was the Texas 2-Step.

Looking at this whole party primary/caucus delegate selection process nationwide and state-by-state, I have to wonder...what the hell is going on! The Republicans have winner take all states and the Democrats choose delegates proportional to the popular vote. Some states have caucuses, some have primaries and some (Texas)...have both. Two states have been stripped of their Democratic delegates because they violated party rules by moving their election dates ahead of other states to gain more influence on candidate selection. Now how can you hold a national convention and not allow delegates from two of the 50 states of the union to be seated? If you do allow them to be seated, Hillary’s name was the only name remaining on the ballot in Michigan, while both their names were on the Florida ballot. The other candidates removed their names per National Democratic Party rules. (Why was THAT allowed to happen?) What a giant mess!

A lot of this “political monkey business” could be avoided if we had a National Primary Vote on one day (or each party could choose another day of their own, if they wish to foot the cost of two separate elections). We would have a larger choice of candidates to vote for and spend far less time and money on a primary campaign where the perceived front-runner receives the flow of cash to keep their campaigns running and bankrupts others. Our current system virtually assures that the candidate with the most cash wins. The cost of each successive election is skyrocketing such that only the wealthy and the politically well connected can hope to hold office and govern.

Does America have the guts to make the changes needed to insure that we have a government OF the people, BY the people and FOR the people? I wonder. Perhaps we need more than 33% of the registered voters to participate.

FOOD for THOUGHT...