One of the most interesting blogs I have ever read

The blogger, Colby Buzzell is a A suburban skateboarder with punk-rock sensibilities, brings forth the actual soldier's perspective and voice.
Being a Punk Rocker, his music selections spoke volumes as does his words. Colby, hope you get to sit with Henry Rollins some time - I would love to hear that conversation!

First and Foremost - Thank You for Serving! Thank You for speaking your Mind! I can only say that "Sorry you had to be deployed, sorry you had to experience what you did. Thank You for being a voice to Soldiers, Marines and Sailors (my navy reservist brother returned home late last year). I can only hope you bring comfort to those there and to their loved ones at home.

Since leaving Iraq, Buzzell collected his wartime blog posts and journal entries into "My War," which was published in 2005. Excerpts from his Iraq blog also appeared in the Oscar-nominated documentary "Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience." - I'll be putting this on my wishlist!

Veterans Day

On Veterans Day, we pay tribute to the service and sacrifice of the men and women who in defense of our freedom have bravely worn the uniform of the United States.

Thank You All, most especially my brother, we're glad you are home!!

A letter to my children

November 5, 2008

Dear Duncan and Moira,

You were unaware that you were watching history last night. Let me tell you a little about it:

As the returns became known, and Obama passed milestone after milestone, a new era in a country where just 143 years ago, Obama, as a black man, could have been owned as a slave, brought Change and Hope.

That's right, Barack Hussein Obama has been elected the 44th president of the United States, sweeping away the last racial barrier in American politics with ease as the country chose him as its first black (African-American) commander-in-chief.

About the the Election :

The people (in record numbers) got out and found their voice. People from all walks- white, black, asian, native american, latino, young, old, single, family, straight, gay, blue collar white-collar. They found their voices and wanted to be heard. What started out 22 months ago as a whisper was heard deep into last night, Loud and clear. We are Americans and we can change our nation's course. We want change! we want hope!

What it means to vote in the United States of America, we were raised on the American Dream, but rarely have a chance to participate in it so directly. We have been told, "if you dream it, you can achieve it". On this day, November 4, Election Day, every single person that walks in that booth - is granted equal say in our shared destiny.

We will vote because we know that while the president cannot save us from ourselves, he or she can be a powerful symbol of the best within us. Americans make America what it is each and every day. The choices we make about what to consume, how to treat one another, where and with whom we spend our precious time and energy -- this is what adds up to the sum of our country. The President represents our best intentions. He or she stands before the world as the voice of the American people. His or her voice is the singular chorus of our collective ideals, our country's hopes, Our Future.

I cannot tell you today that Obama's policies have changed America's course, I can hope!

One day I hope you'll whisper in the night and bring about Hope and Change.

Love,

Mom

I'm not the most political person but this article points to how I feel about the debates/ elections

Opinion

Obama the Adult Versus McCain's Economic Easter Bunny

John Nichols Wed Oct 15, 10:58 PM ET

The Nation -- Debating on a night when global markets were tanking, Barack Obama and John McCain engaged in an edgy debate about "spreading the wealth," "class warfare" and creating an economy that benefits "Joe the Plumber" more than "Ivan the Investment Banker."

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But while McCain clung to the failed fantasies of the past, Obama offered America a community rarely served up on the presidential debate stages of recent campaigns: realism.

Though they differed, at times viscerally, both men were struggling to occupy a populist high ground that suddenly appears far more attractive than the valleys of Wall Street.

The Republican kicked things off by declaring, "Americans are hurting right now, and they're angry. They're hurting, and they're angry. They're innocent victims of greed and excess on Wall Street and as well as Washington, D.C. And they're angry, and they have every reason to be angry."

The Democrat echoed the theme. "I think everybody understands at this point that we are experiencing the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. And the financial rescue plan that Sen. McCain and I supported is an important first step. And I pushed for some core principles: making sure that taxpayer can get their money back if they're putting money up. Making sure that CEOs are not enriching themselves through this process," explained Obama. "And I think that it's going to take some time to work itself out. But what we haven't yet seen is a rescue package for the middle class. Because the fundamentals of the economy were weak even before this latest crisis."

Not since 1912, when Democrat Woodrow Wilson, Progressive Teddy Roosevelt and even Republican William Howard Taft all tried to steal some of the thunder of Socialist Eugene Victor Debs have major-party presidential candidates scrambled so furiously to sound populist themes on the cusp of a definitional election.

But behind, beneath and beside the rhetorical flourishes were the evidences of a fundamental difference in approach.

McCain clung to the fading vision of Reaganomics as seen through the lens of George Bush, defaulting again and again to a lexicon of tax cuts for the richest, empty promises of trickle-down prosperity, fantasies of spending freezes and the certainty of deeper deficits and greater dysfunction in a federal government.

For McCain, ultimately, it was all about those tax cuts -- for plumber Joe Wurzelbacher in Ohio who wants to start a small business and, though he did not mention it, for corporations that earn more in a quarter than the GDPs of more than a few sovereign nations.

"The whole premise behind Sen. Obama's plans are class warfare, let's spread the wealth around. I want small businesses -- and by the way, the small businesses that we're talking about would receive an increase in their taxes right now," growled McCain. "Who -- why would you want to increase anybody's taxes right now?"

Obama chose to respond as an adult.

"I want to cut taxes for 95 percent of Americans. Now, it is true that my friend and supporter, Warren Buffett, for example, could afford to pay a little more in taxes... in order to give additional tax cuts to Joe the plumber before he was at the point where he could make $250,000," the Democrat began.

"Then," he continued, "Exxon Mobil, which made $12 billion, record profits, over the last several quarters, they can afford to pay a little more so that ordinary families who are hurting out there -- they're trying to figure out how they're going to afford food, how they're going to save for their kids' college education, they need a break.

"So, look, nobody likes taxes. I would prefer that none of us had to pay taxes, including myself. But ultimately, we've got to pay for the core investments that make this economy strong and somebody's got to do it."

McCain sputtered back: "Nobody likes taxes. Let's not raise anybody's taxes. OK?"

"Well," Obama replied. "I don't mind paying a little more."

In less serious times, that might have been a risky statement.

But Obama was no Walter Mondale apologizing for addressing fiscal realities.

The Democrat did make a class distinction, and in so doing he made the connection that more apologetic Democrats had failed to find in past campaigns.

"I think tax policy is a major difference between Sen. McCain and myself. And we both want to cut taxes, the difference is who we want to cut taxes for," explained the senator from Illinois.

"Now, Sen. McCain, the centerpiece of his economic proposal is to provide $200 billion in additional tax breaks to some of the wealthiest corporations in America. Exxon Mobil, and other oil companies, for example, would get an additional $4 billion in tax breaks," Obama continued. "What I've said is I want to provide a tax cut for 95 percent of working Americans, 95 percent. If you make... less than a quarter million dollars a year, then you will not see your income tax go up, your capital gains tax go up, your payroll tax. Not one dime. And 95 percent of working families, 95 percent of you out there, will get a tax cut. In fact, independent studies have looked at our respective plans and have concluded that I provide three times the amount of tax relief to middle-class families than Sen. McCain does."

The candidates displayed differences on issues that really do matter -- and, of course, on issues that didn't matter.

Obama and McCain were steered, briefly, into an empty "tone-of-the-campaign" debate by moderator Bob Schieffer.

McCain initially eschewed Schieffer's invitation to mouth the William Ayers-ACORN-appeasement blather that has been such a staple of his campaign in recent weeks. Instead, McCain accused Obama of spending "unprecedented amounts of money on negative ads about me." Obama reminded McCain that "100 percent of your ads are negative."

Finally, after a torturous back-and-forth about "hurt feelings," McCain dropped the bomb but missed the target. So the candidates wasted a few minutes on a sixties-radical-turned-college-professor named Ayers and a community-organization named ACORN.

But it was such a deviation that even McCain veered out of a convoluted riff on Ayers -- "it's not the fact that Sen. Obama chooses to associate with a guy who in 2001 said that he wished he had have bombed more, and he had a long association with him. It's the fact that... all of the details need to be known about Sen. Obama's relationship with them and with ACORN and the American people will make a judgment" -- to essentially acknowledge the absurdity of the discussion.

"And my campaign is about getting this economy back on track, about creating jobs, about a brighter future for America," McCain suddenly declared, pulling the brakes on the associated-with-terrorists talk. "And that's what my campaign is about and I'm not going to raise taxes the way Sen. Obama wants to raise taxes in a tough economy. And that's really what this campaign is going to be about.

The debate was back on the economic track -- and headed in a direction that allowed Obama to be the adult.

As the candidates sparred over health care, education, funding for programs for children with special needs and a host of other essential issues, the Democrat kept steering the discussion toward reality.

Both candidates talked about what they wanted to do.

While McCain imagined a world of tax cuts and free money, Obama allowed as how the economic Easter Bunny that Reagan and Bush promised was just around the corner might not be coming.

When McCain hailed his vice president running-mate's commitment to helping children with special needs and promised to help them, Obama responded, "I think it's very commendable the work she's done on behalf of special needs. I agree with that, John."

But, he added, "I do want to just point out that (children with) autism, for example, or other special needs will require some additional funding, if we're going to get serious in terms of research. That is something that every family that advocates on behalf of disabled children talk about. And if we have an across-the-board spending freeze, we're not going to be able to do it. That's an example of, I think, the kind of use of the scalpel that we want to make sure that we're funding some of those programs."

McCain offered America an old fantasy now discredited.

Obama offered America the promise of realism and a warning that, "(The) biggest risk we could take right now is to adopt the same failed policies and the same failed politics that we've seen over the last eight years and somehow expect a different result."

That was not the happy talk of the past.

But these are not happy times.

For those who want to wait around for the Easter Bunny, McCain made the proper appeal.

For those who figure it's time to get real, Obama was the only serious candidate on the stage.

Lessons Taught By FDR

FDR is by in far one of my favorite Political people:

Lessons Taught By FDR

By David Ignatius

Sunday, October 5, 2008; Page B07

"Piece by piece, the nation's credit structure was becoming paralyzed. Crisis was in the air, but it was a strange, numbing crisis. . . . It was worse than an invading army; it was everywhere and nowhere, for it was in the minds of men. It was fear."

-- James MacGregor Burns, "Roosevelt: The Lion and the Fox."

It may be the end of an economic era on Wall Street, as commentators have noted over the past few weeks. But it is not yet the beginning of a new political era in Washington. In that gap lies the opportunity for Barack Obama to explain to the nation how he proposes to make a new start.

The frantic debate over the $700 billion bailout plan has obscured the reality that a new framework for recovery will have to be built by the next administration. The crisis package is important, but it's the political equivalent of an overnight loan, a short-term fix to keep the system functioning. The definition of the new era -- the post-crash era -- hasn't really begun.

To win, Obama will need to give voters a clearer sense of how he will govern in this new era. He still talks like a lawyer, making debating points and rebutting arguments but not explaining how he will rebuild a shaken and traumatized country. This "vision thing" will become all the more important in coming weeks, as the economic crunch moves from Wall Street to Main Street and the country begins to feel real pain.

Franklin D. Roosevelt is the obvious model for a new president taking office amid severe economic difficulty. But what are the lessons that FDR teaches?

A first FDR decision, before he took office, was that he wouldn't get caught up in the flailing rescue measures of the lame-duck Hoover administration. Then, as now, the problem was a paralyzing credit crisis. A desperate Hoover sent Roosevelt a handwritten note on Feb. 18, 1933, pleading with him to endorse a common program to restore confidence: "The major difficulty is the state of the public mind, for which there is steadily decreasing confidence in the future."

Roosevelt ignored the plea. He felt that working with the discredited Hoover would undermine public support for his own recovery program when he took office a few weeks later.

By backing the Bush rescue plan, Obama has lost that complete freedom of action. But he didn't really have a choice. More worrisome is that he hasn't yet articulated a larger plan for economic reconstruction. Indeed, he ducked the issue in the first presidential debate. That's a mistake.

A second Roosevelt lesson is that the heart of the problem is psychological. As FDR wrote his March 4, 1933, inaugural address, he had open a volume of Thoreau with the passage, "nothing is so much to be feared as fear." That became the famous, ringing line: "First of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself." Within a few days, he had received half a million enthusiastic letters and telegrams.

A third FDR precept was to accompany his ringing words with decisive actions. Roosevelt announced a "bank holiday" his second day in office, making a virtue of the fact that panic-stricken banks had shut their doors. By the end of his first week, he had signed an emergency banking bill that reopened the banks on what the public perceived as sounder footing. The bill passed Congress in just eight hours. A GOP floor leader, Rep. Bertrand H. Snell, said simply: "The house is burning down, and the president of the United States says this is the way to put out the fire."

A final FDR lesson is that in crisis, it's sometimes better to go by instinct than to wait for a systematic plan. FDR considered sending Congress home after it passed the emergency banking bill so that he could come up with a comprehensive recovery proposal. Instead, he went piecemeal, cobbling together the package of 15 major bills that made up the famous First Hundred Days.

Roosevelt understood that it was a confidence game. He surrounded himself with smart people and good ideas. But his real success in 1933 was that he conveyed to a frightened country that he knew what he was doing and never let on that he was, as his biographer Burns says, "playing by ear." It's that sense of pitch that the public wants to see in Obama.

The writer is co-host ofPostGlobal, an online discussion of international issues

Ike's winds

Made it to Columbus intact (albeit without rain and less velocity) and did their damage. We are without power ( I am at my office - power of course!) we have water. Supplies are severely limited. We are looking for a market with food & ice that is open. Found food, no meat or produce.

The good news is people, pets and house came through in one piece. The kids think it is cool to eat by candlelight! We have talked with more neighbors than usual - that is really nice.

I have heard from most of my friends in Houston/ Galveston - better news. They are well, but obviously damage to deal with.

A Moment of Silence Today 9/11/2008

Please take a moment today to stop, pause, remember that day we lost so many!

Thank You

Olympics

So glad they are here! I'm a junkie, so is Jamie.. .so we are pretty quiet while the games are here!

Where have I been

Bo Diddley Passes Away

CNN) -- Bo Diddley, the musical pioneer whose songs, such as "Who Do You Love?" and "Bo Diddley," melded rhythm and blues and rock 'n' roll through a distinctive thumping beat, has died. He was 79.

Rock 'n' roll pioneer Bo Diddley influenced generations of guitarists.

Diddley died Monday, surrounded by family and loved ones at his home in Archer, Florida, a family spokeswoman said.

The cause was heart failure, his family said.

The world-renowned guitarist's signature beat -- usually played on an equally distinctive rectangular-bodied guitar -- laid the foundation for rock 'n' roll, and became so identified with him that it became known as the "Bo Diddley" beat. It was unlike anything else heard in pop music.

"This distinctive, African-based 5/4 rhythm pattern (which goes bomp-bomp-bomp bomp-bomp) was picked up by other artists and has been a distinctive and recurring element in rock 'n' roll through the decades," according to the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame.

Guitarist George Thorogood, a Diddley disciple, put it more bluntly.

"[Chuck Berry's] 'Maybellene' is a country song sped up," Thorogood told Rolling Stone in 2005. " 'Johnny B. Goode' is blues sped up. But you listen to 'Bo Diddley,' and you say, 'What in the Jesus is that?' "

"Well, it's no different from anything else, I guess. I started sumthin'. I just happened to be the first one," he told the British magazine Uncut in 2005. "But I never thought it would turn into what it did. Somebody had to be first, and it happened to be me."

*** Love his music and most of the musicians he has influenced ***

The world has lost a good man!

Bike Commuting in Columbus Ohio

Some links you should go to:

http://bikecolumbus.blogspot.com/ - my husband's site
http://trekstorecolumbus.com/page.cfm?PageID=295
http://b2ww.considerbiking.org/events.html

We'll talk about flying American airlines later

28

Jamie sent a link - what do I know about alcohol...

100%ALCOHOLIC

Spidey if I'm good...

Your results:
You are Dr. Doom

Dr. Doom 59% Lex Luthor 51% Apocalypse 49% Venom 43% The Joker 43%

Blessed with smarts and power but burdened by vanity.

Click here to take the Supervillain Personality Quiz

I thought so, too

our results:
You are Spider-Man

Spider-Man 75% Green Lantern 65% Robin 60% Wonder Woman 58% The Flash 55% Superman 55% Supergirl 53% Iron Man 45% Catwoman 35% Hulk 30% Batman 30%

You are intelligent, witty, a bit geeky and have great power and responsibility.

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Test

The Man Speaks

http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/video/videopage?&brand=null&videoId=3280046&n8pe6c=3

Sad Day in Packerville

Favre has retired, expected, still a little sad to see his enthusiasm and magic leave the field.

Thank you for all the memories and a happy retirement, enjoy the time with your family!

What a sad day ...

Hot rodder Coddington dies



Just in: Boyd Coddington, host of a Discovery Channel show called American Hot Rod, died this morning after a lengthy hospital stay in the Los Angeles area. His cause of death was not disclosed. Coddington's creations won the coveted Grand National Roadster Show's America's Most Beautiful Roadster trophy a record seven times. He was 63. (Here is in 1995 with his 1941 Chevy.)

Maryland's climate plan would be nation's boldest

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — A proposal to address climate change by adopting the nation's most ambitious plan to reduce greenhouse gases went before Maryland lawmakers Tuesday.

Please go to this link : http://www.usatoday.com/weather/climate/globalwarming/2008-02-20-maryland-plan_N.htm

Blogging

I've been blogging elsewhere, however I'm moving back. Or I'll coordinate the 2 blogs. Sorry for the long delay in blogging here!