Farewell To A Good Man

President Ford was never elected by the country. In fact, he never even won a statewide race, but he played a vital role in the healing of a country. When he pardoned Nixon, it cost him an election, but he thought it was the right thing to do. When he was a Congressman he would fight the good fight against his Democratic brethren and then they would go out for beers together. He believed that you could disagree with someone but respect their commitment and be their friend.

History will never call Gerald Ford one of our greatest Presidents, but frankly, we could use a few more politicians like him today to show the purveyors of the politics of division how our government is supposed to work. (Are you listening Karl Rove?)

Thank you President Ford, Rest in Peace.

CNN Coverage President Ford's Funeral

The Greatest Editorial Ever?

Every year about this time, someone reminds us of this editorial. It is lovely, if not a touch too sentimental. But I am always amazed at how well written it is. If only the public were such that newspapers could make money delivering editorial writing of this style to your door step each morning. For information on the article and the parties involved, including Virginia herself, I suggest the background section following the editorial as it appears here. For those geekier types who require more links to other info, here is the Wikipedia posting, which is where this image of Church was obtained.

Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus
By Francis P. Church, first published in The New York Sun in 1897. [See The People’s Almanac, pp. 1358–9.]

We take pleasure in answering thus prominently the communication below, expressing at the same time our great gratification that its faithful author is numbered among the friends of The Sun:

Dear Editor—

I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, “If you see it in The Sun, it’s so.” Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?

Virginia O’Hanlon

Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The external light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies. You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if you did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived could tear apart. Only faith, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

I'm Baaaack

Holy moley, I've been gone for quite some time. I have been transitioning to a new job, attending family events, and I've been trying to keep my family from killing each other as we get closer to the winter break. So far, I'm sucking wind on the last one, but everything else is going well.

It seems we have a little catching up to do:

Election Predictions

Let's get the gloating out of the way. My predictions were pretty damn good. (Even a stopped watch is right twice a day, right?) I nailed the Senate races and my predictions for the House were mighty close. I'm still bummed about Tammy Duckworth losing, but hey, you can't win them all.

Iraq

It's a quagmire. What else is there to say? Good men and women are dying for no good reason and the President and his lackeys have no clear exit strategy. That means those people, Americans and Iraqis, will continue to die. And it is the President's fault. Honestly, I wonder how he can sleep at night.

Obama

Wow, I haven't seen this much hype around Christmas time since Cabbage Patch Dolls. But the question I have is this: Is it that people are so enamored of Barrack Obama that they are willing to woo him into running or is it that people are so desperate for change that they just want the anti-Bush. I think it's the second and they seem to have made a good choice. Here is the side by side comparison:

Race : Bush=White; Obama=Man of color

Politics: Bush=Conservative; Obama=Moderate

Iraq: Bush=Started War; Obama=Opposed War from Beginning

Speaking Ability: Bush=Bumbling Butcher of English; Obama=Exceptionally Well-Spoken

Previous Employment: Bush=Oil Executive; Obama=Non-profit Aiding Inner-City Poor

Intelligence: Bush=Barely Survived Yale; Obama=Columbia and Harvard Law

I could go on, but you get the point. Obama is the anti-Bush, but is that enough? Does his lack of experience and his funny name come back to bite him? Can he survive the primary season with enough credibility intact to survive the Republican money machine? I just don't know.

Foley

The ethics investigation is over and those involved were found to have ignored their responsibility to protect the Congressional pages from a sexual predator. A Congressional sexual predator. A pederast who they knew to be stalking teenage boys. But apparently, indifference to the well-being of teenagers under their care isn't a punishable offense. I knew that labor laws didn't apply to congressional staff and I knew that smoking bans and the like never applied to Capitol Hill, but I didn't know that promoting the sexual harassment of minors fell in that same bucket.

I guess the Republicans can count on the sexual deviant vote next cycle. I wonder how the religious right feels about that...oh yeah, I keep forgetting, it's often the same lobby.

The American Media Is Pathetic

The following video report on CNN about Britney Spears going out partying with Paris Hilton is just pathetic. CNN! This isn't the checkout line at the Safeway, this is the front page of the CNN website.

Britney has figured out that camera's follow that vapid, talentless, privilegded tart Paris, and she is using that to get her "assets" in the media before her new album comes out.

Shame on you CNN, shame.

Don't click this link and if you do and it doesn't work, then I'm glad. I just put it up for the truth factor: Britney Flashes Flesh With New Party Pal Paris

Memorial Service

I am just back from my grandfather's memorial service and I'm still in catch-up mode, but I will post in the next day or so. I was struck by a couple of things that I saw at the service and wanted to share them. See you soon.

Hungover After The Football Game

Elections are very much like football games. You alternate between being on offense and defense. You have special teams of people with specialized assignments. You are always playing against the clock in a ground acquisition contest where you want to spend as much time on the other side of the 50 yard/percent line as possible. And the people who follow election year politics often act in a similar manner as football fans. They hoot and holler at every gaffe and every successful play. They show fanatical team loyalty by wearing their teams colors on the bodies, cars, and homes. And they gloat or cry with emotional honesty when their party or candidate wins or loses.

Of course, elections aren't football games and something more than pride and perhaps a wager with the local bookie are at stake. Lives are affected and even lost depending on the outcomes of elections. The people deciding the issues that impact us every day are being given a nearly sacred responsibility when they are elected, and it is in the best interest of all us football fans to remember that. Winning the election is step one of thousands on the road to change and going home drunk after the game is not an option when it comes to politics.

When the last vote is counted, the time to celebrate or mourn is short because the true game is now afoot. These political athletes will now be forced to live up to our expectations. But the only way to know that they are in fact doing the things that they said they would during the campaign is to remain vigilant.

Just like first-round draft picks, some will succeed and some will fail. Some will prove themselves worthy of our trust and others will disappoint, but as voters, we have an obligation to hold them accountable for their leadership. Personally, I will watching my elected officials to see if they address the poverty wage that the law currently mandates. I will be watching to see if the rich continue to get richer while the middle class struggles just to get by. I will be watching to see if we as a country can return to a foreign policy that emphasizes coalition building over strong arming and unilateral action. And finally, I will be watching to see if our representatives are willing to hold each other to the standards that the rest of us try to abide.

The election is over. The attack ads and campaign rhetoric are just echoes ringing in an empty stadium. Now it is the job of the spectators to be vigilant so that the players understand that they are accountable. Remember, they are playing with our money, our livelihoods, and our lives. Now is not the time to pack up and go home to wait for the next football game.

Sorry

I know I promised to post, but I got some sad news today. My grandfather passed away this morning after suffering a massive heart attack. I'll post in the next day or so, but frankly, today, I'm just not that motivated. Thanks for your patience.

Rumsfeld is stepping down

I'll post on the election after the hangover subsides...my predictions apparently weren't that bad...but this is the breaking news from CNN. Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld is reportedly stepping down. I'll post an update when I know more.

CNN: GOP officials: Rumsfeld stepping down

And So It Begins...

They are already reporting problems with voting machines. This is going to be an ugly election day. The lawyers are really going to make out when this is said and done.

CNN: Technical glitches reported in early voting

Predictions Sure To Go Wrong

There is nothing more fickle than a voter. I'm not talking about your hard-core voter, I'm talking about your average voter, and they can do just about anything. I give you my wife as an example. She's a...how to put this....well....a Republican.

There I said it. I'm sure that's some step in some 12 step program. I hope I get credit.

She is voting almost completely Democratic this cycle. She's put off by the war and she looks at her aging, sick father and wonders why anyone would put restrictions on stem cell research. That's about all it took. Not the economy, not gas prices, not illegal immigration ... a war she doesn't think is working and a ban on stem cell research and she's chucking years of loyalty out the window.

God, how I love her.

It seems she's not the only one having a crisis of faith in the Republicans, races across the country are showing a sea change in the power structure of Washington. Democrats are poised to win races in districts and states that just a few short years ago would never have even been in play. It is going to be a wild election night and here are a few predictions from a guy who knows just a bit more than the average bear...but not much more than the crazy guy on the corner who keeps talking to his imaginary dog.

SENATE

The Democrats take the Senate, but just by one seat. Harold Ford is going to lose in Tennessee but so is Conrad Burns in Montana. If you believe as I do that McCaskill and Webb are going to win in Missouri and Virginia, then the Dems get the Senate, barely.

With such a slim majority in the Senate, not a lot of bills are going to make it to the President. But, the Democrats will have the power of the subpoena to finally try and get to the truth about the war. Progress? Not much. Entertaining? Absolutely.

HOUSE

If Heather Wilson in New Mexico is in trouble and Duckworth is likely to win Henry Hyde's old seat in Illinois then the Republicans are screwed. These are seats that the Republicans should own, and they don't. Therefore I say the Democrats pick up 26 seats and own the House.

VOTING MACHINES

We won't know who owns the Senate when the sun comes up on Wednesday. The voting machines that have already shown themselves to be less than reliable in Florida and elsewhere will result in challenges and fights that will prevent extra tight races like the one in Missouri from being decided without a lot of fighting and legal threats.

So go out and buy some No Doze and prepare to be in limbo on Wednesday morning. Personally, I'm going to set a 1 am deadline for myself. Life most go on.

Photo from USAToday.