Just tell the truth

I hear a lot of people say that they really want to hear the truth – just the truth and nothing but the truth. I’ve heard that said by many women in all the relationships I have ever been in. The truth seems to be a much sought after commodity but I wonder why does it seem to be so scarce? There is even a movie that was recently released, a comedy about telling the truth. I didn’t see it but I am sure that the truth was stretched to make some very funny points.

I think that one big problem is that people do not really want to hear the truth. They’d rather hear something that is comforting or agrees with their point of view. Otherwise it’s an argument in the making and who wants to argue all the time. I also think that most people assume that because they don’t want to hear the truth that means that no one else really wants to hear the truth either. So lying and exaggeration have become just our natural way of communicating with each other. No one tells it like it is, although we often use that phrase (“Come on, man, tell it like it is” or “I’m tellin’ you the way it is…”).

The other day I was watching some news program – news programs hardly ever really tell you the way it really is, they give you the corporate advertiser friendly version when ever possible – and someone was interviewing some bureaucrat from the Obama administration. She was this chubby, pale-faced, blonde haired, windbag who was on one of the President’s economic advisory committees and she was there to answer questions about the banking industryand the economy. The interviewer asked her a very direct question about executive compensation, TARP money and the health of the now robust banking industry in light of the huge unemployment numbers just released. Now I realize that these people have all been trained to NEVER answer a direct question with a direct answer. Nothing scares these people more than an honest, direct question. But this woman was so totally living in the land of bullshit I just had to turn the TV off before she could pollute my airwaves anymore than necessary. Instead of answering a direct question with a direct answer she smiled her perky smile and said something to the effect of “Well, you know that everything we’ve done in this administration and in the previous administration as it pertains to the banks has been with one goal in mind and that is to put America back to work!” Excuse me? Did I just hear that? Unemployment is in double digits, the banks are making record profits and she expects anyone to buy that crap?

And the interviewer didn’t press her on it, not one bit of pushback. He could have simply said “Hey, how about answering the question?” but he wasn’t really interested in a truthful answer, just an answer that wold sound good.

Politicians and those in the media have mastered the art of truth evasion and  one way that they do this is by constantly saying that they are sorry. They apologize for everything and it seems that if they just make a public apology than everything is OK. All if forgiven! Just say I’m sorry.

Got caught soliciting a policeman in the airport bathroom? Just say “I’m sorry” and no one will demand you step down. Used anabolic steroids when you were playing in the World Series? No problemo, just say your sorry. Beat your wife with a broomstick? Oops, I am so sorry about that. Does anyone really believe these people are sorry? They are only sorry that they got caught! No one calls a press conference and says “I made a mistake and broke the law and I got away with it because no one knows it happened but I am sorry so i am turning myself in and paying all fines and penalties and intend to dedicate my life from now on to only honest good works.” No one does that. But when they get caught with their dick in the wife’s girlfriend or their hands in the till or whatever the first thing to do is call a press conference and say “I’m sorry!” Screw that, who really cares? Who really believes them? Nobody. It’s all for show. It’s all a lie.

Yesterday I went to the ATT store cause I was having a problem with my iPhone. When I bought it I was given a business card by the sales person and told I could call anytime during business hours and reach her directly and that I could send her email too. Well, that was bull because the store never answers the phone and it takes at least 24 hours to return messages to the voicemail or else you get connected to the general info line. So after a day of trying to get in touch with this sales person I just went back to the store. And what was the first thing out of the person’s mouth? You got it… “I’m sorry!” It’s become an automatic, knee jerk reaction in corporate America. Nothing works, no one can really communicate but just say your sorry and all is forgiven.

I asked her to stop saying she was sorry because I knew that she really wasn’t. How did I know that? Because I was not the first person to have that experience.  If they were truly sorry they’d do something about it. But they never do. That would take too much effort, maybe cost the company a few pennies and besides why bother when you can just say “Sorry!”

I would have been much happier if she had just said when she gave me the card that she might not get back to me and so I’d be better off just going to the 800 number and getting a tech guy from Bangalore to answer my questions.

The Right is Wrong

The world can’t be all bad if the Yankees can beat the Red Sox in 15 innings on a beautiful summer night in the Bronx. And there are other things that make it great to be alive like the sun coming up this morning over the Indian River here in Sebastian or my neighbor Sam casting a line off his boat and pulling up some mullet. Yes, it’s a wonderful life and the world can be such a beautiful place. So why than must we ruin it by being hateful and violent?

Last night I saw on the news a photo of a teenager wearing a T-shirt with a picture of Obama that says “Hitler gave good speeches too.” I was appalled. Who could possibly be so stupid and twisted that they could not only equate Obama to the worst mass murderer in modern history but wear it on a T-shirt? It wasn’t an isolated incident. Another clip showed a man holding a poster of Obama with a Hitler-like moustache. And there was a video  of a man speaking to a crowd making direct comparisons of Hitler to Obama. When I hear other right wingers using the Hitler comparison and I watch morons like Glenn Beck or Michael Savage promote this kind of psychotic behavior I wonder what has happened to the people in this country. Where is our decency? Have we put Kool-Aid in the water? Has all the high fructose corn sweetener we consume started to turn our brains into head cheese?

I haven’t got a beef with talk radio, I believe in freedom of speech. I don’t much care for the system in Washington where “money talks and nobody walks” but I understand that money is the driver in this country. I believe in freedom of religious belief (but also in the seperation of church and state). But when you put all of that together and mix in hate speech, lies, deception and downright incivility, and then mix in a lot of money, it truly is a bad blend and someone is going to wind up getting killed.

The right has got it wrong. It is healthy to disagree and debate and compromise and you can’t always have your way. But the neocon attitude of “your either with us or your a terrorist” is dangerous and as un-American as it gets. What seems like a bunch of disgruntled old white guys is turning into a mass hysteria with the aid of some powerful, well financed right wing corporate backed lobbying groups. It is frightening.

The healthcare debate is becoming a last stand referendum on racism and, as we have seen in the Sotomayor confirmation hearings, the right is willing to stoop about as far as they can to get their point across. those same Senators who called Sotomayor a ‘racist’ are themselves using race as a divide. They are of the same group who from the floor of Congress, equate the healthcare bill will murder.

It’s time to tone down the rhetoric and start acting like Americans. Americans are a nation of immigrants. We are a people of diversity. We make mistakes but we learn from them and grow stronger. With the exception of the Amer-Indians who were here when our predecessors arrived we all came from somewhere else. We all have proud family heritages we’d like to pass along to our children. We are industrious and innovative. We are accepting and we stand up for the underdog, the little guy. We are generous to a fault and we pull together in times of crisis.

This is a time of crisis. Families are suffering, people are out of work in numbers not seen since the Great Depression, companies are going out of business, people are losingtheir life savings, there is a war going on abroad that can explode in our faces at any time, global warming is a reality that threatens not just our children’s children but is impacting us right now, problems with our food and water supply must be addressed. We have issues! But they won’t be solved by shouting and calling the opposition a bunch of Nazis. That in fact is exactly the kind of behavior that the Nazi’s used in the first place. We need level headed people to come up with level headed solutions.

Peace.

It’s Gotten Ugly

I haven’t been on the blog for a while. First, I lost my day job, then my hard drive crashed (I was very neglectful at backing up and lost a lot of important data) and then I started working on a short story which I hope to publish. I’ve written many stories and screenplays but this time I feel I’m on a roll and I write every morning and evening so I haven’t had a lot of time. Usually after dinner I sit for an hour or two and watch the tube. Most nights it’s Rachael Maddow. Being a lefty at heart, I like her smarts and her point of view. But mostly I like that she’s not rude. She’s not a shouter, nor is she full of righteous indignation like Olbermann or the blowhards on the right (you know who I mean). She makes her points but in a witty and sincere way. And she let’s her guests talk, unlike Chris Matthews or Lou Dobbs.

I believe that there is room for all points of view in America but I am clever enough to realize that there will be many people who are radicalized on both sides of any issue. Some people just don’t like the other side no matter what they advocate. Other people are at least open to discussion. But it seems that recently the Republican party has taken organized dissent to a new all time low. While everyone in America is concerned about the rising costs and lessening services in the health-care industry and a majority of Americans agree that the current system doesn’t work and must change, a minority coalition of angry old people, lobbyists for the Insurance and Pharma industries and the recalcitrant Republican leadership has decided that if they can’t win the debate or the vote then what they will do is shout it down. Organized groups have been attending Democratic organized Town Hall meetings and disrupting them by shouting as loud as possible and not allowing the representatives leading the meetings to speak. This is not just a minor disruption, it’s gotten disgusting. There have been effigies of Congressmen being hung and signs saying that they are murderers – probably relating to the unfounded rumors that the new health care bill has a clause that will ‘kill’ old people.

Watching the news footage I was supremely disappointed but not surprised. This kind of behavior, though not limited to Republicans, is kind of their MO. Remember the “grassroots” protesters that showed up in Florida to disrupt the Bush – Gore recount? They were all Republican operatives who had been sent down there to stop the proceedings. Not one of them was even from Florida. But they made the news and the media reported it as a ‘local’ grassroots protest. Now, of course, we know better.

The Republicans have been doing this for as long as I can remember. Remember Watergate? Nixon was the king of dirty tricks. How about the Muskie “Cannuck” letter? But these shout downs, organized not by local leaders but mostly by Washington Conservative Lobbyists, have sunk to an all-time low. Because the health care system really does suck and not just for those who don’t have insurance. I pay through the nose for health insurance and I’ve recently experienced just how big a rip off it really is, as I was turned down for emergency room services performed. And to keep my premiums “low” I have a very high deductible which means I wind up paying for my meds and most of my medical needs myself anyway. It’s really gotten out of hand.

And that is why these people, these screaming idiots, are so screwed up. We need honest debate on healthcare. We need a public alternative. If the conservatives are so concerned about government interference in healthcare decisions, well how about insurance company interference?

Healthcare in this country is an insurance game, not a medical game. We need to have intelligent debate. I am sure that the current bill is nowhere near perfect and we need to hear all sides of the issues. But we need to be able to HEAR them.

It’s gotten to the point where even rational Republicans are getting caught up in the spirit of meanness. Today, a person I consider a friend who happens to be a Republican and someone who I enjoy debating with got so heated in an on-line health care discussion that he started to “shout” and called me (and another debater) retarded. He did later apologize but the point is that this was so out of character for him that I believe he has just been caught up in the organized right wing shout down.

It’s time for reasonable people to prevail. This kind of abhorant behavior has been promoted and modeled after the Rush Limbaughs, Sean Hannitys and Michael Savages of the talk world and it really sucks. It’s time for real debate and real discussion and some compassion and understanding. Can’t we all just learn to get along?

Ola Amigos!

I spent the day in Miami and walked around a beautiful shopping mall in Coral Gables listening to young, fashionably dressed shoppers speak in Spanish, snacked on beef empanadas while looking for a book at Boarders, had lunch in a terrific Argentinian cafe, had a delightful conversation with a young woman from Buenos Aires and bought a pair of shoes at Neiman Marcus with the help of a charming saleswoman named Gloria who hailed from Colombia. You might say it was Latin Day for me and I thouroughly enjoyed myself. I have no facility for language and only know a wee bit of Spanish (un poco!) but had no problem communicating with anyone, even some of the helpful and friendly cafe staff who spoke little English.
On the drive back to Sebastian I got stuck in some heavy traffic and had to avoid a couple of dangerous drivers who were weaving in and out of heavy traffic as if they were New York City cabbies trying to get a fare to La Guardia at rush hour. Don’t know where one guy was from but he was driving a blue Malibu, had a skinhead look and a serious tatoo on the arm hanging out of the open window. Now he may have been a really sweet guy but he had a menacing look about him and he was driving like a freakin’ maniac and could have (and for all we know may later have) caused some real damage on the road as he was cutting people off left and right.
What I am driving at here is that you cannot judge a book by it’s cover, nor can you judge a person by their country of origin or the language they speak. Hell, by now I hope we all realize that you can’t judge anyone by the color of their skin.
Which brings me to Sonia Sotomayor. I’ve been listening to some of the rhetoric on the right about this woman and it is pissing me off. It’s sexist, racist, vulgar and incredibly devisive. What the hell is the point? The woman is obviously qualified so why devolve to these kinds of attacks? I am not saying she shouldn’t be held up to scrutiny and challenged at the confirmation hearings – that’s part of the process. But the stuff that’s going around by not only the radical fringe of the Republican Party but some of the members of Congress is frankly disgusting.
The woman has more experience on the bench than anyone currently on it or, as I understand it, than most of the previous nominees, including Chief Justice Roberts. Let’s get to the issues and keep the BS to an absolute minimum.
The Hispanic segment of the population is the fastest growing of all ethnic groups in America. Like it or not, in a few years they will be the majority. That fact makes Sotomayor not only a sound legal choice but a sound social choice as well. And don’t tell me that the nominations are made solely on legal standings. If that were the case than Clarence Thomas would still be a law clerk somewhere. In fact, Thomas had served less than a year on the bench when he was nominated by elder Bush and had spent most of his career in the beaurocracy. He was nominated to the court to appease Conservatives upset with David Souter and the bludgening of Robert Bork. Other than that he had very few qualifications for the bench and he has been a lackluster addition to the Court ever since.
Tomorrow we are going to the Kennedy Space Center. It is my birthday gift to Patricia. We will spend the day on the tour, doing the lunch with an astronaut thing and end the day watching “Star Trek” on the giant IMAX screen. It should be a great day, one that should remind us of what a great country America is. This country of immigrants put a man on the moon. This country of immigrants leads the way in science, medicine, the arts and don’t forget NASCAR.
My grandfather, Sam Shapiro, came to this country as a 12 year old. He was alone and spent some time on Ellis Island because he was sick. He had been sent from Russia by his parents at the outset of the revolution because they were afraid and wanted to make sure that at least one child, their oldest son, would have a chance to survive. After being released from Ellis Island, speaking little if any English, he made his way to the Russian-Jewish neighborhhod on Hester Street, was taken in by people from his hometown and started working in a grocery store for 25 cents a week. He eventually got his own vegetable cart, saved his money, studied engineering at Cooper Union, got married and owned his own business, a popular restaurant in Brooklyn, NY. He retired in the 60’s and spent the next 20 or so years of his life volunteering to help others and running a children’s summer camp.
He was proud of America just as he was proud of where he came from. One of his happiest moments came after he retired, when he went back to Europe for the first time since he was 12. In West Berlin (remember the wall?) he was standing with a group of flag waving American tourists watching a convoy of American troops roll by when one of the soldiers stood up and shouted to him by name. “Hey Sam”, the skinny kid screamed with a nasal Brooklyn twang, “I miss your hotdawgs!” the entire crowd looked at him like he was a celebrity and after that they all wanted to know him. My grandfather wept as he told me that story. To him that moment was everything.
And by the way, he was a Socialist at heart. He believed in working for the collective good of all people. He spoke with a thick Russian accent and his English was sometimes sketchy but he was extremely intelligent and savvy. But make no mistake, he was 100% All-American.
Sonia Sotomayor is a proud, dignified woman who is carrying on the great American tradition of getting ahead on merit. She deserves respect if nothing else. I wonder if she knows how to make empanadas?

The Price of Gas

About a year ago I posted that a price of a gallon of gas at the pump would be around $5 by this time this year. My prediction was based on very a very reliable source inside the Washington Beltway. However, it seems that due to the last election and the slump in the economy I am a little off. Last week in central Florida I saw pump prices for a gallon of regular average around $2.54 and in some places as high as $2.80. I know that in some areas around the country it runs much higher.
I suspect that by August the price of gas will be back on track and the march to $5 will be rolling on. I anticipate $3 a gallon in August but it could be higher.
Eventually it will hit the target price of $5 and it will stay there barring some unforseen financial or environmental disaster or another presidential election. This is because the cost of a gallon of gas has absolutely nothing to do with the price of oil futures, or problems in Caraccas, OPEC or the war in the middle east or whatever the politicians or news services tell us. It is an agreed upon price.
The envirnomental lobby is behind this rise to 5 because they feel, perhaps rightly so, that it is the only way to get people to start taking real action about the fossil fuel crisis and global warming that faces our world’s future. The auto industry is down with it and the oil companies are happy as clams – and more profitable than ever. Can anyone say Exxon Mobil stock?
It sucks but it may be the right move. We have to lead the way to a better future for the spawn we leave behind.
We need to develop nuclear and solar energy plans that make sense and we have to get off the fossil fuel jag. I love my car as much as the next man but this administration be sinking more money into infrastructure. To me infrastructure means mass transit, not just more Interstates and 6 lane highways to suburbia.
We just leased a 2009 Prius. It’s not much to look at really but it’s averaging around 45mpg and it feels good to be ‘green’ if nothing else. I feel proud to drive it. Don’t get me wrong, I love my Explorer but it doesn’t make me feel proud to drive it – it just gets me where I need to go with a lot of junk.
So watch the price at the pump go up steadily. It may dip down now and again but the trend will be up. $3 or maybe $3.50 by August and who knows after that. If there is nothing to deter it, the price will be $5 before we know it.

Adapt or Become Extinct

Although it is to be expected, I find the controversy around the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to be ludicrous and racist, sexist and just about every other kind of ist. It is typical partisan garbage. The woman is eminently qualified and should be admitted to the highest court without much of a hassle, barring any unforeseen scandal the Republicans can muster up. this is not to say that she should not be questioned and investigated – that is part of the process. But the BS flying around the last couple of days reeks like Limburger.

What really gets me however is this concept of “strict constructionist judges” versus “activist judges.”  As I understand it, the strict constructionists believe that they absolutely know the thinking of the Founding Fathers and can literally interpret the Constitution with impunity. Activist is a term applied to judges the Right deem unsuitable because they believe that the Constitution is a living document which is open to interpretation. What is clear to me and most students of history is that the Constitution is an imperfect document that was put together by men who had conflicting national views and interests. Even though it may be the greatest document ever written and stands as the basis of our free society, we have to remember that it was crafted at a time when there were no automobiles, airplanes, cell phones, AK-47 automatic weapons, SCUD missiles, stem cell research, no State of Israel, not even a State of California. Things change. Shit happens.

Thomas Jefferson, writer of the Declaration of Independence and one of the world’s greatest thinkers got it right when he said that “all men are created equal” and that they have certain “unalienable” rights including Life Liberty and the Persuit of Happiness. Of course, he was referring to white, Christian men but that’s not how they articulated it and thank goodness for that semantic difference. Women, blacks, Chinese and Indians had no rights whatsoever in Jefferson’s world. That came later as the Constitution was ammended over time.

Jefferson was brilliant but his scope of knowledge was limited. I just read in the New Yorker that Jefferson believed, as did many scientists of his day, that all the species on earth were fixed, that is to say that God created all the animals of the earth for all eternity. When he sent Lewis and Clark to the Pacific Northwest he fully expected them to come upon live mastodons roaming the region. Somewhere along the way we learned differently. The dinosaurs died out just like Moa of New Zealand and countless other species. We are still learning and still adapting to life on this planet. (The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert, May 25th)

And because we are still all evolving, as people and as a society, our Constitution will continue to evolve with us. If statistics prove correct, the country will soon have more Hispanic citizens than any other group. So Ms Sotomayor seems to be the right woman at the right time to bring a Latin understanding to the heart of our nations justice system.

The Absurdity of it All

Life just seems more and more absurd everyday. We (our government) are spending trillions of dollars to stimulate an economy but nothing to change the culture that created the crisis. The entire world seems to be in need of Ritalin. Take these examples:

A high school in Newport Beach, CA bans a student production of “Rent” and the entire nation is freaking out about a play. Another school in LaGrande, Oregon bans “Picasso at Lapin Agile, ” a play by Steve Martin in which Picasso meets Einstein at a bar and shares a drink. I wonder if they would have objected if the students wore arrows on their heads, played the banjo and pretended to be mentally retarded? Probably not.

A group of Hindu activists protest the erection of a statue of Charlie Chaplin which is being made as a backdrop for a movie dance number. They think it’s bad to build a statue of a non-Hindu that is anywhere near their temple. Haven’t they heard that Chaplin was a secret Hindu? He never ate cow.

We need more art in our lives. I walked around the exhibits at the annual “Art Under The Oaks” art fair in Vero Beach, Florida in the warmth of the sun, taking in the art of greater and lesser quality. There were some amazingly talented artists represented as well as the usual share of questionable talent:jewelers, T-shirt hawkers and kitch creators. I really enjoyed speaking with some of those artists whose work really stood out. Had a great chat with Gary Barnes of North Carolina (www.barnesstudios.com), a fellow pastel artist and a very talented and unique woman named Farhana who did richly textured watercolors which achieved a classic Moghul appearance – really interesting original technique. Perhaps most interesting to me of all was a Japanese woman living in Christiansburg, VA, who painted in gouache, something you don’t see much of these days. Her work combined traditional Asian themes with European technique. I noticed Yumiko Ichikawa’s mission statement, which related that her life’s goal was to create a harmonious world in painting. That’s what we need, a more harmonious world and it is in the arts that we can best create that end. So why isn’t Congress spending a few extra shekels of stimulus on the arts?

The other day I went to see the Mets play the Nationals at an exhibition game in Port St. Lucie. It was a lousy game but we had good seats. It was around the 6th inning of a one run game in a half filled stadium – even the beer vendors were asleep – and the couple just behind us would not stop screaming. “Let’s Go Mets!,” “What’s that ump, are ya blind?” and so forth. No one else in the stadium seemed to be that interested in the game, forget yelling at players and umpires. But these folks had no qualms about standing, stomping, and shouting to the skies for their blue and orange clad heroes. I tried to appreciate their enthusiasm but all I could think was ’shut up you dorks and let everyone else enjoy the afternoon in the sun!’ If only they could be that excited about John Currin.

On the way home I saw a sign on a billboard that had a quote from George Carlin. It went something like this: “Ever notice how anyone driving slower than you is a moron and anyone driving faster than you is a maniac?” It was like a lightbulb went off in my head. Yes, that’s so true!

I noticed that Stuart, my compadre, had been driving in that middle ground of not too fast and not too slow and mentioned the billboard. He remarked that he never speeds, always goes at just the posted speed limit. “Never?” I asked? Never was his response. And he never has received a speeding ticket. Now I myself have a heavy foot and I have paid who-knows-how-many dollars over the years in fines. I just got a ticket a few weeks ago for going 12 miles over the limit – I thought I was getting screwed. How could they ticket me for only 12 measly miles on US 1? My theory is that anything within 12 miles of the speed limit is not speeding. I even set my cruise control at about 10 miles above the limit. I also believe that if you are going 5 miles under the limit and not in the extreme right lane you should be arrested for being a danger to society. I don’t know, maybe I need to reevaluate my theory? Maybe I need to follow the rules and play the game? That sounds sooooo boring and SLOW.

While I’m on the subject of speeding objects, last night I was sitting outside having a hamburger and beer with friends when someone said “Wow look, there goes the Space Shuttle!” We all turned to see the bright lights of the rockets burning through the sky at dusk. The smoke trail looked like a fantastic elongated white feather which then turned orange and white again with the changing reflection of the setting sun. As the sky faded to black, we watched the rockets separate and fall to earth while the Discovery soared toward it’s rendezvous with the Space Station somewhere out in the great beyond. It was quite stunning and magnificent. That was a work of art both Picasso and Einstein would have admired.

You call this change?

I noticed today that the price of gas has begun to creep back up. Here in Florida, where a gallon of regular was as low as $1.45 a couple of weeks ago, the average price around here today is about $1.89. Hmmm. Is there any less gas around since the inauguration? I doubt it. The fact is that while the new administration is talking about change, they need to make some decisive changes and fast. While Obama talks about the need for job creation with the nations infrastrcture, there is more money in the stimulus package that is going to go to tax breaks than towards infrastructure projects. Tax breaks? Isn’t that the kind of nonsensical thinking that got us here in the first place?

I don’t like the fact that the President feels the need to be warm and fuzzy with the Republicans and I don’t believe for a moment that the majority of Republicans in Congress want to see Obama succeed any more than Rush Limbaugh does. I smell a rat.

Speaking of Rush Limbaugh, if I have one regret in my career it is that I once made a commercial for him. The truth is that I really didn’t know that much about that fat tub of garbage at the time but I knew enough to realize that I was really lowering my standards in taking the money. My excuse then was that someone was going to get paid to do it and it might as well be me. Well, that’s just the same kind of bullshit thinking that gets us into trouble with things like a sub-prime mortgage crisis and torture at Guantanamo. I am ashamed of myself now and I regret doing anything that at one time added to the success and riches of one of the worst people in the media today. To the world: I apologize!

One Mans View of the Inauguration

I received this email from Manick Rajendran, one of the most interesting and literate gentlemen I have met in many years. What makes Manick’s impressions even more poignant is the fact that Manick was born in India from the Untouchable caste and worked his way up to becoming a great American story. He is a successful businessman, a devoted husband and father and a man who has experienced prejudice first hand but overcame it with an indomitable spirit, a piercing intellect and a fierce competitive spirit. When you read his letter please stop for a moment and place yourself in his shoes. I think you will sense the power of hope the new administration brings in a different sort of way.

B

The thermometer showed minus 13 degrees C when I woke up at 6am. The Inauguration itinerary had noted that they will close all security points at 9:00am. So there was time. Really chithappa? my niece asked me as she turned the TV on to CNN. We better leave as soon as we can. Look at those crowds! She was the only other brave soul at my sis-in-law’s place (where I stayed the previous night) who volunteered to come with me.
 
Way back in 1963 on a warm balmy day in August, about a quarter of a million people heeded the call to March on Washington and proceeded to the gathering point in Washington D.C. by the towering spire of the Washington Monument. They would then march to the Lincoln Memorial a mile away, with their backs to Capitol Hill and listen in rapt attention to the speakers who will be giving voice to the anguish they have been living through. The winds across the open space and the reflecting pool will distort what little decibel strength the microphone system would help deliver. It will not matter to the crowd. They will wait for John Lewis, Dr. King and others to speak. They will applaud and cheer whenever they hear strong and passionate words. They will hear the speakers utter words of importance that will have an effect on the Kennedy Administration. They will know that they are fighting for their civil rights. They will know that theirs is a nationwide struggle for Jobs and Freedom. They will express through their hearts and souls, with no guarantees that it will create any change.
 
They will not know at that time that millions of Americans, Black and White will be watching the March and Rally on TV. They will not know then that the dignity, strength and character they will exhibit will transform the country to enact the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act within the next two years. They will not know then that the hopeful looks on their faces will inspire Dr. King to step over his seven-minute limit of a prepared speech to verbalize on behalf of struggling souls of oppressed people everywhere. To deliver those immortal words “I have a dream” that will resonate through generations, across geography to all human beings across time. Soul-stirring words backed by the other leaders on the stage leading to a crescendo of affirmation – “Free at last” !
 
Forty five years later, we are now a nation of achievers. Dreams and aspirations have translated to policies and guarantees. We live in a vastly different world. An estimated two million of us are now going to brave the winter cold and be at the same spots where history had happened. I would not miss it for the world!
 
Toe and hand warmers in place, heavily booted, a few layers of clothes, map in back pocket, energy bars in one of the front pocket, a bottle of water on the other, some cash, driver’s license, a camera and a video cam strung over the neck, I was ready. Nivviand I were dropped off at the local Metro station at pretty much the same temperature we woke up with. It then took us about 40 minutes to be able to get through the turnstiles using the commemorative daily pass that my sis-in-law had so thoughtfully bought for us the previous day.
 
There were smiling faces all around, making way for more of those on the platform to come aboard. No need for Japan’s Shinkansen locomotive-style people-packing help. Pretty soon we realized how planning could be so different from what actually happens. At 8:40 am, we were still riding the Metro watching in dismay as the train rode past L’Enfant station without stopping. There goes my carefully architected plan to be strategically midway between the Monument and the Capitol! Anyway, at least I will still be able to make it to the south side of the National Mall (the open 1.9 mile strip between the Capitol and Lincoln Memorial) so that the sun will be on my back to enable me to take good pictures.
 
Waterfront station was crowded when we got off. Walking towards the Mall, the crowd started getting thicker with people walking in all directions until finally on 14th street, one could only face West and attempt to move a foot at a time, towards what destination, no one knew. The smiles around us persisted and very soon all we could see was the skies above us and government buildings floating by passively. It was fascinating to watch the lone city-jet high above us trying to make “O” with his smoke flume. At about 10:00am, we caught a glimpse of the Monument, but still did not have a clue as to what lay ahead. A few hundred yards later, a spectacular sight sprung into view as the crowd began to descend on a slope towards the obelisk, giving us a perfect view of where we could have been if we were here at 4:00am! Thousands of human beings in bright colors, all looking in one direction, Only this time, they were all looking towards the Capitol where Dr. King’s dream of his children not being judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character, will come to pass at exactly noon.
 
We finally moved en masse towards one end of the slope facing the Monument from the East and what a treat it was to take pictures. One could not go wrong any which way you aimed your camera. The Jumbotronscreen was so far away, but the video cam came in handy. All I had to do was lift it high above my head, zoom in, tilt the view finder screen and watch. Four others craned their necks to watch the events on this small screen. We were not alone with this bit of creativity. Kids were hoisted by their dads to afford them a glimpse. Teens took turns climbing on each others shoulders. Tears, smiles, pride, Obama caps, Obama buttons, twinkle in the eye – everyone was wearing one or more of these. People swapped tales of how they never thought that this would happen. Of how this is real. Happy people everywhere for whom all the world’s economic crisis meant nothing at this time. What mattered was that they were there.
 
Aretha Franklin’s rousing performance was lost to the enormous bow she wore. Rick Warren’s words were lost on the bowed heads of people who said their own thanks and prayers. Elizabeth’s poetry was lost to the anticipation of what was to follow. Reverend Lowery’s rhyming benediction was lost to the chuckles of all who thought that he was a better poet on stage. Justice Roberts’ fumbling of the Presidential oath was lost to the charming smile of the new President we could see on the screen. The soft cold breeze at minus 8 degrees C was totally lost to all of us as we cheered in unison for Barak Hussein Obama as he accepted his responsibility to faithfully execute the office of President of the United States of America on this sunny day, January 20, 2009.
 
What a country !!
 
Check out my album –> http://picasaweb.google.com/manick/Inauguration09?authkey=8TbXLWCoemQ&feat=directlink
 
Manick

Talkin’ bout my G…G…Generation

Today history will be made. Barack Hussein Obama will become the first Black American President. It is significant also that he will be the first President of a new generation. We Baby Boomers can now officially begin our decent into old age and irrelevance. Those of us who considered ourselves part of a revolution, at the forefront of the ‘Greening of America’ can now let the past go and watch the future unfold around us.

The 60’s and early 70’s were a good time for those who wanted to push the envelope in politics, social behavior, art and intellectual discourse. We survived the sexual revolution and the drug crazed hippie experiment. We changed the world but perhaps not in the way we thought we would. We opened the door for Barack Obama to step through and bring a whole new meaning to the word change.

I am very happy to pass the torch to the new generation. Our group still has lots to do and there is still a lot of white and gray hair in Congress, ready to screw things up at any time. But Bush and his regime are out and that has to be a positive step for the nation and the world.

I sat with my mother yesterday as we watched Obama on TV and she remarked that I wouldn’t remember watching Kennedy inaugurated. I remember so much of Kennedy though. I remember the promise and the excitement. He was young and compelling and even as an nine year old I was inspired. I even wrote a school play and acted the part of Kennedy (it was a play about kids finding a spaceship and going to the moon – Kennedy gave them an award upon their return to earth) and I was crushed by his death. Death was something that I didn’t really understand. My cousin Michael’s tragic death from leukemia was my only previous encounter with death and it was too abstract a notion for me to grasp. Kennedy’s tragic death from a bullet was somehow more knowable. He was the president and I felt I knew him as much as I knew my cousin. Now, for the first time since JFK went bye bye, there is a man in the White House who can inspire and rally a generation of American’s and hopefully inspire them to achieve new heights.

So today the torch is passing. That’s really really good. For all of us. Good luck Mr. President – you’ll need it.