Inauguration Day

 
Today is the day I have been waiting for. My excitement is not so much to see Obama in as it is to see King George out.
 
I am feeling a fatherly relief, as though I am finally getting my idiot son out from behind the wheel of the family car. Sure, it's a bit dinged up. Well ... massively damaged actually. But, it's in the driveway. Whew! The nightmare is over. Maybe.
 
"Please, son," I'm pleading. "Get out of the car. Give the nice man the keys."
 
I'm trying not to look too angry.
 
I'm hoping this Obama guy is an excellent mechanic.
 
I'm suspecting the family car will never be the same.
 

Martin Luther King Day

 
What many overlook when remebering the Reverend King is this:
just before his death in Memphis on April 4, 1968, Reverend King delivered one of his most moving speeches, "I Have Been To The Mountaintop'. wherein he switched the focus of his civil rights movement from racial justice to a focus on economic equality.
 

 
I will always believe he lost his life not to the forces of racial bigotry, but rather to the forces of economic greed and exploitation.
 
And that is my message for today.
 
A thoughtful MLK Day to you all.

Good-bye George - hopefully

Today is the 13th and there only a week to go before George W. Bush Jr. steps down from the office of the presidency. Not much time to get up to new mischief, but ... who knows. Right?
 
Right now I am listening to a Helen Thomas interview by Amy Goodman on her DemocracyNow web broadcast. Unlike myself, Helen Thomas does not seem to share my lingering paranoia King George will use the imaginary powers of his imperial presidency to NOT step down. However; like myself, Helen does seem to share my doubts Barack Obama will be ushering a new era in American politics.
 
You should check it out.
 
and this brings me to what is the real issue I am concerned about today - the current Israeli assault on Gaza. An assault it seems George Bush appears to have green lighted. An issue also being addressed on DemocracyNow today as Amy Goodman covers protests both for and against the Israeli invasion of Gaza.
 
It seems to me I already see in Obama's silence his weakness and in his quiet acquiescence his servitude to power and money and influences he wrongly believes got him elected.
 
Again I say ... the new boss seems like the old boss.
 
Shame on you Obama.
Where is change we can believe in?

Just when I thought blogging was useless

 
Just after the new year I got a comment on my then current blog.
Thinking it was one of the spammy sort of comments I most frequently get, I came expecting to delete.
 
Instead it was the son of a long ago friend asking if I was his father's friend he remembered from his childhood. And ... I was that person!
 
This was rather exciting in and of itself. But then, the very next day his mother, also a friend from long ago, commented as well.
 
A happy day. Oone which makes the frustration I have felt over the futility of working this blog over the years a little less of a painful memory.
 
Thanks old friends. You've given life joy.