Quote

"For as long as I live, I will never forget that in no other country on earth is my story even possible."

Doing the Right Thing

Maybe it's not what someone else would do. And maybe it's not want you would have done once upon a time. But when doing something feels right, do it.

Yesterday I helped a friend. She's going through a difficult time - very difficult. I haven't been able to do much except listen - always a good thing but I wanted to do more. Yesterday I was able.

There are lots of cliches about doing good:

"What goes around comes around."
"Instant Karma's gonna get you."
"Cast your bread upon the water..."

But the one that means the most to me:
"The love you take is equal to the love you make..."

Inspiration

Copy and paste this link to see this marvelous gentleman.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=TW-6DpC-mj8

The book is out!

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw_0_16?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=the+ultimate+cat+lover&sprefix=the+ultimate+cat

And I'm not letting people rain on my parade!
I had some copies shipped to my office and I, of course, was ecstatic to actually hold a copy. And my story is the lead one!

I guess I was too loud in my happiness since the office manager told me to be quiet since "people were trying to work." I immediately got on the intercom and announced that my book was out.

I've been writing for publication for more than twenty years and this is the first time I've been in a widely-marketed book.

I am proud of my accomplishment and it's something that most people, including the woman who told me to be quiet, could never do.

My New Hero

Click on the link and read the entire article by Beth Broderick:


"When do we vote?" Elizabeth "Libba" Grant must have asked this a dozen times over the past few weeks. She had been transferred to Palliative care and she knew better than anyone that the end was near. At eighty-one years of age she figured this was only fair, but she had some business to attend to before she took her leave.

Libba loved politics. She was a life long Democrat ... a yella dog through and through and she never missed a chance to participate. Libba had marched for Civil rights, fought for women's equality and rallied her fellow Southerners in support of many a worthy cause. She had always voted with pride and conviction, but she could never remember a time when she felt so urgent about it. Death would simply have to
wait."



Bless you, Libba - I hope I grow up to be just like you.

No Politics....

Not in this post. Just gratitude.

I love my new apartment and my "new" life.
I didn't realize until I'd moved just how much my old place looked like a "dungeon" (Rich's words) and "cave" (Pattie). On Greenwood Ave. I couldn't open my drapes, couldn't keep my blinds open because anyone on the sidewalk could look inside.

Now I have large windows. My bedroom faces east and the large windows open onto a large lawn, giving the cats views to lots of cat-watching activities. I have an enclosed, fenced-in, private patio with grass and I can grow anything I want without worrying that someone will pull up my flowers or throw away potted plants.

Everyday I come home I am filled with gratitude for my new home.
It was a month of hard work on my part - packing and carrying and unpacking (which I'm still doing). But it was more than worth it.

I am a very happy girl -
For that I am very thankful.

Colin Powell...

In endorsing Barack Obama, Secretary Powell said something so insightful, I wanted it on my blog:

"Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer is no. That's not America. Is there something wrong with a seven-year-old Muslim-American kid believing he or she could be president? Yet I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion that he is a Muslim and might have an association with terrorists. This is not the way we should be doing it in America.


I feel particularly strong about this because of a picture I saw in a magazine. It was a photo essay about troops who were serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. And one picture at the tail end of this photo essay, was of a mother at Arlington Cemetery and she had her head on the headstone of her son's grave. And as the picture focused in, you could see the writing on the headstone, and it gave his awards - Purple Heart, Bronze Star - showed that he died in Iraq, gave his date of birth, date of death, he was 20 years old. And then at the very top of the head stone, it didn't have a Christian cross. It didn't have a Star of David. It has a crescent and star of the Islamic faith.

And his name was Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan. And he was an American. He was born in New Jersey. He was fourteen years old at the time of 9/11, and he waited until he could serve his country and he gave his life."

This is the picture:


We must move away from labels, intolerance and discrimination. There will be no peace and no true democracy until we do.

Answering Senator McCain.....

McCain wants Obama to make public the names of his small contributors - to date averaging $86 each and running in the younger and older age groups.

Okay, John. Here's one name:

Mary C. (Mitzi) Flyte - in the over 55 age group.
She's made several donations to the Obama/Biden campaign in the last few months. The smallest being the $20 she left at the Obama Easton, PA office during the primary and the largest being a $100 online donation.

I bet there's a lot of people like her out there.

Wanna make something of it, John?

SNL October 18, 2008

If Sarah Palin had just done the opening of the program, I'm sure it would have been much better for her ticket. But just like the McCain/Palin campaign, she went just a bit too far by taking part in a Weekend Update skit that was supposed to be self-deprecating. I enjoyed it, but I'm one of the "liberal, leftist elite."

I don't see Palin's base as being open enough to be self-deprecating. I think the Republican Vice Presidential candidate's appearance on SNL was another bomb dropped by the McCain campaign.

As an Obama supporter...well... I loved it. I think "our Sarah" can find work after November 4 - as an SNL cast member.

The Republican "Base"

Just how big is the Republican base that's been in the news for so long?
How big is that foundation that supposedly was so inspired by Palin?
Did that base include George Will or Chris Buckley? Maybe, but not for long.
Did that base include people who call out "Kill him!", "Terrorist!" when Palin mentions Obama or the obviously clueless McCain supporter who called Obama an(gasp!)Arab?
If it's the latter group that comprises the base of the Republican Party, then the party has (hopefully) a very small base - like the top of a pyramid.
And if the top of a pyramid is it's "base"...well, the entire structure would just...like...tip over.
Maybe that's what we're seeing now - the entire structure of the McCain campaign tipping over, if not the structure of the Republican Party.
As a Democrat, I hope that the Republican Party can survive it's "base".

Why No Guy?

That's not what a friend actually said, but the inference was there. She didn't hurt my feelings because the answer is, right now, one of choice.

It's been four years since the break-up with Mark. It doesn't seem that long ago, yet sometimes it seems as if it's a lifetime ago. I've done the match.com thing and even ventured into eHarmony territory; but all of that was really half-hearted. I guess I'm not really that "into him" - whoever "he" would be.

I'm no longer hiding behind a virtual wall of books and using reading and writing as an excuse for "not being in the world". My new, wonderful, non-cave-like apartment is bright and cherry but it's still my refuge.

And maybe I'm just wary - and weary.

Next week I'll be at the Indian Museum powwow - maybe an older American Indian with white streaks in his long black hair - or maybe not.

Contrary to what modern movies and old fairy tales say, I don't need a he to complete me.

Terrorist vs. Secessionist

What happened when Obama was 8 vs what happened when Palin was 42.



Another thoughtful article by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

http://www.truthout.org/101208Z

Palins who live in glass houses shouldn't toss stones - or incite idiots in their crowds.

I remember....

...my father saying, "Someone should shoot that little Napoleon." This was October, 1963 and he was talking about President Kennedy. Less than a month later someone did just that.

I remember it so well because at 16 I'd come to admire Kennedy and was developing my own values that have held true for almost 50 years.

I remember it now because I've heard some McCain supporters yelling similar epithets about Barack Obama.

When I hear those hate-filled voices, I get a chill and I'm back in 1963.

Have we learned nothing in the last 45 years?

"That One"

I first thought this phrase, said with a a bit of a harsh inflection by John McCain while pointing to Barack Obama, was condescending. I don't want to say racist, although it did remind me of the use of "boy" when referring to an adult African-American.

I did think the phrase was condescending until I read the Daily Kos this morning and saw this:

The McCains Have Left the Building

Actions speak louder than words.

C-Span kept the cameras at the latest debate running while the other networks went to pundits and talking heads. What C-Span showed was the Obamas walking through the audience, shaking hands, signing autographs, having pictures taken.

So what, you say?

Barack and Michelle Obama stayed to talk to "the people" (Joe and Joann Six-pack as Palin would say) - to talk to them directly without the "filter of the media" (another Palinism). And the response? All you had to do was to watch the faces of those who had been in the town hall meeting as they met the couple personally, as they passed cameras back and forth, as they spoke directly to the candidate and his wife.

Where were the McCains? Not there. Maybe on their way to their private plane.
No that's not fair...the plane is the McCain's campaign plane.

Actions speak louder than words. People need to see that the candidates can respond to them as...well...as people.

The Obamas were doing that while the McCains were...gone.

And one more thing...

To all those people who say, "She's just like us..." to justify why they like Gov. Palin:

Think of all the idiotic things you've done recently, all the mistakes you make day to day (be honest, you do), all the things you don't know...

Do you really want THAT person so close to the presidency?

I don't want someone LIKE me so close to the most important job in the world. I want someone BETTER than me...MUCH better...

Have a beer with her. Just don't vote for her.

McClellan's in Afghanistan...???

One of Palin's many mistakes last night was getting the name of the General in Afghanistan wrong. McClellan?
Oh, heavens, Sarah. I hope NOT.
McClellan could have won the Civil War after Antietam by following Lee across the Potomac and finishing off the Army of Northern Virginia. He didn't and President Lincoln eventually relieved Little Mac from command.

So, I certainly hope McKiernan, not McClellan, is our general in Afghanistan. I know age leads to experience but a 150+ year old general would be ridiculous.

She doesn't know American history, the Constitution or even Senator Biden's family history.

And if she wanted to identify herself with this "Joann Six-Pack" (this six-pack being nonalcoholic beer), she should have known all three - I do.

I realized I'm more ready to be Vice President than she is.
I just don't want it.