Heard on NPR...

If you missed it, listen to this hilarious conversation with John Boehner (House Minority Leader) on Morning Edition. The most hilarious part is his argument that NASA (a science agency, with scientific instruments on its satellites) should not get 400 M$ to study climate change, because money has already been allocated to the CIA (a spy agency with spy instruments on its satellites) to study it. WTF? Oh, and he doesn't see how that spending would help the economy. He seems to think that NASA actually puts the money on rockets and launches it into space, instead of employing thousands of scientists, engineers, IT wonks, mechanics and secretaries. Nimrod.

It's so cute. They don't even know what to do with themselves. As witness wossname Cornyn (R-Texas), being a real p.i.t.a. just for spite. Tee-hee.

Funny. I don't remember politics EVER being this interesting before... I can watch Barack roll back Bush policy all day long. That's my boy.

The quiet...

was astounding. It feels like the whole world was waiting to hear what this man had to say. A breathless pause. A universal moment of silence. And in that silence, here's what I heard.

We will restore science to its rightful place...

We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals...

America is a friend to every nation and every man, woman and child...

We are ready to lead once more...

A collective failure to make hard choices.

What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them.

Power grows through prudent use.

...roll back the specter of a warming planet...

Our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness.

People will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy.

The world has changed, and we must change with it.

A new era of responsibility.


I'm all fired up and ready to go!

John Williams!

I didn't know that was coming!!! How fun to have new music written by one of America's greatest composers, just for the day, and such super-luminaries to play it!!!! Wow!!! And what a beautiful piece. "Air and simple gifts", it's called, if you missed it.

And it's now 12:01. Power has passed, whether the words have been said or not.

And here comes John Roberts. And Michelle with the Lincoln Bible. And Roberts did it wrong! Tee-hee.

Here's the speech....

Time to change...

the passwords.

I just realized this morning, as I was logging in to all my computers and applications, that for the last few years, my password set has been based on the first line of A Tale of Two Cities. I will have to now think of a new password set that more accurately reflects my more positive mood.

I hope all of you are enjoying this uniquely American celebration of the peaceful transfer of power. The pictures of the Mall are absolutely astonishing. Millions of people all over D.C. just to be there on this incredible day. Lucky them. What a good day. What a good day. What a good day.

Lots of talk about the racial boundaries being crossed, but almost as important, I think, is the socioeconomic boundary. This is the first time in my life that a person has risen from poverty to the highest office in the land. I think I had assumed (without thinking too much about it) that that could not happen any more.

What a good day.

Here he comes!!!! Back later.

The Man

is spending this morning at parent-teacher conferences with Michelle.

And all of America is going 'Oh, crap. When's my parent-teacher conference? Oh crap. I'd better hitch up my pants, put a belt on and get my sorry butt to my kids' school.'

I keep fearing to get let down. And then he walks the walk, and does things I didn't even expect, that are such powerful messages to the people. Who ever would have expected that the president-elect of the United States of America, the most powerful person on the entire planet, would spend the Friday morning of election week in parent-teacher conferences?

For me, the higher standard is the parent-teacher conference, and not the solving of the economic crisis. Although I expect that too. Just, sort of, you know, if he can squeeze it in while he's changing the culture of the country to include things like responsible parenting, and caring about the future. Oh. He's on it? And getting advice from a wide array of stakeholders and experts? Even people of varying points of view? No lobbyists allowed? Oh. Good. Right on. I'll go back to responsibly doing my job then, and wait to hear about how I can help with the most excellent plan that will no doubt be devised.

Oh, another one.

which lives in my head in Spanish, not English.

My first natively Spanish thought.

Si. Se puede.

And this one... which is Spanglish... sort of...

Obamanos.

Giddiness...

We did it! After four weeks of stomping around NM, calling and knocking and heckling and annoying everyone we could find... After J in Utah calling and heckling and annoying people in CO, and even some in UT... After spending all of election Tuesday checking the polls, calling around, giving rides, and dragging people to the polls, calling, calling, calling, as late as 6:45 pm.

After all that... VICTORY!!!

I am still compulsively checking maps.

Is it really happening?

I have these little epiphanies. All last night, I kept waking up with them. And all day today. I suddenly stop typing, or trying to figure out what happened to my graphics display, or trying to figure out why my bandpass fails in the 245th channel. I suddenly am stopped dead in my tracks, and bits of words and fragments of images fly like birds across my mental landscape. Sunlight glints off of feathers.

We won.

HOPE vs. fear.

We saved ANWR.

Solar panels.

No offshore drilling.

Wind turbines.

Boots.

No one else to die for my car.

Education.

Service.

Ask not what your country can do for you...

Ask. of me.

Hope. Hope. Hope.

Roe v. Wade.

The Constitution.

Sex ed.

All people. Everywhere. ALL. Include. Encompass. Allow. Appreciate. Embrace. Enfold. Lift. Let fly.

The Supreme Court.

Nina Totenberg.

The Constitution.

Warrants for wire tapping.

Medicine for children.

Education.

Science.

... BECAUSE it is hard.

Help for the elderly.

Homes for the homeless.

Homes for the poor.

Homes for our veterans.

Homes.

Home.

Hope.

GOTV

Go. Vote. Seriously.

I have been spending evenings and weekends canvassing for the Obama campaign. If you think things are bad for you, you should come spend some time in the barrio in Socorro. I have had some of the most amazing conversations with people. I talked for nearly half an hour with a guy who doesn't vote anymore, because the political system has failed him. What would get him to vote? New boots. He had boots straight out of the Great Depression---holes, cardboard, staples, yup. He worked as a laborer his whole life. Then he retired, mostly broken, at 65. SS no longer makes ends meet, Medicare doesn't cover his bills, and he's back to work. At 80 years old. With boots that have holes in them. Can't we do better than this for our elderly?

Or how about the veteran. I knocked on his door. Well, sort of a door. Just because you can see through the gaps around the frame doesn't mean it's not a door, right? He comes to the door in his wheelchair to answer it. I tell him I'm with the Obama campaign, and I'm working to get out the vote. As a veteran, he feels he needs to vote for McCain. I tell him I understand that, but would like to let him know about early voting anyway, and inquire if he needs a ride to the polls. Turns out he does. Can't we do better than this for our veterans?

So then I'm on the phones. Five elderly or disabled people took me up on our offer for a ride to the polls. They had no other way to get there. Several people needed help with their absentee ballots (Fill in the ovals all the way. Sign the outside. Put three stamps on.) Can't we do better than this for our citizens?

On Saturday, we are having a matanza on the plaza, to help get out the early voters. Free food always draws 'em in. For many of the people I talked to in the barrio, this will be the only time their children's bellies are full all week. Can't we do better than this for the poor?

And what about the woman I talked to on the phone who just lost her entire retirement savings in the stock market? Or the woman in the barrio who's holding down three jobs, and trying to get her kids to school? Or the man I talked to on the phone who has lost hope that America will ever live up to its ideals?

Even when I lived in Camden, NJ; even when I was teaching convicts in the penitentiary to read; even when I was planting community gardens in the poorest, most-crime-ridden neighborhood in one of the most violent cities in America; even when I was visiting some of the most inner-city of all inner-city grade schools in the country; even here, in the mostly Spanish-speaking barrios in Socorro; I have never, not even one time, met someone who fit the description 'undeserving poor'. It's a myth. A legend. A construct to make unfairness and unkindness seem acceptable. An invention that makes people feel better as they drive by the homeless guy, eyes averted. He's undeserving. I am not responsible. He's lazy. There is nothing I can do. He doesn't want to work. It's not my responsibility. He wants to be homeless. It's not my responsibility, it's not my responsibility, it's not my responsibility.

Go. Vote.

And then. (Yes, there's more.) Get involved. How many groups in your neighborhood could use your help---not your money, but your help? The library, the public schools, the food bank, the homeless shelter, the animal shelter, your local museums... all of these institutions are struggling, just as you are. Even if you've got no money to give, you can still do something to help out at the library, at the food bank. Pick one insitution. Pick one cause. Pick one person. Do something. Anything. I promise, it will make you feel big and strong and powerful. And it will fill you with hope. Isn't that better than television?

All these people the politicians are talking about---the hardworking rich, the undeserving poor, the noble poor, or the profligate rich---all these people are just people. They are your friends and your neighbors and the kids down the street. Just people. Just like you. Just trying to get by, any way they can. And some of 'em could have their lives turned around by getting a ride when they need it. Or a new pair of boots.

Go. Volunteer. Be part of your world. Have the courage to say 'Yes', 'I believe', and 'I will' (to paraphrase Taylor Mali). Have the courage to do something truly scary, and open yourself up to other people. I'll see you out there.

In other news...

Also this week, I built a new chicken coop. They think it's the best thing ever. We already have the start of a gorgeous pile of compost.

And, I went running three days this week so far. Today, for the first time, I forgot I was running while I was running. In other words, I stopped paying attention to how hard it was, and was thinking about something else. That's progress! Nine more miles on my sweet shooz.

I decided to rent the studio apartment in Socorro, and got that all set up. And I solved the problem of the arrival date. The apartment isn't available 'til the 6th, and I was supposed to be there on the 1st, and I didn't want to move twice, or live out of a rental car (I'm not going to have a car while I'm there) for a week. So, I was hanging out laundry, when it suddenly occurred to me that I should just not get there until the 6th. chuh. So I got all that sorted out.

And I only yelled at the radio a couple of times, due to our politicians acting like children. Focus, people! We have bigger problems, remember? I don't care about lipstick comments, from either party. Tell me how you are going to help me do something about climate change.

Some advice...

for the RNC speech-makers last night.

If you don't have something nice to say, you shouldn't say anything at all.

Attacking your adversaries is not a platform. It's just a stick.

If 'your people' have been in charge most recently, it's probably a bad idea to complain about how bad 'their people' have made it.

If your adversaries are offering you an olive-branch, take it. Otherwise, you are just being petulant and childish.

We have BIGGER PROBLEMS. Try to stay focused on the issues that government can actually do something about---foreign policy, the economy, energy policy, large-scale environmental issues. If we don't get those in hand, none of the rest of this stuff matters.

Overheard at the IFA...

I am fierce.

No really. I am. I just broke my second shovel today. Snapped the solid wooden handle right in half. I was digging out an old tree to plant a new one, and as I was prying the old tree out, the shovel handle broke. This is the second time this summer that this has happened to me. Grrr. Needless to say, THIS was my backup shovel. So I finished planting the tree (which weighed upwards of 200 pounds. I know this because I had to get it out of the back of my truck, onto my little handcart, around to the other driveway, up the stairs, and across the garden. Yes, I know. I could have saved some work by backing the truck around. But I had already stood up all the trees (there are four), and it didn't occur to me to just lay them back down again until just now.

Anyway.

So I had to go to the IFA today, because I needed some other things too, like chicken feed, biotin and de-wormer for the horses, etc.

And I'm walking around, carbonated about Obama's speech yesterday---I have a very LotR feel about it: 'It's been long since we've had any hope.' I was also carbonated about McCain's choice of a running mate: Sarah Palin. (Where did that come from?!) But it appears we are to have an historic election, one way or another. And, in passing, I caught this snippet of conversation, from one Utah cowboy to another:

"If he picks Mitt Romney, I'll vote for 'im. But otherwise..."

Eep. Can you imagine that Utah might go Democrat? OMFG. That would be sweet. Totally, totally sweet.

And, by tomorrow, I will have planted four new trees. That should just about offset my home in Socorro for the next six months!