La Famille

In the movie "Godfather III" Michael Corleone stands at the cusp of legitimacy. Then a violent act drives his family back into its past. The Don laments: "Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in."

In the real world, Alaskan senator, Ted Stevens, is on trial, charged with accepting gifts (including expensive home renovations), and lying on senate financial disclosure forms. He asked Colin Powell to vouch for his character. Mr. Powell did just that.

It was not that long ago that George Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfield, and the gang needed some vouching for - somebody with the "creds" to assure the world that Bush's headlong rush to war with Iraq was legit. As Bush's Secretary of State, Colin Powell made the case with his presentation to UN of "mobile weapons labs" and other such evidence of Saddam's WMD program - a program that, in reality, did not exist. Thanks to his "good reputation," Powell was able to convince many that what did not exist, did. this good man sold the world a lie - a lie that cost 100,000 lives.

Nothing gnaws at a man like regret. Once the truth began to come out, and Powell realized how he had been used, he rued his critical part in this disastrous war. Too bad. Bush was done with him - this man with a conscience - and soon threw him over for someone (Condoleeza Rice) who had few qualms about keeping the lie alive. Ms. Rice's job: Further galvanize the "Coalition of the Swilling" - that motley collection of countries who sole stake in the Iraq War was what bounty they could reap from the US by joining.

It has been close to four years now, and Powell has steadily recovered what is innately his - his good reputation. It can happen, once you have disconnected yourself from that which is cancer.

Comes the senator, Ted Stevens, ranking "crook" and former chair of the powerful Ways and Means Committee: "Colin," he says, "can you vouch for me?"

Just when he thought he was out, they pull him back in.

Marching As One

The old bowed tree in front of The Breeze
Where we tested our leap and our mettle
Sitting the tracks with the sun at our backs
Remembering the days, how they settled

Bid whist games when the rains came
The runs too muddy for sledding
Long, country days, we had it our way
And knew just where we were heading...

Marching as one
Woodland Park
Through a land called "Home"
Woodland Park
Through the woods of our birth
That sweet patch of Earth
Where we grew straight and strong

Singing our song
About the woods we would roam
Whether dusty dirt roads
Or blackberry lodes
It's where we belonged
Marching as one
Marching as one
Marching as one...

The back roads know of the heartaches
And promises written in the sand
They know of secrets that only time will tell
Of enchanted nights hand in hand

We praise above for these woods we love
Its moonlit nights on the beach
For the flowers that bloom in its April room
And memories that make us complete...

Marching as one
Woodland Park
Through a land called "Home"
Woodland Park
Through the woods of our birth
That sweet patch of Earth
Where we grew straight and strong

Singing our song
About the woods we would roam
Whether dusty dirt roads
Or blackberry lodes
It's where we belonged

Coming on strong
Thinking 'bout those we've known
All the people who've stayed
Or just came and played
They made this a home

Oh, the people we've known
How their spirits have flown
Come on back inside
This door's open wide
It's always your home

Marching as one
Through a land called "Home"
Through the good and the bad
The sound and the mad
What a place to belong

Marching as one
Through a land called "Home"
Through the good and the bad
The sound and the mad
What a place to belong...

(Dedicated to Josephine Carter-Toliver)

Get the Shotgun!

Sarah Palin is quite a woman...she is just out of touch with America. Her insistence that two 17 year olds marry because one of them comes up pregnant is right out of the...Middle Ages...of America. We don't do that to our children anymore - pretend that they are adults and, therefore "ready," simply because one makes the other pregnant. For one thing, 17 year olds today are not what they were 50 years ago. Today's 17 year old is more like yesterday's 14 year old.

Perhaps it is a cultural thing. Perhaps they still do that in Alaska. Okay. That's cool. I like Alaska. But it's not cool when you bring that kind of talk down to the lower contiguous states.

Sarah, let's talk: I'm not mad at you. I like that good "old time religion." But it does not play the same down here. What I'm saying is: We are not going back. John McCain is an "old dog," and you, Sarah, are old-fashioned. Neither of you the future America. He marches in beat with, not only what is the natural rhythm of this country, but with it inevitable destiny.

You are beautiful, Sarah - a natural governor...of Alaska. That great state is fortunate to have you your fine family. But America moves in a different direction. Barack Obama understands this.

Whether you and McCain defeat Barack Obama or not, it will still be Barack's vision that prevails. All that you and McCain can do is slow America down; you cannot stop it.

America will move in Barack's direction with or without Barack Obama. It will move in Barack's direction with or without Palin and McCain.

Wall Street - Shop of Horrors

"...Then everything shall include itself into power, power into will, will into appetite, and appetite, a universal wolf so doubly seconded with will and power that must make perforce a universal prey, and last eat up himself...
- Shakespeare, "Troilus and Cressida"

Wall Street is hungry. It wants money. And America's business and political leaders are frantic to feed it.

It all reminds me of the Hollywood classic, "The Little Shop of Horrors," when the man-eating plant cries out, "Feed me." Today, this modern shop of horrors we refer to as Wall Street is crying out, "Feed me...feed me, or else." It wants that 700 million dollars, and it wants it now! To make its point, when denied its sustenance on Monday by those "awful people on Capitol Hill," it gobbled up 1.2 trillion dollars itself - gone! Feed me.

Wall Street will get its money because the people in charge of the money are afraid of Wall Street. And the big shots that got rich before will get rich later. That money is theirs - they know it - and they are already formulating their strategies to get it. Forget about the taxpayer. When he signs over that 700 billion to Wall Street, that is the last he will ever see of it.

It is time the lowly taxpayer returned to his senses - stop trying to be that which you are not. Start thinking of yourselves - not in terms of Wall Street and fat cats, but in terms of real life and real ideals. Become more self-sufficient. Let Wall Street do what Wall Street does - parade itself around as the picture of prosperity, when in fact it is the picture of greed. Let the illusion be.

It is time real people began to earn real dollars again by doing real work - by saving, by sacrificing, and by denying themselves that which they want but do not need. Don't let Wall Street devour you. Let it devour itself; it will. Your job will be to keep your family at a safe distance.