etumukutenyak (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
etumukutenyak) wrote2008-08-30 02:32 pm
etumukutenyak) wrote2008-08-30 02:32 pm
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At long last, an update
It's been short but busy week at work, so I've been away from keyboard a bit. I watched the DNC speeches -- particularly Senator Clinton's speech, Senator Biden's and then Senator Obama's acceptance speeches. I haven't watched political events in a number of years, primarily because I cannot stand to watch the Shrub saying anything. I was reassured and enlightened by what I heard, and grateful that the Democrats seem to be pulling together to work on getting this election, this time. My partner is still upset that Senator Clinton didn't get the nomination, but I've liked both candidates all along, and I still think it's a win-win for the DNC.
McCain's selection of Palin is strange. I agree with the commentators who think McCain is trying to be a "maverick", even though he really hasn't been at odds with central GOP policies -- he voted in lockstep with Shrub's wishes for 90% of the time. It's funny too, because years ago I thought he was the better GOP candidate, and actually respected him.
Back to Obama: I remember listening to a recording of King's "I Have a Dream" speech, and I remember the changes that occurred in our society throughout the mid- to late 60s. I don't think anyone would have accepted a prediction that in only 45 years we would have a black man running for President (and a woman running for the nomination at the same time). No matter how we look at it, this is a historic election for the Democrats. It's wonderful. There's still a lot to change in American society, but this election could never have happened without all the changes we've managed to accomplish in the past 45 years.
Just think about all the things that we now take for granted that were not possible then. I went to a private high school, the same school that two of Malcom X's daughters also attended. I shared a house in Louisiana with a black woman whose father was an engineer, and at that time he was the president of his engineering society. When my mother was in her PhD program, she was one of 4 women, out of several dozen white men (and one black man). The other day at a section meeting, there were three women and three men; all three women are openly lesbian. Of the three men, two were white and one was black. My son attends an after school program run by the YMCA; it's supervised by a black woman at the main office, and run by a white man and a black woman on site. His class is about 33% white, 33% brown, and 33% black, and his Scout Troop is about the same, with Asian boys in the group too. This area is highly mixed; we've got Latino, Asian, White, Brown families all around us; we've got two mom-families and two-dad families. (In fact, when we adopted our son, he was very pleased: being the nephew of two aunts was unusual, but being a boy with two moms was just normal.) We've got section 8 housing down the hill, and single family homes around us, with townhouse apartments in between.
There's crime, of course, and it's related more to poverty than to skin color. There's lots of immigrants; at least in our area we aren't obsessing over "illegal" immigrants, and are trying to help the day workers find jobs. There's plenty of room for improvement, though. As a society, we've become distracted by security theater histrionics, and are targeting anyone who is "different" -- which ends up being "different" only in comparison to the TSA employees, who -- as far as I can tell -- are mainly white. The military is still kicking out openly gay soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines. Poor people do not have access to health care, and children die from easily treatable dental abscesses -- a little prevention goes a long way.
I think President Obama would pay attention to our needs, and not the fears of the GOP elite. His wife has been an integral part of bringing health care into the neighborhood around a major hospital, and that's clearly been one of his main issues.
I'd like to see a repeal of DOMA, especially since it violates Federal anti-discrimination statutes. I'd like to get away from oil dependence again, as we started to do in the late 70s; if I could put solar panels on and around my house, I'd do it in a heartbeat. I'd love to see more public transportation, and fewer cars on the roads; I'd be riding the train, light rail, or bus to work everyday if I could only have some reliable transportation.
I'd like to see the back sides of the GOP elites, as they leave town for a while. I've had enough of their smug attitudes, their condescension towards "others", and their holier-than-though religious rigidity. But I digress.
So this morning we were doing some Wii workouts, and Son wasn't actually running in that exercise. He gave us some attitude about it, so we ended up going around the block for a mile (us) or two (him). He gave us a lot more attitude in the beginning of the walk, and he was given some extra walking to do -- but he settled down so we cut it back to two extra laps. He was better-behaved after that. While he was walking his laps we got started on some yard work -- the vines are back, and I had to whack them down -- and some trimming of the bushes. A young man stopped by to ask for work on yard stuff; we gave him a tree or two to trim and he brought his brother over to do the job. It wasn't too bad; they did trim the branches away from the power lines and the other tree was right up against the house. Now the Honey and the Sonny are at the pool, cooling off before the rain comes.
ObFeline: Kedgie and Buzz were actually shoulder-to-shoulder just a little while ago. She was cleaning her stomach while he was sitting next to me; I got up to get something and he shifted a bit -- I saw the Kedge-ster look over, sniff him, and go back to her cleaning. Very cute!
McCain's selection of Palin is strange. I agree with the commentators who think McCain is trying to be a "maverick", even though he really hasn't been at odds with central GOP policies -- he voted in lockstep with Shrub's wishes for 90% of the time. It's funny too, because years ago I thought he was the better GOP candidate, and actually respected him.
Back to Obama: I remember listening to a recording of King's "I Have a Dream" speech, and I remember the changes that occurred in our society throughout the mid- to late 60s. I don't think anyone would have accepted a prediction that in only 45 years we would have a black man running for President (and a woman running for the nomination at the same time). No matter how we look at it, this is a historic election for the Democrats. It's wonderful. There's still a lot to change in American society, but this election could never have happened without all the changes we've managed to accomplish in the past 45 years.
Just think about all the things that we now take for granted that were not possible then. I went to a private high school, the same school that two of Malcom X's daughters also attended. I shared a house in Louisiana with a black woman whose father was an engineer, and at that time he was the president of his engineering society. When my mother was in her PhD program, she was one of 4 women, out of several dozen white men (and one black man). The other day at a section meeting, there were three women and three men; all three women are openly lesbian. Of the three men, two were white and one was black. My son attends an after school program run by the YMCA; it's supervised by a black woman at the main office, and run by a white man and a black woman on site. His class is about 33% white, 33% brown, and 33% black, and his Scout Troop is about the same, with Asian boys in the group too. This area is highly mixed; we've got Latino, Asian, White, Brown families all around us; we've got two mom-families and two-dad families. (In fact, when we adopted our son, he was very pleased: being the nephew of two aunts was unusual, but being a boy with two moms was just normal.) We've got section 8 housing down the hill, and single family homes around us, with townhouse apartments in between.
There's crime, of course, and it's related more to poverty than to skin color. There's lots of immigrants; at least in our area we aren't obsessing over "illegal" immigrants, and are trying to help the day workers find jobs. There's plenty of room for improvement, though. As a society, we've become distracted by security theater histrionics, and are targeting anyone who is "different" -- which ends up being "different" only in comparison to the TSA employees, who -- as far as I can tell -- are mainly white. The military is still kicking out openly gay soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines. Poor people do not have access to health care, and children die from easily treatable dental abscesses -- a little prevention goes a long way.
I think President Obama would pay attention to our needs, and not the fears of the GOP elite. His wife has been an integral part of bringing health care into the neighborhood around a major hospital, and that's clearly been one of his main issues.
I'd like to see a repeal of DOMA, especially since it violates Federal anti-discrimination statutes. I'd like to get away from oil dependence again, as we started to do in the late 70s; if I could put solar panels on and around my house, I'd do it in a heartbeat. I'd love to see more public transportation, and fewer cars on the roads; I'd be riding the train, light rail, or bus to work everyday if I could only have some reliable transportation.
I'd like to see the back sides of the GOP elites, as they leave town for a while. I've had enough of their smug attitudes, their condescension towards "others", and their holier-than-though religious rigidity. But I digress.
So this morning we were doing some Wii workouts, and Son wasn't actually running in that exercise. He gave us some attitude about it, so we ended up going around the block for a mile (us) or two (him). He gave us a lot more attitude in the beginning of the walk, and he was given some extra walking to do -- but he settled down so we cut it back to two extra laps. He was better-behaved after that. While he was walking his laps we got started on some yard work -- the vines are back, and I had to whack them down -- and some trimming of the bushes. A young man stopped by to ask for work on yard stuff; we gave him a tree or two to trim and he brought his brother over to do the job. It wasn't too bad; they did trim the branches away from the power lines and the other tree was right up against the house. Now the Honey and the Sonny are at the pool, cooling off before the rain comes.
ObFeline: Kedgie and Buzz were actually shoulder-to-shoulder just a little while ago. She was cleaning her stomach while he was sitting next to me; I got up to get something and he shifted a bit -- I saw the Kedge-ster look over, sniff him, and go back to her cleaning. Very cute!