Americans - We Love Our Excess

I concluded last night that we truly are an excessive people, we Americans. I don't say that critically, although it is also one of our worst faults. Last night I loved us for it.

KB took me to Albany, New York, last night to witness the annual fourth of July fireworks. I've seen them before - one year from the fire escape outside my downtown apartment, once from the off-ramp near the epicenter at the Empire State Plaza, once from a distant hillside with my then-baby son.

I've never seen them from right on the Plaza.

In recent years, we've restricted ourselves to the local fireworks, which I think are pretty impressive. But this year KB's son and his young family were visiting and it seemed a perfect place to meet.

We arrived around six. The place wasn't too crowded and we wandered, bought something to eat and waited while we watched the crowds grow. It was a gathering of babies and young children and the arrival of KB's two young grandchildren instantly inserted us into that set - grownups with kids. As the sun set, we found a spot in the center of it all and little K2 was hoisted on his dad's shoulders. They live in a small town down south and neither mom nor K2 had ever seen a big city fireworks display. The baby just doesn't care - nor did she change her mind as the show began.

The whole display, sponsored by the local supermarket chain, takes place across the street from the capitol, where our senators have been refusing to work for almost a month. I looked to see if any of them were there with their noses pressed against the window. The governor hasn't been able to do much, but he has demanded they keep coming to chambers.

So it began - a carefully choreographed show combining music, ground lights and massive, sky-splitting displays. It really was amazing. I found myself grinning and looked over to see K2 doing the same. They even timed it so when The Who sang, "Love...rain on me..." a heart appeared in the sky followed by a shower of silver sparkles. Pretty impressive.

It went on forever and got progressively louder...and then we heard the opening notes of "The Stars and Stripes Forever."

"This," I yelled into KB's ear, "is going to be manic."

It was. I think it is not only possible but likely that they used as many fireworks during that finale as they did in the entire rest of the very generously lighted display. A series of fireworks were all exploded at once, creating a massive cloud of smoke, light and noise that seemed to swell out toward the crowd and cover us all. I covered my ears and yelled. KB was grinning like a kid. K2's eyes were blue saucers. The baby sucked on her bottle. Then they did it all over again.

When it was over, there was a collective exhale from the crowd and loud applause. And I had to love Americans in that moment.

Where else in the world do crowds of people all over the nation gather once a year to watch pretty lights and hear loud noises? We are kind of silly that way but it may be the thing I like best about us. I'm sure all nations have their own brand of foolishness.

I think if we could all meet on that ground, that place where we're all just big, goofy kids, we'd find our common humanity is a lot bigger than our cultural differences.

Give Joe Lieberman A Call

Joe Lieberman. The man makes my blood boil. I am a big fan of independent thinking. Joe likes to tell us that's what he's all about.

But actions, Mr. Senator, speak a lot louder. His actions label him an opportunist. He likes being important. He blows with the prevailing winds and he's doing it again on the health care issue. It's not about what's best for the people who elected him. It's about what's best for Joe.


Thanks to Andrew T. and his fine blog for this:

Why Joe doesn't support the public option.

and here's more from the Daily Kos.

Give Joe a call. Tell him how much you appreciate what he's doing for his country.

Can Someone Please Talk About Joe Jackson?

Okay, I'm sorry. In the words of Michael and Janet Jackson's performance of "Scream"...I just can't take this.

Michael Jackson was tragic. Whatever his personal demons, they were, by his own admission, a part of his stolen childhood. The pint-sized performer and his brothers (and, eventually, his sister) were pushed to become superstars by their father, Joe. Michael said in later years that his father beat him. And now Joe Jackson is being held up as the broken-hearted, bereaved father with no mention of how his behavior contributed to his son's travesty of a life.

Joe Jackson is not the model of black fatherhood. He is not a fine human being who held his family together. This is one father whose absence might well have been the best thing that could have happened to his children.

I've shaken my head, I've wanted to yell back at the TV. And this morning I saw that Michael Jackson's three children are currently in the care of his mother. And his father?

Maybe the Jacksons have split. If so, I have nothing more to say. Kathleen Jackson seems to have done the best she could for her kids short of taking their father out of the picture. I know that is a difficult choice for a mother and I make no judgements.

Joe Jackson is another story. Another stage father pushing his children to achieve what he didn't. Another drill sergeant turning children into performing robots, driven by his own desire for success and fortune. He was, by all accounts, a philandering, abusive father. He shouldn't be within fifty miles of his son's children.

This isn't about Michael Jackson. This isn't about Joe Jackson. This about three children who have undoubtedly had a pretty weird childhood and will have a struggle to achieve any sense of normalcy.

I don't know if there's someone in that family who can step up and try to offer those kids a stable environment. I hope there is. But I'm certain it's not Joe Jackson and I hope he's nowhere near them because I don't believe he deserves to be in their lives.

Second thoughts: I am absolutely horrified to see that I am in complete agreement with cable scream queen Nancy Grace on this. It makes me wonder if perhaps I'm totally wrong.

Peaceable Kingdom Is Coming - Pass It On

Did you see the climate change issue differently after watching Al Gore's
"An Inconvenient Truth"? Then you are the audience for a new film that's about to be released by NY-based filmmakers Tribe of Heart.

It's a movie that will change the way you see farm animals. I saw it as part of their pre-release audience testing. It is called "Peaceable Kingdom, The Journey Home".

Filmmakers Jenny Stein and James LaVeck have made a powerful film on a controversial issue, but they've kept a compassionate touch. Rather than strident demands for change, they've focused the film on livestock farmers whose own lives transformed when they began to question what they were doing. The answers to those questions haven't been easy, and their conclusions have cost them friendships and a great deal of money. But those answers have also created amazing relationships with animals they once considered food. The softening of their hearts is reflected in their faces.

Tribe of Heart goes to farm animal sanctuaries and introduces us to farm animals in a way many of us have never experienced. Once you've gotten to know them, it is impossible to believe they are any less individual, sentient creatures than the pets we love.

There is inescapable evidence that our factory farm, mass produced food system is dangerous. The latest recall involves the most benign food of all - cookie dough. Tribe of Heart goes behind the scenes, showing the creatures at those farms, showing the conditions in which they live and the way they die. These are tough scenes to watch, but open your own heart. Realize that what you eat, what you ate at your last meal, came from those conditions. Be brave enough to see where that food that's presented so neatly wrapped at your cavernous grocery store really comes from. If it raises questions in your own mind - all the better.

Open yourself to the possibility of change. "Peaceable Kingdom - The Journey Home" is a great first step.

What I'm Reading: Second Chances

I don't ordinarily plug books. I read a lot, mostly non-fiction these days thanks to my job. But I had the good fortune of stumbling across this book and sat down with a cup of coffee and a good pair of reading glasses this morning. And I must spread the word. This is one terrific read.

I have not run across a book with characters I loved so much since "To Kill A Mockingbird". No, this has absolutely nothing to do with that book in any way. But it is full of fully formed, lovable, flawed and quirky characters, all on their own path to healing and second chances.

I love Elizabeth Berg. I love, with more reservations, Anne Tyler and Alice Hoffman. I have no reservations about this book and it's going up there with my favorites.

In it are little gems of insights about marriage, relationships, philosophy and women. Men who are puzzled by women should read it. Women who are frustrated with men should read it. I haven't been moved to tears by a book in a very long time. I choked up as I read a passage where a man with a troubled marriage reflects on what led him to put achievement before feelings.

When did you last read a book where the tango, tap dancing, dogs, treehouses and bagpipes were all paths to enlightenment?

I now have to read the author's other work to see if I love her writing unreservedly. I have absolutely no reservations about this book.

Read it.


http://www.amazon.com/Divinity-Second-Chances-Novel/dp/0143115189/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1246125803&sr=1-14

Stand Up and Speak Out

Doesn't Iran make you a little ashamed? We who live in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave act like a bunch of depressed teenagers. Are we mad at Congress? Sure we are. Are we disappointed in politics as usual? You bet. Would we like to have a system of health care that we can afford? Oh yes. Are we doing anything about it?

Nope.


We watch CNN and Fox, we yell at the TV, we shake our heads and argue on Facebook and Twitter. But when does outrage and indignation become action?

Try this. Add your name to a list that's going to be televised, a list of people who are demanding Congress act on health care reform.

http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/o/5649/t/4612/content.jsp?content_KEY=2621

It's easy. It's painless. You don't even have to get out of your chair.

When you're done, you can go back to watching the latest political follies, from the governor/Argentinian jetsetter to the playground brats who call themselves the NY Senate.

You are in awe of the bravery of the protesters in Iran. Okay, then why don't you do something, too?

Iran Human Rights Advocates: Obama's Doing It Right

I spoke this morning with Hadi Ghaemi. He's the director of the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, headquartered in NYC. He's currently in Paris with Roxana Saberi, whose insights into Iran's attempts to shut down information coming out of the country are particularly apropos in the wake of the upheaval following last week's election.

My first question was simple - did you, at least, see this coming?

Ghaemi said he didn't. No one did, most importantly, he says, not even the Iranian government. He thinks the protesters have surprised even themselves since the election, and created the beginnings of a movement toward real change in Iran by the strength of their outrage.

Ghaemi says from a human rights point of view, neither of the candidates were a welcome choice - but there was a third candidate, Mehdi Karoubi, who had promised important human rights reform. According to blogs claiming to have official figures leaked by the Interior Ministry, Karoubi came in second to Mir-Hossein Mousavi...with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a distant third.

Ghaemi now describes the people of Iran as waiting to find their way...he believes a movement has been born. He doesn't expect Mousavi to continue as its leader, but he equates what's happening to the creation of the women's movement, the student movement, the labor movement. Now that they've discovered their power, he thinks they'll next start planning how to flex their previously undetected muscle. He says things may grow quiet for a while - but he believes that doesn't mean this is over. Just how bloody the confrontation is depends, he says, on the Iranian government's response.

How about the flack America's president is taking for his response to the bloodshed in Tehran? "America's response so far is absolutely correct," Ghaemi says. He points out that the US has absolutely no relationship with Iran - no trade, no diplomatic relations, political relations - and the US has no leverage. There is nothing the United States can do in a practical way, and inserting itself into the events on any level other than moral grounds is unrealistic and unproductive.

Listen to the full interview here: http://tinyurl.com/nrqmbd