Just In Case You Needed Reminding...

This is one of the most thoughtful ' WHAT IF ' scenarios I have read. It was on a comment opportunity after people voted on who won the debate in a Colorado Springs newspaper.

WHAT IF the FACTS WERE SWITCHED AROUND?

Obama/Biden vs McCain/Palin, what if things were switched around?.....think about it. Would the country's collective point of view be different?(10/8/08)

Ponder the following:

What if the Obamas had paraded five children across the stage, including a three month old infant and an unwed, pregnant teenage daughter?

What if John McCain was a former president of the Harvard Law Review?

What if Barack Obama finished fifth from the bottom of his graduating class?

What if McCain had only married once, and Obama was a divorcee?

What if Obama was the candidate who left his first wife after a severe disfiguring car accident, when she no longer measured up to his standards?

What if Obama had met his second wife in a bar and had a long affair while he was still married?

What if Michelle Obama was the wife who not only became addicted to painkillers but also acquired them illegally through her charitable organization?

What if Cindy McCain graduated from Harvard?

What if Obama had been a member of the Keating Five?(The Keating Five were five United States Senators accused of corruption in 1989, igniting a major political scandal as part of the larger Savings and Loan crisis of the late 1980s and early 1990s.)

What if McCain was a charismatic, eloquent speaker?

What if Obama couldn't read from a teleprompter?

What if Obama was the one who had military experience that included discipline problems and a record of crashing seven planes?

What if Obama was the one who was known to display publicly, on many occasions, a serious anger management problem?

What if Michelle Obama's family had made their money from beer distribution?

What if the Obamas had adopted a white child?

You could easily add to this list. If these questions reflected reality, do you really believe the election numbers would be as close as they are? This is what racism does. It covers up, rationalizes and minimizes positive qualities in one candidate and emphasizes negative qualities in another when there is a color difference.

Educational Background:

Barack Obama:Columbia University - B.A. Political Science with a Specialization in International Relations. Harvard - Juris Doctor (J.D.) Magna Cum Laude

Joseph Biden:University of Delaware - B.A. In History and B.A. In Political Science. Syracuse University College of Law - Juris Doctor (J.D.)

vs.

John McCain:United States Naval Academy - Class rank: 894 of 899

Sarah Palin:Hawaii Pacific University - 1 semester. North Idaho College - 2 semesters - General Study. University of Idaho - 2 semesters - Journalism. Matanuska-Susitna College - 1 semester. University of Idaho = 3 semesters - B.A. In Journalism

Education isn't everything, but this is about the two highest offices in the land as well as our standing in the world. You make the call.

A Change Is Gonna Come

It's the timelessness of a song that, I think, reveals the brilliance of that song. Its continued relevance, even long after its debut. Marvin Gaye's, "What's Going On?", and Bob Dylan's, "Blowin' In The Wind", are cases in point. As is the Sam Cooke song, "A Change Is Gonna Come". Is there a more appropos song, given the potential events of the upcoming week?



I was born by the river in a little tent
Oh and just like the river I've been running ever since
It's been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will

It's been too hard living but I'm afraid to die
Cause I don't know what's up there beyond the sky
It's been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will

I go to the movie and I go downtown
Somebody keep telling me don't hang around
It's been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will

Then I go to my brother
And I say brother help me please
But he winds up knocking me
Back down on my knees

Ohhhhhhhhh.....

There been times that I thought I couldn't last for long
But now I think I'm able to carry on
It's been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will

Thought For The Week

"There's a song that says, 'the time ain't long.' That song is right. Something has got to change in America---and change soon. We must help that change to come."

--Langston Hughes


Addendum:

The following was related to me by a friend who heard it on NPR today--

"Rosa sat,
So Martin could walk;
Martin walked,
So Barack could run;
Barack ran,
So children could fly."

--Anonymous

Somehow, One Of My Nightmares Was Captured On Film!

Stranger things have been known to happen in this world. Let's just hope that this is one of those that will never happen.







But its message is clear:



GET OUT AND VOTE!!!!!!!!!! OBAMA '08!!!

TOP 5 REASONS OBAMA SUPPORTERS SHOULDN'T REST EASY

1. The polls may be wrong. This is an unprecedented election. No one knows how racism may affect what voters tell pollsters—or what they do in the voting booth. And the polls are narrowing anyway. In the last few days, John McCain has gained ground in most national polls, as his campaign has gone even more negative.

2. Dirty tricks. Republicans are already illegally purging voters from the rolls in some states. They're whipping up hysteria over ACORN to justify more challenges to new voters. Misleading flyers about the voting process have started appearing in black neighborhoods. And of course, many counties still use unsecure voting machines.

3. October surprise. In politics, 15 days is a long time. The next McCain smear could dominate the news for a week. There could be a crisis with Iran, or Bin Laden could release another tape, or worse.

4. Those who forget history... In 2000, Al Gore won the popular vote after trailing by seven points in the final days of the race. In 1980, Reagan was eight points down in the polls in late October and came back to win. Races can shift—fast!

5. Landslide. Even with Barack Obama in the White House, passing universal health care and a new clean-energy policy is going to be hard. Insurance, drug and oil companies will fight us every step of the way. We need the kind of landslide that will give Barack a huge mandate.


We can't afford to let this one get away!! It's much too important, with a lot of things at stake, not to mention, the historic aspect of it all. Please do all that you can to make sure that two weeks from now, we'll be saying President Obama, and not Senator Obama.

$700 Billion Sellout?

"It's extraordinary to me that the United States can find $700 billion to save Wall Street and the entire G8 can't find $25 billion dollars to save 25,000 children who die every day from preventable diseases."

- Bono, rock star and anti-poverty activist. (Source: The American Prospect blog)


"If you'll forgive me," he added, "your country is the ultimate triumph of corporate creativity, which means it is a country controlled by the group-thinking of corporations. These corporations are without humanity because there is no one personally responsible for their use of power; a corporation is like a computer with profit as its source of energy--and profit as its necessary fuel."

--Arbeiter, a German radical, The Hotel New Hampshire, by John Irving (1981)



"I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered."

--Thomas Jefferson, 1802


'Nuff said?

Silver and Gold and Infinity

The ego part of me would like to believe that my poetic influence and creative ability had something to do with the creation of the following poem, written by my stepdaughter, Santi Biondolillo, for her sophomore English class, a few weeks ago. But the truth of the matter is, that she's a talented and gifted artist in her own right--from the stories and essays that she's written for class and family, to the self-made greeting cards she manages to create for every known occasion, to the incredible anime drawings that are the equal of any professional animator out there. The poem, entitled, "Silver and Gold and Infinity", is an outstanding stand-alone piece that captures perfectly the teenager that she is and, I think, every teenager that currently exists in our society. I hope you are touched and moved, as her mother and I were, by this amazing poem.



Silver and Gold and Infinity


I come from stained pillowcases,
Apple-scented dishsoap,
And clinking dishes.

I am from paint already scraped from my walls,
And tiny particles of who knows what
Spread across my carpet.

I come from sunflowers,
The "jungle" that Malla had prowled,
And a tire swing(one that I was too afraid to ride).

Then I am from a pink playhouse,
My grandfather had built just for me,
And later I am from concrete, and a tree
That grew flowers, whose names I still do not know.

I come from chewed fingernails,
And the peeling skin around them,
Often covered in blue or red ink.

I'm from same hair since seventh grade,
My mole, and eyes, shaped like my father's.

I come from "Martin, are you walking home today?"
From I was like, and he was all.
I'm from Holy Beluga, "make good choices", and
I love you more than silver, and gold, and infinity.

I come from "bein' hip" with pocky, yanyan,
And empty Starbucks cups(plastic or cardboard depending on the weather).
From "faken" bacon, buttered noodles,
And the best tacos(that my mom just happens to make).

I am from a loving man's tears shed for someone great,
Someone he knew better than I,
And from the mattress and that phone call
That left me missing her cherry eye.

I come from deciding not to sleep,
Even though I am tired,
And from trying to close my stubborn dresser drawer,
As I stare curiously out a hole in the door where the knob used to be.

I come from just sitting,
My ipod playing, thinking back on my life, and what
I come from.

I lay my head on my stained pillow,
Looking forward to tomorrow, hoping
Not to miss a second of life,
But for now, I will take a short break
Until the morning, when I write, ready to make more memories.

I fall asleep...


© 2008 Santi Biondolillo

The Beast In Me

Throughout my life, I've encountered songs that have not only spoken to me in deeply profound ways, but have captured, I feel, the essence of who I am and have been in various stages of my life. One such song is one that I discovered several years ago on the original soundtrack for the former HBO series, "The Sopranos". It is a song by Nick Lowe, entitled, "The Beast In Me", and I've transcribed the lyrics below.



The Beast In Me

The beast in me
Is caged by frail and fragile bars
Restless by day
And by night, rants and rages at the starts
God help the beast in me
The beast in me
Has had to learn to live with pain
And how to shelter from the rain
And in the twinkling of an eye
Might have to be restrained
God help the beast in me
Sometimes it tries to kid me
That it's just a teddy bear
Or even somehow manage
To vanish in the air
Then that is when I must beware
Of the beast in me
That everybody knows
They've seen him out dressed in my clothes
Patently unclear
If it's New York, or New Year
God help the beast in me
The beast in me