Poverty isn't what you think

My dad's log cabin. Copyright (c) 2012 Wendee Nicole

"If there is among you a poor man of your brethren, within any of the gates in your land which the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart nor shut your hand from your poor brother, but you shall open your hand wide to him and willingly lend him sufficient for his need, whatever he needs. Beware lest there be a wicked thought in your heart, saying, 'The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand,' and your eye be evil against your poor brother and you give him nothing, and he cry out to the Lord against you, and it become sin among you. You shall surely give to him, and your heart should not be grieved when you give to him, because for this thing the Lord your God will bless you in all your works and in all to which you put your hand. For the poor will never cease from the land; therefore I command you, saying, “You shall open your hand wide to your brother, to your poor and your needy, in your land.” Deuteronomy 15: 7-11

During election season, there was a lot of stereotyping of Democrats as people who - in the hilarious sardonic humor of The Daily Show's Jon Stewart - are "thing stuff takers." He was making fun of how Bill O'Reilly had posited, post-election, that Obama won because people on the left wanted things, and stuff. It was a thinly veiled insult of people of color, morphing them with people of poverty without really saying that. It's a sentiment echoed by the likes of Mitt Romney a couple days later, when he came out of hiding, and said Obama won the election because of the "gifts" he gave to specific interest groups. During all the immediate post-election Facebook rambling, a friend of mine posted something that led me to post the following, which I'll post below almost verbatim.

But poverty isn't always what you think it is. I am someone who has directly benefitted from the use of food stamps and welfare. Let me tell you the story of my childhood. I am the first in my extended family to ever go to college. EVER. Neither my parents or grandparents had more than a high school education. My dad didn't graduate from h.s. (but got a GED), yet he is the most intelligent, articulate, and intellectual man I know. After his divorce from my mom he moved to Oregon and built a very simple log cabin on 24 acres, grew his food, totally back to the land. It was an awesome pioneer way to live, and to grow up that way was extremely influential to who I became as an adult.

Dad had a biz making log cabins for others and at one point his partner took off with the businesses money, leaving him a heavy burden financially. So during a period of my youth we had food stamps and at one point he was on welfare. He overcame that, and went on to work for many years for the Oregon food bank, doing social work and giving back. He was and is an incredibly hard working man - both when he was on welfare and after - and at his retirement last year was granted the very award that he established for those at the Oregon Food Bank who had a lifetime of service. (I am getting tears in my eyes writing this - I love and am so proud of my dad!). I also, as mentioned in my recent blog post "freelancing does not suck" that I had applied for food stamps during ~09 when times were incredibly hard for me, and I thought I might have to sell my house.

I'm a single mom and I work incredibly hard, and I sure as hell was not getting an "entitlement" or a handout. I never ended up getting on food stamps - long story - but I would have gladly taken them, and I have no qualms or shame about it. It's damn hard to be a single mom and support oneself, even when you get some child support (I got - and still get - a fraction of what I'm legally entitled to). Anyway... social welfare is there to help people when times get tough. I hope that you never have to know what it is to be poor and genuinely need help. There are people who really do need help, and who use it and get off of it, and are not just "lazy" as the Right often characterizes people on welfare. My dear precious daughter, a brilliant young woman who is a National Merit Scholar Semifinalist and in the Top 10 of a class of more than 700, and an amazing human being is a product of welfare. As am I - I earned a M.S. and am a PhD candidate (on leave of absence...) and have built an incredibly successful freelance writing career. So there you go. That's what welfare gets you.

Obama's faith

A sleeping sea lion in the Galapagos Islands. What is that little starburst on his forehead?!
Copyright (c) 2007 Wendee Holtcamp

This is a fascinating interview with Barack Obama by Chicago Sun Times journalist (and author of Sin Boldly: A Field Guide to Grace) Cathleen Falsani, Interview with State Sen. Barack Obama about His Faith (I've just discovered her blog, The Dude Abides, which I"m going to link in my blogroll now and follow - she's great! And from the blog you can download the audio version of her book for an MP3 player from the blog via Zondervan publishing...coolio). Anyway the interview with Obama was in 2004 when he was running for the U.S. Senate. This is very similar to how I believe about my own Christian faith as well. If you haven't read his book Dreams from My Father I highly recommend it. The chapter on his altar call and fully embracing the Christian faith (partly due to realizing that you could accept reason and science and logic and still have a Christian faith) - it brought tears to my eyes.

Anyway some snippets from the Falsani interview:

I am a Christian. So, I have a deep faith. So I draw from the Christian faith.

and

Yeah, although I don't, I retain from my childhood and my experiences growing up a suspicion of dogma. And I'm not somebody who is always comfortable with language that implies I've got a monopoly on the truth, or that my faith is automatically transferable to others.

I'm a big believer in tolerance. I think that religion at it's best comes with a big dose of doubt. I'm suspicious of too much certainty in the pursuit of understanding just because I think people are limited in their understanding.

and

Alongside my own deep personal faith, I am a follower, as well, of our civic religion. I am a big believer in the separation of church and state. I am a big believer in our constitutional structure. I mean, I'm a law professor at the University of Chicago teaching constitutional law. I am a great admirer of our founding charter, and its resolve to prevent theocracies from forming, and its resolve to prevent disruptive strains of fundamentalism from taking root ion this country.

As I said before, in my own public policy, I'm very suspicious of religious certainty expressing itself in politics.

Now, that's different form a belief that values have to inform our public policy. I think it's perfectly consistent to say that I want my government to be operating for all faiths and all peoples, including atheists and agnostics, while also insisting that there are values that inform my politics that are appropriate to talk about.

Amen to that!! And also check out this interesting Huffington Post column by Bob Cesca, What Doesn't Kill the Far Right Only Makes them Crazier on the ridiculousness of some of the Right... Seriously people an "Impeach Obama" group on Facebook? He's not even President yet!! Holy cow, can some people get a life?!!!! According to some of the comments on the Facebook page, Dems stole the White House & and God didn't want him there and that's why it's called the White House (Besides the sickening racism in this statement the ludicrousness of the comment in an election that wasn't even close... defies logic). As Cesca wrote:

Shortly after discovering this, I was talking with a colleague and found myself instinctively trying to form a rational argument about why the Facebook members were wrong. It began with the obvious: "He's not even the president yet!" And then, after I segued into Article II and the constitutional grounds for impeachment, I stopped myself. What in name of Randall P. MacMurphy am I doing? Arguing against this crap is like explaining to a meth tweaker that the shadow people aren't real. That's when I decided that it'd be more fun to just infiltrate one of the groups and post comments like, "The moon landing was staged!" and, "Obama is a bionic -- just like his half-aunt! I have proof!"

It made me laugh!

Also check out this moving Open Letter to Barack Obama from Alice Walker, author of the Pulitzer Prize winning novel, The Color Purple.

Obamaphoria!

Elephant Butte Lake, New Mexico
Copyright (c) 2005 Wendee Holtcamp

I don't know about you but I've really been digging the music lately. I normally listen to the Christian radio station at home, and channel change in the car but there have been so many good songs on the regular radio that I love right now! I've always loved music, since I was a kid. My dad had a massive record collection, including some bootleg albums - but some of my fave rock and roll and funk music: The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Bootsy Collins, Rick James, Cream, New Riders of the Purple Sage (I love that name!), Fleetwood Mac, Doobie Brothers.

Anyway so now these are some of my favorite songs currently on the radio... it's so cool to always have a good upbeat song on the radio!

La Vida Loca, Coldplay
Gotta Be Somebody, Nickelback
Love Remains the Same, Gavin Rossdale
I'm Yours, Jason Mraz
So What, Pink
Better in Time, Leona Lewis
If I was a Boy, Beyonce
Hot N Cold, Katy Perry
Keeps Getting Better, Christina Aguilera

On another note, there were 2 interesting articles in the UK Telegraph. Barack Obama's vision of a scientific America By Sir Paul Nurse. After eight years of neglect, researchers are hoping the new president makes good on his promises, says Nobel laureate Sir Paul Nurse.

In modern times, America has led the world in scientific discovery. But since 2000, the country has seen what might be termed a scientific recession.

For five consecutive years, federal investment in science has fallen, stalling endeavour and leading to despondency among America's scientists.

Within the administration of George W Bush, scientific advice has been sidelined and subjected to sustained political manipulation Expert advisers on vital issues such as global warming, stem-cell research and the teaching of evolution have been marginalised, ignored and even removed from office..

What people don't realize who don't deal in the scientific arena daily, as I do as a science writer and as someone educated in science, the Bush administration and many Republican politicians have contributed to the decline of science and science education in our country. The fact that people actually think there's scientific controversy over evolution is a case in point. There is NO controversy among scientists! The controversy is not a scientific one, but a cultural and religious one. The state of our populace's ability to think independently, reason, and understand complex issues is at a very low level. And the Bush Admin has also taken a lot of money away from funding scientific research, conservation, and environmental concerns like global climate change. They've kept things secretive, and it does have an impact on the daily lives of scientists and conservationists around the country.

Now, finally, on the listservs I am on and have engaged on for a decade and a half there is a sense of renewed optimism. Maybe we will get some funding again! Maybe we will be able to protect our endangered species! Maybe they will stop sacrificing the legacy of our beautiful land - God's Creation - to appease corporate giants, development, mining... Sustainability IS possible! This is but one reason why so many people are experiencing Obamaphoria!! (Check out this funny dictionary of Barackisms, also in the Telegraph). Check out the video of the euphoria on the site too.

Just under half of our nation's people voted against him, too, but do not underestimate the fact that the decisive Electoral College win means that across our nation, in a decisive majority of states with more people decided that they wanted change, they believe that Hope is not just a word, and that Obama himself is a man we believe can lead us to a better tomorrow. (In a future blog I plan to address why a Christian can vote for someone who is supportive of gay rights and does not believe abortion should be illegal.)

Later in the article it also says:

What are Obama's specific pledges? First, to increase federal funding for science and engineering, which has halved as a share of GDP since 1970. He has promised to double the research budgets of the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation and the other key agencies over the next decade, supporting high-risk, high-reward research in computing, biotech, nanotechnology and other fields.

Second, Obama has promised to invest in education, guaranteeing students access to a strong science curriculum and increasing the importance of maths and physics in schools.

Third, there is his plan for a green economy: a promised investment of $150 billion over 10 years to create five million new jobs.

Obamalujah! I keep having to pinch myself. I am still in the shock and awe stage! Things are gonna change, for the better.

Amen to intellectualism!

The dawning of a new day.
Sunrise over the Coral Sea, Mission Beach Australia.
Copyright (c) 2008 Wendee Holtcamp

A great Op-Ed by Pulitzer prize winning journalist Nicholas Kristof in today's New York Times: Obama and the War on Brains. Amen for intellectualism's return to America!

An intellectual is a person interested in ideas and comfortable with complexity. Intellectuals read the classics, even when no one is looking, because they appreciate the lessons of Sophocles and Shakespeare that the world abounds in uncertainties and contradictions, and — President Bush, lend me your ears — that leaders self-destruct when they become too rigid and too intoxicated with the fumes of moral clarity.

(Intellectuals are for real. In contrast, a pedant is a supercilious show-off who drops references to Sophocles and masks his shallowness by using words like “fulgent” and “supercilious.”)

OK I've been known to drop ambivalent, but I have never said fulgent or supercilious! Ha ha! Earlier in the article it also says this which made me laugh!

At least since Adlai Stevenson’s campaigns for the presidency in the 1950s, it’s been a disadvantage in American politics to seem too learned. Thoughtfulness is portrayed as wimpishness, and careful deliberation is for sissies. The social critic William Burroughs once bluntly declared that “intellectuals are deviants in the U.S.”

(It doesn’t help that intellectuals are often as full of themselves as of ideas. After one of Stevenson’s high-brow speeches, an admirer yelled out something like, You’ll have the vote of every thinking American! Stevenson is said to have shouted back: That’s not enough. I need a majority!)

proud to be an American

California poppy, Green Gulch Zen Center
Copyright (c) 2007 Wendee Holtcamp

President-Elect Barack Obama launched a new website, Change.gov. On the right side of the screen are the presidential agenda priorities. Just reading these agenda items makes me cry. It’s like WOW this is actually going to become REALITY!!!! Holy cow!!

Agenda
1. Revitalizing the Economy
2. Ending the War in Iraq
3. Providing Health Care for All
4. Protecting America
5. Renewing American Global Leadership

I'm so proud of my country, and so proud to be behind this amazing soon to be President. I am praying and hoping that he is able to accomplish all that he wishes to. It's not going to be an easy road. But words can not express the joy and hope that I feel, that I have not felt about the future of our nation in a while.

I read this from a CNN interview with singer Joan Baez (who I love!). I've blogged about this in the past, about wishing we had more a sense of community and purpose they had back in the Vietnam era, when young people protested the war and came together for a common cause. The need for community is deeply felt in my soul and I think so many people don't realize they need it to, because they never had it, and because they don't know what they're missing. I've begun to feel true community lately and it's an amazing blessing to have good friends here, and to have groups at my church that are real and deep and genuine and raw and honest. Accepting of your flaws but wanting to help you get better. It's not always easy, but it's truly amazing! Anyway it goes (this is right in the middle of the interview)

Baez: I think it's probably a combination of things. I think people are afraid of risk so they'll [only] go so far. But I don't think people have felt the urgency that we felt in the '60s. But it's there. The urgency is there. There's a need for community, but we don't feel it.

CNN: Why is that?

Baez: That we don't feel it? Because we live more and more separately. Kids are walking down the street plugged in [to personal electronics]. The only place there's community really is in the ghetto, where they need each other and they know it. We need each other, and we don't know it.

all i have to say is...

Jesus spread the wealth – does that make him a socialist?

Mark 10:21 “Jesus looked at him and loved him. ‘One thing you lack,’
he said. ‘Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you
will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.’” (NIV)

I found this on facebook, and thought - exactly!!! It's all I have time for now. I'm so happy, still sort of in denial!! We banged pots and pans last night when Obama reached the 270 electoral votes needed to win. I kept asking everyone over, "Wait, how do they know for sure?! Are those just projections?! I don't believe it!" Then McCain conceded in an incredibly gracious speech, and then Obama spoke later - and all I can say is, Wow. I finally feel some hope for our country for the first time in a long time.

The girls! Elise, Amy, Melody and I, Georgia in back!

Watching the results with anticipation! Heck, we almost look bored! Ha! And there's Stinky over there in the background checking her email!!! This is Georgia, Brian, Amy and Melody. I used to teach with Brian ("Dr BS") at Kingwood College (now Lonestar College). :)

I saw this on Daily Kos, and HAD to shoot a photo of the "Blue TX"... these were obviously early results but I was like, whoa! No way!!! It won't last, better get proof. Ha!

historic day

I am so anxious and excited and hopeful. It's going to be a monumental day, and I hope not an extremely disappointing one... I am so hopeful but so nervous. Tonight I'm having a few friends over to watch election results. We have champagne for the win, and Jack Daniels if the results don't go well... Just kidding! :) The above video is atribute on Youtube for Obama's grandmother who passed away just hours before the election. What sad timing.

My son's school did a mock election and, big surprise, it came out McCain (this is Texas, and most kids vote as their parents do). I asked him who he voted for and he said, "Who do you think?" I said "I don't know, who?" He said "Obama!" I said, "Why, because I like him?" He said, "No because *I* like him!" (big grin). I said, "Why do you like him?" And he replied that he liked his policy about helping out people who did not have as much and who were struggling.

Savannah's school did something different with their mock election that I actually found impressive. They had the kids select which policies and stances they preferred and then it was revealed which candidate they had most tick marks under. She said, "You'd be proud of me, I had most Obama and 3 for Ralph Nader."

And note that even though I'm a huge Obama supporter, their dad does not have the same political views as I do. So it's gratifying to see the kids having these views because I do welcome open dialogue about their views and policies etc. They listen to NPR and they have watched the debates and kept up with the current events at school. It really is such an exciting election!

the reality is...

Copyright (c) 2000 Wendee Holtcamp

The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.
- Franklin D. Roosevelt

I just saw this outstanding blog post at Daily Kos, Fear among the Republican base and wanted to link to it here. It talks about the class wars and how angry the opposition to Obama is. He gives an illustration from his personal life, but what struck me was that he says that it is not the "Joe sixpacks" who typically support McCain-Palin but the upper middle class to the wealthy. I would say that seems to be the case in my area, as well.

The reality is when someone who makes over $250,000 per year tells me - a single self-employed mom struggling to make ends meet every month and working myself to death as a writer and instructor and can only afford such crappy health insurance that I can only have 2 office visits per year no matter what reason (apparently including well woman checks since my last one was denied) - and they tell me that they do not want to pay just a little extra taxes to help others less fortunate -to help me - to be honest, it is personal.

I may look and act middle class, but I came from poverty and it very much affects me and my outlook and I do not fit in with the typical middle class income structure. And while I have a nice suburban home and a Subaru, my month to month existence is a real struggle. My reality is that if I found some sort of lump in my body that might be cancerous, God forbid, I would end up going into debt to be able to pay for treatment, and most likely I may avoid going to the doctor because I don't have the money for it nor will my insurance do anything for me. It scares the living bejesus out of me. And when someone who makes that much money tells me that they don't want to pay a little extra taxes, it stings. It's personal.

And it also makes me sad, because I know that those same people are very generous, kind-hearted people, good people who would help out if I were sick or a major disaster struck. But for some reason we don't apply the same reasoning on a broader scale - to give a little of our earned income to help the rest of the nation. I think sometimes we have to ask ourselves what are we willing to sacrifice for? I don't think it's too much to ask to sacrifice a little to help those who are less fortunate. Because there are a lot of us out here.

how to pick a president

The trail to the top of Guadalupe Peak, the tallest in Texas.
Copyright (c) 2007 Wendee Holtcamp

I highly recommend this article! How to Pick a President: Why virtue trumps policy. Christianity Today. June 2008 - written before the candidates were finalized but oh so applicable!

Also exciting is that Obama got 3 big newspaper editorial board endorsements today, including 2 that haven't endorsed a Democrat Presidential candidate, ever. They have followed Obama throughout his career, which of course started in Chicago.

"We have tremendous confidence in his intellectual rigor, his moral compass and his ability to make sound, thoughtful, careful decisions. He is ready," wrote the Chicago Tribune.

"The change that Obama talks about so much is not simply a change in this policy or that one. It is not fundamentally about lobbyists or Washington insiders. Obama envisions a change in the way we deal with one another in politics and government."

They also talk about the historical nature of the endorsement:

" The Tribune in its earliest days took up the abolition of slavery and linked itself to a powerful force for that cause--the Republican Party. The Tribune's first great leader, Joseph Medill, was a founder of the GOP. The editorial page has been a proponent of conservative principles. It believes that government has to serve people honestly and efficiently."
...

"The Republican Party, the party of limited government, has lost its way. The government ran a $237 billion surplus in 2000, the year before Bush took office -- and recorded a $455 billion deficit in 2008. The Republicans lost control of the U.S. House and Senate in 2006 because, as we said at the time, they gave the nation rampant spending and Capitol Hill corruption. They abandoned their principles. They paid the price."

And it goes on to say why they decided against McCain, who they had endorsed in the primary.

"It is, though, hard to figure John McCain these days. He argued that President Bush's tax cuts were fiscally irresponsible, but he now supports them. He promises a balanced budget by the end of his first term, but his tax cut plan would add an estimated $4.2 trillion in debt over 10 years. He has responded to the economic crisis with an angry, populist message and a misguided, $300 billion proposal to buy up bad mortgages.

"McCain failed in his most important executive decision. Give him credit for choosing a female running mate--but he passed up any number of supremely qualified Republican women who could have served. Having called Obama not ready to lead, McCain chose Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. His campaign has tried to stage-manage Palin's exposure to the public. But it's clear she is not prepared to step in at a moment's notice and serve as president. McCain put his campaign before his country."

riotously funny video

You have to watch this. It is riotously funny!!!! I mean laugh out loud funny!!! You can also see McCain's speech, which is funny too. They're both embedded at the following Daily Kos blog post.

we need more kindness

Sea lions touching noses in the Galapagos Islands
Copyright (c) 2007 Wendee Holtcamp

I think we need more kindness in the world. I really do. I think we need to display kindness toward one another as well as toward ourselves. I generally get a lot of really nice comments to my blog and by people in email. Those people who don't like what they read - and I'm sure there are some - generally don't bother to send a hate-filled email or comment. I have seen a lot of negativity - some pretty foul, awful stuff - on online forums, where people discuss politicians or celebrities or issues. People can really get pretty nasty and mean. I guess the anonymity of the internet makes it easier for people to speak their minds and hearts. But if vile negativity is coming out of your mouth it is there in your heart as well. ("But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man."Matthew 15:18 Am KJV)

If you have something negative to say to someone you know, if you have something rude to say to me, have the courage to start an actual conversation with them/me and see if the issue can be resolved. And if not, at least I can speak for myself, then I say my prayers for the person and wish them the best, and we go our separate ways. Someone said recently to me, unforgiveness is a poison you take, hoping the other person will die. I think it's true in the large and the small things. Let love rule. This is a hard harsh world and what we need is love, forgiveness, hope and mercy not malicious anger, fear, and hate.

I think that people can disagree on a lot of things, including heated topics like politics and religion and even disagreements about personal issues between people, without needing to resort to meanness and unkindness. If the receiving person is strong, they can take constructive criticism. It's actually highly beneficial to receive constructive criticism from someone who has your best interests in mind and who cares about you. But why listen to angry rants from "anonymous" people who obviously have some issue more within their own heart and soul? I just don't get it. It makes me sad for them. Because everything that we say to another person, that person generally feels toward themselves in some way or another. If someone says oh you're so self absorbed, you can be pretty sure that they are also or it would not be pressing their button. Being introspective and self-reflective is a good thing. Being narcisstic isn't. Sometimes the difference in a trait is only a matter of degree.

I see so many rants by the politicians (particularly McCain-Palin) but I also see a lot of anger directed at Sarah Palin. I do not like what she stands for, I do not like the way she incites anger in her crowds, I do not like her inexperience, but I'm not going to incite people to hate her, or directly send her mean comments. And there's also a difference (though only in degree) between ranting on a public forum and saying something directly to someone's face or in "anonymous" email or comment. What's the point? It's not the kind of thing that the God that I follow - Jesus Christ - calls us to.

Barack Obama spoke up against the fear and hate mongering coming out of the opposite camp today. Daily Kos has a blog on it. Obama said:

We have seen our share of hard times. The American story has never been about things coming easy - it's been about rising to the moment when the moment is hard; about rejecting panicked division for purposeful unity; about seeing a mountaintop from the deepest valley. That's why we remember that some of the most famous words ever spoken by an American came from a President who took office in a time of turmoil - "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

Now is not the time for fear. Now is not the time for panic. Now is the time for resolve and steady leadership. We can meet this moment. We can come together to restore confidence in the American economy. We can renew that fundamental belief - that in America, our destiny is not written for us, but by us. That's who we are, and that's the country we need to be right now.
...
It's easy to rile up a crowd by stoking anger and division. But that's not what we need right now in the United States. The times are too serious. The challenges are too great. The American people aren't looking for someone who can divide this country -- they're looking for someone who will lead it. We're in a serious crisis -- now, more than ever, it is time to put country ahead of politics. Now, more than ever, it is time to bring change to Washington so that it works for the people of this country that we love.

The Nation blog has an interesting story comparing the campaigns of Hoover vs Roosevelt: McCain Ayers Attacks Backfire. It talks about Hoover's fear mongering versus Roosevelt's steady calm leadership and hope amidst crisis. God that brings tears to my eyes.

Obama and McCain are giving us a clear sense of who they are and how they would lead. It would seem that Obama has been studying the 1932 campaign of Franklin D. Roosevelt. The key to Roosevelt's victory was not a big program but a jaunty sense of optimism in the midst of despair that led to his signature inaugural line -- "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself." Less famously, Roosevelt declared in his acceptance speech that "this is no time for fear, for reaction or for timidity."

In recent days, Obama has painted himself as calm, pragmatic, open and hopeful. He seemed to be channeling FDR when he told a crowd in Indianapolis on Wednesday: "This isn't a time for fear or for panic. This is a time for resolve and steady leadership."

As for McCain, his campaign is trying to sow fear and panic about Obama. That's exactly what Herbert Hoover tried to do with Roosevelt. Days before the 1932 election, Hoover attacked Roosevelt's "inchoate New Deal." He predicted it would "crack the timbers of the Constitution" and warned voters to beware of the "glitter of promise."

And Franklin D. Roosevelt is one of the most celebrated Presidents in history, and the one who saw us through the Great Depression as well as WWI. I absolutely loved the Roosevelt Memorial in Wahsington DC, particularly the part highlighting his I Hate War speech. Our country has seen some great leaders who have risen above great obstacles to inspire the people of our nation. It's time to elect another one. That one.

must-read articles

A billboard of some texted-in questions for Sarah Palin at a Los Angeles rally sent by the California Democratic Party. Pretty funny!

I've seen some interesting articles lately which I believe are critical to read as the election nears, especially if you're undecided. I also love that CNN.com has this "Fact Check" feature on their "Political Ticker blog" where they run all the claims McCain, Palin, Obama and Biden say about their opponents through a fact checker and write up a little article on each claim.

They checked claims like: Obama voted 94 times for higher taxes. Verdict: MISLEADING. Obama has never taken on Dems. Verdict: FALSE. Is Obama 'palling around with terrorists'? Verdict: FALSE. Obama got the 2nd most money from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in history. Verdict: MISLEADING (this one is particularly misleading because while individual employees did donate $126,349 collectively to Obama - a tiny fraction of the $139 mil he's raised overall - but importantly, McCain received $169,000 from the directors, officers and lobbyists of these companies, while Obama received only $16,000. In addition, McCain's statement is misleading because donations do not come from the company itself, only its employees).

Every single time I've read it, McCain and Palin's claims come out false or misleading and Obama's and Bidens true (Did McCain say the Iraq War would be easy? Verdict: TRUE-on multiple occasions. Did McCain intervene on behalf of Charles Keating? Verdict: TRUE.

What kind of people and leaders do we want to elect? Ones that will do anything including lie and mislead? Even if you tend to support the conservative policies, is lying what you really want in the President and VP of this great nation? Haven't we had enough of that?! It particularly bothers me that evangelical Christians so strongly support McCain-Palin, because who, after all, is the 'Father of Lies'? Not Jesus, that is for sure. I think we Christians should all be praying hard for open eyes and a clear conscience about this very important decision for the future of our great nation.

Politics of Attack, New York Times Editorial.

It is a sorry fact of American political life that campaigns get ugly, often in their final weeks. But Senator John McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin have been running one of the most appalling campaigns we can remember. They have gone far beyond the usual fare of quotes taken out of context and distortions of an opponent’s record — into the dark territory of race-baiting and xenophobia. ... Ms. Palin, in particular, revels in the attack. Her campaign rallies have become spectacles of anger and insult. “This is not a man who sees America as you see it and how I see America,” Ms. Palin has taken to saying.

Palin's Kind of Patriotism by Thomas Friedman. New York Times.

Whether or not I agree with John McCain, he is of presidential timber. But putting the country in the position where a total novice like Sarah Palin could be asked to steer us through possibly the most serious economic crisis of our lives is flat out reckless. It is the opposite of conservative.

And

At least the king of Saudi Arabia, in advocating “drill baby drill,” is serving his country’s interests — by prolonging America’s dependence on oil. My problem with Palin is that she is also serving his country’s interests — by prolonging America’s dependence on oil. That’s not patriotic. Patriotic is offering a plan to build our economy — not by tax cuts or punching more holes in the ground, but by empowering more Americans to work in productive and innovative jobs. If Palin has that kind of a plan, I haven’t heard it.

Make-Believe Maverick: A closer look at the life and career of John McCain reveals a disturbing record of recklessness and dishonesty. Rolling Stone Magazine.

In his current campaign, however, McCain has become the kind of politician he ran against in 2000. He has embraced those he once denounced as "agents of intolerance," promised more drilling and deeper tax cuts, even compromised his vaunted opposition to torture. Intent on winning the presidency at all costs, he has reassembled the very team that so viciously smeared him and his family eight years ago, selecting as his running mate a born-again moose hunter whose only qualification for office is her ability to electrify Rove's base. And he has engaged in a "practice of politics" so deceptive that even Rove himself has denounced it, saying that the outright lies in McCain's campaign ads go "too far" and fail the "truth test."

Mad Dog Palin: The scariest thing about John McCain's running mate isn't how unqualified she is - it's what her candidacy says about America. Rolling Stone Magazine.

This is a very biting commentary, but I think there's a lot of sad truth here.

Palin's charge that "government is too big" and that Obama "wants to grow it" was similarly preposterous. Not only did her party just preside over the largest government expansion since LBJ, but Palin herself has been a typical Bush-era Republican, borrowing and spending beyond her means. Her great legacy as mayor of Wasilla was the construction of a $15 million hockey arena in a city with an annual budget of $20 million;...

Mud Pies for 'That One' by Maureen Dowd. New York Times.

3 things to share

Sunset in Tasmania, Australia. I took this shot out of a moving car! I love the clouds when they make that sort of thin cottony blanket in the sky.
Copyright (c) 2006 Wendee Holtcamp

I wanted to link to a couple interesting articles I read online. The first one, Post-Ike images bring to mind The Road my friend - also from Houston - emailed to me. The article is chilling, and illuminating, and worth thinking about. It talks about how The Road - a Pulitzer prize winning fiction book being made into a movie - discusses through literature how civilized society is not the normal state of affairs and with a major disaster, we could easily revert to a very different state of the world and how humans relate to one another.

The other article is just a funny dialogue between Chris Rock and Larry King, It's Simple: Vote for the Guy With One House. My favorite line is, when asked by Larry King if he was proud that at this stage of our history a black man is running for President on a major ticket:

"Um, you know what? I'm proud Barack Obama's running for president. You know? If it was Flavor Flav, would I be proud? No. I don't support Barack Obama because he's black....There's a proud feeling because of the character of the man."

I laughed because of the Flavor Flav reference!

Last I wanted to include this amazing poem by Rainer Maria Rilke from Rilkes Book of Hours: Love Poems to God. It really resonated with me in so many ways, the dichotomy between the way I feel when I'm in the city, in suburbia versus the way I feel when I'm outdoors, as he puts it when the "wind is blowing through a field of flowers" and all that is lost when our children who become adults never experience the pleasures of nature and exploration and how it connects us so deeply to God and ultimately back to humanity. It also speaks to me of how much women lose out when we don't find men who truly love us for who we are, rather than for what they see visually or what they want from us and how easy it is and how many women close down that part of themselves that desired to be truly deeply loved because they stopped believing they would be seen.

The poem's first line is also prescient with the way natural disasters are destroying parts of cities - New Orleans, Houston, and many in other countries - but it's so much more than physical destruction - it's how our souls are being lost from the heart of God and His creation and how it inspires us and makes us alive. And though he does not put this component into the poem to me it speaks of how important it is to not surrender to this fate by taking life into our hands and seizing the moment and living life to the fullest - carpe diem! Anyway, that is my take on it. It's chilling and beautiful and inspiring. I love it.

Lord, the great cities are lost and rotting.
Their time is running out.
The people there live harsh and heavy,
crowded together, weary of their own routines.

Beyond them waits and breathes your earth,
but where they are it cannot reach them.

Their children waste their days
on doorsteps, always in the same shadow.
They don't know that somewhere
wind is blowing through a field of flowers.

The young girls have only strangers to parade before,
and no one sees them truly;
so, chilled,
they close.

And in back rooms they live out the nagging years
of disappointed motherhood. Their dying is long
and hard to finish: hard to surrender
what you never received.

Their exit has no grace or mystery.
It's a little death, hanging dry and measly
like a fruit inside them that never ripened. III, 4/5

- Rainer Maria Rilke translated by Anita Burrows and Joanna Macy

historic nomination

I don't watch TV (at all, except on very rare occasions) but I did just watch this videoclip on CNN where Hillary Clinton makes a motion to nominate Barack Obama by acclamation (voice vote), and then the whole convention starts to sing "Love Train" and there are many tears, and it's absolutely beautiful and moving. No matter what you think of Obama, this is a historic moment for our nation. I'm so proud of our country for nominating our first black Presidential candidate (he is only the 3rd black to even get a seat in the Senate). I'm very happy, and I am looking forward to November. We need change in this country. Here's an article on CNN on "Tears of Joy Accompany Obama Nomination."

the lady impressed me

I gotta hand it to her, I was impressed by Michelle Obama. Blown away is more like it. I went down to the University of Houston with my friend Maggie, who is a Precinct Captain for Obama. I was super stoked about going before I even got there. There was so much energy too. I'm already an Obama supporter, voted earlier today in the primary (and I'm going back on March 4 for the Caucus) but since I don't watch television I had not seen Michelle Obama speak. WOW!
She has incredible oratory skills but is very genuine and down to earth. I have read both of Barack's books so I knew most of his story but I didn't know hers but she also shed new light on his for me. I loved how she talked about Barack's mom being a single white woman raising a black son. She said something like, "You know she had to be a dreamer, and in the 1960s!" And she talked about how they moved to other countries so his mom could get him a broader education and do her own social work. Yet they lived on food stamps at times (I related to this because so did I when I lived with Dad).

She moved me to near tears a few times, one of which was when she mentioned how hard it is for single mothers. My fist went up on that one! She used the concept of a bar always being raised higher and higher - first to say how they said the Obama campaign was impossible - and then to relate to what every day Americans are going through, and it’s so hard to keep up with the rising costs of living, and make ends meet, and how it's easy to give up on hope. She also moved me when she talked about growing up with all these messages from her family that she could make it, but messages from the world that she couldn’t or wouldn't or shouldn't (her grades/scores were not good enough to get into Princeton, but she applied anyway and got in). She spoke for probably an hour - and we stood the whole time since it was a Stand for Change Rally and I'm worn out! But I was and am so pumped! There was so much to be inspired by within her talk, and the very real hope for change in America. I was hoping Youtube had a video of already of her talk, but alas they don't. However the Houston Chronicle did an article, "Michelle Obama rallies Houston supporters" on that discusses the speech, and this one little fact speaks volumes about the momentum the Obama campaign is seeing. When she spoke in Galveston earlier in the day, apparently 900 people showed up at her event. A week earlier, Bill Clinton stumped for his wife in Galveston- and only 300 people showed (oddly this info about Clinton's visitors was in the earlier version of the article but it's not in the updated version...). Something like 1,200 people were at the U of H Rally. There was an incredible sea of diversity, and it was beautiful to see. There were also some cool signs. One said World for Obama, another Tijanos for Obama, and at one point some people started chanting Si Se Peude which is Yes We Can! in Spanish.

The only thing I wish she/Barack would address more seriously is the environment. To me, it's a critical issue and I'm not hearing it being spoken of. It may be because, unfortunately, it's not an issue most Americans are concerned about -- though they should be! I hope the issue comes out more in the general eElection once Barack secures this nomination!It is so awesome to see people coming out in support of Obama - I am finally excited about a candidate for the first time in my adult life!!

And I have to hand it to Michelle. She was genuine, eloquent, and an inspiring speaker and human being. I was so pumped up and excited just to be there. I am thinking of signing on as Precinct Captain. This election - and the future of our nation - is too important to not get involved!!! Then Maggie & I grabbed dinner at Chilis and it was so awesome to just have some friend-time!

Here's a video from the Obama campaign with Michelle. Woohoo! A great day!

Voting for Obama

I'm going to cast my early vote for Barack Obama, then to see Michelle Obama talk at the University of Houston with some friends. I'll report back!

blink and obama

I just finished the Obama book, and at the end of the CD it had his speech from the 2004 Democratic National Convention. Wow. That was one powerful and moving speech. All I can say is that I hope that the people who seem to feel apathetic and cynical about the hopes of our country will rise back up and not let cynicism keep them from hope, and from doing something about the way the world is. I know a lot of my friends were so depressed after Bush got re-elected, literally really traumatized. But now, I hear many of these same people saying things like they don't think Barack Obama can get elected, that our country is still too divided by race, that the same people who elected Bush would not elect Obama even if they don't like Bush now.

I don't believe that for a minute. I believe in America, and I believe in our people. I think that even though people re-elected Bush, it was a very narrow vote and there are many swing voters. There were many people who wanted to give him more time to see what he could do with a 2nd term, and there are certainly right-wing fundamentalists and die-hard Republicans who would never vote a different way. But I think there is a narrow minority who would not elect someone because of their race, not a vast number of people. Now he may not even get the Democratic nomination but I just think it's disappointing to hear people who WOULD vote for him in the regular election not wanting to vote for him in the primaries because they don't think he'd be elected, especially because the people have not really paid enough attention to him, like take the time to read his book or hear his views. (Same goes for any candidate). Listen to him talk, he has what it takes to get elected if more people heard him give a speech and not just snippets of the debates. Obama is smart, eloquent, down to earth and real from everything I can gather. And he's incredibly moving. I'm impressed. He could do something to unite America and to remind us of the beauty of our roots, our history.

Now on to blink, by Malcolm Gladwell, the audio CD I started yesterday (none of the titles listed in my last post were yet in at the library, I requested them). He talked in the first part about these studies by John Gottman (whose book, Why Marriages Succeed or Fail I have) who got some attention for being able to predict, well, duh, why marriages succeed or fail but within something like a 3-minute snippet of video of them conversing. One key, he found, was contempt. Contempt included rolling eyes and insulting the other person from a position of being "higher than" the other. It was a condemnation of who the other person was. He also mentioned that in terms of being able to overcome insults, criticism etc depended on whether one was in a positive sentiment override or negative sentiment override. Basically, in the positive state, one would just attribute the insult or slight to them being in a bad day, and would forgive easily. When in a negative state, small slights were interpreted worse than they were, and even apologies were not accepted. People I think tended to stay in these states - they weren't something you flitted in and out of easily. It indicated the state of the relationship. (You can read the Chapter here)

I found this interesting for several reasons. One thought I had was that I'm convinced my mom and I are in a negative sentiment override mode and have been well since my childhood, and I wondered how we can get beyond that. I need to look into that... even when I apologize it doesn't seem to register, and she never apologizes but that's another story altogether. I don't think that info is in blink, but probably in Gottmann's book. Mom and I tend to get upset at one another at ridiculously little things, and I want to move beyond that. I also want to make sure my daughter and I don't get there (or Sam but he's so laid back it is more of an issue with Savi) as she goes into the teen years soon. I miss my babies!!

Lats on friendship, two of my wonderful amazing close friends will be coming from out of town this weekend and I'm having a party and it will be soooo fun!!!

Dreams of My Father

I'm listening to the audio -book of Barack Obama's Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance. It's very interesting and I'm enjoying it on my evening runs. I like him, he has an honest way of stating the truth of both sides but somehow seeming to bring a genuine peacefulness and understanding between various sides. As a man who had a white mother and a black (Kenyan) father, who better to bridge the divides that still remain in our country with regards to racial issues? But it goes way beyond that, he just really seems to have something genuine in his words and he seems to want to bring people together. It's a rare gift I've only seen in a few people. The book was written before he even ran for Senator.

One thing on the 4th CD, he is talking about his work doing community development in Chicago, which he did before he went to law school at Harvard. He was meeting with various church pastors because he worked with them in his community development work and this was before he became a Christian himself, and he says, "They all mentioned periods of religious doubt, the corruption of the world and their own hearts. The striking bottom and the shattering of pride. And then finally the resurrection of self, a self alloyed to something larger. That was the source of their confidence, they insisted. Their personal fall and subsequent redemption. It was what gave them the authority to preach the good news."

All I can say to that is Amen, brother! Something in the way I heard it or he read it - in a very unaffected way, no fervor, just plain spoken - moved me deeply, because it speaks such truth. That is exactly what the Christian faith means to me. It's not about being righteous and especially not self-righteous or judgmental. It's about recognizing one's failings, falling down and then finding the strength - the redemption that comes from surrender - to rise back up, truly healthier and stronger. I've had two such times when I struck bottom in my life - in high school after the date rape when I didn't have God or religion and I turned to alcohol and self-hatred and other sources of inflicting pain on myself, and then my divorce over 4 years ago when I did have God and although I sunk into a deep depression, I never hated myself and I mourned and grieved and overcame, clinging fiercely to God in the morning in my prayers, during the day in my tears, and at night as I went to bed, alone, hoping only that through this pain something beautiful could be born, or reborn. And it was.