Too Many Hopes

The period of rising expectations is dangerous, whether for nations or individuals. People who have been waiting for so much for so long see a narrow window into which great hopes and anxiety must flow.

Not everything can be done the first week. I worked for years in demography and international birth control programs, yet I do not savage the new administration for excluding it from the economic bill. There are priorities, and priorities by definition mean that everyone does not get all the goodies they want right away.

I see this same struggle in microcosm in the blogosphere, and quite frankly, here. We are tearing each other apart trying to be first through the door. We have been starving and food is right there...so close. We want so much, right now, and it is tantalizing that much is possible. IF we can manage the process properly.

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Obama Inauguration Parade

President Obama and his family are in their American-manufactured limo proceeding slowly along the parade route.

It's a cool license plate: USA1

They're near Fourth Street. If memory serves, this is very close to the federal courthouse where Fitzgerald prosecuted Libby not so long ago.

Cabinet: 7 confirmations from the Senate, not including Clinton.

Stupendous crowds causing delays even for people with tickets. Marcy reported on the crowds this morning and we will have more from Spencer and Gregg.

Somber reporting because of the scare with Senators Kennedy and Byrd being taken away, ill, from the Senate lunch. 

Updates for both Senators affirm they are in better condition than originally feared. 

Parade order in this Elliott diary - much appreciated.

Sample of participants:

* Representatives from the US Army, United States Military Academy & US Army Reserve
* Punahou School JROTC
* Punahou School Marching Band
* Whitney M. Young Magnet High School Navy JROTC
* Isiserettes Drill and Drum Corps
* Jesse White Tumbling Team
* Florida A&M University Marching 100 Band
* Crow Nation of Montana
* Paul Laurence Dunbar Senior High School Marching Band
* Illinois Home State Float
* Brooklyn Music and Arts Program
* Theodore Roosevelt High School Marine Corps JROTC Color Guard and Drill Team
* Colts Drum and Bugle Corps
* Klein Collins High School Air Force JROTC
* Cleveland Firefighters Memorial Pipes and Drums

The schedule is something like an hour late, with participants along the parade route wondering why there is a delay.

Heavy cheers from the crowds as the President's car goes slowly forward.

Very visible and heavy security.

Will be riding until 15th Street, then walking. There is a different level of security check for people who are permitted in that area. Had some experience there.

Obama is getting out of the car by the Navy Memorial. Michelle and Barack walking now - way ahead of schedule - up Pennsylvania Avenue.

Walking by the National Archives. Our beloved Constitution. The Bill of Rights.

Crowds screaming with joy as the Obamas walk by.

Muevete - Let's Move!

New physical fitness project for the DC schools. One of those folks looks mighty familiar.

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crossposted at firedoglake 15 january 2009

Mothers' Manifesto

We have — at minimum — two [unrelated] people among our commenters at Firedoglake who were involved in the resolution of the Irish struggles who are engaged with trying to bring the current situation in Gaza to the attention of the world.

After a certain number of decades/centuries of enmity both sides must agree to pull back and say, no more orphans.

No more children with arms and legs blown off.

No more people dying from stupid reasons like lack of medical supplies.

No more bombing hospitals and universities.

No more taking 18 year olds and throwing them into the furnace of war. It is wrong. It is immoral. The mothers of the world will tolerate it no longer.

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crossposted at firedoglake oxdown 1 jan 2009

You Have the Right to Remain Happy

Wishing all you pups a Happy New Year - with no strings attached.

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Cartoon used with the express written permission of Stu's Views

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crossposted at firedoglake oxdown 30 dec 2008

Cool Ham Radio Stuff

Fun piccolo parts - when I go to a concert I always check the health of the flute players, just in case they need an emergency backup player.

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Ye who now will bless the poor, shall yourselves find blessing

Music and lyrics from across the centuries, reminding us of hope and light in a dark time. I have tried to work over the years to bring hope to dark places. Having winter depression I know a little bit about that - different kinds of poverty - of the wallet, of the heart, of the soul. People come into our lives and bring blessings, sometimes quite unexpectedly.

My Christmas wish for you all is to be open to the messenger of hope and joy in your life. It may come in quite an unusual form, angels from the higher realm speaking to your heart and soul in the darkest hour.

Sire the night is darker now
And the wind blows stronger
Fails my heart I know not how
I can go no longer....
Mark my footsteps my good page,
Tread thou in them boldly,
Thou shalt find the winter's rage
Freeze thy blood less coldly.

Let us be the footsteps ahead for each other.

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Emergency Backup Organist: Teaching Children about Joy

Lost in joy at a Christmas concert with daughter-west, thinking of other Christmas music events over the decades and how they have also brought me such happiness.

Singing in church with my mother, father, grandma Mc, and siblings as a child.

Playing flute and piccolo for the Vienna VA church concerts for many years.

Caroling around the neighborhood - need to organize this again this year.

Strolling through the international carols book and learning new songs, singing at my piano-east.

Performing at Bailey Hall, Ithaca for an appreciative crowd in the snowy weather.

Listening to O Holy Night on the radio and crying because we are so far from peace on earth.

And, from the title, being the emergency backup organist in Virginia, especially Christmas Eve when there are so many services that the regular organist cannot play them all.

I always volunteered to take the Children's Service early on Christmas Eve. The children's choir kids were surprised to learn that I would let them play a few notes, in contrast to when I was a child -- maybe ten years old -- and harshly scolded for wanting to play the church organ, despite being a music prodigy. I always let the children hear how their actions make beautiful music. And they laughed so much when I showed them I played barefoot. Real grownups don't go barefoot! But it is the easiest way to feel where the pedals are, to follow them along the edge of my feet. So now you know my secret with both music and children: Share the joy.

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The Second Great Depression

The Second Great Depression - equally unthinkable as another World War after the War to End All Wars.

Economic collapse: coming soon to a town near you. I lived in a dying steel town in the 70s and well remember stories of the 30s from my ancestors. Father's family lost their house when the government reneged on veterans disability benefits. Mother's family fed homeless people by being ready with a plate of food when they came to the door. Dear God what have we allowed to happen to our country.

"I saw and approached the hungry and desperate mother, as if drawn by a magnet. I do not remember how I explained my presence or my camera to her, but I do remember she asked me no questions. I made five exposures, working closer and closer from the same direction. I did not ask her name or her history. She told me her age, that she was thirty-two. She said that they had been living on frozen vegetables from the surrounding fields, and birds that the children killed. She had just sold the tires from her car to buy food. There she sat in that lean- to tent with her children huddled around her, and seemed to know that my pictures might help her, and so she helped me. There was a sort of equality about it."

Photographer Dorothea Lange. I imagine the next generation of depression photographers will find plenty of opportunity.

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What Is Left Undone

If I work to help this country I am not working in medicine. If I work in medicine I leave this country in ruins for my children.

If I offer up my time and essence and it does not solve the problem I cannot do more.

I give all I have and it is not enough. I have done my best. Forgive.

Tom Paxton - Changing My Name to Fannie Mae

"All this crazy rooty tootin and this golden parachuting

Means that someone's making millions - just not you!"

youtube link

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crossposted at firedoglake ox 30 nov 2008

One - No, Two - Deaths at WalMart

crossposted at firedoglake 30 nov 2008 and oxdown 29 nov



A man was crushed to death and a woman lost her baby in the madness that is post-Thanksgiving shopping.

I am trying to put myself in the place of those who were lined up, eager to shop for certain items that had limited availability, those folks who wanted to be Good Parents for their child and secure the wii or other urgent item.

I've always been leery of the phrase "I would kill for..." because we are not so evolved that we wouldn't. Taught my children not to say the word kill unless they meant it. Words lose their meaning if they are used in mundane ways. Take care to use the words kill, freedom, God, love, "Help!" when it matters so that these words don't lose their meaning.

A man--a temporary employee--was killed, and a baby was killed, so that good parents, well meaning parents, could be the first in line to get the Christmas items their own children desired.

I am trying to imagine the first person who stepped over the body of the fallen man. Or those who rushed past the stricken pregnant -- but pregnant no longer -- woman on their way to the toy counter. It is human. But very dark. Our first story in recorded human history is that we screwed up. Not sure we've evolved very far past that.