From Hope to Optimism

Tomorrow, the country will have the first bench-mark in which to judge our new president. The first 100 days of a president's term has historically become the rubric and a foreshadow of what to expect the next 1,360 (possibly more) days to come.

There will be those that say he has been remarkable and those that will claim he has made the country worse. Pundits will use statistics and create projections, each skewed in a manner to support their case. And while they will argue about the data, I would rather point out an intangible that I believe President Obama has brought to the table in his opening act as our commander-in-chief. President Obama has given the country optimism.

Now I wanted to use the word "hope" there but I didn't. I believe the country has had hope for a while now. However, it wan not until Obama took the reins and began leading this country did people actually believe that we might be able to pull ourselves out of this mess that we are knee-deep in. Most of the country believes the United States is on the right track again and that changed our "hope" to optimism. And we all know you have to believe if you want to achieve!

So while it's good for us to listen to the numbers and the arguments tomorrow just remember, not everything can be measured with a percentage and a graph. And perhaps that is the most important aspect we would be studying after President Obama's first 100 days.

Raise High our Voice for Clean Energy Now -- Support the President's Plan

No time to quote Shakespeare or others. No time to act like Socrates (or Plato as it were who wrote as if he were Socrates. Now that is something to ponder. We really do not know who Socrates was except for what his students had to say about him. No time for me to wonder down that path either. Besides, Shakespeare is so much easier -- one can say what one wants and simply chalk it up to a Bard's meanderings, sigh.) and write something in the hopes of causing one to re-examine his or her beliefs and whether they are valid.

So here goes ... We depleted our manufacturing job sector and sent it out of our country -- especially during the last eight years. Those jobs are not coming back. The unemployment rate keeps rising. Wind power is one of the answers to these problems.

I am not one to yell "FIRE" in a crowded theater. There are, however, certain key issues that one must do so. While some members of Congress are yelling "FIRE" about the President's plan on energy (and just about anything else -- to the point of ad nauseum -- that the President says or does), China gets it.

In a recent article posted online at Center for American Progress, entitled, "We Must Seize the Energy Opportunity or Slip Further Behind: A Primer on Global Competition in Green Technology Investments," Ben Furnas talks about our commitment and lack there of:

China’s leaders are investing $12.6 million every hour to green their economy. Other countries are equally enenergetic in their embrace of alternative energy technologies; they are setting targets and investing billions of dollars to spur the development of entirely new markets in wind, solar, geothermal, biofuels, energy efficiency, high-speed rail, and other clean and innovative solutions to global warming.

(Picture: Source: AP/Xinhua, Li Rui. Wind power turbines at a wind power plant in Ulanqab, which is north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

The United States, too, is poised to transform its economy to create millions of new jobs and help create a cleaner, safer planet by investing in a green, renewable-energy based economy. The Obama administration wants to unleash the ingenuity of our private sector to rein in pollution and put millions of Americans back to work. ... full text

The article, while quite progressive in it's approach, is a must read as it provides the facts -- something that seems to be missing on the other side of the Congressional aisle. And when it comes to energy, the nay-sayers seem to be infecting both sides! It certainly says why we must support the President's plan.

Time to call Congress. Time to write letters. Time to join me in blogging and let the voice of the people be loud and clear.

Unchecked Ignorance and Fear

When I was a young girl, I read a great deal about World War II, including books on Adolf Hitler, Karl Adolf Eichmann -- famed for being the "architect of the Holocaust" -- and other historical accounts about Nazi Germany and The Third Reich. At times, what I read tore at my sensibilities.

The book that left it's greatest impression on me was the Diary of Anne Frank. Her story was troubling for me to read on many levels because she was a young girl just like me and was swallowed up by demons of the most horrible hells. We were young girls who were supposed to be footloose and fancy free without a care in the world.

Reading Anne's diary was sometimes an arduous task as I did not necessarily want to delve too close into the pages. If I turned to the next page or read through to the end of the next paragraph, would it be there? Will this part outline in graphic detail that Anne was found, taken, tortured and ultimately killed in some horrid concentration camp? Is this the gory part?

There were moments when I wanted to be hopeful that she would be saved by a cadre of American soldiers, proudly holding up the American flag, James Cagney marching in the lead singing, "I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy ... Yankee doodle do or die. A real live nephew of my Uncle Sam. Born on the fourth of July." And the cavalry marches in to save the day, Busby Berkeley style, singing "Over there ... over there ... Send the word to beware over there ... That the Yanks are coming. The Yanks are coming. And we won't be back 'till it's over, over there." All is well.

It was that imagery that kept me on solid footing, not allowing fear to overtake me. This was Anne's story and not mine so I must be safe. After all, I had the long stretch of white sandy beach bays of Cooney Island, the laughter and roar of the crowds at Steeple Chase, cotton candy, Nathans' hot dogs, Jimmy Stewart and it really was a wonderful life. I was safe, at least I thought I was supposed to be safe. So where was the sense of dread, the fear, the cold, heartless feeling of doom coming from?

As I cautiously read each line, turned each page, I found myself examining those fears, but not of my own choice. It was Anne's life-force that was compelling me to examine them in all their rawness. The realization that Anne would never be free again to go outside in the sunshine, or hear birds sing, or laugh out loud as hard as she could until her sides ached. To blurt out silly phrases that young girls often do, just because. That Anne would never again put on a pair of roller skates and whiz through the streets, the wheels rumbling low on the pavement, her swift reaction to ensure her balance when the road took a sudden turn or became too bumpy. All that was gone just to be safe. Anne's "safe" was undoubtedly sinister and mean. The horrible twist of fate of being found not by accident but by betrayal. And once taken only to die just weeks before the British army arrives. Time to close the diary. Time to think happy thoughts. Time to go play. Where's James Cagney when I need him.

It struck me like a brick that while we were learning about World War II and the rise of Adolf Hitler and he had done to a group of people because they were of a different background and ethnicity -- we were learning about ignorance in it's worst form. Anne and her family did not live in Germany where she was born. They lived in the Netherlands and that did not protect them because Hitler invaded other countries, seeking out this particular group of people doing things to them that was too horrible to read about, to repeat, or try to comprehend.

I became angry because I realized that where Anne lived was irrelevant due to a small group of people that reached out to the lowest elements of human nature -- fear and ignorance -- and they would not stop until Anne, her family, and others like them were dead. What came popping out of Anne's diary and got up into my face was that there was no "safe," because ignorance, when it becomes cancerous and unchecked, has no boundaries.

Here we are again with a pivotal moment in history and the diary of a young girl whom I never met (and who died before I was born), still haunts me. And part of that is not just because of what happened to Anne Frank and to so many like her, it is because ignorance is still trying to infect our society with its deadly venom. Like 99.9% of all cancers, it starts as a tiny growth from within. And if not checked, it spreads until it consumes it's host.

Fortunately, the story of Anne Frank and others with similar stories, are still alive within us. They cause us to stop and reflect on that which is noble and just within our society versus that which can become cancerous. They cause us to recognize the difference between practical measures that will benefit us all and the misguided tactics of a snake oil salesman.

We need to visit her life often to remind us of what ignorance can look like when it goes horribly awry. Whether it is the unsafe usage and deployment of a test nuclear missile, or the unlawful seizure of a news reporter who is tried and convicted without representation on false charges, or of a political party that chooses to ignore the truth of a matter and instead spread fear and ignorance by reaching out to the basest elements of their constituents for their own political gain, we must be constantly aware of ignorance and keep it in check by responsibly calling it out when we see it.

Call Out:

On April 15th, Former Rep. David Davis (R-TN), Representatives R. Corker (R-TN), J. Chaffetz (R-UT), R. Bishop (R-UT), T. Tiahrt (R-KS), S. Graves (R-MO), J. Fleming (R-LA), A. Crenshaw (R-FL), R. Latta (R-OH), J. Shadegg (R-AZ) , S. Myrick (R-NC), W. Posey (R-FL), L. Gohmert (R-TX), D. Rehberg (R-MT), J. Kingston (R-GA) and T. Rooney (R-FL), Gov. Perry (R-TX) and Gov. M. Sanford (R-SC), and other elected officials either spoke at an anti-tax "tea party" or sent someone from their office to represent them, as well as encouraged their constituents to attend parties. Much of these events were more about bashing President Obama than anything else. The facts and the truth were no where to be found.

Moreover, the above congressional officers' and governors' negative rhetoric has naturally appealed to the gun rights militia groups, secessionist groups and neo-Nazi groups, i.e., those living on the fringe of our society. Is this what Congresswoman Bachmann means by constantly referring to "we are armed and dangerous."

It is time for these Republican leaders to stop lying to their constituents and the American people. It is time for the rest of us to get actively involved so that the truth drowns out the negative rhetoric.

To Speak the Truth - Or Not Speak the Truth: The Republican Base Dilema

Shakespeare would undoubtedly have a field day with the base of the Republican party. I can hear Shakespeare say in thoughtful muse over the rantings of Bachmann, Limbaugh, Gindal, Palin, etcetera:

"To speak that which is truth or speak that which is fantasy. Nay, not fantasy, for a muse this far adrift conjures up the dark spirits of the deepest, blackest and most vile abyss. Nay, not fantasy, I say. For these Sorcerers would fill our hearts with chilling fears and rend us into too many pieces to restore with our tongues left hot and dry, cracking from the foulest of foul. Our tears morn for our plight, they cannot fall to ease our thirst for that which is lost. Truth! Whereforth hath thou been driven. What madness drives this evil scourge upon us all. Our souls beware. Come! Ease our hearts and let thine presence sooth our minds with sense and sensibilities restored." (Shakespeare, in fantasy from a parallel universe).

Unfortunately, Shakespeare is not alive and we can only "imagine" what he might say in response to the rather peculiar stance the Republican base is taking.

I watched some of the footage on one of news stations covering one of the tea partys where a young man stood up and tried to tell everyone that if they earned less than $250,000 per year, they would not be taxed. He was booed off the stage.

I tried briefly to answer the question, "Why?" But that only caused my eyebrows to furl up and my eyes to squint. So, I go back to my own fantasy and "I sit with Shakespeare and he winceth not." I'd rather listen to Trane anyway.

Will Newspapers Become a "Thing of the Past?"

Over the past few months, we have seen many newspapers shut their doors. Even the Boston Globe's existence is being threatened. There seems to be two basic factors contributing to the loss of printed newspapers, an ailing economy and the lack of newspapers to do what they were supposed to do over the past ten years.

Newspapers were supposed to go out and ask the tough questions. Where was Brenda Starr reporter when the financial institutions were putting together unsound mortgage instruments and selling them overseas. No where. But truth has the habit of coming to the surface and along came the blogg. An unusual word -- short, guttural and powerful because bloggs empower people to say what is on their mind, give their opinion often and invite others to do likewise.

Bloggers exploded the power of the Internet by allowing information to be shared instantly on a global level. People relish the power to have their say, network, mobilize, digg a story up or bury it deep. Tweets and twirls came along and took the world by surprise. There was a time when I would sit with my colleagues and joke about how the birthing of a new language was taking place with the text message craze. We laughed just as we did when we mused about someone crazy enough to bottle water and sell it.

Tomorrow, I plan to go to the movies to see State of Play, starring Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck, Helen Mirren and a host of other great actors/actresses. The story is about a team of investigative reporters (including a young blogger) who work together with a police detective to try and solve the murder of a congressman's mistress. I watched Affleck on the Rachel Maddow show this evening and quietly giggled as they mused over one day perhaps Ben may tell his children how news stories were actually printed on paper and then delivered to homes/individuals, one by one -- in the old days. Maddow and Affleck discussed the failing newspaper industry and what impact that might have to the future of news reporting.

Should we do away with newspapers? Will that save a lot of trees? Or, should we find a way to live in harmony, bloggers and reporters (on recycled paper)?

After the show, I logged onto Face Book to check out what was happening in the online world. And there it was on Face Book -- a trailer for the movie, State of Play, with a link to the web site and all. When one opens and watches the trailer, you can opt to share it on various Internet social networks and blogs -- including this blogg. Watch the movie trailer posted on the right.

I still like sitting in my yard on a beautiful spring morning with coffee in hand tackling a good crossword puzzle, or snuggled up in my favorite chair with a good book on a cold rainy day. I love walking through the long rows of books at the main library. Most of all, the New York Public Library main branch, sitting at the mahogany desks, worn from decades of use, the smell of books, the awe of the words that rests on each page, the adventures locked in each chapter, waiting to emerge and burst into action upon the unsuspecting reader.

Blogging allows us to have a global conversation, meet new people, share ideas and forces us to hear, see and tell our stories in a fast-paced manner commensurate with the fast-paced world we live in. Blogging is an outward motion and an empowering action for both the blogger and the reader. Newspapers, books and magazines allow us to have an inner conversation, expand our imagination, explore our own minds in the comfort of our own zone. It is a perfect, permissible conversation with oneself.

Each has a special place in today's world and in our hearts. We need them both.

Health Care: We are So Close

This week, Health Care for America Now (HCAN) and Connecticut Citizens Action Group (CCAG) are participating in a national effort sponsored by HCAN. All across the country, 300 health care forums are taking place with Congressional leaders as keynote speakers.

Each forum has a panel of three individuals who are involved with health care in various ways. What is unique about these forums is that the bulk of time of each event is allotted to attendees, allowing each person a chance to speak, ask their questions and be involved in the conversation.

On a national level, as the President continues to express his commitment to health care reform, there is growing support for single-payer health coverage as noted in an article, "Support for Single-Payer Health Coverage Widens," posted on the Progressive States Network.

Connecticut's Health Care Reform Conversation

The conversation to reform health care in Connecticut is fast taking on two views. One view, there are those who seek to take a firm and steady approach that "has a chance of winning." These folks have been at this juncture before. They have rallied to the cause and have seen their efforts dashed out for one reason or another. Determined to wait and fight another day has paid off -- this time in spades. One can taste victory in spite of the raw reality that Connecticut is often seen as the "insurance" state. Moreover, if Connecticut passes comprehensive health care reform (SustiNet), our state will be at the front of the line to receive federal health care funds and assistance. SustiNet is very much like the President's Plan.

No doubt, insurance companies will beef up their arsenals to fight to the end against any concept that will cause premiums to drop in price, thereby diminishing their profitability - even a gradual shift in that direction will be seen as a direct threat by insurance companies. While the President is pushing for lobbying reform in Washington, lobbying is still very much a way of life at Connecticut's legislature. For health care reform to come as close as it has in this environment in our state is remarkable, indeed. In addition, supporters of this plan do not want to allow this window of opportunity to close.

(We must ensure that insurance companies do not use tarp funds to lobby against health care reform.)

Another view, this past presidential campaign experienced the growth of a wide grassroots movement that empowered people into having hope and believing in change and realizing that change comes from within. For a significant amount of these individuals, translating the President's commitment on health care reform means that if they do not go for single-payer/non-profit health care reform, we will miss the opportunity to achieve this kind of reform.

At the end of the day, we need everyone at the table where we can air our views and unite around a viable strategy that will bring about health care reform in Connecticut. There is no doubt in my mind that we will not experience sustainable economic reform without first addressing health care reform. We must all find common ground.