The Undiscovered Country

Are We There Yet?

When the day finally came for Barack Obama to become our 44th President, it unfolded with a lot of positive energy I hadn't foreseen. I knew I'd be happy, but the incredible outpouring of emotion and joy that enveloped every available square inch of Washington D. C. just floored me. I was out of town this last weekend, and missed the big Sunday musical celebration, but eventually watched it online. It's odd that with just a simple exorcism via the ballot, the mood of the country could change so dramatically. The symbolism of the performances on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial was striking. Video clips of Marian Anderson, Martin Luther King, and JFK were counterpoints to young and old musical artists singing classics. I was particularly moved to see the old Sam Cooke song, A Change is Gonna Come. It was great to see U2 do Pride (In the Name of Love), which was originally dedicated to MLK, done in front of the huge seated statue of Abraham Lincoln.

Obama's acceptance speech was not the second coming of the Gettysburg Address, nor was it meant to be. It was a direct communiqué to all of us that the day had come, and that the change we'd all been waiting for was going to happen through our own hands, and that the government would not be a thing of alienation, but an extension of the will and needs of the people. While his first words were gracious ones, directed at ex-president Bush (jeez, it feels good to say 'ex-president Bush!') but soon heard in no uncertain terms that there was a new sheriff in town, and America would no longer be operating under the same old patterns of politics and power.

Before today, I'd heard some snickering remarks about the phrase "Be the change," but today, that seems real to me, and what it's all about, and also how it must be the way things will work.

No TV, No Internet

Somehow, our cable has been severed, so it's DVD's and my iPhone tonight!

Odd Couple: Barack Obama and Rick Warren

Does this make me an apologist?
On January 20, Rick Warren will give the invocation at Obama's inauguration. This has caused much uproar, outcry, and gnashing of teeth in the progressive and gay communities, for obvious reasons.

Four years ago, I wrote about my dislike for Rick Warren. My distress over the passage of California's Proposition 8 is just as public. I have been solidly in Obama's camp since the Dead's endorsement back in February.

So...what's the deal here with Rick Warren?

In a recent, well-written column by Jon Carroll in the Chronicle, called The Purpose-Driven Bigot, Carroll totally, and logically describes why inviting Rick Warren was such a mistake. I couldn't disagree with any of it, and especially resonated with this statement:

It was an easy trap to avoid, is what I'm saying. It was an easy statement to refrain from making. But Obama has chosen to start his administration with a bigot addressing God on behalf of the American people. Not the change I was hoping for.

So..what's the deal here with Rick Warren?

Why would I dare touch this? Perhaps the same stupidity that prevents me from being silent when I should just stifle; who knows? But I think there's something extra going on here. Perhaps I just want my heroic image of Obama to be vindicated, and not dragged down into some sort of crass political expediency. I don't think Obama is throwing gays under the bus by any means. I see revisionists laying the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy towards gays in the military at Bill Clinton's feet, but I feel that's unfair. Clinton tried to do away with discrimination against gays in the military, but ran into such a buzzsaw, DADT was forged in the process of compromise.

I think that what's going on here is that Obama is trying to bring two disparate worlds together, to see and experience each other.

To progressives like myself, the issue of marriage equality is a no-brainer, and just another in a long line of examples of why church and state need to be kept separate. There's nothing vague about this. But to many people, who may have voted for Proposition 8, they may have a different reality. Some of them are outright homophobes, but I supect many of them are just out of touch, and have not been able to see our gay brothers and sisters as, well, simply our brothers and sisters. I heard one commentator on the radio say that if everyone had been to one of the same-sex marriages that went on recently in California, the vote would have been different. I truly believe that. When one can put a face to 'the other' it is no longer 'the other.'

In short, what I think Obama is doing is bringing two worlds together to try and work it out. I think this falls under the You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar philosophy. It's sort of like a time warp. If we were to look at ourselves a century ago, there are many aspects of our lives we would all (hopefully!) agree have no place in the modern world. I think in most respects, many evangelicals are good people, but are still in a mindset that blinds them to the consequences of their actions. If Obama can bring us together, could we indeed 'work it out?'

Hey, it's not even January 20th yet! I prefer to give Obama the benefit of the doubt at this point.

All good things in all good time.

Recycled Memories at the Academy of Sciences

No Easy Task
I have been going to the Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park for most of my life. I didn't go during the remodeling project, when they were downtown, but received a gift of a membership for xmas, and went down bright and early (so we thought) yesterday morning to get into the 'express entrance' line for members. This would of course speed us past the riff-raff in the ordinary line. This turned out to be only half true, as the member line was incredibly long, but nowhere near as long as the line of the regular ticket holders. By the time we got in, and oriented ourselves to how to get a planetarium ticket, it was already too late for a morning viewing. The line was already long for the rainforest, so we headed towards the back, where the alligators were.

The new location is in the back, near the rear entrance. It used to be larger, and right in front when you walked in. In those old pre-enlightened times, people would throw coins at the alligators and snapping turtles, as if they were objects of cosmic luck. I distinctly remember my late Auntie Jean, who was quite a character, getting one of the guards to poke an alligator with a long stick, so it would roar for us. I know it sounds unbelievable, but it really happened!

One thing I could never do as a child, was wander through the aquarium, take pictures with my iPhone, and simultaneously post them on Facebook! There's free wifi inside! The new Academy is pretty awesome, and I wonder when it will ever not be crowded. I think I'll just have to take a day off, on a Tuesday when members get in an hour early, rush into the line to get a planetarium ticket, then get in the line for the rainforest!

Even having lunch was a compromise. There were many separate, interesting looking food stations, all with their individual waiting lines. We had some great shrimp and pork spring rolls with peanut dipping sauce, but I'd like to try something different next time too. There's even a chi-chi restaurant called The Moss Room downstairs, but they were also totally booked!

It's highly recommended.

Psychedelic Santa

What's Santa listening to on his iPhone?

Now, I admit I like Santa a lot, and I also like Apple a lot. So there I was in Stonestown, checking out the Apple store, as I am wont to do, and there's Santa, with neon tube earbuds. I just had to snap a shot. I don't know if this Santa was specially made for Apple, or just something generic one picks up as the Santa Store, but I dug it!

It also give me a chance to tell all of you how much I wish the best for you next year, and to hold on to the Season of Peace vibe, that passes all too quickly.

Peace,
Geoff

Keith Olbermann's Prop 8 Editorial

While I continue to work on my song inspired by the wedding wars, Keith Olberman of MSNBC delivers this extremely passionate message. I used to dislike him when he was on ESPN, as I thought he was too cynical then. What a transformation he has gone through having to deal with the idiots and hate mongers of the modern cable news world.

Fragile Hope

Feeling Better

I have to tell you that I worry for Obama, part of the package of hope I carry for him. While it was a resounding political victory, I am reminded that it could have gone differently. The economic meltdown definitely helped Obama shine in the public eye. If the collapse had held off until after the election, would this all be happening? It's not for me to say.

I can feel the possibilities whispering in my ear, shouting from my soul. The sobering reality that Prop 8 looks like it's winning shows the power of fear that still exists in our society. I guess what I usually do at a time like this is quote T. S. Eliot.

I said to my soul, be still, and wait without hope
For hope would be hope for the wrong thing; wait without love,
For love would be love of the wrong thing; there is yet faith
But the faith and the love and the hope are all in the waiting.
Wait without thought, for you are not ready for thought:
So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing.

Let us dance into the future.

Enough Already!

I can't take it anymore!

Will I be happy in 24 hours? Will I be angry? Will I be sad? Will I be all those things?

If they steal the election again, will I feel like moving to Canada? Certainly not to Alaska. If Prop 8 wins, how long do we have to wait for the generation of hate to die off?

If Barack Obama wins, will we be holding our breath, worried that every Tom, Dick, Harry, and Sara right-wing wingnut will be out to get him?

America could be so much more than it is right now.

Are you as ready for this to be over as I am?

Sleight of Hand: GOP cornered and dangerous

Nothing to see here! Hey, look at that ACORN!
As the end looms, and the smoke clears, the GOP strategy seems clear. It doesn't seem like anyone on the Democratic side is taking a victory for granted, but McPalin's outlook is pretty bleak right now. So, from what I'm hearing and reading, the last strategy is outright stealing the election by reverting to 18th and 19th century voter suppression strategies.

The Repugnicans have been screaming bloody murder about voter fraud, trying to get everyone talking about ACORN, but the true cases of voter fraud are rarer than lottery winners. This is all just a smokescreen to distract people from what is happening across the country, all in the perverted name of the Help America Vote Act. Just like in Florida in 2000, several states are thinning out the voter rolls, and often more likely in poor and ethnic areas. According to the Steal Back Your Vote comic book, co-written by Robert Kennedy, Jr. and Greg Palast, Republican lawyers across the country are challenging and intimidating voters. In their recent article in Rolling Stone, they wrote:

On Super Tuesday, one in nine Democrats who tried to cast ballots in New Mexico found their names missing from the registration lists.

A lot of voters are being challenged because their records don't match on the Drivers License database with the Social Security data. I was called to jury duty twice in one year, just because one list had my name spelled differently than another list. Maybe I won't be able to vote either! I just ran across this story about how certain Florida counties are refusing to go along with the real strict hassling of voters. This is out there to be paid attention to.

This has to bubble up to the top of the media consciousness soon, before it's too late. Please pass the word about this strategy. Enormous sunlight needs to shine into these dark ugly corners, if we are to preserve our democracy.

Insert Caption Here!

according to the ABC caption:

Republican presidential nominee John McCain almost heads the wrong way as he leaves the stage after shaking hands with Democratic presidential nominee Senator Barack Obama after the final presidential debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., Oct. 15, 2008.
(Jim Bourg/Reuters)

So, what I really would like is for as many of you as possible to write your own caption for this photo!