Seeking A Homeland

Cost of the War

Cost of the War in Iraq

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The Gaslight Anthem with a surprise Guest

Brian Fallon looks even happier than the audience--and why not? Glastonbury June 27th.

the 59 sound - bruce springsteen & gaslight anthem( glasto )
by runawaydream

Birds of a Feather

I've griped about Dave Schultheis a couple of times before. Now he's garnering broader attention by saying more and more outlandish things. Who would have thought, without ol' Dave to point it out, that AIDS in infants is a good thing?

That doesn't mean the bill he was opposing was necessarily a good one. This blog post makes a strong argument that it's not. It's just that Dave was opposing it for all the wrong reasons.

At least he's not alone in his bigotry. He now has Scott Renfroe to keep him company.

If you can't believe anyone would say such things and you have another six minutes to waste on this scurrilous garbage, here are Renfroe's actual remarks as recorded on the Senate floor. I have to warn you, though, that he makes even George W. seem eloquent, so it's sort of painful to listen to.

Colorado Democrats have been gleefully pointing out how, with the Governor, the Secretary of State, the Treasurer, both U.S. Senators, most of the U.S. representatives, and majorities in both chambers of the general assembly all in our corner, Colorado has gone blue. We've come a long way, it's true, but let's not get too sanguine. Those who would take away our freedom and establish a reactionary theocracy have not given up or gone away.

Hoovervilles

Wednesday night my wife and I watched Cinderella Man, Ron Howard's 2005 biography of boxer James J. Braddock starring Russell Crowe and Renee Zellweger. Howard will never have an reputation as an avant garde pioneer, but it was a well made and entertaining movie and I'd recommend it if you haven't seen it yet.

I don't think that anyone involved with the movie or anyone watching it in 2005 could have anticipated how resonant its themes of suffering, perseverance and solidarity in the face of economic crisis would seem in 2009. I really made that connection now, though. One of the scenes that took the troubles of the time beyond one family's struggle was Braddock's visit to Central Park's Hooverville. While I don't have a clip of that segment, the following brief video gives some idea of what Hoovervilles must have been like. (It also shows, by the way, that Bing Crosby wasn't always the sentimental, avuncular type people today think of him as. Both his attitude and his voice are a little sharp and bluesy here.)

Of course there were homeless people when Cinderella Man was made, but I don't think it was as bad then as it is now. When I'm at work and I want to go out for lunch I go to the pedestrian mall a block away. Years ago it had a lot of homeless people, but they mainly fell into two categories, the long-term homeless who seemed to have substance abuse problems and teenagers who often seemed to have skateboards. Then Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper introduced a 10 Year Master Plan to reduce homelessness, and it seemed to be working. Lately, though, as you might expect, it's been getting worse again. What was just the occasional person looking for help now feels like a gauntlet to be run. The demographics have changed, too. There seem to be a lot of adults in their prime years who are new to the streets.

Across the country tent cities have been springing up. The one that has had the most publicity in in Sacramento, as seen on Oprah and in this clip from MSNBC:

These tent cities and these panhandlers on the streets are just the visible edge of a much larger problem, too. According to a recent report (web site  summary pdf full report pdf) by the National Center on Family Homelessness that has received a lot of attention 1 in 50 children faces homelessness. Now, that doesn't necessarily mean in the streets or in a shelter. It appears to include situations like having to stay with someone else.Still, It is shameful that things have come to such a pass in a country that has been so richly blessed. They are likely to get even worse, too, before they get better.

Today's Daily Office, the Bible readings appointed for today, includes this from Psalm 76: "From the heavens you uttered judgement; the earth feared and was still when God rose up to establish judgement, to save all the oppressed of the earth," and this jeremiad from Jeremiah 5: "For scoundrels are found among my people... they have become great and rich, they have grown fat and sleek... and they do not defend the rights of the needy. Shall I not punish them for these things? says the Lord, and shall I not bring retribution on a nation such as this?" This Lent, I need to focus more on what my role is in creating homelessness and what more I can do to help to end it.

A Last Look at Updike and Cheever - Dick Cavett Blog - NYTimes.com

A Last Look at Updike and Cheever - Dick Cavett Blog - NYTimes.com.

This post has a wonderful half hour of Dick Cavett talking to John Cheever and John Updike.

Once an ass, always an ass

Beginning this post makes me sigh. It's not like I think my opinions make any difference, but sometimes just objecting to the hatefulness of the right feels so Sisyphean. I know, "Yes, we did!" and "Change has come" and all, but there's still so much s**t to wade through.

In October of 2006 I wrote about a Colorado politician named Dave Schultheis. He had used a terrible traffic accident as an excuse to rant against Hispanic people. He had mistakenly assumed the three kids killed in the accident were undocumented aliens, although the at least two of them were U.S. citizens. Since then he has continued to introduce anti-immigrant legislation every year, despite the fact that it is defeated every time. He keeps trying to oppose things like emergncy contraception, too.

Now he wants to end a publicity campaign designed to increase seat belt use among Spanish speakers. It's as if he wants more fatalities. I first saw this on ColoradoPols.com, but they mainly just quote a  Denver Post article. At least he's consistent, even if it's just in jackassery.

A Pastor's Take On Why Rick Warren Sucked Today

Street Prophets :: Faith and Politics.

Come on, pastordan, don't be mealy-mouthed--tell us what you think! I actually thought he was better than I expected. Granted, that wasn't much.

Ears atingle

This past Sunday one verse in the Old Testamen lesson appointed in the liturgical calendar caught my attention. It was part of a reading aboutGod's replacement of the corrupt family of Eli with the young Samuel. The translation I have with me at the moment has this for Samuel 3:11, "The LORD said, "Soon I shall do something which will ring in the ears of all who hear it." The translation read Sunday put it a little differently, "...something that will make everyone's ears tingle."

Today my ears are really tingling.

Often a piece of music gets stuck in my brain and won't get out. Lately it usually has been one song or another from an album I picked up recently, a bootleg of Bruce playing at the Agora in Cleveland that had been broadcast on WMMS, the station I was always listening to back then. One day it would be Badlands, another day She's the One, a third Promised Land, and so on. Today, though, a different song keeps playing over and over in my head:"America, America, God shed his grace on thee, and crown thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea!"

Evidence of things unseen

This morning Barack was on This Week with George Stephanopoulos. If you missed it you can watch it or read a transcript here. Those who have felt since the election that Obama is moving too far toward the center will probably not be reassured by some of the things he said today.

For one thing, people who thought Guantanamo would be closed right away are in for a disappointment. Now we're talking about some time beyond the first 100 days. It is true that among the many hapless Muslims who have done nothing worse than to have an Arabic name there may be a few genuinely dangerous people. Of those who had done nothing wrong we may have made a few into terrorists by keeping them locked up without a trial for years, too. If one of them were to be released and then were to go on to participate in another 9/11 style attack, it would be terrible. Not only would it be terrible to lose more lives that way, but the effect on the Obama presidency would be devastating and irreversible. His enemies, who will remain legion, would jump on that and never let up. So closing Guantanamo will have to be done carefully. He even is thinking about what to do with "some of the evidence against them may be tainted even though it's true." I thought tainted meant unusable, but I guess that in the real world, where struggles take place and people really die, you still have to take it into account.  Still, Obama's commitment to closing it in due course remains firm and unambiguous.

If you had hope that there might reckoning and accountability for Bush and his henchmen for their crimes (see the column I linked to in my post below for some examples), I don't think there's a lot to be expected there, either. The This Week headline for the story about this part of the interview, "Obama Leaves Door Open (a Bit) On Prosecuting Bush Officials," seems to want to say that the glass isn't quite empty. My take on what Obama said is that it's about as empty as it could be. Despite a nominal nod to the Attorney General's independence, it's hard to imagine that Eric Holder (who Obama says is sure to be confirmed) will try to prosecute the neo-con criminals when the boss says, "We have to focus on is getting things right in the future as opposed to looking at what we got wrong in the past."

The discomfort I admit to feeling with Obama's stand on these particular issues shouldn't be taken as a sign that my support for Obama and my elation at his election have gone away. After This Week I watched some of Meet the Press before we left for church. They showed about one second of that moment when Barack, Michelle, Malia and Sasha walked out onto the stage in Grant Park. Even now, more than two months after that great night, such a slight clip made the tears start to well up inside me again.

During the end of the campaign I was in charge of all the canvassers in my area, about two thirds of my state House district, so for the last month or so I couldn't go out and canvass myself, which I love to do. I had to stay in the office managing canvassers instead. On election night, though, for the last hour or two our field organizer sent everyone out canvassing, trying to round up every last vote we could, right up until the minute the polls closed. (Well, OK, I quit about five minutes before, but at that point I don't think I could have talked anyone into getting dressed and rushing out into a chilly night to try to get in line in time.)

I had planned my canvassing out so that at that time I was just a couple hundred yards from my house. I went in for a while, got a little to eat and talked with my wife and daughter, and then took my car back to our field office. The local Democratic party had planned a big returns watch party at a cavernous restaurant nearby, but our leadership team was congregating in our field office, and I wanted to watch the results with them, because we had become quite close over the last several months.

Before long it became clear that this was not only not going to be a death watch, as in the last two elections, but that it wasn't going to drag on into the wee hours of the morning, either. The election was going to be called quickly. I realized that besides wanting to watch it with my fellow organizers, I really wanted to watch it with my family, too. Sharing events this momentous is part of what families should do. I hurried home, packed them into the car, and went back to the office.

I should explain here that my daughter is now 13 years old. The sweet child who was always Daddy's girl has been replaced this moody, unpredictable, and often angry stranger. The kid who once in a school paper said I was her hero now seems to take the attitude, "Eeew, yuck, you're an adult. And what's worse, you're my parent! I don't want to have anything to do with you!" I accept it because I know it's pretty much inevitable and because I know it's temporary. In fact, it's a necessary part of a positive good, her maturation and separation from us to have her own life. Still, I have to admit that it hurts sometimes.

I go into that because it's the context of the picture that follows below. At the very moment that whatever channel we were watching announced that Obama was the victor, someone there in the office happened to have her camera pointed toward my daughter, my wife and me. (I trimmed some other people off.) You'll notice that my daughter has put her arm around my neck and lifted herself off the ground, swinging her feet around. That's a moment I will always, always remember.

But all that is a diversion from where I was headed, talking about this morning. At church one of the hymns we sang was "Morning Has Broken." I certainly don't want to seem like I am deifying Obama, but it still seemed to resonate with my feelings in this interim, which seems endless, between the election and the inauguration. You may know the melody from the version recorded long ago by Cat Stevens, which you can listen to here. I'll stick its lyrics in here, too, although the ones in ours hymnal are a little different.

Morning has broken /Like the first morning, /Blackbird has spoken /Like the first bird. /Praise the singing! /Praise for the morning! /Praise for them springing /Fresh from the Word! 

Sweet the rain's new fall /Sunlit from heaven, /Like the first dewfall /On the first grass. /Praise for the sweetness /Of the wet garden, /Sprung in completeness /Where His feet pass.Mine is the sunlight! /Mine is the morning. /Born of the one light /Eden saw play! /Praise with elation, /Praise ev'ry morning, /God's recreation /Of the new day!

Despite the obvious and many problems facing our country and the world, and despite knowing Obama will not solve them all, I still believe that this can be the beginning of a new day.

The Greatest Greatness of George W. Bush

t r u t h o u t | The Greatest Greatness of George W. Bush.

Man, I wish I had written this! The spirit of Tom Paine still lives. Highly recommended.

Edit: I thought, "Not even Bush would make that remark linking 9/11 and tax cuts." Well, I went looking for it, and it's still on the White House web site.

Resolution

Today I was looking at RJ's fascinating blog When love comes to town and found a link to a similar blog, songs for the journey, by a guy in London named Nick Coke. Both explore the meaning of popular music and relate it to a progressive, experiential, non-dogmatic form of Christianity. Nick had embedded this YouTube video of Dylan singing "Pressing On" from his album Saved. There are no specifics about where and when it was filmed, but it seems to have been somewhere in the U.S. sometime in the 1980's.

The cinematography isn't great, but the performance is. I love the way he starts out alone, and then soon the backup singers join him, but the band doesn't kick in until three minutes into the song. This may have been the last song in the set--not only because the audience is thoroughly worked up, but also  because for the last minute or more he walks away looking tired and lets the singers and band wrap it up. The way they end it is one of the many meanings of the word "resolution." They finish with "the progression of a voice part or of the harmony as a whole from a dissonance to a consonance."

The fuzziness of this video is an example of another kind of "resolution," which is "the fineness of detail (or in this case the lack of detail) that can be distinguished in an image, as on a video display terminal."

Still another kind of resolution is the meaning you may have been expecting in the context of today's date, "a resolve or determination: to make a firm resolution to do something...the act of resolving or determining upon an action or course of action." This post will eventually get around to making that kind of resolution.

The song "Pressing On" is about another meaning of this versatile word, "the mental state or quality of being resolved or resolute; firmness of purpose." As Bob sings, "Shake the dust off of your feet, don't look back/Nothing now can hold you down, nothing that you lack/Well I'm pressing on/To the higher calling of my Lord." That is the kind of resolution I need, and I think the progressive movement needs, in the lee of the great wind that swept Barack Obama into the presidency two months ago.

The temptation now--I feel it myself--is to kick back, relax, and recuperate after months of strenuous campaigning. Lots of people worked really hard to get Obama, Biden and their local candidates elected. I worked harder than most, although not by a long shot as hard as some folks I know. To lay off for too long, though, would be a huge mistake. As I found out late in 2004 and early in 2005, taking a bit of a break can feel so good you just keep on doing it. Now, 2008 is obviously different from 2004. Winning is not as dispiriting as losing, but on the other hand losing does not lead to complacency and to an attitude of, "OK, now we can let the guy we elected to take care of things take care of things." Barack has said often though that what we built last year was not really about him. It was a movement, and as long as that movement's goals are unachieved, it has to keep moving forward.

That is my New Year's resolution, then--to keep working for change. In the liturgical calendar, today is the Second Sunday after Christmas Day, and the Psalm appointed for today was Psalm 84. One verse of it goes, "Happy are the people whose strength is in you! whose hearts are set on the pilgrim way." My heart is set on its pilgrim way. It always has been, and with God's help it always will be. I stumble, I get diverted, I lose faith, I get way off track, but I somehow keep finding my way back onto it. Let me recommend it to you. That is, let me recommend your way to you. Your pilgrimage need not and probably will not be the same as mine. In fact, maybe each person's way is as unique as her or his DNA. Just keep moving on it. As Dylan said in another song, "May you build a ladder to the stars and climb on every rung."