I trust everyone had an enjoyable St. Patrick’s Day. It’s a good thing today is Saturday because as I remember, those green beer hangovers can be among the worst. So it goes.

In Friday’s Northern Virginia Final Edition of the Washington Post the right column headline read, "Congress Raises Ceiling for Borrowing." The deficit limit was raised by $800 billion dollars to allow a deficit of nine trillion dollars. What ever happened to the ideals behind fiscal conservatism? Sen. Arlan Specter (R-PA) decried" The Republican Party is now principally moderate, if not liberal!" Um, no, with all due respect Senator, liberal lawmakers left a surplus in the United States Treasury which you spent faster than the proverbial crapola passes through a goose. His comments were not out of line with the standard double speak of the corrupt and predatory nature of his peers. Everything they screw up is spun to appear to be a better and more America loving solution if not out right problem caused by the minority party. What upsets me about all of the corruption and insider deals in Washington DC is not so much that it occurs as a matter of normal business but that the citizens of this country don’t seem to give a crap. We deserve what we get.

I heard a story of an attorney who taught a continuing education course at a university in South Carolina on Friday. She told of the speaker before her tossing out suckers to participants in the course before hers and was somewhat concerned that she had no such goodies for her presentation. Quick thinking saved the day. She began her presentation by stating that in honor of St. Patrick’s Day she had thought it might be a good idea to throw bottles of Guinness to the audience as reward for participation. She then apologized that the bottled beer had been confiscated by the seminar organizer who had imagined and objected to the lawsuits in the event that she were a bad aim or the students were inept at catching the flying bottles. This turned any disappointment of dashed hopes for sweet treats from the speaker to the host of the event.

The last two days one of my duties has been to deliver and retrieve my six year old son to and from his school which is a couple of blocks away from our apartment. Our routes have resembled the paths which were so wonderfully demonstrated the old Family Circus comic strip. We cut between buildings, through parking ramps, along fountain walls, over parking pylons and through a park gazebo. We had to cross two major streets and my son is well trained to the idea that he must hold hands all the way to and from school. We took turns heel to toe walking along ledges and then pushing each other off just before reaching the end and had a great time to and fro. There really isn’t much better in life than really being there when you have time to spend with a child. Holding hands, laughing and just sharing the moment is one of those things that would qualify as priceless in the popular credit card ads we see on TV.

On Thursday I had lunch with an old family friend. We met in 1986 and from the moment I met him I could tell he was "good people." The great thing about old friends is that in an hour you can recapture what you found special about the person so many years ago. We shared some of what is going on in our lives, what is coming up and found time to do some story telling from our pasts. The lunch ended too soon. Again, priceless.

This trip has provided me two visual images that I will carry with me for the rest of my life. The first was from the airplane on the way out here. My flight left O’Hare well after sundown and as we were in our ascent we banked hard and turned to the east as we left Chicago. The city lights were spectacular. They were almost surreal in their symmetry and reminded me of illuminated circuit boards. The streets shimmered in gold beneath us and the veins of light stretched out for miles. Then we crossed the Lake Michigan shore line from a vantage just north of Navy Pier and Soldier Field where Lake Shore drive makes its big turns on the east edge of downtown. The contrast of the darkened lake and the brilliantly lit city was remarkable. Friday night my son and I went to the roof of his twenty story apartment building and overlooked the Potomac, the Washington Monument and the Nations Capital. WOW. I don’t think it would matter how many times you took in that sight you could never get enough of it. Patriotism and pride caused my heart to swell a bit in my chest. As little respect as I have for some of how things are being done over there across the river I still have a great belief that there is no better place in the world to live. To the north the National Cathedral was well lit atop a hill. In contrast to the bitter sweet feelings of the view to the east the vision north was humbling and instilled reverence. I hope He heard my prayers.

Its interesting, family dynamics. Since last November our family gets together about once a month and we seem to ebb and flow in a rather peculiar way. The situation of a split family, with three of us living in Washington DC and two of us remaining in Iowa, is not especially conducive with the normal satisfactions inherent to the nuclear family. We all seem to find comfort in routines and familiarity in our lives. Regardless of which direction is traveled, when we reunite, those routines are interrupted. It never fails that about the time we all get used to each other again it is then time to leave. We then have to once again go through a mourning process as we watch our loved ones fly away. After separation the next several days are marked with a sense of loss until we once again discover the comfort of our new "normal" lives. It is a roller coaster that is less than thrilling.

We came to live in this split arrangement from a wonderful opportunity which my wife accepted and I fully endorsed for a one year temporary position with her employer. I was and am fully supportive of this opportunity because of the unique experiences it has offered all of the family. My eldest son and I get to visit DC and learn not only about the traditional tourist attractions but the local charms in an in depth manner as well. My eldest daughter, youngest son and wife have been able to immerse themselves in one of the most dynamic and powerful places on the planet. My wife is fascinated by her work opportunity, loves the people she works with and seems to be thriving professionally. My daughter is showing amazing growth as a young woman, interning for our favorite home state US Senator and relishing the opportunities of mapping out her life in an environment which oozes with the possibilities of contributing to effective real change. My youngest son is making new friends and going to a Spanish Immersion School where he is quickly becoming bi-lingual. So we have all of that going for us.

Still, I am counting the days until this crap is over with. There is a certain amount of guilt which arises from replacing the high expectations of reunification with a desire to return home when traveling. Equally difficult is coming to grips with the idea that when we host the visits there are times when I am anxious for them to return to Virginia so that I can resume my adopted lifestyle. There is nothing really much different in what I do when they are home with me or when they are away but even little things like patterns of movement around the house, whether the TV is on or off, or whether the hard work I went into cleaning the house is appreciated become magnified. It’s not like we want to be rid of each other but somehow sending the visiting family on their way reminds us that we are closer to having this all over with once and for all.

We all seem to be hyper sensitive and tip toe around each other because we miss each other so greatly. We seem to have expectations that the separation anxiety which we suffer is equally manifested in other family members. We hope that they will be demonstrative of the intense relief they then experience by sharing our company. With all of these needs and expectations it is impossible for everyone to be satisfied. When unmet expectations inevitably happen feelings are hurt. We are beginning to understand that and recover more quickly when this dysfunction rears its ugly head but it still exists.

So if we could go back and change our decision to separate our family in this way would we? Nope. We are learning a lot about each other as we face the ramifications of being apart. Personally I have become significantly more introspective and am in the process of reevaluating many things in my life. I like some of what I see; I loathe some of what I see. While it is beneficial to shine a light upon the darker realities of the relationships in our family it is equally valuable to renew appreciations for our strengths. For now I will seek to continue my personal inventory and fill my days with learning best way to live life in a full and enriching manner. Had this opportunity not come along complacency may have prohibited me from ever realizing that I needed to evaluate my life circumstance and that would have made for a sad story.

Last December the Republican leadership attempted to attach Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) drilling to a critical defense spending bill.  A majority of Americans have rejected the idea of drilling in the pristine national wilderness.  Energy experts have expressed that there is less than one years supply in the ANWR and that it will take at least 10 years to extract it.  The attempt to attach the drilling authorization to a spending bill necessary to fund our troops in wartime was an arrogant example of a party in power who believe their agenda is superior to the will of their constituency.  The American public does not have to choose between wilderness and energy security.  Ultimately, the ANWR drilling provision was removed from the spending bill as more rational thought prevailed after overwhelming public outrage.  The elimination of the provision was a huge victory over the pro-drilling oil lobby that made the erroneous assumption that their control of Congress would supersede the will of the people.

With that defeat a fresh memory, the proponents for drilling in the ANWR are making another pass at burying the drilling agenda into the budget.  The Bush White House and its allies in Congress know full well that they can NEVER win a vote by the rules on sacrificing the Arctic Refuge. That’s why they’ve resorted, with increasing desperation, to backdoor maneuvers and abuse of the legislative process like today’s shameless ploy to co-opt the defense bill.  Senator Maria Cantwell and Senator John Kerry are offering an amendment on the Senate floor to strike the proposal to drill in the Arctic Refuge.

The fact that we must once again go through this process is proof that our Government is incapable or unwilling to come up with a comprehensive energy plan which will reduce our dependence on foreign oil.  Gas prices are again soaring and our environment is under attack.  What will it take for our elected officials to show leadership and look toward the future of those who put them in office?  We must take action and demand an energy plan to reduce our dependence on foreign oil and safeguard our environment.  You could start by following this link. http://www.johnkerry.com/action/call/senate/index.html  This link will help you contact your elected officials where you would have the opportunity to tell them to do their job or next time they run for office you will vote for a fresh representative. 

One thing my conservative friends like to do when I go off on a rant about my sense of disenfranchisement with the current administration is to tell me to quit complaining and suggest a solution.  Here you go:

1. Invest in renewable energy.  Set a goal that an achievable percentage of our energy comes from renewable sources such as wind, biomass, geothermal or solar energy.  Set a specific timetable for that objective to be met and provide incentives to pioneers in those industries for meeting the objectives. 
2. Promote Bio-energy.  Being a native Iowan and consumer of ethanol added fuels I see this as a no-brainer.  Ethanol burns cleaner and is renewable.  The only draw-back to ethanol added fuels is that it doesn’t do a lot to contribute to the stock values of our nation’s oil industry.  Your 401K may be heavily invested in energy stocks.  Hmm, what could you do about that?  Diversify baby!
3. Invest in current and emerging energy efficient technologies.  Investment in ways to make better use of existing energy sources would boost productivity, create jobs, improve the reliability and safety of the energy infrastructure and hey, it might even help reduce air pollution.  Again a goal would be a measured increase in efficiency with a deadline for compliance.
4. This next idea hurts me, a liberal hypocrite driver of an extended length GMC Yukon with a kick-ass stereo system.  There should be tax incentives and grants for consumers and industries that retool plants and promote the manufacturing and purchase of low emission hybrid vehicles.  How about shooting for twenty-five percent of all vehicles on the road being hybrid in the next fifteen years? 

Why should we do this?  It’s the environment, the economy and our national security silly!  Every dollar we spend on foreign oil does little to grow our own economy.  Investment in alternative energy sources will create jobs and capital improvements. The volatile nature of the Middle East is a powder keg waiting to go off.  We are currently demonstrating that even with the most courageous and powerful army on the face of the planet we can not stabilize this region.  Our dependence on this unstable situation puts our way of life, nay, it puts our very lives at risk.  Please contact your State Senator and tell them the Red Hog told you to call!

            Oh that evil ACLU!  I love how the ACLU is one of the most hated organizations in the whole country.  Our nation is governed by democratically elected representatives who ensure that the majority of the populace is heard in government matters.  That works for me.  Then we have this thing called the Bill of Rights which is a document that was drafted to ensure that the power of even the democratic majority must be limited to ensure individual rights.  Being somewhat of an “out of the mainstream” type of guy, I kind of like the Bill of Rights as well.  The audacity of the ACLU is such that they have declared, in writing mind you, that their mission is to preserve all of the protections offered in the Bill of Rights and guarantee:

·         Your First Amendment rights-freedom of speech, association and assembly.  Freedom of the press and freedom of religion supported by the strict separation of church and state.

·         Your right to equal protection under the law – equal treatment regardless of race, sex, religion or national origin.

·         Your right to due process – fair treatment by the government whenever the loss of your liberty or property is at stake.

·         Your right to privacy - freedom from unwarranted government intrusion into your personal and private affairs.

The website of the ACLU states that “If the rights of society’s most vulnerable members are denied, everybody’s rights are imperiled."  They even go so far as to maintain the position that civil liberties must be respected, even in times of national emergency!  And they do all that without any government funding.  Hmm, they sound pretty whacko to me! 

            Much of the criticism we see of the ACLU is where they have taken a stand to protect the individual rights of people who support ideals or practices different that those who feel threatened in some way.  Perhaps the largest contingent critical of the ACLU is the Christian Right.  This opposition stems from the fact that the ACLU is frequently active in actions concerning the separation of church and state.  Hear who Bill O’Reilly compared ACLU members with concerning the issue of intelligent design. http://people.howstuffworks.com/framed.htm?parent=aclu.htm&url=http://mediamatters.org/items/200501210003  Before someone would think the separation of church and state is a bad thing I wish they would imagine how they would feel about this right if Taoists, Muslims, or Atheists were in the majority.  Bill Maher said, “We have the Bill of Rights, what we need is a Bill of Responsibilities.”  At first I thought that was kind of funny but then I thought better.  It is our responsibility to ensure that our rights are maintained.  Patrick Henry said, “Give me liberty or give me death.”  I don’t want anybody else to tell me that I must subscribe to their interpretation of liberty.  I want to define liberty in the manner guaranteed by the founding principles of this great land of ours.  I decided to become one of those “card carrying members.”  You can too!  Go here – http://www.aclu.org   

Spring!  Fleeting spring.  Saturday it was nearly seventy degrees here in the heartland.  My son and I took the opportunity to zoom around town doing our weekend errands on the Harley.  It was refreshing and rejuvenating to be outdoors in the sun.  The fresh air seemed to have a way of awakening our spirits and helping what ever problems we thought we might have to soar away.  Today was thirty-one degrees with wind gusts up to thirty-eight miles an hour to make it feel like a balmy fourteen degrees outside.  That sucks and that is all I am going to say about that.

            With a fond recollection of having my ample posterior supported by the supple leather of my trusty wind-in-the-hair dream machine I began to fantasize about the upcoming riding season.  My wife has always been kind and supportive enough to allow me an extended motorcycle trip each summer.  Actually, I am not certain that she lets me do that with no protest because she feels it is important for me to have time alone or because she feels it is important that she have time alone.  It is hardly a fair trade off to consider those two possibilities equal as her end of the deal would only be time alone as it relates to not having my overbearing presence plodding around the house.  Our lovely and always wonderfully behaved off-spring remains behind when I make my trips.

            This summer offers a truly unique opportunity as the family is off living in Washington DC.  While my home will be awfully quiet and maybe even a bit lonely this summer the opportunities for motorcycling adventures will be limitless.  Currently I have two trips planned or as planned as I am willing to make them on the itinerary.

            Trip number one.  Cleverly disguised as a trip to spend time with said family, three of my Harley ridin’ buds and I are heading for Washington DC Memorial Day Weekend.  We will be attending the Run For The Wall event at the National Mall.  The official website of the “Run For The Wall” is http://www.rftw.org/ where they have posted a mission statement of:  “To promote healing among all veterans and their families and friends, to call for an accounting of all Prisoners of War and those Missing in Action (POW/MIA), and to honor the memory of those Killed in Action (KIA) from all wars.”  This is the 19^th anniversary of the rally which will be held Sunday May 28^th.   After the Rally and a day touring the DC area we will then make our way to New York City where we hope to display our Mid-West charm upon the inhabitants of the Times Square area.  From there it is off to Maine.  Somebody said they had to have a damn Maine lobster if they were going to make the trip and the rest of us heard it is beautiful country so we said, “What the heck.”  From Maine we venture a long haul to Niagara Falls just cuz I’ve never been there and I’m the guy with cruise control on my bike.  Our last stop on the way home will be in Toledo, Ohio where we hope to invade the home of one of our group’s Navy buddies.  The last time I visited this friend of my friend I was fairly certain his wife was glad to see our tail lights when we left her drive way.  But hey, that was a long time ago, I’m sure she has forgot all about those three days.

            Trip number two.  This trip will be all about you my faithful readers.  In place of my annual Sturgis trip I have opted to do a solo grist-for-my-blog tour.  I’m going to begin by going west.  Mainly because I will have already been east this summer and I have never been west of the Rockies.   Well, I did a seminar in Portland once and a training class in Salt Lake City once but those trips were flying in, hang at a motel for a couple days and fly out.  I figure those trips don’t count.  My goal is to beat cheeks for the West Coast and once there meander my way along taking what ever roads appeal to me at the moment in hopes that I will find some interesting tales to share along the way.

            I plan to take the lap top on both trips so you will receive updates from the road.  Sheesh, a guy could almost get excited about a summer with plans like that.  I am flying to DC this Wednesday and will return to Iowa on Sunday.  Please check back to hear about my luck squeezing my big beautiful body into those damned little airplane seats!

It’s working!  Visit http://www.hahnathome.com and read the March 11 and 12 posts.  The author of that blog is one of my best friends, a mentor, confidant and muse.  My post of March 11^th may have been responsible for a bit of introspection on her part.  She put out a post mainly to get things right in her own mind and was rewarded by being allowed the opportunity to make amends for a past transgression.  This enabled her to move past one of those little things that seem unsettled and come to the front of our minds from time to time.

 

Fast Eddy is the gruff and methodical municipal worker that maintains the skywalk and stairwell between the parking ramp and the office building where I have my day job.  He is there every day and has been there for the entire four years that I have worked at that location.  Eddy has the appearance of one who is aged beyond his years.  It would appear that Eddy has taken inconspicuousness to an art form as he goes about his daily duties.  Each day as I pass him on my way to work I extend a greeting and an inquiry as to how his weekend was, how he is doing or if he is glad it is Friday.  Eddy always continues with his sweeping or mopping and will never lift his head as he replies in a soft spoken voice with minimalist answers.  To most people Eddy is invisible and I would imagine that his labor is unnoticed by many as well. 

Last week a particularly sloppy weather system passed and as I entered the stairwell of the parking garage I saw that it was in its usual pristine condition.  I am a firm believer that we should always reward people for a job well done.  When I arrived at my office I shot off an email to city hall.  In the email I stated that Fast Eddy does a remarkable job and detailed examples of his fine work.  I asked that his direct supervisor be made aware of the appreciation I had for his efforts.

A couple of days after sending my email I saw Eddy again, toiling with his broom.  I greeted him and as usual he half grunted a hello, didn’t look up and continued sweeping in his systematic manner.  I told Eddy that the skywalk was looking in its usual fantastic fashion.  He kept sweeping, head down.  Then I told Eddy not to think that people don’t notice and that I had sent an email to city hall telling them so.  And then Eddy stopped sweeping.  The old guy looked up slowly and the most fantastic toothy smile slowly washed over his weathered and unshaven face.  His smile was infectious, a smile that was meant to be shared.  Still being a man of minimalist answers Eddy told me, “I knew that was you.  You are the only person who calls me Fast Eddy.”   And he went back to sweeping. 

 

Today is two for one post day!  In case you were wondering what the Buffalo Springfield song had to do with the two stories above.  There is an old proverb that says, “No matter how much things change, they stay the same.”   Consider the lyrics of “For What It’s Worth” from 1967.  The song rings true as much today as it did in 1967. 

 

There's something happening here
What it is ain't exactly clear
There's a man with a gun over there
Telling me I got to beware

I think it's time we stop, children, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down

There's battle lines being drawn
Nobody's right if everybody's wrong
Young people speaking their minds
Getting so much resistance from behind

I think it's time we stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down

What a field-day for the heat
A thousand people in the street
Singing songs and carrying signs
Mostly say, hooray for our side

It's time we stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down

Paranoia strikes deep
Into your life it will creep
It starts when you're always afraid
You step out of line, the man come and take you away

We better stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
Stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
Stop, now, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
Stop, children, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down

 

(Steven Stills/Buffalo Springfield 1966)

 

Reasons To Rock is a pretty cool website I came across the other day.  The write up they did about “For What Its Worth” is a good read.  There is a detailed interpretation of the song at http://www.reasontorock.com/tracks/for_what_its_worth.html 

am currently reading “Take It Back – Our Party, Our Country, Our Future by James Carville and Paul Bagala.  http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/074327752X/qid=1142205347/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/002-5243801-2531216?s=books&v=glance&n=283155 Today's post is an excerpt from that book. (pages 114-116)  The book outlines what is wrong with the Democratic Party and what we need to do to take back control of the White House and Congress.  The book is a fantastic read and should become part of the personal library of every American who loves this country.

 

It’s Our Flag, Too

 

“One of the most incendiary moments of the Bush war in Iraq occurred not in Baghdad or Mosul or Basta but in Crawford, Texas.  A right-wing jerk ran his pickup truck over hundreds of crosses bearing the names of heroic Americans killed in Iraq.  He also took out scores of American flags in the process.  The crosses and flag had been put there by supporters of Cindy Sheehan, the Gold Star Mother who camped in Crawford to protest the war that had taken her son’s life.  Police say the perp was Larry Chad Northern, a Waco real estate agent.  Northern is entitled to the presumption of innocence, despite the fact that the local sheriff’s office says Ol’ Larry Chad was spotted at nine-thirty P.M. on the night in question, changing a tire on his pickup truck.  Citing sheriff’s office reports, the Waco Tribune-Herald reported, “Small white crosses were found stuck in the truck’s undercarriage.”

Nice, Larry Chad.  Real nice.

We don’t think they taught Larry Chad to desecrate crosses at the Columbus Avenue Baptist Church.  And we doubt his army buddies from Vietnam are proud to see him running over American flags and disrespecting a memorial for the war dead.

So what could drive a true-blue-or should we say Bush-red-American to commit such a heinous act?

Such is the hatefulness of the far right at the dawn of the twenty-first century.  And how the worm has turned.  Now it is the left invoking faith, flag, and family while the right destroys crosses.  Now it is the left that hors the war dead, raises up a Gold Star Mother, and publicly prays for our troops, while the right viciously attacks a woman who gave her country everything.  Now it is the left that patiently and peacefully respects the office of the presidency, while the right diminishes the office by claiming it’s more important for the president to go bike riding with a sports hero than to hear the concerns of the mother of a war hero.

What would Republicans have done if liberal anti-war protestors had desecrated the flag? Destroyed the cross?

But what of the Democrats?  Why didn’t they pounce on this travesty?  Perhaps they didn’t want to infringe on Larry Chad’s freedom of expression.  Hogwash.  His freedom to express himself does not require us to gag ourselves. 

We felt the same sense of frustration when Vice President Cheney, a few days after the crosses and flags were desecrated, addressed the Military Order of the Purple Heart.  Cheney, we have noted, helped himself to five draft deferments during Vietnam.  He did not earn a Purple Heart.  John Kerry did.  Actually, he earned three of them.  But this symbol of heroic sacrifice was mocked by the Republicans in the 2004 campaign. 

At the 2004 Republican National Convention, Morton Blackwell, on of President Bush’s most prominent supporters in Virginia, handed out Band Aids with purple hearts on them.*  Apparently the idea was to mock Kerry’s wounds, suggesting they weren’t all that bad.  They were worse than Dick Cheney’s that’s for sure.

Democrats whined, but they didn’t hit the GOP as hard as Republicans would have hit them if they’d mocked wounded soldiers-especially at a time when thousands of troops have been wounded in Iraq. 

And that’s how, just days after the flags and crosses were desecrated in Crawford, Cheney found himself addressing the Military Order of the Purple Heart.  He did not apologize for the shameful behavior at his party’s convention.  Instead, securely surrounded by bodyguards who gladly would give their lives for him, Dick Cheney wrapped himself in the flag.  A flag Larry Chad Northern wrapped around his axel on Prairie Chapel Road.

If Democrats are going to take back national security, they’ll have to fight to reclaim the icons of freedom.”

 

*Book reference cite “Delegates Mock Kerry with ‘Purple Heart’ Bandages,” CNN, 9/1/04, online at http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/08/30/gop.purple.hearts.