McCain Round-Up: A Rainbow of Quotes from the 2008 Democratic Convention

"I haven't spent the past 35 years in the trenches advocating for children, campaigning for universal health care, helping parents balance work and family, and fighting for women's rights at home and around the world . . . to see another Republican in the White House squander the promise of our country and the hopes of our people.

And you haven't worked so hard over the last 18 months, or endured the last eight years, to suffer through more failed leadership.

No way. No how. No McCain." ~ Hillary Clinton

"John McCain says the economy is fundamentally sound. John McCain doesn't think that 47 million people without health insurance is a crisis. John McCain wants to privatize Social Security. And in 2008, he still thinks it's okay when women don't earn equal pay for equal work.

With an agenda like that, it makes sense that George Bush and John McCain will be together next week in the Twin Cities. Because these days they're awfully hard to tell apart." ~ Hillary Clinton

"Now, in spite of all the evidence, their candidate is promising more of the same: More tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans that will swell the deficit, increase inequality, and weaken the economy. More band-aids for health care that will enrich insurance companies, impoverish families and increase the number of uninsured. More going it alone in the world, instead of building the shared responsibilities and shared opportunities necessary to advance our security and restore our influence.

They actually want us to reward them for the last eight years by giving them four more. Let's send them a message that will echo from the Rockies all across America: Thanks, but no thanks. In this case, the third time is not the charm." ~ Bill Clinton

"Now, I don't believe that Senator McCain doesn't care what's going on in the lives of Americans. I just think he doesn't know. Why else would he define middle-class as someone making under five million dollars a year? How else could he propose hundreds of billions in tax breaks for big corporations and oil companies but not one penny of tax relief to more than one hundred million Americans? How else could he offer a health care plan that would actually tax people's benefits, or an education plan that would do nothing to help families pay for college, or a plan that would privatize Social Security and gamble your retirement?

It's not because John McCain doesn't care. It's because John McCain doesn't get it.

For over two decades, he's subscribed to that old, discredited Republican philosophy - give more and more to those with the most and hope that prosperity trickles down to everyone else. In Washington, they call this the Ownership Society, but what it really means is - you're on your own. Out of work? Tough luck. No health care? The market will fix it. Born into poverty? Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps - even if you don't have boots. You're on your own." ~ Barack Obama

"Washington's been talking about our oil addiction for the last thirty years, and John McCain has been there for twenty-six of them. In that time, he's said no to higher fuel-efficiency standards for cars, no to investments in renewable energy, no to renewable fuels. And today, we import triple the amount of oil as the day that Senator McCain took office.

Now is the time to end this addiction, and to understand that drilling is a stop-gap measure, not a long-term solution. Not even close." ~ Barack Obama

"George Bush, with John McCain at his side, promised to spread freedom but delivered the wrong war in the wrong place at the wrong time. They misread the threat and misled the country. Instead of freedom, it’s Hamas, Hezbollah, the Taliban and dictators everywhere that are on the march. North Korea has more bombs, and Iran is defiantly chasing one." ~John Kerry


"Candidate McCain now supports the wartime tax cuts that Senator McCain once denounced as immoral. Candidate McCain criticizes Senator McCain’s own climate change bill. Candidate McCain says he would now vote against the immigration bill that Senator McCain wrote. Are you kidding? Talk about being for it before you’re against it.

Let me tell you, before he ever debates Barack Obama, John McCain should finish the debate with himself. And what’s more, Senator McCain, who once railed against the smears of Karl Rove when he was the target, has morphed into candidate McCain who is using the same “Rove” tactics and the same “Rove” staff to repeat the same old politics of fear and smear. Well, not this year, not this time. The Rove-McCain tactics are old and outworn, and America will reject them in 2008. " ~John Kerry

"John thinks that during the Bush years “we’ve made great progress economically.” I think it’s been abysmal.

And in the Senate, John sided with President Bush 95 percent of the time. Give me a break. When John McCain proposes $200 billion in new tax breaks for corporate America, $1 billion alone for just eight of the largest companies, but no relief for 100 million American families, that’s not change; that’s more of the same.

Even today, as oil companies post the biggest profits in history-a half trillion dollars in the last five years-he wants to give them another $4 billion in tax breaks. But he voted time and again against incentives for renewable energy: solar, wind, biofuels. That’s not change; that’s more of the same.

Millions of jobs have left our shores, yet John continues to support tax breaks for corporations that send them there. That’s not change; that’s more of the same.

He voted 19 times against raising the minimum wage. For people who are struggling just to get to the next day, that’s not change; that’s more of the same.

And when he says he will continue to spend $10 billion a month in Iraq when Iraq is sitting on a surplus of nearly $80 billion, that’s not change; that’s more of the same."
~ Joe Biden

"In Congress, as in medicine, when we are offered snake oil as a remedy for the nation’s energy ills, our question should be: “Is it safe and effective? Does it do more harm than good?”

Senator McCain and the Republicans have centered their answer to our vital energy needs on one solution: off-shore drilling. Senator McCain calls for it in every speech; his party has demagogued the issue in both houses of Congress.

So, is off-shore drilling energy policy or snake oil? Let’s review the facts. White House analysts, congressional analysts, and the oil industry all agree that off-shore drilling won’t add one drop to our energy pool for at least ten years. The way things are going now, in another ten years we won’t need more oil; nobody will be able to afford it.

T. Boone Pickens said it right: “We can’t drill our way out of this crisis.”

But even if Doc McCain’s magic off-shore oil elixir won’t work, will it do any harm?

The answer is, we just don’t know, and neither does he. It might not ruin tourism in the Gulf or on the California coast. It might not destroy vital fisheries. It might not pollute our waterways.

Nobody really knows. But kindly old Doc McCain would like to sell it to you anyway.

The simple fact is that the promise of more oil isn’t part of the solution; it’s part of the problem. At best this is an 18th century answer to a 21st century crisis; at worst it’s pure baloney." ~ Harry Reid

"After eight years of a White House waiting hand and foot on big oil, John McCain offers more of the same. At a time of skyrocketing fuel prices, when American families are struggling to keep their gas tanks full, John McCain voted 25 times against renewable and alternative energy. Against clean biofuels. Against solar power. Against wind energy.

This not only hurts America’s energy independence, it could cost American families more than a hundred thousand jobs. At a time when America should be working harder than ever to develop new, clean sources, John McCain wants more of the same and has taken more than a million dollars in campaign donations from the oil and gas industry. Now he wants to give the oil companies another 4 billion dollars in tax breaks. Four billion in tax breaks for big oil?

That’s a lot of change, but it’s not the change we need. " ~ Brian Schweitzer

They obviously think women are stupid

As the country watched a mile-long parade of progressives this week in the mile-high city give thoughtful, hope-inspiring speeches that melted this cynic's icy heart and convinced me that Dems know that there's serious class division in this country and that oil is the past and renewables are the future, the Repugnicans were hatching their scathingly brilliant plan: Find a woman to run as VP so snubbed Hillary supporters could be fooled into voting for McCain.

This was just posted in the Washington Post:

McCain Chooses Alaska Governor Palin as Running Mate

Palin Will Be the First Woman Nominated to the Ticket by the Republican Party

The Fix: The Palin Stunner

Analysis | Campaign believes rift caused by Democratic primary gives them an opportunity to pick up votes from disgruntled women.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The problem with this plan, of course, is that the so-called disgruntled women were for Hillary because of her progressive stance on social and bread-and-butter issues. And because she is the first woman in a position to be taken seriously as a presidential contender -- not for the second slot on the ticket. I believe that Hillary probably was considered as a VP choice for Obama, but that she emphatically turned it down because she wouldn't want to be seen as second to a man in the highest position. That's the point of her candidacy, that women CAN RUN the world, not serve as an assistant to the GUY who RUNS the world. Of course, she could never admit that because she would look like a brat.

Much as I love Joe Biden, and to the extent that I wanted him as president but am contented that he will be the VP instead, it would have been great if Obama had chosen a woman to compliment his ticket. But how would that have looked? He can't very well say, "we want a woman on the team but we don't want Hillary."

So now McCain is twirling his invisible mustache, thinking he's just moved to check and mate. HA! I suppose he's banking on the fact that no one knows who she is and won't find out until it's too late. Her website says she is a "conservative Republican" who believes firmly in free market capitalism, as well as a "lifetime member of the NRA" with a strong commitment to gun rights. She also said she opposes abortion and believes that "marriage should only be between a man and a woman."

And this is from Americans Unite for Change:

At Americans United for Change, we've already done a little digging, and it turns out Sarah Palin fits in perfectly with John McCain's backwards energy policy, disregard for the environment, and cozy relationship with Big Oil.

Palin has argued again and again in favor of oil-drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, despite clear dangers to surrounding wildlife.

This year, Palin sued the federal government for adding polar bears to the endangered species list, arguing the move would interfere with oil and gas drilling efforts.

Palin's close relationship with Big Oil fits right in with John McCain's reckless energy plan: take millions in campaign donations from oil companies, and in return give them massive tax breaks and free reign to drill in environmentally sensitive areas.

And this, from Defenders of Wildlife:

“Senator McCain’s choice for a running mate is beyond belief. By choosing Sarah Palin, McCain has clearly made a decision to continue the Bush legacy of destructive environmental policies.

“Sarah Palin, whose husband works for BP (formerly British Petroleum), has repeatedly put special interests first when it comes to the environment. In her scant two years as governor, she has lobbied aggressively to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling, pushed for more drilling off of Alaska’s coasts, and put special interests above science. Ms. Palin has made it clear through her actions that she is unwilling to do even as much as the Bush administration to address the impacts of global warming. Her most recent effort has been to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to remove the polar bear from the endangered species list, putting Big Oil before sound science. As unbelievable as this may sound, this actually puts her to the right of the Bush administration.

“This is Senator McCain’s first significant choice in building his executive team and it’s a bad one. It has to raise serious doubts in the minds of voters about John McCain’s commitment to conservation, to addressing the impacts of global warming and to ensuring our country ends its dependency on oil.”

Does that sound like an acceptable alternative to Hillary Clinton?

Perfect World - Mason's Story

Today's post is about the power of love, the importance of keeping one's word, and the magic of the internets.

On the day we returned from Australia in June, my girlfriend Kirsten's brother David was found dead in his apartment . He hadn't shown up to work, which was very unusual, so Wain went to check on him and discovered David and Mason, his gentle dog companion; they thought that they had been there about 2 days before being discovered. When Mason was let out of the room he went straight out onto the street and released all the poop and pee he had been storing up - he had not gone potty in the room all that time. Needless to say, Mason was traumatized, to say nothing of the dead brother's family (but that's another story). He spent a few days with his auntie Kirsten and cousin Cookie, and then went to live temporarily on a farm. No, not the "farm" but a REAL FARM! Everyone thought that was Mason's happy ending.

But no. About a month and a half later, on the night before David's funeral, Kirsten tripped and fell down her attic stairs, breaking her foot and bruising her ribs. Now, in addition to grieving the loss of her brother (and asshole boyfriend whom I shouldn't even be wasting space on), she had to contend with two rambunctious dogs without being able to walk well or move much without pain.

A couple weeks later, Mason was brought back to her house and told it wouldn't work out at the farm because he had nipped at one of the kids when they startled him and jumped on him. Kirsten called a co-worker of David's who had expressed interest in taking Mason. He called back and said, sure, he'd take him. He was going out and if he wasn't back when they came by she could just "drop him off in the back yard." Kirsten drove by the guy's house and found it to be one of those crappy yards with a chain link fence and junk strewn everywhere, with his dog tethered to a stake. Kirsten jokingly started calling Mason "junk yard dog." As the ward of her dead brother's dog, she wasn't about to just drop him off anywhere without more information about kind of living situation Mason would have. She called the guy back but kept getting his voice mail. He wouldn't return home or return her call until two days later.

But that first day I had stopped by when she gave up waiting for the return phone call. We decided to head up to my house for some cocktails, and why shouldn't everyone go! So the four of us - me, Kirsten, Cookie and Mason - piled into the convertible to head up 35W in rush hour. Mason is black and Cookie is blonde. They made quite a pair sitting in the back seat, heads pointed into the wind. They looked liked movie stars! Kirsten and I sang "Ebony and Ivory" and joked and and laughed and sang some more. That evening, after more discussion about Mason's situation, we decided he would stay with me and Pat until we could find him a foster home or, better yet, permanent home. He had already been bounced around a few times and was anxious and skittish.

That night nobody went to bed until after 4am, so we didn't really notice that Mason didn't sleep. The next day, though, we noticed that he was still uptight and edgy and hadn't eaten anything. The next night was Saturday, and at bedtime it was obvious he wasn't about to let us go to sleep! He stood over our bed, nervous and crying, not wanting to be left alone again!

Those first two days he followed Pat everywhere he went in the house, even if it was only a few feet away. On Monday I got online and sent out emails and calls to about a dozen no-kill rescue organizations asking if any of them could help him story. A few wrote back with concern for his plight but explained they were overflowing with abandoned animals, many left behind in the current mortgage crisis. On the Homeward Bound website it was explained that black dogs are the hardest to get adopted because there are so many of them. I tried not to get discouraged.

After contacting rescue orgs, I sent out the the all-call to locals in my email address book ; I didn't count but it had to be about 40-50 people. Here's the email I sent:

I am taking care of a dog who needs a home. His name is Mason, and about a month and half ago his owner died, with Mason in the room. We think he was in the room for about 2 days before he was rescued. He didn't even go to the bathroom at all during that time (so we know he is potty trained!). He's a sweet dog but a little traumatized right now. He has been being taken care of by various friends, none of whom can keep him, unfortunately. He is a little skittish and has attachment issues (doesn't like to be left alone!), but he calms down after a day of being with the same person. I'm worried that all this moving around from person to person is making it worse for him as we try to find him a permanent home. He is ultimately the responsibility of a girlfriend of mine -- the sister of the guy who died -- who recently broke her foot and bruised her ribs, which is why others of us have been taking turns caring for him. Mason is neutered and up-to-date with his shots. He's a black lab mix, medium sized, likes other dogs and adults -- probably a little too skittish for young children. We think he's about 4 years old, and probably was abused by the owner previous to the one who died, as he winces if you lift your hand too quickly near him or startle him. I have started contacting shelters, but haven't heard back from any yet. I'm told they are over-filled because of all the foreclosures and people having to give up their pets to move into rentals. If any of you knows of a good home, can you please call me right away and give me the contact info. I'm so sad for this dog and desperate to find him a loving home. Please also pass along this email to others.

I don't know what moved me to take responsibility for Mason, but once I did there was no turning back. Kirsten was not in any condition to care for this orphan. Not emotionally, not physically, not financially. And I took his abandonment personally.

The first person to respond to the email was standing in my chiropractor's office when she made the phone call. The office receptionist had printed out my email and taped it to the counter. Kara said he sounded like the perfect dog for them - besides being drawn to his story, their dog , who had recently died, never really been potty-trained, so that bit was of particular importance. Kara said she would need to consult with her family and get back to me.

I didn't hear from her the next day. That night was National Night Out, and Mason romped in the park with all the neighbors, kids and dogs alike, without a leash, well-behaved and dog-happy. That was day four of living with a dog. By now, even Buster, who has no patience for dogs, was warming to Mason. Even though I had to swab the entire kitchen floor each time he drank and covered my white carpet with dirty paw prints, he was easing into our little family unit. And responded immediately to commands like "Go lie down, Mason" when he trotted over to see if I was awake at 2:00 am.

The day after NNO, I got a call from another person, Eric. I figured out later that one of the friends, Anthony, who received my email forwarded it to his best friend, Shannon, who belongs to a Golden rescue group. She posted my email on that group's website, where another member read it and contacted Eric. He, too, loved Mason's story, had been looking for a brother for his dog, Oliver, and wanted to have them meet to see if they would be compatible. After talking to him just a few minutes, I got the sense that he was a great dog lover, knew a lot about dogs and what he didn't know he would research, and most importantly, would treat Mason like family. We planned to meet later that night.

On my way home Kara called to say their family was excited to meet Mason. I felt terrible having to tell her that someone else was on their way to meet him.

Oliver and Mason got along very well, and Eric passed the not-so-subtle interrogation he got from me trying to ascertain whether it would be a good fit for Mason. Mason drove off with his new dad and brother in a nice, new Volvo.

I was so proud of myself and happy for Mason that I started to draft this post. That was 3 weeks ago now (although this post is dated August 7, I didn't actually post it until August 29).

But the happy union did not last. Oliver and Mason began to be aggressive toward each other in different ways. Oliver was biting Mason when inside the house, and Mason was mounting Oliver (extended penis and all) outside in the yard. When Eric saw blood he separated them, putting Mason at the house of a friend where he was virtually alone 24 hours a day. He emailed me with this information on the following Tuesday, not even a week after he took Mason. I asked him if I could pick Mason up and said I'd find him another situation.

I immediately called Kara back and explained what had happened. She said her boys, 13 and 7, had been so disappointed when they found out they weren't going to get Mason that they had refused even going to look at any other dogs in the shelters. They came over that night, Kara and her boyfriend and her two young boys.

By now Mason was very suspicious of this new group of people and did something I hadn't seen him do yet - he put his tail between his legs and paced around with his head lowered. Soon enough, though, he warmed up and got close enough to the boys to get a sniff and a pat on the head. I talked with the family for a bit about what to expect the first few days and then made them promise to bring him back to me if there was any issue whatsoever, not to be afraid that I would be mad. Pat and I had already decided that if this didn't work that we would keep him. I was tearing up when I spoke to them about being patient with him and giving him a chance to get comfortable with them. I had the boys each shake my hand and promise not to yell at him and never hit him. I wanted them to see it from his perspective, getting taken away from his family and going to live with strangers, not knowing if they would be nice to him or if he could trust them. They nodded at me with their sincerely frightened faces and made their promises.

Mason's new family hadn't even driven away before I was sobbing uncontrollably. How could I do that again to him? Was he going to get over yet another abandonment?But when we talked at the end of the following weekend and again the next week, Kara told me Mason was sleeping with her, that she couldn't convince him to sleep anywhere else. I recently got this email response when I checked in on him:

"Mason is wonderful! We love him sooo much. We just got back from a family outing to petsmart.I will send photo's soon. Thanks for asking. Kara"

Letter to the editor

I just sent this to our local paper:

The President’s recent lifting of the off-shore oil drilling ban and subsequent calls to begin exploration and drilling in ANWAR from John McCain and Michele Bachmann, right-wing media pundits, and everyday folks who feel squeezed and anxious from high gas prices, are all based on misleading information. Exploration is speculation, not a guarantee. What’s more, experts agree that no oil would be available from those sources for another decade and would make no dent in current prices. Granting oil companies rights to these resources would only insure their right to control the flow – and the profits – of whatever oil they find. We should capitalize on this moment, when attention to energy and environmental issues is high, to increase our use of fuel from renewable sources, not cling to a fuel source that is detrimental to our civilization in the face of global warming. Vehicles are in use today -- or can be converted -- that can run on electricity, biofuels, and solar energy. Congress should direct oil companies and the auto industry to spend the subsidies we give them on current and emerging green technologies that will not only provide jobs in the inevitable new economy, but also mitigate the havoc carbon-based fuels are wreaking on the world as we know it.

Perfect World - Day Two

The perfect world is integrating with the real world today. Huzzah! But first, here's Cat's perfect world vision for today:

"I visualize walking down to the Mississippi River and swimming every day in the long, warm days of summer, in the beautiful clean sparkling water of the merry Mississip!"

On to today's perfect world scenario, but first, some real-life back-story : Yesterday, I and a few colleagues met with a rep from the Xcel Commercial Environmental Policy office (Xcel has the energy monopoly in our region). I'm on a sustainability committee for our department and one big thing on our wish list is to convert some portion of energy from one (then more) of our buildings to solar. There are a number of smaller items on the list that are already in place. This meeting was the first in what will probably be many meetings to begin to understand how to determine what we need, that is, where we can offset coal energy where it will be most cost-effective (most experts have already told us that the most cost-effective solution is reduction/conservation), e.g. solar hot water for showers, dining halls, etc. We are already on our way to going to cold-water wash in our laundry rooms (my idea), although that turns out to be trickier than you might guess, ironically, for newer, more energy efficient models.

The guy we spoke with was very encouraging about us being able to get money, matching or grant, for the size project we might be looking at. He threw out a bunch of numbers with KWs and MWs attached and other big words that made my eyes glaze over, but between the unintelligible stuff he said that their company has been mandated by our state to fund renewable energy.

Today I got a call-back from a guy from a non-profit that helps put people/institutions together with manufacturers, funders, etc to get these types of projects realized. We talked for an hour and he gave me even more encouragement that this type of project is not only doable but that we might get more help and expertise and maybe even money than we need! Not only that, but come to find out through conversation that Cat, who provided us with the vision of skinny-dipping in the Big Muddy, has worked closely with him on videos for their organization and she is one of his favorite people!

Syncronicity!!

Another option he wanted us to be aware of are solar tubes that are a combination of a skylight and those little solar garden lights . They are installed in your roof/ceiling and then shine daylight-quality light into the house, even at night! These are only good for upper floors, obviously, but they only cost about $500 to install, so would be a good alternative to CFLs, even.

Then we started talking about electric cars. Xcel (at least) has this hush-hush program where they are making electric cars that can charge from a solar source but whose battery can also store energy that can be drawn on from in times of energy need. It's still in the planning stages, and my guess is they won't release any information about it until they can figure out how to charge users for drawing from their own energy source. Oops, I'm not supposed to let cynicism creep into this . . .
moving right along.

So, in a perfect world, each household and business will harness its own alternative source of energy, use it to power our cars, and in times when the house (for example) needs an additional boost, we don't go to the energy grid, we go back to our car for that extra boost! I intend to use this piece of information in a letter to the editor about why we shouldn't even be talking about off-shore drilling, etc. That should be posted here next week.

What do turkeys and petroleum have in common? Read the top 10 list below to find out!

Top 10 Emerging Environmental Technologies

A Perfect World - Day One

I have been very disheartened lately over the state of the world. I fear it's effecting my ability to believe in goodness, magic and abundance of spirit and prosperity for humankind. Upon hearing this, a friend gave me an assignment: Write what a week looks like in the kind of world I want to live in. I don't feel terribly inspired (surprise!) so I'll be drawing from outside sources.

Justice for the American People:

Slate's interactive guide: Who in the Bush administration broke the law, and who could be prosecuted?

By Emily Bazelon, Kara Hadge, Dahlia Lithwick, and Chris Wilson
Posted Thursday, July 24, 2008, at 6:55 AM ET

"Despite the lack of oral sex with an intern, the past seven years have yielded an embarrassment of riches when it comes to potentially prosecutable crimes."

The first entry of the week is a really cool interactive diagram (you can see the launch button but in case it doesn't work go to the Slate website) that list the crimes of BushCo, such as warrantless wiretapping and DOJ hiring (based on political affiliation), shows where they overlap and gives details on the crime and the cases for and against the prosecution. Looks like Grinnin' Abu Gonzales is smack dab in the middle! I'll be grinnin' too when and the Bush posse gets sent to the pokee.

Morning Star Poles

Gifts from one aboriginal tribe to another. These are not old, they were made in early 2000s. I wish I could describe how it felt to be in the room looking at them, it was very moving. They are individually made using hair, feathers, string, found objects, and represent a story of a journey of the bearer. There's a pretty good video and explanation on YouTube, wouldntchaknowit.

Marvelous Melbourne

Melbourne surprised me. After flying for about 22 hours across an immense ocean and crossing the international dateline, I was a little disappointed by how familiar it felt. Indeed, exiting the airport we passed a McDonald's and a Holiday Inn. Except for the fact that we were driving on the left side of the road, the locals were speaking English (albeit with sexy Aussie accents), and streets and strip malls in these outskirts resembled those of Bloomington or Maplewood.

As you arrive in the heart of Melbourne, however, the foreign-ness begins to seep in. It has been said of Melbourne that it has a European character, which is borne out by the wide boulevards, city parks and gardens, and the multitude of outdoor cafes and world-class restaurants, to which smartly-dressed Melburnians flock on their two-hours lunch breaks. But the architecture also lends to the suspicion that you bought a ticket to Australia but somehow landed on the other side of the globe, say, Amsterdam or Antwerp. Victorian, Italianate and Gothic buildings blend easily into the skyline next to more modern Art Deco and late 20th century styles.

Melbourne sits on the lips the Yarra River (pronounced "Yerra," like "terra" as in "terra firma"), on Port Phillip Bay, at the southeast tip of Australia. Although there were earlier attempts at settlement, it didn't start booming until the mid-1800s, not even 200 years ago. It grew bigger than Sydney around 1865, thanks in part to a gold rush. For a long time thereafter, Melbourne was considered the commercial and cultural heart of Australia. Sydney didn't regain the title until the 1970s, I believe. The current population of greater Melbourne is 3.5 million, a little bigger than the Twin Cities (2.8) and increasing everyday.

The Yarra River runs along the south side of the Central Business District (CBD), and the south bank of the river is lined with glitzy shopping malls and restaurants with outdoor cafes spilling onto the quay in the precinct of the city called "Southgate." The outdoor cafes all over Melbourne are not improvised, either, to accommodate a smoking ban. They were established on purpose; many feature a glass wall separating the sidewalk tables from the street, so you can enjoy your meal al fresco without also ingesting the fumes from passing cars.

Because we arrived in early winter, the tourist count was as low as the sun; the days were short and the shadows long, lending drama to the scene. The temperature was much like it was when we left Minnesota, mid-to-high 60s. Great walking weather -- tropical compared to the protracted winter we'd just suffered through -- yet Aussies were clad in jackets and scarves, and some even wore mittens.

What we refer to as neighborhoods here, Melburnians call suburbs, so Nordeast or Cathedral Hill would be considered a suburb. They call only the central city "Melbourne," and give the suburbs their own names like "Middle Park," where my friends Marlys and Matt are living, "St. Kilda," from where this picture of the Melbourne skyline was taken, and "South Yarra," the location of a market, ala Pike's Place, which supplied our picnic for a day trip to see the kangaroos and koalas.

You can get just about anywhere using the network of trams and buses. Matt and Marlys have a car but seldom use it, relying on bicycle and tram commuting, respectively. Within Melbourne proper are various smallish "precincts," such as "CBD," Southgate and "Chinatown" (which would be more appropriately named "Asia Town," reflecting the blend of Korean, Japanese, Chinese and Thai restaurants we saw in that area). In a city of abundant and varied food choices, I am told that the best Chinese restaurant in the world --outside of China, of course-- is located in Melbourne's Chinatown, and costs about as much as a trip to China to eat there. On the tram and on the ever-busy streets of Melbourne, I overheard locals speaking French, Chinese and another Asian language I couldn't discern, Russian and some other Slavic language.

We didn't get a chance to sample much of the gastronomy during our visit, but we did indulge in the ubiquitous pub fare called "parma." Parma consists of a breaded and fried chicken fillet, doused with marina sauce and smothered with mozzarella, served OVER fries, and variations on that theme. Maybe a side of salad or coleslaw, but who could find that over the mound of parma that inhabited most of the plate? Pubs are called hotels and often have rooms to rent or apartments above. Draft beer -- GOOD, high-alcohol, locally-brewed beer -- comes in two sizes, a pot or a pint (in Australia, beer is NOT called Fosters). Burgers, according to the menus, are always served with lettuce, tomato and a slice of pickled . . . beet. Anything served with BBQ sauce is considered "American style."

And the wine! Australians have a lot to boast about (and they do): good beer; world-class cuisine; miles of rugged coastline and crystalline beaches; seven of the world's nine deadliest snakes; a gritty convict history; aboriginals -- who have the oldest (60,000 years!!) human culture on earth (and whose art and spirituality are deep and beautiful, but that's another story for another day); Uluru (aka Ayers Rock); the Great Barrier Reef; but holy crap, the wine! There seem to be vineyards everywhere. We took a day trip to the Yarra Valley, about an hour's drive east of Melbourne, to visit a wildlife sanctuary. We got to see, up close, animals that are native only to Australia, including the platypus, koala, Tasmanian devil, emu -- which kind of belches like a beer-swilling trucker -- and a lyre bird, which not only has beautiful tail feathers it displays, peacock-style, to woo potential mates, but also mimics the songs of not only other birds but anything it hears, like cell-phone rings or jackhammers.

The Yarra Valley alone has roughly 60 vineyards, including the Chandon Australia vineyard, pictured here. The region produces excellent cool-climate wines (Cab, Chard and Shiraz), and we drank some table-priced wines that were yummy, rich and complex, for which I suffered a little the next day for having over-imbibed. All the wine bottles we saw were screw-tops. Screw-tops limit the wine's susceptibility to spoilage -- and eliminate the bother of bringing a cork-screw to the picnic! I have seen a few French wines go screw-top, but no Californians as of yet, progressive as they profess to be.


Anything that isn't in town is considered "the bush" and kangaroos really do abound there (no pun intended).

The city is clean and the parks lush and well-manicured, and there's not much litter to speak of. "Help keep Melbourne a Butt-free City" was one of the ad campaigns featured on the trams. Australians, despite their convict/pioneer origins, live under tight laws and restrictions. Despite the fact that their national folk hero is outlaw Ned Kelly, a murderous bushranger, something like our Jesse James, guns are prohibited. No smoking is not allowed in any public building in Australia, either. There was a drug-sniffing beagle making the rounds at the baggage claim when we arrived and a German shepherd at immigration when we departed. Our bags were riffled thoroughly by gloved security guards looking for contraband. They have a reality TV show about this that is very popular, I'm told, aptly named "Border Security," an Aussie-style "Cops." The border guys were very polite, though, while they were going through my delicates, unlike the brutes on "Cops." In fact, Aussies were really nice all around.

The Aussies I've met in Oz and elsewhere are mostly laid-back and fun, and good for a bender if you're up to it. They are well-educated and all the school-aged kids wear a uniform to school -- so quaint! They are well-traveled, getting at least a month or so vacation each year, and are encouraged to take extended sabbaticals for travel as a kind of ambassador program, I think I read somewhere.

Traveling with my husband and having friends in the region, I didn't get much chance to have random conversations or hang out with many strangers, but we did meet several Aussies via our in-town friends. The first question was "Is America going to have it's first black president?" They wanted to talk politics, and wanted to know the likelihood of a President Obama. I hope I left those I spoke to with the impression of Americans as intelligent, thoughtful and not as misguided as would be assumed, given the fact that W was "elected" not once but twice (I quickly put this assumption to rest by explaining those elections were stolen and/or manipulated by fear) and for leading the world into an immoral and unjust war. They are a little pissed off about that war.

WTF?

I was watching an episode of "The L Word" this week during dinner, in which one of the characters begins taking testosterone in the lead-up to a sex-change operation. Pat, ever the bearer of random trivia, casually says, "I read the other day that a sex-change operation for a man to become a woman costs about $3000, but for a woman to become a man costs about $15, 000." I stopped mid-bite, feeling that dark ooze of disparity drip over me, and said, "Great. Not only do women pay more for dry-cleaning than men, and get paid less, we also have to pay more for a sex-change operation."

Live Aid for humanity

This post is at least a week overdue. I haven't known what to say about it, and I confess I'm still at a loss to articulate the impact of that event on me.

On May 10 2008 I attended a gathering of the first Pangea Day. Pangea Day is the dream-child of Jehane Noujaim, who wrote and directed "Control Room," a movie about how news coverage shaped perception during the lead-up to and directly following the attack on Baghdad, focusing on Al-Jazeera and Cent-Com (US Central Command and their propaganda machine). Noujaim won a prize in 2006 from TED for "Control Room" and was asked to name her dream, and awarded $100,000 dollars to help make it a reality. She wished for a day when the world would come together to share their common humanity through film. High-profile presenters, speakers and entertainers stood on stages in six different locations -- Cairo, Kigali, London, Los Angeles, Mumbai, and Rio de Janeiro -- and broadcast to anyone with an internet connection, in short, millions of people sharing the planet.

With one intent, to help us see the world through each other's eyes, to lower the barriers caused by otherness by letting us see how similar we all are, presenters shared their visions. "Human universals," as they are called by anthropologist Donald Brown, such as love, fear, happiness and anger, were used as launching boards for 22 filmakers to illustrate how our humanity binds us together. Gilberto Gil sang in French from Rio. Christiane Amanpour mediated a conversation between a Christian and a Muslim from Lebanon who talked about their initial hatred of each other based on misunderstanding, and their eventual reconciliation and efforts to spread their words of peace to their countrymen. A Jewish mother whose lost son was killed by a Palestinian fighter and a Palestinian man whose brother was killed by an Israeli soldier walked onto the stage holding hands, illustrating how forgiveness is a weapon against violence. Dr. Padan Kataria, founder of Laughter clubs throughout India, led us in the first global laugh. It was infectious, of course, and forcing a laugh made us laugh harder, for real.

One of the speakers was a man who created a website that harvests feelings from blogs. The website has captured several million feelings since 2005, such as "I feel confident again and had a super fun time," and "I feel inexplicably sad tonight." One film showed an on-going "walleyball" game, a cross-cultural form of beach volleyball, which uses the US-Mexico border wall as a net.

There were so many loving and thoughtful ideas that were revolutionary in their simplicity. My friend Cat, who organized the event I attended in Minneapolis and who is an enlightened and compassionate soul, had to release a long-held assumption that Middle-eastern women are entirely repressed, including in their relationships. That realization came earlier via one film that merely presented a Moroccan couple speaking about their relationship, how whenever there's a misunderstanding they have to stop whatever they are doing and sit down and get to the root of the misunderstanding. That film was presented by the Pangea Day creator herself.

The four-hour event ended in a global drum circle, in which the millions of us participating across the globe beat drums and shouted and clapped in celebration of our shared humanity. What a day.

Made for walking

I'm intrigued by how many variations there are in the way people walk, their gait, how much weight is placed on the hip, whether the feet flatten or not before they push off. Some walk slowly and lazily, some lean fully on each leg as it pushes off, others clip along with hips barely in use.

I can't understand the persistence of the dress style of wearing one's pants pushed down over the hips, crotch hanging near the knees, underwear exposed. The person wearing his pants this way has to waddle to keep the pants from falling down. It's a very distinct walking style that requires them to lead a little with the hips, holding the legs a little wider than would otherwise be necessary. I wonder if there's any long-term damage done to the hips -- or the back -- from this style of walking.

A really good decision

Elation abounds among gays and lesbians, civil rights advocates and liberals after the California supreme court affirmed yesterday the right of marriage to same-sex couples. Sadly, there was a more tempered response from the presidential candidates, wh0 may want to join in the celebration but don't want to alienate independents with more socially conservative views. This is from the LA Times:

"Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton had sketched out a more centrist path than the court's. The decision could encourage Democratic interest groups to press candidates to extend their support for civil unions to same-sex marriage itself.

All three offered finessed responses Thursday, saying that defining marriage is best left to individual states."

Of course, the issue isn't resolved just yet, as opponents of same-sex marriage will try to ban gay marriage by amending their state constitution, which Gov. Schwarzenegger has promised he will oppose.

"I respect the court's decision and as governor, I will uphold its ruling," Schwarzenegger said. "Also, as I have said in the past, I will not support an amendment to the Constitution that would overturn this state Supreme Court ruling."

My friend Lori has a story that illustrates the stupidity of restricting marriage to anyone because of their gender. Lori works as an on-call banquet bartender. She was working a wedding at the History Center, I believe. After the cocktail hour, the wedding party settled into their seats for dinner and the toasts began. The usual jokes and stories were shared, then the groom stood up and thanked the bride's family for being so loving and accepting of him after all they had gone through since his sex-change operation.

What is ridiculous is that when he was a she, this couple wasn't allowed to marry, according the the state of Minnesota. But now that he was a man, the marriage could be legal. Same person, different hormones and genitalia. Defies logic.

Footy

I've just watched this very educational tutorial on Australian rules football.
With Pat and I heading off to Oz in less than three weeks, we are hard at the work of preparations, studying the lingo, past times and traditions of the biggest island in the world. Aussie rules football, if I were to compare it to games I'm familiar with in states, would be an amalgamation of football, soccer and basketball, with some hockey thuggery thrown in for emphasis. Matt and Marlys got tickets to a footy match, one of many activities that will occupy practically every minute of our four days in Melbourne.

I bought us a new Nikon digital camera (my first digital, not my first Nikon -- this one can do panoramas); I'm saving up New Yorkers and storing pod casts for the plane ride; I sent away for a Sydney guidebook (M & M will be our guides in Melbourne) and laminated street map, which we've been pouring over; I'm re-reading "In a Sunburned Country" by Bill Bryson, a hilarious accounting of Australia's history, present and past, with lists and descriptions of deadly beasts and wonderous sights; I'm watching Australian movies and practicing my Aussie accent; I'm scouring web pages with information on Aussie culture and language so I can be sure to use the phrase "fair dinkum" properly, and not sound like a Yank when I use the term of endearment, "mate" (I'm kidding, I probably won't say it even once); I've created an account on the travel website travellerspoint, to blog/share the experience with other wanderers (entries will also appear here); I bought new luggage -- my first matching set, black with white polka dots; I bought an electrical adaptor (Australia uses 3 tilted prongs); I've been amassing stuff that Marlys wants us to bring her, like candy bars for co-workers and the complete George Clooney DVD collection.

I just finished reading a bunch of comments by Aussies about what they think of Americans and America. Mostly they think we're alright in our own country but they don't always like having us in theirs. I'm not at all concerned about this. The last time I was in France I met an organic beef farmer in ahe small seaside village in Calais who despised Americans. He had been saying to his friend and my cousin all day that he didn't care whether I was family or not, he hates Americans, period. He had made up his mind he wasnt' going to like me. I recently looked at pictures from that trip and in most of them there's that short, balding beef farmer lapping after me like a puppy. He couldn't get enough of me, much to the chagrin of his wife, who gave me the stink eye all night.

I'm so excited to go to Australia! I've wanted to see the sunburnt country for a very long time. And planning is so much fun, I've already started thinking about my next trip!!

Thomas Edison was afraid of the dark.

An apropo fun fact during this time when I've been thinking about some common themes that recur in my dreams. Dreams reflect your subconscious, which harbors yours soul's needs and desires and powers your life. If your dreams reflect fears, that's an indication that whatever is holding you back in your waking life probably has something to do with those fears. Recognizing the hinderance can mean moving beyond it, and maybe inventing the light bulb.

Dear Senator Obama

On this May Day I write to remind you about the most critical challenge we face: global climate change.

While you (correctly) oppose suspending the gas tax over the summer, you have not explained why it would be counterproductive, nor tied your view to the need for the US to become more energy-efficient and oil-independent.

Programs and articles abound on TV and other media about alternative fuel such as biomass and ethanol, and renewable energy production. Yet congress and the president – and all of you in the current presidential race – seem to have become mute on the subject. People are dismayed that our representatives are not making headway in bringing these technologies into the mainstream. The country is ready to hear this message and get behind it!

McCain and Clinton are not addressing in their campaign stops the need for fuel-efficient cars and increasing subsidies and incentives for alternative energy technologies, such as wind and solar.

Now that your campaign is in a bit of a slump, this would a good time for you to take this issue and run with it!

Please find enclosed an article by Thomas Friedman, with whom I do not often agree, adding his to the cacophony of voices from all fronts crying out for leadership on this issue.

Vast Clinton Conspiracy

During the Democratic Convention in 2004, after 4 years of Bush -- who we witnessed win the presidency through, among other shady dealings, some deliberate voter disenfranchisement in Florida and the decision of the Supreme Court not to allow Florida to recount, despite the apparent win of the popular vote by Al Gore -- when the nation became aware of one young charismatic state representative named Barack Obama, when he gave that first inspiring speech about the audacity of hope, I turned to my friend and husband and said, "The Democrats still think politics is about a fair fight. But the Republicans have already proven they are willing to do anything to win, including cheating and breaking the law. If the democrats want to win another presidential election, they will have to wake up and smell the coffee. They will have to use the same dirty tactics the republicans are now using. And I don't know if I want to be associated with that." Of course, the republicans went on to employ even dirtier tactics in the 2004 election, this time using a combination of tricks, including voter disenfranchisement, election rigging via electronic voting machines, and stifling investigations of republican fraud by ousting several US attorneys and replacing them with political operatives. You remember that, right? I think this, as the articles below illustrate, is my "I told you so" moment (admit it, we all love those!).

From the Daily Kos:

Now, one decade after Scaife’s operation nearly removed her husband from office, Hillary Clinton has reached a rapprochement with the reclusive owner of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

Last weekend Hillary Clinton accepted Scaife’s endorsement in the Pennsylvania primary, offered in the pages of the Tribune-Review. She had pursued the endorsement since last month, earning it after sitting down with Scaife and publicly attacking Barack Obama for attending Trinity United Church of Christ.

One day after Scaife’s endorsement, Newsmax, a Scaife-owned media outlet, began pushing a new negative smear campaign against Obama, attempting to portray him as "weak" on the war on terror because he opposes the death penalty.


And from The Nation:

How proud the Clintonistas must be. They have learned how to rival what Hillary once termed the "vast right-wing conspiracy" in the effort to destroy a viable Democratic leader who dares to stand in the way of their ambitions. The tactics used to kneecap Barack Obama are the same as had been turned on Bill Clinton in earlier times, from radical-baiting associates to challenging his resolve in protecting the nation from foreign enemies. Senator Clinton's eminently sensible and centrist--to a fault--opponent is now viewed as weak and even vaguely unpatriotic because he is thoughtful. Neither Karl Rove nor Dick Morris could have done a better job.

I am ambivalent about the two candidates currently vying for the Democratic nomination (but one of them has the moral high ground, here, that's for sure). Although I'm still conflicted about taking part in such dirty politics, I am not about to vote for Ralph Nader -- although he is my ideological choice -- and I have every intention of voting for Clinton if she gets the nomination. This election is too important. I think Obama has a chance to win without the dirty political games that Clinton is now playing. But whomever gets the nod, we MUST get behind them and get them elected, then work to bring that administration into alignment with our collective ethos.

Here's my Free Will horoscope for this week:

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): "Opinion is really the lowest form of human
knowledge," says educator Bill Bullard. "It requires no accountability, no
understanding. The highest form of knowledge . . . is empathy, for it
requires us to suspend our egos and live in another's world. It requires
profound, purpose-larger-than-the-self kind of understanding." In that
spirit, Scorpio, I encourage you to renounce three of your opinions,
preferably those that are least-well-informed and not rooted in first-hand
experience. I also challenge you to carry out a week-long experiment
based on the following hypothesis: Expanding your capacity for empathy
will make you smarter.

Engineer's Guide to Cats

Ill-advised unilateral assault

Does that sound familiar? The story about how the Iraqi army unilateraly and ineffectively attacked Muslim militias in Basra last week has been in the news every day since it happened last week. I've heard comments like al-Maliki went in unprepared, expecting the US army to come to the rescue if they got into trouble. Watching "Bush's War" on Frontline a couple/few weeks ago, thousands of Americans found out that that was exactly Rumsfeld's strategy, get in, oust Saddam, get out, and let the surrounding Arab countries sort out the mess. This is from the Washington Post last week.

BAGHDAD, April 3 -- When Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki launched an offensive in Basra last week, he consulted only his inner circle of advisers. There were no debates in parliament or among his political allies. Senior American officials were notified only a few days before the operation began. . . . A week later, his ultimately unsuccessful gambit has exposed the shaky foundation upon which U.S. policy in Iraq rests after five years of war, according to politicians and analysts. . . . "It was ill-advised and ill-timed," said Kurdish lawmaker Mahmoud Othman. "I think Maliki had a setback and America had a setback because Iran and Moqtada al-Sadr were victorious."

NPR's Steve Inskeep spoke to Bing West, a former assistant secretary of defense under President Reagan, this morning. West characterized al-Maliki's move as "highly erratic" and as coming from a man with a "huge ego, who says, 'I'm the commander in chief around here'" and done in a way as to show himself "so full of himself he does not take wise council."

Five years ago there were some other people (and maybe some of the same people, too) lamenting about another ill-advised adventure on a much larger scale, carried out by an unprepared army, lead by a commander in chief who was so full of himself he didn't take wise council. But in my web meanderings these last several days I haven't come across any other journalist or commentator -- or democrat, for that matter -- making that oh-so-obvious comparison.

Have commentators and journalists gotten so completely blase about the cluster-fuck we call the Iraq War that they are completely missing this easy target? Bush and McCain actually praised it, which should tell you something.

Off to see the Wizard

We are grousing through a colder-than-usual spring here in the Midwest, with temps in the thirties and forties, but that hasn't kept people from shedding their parkas and hoods in favor of shorts and shirtsleeves.

Pat and I are planning a very-last-minute trip to Australia in June. I got a great fare last week --which I then promptly squandered by adding an extra day to the trip. It will be paid for with travel savings, belt-tightening, a small tax refund (although bigger than we've ever received), and our portion of the economic stimulus package (stimulating Air New Zealand).

I got the wild hair one day and bought the tickets the next. Then I remembered we hadn't gotten our passports renewed, like I'd intended back in December! We took care of that first thing the next morning. Now we're holding our breath until they arrive in the mail . . .

Stay tuned . . .

April Fool

It's still winter. As in "winter," "late winter" and "still winter," as it was put by the MPR meteorologist last week. It's 32 degrees with a fresh glazing of snow, enough snow that the plows were out last night, and my driveway had to be shoveled access the garage after work, then again this morning for me to get out. It's a really beautiful morning, with a soft blue sky and airy, innocuous clouds offsetting trees frosted with snow. A perfect December morning.