If you don’t read John Scalzi’s blog, you may have missed this news story.

No matter how hard I try, I’ll never be a good person, at least in comparison to the likes of Leroy C. McLaughlin. But for all I’ll never achieve that level of goodness, he still inspires me to try.

I’ve pretty much been ignoring the Steven’s trial, because I don’t live in Alaska, and really just don’t care that much. Sure it’ll affect my friends, but that’s the extent to which I care.

However.

I heard a quote this morning that boggled my mind.

We have many things in our house that don’t belong to us.

Really? I mean seriously?

Now, I have to admit that most of the furniture in our house when we first got married had been given to us by family members. But these were pieces that had seen years of use and had value in possibly the ones or even tens of dollars.

And these items were always seen as gifts, and when we have replaced our furniture with newer pieces we’ve made sure to give our older pieces to friends and family who needed them, or to donate them to charity. (We did them same thing with our cars actually. One Michael bought used, the other was given me by my dad. When we got a new to us or even an honest-to-God new car, we donated the other car to The Mountaineer Good News Garage. [I highly recommend finding a similar charity in your area the next time you buy a new–or new to you–car.]) Because what comes around, goes around.

But I somehow doubt that was the case with Ted Stevens. I find it very unlikely that he has ever had a brown and orange sofa from the early 70s in his house–unless it was actually in the 70s and matched his decor. Or that he was delighted by the gift of an eight-year old Toyota Camry with a slightly rusting body, because it was more reliable than his current vehicle.

It seems to me that Stevens was either being coy, or was trying to play to people like me who have been given things by their family and friends when they couldn’t afford new items themselves.

But I don’t think those situations are in the slightest comparable, never mind the fact that such items were always seen as gifts.

If he’s just being coy… Well, that’s just obnoxious. And to be honest, offensive. As the prosecuting attorney said, “So, if you say it’s not a gift, it’s not a gift?“

I have to admit that I was very disappointed with Colin Powell’s time in the Bush administration. I felt that he could have tried to stand up more for what he felt was right. But then I’m not him and I wasn’t there and I don’t know what he did and did not try.

Regardless, I was delighted by Powell’s statement this morning. Particularly the following.

Powell said he was also troubled that some members of the Republican Party — not McCain — have said, “‘Well you know that Mr. Obama is a Muslim.’”

“He is not a Muslim, he’s a Christian,” Powell said. “But the really right answer is ‘what if he is?’ Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer’s no.”

And if anyone has had the misfortune to have heard what Rush Limbaugh is saying, I’d like to quote Al Franken here and just say that “Rush Limbaugh is a big fat idiot.”

ADDENDUM the First:
See also: Eric and Anne.

As is well known, many of those in the current Presidential campaign have kids in the military–kids who are or have or will serve in Iraq.

Although the details are slightly different, this is precisely the same situation as Britain had earlier, when Prince Harry was kept from serving with his unit in Iraq, and then was pulled out of Afghanistan after his presence there was leaked.

First and foremost, I respect everyone involved for their service, and for not attempting to use political influence to change where their soldiers are/were/will be stationed. I believe that a lack of military service is one thing that lead the current administration to make so many bad mistakes in Iraq and Afghanistan. It’s one thing to make hard decisions that will cost the lives of Americans.But I believe those hard decisions are even more complex when you know the individuals who will doing the bleeding and dying.

However, being the son or daughter of someone who holds power–or represents power in the case of Prince Harry–makes the situation different.

There are, I believe, two important things to consider. First, knowing a child is in danger is a distraction to any parent. I may not have kids of my own, but I’ve felt a sense of dread and worry knowing that someone I loved could be in danger. This level of distraction cannot be a good thing for someone in power.

But this is actually the lesser concern I think. The greater concern is the one addressed with Prince Harry: simply by being who they are, these soldiers place themselves and their units at greater risk. The wars were are fighting now are against individuals who don’t follow the rules of war, and for whom taking a high value prisoner would be an incredible coup. I believe they would pay any cost to capture such a politically valuable prisoner.

Never mind the emotional toll the president and vice president would pay in such a situation. Do we want those in power to have to choose life or death for their loved ones–which is precisely how the terrorists would present the situation.

Yes, former presidents have had children who have served in wars. However, I believe the instantaneous transmission of information around the world changes the situation, never mind the very nature of the enemy we are fighting.

So as important as the military service of these individuals is, I don’t think it is a good idea for their presence to place both the lives of their comrades and the ability of their parents to govern at risk.

To make up for the crappy political quiz that no one agreed with, Jim found another political quiz.

(more…)

Monday is a good day to waste time!

(more…)

West Virginia is in a fiscally sound position to weather the Wall Street storm, said Gov. Joe Manchin.
…
“Our revenues are still exceeding our projections, which is strong in a volatile market,” the governor said Monday. “Like every other state, we won’t escape financial losses from this shakeout. But we’re in good shape to handle it.”

Here’s a quote I found particularly interesting:

“(Manchin) also noted that West Virginia’s banking laws are stricter than the rest of the nation. The state’s only bank failure during the crisis — Ameribank of Welch — was a result of lingering problems in that area from years ago, Manchin said.”

That lingering problem was embezzlement from the First National Bank of Keystone.

See also:
Manchin says his administration’s efforts to pay off nearly $1 billion in debt and the accumulation of $568 million in a rainy day fund have put the state in a good position.
Governor Manchin states, “There’s an old proverb that says it’s better to be careful a hundred times than be killed once.”

As much as I don’t care for Manchin and some of the things he’s tried to do (“Open for Business” anyone?) he has done some things very right. And contributing to the rainy day fun and getting the economy so we’re better off than other states is pretty impressive.

And it’s nice to know that as a state employee, it doesn’t look like job cuts are in the state’s future.

I’m actually not that worried, for several reasons.

First, although Wall Street is in a tizzy, I’m not sure that a longer look at the financial recovery bill is such a bad idea. After all the Bush administration rushed the PATRIOT Act through and look what that got us. So I believe thinking things through before taking actions is a good idea. Especially by individuals who were telling us up until a couple weeks ago that the economy was in fine shape.

But primarily I’m not stressed because my grandmother is taking things in stride.

My grandmother’s family lost almost everything in the Great Depression. The whole family even had to move in with her oldest brother, when they thought they would lose their house (they did keep their house, but that’s about all the kept.) (How’d you like to have your parents and most of your seven siblings move in with you?)

In the 80s, my grandmother inadvertently put her money into a savings and loan. (The S&L lead its customers to think they were FDIC insured.) The S&L tanked, and it was only after years and the intercession of the state of Maryland that she got her money back. (The governor said that because people were tricked into believing that their accounts were backed by Maryland, it was the state’s responsibility to help recover the money.)

So twice in her life my grandmother has lost much due to the vagaries of the market. And twice she has gotten through it fine, even if things were difficult for a period.

Her attitude towards current events, despite the fact that some of her investments from when she sold her house are doing as well as you’d expect, lead me to be able to take a deep breath, consider our financial position, and say, y’know? We’re gonna be okay. We’ve got family and we all look out for each other and that’s what gets you through.

A question to everyone who says they will not be participating in the upcoming election because “their vote doesn’t count.”

Are you really that stupid?

Seriously?

First, may I remind you of the contested counties that held up the declaration of the 2000 presidential election. However, I’ll accept your points about the electoral college, because they don’t matter.

One third of the Senate is up for the election in November. I very much like Jay Rockefeller, so I want to show my support for him in November.

Even more important, the entire House of Representatives is up for election.

For those of you who weren’t paying attention in your history and civics classes, in the United States, power is divided between three branches, and these branches have to work together.

A president cannot run roughshod over the country without the assistance of the House and Senate. Remember the Patriot Act and how it slipped through Congress without much of a glance or a fuss? Are you paying attention now? The president is again trying to shove legislation down the throats of Congress, but this time they’re saying, “Not so fast! Let me take a look at that first!”

That’s difference is one of the things you’re voting for in November. Do you want a Congress that will blindly accede to the wishes of the President, or do you want a Congress that will think for itself and vote the conscience of the people (that would be you by the way)?

That decision lies in your hands.

Then there is the third branch of the the US government, the Judicial branch. Yes, Supreme court and appellate court judges are appointed by the president, but that is only with the “advice and consent” of the Senate. It is the duty of Congress to keep the president from appointing judges that are too far from the main stream.

Then we have state and local elections. Here we are electing the governor (not much of a race, unfortunately), the Secretary of State, and even a State Supreme Court of Appeals Justice. In many ways, these races affect our lives even more than federal races.

WV has a Senate and a House of Delegates, and those Delegates are once again up for election. These are the people who determine state law: Blue laws, speed limits, drinking age.

And then there may be county and city elections as well. These officials control property taxes and school funding and the drivability of your roads (and let me tell you I am still bitter about the failure of Mon county to fund the infrastructure changes we so desperately need–and that failure lies directly in the hands of city and county officials who failed to convince the public of the importance of those projects.)

My point is that–not that you could tell it from the TV coverage–far more is happening in November than the decision between McCain and Obama. These state races have just as much–if not more–influence upon the US government, and these are the races that we the voters control.

So don’t tell me your vote doesn’t matter, because I don’t buy it. (Not even for $10 or a bottle of whiskey.)

I stopped by a blog I used to read all the time, but had stopped visiting awhile ago. Funny thing is that although it was a sudden break, there wasn’t anything negative about it. I got extremely busy and fell behind on my blog and comment reading, went to catch up, saw how many new comments had been made since my last visit and pretty much said, “I don’t have time for this,” and that was that.

I’ve dropped by a couple of times, but mostly just to glance around, so today I wandered over, read a few posts, and perused the comments.

What struck me was how polarized things had become in the past year.

To be honest, I stopped paying attention to politics quite awhile ago. I still avidly listen to the news, but have avoided political blogs and posts almost completely.

Why? Because all reading about politics was doing was making me extremely upset over a situation about which I can do nothing. No matter how much we wail and gnash our teeth, GWB is not going to be impeached and indicted. Fulminating about the whys and wherefores will change nothing.

No matter how much crying and screaming go on, our presidential and vice-presidential candidates are who they are, and there’s nothing we can do about it.

What I want to see is a discussion of the issues and policies the candidates will take. I want to know who their advisers will be–and more importantly–whether they will actually be advised by their cabinet.

Please note: advising does not mean blindly taking the advice one a handful of insiders. It means listening to differing points of view, considering all the options, and then determining the best choice. I want someone who will behave like Lincoln in selecting their cabinet members, listening to the opinions of their advisers, and then taking the burden of decision making upon themselves.

What I found was rumor and innuendo and personal attack. None of which are helpful, and none of which solve anything.

Why aren’t they helpful? Because at some point a blog reaches a critical mass and commenters with opposing views are silenced–not by the hosts, but by the sheer volume of those who believe strongly in one side of the issue and have becoming unwilling to hear whisper of something that does not fit their world view.

And I have to admit that to some degree this makes sense. The last seven and a half years have been a disaster, and if someone were to try to tell me they weren’t I’d think them a raving lunatic who had completely lost touch with reality. And at some point, the past and the future become intermingled. McCain has Bush cooties, and there’s little he can do at this point to brush them off. For better or worse, his support of Bush over his presidency has rightly or wrongly linked the two.

So what we have now are people who are projecting the ideas and motivations of Bush onto McCain. And from there they project the stupidity of the Bush administration onto McCain.

And the speculation about Palin is even worse.

Let’s face it, we can speculate as much as we want, but theorizing about McCain’s health and whether Palin has personality disorders achieves nothing except a general frothiness at the mouth that makes one coming upon you all unexpectedly want to back away in fear it really is rabies and the frothier is going to bite as soon as you turn your back.

Don’t get me wrong. There is no way in hell I’m voting for McCain. I’m a life long liberal and I really like Obama. But this polarization has achieved nothing other than making it harder than ever to get anything done, and the demonization of those who are willing to compromise to get things done.

So no, I won’t be perusing much other than my limited corner of the blogosphere until the election is over.

Then I can do little but hope that this will remain calm for the next three–or at least two–years.

As is relatively well known, I’m not a fan of the Republican party.

I agree with little they stand for, and on a state and local level the party is just horrible, with many members taking money from Don Blankenship.

So I find myself shocked to say that I strongly agree with McCain’s decision to scale back the Republican convention until the affects of Hurricane Gustav are known. I am impressed by this, especially in comparison with Bush’s fiddling while Rome burned mentality towards Katrina.

Even if there is nothing a politician can do, they should still be cognizant of the fact that their actions are going to be criticized or praised by the populace. Better to go for praise than criticism. (I may not like Manchin, but his actions upon learning of th Sago Mine disaster were 100% correct.)

And the recommendations that money go towards disaster relief? Kudos again. I’ve been saying for years that if politicians want to impress me, they’ll put their fund-raising money to a use other than stupid ads.

Of course this doesn’t mean I’ll vote for McCain. I disagree with his past decisions too strongly for that. But I am pleased to see he has made a decision that not only reflects well upon him, but serves to ask the American people to consider the plight of others and do what they can to help.

So Kudos, Senator McCain,

Labor Day in the United States exists to celebrate the rights that workers in the United States have achieved in the past century, and to give us time to allow those who keep the power on and the trains running and all those other jobs that require you to get your hands dirty, a day to be recognized for their work.

We should remember the past, and some of the incidents that made labor unions so critical:

The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire

Child Labor in the United States

And we should also consider the state of Unions in the US and the status of laborers. By this I don’t mean lawyers and CEOs, but the people who do the work in the service and manufacturing industries: slaughterhouses, commercial farms, coal mines.

We must remember that for those at the bottom, wages have remained stagnant or decreased with inflation, rates of health insurance coverage are falling (while health costs rise), and workplace safety is again becoming an issue, as owners place profits over the safety of their employees.

Bureau of Labor Statistics
National Agricultural Workers Survey
US Department of Labor

So while many of us (especially those of us who have computers and time to read weblogs) are enjoying our day of leisure, we should also consider those whose jobs are much harder, and much more dangerous.

Today is a good day to remember those who have lost their lives and their health doing nothing more than trying to make living.

The local news paper, referred to often as the Diminishing Pest, is most likely the worst paper in WV.

Why?

Yesterday, on the 45th anniversary of the March on Washington and of Martin Luther King Jr’s seminal “I Have a Dream” speech, Barak Obama was nominated as the first black presidential candidate for a major party in the history of the United State of America.

The top headline on the front page of the Dominion Post?

“Work to begin on WVU day care”

The next headline?

“Woman dies in single-car accident” (with a picture of the woman’s body being removed from the car.)

Any mention of this historical moment?

Nope.

What a bunch of Jim Wrights.

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we’ve come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we’ve come to our nation’s capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the “unalienable Rights” of “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked “insufficient funds.”

But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so, we’ve come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.

We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro’s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. And those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. And there will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice: In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.

The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.

We cannot walk alone.

And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead.

We cannot turn back.

There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, “When will you be satisfied?” We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the negro’s basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by a sign stating: “For Whites Only.” We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until “justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. And some of you have come from areas where your quest — quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.

Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.

And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of “interposition” and “nullification” — one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; “and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.”

This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.

With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

And this will be the day — this will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with new meaning:

My country ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.
Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim’s pride,
From every mountainside, let freedom ring!

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.

And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.

Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.

Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.

Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.

But not only that:

Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.

From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:

Free at last! Free at last!

Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!