Mining Nuggets

Thank you

 

A year ago at Mining Nuggets: A great deal about busyness

Mr. McCain, you are responsible

Last night, Keith Olbermann: Special Comment:

David Plouffe: 

With just 21 days left, we have to show John McCain the cost of ignoring the real issues and focusing on false, negative attacks.

100 per cent negative

And: The polls agree.

Vote for Barack Obama ... continued

Thanks to Frank Paynter for this:

Obama '08 - Vote For Hope from MC Yogi on Vimeo.

VOTE for Barack Obama (Update)

The American people aren't looking for someone to divide the country - they want someone to lead it.  Barack Obama

Yesterday evening I had the good fortune to attend a fund-raiser for That One

I also had the good fortune of standing in the line-up close to the door where Senator Barack Obama entered and exited. And, yes, he shook my hand. Granted, my hand was one of many waving and flailing out there, hopeful for a way to show him our appreciation and support. But, he did look into my eyes for a split second. His hand shake was firm and strong. His eyes clear and sharp. It was one of the most exciting moments in my life, for yesterday I felt like I was participating in history as it was happening. 

And yet, as exciting as it was, I was accompanied by the realization that MCCain sees us all as his Fellow Prisoners of his past life (for I believe that subconscious slips are the most telling), and by the sombre news of the McCain/Palin lies, supporting ignorance and bigotry, and inciting fear, hatred, and violence. 

John McCain: If your campaign does not stop equating Sen. Barack Obama with terrorism, questioning his patriotism and portraying Mr. Obama as "not one of us," I accuse you of deliberately feeding the most unhinged elements of our society the red meat of hate, and therefore of potentially instigating violence. Frank Schaeffer, the Baltimore Sun

As I stood in the line-up waiting patiently for Senator Obama to arrive, I found I was trembling, not only with excitement, but with a smattering of trepidation because no doubt all that recent vile hate speak has permeated the atmosphere around us. I wondered how he would look. Would he be tired, coming from Ohio and going straight from our fund-raiser to yet another one moments later? Would he seem anxious about the economy, burdened by the heat of the election shenanigans?

And then, Barack Obama arrived and he talked to us. 

Oh me, oh my! What a contrast Barack Obama is from John McCain! Amidst the heat of these very turbulent times nationally and globally, amidst the lies, slander and smears, Senator Obama's countenance was clear and calm, direct, solid and steady. I felt as if there was nothing we would not be able to accomplish with Obama at the helm. He will steer us safely to where we need to go. He is not afraid. I was inspired with hope once again and felt a sense of peace and relief. 

Indeed, The Jed Report reminds us that back in July, in fact, Obama knew it was coming all along:

Now, more than ever, I strongly urge everyone who stops by this blog to make sure you go out and vote on November 4 for Senator Barack Obama. Do not listen to polls or pundits. Do not allow the fear and hate mongering to shake your faith. Do your part to change the course for our nation and the world. Go and vote for Barack Obama as early as you can! And tell all your friends and family to do the same.

Update:

In response to Ainelivia's comment: ... Can you feel the hope reaching upwards from your hand to your heart?

My bracelet ... which I wear through rain or shine, asleep or awake, in the shower, at work, out shopping or walking, watching TV, reading, writing my blog ... 

A year ago at Mining Nuggets: Quotes for today

Who is Barack Obama?

Fasting

The last time I fasted on Yom Kippur was 26 years ago when living in Ramat Hasharon, a small suburb outside Tel Aviv, Israel. In fact, before that, I used to fast each year, visiting our neighborhood synagogue at the beginning and end. It was a tiny building where most of us had to stand outside, unable to fit into the main room to hear the final prayers before breaking our fast. So many people would gather around. The synagogue was just across the road from our long project-like apartment buildings. Many of the people living there were neighbors and friends. Through the years, we helped each other with our children, lending and sharing, crying and laughing, celebrating and mourning together. It was a community in which I felt safe and supported. Where I felt a sense of belonging, probably for the first time in my life. Indeed, I do not recall that feeling of belonging before or since.

At the time, 26 years ago, my son was nine and he and I were living alone. I had begun to fast and went to the synagogue for the evening service. When I returned home, I sat and read aloud to him through all the sins I was repenting. It took a very long time. Suddenly I closed the book and looked at him. It seemed absurd to be talking about sins in this way. It also seemed absurd to have to repent for a day and then carry on as if nothing had happened. It did not seem responsible or meaningful for his education. I decided then and there to stop the fasting gig! I made us a glorious dinner of steak and french fries and we both sat smiling and eating together as if we had achieved something great.

As I look back I realize that I was just coming out of a difficult divorce and felt guilty for all the failings in our marriage. Indeed, in general, I felt to the core of my being that I was a really bad person. Reading that list of "sins" out loud must have tapped into the darkest side of my self esteem. Years earlier, as a yogi and yoga instructor, I had been fasting once a day every week from sundown on Saturday through Monday morning, in an attempt to purify my soul. It was only when a friend of mine studying to be a psychologist said to me, "Tamar, you might as well swallow a bottle of bleach for all the purification you are attempting," that it dawned on me what I was trying to do to myself. For, as much as I fasted and fasted, I still could not seem to wash my sins clean. I simply felt I was too bad - a lost cause - a hard nut. After almost a year of constant purification, I gave it up. Just as, later I gave up fasting for Yom Kippur.

Lately I watch in horror as Palin and McCain whip up hatred and fear and, worse still, how they appeal to the "mob" mentality, collective ignorance, and the darkest side of peoples' psyche. It is like watching a public lynching. As they tear down Bill Ayers, rage rises in me and mostly I weep with frustration. For anyone writing A Kind and Just Parent cannot be all these terrible things that he is being called. Indeed, this morning I signed a petition in support of William Ayers.

And so, this year I decided to fast on Yom Kippur. This time though, 26 years later, the list that I might read aloud to my son would be thus:

• Fast for Obama and the change we need 
• Fast in support of William Ayers, a colleague I admire so much for never giving up his activist work for social justice, especially in education 
• Fast for the future of this country and the world
• Fast in gratitude for all the good that I have in my life right now

There are probably more reasons why I feel like joining in the Fast today. As the day progresses I might reflect on them and find out a few more. In my own, small, personal way, I feel I must do something to combat the evil, hysterical atmosphere out there in McCain/Palin Land, as it intrudes into my body and soul, and dignity, and as I hear these deranged and vile attacks on people I respect and admire. 

Fasting seems to be the way for me today. 

I lit a candle and incense this morning when I awoke and felt the cleansing and healing begin. Somewhere deep inside me I hope fervently for all of us, that the better part of our nature and hunger for integrity and respect for our collective intelligence will prevail. 

A year ago at Mining Nuggets: Today

Keith Olberman Special Comment

Did you hear this last night?

If you did not ... hear it now ...

Weaving life's web

In the early morning, when the darkness lingers for a few more moments, I wander through the apartment opening blinds and starting the day. First up are treats for Ada, who waits on my desk with bright shiny eyes in anticipation. Hardly able to contain herself she mews and squeaks with delight as I approach my study down the hall way. I hear her call and become excited to see her face. Today, as I pattered about, waking life partner for the new work week and opening the blinds, I felt thankful for these early morning rituals and, especially for little Ada Mae. 

It is the same at work. Arriving in my office, greeting people, switching on the light, computer, listening to the messages on my voice-mail, and reaching for that welcoming cup of coffee to start the work day. I have brought two plants to green up my work office, and they seem to greet me as well. Do I see Ada in every living thing?

Indeed, it is the small things that weave life's web around me and hold me steady and strong.

A year ago at Mining Nuggets: Angel squirrel

That looks good to me

Thanks, Shimon.

A personal Palin rant

New York Times quotes of the day:

Any president deserves a vice president who will be a sound adviser and trustworthy supporter. But the American people also deserve and need a vice president who understands and respects the balance of power — and the limits of his or her own power. That is fundamental to our democracy.

So far, Ms. Palin has it exactly, frighteningly wrong. (Editorial, October 4, 2008)

How’s that for perspective? The credit markets are frozen. Our top general in Afghanistan is dialing 911. Americans are losing jobs by the scores of thousands. And Sarah Palin is making sure we know that the chant is “drill, baby, drill!” not “drill, drill, drill.” (Bob Herbert, October 4, 2008)

This entire election season has been a long-running saga about the rise of women in American politics. On Thursday, it all went sour. The people boosting Palin’s triumph were not celebrating because she demonstrated that she is qualified to be president if something ever happened to John McCain. They were cheering her success in covering up her lack of knowledge about the things she would have to deal with if she wound up running the country. (Gail Collins, October 4 2008)

So much is written and said after the debate. Much laughter and anxiety at what we heard and did not hear. And, yes indeed, I have to admit Palin's performance insulted my intelligence: 

“Say it ain’t so, Joe! There you go pointing backwards again ... Now, doggone it, let’s look ahead and tell Americans what we have to plan to do for them in the future. You mentioned education, and I’m glad you did. I know education you are passionate about with your wife being a teacher for 30 years, and God bless her. Her reward is in heaven, right?”

But ever since Thursday night something else has been niggling at me, prodding at my early childhood sensibilities and knowledge about how young children develop. Finally, I realized this morning that what I am feeling is rage, and as I prowled around from room to room wondering what to do with this feeling I remembered, "Ah! I can blog about it!" 

For all I can see is Sarah Palin at the end of the debate standing on stage holding her baby and aggressively patting the infant's back as she talked to people around her. What on earth was that poor young child doing up there on the stage at that time of night, surrounded by noise and lights, all confusing and frightening? Is Governor Palin showing what a wonderful mother she is? How she puts family first? That she can do two things at once? After bashing away at the baby's back as if calming and loving, she passed the infant off to her young daughter to hold, and then strode out to greet the audience. 

Palin might waste the public's time by garbling all that gibberish into the camera for 90 minutes at a time. She might even sound so much like George Bush nucu-learing her way through the evening that I could scream. 

But, nothing is as awful as the selfish exploitation of her youngest child for her political ambitions. Maybe she is a champion for Right to Life. However, young children have the right to a quality of life, and I cannot imagine what Trig Palin's earliest emotional memories will be.