Your Tax Dollars At Work

From the Connecticut State Legislature. I'd like to think I'd see something different in my own state's House while they're voting on a budget bill (for Pete's sake!) but given what comes out in the budgets, maybe not.....


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A Day To Celebrate

The buzz in the air was unmistakable, we ate a hurried breakfast and then walked down the street to our neighbor's house. She had baked coffee cake, my husband brought the french press down to make some more caffeine, and my friend next door had some yummy smelling banana bread. The younger kids played on the floor as we listened to the pre-speech festivities. Another neighbor rushed in breathlessly at 9:00 am to tell us that Obama was already president, since it was noon in D.C., even though he hadn't been sworn in yet. Tears and hugs, and then there it was - Obama saying the words and becoming the next president of the United States. Along with Aretha's hat and scat, Yo Yo Ma, and the touching image of Rev. Lowry seeing the completion of a dream he shared with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. not so many years ago.

Wow.

That called for an impromptu inaugural parade of our own, so with pots and pans and a joyful noise being made, we headed around the neighborhood, stopping at friend's houses and whooping it up.

Late that night I walked down to our neighborhood market and there was a veritable hugfest going on. People still in shock, still smiling from ear to ear. I gave and received a few more hugs for this awesome day. We all worked hard to make it so, and as President Obama didn't fail to point out, we have much more work to be done. For today though, we celebrate.

Truly Spooky

Word.

1-2-3-4- What the Hell Are We Fighting For?

Let's all spell it now: O-I-L!

Ya know, it was pretty transparent when we went into Iraq what our intentions were. We really didn't care that much about deposing an evil dictator - if we did, then why would we be ignoring or even propping up comparable regimes in other parts of the world? And we all know about those non-existant WMD's. But just in case Americans haven't figured out yet why our troops and our economy are dying over there, here's a paragraph for you:

"Four Western oil companies are in the final stages of negotiations this month on contracts that will return them to Iraq, 36 years after losing their oil concession to nationalization as Saddam Hussein rose to power. "

The rest of the NYTimes article is here.

Here's a couple of telling quotes:

"A total of 46 companies, including the leading oil companies of China, India and Russia, had memorandums of understanding with the Oil Ministry, yet were not awarded contracts. "

“These are not actually service contracts,” Ms. Benali said. “They were designed to circumvent the legislative stalemate” and bring Western companies with experience managing large projects into Iraq before the passage of the oil law." (italics mine)

and finally:

"In an interview with Newsweek last fall, the former chief executive of Exxon, Lee Raymond, praised Iraq’s potential as an oil-producing country and added that Exxon was in a position to know. “There is an enormous amount of oil in Iraq,” Mr. Raymond said. “We were part of the consortium, the four companies that were there when Saddam Hussein threw us out, and we basically had the whole country.”

...and now they will have it again. And probably bring Iraq's big oil fields back online, temporarily offsetting the high cost of gas to American consumers and setting back the fragile and temporary changes that people are finally (and necessarily) starting to make in their lifestyles! After all, Americans FINALLY drove 1.4 billion fewer highway miles in April than they did in April 2007, which is WAY up from the 400 million fewer highway miles from March 2007 to March 2008. The change that needs to happen is happening, but meanwhile the chessmasters elsewhere are moving the bishops and rooks around.

This Is Our Moment

We just got done watching Obama's speech. I told the kids they would probably remember this moment for their whole lives. History in the making.

And the kids reactions to Obama's speech:

"He's sure being a good sport" (during the bits about Hillary)

"Wow, he's not pulling any punches!" (during the bits about McCain)

And... 16 minutes into it: "Was that a pick or a scratch?" (yes, we just watched that Seinfeld episode this week). I was totally ROTFLOL at that one.

I was struck again with what a brilliant and yet humble and honorable person he is. I will feel really good to have him sitting in the White House. I was happy to hear him address again our need to have good energy policies in place. Interestingly, I contrasted that with Hillary's speech from tonight where her only concession to energy was getting Detroit to make more fuel-efficient cars. Hello, the time for that was 30 years ago when Carter did that. We need more. Now. I'm glad that Obama realizes that, and I am hoping to see him follow up on it in a big way.

National Politics and Bicycle Advocacy

I couldn't make the Obama rally in Portland a couple of weeks ago, it was my mom's birthday and we spent a lovely day kayaking and hiking with her. But I've heard from several friends that were there that the bicycling presence was huge. Bikes were racked along every conceivable stretch of railing, every pole, rack, tree, and parking meter. I've heard estimates ranging from 6,000 - 15,000 bikes there, a very visible presence.

BikePortland.org has an article up with photos, and even a soundbite of Obama's speech, referencing Portland's mass transit and bikeability as a model for the rest of America:

“If we are going to solve our energy problems we’ve got to think long term. It’s time for us to be serious about investing in alternative energy. It’s time for us to get serious about raising fuel efficiency standards on cars. It’s time that the entire country learned from what’s happening right here in Portland with mass transit and bicycle lanes and funding alternative means of transportation.

That’s the kind of solution that we need for America. That’s the kind of truth-telling that we are going to do in this campaign and when I am President of the United States of America.”

I don't think we can understate at this point the importance of each individual doing their part. The people who already know how to bike commute right now are in an ideal position to help people who, because of rising fuel costs maybe, are just now starting to give it a try. The more visible we are, the more national politicians will pay attention to the needs of cyclists. I'm hoping that Obama's words are more than just campaign-trail promises and that a new future of better bikeability is on the horizon for all of the U.S.

A Canvassing We Will Go

Though it was approximately a million and one degrees outside, Miss Asa and I went doorknocking for Obama the other evening. Now this is something I've never done in my adult life. I guess there hasn't been a candidate in recent memory that I was all that excited about. The Democrats have been so wishy-washy in my lifetime (except for Carter, who I wholeheartedly loved, but I was ten at the time, and Gore who didn't grow his cojones until after the election was over) that I just couldn't muster up the energy to go out and canvas for them.

But Mr. Obama is different and we were excited to go and help get out the vote, make sure people have turned in their ballots and help this election go along. We're all excited to see how things go today. I don't think there's any doubt that Obama will lead here in our town (at least not judging by the unofficial lawn sign pool), but of course we're all still crossing our fingers about the rest of his Democratic nomination journey.

Obama Rally, Day In Photos

In line at about 2:30 in the afternoon, the line already stretches many blocks down the road. We're about 150 feet from the main doors though. Lawn chairs and conversation a must, the kids can run around and play and thank god it's not raining!






















The doors open at 6:30 and we got good seats in the first tier up from the floor. The Pit will be packed tonight!

















Mac Court, aka "The Pit" is one of the loudest basketball venues on earth. I think it was louder this night! Mackenzie really really wanted to see Barack Obama speak, even though he had to wear ear plugs and put his hands over his ears during the loudest bits...






An all-women's a capella choir rehearses in the basement before taking the stage (they were awesome!)
The Pit is packed! To the rafters. At capacity of 9,000 + 3,000 that couldn't get in at the door. That's about 10% of our town's population, turning out to see Obama



















The Man himself. Well worth the 7+ hour wait. As dynamic as he is on TV or video, he's 10 times that in person. Can't he just be president now??? Here's where I wish I had a better distance lens, though.

Bits and Blurbs

If we ever end up needing a really great commuter car, here's one, the Aptera, I've got my eye on:

I just read an article about it and they said that in track tests it has been exceeding their expectations, topping out around 300 mpg in some cases! Message to Detroit, hello! Is anyone listening???

And I have to say, I'm pretty excited about yesterday's primaries here in the U.S. (though in Orygun, we won't be voting until May. May!). I'm pretty strongly in the Obama camp, largely on account of his stances on the war and his environmental scorecard from the League of Conservation Voters (highest among all the Dems). It doesn't hurt at all that he is inspiring hope for the first time in a long time among people disenfranchised from our current political system: