Cause I am NOT POSTING on the atheist bus article...again! Some headlines to peruse...interesting, inflammatory or simply happening around us. Been away from awhile and came back, I see some things have changed - some haven't..... :P ********************** Reuters: Economists see longest US Recession since WWII: http://www.reuters.com/article/usDollarRpt/idUSN0949925320090110 Independent UK: Exxon makes a U Turn - calls for the imposition of "green taxes" http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/oil-giant-comes-in-from-the-cold-1297558.html Reuters UK: And it continues: Russian/Ukrainian deadlock continues to threaten gas supplies in European countries http://uk.reuters.com/article/governmentFilingsNews/idUKLA44205020090110 BBC News: Did you know Black Holes are now thought to PRECEDE galaxies? http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7815827.stm Yahoo News: Yellowstone: Volcano in Waiting? Recent tremors cause concern Since Dec. 26, about 400 temblors have rumbled under the park, centered under the northern end of Yellowstone Lake. The small quakes Friday registered up to a magnitude of 3.5. Swarms of small earthquakes happen frequently in Yellowstone, but it's very unusual for so many earthquakes to happen over several days, says Robert Smith, a professor of geophysics at the University of Utah. "They're certainly not normal," Smith said. "We haven't had earthquakes in this energy or extent in many years." http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090109/ap_on_re_us/yellowstone_volcano_hysteria Libertarian economist Murray Rothbard's (1926-1955) "10 Great Economic Myths" - not a new article, but figured it might spark some dicussion. http://murrayrothbard.com/Ten_Great_Economic_Myths.html Palestinian Mothers.com's searing editorial indictment of the Democrats treatement of the recent Gaza attacks: http://www.palestinianmothers.com/profiles/blogs/senate-democrats-endorse Washington Post: COBRA too expensive for the unemployed; eats 30-84% of unemployment benefits http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/09/AR2009010903350.html THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: "Over breakfast coffee we read of 40,000 American dead in Vietnam. Instead of vomiting, we reach for the toast. Our morning rush through crowded streets is not to cry murder but to hit that trough before somebody else gobbles our share." -- Dalton Trumbo, author of 'Johnny Got His Gun', in the introduction to the reissue of his book, 1970.

The only thing I can add to this post is..its certainly a troubled world. A part of me sees this as old news, anything "Palin"..and another part of me simply sees this story as an interesting insight into the lives of these people thrust into the limelight recently. As this wasn't covered here, I thought I would post it...not knowing more about the situation, I will refrain from making any other comments for the time being. -Shadow ************************ Source: Reuters http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE4BI5VO20081219 ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - The mother of an 18-year-old man who plans to marry Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's pregnant daughter, Bristol, has been arrested on drug charges, authorities said on Friday. Sherry Johnston, 42, was taken into custody at her home in Wasilla, Alaska, on Thursday after an undercover narcotics investigation, Alaska State Troopers said in a statement. She faces six counts of misconduct involving a controlled substance, said trooper spokeswoman Megan Peters. She was released on $5,000 bail shortly after her arrest. All the charges are felonies. Peters declined to release any further information about the case, saying police needed to protect the investigation. Sarah Palin, the Republican vice presidential nominee in the 2008 election, revealed during the campaign her 18-year-old daughter was pregnant and that Levi Johnston was the father. The two have said they plan to marry and Bristol Palin is due to give birth this weekend. (Reporting by Yereth Rosen; Editing by Dan Whitcomb and Peter Cooney)

I decided to blog this because I thought Mr. Dreher expressed a very important point about the Obama victory, despite having different views himself he graciously understands the importance of this victory and the impact it has on the population. Personally my biggest fear is the divisive and spiteful way I have seen some people treat each other (on both sides of the fence). I refuse to believe every conservative is an "idiot" or "racist" or "mindless, greedy, guntotin' moneyhoarder". I refuse to believe every liberal is a "anarchistic, emo veggie-downing loony bent on Communism". I just refuse, call me stubborn. Call me idealistic. I think there is more to us - ALL of us - than this. I think we can do better than this. This glib divisiveness - more than any presidential pick - is what has the power to harm America, for when we fight each other, we have little energy or vision by which to focus on other things. By fighting each other, we are blind to what may be done to our laws behind our backs, and for this reason I hope sincerely people can learn to work together and move forward. I don't think when "our" or "their" party wins, that change begins. Change begins with the people, and that's why this particular victory will resonate so deeply...record voting, and an entire segment of the US population no longer disenfranchised symbolically by its own political system, the first black president. Powerful stuff. Anyway, I respect these people who may not share my views and yet see the underlying importance of an election like this. Seeing the faces of people alight with hope and stunned (but positive) disbelief from New Orleans to Harlem made me excited for this country in a whole new way, knowing each person's road to this day was not the same as mine, I was still filled with excitement for seeing the faces of African-Americans, for what would have been unthinkable 50 years ago, for what maybe some thought would never come. It needed to come. Its RIGHT that it finally did and I hope he proves to be an exemplary president for the betterment of America and global relations. Anyway, here you go - Rod Dreher's post, his bio and the source are linked below. Enjoy, and congratulations America. :) -Shadowdamage ************************************** OBAMA IS PRESIDENT! CNN just called it for Obama. The United States of America has just elected its first black president. Look at that crowd in Chicago, will you?! It's stunning. Waving American flags, ebullient. CNN is focusing on all the happy young faces, but a moment ago, there was an image of a grey-haired older black man, standing there looking overcome by the gravity of the moment. I would love to know what's going through his mind right now, and his heart. This is an amazing moment in our history. Even if you didn't vote for him, you have to concede it. I hope you will all join me and pray for our new president, and for our country. It's a new world now. Last night, I read a story in our local city magazine, D, about the Jewish experience in Dallas. There was a long passage in which the author discussed how powerful the KKK was in Dallas County back in the 1920s. It was thoroughly mainstream (I'm proud to say my newspaper, The Dallas Morning News, fought them). Tonight, a black man running for president of the United States won Dallas County. I am a Dallas County Republican, and I didn't vote for Obama. But that's pretty damn great. UPDATE: I wish to associate myself with Ross Douthat's remarks, especially this: And then, of course, there's the fact that Obama has just been elected President of a nation in which he could have been bought and sold as a slave just seven generations ago. I don't think there are any words adequate to the occasion of America electing its first black President, so I'll just say this: This may be a bleak day for the Republican Party and for conservatism, but come what may in the years ahead, it's a great day for our country. Barack Obama deserves congratulations, tonight, but so does the nation he's about to govern: We've come a long, long way. ***************** Rod Dreher is an editorial columnist for the Dallas Morning News, and author of "Crunchy Cons" (Crown Forum), a nonfiction book about conservatives, most of them religious, whose faith and political convictions sometimes put them at odds with mainstream conservatives. The views expressed in this blog are his own. Source: http://blog.beliefnet.com/crunchycon/2008/11/obama-is-president.html

Can we get past this? I grew up in an area that was both economically and culturally diverse; a rural school on the fringes of a city, and close to an Air Force base, it was both challenging and fortunate that at an early age I was immersed in a demographic that was quite complex for such a small school system: military brats and farmers kids, kids from Riverside, which was a minority-rich slice of the nearby city, poor kids, rich kids, of every religion, color and sexual orientation imaginable. Whether it was that, or my family's general easygoing attitude towards ethnicity, that ultimately shaped my own, I never really think about a person's race unless they make it an issue. In my younger days I dated people of different colors than my own, not because or in spite of that, but because I just liked the person. I realise now, after a few decades on this planet, that not everyone thinks this way. I grew up thinking that what made me a woman wasn't how I felt about kids, or marriage, or men. I was a woman simply by virtue of genetics, and I could do whatever I wanted with my life, be it a welder or a scientist, a homemaker or a singer. My grandmother was a person of faith, but my parents really weren't...my dad was something akin to a modern Confucian, and my mother entirely too philosophical to devote herself to only Christian learning, having a keen interest in Eastern religion and history, she was more likely to be buried in a book by Thich Nhat Hanh or reading The Way of Lao Tzu than picking up the Bible. Of course we HAD a bible, because that was part of the whole learning process. But it wasn't learning to please God. It was learning for the sake of understanding. And as such, I had a pretty open mind about religion too, except for one nasty encounter with some evangelical Pentecostals in high school. My mom was the type that when the Jehovah's witnesses came to the door, she never turned them away, but would offer them tea and coffee and engage them in discourse for awhile. I always wondered why the heck she bothered, but as she said it, "They are doing what they believe they must, to save my soul. I may not agree with them, but their efforts are sincere, and I respect that." They never really came around that much because I think my mom's keen Buddhist leanings mostly confused some of them. But she was always respectful of their faith, even as she passionately believed it had no business being used to dictating our politics, or our laws. This is just how I was raised. Color was only as important as you make it, gender was a product of biology, and religion was treated with a sort of intellectual curiosity, a non-judgement, if you will, but also a degree of non-involvement. I wouldn't say any of us are atheists in our family, because in a way that slams the door on all that curiosity. I simply don't understand why something as basic to our being as our color, gender, religion or sexuality must inevitably divide us so deeply from time to time. Which is why, perhaps, the hate towards people for their color, the vitriol spewed against women, or gays, or those who do or do not choose to practice the same religion (or in fact, any at all) continues to confuse me, as it generates so much controversy at an age where I continue to hope people will move beyond it. I saw it more than usual in this campaign and it was painful to watch, to think of how far we still need to go, when people can still come to harsh words even over the interpretation of slang terms. I cannot figure out, is why, or how we move past it - all I know is that America MUST move past it, because failing to will only hurt her, and her citizens. Of course I won't support any candidate for their color, or their gender....because this is not a contest about how good you are at being male or female, or at "being" your color (whatever the hell that would be), its a contest for the presidency. Its not about religion either, though that has certainly been used as a campaign tool on both sides. Nothing about a campaign these days is a simple matter. There are genuine passions and fears, aspirations and firmly-held beliefs on BOTH sides, sometimes articulated well, sometimes, less so. As such I should hope - and we should in fact, celebrate - that there might be gay black conservatives, devout Christian liberals, because its in the unexpected demographic the proof is exposed: that we are, in fact, much more than 2 warring camps of Americans. If Obama makes it, its not just about a Democratic victory. Its the beginning of understanding that America never was one color...we just played it that way. America is, in fact, shaped by so many cultures and ethnicities that without the influence of each unique story, surely we would find it a very bland and changed place indeed. Its so easy to forget that. But without the cultural diversity of America - there is no classical melting pot of New York. There is no heady, complicated tale of New Orleans. There is no San Francisco, no Miami....no Chicago, no San Antonio. There would be no Tejano, no salsa, jazz, no blues, no rock, - for rock took its soul from the music played on the "other" radio stations, the ones my mother listened to when nobody was around, the music that artists like Elvis took and drove into the heart of a new demographic. There would be no Chinatown, no Thai temples, no Vietnamese restaurants serving up warming bowls of Pho on chilly Austin mornings to hungry students. There would be no America, as we know it. When a significant portion of the USA can see a person, and not their skintone, and elect them, it is - despite how some may feel - a victory for all of the USA, and an opportunity to move on and heal our racial wounds (at least, in part) and embrace the country as it really is.. ..and has been, all along. Whomever wins, I hope people will see this campaign as extraordinary, for Obama's - and truthfully - Clinton's and Palin's journey to this point will resonate with millions of Americans as validation of their own unique lifestory - be that due to race, religion, sexual orientation or gender, when political doors open wider, and embrace a more diverse demographic - it holds an innate benefit far deeper than political affiliation. I for one, see cause to celebrate regardless of the outcome.

Robin Hayes, a Republican congressman from North Carolina, provided details on Americans who do not qualify as real. “Liberals hate real Americans that work, and accomplish, and achieve, and believe in God.” Where to start. Wow. How about with my own family. And in the plainest, most unadorned ways I can. How about my mom's father - my "grandpa" - who at the age of 6, worked in a Greek restaurant to help his family pay his way. Barefoot (literally, we have a photo of him from that time), this child worked his way up, by hand, to become an esteemed professor of Educational History and Philosophy at a major American university. After writing countless books, teaching for decades and remaining active politically, physically and intellectually, he died in his 80s, a man very passionate about his country, about his heritage, and about his field of expertise - education. In addition to his education, and raising his family, he was in World War II. He survived the Great Depression which haunted him until his death - he would, despite being financially comfortable, go to the dumpsters outside grocery stores to retrieve softened fruits, bruised veggies, and focused on buying discounted foods that he would freeze. Why? Because he remembered how it was to not have any. He was born into poverty, into a family of Bluegrass mountain people, and died a respected educator, philosopher and professional. He worked his ass off. He was a passionate, intelligent, educated, insanely hard-working man. He was a liberal. My dad's mom - my grandmother - was born at an age when women could not have abortions legally - she died never knowing that I knew she had suffered the "coathanger" method as a young woman of 14. She was born to Italian immigrants, and saw her own brother get shot in the streets a few years later in what would be quite at home in a "Sopranos" episode today, except she lived it. Working her way up by hand in the business world, she became an owner of several businesses, ran them singlehandedly and left my dad with a legacy of business ownership by which he could carry on if he so desired. A proud, stubborn, driven woman, she loved her glamour, her Johnny Carson, her Vegas weekends and most of all, big band music. She made us pray as kids because she felt we should, but as I grew up less Christian in my beliefs, she accepted that, and loved me anyway. She believed in us having every opportunity to succeed, and left us with an inheritance to help us reach our dreams. She was stubborn as hell, generous, and tough as nails. And...with one exception - the Reagan years - she voted liberal. I could name even more in my family - doctors and butchers, scientists and evangelicals alike - who espoused liberal values not because they were "unAmerican", and certainly not because they shied away from working their asses off. And I resent - deeply - that people like my grandparents survived depressions and wars so that someone like Robin Hayes can paint every liberal mind with a sweeping, arrogant, sick brush that says "this is what you are". So, on behalf of my child-labor-surviving professor grandfather, my illegal-abortion surviving self-made businesswoman grandmother, myself a college graduate that worked THREE JOBS SIMULTANEOUSLY while in graduate school and have never asked this country for a dime - and everyone else in my Italian-American-Indian-Scottish family tree, who were -with pale few exceptions - liberal voters who deeply, passionately love not only our country but care about the future of our species, may I just say..... Screw you, Robin Hayes. Its minds like yours that make me sick for the ignorance they spout, and the ignorance it feeds, and the people who would for one moment agree with you are either cruel - or easily led. Both are destructive to the future of this country.