All of the Excitement...

Surrounding the imminent inauguration of one Barack Hussein Obama, further aligned by the calendar and perhaps the stars with the birthday of Martin Luther King, is a wonderful thing to behold for both my demographic (we used to say ""my generation") of Boomers who came up in the North. Even more so for my particular life circumstances: Chicago Heights by way of South Chicago, then on to Upstate NY where there were probably three black families in a working class town of 10,000. Old enough to remember MLK's untimely - or perhaps timely, death (if you're going to die for the cause of racial equality, why not 1968?), yet young enough to reasonably expect to see at least Obama's 1st full term. Seems all that ennui from after Barack's election has dissipated at least until the last inaugural ball. And no, we're not dressing up, chilling champagne and pretending while watching TV, the way some people dress up for soap opera weddings, or suit up to watch football games. I'm way too sophisticated for that. Doesn't mean I won't cry a little, if only from the relief of the humiliation of 8 years of #43 and dodging a Sarah-Palin-death-by-meteor-for-America.

I also had to cry a little when I learned that Julian Michels, AKA "my other dad," had quietly left this planet on January 14. Julian, who went by "Mike" among his many friends and fellow scientists in the little town of Norwich NY, or "Hoo-le-Han" among his six (including me) rambunctious children, was a tall man with a necessarily stoic and calm demeanor. In my memory, his only "vices" were the occasional glass of Thunderbird wine, and a predilection for the "Condensed Reader's Digest" versions of contemporary literature. He and Mae (AKA "my other mom," who took her leave of the planet ahead of Julian, probably to get their room ready at the elder hostel-of-whatever-comes-next)also possessed an impressive - and to me - ancient collection of National Geographics. Julian and Mae were kind and generous, especially with meat, mashed potatoes, corn-on-the-cob and iced tea, almost any evening, even if I'd already eaten dinner once at my house. Julian and Mae's son Jeff writes that Julian's departure leaves five smaller families where there was once one. Five families, but six kids - 'cause even after 40-some years, I'm still one of them.

Hang 'Em High...

Is the movie quoted by Alaska State Representative and ardent Republican, Jay Ramras.
As reported in the Anchorage Daily News, death penalty fan Jay Ramras was fittingly (yet unknowingly) ironical in his statement: "I'm like Clint Eastwood on this issue, 'hang 'em high.'"

It appears that Ramras and like-minded Republican legislators are attempting to bring the death penalty, gone since 1957, back to Alaska.

Notice the perverse brio of Ramras'boast (one wonders if he's also inclined to quote Groucho Marx in DUCK SOUP: "Line them up against the wall and 'pop goes the weasel!'"").

However, Rep. Ramras is evidently knowledgeable about neither Eastwood nor the western film genre. In the 1968 movie, the words "hang 'em high" were spoken not by the character played by Eastwood, but by "Hanging Judge Fenton," played by the recently departed Pat Hingle.

So where’s the irony? Ramras and other death penalty advocates should note that the man hung in the film was played by Clint Eastwood, condemned by an overzealous justice system for a crime he did not commit.

Anyone here remember...

Trooper-gate? You know, where Alaska Governor Sarah Palin was accused of using her office to get her ex-brother-in-law fired from the Alaska State Troopers? And when that never happened, she had the commish of public safety cashiered? And the state's legislative ethics committee found that Sarah had violated the law, yet a hand-picked (by Sarah) state personnel board found her not guilty of any ethical or legal infractions? Well, get ready for parts II and III.

First, we have a state drug investigator and the troopers union alleging political meddling (see today's www.adn.com for details)in the belated arrest of Sherry Johnston. Sherry Johnston is the mother of Levi Johnston, who's sire to the baby of Bristol Palin, who is Sarah Palin's daughter...got that? It seems that the state's drug enforcement unit had enough on Levi's mom to arrest her for trafficking in OxyContin (Rush Limbaugh's favorite) back in October, but they were told in so many ways not to make the bust until after the November presidential election. This is according to AST Drug Investigator Kyle Young, who was involved in the case, and the Alaska Public Safety Employees Union. If allegations prove true, Governor Palin's once seraphic rep will suffer again.

Then comes this nugget from Alaska Daily News opinion writer and local right-wing radio host Dan Fagan, further accusing Sarah (or surrogates) of setting up her erstwhile son-in-law (the aforementioned Levi Johnston) with an electrician's apprenticeship up on Alaska's North Slope. On its face, it might not seem that egregious a thing, save for the fact that Levi is not qualified (no high school diploma, no GED), and he shot to the head of a 100-person waiting list, and no one, including the people who are in charge of the apprenticeship program, can explain why. As a former Illinoisan, I'm reminded of Richard K. Daley's Chicago, no?

Fagan goes on to postulate that Governor Palin's numbers have been suffering steadily since going under the bright lights of national political scrutiny, and that these revelations do not help her. Polls, Fagan says, indicated that should Sarah challenge U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski in 2010, Sarah would lose big. He even claims Sarah's chances for a 2nd term as governor are only 3 in 10.

If nothing else, all this makes for an interesting next couple of years here in the "Greatland."

The Inauguration of Barack Obama...

Will include an invocation from the Reverend Rick Warren? Of the Saddleback mega-church and author of THE PURPOSE DRIVEN LIFE? The anti-gay, anti-choice, anti-evolution Reverend Warren? At Obama's inauguration? Say it ain't so.

I know this missive comes late to the topical news scene, whatever "legs" the story had have already given out. But the more you think about it, the more wrong it feels. Even as a purely political decision it makes little sense, unless we can believe it will result in Obama garnering even a statistical handful of social conservatives. Meanwhile, Obama supporters - including this progressive secular humanist - are agape at prospect of Rev. Warren spouting his "mainstream" brand of pseudo-science and bigotry. Perhaps the Rush Limbaugh should be invited to sing "Barack-the-magic-negro" to warm things up? Shouldn't Barack reach out to listeners of right-wing radio too?

At least January 20th will be "The end of an error," and Obama can begin to govern us back from the abyss - I hope.

Do Iraqis think Bush is that big a "heel?"

I know, everyone's seen it. The "shoe-icide" attacker Muntader al-Zaidi hurling his shoes at President Bush. The 29 year-old journalist is still in custody in Iraq, to whom no one is sure. For his part, President Bush brushed off the incident saying something the effect that he saw the man's "sole." But one question: Where was the Secret Service? Aren't they trained to take a shoe for the President?

And after 8 years of(as Garrison Keilor calls him) the Current Occupant, Shouldn't everyone send a shoe to the White House? Nike, Florsheim, Hush Puppy or Keds, it wouldn't matter, the point would be made...no?

Has it been this long...

Since I've blogged? Was it the vacation to Florida to see my dear mother (and get some sunshine) followed by a super hectic work schedule at my school? Is it...Christmas?

There are few places like my home, Alaska's Mat-Su Valley, where people come unglued over a toy doll being sold at Target. A doll whom some think has a pro-Islam agenda Why do they believe this? Because when activated, it appears – to some – to say, along with a lot of baby babble, “Islam is the light.”

Full disclosure: I haven’t been to our new Target to personally hear
Fisher-Price’s “Little Mommy Real Loving Baby Cuddle and Coo” make her subliminal “Come to Mohammed” pitch. But others have, and they’re upset with Baby Cuddle and Coo, thinking the doll sends an insidious message that’s dangerous to our four and five year-old children, and probably that she should be pulled from Target’s shelves and sent back to Tehran where she belongs.

Now, cognitive scientists tell us that humans are hard-wired to "connect-the-dots" and see patterns. It’s the reason we're superior to the beasts in the jungle, and try to make sense of the universe. Because of our ingrained hopes, fears and biases, it’s also the reason some people think that 9/11 was a government operation, make pilgrimages to Roswell, New Mexico, or believe they'll have a five-star day if they read it in their newspaper's horoscope.

A thought: might the people who are so exercised over Baby Cuddle and Coo be the same sort of people who see the Virgin Mary – or Elvis - in a potato chip, and phallic symbols in all the animated Disney movies? The sort of people who a few years back demanded that all the Cosmo magazines at the local grocery story checkout counters be covered high enough that impressionable pubescent male minds would not be distracted from purer thoughts by all that Cosmo Girl cover cleavage?

Lastly, what would Valley shoppers think if Baby Cuddles and Coo seemed to babble the phrase, “Jesus is my light? That would be OK, I take it?

The Winner is...

Boy wonder, the "wunderkind" Mark Begich, perhaps the 1st descendant of Croat Americans elected to the U.S.Senate. Ted Stevens gave the swan-song one might expect. We'll see what transpires.

Gone to Florida for Thanksgiving.
Watch this space.