Stormy Tuesday

Wow. A major storm just hit. It started off drizzling and is now dumping buckets. It smells great already. We're probably homebound for a while, but that suits us just fine. We'd already postponed going to Hilo until tomorrow, so it's perfect timing. Like everything about this trip so far. 

Something Essential Shifted

Women, too, are starting to peel away from Clinton(s). 

This post from Dahlia Lithwick, who usually covers the Supreme Court for Slate.com is pretty instructive. 

But this e-mail from a Daily Dish reader is just damning:

Several months ago, I found myself drifting away from your blog. I even pouted my way through your wedding and didn't congratulate you (a risible, insulting diss from a WASP). It was hard. I'm not certain how I would have gotten through the Bush/Cheney years without your blog.

But I'd gotten so fed up with your Hillary obsession, I just couldn't take it anymore. Looking back, I realize I took it personally. I now accept that sometimes we women simply over-identify with Hillary.

But something essential shifted inside of me and in my 43 years, I have never experienced anything like it. After 15 years of unflinching, Blumenthal-level Clintonista tendencies, I woke up one day and realized I hated them.

Not that I was severely uncomfortable with their attacks on Obama, although I was, not that the racially tinged lies were disgusting, although they were, not that Hillary's candidacy is actually a disgrace to feminism, although it is, not that their path to winning is by killing hope, although it is. No, it was a gestalt really, more of a snowball effect that started the first day of the Penn-cocaine filth. It really got some steam up post MLK/Johnson and exploded when Bill Clinton threw black people under the bus the first chance he got, blaming everyone but himself in the process.

All of those years of defending the Clinton's against their enemies simply fell away. The memories of Monica floated back up, I remembered how they threw her under the bus the first chance they got too. Does anyone doubt Bill would have let Monica rot in jail had it come to that?

I'm trying to adjust to this new reality of mine, although the biggest surprise has been how natural it feels. I can't tell you how many people I know have gone through this same transformation. The rift is irreparable, but that is OK. I'm focusing solely on the future and feel much lighter for it.

Yes we can.

Still Fired Up

A Sad Day For Kevin Bacon

Scientists Debunk 'Six Degrees of Separation'

Talk of the Nation, January 25, 2008 · The well known "six degrees of separation" idea traces back to a 1967 experiment by Stanley Milgram, who tried to determine how many acquaintances it would take to pass a letter between two randomly selected people.

The result that entered the public imagination was that, in general, it took six steps or fewer to bridge the gap between any two people. But is that result accurate?

Judith Kleinfeld, a professor of psychology at the University of Alaska, researched Milgram's original experiment in the hopes of updating it for the digital world.

"Milgram's startling conclusion turns out to rest on scanty evidence," she says. "The idea of 'six degrees of separation' may, in fact, be plain wrong — the academic equivalent of an urban myth."

Endorsements Keep Rolling In

By now, everyone's heard this, but Ted Kennedy is endorsing Obama. Two Kennedys in the house. Nice.

Also, rumor has it that Kathleen Sebelius, the popular, rising-star-type Demo governor of Kansas is set to endorse Obama on Tuesday. The day after giving the Demo response to the State of the Union address. Absolutely perfect. If true. 

Better still, the House of Representative's highest-ranking Latino, California Rep. Xavier Becerra, has announced that he is backing Obama. This is particularly important given concerns over whether Latinos will vote for a black candidate (an obnoxious meme that will hopefully be put out of circulation Super Tuesday). The fact that he's a Californian is doubly helpful given the state's 370 electoral votes and Hillary's institutional advantage there.

It Was Love That Did It

Hahahahah. Aha hahhahahahahahahah! LOL! Sorry let me catch my breath for sec… Aha ha ha hah!

Love drove Bill over campaign line

Hillary Clinton admitted Sunday her husband Bill's hard-charging campaign tactics had gone overboard, but chalked the ex-president's fiery broadsides up to love and a chronic lack of sleep.

"You know, my husband has such a great commitment to me and to my campaign," the New York senator said. "He loves me just like, you know, husbands and wives get out there and work on each others' behalf."

French Fight Female Genital Mutilation

I don't know why this issue is coming up today, but here's my second post on genital mutilation. This from NPR.

Recalling Brutality
Women activists in France have led the campaign in prosecuting those responsible for excisions performed on young girls, and the United Nations now considers the practice a human rights abuse.

Diallo was mutilated when she was 14, and the brutality of the practice is etched in her memory. "I was mutilated against my parents' will," she says. "It was during the summer visiting my father's family in a village near the capital Bamako. In Mali, it's the father's relatives who decide everything in the family."Diallo describes how several women held her down as one of them inflicted excruciating pain.

Supporters of female genital mutilation say it dampens a girl's sexuality and protects her honor.

Diallo says she can't even begin to list the psychological traumas she has since suffered. "They cut off my sex. It was as if they cut off my finger. They took away a piece of me," she says. "They imposed customs of a society where it's not permissible for a 14 -year-old girl to remain intact."

Shades of Grey

Joe at 2parse/blog has a thoughtful post which explores the difference between necessary compromise and complete jettisoning of principles in the political realm (specifically in re: Clintons v. Obama). 

Read the whole thing, but here's an excerpt: 

There is a world of difference between citing a source inaccurately to support something you believe and deliberately distorting an opponents words in order to deceive people about what he or she believes. Does the Obama campaign really believe that his health care plan will save $2,500 for every family? Probably so. Does Hillary Clinton really believe that Barack Obama supports the Republican positions of the past few decades? No, she doesn’t. 

The fallacy is this: one compromise is morally equal to any other; every shade of moral grey is equal. When I say that politics is about compromise, I am not implying that all politicians are equal. When I say shades of grey, my focus is on the shades rather than the grey.

Those who see no difference between Obama and Clinton are just as guilty of moral idiocy as those that proclaim “either you are with us or you are with the terrorists.” You don’t get full credit for doing away with two opposing moral poles and replacing them with a single category in between which allows for no differences.
…
The difference is one of degree and reflection.

Hillary is making the same argument to liberals now that her husband did in his presidency: Trust me, because I’m one of you; if I screw you guys over, it’s only because I have no choice. The scene from Primary Colors is fictional, but it gets at the heart of Clintonism - a philosophy of governance and politics that Bill and Hillary Clinton together embody. The problem is that the moment to “show true leadership,” to appeal to the better angels of our nature, never comes - because there is always another election, always another scandal. Clintonism is about postponing progress. It is about first and foremost making sure the Clintons win.
…
The fact that taking any action involves moral compromise does not absolve us of our responsibility to make informed judgments. Some compromises are more basic than others. If we cannot differentiate between the many shades of grey, then we are lost without a moral compass. That is what I imagine has happened to the Clintons.

Thank You South Carolina

This from a reader of Daily Dish:

I've never voted Democrat. I've never supported a liberal. I've never thought myself suspect to the romantic idealism any political outsider needs to unseat the establishment. I've never thought "change" had any power except to turn Mr. Smiths into Senator Paines. But Obama's speech tonight taught me a new meaning of "never": to never underestimate the extraordinary thirst for a United States that is, above all, united, where every color bleeds red, white, and blue, where the wisdom of the old meets the passion of the youth and each is bettered because of it.

I'm not a man prone to goosebumps. I've been following politics far too long to trust them, and even after Obama's speech, my cynical side urges me to take a step back and reconsider. But that is the problem. This isn't about taking a step back, this is about believing we can move forward. That's a cliche, one everyone aspires to, but one so difficult to realize because actually believing that America is more than the sum of its parts is so difficult, considering our history.

But if our history is full of the foul odor of slavery, segregation, bigotry and discrimination, it is also unique in its defense of liberty, even when erratically applied. Watching Obama tonight reminded me of Reagan at Point du Hoc, it reminded me of the boys raising the flag at Iowa Jima, young men in the prime of life sacrificing that prime for a future yet realized. And I realized: what if you had told the Rangers they could have never ascended that impregnable wall on D-Day, what if you had told Martin Luther King the specter of racism was too powerful, too even American to overcome? No, King saw that if racism was American, something far greater was also American--that this country was founded on the backs of those who believed oppression was perhaps human, but freedom divine.

And if those heroes could believe, so can I. This isn't over. I still fear the Clintons, and I still fear myself and others like me--those who've grown so hardened that the power of a speech must be repeated over and over in our minds until we begin to believe.

But tonight, I tried to tell myself to never say never again. Thank you, Barack. And thank you, South Carolina.

This Guy's Going All The Way

Yes. We. Can.

Thank G-d For Small Miracles

A case of male genital mutilation gets temporarily postponed. To find out what the recipient, a 12-year-old boy, would prefer to do with his body.

A brief sketch of the story from The Oregonian:

A divorce dispute over whether to circumcise a 12-year-old boy will be decided Friday by the Oregon Supreme Court.

The nationally-watched case pits a father who converted to Judaism and wants his son to undergo the religious ritual, against his mother, an orthodox Christian who claims the boy doesn't want to be circumcised.

The case has drawn attention from national Jewish groups concerned that Oregon's highest court will accept Lia Boldt's contention that circumcision is dangerous.

An anti-circumcision group based in Seattle also joined the fray, arguing the safety of the procedure.

James Boldt, a former Grants Pass man who has custody of the boy and lives near Olympia, said his son wants to be circumcised so he can convert to Judaism.

I've been following this story because I feel passionately about genital mutilation. It's a barbaric and abusive practice, especially when performed on the most vulnerable when they have no say in the matter as babies don't. 

If this boy decides it's truly in his heart to be circumsized, that's one thing, though I'd recommend he wait until he's 18 to decide.

Look, I understand the cultural and religious meaning circumcision has. I have a deep respect and love for Judaism and its traditions and am loathe to comment on, let alone criticize, them. 

But I have an vast and abiding abhorrence for this practice in the deepest fibers of my being (just as I abhor female genital mutilation). And I'm happy to hear this court's decision.

Ouch!

Colbert King of the Washington Post eviscerates they who would be president.

Which gets me to that superficially charming, self-absorbed couple Billary, ever so possessed with an outsize sense of entitlement. What else to call Bill and Hillary Clinton as they partner in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, tag-teaming Barack Obama with alternating blows both above and below the belt? It's an act the twosome plans to take all the way to the White House.…
As with the Queen in "Alice," it's all about them. Witness their attempts to devalue Obama.

But don't point that out to the Clintons. They are always right and see no reason to apologize or take back anything they have said or done. And, as we have seen, Billary will say and do anything to come out ahead.

Item: Hillary's claim to "35 years of experience." Subtract her years spent as first lady of Arkansas and in the White House, and her time working as a lawyer in the Rose Law Firm and in other jobs. As Reason Magazine's Steve Chapman reported in November, Hillary Clinton has "just under eight years of experience in elective office -- one more than John Edwards and four fewer than Obama." And, to boot, Hillary the Feminist has her man to fight her battles.…

Item: Her putdown of Obama's oratory and her suggestion that he's only interested in talking, while she's a "doer." "Dr. King's dream began to be realized," she said, "when President Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act. . . . It took a president to get it done."

Hillary grabbed the wrong talking points. It took more than a president to get it done. Without leaders of the civil rights movement working with Northern Democrats and their Republican allies in Congress, there would not have been civil rights or voting rights bills in the '60s. Her remarks betray an ignorance of what happened back then. For a better understanding, pick up a copy of Nick Kotz's "Judgment Days: Lyndon Baines Johnson, Martin Luther King Jr., and the Laws That Changed America." Chapters 10 and 11 and the section "The President Under Fire" help shed light on all the people who actually did the heavy lifting.

Item: Billary loves to whine about the "politics of personal destruction." But Billary's campaign has taken to the low road, running ads falsely accusing Obama of supporting federal deficits and private Social Security accounts, and distorting his position on hot-button issues such as abortion. Newark Mayor Corey Booker, who branded the attacks "outrageous" and "dishonest," told Newsweek's Jonathan Alter: "We're trying to offer an alternative to the Republicans' fear and smear campaigns, and now we're being dragged down to their level by the Clintons."

One thing's for sure: A Clinton administration will be a four-year co-presidency with all of the drama that Billary has managed to bring to every undertaking.

Harvard Crimson Gets What Grey Lady* Doesn't

The Harvard student paper endorses Barack Obama. 

Obama has committed his life to furthering the public good. From starting as a community organizer, to working as a constitutional lawyer and law professor, to serving as a Ill. State Senator, and, finally, as an United States Senator, Obama has achieved before the age of fifty what many would aspire to do in a lifetime. The judgment and perspective he has acquired in these roles are qualities that are necessary in a leader, particularly at the highest levels of government, where elected officials are inundated with questions with profound and lasting repercussions.

On issues of substance, Obama has assembled an impressive array of policies that demonstrate careful thought about the immediate problems facing our country today and those that we will encounter in the long term. Although we do not agree with all of Obama’s proposals, every one of his plans is informed, carefully crafted, and thoughtfully considered.…

Various critics have voiced concerns that Obama is too ambitious and inexperienced to be the next president of the United States. We disagree. Obama’s candidacy reflects a lack of political maneuvering and instead is based on a desire to see dramatic change in the political system. And what Sen. Obama might lack in political experience, he makes up with sound judgment, intelligence, charisma, and a personable and bipartisan demeanor. Furthermore, in office he will surround himself with some of the smartest and most experienced advisors in the world.

Obama represents an opportunity for a Democratic nominee who represents the value of service, intelligence, and judgment, and, most of all, an opportunity for real change, unburdened by favors owed and ideals lost. He deserves your vote.

* The Grey Lady is the nickname The New York Times, who recently endorsed Clinton.

That's The Way To Do It

Obama hits perfect note in response to campaign bouts.

Obama minimized any tensions arising from the tit-for-tat with the Clintons, telling reporters during a stop in Beaufort that he did not begrudge Bill Clinton his right to be a forceful advocate for his wife. "I don't feel the candidates are being bloodied up," Obama said. "This is good practice for me so, you know, when I take on these Republicans I'll be accustomed to it."

He brushed off concerns about a loss of black voters in the general election should Clinton win the nomination after an ugly primary -- a worry that many others in the party have alluded to. "Black voters shouldn't blame Senator Clinton for running a vigorous campaign against me," he said. "That should be a source of pride. It means I might win this thing. When I was 20 points down, I was a 'person of good character' and my health-care plan was 'universal.' The fact that we've got this fierce contest indicates I'm doing well, and I don't think there's anything wrong with that."

Obama struck a similar tone when asked about Bill Clinton's role in the campaign. "Let me sort of dispose of the whole issue of President Clinton. I have said this repeatedly. He is entirely justified in wanting to promote his wife's candidacy," Obama said. "I have no problem with that whatsoever. He can be as vigorous an advocate on behalf of her as he would like. The only thing I'm concerned about is when he makes misstatements about my record. That's what I'm seeking to correct."

Caroline Kennedy Endorses Obama

Calling him "a president like my father."

OVER the years, I’ve been deeply moved by the people who’ve told me they wished they could feel inspired and hopeful about America the way people did when my father was president. This sense is even more profound today. That is why I am supporting a presidential candidate in the Democratic primaries, Barack Obama.…

Qualities of leadership, character and judgment play a larger role than usual.

Senator Obama has demonstrated these qualities throughout his more than two decades of public service, not just in the United States Senate but in Illinois, where he helped turn around struggling communities, taught constitutional law and was an elected state official for eight years. And Senator Obama is showing the same qualities today. He has built a movement that is changing the face of politics in this country, and he has demonstrated a special gift for inspiring young people — known for a willingness to volunteer, but an aversion to politics — to become engaged in the political process.…

I want a president who understands that his responsibility is to articulate a vision and encourage others to achieve it; who holds himself, and those around him, to the highest ethical standards; who appeals to the hopes of those who still believe in the American Dream, and those around the world who still believe in the American ideal; and who can lift our spirits, and make us believe again that our country needs every one of us to get involved.

I have never had a president who inspired me the way people tell me that my father inspired them. But for the first time, I believe I have found the man who could be that president — not just for me, but for a new generation of Americans.

Fired The Fuck Up!

55% to 27%   

Not half bad, eh?

The Trip To Hawaii

Well, as it turns out I'll be able to live blog our Hawaii vacation after all. Hours and hours of hard work on Annie's part paid off with a gorgeous, huge house with a pool, a hot tub, big kitchen, beautiful grounds, and cable over looking (though not very near) the Pacific. But the best part: a strong wireless connection!

Today was rough. I didn't get to sleep last night until 2 a.m. Woke at 4:15 to get ready. Said goodbye to Bella, Finnegan, and Henry and took off with Goa and Shanti to the airport. The place was packed, more so than I've ever seen it. Weekend traffic, I guess. The plane taking us to SFO was reliably rickety, but we got down with no problems. 

After finding the correct gate for our next gate, we decided to grab some breakfast. It was 8:15, our flight was leaving at 8:58, so Goa and I figured we had plenty of time. We grabbed standard eggs and hash browns type food while Annie and Shanti went foraging for food they could eat. We only had a few minutes of eating all together when Goa looks at the time and realizes it's 8:45 or so. We start to wrap up. He goes to buy a battery pack and A & S book to the gate while I polish off a last slice of sourdough toast with strawberry jam (oh, so good). 

I'm ambling along toward the gate when I see Annie and Shanti frantically gesturing for me to hurry. I run to them to find out that the plane had finished boarding and the doors to the ramp were closed. Shanti calls Goa to tell him to book over to us NOW! since he has all of our tix. We deal with what must be the nicest woman in the flight industry. Not only does she call to the plane to keep them from closing their doors and taxiing, but she trusts that we actually have tickets and lets Annie and I head to the plane while Shanti waits for Goa to arrive. 

Embarrassed, we board a large and near-full plane of people glaring at us for holding things up. We all go into tunnel-vision mode, though, and walked to our seats. Which, of course, are at the very back of the plane.

To make matters worse, because they thought we weren't showing up, a flight attendant (I'm so P.C.) began shuffling people around and put two older women in Annie's and my seats. Though we showed the women our tix, they gave us blank stares and proceeded to ignore us, forcing the stewardess (but not that P.C.) to shuffle other people around and find us seats. Goa and Shanti got the seats they were assigned next to a window. Annie and I got stuck in a middle row. I got the middle of the three seats. It was a lovely ride. 

It actually wasn't that bad. We arrived here on the big island at roughly noon Hawaiian Standard Time (or whatever it's really called). Baggage claim was positively Darwinian, with people six-deep pushing toward the carousel like teenagers at a 1970s concert with general admission seating. It took awhile but we eventually got our luggage and retreated without any serious damage, then had a smooth trip over to the rental car agency and an easy drive to our beautiful home for a week. 

As I mentioned above, the place is great. Beautiful location, a modicum of privacy, and lots of amenities—including resident geckos and psychedelic-looking spiders. 

I hope to have pics posted soon. 

Aloha!

Well, tomorrow's the big day. Hard to see how Obama can win the nomination if he loses South Carolina. So, go Obama! I'm fired up! I'm ready to go! 

Unfortunately, I won't be able to see coverage of the returns. Fortunately, the reason is I'll be flying over the Pacific to Hawaii. 

So, I may be incommunicado for a week or so. I plan on blogging from the island if I can, but have no idea what kind of Internet connection I'll have access to. 

Aloha, everyone!

File Under: What The?

It's actually quite beautiful, if a bit odd.

Ruh Roh