OJ and Justice

Yes, I have demeaned myself by watching truTv this afternoon to see if OJ was going to get the maximum sentence for his little robbery in Las Vegas a year ago.  I gotta tell you that the minimum of what 7 1/2 years is not enough if you ask me, especially since he wrote a book entitled If I Did It.  And don’t give me the garbage about this trial having nothing to do with the murder trial 13 years ago.

If he wasn’t found guilty in the civil trial, he never would have had to ask his family and friends to hide his memorabilia from the Goldmans, so that they could begin to collect on their settlement.  OJ was trying to skirt the law by hiding assets, he wanted his stuff back, and he broke the law in trying to get the stuff back.

So what have we learned.

1) Don’t murder your spouse.  That’s just wrong!

2) Things are just stuff.  They’re not worth breaking the law for.  You can always get more stuff.

3) If you think that you are God and that the world revolves around you, eventually the world collapses, because your shoulders aren’t strong enough to hold up the world.

4) If you are patient enough, justice comes.  Not vengeance.  Justice

And now you may clap.

Go Keith Olbermann!!!

Last night Keith Olbermann talked about life, liberty and most of all love.   He was referring to the passing of Proposition 8 In California, which denies the chance to gay and lesbian people in California to get legally married.  Keith Olbermann talks with such caring and compassion about the rights of ALL people.  I began to cry about halfway through this commentary.  Because I have friends in California who got married on October 18th, 2008 and now the state of California is saying that their marriage might not be valid, simply because both of them were born with XY chromosomes, making them both male.  I don’t understand how wanting to be equal under the law is a bad thing, especially since, if you’re going to get Biblical with me, Jesus said the next greatest law (after loving God) is loving your neighbor.

Living in Massachusetts, I have had the privilege to attend the wedding, the legal wedding, of a lesbian couple that I absolutely adore.  I helped out with decorating the venue and with the centerpieces on the tables (which were picnic baskets filled with goodies.)  To me, this was exactly what I had done so many times before for heterosexual couples weddings that I was involved in, that I didn’t see any difference between the weddings.  And I still don’t.   I cried at the end of the wedding, just like I did before, and just like I have since.  To me, it really was just another wedding.  Even though I do know that there was something very special about it.

To me, it’s all about love.  We need more of it today.  So to Jason and Chris, as I said before, no matter what proposition 8 says, you’ll always be married in my eyes!  I love you guys!  

This post is dedicated to all of my friends who are fighting in the struggle for equality for people of all gender identities.  Straight, gay, bisexual, trans-gender, it’s the process that’s important, and we all need to keep on fighting until everyone gets the same rights.   For those of us who are straight, I leave you with the thought that I have on a button that I wear “Straight, but not narrow”

(Thanks to Krista for showing me the video in the first place!)

Election Day!!

I voted this afternoon, and it took me a couple of minutes after I filled out my ballot, before I could place it in the machine, not because there was a line, but because I wanted to take the time to breathe and realize the history of this vote.  (There were police there making sure no riots broke out in this little town I live in that has 2 stop lights, so I didn’t want to take a picture of my ballot and get arrested!)  So I just stood there looking at my ballot and thinking about how I would remember this moment and this day. 

I’m now watching the news to see who is going to become our next President.  I am so hopeful that Barack Obama is going to win.  I’m also so proud of all of the kids that I’ve had the privilege of mentoring, babysitting, being their teacher, etc.  that are now able to vote, that registered and then VOTED.  This makes me so proud!! 

It has also been really neat to hear the stories of the people who worked in the civil rights movement in the 60’s, who are both white and people of color, who are so excited that this time in America’s history has come.   Not because we could have a man of color as our president, but because the issue of race in America is something that America is finally tackling.  We’re making progress, slowly, but progress.  Next, I hope we can begin the conversation on the equality for women!

T minus 6 minutes and counting

In approx. 6 minutes the clock will hit midnight here on the East Coast of the united States and it will turn to be November1st.  Day one of National Novel Writing month.  Also known as NANOWRIMO.  I’m ready to go for this year’s challenge!! I’m planning on writing only for about 15 minutes and then going to bed.  I’m only staying up this late for ceremony purposes.  And another cool thing that out of hundreds of thousands of people writing this year, my friend Krista was picked out to be the feature on the nanowrimo home page for October 30th.  To read her story go to www.nanowrimo.org find Q & A and then archive for Oct. 30th.  You’ll get to meet one of my oldest and truly best friends.  Well two minutes to go.  I’ll talk to you all in December

Bye!!

Watching tv at my parents kitchen table

I’ve been ruminating on the death of journalist Tim Russert.  He died on Friday at the Washington D.C. studios of NBC at the age of 58 of a heart attack.  It was so weird when I heard the news.  I was at my parents home, watching the news at my parents kitchen table.  When I got back to my own home, I thought about all of the news that I had watched in my parents kitchen.  I watched plane 2 hit the World trade Center and then I watched the Trade Center Towers collapse on Tuesday, September 11, 2001.  I watched the 2004 election when Al Gore became the president that never was.  I watched countless Boston Red Sox baseball games at that kitchen table. (Baseball games that have led to 2 World Series troophies in the past couple of years, I’d like to add.)  I guess I never thought about how I associate places with memories before.

Ok I’ve been thinking

Part of learning how to blog is realizing that once I post something, it stays on the Internet forever.  I’d like to comment on my last post.  In all of the excitement of Senator Obama getting the required number of delegates to get the Democratic nomination, I was bummin’ about Senator Clinton not getting the nomination.  But now I’ve had a chance to think.  (Plus I watched all three speeches given first by McCain then Clinton and finally by Obama.)  McCain came off as arrogant to me, so I really have written him off (not that he had much chance, but I really do want to see the positions that the candidates are taking on the issues.)  And I was totally fired up and excited after Obama’s speech, but I have to say that I was really ticked off at Senator Clinton.

I know that going into the closed voting booth (or the semi closed in cubicle as it is here in Massachusetts) to vote for our representatives and leaders is one of the privileges of being an American.  And a friend of mine is adamant about not sharing who we votes for, but honestly, anyone who’s talked to me for about 5 minutes lately would know that I voted for Senator Clinton in the Massachusetts primary on “Super Tuesday.”  I feel that she represented my interests and issues the best.  But after Senator Clinton’s speech on Tuesday, I was really ticked off at her.

When Hillary said that the 18 million of the people who voted for her deserved respect and to be heard, I was like, “What?????”  I wasn’t feeling disrespected, nor was I feeling like I and my views weren’t going to be heard.  I thought that was arrogant of her and at that moment it no longer became what was best for the country, but what was best for Hillary.  This saddened me.  I did resist the urge though to go on her web site and give her my thoughts, because they were not pretty. 

I think that if Senator Clinton wants to continue to fight for universal health care, for children to do better in schools (and not necessarily through No Child Left Behind,) to bring home our military, etc.  That maybe her best decision is to stay in the Senate and push for the legislation.  Look at all Teddy Kennedy has been able to do during his tenure. (My prayers are with Senator Kennedy and his family, after Kennedys’ cancer diagnosis.)  Back to Hillary.  Staying in the Senate would give her power, the longer she’s there.

So where can we put Hillary?  The most creative idea I’ve heard is to put her on the United States Supreme Court when the first seat becomes available.  The person who relayed this idea to me said “Wouldn’t that shake things up?”  Whoa!  I’ve also heard about giving her a cabinet post like Secretary of Defense or Secretary of State.  If Hillary is on the cabinet, I still think that Bush 41 and Bill Clinton should become Ambassadors at Large, wandering the world tyring to make it a better place.

I think that a new cabinet post should be created called Secretary of Keeping the Earth Sustaiable and that should go to Al Gore.  With that title should go to ratifying the Kyoto treaty already.  Plus he can get more resources to convince people that global warming is REAL!  I think Jim Webb or Bill Richardson would be great VP choices, but I’m hoping that it’ll be someone we haven’t thought of yet.  Someone totally new and exciting!

 

I’m actually getting excited…Bring it on!

All day today I’ve been channel surfing (and calling my dad- the biggest influence in my political ideas and my love of all things political) because within 15 minutes from now, Senator Barack Obama is going to be the official Democratic nominee to be President of the United States of America.  I’m getting goose bumps just thinking about it. 

I’ll admit that I’ve been a Hillary fan for many years, but due to to an e-mail to the Obama campaign that ran amock and didn’t quite turn out the way I had hoped, I got on the daily Obama e-mail list and it’s actually been really cool hearing about Obama’s ideas as he campaigned state to state.  (Plus there were always links to videos to his speeches, which was really great to watch and see when I wanted to see them.) 

I also just read an article between Oprah Winfrey and Michelle Obama, and let me tell you, Ms. Obama is such a strong woman and a positive role model, she’ll be an a** kicker in whatever role she decides to play in the White House.  As for Senator Hillary Clinton.  I really do hope that she becomes the Vice President.  I really rooted for her universal health care plan of the 90’s, which unfortunately failed.  (But now Massachusetts, is trying the very same thing.  As of Jan. 1st of this year, everyone in Massachusetts is required to have health care.)  An Obama/Clinton ticket would balance out ideologically, geographically, ethnically, etc.  It really would be the dream ticket.  I think the only ticket from the Republicans that could beat an Obama/Clinton would be a John McCain/Gen. Colin Powell ticket.  I don’t think there’s anyone else out there at this time who could get 100,000 at a rally other than Powell, but an Obama/Clinton could!

The only problem I see is President Bill Clinton.  It’s the same story as when he was President.   He never knew when to keep his mouth shut.  I think the best thing to do is to keep sending President George HW Bush (41) and President Bill Clinton off to try and raise money for disasters, or maybe they could go to Israel and the Holy Lands and try and broker (with President Jimmy Carter) a Middle East Peace.  Let them go off and make their legacies be what they’ve done after being president.

CNN—9PM CNN projected Barack Obama earns enough delegates to win the Democratic Nomination!!!!

Benazir Bhutto

I just wanted to post how saddened I am on the death assassinationMURDER of the Pakistani leader Ms. Benazir Bhutto.  She became Prime Minister while I was in high school and to have a woman lead a Muslim country in the 1980’s was something that was unheard of.  She was one of the first women of the 20th century to rule a country.  She was one of my role models as a young woman growing up.  I was so glad to see that she wanted to bring “Democracy” back to “her people” (as she told NBC’s Ann Curry in an October interview.)  I feel very sad for the Pakistani people, the people of the region and people from all over the world who are striving for justice and peace.  Ms. Bhutto’s death made me think of the assassination in 1984 of another female political leader- this time from India, their Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.  Again, it is sickening that these leaders, who tried to fight for changes in their countries had their lives cut short. 

May she rest in the peace that she never found on this earth.  Amen

Red Sox Beat Cleveland in 7 games 11-2 – ON TO WORLD SERIES!!!

 (That would be Sox pitcher and cutie Jonathan Papelbon waving to Sox catcher and captain Jason Varitek)

It’s a little bit after midnight EST and the Red Sox came back from winning the first game and then losing the next three, to win the next three games clinching the title of

AMERICAN LEAGUE CHAMPIONS!  No more Cleveland Rocks!  It’s now RED SOX NATION RULES!!

The World Series begins Wednesday.  Here’s the tentative schedule:

Game 1-October 24        Wed COL at BOS            8 pm     FOX TV

Game 2-October 25        Thurs COL at BOS          8 pm     FOX TV    

Game 3-October 27        Sat Bos at COL                 8 pm      FOX TV

Game 4-October 28        Sun Bos at COL               8 pm      FOX TV

Game 5-October 29       Mon BOS at COL             TBA if necessary     FOX

Game 6-October 31       Wed COL at BOS              TBA if necessary     FOX

Game 7-November 1     Thurs COL at BOS           TBA if necessary     FOX

It’s great that Boston has the home field advantage.  Because it was so cool to watch them win at home!  P.S. I’ll inform you with the times as soon as I get them. 

It’s now time to get the Red Sox Gear out and stock pile the sleep.  I’m heading to be now anyway.

Ben has been deployed for 34 days

16 years already

I was watching the NBC Nightly News (Weekend Edition) with Lester Holt tonight and he did an interview with Anita Hill, the former employee to US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.  In the interview, Lester Holt stated that it has been 16 years since Justice Thomas’s confirmation hearings.  I can’t believe it has been that long.

I remember watching the confirmation hearings and being in total disbelief that it was the woman who was being questioned, not the man, and even after all of the allegations that were brought out against Mr Thomas, our lawmakers still saw fit to place this man in a position of power.  And now this particular man determines the ultimate fate of many of our laws.  As I look back on the whole confirmation hearing fiasco, I wonder what on earth were the congressmen thinking (and I use the term congressmen, because yes, at that time most of them were men) confirming Mr Thomas.

[I'd like all of you to note that I am using civil language in regards to Justice Thomas.  I may not like his decisions.  I may not like his conduct, but he is one of our Supreme Court Justices and I feel that sometimes we need to be civil, and even respectful to our "opponents."  This is the basis for practicing non-violent strategies.]

It is so difficult being a woman in today’s society, let alone a strong woman and to have your credibility shot in front of the whole world must have been the hardest thing for Ms Hill to have to put up with and then she had to watch Mr Thomas be seated on the Court.  I commend Ms Hill (who has a J.D., or Doctor of Law Degree) for still standing up for women’s rights at Brandeis University near Boston.

As of today my brother B. has been deployed for 13 days.  And boy do I miss him!