Bah Humbug.

I finally get it, why some people have a problem with Christmas. And it has nothing to do with religion. I grew up hearing about how "commercialism" was ruining Christmas, and I never really got it. Well, I was a kid and I liked presents. Nor could I fathom why this time of year had the highest suicide rate of the year. It was nothing but holly and jolly to me then.
As an adult, I began to understand. Losing my religion had far less effect on my enjoyment of Christmas as merely progressing deeper and deeper into adulthood (and not having yet made the decision, as of this moment, to start a new generation and relive the whole thing through their eyes.)
I see that it's not the commercialism per se that is so objectionable (although to some, that would be enough.) It's the way the hypersentimentality (thanks, Victorians!) of the season is exploited by merchandisers to sell their trinkets. It's not so much the fact that Christmas has been co-opted that bothers me. It's the 21st century, and solstice celebrations have always reflected the times. The present epoch, for better or worse, is a very commercial epoch. What bothers me instead is the way that widowed people, single and divorced people, people who have lost a child or a sibling or a parent that year or are dealing with an illness or personal tragedy of their own, who depend on the humdrum workaday world just to cope until they can manage again, must endure 6 weeks of holiday music on the radio, holiday displays in the stores, holiday commercials on TV, Christmas lights on every corner, Christmas cookies in the office -- reminders everywhere they go to get with the Christmas program and feel how the Victorian Christmas meme tells us all we're supposed to feel, just so that we'll buy some crap at Target.
It's just a bit insidious, that's all.
I mean, it's nice to have something to distract us from and brighten the darkest time of year. I just think it should be compressed from six weeks down to maybe one, or two at most. That's not going to happen, of course, but I was feeling cranky and I had to share.
I'll be chipper again on New Year's Eve (and back to par by January 2nd.)

Waiting for the Other Shoe...

Wolf Blitzer was salivating over it early this afternoon on "Late Edition":

BLITZER: President Bush made a surprise visit to Iraq this morning, the fourth and final trip of his presidency. Let's go to Michael Ware. He's our man in Baghdad, right now. Michael, what do we know?

WARE: Well, Bush -- well, Wolf...

(LAUGHTER)

... the most extraordinary thing. You may or may not believe this. We're getting reports from the press pool that flew in with President Bush, and apparently, just a short time ago, at a press conference with Prime Minister Maliki, an Iraqi man stood up in the press conference and threw a shoe at President Bush.

By the reports we're getting, it just sailed past his head. And while the man was dragged out of the room, President Bush is said to have remarked that, "This was a size 10 shoe he threw at me, you may want to know," even as the man was heard screaming in the hallway.

So this is all during President Bush's farewell trip, as it's billed, to Iraq, where he's celebrating the SOFA agreement struck between Baghdad and Washington to see the U.S. troops to go home. Wolf?

BLITZER: Wow. That's -- that's -- that's good. I'm sure that the videotape -- we'll get that pretty soon. Any idea when we'll get that video?

WARE: No. We're all waiting with bated breath. Now, we haven't seen many pictures coming out of the trip, but, given this was at a press conference, keep your fingers crossed. Let's hope we see something very soon, Wolf.

BLITZER: I'm sure we will. And we'll bring it to our viewers, Michael, as soon as we get it.

And here it is. Yes, it's as good as it sounds. How are you liking that 3-week vacation now, Jon Stewart?

Well, I'm Not Worried Yet.

Liberals Voice Concerns About Obama

(Syntax aside) I agree with this guy (John Isaacs, the executive director for Council for Livable World):

“To me it’s not as important as who’s there, than what kind of policies they carry out.”

and this guy (Juan Cole, who "runs a prominent anti-war blog called Informed Comment"):

“... But overall, my estimation is that he has chosen competence over ideology, and I'm willing to cut him some slack."

Dire Headlines: Raising the Bar

from the Telegraph on the rise of gold "as world unravels."

Ouch. How long do we have left?
Hold this thread as we walk away...

Iceland: Case Study in Economic Crisis?

Canary in the Coal Mine?

Although I was only there briefly, I liked Iceland. Hope they're on the mend soon.

Why I Love Salon

Get over it, Clinton haters by Joe Conason

... the president-elect in his wisdom has repudiated the Clinton-bashing mythology of the '90s. Perhaps that is what he meant when he promised to say goodbye to all the partisan poison of the past.

OK, in case there had ever been any question...

... I can now say for certain that I never want to be president.

No e-mail for 4-8 years? An anachronistic Luddite deprivation for which the most powerful position in the free world would offer little consolation ;)

Obama faces the loss of his beloved BlackBerry.

The Next Question: Secretary of State

I won't lie and say that I wouldn't love to see Hillary get it. On the other hand, Bill Richardson is incredibly qualified. I wouldn't cry to see John Kerry get it, either, and he is qualified as well, although I'd prefer to see it go to one of the other two.

Veterans Day Quote du Jour: World War II vet held in Nazi slave camp

... who breaks decades of silence on his ordeal there and its aftermath of U.S. military-enforced secrecy and indifference, but nevetheless offers his unembittered wisdom:

"You only live once. Let's keep trucking. If we don't do that, who's going to do it for us? We have to be happy. Why hate? The world is full of hate, and yet they don't know what they want."

Quote du Jour: Bob Schieffer on Obama's Victory Speech

I noticed this, too.

from Schieffer's closing comments today on "Face the Nation."

Finally today, seeing the television picture of that crowd in Grant Park that had come to celebrate Barack Obama's victory was a sight I will never forget.

But I was disappointed, at first, in Obama's speech. I was expecting another of those rousing, old-time, "Yes, we can" orations that had electrified crowds during the campaign.

He made a fine speech, I thought, but why didn't he ramp it up, as he had so many times before? Where was the punchline for this one?

Well, the next day, I read something in the paper that helped me understand that wasn't what he had in mind Tuesday night.

I read that his campaign had planned a big fireworks display, but Obama had said no. He understood that the rally that night would speak for itself. There was no need to gild the moment with fireworks, nor would a stem-winding speech that rubbed victory in his opponent's face have been appropriate.

Tuesday, in his mind, was the night to say thank you, not gloat. The faces in the crowd would tell the story.

That restraint, Obama's understanding of how it would all look, an ability so often lacking in today's politicians, may well but what brought him to victory.

Time and again, in a hard-fought campaign, there were lines Obama could have crossed but didn't.

He made no issue of McCain's age. He raised no questions about his health. He never went after Sarah Palin. He knew how it would have looked.

Communicating, cutting through, connecting with people is more than just the words we choose. It also means understanding when no words are necessary.

New look

Yeah, change is in the air. I thought the blog's facelift made it look a bit less somber.

I'm also wondering if I've become a bit of a misnomer. It's pretty obvious I'm a damn liberal (or progressive, if you prefer), and now that liberals/progressives are being defined as "socialists," who knows what defines a moderate? But, as Obama has often been described as having a conservative temperament despite his politics, I maintain that I have always had a moderate temperament, given to occasional extremes... but always in moderation.

As to the brighter mood, sure, the economy's still in crisis. None of that has changed overnight. But genuine hope shouldn't be underestimated. It's been a long time since this country has been acquainted with it, and we might be pleasantly surprised what we can accomplish if we take an experimental vacation from cynicism.

It sucks about Prop. 8, though.

I feel bad for Ellen. I guess she doesn't hold as much political sway with her viewers as Oprah supposedly does.
In all seriousness, though, with her recent marriage, she does put a face to the issue, as does George Takei.

Unlike the outcomes in Florida and Arizona, this one surprised me. I thought California was cooler than this. But, like a lot of Easterners who think of Cali as mostly L.A., San Diego/Francisco, and the hippie enclaves of the north, I guess I forgot about places like Orange County. The black vote is also being blamed, but I don't know if that can completely account for it.

This issue isn't going away, though. Like all other civil rights struggles, although "struggle" is the operative word, for the long-lived and patient, time is on its side.

Change

Change.gov, that is.
That's right, people. You're not dreaming. 75 days and counting...

Poetry of the Moment: Langston Hughes

Quoted by a Howard University professor on the local NBC news this morning:
from "Let America Be America Again"

O, let America be America again--
The land that never has been yet--
And yet must be--the land where every man is free.
The land that's mine--the poor man's, Indian's, Negro's, ME--
Who made America,
Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,
Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,
Must bring back our mighty dream again.

Sure, call me any ugly name you choose--
The steel of freedom does not stain.
From those who live like leeches on the people's lives,
We must take back our land again,
America!

O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath--
America will be!

Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,
The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,
We, the people, must redeem
The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.
The mountains and the endless plain--
All, all the stretch of these great green states--
And make America again!

In the midst of our collective good cheer...

... a minute to consider that, as the country moves toward respect for diversity of all kinds, that atheists, who are also Americans, are still considered fair game as political punching bags, as exemplified by the North Carolina Senate race.

At least, it's good to see that the tactic employed by Elizabeth Dole failed. However, it will be nice to see a day when someone will step up and say, as Colin Powell did with his reminder that it's possible to be both an Arab and a "decent family man," that it's possible for a Senate candidate to stand in the same building with professed nonbelievers and not walk away with political cooties.

These 2007 statistics suggest that such attitudes ignore our present reality:
Pew Research Values Study: Percentage of people identifying themselves as atheist, agnostic or "no religion" by year of birth:

• Born after 1946 : 5%
• 1946-1964: 11%
• 1965-1976: 14%
• 1977+: 19%

Yes, we did.

It's been called.
Nice job, America. I guess we can learn from our mistakes (namely, 2000 and 2004.)

And Now We Wait.

Can you feel the collective tension?
Work is slow. Most of the pundits and spokespeople are hunkered down, waiting to pounce on the first numbers.

I was shocked to find no line whatsoever at my polling place. It could have been that I went at a good time, between peak hours for people with normal work hours, but not everyone who showed up in the middle of the day was so lucky. I guess I just live in a politically apathetic neighborhood.

So now I'm online, here and here, waiting for those numbers.

Voting Day: First Impressions

I'm working late today, so I get to cast my vote on the way in. I'm hoping the lines won't be insane at this time of day, but I could be wrong.
Watching CNN Headline News a little earlier, I saw some viewer-submitted photos of long lines in my area and other blue-state areas, but in a little town in Pennsylvania, McCain's last-hope-for-an-upset kind of town, at 9:15 in the morning, absolutely no line. This could bode well.
And, yeah, it's raining, not too hard. It's one of those lovely but melancholy foggy, drizzly autumn days. But that doesn't seem to be affecting voter turnout. In fact, although they say bad weather would be bad for Obama, that usual prediction with its assumption of fairweather Democrats may not hold water this time, so to speak.
I mean, it's a little rain, you know? I think, this time, it may be the McCain folks who stay home. But we'll see. It's gonna be a long day, but hopefully not a long night (and almost certainly not a long month, a la 2000.)

Madelyn Dunham, RIP

Also known as Barack Obama's (white) grandmother.
But, as he has often pointed out, she was a woman of accomplishment in her own right, as well as a mainstay of support in his.

On the one hand, it seems tragic that she couldn't have held on one more day to see her grandson elected, but on the other, she must have died knowing that he would be. Will be.

From Somalia: Nearly Unbelievable Cruelty

A 13-year-old Somali girl reports that she had been raped by three men and is accused of adultery and stoned to death, in a stadium full of 1,000 onlookers.

It's almost unbelievable, a caricature of senseless cruelty. But this sort of incident isn't a vestige of an unmodernized culture. It's part of a very "modern," in the sense of "recent" (I guess "anti-modern" would be more accurate) movement in the region, a consciously cultivated practice of misogynistic violence that is perpetrated by militias with a war criminal mindset. If people want a definition of "terrorism," they shouldn't go looking too hard, because this is it.

There is no "lesson" from this for 13-year-old girls in Somalia except to cower behind closed doors, because if they venture outside and are raped, they will be punished with death for the crime of enduring it and living to tell.