Is There A Place At The Keyboard For Us?

I wish I could have been a fly in Vegas this past weekend, flitting between Netroots Nation at the Rio and the Rightonline folks at the Venetian! It surely would have been an interesting study in contrasts.

I caught glimpses of Al Franken and Harry Reid trying to rally the liberal troops and having a hard time of it. On the other hand there was Mike Huckabee doing his show at the Venetian belly laughing along with his audience at the sexual innuendos coming from guest Rita Rudner and Robin Leach as a man in search of a country! Remember his Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous?

As I read about the origins of the netroots movement and how they've stolen the march on the right, I'm wondering where the heck the independents are in this community. It's interesting to learn the networks blogosphere is at war with their own political elitists. It's also interesting to note how poorly the right has been at adopting the same technology for their own ends.

I have a few thoughts however. One, they are too fragmented and technologically behind the curve. The tea party movement is a prime example. I suspect if you sat down the titular head of tea party movements from a dozen different areas you'd get a dozen different answers as to just what it is that they want. I don't see this fragmented approach doing much more than making re-election easier for what should be mortally wounded Democrats. This is truly political theater in the making.

There is an element missing in all this. At least I have yet to find it. How about the feared yet sought after independents? We're told we wield a great deal of sway, yet how? Do we have our version of the Daily Kos or are we mostly single, basically insignificant voices like myself wringing our collective hands because no one sees things our way?

Both sides want to win our votes, but what do we want. I see myself against a lot from both sides, yet I've done little to articulate what I'd like to see happen and what manner of candidate I would surely support. It isn't that there aren't any out there. I feel I just haven't asked the right questions of them. Do independents even have a platform? One that we could coalesce under and work toward? To say to the others, if you want us, this is what you must do?

I've watched my readership swing like a pendulum as I voice my dissatisfaction. When I was pro Obama I had a slew of readers, mostly gone now. Why? Because they were die hard Democrats. Now I have more readers that lean right, because I do - for the moment. How many, however, look at both sides and say un uh. None of you measure up and I'm no longer willing to compromise how I feel! If there is a third movement out there please point me toward it. If not, I don't think we can ever get beyond the partisanship we are now experiencing.

The battle for the heart of the Democratic party is in full swing. They have savvy and experienced bloggers leading the charge. The Republicans have a huge chore ahead just to catch up. I don't expect to see a third party, but what about the independents? If we can't find our own common ground along with the ability to give it voice, we might as well get used to being on the outside looking in hoping along the way we'll have a crumb thrown to us as the price of a vote.

I'm Still Here!

Summer is in full bloom. The heat is in the nineties. Yard work, which is plenty on five acres, has to be done in the morning. Then, with pain in tow, there are the doctor appointments.

Nothing good on that front. The Botox didn't make a dent so after much consultation with all my attending physicians, I agreed to move on to stronger medication. Funny, the stronger it is the less expensive. Go figure. Anyway, the next stop is a neurologist. A new possibility has popped up which I don't care to discuss. I'm going to enjoy being in denial until that appointment next month.

Hub has been cleaning the office. Today is the first day I've had access to my computer for days. I feel like I've had a limb removed. But then, it's too hot to be in here; today I'm having a warm fix for my addiction to this thing.

With all the hoopla about the Netroots conference in Las Vegas this weekend, I picked up the book which my niece sent me for Christmas. Autographed by the author to me no less! Seems his daughter is a classmate of one of my great nieces. It's a very interesting read. It's giving me some thoughts on some structural changes in what I do here. I'll be interested myself to see if I can make them play out!

That's what I'm up to these days. The heat isn't scheduled to break for at least a week so unless we miraculously get this office, which is in our shop, air conditioned, my presence will be a bit sporadic. For those of you who hang around, thanks. As I said, I'm still here and the old thought processes continue!

Is Ignorance Bliss?

Yesterday, just before the news at noon, I caught the tail end of the Ellen DeGeneres show. It was a quiz segment for a stack of hidden prizes. Three young ladies were called from the audience. They were, I'd say, at the very least in their mid-twenties if not early thirties. When you get to be my age everyone looks like a child so this is just a guess. They were not in their teens.

Dressed in what I suppose is considered casual chic these days, they ran squealing to the stage, jumped up and down and hugged one another knowing full well they were in competition. Okay, it was fun and games. Why not show some enthusiasm.

The questions were pure silliness, which is perfectly fine for such a segment. What holiday falls on December 25th. Really tough stuff. You can be sure they all knew the answer as to whom Katie Holmes was married. But wait. Oh my. Ellen threw in a couple of real tough ones. The first that sent the contestant through the floor to the depths of despair was "Who is our Vice President?"

The look of shock before becoming totally blank was fascinating. Ellen gave her longer than I suspect was usual. Nothing. The contestant hadn't a clue. The next to fall victim had another toughie, "Who was our second President?" Okay, maybe U.S. history wasn't foremost in the young lady's mind. But our Vice President?

I won't single out those who visit the Ellen Show in particular. You hear far too many young people drawing blanks at such questions be it a man on the street quiz for print or on air. One wonders if these people vote!

If so, it isn't the Democrats or Republicans we need fear. It's those who walk among us. If every vote counts I have to wonder just what they are voting for!

The More Things Change The More They Stay The Same

I wrote recently about the difficulty the women activists of Afghanistan are having in making women's rights part of the negotiations their government is having with the Taliban and how there is really nothing we can do about it. It's not an Afghan problem in particular, it's the problem of every woman living in a country that follows Muslim law. Forget the movement afoot in the country to have that double standard!

In Iran a mother of two sits in prison awaiting her fate for allegedly committing adultery. She's been there since 2006 and has already suffered through a 99 stroke lashing. If the court has it's way she will be wrapped in a white shroud, buried up to her chest in a dirt pit and pelted with rocks large enough to hurt but not kill her instantly. It may take a half hour or so. Efforts by her now adult children have gotten the sentence put on hold due to intervention from the West. Hanging may be the alternative - if there is one. There are at least ten others, seven women and three men, awaiting the same fate for their "crime against God." Who's' merciful God might this be?

Intervention from the West. Hillary is off to Afghanistan to refine our goals. According to the press, and that's the only resource available to me, the agenda is to include plans from the Afghan government "to improve security, reintegrate militants into society and crack down on corruption." She is to reaffirm our commitment to Karzai, while pressuring him to follow through on pledges already made. No small task to be sure. Nine years and we're still cajoling him.

The one thing missing from all the talks? Women's issues. The Muslim women cannot do it alone. We cannot do it for them but as with China and North Korea, why are not human rights on every agenda? Of course we're not going to change any minds. Their religion and their laws are one and for better or for worse they abide by them. At least we should be on the record as objecting to the inhumaneness of them.

In the meantime one woman awaits a decision on her fate. Ten others know theirs. We need to remember that being "stoned" in a Muslim country is not getting high on drugs!

I Should Have Voted For McCain

Governor Joe Manchin of West Virginia expressed my sentiments exactly when he said, having appointed the man who will be the youngest in the Senate replacing the oldest, "We passed this torch to another generation." That's how I felt about Obama. He was young, well educated and energetic. Traits McCain lacked. He was sharp where McCain was often fuzzy around the edges.

There were two things I put on the back burner for which I am now sorry. Policy and experience. I neglected to research beyond the broad brush strokes of hope and change into the substance. Had I done so, or been able to since little was actually put forth, I'd not have voted for Obama. As for experience, well, that speaks for itself. One area where he has shown no progress is in curing his tin ear. His current vacationing in Maine while exhorting the rest of us to vacation on the Gulf coast is but one example.

Is it enough that I'd have actually voted for McCain? He was the alternative choice so I'd say yes. Knowing the Democrats were likely to hold the House and Senate, as they have, he'd at least have been a counter balance with the power of the veto. While there is little the far right proposes that I agree with, there is even less from the far left. I'd have looked for some issues to lean toward the middle, something we don't have now.

As for Sarah Palin as Vice President? She'd have not been my choice and it surely made me wonder what McCain was thinking when he chose her. One of his fuzzy areas. Had she been in office, howeve, seeing what she has become, she would surely be out there rallying the constituency. Anything in governmentese that needed translated so everyman and everywoman could understand it, Sarah would have been the one to explain it. She has an uncanny ability to state the obvious and have it become a rallying point.

Youth and inexperience are not synonymous any more than age and tired ideas are. Our next President, be it Obama or someone new, will be a younger man than McCain. The torch has been passed, that's for sure. I'm going to have to get used to ideas and thinking that often leave me befuddled. On the same hand, however, I don't have to buy into personality over substance.