“[Non-wealthy Republicans] feel victimized, embittered, deeply mistrustful of every established institution except the military. And they are hungry for a candidate who pungently expresses their victimhood, bitterness and mistrust: Donald Trump? Herman Cain? Michele Bachmann? But of course, nobody does it better than the candidate who has made victimhood her core message: Sarah Palin.”

I’ve always been disgusted on a visceral level by Schwarzenegger and now I know why, aside from his posing and arrogance and lack of any political abilities and his ­pardon of a murderer, he has no respect for women.

Oh, and remember when he was first elected Governor of California during the recall of Gov. Davis, how the national Republican party started talking about changing Article II, Section I of the Constituti­on so that a non-natura­l born citizen could run for President (Arnold) and then, surprise surprise, Obama was dogged with Birth Certificat­e issues after he won the Presidency?  I thought you remembered.  Those days are over.  Can you imagine Donald Trump, another egomaniacal asshole like Schwarzenegger asking George W. Bush to prove he’s an American?  No, you cannot. 

I tell you one damn thing, the American voters better wake up and realize that politics isn’t a reality television show, it is serious business. We could easily derail this country of ours if we don’t pay attention and take a breath.  

Because of the SEALs and President Obama and his shift in defense and security strategies after he took office, Osama bin Laden is dead and buried. 

I was living in LA on 9/11.  I awoke early that morning to Bob Edwards on NPR saying something about a plane crashing into a building in New York.  I ran to the front room and turned on the television.  I saw the second plane hit the World Trade Center.  I’m a child of the 60s who came of age in the 70s.  I missed the Vietnam draft by one year, my number was 133.  Now my country was being attacked.  I felt nothing until I saw people jumping out of the skyscrapers, falling to the ground like birds with clipped wings.  My strongest memories are my conversations with loved ones on the phone.  I heard the shell-shock in their voices as I imagine they heard in mine.  And I remember how the air in LA cleared with LAX closed, liquid blue paint brushed across the sky.     

As the weeks and months passed and finally the years, I became hardened against my emotional reaction to 9/11 because of the opportunity President Bush ignored - a chance to unite our nation and the world.  Instead he pursued his Iraq war which had nothing to do with Al Qaeda or bin Laden and everything to do with finishing the job his father couldn’t finish.  History is filled with family feuds gone awry. Chalk another one up.

I’m happy bin Laden is dead.  Perhaps now our country can come out of its slump, especially for the generations who were raised 10 years before, during, and 10 years after 9/11.  I cried when I saw the students at Ground Zero and at the White House celebrating on the night bin Laden was killed. I cannot imagine being 10 years old right now, or 20 years old.  The history these generations have grown up with has been all about 9/11.  Don’t listen to the pundits, my young friends, there is nothing wrong with celebrating death, or success on the battlefront, that’s what war is all about. And this is your country. Now.

Those of us who have a brain long ago saw proof that President Obama was indeed an American citizen, yes you idiots, Hawaii is a state of the United States, so now we find ourselves staring at the long form of Obama’s birth certificate for further proof. I don’t blame the President for putting it out there but if he thinks it will put an end to the “birthers” and now the “transcripters” he is wrong because the ignorant and short-sighted will continue to divert attention away from the real issues of the day and will continue to focus on de-legitimizing President Obama. So I say go for it you fools, grab your combs and follow “The Comb Over” wherever he may lead you. I can only hope it’s over a cliff.

While I was in Virginia visiting with Mom I found myself grasping at my memory banks now and again searching for a quote that explains one of the threads that connects Mom and me.  When I returned home I found it.  I’m going to change the pronoun but either way it is about both of us. 

“(S)he moved with a grace and dignity that only comes from having once been cherished.”  — Anne Rice.    

from “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” by Tennessee Williams, starring Elizabeth Taylor as MAGGIE and Paul Newman as BRICK:

BRICK: (to Maggie) What is the victory of a cat on a hot tin roof?

MAGGIE: Just staying on it I guess, long as she can.

*****
Take flight, Miss Taylor.  I’ve admired you since I was a boy - for your talent, your beauty - inside and out - and most of all your tireless work for AIDS awareness and research, especially in the early 80s when you spoke out about AIDS, when no one with your stature was speaking out, least of all the President at the time, Mr. Reagan.  You saved lives with your passion and your voice, with your honesty and courage.  You are loved, Dame Elizabeth. 

Listen to Dean Martin sing after you read my previous post about Mom, they are a pair. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HLPyB4KP7E

copyright, 2011

Mom is getting restless.  I’ve been expecting it in a way.  I can tell when I talk to her on the phone that it frustrates her when she can’t follow our conversation or put it in some sort of order.  I believe she understands her inability to connect and communicate and as it gets worse, the more agitated she becomes. 

I’ve written about Sanna Jean here before.  I am having trouble wrapping my brain around the fact that my mother is gone, almost always, but she’s still alive and breathing.  I often wonder what would happen if I could give her the gift of being lucid for one minute and then ask her if she wants to stay alive or die.  How would she answer?  Mom has always had a difficult time with illness and death.  But she has also said to me she wouldn’t want to live on life support.  Either way, neither option is a good one.   

Besides, Mom could have an internal life I know nothing about.  Perhaps she’s in a constant dream state.  What frustrates me is, not knowing if Mom’s okay “in there.”  Is Alzheimer’s caused by a lifetime of memories, memory overload?  What non-verbal parts of the brain are still active? 

Do some research, you might say to me. . . 

Here’s the thing - I gave up on research after reading so many different experts.  I decided that while my views weren’t entirely medically based, they made as much sense to me as the ones that were.  I know just enough biology, thanks to those pre-med classes in my first year of college, to hold my own and to explore new advances.  Alzheimer’s research is rarely about what the patient is experiencing, inside her mind - which is different to me from her brain.  And what about the spirit?  The spirit of Mom?  She had the biggest spirit, the most exciting and maddening spirit of anyone I’ve ever known.  Is she still attached to it? 

All this is on my mind tonight because I miss her, I miss Mom.  And I can’t figure out what happened to her brain.  Does it have anything to do with all the concussions she received during one of her marriages?  Football players who have had multiple concussions are experiencing memory loss.  Why not Mom?  Or is it genes?  The environment?  Or just a planned vacation from her life before the end?

Sweet dreams, Mom.  I am David, your son. 

copyright, 2011

19-year old Zach Wahls spoke

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSQQK2Vuf9Q

during a forum in front of the Iowa House of Representatives before they voted on an amendment to ban same-sex marriage along with civil unions and domestic partnerships.  Even after Zach’s speech, the Iowa House voted 62-37 to approve the amendment which creates 2nd class citizens of all gay and some straight residents of Iowa.  Not since slavery have we seen such blatant discrimination. Today, as people around the world are fighting and dying for freedom, it is a terrible shame and a troubling truth that politicians like those in the Iowa House of Representatives are intent on taking freedoms away from their fellow Iowans.  America is a beacon for freedom, or it used to be.  Lady Liberty.  The young people in Egypt are fighting and dying for their freedom while Iowa politicians sit back and rip up freedoms like they mean nothing at all.  Well, THEY DO MEAN SOMETHING AT ALL — This is America. 

Now watch Zach’s speech.  It’s only 3 minutes long. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSQQK2Vuf9Q

I’ll let the post below stand on its own as the satire I meant it to be. . . Remember Reagan’s welfare Mom in the Cadillac? Anyway, too much has happened since then, both personally and politically and professionally to go back to the state of the union. My union is just fine, thank you.