I think he makes a good point.
Friday, September 12, 2008
Mariners ALERT!
It appears that Lukas has been paying attention this year, and wishes to offer a critique of the season.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Lukas at the Ball Game
What a day! Lukas, along with Becky and Mike and Grandpa, took in a late season game at Safeco Field. The Mariners, from time to time, have a peanut-free seating area and we took advantage of that to go out to the ballpark on a perfect late Summer evening. Well, let's call it potentially perfect, the Mariners-after a very nice series against NY-reverted to their usual form today, which ruined that aspect of the outing. But, the game started out with all of us getting free Ichiro tee shirts! Before the end, Lukas told Becky he was having a great time. He endured a pretzel (not shown), blue cotton candy and a foot long hot dog and left the game happy, if on somewhat of a sugar high.
Monday, September 1, 2008
OK, One more break for politics
No promises that this is the last one, but I'll try to control myself.
I would say that recklessness is not a quality I would want in a President. I think Mr. McCain has demonstrated breathtaking recklessness.
To me, it is reckless to nominate as Vice President someone who has not been vetted, someone who is not broadly known to the American people and someone who has major questions of political judgment.
This woman was associated with a secessionist party--the Alaska Independence Party! The last time a secessionist ran for office in the USA was 1860! That coincides nicely with her first statement when her nomination was announced, that she had to consider what she could do for Alaska as Vice President. UMMM, attention please, the office is Vice President of the United States (all of them), not VP for Alaska.
Then there is the issue of possibly firing a state official who would not fire her ex-brother-in-law as a state trooper. If true, this kind of personal use of official power is exactly the kind of stuff that has been the worst aspect of the current administration.
Can anyone seriously tell me that out of all the Republican office holders, this is the person most qualified to be President of the United States? Until Friday, had anyone even of thought the possibility that she could be POTUS?
We cannot afford to have another (thank you Sue/Ray) reckless, thoughtless, shoot-from-the-hip President!
I would say that recklessness is not a quality I would want in a President. I think Mr. McCain has demonstrated breathtaking recklessness.
To me, it is reckless to nominate as Vice President someone who has not been vetted, someone who is not broadly known to the American people and someone who has major questions of political judgment.
This woman was associated with a secessionist party--the Alaska Independence Party! The last time a secessionist ran for office in the USA was 1860! That coincides nicely with her first statement when her nomination was announced, that she had to consider what she could do for Alaska as Vice President. UMMM, attention please, the office is Vice President of the United States (all of them), not VP for Alaska.
Then there is the issue of possibly firing a state official who would not fire her ex-brother-in-law as a state trooper. If true, this kind of personal use of official power is exactly the kind of stuff that has been the worst aspect of the current administration.
Can anyone seriously tell me that out of all the Republican office holders, this is the person most qualified to be President of the United States? Until Friday, had anyone even of thought the possibility that she could be POTUS?
We cannot afford to have another (thank you Sue/Ray) reckless, thoughtless, shoot-from-the-hip President!
A break for politics
I mostly intend this blog for lighthearted discussions of family, posting pictures and that sort of thing, but I feel compelled to take a break from that for a bit and talk the serious business of politics.
I think this is a crossroads election. As a nation we've been traveling down the wrong path most of the time since the unfortunate election of Ronald Reagan in 1980, and when the Supreme Court awarded the Presidency to the current incumbent, the speed of that wrong-way travel increased exponentially. We are now hurtling towards hell at breakneck speed in a very shopworn basket. The politics of fear, division and hate have allowed these evil people to steal our civil liberties, fight an unnecessary war to enrich their cronies, deny basic facts (global warming) to enrich other cronies all while American lives were being lost at home and abroad. Electing John McCain will mean 4 more years of these policies and will leave an America broken at home, disrespected, even hated, abroad, and deeply in debt, while fueling the ambitions of a man who sees war as the first alternative for settling international disputes. His election will mean death and destruction--not metaphorical, but real--and could lead to the end of the USA as we have known it. In 2000 we allowed an unelected president to steal the office because we valued internal peace too much. We cannot allow that to happen again. In 2008 we must win clearly and cleanly (as we did in 2000) and then not allow the inevitable attempt to steal the election to go unchallenged.
We must elect Barack Obama in 2008. His politics are not perfect, but they at least stop the insane swing towards the ultra-extreme right that we've been making. I regret that he voted to expand FISA, but I have some hope he will curtail the illegal eavesdropping and surveillance of political opponents that's going on now.
I have some hope that tax rates will be restored to somewhat less insane levels, with the very wealthy asked to pay their share and with the overall tax burden eased on middle and working class Americans. The current tax policies, along with this administration's policies of contracting out basic government services, have led to a situation in which the government is performing a massive income transfer--from the middle class to the upper classes and the largest corporations. No reasonable government with even the slightest intention of acting on behalf of the people would ever have such a policy. At the same time, we've accrued an enormous debt (does anyone remember that in 2000 there was debate about what to do with the surplus?), and most of that paper is held by China.
Our position as a great economic power is at extreme risk. The debt mentioned above is one reason, but deregulation of our economic markets has led to bubble after bubble as irrational investor optimism in tech stocks and real estate has been fueled by deceptive practices, once again enriching the wealthy few and leaving middle class and working class Americans holding the bag. This deregulation of business has been accompanied by increased levels of regulation on labor unions, making an uneven playing field even less even. I know that many people, especially the young, think that the relative affluence of working Americans happens because people work hard, but that's only partly true. People have worked hard for centuries and have nevertheless lived and died in poverty--lives that were, in the words of Hobbes, "nasty, brutish and short." It was the emergence of powerful organized labor in Western Europe and North America that led to better lives for working people. It is not a coincidence that the years in which America has had the most widely shared prosperity has been the years in which labor unions had their highest membership. Big corporations don't give anything to workers, the workers have to take it! Regular Americans forget this at their peril! If you think large corporations give high salaries, good vacations, health benefits and such willingly, take a look at their pay scales in the third world. To quote Dennis Kucinich, "wake up, America!"
I have some hope that we can restore our reputation abroad by returning to the international community and reversing our current policies of acting like a one-nation vigilante posse. There is in the world, I think, still a reservoir of sympathy for basic REAL American values, and we can tap into that again if we begin to act as one nation among many rather than pursue independent policies based in an irrational belief in American exceptionalism. We cannot act ourselves in ways that we would not tolerate from other nations. It is clear that Mr. McCain does not understand this--reference his statement in response to Russia invading Georgia that "in the 21st Century, nations don't invade other nations."
I think this is a crossroads election. As a nation we've been traveling down the wrong path most of the time since the unfortunate election of Ronald Reagan in 1980, and when the Supreme Court awarded the Presidency to the current incumbent, the speed of that wrong-way travel increased exponentially. We are now hurtling towards hell at breakneck speed in a very shopworn basket. The politics of fear, division and hate have allowed these evil people to steal our civil liberties, fight an unnecessary war to enrich their cronies, deny basic facts (global warming) to enrich other cronies all while American lives were being lost at home and abroad. Electing John McCain will mean 4 more years of these policies and will leave an America broken at home, disrespected, even hated, abroad, and deeply in debt, while fueling the ambitions of a man who sees war as the first alternative for settling international disputes. His election will mean death and destruction--not metaphorical, but real--and could lead to the end of the USA as we have known it. In 2000 we allowed an unelected president to steal the office because we valued internal peace too much. We cannot allow that to happen again. In 2008 we must win clearly and cleanly (as we did in 2000) and then not allow the inevitable attempt to steal the election to go unchallenged.
We must elect Barack Obama in 2008. His politics are not perfect, but they at least stop the insane swing towards the ultra-extreme right that we've been making. I regret that he voted to expand FISA, but I have some hope he will curtail the illegal eavesdropping and surveillance of political opponents that's going on now.
I have some hope that tax rates will be restored to somewhat less insane levels, with the very wealthy asked to pay their share and with the overall tax burden eased on middle and working class Americans. The current tax policies, along with this administration's policies of contracting out basic government services, have led to a situation in which the government is performing a massive income transfer--from the middle class to the upper classes and the largest corporations. No reasonable government with even the slightest intention of acting on behalf of the people would ever have such a policy. At the same time, we've accrued an enormous debt (does anyone remember that in 2000 there was debate about what to do with the surplus?), and most of that paper is held by China.
Our position as a great economic power is at extreme risk. The debt mentioned above is one reason, but deregulation of our economic markets has led to bubble after bubble as irrational investor optimism in tech stocks and real estate has been fueled by deceptive practices, once again enriching the wealthy few and leaving middle class and working class Americans holding the bag. This deregulation of business has been accompanied by increased levels of regulation on labor unions, making an uneven playing field even less even. I know that many people, especially the young, think that the relative affluence of working Americans happens because people work hard, but that's only partly true. People have worked hard for centuries and have nevertheless lived and died in poverty--lives that were, in the words of Hobbes, "nasty, brutish and short." It was the emergence of powerful organized labor in Western Europe and North America that led to better lives for working people. It is not a coincidence that the years in which America has had the most widely shared prosperity has been the years in which labor unions had their highest membership. Big corporations don't give anything to workers, the workers have to take it! Regular Americans forget this at their peril! If you think large corporations give high salaries, good vacations, health benefits and such willingly, take a look at their pay scales in the third world. To quote Dennis Kucinich, "wake up, America!"
I have some hope that we can restore our reputation abroad by returning to the international community and reversing our current policies of acting like a one-nation vigilante posse. There is in the world, I think, still a reservoir of sympathy for basic REAL American values, and we can tap into that again if we begin to act as one nation among many rather than pursue independent policies based in an irrational belief in American exceptionalism. We cannot act ourselves in ways that we would not tolerate from other nations. It is clear that Mr. McCain does not understand this--reference his statement in response to Russia invading Georgia that "in the 21st Century, nations don't invade other nations."
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Tourists in Our Home Town, Part Three
To finish our day, we went to the Seattle Aquarium. They just finished remodeling it earlier this year and it's spectacular. The kids love it. Lukas has announced that he plans to be a Marine Biologist--and a Paleontologist--"you can do that," he says. He's a very serious student of animals. Emelia loves the whole thing too, but I think she likes the water and getting wet. My favorite animals are the River Otters and the weather was so hot that they were just quietly laying beside their stream and doing nothing. I can't say I blame them. By then, I was dragging some too.
Lukas and Emelia both loved the tide pools. They're at the right height so the kids can play in them and touch the animals. Emelia loved playing with the pretend octopus and riding the Orca. Meanwhile, Lukas was listening to a docent explain what whales ate and how. Zack liked seeing the fish in the big tank.
It was an unusually hot day for Seattle. I was glad when we came to a stand that sold Hawaiian Ice across from the Aquarium, we needed that.
We took the monorail back to the Seattle Center. By then we were all tired and Lukas pulled up to a bench and would just go no further. "My legs hurt," he said. Becky tried to convince him to go on, it was only a little ways--and that was true, but grandpa sat down next to Lukas and said "my legs hurt too." We waited a while before we walked the rest of the way to the car. Lukas really was a trouper through the whole thing.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Tourists in Our Home Town, Part Two
After we finished our duck tour and had lunch, we boarded the monorail to go downtown. Only a few blocks, but easy and quick and cheap, and the kids enjoyed riding on the train.
We arrived at Westlake and walked the few blocks to the market. The market is always a little different each time you see it, depending on the season, the weather, the time of day and the day of the week. On a wonderful midsummer day like today, it was packed with people. My first stop was for my favorite snack, a barbecue pork humbow from the Chinese bakery. The sweet pork filling is just amazing, wonderful, an experience of taste and smell and feel and just always a joy.
We wandered the stalls and the kids loved seeing the fish market and the veggies. I enjoyed the flowers, but didn't buy any, since I usually don't keep flowers at home. I looked through the craft stalls and was disappointed in the quality and quantity of the jewelry. Usually there's a lot of good stuff, but it seems that since I was intent on finding something for Julie, the pickings were slim. I finally found a bracelet I liked. We agreed on a price and I was surprised to find that this vendor took only cash and I was short. I said I'd be back. I don't think he expected me to take so long--I didn't get back there until we finished at the aquarium (see Part Three).
When I got to the jewelry stall again, I'm not sure if he remembered me (he looked very old). I reminded him of the price we'd agreed on ($25) and I gave him $40. His wife (she looked older than he--maybe 110) gave me back $5. I said I'd given them $40, and she reluctantly and sloooooooowwwwwllllyyyy gave me another $5. I again reminded her that I'd given her $40 and she needed to give me $15 back, and she got a bit hostile about it. The family (there was a young man too) bickered a bit that I did not understand and finally she parted with a final $5, with the total time for the transaction running around 3-4 minutes. Very unpleasant. I hope Julie likes the bracelet.
As we left the market, there was a man there with his pet python. Lukas and Emelia were immediately drawn to him. Me, not so much. But they oohed and aahed over the reptile and really enjoyed petting him. We returned to the monorail and to our parking spot at the Center. We were all exhausted. Emelia and Zackary were asleep by the time we got to Westlake. Lukas, who was a real trouper, was complaining that his legs hurt. I was dragging pretty bad and Becky was trying to force a smile once in a while, but she was hurting some too. Mike was doing better, but even he was sweating profusely and seemed tired.
Tourists in Our Home Town, Part One
Today, I spent the day as a tourist in Seattle, where I've lived for the last 27 years. Becky and Mike and their 3 kids came with me and we had a great time seeing the things only the tourists see.
First, we did a "duck tour," we rode a WWII vintage amphibious vehicle around Seattle and then into Lake Union. We saw a lot of the city and even I found out some things I hadn't known (Seattle was the first place to have a mechanical gasoline pump!). The grandkids, especially Lukas, were very impressed that the same bus they were riding on the roads could go into the water! I didn't get a great picture of Emelia and Lukas on the water, but they did enjoy it. The duck boat driver had a great store of old jokes and appropriate musical interludes (The Beatles while driving by The Edgewater, where the Fab Four stayed in Seattle in the 60's, for example). This was a great way to start our day in Seattle. After the ducks, we went to the Seattle Center House and had lunch. No pictures, but you've seen kids eating hot dogs before!
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