My Obama Momemt

This is me in Chicago in November 2004. My wife Ann and I were on a vacation to celebrate our 10 year anniversary. We were just strolling around downtown Chicago when we noticed a bunch of people gathered near an entrance to an office building. We looked over and saw Barack Obama inside, giving a press interview in the lobby.

We were just standing on the street and moments later Obama came walking out and right towards us. I quickly gave the camera to Ann and told her to catch a shot of me and Obama. As he walked past me, I said hello to him and asked for a picture. A security staff person said he has no time he must go, so I stuck my hand out to shake his hand and that's when Ann took the photo. That's me in the sweater, balding.

Humans, God and Our Place in the Universe

I have not written in quite a long time. I guess once Obama won the election and the country was once again back in control of humans, I calmed down and just enjoyed the moment. I have recently hooked up with a friend of mine from college and he and I share similar interests.

The following is an excerpt from a recent e-mail to him. I figured this is the perfect beginning to starting to write on this blog again.

Elio:
I don't remember... did I bring up God in reference to the movie Contact? Nevertheless, your point is right on! I, too believe that science and religion are not necessarily mutually exclusive. For example, I believe in a Creator (an original source) and I also believe in evolution. In my mind they get along very well.... they even go out on dates! But it begs the question, where did the Creator get its power from? At the end of the day, after all discussions and arguments for or against either side or both sides, I think we are way way too dumb to claim to know any meaningful answers.

I mean come on, Homo Sapien Sapiens have only been around what a couple of hundred thousand years right? The friggin dinosaurs roamed the Earth for 100 MILLION years!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (if only they had opposable thumbs.. haha). But seriously, what if we were already visited by aliens a little over 65 million years ago and they went back to their planet and said "Earth is inhabited by a bunch of stupid monsters. Forget about that planet having any potential for intelligence. "What about if we were around say, just 5 million years from now -- if we survive ourselves and any global natural disaster of course. What about 25 million years? 50? We obviously would have to be occupying multiple planets way before then. There would be too many people and and not enough resources to go around.

Our understanding of science and the universe itself would be beyond anything we could possibly comprehend right now. Our social behaviors, our religions, our customs and so many other things will be completely different or advanced if you will, but we may still not know the answer to the God question. So I, for one, am okay with admitting that I don't know and may not ever know, even after death, unless some sort of afterlife exists and I am conscious of this life. Then, and only then will I have an "Aha" moment and fully realize what has happened to me.Here's yet another perspective: What if we finally encounter an alien civilization far more advanced than ourselves and somehow we learn to communicate with one another. And they say to us that the Creator (God) indeed exists and He/She can be visited from time to time, but he's kinda busy right now because he's working on his 44th universe and won't be available for 9.645 million years! And oh, by the way human, how many dimensions have you discovered so far? We have 12.... And we were also wondering what levels of spiritual understanding have you evolved to? Our spiritual leaders can create new planets in the 6th dimension that help heal the needy and injured............. #%$^&*$ WHAT??? It would be incomprehensible to us.

Scientifically, we are merely 100 years old. WE DON'T KNOW SQUAT. We're too young. It's like asking an ant on the sidewalk to explain and write down the formula for how far the mid-atlantic ridge will separate North America, Eur-Asia and Africa in the next 500 million years. I am not saying religion is wrong. What I am saying is that surely can't actually know. If they are right on the money, it's only because their guess was lucky. Oh and by the way, which religion because there's a plethora.

What's your take? Sorry for the long e-mail but this is kinda fun!

In Response to Steve

Steve, Thanks for e-mailing me your comments.

I call these people handicapped. They disagree with the current situation, but it's like a scary dream... your body just can't move to get far away from it. For example, they don't like the war, they know Bush lied, but like him anyway. Handicapped. They need health care desperately and can't get it because of pre-existing conditions, but attach a stigma and call Obama's plan socialism, therefore, just sit and suffer and complain. Handicapped. They don't vote on any issues whatsoever. They don't care about anything having to do with facts and/or even opinion. They know they will vote Republican no matter who or what creatures run on that ticket. Handicapped, indeed.

One may want to say that they deserve their ill fate for being so stubborn, but what's really happening is fear kicking in. Fear!! Real fear from being an outcast of the family, fear from God, perhaps due to brainwashed ideas about abortion and gay rights and so on because the Republican machine has fooled them into thinking they are the party that God approves. But when they see Rush Limbaugh as a drug addict, they excuse him. When several members of congress are caught in gay affairs and prostitution, they excuse them. When Sarah Palin's 17 year-old daughter is pregnant out of wedlock and they even try to cover it up with a blanket over her stomach, they excuse it. Fear of God drives their passion. Once your life is in God's hands, two things are crystal clear: One is that you side with whoever says or does anything, no matter how illegal (Bush) or immoral (Palin killing Wolves) as long as they say God made them do it. The second is hatred is okay as long as you hate the right people (Muslims) and don't abort our children, but kill other children in wars and also by idly standing by and watching genocide and famine in Africa. That's when they say "Well we can't police the whole planet, it's not our fault."

Now don't misunderstand, I believe in and love God myself. But I love a just God. A God that loves all people. A God that believes in you and wants you to open your mind and learn and expand reach your potential. A God that recognized your fair and moral thoughts and actions. God wants you to create happiness in your life and be loving and true. That's what makes God happy.

Anyway, these are my thoughts for the day.
Go Obama!
Prepare yourselves for American unification and solidarity and respect around the world because it's coming!

Real Patriotic

So the GOP always preaches patriotism and they walk and talk proudly, as if they are somehow more American than everybody else. Last month I was listening to a local talk radio show in Charlotte and a caller said that people ripped her John Kerry sign off her yard four years ago. This year, the same thing happened with Obama signs. So she and her husband dug holes and poured concrete and set strong wood beams to support the sign and make it tough for pranksters to take away. One morning they discovered their lawn was torn up with tire tracks and someone had tied a chain to the back of their truck and ripped out the cemented sign once again. So I thought this was an isolated incident with a stupid neighbor or something. A few days later, I heard another story of a similar thing happening on another show is another state. Yesterday my wife discovered our yard sign was missing! In our neighborhood, there are about ten to fifteen McCain signs and we were one of just two homes with Obama signs. We checked the other Obama house down the street and sure enough, theirs was also missing.

Freedom of speech? American? Patriotism? These are not the words that come to mind. Words that DO come to mind are: Redneck, uneducated, hypocrite, violent.

That's all that needs to be said about that.

I lost a friend Friday. Wally Rooney passed away in Florida. He was an amazing person. He was full of life, full of energy, quick to tell a joke, quick to laugh at himself and best of all loyal and honorable. He worked hard all his life and never got a lucky break. He had three kids by the age of 21, forcing him to provide for his family with little consideration for himself. He was honorable and well respected. Wally was a young 71. Looking at him, one would guess he was about 58 or 60 years old. Wally, I love you and you will be missed more than you know!!

Angry Bitter Man

Watching the last Presidential debate was sort of entertaining. I was confident Obama would be succinct and actually make sense. And I watched McCain make a total fool of himself with his faux Macho Bravado. McCain is a train wreck just waiting to happen. It's almost sad to see a man that people respected just a few months ago, end his political career utterly pummelled to the turf by a smarter, wiser, cooler headed American Visionary like Barack Obama. I am neither a far left liberal, nor a far right conservative. I am an artist. I look for truth in everything. I am a man that observes a person's body language, tone of voice, facial gestures, posture, eye contact, vocabulary, syntax and breathing patterns. But I also look at substance. One may argue that Sarah Palin has some of the qualities that I just listed when debating or speaking, but falls hard and flat as a pancake when it comes to substance. She's also overbearing and aggressive and has a very desperate need for power and control. That's why she pauses after every sentence, nodding her head, waiting for the crowd to approve every word uttered.

So yeah, Obama kicked McCain off the mat last night with plenty of substance as well as style points. The question now is will America buy him or do they still want to have a barbecue with McBush? McCain is an angry, Bitter man trying anything from week to week to stir things up. In your spare time, instead of watching TV, download transcripts from the debates. This powerful technique will allow you to focus only on substance (or lack there of) from each candidate. Especially the VP Debate. You will laugh in disbelief.

There is still almost 3 weeks left before November 4th. A lot could happen from the McCain camp. There are probably dozens of people in a back room researching and digging for dirt on Obama. There are another few dozen conservative radio talk shows spewing hate and scare tactics. These tactics have paid off for the GOP in the past, so I don't blame them for trying again, but Americans should recognize this and push back. Push back against division, hatred and ignorance. We must ask ourselves do we really envision our economic future in the hands of an angry 72 year-old War Monger; a chaotic, irrational man that exercised his very first decision on selecting the most unqualified, uneducated, cheerleader like Sarah Palin to help solve so many major issues we face? Or do we want a man that is respected around the world, and at the peak of his public career leading our Nation through the roughest times we have seen in our life times? His VP choice? Joe Biden. Biden probably knows more about foreign policy and international relationships that any other person in the Senate, including John McCain himself.

Enough said.

Character Is Always Self Evident

Honestly, I used to respect John McCain. I really thought he was a good guy, but just had ideas I did not agree with. That was fair enough for me to accept.
But by reading and watching and paying a little attention, I realized that just below the surface, under the "Hero" posture, I see a man that has serious issues. In the context of trying to win an election, when he knows all eyes and ears are looking and listening to his every word, lying on camera is not a good plan. His poor judgement in his vp choice of an obviously unqualified Hockey mom like Sarah Palin after just meeting her one time is another character flaw of enormous proportions. Evangelicals like her because she's far more ignorant than they are. That's why the bar is set so low for her. She's promoting racism and violence in her rallies lately. Her supporters are shouting "kill him" (referring to Obama). Is this how low McCain is willing to go? But I digress.

To think McCain can just lie to people anytime he wants... that's called corruption in your face. We've already had that in Bush, but at least Bush tried to hide it. In fact, the single most common thread that forever links McCain to Bush is this arrogance and disregard for facts. Is this what Americans want? Newsflash for McCain: There are these things called cameras and video recorders and YouTube. And we're listening John!

Questioning Obama's character?
Are you kidding?
Would you consider LYING a character flaw John McCain? Then look in the mirror. How dare you talk about values and call yourself a "straight talker". Your talk is as crooked as Nixon was during Watergate. You have run the sleaziest campaign in American History and sadly, you've lost your good reputation for the rest of your political career.

Here are just a couple recent outright McCain LIES...each one is only a couple of minutes. Please take the time to watch and immediately pass this on. If you spread the truth enough, you will have made a difference.


http://video.google.com/videosearch?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLR,GGLR:2006-07,GGLR:en&q=mccain+caught+lying&um=1&sa=X&oi=video_result_group&resnum=4&ct=title#


http://video.google.com/videosearch?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLR,GGLR:2006-07,GGLR:en&q=mccain+caught+lying&um=1&sa=X&oi=video_result_group&resnum=4&ct=title#


http://video.google.com/videosearch?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLR,GGLR:2006-07,GGLR:en&q=mccain+caught+lying&um=1&sa=X&oi=video_result_group&resnum=4&ct=title#

My oh my. I just went on about 12 different blog sites and clearly people thought this debate tonight between McCain and Obama was won by Obama by far. Then I went on the FOX News site just to see..... and I could not believe the things I read. There is so much hatred and anger and bigotry coming from Republicans that it made me sick to my stomach. Talking about things like "Remember Obama can talk but he's still Black" or "He's a communist" It's so clear to me that in general, the Republican base just does not care about any issues whatsoever. Not health care, not peace and security, not the economy, certainly not education, and the future of Social Security, Medicare, and last but not least Global Warming.
They always have and always will vote on three topics:

1) Is the candidate likable?
Really meaning to say: "Is the candidate white, uneducated, gun toting and war hungry?"
The answer to that is YES. McCain/Palin fit that bill.

2) What values does the candidate have in common with me?
Really meaning to say: "Does the candidate dislike blacks, Jews, gay rights, Hispanics, Asians, poor people, abortion, gun control, all religions except Christianity?"
The answer to that is YES. McCain/Palin fit that bill.

3) Will the candidate keep Israel safe at all cost?
Really meaning to say: "Will the candidate, at a moment's notice bomb Iran, North Korea, Russia, France, Venezuela, etc..." Basically like the Bush Doctrine says, "you're either with us or against us." This speaks volumes to other countries! And we expect their help to solve global problems?
The answer to that sadly again is YES. McCain/Palin fit that bill.