Pink and Blue

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I'm Not One Of Those 'Love Thy Neighbor' Christians

And more puppies!

Puppies!

It's that time of year

President Elect Barack Obama:

This victory alone is not the change we seek. It is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were.

It can't happen without you, without a new spirit of service, a new spirit of sacrifice.

So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism, of responsibility, where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves but each other.

He knows that this nation isn't at its best when all its citizens are always looking out for number one. Human morality evolved from us needing to keep each other alive. We lived in communities that in very real ways were sustained by people helping each other out. Why do you think we evolved empathy? We need each other. We need to have the ability to put ourselves into each others shoes. This is just a basic tenet of human survival. In our modern world it may not seem like it, but we need each other. We must look out for each other. And it is this basic, but all important idea that he tapped into. I know it's not an easy thing for us to wrap our heads around. I know it is hard for me. I am a very solitary person. I don't like being around people that much, but I know I need them. I know that without community there is a no way to feed the soul, the mind and the body. I hope as Americans we can at the very least take his call to service seriously and look into our own lives and see where we can help our communities. It doesn't mean we have to give our life savings away or volunteer at soup kitchens every day (not that those are bad things!), but it does mean being more aware of what your neighbors are going through; being more aware of how you relate to others; being more aware of your choices, even the smallest of choices you make, and how they effect someone else. You don't have to like Mr. Obama. You don't have to believe in his policies, but I believe Senator McCain would agree with the above quote. In his speech last night he called for everyone to help and I think we can.

Choose Hope over Fear

"fruit fly research in Paris, France . . . I kid you not."

Sarah Palin's War on Science

I think some think it's just easier to be stupid and perpetuate the myth that stupidity somehow makes you superior. Seems like a pain in the ass when you could just work the same amount at listening and learning and thinking.

Waaaaz uuuup?

Ahhhhhh

From Yes We Can Hold Babies

My God Is Bigger Than Your God!

Rev. Arnold Conrad spoke before a John McCain rally in Iowa saying, in part,

"I would also pray Lord that your reputation is involved in all that happens between now and November, because there are millions of people around this world praying to their God -- whether it's Hindu, Buddha, Allah -- that his [McCain’s] opponent wins for a variety of reasons.

And Lord I pray that you would guard your own reputation, because they’re going to think that their god is bigger than you, if that happens. So I pray that you would step forward and honor your own name in all that happens between now and Election Day.

Oh Lord, we just commit this time to you, move among us, make your presence very well felt as we are gathered here today in Jesus's name I pray."

Ivory-billed Woodpeckers

I wrote this poem for my friend and all of those people looking for "the bird."


The Bird

There have been reports of the thought
to have been extinct ivory-billed woodpecker
in a panhandle swamp. I have
submitted these reports. I have seen the end
reimagined without despair,
somehow, wheeling over me, slow
as the sun. The particulars
are for another place, one where much
is lost in footnotes and cavity calculations
and some may see something
besides the bird if that is how it comes out,
how the words sound to all these people
who remember the way things should be.
But there is a catastrophic name given
to them and their henchman, their skidders
and hard hats, and the way they step on light,
believing it can be crushed, bent
and yes I will speak, I will admit
to the curvature of time, I will admit
to the misfire of neurons, the wish fulfillment
of every nascent morning, but I will not say
the world cannot be refound,
that this bird cannot awaken
from a dark sleep, that we are not capable
of becoming our better selves.