Stop by for a daily dose of ME Sweet Peach Wine (short story) on Podcast Sweet Peach Wine (poem) on Podcast
Just who is he? Obama or McCain, that is the question>>>>>
As we head into the final stretch of the campaign of 2008, I have made some observations that others have not seemed to have made. I want to share a few ponderings on the choice before us. Before I dive into the discourse, I want to make sure that you the reader understand a few items about me. I have and am still a registered Democrat. I have been called, called upon, mailed, and inundated with “Obama for President” literature. I receive daily emails from the Human Rights Campaign, a liberal organization. I receive daily Human Events material, a conservative organization. I listen to talk radio from the left and from the right. I read all points of view and I make my own decisions. As a student of History I try to look deeper into the story to gain some semblance of a “balanced” approach. I could go on with a C/V approach but time does not allow. Such as; I supported Jesse Jackson in the mid-80’s for the presidential nominee…
I have had questions from day one regarding Obama’s background, ability, and most importantly his experience. I must remind all of you that if we were hiring a CEO of a major corporation, he would not be qualified. (Maybe, for a small operation, but one worth trillions of dollars and with millions of employees?) No, Senator Obama has not completed any of his terms in office. From day one he has been a climber, a skipper. But even aside from that. He has had numerous members of his “inner” circle be criminals, terrorists, radicals, racists, and yet he has given little slaps on the hands, but has not openly denounced them, nor has he felt need to apologize to all of you who are working tirelessly to support him. He has not done his homework either. You are who you associate with, and you are what you read, well that is what my parents taught me. I must question his judgment, how can a man of character sit on the board with, go weekly to church with, align yourself daily with people who would not only hate America, but would seek to destroy it from the inside out. We are talking in some cases blatant open racism. Doctrines of HATE! Does that doctrine of hate film over his writing? Does his minimization of his allies suggest something?
Yesterday I encountered two different windows into Senator Obama. 1) a picture sent to me with him walking across a parking lot, with secret service personnel all around him. His finger was in a book marking the page that he had been reading. The book, “Post-American World”, my only thought, “post what?” 2) I have noticed on many occasions that Barack changes his accent, vernacular, approach, based on who he is talking to. I have heard southern accents when he is talking to people in the south, I have heard urban influx, I have heard him repeatedly hedge and put off his interviewers with an educated, hmmm, well, with his “now look” statements. I have mentioned this to many people, “does it drive you nuts that his accent changes?” Most people just look at me like I am nuts, until yesterday I listened to an interview from 1995. He was just about to enter the political world and he was soft spoken, thoughtful, he sounded like a Harvard Graduate, there was not one single identifier in his accent. Does an accent matter? No, it does not, but when one is not your accent of origin, and it changes, you must ask, “is this man playing a role? Who is this man really?” For me well, I still do not know this man. In this interview he stated that he believed that suburbanite was responsible for funding the education of the urban child. Isn’t that already happening? Don’t we already pay a huge sum of money in taxes towards title grants, etc. What about the wealthy lawyers and community activists living in Hyde Park Illinois, shouldn’t they be paying more than 1% of their annual income to charity too?
As far as McCain goes, we do know this man. We know that Arizona has prospered; we know that McCain has not waffled from any stance. We know that there is great concern over Bush politics. We need to hear, to see, to know that McCain will be his own man, that he will close the door and denounce openly Bush with a greater fervor than Obama is with Rev. Wright, Bill Ayers, Resko, ACORN, Annenberg and the many others that have funded his campaign. McCain needs to move away from the petty games and call a press conference where he openly says exactly what he is going to do, not what others are doing what they will do, but clearly define how he is different from Bush. He needs demand immediate pull-outs of anyone associated with Blackwater, and the list goes on.
We need to base our vote on the character of the candidate, on track record, on affiliations, on philosophy, belief systems and more. We must put an end to the way in which we elect leaders. The days of American idol approach must end. It makes me laugh that we denounce people of faith endorsing candidates, but yet it is okay to rely on sources such as “Rolling Stone” to chose our candidate? More people turn to Saturday Night Live’s mockery to determine who they “like” as president? In the infamous words of Senator Obama “Now Look…yes, do look, look Very deep and do not rush to vote, but make your choices based on true discernment and clarity. As for me, I am waiting, because I have questions that I want answered.
More about ArtSeesDiner!
Mary Elizabeth, aka ME, is the dreamer of the wordweavers. For over fifteen years there has been a daily (well pretty darn close to daily) fascination with opening ArtSees Diner. A humanities center with coffee at the center of the gathering table. The coffee part is not original, nor is gathering around a table to share stories so as to connect, to ponder life and the complexity of such, but a humanities center, when blended with a special dose of generous spirit, the creation of another place, a home away from home. Now, these days that is a little original. I dreamed of mismatched couches, personalized cups brought from patron's homes, a special brew of coffee (I found the coffee after about ten years of searching on a sisterly cruise, called Raven's Brew ) and people to share their stories, music, their longings for life, with a gentle touch and a family of amazing "wordweavers".
It grew to become a place to learn, and triumph. To reach out to those who needed a special place to go to. I searched in Indianapolis. I looked into Carmel, Indiana. Pondered and roamed Lincoln Park, Chicago Illinois, (other areas in Chicago as well). Plainfield Illinois, Cold Spring New York, my hometown of Kankakee, Illinois, and finally found a place to plant the seed in...drum roll please! Michigan City, Indiana. Why Michigan City? Well, it has what I want...water, sand, trees, diversity, streets to walk down, a farmer's market, vintage homes. It has what a good number of places before it had and didn't have. It is a culmination of a few years searching.
Regrettably due to job changes, dramatic life changes, student loans, economy and a few other bumps along life's highway there isn't a "real" place to house ArtSees Diner, but rather there is a virtual diner. A "third place" that will hold a "reservation" in the world until such time that a "real" diner will be born.
So for now I have gathered together members of my family to spin a yarn or two in true Harold Lester Rapier fashion. (go here and search back to January and you too can read about the "ten wordweavers in a row" ) You see we are wordweavers, born from the love of the written word. There is no power more piercing, more rivoting than the written word, well except for the rapid wit wielded from the tip of a Rapier. Shakespeare knew of the power of the Rapier and the mighty influence as evidenced in Hamlet.
So please join ME and the rest of the wordweavers as we entertain you the reader. ArtSeesdiner is a project of ArtSees Productions , under the direction of ME, Mary E. LaLuna. Enjoy!
Sweet Peach Wine
