"Out of Many, We are One"

Photo Mosaic Poster by Anne Savage

I ordered two of these for myself and my wife Cat. You can order one for $20 at this at Revolutionary Views

Merry Christmas

Right now the "Green-LaFlamme" household is in "nursing mode." My wife, Cat, had hip surgery to repair some torn "cushion" in her hip socket and to straighten out a thign bone that had become curved over the years.

The doctors hope that this way Cat can avoid hip replacement surgery.

So far, she's doing well, doing her therapy exercises, using her walker. (She says it reminds her of that scene in the Mel Brookes musical The Producers where all the little old ladies do a chorus line dance with their walkers.


I get to place nurse, which has its own joys. I get to be important to her and build up "Brownie points" for later redemption.

Hope you are enjoying the love of your own family in whatever form that may take in your case.

My Worship Leader Remarks at Mayflower Church

"A Candle in Hope" by Juntos

I have not been posting in quite a while. Frankly, for some reason I did not feel much like writing, but I hope now to begin once again. Here are the remarks I made at Mayflower Congregational Church on Christmas Sunday as the lay Worship Leader.

For those of us living in Oklahoma who believe passionately in social justice, 2008 has been “the best of times” and “the worst of times,” a real “Dickens” of a time. Sorry, but I’ve been saving that pun for a while now.

At this time, how appropriate it is that we gather here on the winter solstice when our part of the world goes through its longest darkness. We gather to celebrate the birth of Hope, which first came during one of the very darkest of times. In a time of terror and fear, a man of questionable birth brought us Hope and taught us to live lives of Hope by revealing to us the Life of Grace: God’s enabling power which helps us to realize our true potential.

And that’s what I love about you. You live such gracious lives. You recognize that you have received Grace. And having received Grace, you know you must show grace to others by helping them to enjoy all the wonderful possibilities that God wants all of us to realize in her creation.
You make Hope live in our world by being God’s Agents of Grace

Thank you for living graciously. For without people like you, we would be facing a “season of Darkness” without the prospect of “the spring of hope."

Truly Evil

Pearls Before Swine

I Love It!

Election Map Provided by the Associated Press
Oklahoma has the distinction of being the reddest state in this last election. Not only did Oklahoma give John McCain's campaign its largest margin of victory, we were the only state in the nation where President-elect Barack Obama lost every single country. That may change but it may take some time. We have often been a "lag state" when it comes to matters of politics and social justice.

The GOP is presently a regional party, not a national one. You might notice that it's presence is limited to Appalachia, the Deep South, the Plains States, and some of the Inter-Mountain West. The Democratic Party has all of New England, the Upper Midwest, the Mid-Atlantic, some of the border South, the rest of the Inter-Mountain West, and all the West Coast. Oklahoma is at the crossroads of the Deep South and the Plains State. The Democrats are starting to make enroads into the Plains and South. GOP demographics are heavily weighed on the side of the elderly, rural Americans, and blue collar Whites, not exactly an expanding demographics. Democrats are gaining among the young, the college educated, and they are gaining in the suburbs. Democrats have gained Latino voters due to the GOP's radical anti-Latino agenda. Oklahoma is looking more and more like yesterday's America, and not a model for the rest of the country. We will see how long the Republicans are able to maintain the redoubt they have in Oklahoma.

Early Voting Ancedote

My pastor told me a story that came from the time he did his early voting. He and his wife went to vote on Friday. They stood in line with a elderly black woman who had to walk with the aid of a cane. They were in line for an hour and a half before they could cast their ballots.

My pastor, of course, talked with this woman at lengt while in line. After she finally was able to cast her ballot, he asked her what this moment, being able to vote for an African-American candidate, meant to her.

She said, "Well, preacher, the way I see it is that Rosa Parks sat down. . .

so that Martin Luther King, Jr. could walk. . .

so that Barack Obama could run. . .

so that our children can fly."

First Rule of Rhetoric: Know Who Your Audience Is

from Talking Points Memo. Com

A reader in TPM sent in this story which shows a great deal about the McCain organization:

Interesting anecdote and probably a testament to ground organization. I have no idea what this means. Friday night (which happens to be the start of our Sabbath) my wife answered the phone to hear a man stating he was from the McCain-Palin campaign. He asked who she was supporting. She replied that we will vote for Obama. He replied with "but he's a f-----g n---er!". Before I get to my wife's response I'll first have to say that I understand desperation and I also understand that this pitch may actually work for a few people. I also understand that there are people who are whack-jobs phone-banking for both sides. But here are some facts:
My wife and I are Black. Citing the fact that Obama is a f----g n---er as a way to sway our vote may not be a great idea. My wife and I live in Maryland... Baltimore, MD.... One of the most African American areas of Baltimore Maryland. How on earth did our phone numbers get on to a McCain volunteers phone bank list of potential voters to be calling at this stage in the game? We have never received a call from the Obama campaign.

Just weird. Not sure what to make of it... but that's not a good sign of organization. If it did anything it made us want to donate more. BTW, the rest of the call went downhill from there. My wife prayed for forgiveness after the call.

Cat and I Early Voted Today

Early voting line at the Oklahoma County Election Board on Tuesday. Photograph from The Oklahoman web site.

Cat and I went to vote early today at the Oklahoma County Election Board. We had heard that the average voting time on Friday, the first day of early voting in Oklahoma, was about 3 hours. So we were prepared for a long wait.

Still it was amazing and wonderful to see the line to the polling place stretch out some 6 or 7 blocks out from the Election Board and down the street in front of the site. We ended up waiting 4 hours to vote, but was well worth it.

Over 5000 people voted on Friday when the polls were open from 8-6. Today, they closed at 1pm, but I expect the total voting will approach yesterday's total.

The crowd seemed to be overwhelmingly pro-Obama and Democratic Party. I did not see one person wearning campaign material for McCain or any Republican. I saw many wearing buttons and shirts supporting Obama and other Democrats, including moi.

I wore my "Super Obama" t-shirt that I got from StylinOnline.com.

It caused a great reaction, as you might imagine. I had several people ask to take my picture. There was even a camera crew of students from OU doing a documentary about the presidential race who saw the shirt and asked for an interview.

We had a great time, and it did not seem like it took 4 hours, till we got finished and realized that our legs were very sore from standing around on the parking lot surface for so long. Still it was a small price to pay to be able to take part in history!

Doing the Lord's Work II: Door-to-Door Visitation

This morning I went out to visit voters door-to-door for Donnie Lewis who is running for Oklahoma House District 101.
Donnie Lewis
Donnie has a great campaign narrative. He is 25 year old, an elementary school teacher, and an Iraq War vet. He is running against an incumbent in a conservative district, but it is also populated by Tinker Air Force Base soldiers and workers, so I am really hoping that he can win the election.

Door-to-door campaigning is much more fun for me than phone banking. I really enjoy talking to people. When you see people face to face, they tend to be very polite, even rather happy to seem someone actively involved in campaigning.

I was with my friend, Jesse Isbell, a fellow union member, and the families we visited had union ties. That made it even easier.

Politics can be quite enjoyable if you are willing to take the plunge. We only have 10 days till the election. Many elections are won and lost in the last week, so I encourage you to get off the sidelines and get in the game.

Doing the Lord's Work

Phone Banking
Last night, I did a couple of hours of phone banking for Dana Orwig, who is running for the Oklahoma state legislature. This was a part of the Oklahoma City-American of Federation of Teachers' effort to elect public school friendly legislators. I belong to the OKC-AFT, Local 2309.
Dana Orwig for OK House, District 87
Phone banking is one of the least popular yet most effective forms of volunteer campaigning. What I was doing was calling fellow AFT members to identify them as pro-Dana, negative or undecided. This is one of the easiest forms of phone banking, made all the more easy because Dana has been a very hard working candidate. Many of those I contacted have met Dana personally and plan to vote for her. A couple have been active in her campaign.

Still, you contact the occasional "grump" who doesn't want to talk, or lets you know that it is NOYDB who they are voting for. You wish these folks would give you credit for being an active citizen, but there is nothing you can do about them.

I'm not trying to brag on myself (okay, maybe just a little), but I do wonder why more of us don't do something to show we are serious about this thing we call citizenship.

I don't know how many Americans do volunteer work in campaigns. Someone, somewhere must know the percentage, but I guess that it must be less than 5% who do.

I'm of a religious frame of mind, so when I tell those I am working with that we are "Doing the Lord's work." And by that I mean that anything that we do in the cause of justice for all must be advancing us towards that day when we realize "justice for all" as being something more than words mumbled when we do the Pledge of Allegiance.

With all the campaigns going on, there is far more need than there are workers to do them. So, I'd encourage everyone to "Do the Lord's Work" in whatever capacity suits you.

No matter what you do, You'll feel like you're a "Real American."

Powell Endorses Obama

This is a major development. First, it absolutely ends the "pals around with terrorist" slime that Palin has been slinging around. Second, it vettes Obama in the one area McCain has had a slight advantage: foreign policy. Third, it insures that Obama will be able to hold on to the headlines for the next 3 or 4 days. This is time that McCain desperately needs to shift the momentum of the race. Finally, it trumps the Lieberman endorsement of McCain. Lieberman has no standing in the Democratic Party since he went Independent. I fully expect him to be dismissed from the Democratic caucus if the Democrats fall short of getting to the magic 60 in the election (or if they can get it without him). Powell, on the other hand, is still respected by many moderate Republicans and most Independents. We could see the "Obamamentum" become a tsunami. At least, I hope so.
CNN story

How Low Can They Go?

In the Sewer?
from Politico

Cindy McCain lawyer invokes Obama drug use

John Dowd, Cindy McCain's attorney, complained in a letter to New York Times executive editor Bill Keller earlier this month that the paper had scrutinized the GOP nominee's wife but not investigated matters surrounding Barack Obama including his youthful drug use.

"You have not tried to find Barack Obama's drug dealer that he wrote about in his book, Dreams of My Father," Dowd wrote in a two-page letter sent to Keller while the paper was reporting a piece about Cindy McCain.

The McCain campaign released the missive late Friday night in response to that story, to be published in the paper's Saturday edition. It's the first time anybody so closely associated with McCain has raised the issue.

A common tactic of trying to deflect your own guilt is to try to push attention to someone else. That way you don't have to deal with the wrong you have done.

Rest in Peace, Jake

Jake before his illness
It's a sad day for our house. I had have my cat, my friend, Jake euthanized. I brought Jake into our marriage from my former household. I got him about a year before I met Cat, and we have had him all during the 6 plus years we have been a couple.

Jake was an alpha male, but a considerate one. When Jeremy, my twenty-five year old Persian mix, started declining, Jake always let Jeremy get to the food bowl first, but he insisted being next.

Cat and I noticed that Jake limping around the house. Just a little at first, but it became worse each month. He had developed a shoulder tumor that evently crippled him. It finally got to the place where he had to be helped to get to his food and get to the litter box. Finally, I knew keeping him alive was cruelty, so I did the right thing by him and had his life mercifully ended.

A few weeks ago, Cat and I adopted another cat we call "Dakota" from the city shelter. Like Jeremey, he is a gray, Persian mix. Life goes on, but it's good to remember all the things that bring us joy along the way.

Goodbye, my gentle friend.

Halloween Won't Be Very Good This Year

Obama/Biden Go 4-4

So much for whipping Obama's, er, tukas.

How Much Are We At Risk for a New McCain Stunt

Nate Silver of fivethirtyeight.com has unveiled this new McCain Stunt Alert Level system ...

Economists Say "Obama Has Better Grasp of Economics"

In a telling survey, the journal The Economist, survey 142 members of the Bureau of Economic Research, America’s premier association of applied academic economics, on their analysis of the proposed economic policies and overall grasp of economic principles.

The detailed responses are bad news for Mr McCain (the full data are available here). Eighty per cent of respondents and no fewer than 71% of those who do not cleave to either main party say Mr Obama has a better grasp of economics. Even among Republicans Mr Obama has the edge: 46% versus 23% say Mr Obama has the better grasp of the subject. “I take McCain’s word on this one,” comments James Harrigan at the University of Virginia, a reference to Mr McCain’s infamous confession that he does not know as much about economics as he should. In fairness, Mr McCain’s lower grade may in part reflect greater candour about his weaknesses. Mr Obama’s more tightly managed image leaves fewer opportunities for such unvarnished introspection.

McCain rids his campaign of a racist

From Fox News-[Yes, I do read Fox News]

Republican presidential candidate John McCain's campaign has ousted a prominent Virginia GOP figure who wrote a newspaper column mocking a potential Barack Obama administration.

A McCain spokeswoman said Bobby May was dropped this week from his job as McCain's Buchanan County campaign chairman.

May wrote in his column, "The (clarified) platform of Barack Hussein Obama," that if the Democratic senator were elected he would hire rapper Ludacris to paint the White House black and change the national anthem to the "Black National Anthem." [see my Oct. 6 post: "Virginia GOP Leader Writes Anti-Obama Racist Screed "]
The column originally appeared in The Voice, a local newspaper.

May has worked on dozens of state Republican campaigns.
I give Sen. McCain credit for doing the right thing here. Perhaps we can conduct the last 3 weeks of this campaign on the issues, not on ad hominem attacks.

Is the Anger Seen at McCain/Palin Rallies Racist?

When John McCain and Sarah Palin began their personally attacks against Obama, they unleashed a torrent of invective that surprised even them. They have tried, not always successfully, to reign in their audiences.

My question is how much of the visceral invective at these events is motivated by racism and the fear of having America's first black president elected in a little over 3 weeks. I bring in evidence the following photoshopped picture which appeared on the right wing online message board "The Free Republic."
Caption: Shoeshine Boy
The picture appears among the subscribers reaction to a discussion on the possibility of McCain getting some post in an Obama administration. The picture is accompanied with the text, "Back at ya, Obama. Palin has a job for you as well when she is in the white house:". The poster goes by the name "spodefly," and while his posting privileges seem to have been revoked, The Free Republic has yet to take down this piece of racist garbage as of this writing.

Other postings on the web site a full of lies and smears that seem to be creeping into McCain and Palin's rhetoric and advertisements.

I do not believe that Sen. John McCain or Sarah Palin are racists, but they bear some responsibility for feeding the hatred of racists who support them.