Yesterday my dear friend in Germany called me.  She's been through all the ups and downs of the Bush years with me (well, there must have been some "ups" but I can't recall them) and has oftened sympathized with the disappointment I feel in my country's direction.

She, like many Germans, retains a different memory of the USA, one from her childhood.  One from when we were a country that did extraordinary things sometimes, things to be proud of.

She told me about "The Raisin Bombers."

It's too early to make me tear up, and I usually don't, but for some reason reading the article about Obama's visit brought tears to my eyes. I also have some more pictures over the jump.

JERUSALEM — Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama toured Israel's Holocaust memorial Wednesday, laying a wreath in memory of the 6 million Jews who died and saying, "Ultimately, this is a place of hope."

Obama toured the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial on a Jerusalem hillside as he moved through a busy day of meetings with Israeli and Palestinian officials, including Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

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Why does it appear so many soldiers support Obama despite the persistent propaganda that says military people don't like Democrats (see this dKos diary for evidence of this support)?

An acquaintance of mine who is ex-military has explained it well to me. (aside: This is my explanation of his explanation. I am not military so forgive me if I f*ck this up.)

When you join the military you give up an essential element of your freedom. The freedom to say "no".

When your superior orders you to do something, you do it. Most of us understand this at an intellectual level, but how many of us, outside the military, understand it at a gut level? What this means is that if your superior officer orders you to go into downtown LA and start shooting civilians, you do it.

I was sixteen years old on September 11th, 2001.  I found out about the attacks when I walked into school, on the Air Force Academy base in Colorado Springs.  I'm sure you all remember the moment you heard.

At that moment, our nation was thrust into an age of maybes.

Maybe this wasn't the only attack.  Maybe the State Department was bombed.  Maybe there were as many as a dozen planes hijacked.  Maybe this isn't over - maybe it's just the beginning.

The maybes only got worse after that.

The list of what isn't wrong with this country is much shorter than the list of what is; we're all fighting battles against insurance companies, corruption, bad policies and rising prices.

Corruption in our current government is extensive.  In collusion, the media does its part because it is corporate owned; they will determine what others see (Comcast) and hear (Clear Channel). And while the web is good, as many as 1/3 do not have access to the Internet.

It's hard to have hope when you can't see it, hear it or if your routes to it are countered by corporate masters who feel they know what's better for you than you do.

Don't let the from the Q-poll and ABC-WaPo lull you, folks. This is going to be a tough fight. We've got long road ahead of us.

Obama's going to get it from all sides, both barrels. We expect the usual crap from Republicans. There'll be racism, lies, and all kinds of nastiness.

As the recent episodes with Jesse Jackson and the New Yorker cover also indicate, even many Democrats don't know how to pull together.

Are you doing everything you can?

Here are 10 suggestions for cost-free ways you might work to effect change.

My daughter was brought into the world this morning at 8:26am Japan Standard Time. It was a full day of rushing, managing, emoting, empathizing, and celebrating. My daughter was carefully and compassionately delivered here in northern Japan by the same team that delivered my son a year and a half ago.

This diary is about two things. First, it's about the hopes I have for my daughter on this special day. Second, it's a thank you to Japan for embracing social medicine and affording my family the opportunity to benefit from the prosperity of great nation.

I went to Bristol, VA Senator Obama to hear you speak. I waited in line for almost two hours and then another couple of hours inside the gym. But you were worth waiting for. I came out feeling enegized and hopeful. I had my 21 yr. old daughter with me that day. I want her to have hope too. She will be facing having no insurance coverage in a couple of months. I cannot stand to think about it. She is my life. I cannot stand to think of me having insurance and her not. You have got to help us. Please.

And something tells me...after November and into winter and then on into spring...if things go the way they should...he'll have only a slight head start on a whole new generation of Obama-babies.

Fear:  

a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain, etc., whether the threat is real or imagined; the feeling or condition of being afraid.

Hope:

the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best

In each case, the first definition of the noun form of the word as found at Dictionary.com  Both conditions/emotions can be real, but both can be illusionary, leading us to act overly defensively or not at all in the first case, or blindly without regard for consequence if in the second case it approaches a pollyanish attitude.  

I am a realist.  I recognize that there are bad things, that there are people who intend other than good for me and those about whom I care.   But if that were my dominant emotion, I would be paralyzed, unable to act in a fashion to make a difference in the world around me.  Had I any doubt, I would merely need to look at how fear has distorted our politics and our policy.

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt once said "We have nothing to fear but fear itself."  Certainly these times that we live in are worthy of considerable fear.  On this site we discuss these fears every day: The economy, the erosion of our rights, health care, rampant warfare and death, the fear of environmental change causing significant problems, and we could go on and on.  As President Roosevelt astutely noted, in a day with fears that are certainly analogous in scope to the fears that we hold today, that fear is something to be avoided.

The problem with the FISA amendments is that as a law, like so many passed over the previous seven years, it is justified and grounded in fear.  Fear that everyone and anyone could be a terrorist.  Fear that if we don't give corporations absolute immunity they won't allow us to save us or themselves.  Fear that a disconnected population of people will only see the names of legislation and vote solely on attack ads.

This kind of fear is dangerous, and should be avoided.  This country cries out for leadership, and a true leader cannot lead in a state of fear.

This is an old story but with all the hype over Jesse Jackson's comments and the implications to Obama's campaign and the so-called problems with the net roots, I thought it important to post story I read in June on what the meaning of life means to Obama.

While running around the Berkeley Marina, my dog stumbled upon a rock and proudly stood on top of it, gazing out over the bay with an air of grace and a joyful certainty.  I thought of Obama.

Up until now, we have sat back and allowed the rights to dissent be used a crutch, as a pedestal, as a soap box to do nothing more than smear, spin, and outright lie about the Democratic candidate, OUR Democratic candidate. We have been berated for believing in someone, believing in words, ideas, and yes, speeches.

We have berated for simply being inspired.

That is why we are here.

Today sirens were blaring outside my window as the local authorities were testing their emergency warning systems. This seemed an appropriate  sountrack for the shameful vote in which the Democrats betrayed their oaths to defend the Constitution by voting for the FISA amendments. Leading this parade of clownish pols was my former candidate Barack Obama...

I'm going to admit it straight up, i voted for Bush in 2004 and yes I'm bitter....and very very angry.  But I wanted to share my story on how I went from being a Bush voter to a staunch supporter of Barack Obama.  So here goes.

I grew up in a fairly conservative family.  To my father, the right to own guns is basically principle #1 and over the years I've shot plenty of them (was never a very good rifle shooter, but I could hit 3 birds with 2 shells at the skeet range fairly often.)  To him Reagan was a national hero while Clinton was routinely scorned as the "Lefty socialist scumbag."  To him Republicans could do no wrong and that was basically the way my first 20 years was like from a political perspective.  Get back in line and do what you're told.  Oh and don't ask questions.

But that all changed when I headed off to school (amazing isn't it?  And one wonders why they want to dismantle the education system).  First by pursuing a minor in political philosophy and later, by meeting a great woman who's uncle has done a lot of writing about the rise of the Neo-cons.

What is it about democrats? Is our tent too big? When we pull in the bluest of blue dogs, libertarian liberals, progressive liberals, and all other persuasions and combinations we seem to spend more time antagonizing each other than we do electing the people who best represent our view. Why.
Does anyone out there know of any one politician who exactly represents their view? I don't, I have much in common with most of the candidates in the democratic primary but not a single one was my perfect candidate. We compromise and try to elect the one who is closest to our view, or who we think might be the best candidate, or might have the biggest coattails. So why do we expect our candidate to do exactly what we, individually, think he should? I knew he wasn't me, I compromised.

While "Change" is the refrain by which Obama will make history this November, I'd like to show you some of the small ways candidacy has already altered hearts and minds-- at the very least, mine.