So far so good on Obama

Almost 6 months ago, Barack Obama was inaugurated as president of the United States. As soon as he got in office, well actually before, the pressure began. The media is always quick to say he's failing or that the people are turning on him. Many people said Obama promised this or that because it's what they wanted and now have declared he failed. On it goes and won't let up while he's in office or likely even after he's gone. It never does on the others.

I was one of those who heavily supported Obama and want to say, 6 months later, I am happy with the results. I understand that the right wing is not. Well, I spent 8 years having to deal with that feeling when they were in power. Temporarily, at least, there has been a shift and I am pleased.

No, the problems aren't solved. No, I am not pleased with everything he has done (Obama Administration Okays Logging Rain Forests), but he is doing much of what I expected based on his campaign. I expected him to be left wing but also a pragmatist. I expected and feel that he is in a learning curve and unfortunately, because of two wars and the economy, doesn't have the time some presidents have had to get his feet under him.

He gets complaints, such as Zell Miller recently lobbed against him, that he should stay in Washington instead of traveling like say to a world economic conference overseas.Some don't like that he has date nights with his wife or goes out to get a hamburger. Remember there were those who found fault with Bush for being in a bubble. You cannot win and Bush certainly learned this lesson early-- if he didn't come into office knowing it. Give up trying. The most you can please is your base and not always them.

From my perspective, Obama's recovery package is not as disastrous as Bush's stimulus was in terms of the worst people getting it. Is it solving the economic problems? I had hoped it would be more infrastructure, but whether it's working to help the country come back, that I don't know yet. Maybe we are facing a worldwide readjustment which nothing can stop.

My personal concern is for Obama to work to stop the country's rush to dissolve the middle class, which would end up with a have and have not society. There is tremendous pressure from the wealthiest to keep to the trend of concentrating wealth. Greed has become a virtue which amazes me in a nation that calls itself Christian but then a lot amazes me where it comes to politics.

The recent suggested surtax, to pay some of the cost of health care, is being misrepresented by the right which won't surprise any leftie. Basically it is a graduated surtax but won't tax anybody below the level where Obama promised to not raise taxes. Is it a good idea? Again, I don't really know but putting things on the tab as we have the last 8 years, that's definitely not a good idea. You can only do that for so long. We've done it for too long.

I hope for the best from Obama's suggested programs and want to remind people that it took awhile to get us to where we are. Even if Obama is doing all the right things, it can't be fixed instantly. I never expected it would. I also understand we have a lot of Americans who have been led to expect something for nothing. They won't be pleased with any suggestions that cost them something.

Knowing how the right has defended their guys/gals no matter what they do, some think the left should the same thing and the temptation is apparent when you hear your people being attacked or even ridiculed. If we operated like the right, with emotions and visceral responses, we'd ignore what Obama does, his programs, and support him without paying attention to the plans. If instead we are about ideas for solutions, we can support him and still disagree with his programs. That's called having the ability to think independently.

After the righties lost the last election, the way they have behaved since, their anger and vindictiveness which has been illustrated beautifully in Sarah Palin, I am more than ever convinced our solution lies with Democrats-- imperfect though we all may be.

However, because I believe in the two-party system, I really hope the Republican party nominates someone of real quality next time, someone capable of running this country, someone of the actual conservative political viewpoint, not libertarian, not fascists, but real conservatives. I am not confident that can happen in the Republican party of today. [Peggy Noonan] said it well for what the right is seeking and what Palin provides.

Listen to them talk for long or read what they say and you know that this country has those who don't care what is best for the nation but only for themselves. They cloak their self-interest in words like patriotism, but there is nothing patriotic in what they shrilly demand.

There is nothing patriotic in slyly using racial words to prove how clever they are. There is nothing patriotic in gender or racial bias. They worry so much that there might be affirmative action but their real goal is to keep 'others' in positions where they can't compete or get their share of the economic pie. Obama stands against everything they believe and they are doing all they can to tear him down.

For me, I am happy with seeing a president I can be proud of, one who displays, as David Brooks said in a recent New York Times column, dignity. When he goes overseas, it's not to tell the world what we demand (upsetting as that is to neo-cons). We are not in any economic position to dictate anything-- nor should we want to do so. What we take power over, we also inherit responsibility. As Powell told Bush, if you break it, you own it.

I grew up in a time where the United States didn't think our obligation was to run the world. My coming of age came during an era of trying to help nations work together on solutions and many organizations were formed with that goal in mind. It hasn't always worked. Some right wingers believe only might makes right. Usually the same ones who don't want to pay any taxes.

The biggest complainers and probably the ones who are quickly saying they don't like him anymore, are likely those who never voted for him. He won 52.9% of the vote and if his numbers dip below 50% then someone might say he's disappointing supporters. That could happen but hasn't yet. Currently he is back to the numbers that he had when he started. Makes sense to me.

Obama must do the best he can with the time he has because in 4 years, the Republicans are likely, despite my hope, to nominate another inept politician who makes them feel good, who feeds their emotions, who satisfies their need for revenge, or promises something for nothing. Telling right wingers the true cost of anything is not the way to get their votes.

Sarah Palin is perfect for those Republicans. When I think, nah, they wouldn't do that, I remind myself that these are the same people who gave us George W. Bush. Palin will be worse... maybe. Who knows, including the right, what anybody will get with her. Her time in Alaskan office, her pointless lies and deceits don't encourage one to believe it will be good though.

She could well win. I have seen a lot in my many years of observing politics, but the one thing I have learned is never underestimate the ability of the people to be fooled. W.C. Fields had it right many years ago and people haven't changed since.

As for me, I will enjoy the current direction (grimacing now and then when I see something like 'logging the wilderness' okayed) for as long as I can, and hope for the best if that direction shifts again. At least for now the Senate has a 60 vote Democratic majority (welcome Al Franken) which admittedly isn't any guarantee of victories on programs, but it's a lot more than we had.

I am not one of those who wants to see one party running everything but if the Republican party is going to earn the trust of people like me they have to put forth real conservative candidates It's up to the Republicans if that happens. Do you suppose they even remember what the word conservative means?

This and That

Sometimes I think I should try and understand the craziness from the religious right. Other times I think trying to understand it is useless. There is no logic and what there is instead is a religious viewpoint of life that boggles my mind. Having just finished A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, I am well aware it's not unique to this country.

Here is a link explaining a religious group calling itself The Family. There is a lot online if you want to know more about them. They organized in 1935 to fight against the New Deal and Roosevelt. They are the ones organizing today's Washington prayer breakfasts. Is it a religious cult? They would say not since they base their group on Christianity.

Evidently they feel all they have to do is confess their sins to each other, hide them from the world and work to keep themselves secret. They are only accountable to each other-- which means through each other to God. There was a book out about them awhile back, but until the latest scandals from Ensign and Sanford, it got very little attention. I had no idea it existed. If you didn't either, read up on it.

There is nothing unusual about church groups and men or women belonging to them. Promise Keepers is one of those, but this one is more than that. It gives these men a cheap accommodation while they are in Washington, and it forms a network that is secretive, powerful-- and purposely hidden. What would they hide from the world? Did they condone Ensign paying bribes to keep his mistress hidden? What kind of sins would they tell others about or are they above any other authority?

Whether you think it's a good idea probably totally relates to how much power you think religion should have where it comes to governing. If you believe in a theocracy, you like it. If you are an unbeliever, you most decidedly do not. The Family by Jeff Sharlet.

Then there is this bizarre (to the left) story that has been unfolding about the colonel who was being sent to Afghanistan, decided he wouldn't go, and used Obama's birth certificate as his excuse. His lawyer in the lawsuit, claimed Obama was not president. Supposedly after he sued to stop his detachment, the military backed off and enabled him to stay home. It is portrayed as a major victory for the conspiracy people:From World Net Daily.

As there usually is, there is more. The colonel actually volunteered recently to go to Afghanistan-- obviously with one purpose in mind, making it into a lawsuit around Obama's birth certificate. He didn't have to sue the military to stop his deployment. When you volunteer, you can just say you changed your mind. Although it is being portrayed by World Net Daily and the lawyer who represented the colonel as a significant victory proving that Obama is illegitimate, actually it was simply following the rules to release him.

There is evidently more. The soldier was a contract employee who dealt with the military. It turns out that if you sue the military, you are no longer welcome to work there. He was fired. Doubtless another birth certificate conspiracy? *s*

I would like to understand why it would matter where Obama was born or that McCain was not born in the United States. Both grew up Americans and wasn't that the point of the original law. They were babies then born to American citizens. In Obama's case it would be a technicality that Hawaii was a possession, not yet a state until two years before he was born and that his mother was so young. What is this whole charade about? Why take up court time with such things? You know what it's about and none of it is for the best of this country.

After three days of hearings, I am even more pleased to see someone like Sonia Sotomayor nominated for the Supreme Court. If I was a Republican, I'd be ashamed of how those senators revealed their racism and bias against a woman.

Excuse me, Lindsy Graham, but you worry about a temper in a Supreme Court justice, but it was no concern in a president? That is amazing or would be if someone operated on logic. It would also be amazing for a logic based person to find fault with a female for asking tough questions as a judge but find it okay in a male. Haven't we gotten past that? Clearly not. And logic was no part of the harassment I heard in the questioning from the right wing. But then those senators were only playing to their base who wanted them to do all they could to destroy her. If you cheered them on, you are in the right wing, whatever you like calling yourself.

I have understood something that Republicans currently seem to want to forget-- when you win a presidential election, if you hold the majority in the Senate, the Supreme Court picks might be part of that victory. It is one of the most important reasons that elections do matter. Obama should not appoint middle of the road judges. He has the right to replace people with those who follow his (and his supporter's) political agenda.

I was upset with Alito and Roberts being added to the court, but I understood Bush had that privilege and he definitely used it. When O'Connor, a centrist conservative was replaced by a far right neo-con, I wasn't happy but to the winner go the spoils.

We, who believe this country has been going the wrong direction, have to hope we see more Obama picks like Sotomayor. It still leaves the right with a 5 vote advantage which isn't likely to change in my lifetime given the age of those 5-- and they make the most of it every chance they get..

It's a question of fairness

Questions of fairness confront a country and the humans in it every so often (if they are thinking type humans). Often culturally, as much as anything, we form a set of values that says this is right and that's wrong, but then something comes along to challenge those values.

The Visitor is a film to do that. It had been on my list of-- I should see that but it'll be hard to watch-- for a long time. I had thought to wait until I was in a relaxed mood, but maybe it wouldn't make a difference when I saw it for its impact.

It is the story of a lonely professor, Walter (played with depth and soul by Richard Jenkins), living in Connecticut, who is struggling to find meaning to his life after the death of his wife. He is probably in late mid-life and possibly a lot of his meaning had been coming through and with her. He has written books, taught lectures about global politics at a university, but he's doing as little of anything as possible as he just gets through the days.

Reluctantly forced by the university to go to New York City for a conference, he opens up the apartment, that he and his wife had maintained there, only to find someone living in it-- two someones. She, Zainab, is from Senegal and he, Tarek, is from Syria, and they thought they were authorized to be there by an unseen Ivan. They do not want to cause any problem and leave to find somewhere else, but Walter brings them back not knowing that both are in the United States illegally. They are part of the hidden underground that come into the country legally or otherwise but do not leave when their time runs out.

Tarek's vitality and music begin to change the rhythm in Walter's heart. The two very different men form a caring relationship. Walter is particularly drawn to Tarek's drum, called a djembe that is played by the hand and with a rhythm the musicians must find from within themselves.

That is the first half of the story and then it turns complicated, forcing Walter and the viewers to do some soul searching, when Tarek is first mistakenly arrested and then detained by immigration authorities. Walter who has seen global politics from an abstract, technical view is suddenly confronted with a personal reality.

A policy of secure borders has to mean you treat other people as though only rules matter and there's no way to consider individual cases? Rules are to be obeyed, cross each 't' properly, or you are out, laws are enforced by people with no more freedom to look at individuals than the ones who are in the prisons (and they are prisons whether we call them detention centers or not)? At least Tarek was not suspected of being a terrorist, if he had been, we now know things would have gotten horrendously worse.

Many of us think it's only fair to have a closed border. We want to have a world where all people are treated fairly. We want to maintain our qualities as a nation, but this is a film to make you ask-- what are those qualities? We came from immigrant ancestors-- every last one of us-- and the difference is only in whether we got here early or late. How do we fairly deal with that reality in the world of today where fear of terrorism has changed so much? How do we justify legally bringing people here for cheap labor and then sending them back to deny them citizenship?

Watching Walter try to deal with the immigration people, get a lawyer for Tarek, the viewer is likely to question their own values. I won't go farther with discussing the film, but I recommend it for all peoples as a film about human nature but especially here in America where we are still wrestling with questions of immigration and security. It came out in 2007 and is on Netflix.

If we are going to authorize things being done in our name, we should at least know what that means to real people-- and this film fairly and without being maudlin does show the human price.

It's good that I saw it and Il Postino close together because both show how the system sometimes tragically impacts ordinary people in ways that its citizens might not have intended or wanted. The question from The Visitor is-- what can we do about it?

Il Postino

Sometimes a book leads to a movie and sometimes the other way around. As I began searching for more information about Pablo Neruda, I saw a DVD on Netflix which I vaguely recall hearing about years ago but had never seen.

Il Postino is the story of Mario, a humble Italian postman, who had little direction to his life until coincidence changed everything. He learned that the famous (infamous to some since Neruda was a passionate communist) poet, Pablo Neruda, was living in exile at the edge of their village.

Delivering mail each day to Neruda, he saw the passion with which Neruda lived his life, he admired his ability to evoke feelings with words and asked him questions about poetry. These questions led to a friendship, between these two very different men, that is at the heart of the story. Mario began by thinking he could learn how to attract women to himself if he could find words such as Neruda wrote, but he learned so much more about life, purpose and to appreciate the place where he lived.

The film, subtitled, is beautifully filmed in Italy with a great cast. The reality of these actors, how they made me feel that, yes, they were those people, made me also aware how often films are cast poorly with people who look and feel nothing like those they are supposedly portraying.

It was even more poignant knowing that the postman, Massimo Troisi, only 40 years old, died to finish making it. Perhaps he would have anyway as he had a heart damaged by rheumatic fever as a child, but he saw this story of a simple postman and life as so important that he put off treatment to get it completed, dying the next day.

I won't go more into the film because it would spoil it for anyone who has yet to see it. It was nominated for Academy Awards which it richly deserved. After seeing it on Netflix, I bought a copy of it at Amazon. It will be a movie to watch again.

Photos are clips from: Il Postino and Il Postino

The Night in Isla Negra

Where it comes to reading, I go in spurts where I read almost no books and then where I always have one or even two going. Often one book leads to another-- sometimes in unexpected ways.

'In This We are Native' by Montana writer Annick Smith wasn't a memoir that I expected would lead me to a Chilean poet, but it did. (Poets and poetry enthusiasts, when you see who the poet is, please forgive me. I am not as widely educated in poetry as many.)

It was his house first but then the life that added to the poetry and made me look for more and more information on Pablo Neruda. To be honest I liked (Is like, such a mild word, adequate? Well, I cannot think of what might be better. Remember I am not the poet) his love poetry, but the poems about place, about his experiences, his soul experiences, they are why I went further in exploring who this man had been. What led to these poems?

Is place what helps create such poetry or are those, who would create that kind of art drawn to certain places by their energy? I am very land oriented. Houses come and go but where they are situated, that is something you cannot create. The setting comes first, but, wherever they are, I love to see the houses that creative people have created or in which they have lived. The houses tell so much more about them.

Neruda's house which he called Isla Negra, from where it is located on the Chilean coast with sand and rocks to look toward, was clearly one of those houses. Perfect setting, intriguing house with large windows, interesting rooms and a concept of making it part of the ground from which it arose. It did not detract but added to its surroundings.

If I had many lifetimes to live or maybe many homes, one would be on the ocean, overlooking an isolated stretch of beach with sand and rocks on a rugged coastline where the waves crash against those rocks and sometimes during a very big storm, you worry what else they will crash against. There are tame stretches of coastline (well most of the time, no ocean is tame all the time), but they have little appeal for me. Isla Negra, steeped in the power of the ocean, of nature, would.

Oh and might I add, I would be a gifted poet who could find words like those below to paint a picture of what I was experiencing. I realize the price for such insights is high but oh how words like these enrich, how they seem to give the reader something to suck into their being, think about, and then draw from themselves feelings they they would not have felt otherwise.

The Night in Isla Negra
Pablo Neruda

Ancient night and the unruly salt
beat at the walls of my house.
The shadow is all one, the sky
throbs now along with the ocean,
and sky and shadow erupt
in the crash of their vast conflict.
All night long they struggle;
nobody knows the name
of the harsh light that keeps slowly opening
like a languid fruit.
So on the coast comes to light,
out of seething shadow, the harsh dawn,
gnawed at by the moving salt,
swept clean by the mass of night,
bloodstained in its sea-washed crater.

Neruda's poetry is online, where I found the poem, at the link above under his name. Because the coast of Chile seems very much like Oregon's, I used one of my photos from May along Oregon's coast at the top. With a little search, I found these photos online of [Isla Negra]. Then I liked this article as it explained the draw that I felt when I began to look into who Pablo Neruda had been: [from the literary traveler].

Friends to hike the trail

The wildflowers were wonderful, the view of the mountain great, but also there was the time with friends, the kind of friends with whom you have hiked many trails, where each can do their own thing, and still enjoy the experience together.





Unfortunately I didn't think to take a picture of Parapluie, Fisherman and Farm Boss eating lunch after the hike was over. There were wooden picnic tables and not like the lunch was spectacular or anything but it was the end of the trail-- for that day.

Well not quite, as we did stop for one more set of photos on our drive back out-- the lilies that hadn't yet been blooming higher up.

Wildflowers of Iron Mountain and Cone Peak Trails

When I came home from our Iron Mountain hike, I had to sort through several hundred photos. The easiest to delete were out of focus or seemed to have no purpose. I was still left with an unmanageable number. So I asked myself which were the best and created a temporary folder. I have found temporary folders let me play with the various images without deleting anything I might later regret.

The ones that didn't make it into the temporary folder were still good, to me, (some are above). But too many photos in a slide show leave the viewer tired before they reach the end.

Because I didn't want to download the photos one by one to Picasa, I downloaded Picasa software (free from Google) for my desktop which enables uploading a whole folder at once. I had already experienced the benefits of that kind of software having done it when I had a Flickr site. It apparently is going to also now be my primary way to view them on my computer. So far it looks good, but I am still considering how I like their tools.

For the completed slide show, I would have enjoyed adding music although imagination can provide the best music. If you click on my link, just imagine the sounds of birds, the breeze in the trees, boots crunching on gravel, maybe low voices from other hikers on the trail.

Iron Mountain and Cone Peak Wildflowers

All photos were taken with Canon Rebel Xsi using the Canon 18-55mm or 55-250mm lenses both with Image Stabilizers.

Halfway through the hike, I learned something new about my camera. It came out of frustration as in the shade of the tall pines, hemlocks and cedars I kept trying to photograph a small flower, which should be called Mountain Orchid if it is not. Every image looked washed out. Finally I asked Farm Boss what can I do to make this work, and he explained it to me.

Using a setting labeled Tv which enables changing the shutter speed depending on the light and the desired effect, I saw most photographs right from my camera exactly as I wanted them (still cropping some to emphasize points that show up more clearly in a photo than I might have seen while framing them).

Years ago when using our 35 mm cameras, I had learned about shutter speed and how it can enhance a photo but never had learned how to do it with the digital. The camera had taken such good photos on automatic that I hadn't explored its capabilities.

Because I am not someone who learns technical things well from books and do best when I am actually doing it, I tend to put off reading manuals. Just because my camera can take nice photos on automatic doesn't mean it can't take great ones if I take the time to learn and use those tools. I like that it makes me feel more in control of the photograph. What I get then is not so much an accident or luck but my planning and recognizing the conditions.