The other day NPK wrote an essay titled Let’s Start at the Very Beginning where she posed the following question.

What would make you as a citizen feel safe?  And what would you be willing to do, have done to others and agree to accept for yourself, in order to maintain that safety and security?

It sparked some interesting discussion and really got me thinking in lots of different directions. I’d like to write about one of those today.

Due to the fact that my professional life involves working with kids who are making dangerous decisions that could potentially lead to deep involvement with the juvenile justice system, I’ve worked with alot of police officers over the years. I must confess, however, that I don’t understand the people who choose that work and I certainly don’t understand the culture of police departments. While I’ve watched and tried to learn as much as I can, its still a mystery to me in many ways.

Have you guys seen “Prop 8 – The Musical?” If not, I really hope you’ll take a look. I love Margaret Cho and Kathy Najimy. But Jack Black as Jesus????? You gotta see this!

This essay probably has no redeeming social value. It might not even be interesting to most folks unless you enjoy watching the circular firing squad that has now become the Republican Party. But I’ve been noticing some interesting discussions taking place and thought I’d chronicle them.

Of course, as I write, I plan to drown my sorrows with a little of this.

So, here we go. First of all, are you ready for a rumble between Kathleen Parker and James Dobson?

This is the kind of story I find it hard to comment on…its just too painful. From the Guardian we hear

Hitmen charge $100 a victim as Basra honour killings rise: Fathers and husbands who openly hire assassins on the streets of the city are going unpunished.

As we hear so much in the MSM about how things are improving in Iraq, I want to say, yeah right, compared to what?????

My thoughts are pretty random this Sunday morning. But if I reach for a theme, I think I can find one in the idea that so much in our world is out of balance.

My theme might not be apparent at first in this story. But I was struck by Bill Moyers’ closing remarks on his show this week (you can find the transcript here).

If this was anyone but Moyers, I’d be thinking it was someone who looks at the world through the eyes of American exceptionalism. But we all know that’s not his take. Perhaps what we are seeing is a world out of balance when it comes to power…people all over the world who’s fate is tied to what happens in the US.  

By now we all know that Barack Obama went to Harvard Law school and was the first African American President of the Law Review in 1990 when he was 28 years old. His tenure in that position might give us some clues as to who this man is and how he will lead. I’ve been doing some reading about that time in his life and find it pretty instructive.

For example, the LA Times reprinted an article by Tammerlin Drummond from back in March of 1990 not long after Obama was elected to the position. She starts off with this interesting information.

The post, considered the highest honor a student can attain at Harvard Law School, almost always leads to a coveted clerkship with the U.S. Supreme Court after graduation and a lucrative offer from the law firm of one’s choice.

Yet Obama, who has gone deep into debt to meet the $25,000-a-year cost of a Harvard Law School education, has left many in disbelief by asserting that he wants neither.

“One of the luxuries of going to Harvard Law School is it means you can take risks in your life,” Obama said recently. “You can try to do things to improve society and still land on your feet. That’s what a Harvard education should buy-enough confidence and security to pursue your dreams and give something back.”

We all might have assumed that Sean has been busy making the movie Milk (which I hope to see over the weekend). But I just learned that he recently paid a visit to both Hugo Chavez and Raul Castro because he’s written about it in The Nation Magazine. And before I say anything more about this particular piece, I’d like to state that Mr. Penn is an amazing writer! So I urge you to go check out the whole thing.

Here’s an introductory video from The Nation (my title comes from here).

I haven’t yet begun the cooking and family gatherings that are part of this holiday season. So I’ve had a little time to muse on the current state of liberalism as we wallow in this “no fly” zone between the election and inauguration.

A couple of comments today here at Docudharma got me thinking. The first was an exchange between Edger and Buhdy

Edger:  It may not be quick or easy.

And is that any reason to not have some fun while we’re at it?

So the guy isn’t perfect. Not even close. He’s part of their team. Not ours. We knew that a long time ago.

But at least he’s not an asshole (like george was and is), as far as I can see.

I know all that sounds a little bit like the old GOS mantra of not letting the perfect be the enemy of the good, but it’s not… not quite.

Self leadership, really when it comes down to where the rubber hits the road, is really all we can do. Tearing our hair out because someone way up at the top of the pyramid doesn’t climb down into the gutter and rail away at all the injustices of life with us would only result in us having less hair, I guess.

Buhdy:   It is MUCH harder to not have the clear stark black and white of Bush!

It really is up to us.

Edger:   Well, you know, it’s a bit weird I think because we spent most of a good eight years try to stop the president from doing things that were making everything fall apart.

Now it’s a gear changing thing I guess, to trying to make the president DO stuff to keep things from falling apart?

Buhdy:   zactly! We have to learn new skillz!

Even though our economy is in much worse shape than it was during the election of Bill Clinton in 1992, I think that after 8 years of one disaster after another, what I’m most ready for in an Obama administration is some competency.

This morning at his press conference, President -Elect Obama said:

This isn’t about big government or small government. It’s about building a smarter government that focuses on what works. That is why I will ask my team to think anew and act anew to meet our new challenges.

Much as I found myself far more interested in the field operation of the campaign, I am now much more interested in the behind-the-scenes work being done by the transition team. As the MSM focuses on all of the rumors and speculation coming from “unnamed sources,” I am very curious about what the Agency Review Teams are learning.  

I often quote Nezua from The Unapologetic Mexican here. But if you’ve ever read his writing, you know that the man knows how to sit down at a keyboard and bang out some amazing thoughts. One of his latest, A New Breed of Colorblindness, was particularly powerful to me.

The post is a reaction to one by Nina at “Kimchi Mamas” titled Mutt Like Me. As we probably all know, at Obama’s first press conference after the election, he spoke about about the family getting a dog and stated his preference for adopting a “mutt like me.” Here’s what Nina had to say about that.

I’ve heard mixed-race people use that term to describe themselves before, usually in the same ha-ha way Obama did. I’ve also heard it thrown around as an insult, a pejorative, a slur. I’ve felt the slap of that word across my face and it is not a word I can “reclaim.” My fear, however, is that Obama, as the first mixed-race president, will shape the way most Americans view people of mixed race for at least a generation. And will Obama calling himself a “mutt” – with humor, as if the word is nothing, nothing at all – make it socially acceptable for people to start calling me a mutt? My kids?

Because not only does the word have a history as a slur, but there are reasons that that word makes such an easy slur. It allows people to rhetorically reduce us to animals – people “bred” like dogs are bred. For all our “mutts are better!” talk (it is, as Obama knows, better to adopt a dog from a shelter, right? Rejected, but nonetheless in need of love), it still comes from a place where “purebreds” are better. It stinks of eugenics and generally just makes me queezy.

Every year Project Censored identifies and prioritizes the 25 most important stories that were ignored by the MSM. The project is a part of Sonoma State University and here’s a bit about how they make their selections.

Between 700 and 1000 stories are submitted to Project Censored each year from journalists, scholars, librarians, and concerned citizens around the world. With the help of more than 200 Sonoma State University faculty, students, and community members, Project Censored reviews the story submissions for coverage, content, reliability of sources and national significance. The university community selects 25 stories to submit to the Project Censored panel of judges who then rank them in order of importance.

So, what made the list this year?

Every human being has a biological drive for 4 things…air, water, food, and sex. We’ve pretty much accepted the first two as givens, but ever since Eve took that bite out of an apple, we’ve struggled with our need for food and sex, coming up with all kinds of rules about who, what, when and how. I, for one, think its highly symbolic that such a powerful myth in our culture involves a woman eating a “forbidden fruit.” After all, we know the long fixation we’ve had with women and sex. Is it any surprise that we are also fixated on what she eats?

From Meer Images Photography