Tag: Hope

     I write today to honor the loss of those who came before us, and not only the greatest among us but also the names we will never know, those who were dear to only a few, but just as important to what our nation is today, and what it should be in the future.

    So I ask you, my fellow Dharma Bums, what is it you hope for?

    And by that I not only mean what you seek to accomplish through blogging or in politics, but also what you hope to achieve in your personal lives, what you hope the world becomes through your work here on earth, and what you hope to leave after you are gone.

   I have always been a political creature. Myu mother’s brother was a self proclaimed socialist, and under his guidance I began to read voraciously the works of the greats, Orwell, Thoreau, Knut Hamsen, J.R.R. Tolkien, Chaucer, Dumas, more names than I can recall. Reading has never been a hobby for me, it has been part of my life’s work. It has shaped the man I am today, and while reading the work of the many talented writers here I have found much to be joyful for, and much food for thought.

   I always wanted to be a writer, or a teacher, or a journalist. That is my hope.

   Now I find myself settling at times, and simply hoping to find decent work that can earn a decent wage.

   But I do not lose hope. I am a fool, in that regard.

   In my writing/blogging, what have you, I hope share ideas, to learn, and to teach. I hope to meet like minded people and people who disagree with my views, in order to learn more, for, if we never hear that which we diod not think ourselves, how are we to learn?

   With that in mind I have read many things I disagree with, vehemently at times, passively at others. I have read Ayn Rand, Mein Kampf, Machiavelli and Newt Gingrich.

   Often I have read work that I thought I would disagree with at the end, only to find myself em[powered by what I thought I would not agree with, such as the works of Karl Marx, Adam Smith, barry Goldwater and others who I thought I would certainly oppose, only to find that I agreed more than I would have believed I would.

   Politically, my issue is Accountability. Accountability for the class war, the super rich and the Corporations they serve.

   Accountability for the power elite, the Cheney’s and Rumsfeld’s, the Sanford’s and Ensign’s, the Baucus’s and Ross’s and the others of their ilk.

   I champion the powerless and disenfranchised, the fight for equality and civil rights, not because they effect me so personally, often they do not, but because I see how many people they do effect, and the injustice that is borne when it should not be so.

   I have been accused of siding with the unpopular decision for the sole sake of doing so. I admit freely to it. It is the unpopular speech that needs the most protection, the minority that must be fully protected if we are to pretend to be a nation of equality under the law, and not equality under who has the most dollars.

   I hope.

   I hope to create a better world. I see a nation of so many opportunities, and yet so much injustice. I see a people of such brilliance and grace, and yet we are mired in povery and division, and in hate, when we should be in love, united, and not divided.

   I hope to help create such a world, a world of peace and love, a world of equality, both legally and economically, where none go sick or hungry, where all my have a home and a hope and a dream they can work towards achieving.

   I am a champion of many issues because there are many issues that need someone to fight for.

   This nation and it’s people are worth fighting for, worth dying for.

   Many people can be divided into two groups, those that see others as less than they, and those who hope to see equality in all of us.

   That is the fight we see today. Hate vs Love. Empathy vs Disdain. Hope vs. Fear.

   I have much that I fight for, because there is much worth fighting for.

   So, I sk you, my dearest comrades, my fellow Dharma Bums, what do you hope for, what do you fight for, and what do you think is worth dying for.

   I am eager to learn as much as I can, and to share whatever you will have of me.

      Crossposted at progressiveelectorate.com

(I’d just like to state clearly, this is not a rebuttal to the diary posted by Something the Dog Said, rather, consider it a differing opinion)

From WaPo

Prosecutor to CIA Abuse Allegations

by abuse allegations, they mean torture.

More!

From a Daily Kos diary

Breaking: “profanity-laced screaming match” at the White House

    Amid reports that Panetta had threatened to quit just seven months after taking over at the spy agency, other insiders tell ABCNews.com that senior White House staff members are already discussing a possible shake-up of top national security officials.

“You can expect a larger than normal turnover in the next year,” a senior adviser to Obama on intelligence matters told ABCNews.com.    

and this on the heels of news this weekend

From isria.com

9 GOP Senators ask Holder for Mercy for Bus/Cheney

    Now, this is the key part of the news, because I do not think a 1/4 of the GOP Senate would put their necks out to save some no-name underlings.

    I think this is going all the way to the top, and, in my new found attempt to look at things in a glass half full view.

    Therefore, I give you my belief, as of now, that the ball is now rolling, it will build and build, and by the summer of 2010 going into 2012, America WILL lead to Bush and Cheney themselves.

    More below the fold

This is a meditation on power and political hope, on the idea that the struggle for power seems to favor those who focus their lives upon the attainment of power (rather than, say, the enjoyment of life), and of what hope to place (and in what) in a world in which this is true.

(crossposted at Big Orange)

Something to think about. From Hesiod’s Works and Days:

To be clear, I don’t own my home, I’m renting it – it’s not my house, just my home.  I’ve been here since the first of the year and have enjoyed it.  Since I live alone, it’s more house than I need, but since I have very little furniture the house has a nice zen emptiness to it and provides ample space for doing tai chi and kung fu.  Here’s a pic of my living room.  I don’t entertain much.

Hello my friends!

I just wanted to share with you my joy over Barack Obama’s victory.  It is the first time in years that I feel hopeful about the future – for my sons and for all of us on this planet.  We have elected someone who is a real diplomat and genuinely cares about people, and I believe that America will help solve our global crises instead of driving them.

I was slow to get behind Obama because he is very much a centrist and to a progressive his policies on the war, climate change, healthcare, etc did not hit hard enough.  But that is probably why we have him as our President today, so I am very glad.  I am glad he will improve education and think this will be the key to a brighter future for our country.  I pray for his long life and success.

This morning at about 4:30 am my eldest ran into my room and asked whether Obama was President, so I checked and found it was confirmed!  Coincidentally it is his day for show and share at school and he is taking in a pin that he wore to a few war protests that shows children holding hands around a photograph of the earth from space.  He said he wants all the children in the world to be happy.  Cynical as I am, right now I can believe that his wish just might come true.

Love

Bikemom