All good things must come to an end. And so it is with MargeBLOG. Quite the experience. I'm sure it will appear somewhere in my memoirs. But it's time to say "Adieu."
I've decided to go back to blogging, but politics will not be part of the mix. Instead I'm turning to the aging of the Baby Boom generation, a topic on which I believe I am a friggin' expert.
So keep the faith. We changed the world again. Now it's our responsibility. Ciao!
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
IT JUST KEEPS GETTING BETTER
Ok, here is what I think.
First of all, am I thrilled by Hillary's win in NH. Short answer -- YES!
But it's more complicated than that.
I previously discussed the "oh she made a mistake in a debate and now she's toast" phenomenon.
Well, this a.m. I finally got to see the "tears" video. I hadn't wanted to watch it because I was upset about Iowa and didn't need any more bad news.
THERE WERENT ANY TEARS!!!!
And if there had been, so what?
What there was was an authentic person asking an authentic question in only (ok start to take your shots) A WAY THAT ONE WOMAN WOULD ASK ANOTHER WOMAN. The question was "How are YOU doing?" Not the campaign not the nation but you as a person. How is this affecting you?
And after steeling yourself for all the "when did you stop beating your dog Buddy" questions, you're taken aback that someone just cares about you as a person. Not a candidate. Just you.
It struck a chord and she got choked up. Good for her. And then she talked about why this election was so important to her as a CITIZEN.
Having said all that, I am now going to say that I think it's GREAT that both Obama and Clinton have had experiences in this process which took them down a couple of pegs. To be a good president, you need humility. They both have had to look in the mirror and say OK, so I'm human.
And this turn of events also means that the February primaries will mean something and engage people. All to the good. We get a great candidate out of it for the Democrats no matter what.
And that's the truth.
First of all, am I thrilled by Hillary's win in NH. Short answer -- YES!
But it's more complicated than that.
I previously discussed the "oh she made a mistake in a debate and now she's toast" phenomenon.
Well, this a.m. I finally got to see the "tears" video. I hadn't wanted to watch it because I was upset about Iowa and didn't need any more bad news.
THERE WERENT ANY TEARS!!!!
And if there had been, so what?
What there was was an authentic person asking an authentic question in only (ok start to take your shots) A WAY THAT ONE WOMAN WOULD ASK ANOTHER WOMAN. The question was "How are YOU doing?" Not the campaign not the nation but you as a person. How is this affecting you?
And after steeling yourself for all the "when did you stop beating your dog Buddy" questions, you're taken aback that someone just cares about you as a person. Not a candidate. Just you.
It struck a chord and she got choked up. Good for her. And then she talked about why this election was so important to her as a CITIZEN.
Having said all that, I am now going to say that I think it's GREAT that both Obama and Clinton have had experiences in this process which took them down a couple of pegs. To be a good president, you need humility. They both have had to look in the mirror and say OK, so I'm human.
And this turn of events also means that the February primaries will mean something and engage people. All to the good. We get a great candidate out of it for the Democrats no matter what.
And that's the truth.
Monday, January 07, 2008
WHAT CAN I SAY?
One of my friends (the only person still reading this blog) said "Congratulations! You predicted HRC's demise."
Well, I was being ironic when I "predicted" it, especially because I am a Clinton supporter. But there was some prescience there.
I like Barack Obama and will support him strongly if he is the nominee.
And I can't say that I like the way HRC is handling her Iowa setback. And yes, part of it is the process.
But I still think she'd make the best President. Hopefully whoever gets the nomination will have the support of the ENTIRE DEMOCRATIC PARTY AND INDEPENDENTS ACROSS THE COUNTRY to make it a successful Presidency. Lord knows we need it.
Well, I was being ironic when I "predicted" it, especially because I am a Clinton supporter. But there was some prescience there.
I like Barack Obama and will support him strongly if he is the nominee.
And I can't say that I like the way HRC is handling her Iowa setback. And yes, part of it is the process.
But I still think she'd make the best President. Hopefully whoever gets the nomination will have the support of the ENTIRE DEMOCRATIC PARTY AND INDEPENDENTS ACROSS THE COUNTRY to make it a successful Presidency. Lord knows we need it.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
WHAT DO YOU SAY.....?
about a blogger who doesn't blog for.....six months?
Many things, but keep them to yourselves.
I was debating between writing about silly/funny things and serious/political things, and then I watched the news tonight.
Hillary Clinton MADE A MISTAKE in a debate last night.
And, apparently, that fact alone, PROBABLY DOOMS HER CAMPAIGN FROM NOW ON.
Hey WHAT?
what you need to know is that I have gone from being a Mark Warner for President person to a Draft Al Gore person to a Barack Obama person to a Hillary person. SO it's not like I had a knee jerk opinion.
Many things brought me to supporting Clinton and I won't go into all of them now -- I'm too tired -- but a small part of it was how much the Republicans demonized her and how people would say "I'd support Hillary, but....no one else will...." or words to that effect. Self-fulfilling prophecy.
The media look at one stumble and it's a FREE FOR ALL! Why do we put up with this stuff?
It's Halloween....maybe the entire political process is just plain frightening.
Many things, but keep them to yourselves.
I was debating between writing about silly/funny things and serious/political things, and then I watched the news tonight.
Hillary Clinton MADE A MISTAKE in a debate last night.
And, apparently, that fact alone, PROBABLY DOOMS HER CAMPAIGN FROM NOW ON.
Hey WHAT?
what you need to know is that I have gone from being a Mark Warner for President person to a Draft Al Gore person to a Barack Obama person to a Hillary person. SO it's not like I had a knee jerk opinion.
Many things brought me to supporting Clinton and I won't go into all of them now -- I'm too tired -- but a small part of it was how much the Republicans demonized her and how people would say "I'd support Hillary, but....no one else will...." or words to that effect. Self-fulfilling prophecy.
The media look at one stumble and it's a FREE FOR ALL! Why do we put up with this stuff?
It's Halloween....maybe the entire political process is just plain frightening.
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
STUFF THAT PEOPLE DON'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT
I'm not even sure if the title of this post is grammatical or not. What the hell -- it's 4 in the morning.
Now certain things go without saying. I do not care that baby Dannielynn (or however the hell you spell the poor kid's name) is "home" in the U.S. Apparently we're supposed to have one hour specials on that so we can be sure to peer over her shoulder for the rest of her life.
No, I'm going to talk about something even more politically uncorrect. And I apologize in advance if someone who reads this is offended (which sort of goes against the principles of being "P.U." but then why not.)
Almost every day before, during and after the VT shootings, 32 people died in some city in Iraq. We don't even notice any more.
And then of course, there's Darfur.
When I pointed this out, someone said "Well, if you send your kid into the army, you expect that s/he will be in harm's way. but not when you send them to college."
True enough. But Iraqi parents send their kids to school, their spouses to work, their cousins to the grocery store. And they never come home.
In Darfur it's worse than that.
We won't get into a discussion of whether people who blow other people up in Iraq are patriots or madmen. It defies description. I don't understand it. We come from a people who started a revolution. Would we have blown up the British if we'd had the means? I don't know. The best we did was the Swamp Fox.
On a slightly less gruesome, but still puzzling note, we have now had two weeks of discussion of FDA oversight of tainted animal feed.
Tens of thousands of kids go hungry in this country alone every day, not to mention the millions around the world. Are we outraged?
What proportion of pets have health insurance? Hey, don't go all PEDA on me -- we ran in the Berkshire Humane Race with Moe and Duncan on Saturday. But the reality is that we watch kids living in conditions that would make a PEDA activist blanch and we don't do a darn thing. Maybe we should adopt some of their tactics and chain ourselves to schools and daycare centers until there's adequate funding and oversight.
We've now seen at least two if not three generations of kids stumble through failing inner city schools where violence competes with learning on a daily basis. Where's the outrage?
Just a thought.
Now certain things go without saying. I do not care that baby Dannielynn (or however the hell you spell the poor kid's name) is "home" in the U.S. Apparently we're supposed to have one hour specials on that so we can be sure to peer over her shoulder for the rest of her life.
No, I'm going to talk about something even more politically uncorrect. And I apologize in advance if someone who reads this is offended (which sort of goes against the principles of being "P.U." but then why not.)
Almost every day before, during and after the VT shootings, 32 people died in some city in Iraq. We don't even notice any more.
And then of course, there's Darfur.
When I pointed this out, someone said "Well, if you send your kid into the army, you expect that s/he will be in harm's way. but not when you send them to college."
True enough. But Iraqi parents send their kids to school, their spouses to work, their cousins to the grocery store. And they never come home.
In Darfur it's worse than that.
We won't get into a discussion of whether people who blow other people up in Iraq are patriots or madmen. It defies description. I don't understand it. We come from a people who started a revolution. Would we have blown up the British if we'd had the means? I don't know. The best we did was the Swamp Fox.
On a slightly less gruesome, but still puzzling note, we have now had two weeks of discussion of FDA oversight of tainted animal feed.
Tens of thousands of kids go hungry in this country alone every day, not to mention the millions around the world. Are we outraged?
What proportion of pets have health insurance? Hey, don't go all PEDA on me -- we ran in the Berkshire Humane Race with Moe and Duncan on Saturday. But the reality is that we watch kids living in conditions that would make a PEDA activist blanch and we don't do a darn thing. Maybe we should adopt some of their tactics and chain ourselves to schools and daycare centers until there's adequate funding and oversight.
We've now seen at least two if not three generations of kids stumble through failing inner city schools where violence competes with learning on a daily basis. Where's the outrage?
Just a thought.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
DON IMUS ET AL
I don't think you can HAVE a blog and not comment on Don Imus.
I guess I'm proud to say that I don't listen. Lots of my good friends are now telling me their reasons for listening. They don't wash.
He's been spewing this stuff for a while and everyone just went "wink, wink, nod, nod." It ain't OK.
The people at work in the lunchroom will tell you that I have been ranting about stuff like this for a long time. People will complain about how there's nothing on TV except stuff about Anna Nicole Smith's baby. I said, yes there is if you watch the Jim Lehrer show. So please don't tell me that you can't get away from Anna Nicole or OJ or Don. As Nancy Reagan would say "Just say NO!"
Every time we give this trash currency by discussing it at work, or not turning off the radio or TV, we give the media what it wants. An excuse to say "We're not responsible for this. It's what our readers/listeners/viewers want. We're just responding to public demand." We will leave the issue of whether they have any moral responsibility not to cater to this crud to another day. Today we're looking at our own responsibility for the ccntinuing stream of blather, innuendo and out and out racism, sexism, anti-Semitism, Muslim-bashing and everything else that passes for "news/entertainment" (we can't seem to distinguish between the two....) in this country.
IF we wonder why the tenor of civil discourse has become so degraded, we have only to look at the covers of People, Us Weekly and the tabloids. It's so much easier to worry about who's broken up with whom than whether we should be in Iraq or whether we're killing the planet. I know that stuff's boring, but trust me, you won't be bored when you have to stand in line at the Washington Zoo to see the last polar bear on the planet.
There are lots of ways to relax and enjoy life. But listening to trash talk and lowering the overall intelligence quotient of the American public don't qualify.
I guess I'm proud to say that I don't listen. Lots of my good friends are now telling me their reasons for listening. They don't wash.
He's been spewing this stuff for a while and everyone just went "wink, wink, nod, nod." It ain't OK.
The people at work in the lunchroom will tell you that I have been ranting about stuff like this for a long time. People will complain about how there's nothing on TV except stuff about Anna Nicole Smith's baby. I said, yes there is if you watch the Jim Lehrer show. So please don't tell me that you can't get away from Anna Nicole or OJ or Don. As Nancy Reagan would say "Just say NO!"
Every time we give this trash currency by discussing it at work, or not turning off the radio or TV, we give the media what it wants. An excuse to say "We're not responsible for this. It's what our readers/listeners/viewers want. We're just responding to public demand." We will leave the issue of whether they have any moral responsibility not to cater to this crud to another day. Today we're looking at our own responsibility for the ccntinuing stream of blather, innuendo and out and out racism, sexism, anti-Semitism, Muslim-bashing and everything else that passes for "news/entertainment" (we can't seem to distinguish between the two....) in this country.
IF we wonder why the tenor of civil discourse has become so degraded, we have only to look at the covers of People, Us Weekly and the tabloids. It's so much easier to worry about who's broken up with whom than whether we should be in Iraq or whether we're killing the planet. I know that stuff's boring, but trust me, you won't be bored when you have to stand in line at the Washington Zoo to see the last polar bear on the planet.
There are lots of ways to relax and enjoy life. But listening to trash talk and lowering the overall intelligence quotient of the American public don't qualify.
Saturday, March 31, 2007
TRUTH, JUSTICE AND THE AMERICAN WAY
Frankly, I can't believe that one of the "real" pundits out there didn't use this as a headline. Because doesn't that say it ALL?
I am one of those people old enough to remember when you were brought up to respect your country and even believe that George Washington threw a dollar across the Potomac. The cherry tree we were a little sketchy about but we got the point.
So if there's SOMETHING that defines the "American Way" it's JUSTICE. Rule of law. All those things that make us go teary when we see the Stars and Stripes. And the role of the Justice Department and the Attorney General is to help us get to the TRUTH on a national level. S/He is the lawyer for the country. When you hire an attorney, you expect to be told the truth. That's what you're paying them for.
So now we have this bozo who either is totally disconnected from what's going on (I don't think so...they guy has a degree from Harvard. He didn't just fall off the turnip truck) or is trying to make us all believe that the business of choosing US Attorneys is totally outside his purview. GIVE ME A BREAK.
During Watergate, one of the things we learned was that a working, functional Justice Department is one of the last bulwarks of liberty. Remember the Saturday Night Massacre? They eventually knocked off the good guys, but not before the good guys made sure that everyone knew what was going on. And Judge Sirica and the grand jury that named RMN an "unindicted coconspirator" was the beginning of the end.
So where will we get a Judge Sirica this time? How long will we have to let this travesty play out in the courts before someone admits that the emperor is buck naked?
Where is Martha Mitchell when you need her?
I am one of those people old enough to remember when you were brought up to respect your country and even believe that George Washington threw a dollar across the Potomac. The cherry tree we were a little sketchy about but we got the point.
So if there's SOMETHING that defines the "American Way" it's JUSTICE. Rule of law. All those things that make us go teary when we see the Stars and Stripes. And the role of the Justice Department and the Attorney General is to help us get to the TRUTH on a national level. S/He is the lawyer for the country. When you hire an attorney, you expect to be told the truth. That's what you're paying them for.
So now we have this bozo who either is totally disconnected from what's going on (I don't think so...they guy has a degree from Harvard. He didn't just fall off the turnip truck) or is trying to make us all believe that the business of choosing US Attorneys is totally outside his purview. GIVE ME A BREAK.
During Watergate, one of the things we learned was that a working, functional Justice Department is one of the last bulwarks of liberty. Remember the Saturday Night Massacre? They eventually knocked off the good guys, but not before the good guys made sure that everyone knew what was going on. And Judge Sirica and the grand jury that named RMN an "unindicted coconspirator" was the beginning of the end.
So where will we get a Judge Sirica this time? How long will we have to let this travesty play out in the courts before someone admits that the emperor is buck naked?
Where is Martha Mitchell when you need her?
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