Open Sky: Nikos' view

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I am going to vote for Barack Obama.
I am William "Papa" Meloney and I endorse this message.

Open Sky: One Future

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I am going to vote for Barack Obama.
I am William "Papa" Meloney and I endorse this message.

Open Collar, Green

This was borrowed from

Green Collar Blog

News and resources on green collar jobs

Green California Community Colleges Summit to Take Place October 8 - 9

On October 8 - 9, a conference entitled Green California Community Colleges Summit will take place at the Pasadena Convention Center. Some sessions at the conference will focus on themes relevant for green collar jobs, including "Educating the New Green Workforce" and "Meeting Current and Evolving Workforce Needs for the Green Economy."

For more information:

• Green California Community Colleges Summit - Home page
• Green California Community Colleges Summit - Registration

(Emphasis mine!)

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I am going to vote for Barack Obama.
I am William "Papa" Meloney and I endorse this message.

Open Questions

Daughter: Mom, can I have a beer?

Mother: No!

Daughter: Mom, can I have unprotected sex before I am married?

Mother: No!

Daughter: Well the Republican nominee for Vice President let her children... Why can't I?!?!?

Bringing new meaning to the phrase "Family Values" since August of 2008

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I am going to vote for Barack Obama.
I am William "Papa" Meloney and I endorse this message.

Open Retrospective: Part 1

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I am going to vote for Barack Obama.
I am William "Papa" Meloney and I endorse this message.

Open Green Jobs Opportunity

Excerpted from ...

It’s Getting Hot In Here

Dispatches from the Youth Climate Movement

Reporting from the Big Tent in Denver

Published by janosmarton, August 25th, 2008 global warming

. . .
Oakland area activist Van Jones wastes no time getting to the heart of how clean energy can be sold as a pragmatic solution in the current political climate, and he does so by tipping his hat to everyone’s favorite capitalist, Adam Smith.
. . .
Van’s second great skill, as you may have gathered, is an oratorical eloquence that takes a somewhat stilted phrase- “green collar economy” – and keeps it lively until you’ve heard it out.
. . .
Van concluded that the first political step is to acknowledge that “government today is on the side of the problem, providing tax credits to polluters, the Pentagon and the prison system- we need to incentive the problem solvers who use the wind and the sun.” There is nothing radical here. For those in the activist community who have felt beaten back for so long, know that you aren’t just on the side of social responsibility and justice. You’re also on the side of common sense, any way you spin it.

Green Jobs Now!

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I am going to vote for Barack Obama.
I am William "Papa" Meloney and I endorse this message.

Open Hope, Open Change

It is my greatest hope and my worst fear that the United States of America will choose its next leader. As a staunch supporter of democracy I believe in the will of the people expressed in the electoral process. I recognize that the democratic process is essentially one of balance and compromise. I acknowledge that the will of the people, no matter how close or distant from my own, is the best democratic resolve. So in that closeness or distance lies both my greatest hopes and my worst fears.

Of my fellow country people I can make only one observation; we are fickle. As the election approaches self-interested power brokers will temporarily drive fuel (gas and heating) prices down toward the $3.25 range. My fellow Americans will all shout hoo-rah that prices are sooooo low - easily forgetting the BILLIONS of dollars of profits BIG Business has taken from our food budgets, from our prescription drug budgets, from our ever diminishing quality of life budgets.

PEW Research reports...

The vast majority of self-identified middle class workers (89% overall) are either completely or mostly satisfied with their job. These high levels of job satisfaction registered by virtually all types of workers demonstrate that worries about employment in the future doesn't translate directly into dissatisfaction with the current job. Among workers who are worried about job loss or cutbacks of benefits or wages, eight-in-ten report high job satisfaction. Variations in job satisfaction by demographic groups within the middle class are quite small. There is no real difference between male and female workers and few differences based on age. In terms of income, 81% of workers in families with incomes below $30,000 are satisfied with their jobs, as are 92% of those in families with incomes above $100,000. Finally, 89% of blacks express job satisfaction, while the figure is 90% for whites and 88% for Hispanics. Middle class workers are not unique in their high levels of job satisfaction: 91% of upper class workers are either completely or mostly satisfied with their jobs, as are 78% of lower class workers.

(Emphasis mine.)

"...worries about employment in the future doesn't translate directly into dissatisfaction with the current job." Truer words were never let slip by any professional politician, lawyer, snake oil sales person or the current president of the United States of America. Middle class Americans are ecstatic that they have any job at all right now - let alone one that might offer any additional satisfaction. In other words fickle America will be susceptible to political line: Don't threaten your current well being by voting for my opponent.

So there is a very real possibility that the democratic electoral process will prevail and that we will have 4 more years of fear. We will continue to have record unemployment. We will insist on sacrificing our national treasures - our sons and daughters as well as our pristine wilderness - to feed our addiction to oil.

All of that being said I am turning my attention and energies away from the current sound-bite battles between figure heads. Instead I will be lending my voice to WORKing alternatives. I believe that work, working responsibly is the way to make this country great. Responsible work means through personal initiative contributing to the health and welfare of this nation. Responsible work means not furthering the detrimental affects of those systems that brought us to this crisis. Responsible work allows responsible people to flourish.

Let responsibility beget responsibility.

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I am going to vote for Barack Obama.
I am William "Papa" Meloney and I endorse this message.

Open Abhorrence : Alaska's dirty little secret

Alaska's dirty little secret... needs to be spread far and wide.

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I am going to vote for Barack Obama.
I am William "Papa" Meloney and I endorse this message.

Open Inquery: Is this image real or photochopped?

VPOTUS, I think not!

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I am going to vote for Barack Obama.
I am William "Papa" Meloney and I endorse this message.

Open Intrigue

What is John McCain to do?

Either Mrs. "Not-So-Plain-And-Simple" Sarah Palin is the heretofore unheard of Golden Child or ... she will likely be the last nail in McCain's coffin. Certainly the Republican party faithful have reservations about the possibility of elevating her to POTUS. Most assuredly the everyperson Republican cannot be so blinded by Mrs. Palin's glossy verneer as to not recognize a true political liability.

What McPains me the most is that the Republican party moved from the realm of historical venerability to a sordid adult version of video game buffoonery. How could McCain's handlers allowed such a monumental gaff? Or is this the kind of direction Leadership we can expect from the Republicans if by some miraculous turn of fate they actually attain the Oval Office.

I know that the next time I am assailed by my Republican acquaintances imploring me to reconsider my Obama stance I will have to do nothing more than whisper the name of McCain's venerable VP choice - and try not to laugh out loud.

So, what's a McCain to do?

What if "Troopergate" is the icing on Sarah's going-away cake? From under which stone will McCain's handlers try to pull another rabbit? Or perhaps, just perhaps wiser Republican heads will prevail and Romney or Pawlenty might be willing to be reconsidered. (Once burned, twice shy?)

What's a McCain to do?

Time to put on your Happy Face, polish up your rhetoric, stand by your choice... and face the music.

Or, you could... try and McExplain her away like a previous marriage and try again.

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I am going to vote for Barack Obama.
I am William "Papa" Meloney and I endorse this message.

Open Assurance

I was asked, honestly, if I thought Jon Stewart or Robert Colbert were really Republicans?

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I am going to vote for Barack Obama.
I am William "Papa" Meloney and I endorse this message.

Open Assessment: "Its a pretty cool job..."

I am more frightened than I have ever been in my life, our country stands at the brink...

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I am going to vote for Barack Obama.
I am William "Papa" Meloney and I endorse this message.

Open Invite: For a good time call...

Anecdotal Evidence

A blog about the intersection of books and life.

Thursday, August 28, 2008

`Life is Not Like That'

. . .

Elizabeth Bishop reports a similar honesty and taste in her friend Marianne Moore:

“Sometimes we went to movies together, to Kon-Tiki twice, I recall. I never attempted to lure her to any dramatic or `artistic’ films. Since Dr. and Mrs. Sibley Watson were her dearest friends, she must have seen his early experimental films, such as Lot in Sodom. I heard the sad story of two young men, however, who when they discovered that she had never seen Eisenstein’s Potemkin insisted on taking her. There was a short before Potemkin, a Walt Disney film; this was when the Disney films still had charm and humor. After the movie they went to tea and Marianne talked at length and in detail about the ingenuity of the Disney film, and nothing more. Finally they asked her what she had thought of Potemkin. Her opinion was brief but conclusive: `Life,’ she said, `is not like that.’”

Thank you Patrick Kurp for wonderful and insightful Intersections of books and life.

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I am going to vote for Barack Obama.
I am William "Papa" Meloney and I endorse this message.

Open Conundrum: Sincerity or Parody?

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I am going to vote for Barack Obama.
I am William "Papa" Meloney and I endorse this message.

Open Clean Energy: We Deserve It!

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I am going to vote for Barack Obama.
I am William "Papa" Meloney and I endorse this message.

Open Suffering of fools gladly (?)

A healthy male adult bore consumes each year one and a half times his own weight in other people's patience.

-- John Updike

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I am going to vote for Barack Obama.
I am William "Papa" Meloney and I endorse this message.

Open Censure: Ladies Pro Goof Ass.

The New York Times reports...

Concerned about its appeal to sponsors, the women’s professional golf tour, which in recent years has been dominated by foreign-born players, has warned its members that they must become conversant in English by 2009 or face suspension.

Concerned about their share of the profits, never mind the integrity of the players.

“We live in a sports-entertainment environment,” said Libba Galloway, the deputy commissioner of the tour, the Ladies Professional Golf Association. “For an athlete to be successful today in the sports entertainment world we live in, they need to be great performers on and off the course, and being able to communicate effectively with sponsors and fans is a big part of this.

Never mind said athlete can play golf well.

“Being a U.S.-based tour, and with the majority of our fan base, pro-am contestants, sponsors and participants being English speaking, we think it is important for our players to effectively communicate in English.”

'We want to insure that those fur-iners stop beatin' us up and takin' our lunch money... Hellfire, iffen they cain't talk good English then I says they shou'n't be allowed ta play at all. Sheeeesh, cain't unnerstan a word they says.'

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I am going to vote for Barack Obama.
I am William "Papa" Meloney and I endorse this message.

Open Endorsement: Strange Bedfellows

Politics: the game where you start out cutting your opponent's throat and end up getting in bed with him.

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I am going to vote for Barack Obama.
I am William "Papa" Meloney and I endorse this message.

Open Affirmation: Yes We Can!

Yes we can!

Those three words constitute the perfect campaign slogan. As a signature phrase it conveys a sense of optimism, unity and achievement. In its personal familiarity it resonates deeply. Its upbeat tone promotes a feeling of well being. As a firm assertion it carries the full weight and measure of a promises offered and kept.

It begins with the absolute affirmation, "Yes". This is the ultimate feel-good word. This is the word that we most want to hear. In its affirmation it gives permission by categorically refuting the implied historical put-down, "You can't do that." Permission in turn provides the ethical foundation for empowerment.

Literally, "We" are in the middle. "We" is the unifying element bringing everyone together. "We" can also be used self-referentially (the Royal "we") allowing individuals to be invested up-close-and-personal with positive empowerment. It should also be noted that from a political governance perspective "We" is shorthand for "We, the people, in order to form a more perfect union..."

"Can" is the very heart of promise. Simultaneously "can" denotes that we have knowledge, ability, power and that we have the right to use them. It implies that we are capable as well as suitably resourced or provisioned to meet the coming challenge. In this instance "can" is used as a synonym for "may". The more proper "may" gives us (we) formal permission to aspire and achieve.

Yes we can!

However, it promises everything and delivers nothing.

We feel good, we have the ability and we have permission. To do what?

Yes I will!

Yes I will accept personal responsibility for...
improving my health
improving my diet
reducing my carbon foot print

Yes I will affect positive change in my community.

Yes I will vote for Barack Obama.

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I am going to vote for Barack Obama.
I am William "Papa" Meloney and I endorse this message.

Open Sacrifice

The poor make sacrifices by default.

Unable to afford rising heating fuel prices means that thermostats are turned down. Higher food costs require "adjustments" in dietary standards. Difficult decisions are required when the cost of prescription drugs are balanced against the overall price of health care. Driving habits are severely modified in light of excessive gas costs. Luxury items like dinner and a movie don't come into the equation. Just getting by as the status quo is even more pressing.

The poor have never been irresponsible spenders.

As a single income family in a two income society we have always worked to meet our debt obligations. We insist on paying our bills on time. I believe that we like the vast majority are fiscally responsible. The fact that we have limited and finite money resources means that we must make sacrifices by default to remain in economic good standing.

Neither major party presidential candidate, or any candidate can significantly alter this fact. So all of the promises and rhetoric becomes just so much political tripe. Professionals jousting and positioning for the coming election - the process of enthroning the next leader.

So the sacrifices that must be made, and the promises that must be kept, are not for the short term good. We as a country must make larger sacrifices for the good of our future. We as a country must make and keep promises that will further the good of our nation.

What then are the sacrifices that we must make?

First and foremost we must sacrifice the misplaced belief that we are the superpower, that we are superior to all others. Next we must sacrifice the belief of entitlement that goes along with such superiority. In such a sacrifice, which will cost us nothing, we must realize that we must work to achieve our desired ends. We must realize that government alone is not responsible for our overall well being.

By establishing ourselves in the truth of our situation we will recognize that individual initiative at the grassroots level is our real promise. To that end we must ask not what our government will do for us but what we will do for ourselves.

If we wish to excel then as individuals we must ascribe to excellence. We must recognize the truth of our situation and strive as individuals to make our country better. This is easily attainable by simply seeing our own great wealth instead of berating our nation for our personal failures.

We must sacrifice our illusion of greatness for the reality of our true value.

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I am going to vote for Barack Obama.
I am William "Papa" Meloney and I endorse this message.