Inauguration Day

Inauguration Day.

For the last several weeks as the nation has been building up to this event, I found myself wondering why we were making such a fuss. I couldn't understand the national FERVOR.

But then, I'm a Canadian white woman living in the US who has had every privilege available to me from the time that I was very young. To me, President Obama was the best man for the job. The fact that he was black was irrelevant. Skin colour doesn't matter to me because frankly, I am never forced to think about it. Being white, I realize that I have that luxury. My life experiences concerning race must vastly differ from a forty two year old African American woman's and I suppose that is why this day is so significant. It breathes the promise of real social change in this country.

I am thrilled that Barack Obama was elected. I believe he will restore dignity to the White House. For me, his inauguration firmly closes the regretful, head-shaking, debilitating chapter in American history that was the Bush presidency. And I will sleep better tonight knowing President Obama is at the helm.

President Obama

I am in Las Vegas on business right now and the days are crazy long but I wanted to take a few moments to say hello.

And breathe a sigh of relief.

President Obama. Sounds right.

I was very impressed with how gracious Senator McCain was in his concession speech. Even though I do not agree with most of his politics, I respect his passion for and his dedication to this country. I felt a twinge of something unidentifiable witnessing the end of the era he embodied.

But I didn't dwell long because for the first time in eight years, I believe that there is hope.

Prop-a-gan-da

prop·a·gan·da
-noun
1. information, ideas, or rumors deliberately spread widely to help or harm a person, group, movement, institution, nation, etc.
2. the deliberate spreading of such information, rumors, etc.
3. the particular doctrines or principles propagated by an organization or movement.

It's no surprise that the GOP smear machine has kicked into high gear now that Obama has secured the Democratic nomination. We've all seen it in action before and thankfully, you can log on to a website that Obama's team has put together to refute the nonsense.

Unfortunately, current times demand this kind of proactive approach to campaign management. With people like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity out there regularly discussing rumour and innuendo as if it were verified, factual material and a general population that can be made to believe anything if they hear it enough (think: non-existent link between Saddam Hussein and Al Queda), it is essential to engage in a defensive campaign strategy.

I'm sure that as November nears, we will hear more propaganda about Obama's supposed Muslim connection. Oooh, how scary. Muslim. Which is beyond ridiculous. Besides the fact that he isn't Muslim, we'd have to clean up all of those nut jobs sacrificing chickens and speaking in tongues to Jesus Christ before we pointed fingers and spat, "radical".

I saw a headline the other day that said, "IS AMERICA READY FOR A BLACK PRESIDENT". Well, we were ready four years ago to elect a functionally illiterate cowboy with a Napoleon complex and an itchy trigger finger. What could possibly be worse? Blackness? I understand that there is a segment of the population that will not vote for this man because of the colour of his skin but it seems that the consciousness of America might be progressing. Just the other day, the conservative Supreme Court gave the suspected terrorists in Gitmo the right to challenge their detention. Perhaps we are finally pulling our collective heads out of our asses.

So, as November approaches and the propaganda escalates, check out the link below and share with some friends.

http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/fightthesmearshome/

You Don't Say...

This was the headline for a story on one of the news blogs that I read.

Truth was first US casualty in Iraq war: study

Ummm...DUH! I understand that Clinton had a chameleon's approach to the truth but how can one compare a blow job and creative cigar use in the White House to the disaster that is the Bush II presidency?

I have one question: Where is Osama bin Laden? I mean, shoot, Saddam Hussein was found in about two seconds buried in a bloody hole in the ground. It's been over six years since we invaded Afghanistan. Every time there's a White House press briefing, someone ought to ask, "Where is Osama bin Laden?"

"Hey Condi? Any word on Osama?"

"Yo, Mr. Chertoff. How's the hunt for Osama coming along?"

"Mr. President. See Osama Run. Run Osama Run. Find Osama George."

I can tell you where Osama isn't: Iran or North Korea. And I know this even without getting those super duper top secret national security briefings every morning that George Dubya apparently doesn't bother to read (probably because they use big words like, "classified" and "nuclear" GAH!). Here's a hint. Try looking in the desert or mountains of Afghanistan. Osama shouldn't be too hard to find. He'll be the really tall guy hooked up to an effing dialysis machine.

Jesus.

Here's the rest of the article from the Agence France-Presse (AFP)

US President George W. Bush and his top officials ran roughshod over the truth in the run-up to the Iraq war lying a total of 935 times, a study released Wednesday found.

Bush and his then secretary of state Colin Powell made the most false statements as they sought to drum up support for the March 2003 invasion to topple Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, the study alleged.

In a damning report, the Center for Public Integrity found "935 false statements by eight top administration officials that mentioned Iraq's possession of weapons of mass destruction, or links to Al-Qaeda, on at least 532 separate occasions."

"Bush and seven of his administration's top officials methodically propagated erroneous information over the two years beginning on September 11, 2001," the center said.

"These false statements dramatically increased in August 2002, just prior to congressional consideration of a war resolution and during the critical weeks in early 2003 when the president delivered his State of the Union address and Powell delivered his memorable presentation to the UN Security Council," the CPI added.

The study calls into question "the repeated assertions of Bush administration officials that they were merely the unwitting victims of bad intelligence," it added in a statement.

The US president was found to have made the most false statements referring a total of 260 times to Iraq's supposed weapons of mass destruction and Al-Qaeda alleged links to the Baghdad regime.

But then-secretary of state Powell only just lagged behind with 254 false communications, said the study by the center's founder Charles Lewis and researchers.

Charges that late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein had stockpiled an arsenal of weapons of mass destruction were the main argument used publicly in parliaments around the world and in the United Nations to justify the US-led invasion.

But after the invasion they turned out to be untrue, when no weapons of mass destruction were found by the invading forces.

Former national security advisor Condoleezza Rice, then defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and ex-deputy defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz were also fingered in the study, along with former White House press secretaries Ari Fleisher and Scott McClellan.

"This is a report like no other, which calls into question more than 900 false statements that were the underpinnings of the administration's case for war," argued the CPI's Executive Director Bill Buzenberg.

Cheney, for example, on August 26, 2002, in an address to the Veterans of Foreign Wars national convention, asserted: "Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction.

"There is no doubt he is amassing them to use against our friends, against our allies, and against us."

Former CIA chief George Tenet later noted Cheney's assertions exceeded his agency's assessments at the time, the report said.

In late September 2002, Bush with a congressional vote approaching on authorizing the use of military force in Iraq, insisted in a radio address that the Baghdad regime posed a global threat.

"The Iraqi regime possesses biological and chemical weapons, is rebuilding the facilities to make more and, according to the British government, could launch a biological or chemical attack in as little as 45 minutes after the order is given," Bush said.

"This regime is seeking a nuclear bomb, and with fissile material could build one within a year."

Other administration officials muddied the waters on the alleged relationship between Iraq and the Al-Qaeda terror network, the CPI said.

Asked in July 2002 if Iraq had relationships with Al-Qaeda terrorists, Rumsfeld said: "Sure."

Still, an assessment the same month by the Defense Intelligence Agency, confirmed by later by CIA chief Tenet, found an absence of any "compelling evidence demonstrating direct cooperation between the government of Iraq and Al-Qaeda."

Uncle Sam Wants Michael

Yesterday, I walked into work like it was any other day. I dropped the kids off with Laura (we carpool) and had the music jacked on my way in. There is nothing like a little "Jet" to start the day off right and after the heavy breather at the crack of dawn, I needed music that didn't require effort to appreciate.

I usually arrive to work somewhere around 7:15 am and I absolutely love this time to myself. I plunk down at my desk, plug in my laptop, plug in my iPod, answer email and plan my day for the next thirty minutes. I have a travel mug full of hot, perfectly brewed, Tim Horton's coffee and sometimes, if email is light, I get the chance to skim my blogroll. It is the most peace one can get outside of the bathroom.

Today, Michael came in early, which was out of the ordinary. This was his first day back from a week long holiday at the beach. He and his wife, Laura are close friends of mine and they generously took my son on vacation with them. Our boys are very tight and our daughters have been best friends since they were in diapers. I love these people.

I started to give Michael a hard time about something and he ambled down the hallway telling me to come to his office to discuss. I walked in and he was clearly preoccupied. I started teasing him about how his office looks like crap and how he ought to get a lamp or a plant or a PULSE to warm it up. He replied,

"It doesn't matter, now. I got called up this weekend." I looked at him, not comprehending what he was telling me.

"Wha...what?"

"I got my orders. I have to report for duty October 1st."

Michael is National Guard Reserve. We've all been dodging the inevitability of this day for the past five years. The shock of hearing him say it out loud surprised me. I felt my eyes start to fill and I excused myself so I wouldn't embarrass either one of us. I also recognized the first, unconscious stirrings of unadulterated, it's-not-fair rage and decided that expressing those emotions wouldn't do anyone any good.

When I got myself composed, we talked through it. Later, I watched as he walked to the president's office to break the news. He was remarkably stoic. I couldn't seem to shake the sick feeling I had in the pit of my stomach. It wasn't fear or apprehension though. It was this mismash of non specific ick.

Just before leaving for the day, I walked out into our hallway and I could hear Michael tap, tap, tapping his pencil on his desk. He was on the phone when suddenly, he broke out into his trademark laugh which is infectious, loud and genuine. It was then that I finally understood. That unidentified thing I was feeling was sadness.

I'm going to miss him.

Terribly.

Fireworks, history and a short political rant

Today is the fourth of July. We celebrate the time when our forefathers sent the British and their poor dental hygiene back to the cold, wet shores of Europe. We knew how to tax people all by ourselves and we were damn sure not going to hand over any more of the booty to the king, especially since he was such a despot.



In any case, the Declaration of Independence was adopted by congress on July 4, 1776 and soon thereafter, the thirteen colonies decided to form a more perfect union.



This past week, with the approaching holiday, my email was deluged with quasi-patriotic propoganda because apparently, this occasion now belongs to the military. Under normal circumstances, I would avoid any political talk but I just felt compelled to comment. This holiday commemorates a nation's basic right to self-determination from an occupying force. Hmmm...



When you look back on our history, we have a few blemishes:

• We didn't get into WWII until the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and to retaliate, we dropped not one, but two H bombs on a country the size of Montana. Talk about overkill.


• Korean War: The US and the Soviet Union, as occupation forces, carve up a country into two halves after WWII and then proceed to fight each other for control of the Korean Peninsula. Essentially, it became a civil war that we helped to engineer. We called it a "police action". China got involved, the UN got involved and everyone built underground bunkers in anticipation of the coming nuclear war. How was it that this conflict helped to secure my freedom at home?


• Vietnam: Civil war and the communist ideology were seen as a big enough domestic threat that thousands of men and women were sent over to this jungle to die. This one was also officially called a police action. Again, I wonder how it is that this conflict helped to secure my freedom at home.

I have no problem with soldiers fighting any type of force that would try to invade and occupy America. Heck, I'd be out there on the front lines with everyone else. I love this country. What bothers me is when we send the men and women of our military to far flung places to fight ideological wars. They die over there. They are somebody's son or daughter, someone's husband, wife, mother, father, friend...and they die. They also kill. It is their job.

Now I just have to wonder what happens to the emotional fabric of a young boy or girl who is a native in one of those far flung places and who loses everything to the war. How do they view us? What is their opinion of us as they grow and mature and attend school? Will they hate us? If they do, it won't be because they "hate what we stand for". This is a completely ignorant soundbite that has shamefully been used to summarize the Arab/American issues. It ranks right up there with speaking about the invasion of Iraq and the tragedy of 9/11 in the same sentence.

I think about this because I wonder if my kids will be okay in the future as they travel on their American passports. Will they ever be safe outside of Canada or the US? Will the sons and daughters of the "collateral damage" in Afganistan and Iraq seek revenge? Have we already unwittingly planted the seeds that will bloom into future terrorists?

I know many of you will suck air through your teeth, shake your head and want tell my liberal, pinko, commie, Canadian ass to head back north. I understand those feelings. Remember, though, that I am the mother of two American children and just this once, I'd like to teach them about the principles upon which this country was founded without the polluted rhetoric of the new breed of spin doctor. I think that as they navigate their lives, they will need to recall that there was a time when America was the under dog. I hope it humbles them, tempers their opinions and helps them to be tolerant and respectful. If not, I will force them to drink tea and watch hours upon hours of Monty Python.