Monday, December 01, 2008
Friday, November 14, 2008
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
New York Times Columnist - Thomas Friedman
Friedman's writing and his Civil War
November 5, 2008
Op-Ed Columnist
Finishing Our Work
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
And so it came to pass that on Nov. 4, 2008, shortly after 11 p.m. Eastern time, the American Civil War ended, as a black man — Barack Hussein Obama — won enough electoral votes to become president of the United States.
A civil war that, in many ways, began at Bull Run, Virginia, on July 21, 1861, ended 147 years later via a ballot box in the very same state. For nothing more symbolically illustrated the final chapter of America’s Civil War than the fact that the Commonwealth of Virginia — the state that once exalted slavery and whose secession from the Union in 1861 gave the Confederacy both strategic weight and its commanding general — voted Democratic, thus assuring that Barack Obama would become the 44th president of the United States.
This moment was necessary, for despite a century of civil rights legislation, judicial interventions and social activism — despite Brown v. Board of Education, Martin Luther King’s I-have-a-dream crusade and the 1964 Civil Rights Act — the Civil War could never truly be said to have ended until America’s white majority actually elected an African-American as president.
That is what happened Tuesday night and that is why we awake this morning to a different country. The struggle for equal rights is far from over, but we start afresh now from a whole new baseline. Let every child and every citizen and every new immigrant know that from this day forward everything really is possible in America.
How did Obama pull it off? To be sure, it probably took a once-in-a-century economic crisis to get enough white people to vote for a black man. And to be sure, Obama’s better organization, calm manner, mellifluous speaking style and unthreatening message of “change” all served him well.
But there also may have been something of a “Buffett effect” that countered the supposed “Bradley effect” — white voters telling pollsters they’d vote for Obama but then voting for the white guy. The Buffett effect was just the opposite. It was white conservatives telling the guys in the men’s grill at the country club that they were voting for John McCain, but then quietly going into the booth and voting for Obama, even though they knew it would mean higher taxes.
Why? Some did it because they sensed how inspired and hopeful their kids were about an Obama presidency, and they not only didn’t want to dash those hopes, they secretly wanted to share them. Others intuitively embraced Warren Buffett’s view that if you are rich and successful today, it is first and foremost because you were lucky enough to be born in America at this time — and never forget that. So, we need to get back to fixing our country — we need a president who can unify us for nation-building at home.
And somewhere they also knew that after the abysmal performance of the Bush team, there had to be consequences for the Republican Party. Electing McCain now would have, in some way, meant rewarding incompetence. It would have made a mockery of accountability in government and unleashed a wave of cynicism in America that would have been deeply corrosive.
Obama will always be our first black president. But can he be one of our few great presidents? He is going to have his chance because our greatest presidents are those who assumed the office at some of our darkest hours and at the bottom of some of our deepest holes.
“Taking office at a time of crisis doesn’t guarantee greatness, but it can be an occasion for it,” argued the Harvard University political philosopher Michael Sandel. “That was certainly the case with Lincoln, F.D.R. and Truman.” Part of F.D.R.’s greatness, though, “was that he gradually wove a new governing political philosophy — the New Deal — out of the rubble and political disarray of the economic depression he inherited.” Obama will need to do the same, but these things take time.
“F.D.R. did not run on the New Deal in 1932,” said Sandel. “He ran on balancing the budget. Like Obama, he did not take office with a clearly articulated governing philosophy. He arrived with a confident, activist spirit and experimented. Not until 1936 did we have a presidential campaign about the New Deal. What Obama’s equivalent will be, even he doesn’t know. It will emerge as he grapples with the economy, energy and America’s role in the world. These challenges are so great that he will only succeed if he is able to articulate a new politics of the common good.”
Bush & Co. did not believe that government could be an instrument of the common good. They neutered their cabinet secretaries and appointed hacks to big jobs. For them, pursuit of the common good was all about pursuit of individual self-interest. Voters rebelled against that. But there was also a rebellion against a traditional Democratic version of the common good — that it is simply the sum of all interest groups clamoring for their share.
“In this election, the American public rejected these narrow notions of the common good,” argued Sandel. “Most people now accept that unfettered markets don’t serve the public good. Markets generate abundance, but they can also breed excessive insecurity and risk. Even before the financial meltdown, we’ve seen a massive shift of risk from corporations to the individual. Obama will have to reinvent government as an instrument of the common good — to regulate markets, to protect citizens against the risks of unemployment and ill health, to invest in energy independence.”
But a new politics of the common good can’t be only about government and markets. “It must also be about a new patriotism — about what it means to be a citizen,” said Sandel. “This is the deepest chord Obama’s campaign evoked. The biggest applause line in his stump speech was the one that said every American will have a chance to go to college provided he or she performs a period of national service — in the military, in the Peace Corps or in the community. Obama’s campaign tapped a dormant civic idealism, a hunger among Americans to serve a cause greater than themselves, a yearning to be citizens again.”
None of this will be easy. But my gut tells me that of all the changes that will be ushered in by an Obama presidency, breaking with our racial past may turn out to be the least of them. There is just so much work to be done. The Civil War is over. Let reconstruction begin.
Link to article: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/05/opinion/05friedman.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
November 5, 2008
Op-Ed Columnist
Finishing Our Work
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
And so it came to pass that on Nov. 4, 2008, shortly after 11 p.m. Eastern time, the American Civil War ended, as a black man — Barack Hussein Obama — won enough electoral votes to become president of the United States.
A civil war that, in many ways, began at Bull Run, Virginia, on July 21, 1861, ended 147 years later via a ballot box in the very same state. For nothing more symbolically illustrated the final chapter of America’s Civil War than the fact that the Commonwealth of Virginia — the state that once exalted slavery and whose secession from the Union in 1861 gave the Confederacy both strategic weight and its commanding general — voted Democratic, thus assuring that Barack Obama would become the 44th president of the United States.
This moment was necessary, for despite a century of civil rights legislation, judicial interventions and social activism — despite Brown v. Board of Education, Martin Luther King’s I-have-a-dream crusade and the 1964 Civil Rights Act — the Civil War could never truly be said to have ended until America’s white majority actually elected an African-American as president.
That is what happened Tuesday night and that is why we awake this morning to a different country. The struggle for equal rights is far from over, but we start afresh now from a whole new baseline. Let every child and every citizen and every new immigrant know that from this day forward everything really is possible in America.
How did Obama pull it off? To be sure, it probably took a once-in-a-century economic crisis to get enough white people to vote for a black man. And to be sure, Obama’s better organization, calm manner, mellifluous speaking style and unthreatening message of “change” all served him well.
But there also may have been something of a “Buffett effect” that countered the supposed “Bradley effect” — white voters telling pollsters they’d vote for Obama but then voting for the white guy. The Buffett effect was just the opposite. It was white conservatives telling the guys in the men’s grill at the country club that they were voting for John McCain, but then quietly going into the booth and voting for Obama, even though they knew it would mean higher taxes.
Why? Some did it because they sensed how inspired and hopeful their kids were about an Obama presidency, and they not only didn’t want to dash those hopes, they secretly wanted to share them. Others intuitively embraced Warren Buffett’s view that if you are rich and successful today, it is first and foremost because you were lucky enough to be born in America at this time — and never forget that. So, we need to get back to fixing our country — we need a president who can unify us for nation-building at home.
And somewhere they also knew that after the abysmal performance of the Bush team, there had to be consequences for the Republican Party. Electing McCain now would have, in some way, meant rewarding incompetence. It would have made a mockery of accountability in government and unleashed a wave of cynicism in America that would have been deeply corrosive.
Obama will always be our first black president. But can he be one of our few great presidents? He is going to have his chance because our greatest presidents are those who assumed the office at some of our darkest hours and at the bottom of some of our deepest holes.
“Taking office at a time of crisis doesn’t guarantee greatness, but it can be an occasion for it,” argued the Harvard University political philosopher Michael Sandel. “That was certainly the case with Lincoln, F.D.R. and Truman.” Part of F.D.R.’s greatness, though, “was that he gradually wove a new governing political philosophy — the New Deal — out of the rubble and political disarray of the economic depression he inherited.” Obama will need to do the same, but these things take time.
“F.D.R. did not run on the New Deal in 1932,” said Sandel. “He ran on balancing the budget. Like Obama, he did not take office with a clearly articulated governing philosophy. He arrived with a confident, activist spirit and experimented. Not until 1936 did we have a presidential campaign about the New Deal. What Obama’s equivalent will be, even he doesn’t know. It will emerge as he grapples with the economy, energy and America’s role in the world. These challenges are so great that he will only succeed if he is able to articulate a new politics of the common good.”
Bush & Co. did not believe that government could be an instrument of the common good. They neutered their cabinet secretaries and appointed hacks to big jobs. For them, pursuit of the common good was all about pursuit of individual self-interest. Voters rebelled against that. But there was also a rebellion against a traditional Democratic version of the common good — that it is simply the sum of all interest groups clamoring for their share.
“In this election, the American public rejected these narrow notions of the common good,” argued Sandel. “Most people now accept that unfettered markets don’t serve the public good. Markets generate abundance, but they can also breed excessive insecurity and risk. Even before the financial meltdown, we’ve seen a massive shift of risk from corporations to the individual. Obama will have to reinvent government as an instrument of the common good — to regulate markets, to protect citizens against the risks of unemployment and ill health, to invest in energy independence.”
But a new politics of the common good can’t be only about government and markets. “It must also be about a new patriotism — about what it means to be a citizen,” said Sandel. “This is the deepest chord Obama’s campaign evoked. The biggest applause line in his stump speech was the one that said every American will have a chance to go to college provided he or she performs a period of national service — in the military, in the Peace Corps or in the community. Obama’s campaign tapped a dormant civic idealism, a hunger among Americans to serve a cause greater than themselves, a yearning to be citizens again.”
None of this will be easy. But my gut tells me that of all the changes that will be ushered in by an Obama presidency, breaking with our racial past may turn out to be the least of them. There is just so much work to be done. The Civil War is over. Let reconstruction begin.
Link to article: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/05/opinion/05friedman.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Friday, October 31, 2008
Happy Halloween 2008
Posing for pictures after the Hope Preschool (yellow birds) Halloween parade!
She's obsessed with Tigers ever since Bruce joined Tiger Den
Bruce does the Ironman pose whether he's in costume or not :)
Sitting with Daddy's pouty pumpkin
The Hope Preschool, Yellow Birds, Halloween parade (Addie's portion anyway, poor thing was sick and fell behind )
First house they wanted to trick r treat at! Only house Addie enjoyed :( The threes are tough!
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Best Halloween Cookies EVER!
Pumpkin Chocolate-Chip Cookies
Ingredients:
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups chocolate chips*
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
Directions: Combine pumpkin, sugar, vegetable oil, and egg. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, ground cinnamon, and salt. Dissolve the baking soda with the milk and stir into flour mixture. Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture and blend well. Add vanilla, chocolate chips and nuts. Drop by spoonful on greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for approximately 10 minutes or until lightly brown and firm.* This recipe is good with both semi-sweet or milk-chocolate chips. However, we tried it with white chocolate chips and it was fabulous.
Ingredients:
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups chocolate chips*
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
Directions: Combine pumpkin, sugar, vegetable oil, and egg. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, ground cinnamon, and salt. Dissolve the baking soda with the milk and stir into flour mixture. Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture and blend well. Add vanilla, chocolate chips and nuts. Drop by spoonful on greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for approximately 10 minutes or until lightly brown and firm.* This recipe is good with both semi-sweet or milk-chocolate chips. However, we tried it with white chocolate chips and it was fabulous.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Addie sleeping, New pink poncho, and First adult dress!
She is sooo sweet! I love cuddling her in the afternoons and having her fall asleep with me. 
Simple pink poncho my sewing instructor taught me to make. Addie didn't like it at first but then everyone that saw it, told her how beautiful she is in it, so now she loves it! :) Next is a fleece jacket with a zipper for Bruce, it is so tough to find good boys patterns! They are all for girls...
My very first dress for myself! Those armholes are still a pain, but I love the dress and wear it with tights and black clogs. Looks wonderful!Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Happy Birthday Grandma B!
Rehearsals went better than taping :) They got shy on me......which is HARDLY ever the case! Hope you have a wonderful birthday!
Pumpkinville - Addie's first field trip! 2008
Getting ready for the field trip....the sleeves were the WORST! So tiny and hard to center under the needle...I'm sure there is a trick out there, but I don't know what it is yet!
We were fortunate to see two 30 minute old baby goats!
You can tell they were just born...
Girls day out!
the dress..
Because of Tiger Den, Addie loves all tigers :)
Yellow Birds 2008
So beautiful! Sunday, October 12, 2008
Ganner's Bag
The world is hers...the Tiger Den shirt is Bruce's (she took it) and then she decided Ganner's bag is her bag. Rotten Rotten Rotten. I love her little spirit!Getting ready for Christmas...
Bruce pushed the pedal for the hems and Addie wound and threaded the bobbin! 
Hi Ya, they pass the Tiger Den test!
The 'not on sale' sale fabric I purchased at Walmart..long story :(Tuesday, October 07, 2008
What our family looks like at one of Danny's band competitions...
Danny and Mitchell relax after the competition.
Daddy is under the bleachers, searching for a flip flop or a favorite Harry Potter pencil, etc...Mommy takes the pictures....
Bruce acts like Iron Man
Bruce acts like Iron ManAddie dances and dances and dances....
And Danny provides the music...where is the video you ask? Again, it wouldn't load. That's why I stopped posting ages ago.....don't understand blogger sometimes ;(
Saturday, October 04, 2008
Our only family photo this year!
Time to get a professional family photo done! My Aunt Laurie took this photo and I realize its the only one taken of us this year. Its my favorite, I just wish Addie had looked at the camera...she was mad Aunt Laurie and Tony were leaving!
Friday, October 03, 2008
Danny's first time driving
Should have posted this ages ago.....video is hilarious as I quickly shut down to pay better attention :)
McDonald's McDanny
Danny continues to work hard at McDonald's, earning money for his December London trip with the Marching Bulldogs. He gets to spend 25% of his checks on whatever he wants...he got a brand new cell phone today and man does it shine!Wednesday, October 01, 2008
First tote
The inside is Hannah Montana, not that Addie has ever seen the show but she loves her cause her Ganner bought her Hannah pajamas.
TaDa! What fun. Now can everyone guess what they are getting for Christmas? If you don't fit into pillowcase dresses or pajamas then .....Danny's Marching Bulldogs....
Hard to see because it was raining and they had to do stand tunes, Danny is the playing tenors on the left. I thought they did great considering the weather.
Finally a pink pillowcase dress!
She really wants and wants and wants all the time, but let me ask to take her picture! Ugh, what a gal....
Gettin' happier as the chance of another new pillowcase dress dwindles :)
Super excited! Saturday, September 27, 2008
Brucie Ducie
Nice and easy now.....
You're doing great!
You did it Bruce! (Note swimming dumbells don't weight a thing!)Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Current Videos!
I tried to upload Danny's Marching Bulldogs video but it wouldn't load. I'll get some video of them this weekend and post! They are good too, first place for percussion (Danny's section) last weekend in competitions!
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
More Tiger Den Photos!
Kicking Stance with Master Lee
The facility
Trying to break the board with his confidence! One little guy (the boy on the right with the headband) was able to do it and shocked Master Lee!
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