on Veteran's Day

My dad lied about his age to join the Marines when he was 17. To get away from my Grandmother, the story goes. It was only when he was dying and beginning to catch up on the stories of his life that he talked much about it, and those stories are overshadowed in my memory by the cancer. After he died, I sent for his records. He was in Korea, just after the war ended. He went AWOL once for a few days. I know he told me that story, he went home for some reason, but I can't remember why now. It's really hard to imagine my dad as a Marine, or rather as that kid who wanted to leave home and chose the Marines as a way to do so. If there is a Marine "type" my dad as I knew him didn't fit the mold, but he earned that veteran status. They sent me a flag when he died.

Our most famous family member, and the man who will always remind me that one person can make a difference, is my Great Uncle Roger. Most people know him as Roger Durbin, the man behind the WWII Memorial. Even without his bit of fame, Uncle Roger was one of my favorite family members. He had been a black sheep in his day too, and knew what I was going through back in my wilder days. I acquired my love of politics from him and my dad. I missed them both during the past election.

For years, the Memorial was his obsession. I can remember the first time he brought it up, insisting there would be a memorial in Washington one day, even though no one backed his dream at that time at all. I hope the look on my face didn't reflect what I was thinking, "If they haven't built one by now, one crazy old man from Berkey Ohio isn't going to make them." Over the years, he never gave up. He brought out the scrapbooks of the letters he wrote every chance he could, made many trips to Washington, my Aunt Marian along in her red suit. Eventually he was able to hang a drawing of the design on his wall, and you can go there today and see how it all worked out. Who wouldn't be proud to be related to him? I would have never believed it would be possible he would die before it was finished, but he did. At his funeral, one of the cousins read a letter from Bob Dole. His son and grandchildren received condolence letters from President Clinton, among others.

And now the combat veterans are my daughters' friends. Another aspect of life passed on over time.

Is the correct phrase "Happy Veteran's Day?" Seems unlikely, but either way, Dad and Uncle Roger, I'm thinking of you.

from my email

adventures in canvassing

I didn't do nearly as much as I intended over the past months, but win or lose, I couldn't let this election go by without doing something. Over the past 2 days, I found myself going door to door in some of the poorest parts of the city, making sure people got out to vote.

You really can't go wrong out there when you're walking around wearing Obama buttons and carrying around a stack of VOTE OBAMA! door hangers. At worst, I got an occasional look, before people realized what we were there for. At best, people actually cheered when they saw what we were doing. Yesterday my canvassing buddy got a hug from a man he'd been talking with. Considering he was here from NYC, that midwest friendliness took him by surprise. My 7th grader was off school today, so I took him along to help. He'll always remember his little part in this election, and probably the "you keep up the good work, little man!!" comments as well. It was great weather today, certainly worked in our favor. All afternoon we passed people on their way over to the polls.

My two favorite encounters were with probably the oldest person I talked to, and the youngest. Today we were targeting newly registered voters, or those who don't vote regularly, but vote Democratic when they do. We had ages on our lists, so I know one man I talked with was 78 years old. He told me he couldn't vote because the only ID he has is his grocery store card, but he did thank me for stopping because he "sure had enjoyed all the company this week." LOL!

Later we ran into a barefoot little boy, maybe 5 if that. He came up to us as we were walking along, so I asked him if he had voted yet. He gave me a serious look, shook his head, and said "No but my daddy voted for BARACK OBAMA!" For that, I had to peel my Obama sticker off my shirt and put it on his, then he asked for one of the door hangers too, so we gave him one. He politely said "thank you" and ran home with his stuff.

Thank God it worked out already in Ohio. It's sure a relief to know this early. And thank God it looks like this country has another chance. It's all over now but the speeches.

Madelyn Dunham

How heartbreaking is it that Obama's grandmother died this close to the election? Still, she really has seen history being made all along. RIP, Mrs. Dunham. You did well.

the countdown begins

OMG I cannot believe that within just over 24 hours, this whole thing will be decided. I finally got around to "early" voting today, went down, took a look at the line and figured forget that. They were lined up down an entire block. I'll vote tomorrow. It will be busy here too but not that busy. Instead I went over the campaign headquarters and canvassed for a few hours. While I was hanging VOTE! reminders on doorknobs, someone hung one on mine. LOL Tomorrow my son's off school, so I'm going to drag him along to help. Then I'll meet my older daughter at the polls to cast our votes together. Then back here to reload the computer incessantly until it's official and Obama is the next president of the United States!

average day of Republican campaign propoganda

After weeks of walking this garbage straight from the mailbox to the trash, it occured to me to save a few of these to share. Until I did, I hadn't even noticed that it's been coming in my name now. Before it was in my daughter's name, who is still registered Independent. I voted Democrat in the primaries, are they really desperate enough to be targeting everyone now?
I swear all 3 of these came in one day. This week they're using economic fear. Last week I remember a couple of them about Ayers. Gotta love the out of context and outdated quotes, too. You'd think at some point they're notice this negative BS isn't working, beyond the voters who bought it all along anyhow. I just hope they're wasting a lot of money trying to convince people like me, whose minds have been made up from the start.

First brochure:




Second Brochure:




Third Brochure:

Nuclear Power

We spend a lot of time on Lake Erie, in areas where Davis-Besse nuclear power plant is always looming on the horizon. It becomes just another part of the landscape out there. Over the past few weeks, I have made many trips to Lakeside-Marblehead, looking for Haven, and so took State Route 2 right alongside it. It's captivating up close like that, especially on a cooler day when the steam plume is very large.

(I've considered pulling over for photos of the towers themselves, or the "Don't you dare pull in here, we mean it!" signs next to the driveways, but who knows how tight security is. I'm sure "but I only wanted it for my blog!" gets a nod and a smile from whoever stops to ask what the hell you think you're doing.)

I do think in a lot of ways we've become fairly complacent about these plants in our midst. After all, they did catch the near-disastrous rusting-out mishap by a few inches of steel, before anything really really bad actually happened. (Ok only by maybe a week or so and then only by luck, but it's the thought that counts, right?)

Heard About the Near-Accident at the Ohio Nuclear Plant? I'm Not Surprised By Victor Gilinsky Sunday, April 28 , 2002 washingtonpost.com

And this week's minor little leak probably won't effect groundwater! Davis-Besse Radioactive Leak is Fixed (Hmmm, no mention of its effect of Lake Erie water seeing how the plant is right on the shoreline and all that.)

Either way, I'm still not 100% opposed to nuclear power. There's trade-offs with everything, and short of eliminating 9/10ths of the human population, and going back to fire, odds are we're going to have to do some things that have risk.

What I am opposed to is John McCain's energy policy of "clean coal" and building 45 new nuclear power plants. Now does anything scream "I'm stuck in the last century and that's OK!" more than that? Uh, John, I know in the 70s the general rule was "wind and solar will never work!!!" but you might be surprised to find out how much the technology has changed. Yeah OK, we're nowhere near ending our reliance on fossil fuels, but how about we work towards that goal, rather than away from it?

I could never get it anyhow. I remember the 70s. I remember my parents trading their big ol' Pontiac for a freaking Chevy Citation, and then trying to cram 4 teenaged kids in it. (OK so the plus side of that is then we had an excuse to avoid family outings.) I remember when MPG standards mattered and houses were built more energy efficient as well. So what has happened in the intervening years, besides well, nothing? We've known all along oil, foreign or domestic, is a FINITE RESCOURCE, correct? How come we never seem to have any concern or sense of responsibility for the world we will leave future generations? I'm the poster child for poor planning, but civilization as we know it doesn't exactly hinge upon me.

So, John, I respect that you stayed tough on not drilling the Alaskan Wildlife Refuge, although picking Little Miss Drill and Kill pretty much countered that bit of appeal. I'm not opposed to "clean coal," whether it will ever exist in those exact terms or not. Since we use coal and most likely will continue to use coal, I agree, let's put science to work minimizing the harm that's done. When it comes to nuclear power, how about you tell us all exactly where you plan on putting those 45 plants, OK? Now, before the election, so we can see how quickly voters in those areas race to the polls to vote against you.

As the anti-Obama camp becomes more shrill and angry, they miss facts about their candidate like this one. Yeah Ok I'm stupid or misguided or blindly following a messiah, whatever. I've also waited a long long time for a candidate who is moving ahead, with his eyes on the future, rather than dragging his feet in the dirt, pulling all of us backwards into a past that didn't work all that well the first time.