What a day this will be with some pocket poetry, why it's almost like being in love!

Happy Poem in Your Pocket Day!

What good is a flower if it can't bloom?
What good is expansion if you have no room?
What good is a twig if it can't sprout?
What good is a voice, if it can't shout?
What good is life, if you can't be free?
What good am I, if I can't be me?

-April Sinclair from her book Coffee Will Make You Black

Zzzz

Too tired to blog, must get sleep.

I'm eatin' crow. I'm just the stupidest blogger 'twas ever your fortune to know

Wow. Being political can get expensive and embarassing. I've just received a few copies of a petition going around to stop President Bush from eliminating NPR (National Public Radio) and PBS (Public Broadcasting Service). If you've read my blog, it will come as no surprise that my reply was as follows:

There's a difference between wanting to get rid of something and not wanting the federal government to pay for it.

I love NPR, which is why I have always CHOSEN to give money to every local NPR affiliate in every community I've ever lived in and why I would listen to programming available online when I lived in another country and why I buy things from their online store.

However, just because I like to listen to it doesn't mean that people who can't get NPR reception or don't like to listen to it should be forced to pay for it. They should have a CHOICE, too.

I probably love PBS even more than I love NPR (though I don't have a television). If you haven't yet, you should check out their web sites for parents and teachers (pbs.org) -- truly outstanding AND edited by one of my very best friends in the whole wide world, who happens to agree with me that people should be able to CHOOSE how to spend their hard-earned money.

Before George W. Bush was even Governor of Texas, MANY members of Congress were voting to give block grants to states to fund their own arts programs. It's hardly his idea. It's just one that makes sense if you respect individual rights and liberties.

Rather than adding my name to this petition, I will put my money where my mouth is and donate $11.20 to KUOW (Seattle NPR affiliate) AND $11.20 to the local PBS affiliate (I've no TV, so I don't know the call letters). This is (if the amount below is accurate) twenty times what Congress has appropriated on my behalf.

Thanks for the e-mail.

So, I pledged $11.20 to KUOW, then $12 to KCTS (they only accept whole dollar amounts) and then remembered that I also like the local NPR affiliate that has a jazz focus, KPLU and pledged another $12. Not only did I pledge, I e-mailed each station a message thanking them for the service they provide the community and explaining the symbolic amount of my donation and pasting the text of my e-mail.

So, I'm out $35.20 and feeling stupid because I hadn't even read the whole petition -- just two friends' comments and the first paragraph or two -- and only after donating did I read the full e-mail from the third friend who was writing that it's a stupid ol' chain mail that's been circulating for six years and still refers to House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

Yes, that's me, the one who goes on and on about the stupidity of people who sign contracts without reading every word. At least I didn't sign the petition. Just hearing the same 'ol rhetoric over and over got me to take action. I'm justified in feeling good about that, right?


In other news...

The baseball game was fantastic and the Mariners won! They bested the Anaheim Angels 5-0.

I cried when a 12-year-old Washingtonian got to run the bases with 45,312 fans cheering him on and the M's waiting to high-five him at home plate. I love the Make-A-Wish Foundation! (If you don't know what the Make-A-Wish Foundation is, I'm happy to inform you: they "grant the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience with hope, strength, and joy")

After the game, we rented Angels in the Outfield -- because it's a baseball movie, because it's about the Angels, and because it features Adrien Brody and O.B. Babbs.

I can't wait for tomorrow's game!

It's a beautiful day for a baseball game.
A lovely day on Elliot Bay.
Will the M's win?
Won't the M's win?

It's a baseball-y day in this happy place.
A baseball-y day for a Wendy.
Will the M's win?
Won't the M's win?

After four long years in a country where the boys play softball, and a long week of away games, I am READY for opening day at the hometown ballpark!

Jsem sto pro americanka.

She said "you don't understand what I said." I said "no, no, no you're wrong."

If you read my blog regularly, you know that I disapprove of a GREAT DEAL of the things being said/written about the President of the United States these days. It's not that I don't respect differing opinions. I just have a hard time respecting bitter opposition (to anyone or anything) that isn't tempered with insight, reason or logic. I really think that a lot of the anti-Bush sentiment goes beyond wasted energy. I think that it is being funneled into destructive language and/or activities.

That said, the occasional DISCUSSION (remember those? back when people were civil and rational and they actually discussed issues, exploring differing points of view?) and the even more rare periods of REFLECTION (you know? when you sit down and decide what YOU actually THINK about an issue) are producing things that I approve of.

1. Heather (she who never blogs) sent me an e-mail inviting me to boycott the US: "Feeling frustrated? It's time to take a new stand and hit Rogue Nation USA exactly where it counts - right in the economy. It's time to Boycott Brand America."

A US Boycott would be extremely difficult for an American citizen living in the US (and I suspect it would also be quite difficult for most non-Americans living outside the US). Even if it weren't, I wouldn't boycott the US. Regardless, I totally respect this form of dissent. I am one of those sick and twisted people who actually believes the best way to DO something is to literally put your money where your mouth is. That's right, folks, I am an unabashed supporter of CAPITALISM (what's the HTML code for horns and forked tails to frame a word?). I believe that capitalism is more effective than any form of democracy when it comes to each and every individual getting exactly what he/she wants.

2. Matt sent me an e-mail with a link to a site for the impeachment of President Bush. I can't find it anymore and I haven't actually read the proposed articles of impeachment (though, out of respect for the screaming minority, I will), but I do support this CONSTITUTIONAL form of getting rid of a president who is not doing his job. It's certainly better than incessantly heckling him because he doesn't do his job exactly the way you and your whim would dictate.

3. I have found a blog that pokes fun of President Bush in a civil and informative way. While it has only gotten a few guffaws out of me, it might have others in stitches. I haven't read it in its entirety, so this isn't an "official" endorsement. From what I've read, I have the impression the author (whom I suspect is not actually President Bush as he claims) is literate and not afraid to THINK -- unlike the impression so many ranting people give these days.

A long time ago I wrote something about how I wished people who don't offer an alternative would sit down, be quiet and go read a history book or the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, a presidential biography, anything. This is part of the reason why I decided to read more about other American presidents in times of war. The Vietnam Conflict especially offers us a chance to see how different presidents dealt with a country a) engaged in hostilities overseas and b) engaged in a lot of hostility at home.

What I've learned from President Nixon:

"When dissent becomes destructive, it becomes totalitarianism in reverse."

"We cannot learn from one another until we stop shouting at one another -- until we speak quietly enough so that our words can be heard as well as our voices."

Okay, so maybe I alread knew these things, but I was looking for backup and I found it. We talk about President Nixon resigning "in disgrace", but I believe that it was the only honorable thing for him to do at that point. President Nixon may have made some mistakes and compromised his principles, but he was an intelligent and rational man of integrity whose speeches have given me cause to question my own isolationist thinking (this will be a Wendy takes on... isolationism blog).

I certainly don't want President Bush to resign or face impeachment, but there are those who do. Even they must acknowledge that he has done what NO president has done for a very long time. He has gotten people to CARE. I have had countless conversations with people who "want to do something for the first time ever" about the state of our nation. People have told me they have "always taken the role of observer" or they have "never marched in a peace march" until this year. It's about time!

I challenge each and every one of these people (so far, those who've spoken to me have all been driven to "action" by "hatred" for another human being) to channel their anger into something more productive than joining the chorus of hate. I challenge them to spend time alone thinking about our nation and what it means to them.

What is it about President Bush addressing the American public, the Congress and the world before dropping bombs on Iraq that makes them livid? Was that the reaction they had when President Clinton dropped bombs without conferring with anyone? What is it that makes them hate a man with a Texan drawl? Did they hate Clinton's Ozark accent? What is the REAL cause of their anger? Because if they lay all the blame on George W. Bush, they're going to have a hard time deciding what to do when someone else is in the Oval Office.

Di'n it rain, children? Rain, oh my lord!

On a cold, soggy Sunday mornin', there's nothin' like Mahalia Jackson, a cuppa tea, banana pancakes and a good book. Since I've already lost an hour springin' forward, I figure I might as well just curl up and be lazy all day (at least until the Pinback show later).

The roof is on fire

I am the Lady Miss Queer Wordy and, despite its almost total disregard for fact, I loved the new Chris Rock movie. Ya heard?

Funnily enough, the cleverest political/legal reference they made ("the roof is on fire" shouted at a DCCC fundraiser) seemed totally happenstance. They imagined what could happen if a person were exposed to song lyrics they'd never heard before and logic (of all things to come out of Hollywood) actually took them to the same conclusion today that it has taken countless other "politicos" to time after time after time. I like Chris Rock (and not just because of his appearance on the De La Soul version of Three is the Magic Number), so I'd like to think it was intentional, but, judging by the rest of the movie, I truly don't believe it was.

In other news, Joseph and I noticed that despite our hot, new two-belt trend, designers haven't come up with anything but single-belt-loop skirts and pants this season. It's a bore!

"Impressive, they're busting mad rhymes with an 80% success rate."

Why didn't anyone tell me there was a MUSICAL episode of Futurama?

I have seen one episode about baseball and now this musical one with a guest appearance by the Beastie Boys AND a reference to the Charlie Daniels Band! I think this is my favorite television show!

Here we go again

Yet another case before the US Supreme Court questioning the "merits" of a state-sanctioned system making race-based decisions. The Supreme Court has ruled on this again and again. There's no reason for the University of Michigan's law school admissions policy to even be before the Court today. I know I've blogged about it before, but equal protection of law is a fundamental guarantee of the US Constitution.

The opinions of Bolling v. Sharpe declared "the fundamental principle that racial discrimination in public education is unconstitutional."
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Earl Warren, Brown v. Board of Education, 1955

"The purpose of the University of Washington cannot be to produce black lawyers for blacks, Polish lawyers for Poles, Jewish lawyers for Jews, Irish lawyers for Irish. It should be to produce good lawyers for Americans..."
Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas, 1974

"If petitioner's purpose is to assure within its student body some specified percentage of a particular group merely because of its race or ethinic origin, such a preferential purpose must be rejected...as facially invalid. Preferring members of any one group for no reason other than race or ethnic origin is discrimination for its own sake. This the Constitution forbids."
Supreme Court Justice Lewis F. Powell, Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, 1978

Decision after decision, the US Supreme Court has reminded people who shouldn't need reminding that race-based decisions are UNCONSTITUTIONAL.

"Should we consider what judges in other countries have said on this?" Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, TODAY, April 1, 2003

Stare Decisis! Stare Decisis! Stare Decisis!

Your Honor, is this your idea of an April Fool's prank? What do the South Africans and Canadians have to do with it? How can you even utter such nonsense in the highest court of this land, where you are sworn to uphold the Constitution of the United States of America?

"It's important to know what a prank is. Kesey defined it as something that doesn't hurt anyone. It has to be illuminating and it has to be funny."
Author and Merry Prankster, Ken Babbs, 2001

Your comment was neither funny nor illuminating, Justice Ginsberg. I contend that it was, in fact, indicative of a total lack of regard for, or understanding of, your role in the Judicial Branch of our government. Either one is destined to hurt everyone. Your Honor, you needn't look beyond our borders. Perhaps a walk down Pennsylvania Avenue to the National Archives for another looksie at the ol' Constitution would do you some good. Right is right. Wrong is wrong. Seated on the bench of the US Supreme Court, your Honor, I suggest you should know better than to ask around for what is popular.

"People are often judging something by how many are for it or against it. Great strides are not made by the unwashed masses. They are made by small groups or individuals or movements no one was even aware of. No matter how many people say the world is flat, it isn't so."
Author and Merry Prankster, Ken Kesey, 1996

If you are still having a hard time grasping this concept, perhaps you could ask around for a job at the UN.

Oh, yeah, this totally calls for a lavender bath and some Jane Austen.

Am completely dumbfounded. Need time to process before I can even blog about it. Not sure if words can even describe what I've experienced or how I feel right now. Somehow, swept up by a wave of the infectious enthusiasm that only Holly can muster, I found myself at WrestleMania XIX. I don't know if it's a sign of the crumbling of the Empire, or even whether that would be a good thing or a bad thing. All I know is that I am absolutely certain that Honza, were he to have gotten a glimpse of the spectacle that is the WWE, would never have said to himself: "Somewhere in that crowd is the woman of my dreams."

One if by limo, two if by boot,
And I on the opposite corner will hoot
To alert WrestleManiacs
And sound the alarm
And we'll mob those big wrestlers
Oozing with charm.
They'll flex their biceps
And flash their tattoos.
We'll cheer for our favorites.
The villains get boos.
We'll wear crazy costumes,
buy giant foam hands
And brandish our banners
From high in the stands.

Am still tripping on the WrestleMania. On the way home from work yesterday, there were dozens of twenty-something boys wearing crazy wrestling getups. My personal favorite? Spidey, of course. They had this network of "spies" on every corner so they could sound the alarm if a wrestler appeared.

Last night, I got the lowdown. WrestleMania has sold out Safeco Field, home of the would-be champion Seattle Mariners (for those, like my boyfriend, who would have no clue, this is a baseball team). Sold out! FIFTY-FIVE THOU-SAND people from all over the world have come to Seattle to watch WrestleMania for a minimum of ONE HUNDRED USD! It's boggling my mind.

This morning, they'd shifted the crowd-control fencing from the Federal Building (protesters must all be gettin' into their wrestling outfits) to the hotels where the wrestlers are staying. They're lining the streets. The big show starts at 1pm and I forgot to bring binoculars to work to get a bird's-eye view of the ballpark for a taste of the action.

Will there be rioting again in Seattle like during the WTO meetings and the Ziggy Marley show?

Wheat germ oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.

I am in heaven.

Wrestlers tempt you, girl, with Spandex,
And they tempt you with muscles
And they tempt you with the glory
That the wrestling ring does hold
Those Mary Kay girls tempt with beauty
But are those wrestlers really goin' for that?
I think they're goin' for the pink Cadillacs
Crushed velvet seats
Riding in the back
Cruising down the street
Pullin' up to Dick's
Feeling out of sight
Just like Sir Mix-A-Lot
On a Saturday night
Honey, I just wonder when they'll get down in the back
Of those pink Cadillacs

The streets of Seattle were particularly animated this morning as tourists converge on the city this weekend for two major events: Wrestlemania and the annual Mary Kay convention.

At one corner, large, tattoed men in cut-off shorts, sleeveless shirts and bulky footwear sign autographs for people of all ages and shapes: trenchcoated, baseball-capped teens; father-son groups, the dads in flannel and the boys in YU-GI-OH! t-shirts; 40-something couples with their matching sweatshirts and cameras; and 20-something couples, the males in jeans and rugby shirts, the females all dressed up for the big city.

At the next corner, dozens of well-coiffed women, traveling in packs, line up for lattes, careful not to spill on their gold-embroidered Mary Kay blazers. They'll surely be pairing off with the wrestlers in no time and tomorrow we'll find them strolling through the Market hand-in-hand, the Mary Kay girls looking a bit less polished than this morning.

100 reasons to love me

1. I buy brown eggs and always save the eggs with the prettiest color shell for last.
2. I also make sure the weight of the eggs in the carton is evenly distributed.
3. When I'm tired and hungry, I make french toast & bacon sandwiches.
4. I really don't like syrup on french toast.
5. I only call it syrup if it's from a maple tree.
6. I can't taste the difference between Vermont maple syrup and Canadian maple syrup.
7. I love bacon.
8. I don't love Virginia ham, though I feel I should.
9. Whenever I blog I think about Canadians.
10. I was inspired to blog by a Canadian friend.
11. I started my blog when I decided to go "on strike" at my old job.
12. I was inspired to go "on strike" by the Canadian friend (because she kept calling me Dagny).
13. I just wanted to be like Dagny because she gets all the most amazing men.
14. I've ridden across our countries (the US and Canada) in a train.
15. Whenever I rode extra dirty, smelly, crowded Czech trains, I would think about how Mexicans may be poorer but they are happier, eat better, and have access to two oceans.
16. In the Czech Republic I developed theories about the New and the Old Worlds defining our identities more than our languages.
17. Also in the Czech Republic, I gained a greater appreciation for my PacRim neighbors.
18. I love the impact Asian immigrants and trade have had on my city.
19. My city is Seattle.
20. For the past few months, I've been convinced I'm the happiest girl in the world.
21. I think that if I were able to live with the boy I love, I would be able to buy really cute, impractical shoes, because I would actually be floating on air, rather than walking.
22. I don't understand why women wear shoes that aren't comfortable for walking reasonable distances.
23. I think that anything under two miles is a reasonable distance to walk.
24. I never go for a walk just for the sake of going for a walk.
25. I miss my dog.
26. I miss my cute boy.
27. My two-day obsession with Adrien Brody aside, I don't usually get all twitterpated over movie stars or musicians.
28. I feel stupid making this list.
29. I started the list because I wonder if I'm the only person who decides which egg to use based on the color of its shell.
30. I wonder if people think about the eggs they use at all.
31. I love green eggs but I've never seen them in a store.
32. I used to buy green eggs from a guy who was retrofitting an old wooden-hulled ferry with me.
33. I have never single-handedly retrofitted any boat -- I was just cheap labor.
34. I would like to live on a boat.
35. I would like to own a ranch and live there.
36. I would like to be TOTALLY self-sufficient and provide even my own electricity.
37. I built a mini generator for a science fair project in 2nd, 3rd or 4th grade.
38. I date things past by where I was living when they happened because I don't always remember the exact year.
39. I was born in Wheatridge, Colorado.
40. I went to public schools in Idaho, Virginia and Washington (and Oregon if you count higher education).
41. I've also lived in Montana, California, Washington, DC and the Czech Republic.
42. I want to go to Alaska.
43. I want to live in Texas for a while because the politics in that state are fascinating.
44. I want to live in New York City for a while.
45. I don't ever want to live in Florida or Utah.
46. I don't know how I can think of 100 things about myself before bedtime.
47. Whenever I move to a new city, it always takes me several months to buy an actual bed.
48. I'm really tired of sleeping on the floor.
49. I work seven days a week and don't have time to buy a bed.
50. I would build my own platform bed with built-in shelves if I had my own table saw.
51. I don't like relying on other people or their power tools.
52. When I own my own ranch, I will build my house with my own two hands (and several pairs of other people's hands).
53. I don't think I would trust myself to do my own electrical wiring.
54. I have rewired my Cuisinart.
55. I consider a Cuisinart to be more indispensable than a microwave or a dishwasher.
56. I listen to the radio, because it's easier than choosing and changing CDs.
57. As soon as I wrote #56, I got up to get my Amandla! CD.
58. I LOVE the Amandla! soundtrack.
59. I first became aware of apartheid because of Zola Budd, the Track & Field athlete.
60. I chose my university because of its Track & Field program.
61. The first time I turned on a television after four years, it was because I thought I was turning on a Track & Field race.
62. When I turned a television on after four years, I saw the dag nab white Bronco.
63. I think OJ did it.
64. I don't like valet parking.
65. I got from OJ in #63 to valet parking in #64 because the first time I ever had to get out of the driver's seat and give my car keys to a valet, I was eating at that Italian restaurant (Mezzaluna?) where Nicole Brown Simpson left her sunglasses.
66. I realize how little sense this would all make to someone much younger than me or from a different country.
67. My boyfriend is both much younger AND from a different country.
68. I think that I have the same polarization as all cute boys, which doesn't allow me to ever be within a 300-mile radius of the ones I really like.
69. I wonder if this magnetism is what used to let me memorize all songs and their lyrics like a tape recorder.
70. I don't understand how tape recorders work.
71. I don't care enough to look it up.
72. When I was living in Virginia, I would tape "radio plays" with my sister and our friends. Actually, we did this in Washington, too (by then they were musicals).
73. When I was living in Virginia, I shared an orange Fisher Price record player with my sister and we would play our records over and over and make up gymnastics routines for each song.
74. Our favorite records were Donna Summer, Grease, Barry Manilow (which we weren't supposed to play on our Fisher Price player, but snuck from our mom's collection upstairs) and Beatles singles.
75. I've never had a Barbie doll.
76. I've never wanted a Barbie doll.
77. I've always wanted an electric train and a BB gun.
78. I can't believe I sold my trumpet.
79. I can read Pride and Prejudice and Atlas Shrugged over and over and over again and always feel better about the world.
80. I realize I won't finish this by midnight.
81. The only time I alter the time I post my draft is when I've posted just after midnight because I don't want my post to be dated the "following" day.
82. For reasons now unknown to me, I wore two watches for many years and am now embarassed by it.
83. I wouldn't be embarassed if I could think of a logical explanation, but I think I just thought it was cool.
84. I would like a second watch now because I've started running again.
85. I don't know how I'm going to be ready for even a half marathon in May.
86. I want to run a marathon some day.
87. I hadn't heard of Emil Zatopek, the greatest distance runner ever, until I got to the Czech Republic.
88. I grew up thinking Steve Prefontaine was the greatest distance runner ever.
89. One of my favorite runs on pavement is on the road where Pre wrecked his car.
90. I'm starting to feel really lazy because I haven't run today.
91. I lifted weights today and walked four (?) miles.
92. I love the song Harlem River Drive by Bobbi Humphrey because it's a jazz song AND there's a line about baseball.
93. I would rather go to a baseball game than a track meet.
94. I realized that I have at least one gender hang-up when I found myself physically unable to watch young, healthy boys play competitive softball -- a girls' sport (also in the Czech Republic -- American boys would not play softball unless it involved a lot of beer).
95. I like American boys, but it really looks like I'm going to be with a European one for a while.
96. I still don't understand why most of my college professors were always on a socialist rampage.
97. Yes, I've read Marx and Engels AND done a feminist critique of their writings.
98. I wish that I could make music as powerful and beautiful as Vusi Mahlasela.
99. I would use my gift of music to save America.
100. I'm used to people making fun of me for wanting to save America.

As if I didn't love Adrien Brody already

It should have been satisfactory enough that the totally deserving Eminem got the Academy Award for Best Original Song, but it was even more appropriate that the person who had to open the envelope and announce him as the winner was America's own cultural elitist. Will I ever be witness to sweeter justice?

Okay, but back to Adrien Brody -- I am rethinking my pick for cutest boy in the world.

Does anyone else think that he would be perfect as Francisco d'Anconia?

"I see a day when Americans are once again proud of their flag... I see a day when the President of the United States is respected and his office is honored because it is worthy of respect and worthy of honor... I see a day when our nation is at peace and the world is at peace and everyone on earth -- those who hope, those who aspire, those who crave liberty -- will look to America as the shining example of hopes realized and dreams achieved."

Richard Nixon (with a little help from William Safire)

It's just another day. It's just another da-a-ay.

It's just not healthy to sit at a desk in a completely climate-controlled environment under the incessant blinking of fluorescent lights seven days a week.

Weekend shifts, however, are rewarded with melt-in-your-mouth, old-fashioned buttermilk donuts. Yum.

Thank goodness I'm also trying to get into some semblance of shape for a half-marathon, otherwise I'd be awfully flabby.

Because it should never be, just because some cannot see the dream as clear as he, that they should make it become an illusion. And we all know everything that he stood for time will bring, for in peace our hearts will sing, thanks to Martin Luther King!

I don't usually dread going to work. That's a sure sign of needing to find a new job -- or just plain quit. But I work across the street from the federal building and it means I can't avoid mobs of angry, shouting people. They're right below me yelling and chanting every single day (all day and all of the night). It's so depressing and frustrating and upsetting. It's just not productive. It's not healthy.

Remember during the Gulf War when people held peace vigils? And they would channel their disappointment and anger into the creative process? And dance and sing and play drums? It may not have saved lives, but it made you feel good and it helped restore inner strength. Nowadays they just keep turning into loud and angry mobs. What good does that do?

We know that love can win. Let it out don't hold it in. Sing it loud as you can.

Raise your voices in joy and I will applaud you. In fact, I will join you. But hate and anger and a lack of understanding are the very things that breed war and violence and oppression. Martin Luther King died trying to help us understand that. I just don't want to hear that garbage any more.

We'll make the dream become a reality. I know we will, because our hearts tell us so.

Call me Dubya

Short for W-E-N-D-Y.

If I couldn't take solace in the knowledge that I am not the only American who longs for what Thomas Jefferson had in mind, I would be ASHAMED to be an American today.

Tell me, if you are against this war, please tell me, what are you FOR? Because if you tell me "peace" and then go on with your hate rhetoric and your negativity and your impeding the progress of your neighbors with traffic blockades, all I have to say is BALONEY.

It is possible to oppose this war and not hate President Bush. It is possible to oppose this war and totally respect his decision to attack Iraq last night. How do I know? Well, I oppose this war. I oppose all military intervention. I believe that our military exists for one purpose -- to protect me and my land. I understand that President Bush is wholly convinced that if we had not launched this war, Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction (and there is no doubt in my mind that he has them) would eventually have been unleashed on us.

I know that I am not privy to as much information as the President of the United States, but based on what I know, I would not have authorized a military attack on Iraq.

Who would have ever imagined that I would be defending daily a president who has contributed to the erosion of so many civil rights and individual liberties? Who would have thought that I would so vocally support the decisions of a president who has expanded the powers of the federal government to the extent that Bush has? I never thought this day would come. I also could never have imagined that so many supposedly intelligent and rational people would resort to hateful, spiteful, irrational, illogical, mean-spirited verbal assaults on a man who has the awesome responsibility of protecting millions of his fellow countrymen.

Whatever my beef with President Bush and his administration's policies, I am still capable of respect and civility. Say what you will about President Bush, but you'll have a hard time convincing me he is an immoral man. You'll have a hard time convincing me he doesn't make the decisions he thinks are truly best for the American people.

And do you know what else? I judge. I judge every single day. Just like the rest of you. It's part of being a human being. We have to make decisions between good and bad, right and wrong every single minute of every single day. And often it is really hard to see what the best decision will be. But I judge. And just as I judge people who initiate violence as lacking courage, I judge people who hate and spout hateful rhetoric as intellectually and spiritually lacking.

Most of what I hear and see going on around me today is not just disheartening, but demoralizing. Regardless, I remain proud to be an American.

Someone told me it's all happening on TV...

Speaking of our passion for network television trumping our concern for peace/violence in the Middle East, did anyone else catch the White House press briefing on the Middle East peace summit when Joe Lockhart, Clinton's 4th(?) Press Secretary, said that they were hoping to wrap up the summit (which was prolonged even in the absence of the President, with Secretary Albright sitting in) because Barak and Arafat wanted to see Kathie Lee's farewell episode? Actually, he said "everyone wants to see Kathie Lee's last show."

I, myself, was kind of glad to be home from the Czech Republic to catch Kathie Lee's goodbye show (which also coincided with the Concord explosion), but the leaders of Israel and the PLO?

Anyway, I think I'll just stick to novels and CDs until I hear the fighting is over in Iraq. I'm a few weeks behind with The Economist anyway. Perhaps by the time I catch up the war will be over. Frankly, I already know people will get hurt and die, I don't need or want to know the gory details. When the Iraqi people are free to rebuild/build their lives, I'll tune in and read all about it. The opposite of war isn't peace, it's creation! Actually, I'll still read Salam's blog (although I can't read it from work, it's forbidden fruit -- don't ask me why) but I honestly will just be ignorantly hopeful of a quick and happy ending. Now that we've gotten ourselves into this horrible mess, I hope we get out faster than a rolling "o".

That's right! They've got me workin' day and night. Got me workin'. Can't go home 'til midnight.

Hard to tell if President Bush has read my blog today. After watching my first live Presidential Address since Clinton, my reaction is: not as short and sweet as I'd've gone with, but reasonable.

An open letter to President Bush:

Could you please just say something reasonable tonight? And simple? Following is an example of what I mean:

If Saddam Hussein does not leave Iraq immediately, the United States will initiate a military strike to forcibly remove him. Why? Because, based on information gathered by our intelligence agencies, we are convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that Saddam Hussein poses a serious threat to our nation. We realize it is unprecedented, but we consider this to be pre-emptive self-defense.

Saddam Hussein continues to maintain a store of weapons of mass destruction despite the fact he voluntarily agreed to disarm. He has continued to use his country's second most valuable resource, oil, to build his stock of weapons.

A side effect of this war waged by us for one reason -- our own self-preservation -- will be the liberation of Iraq's most valuable resource: its citizens.

As in any military operation, we aim to minimize the loss of human (especially civilian) life while accomplishing our goal -- which, I reiterate, is the protection of the United States and its citizens from foreign aggressors. This is my job.

An open letter to Saddam Hussein:

For the love of oil and mustachioed stunt doubles please go to Belarus.