Michigan's Only President Dies and Leaves An Admirable Though Misunderstood Legacy.


As a member of the Muskegon Democratic party, which is filled with baby-boomers who lived through the Watergate era, my praise of President Gerald R. Ford might garner from criticism. I felt it was important to eulogize President Ford because, as someone whose pre-adult life in West Michigan was similar to Ford's, I felt a certain sadness upon hearing the news that the 38th President of the United States had died.

Ford’s Midwestern sensibilities are similar those that I have sought to embrace through public life. What I admire most about Gerald Ford is that he was able to bring wholesome everyman qualities to the American presidency in a way that was unrehearsed and that has not since been replicated, though his sucecessor Jimmy Carter tried with such hapless acts as flaunting the fact that he carried his own luggage onto Air Force One. Ford was able to bring common-man appeal to the White House without fetishising the appearance of disengagement the way our current President does. The rise to power of someone with Ford’s particular quality of character could only happen under the unique circumstances under which he ascended to the Presidency. Nominated for the Vice Presidency by Richard Nixon and confirmed by a justifiably angry Democratic congress because of his affable and agreeable nature, this bizarre set of circumstances saw to it that Gerald Ford was perhaps the last average Joe to be President of the United States.

Ford’s common-man qualities served the Presidency well. The first month of the Ford Presidency was marred so much by the Watergate scandal that Ford felt that he was unable to spend any time fulfilling his Presidential responsibilities. Because of this, Ford pardoned Nixon so that he could focus on governing. Many still accuse Ford of promising a pardon to Nixon in exchange for a nomination to the Vice Presidency. Each of the men have since reported that Nixon had said to Ford that then Texas Governor John Connelly was Nixon’s choice to run for President in 1976. Ford knew that he would suffer politically for the Nixon pardon, but he cared more about governing effectively than winning elections, which is an ethical protocol that many American’s wish today’s leaders would follow.

Gerald Ford’s Michigan heritage made him the right man to lead the nation after a generation of arrogant and imperial Presidencies. In my sadness of Ford’s death, I have hope that his memory will serve as a reminder to this nation’s future leaders. His ambition for results, effectiveness, and his rejection of divisive politics should serve as a beacon of excellence for those who will campaign to succeed President Bush in 2008









Click Here To See My Eulogy Of Ronald Reagan.

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My Holiday Wish

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The then the LORD said, "Live as one of them, Jesus, to discover where your strength and your power are needed. Always hold in your heart the pride of your special heritage. They can be a great people, Jesus, they wish to be. They only lack the light to show the way. For this reason above all, their capacity for good, I have sent them you... my only son. "


This was actually from the 1978 Superman movie. Replace "Jesus" with "Kal-El" and "the LORD" with Jor-El


If you want to crucify this savior, I hope you have Kryptonite nails!

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An Odyssey Through Muskegon's Bar Scene

On Wednesday night an old friend of mine came in to town. He was more like an old acquaintance, because I knew this fellow from college, but I do not recall much hanging out with him back then. We were both on the universities prestigious and hard-drinking debate team, but I did not hit my social prime until after he left.

Given this I wasn't quite sure why he wanted to hang out. I was up for it if for no other reason that a mild-mannered substitute teacher should have a certain antithetical mystique (quasi-hypocritical debauchery), and I had not had a whole lot of either recently.

He had been away for a few years; he is earning his Ph.D in Kansas, a place where in many parts of the state you are regarded as being in the ivory tower for having a G.E.D. I picked him up at his grandparents’ house which was in a familiar neighborhood, since I went to elementary school there and earlier in the year I had made visits to that street during my campaign for the State Legislature.

We chatted for a bit, and then we went to one of the red-neckenist bars that I know on Henry Street. It's highest redeeming value is that it is next door to the best greasy fries & chili dog joint in town. Also, pool was only 50 ¢ents.

Before we went into the bar, we slammed two cans of LaBatt that I had in my car. He was especially appreciative of this since he cannot get LaBatt in Kansas. We slammed beers and tossed the hand crushed cans into the woods like true locals. Upon out arrival we shot 50 cent pool next to a chubby nerd making moves on a past-her-prime single mother with unfortunate tattoos. . .but these blemishes clearly didn't translate into attainability for this fellow. . .the woman was still out of his league.*

*I wasn't sure I should call her a woman, because she might have been younger than me
We picked up a six-pack at a RITE-AID, and we each slammed a beer before every bar. We played pool. I lost and was reunited with my RAZR™ cell phone. We smoked cigars, and cackled like vulgar old men. I almost hooked up with an attractive female who had a really unbecoming reputation. (She could possibly have been the woman on whom the song "Crazy Bitch" might have been based.) It was one of those micro-adventures that make life's odyssey worth talking about.

I soon realized that the best part about wooting it up with this fellow is that he is a lot more similar to me than my hometown friends. He is a booze-swilling, self-perceived intellectual, just like me. I admire men like Benjamin Franklin and Mark Twain because they loved wit, wisdom and getting totally fucked up and hitting on some white bitches. Word.

I remember commenting that I had to break the rules of 8-Ball because in order to become the Ubermensch, I had to reject cultural norms and socially constructed fallacies, and that is what Nietzsche told me to do. It is not as though it was particularly witty, but it was the best feeling that he understood the allusion because he was college educated. I know that if I had the temerity to say such in front of the fellows I grew up with that they would look at me like my dog looks at me when I sound a high pitched whistle. . . an unnervingly familiar countenance: confused and contemptuous turn of the head and twitch of the ears.

I can't help but feel as though I am incredibly snotty and elitist for having these feelings. It's not that I look down on the guys who have been with me since elementary school, and who were willing to drive 2 hours to my college to beat the shit out of some 20 frat-bastards whose fury inspired them to search me out for violent ends. It had been clear to me for some time that I have outgrown a lot of my old social niches. With most of my friends from this time, it is clear that we had taken totally different directions in life. I wanted to go to college, and then I worked on a presidential campaign, a U.S. House race, and then I worked at the state capitol and then ran and lost my own campaign for the state legislature, all before I was 25. My friends got jobs, got girlfriends who became their baby-mommas, who became wives. I have heard that for my generation that friends are the new family. My family went off and made families of their own while I was embracing new cultural norms that say it is okay to wait until your into your 30s to settle down.

Even the family I had in college, the debate team and other friends are making families of their own in places like Chicago, D.C. and Seattle. It appears that I lose brothers and sisters to proximity more often than mother-circumstance can make them for me. There is a certain sense of isolation many of us report as we move toward being closer to 30 than to 20. Reevaluating interpersonal relationships and developing ones identity is one of the "symptoms" of the so-called Quarter-Life crisis. It is a pervasive phenomenon.

Can we overcome the brutal indifference of change by anticipating it and accepting its inevitability? Does this prepare us to have more satisfying lives in the future? Is it so pathetic to want to savor that which by its very nature is not in our lives long enough to appreciate appropriately? I don't know. As George Harrison once said “With every mistake we must surely be learning, Still my guitar gently weeps.”

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Because I Talk About Things That Aren't Politics Now.

NOTE: I have decided to write about things other than politics purely for the purpose of artistic virtue, and the fact that I don't want to be forever one-dimensional. My style and skills are net yet suited to this task, but hopefully they will develop over time. Enjoy and endure.

The film Little Miss Sunshine is wrought with strong themes. The course of events and the character development each serve as a metaphor for finding purpose and overcoming obstacles in life.

The most basic theme of the film is that people cannot fully control the direction of their lives. Life moves ever forward but because of unintended events, you cannot control the direction or the outcome of your life, no matter the ferocity of your ambitions.

The most poignant example of this theme is the mechanical difficulties of the families Yellow VW. When the clutch goes out on the family bus, it makes the speed difficult to control, and they cannot slow down without coming to a stop. This greatly limits the family's ability to take off and go as they please. They aren't allowed to slow down and savor, or make rational movements. The bus appears to have to go the same speed the entire time. This ultimately leads to the bus crashing numerous times. The message here is that life moves forward, but we don't get to slow down and ponder our choices and that even if we could slow down and make "better" choices it would be futile because our environment is surely affecting us in ways that are impossible to calculate.

The theme carried through in the lives of each of the characters. All of the characters have encountered personal conflict with the fact that their lives had not gone as planned, but each of them comes to accept it. Their catharsis gives them the freedom to move on with life and to accept the misery that shapes the soul and gives them wisdom.

Richard: His "Nine Steps" plan continues to fail. Obviously this is ironic because his nine steps are an apparent path to achievement. The nine steps turn out to be little more than unhealthy ways to cope with disappointment. Though Richard's "winners attitude" moves the family forward, it proves to be a failure in that planned outcomes cannot be attained. It also puts forward an unhealthy perspective that life has "winners" and "losers" and that winners get what they want, and that losers do not, but Richard appears to grow a bit past such.

Dwayne: Works tenaciously toward getting into the Air Force Academy, and it turns out that due to circumstances beyond his control, that he could never qualify.

Grandpa: His drug habits get him kicked out of an idyllic living situation.

Sheryl: Her dreams are tied to Richards and she endures the same suffering as he does.

Frank: Frank is the top Proust scholar in the U.S.! Frank's passions then lead him toward a chain of events that make it impossible for him to reclaim his old life. Even the result of his suicide attempt is unintended.

Olive: She did not even come close to winning the pageant, but came out better for doing her own thing. The audacity of her routine was a more authentic version of the bizarre and disturbing subtle sexualization of children that we usually see in such pageants. Her experience is way more valuable for having turned out as it did. This also ties into the theme "audacity pays off."

The discussion between Frank and Richard at the beach is a great summary. Things do not turn out as we plan and this often leads to suffering and such is okay because it is better to develop as people than to remain in a false and complacent happiness.

One other theme is the importance that other people play in our lives. I don't want to beat this one to death, but the catharsis of each character was fully dependant on other characters. The bus didn't move unless they all took part.

The third theme is, audacity pays off. Olive's routine, Richard's decision to sneak the dead grandpa out of the hospital, the notion that they should continue the road trip with a broken clutch, and the participation of the family in Olive's final act. It goes to Neitchzie's belief that a person cannot be great unless they disregard cultural expectations and other social norms.

Little Miss Sunshine is a story that is sure to make you smile. I encourage you to watch it again and maybe it will make you think, and perhaps you too can be audacious enough to reevaluate your benchmarks for success and happiness.

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Tell Old Man Winter theres a bottle of Cialis and a Korean hooker waiting for him in hell!

Gloves™, the grown-ups mitten.

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To those of you who think going to the 5:00AM post Thanksgiving Day sale is a good idea:

In a crazy dream sequence I imagine a Wal-Mart employee gunning down people trying to get $20.00 DVD players and $5.00 crock-pots

Boom!

20 grams of lead, free to the first 100 customers! Muah ha ha ha!

Boom!

No rain checks motherfuckers!!!

Boom!

Then again, maybe I am the only one amused by unthinkable violence perpetrated by someone who is a victim of a pervasive cultural ugliness.
"Did I say that DVD player would be $20.00? I meant that it will cost you your first born."

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John Kerry apologized to the troops in Iraq. Will Bush?


Sen. John Kerry, as you well know, spoke at a college in Southern California. With bitter humor he told the students that he had been in Texas the day before, that President Bush used to live in that state, but that now he lives in the state of denial.

He said the trip had reminded him about the value of education — that “if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don’t, you can get stuck in Iraq.”

The senator, in essence, called Mr. Bush stupid.

The context was unmistakable: Texas; the state of denial; stuck in Iraq. No interpretation required.

And Mr. Bush and his minions responded by appearing to be too stupid to realize that they had been called stupid.

They demanded Kerry apologize to the troops in Iraq.

And so he now has.

So now John Kerry has apologized to the troops; apologized for the Republicans’ deliberate distortions.

Thus, the president will now begin the apologies he owes our troops, right?

This president must apologize to the troops for having suggested, six weeks ago, that the chaos in Iraq, the death and the carnage, the slaughtered Iraqi civilians and the dead American service personnel, will, to history, “look like just a comma.”

This president must apologize to the troops because the intelligence he claims led us into Iraq proved to be undeniably and irredeemably wrong.

This president must apologize to the troops for having laughed about the failure of that intelligence at a banquet while our troops were in harm’s way.

This president must apologize to the troops because the streets of Iraq were not strewn with flowers and its residents did not greet them as liberators.

This president must apologize to the troops because his administration ran out of “plan” after barely two months.

This president must apologize to the troops for getting 2,815 of them killed.
This president must apologize to the troops for getting this country into a war without a clue.

And Mr. Bush owes us an apology for this destructive and omnivorous presidency.

We will not receive them, of course.

This president never apologizes.

Not to the troops.

Not to the people.

Nor will those henchmen who have echoed him.

Taken from a monolauge by Keith Olbermann
_________________
Shawn Denny Wrote To Me:

Are you that stupid?!? Anyone in the military knows that at any point in time there can be a war and that they might die in that war. They know that they have to protect and serve for your freedom to speek poorly of your countries leader. If you knew anything then you would know that it is not the people of Iraq bombing the troops. It is the insurgents from other countries. Our troops know what they singed up for and they still give 100%. Enjoy your freedom.

_________________
My Reply:

Shawn,

The note I posted is not an original work but a condensed monologue from an opinion journalist that I think embodies how many people feel about the war in Iraq. The writing does not criticize that George Bush sent people into war but that he sent them into a war that was based on falsehoods and that that war has been poorly managed.

Of course the United States must sometimes use military force in the world. Thank god they did against the Nazis and the Japanese Empire.

The vast majority of Americans who do not feel as though the war in Iraq was the best idea believe this because we have seen every rationale for this conflict since discredited.

First, administration officials wanted Americans to believe that Saddam Hussein had a role in the attacks of 9/11. This is a hugely erroneous assertion as demonstrated by the bipartisan 9/11 commissions

Second the administration made the assertion that the threat of being attacked by the Iraqi regime by chemical, biological and nuclear weapons was immanent. No WMDs have been found in Iraq or anywhere since. Attack was not imminent.

Third they want us to believe that Iraq was a training ground for terrorists and that it was a safe haven for Al Qaeda as protected by Saddam Hussein. The truth is Iraq didn’t become a training ground for terrorism until Saddam Hussein was deposed from power and about a dozen-hundred insurgent factions developed violent means to seize power in a Saddam-less Iraq.

We also believe that he owes an apology to the armed forces for the poor planning of the war. While George Bush bared responsibility for the decision to go to war, Donald Rumsfeld is most responsible for its poor management. It was just plain stupid for the soon-former Secretary of Defense to go into this conflict with tragically low troop levels, to have gone in without the proper supplies, and to not have anticipated the extremely viral insurgency. These are just the very worst of his decisions and poor planning.

Also, I am of the belief that George Bush owes not just an apology to those fighting in this war, but the American citizens whom on behalf he sent them to fight.

It is the blood guts and tears of the armed forces whom bare the most brutal brunt of the bad decisions made by the Bush administration. While each of us back home does not bare the sacrifice of previous generations, we do have reason to be miffed.

The conflict has cost the U.S. about 100 billion dollars per year which is about 20 billion more than we spend on education every year. It is more than the U.S. spends on Veterans benefits and unemployment assistance combined. It is about 100 times what our leaders spend on achieving energy independence.

These would be tolerable sacrifices if this were a just war with real goals and real achievements. These sacrifices would be fine if benefits of having started this war outweighed the costs.

Do not take this as a belief that we want a catastrophically disadvantageous pullout. The result of the recent elections means that we back home want the leaders in Washington to set real goals in Iraq and to make the Iraqi government there understand that continued American support comes with conditions that indicate success.

I do not know what your role in the military is but I commend your willingness to serve and sacrifice on behalf of others. It is what I think everyone who is active in public affairs hopes to do.

Take care, and God bless.

David Tibergien

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Five Years After 9/11.

Is It Ironic That The Bush Administration Is Charged With Fighting Radical Islam?

I think is something ironic about the most socially conservative administration in history being charged with destroying the Taliban and radical Islam.

The Taliban as a misogynist, anti-gay,anti-booze, pro-censorship regeme that permits violence toward those who chose to live their lives apart from a narrow and monastic status quo. Radical Islam believes that religion and government should be one and the same. Their ambitions are for a state that is governed by the Quran.

The most extreme elements of evangelical Christian political activism reek of a similar ambition toward oppression. They believe that since they are against gays,abortion,other religions, stem cell research and adult oriented entertainment that the laws of the nation should strictly prohibit such things. It is not enough for them avoid sin on their own accord or for them to exercise their faith freely. They often make the case that they are under assault because others are permitted to live a life that isn't prescribed by the most narrow interpretations of the Old Testament.

Similarly, radical Islamic leaders say that moderate governments like Jordan are oppressive because they allow people to make their own choices rather than offering brutal retaliation for non-compliance with the sharia.

Five years after 9/11, the Bush administration has been arguing that global trends are now similar to what existed shortly before World War II. They say that currently we have a choice between appeasement and triumph over tyranny. I would be sympathetic to this argument if they drew a connection instead of using WWII and Nazisim as a thinly veiled emotional cudgel. They have not told us the actions that must be taken to prevent the next World War. I am not convinced that we are in a similar place.

I wonder if the political climate in the United States is not unlike the political climate before the rise of Nazi Germany. The Nazi's were very effective as using pre-existing communities of faith to embolden them. Though their basic core principles had little do with Christianity, they did influence Christian communities to support the Nazi cause.

In many Churches in United States it is not permissible to be a Christian and a Democrat. In some sects of the Democratic party, it is a faux pas to be a Christian. This is a dichotomy of identity similar to that which developed in Nazi Germany. It was eventually not permissible to identify as a German and not as a Nazi. The German Volk became synonymous with Hitler's National Socialism. Though the phenomenon has been somewhat muted, there are some communities where patriotism means being a Republican, and being a against Republican policies means being against America--which is being "with the terrorists". The conservative tautology says that to be un-Republican is to be an enemy of American values.

Is there a greater danger within our own boarders? Religion and faith is not by itself a catalyst for wrong doing. However, when politicians exploit faith communities and feign kinship with them for political gain, I think it is something that should be of grave concern. Radical religious groups within the United State's continue to view the separation of church and state as hostility toward their culture. Republicans have ridden this sense of victimization all the way to victory in the last three major elections. Is there a monster dwelling? Is this radical culture going to try to establish a national religion and make everyone live by its rules?

Don't laugh. Ave Maria, Florida is a closed community under development in Florida. It plans to build a community of the "Catholic faith". They will enforce the Catholic doctrine by including prohibiting the sale of pornography, contraception and they will ban the performing of abortions. Evangelical groups plan to build similar communities in South Carolina.

Is this a model for something larger? A state with an established religion? Do they have goals to model the entire United States is a similar way? I am not sure. Even as a Christian, I am made very uneasy by these prospects.

On this the fifth anniversary of 9/11, I think it is ironic that an administration that is proped up by religious fanaticism has been charged with fighting against that very phenomenon.

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Let us have faith that right makes might, And in that faith let us to the end dare to do our duty as we understand it. -Abraham Lincoln

This campaign and those who believed in it fought hard for what they believe. Out of it will come what I will hope will be a long sustained community of progressive activists who will continue our fight to Move Michigan Forward.

Thank you to all those who knocked on doors, made phone calls, made donations, and spread the word about this campaign. Your help was a testament to the best in people who seek to move their communities toward excellence.

Our campaign stood for the right things, and had an excellent message. In the end we could not overcome a spending disadvantage of nearly 75 to 1. Ultimately finances are what stood between our campaign and victory.

While I will not be serving in the State Senate, I will eagerly seek ways to promote the quality of life for all people in my community.

Julie Dennis is a strong and formidable campaigner. We still have disagreements about the direction of the party, but I fully support her efforts to unseat the Republican incumbent Gerald Van Woerkom, and I would like to make myself personally available for that effort.

Now is the time for us to support out Democratic primary winners. We must elect a House and a Senate that will work WITH Governor Granholm, and not work AGAINST her. Continued Republican control of the Legislature would be utterly perilous. I will be working with Democrats to make sure this does not happen.

Thank you,

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