The CHOICE

There are so many voices out there. Some voices out there are genuine- they really want the public to reconsider the direction, purpose, and leadership of the nation. Election time should be a time of reflection, soul-searching, and ultimately commitment.

Some voices are clearly disengenuous. The mantra of "Vote Now!" is really a mantra of "Vote Now (for X Candidate)!" In the battle of voter turnout, motivations don't matter.

Some voices are plainly naive. As if we weren't dealing with flesh and blood, real problems, and the reality that we'll have a new president, whether democrat and republican, and we'll still be in Iraq -for a long time.

So here's the thing. There are two choices for President- or three, if each veep counts as a half. So as much as I think election time is a perfect opportunity to renew our democratic vigor, in the end, it's still Obama or McCain. Choose.

The Forgotten Holiday

Today was Columbus Day? You wouldn't have known it.
The truth is, I hardly have an appreciation for his accomplishments and determination. That is a factor of the inherited lack of respect in education and in society as a whole that Columbus receives. He has been so thoroughly dissed and dismissed by academia (in the past 30 years) disregard for this new world hero has been thoroughly diffused throughout our society. Is this fair? I don't know.

But history wasn't always so hard on Columbus. A few of the thousands of Columbus memorials around the world are pictured here, including the D.C. memorial (center) for which over 200,000 people showed up for its unveiling under President Taft.
At the far left is the more modern Columbus memorial in Philadelphia. And below, Barcelona's towering memorial.













Google, my recent whipping boy, chose to highlight Paddington Bear's 50th birthday -not a figure to be trifled with for sure - but over Christopher Columbus?

While I Was Sleeping

The Sun carried an article on Monday with the headline "There's a Gold Mine in Environmental Guilt: Carbon-Offset Sales Brisk Despite Financial Crisis." Almost overnight, in the midst of my adolescent slumber, a new god, a new agenda.


They signed a petition that marked out the ground
Saying, "This half is lost, and this half is found.
He's to be tossed, she's to be crowned,
and so on and so forth their future was bound."
The lawyers and statesmen shook hands and agreed
Smiled for the photo and planted a seed
Crammed in some tears, said a quick prayer
Mumbled some lines like, "We'll clean up the air
We'll blow up some stars, and detox the tar!"

He mumbled then burped then jumped in his car
And never again was the beast in their story
They buried the past in all of its glory

Never a whimper, never a notion
They banned all seduction, not even an ocean
Well its castles to ruins and motion to cease
They sliced off his head for the ruin of the beast
(Stephen Delopoulos, 'The Ruin of the Beast')