presidential action....IN action

^ Missed it? Got about an hour? Then view much needed action....finally in action! President Barack Obama's address to Congress.

Taking The Job by Hendrik Hertzberg | The New Yorker

In his first address to a joint session of Congress, President Obama took full possession of his job and his role.

“Dropping out of high school is no longer an option,” he said. “It’s not just quitting on yourself, it’s quitting on your country.” That admonition, which won applause from both sides of the aisle, was not directed solely, or even primarily, at the young and underprivileged. It was a metaphorical call to duty and a redefinition of patriotism.

(A podcast version of this essay, narrated by Dan Bernard, can be downloaded from the iTunes Store or streamed to your iPhone or iPod Touch via Podcaster)

I've always adored the light footed way Hendrik Hertzberg handles heavy handed political issues, more so now than before, and definitely during last year's presidential campaign. His laser sharp eye focuses on the esprit de corps shifting the nature of our patriotism at long last. This is a very, very critical shifting as we tread unsteadily into the 21st century.

Hertzberg's essay infers a profound question for these times. Even just a few years ago, who among us would have ever thought on a grand scale that to be devoted American patriots, instead of militarily fighting for what our country stands for, we must now fight with intelligence, intellectual vigor, and sheer betterment from the inside out? To compete with, and lead, the world with our brains, not our guns?

And now, far more than ever, what is the price we Americans must pay for our unchecked selfishness, our strident and dunce individualism as pimped by the Republican Party? That price, alluded by both Hertzberg and President Obama, is the sacrifice of our collective morality, and our duty not just as responsible countrymen and women, but more importantly as responsible and conscientious citizens of the world.

After all, one can be as individual as one wants until it begins to interfere with the reality of the world one must live in, with the reality of other individuals.

As well, the more progress we make under the aegis of President Obama and his team, the more unrealistic, backwoods, and embarrassingly myopic the Republican Party seems. Governor Bobby Jindal needs to do more Rhodes scholar homework and go back to charm school while the RNC pays his tuition there. He has far too much catching up to do. President Obama - and we Americans by his side - are light years ahead of him and his cohorts.

an honour bittersweet

^ Celebration of the Signing of the US Economic Stimulus Bill. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's Speech During the Celebration of the Signing of the US Economic Stimulus Bill including Filipino World war II Veterans Benefits.

Package includes money for Filipino war veterans | Times-Herald

The vets' quest for compensation stems from President Franklin D. Roosevelt's decision in July 1941 to draft 140,000 soldiers from the Philippines, then an American colony. A year later, Congress passed a law allowing Filipino soldiers to become U.S. citizens with full military benefits.

But in 1946, after Filipino soldiers fought and died side by side with U.S. troops, President Truman signed two bills denying them citizenship as well as most veterans' benefits. The bills were post-war cost-saving measures that Truman said he regretted.

The compensation was not in the House version of the stimulus bill. But it was inserted by Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, who lost an arm in combat in World War II.

The compensation provision has not been without controversy. CNN's Lou Dobbs is railing against it, and several senators -- including Arizona's John McCain -- objected to including the lump-sum payments in a bill whose purpose is to stimulate the U.S. economy.

Inouye said "the honor of the United States is what is involved.''

Of the 250,000 Filipino vets of World War II, about 12,000 live in the Philippines and 6,000 in the United States. About 30,000 came to the country in the early '90s after President George H.W. Bush signed a bill granting them instant citizenship. About 2,000 settled in the Bay Area. But all but a few hundred have either died or returned to the Philippines because life here was too hard.

Daddy (we pronounce it "DAH-dee" in my family) fought alongside U.S. troops in the jungles of the Philippines during WWII. From what Nanay ("Mom" in Tagalog) told me, a shell explosion nearly rendered Daddy impotent. The explosion killed some of his compatriots. Nanay joked that there was a difference of an inch or so between Daddy subsequently starting a family with her, and of none of us - kids, grandkids, great grandkids - ever existing at all.

Daddy died almost 4 years ago. Four years too late to receive the $15,000 the United States promises him now under President Obama's stimulus package ($9,000 had he not been a U.S. citizen), and almost 70 years too late after the U.S. promised some kind of honorary recompense. I don't yet know the details, but I'm doubtful any of that money can be still made available to Nanay, his widow. It may not extend that way.

I feel more sorrowful for those old veterans, Daddy's fellow soldiers, back in the Philippines. They had endured decades of poverty and inadequate health care. The money they never received from the U.S. all those years could've helped them immensely. Alas, many of them have already died. If the money were not extended to their spouses and family, then what good is it? It only magnifies the years of cruel insensitivity the U.S. has displayed toward them. Toward Daddy.

Stimulus To Repay Debt To WWII Filipino Veterans | NPR (audio story)

Morning Edition, February 23, 2009 · The economic stimulus bill signed by President Obama contains $198 million to pay a long-overdue debt to Philippine veterans of World War II. They were promised payments for fighting the Japanese but never were paid. Some of those war veterans in California desperately need the money.

I do know that if Daddy were still alive today and received the money, it would mean nothing to him. What did mean everything to him was the honour of defending his country against invading enemies, of fighting alongside the U.S., the country that to him deeply meant the light of the world in terms of possibilities, the country he eventually made home with Nanay and us, his kids. Being in the U.S. was all he wanted for us, meaning opportunities for us that many Filipinos back in the Philippines would never enjoy.

If Daddy had received that money today he would have divided it among his kids and grandkids, perhaps helping pay for some of my nieces' and nephews' college tuition, investing in bonds for my grand niece, and just endowing us with it and trusting us to do wise things with it.

Money to him only had meaning as a symbol. In this case it would have meant a certain honour, a "Thank You" from the country he had fought with, and in the end, the country he called home.


Postscript:

According to The Seattle Times:

"The U.S. Embassy in Manila said it will start accepting applications next week for lump-sum payments of $15,000 for veterans who have become U.S. citizens and $9,000 for non-U.S. citizens.

Applications must be submitted by Feb. 16, 2010, and claims by spouses, widows or children of veterans will not be accepted..."

Related:

audio blog: croissants & swindlers | a space alien

the $cience of hope

^ NOVA: Personal Genome Project explores the lifesaving possibilities of genetics, the research of which may one day prevent deadly diseases like diabetes and heart attacks.

Scientists Hope Stimulus Will Give Jolt To Research | NPR

Bad Economy Could Affect Future Of Science

The impact could fall hard on individuals like [Anirvan Ghosh's postdoctoral candidate, Stefanie Otto, who attends the University of California San Diego]. But they also can affect the future of science in the United States. Ghosh thinks of both as he looks to the stimulus package to provide his lab — and many others like it — some relief.

"Being able to provide some support right now has an immediate effect in stabilizing the positions of postdocs and graduate students and research scientists now so they don't leave the system," he says. "But in the long run, as we look forward with our regular budgets, one has to think of ways in which this can be sustained."

That's actually the bigger challenge. Sure, labs are eager to get a two-year infusion of cash under the terms of the stimulus package. But if the money disappears just as quickly, labs will be back in trouble again. The NIH's Kington says they're trying to be careful to avoid that hangover.

"The greater the flexibility we're given in the legislation, the more options we have to plan so that we don't have a problem two years down the road," Kington says.

What many textbook Republicans, and especially those figureheads in the Bush administration, failed to realize is that the very institutions that they shat on with apathy in lack of funding in the past decade could have made great strides in such fields as stem cell research, environmental research, and biotechnology. It also helps foster education and a culture of learning and inquiry and who knows how many kids whose inner fire it may ignite that one day they may be authors in curing diseases their parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings, or friends once suffered or died from.

Let's just hope money will finally arrive.....and continue to arrive.

I posted my own thoughts in the readers' comment section of the above NPR story:

This is disheartening to hear, the possibility of scientific research not getting enough funding by us.

I mean, part of why progress has been made to combat HIV/AIDS is credited to government spending - OUR money being spent on it. This is far, far closer to home for me than you think. Some of my friends have HIV and of course, many of us also suffer from cancer, Parkinson's disease, and other potentially lethal ailments.

Any funding towards scientific research is a chance at lifesaving treatment, or possibly even a cure one day.

to those idiots

Senate To Vote Tuesday On Stimulus Plan | NPR (audio & text)

Leading the Republicans' opposition to Obama's stimulus plan was the man who lost to him in November, Sen. John McCain of Arizona.

"This is not bipartisan. This is two Republican senators that decided to join after meetings behind doors from which almost all of the rest of us were not present," McCain said.

And he had a dire warning for his colleagues: "If this legislation is passed, it'll be a very bad day for America."

Far less caustic but equally negative was the Senate's Republican leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

"I will not be in a position to recommend support for this product as it has developed," he said.

But those Republicans' votes won't be needed for the stimulus to pass, as long as the two or three who've shown support for the compromise hold firm.

To those Republican idiots,

And these children that you spit on,
As they try to change their worlds
Are immune to your consultations,
They're quite aware of what they're going through

- David Bowie

lilly's law at last

^ Lilly's story, told by President Barack Obama.

Obama Signs Equal-Pay Legislation | The New York Times

WASHINGTON — President Obama signed his first bill into law on Thursday, approving equal-pay legislation that he said would “send a clear message that making our economy work means making sure it works for everybody.”

The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. It's a bittersweet victory in a way. The bill was originally introduced to Congress in response to a Supreme Court decision against Lilly that would have otherwise awarded her the maximum back pay of $360,000 (as per the law) by Goodyear Tire, where she worked a supervisory blue collar job. Goodyear appealed the decision.

According to the New York Times "...Congress passed the bill, which restarts the six-month clock every time the worker receives a paycheck." Before that women only a had a window of 180 days after the actual discrimination occurred to file their suit, which Goodyear pointed out in its appeal in the Supreme Court. Lilly lost that case.

Listening to Lilly's story on NPR, I couldn't help shed a tear for her. She was just really trying to provide for her family as well as she can, something my own mom does so beautifully, even sharing some of her Social Security money with her grandkids when she can. But male dominated society continued to shove her down in a STFU gesture. Why is that? What do men actually get from doing that, especially when women - their wives, mothers, sisters, nieces, associates - are in it for the same reasons they are? And that reason is to just try to live a good life, earn a good living to provide for their family, their children. Why must men punish women for that?

The bill was rejected by almost every Republican in a filibuster move in the Senate, among them Senator John McCain: "I don't believe that this would do anything to help the rights of women except to maybe help trial lawyers and others in that profession." Yep, the same guy who would've been in the White House had we Americans chosen wrongly again. Interesting that in his statement he fixates on lawyers' opportunities while ignoring the bill's true importance. Nice going, McCain. And remember, you lost your bid for the White House. Twice.

^ If you are a man reading this, imagine how it might feel after working loyally and diligently for years for a company you thought cared, you discover you had all along been shoved down and kicked, being paid less because you are, say, too young, too old, not good looking enough, gay, or are Jewish or Muslim. That's how Lilly felt. The Subway, a painting by the American artist George Tooker.

Lilly continued her fight to get the bill passed in Congress. When she got wind that McCain rejected the bill she totally went through the roof and vowed never to vote for him, instead siding with Barack Obama. She appeared in an Obama campaign commercial: "My family needed that money."

At age 60, Lilly suffered another setback. Goodyear re-assigned her to a position where she was required to lift Hummer tires weighing at least 50 lbs. in order to inspect them. She retired early. Her husband, a retired Alabama Sargeant Major, all the while had supported her cause and for the first time during his 53 year marriage with Lilly, he voted Democrat. If he had only been able to hold on til at least today, he would have seen Lilly champion this, standing proudly next to the new president. He died of a heart attack a few weeks before this morning's signing of the bill into law by President Obama.

^ Lilly in black turleneck and red blazer, just behind President Obama after he signed her bill into law.

Lilly, you owned this, girl. On behalf of all your fellow Americans, I'm proud of you.

Postscript:

Lilly is not the first woman to win this fight. New York Times Op-Ed columnist Gail Collins introduces us to our American sisters who also championed equal rights causes.

Lilly's Big Day | The New York Times

to president obama: "i'm feeling good"

This is my personal presidential inauguration song. We got this, man. Let's do it. And to Ms. Simone, you are damn fierce, thank you for you.

our difficult but worthwhile journey begins

Bakary Kamara, an immigrant from the west African nation of Gambia, cried in New York after Mr. Obama was sworn in.

Obama Is Sworn In as the 44th President | The New York Times

Let's get to work, my fellow Americans, and my fellows around the world. We got this, man. Let's do it.

The swearing in and inauguration speech.

in honour of election '08

Jesus Jones - Right Here Right Now

A woman on the radio talks about revolution
when it's already passed her by
but Bob Dylan didn't have this to sing about
you know it feels good to be alive

I was alive and I waited waited
I was alive and I waited for this
Right here, right now, there is no other place I want to be
Right here, right now, watching the world wake up from history

I saw the decade in, when it seemed
the world could change at the blink of an eye
And if anything
then there's your sign of the times

I was alive and I waited waited
I was alive and I waited for this
Right here, right now

I was alive and I waited waited
I was alive and I waited for this
Right here, right now, there is no other place I want to be
Right here, right now, watching the world wake up from history

Right here, right now, there is no other place I want to be
Right here, right now, watching the world wake up from history

Right here, right now, there is no other place I want to be
Right here, right now, watching the world wake up

I am - we are all - a part of this history.

a quiet hero passes

^ Madelyn and Stanley Dunham, Barack Obama's maternal grandparents, being affectionate during World War II.

On Eve of Election, Obama Pays Tribute to Grandmother Who Died in Hawaii | The New York Times

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Madelyn Dunham, who watched from afar as her only grandson rapidly ascended the ranks of American politics to the brink of the presidency, did not live to see whether he was elected.

Mrs. Dunham, 86, Senator Barack Obama’s grandmother, died late Sunday evening in Hawaii after battling cancer, which Mr. Obama announced upon arriving here on Monday for a campaign stop on the eve of Election Day.

“She has gone home,” Mr. Obama said, his voice tinged with emotion as he briefly spoke of her death at a campaign rally here. “She died peacefully in her sleep with my sister at her side, so there’s great joy instead of tears.”

“She was one of those quiet heroes that we have all across America,” Mr. Obama said. “They're not famous. [Their] names are not in the newspapers, but each and every day they work hard. They aren’t seeking the limelight. All they try to do is just do the right thing. In this crowd there are a lot of quiet heroes like that.”

I had tears in my eyes when I found out earlier today. Dad was just like that, a quiet type of hero who just wanted good things for his kids. When he died, for me it was both sad and profoundly beautiful, my remembrance, my tears, my heartache and knowing smile being a celebration of him. I cried not so much out of grief but out of sheer awe of the richness of such a devoted and selfless parent. Both he and Nanay ('Mom' in Tagalog), like Mrs. Dunham, are those kind of human beings that do that to you, walking comfort food, their hearts so huge and so pregnant with love that you can't help surrendering to them and forgetting whatever misunderstandings and misgivings you have about the world.

I imagine that when it's Nanay's turn I'll be just as beautifully lifted emotionally and spiritually. One of the most magnificent things any of us could ever feel. Grief, passage, love, joy, ecstasy, fullness, celebration, and gratitude, all converging into an almost unbearable intensity from the inside out. This is what it ultimately is to be human.