Memorial Day arrives...and has any pundit used the occasion to offer personal rememberances of what this upcoming weekend meant to them [..besides giving us the status of political issues (gas prices, Iraq, floundering executive, legislative and judicial leadership, and OMG which idol is America's choice?!?) ...] as young people growing up and as adults today.
On this weekend the family traveled from cemetary to cemetary. The back of the car filled with potted plants, flowers, gardening tools and uncooperative siblings exiled for loud annoying behavior. The purpose of the trip was to visit and remember the relatives whose own lives made life better for their children, protected their communities or left wonderful stories with great lessons for loved ones to tell.Once there and in between the games of Hide and Seek, parents shouting for better behavior as children scrambled from monoument to monoument desperate to find perfect hidden spot amid the flags, flowers and graves, younger ones made connections too. To our own parents, to the tradition of remembering, to learning from and honoring the past, not living in it. The folks would then collect the kids and head off to the next resting place. The stories would now come with full nostalgic force, which relative did what when, of weddings and births, pleasant days and quiet nights, of great wars then peace.
Then the car would fill with children's arguments and questions. Who sat on the geraniums!?What was our great grandmother favorite song? What happen to these petunias?!Which great grandfather brought home treats every friday from work?Stop throwing dirt at people!When are we gonna eat?
We are all a product of such family mayhem. Where our parents half told stories of long ago get mixed up with the pressing(food, fights and bathroom breaks) needs of family car trip. That learning environment taught us to take advantage of the now, don't wait for the Perfect. No, you can make the Perfect. Just load the car with your memories, the kids, your version of gardening tools, plants and sandwiches. Then pass along and make some family history at the same time. Have a happy and safe Memorial Day Weekend.

There's an udder lack of originality among any of the conventional pundits.No matter the political stripe, sex, age or media (print, radio,cable/network news, and the web). "The GOP is sinking and moving to shore up the base and the Dems are leaderless and seeking to nationalize the elections". Let's hear another gem wise pund'oh! "The GOP's agenda has floundered and the Democrats in Congress have no new ideas". Thanks for the insight.."If Karl Rove's indicted it'll have a negitive impact on the Administration"..okay that's enough thank y..."The administration wants a fight on warrantless wiretaps...they think they can win that one..." and remember no matter what the number, size and nature of the problems are "..it's complicated..it's just a complicated issue and it's not going to be addressed in this election year.." That's it, no more. Yikes, stop milking the teats of political sacred cows. It's not helpful it's repetitive and reinforces the notion that no one out there is trying to solve problems. Gather a cross section of regular folks, cross section of state and local officials, varied academics, business folks and few journalists then begin solving something. But some would say "You don't understand it's diff-" so what? So stop trying to find and explore new ideas! Just keep repeating the same same old.
Mira(Look) if there are three things Human Beings are great at it's innovation, cooperation and exploration. If we weren't we'd be spending our nights chased across some flat, distant plain by large predators and our days grooming insects out of each other hair! So now comes a General Plea to media commentators everywhere... GET BIAS, bias tward promoting possible solutions. Stop reselling the same observation everyelse is making and start talking about new people and ideas. It'll be more interesting and interesting is good.

A new pundit is...approaching. Heavily touted on CNN HLN Glenn Beck appears to attempt to fill the nonpartisan-pox-apoun both-their-houses niche. Will this be waffling wonks..(like that, made it up just now...go ahead use it if you want..) or dispassonate(boring), reasoned(huh..) discourse. Let's hope and shoot for the catchall phrase "fresh perspective" and take it from there... .
Cinco de Mayo has come under increasing criticism, all the while becoming more popular every year, que paso?. Cinco de Mayo Like St. Paddy's comes a transitional time of year. St. Paddy's is winter to spring( also during lent). The Fifth of May arrives as much of the country is transitioning from spring to summer from the first shoots of fresh growth to the approaching full bloom. It's popularity can also be tied to increasing social, economic and political power of it's immigrant population which mirrors that of the Irish in the last century. Finally and muy importante beer..mmmbeer! Both cultures do beer very, very well..for proof see college GPA. Anyway to rag on Cinco de Mayo as a gratitous holiday built around a minor event seems picky and small. Sometimes holidays become important for healthy, bridge building reasons (see the card/flower/candy lobby conspiracy ..Valentine's Day) than for any major religous or historical ones. SO kick back.. give your neighbor a big Cinco de Mayo hello, crack a cerveza mas frio, Tecate, Dos Eqquis, or Corona(sans lime..save those for the margaritas) and raise a glass to independence....

How do folks respond when....when evil taunts them
anger, disgust... no? need stronger reaction? how about..... outrage and revulsion.

How about this. How about feeling empty, a void cause by missing lives and damaged communities. What about a hole in your heart that revenge can't fill and a fear that even the defeat of the enemy won't make the world whole, safe or sane.
Moussaoui had what he wanted a stage and audience. Not just any audience he had the courts, the media, the american people, and most painful of all, the victims families. Did he have as big a role as he claimed in the tragedy of September 11th? He used every moment on that stage to convince us he did. He did everything he could, to be hateful, to incite people, and to glorified his fellow murderers. Zacharias Moussaoui tried to be everything he wasn't in life...a big, important man (serving a fear-ridden ideology).
He failed, failed miserably, no matyrdom no countdown to the execution with newscycles dominated by last appeals, last meals and last words. With the stagelights turned off and the audience beginning to drift away the 20th hijacker will be left cold, empty and alone. No one around to hurt.
Someday he might realize that while he gave America nothing but his worst. This nation gave him nothing but its best. In the brave, promising lives he conspired to take and in the fair, deliberate justice he got.

"Find Sarah Connor..Find Sarah Connor.." after reading an article like this on the idea of a 6.5 ton AI robot rolling silently along on stealthly recon missions can mean only one thing; it's time to...Find Sarah Connor... CosmicLog:Battlebots