Would it be wrong to suggest that Michael’s death is not likely to be an event important in our lives? 

Iran is in insurrection. Obama is fighting seemingly everyone trying to get meaningful health care reform into a system plagued by nay-sayers. California is about to stop helping very poor people survive because its politicians won’t compromise. And on and on and on.

Michael is/was a troubled man with great musical talent which he hasn’t used since probably 50% of people alive on the planet were born.

Bread and circuses are nice. How about freedom, reform, and good public policy?

Too boring to cover, I guess.

From the BBC: “Several years ago, I asked for and received forgiveness from God and my wife in confession and marriage counseling,” said Louisiana senator David Vitter after he was identified as associating with DC Madam Deborah Palfrey.

1. I really don’t care about the Senator’s sex life. 

2. I believe that Senator Vitter can be pretty sure of his wife’s level of forgiveness for whatever his “serious sin” was.  It’s not my business, anyway.

3. I am seriously annoyed about his — and other self-righteous conservatives’ — self-proclaimed ability to understand God’s thoughts, feelings, and desires.

What happened to the mysterious and occasionally frightening anthropomorphic God? When I was a child I perceived that even the best and most moral of people spent a good deal of time trying to divine God’s will and conform to it. They seemed to struggle with self-doubt even when they objectively were helping others and doing good.

Now there seems to be a direct line from heaven into the homes of a large number of reactionary Americans.  God regularly calls to reassure these lucky folks that He forgives their sins and smiles on their every action.  They are smugly sure of God’s approval of everything they do.  They advertise how they and God have chatted and how fulsomely God blesses their thoughts and deeds.

I think there is a warning written down somewhere about this type of hubris.  I just don’t remember where.

Within this first week after the Democratic Congressional victory the bar conversations and blogs are already filling with the futility of choosing between Republicans and Democrats. With a world-weary air, folks are lamenting the Tweedle-Dee Tweedle-Dum two-party system, yearning for Real Choices. Nothing will be really different. Global warming will grow, racial and sexual orientation discrimination will remain, and power will continue to corrupt.

Oh crap. 

Enough of the assertions that both parties are basically the same and that voters have no real choices! That statement is both untrue and a too easy “don’t blame me” hand-wringing hand washing.

There is a huge difference in policy and morality between the in-power leaders of the two tribes. Neither party — or any individual, for that matter — is 100% pure. But, to suggest that there is little practical difference between Republican-control and Democratic-control of Congress is to repeat the canard propagated by the extreme hard-right strategists who cynically rely on low turnout to boost the effectiveness of their perpetually voting base.

The search for perfection is indeed the enemy of the good. The seductive, pseudo-intellectual wariness which allows the perfection seeker to continually distance themselves from commitment and pitching in is more than an enemy, it’s a a powerful evil. It’s a life-cheapening Evil worthy of Biblical note.

Bright people whose idealism, intelligence, and skill should be mobilized for change are sidetracked by this evil down self-absorbed rat holes. They focus on erudite culture, personal adventures, or TiVo’ed movies for solace in a world they feel will never improve.

Mr. or Mrs. Jaded Voted, when you find yourself saying, “But, what does it matter that the Democrats won” I want to shake you. I want to ask you what you’re doing to make sure that it does matter.  And, I am not just talking about making Congressional majorities matter.

Please stop criticizing from the cynical sidelines. Jump into the struggles of my world — I am happy to share the tussles with you. In fact I would very much appreciate your fighting along side.

A friend just moved his family — including school-aged children — into San Francisco. This week on the first day of classes, when the time came to greet the two children coming home on the school bus after their initial SF school experience, things didn’t go quite right.

The school bus came, but the kids weren’t on it. The bus driver claimed absolute ignorance of the boys, aged 6 and 11. The parents’ had been fighting the vision of predators waiting for children in the big city, but that nightmare suddenly moved into the front of their minds.

One parent’s excited call to the school asking about the children was greeted with the news that the school was busy and would call them back in 5 minutes. After 15 minutes no call came about the missing children. One parent went back to answer the phone while the other went to the school. The school office was seemingly unconcerned and unhelpful. They knew the kids didn’t go on the bus, they had no idea where the kids were, and they were busy with important work.

(more…)