RIP. . .

UPDATE: Another good obit
Judge William Wayne Justice. Perhaps you lived too long -- you lived to see a country that rejected the wisdom and compassion and fairness you brought to the law. You were a great man.

[google him; I promise -- he was a great Texan]

OK, here's a good piece on him.

Woo Hoo

For Olympia Snowe!

Nobel Nonsense

Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize made Friday one of the most enjoyable days I've had in a long time. It wasn't just the pleasant surprise (OK, shock) at the announcement. It was the riotous response from all manner of person -- from the conservatives who could voice for the second or third or fourth time how disappointed they were with the committee to the liberals who believed Obama should not be lauded until he had earned his laurels. How dare the committee (1) honor a man who was engineer to a train headed straight for Communism City; or (2) honor a man who had, so far, proved to be no more than a brilliant orator but has not yet (1) freed homosexuals (2) closed Guantanamo; (3) seen the error of America's way in Afghanistan; (4) created a new ring of hell for the folks on Wall Street; or (5) bypassed Congress to hand Americans their much-desired public option?

I tend to agree with most of the more-generous readings of this award. It was intended to be a message about the damage that Bush had done to this country's world standing. It was meant to honor Obama's long-standing commitment to a purposeful, measured foreign policy and to nuclear disarmament. It was intended to signal the Committee's approval of a more humble America who sees itself as one power and one voice among many and who listens at least as much as it talks. It was intended to signal the Committee's approval of a Middle East policy that demanded sacrifices from all sides.

And it was intended by the Committee as a way to give courage to the American people, to encourage them to go forward, to say that at least some part of the world community was supporting them.

Of course I agree that Obama has, so far, only begun the many conversations that signal change. The change is not here. Is change ever here, I wonder? Isn't it sort of like the seasons, unfolding day after day until it is here and then passing? But I digress.

Those who express anew their disgust with the Committee are hypocrites. They were disgusted with the Committee when Carter won the award, and, dear god, when it was given to Arafat. They are perennially disgusted with some world body. They disgrace themselves, and us, with their disdain for world opinion.

Those of us on the other side who want more now before our president is honored have always naively and somewhat charmingly believed that our rightness would move mountains and that, some day we would elect, not a politician, but a philosopher king to office -- a person who could resist the polls, sway the moderates, slay the lobbyists, and conquer the rabid right radicals. Even silver-tongued Obama is not such a man. Never was. Never was.

The Committee wants us, I think, to see the promise in these early days, to not swerve from our collective commitment, and to remember that, in spite of what he has, in his short time at the helm, failed to do, our president intends well and follows through. It will take not just our pressure to continue, but also our support for and belief in his fundamental values, to begin the gradual movement into the season of change.

So it begins, prematurely perhaps, with an award. This feels like a time to celebrate to me, and I'll not rue the honor.

Perspective

The doctor talking me today wanted to know if I'd ever had a positive tb test. I said my recollection was that my tests always came back red, but that we'd been told it was a "false postive." Doctor said, well, there's no such thing as a false positive. The standard course of treatment if you had redness was to medicate the child for nine months. Had that been done?

It hadn't. My mother, a single mother of four, did not have insurance. Just as no one wanted to remove my tonsils or fix my teeth or my wandering eye, no one wanted to supervise me on medication for almost a year. You took what you got.

A couple of months ago, an old high school classmate messaged me on Facebook about my position on health care reform. He was worried about the cost and just wanted to keep America for our children the way it was when we grew up.

I just want it to be better than that.

Joe Wilson

Calling the president a liar to his face is pretty uncivil and he was right to apologize -- even if he only did it at his party's bidding.

The ether-world--especially the liberals and progressives--need to move on. What was newsworthy about last night's speech was that Obama confronted two enemies--one perhaps fleeting; the other much more serious. He faced down those who would lie to gain political ground in the healthcare debate, and he forced us all to look at the vitriolic mess our public dialogue and priorities have devolved into. It was a good night for him and for all of us who are hungry for a more elevated debate. Let's keep the focus on that.

Address to Schoolchildren

I have a friend, also born in 1961, who says we were the last generation to get a good civics education. Sometimes, I think he is right. I watched all of President Bush's state of the union addresses, and most of his speeches. When my kids were old enough to do so, I had them sit with us. I try to respect police officers. I am sing the national anthem and recite the pledge.

It never occurred to me that educators would model for schoolchildren the idea that a president of a particular party cannot speak to them from his bully pulpit on decidedly non-political questions. The ramifications for citizenship are, I think, appalling.

Having now read the speech, I am reassured in what was my belief all along -- that Obama simply felt he had something to say to schoolchildren -- perhaps even a unique perspective -- about staying in school and working for a goal. Heaven forbid that we let someone of the wrong party say this.

I wrote my superintendent. I hope the rest of you do, as well. My sons have sat through military recruiting assemblies every Veteran's Day since middle school. If it's ok to pull them out of the classroom for that, it must be ok to pull them out of the classroom for this.

From my stomping grounds

I grew up in southern Missouri, not far from Sedalia. It's not Missouri; there's crazy folks everywhere.

My favorite line: "I don't think evolution should be associated with our school." Absolutely fantastic. Wouldn't you love to be a science teacher at that high school?