Diamond-Cut Life

This is the first time I’ve done a second post on a given day, but the occasion warrants it. A bipartisan report from the Senate Armed Services Committee has made a strong case for bringing criminal charges against Administration officials for their decisions that led to the U.S. torture of prisoners, including at Abu Ghraib. [...]

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In all my life I’ve never seen such open exuberance on the faces of middle-aged adults as I saw last night at Richard’s election party after Barack Obama was declared the next President of the United States. Of course, mine was one of those faces, and so was my husband Thor’s.
Richard’s daughter Kate, 15, was [...]

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Exactly four years ago on the first Tuesday in November I was on the #15 bus here on Belmont in Southeast Portland — going nowhere. Traffic was standing still. And we never have traffic jams on SE Belmont. I was late to my breakfast meeting at Zells Cafe, but at least my bus driver was [...]

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Governor Kulongoski of Oregon, my home state, has stated a vision of combating global warming with both a state economy and general Oregon lifestyle that is cleaner and greener than the rest of the nation.
“Climate change is the most important environmental and economic issue of our time,” Governor Kulongoski said (the added emphasis is mine). [...]

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Research shows that the body politic is not just a phrase: our physiological wiring can influence how we vote. People who support heavy military spending, wiretapping etc. are more likely to startle easily at loud noises and threatening images. The wiring of our bodies affects our desire for protection, and therefore our politics.
Now, I have [...]

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A 78 year old woman emailed Tom Brokaw yesterday to ask this question of  the two presidential candidates in last night’s debate (I’m paraphrasing):
“What sacrifices would you ask of the American people, given that we’re in the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression?”
John McCain replied that as president he would probably have to cut [...]

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Governor Palin is quick-tongued, chock-full of energy, waaaay cute. Cuter than Senator Biden.
I couldn’t take my eyes off her in last night’s debate, despite her refusal to answer questions that would have taken her off her script. Despite her belief that a relatively miniscule amount of oil in Alaska makes her an energy expert and [...]

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Paul Krugman is my inspiration today with his editorial on what should be done about the current economic crisis. Mr. Krugman, who I had the pleasure of meeting here in Portland last year, is calling for a highly responsible, specifically “adult” crafting of a bailout. I embrace his analogy between good political leadership and [...]

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We’ve got lots of blame, anger and flat-out fear flying around in reaction to the collapse of giants like Merrill Lynch — and also the government/taxpayers bailing them out.  I’m feeling calm this morning, myself, which makes it a good time to write.  What does it mean that all these profitable companies, these diamonds, are [...]

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The things we are NOT talking about are often the biggest problems. This morning, columnist Bob Herbert of the New York Times educates us in this article on Senator McCain’s plan for national health insurance if he is elected president in November. As Mr. Herbert points out, almost nobody is writing about this or talking [...]

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