Rock Stars

If you were hanging around my place tonight, you would have been hearing the latest in rap and rock, because those are the musical languages of our teenagers. I have to confess, I like "their" music, and it's starting to be my choice on the radio, not just theirs.



Daddy Rap Rock, that's my new moniker. After the kids have been dropped off at their Mom's, I'm still moving to their music, wiggling around while, of course, remaining a responsible adult at the wheel of my car.

There is nothing surprising about that. I've always been a child of rock 'n roll. Give me a beat, babe...



The child beauties in my house tonight inspired me to write something or another that just might be, well, "inspiring," which my princess, aged nine, told me tonight is one of her favorite new words.

-30-

Updrafts and the rebirth of ideology

I hope at least some of my visitors are Republicans, conservatives, or libertarians, and before I begin my rant, I'll attempt to establish a bit of credibility with you.

First, I am a professional journalist, with a degree in journalism, a career now about to enter its 42nd year, and somewhere around 20 years of experience teaching journalism to people of virtually all ages, 6-96.

Although we journalists purport to be "objective," in fact there is no such thing. No human being can completely separate him or herself from our beliefs, biases, experiences, observations, and learnings. All I can say about me, David Weir, is that I have tried to stay open-minded my whole life, often to the dismay of those around me.

For example, as a teenager, not yet able to vote, in 1964 I fervently supported Barry Goldwater, the conservative Republican who threatened to drop a nuclear bomb on Vietnam in order to end that irksome war. (He was defeated by LBJ in a landslide.)

Four years later, when I finally could cast a vote, I probably voted for some fringe leftist candidate like Eldridge Cleaver of the Peace and Freedom Party. (Needless to say, my vote was similarly meaningless that time around.)

I veered sharply left for a while and in the elections that followed, I usually supported independent candidates (who invariably lost), but as I aged, I started occasionally to vote for Democrats, because they seemed the lesser of two evils, or because the Republicans who were on the ballot were so horrible that their victory would lead to something, as the child of hard-working immigrants who counted every penny, that I feared above all else: Class Warfare.

Now, why did I fear this development? I was well-read in Marx, Engels, and the brilliant American progressives of the first half of the 20th century. And, therefore, I knew that provoking class warfare was the goal of many a radical, past and concurrently in the period I am discussing here.

But it was never a goal of mine. I liked certain aspects of Marxism, especially the ideas of equality and redistributing wealth unfairly inherited from the crimes of their fathers and grandfathers.

As I got even older, I started flirting with capitalism, finally, taking jobs that allowed me to experience the power of free markets, free trade, and wealth creation. On occasion, I found myself once again supporting certain Republicans over their Democratic opponents, especially when the former grasped the transforming potential of technology and globalization, while the latter tried to prevent the inevitable.

When Salon sent me to Washington in 1999, I was firmly committed to recruiting conservative and libertarian writers, and I did so with relish.

But, even during this, my second conservative period, I could never resolve the problem of our common, social externalities, especially our shared environmental responsibilities.

At heart, being true to myself, I am an environmentalist AND a journalist. I've considered all ideologies, stayed as open-minded as I am able to be, and played the role of my own worst devil's advocate before I publish anything at all.

***

Today, I read an article buried deep inside the New York Times, which triggered this rant. During the three-year period 2003-5, the most recent statistics available document that the richest one percent of Americans increased their household income 42.6%, or an average of $465,700 a year!

No other segment of the American class system experienced an income growth of more than 4.3% during that period; sadly, the poorest segment grew by only 1.3%.

I ask any of you who are true blue Republicans, how can you justify this obscene transfer of wealth upwards? This is not the Republicanism of my youth. This is the dictatorship of the super-rich, who are benefitting globally from the U.S. dominance since the end of the Cold War that you might as well call them heartless vacuum cleaners, sweeping up the hopes and dreams of all of the rest of us to a measure of greed that historically caused empires to fall.

You and I, mere ordinary Americans, are doomed to be swept away in a fury of hatred, I fear, as the rest of the world retaliates against the greatest transfer of wealth upwards in the history of humanity. It is not right. It is not moral. No religion can justify this.

Those of us able to exercise the franchise in this, the most powerful if nowhere near the most democratic of nations, need to sweep the evil Republican elite out of power and humiliate them, reducing them to such a marginal place in our political system that several new parties can emerge.

We, the true American people, don't want you any more! You have perverted everything dear to us. The next President must tax the rich, ruthlessly. Why?

Because they then will no longer have the resources to continue subverting what was once our imperfect democracy, but today, is the most hated, greedy, war-mongering class on earth...upper class Americans. Many are war criminals; the others are class enemies of you, me, and all other decent people.

I believe somewhere in the French Revolution, or perhaps in Alice in Wonderland, either of which is relevant here, the phrase "Off with their heads" was uttered. It's getting to be time for that, here in the supposedly land of the free.

Ask not for whom the bell tolls, Rich America. The bell tolls for thee.

-30-

Little Music Man (Poco Hombre Musica)

As he approaches his first birthday next month, Little James is walking and dancing to music these days. His parents have some pretty cute movies up on their site, which I've linked to from the title of this posting.



Whenever I consider the challenges I face, between jobs, aging, facing pressures and challenges that sometimes feel overwhelming, I think about little babies like James and their incredible drive to learn how to roll over, sit up, crawl, stand up, walk; and then talk, sing, dance; and then read, write, think.

My concerns seem minor by comparison. Then again, I'm at an age where no one's cheering me on anymore. My role is to cheer the children and grandchildren, increasingly from the sidelines, not the center of the court.

-30-

33 Years and Counting...

The children of Betty Van Patter, the former bookkeeper for the Black Panther Party who disappeared 33 years ago tonight, on December 13, 1974, from a bar in Berkeley, continue to wait for justice to be done. Weeks later, after a somber holiday season, in January 1975, Betty's three kids got the news they most feared -- their mother's battered body had washed up in Foster City from its journey floating through frigid San Francisco Bay.

An autopsy confirmed that she had been killed and then dumped in the Bay, perhaps in the East Bay wetlands.

Although nobody has ever been charged with her murder, there is substantial circumstantial evidence implicating the Panthers. The long-time D.A. in Alameda County, Tom Orloff, where a case would have to be brought, was burned early in his career when he tried to prosecute Panther leader Huey Newton, and juries refused to cooperate.

It's understandable but regrettable that he apparently feels no responsibility, now he nears retirement age, to reopen this coldest of cold cases, this most politically incorrect of cases. But if he should, there are many people in the community who could provide new evidence as to who ordered this killing and why, and who carried it out.

The individuals involved are still alive, and active publicly. One (the executioner) recently published a book, acclaimed in some circles. I cannot help but wonder whether these two intelligent, gifted African Americans really want to go to their graves with Betty's unnecessary murder on their consciences. I'm quite sure they both realize now it was a terrible mistake.

The statute never runs out on murder. And, though I'm not certain whether there is an afterlife, I'm quite certain these two people's souls, once called from this life, will never rest in peace until and unless they come forward, admit their awful mistake, and seek the mercy of the court.

Meanwhile, those of us who know the truth will continue to watch and wait and pressure for a legal case to be brought. It's theoretically possible that we may yet be able to obtain some DNA evidence that could identify the killer that way.

The guilty parties must know that this is a logical next step for Betty's family to take. Therefore, they cannot rest with any security that they have gotten away with murder. I fully believe the souls of the murdered haunt their killers not only to the end of their days here on earth, but beyond, for all of eternity.

***

Note: I've linked the title of this blog to the excellent article written by Kristin Bender in the Oakland Tribune last January. Please read her story and consider contacting Orloff about this case. Thank you.

-30-

Step by Step

Increasingly often, it seems, I find out about another group of committed people working to save the planet, and all of the species (including us) who depend on it. Today, I was privileged to visit Act Now. The company is devoted to helping humanity achieve sustainability by taking small steps every day.

So far, their biggest and most amazing success involves the greening of Wal-Mart. Act Now's CEO, Adam Werbach, and his staff have convinced the huge retailer to launch a program called PSP for its massive workforce.

PSP stands for Personal Sustainability Practices, which can be as simple as walking to work, losing weight, eating organic food, etc. Act Now has created buttons for the Wal-Mart workers to communicate their goals to colleagues, and these have proved to be very popular.

Wal-Mart reports that those employees who participate in PSP are happier at work and more likley to stay with the company. So what's good for the company is good for the environment, and vice versa.

Wal-Mart, perhaps surprisingly, is taking other steps, including converting all of its stores to solar energy by 2020, and pressuring its product suppliers to provide more green, organic, sustainable products in the future.

When a company of this size uses its market leverage to push for positive change, we should all sit up and take notice. Yet, sadly, many environmentalists have been critical of Werbach for sleeping with the corporate enemy.

Much like in my post yesterday, when I advocated love instead of hate as a strategy for working with Islamic radicals; I believe, in this case, working with a Fortune 500 company to lesson its negative impacts and maximize its positive impacts on our common planet is the right path forward.

Confrontation has its moment. As an old investigative reporter who often exposed dirty corporate secrets, I remain committed to holding the powerful accountable. But I also recognize that we are all in this together, and if the people running the Wal-Marts work to save humanity, they are hardly our enemies, but our friends in struggle.

***



More on boys helping boys. My 13-year-old, Aidan, a natural athlete, loves his little brother, Dylan, an 11-year-old who reads 100 pages of thick adult books in less than an hour, but has very little confidence in his physical abilities.

Nevertheless, Dylan has tried out for the JV basketball team, and he is finding it a trying experience. Last night, he broke down and said he didn't think he could ever learn the nuances of the game and its many strategies.



Aidan immediately downloaded a basketball court image and they created a paper and pencil version of those dry erase boards coaches use to explain plays to their team members. The two boys huddled over this makeshift board for half an hour, as Aidan drew out and explained how a zone defense works, and how point guards call out offensive sequences.

Tears dried, Dylan finally said, "I think I get it now."

My task now is to get an actual dry erase board like coaches use so the education of brother on brother may continue.

-30-

The Problem with the Internet is...

I've noted here and there (with the word sic) the many grammatical errors in this supposedly "well-written" rant that is making its way around the web, courtesy of many good people, including some of my loved ones. But my quarrel is not with the author's weak knowledge of the English language. It is, instead, with the historical ignorance and hysteria that fuels his obviously sincere passion.

This is, simply, an anti-Islamic diatribe.

I wonder whether anyone who reads it has ever studied the Christian Crusades against Moslems? I wonder how many Americans know that "Christian" soldiers hunted down Moslem men, women and children for sport and ate them? If you require documentation for this allegation, let me know, and I will gladly supply it.

The saddest thing about this pathetic man's rant is he fails to recognize two key facts:

* The "War against Terror" is about retaining US hegemony over Middle East oil. Otherwise, there would be no war.

* An ignorant Christian fundamentalist named George W. Bush, declared a Second Crusade after 9/11, thereby triggering the events of the past six years.

Be clear: I am no fan of terrorists of any stripe. As a reporter, I exposed them when they were domestic left-wingers (the SLA and the Black Panthers) and got nothing but death threats as a result.

And I hate Osama bin-laden and the suicide bombers who continue to wreak havoc throughout the Middle East with so much passion that if the CIA asked me to help identify and destroy them (as a Dari* speaker) I would join up in a minute.

But I don't hate or fear Moslems, any more than I hate or fear Christians, Jews, Hindus, or Buddhists.

This man's hate-filled, fear-filled message, ironically, is exactly the type of thinking that led to the rise of one of the groups he denounces -- the Nazis.

We'll never win any war with hate. We might, however, just have a slim chance if we ever learn to love one another.


***



From: Richard Booth [mailto:dbooth11@sbcglobal.net]
Sent: Wednesday, November 28, 2007 9:08 PM
To: dbooth11@sbcglobal.net
Subject: FW:




This is pretty long but everyone should read it and pass it on!


Friends,

Just wanted to put this out there for you to ponder....



This is the most cogent and powerful essay on the threat of Islamic
terrorism I have seen. Dr. Vernon Chong. It is without a doubt the
most articulate and convincing writing I have read regarding the War in
Iraq.



If you have any doubts please open your mind to his essay and give it a
fair evaluation. It's also eerily aplicable (sic)to other current issues
such as Iran 's nuclear program, immigration, NAFTA's impact on
American jobs, trade deficits, etc..



I had no idea who Dr. Chong is, or the source of these thoughts, so
when I received them I almost deleted them, as well- written as they
are. But then I did a Google search on the Doctor and found him to be
a retired Air Force surgeon and past commander of Wilford Hall Medical
Center in San Antonio .



If you would like to see who this fellow is, go to this Air Force web
site and look him up:
http://www.af.mil/bios/bio.asp?bioID=5000
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Subject: Muslims, terrorist and the USA : A different spin on Iraq war.



This WAR is for REAL!



Dr. Vernon Chong, Major General, USAF, Retired



To get out of a difficulty, one usually must go through it. Our
country is now facing the most serious threat to its existence, as we
know it, that we have faced in your lifetime and mine (which includes
WWII)



The deadly seriousness is greatly compounded by the fact that there are
very few of us who think we can possibly lose this war and even fewer
who realize what losing really means.



First, let's examine a few basics



1. When did the threat to us start



Many will say September 11, 2001. The answer as far as the United
States is concerned is 1979, 22 years prior to September 2001, with the
following attacks on us:
* Iran Embassy Hostages, 1979;
* Beirut , Lebanon Embassy 1983;
* Beirut , Lebanon Marine Barracks 1983;
* Lockerbie , Scotland Pan-Am flight to New York 1988;
* First New York World Trade Center attack 1993;
* Dhahran , Saudi Arabia Khobar Towers Military complex 1996;
* Nairobi , Kenya US Embassy 1998;
* Dares Salaam , Tanzania US Embassy 1998;
* A! den, Yemen USS Cole 2000;
* New York World Trade Center 2001;* Pentagon 2001.



(Note that during the period from 1981 to 2001 there were 7,581
terrorist attacks worldwide).



2. Why were we attacked?



Envy of our position, our success, and our freedoms. The attacks
happened during the administrations of Presidents Carter, Reagan, Bush
1, Clinton and Bush 2. We cannot fault either the Republicans or
Democrats as there were no provocations by any of the presidents or
their immediate predecessor, President Ford.



3. Who were the attackers?



In each case, the attacks on the US were carried out by Muslims



4. What is the Muslim population of the World? 25%.



5. Isn't the Muslim Religion peaceful?



Hopefully, but that is really not material. There is no doubt that the
predominately Christian population of Germany was peaceful, but under
the dictatorial leadership of Hitler (who was also Christian (?)), that
made no difference. You either went along with the ad ministration (sic) or
you were eliminated. There were 5 to 6 million Christians killed by
the Nazis for political reasons (including
7,000 Polish priests).



(seehttp://www.Nazis.testimony.co.uk/7-a.htm)



Thus, almost the same number of Christians were killed by the Nazis, as
the six million holocaust Jews who were killed by them, and we seldom
heard of anything other than the Jewish atrocities. Although Hitler
kept the world focused on the Jews, he had no hesitancy about killing
anyone who got in his way of exterminating the Jews or of taking over
the world - German, Christian or any others.



Same with the Muslim terrorists. They focus the world on the US , but
kill all in the way -- their own people or the Spanish, British, French
or anyone else. The point here is that just like the peaceful Germans
were of no protection to anyone from the Nazis, no matter how many
peaceful Muslims there may be, they are no protection for us from the
terrorist Muslim leaders and what they are fanatically bent on doing --
by their own pronouncements
-- killing all of us 'infidels.' I don't blame the peaceful Muslims.
What would you do if the choice was shut up or die?



6. So who are we at war with?



There is no way we can honestly respond that it is anyone other than
the Muslim terrorists. Trying to be politically correct and avoid
verbalizing this conclusion can well be fatal. There is no way to win
if you don't clearly recognize and articulate who you are fighting.



So with that background, now to the two major questions:



1 Can we lose this war?



2 What does losing really mean?



If we are to win, we must clearly answer these two pivotal questions:



We can definitely lose this war, and as anomalous as it may sound, the
major reason we can lose is that so many of us simply do not fathom the
answer to the second question - What does losing mean?



It would appear that a great many of us think that losing the war means
hanging our heads, bringing the troops home and going on about our
business, like post-Vietnam. This is as far from the truth as one can
get.



What losing really means is (sic)



We would no longer be the premier country in the world. The attacks
will not subside, but rather will steadily increase. Remember, they
want us dead, not just quiet. If they had just wanted us quiet, they
would not have produced an increasing series of attacks against us, (sic)
over the past 18 years. The plan was, clearly, for terrorists to
attack us until we were neutered and submissive to them.



We would, of course, have no future support from other nations, for
fear of reprisals and for the reason that they would see; we are
impotent and cannot help them.



They will pick off the other non-Muslim nations, one at a time. It
will be increasingly easier for them. They already hold Spain
hostage. It doesn't matter whether it was right or wrong for Spain to
withdraw its troops from Iraq Spain did it because the Muslim
terrorists bombed their train and told them to withdraw the troops.
Anything else they want Spain to do will be done. Spain is finished.



The next will probably be France Our one hope on France is that they
might see the light and realize that if we don't win, they are finished
too, in that they can't resist the Muslim terrorists without us.
However, it may already be too late for France (sic) France is already 20%
Muslim and fading fast!



Without our support Great Britain will go too. Recently I read that
there are more mosques in England than churches.



If we lose the war, our production, income, exports and way of life
will all vanish as we know it. After losing, who would trade or deal
with us if they were threatened by the Muslims. If we can't stop the
Muslim terrorists, how could anyone else?



The radical Muslims fully know what is riding on this war, and
therefore are completely committed to winning, at any cost. We better
know it too and be likewise committed to winning at any cost.



Why do I go on at such lengths about the results of losing? Simple.
Until we recognize the costs of losing, we cannot unite and really put
100% of our thoughts and efforts into winning. And it is going to take
that 100% effort to win.



So, how can we lose the war?



Again, the answer is simple. We can lose the war by 'imploding.' That
is, defeating ourselves by refusing to recognize the enemy and their
purpose, and really digging in and lending full support to the war
effort. If we are united, there is no way that we can lose. If we
continue to be divided, there is no way that we can win!



Let me give you a few examples of how we simply don't comprehend the
life and death seriousness of this situation.



President Bush selects Norman Mineta as Secretary of Transportation.
Although all of the terrorist attacks were committed by Muslim men
between 17 and 40 years of age, Secretary Mineta refuses to allow
profiling. Does that sound like we are taking this thing seriously?
This is war! For the duration, we are going to have to give up some of
the civil rights we have become accustomed. We had better be prepared
to lose some of our civil rights temporarily or we will most certainly
lose all of them permanently.



And don't worry that it is a slippery slope. We gave up plenty of
civil rights during WWII, and immediately restored them after the
victory and in fact added many more since then.



Do I blame President Bush or President Clinton before him?



No, I blame us for blithely assuming we can maintain all of our
Political Correctness, and all of our civil rights during this conflict
and have a clean, lawful, honorable war. None of those words apply to
war. Get them out of your head.



Some have gone so far in their criticism of the war and/or the
Administration that it almost seems they would literally like to see us
lose.



I think some actually do, I hasten to add that this isn't because they
are disloyal. It is because they just don't recognize what losing
means. Nevertheless, that conduct gives the impression to the enemy
that we are divided and weakening. It concerns our friends, and it
does great damage to our cause.



Of more recent vintage, the uproar fueled by the politicians and media
regarding the treatment of some prisoners of war, perhaps exemplifies
best what I am saying. We have recently had an issue, involving the
treatment of a few Muslim prisoners of war, by a small group of our
military police. These are the type prisoners (sic) who just a few months
ago were throwing their own people off buildings, cutting off their
hands, cutting out their tongues and otherwise murdering their own
people just for disagreeing with Saddam Hussein. !



And just a few years ago these same type prisoners chemically killed
400,000 of their own people for the same reason. They are also the
same type of enemy fighters, who recently were burning Americans, and
dragging their charred corpses through the streets of Iraq . And still
more recently, the same type of enemy that was and is providing videos
to all news sources internationally, of the beheading of American
prisoners they held.



Compare this with some of our press and politicians, who for several
days have thought and talked about nothing else but the 'humiliating'
of some Muslim prisoners -- not burning them, not dragging their
charred corpses through the streets, not beheading them, but
'humiliating' them.



Can they be for real?



The politicians and pundits have even talked of impeachment of the
Secretary of Defense. If this doesn't show the complete lack of
comprehension and understanding of the seriousness of the enemy we are
fighting, the life and death struggle we are in and the disastrous
results of losing this war, nothing can.



To bring our country to a virtual political standstill over this
prisoner issue makes us look like Nero playing his fiddle as Rome
burned -- totally oblivious to what is going on in the real world.
Neither we, nor any other country, can survive this internal strife.
Again I say, this does not mean that some of our politicians or media
people are disloyal. It simply means that they are absolutely
oblivious to the magnitude of the situation we are in and into which
the Muslim terrorists have been pushing us, for many years.



These people are a serious and dangerous liability to the war effort.
We must take note of who they are and get them out of office.
Remember, the Muslim terrorists (sic) stated goal is to kill all infidels!
That translates into ALL non-Muslims -- not just in the United States ,
but throughout the world. We are the last bastion of defense.



We have been criticized for many years as being 'arrogant.' That charge
is valid. We are arrogant in that we believe that we are so good,
powerful and smart, that we can win the hearts and minds of all those
who attack us, and that with both hands tied behind our back, we can
defeat anything bad in the world! We can't!



If we don't recognize this, our nation as we know it will not survive,
and no other free country in the world will survive if we are defeated.



And finally, name any Muslim countries throughout the world that allow
freedom of speech, freedom of thought, freedom of religion, freedom of
the press, equal rights for anyone -- let alone everyone, equal status
or any status for women, or that have been productive in one single way
that contributes to the good of the world.



This has been a long way of saying that we must be united on this war
or we will be equated in the history books to the self- inflicted fall
of the Roman Empire (sic) If, that is, the Muslim leaders will allow
history books to be written or read.



If we don't win this war right now, keep a close eye on how the Muslims
take over France in the next 5 years or less. They will continue to
increase the Muslim population of France and continue to encroach
little by little, on the established French traditions.



The French will be fighting among themselves, over what should or
should not be done, which will continue to weaken them and keep them
from any united resolve. Doesn't that sound eerily familiar?



Democracies don't have their freedoms taken away from them by some
external military force. Instead, they give their freedoms away,
politically correct piece by politically correct piece.



And they are giving those freedoms away to those who have shown,
worldwide that they abhor freedom and will not apply it to you or even
to themselves, once they are in power.



Muslims have universally shown that when they have taken over, they
then start brutally killing each other over whom will be the few who
control the masses (sic)



What is happening in Iraq is a good example. Will we ever stop hearing
from the politically correct, about the 'peaceful Muslims'?



I close on a hopeful note, by repeating what I said above. If we are
united, there is no way that we can lose. I hope now, after the
election, the factions in our country will begin to focus on the
critical situation we are in, and will unite to save our country. It
is your future we are talking about! Do whatever you can to preserve
it. I reiterate. A national election is months away.



After reading the above, we all must do this not only for ourselves,
but our children, our grandchildren, our country and the world.
Whether Democrat or Republican, conservative or liberal and that
includes the Politicians and media of our country and the free world!



Please forward this to any you feel may want, or NEED to read it. Our
'leaders' in Congress ought to read it, too. There are those that find
fault with our country, but it is obvious to anyone who truly thinks
through this, that we must UNITE!



Lastly, I wish to add: At the risk of offending someone, I sincerely
think that anyone who rejects this as just another political rant, or
doubts the seriousness of this issue or just deletes it without sending
it on, is part of the problem. Let's quit laughing at and forwarding
the jokes and cartoons which denigrate and ridicule our leaders in this
war against terror. They are trying to protect the interests and well
being of the US and it's (sic) citizens. Best we support them.


***

Trust me, dear reader, this awful piece of writing contains ten times as many errors in logic and fact as I have cited. I do not have enough time to deconstruct it for you. But please think on a higher level about life on earth. Learn how we monopolize global resources. Consider why we should be able to do this. Think about our grandchildren and the awful consequences that await them if we don’t realize the error of our ways and get down to work on the real issues facing us.

Humans, as animals, have always gotten excited by the appearance of apparent enemies.

It is time we got excited about the possibility of becoming friends. Our common future depends on it.

p.s. Death to Al-Qaeda!

* Dari is the Afghan dialect of Farsi.

-30-

Overgrown in time

The normal features of our yard are disappearing under blooms of nasturtiums, clover and lemon grass, all native to this area, and benefiting from the cycles of sun and rain that have characterized our fall and early winter this year.



The stones that form a path to our vegetable garden have shrunk, visibly, to half their normal size. The rotting apples and plums are disappearing into the soil, feeding the greenery above.



It's all part of the natural cycle of life. Threatened, as we are, by cataclysmic global climate change, it is reassuring when our local environment continues to behave as it should.

But the nightmare of a new ice age, or a vastly warmed planet, triggered by our collective foolishness, hovers over every garden and every household. Can we reform in time to save ourselves?

The planet will survive; that much is clear.

But what about us -- or more precisely, our children and grandchildren? Most of them are growing up innocently, blissfully unaware of the horrors that may be evident by the end of this 21st century.

The only activists who can mitigate these tragic consequences are us -- the present adult generations. Either we find a way to act, or we will go to our graves with a dark cloud over our names as the selfish generation that had the information but somehow failed to act. Humanity's last great hope.

I don't know about you, but I do not want that to be my epitaph.

-30-

Lost in the Fifties

When I was a little boy, in Royal Oak, Michigan, more than half a century ago, I remember one certain December, though I'd be hard-pressed to tell you which exact year it was. I may have been seven or eight; my sister Kathy and I were home from school, maybe because it was snowing hard outside.



I'd recently learned that every snowflake has its own unique pattern -- a fact that astonished me then and continues to astonish me now. My nose was pushed up against a window as I watched these delicate crystals hit the outside pane, their beauty intact for a microsecond, then devolving to water, dripping downward, often part of the icycles that were forming below.



Our big sister, Nancy, gave us activity books courtesy of her friend Stan, who was home from Army duty overseas. I remember especially the tiddly wink game embedded within the book. Soon I was playing fantasy games between imaginary rivals, and (no doubt) keeping records of the results, all of which have long since been lost to time, space, and almost (but not quite) even to memory.

Many years later, in Mill Valley, I played in a tiddly wink "league" with my oldest son, Peter -- a competition that lasted years, and generated many more records, also no doubt lost to time and space, if not yet to memory.

This is a season for nostalgia. I always felt safe and warm inside my parents' house, never alone or scared. Putting up the annual Christmas tree was a family ritual. We played piano and sang Christmas songs. We greeted our favorite ornaments as old friends when they emerged each December from their wrappings of the year before.

Some of the bulbs had stories, and my sisters and I knew them. Others generated fantasies, with their small painted scenes of a pre-WW2 world that was already disappearing before our eyes.

When I grew older and became politically conscious, literate, and traveled, I developed a sort of worldly (if still relatively naive) "sophistication" that was unimaginable in my childhood. Probably for a while, I ignored my memories of a happy childhood, as I pursued an adult career that required qualities I didn't even know I possessed -- aggression, persistence, courage, and the ability to give speeches, raise money, and inspire listeners to action.

Much time has passed since both of those eras. There have been so many ups and downs, including recently, that the thread of my life is often hard to follow, at least for me. This Christmas, I'm choosing to remember the oldest of days, and the joy we once felt, in my family, so far away and in such a different place.

Today we hung ornaments on our Christmas tree. I have no illusions that my youngest kids experience anything like my childhood in their post-modern, post-divorce, discontinuous age. But the boys and I have recently discovered a mutual imaginary world, playing video basketball, that represents a kind of parallel to those lonely tiddly wink tournaments of so many decades ago.

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