Filling in for that other vast repository of intellect, Sean Hannity, the other night, Carlson asserted, “as a Christian,” that Michael Vick should have been executed for his crimes related to the dog fighting ring he operated in Virginia.

I’m an animal lover. I’ve had dogs and cats for almost all of my live and I know the gut wrenching sorrow for the loss that inevitably comes when they pass on. I have no apologies for Vick or his actions which caused him to be convicted and incarcerated. He broke the law, lied about it and was punished. He paid his societal debt and now has the opportunity to move on with his life.

Living in the “Inner city” of early 1990′s Washington, DC, (though I currently live in the same house I would no longer describe it as “inner city”), I was unfortunately able to experience first hand the “culture” of dogfighting.

Pit bulls (a generic term, to be sure), seemed to be the breed of choice of many of the young and not so young folks in the ‘hood. My next door neighbor, Mike, was a young cop whose pet was a rescued pit bull named Joshua, the most mild mannered good natured dog you’d ever want to meet. However, I was always very wary around the dog – the reputation of the breed notwithstanding.
One afternoon my neighbor and I were sitting on his steps with Joshua when a guy with a pit walked up and engaged in conversation. After a short while he asked, “Do you want let these guys go at it for a bit?” My neighbor said, “No, I don’t fight my dog.” The guy asked, “Why not?”

“Because I love my dog.”

That was it. The guy walked away clearly confused.

In early 2003 my wife took our dog out for his morning “constitutional” but within a couple of minutes I heard this horrible screaming and yelping outside. I immediately ran out to see a woman hustling away around the corner while my wife and dog (a dachshund) were sprawled, battered, bruised and bleeding on the sidewalk.

My wife, who only had superficial injuries, and I took our punctured and bleeding pet to the vet and then stopped at the local precinct to report the attack and file a complaint. However, the police were not interested in taking our complaint and wanted to know why we hadn’t called the police earlier. I raised some noise but the culprit was never apprehended. It turns out the woman saw my wife walking the dog and loosed her dog off its leash and the dog responded according to its training and conditioning. It attacked.

The perspective that moved that woman to commit such a heinous act may be endemic in the dog fighting culture… a culture that Vick evidently embraced during his formative years.
Unlike the characters in Jack London’s “White Fang” Vick was brought to justice for his actions. He went to prison, forfeited a tremendous sum of money and lost two years of his athletic prime; a fitting and proper sentence. However, after paying his debt to society why should a person like Carlson with an undeserved platform for influence be clamoring for more punishment including preventing him from making a living in his chosen profession and calling for his execution?

I believe in second chances and Vick seems bent on embracing his opportunity. This is not a position I come to recently, I wrote an article supporting second chances for offenders nearly ten years ago. It doesn’t matter if that person regains the right to vote, gain employment or qualify for the Pro Bowl.

Oh well, since I was last here I’ve read over twenty books (fiction and non, mostly non!) and posted a whole lotta mess on Facebook. Mostly tunes I like that I have culled from YouTube.

OK. I told myself I would write 120 words and I’m already past that without counting! So maybe I am indeed back to doing what I love most… well, not really! But I really love writing and telling stories and looking at current events from a slightly skewed perspective.

I loved those songs and I loved those times and I love being here. It’s been a long time.

I won’t be gone again any time soon. A lot has happened and I wanna talk about it with friends and strangers alike… another song from the 70s. “friends and strangers” by Ronnie Laws.

Folks, I am back in the land of the living even though this is basically a stream of consciousness cop-out (I said I was going to post tonight so I damn well better do) it is creative output for the first time in a long time.

This spring I am going to complete my thesis which would not have been as timely as I had claimed if completed in spring 2009. It may actually carry more weight now. Be that as it may, I will be posting here on an extremely regular basis while completing the paper.

That could be a real cool thing to do, or it could turn out to be pretty fucking dumb. Either way, that’s the way it is going to be.

Then I am going to take that scholarly piece of work and turn it into some fun reading!

I’ ll post it when it’s complete.

Now it’s time to fix the house: repair the doorbell, repoint the rear brick walls, waterseal the back deck, strip the front porch, repair broken planks, paint the front porch (Simultaneously helping Whitney prep the basement to be her apartment!) – then I’ll repair and seal the stone tile on the kitchen floor. Install the hardware on the kitchen cabinets, lower the gas pipe under the stove so the stove can sit flush to the wall. Make a backsplash from the sink to the wall past the stove. Make a trap door for the attic entry. Replace the clawfoot tub and pedestal sink in the bathroom – this hurts because the are very pretty to look at but impractical for me and Fran to use. Hard to get in and out of the tub – sink has separate hot and cold faucets and no storage beneath the sink. Exchange for standard tub and vanity sink with maybe one concession to fashion – maybe I’ll get a vessel sink.

Oh yeah. I’ll also be applying for jobs.

My daughter, Whitney, drove up from Columbia, SC to attend my graduation ceremony at American University. two classes from now I will have a Masters Degree in Public Communication!”

I wrote this back in early May and never posted it until now. Since then I have struggled with my thesis, or capstone paper:”Reframing the argument for HealthCare Reform as a matter of National Security” and cried my way through a class called “Digital Imaging” that I called “PhotoShop Hell!”

But I am back and will soon begin posting here on a regular basis. Tonight I will post a piece about Michael Jackson, just like everyone else!

Til then, I have to get ready for tonight’s class and finish a paper due Wednesday. But I hope everyone who reads this is having a great summer!

–Barack Obama

This is truly an historic night… people are dancing in the streets of DC. My son sent me a text message informing me of his amazement at the sight of people partying in front of the Whitehouse. Hell, there is a party going on outside my house on 13th St., NW! Car loads of people are cruising down the street with people shouting and chanting, horns blaring! White kids are dancing in the rain; celebrating the day the USA lived up to its own PR.

40 years ago, Washington burned in the wake of the murder of Dr. King, and 14th and U Streets, NW was the epicenter of the destruction. Tonight, that intersection is pulsing with a euphoric vibe as whites, blacks, latinos, aw hell, EVERYBODY is dancing in the middle of the intersection. Amazing.

There will surely be a lot of analysis of President-Elect Obama’s acceptance speech for it was epic. I was amazed at his remarkable restraint; he had that crowd in the palm of his hand and then let them go with a blessing.

Ain’t gonna give “Nuremburg” fodder to the remnants of the GOP.

Sarah Palin’s crew was terribly disrespectful to John McCain. The senator’s concession speech was gracious and patriotic… but you could hear the crickets in the evening air, (between the boos and hisses whenever the Senator referred to the President-elect) chirping over some really well-crafted  and nicely delivered lines by Senator McCain, pledging his support for the President-elect.

Congratulations to America, maybe we’ve finally grown up!

“I have no mouth, and I must scream.”

–Harlan Ellison

–Indiana Jones

The GOP has thrown everything they can at Barack Obama: Experience, Elitism, Naivete, etc.

The economy is tanking and the Democrats are rising in the polls. Voters want out of Iraq and the Democrats are rising in the polls.  

What is a desperate party to do? Pick up the shovels and head for the manure pile! Bill Krystol, one of the neoconservative guys advising McCain, (and one of the Project for the New American Century knuckelheads who showed Bush the way into Iraq) says: 

“The McCain campaign has to convince 51 percent of the voters they can’t trust Barack Obama to be our next president. This has an ideological component and a character component.”

Standard Rove/Atwater Operating procedure. Divide the country in half and get 51 percent of the voters scared or mad over some cultural aspect… gay marriage was the thing that helped steal Ohio for the GOP in 2004 – but that is off the table after the Biden /Palin debate. Here are a couple of ads from te “Good ole days!” Jesse Helms “Hands“  ad, and the George H.W. Bush,  Willie Horton ad, The new offensive should be just that, Offensive! The more offensive, the better to resonate among the “real, hardworking Americans… white Americans” identified by Sen. Clinton.

I remember one of Ronald Reagan’s favorite quotes was from Al Jolson, “You ain’t seen nothin’, yet!”

It is going to get real thick over the next 30 days. 

This guy has morphed into the very politician he claims to abhor… and on top of everything else, he has managed to go from looking like the Aviator Hero to cranky old guy next door! You remember the old guy in the neighborhood you wanted to give the ol’ dogshit hotfoot to?

Yeah. That guy.