As some of our readers might have noticed, we keep ourselves very concerned with national and international events. We think and write at considerable length about how these events affect our personal lives. Today, I bring you a story from the flipside of that coin.
This weekend, my cable was out, my phone didn’t work and I only turned on the stereo to listen to CD’s. I was completely out of the loop with regard to the inspectors being in Iraq, hijack attempts on planes, and the millions of other news items that may have happened.

It was a great time. The wife and I got up early Saturday and headed to eat a nice long brunch while reading a few magazines and just talking to one another about all kinds of things. Literature, art, and the debate of rap’s effect on popular music were all topics that we covered. We got to know a little more about one another and we made a connection. There was no outside influence, no interruption. We were simply two friends having a leisurely brunch and enjoying the crisp new winter weather.

I tell you all this, not to bore you with my sad personal life, but to point out that sometimes people need that disconnect. We need to turn off the cellphones, not check our email, turn off the TV, and make the human connections that matter more. It’s a sad thing that we should have to make time for these human connections, but it’s an inevitable symptom of our modern world.

Connecting to other people on any level grounds us and gives us a support system that we can rely on. More than that, it makes life pleasant. It adds a great deal of joy and peace into our life. It also serves to make us more open to ideas and experiences that other people may lead us to.

Sure, this morning I came into work and 3 computers had died and 2 new people were starting. The emails were backed up into the hundreds and the voice mail light was blinking a tad faster than normal it seemed. But deep inside, that peace was grounding me and I felt OK with all the stress.

A friend sent me this. I normally don’t like spam emails, but this one is pretty good.

A frail old man went to live with his son, daughter-in-law, and four-year-old grandson. The old man’s hands trembled, his eyesight was blurred, and his step faltered. The family ate together at the table. But the elderly grandfather’s shaky hands and failing sight made eating difficult. Peas rolled off his spoon onto the floor. When he grasped the glass, milk spilled on the tablecloth. The son and daughter-in-law became irritated with the mess. “We must do something about Grandfather,” said the son. I’ve had enough of his spilled milk, noisy eating, and food on the floor. So the husband and wife set a small table in the corner. There, Grandfather ate alone while the rest of the family enjoyed dinner. Since Grandfather had broken a dish or two, his food was served in a wooden bowl. When the family glanced in Grandfather’s direction, sometime he had a tear in his eye as he sat alone. Still, the only words the couple had for him were sharp admonitions when he dropped a fork or spilled food.

The four-year-old watched it all in silence. One evening before supper, the father noticed his son playing with wood scraps on the floor. He asked the child sweetly, “What are you making?” Just as sweetly, the boy responded, “Oh, I am making a little bowl for you and Mama to eat your food when I grow up.” The four-year-old smiled and went back to work. The words so struck the parents that they were speechless. Then tears started to stream down their cheeks. Though no word was spoken, both knew what must be done.

That evening the husband took Grandfather’s hand and gently led him back to the family table. For the remainder of his days he ate every meal with the family. And for some reason, neither husband nor wife seemed to care any longer when a fork was dropped, milk spilled, or the tablecloth soiled.

On a positive note, I’ve learned that, no matter what happens, how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow. I’ve learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he handles three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights. I’ve learned that, regardless of your relationship with your parents, you’ll miss them when they’re gone from your life. I’ve learned that making a “living” is not the same thing as making a “life.”

I’ve learned that life sometimes gives you a second chance. I’ve learned that you shouldn’t go through life with a catcher’s mitt on both hands. You need to be able to throw something back. I’ve learned that if you pursue happiness, it will elude you. But, if you focus on your family, your friends, the needs of others, your work and doing the very best you can, happiness will find you. I’ve learned that whenever I decide something with an open heart, I usually make the right decision.

I’ve learned that even when I have pains, I don’t have to be one.

I’ve learned that every day, you should reach out and touch someone. People love that human touch — holding hands, a warm hug, or just a friendly pat on the back.

I’ve learned that I still have a lot to learn. I’ve learned that you should pass this on to everyone you care about. I just did. Sometimes they just need a little something to make them smile.

People will forget what you said, but people will not forget what you’ve done.

I find myself really digging Eminem’s music these days. Frankly, that frightens me. To think that I have something in common with this sociopath is sobering and probably realistic. What he’s done is pure genius.

He has said everything that all of us bury inside. He has given his Id free reign to unleash itself. With his latest single “Lose Yourself,” he illustrates that the Id is not all bad. The song deals with the idea of Carpe Diem and seizing that moment in your life that works like a hinge. Grab it and swing and the hinge might be connected to a door that opens onto a new world. Let it hang there waiting and the weight of the door slams itself shut.

This shows considerable growth and control from some of Eminem’s earlier efforts. I don’t think that this maturing is to be unexpected. He is getting older. He does have a family. He runs a large business with people who work for him counting on him. Add to that the fact that his anger has been so easily vented over the past few years and the boy just had to become a man.

Having said that, he hasn’t dulled his sword at all. He still throws barbs at every conceivable object. Only this time, the effect is less revulsion and almost becomes comedy. He is wavering on that fine line of becoming a parody of himself. If he plays it correctly, he has the talent to pull that off.

None of that makes me as interested in Eminem as does the fact that he has acheived full expression of himself. Like all artists, he strives to express the emotions that dwell inside him. It impresses me that he has been able to do so with such success. Many artists languish through painful existences without ever having that release of life that expression can give you. They fight and wallow and become impotent with the lost possibilities of a wasted gift.

Eminem has found his gift and his release and in that I see inspiration and comfort.

Today is Veteran’s Day.

Both of my grandfathers were in the Navy in World War II. My old stepdad was in Vietnam. There’s not many people in this country who do not have a close family member that is a veteran. It’s trite and cliche, but without these people, many of the things you read on this site would get us put in jail.

Freedom has a great price. Today is the day when we attempt to repay that cost. When I was in 7th grade, our class took a trip to Washington, D.C. I really enjoyed all the sites that we visited and I was a kid having a great time. As the bus pulled up to the Vietnam Memorial Wall, I could barely see what it was. It seemed like just a slit cut into the ground, like some sad attempt at mining.

And then I got closer. The dark granite just pulls you in like a waiting pool of sorrow. The names seem to at once run together into a mass of pain at the same time that each name jumps out at you in singular screams of loss. The air is palpable in that place. You can feel the eyes of the fallen.

Just as our class was getting ready to leave, I noticed a woman trying to make a “rubbing” on the wall of one of her loved one’s name. She was quite small and couldn’t quite reach the name. I was tall for my age and she asked me to help her. So there I am holding the paper as she rubs. The name grew onto the page in a reverse of charcoal.

The burnt color surrounding the light of the name with the setting sun shining back at me from the wall. It was a moment in time forever locked in my brain.

It was then that I realized what the wall meant. It was then that my childish innocence about the safety of my world disappeared as quickly as the woman whose husband’s name I had just embossed.

There are an infinite number of things wrong with war. Faulting those who fought the wars of history is totally wrong. The fault of war lives within all of us. Those who fought the wars were simply brave to sacrifice themselves to give us the chance to not have to face that guilty verdict. We owe them more than a day. We owe them respect.

You probably missed it in the rush of news last week, but there was actually a report that someone in Pakistan had published in a newspaper an offer of a reward to anyone who killed an American, any American.

So an Australian dentist wrote the following to let everyone know what an American is, so they would know when they found one. An American is English, or French, or Italian, Irish, German, Spanish, Polish, Russian or Greek. An American may also be Canadian, Mexican, African, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Australian, Iranian, Asian, or Arab, or Pakistani, or Afghan. An American may also be a Cherokee, Osage, Blackfoot, Navaho, Apache, or one of the many other tribes known as native Americans.

An American is Christian, or he could be Jewish, or Buddhist, or Muslim. In fact, there are more Muslims in America than in Afghanistan. The only difference is that in America they are free to worship as each of them chooses. An American is also free to believe in no religion. For that he will not answer to the government, or to armed thugs claiming to speak for the government and for God.

An American is from the most prosperous land in the history of the world. The root of that prosperity can be found in the Declaration of Independence, which recognizes the God given right of each man and woman to the pursuit of happiness.

An American is generous. Americans have helped out just about every other nation in the world in their time of need. When Afghanistan was overrun by the Soviet army 20 years ago, Americans came with arms and supplies to enable the people to win back their country. As of the morning of September 11, Americans had given more than any other nation to the poor in Afghanistan.

Americans welcome the best, the best products, the best books, the best music, the best food, the best athletes. But they also welcome the least. The national symbol of America, The Statue of Liberty, welcomes your tired and your poor, the wretched refuse of your teeming shores, the homeless, tempest tossed.

These in fact are the people who built America. Some of them were working in the Twin Towers the morning of September 11, earning a better life for their families. I’ve been told that the World Trade Center victims were from at least 30 other countries, cultures, and first languages, including those that aided and abetted the terrorists.

So you can try to kill an American if you must. Hitler did. So did General Tojo, and Stalin, and Mao Tse-Tung, and every bloodthirsty tyrant in the history of the world. But, in doing so you would just be killing yourself. Because Americans are not a particular people from a particular place. They are the embodiment of the human spirit of freedom. Everyone who holds to that spirit, everywhere, is an American.

Pass this around the World

Taking a line from the Russell from the cartoon Fat Albert, the Democrats are like school in summertime… no class! Here is why the Democrats lost big. The dem’s have no teeth, no fight. They are acting more like the Republicans than the Republicans are.

After September 11th, the country rallied around its President. That was a good thing. We let Bush know we were expecting him to lead us through a trying time, and he did.

But the dem’s did not want to seriously fight Bush on any issues post-Sept. 11th for fear of seeming un-patriotic. There were no serious criticisms of his work, no serious fights over issues, no attempt to try to get their way. And yesterday they paid for it.

The dem’s rally cry this election season was the economy. But did have the dem’s made serious efforts to introduce budget and economic packages to congress? No. Dem’s spouted rhetoric over the great loss of jobs amoung America’s working class. Did the dem’s utilize the nation’s blue-colar unions to get out the vote and speak out against Bush on national TV? No. The dem’s had plenty of campaign language on Fortune 500 companies gutting middle America’s pensions and participating in accounting fraud. Did the dem’s charge out to protect the 401k plans or remind anyone that alot of these offenders were friends and contributor of Dubbya? No, they let the Republican Attorney General lead the charge. Did the dem’s point out the White House’s hypocritical behavior in wanting to commit American lives to attack Iraq for it’s covert operations to create weapons of mass distruction, then completely rolling over and ignoring North Korea doing the same? Of course not.

As a full-blooded Democrat, I’m disappointed in my party. They committed the folly of Al Gore &mdash they didn’t listen to the people they represent. The Democratic party, the supposed party of the people, didn’t speak on our behalf. The Republicans kept the charge going strong, and the dem’s let them. It’s the equivalent of a football team kicking off the ball, then instead of rushing down the field for the tackle, they stood at their 20-yard line and waited for the ball carrier to come to them. But by that time, the other team has a full head of steam.

Though running the board on this mid-term election does place the Republicans in an interesting position. It places them squarely in the “no more excuses” category. It will be easier for them to get their conservative agenda through. But if in two years the economy is not improving and we still don’t feel very safe, they will be swept out of office. They won’t be able to place the blame anywhere.

This also gives the Democrats and interesting position. The party that has lost its focus and its voice can no unleash their fury with little fear. They don’t control congress anymore so they have nothing to loose and everything to gain by doing so. They need to become more partisan. They need to make the Republicans fight hard pass bills, then make them pass them on their own.

The Democrats need to stand together as one. Then they need to find their voice and be persuasive in their arguments. Each Republican they get to vote with them will be a major victory.

Simply, the Democrats need to start acting like the liberals they are suppose to be. They need to behave like a White House policing force — the way the Republicans did when Clinton was in office. And they have two years in which to do it.

But from another perspective, I wonder if the voters who gave the Republicans the majority understand what is about to happen. By giving the Republicans the majority, it means we are going to war with Iraq. Not that the Democrats were much of a balancing force here, but what little ballast there was is now gone. If President Bush decides we are going to war, then off we go.

The Democrats need to understand that they are actually the majority party. In a recent poll, most people consider themselves to be moderate to liberal in their thinking. American media skews liberal. It’s about time the Democrats begin to lead the people they have abandoned.

There are risks and costs to a program of action, but they are far less than the long-range risks and costs of comfortable inaction.

- John F. Kennedy

Just when you thought that Zhu Zhq was the end all, be all of fighting in Flash, along comes Capoeira Fighter 2. Once you figure out the buttons, the game’s pretty good, but the AI seems a little too quick. It’s not all that addictive.

Big Tuesday. Or Erection Day as they say in China.

It doesn’t matter who you are voting for, just get out and vote! You are only represented if you represent yourself at the poll.

Bad officials are elected by good citizens who do not vote.
- George Jean Nathan