Push Polling

Just because someone is engaged in living a peaceful life and doing things to help others does not mean that he won't take serious action when confronted with what he considers to be an affront to integrity in our political system. A pollster working either directly or indirectly for the Clinton campaign found this out the hard way when he called my friend David in North Carolina. David not only had the presence of mind to record the last part of the call, but contacted Scott Walterman, the head of news programming for XM Radio. After that, the story took on a life of its own. You can read it at one of the following links or at David's blog, World Changing 101, or you can google 'push polling David LaMotte' and read any of the 929 references that I just found.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/4/25/131636/598/21/503396

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-loeb/is-hillary-clinton-push-p_b_98446.html

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/04/audio-clinton-c.html

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0408/Garin_poll_asks_if_Hillary_can_win.html




Soundtrack for this post: For What Its Worth, Buffalo Springfield

Opportunity Knocks (X3)

We are each of us angels with only one wing, and we can only fly by embracing one another. ~Luciano de Crescenzo


Her Dogness and I were headed for the park when we saw the person walking up the road carrying a couple of market bags from our local grocery chain. We live on a dead end road that is about three miles or so long. It is probably about three and a half to four miles from the end of the road to the bus stop so not a lot of people use it and there isn't much foot traffic down here. There are a few people who hike up to the bus stop now and again but I had not seen this person before. I think what got my attention was that I couldn't tell if it was male or female. Tall and square shouldered, the person had a waist length ponytail and a gimmie cap pulled down over the top of it. Even a glance in my rear view mirror offered no clue but did reveal a walking cane.

It was a muggy day that promised to be hot a sweaty really soon. I wanted to get on with our walk and get back to the house before that happened if possible. We spent about twenty minutes or so in the park and headed home. As we made the hard left and started into the straight away that leads to our house, we saw the same person. This time, her loose hair was dancing wildly in the breeze of a passing truck as she struggled along the side of the road with her loaded bags. With a car just a few feet on my tail, I slowed down but was unable to stop. I got home and cleaned up a little, had a snack, gave Lani water and completed a few other mundane tasks that I can't remember before heading out again to fun some errands. I was almost to the end of the road when I saw her yet again. She had only gotten a few yards farther along from where she had been the last time I'd seen her. A truck close behind me but I stopped anyway.

"Do you need some help?"

"Oh, yes! I'll give you a couple of bucks to take me up the hill. Just get me up the hill and I'll be able to make it the rest of the way."

"Let me go up there and turn around."

The road is a narrow two lane affair with a center stripe but no sidewalks. I had to go about fifty yards to a driveway to turn around. Meantime, she is standing in knee high weeds.

"I can't thank you enough. I didn't think I'd have to do this today. I didn't know how I was going to make it up that hill."

There is a low water crossing just below my house, after which there is a sharp rise in the land which forms a short but steep hill.

"Where are you headed?"

"Just let me out anywhere after the S curve. I can make it the rest of the way."

"I might as well take you on home. I have to turn around somewhere anyway."

"You know where Etta (St.) is?"

"Sure, I used to live just past it."

I took her to her mobile home where there were a couple of cars in the driveway. She explained that her battery was dead and that they hadn't had time to jump start it.

"If you ever have trouble, I hope someone stops to help you."

"They already have."

She tried to give me two bucks but I was backing out of her drive already.

I passed her by twice before I stopped to help. I wonder how many others had passed her as she struggled with those bags. How desperate had she become to walk almost two miles to the bus stop and try to make it home with those heavy bags? I am grateful that I was given that third opportunity to make a difference for someone else.

Soundtrack for this post: Chuck Brodsky's We Are Each Other's Angels (I just found this version and I love it. I hope you will give it a listen.)

My Favorite Poet

April is Poetry Month so I thought I'd post a poem by my favorite poet, Ranier Maria Rilke.(To be fair, I took Robert Zimmerman out of the mix. I think the fact that he was just awarded a Pulitzer Prize illustrates that there is still justice in the world.)


As Once the Winged Energy of Delight

As once the winged energy of delight
carried you over childhood's dark abysses,
now beyond your own life build the great
arch of unimagined bridges.


Wonders happen if we can succeed
in passing through the harshest danger;
but only in a bright and purely granted
achievement can we realize the wonder.


To work with Things in the indescribable
relationship is not too hard for us;
the pattern grows more intricate and subtle,
and being swept along is not enough.


Take your practiced powers and stretch them out
until they span the chasm between two
contradictions...For the god
wants to know himself in you.

Rainer Maria Rilke

Soundtrack for this post: Ray Wiley Hubbard's The Messenger.

A Good Cause

I have made several references in previous posts to my friend David LaMotte, a wonderful singer/songwriter from the Asheville, NC area. I just returned from one of his concerts and was reminded of one of his many projects. David and his wife Deana spent their honeymoon in Guatamala where they visited several schools. One of the schools had several glaring needs....water run from the well to the restrooms, a place to prepare lunch for the kids and a few other things. The cost to build the lunch facility and run the water line was about $1000.00us. David returned home and began telling his audiences about the situation. He collected the needed funds in only three shows. That was the beginning of PEG Partners, a grass roots organization which now provides funds for several schools in the country.

I invite you to take a look at the PEG Partners website and be sure to watch the video. Contribute if you feel like it, but if you don't, just soak in the inspiration. Enjoy.

Photo is borrowed from David's website.

Where Is He?

I have been following this story with some interest since I am familiar with the area in which it is taking place. I can't help wondering why Gov. Goodhair has been completely silent during this event. These people are being housed in a museum. Ft. Concho is a restored post Civil War fort that is pretty much in the middle of town. It was not restored with the idea that anyone would actually live there. There are no fences around it. There is no way that there is sufficient plumbing (bathrooms, kitchen facilities, etc.) for four hundred people to stay there for very long. I would be surprised if there were any showers at all. The only places that could possible house that many people comfortably in San Angelo are the schools and the university which ,of course, are not available this time of year. Where is our state leadership?

A Question

Why is it that listening to Funk 49 is just not the same unless you are lying on shag carpet with your head between a couple of speakers so big they have to be counted as furniture?

What Spring Looks Like Here

Last year at this time, the park where Lani and I walk looked like the picture in the header of this blog. Cooler temperatures and a dry winter have delayed the wild flowers this year and they are just beginning to bloom a little. However, there are some flowering trees that are just beautiful. Click on the photo to get the full impact of it.