Friday, Oh, Friday

Much to discuss, so little time, and the little man is giving me just a couple of minutes to post before he needs his bottle...

Thank you Eric Alterman for the link to this fantastic one hour audio documentary on the impact of Bruce's music. To contribute to this piece, right now in my life, "Thunder Road"'s story of taking life's last chance being offered you is my son. As Mary takes up the chance to get in the car of the song's protagonist and is driven home as dawn breaks, Clarence Clemons' saxophone comes ripping through the song and brings the song full circle: modern (rock for the mid-1970s) with the past (50s doo-wop); Mary's high school dreams and wishes and the life she's lived since her dreams passed her by. While her prince on the horse (boy in car) wisks her a way, even for just a night's jaunt through the streets, peace and romance is still achieved for at least the listener. This morning, Clarence's sax and Roy Bittan's driving piano create a rush of emotion that hit me this morning as I rocked my young son to sleep in my arms. While Thunder Road competed with Rainbow Connection (my son's favorite song), right there, at that moment, I felt my past and my present meet up with my future and today, for a slight second, life made sense.

Enough reflection; Karl Rove just peed his pants this morning. Sandra Day O'Connor just announced her resignation from the Supreme Court. This is serious. O'Connor has been an important jurist; not just for being the first female Justice, but because her swing votes over the 24 years that she's resided on the Court. O'Connor's resignation in and of itself is not important, it's that Chief Justice William Rehnquist is ready to quit himself. One conservative leaving the bench is inconsequential; two is deadly. Now, Bush can nominate two hard-core staunch conservatives and lock down a permanent conservative majority. The terrifying aspect of this scenario is the possibility that Antonin Scalia could be named Chief Justice. How's that?

I am taking inspiration from Chris "Lefty" Brown and trying to find solutions to the crises we face instead of constantly whining about things. The first thing, I believe, that needs to occur is the creation of a new movement. The Democratic Party, while having good intentions (we know where those lead us) has become a dinosaur. It currently has no true platform except for standing for anything that Bush doesn't. That type of reactionary politics is about as successful as Bush's speech earlier this week. What are we? Liberals? Progressives? The Left? We need to redefine ourselves, create our platform of necessary issues we believe in, and push for what we want to see accomplished. While this is already being done, we need to congeal into a coherent, singular movement. Let's go.

Do all the good you can,,
by all the means you can,
in all the ways you can,
as long as ever you can.
- John Wesley

Patience is the companion of wisdom.
-Augustine