Today Was Earth Day

May 27, 2008

Today was Earth Day, 2008. I first realized it when I walked into work, and our receptionist, Dianne, greeted me with an "Earth Day" kind of sentiment. I enjoyed the exchange, joking back with her that I planned on chewing some tree bark to commemorate this honorific event. I remember that those early Earth Days from the 70's usually included media footage of celebrations in (fill in the blank city), complete with hippie-strewn lay-abouts, some carrying big signs that said quasi-flower power sentiments like "Recycle" , "No Nukes", etc., and occasionally there would be placards warning of the climate problems resulting in a coming ice age.

An ice age!

What happened to those "experts" and their prediction about global…cooling? Oh, that's right. They are the same ones who today tell us that we'll be globally warming eight more degrees within ten years. Meanwhile, no apology for going on such a frenzy about chlorofluorocarbons, freon, and hair spray. No apology for being wrong about a lot of things: We were harassed about ddt to the point of banning it from our shelves, and now the rate of malaria is skyrocketing in developing countries where the American eco warriors have done their handywork. Oh, but at least the eggshells of a certain bird species may be stronger!

Coming home tonight was peaceful enough. I'm listening to a book on cd these days. It's called Widow Of The South. A lot of it is from the viewpoint of a Confederate infantryman. Instead of listening to Hannity on the way home, I decided to continue with my progress on the book. I'm on the 4th disc out of 6. The sacrifice of my normal AM show routine is no small departure, as today is the Pennsylvania primary, and I would normally be focused on any political discussion leading up until the returns tonight.

I get home about the same time most afternoons, and my dog Phoebe is always at the door, prancing around as I open the door. She's my best companion, and I don't have to feed her Prozac to be happy to see me every time I greet her. A long day of work is now over, and it's time to fire up the lcd and watch history play out.

NOTES:
Chelsea appears on stage before mom, and does the act-surprised-to-see-someone-far-into-the-crowd-then-point-at-them thing…
Bill appears slackjawed at the 12 minute mark of Hill's speech. Uncertain if he's looking at his wife or the 17 year-old supportor in a tight jumpsuit behind her…
Her speech lasted 17 minutes, fifteen too long…
She seemed as stiff and scripted as Al Gore does…
You were happy it was over finally…

Obama has a much better style than Hillary…
His concession speech sounded better than Hill's winning speech…
Only John Mellencamp and his wife were on the stage immediately afterwards…
His 17 minutes felt like 5…
He left you wanting more…

Isn't it amazing that Southern white states are the ones with the highest amount of white males voting for Obama? Yet it's true: Obama took Va, Nc, Sc, and Ga. And African Americans weren't the majority of Democrat primary voters, either. True, the African American voting bloc has voted for Obama at 92 percent in all of the primaries, but if it hadn't been for 62 percent of the white primary voters in those southern states [ALERT! ALERT! Southern White Men…gathering in numbers…details at 10pm], then Obama wouldn't be where he is right now.

So much of the real drama with what's going on right now is not being discussed, and I'm watching as much or more news than I used to. The drama isn't so much that blacks are overwhelmingly voting for an African American…it's the unavoidable reality of a demonized sect in our country-Southern White (Christian) Men—showing open-mindedness and enthusiasm for someone that conventional wisdom says, by the poor devils' nature itself, they can't.Why aren't there a lot of microphones and cameras grabbing Bubbas at every bowling alley, demanding an explanation at how they can defy mythology and prejudice like this as they actually go cast a vote for a black man?

That is the real story here.