As I watch the motorcade taking the mortal remains of Senator Edward Moore Kennedy to Boston for viewing at the JFK Library this afternoon, I remember being a college student at St. Peter's College in Jersey City, New Jersey in 1968.  A 36 year old Senator Kennedy spoke at the college on the issues of the day: the war in Viet-Nam, civil rights and the campaign of his brother, Bobby, for President of the United States only a few months before his brother's violent death in California.

After the speech, he was taken to a blocked off section of the front cafeteria for a brief lunch before his return to Washington, DC.  Three of my friends and I, unable to find room in the larger back cafeteria, sat alone at a table in the front cafeteria and talked about what we had just witnessed, and what we thought of what Senator Kennedy had said.  Suddenly, the door opened and out came the Senator along with the college officials who had lunch with him.  He was still a very young man, broad-shouldered with a jaunt in his step and the awkward smile of youth on his face.  We were thrilled that he was going to pass us on his way out of the school.  Suddenly, he stopped at our table and, standing over us, asked us what we thought of his speech.  We were dumbfounded, but stuttered out our praise for what he had said.  Slowly, he pulled out a chair and sat with us for a few minutes to follow up on some of our observations. His easy manner and personable nature made us forget who we were talking to as we discussed with him the issues of the day, issues that would, in time, have a profound impact on our history and our own lives.  

"I'd better get going." he told us as he rose from his seat. "I think they are waiting for me."  We rose too, and each shook his hand and thanked him for stopping to talk to us.  "Wait a minute." he said as we said our goodbyes.  He walked back into the private dining hall and returned with the floral centerpiece that was on his table.  "No sense in wasting this." he said, as he put it in the center of our table.  We thanked him as we watched him leave the room.  

His brother Jack had been brutally assassinated only a few years before.  Within a few months, his brother Bobby would be gone too. In retrospect, this incident is so trivial and so seemingly unimportant, that it barely seems worth mentioning. But,in that moment in time, the conversation between the Senator and a few college students had an importance all its own to each of us who sat at that table that day.

He went on to make a failed run for President of the United States as his brothers before him had done,to become a great Senator, the Lion of the Senate, to endorse the present president, Barak Obama, and to be the patriarch of the Kennedy clan. He will be pictured in the minds of many Americans as the senator with the thick grey main of hair, the craggy face that would be right at home on Mount Rushmore, and that broad Kennedy smile.  To the few of us that sat at that cafeteria table that day, he will be the awkward young idealist who didn't see himself as too important to sit with three college students and share a lunchtime discussion.

And that is a memory I will treasure forever.

Recently, I was sent this email.

Letter from Procter & Gamble Exec to Obama

Please read, even if you are an Obama fan.  
It is legitimate,  written by respected, Lou Prichett, formerly of Proctor and Gamble.   Lou Pritchett is one of corporate America's true living legends- an acclaimed author, dynamic teacher and one of the world's highest rated speakers. Successful corporate executives everywhere recognize him as the foremost leader in change management. Lou changed the way America does business by creating an audacious concept that came to be known as partnering. "Pritchett rose from soap salesman to Vice-President, Sales and Customer Development for Procter and Gamble and over the course of 36 years, made corporate history.
AN OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA

Dear President Obama:

You are the thirteenth President under whom I have lived and unlike any of the others, you truly scare me.

You scare me because after months of exposure, I know nothing about you.

You scare me because I do not know how you paid for your expensive Ivy League education and your upscale lifestyle and housing with no visible signs of support.

You scare me because you did not spend the formative years of youth growing up in America and culturally you are not an American.

You scare me because you have never run a company or met a payroll.

You scare me because you have never had military experience, thus don't understand it at its core.

You scare me because you lack humility and 'class', always blaming others.

You scare me because for over half your life you have aligned yourself with radical extremists who hate America and you refuse to publicly denounce these radicals who wish to see America fail.

You scare me because you are a cheerleader for the 'blame America' crowd and deliver this message abroad.

You scare me because you want to change America to a European style country where the government sector dominates instead of the private sector.

You scare me because you want to replace our health care system with a government controlled one.

You scare me because you prefer 'wind mills' to responsibly capitalizing on our own vast oil, coal and shale reserves.
You scare me because you want to kill the American capitalist goose that lays the golden egg which provides the highest standard of living in the world.

You scare me because you have begun to use 'extortion' tactics against certain banks and corporations.

You scare me because your own political party shrinks from challenging you on your wild and irresponsible spending proposals.

You scare me because you will not openly listen to or even consider opposing points of view from intelligent people.

You scare me because you falsely believe that you are both omnipotent and omniscient.

You scare me because the media gives you a free pass on everything you do.

You scare me because you demonize and want to silence the Limbaughs, Hannitys, O'Reillys and Becks who offer opposing, conservative points of view.

You scare me because you prefer controlling over governing.

Finally, you scare me because if you serve a second term I will probably not feel safe in writing a similar letter in 8 years.

Lou Pritchett
Procter & Gamble Exec

We are now in the last four days of a very long and contentious presidential election season.  With the success of Barak Obama as a viable Democratic presidential candidate, attacks from the "Republican Slime Machine" were inevitable and have been coming at a regular rate since the spring of this year.  Senator Obama has been "linked" with both a domestic "terrorist" and Palastinian "terrorist", and been called inexperienced, a celebrity, a rock star, messianic, unpatriotic, dangerous, a socialist and a Marxist by both Republican presidential candidate, Senator John McCain as well as vice-presidential candidate, Governor Sarah Palin. And to little or no apparent effect.  Now, with four days left, and desperation setting into the Republican presidential campaign, they have "dug up" a Kenyan aunt of Senator Obama that apparently is living in the US illegally.  And yet there is no evidence that Senator Obama has anything to do with her entry or her extended stay.

With a country in two wars (declared ones, that is) and conflicts now on the Syrian and Pakistani borders, with Iran developing nuclear capabilities and Korea much further along the nuclear trail, with China emerging as a world power and owning almost half of our national debt, with Russia looking beyond its borders with renewed attempts to dominate Eastern Europe, with a loss of millions of domestic jobs here in the US, a flood of defaulted home mortgages, a crisis in health care, global warming, an increase in the price of energy and the worst financial crash since the Great Depression, are we still paying attention to petty mud-slinging and name-calling?  And, are we considering any of this important in our selection process of the person that will have to face and solve all of the above problems we face?  If the Democrats chose to respond in kind to these kinds of attacks, such as mentioning the present president's past alchol problems, Cindy McCain's former dependance on proscription drugs, John McCain's first marriage and divorce, the Republican party's problems with bathroom assignations and page boy romances, adultery, lobbying, illegal campaign contributions and kick backs, and a host of other scandals that I am sure the Democrats could "dig up" on the opposition.  And what if they did?  No matter who won this election, the future president would be so compromised that it would be hard for him to get the nation's support in this time of multiple crises that affect our country.  Besides, isn't the motto of one of these parties "Country First?"

Boy, it didn't take long for this campaign to roll into the gutter. So far, McCain has called Obama a "flip-flopper" because he voted for the latest "warrantless wiretapping" bill and now seems to have seen the possibilities of off-shore drilling sites as a part of an energy plan.  Yet McCain has flip-flopped on the same issues and more of them.

McCain has goaded Obama into visiting the Middle East again this summer.  Obama accepted the challenge and went to Europe as well, where he was treated as a rock star.  Now the McCain campaign is comparing him to Brittany Spears, Paris Hilton and even Moses parting the Red Sea, and telling us when we ask the relevance of these ads, to "get a sense of humor."

After Fox News three times "mistakingly" put a picture of Osama Bin Laden on the screen with Obama's name under it, Republicans are blogging about his middle name (Hussein for those who are not keeping track)and the New Yorker Magazine published a cover of Senator Obama and his wife Michelle dressed as Arab terrorists, Obama warns audiences that the opposition will portray him as "different."  The McCain campaign counters by whinning "Foul! He used the race card!" (As if we all haven't been waiting for someone to use it.) After all, he is the first African-American to be a major party's nominee for the White House.  And why do you think that while the country and the news media can't "take their eyes off" Obama? According to the polls, it still seems to be a close race.  Race.  That's it, isn't it.  The majority of Americans are still mulling over in their minds whether they can take the next step to a color-blind society and vote for "the black guy."

You know, I have been watching Chris Matthews on "Hardball" for many years now.  During that time, he seemed balanced and fair to me, asking the tough questions that many would not ask of politicians and pundits alike.  He even was the first, if I am not mistaken, that admitted on national television, that the newsmedia was partially at fault for the Iraq war because they didn't ask questions, they just jumped on the bandwagon.  I thought that that observation was courageous and right on target.

    "On June 9, the hearings reached their moment of greatest drama, when McCarthy attacked a young legal aide of Joseph Nye Welch (Army Chief Counsel). The aide, Fred Fisher, had once worked for the National Lawyers Guild (an organization with communist ties) and Welch had advised him to stay away from the hearings for his own good. Even though the man was not present, McCarthy impugned his character. Welch's reply became famous: "Until this moment, senator, I think I never gauged your cruelty or recklessness .... Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?" When McCarthy attempted to respond, Welsh cut him off demanding that the chairman call the next witness. Hesitating for a moment, the silent gallery broke into applause. McCarthy was stunned. The hearings drew to an inconclusive finish shortly afterwards." (http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1769.h tml)

Well, it is the eleventh hour in this mid-term election,and the Republicans have sunk to a new low.  They are using "robo-calls" or automatic calls that pretend to represent the Democratic candidate but just say the candidate's name and hang up, again and again and again.  Potential Democratic voters are calling Democratic headquarters complaining and threatening not to vote for the Democratic candidate.  And then there's the flyers and phone calls to minority neighborhoods telling them that their polling places have been changed, or outright threats to them if they vote.  

How desperate are these people to stay in power.  Isn't this what the Nazi's did to win the elections in pre- World War II Germany.  What were their motives for resorting to these illegal, unethical and dispicable ploys?  What are the Republican motives for the same actions? Is this the only thing they stand for?  And is this what they have to resort to when their lies have failed?

Have they no sense of decency, at long last? Have they left no sense of decency?

This might be the strangest entry I have ever written (or not written).  Here it is: read Keith Olberman's "special comment" entitled "Bush owes troops an apology, not Kerry." He is by far more eloquent than I could ever be.
      http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15519404/

In fact, read all of his special comments on the MSNBC website.  They are worth the time and effort it will take.  If you are a Republican, it will enrage you.  Yet, while you are enraged, please, for all of our sakes, think!  If you are an Independent, it will make you think (or it should) what kind of country we have had under the Republicans, and what kind of country we want to have.  If you are a Democrat, it will give you the warm feeling that you are not alone, or crazy, or delusional.  You are simply right!

I can't believe it!  John Kerry apologized today!  When will we ever learn? I am a Democrat, yet I find that our learning curve is quite disappointing.  I guess we haven't learned from the last election and the swift boat ads that the best defense is a good offense. At least John Kerry hasn't.  In my opinion, what he did today was the worst thing he could have done.  He let Bush and his crew frighten him into doing something he never should have done.  And shame on these Democratic candidates who pushed him to do it!  Don't we trust the American people to understand the English language and our intentions?  Haven't we learned that Bush and crew have no shame when it comes to diverting attention away from their own failed leadership?  I am a high school teacher, and what Bush did to Kerry (and by extension, to all of us) is pretty much what a fourteen year old child who has done something wrong would do to get himself out of trouble.  He would shift the blame from where it legitimately belongs and onto the person that catches him at it.  And we fell for it. Or at least John Kerry and the Democratic candidates did. Haven't we learned anything from Bill Clinton's interview with Chris Wallace?  When are we going to learn that to beat a bully, all you have to do is stand up to him.  Shame on us!