A bumper sticker distributed by Common Cause carries the words

Democracy is Not a Spectator Sport

Never in the course of human events were words more true than is that simple statement in today’s world.  We may sit around our keyboards as we moan and complain all we wish.  We may energize some person out there, but we have a greater effect when we take action on our own.

Paul Wellstone had the right idea when he said

The future will not belong to those who sit on the sidelines. The future will not belong to the cynics. The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.

The New York Times has a fine articletoday summarizing the failure of American energy policy over the past many years.  Given the current gasoline price of more than $4 a gallon there is much concern among people of all economic positions in the nation.  Everyone is suffering the consequence of decisions made over the course of the past 30 years or more.

Entire industries are reeling — airlines and automakers most prominent among them — and gas prices have emerged as an important issue in the presidential campaign.

Over the last 25 years, opportunities to head off the current crisis were ignored, missed or deliberately blocked, according to analysts, politicians and veterans of the oil and automobile industries. What’s more, for all the surprise at just how high oil prices have climbed, and fears for the future, this is one crisis we were warned about. Ever since the oil shortages of the 1970s, one report after another has cautioned against America’s oil addiction.

After a lengthy search and information gathering time, we decided to install solar panels on our roof to help with energy generation.  The company we chose, CMI Electric, is local and came to us with a fine reputation.  We signed the contract several weeks ago and just this week the installation time arrived.  Thanks to the state of Delaware with their energy subsidy program we were able to put this together.  Follow over the fold for lots of photos and some discussion of our experience.

Sometimes we all need a break from politics as usual.  Today was a day off from campaigning in Possum Valley.  Time was taken to rest and enjoy a beautiful day in the sunshine and fine weather.  We hit a high around 70F today making one perfect day for a tour of one of our fine local gardens.

Longwood Gardens is locaed on a former DuPont estate in nearby PA.  The site encompasses 1050 acres making for a spectacular space in which to display various gardens, woodlands, and meadows.  Follow over the fold for LOTS of pictures and share the day on a possum trek through the garden.

A front page post earlier today by Meteor Blades referred to a speech given in 1990 by Aung Sang Suu Kyi.  The title of the speech was Freedom From Fear.  The first words of the speech were

It is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it.

The New York Times today has a story telling a sorry tale of failure in Iraq.  A 2004 bulletin issued to Army commanders across Iraq offers a warning.

Because of flawed electrical work by contractors, the bulletin stated, soldiers at American bases in Iraq had received severe electrical shocks, and some had even been electrocuted.

The story continues to tell the tale of faulty oversight of contractors as more troops have been injured or even killed since the original warning was issued.

Sometimes people ask about my past history in partisan politics. I have no past involvement outside donations of money and my time as a political blogger and avid reader of political literature.  I have spent lots of time talking to anyone who would listen over the years. Politics is a passion, not a hobby. For years I have been involved in the local peace movement, on the ground week after week trying to swing public opinion to oppose the occupation of Iraq and bring our troops home.

Opposition to the war drove me to a campaign, but there are so many other pressing issues in our nation today. The war is a fundamental wrong which must be corrected. But the economy, the environment, our educational system, healthcare, and many more basic issues are important and all need attention today. Tomorrow may be too late.

This was one big week as the campaign begins to ramp up toward a Primary Election in September.  Every candidate in the state is on the road these days talking to people, knocking on doors, and making themselves evident in the public.  I was no exception.  For those of you who have worked on campaigns or have campaigned yourself, my tale will be nothing new.  For others of you I offer the experience for your vicarious pleasure/torture.  

The state of Delaware has a system for elections in which any person may join the fray by declaring their candidacy and paying a fee to the party of one's candidacy.  Today was the day for me.  We trekked to Dover, DE, to file the papers and pay the fees.  All went very well as my wife, our friend, and I wandered along the campaign trail one more day.  Follow over the fold for more of the possum's campaign tale of the day.

Today's New York Times carries an article about the new wave of drug company "pre-emption" for products later shown to be unsafe.  Under what is becoming the state of affairs under the Bush administration once the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves a drug for marketing, consumers lose their legal right to sue for damages when the approved medication is shown to be faulty.  The exemption may be upheld by the courts even if the data submitted to the FDA in advance of approval is shown to have been misleading or incorrect.

In the first 90 days of 2008 the United States reports 103 troop deaths in Iraq.  Since the invasion we have commemorated the 5th anniversary we have commemorated 5 years and more than 4000 soldiers lost.  Today we hear of costs near $12 billion per month and estimates of $3 trillion overall before all is said and done.  

Meanwhile our mainstream media continues to play down the ongoing failure with barely a mention any more of the deaths let alone stories of the families and friends left behind.  The death count also fails to reflect the numbers of US contractors killed in country.  No mention is made of the many thousands of life altering injuries such as limbs or eyes lost.  Nor do we hear much of the many minds broken beyond repair.  Suicides related to service time are also not counted and often not mentioned.  Coalition losses are not counted in the total.  The Iraqi losses count many thousands more, yet those are dismissed often without a thought.  Every death rends the fabric of humanity a bit more.

Imagine for a few moments how your life would change if you were suddenly charged as an enemy combatant and sent to Guantanamo Bay as a detainee.

You'd be transported under conditions of sensory deprivation to maximize your disorientation.

Brooke Anderson, Flickr, Creative Commons (staged photo)

Not that we needed much more evidence of the failure of the surge.  Now comes news the State Department is telling employees in Baghdad

not to leave reinforced structures due to incoming insurgent rocket fire that has killed two American government workers this week.

The memo continues to recommend employees not sleep in their personal trailers, but rather move into the palace which now houses the embassy or into the not yet completed embassy.  Employees are asked to use cots in place of their beds in trailers.

The ideals of freedom, security, and opportunity are like unto a milking stool (the proverbial "three-legged-stool").  With any one leg missing the whole structure fails to support even its own weight.  With three sturdy legs the stability of the whole is great indeed.  As a child I watched my father milk a small number of cattle.  He knew with great certainty the value of that three-legged stool.

Cyflo, Flickr, Creative Commons

Follow over the fold for more pondering of the three legged stool as a metaphor for our political situation today.  In addition I propose some general solutions for consideration in the future.

As the song goes

Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose

Or is there more to the state of real freedom?  Today we see our freedoms being taken away little by little by an administration more bent on power than on the purpose of democratic government, protecting individual and overall freedom.  

The dictionary offers a variety of definitions for freedom including

the state of being free or at liberty rather than in confinement or under physical restraint

Living in a nation founded on principles of liberty and justice for all gives me hope that one day we will live in a state of real freedom.  Follow over the fold for more of the possum's pondering and consideration of freedom.

A few days ago I wrote about my interaction with the American Legion.  I wrote the organization to complain about their support of FISA revision to include telecom amnesty.  The ongoing correspondence between myself and Mr. Steve Robertson of the AL continued into today.  While the correspondence has been amicable, we reached a cavernous divide in our thinking.  As of this moment much of my original and continuing concerns is not addressed.

Follow over the fold for excerpts from the ongoing e-mail interactions as of today.  The entire discussion is too lengthy for a diary, but I will try not to slant my coverage.  Representative parts are being chosen to the best of my ability.

Solutions are the key to better living for one and all.  I am guilty as anyone else of sometimes standing around and pointing out the problems which all can see without my advice.  This approach often leads to a case of seeing the forest and not recognizing the trees.  We can all understand the bigger problems but to overcome the difficulty we must find the smaller components and refrain from being overwhelmed by issues too large for our comprehension or individual resolution.

The answer to all our troubles lies in solutions.  The nation today is very diverse.  There are people with many disparate bits of knowledge.  The world is far too complex to expect any single person to have the solution to every problem.  What we need is more cooperation in terms of suggesting and analyzing a variety of solutions in order to find the best way to resolve the issue at hand this moment.  The solving of individual issues leads to the resolving of bigger issues over the course of time as the actions add to a tsunami effect.

For most of my life I have been a dreamer.  As a child I sat many a fine hour on a creek bank with a cork floating on the water (often with no bait on the hook) and dreamed of other times and other places.  In those years science fiction was a staple of reading.  Television was young and barely available.  Entertainment was found by one’s self or not found at all for the most part.  

In years past I dreamed of a better life for myself and my family.  In those days the dream was more about myself than for other people.  As life has continued in time the dream has come to encompass the people around me and now extends to the nation and around the entire globe.  Today I dream of a world in which peace, justice, and prosperity are the rule of the day.