I have some questions. What can I do about the fact that American media is driven by corporate agendas and is failing to give coverage to the massive failures of government under the current administration? How can we have 23 Americans killed in Iraq this week and it not be news? How is it that we are not allowed to see these soldiers come home, by executive order of the President of the United States? How can he order us not to think about their sacrifice? How can this administration block all coverage of Iraq?

How can we accept as "okay" the fact that this administration told us it had no plans for war when it was telling Great Britain that the decision for war had been made already, but the public just had to be softened up, months and months before the war?

How can we attack Arab people who have not attacked us because some other Arab people from other countries attacked us? How can we ignore genocide in Sudan? What are we doing in Iraq? Will there ever be a time in my lifetime when we do not have American soldiers in Iraq? Why are we in Iraq? What is our purpose there now? Have we created a morass that we can never escape from?

Why are none of these questions in the Atlanta Journal? Why can conservative "journalists" lie at will and no one call them into account? Why is the administration paying journalists to put forward propaganda that supports their positions without making that practice known? When will people realize that the media in the country is controlled by corporate America and that progressive thinkers actually have no voice whatsoever?

Isn't it time to start fighting back? Isn't it time to get people in the street? Isn't it time to be the opposition to some of these horrible policies? Does anyone know any reason that George Bush wanted to invade Iraq, other than to be a bully, and create a war that would help ensure his re-election as president? How many thousands had to die to re-elect George Bush? 100,000? More? Is George Bush the same as Saddam Hussain?

He seems pretty close to me.

Speaking of dreams . . . and thanks for your comments Rae Rae, but I have not idea what you are talking about. And when I took psychology classes in high school and undergraduate school, I had no idea of what they were talking about either. Maybe this is all related to my lack of connection with the collective unconscious.

Speaking of dreams . . . as I was saying. Graduation is a sort of dream-like state. It begins, the show that is, at 8 p.m. I'll come back to that. Do you have any idea what happens prior to that? I'll try to keep it short. I'm not talking about the 13 years of education, the approximately 1400 tests per student and all the days in class. I'm just talking about putting on the show. Running the wiring for the microphones takes all morning. Then there are the janitors who set out the 450 chairs and build the platform. The chairs have been stored in an outside building for a year and they are filthy and have to be cleaned, one by one. Melissa was responsible for getting the right number of chairs on each row. (You'd think you could just put 25 chairs on a row and be done with it wouldn't you? You'd be wrong about that.) There were flowers, lots of them. I didn't even see who put them out. I did notice that they put them in the way of the microphone cords and we had to work out how we were going to move the mics without upsetting the flowers at the last minute. Chamber choir has rehearsed the national anthem until it sounds sufficiently military to be sung for the President.

Even after 3 days of graduation practice, someone has to organize the students into lines that night. We have the students divided into 24 rooms. We ask them to come an hour early and some are still so late that they come onto the field after the ceremony has begun. Which screws up everything because I have been told at that point that they are not present and to scratch their names, then poof, there they are and I don't call their name. You do understand that I call all their names don't you? I'm a good person to do it because I'm used to performance pressure and because I can say words in lots of different languages. Good old international phonetic alphabet. I know I'm not perfect at it but I get pretty close. I can tell that because when I call out Charlotte Martine Blanchet in French and look at her, she smiles, surprised that someone said her name as she says it. Chinese is not easy. Italian is my forte. Spanish is easy. Japanese is a challenge. Polish, well I have to get help with Polish and other Eastern Europeans, Bulgarian and such. I speak with about 2/3 of the graduates and go over with them how they want to hear their names and then write them down phonetically.

The band meets at 4:00 to rehearse for graduation. Seems crazy to me, but they do. The soloist for the Alma Mater came in at 6:30 to rehearse with the band. All the student speakers, salutatorian, valedictorian, etc., came in during the morning hours to work with the microphones. It is difficult to talk into a microphone when the sound from the stadium public address system reverberates in your ears about 1 second after you speak. The tendency is to slow down and wait for your words to clear before you continue so they go very slow at first, but we coach them to do better.

The faculty arrives an hour early. Many have responsibilities with students. Many are working security. Former President Jimmy Carter and Mrs. Carter were in the audience again for another grandson's graduation, Jeremy. So there was a bit of unusual security. Secret service guys are nervous looking. They make me nervous. Most teachers are trying to figure out how to get those masters hoods arranged properly. It's not easy and I can never help them but a few have a knack for it and arrange hood after hood and make them look good. Fortunately my doctor's outfit is cool looking and easy to put on. So that's good at least.
There are programs that were done way in advance. We had a new team working on the graduation this year and so there were mistakes, sadly. They didn't take proof reading seriously. There were ushers handing out those programs. Junior marshalls do all the grunt work. They think they are being honored when they get out 6 days early with the seniors. Ha ha. They end up sunburned and tired of taking orders. Let's get shovels and clean up those sidewalks. We've got to use the weedeater on that tall grass by the end of the stadium. Paint these stakes black and pound them into the rock hard ground without breaking them and then string green and black cord and put up all those ribbons.

Finally it begins. The speeches are forgettable, immediately. But grammatically correct. The English department has worked them over. Valedictorians are pretty strong personalities and they sometimes ad lib, or sing or something without any prior approval. It's scarey when they get off script. I begin reading the names about 8:30 and sunset is at 8:45. So I begin in the daylight and it gradually turns to darkness and starlight. That transistion is interesting, sort of emphasizing the passing of time and adding to the dream-like state of the whole thing. We start in the afternoon of highschool and go into the night and then quite suddenly, high school is over.

They pitch hats. There is a senior song. The field is swarming with grandmothers, aunt suzies, parents, little bros and sissys, alumni, and teachers. Flash bulbs and flowers. I just stand there near the platform for a half hour or so and students find me for that one final photo. Often, I never ever see them again.

The earth keeps spinning. I rode home in the bright yellow golf cart, headlights glowing into the darkness.

It was hot today. That's good. There is officially nothing left in the old house. I recruited some football players to help me move the piano today and took it over to the school. Basically it is a hunk of junk, but we can use it in a practice room there for section rehearsals. I've made some good friends with my boys and they were anxious to help me. The three seniors helping are going to UGA, MIT, and playing football at UCONN in the fall. Not bad.

The wife had weird dreams last night, dreaming we were getting married, at our current ages and her parents were there as angels and looked about our age. Long dream with lots of details. How come I never remember anything I dream? If someone knows they should leave a comment. But then I guess almost no one will ever actually read my blog because I don't write everyday.

I miss some of my seniors. And the absense of some is a balm on my life.

Will the filibuster be taken out of the United States Senate tomorrow? It's okay with me if they do that but I hope the Democrats have the guts to absolutely stall every piece of business until it is put back in place. I mean it isn't that easy to work in the senate anyway, but it can actually be impossible, if say for instance, every vote has to be a roll call vote. Unanimous consent doesn't have to exist at all. If you tell the minority party that you don't care what they think and that you won't compromise with them on anything, why should they help you govern? It looks like it would be their role at that junction to do everything possible to ruin the life of the majority party.

How come everyone from the Atlanta Journal to the AARP has 13 programs that shore up social security, but the Republican Party doesn't have one?

Sarah, dogs can be great, or an enormous burden and impossible. Sorry about Leo. Sometimes things just don't work out.

This is going to be a list of totally disjointed ideas.

My pitchers suck on my fantasy league team. Each night some of them pitch well, and each night a different one of them goes crazy and does something like give up 4 runs in a third of an inning, spoiling the performance of everyone else. I would drop the bad ones except that means I'd have no pitchers.

I have mourning doves nestled on the ground under one of my oak trees sleeping.

Last week was crazy. Final concert on Tuesday, went okay, but actually not one of our better Spring concerts, except for Varsity Men, who are of course breaking new ground anyway. Thursday was the last day for 70 seniors. Whew. I loved some of them and was sick to death of others the same amount. That is not a good ratio. There has been so much "business" in class regarding, exam exemptions, end of the year stuff. Yearbooks have made their way into our lives and everyone is trying to sign them. Music and folders must be taken up. Chaos reigns.

This week we have Baccalaureate on Tuesday. Friday is graduation and I have to call the 400 names. Yes I'm working on it. Saturday my neice is getting married.

We've cleaned out the other house and made repairs that they asked for and then the thing did not close. Now we are hoping for next Thursday, but realistically, these things don't close lots of time. Will it close or not? I still haven't gotten the piano out of there and everyone wants $400 to touch it which is totally ridiculous. I'm going to have to do it myself. Ugh. Please let it close so I can believe that I really live in my new house.

Birds that I have had on my feeder this Spring so far: tons of sparrows, I never can decipher the markings to know what kind, mourning doves, purple finches, gold finches, bleubirds, cowbirds, black birds (biker birds), a red headed woodpecker (wow), an indigo bunting, cardinals, and I've had flybys by mocking birds who never get on the feeders. From my other house I am missing roufous sided towhees, flickers, red bellied woodpeckers, brown thrashers, blue jays, brown headed nuthatches.

Early on Sunday mornings we go to waffle house. A nice tradition. The waffle house near here is even warm not freezing cold like most, and there is no smoking in our town, so we can sit anywhere. Very nice.

I'm pretty busy. Thursday night was the chorus concert for beginning choirs. Everyone did well. Treble choir was stunning. Friday, our school teams played for four state championships: boys and girls tennis, boys and girls soccer. Unfortunately, only one, the girls soccer team, came away champions, but the soccer matches which I saw were amazing.
A friend from high school came by to visit and spent the night so we took Rita to the soccer games. The stands were packed with cheering fans so it was pretty interesting. And it was her first soccer game ever.
Saturday night was prom night. I always go and take a hundred or so photos of my kids all dressed up and get my photo made with some of my girls. It is fun. Tonight we danced with the dinosaurs at Fernbank museum of natural history. What a weird backdrop for photos, animal skeletons of beasts that lived 125 million years ago. The largest was 130 feet long. And then a Tyro type beast which was 47 feet long.

And the little kid said, "Daddy, which day did God make the dinosaurs?" That's a real head scratcher.

Next Tuesday night we have the advanced choir concerts. Things are looking good for them.

You just don't realize how much you have missed things at times. So nice to have Carter, Kent, and Sarah all here for dinner. (Rachel was here too!) It's been a long time since they were students together and used to come down to visit. What wonderful brilliant people they all are. Sarah's sister graduated from Tech yesterday so she was here in town from Houston. You may have noticed in an earlier blog comment that she was bound and determined that she was going to get a city tour by golf cart when she came to visit and today we took the yellow screamer out for a tour at breakneck speed. It was great fun.

Of course I got to quiz Sarah about NASA stuff and once again Kent was able to set us our surround sound and Tivo and the VCR and DVD, etc.

Hillary Clinton is speaking at the Agnes Scott graduation and Rachel and Carter are going to get to go hear her. That will be neat for them.

The golf cart is too much fun for words. Maybe it will get old, but we went to the grocery, to Radio Shack, and all over trails today. The poor old green VUE may get a lot less wear in the future.

In yesterday's Atlanta Journal and Constitution, there was no mention of the war in Iraq in any section. Aren't we in the midst of the biggest push by the "insurgency" since the war began? Not one article of any kind addressed the day's happenings there. I couldn't believe it and paged through the paper twice searching for anything about it.

Is this the liberal media I'm always hearing about? I'm more and more convinced that the rich fat cat Republicans have taken control of everything but blogging.

What can be the purpose of including an opinion piece in a major newpaper ("Democrats leave us dumbstruck" by David Gelernter, professor of computer science at Yale and a contributing editor to the Weekly Standard, printed in the Atlanta Journal and Constitution, May 5, 2005) which spends its quarter page name calling, slandering, and belittling people, individuals and groups. Gelernter tells us what the Democrats believe. He insists that the current Georgia democrats are against solving the problem of voter fraud. He wanders on to say that they are against letting people invest some of their payroll taxes in private accounts in addition to social security. He calls democrats liars. Having covered the complex issues of voter fraud and social security reform in 9 paragraphs (Most of his points are merely angry ridicule. Are we supposed to be impressed by the logic in angry ridicule?), he moves on to school vouchers, which he claims are good things opposed by those terrible teachers unions. Oh and having covered school vouchers he has time to claim the democrats are socialists, even Marxists, and has room for a closing paragragh of nothing but name calling.

Why couldn't the Atlanta Journal find someone in Georgia to address the issue of voter fraud in Georgia, which was the pretext for this diatribe by the Yalie against all things democratic? I have no answers for what the Journal Constitution people are thinking or what purpose they think is served by such poorly written, illogical thoughts, given in such a large forum. But I have some thoughts about voter fraud, social security, and school vouchers.

Have we had a big problem with voter fraud in Georgia? I watch the news religiously and I've missed any reports on fraudulent voting. I've seen lots of stories on problems with counting votes. I've seen that voting machines were distributed in the last election in such a way that blacks in Georgia waited all day to vote, but wealthy white voters could vote in 15 minutes. The primary focus of the current Georgia legislature, which is Republican in both houses, with a Republican governor to boot, has been to try and secure their unusual good fortune of being in charge. They want to stay in charge. So they have changed the voting districts for the third time since the last census, an unprecidented action, creating as many problems as possible for democrats seeking office in Georgia. The anti voter fraud bill was designed with the same purpose. In this case, the Republicans are hoping that by making it harder for older, poor people (mostly black) to have the credentials they need to vote that perhaps they can shave off a few thousand more democratic voters. There is no other purpose in this legislation, because there has been no voter fraud.

As for social security, has the president of the United States proposed anything to solidify the solvency of social security? I thought he said there is a crisis. What then is his solution? His only idea so far is to cut benefits by 40% for those "rich" people who retire making as much as 60K. Private accounts are a non issue. Democrats think they are fine, right after solvency without cutting social security.

As for the old voucher issue, I've been around longer than this issue. How come no one wanted vouchers in 1965? Were the schools better? Well actually, no they weren't. And they were segregated too. What's different today is that public schools are integrated, which has given rise to a huge new industry, private (largely "Christian") schools, which are very nearly as segregated as the schools of the 1960's. Vouchers are simply an attempt by the racist mentality that created those "Christian" institutions to find a way to make it easier for their clients to attend, by taking money out of public education to put it into segregated parochial institutions. Is there anyone who thinks there is any other issue behind school vouchers? Well hey, I'm a good ole Georgia boy and I can tell you . . . that is the issue.

And those teacher unions, are they controlling anything? Teachers join "unions" in Georgia for protection from law suits and for no other reason. The unions can't help them in any way because Georgia outlaws collective bargaining for educators. Unions in Georgia have zero power. Well I take that back, they can call the newspaper and complain about bad policies, and that is what bothers the Republican mouthpieces like Gelernter. He's angry that anyone dares oppose him. He offers no facts to support his position, but slanders, and slobers over his enemies. Gelernter is a bad writer, and it seems like he's a bad person. The Journal and Constitution do their readers a disservice by not finding something better to print. That column was rotting garbage. Phew!