jlgolden's blog

When at first you don't succeed ... rebrand, and rebrand again. Since "Xe" didn't seem to work for them, Blackwater (I'm sorry, but they'll always be Blackwater to me) is at it again with a whole new image, a softer and gentler right wing militancy. This time it's "Academi."

It's been a while since I've posted on this site, but this one surprised me a little bit, although it probably shouldn't.

As a United Methodist (actually ordained elder, but that was in a former life), there are a number of areas where I strongly disagree with my denomination. But this? This makes me kinda proud to be a Methodist.

Here's something that puts my puny world and the problems I face in perspective. Worth passing along.

Currently licensed professional counselors (LPCs) and licensed marriage and family therapists (LMFTs) are not eligible for Medicare reimbursement. I believe that the House health care bill has a provision that would rectify this, but the Baucus Senate bill doesn't.

The request is simple enough: call Kay Hagan (202-224-6342) and Richard Burr (202-224-3154) and ask them to support S.671, The Seniors Mental Health Access Improvement Act of 2009. Thanks in advance.

I know it's bad form to quote wholesale from a previously published article, and it's not something I would normally do, on this or any site. But the following is from an article published in Parade Magazine, of all places, in 1991 (pre-internet). It was an article that my father cut out and saved, being the old school FDR-Harry-Emerson-Fosdick liberal that he was. (In fact, the older he got, the more liberal he became, although he watched Crossfire religiously because, as he said, he wanted to know what the other side thought.) At any rate, he saved this article because it meant something to him ... it described him. I've looked for it for some time, and finally stumbled across it (as Sidney Harris used to say) while looking for something else.

My father died in 2001, and coming across this article has brought back some warm memories of the man who had more of an influence on my socio-poliitico-spiritual life than anyone else ... and a man whom I still miss deeply for his wisdom and his humor. I share it here simply as an offering.

Here is a link to a PDF of the below article.

Looking for a way to spoil a good evening, I went tonight to a Patrick McHenry town hall in Hickory. I know, it sounds like cruel and unusual punishment and, yes, it felt like punishment. Aural waterboarding maybe. I have to say that I greatly admired my father, a WWII vet and Roosevelt liberal who seemed to grow more liberal as he aged, but who watched Crossfire religiously because, as he said, he wanted to know what the other side thought. I admire that, and don't do it very well myself. But tonight I did.

It's yet another piece of the right wing quilt, that one of their own seems to believe he is a law unto himself, that he is living out a higher calling, that he is on a sacred mission to rid the world of people who aren't like him. Jeremy Scahill's latest piece on Blackwater and it's founder, Prince Erik, is downright scary.

And I thought my representative, Little Patty McHenry, was an idiot! (Well, he is, but at least he isn't claiming the government is out to bump off seniors, for petesake!)

This was yesterday. Really, is this the best North Carolina can do for the House of Representatives? Admittedly, her hero, G.W. Bush, stumbled on this one too. Maybe it's time we instituted some kind of A.S.S. (Adage Sensibility Survey) to these clowns before we let them leave the state.

President Obama's first act (President Obama ... I love the sound of that) is more symbolic than functional, but there's something hopeful about it.  His first act as president was to establish this day as a national day of renewal and reconciliation.  I know, it's a purely symbolic gesture and may mean little in the long run, especially once the partisan bickering cranks up again, as it surely will.  But it sets a tone that, if followed through, would be a refreshing change for Washington.