Friday, January 23, 2009

A LITTLE BIT BETTER



I've been dealing with two days of fever and joint lockdown, but I wanted to express my happiness at the good news flowing out of the Oval Office. A year ago, I made a list of my top ten issues I wanted to see addressed by a new government. At the very top was "Restore the Constitution". This had several subcategories, including limiting so-called executive privilege, restoring transparency, enforcing accountability, returning checks and balances -- you know the rest.

I believed (still do) that if these Cheney-spored rots were scrubbed out, all else would follow much more easily. Which is why when Obama caved on FISA, he went down on my list of Presidential picks.

But damn, the Constitutional scholar in him is coming forth, ain't it? So far, I'm happy as a gator in a chickenranch.

I wanted to alert you all to an interesting website run by the St. Petersburg Times called "The Obameter: Tracking Obama's Campaign Promises". As of this morning, out of about 500 campaign promises, here's the scoreboard so far:

Promise Kept -- 7
Compromise -- 0
Promise Broken -- 0
Stalled -- 1
In The Works -- 14
No Action -- 488

Go to the site for more details. And bookmark it for future reference. Remember, happiness depends on noticing what's going right as much as it does expressing your expectations for improvement.

Or, to quote Jennifer Warnes in the working-class anthem for Norma Rae:

Bless the child of a working man
She knows too soon where she's from
And bless the hands of a working man
He knows his soul is his own

So it goes like it goes
Like a river flows
And time, it rolls right on
And maybe what's good gets a little bit better
And maybe what's bad gets gone
Maybe what's bad gets gone



[Cross-posted at Group News Blog.]

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't suppose you posted that Top 10 list of yours anywhere?

Anonymous said...

sorry you've been feeling punk, glad to hear you're on the mend.

Maggie Jochild said...

Cowpoke Diva, I don't have a copy of the list. I wrote it in response to a MoveOn mass e-mailing asking us what our priorities were, so I guess it's in their files somewhere. I remember being surprised that the war wasn't closer to the top than it was, once I looked at everything that was amiss.

And Liza, thx. I've actually just (4 p.m. Saturday) gotten up again from 36 hours prone with a raging fever-- 103 degrees for 24 hours, with violent chills for 6 hours of that -- and I feel as if I've bee reborn. Except I have joint and muscle pain everywhere. Somehow in the delirium I managed to strain the thigh and calf muscles on my right leg, and they fuckin' hurt. I'm woozy, wobbly, and starting to get hungry. (I did have plenty of juice, water, and crackers by my bed.) I also have reams of Ginny Bates sitting inside me waiting to flow onto the screen -- that is, if it's not too feverish to make sense. But I need to eat and go rest a bit more. Fortunately, it's Saturday, my PBS day -- TV I can watch when at a low ebb without being emotionally jerked around.

I'll be back later.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the heads-up on the list.

fwiw, I got my screen-nick from a song called "No Chicken." I know Womansong out of Asheville recorded it on an album called Everything Possible.

I performed it with an a capella group years ago, and missed the rehearsal where parts were handed out; I was therefore (ahem) given the role of "Diesel Cowboy."

"Diesel" did NOT fit my personality, but "Cowboy" stuck.


Glad you're feeling better.