Yes, Virgina, 'the times, they are a changin'

Oh, Obama!

President Barack Obama speaks, as a tear streams down his face, at his final campaign stop on the evening before the 2012 presidential election, Monday, Nov. 5, 2012, in Des Moines, Iowa. ((Carolyn Kaster/AP Photo))

Obama 'change' sweeps old guard 
by Mike Marcellino

Yes, 'Virgina'...'the times, they are a changin' 

If you think this is just a Bob Dylan song and a rallying cry for 'hippies' read what the Dali Lama had to say about President Obama's victory Tuesday.  The Democrat president gathered 303 electoral votes (33 more than he needed), defeating the former Wolverine now Bostonian businessman Gov. Mitt Romney by more than 2.7 million votes.

American singer songwriter Bob Dylan wrote "The Times They Are A Changin' nearly 50 years ago in 1964.

"When you were elected in 2008, you inspired the world with a call to take responsibility for the problems we face as global citizens. Since then, you have made earnest efforts to live up to that great hope and trust placed in you by the American public. I believe you have been re-elected now in recognition of that effort." — the Dalai Lama.


I didn't think it would happen, but it did.  

The new grass roots coalition of liberals, youths, blacks, Latinos, the poor and working class showed up again, turning out in great enough numbers to give the offbeat (or 'new beat') charismatic president four more years in the White House to wrangle Congress for real change, creating a strong country in which everyone has a fair shot at reaching 'the American dream.'

Here's President Obama's victory speech on CSPAN -

 On the eve of the most expensive presidential election in history - seemingly endless, often bitter and divisive, President Obama foretold his victory and those who would make the difference.  He loudly proclaimed, without hesitation,  himself as the champion of poor and working class, the less fortunate Americans.  At the polls Tuesday these folks showed that they believe in him.

Also in the waning days of the campaign, Romney foretold his own demise.  He took a punch at the Obama coalition, calling them freeloaders taking government handouts and it had to end.  Mitt forgot these folks pay taxes and they proved that they show up.  

While I expected Romney to lose a close election, he even lost his  double digit lead in Florida, an old South state now changing with an invasion of Yankees. He lost by 47,493 votes.  

Majorities of 63 and 57 percent of folks making less than $30,000 or $50,000 backed the nation's first black president. Obama's call for "change" again ignited a majority of Americans.  He drew large, enthusiastic crowds that actually reflected our nation's changing face of 2012.  In contrast, Romney's crowds, while enthusiastic, were overwhelmingly white and aging, southern and western (minus the West Coast). 

Obama even carried Romney's 'home states' of Massachusetts and Michigan, capturing nearly 61 and 54 percent of the vote.  

As a testament to his response to the Hurricane Sandy disaster, Obama carried New York and New Jersey, reeling form Hurricane Sandy and now a northeaster, by nearly 63 and 58 percent, landslides.

And, yes, President Obama did carry 'ole Virgina' by more than 108,000 votes.  Now it may be 'so goes Virginia, so goes the nation.'  I say this in all due respect to 'the bell weather state' Ohio, which Obama won by more than 100,000 votes.  A Republican has never won without Ohio.  Perhaps it's Virgina's time to call the future again.

And, I haven't heard of any 'civil war' going on just yet, as a Texas county judge had predicted.  Romney did win Texas with 57 percent of the vote.  

Oh, by the way, Money.com reports that Colorado and Washington state voters approved the legalization of marijuana for recreational use.  Yes, 'the times, they are a changin.'

 

Voters have approved marijuana legalization in Washington and Colorado, where this smoker celebrated the "420" holiday in Denver earlier this year. But it's still illegal, according to the feds. 

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Voters in Washington and Colorado passed ballot initiatives Tuesday to legalize marijuana for recreational use, the biggest victory ever for the legalization movement.

"The significance of these events cannot be understated," said NORML, a pro-legalization organization, in a news release. "Tonight, for the first time in history, two states have legalized and regulated the adult use and sale of cannabis."

Meanwhile, as the states ad feds fight over pot, here's more world reaction to Obama's second term as president of the United States -

One of the first things I want to talk to Barack about is how we must do more to try and solve this crisis (in Syria). Above all, congratulations to Barack. I've enjoyed working with him, I think he's a very successful U.S. president and I look forward to working with him in the future."— British Prime Minister David Cameron, on a visit to Syrian refugees on the Jordanian border.

"Your re-election is a clear choice in favor of an America that is open, unified, completely engaged in the international scene and conscious of the challenges facing our planet: peace, the economy and the environment." — French President Francois Hollande.

Pope Benedict XVI sent a message to Obama expressing hope that "ideals of liberty and justice, which guided the founders of the U.S.A., may continue to shine on the road ahead for the nation." — Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi

As if a prediction of the outcome of the 2012 presidential election, Bob Dylan performs his classic song of change, "The Times They Are A Changin" first recorded in 1964 on an album of the same name.

Is 'Money' the root of America's downfall?

If you will notice this one dollar bill with George Washington, our father and general, is not backed by gold or silver, but by faith in the United States of America

Notebook Writer:  Sound Off One Two

Is 'Money' at the root of America's downfall?

Dear Folks, 

Preface:

I've come to find out in writing this piece out of the blew looking at a scary graphic of Hurricane Sandy bearing down on our nation's capital, where I had just been and barely survived.  (I might as well be at The Ritz in Cleveland rather than Union Station in DC, except for McDonald's where I totally lucked out and got a second Big Mac for one cent.  Being rather busted nearing the end of the month in this great soggy depression in the USA, this two Big Macs maybe $3.71 (a good guess as i don't save Big Mac receipts kept me from starting on Amtrak's Silver Meteor to Florida.)

The train ride thanks to some great folks from all over creation and a super friendly and professional Amtrak staff made the 24 hour ride from Cleveland to Jacksonville a fun trip with coffee and cigarette breaks coming in the nick of time. And, this time I did not like my brothers before me get thrown off the train for no reason into the abyss of North Charleston, South Carolina where it costs $30 to look at a cap driver once you get past the city police. See my first of a series of stories on 'ridin' and rollin' on Amtrak'
 aka Wetlands to Badlands Tour 2012-3: Beat Poetry Music of Mike Marcellino

Choo Choo Amtrak....Part One 'Ridin' and Rollin' Amtrak

They don't call "money" the "root of all evil" for nothing.  "Money" has become persuasive lifestyle in American society and our "gold rush" mentality and excessive quest to possess material things. 

Texas businessman Ross Perot recently warned that the USA is at risk for "disaster" and "takeover" due to the federal government's 'alcoholic' like spending and 16 trillion debt.  Perot ran as a third party presidential candidate in 1992 and 1996.  Well, wish it were just that simple but on the other hand, the American people are asleep at the switch in electing federal representatives that perpetuate the decline of America.

 

In spite of his piles of money, Perot failed in his bid for president.  In 1992, an independent group of Cleveland, Ohio Vietnam veterans started Veterans for Clinton, the Vietnam draft dodger along with George W. Bush.  We met up with Bill's Arkansas boys across northern Ohio, even caught by Australian television, joined with union workers, women and peace an environmental activists and helped sweep Clinton into the White House for eight years of prosperity, progress and lack of wars.

A handful of veterans sitting on a Cleveland curb literally energized Clinton's campaign in Ohio and across the country.  He won the veteran vote, Ohio and counties never won before by a Democrat. 

You ask, what's your point Mike?   The point is I was there on the curb and that anything is possible if Americans take action to make our country 'all it can be' (I'm an Army veteran of Vietnam). 

Clinton did emphasize veterans who have served and sacrificed for their country, not just in the elections but all year long.  That's rare.  He never thanked us formally, but I guess we didn't want his 'thanks" but his actions.  When I met for coffee in the Map Room of the White House in the bitter winter of 1992-3, I remember writing notes on some white slips of paper and said to President Clinton and those dozen or so grass roots folks and senior political aides.  I simply asked him to test all he does on whether it will strengthen the American family.  He did a pretty good job.

Frontline produces some of the best, most accurate and fair news coverage in the world.  The influence of 'Money' on our freedom is the greatest challenge of our time.  I invite you to watch along with me and swap notes on the future of the United States of America.

Note:  this column by journalist Mike Marcellino was written in response to a graphic of Hurricane Sandy about to give a left hook into the nation's East Coast, perhaps centered on our capital, Washington, D.C, the house of emptiness.  Mike just arrived in St. Augustine Beach, Florida after leaving by train just in time, from the District of Columbia, where he could not get a ride to the Vietnam Memorial, not even from Congress or the Office of the President or Vice President.  More about Mike's DC Road Trip coming soon on his Notebook Writer Blog.

Take care,

Mike

PS:  Be great to hear from some of you folks about what's doing on in our country and where we're headed.

A photo story of the largest march on Washington

1969
story and photos by Mike Marcellino


It was the fall of 1969 and I had a Dodge Coronet 500, light blue, or aqua, and a Hurst five speed and already dropped a clutch.


While the newspaper, The Painesville (Ohio) Telegraph, the oldest newspaper in the Western Reserve, east of Cleveland, didn't assign me, I volunteered to cover the march against the Vietnam War in Washington. D. C. on Saturday, November 15, 1969.  Hey, after all I had volunteered to cover the war itself for the United States Army.  I had only been back from Vietnam for a little more than a year and the first six moths I drove from one corner of the country to the other in my Coronet 500 with an Indian-Chinese girl I had married in Singapore.  The trunk was full.  I had a lot of vinyl. I was trying to unwind and land in some town as a newspaper reporter.  I'll never forget an editor of a California paper telling me he couldn't hire me because I hadn't covered politics.  Yea, I just covered a war.


Now, this being a piece I am blogging, I decided music would be appropriate at this time. So, rather randomly, I'm listening to Cat Stevens' "Wild World (1970)." He's well known for his conversion to Islam to become Yusuf Islam, but the British singer songwriter was born Steven Demetre Georgiou, 21 July 1948. He had a Greek-Cypriot father and a Swedish mother.


So, here's "Wild World" by Yusuf Islam. Cat Stevens is back so to speak and the world goes on.

The tires on my Coronet 500 were bald and we decided to make the trip to D. C. at the last minute to do a photo feature story for the weekend magazine, "Telegraphic."  We (photographer Dennis Gordon and I) ran into a blizzard on the Pennsylvania Turnpike and all I remember is endless seas of fluffy white lit by my headlights and the windshield wipers going back and forth.  This wicked snowstorm reminded me of how the Huey helicopter pilots described night flying on their "Firely" missions to stop the VC from infiltrating troops and supplies into the Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam.  (The last of the U. S. troops pulled out in 1973 and South Vietnam fell to an invasion of the North Vietnamese army two years later.)  


All I could think of was the bald tires and staying on the road winding through the Allegheny Mountains.  We got into D. C. at 4 o'clock in the morning.  I pulled over on the side of the road somewhere.  It was pitch dark and nothing was moving.  We woke up a few hours later to the banging of police billy clubs on fenders of my Coronet 500.  I don't remember where we put the car, just somewhere away from the Capital.  

It was crystal clear but cold, in the 30s, but by the end of he day it was bitter.  The day turned out to be historic in a number of ways.  An estimated 600,000 people marched and filled The Mall between the Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument.  And, other than some teargassing of demonstrators later in the day at DuPont Circle, the day was peaceful.  It was the largest march on Washington in our nation's history.  


Can you imagine waiving the Taliban flag and marching on Washington today? Or, maybe a flag of peace in a neutral color would work.  Those flags of a different color today may be the Arab Spring and Occupy and other such protests around the world. People want their rights and they don't want wars.

I'll never forget at the end of the day, looking at the courtyard in the Department of Justice complex filled with tanks and troops.  I'll let these photos, first published on November 21, 1969 tell the rest of the story.  The image of the Viet Cong flag framing the U. S. Capital building seems to tell the story of our nation's longest war.  

A few weeks before the march on Washington The Beatles released "Come Together."  Well, people did though it took some years but finally they ended the bloody war.


Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare


- The Maha Mantra