What's This Masterpiece Doing Here?

National Gallery Treasure hanging on a wall on Wardour Street
Originally uploaded by Dippingmytoes

The National Gallery of Art in London, in order to promote viewing of the treasures in it collection, began hanging some its most treasured pieces outdoors on the streets of London. This painting by Jan van Eyck is a masterpiece known as the "Arnolfini Portrait" (1434) a portrait of Giovanni di Nicolao Arnolfini and his wife in a Flemish bedchamber is on Wardour Street - a replica of course.

Conservatives Voted for Obama

I especially want to thank the Conservatives and Republicans who saw the light in this election and voted for Obama. An interesting statistic from the recent vote totals was that only 22% of all counties in the nation voted for McCain and most of them were in the deep South. This number shows that county's that voted for Obama were wide spread across urban, suburban, exurban and rural counties.

Thank you. I am optimistic it is possible to find common ground.

If you are a Christian you might want to watch this testimonal: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBLnwMbYmUw

In the Middle for Obama

Obama is Beautiful World!

Everybody Loves Obama

A Beautiful Day in America

As an American born in the 1950s, witness to the 1960s, raised in the 1970s, came of age in the 1980s, disillusioned in 2000 and 2001... I am overwhelmed today. It's the dawning of a new age in America.

I would have to say that one of the most defining aspects of American life for my generation is the civil rights movement. As a kid my parents were Republicans and we moved to Washington, D.C. in 1967. Although my older brother and sister got caught up with being "Clean for Gene" and I was fascinated by seeing the Nixon administration up close as well as what went on inside Capitol Hill -- my parents were totally in favor of Civil Rights. They admired Dr. Martin Luther King and Jackie Robinson during his speaking tour across the country to break down racial barriers and segregation stayed in our house.

Yes, I repeat, Jackie Robinson stayed in our house because no hotel would allow him to rent a room in Moorhead Minnesota.. As kids we were thrilled. Robinson was a baseball legend. We didn't see race as an issue. We didn't find his black skin to be anything but cool.

Today, in America, a barrier went down. It is very satisfying and brings us all closer together as a nation.

The Ground Game

As you can tell I think and feel in my heart that this election will be won today on the ground. I believe Barack Obama when he says that this election is not about HIM it is about US. And what that means is that in every corner of the nation the young people and the old, the black brown, yellow, red and the white people make up of movement that will not be divided by hate, anger and extremism.

When I woke this morning I felt a palpable sense of expectation for something great about to come. I also was slightly haunted by the sense in this country of missed opportunities. For instance, a huge transformation of possibility was cut short when Bobby Kennedy was shot down in Los Angeles. And of course one cannot ever erase the pain in our hearts that Martin Luther King's life was cut short when he still has so much to offer the country in terms of moral leadership.

But today we have a huge potential in front of us for change and transformation. All those young people working in Obama office around the country are a movement. All I will say to them today is: YES WE CAN! This is election ours if we step up and take our country back.