Since the election I’ve tried to refrain from rubbing its results in the faces of those I know were disappointed. No gloating. OK, only mild gloating in front of people who surely liked the world-shaping results.

In a way, I’m going to depart from that policy for this post, which is meant to put Vice President Dick Cheney in a bad light. If you still like him, best stop reading this and go on to one of my posts about music.

As it has happened, this particular news item bothered me so much I couldn’t let it pass without a comment.

Vice President Dick Cheney has honored veterans by placing a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery. Hundreds gathered, from tourists to Cabinet members, to watch the solemn Veterans Day moment.

Yes, today, Nov. 11, is Veterans Day. Originally, it was called Armistice Day, referring to the end of World War I in 1918. The next year Armistice Day was established as a holiday to remember WWI vets. In 1954 the change was made to honor all veterans who had/have served during any of America’s wars.

My grandfather served proudly with the Richmond Light Infantry Blues in France during WWI. I know in my heart of hearts that he would have nothing good to say about Cheney taking part in any ceremony to do with honor and military service.

Moreover, out of simple respect, only a veteran should be involved with representing the American people at such a special ceremony to do with military service. At its best, sending Cheney to Arlington National Cemetery was an insulting gesture … at its worst, it was one insult too many.

Problem No 1: In spite of all his snarling, bad-ass bluster, Cheney is not a vet.

Problem No. 2: Cheney’s shameful role in ginning up a war in Iraq that America didn’t have to fight, his advocating the torture of captives, his easy trading of blood for oily money, etc., has been anything but honorable.

Yes, the Bush administration should have had the decency to send someone else to place the wreath at the tomb. Unfortunately, it does not. So, it’s left for an old blogger, a veteran, to call the scoundrel out on this.

To: Vice President Dick “Chickenhawk” Cheney
Memo: From now on, please stay out of all things to do with veterans. Your presence is quite irritating to many of those you claim to be honoring.

Continue reading " Open memo to Cheney "

The first spark to fire up a bandwagon’s motor exploded with the Near West End’s post about a meeting on Nov. 18 to decide the fate of a GRTC bus route — the Westhampton 16 — which runs from Downtown through the Fan District to the Westhampton neighborhood, including the University of Richmond.

At the Fan District Hub the second spark exploded with this post.

The Fan District Hub calls upon Mayor-elect Dwight Jones to ask City Council and GRTC to put their decisions to do with canceling bus routes on hold until he gets into office, so he can make a fresh study of what Richmond’s mass transportation needs will be for the coming year and beyond. Perhaps he is just the guy to find some General Assembly money to help Richmond out here.

OK, budget cuts are coming because revenue shortfalls are being anticipated. But making a decision today about tomorrow’s needs, based on a study just six months old (if it’s that recent), seems like a terrible idea. Times are changing too fast.

It’s likely more Richmonders will be using bicycles and buses for their main rides a year from now. Perhaps, many more.

If we could get that bandwagon up and running, this seems to be a most worthy cause for some of the area’s independent publishers/bloggers to take up. A little bit of noise could make a difference.

All I’m asking for is to put off the decision to scuttle any longtime bus routes for at least three or four months, to allow the new Jones administration to have a little time to work with the issue, in light of recent shocks to the economy.

Why rush to judgment on Nov. 18, just two weeks after an election? Can’t City Council and GRTC kick this can down the road a few more weeks?

SLANTblog sez: Let’s ban together for the good of the metro area to Save Westhampton 16. Save all the existing bus routes, don’t eliminate any of them, for the time being. Who will supply the third spark?

Continue reading " A bandwagon to save a bus "

Ah, blondes. What could we say new about them? You can’t live with them … you can’t forget how they look with a fresh tan.

This episode features nine songs, via YouTube, from blonde female vocalists. Unless you click on them in order you won’t get the full effect.

One … Two … Three … Four … Five … Six … Seven … Eight … Nine

For more of this sort of thing click here to visit the post-graph theatre.

Continue reading " Number 9 Show: Nov.9, ‘08 "

In spite of how bad a president George Bush has been, with any luck, over the next two months America will have survived him. Change has brought us President-elect Barack Obama.

No matter how much some bitter Republicans may wish him ill, hopefully, we will survive his presidency, too. So, after Obama, what do we hope will be true?

Well, I hope we the people will be more hip to the notion that change has to be our friend, not our enemy. Nature tells us the most adaptable survive. America’s society will last longer than some others, only if it adapts better than they do. If not…

Like any living thing, as a people, we want to last as long as we can.

Obama was elected by young people who aren’t about maintaining old orders. Naturally, most of them want to live out their lives with as much peace and prosperity as possible. No matter how much their culture may baffle those over 45 or 50, young people just want to someday be old people with as few regrets as possible.

Yes, there was a time that a black human being couldn’t get elected president. Yet, Obama’s election doesn’t prove that race is no longer a problem in this society. His election didn’t signal there’s been a racial healing in America, so much as it did that a generational shift has taken place.

Barack Obama just rewrote the book on how to win elections in the post-postmodern age. Out with the old … in with the new, and so it goes.

Dig it: For the first time in too long the presidential election wasn’t about Baby Boomer fixations and grudges to do with civil rights and Vietnam.

To a great extent Obama won because he embraced, even embodied, change. That, while his opponent was widely seen as a man clinging to the past, incapable of improvisation or rolling with the punches.

The voters with the most life ahead of them overwhelming chose Obama. After Obama, all we can be sure of is that times will change.

Continue reading " After Obama "

Writing for the new Richmond.com here’s an excerpt of my election analysis from a local perspective.

After Sen. John McCain’s generous concession speech played to a national television audience, President-elect Barack Obama said, “It’s been a long time coming … change has come to America.”

Obama’s obvious reference to the 1964 Sam Cooke prophetic anthem, “A Change Gonna Come,” played well to the adoring crowd in Chicago’s Grant Park.

Meanwhile, in Richmond, there was dancing in the street. Broad Street was shut down, blocked for a while by a spontaneous victory celebration in the Virginia Commonwealth University area. And, at the Paradise Lounge on 5th Street, a more traditional victory party played out to celebrate the victory of Mayor-elect Dwight Jones.

Click here to read the entire piece.

Note: Of course, music aficionados remember that Cooke (born in Mississippi) was a Chicago gospel/soul singer. Click on the YouTube box above to hear Cooke sing “A Change Gonna Come.”

Obama, who had usually avoided using Civil Rights Era language and images during the campaign, also referenced the words of Martin Luther King’s last speech. And, more trivia: Grant Park was significant to Baby Boomers in Chicago with a long memory — it was the scene of much of the mayhem outside the 1968 Democratic convention, when antiwar demonstrators were beaten up by policemen.

• Chris Bopst has written an excellent piece about his reaction to the election. Click here for Bopst’s Sound Advice 11/6, “The New Majority.”

Continue reading " Dancing with the Donkeys "

Nov 4, 11:59 p.m.: President-elect Barack Obama: “It’s been a long time coming … change has come to America.”– Art by F.T. Rea

Continue reading " A long time coming… "

10:41 p.m.: CBS called Virginia in the Obama column. It took longer than some Yes-We-Can folks might have wanted. AP just confirmed it. It’s time to celebrate!Update:11:00 p.m.: CBS and CNN called Obama the president-elect. I just cracked a fresh Pabst…

Continue reading " Blue skies over Virginia "

STYLE Weekly teamed up with the League of Women Voters to sponsor three mayoral debates/forums this election year.That same periodical/web site, which already deserves kudos for that role in this year’s Richmond mayoral race, is also covering the story…

Continue reading " Local election coverage "

Here’s a series of Frisbee-golf video clips I shot with a tiny camera and bolted together; five minutes of highlights. Of course there are a few good Larry Rohr shots. This round of Frisbee-golf took place on Sun., Nov. 2, 2008.We play the primitive “o…

Continue reading " Documenting what I do "

Here’s a series of photos posted at Flickr by various photographers documenting the day’s exercise in democracy. Today it’s mild with a light rain in Richmond. Early voters may enjoy these photos more than those who haven’t stood in line yet.Traditi…

Continue reading " Local voting slideshow on Flickr "

SLANTblog was never meant to be strictly a political blog, but rather a space to be filled with ideas, much as SLANT its precursor was. Still, at least half of the posts at SLANTblog have been about politics, maybe more than half.Tonight I wanted to wr…

Continue reading " ‘Twas the night before… "

With election day less than 24 hours away and songs about politics on my mind, at the post-graph theatre there are nine links to music videos to do with that side of life. Click on the links below for a preview.One … Two … Three …Click here to vi…

Continue reading " A new No. 9 Show "

Continue reading " No one as Irish as Barack O’Bama "

This election season I’ve been writing on politics for Richmond.com (an entity that’s in the news today because Media General just bought it).To give my SLANTblog readers, such as they are, a concentrated dose of the mayoral race — which a lot of peop…

Continue reading " Handy Mayoral Election Guide "

There’s a lively conversation going on at the Fan District Hub, a community news web site/neighborhood blog that I publish. It started with a couple of cracks I made to set up a link to the Back Page piece that Bill Farrar wrote for STYLE Weekly about …

Continue reading " Goldman, Grey and the VAPAF sunlight issue "

Question: On Nov. 4th, can we the voters change the way power is gained and used in America?Answer: Yes! we can.Question: Can you dig it?– H/T: Buttermilk & Molasses

Continue reading " Change: can you dig it? "

The Richmond Times-Dispatch is in much the same trouble as many daily newspapers. Our local fishwrap is not taking in the ad revenue it needs to make ends meet.Adjustments have been made — the paper has shrunk, its ro…

Continue reading " Oct. Surprise: MacKenzie and Grimsley say, ‘Boo!’ "

What’s the most important issue in the race to replace Mayor Doug Wilder at City Hall?It depends who you ask. But some would say it’s regional cooperation. At Richmond.com the candidates address that issue in a report on the mayoral contest written by …

Continue reading " The Mayoral Issue: Regional Cooperation "

Last fall, it was a fiasco that made bad news for the turf-war-fighting mayor at City Hall. That fateful Friday night’s confusion revealed a shocking lack of reason at the heart of the government housed in that building.Today’s news at City Hall was ma…

Continue reading " From fiasco to fantasy "

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has apparently foiled a plot by so-called “skinheads” living in Tennessee and Arkansas to commit mayhem.In court records unsealed Monday, federal agents said they disrupted plans to rob a gun stor…

Continue reading " Skinheads’ murder spree plot uncovered "