Politico

Last night I launched my political career. I was chosen (i.e. suckered) to present a petition on behalf of our 'hood for a barrier to be planted between our street and the 4 lane road adjacent to it. I'm sure I made an impression on the Chapel Hill town council, though I suspect the impression was: booooring! I was preceded by three gentlemen calling themselves Elders for Peace, protesting their arrest for protesting the presence of a new military recruiting office. Their sign read: "Keep Your Hands Off Our Grandchildren!" For this they were arrested, probably for trespassing on private property.

My presentation was followed by a group protesting the arrest for a pending deportation order of a woman whose child, about the age of my son (11), is now being cared for by a local couple. Their protest centered on the fact that the woman was arrested while simply applying for a street vendor's permit to sell her art. HERE is her story. Another rendition of her story is HERE. I may have heard about this a while back, but I was not aware of the details. WTF?! If this can happen here, in the liberal bastion of Chapel Hill, our so called freedoms are a joke. Is this what our young people are fighting and dying for?

Now if you don't mind, Mr. Mayor and members of the council, may we have our shrubberies planted please? After that I feel guilty for even asking.

I have also been saddened by recent losses of members of the extended musical family, but this will be a topic of a future post. For now, please visit the MySpace site for Jim Gomez and consider purchasing his music.

What a bummer of a blog huh? I won't leave you like that. Here is a story NPR ran today about exonerated prisoners adjusting to life on the outside. These guys have a true taste of what freedom really is. I hope you feel a little bit of that today.