Hope

With less than two weeks to go in the American presidential election, I think I speak for most Americans when I say; "THANK GOD".

My friends (sorry), I have had all I can take of talking heads on radio and TV discussing polls, Alaska, recessions, bail outs, golden parachutes, plumbers named Joe, real America, being tested, abortions, faith or lack of it, domestic terrorists, hockey moms, pigs with lipstick, preconditions, robocalls, gaffes, game-changers, and saying words that end in "ing" without using the fucking G!

Oh yeah, so what's up with the picture above? Well, regular readers to this page know that I will be voting for Barack Obama for about 1,000,000 reasons. Living in the middle of Wisconsin, I am subjected to seeing maybe 25 McCain/Palin signs on my way to and from work every day. I see a total of 2 Obama signs; one of which is mine. It is easy for me to get discouraged and really start believing that Obama will not win.

Then halfway to my office each day, I pass this abandoned old schoolhouse which sits in the middle of freaking nowhere. As you can see, someone painted "Obama '08" on the falling down white fence. Every time I pass this I am filled with an overwhelming feeling of hope. Hope that this country can be a better place to live and raise my family then the current cesspool it is now . Hope that a black man with a more positive vision of what this country can be will actually be elected president. Hope that we can indeed work together for a positive change. I have no idea how this will turn out, but something about Obama just feels so right at this point in history. I feel that this may be our last chance. It just feels SO important. And the only thing that makes me feel hopeful on a daily basis is this little school located in the nowhere town of Vinland, Wisconsin where at least one other person obviously feels that hope too.

Anyway, to keep this page on task musically, below you will find a election mix I put together to get me through these crazy days. I hope you enjoy the music no matter what side of the political fence you are on. May we grind through these last two weeks and come out a stronger and more hopeful nation. Peace.



Setlist:
1. Bob Dylan-When the Ship Comes In
2. Grateful Dead-Throwing Stones
3. The Who-Let's See Action
4. Sham 69-If the Kids are United
5. Son Volt-Joe Citizen Blues
6. Bruce Springsteen-The Rising
7. Neil Young-Campaigner
8. Patti Smith-People Have the Power
9. Jefferson Airplane-We Can Be Together
10. Tom Waits-Step Right Up
11. John Lennon-Gimme Some Truth
12. Stevie Wonder-Higher Ground
13. Bob Dylan-The Times they are A-Changin'