It's very valuable and absorbing to be in DC during this season of primaries and caucuses and endless conversations. Unlike Max who has decided he will no longer vote in US elections, I'm going to exercise my right as a US citizen. I still haven't found out how to get an absentee ballot now that we don't have a permanent residence in the US but I'm sure there's a way. I seem to be watching the downfall of Hillary, the rise of Obama and the steady presence of McCain as Republican frontrunner. The word "hate," until now reserved for Bush, seems to be used fairly frequently by Democrats who detest Clinton. Obama draws the warm fuzzies who love "hope" and "change." McCain, despite worries some have about his hot temper, is the controlled voice of experience.
I recommend reading David Gerlernter"s small book called "Americanism--the Fourth Great Western Religion." He traces the American self-evident credo of Liberty, Equality and Democracy back to the Puritans who turned it into American Zionism. Puritans transformed chosenness in the Old Testament to chosenness of themselves in their new land. Much has happened since the Puritans, but the United States continues to hold to a sense of mission and responsibility. Lincoln expressed this most memorably in his second inaugural and Gettysburg Address.

Second day blogging. Stuck trying to fix the type size of yesterday's blog. Maybe this one will be what I want. Need to import a photo of me. Meanwhile, trying to figure out who to tell about finding me here and how. All this sounds primitive to my ears and laughable, I'm sure, to others. I'd ask Jeremy for help but it seems that having his wife and new baby just arrive at home is reason enough to slog around here my self.

In this my first blog posting ever I'll explain why the name. I've had a running disagreement with a friend half my age or so who is the king of all bloggers in my mind. My point to him has been that emails to individuals are tailored to an image of a particular person. They are meant to speak to that person and have within them the expectation of an answer. Blogs are buckshot, landing far and wide in sometimes unknown places. But the name I've given my blog reflects something related but different. I really don't believe that every thought I have deserves to be known, nor do I want to share it randomly. So why am I succumbing? Simple, I need to write and haven't been writing enough lately and my life in two worlds is so full, so often gratifying and fascinating that I've decided to blog as a kind of exercise routine with uncertain expectations .