Miss Me Yet? --Barack Obama

At last, a meme around this subject that can be answered with an affirmative YES!

Some may say "too soon" (in fact The Other Half did). Not me. Missed the moment I knew he was being replaced by an unqualified, sociopathic narcissist.

Millions Mourn as Obama Gives Farewell Speech, and we Segue into the Trump Era

Image from source, MSN

The "millions mourn" in my headline is an assumption, though one I think that is a pretty fair bet. Donald Trump will not, can not, could not give such a speech. We will not have a presidential press conference, speech or public appearance that will rival that speech, not until we have another presidential election. On top of that, we're likely to be embarrassed--possibly even imperiled--any time he opens his mouth, or freaking tweets. So, there's that.

But for now, let's luxuriate in what it's like to have a smart, classy, qualified president. Shall we?

[Excerpt]

'Yes we did' — Obama bids farewell in nostalgic last speech

President Barack Obama bid farewell to the nation Tuesday in an emotional speech that sought to comfort a country on edge over rapid economic changes, persistent security threats and the election of Donald Trump. Forceful at times and tearful at others, Obama's valedictory speech in his hometown of Chicago was a public meditation on the many trials the U.S. faces as Obama takes his exit. For the challenges that are new, Obama offered his vision for how to surmount them, and for the persistent problems he was unable to overcome, he offered optimism that others, eventually, will. . .

Read more at: MSN

Blogiversary: 10,000 Posts! 70 Months! I'm Still Here!

It's been a long time since I wrote one of these self-congratulatory, back-patting posts. And truth is, I'm a little bit late. This is actually my 10,034th post. But you know, there have been a fair amount of repeats in there along the way. But since I almost always include updates and additions even to reruns, I'm going to count it!

My mission at Greenlee Gazette has always been a bit fuzzy, which is probably why I don't garner a heavy following out there on the internets. I'm happy for every set of eyeballs I get, and truthfully would probably get stage fright if I ever broke through to big numbers. But I'm still having fun, even if it isn't quite as prolific fun as my first couple of years. In those days, I posted everything in a frenzy of blogging. But as the years go by, you get more discriminating, and there are more outlets (Facebook, Twitter, both of which I discovered years after the blog started), and more demands on my time.

Click Here for Greenlee Gazette on Facebook  •  Click Here for Greenlee Gazette on Twitter

I still spend an obscene amount of time in front of my computer(s). And my political angst-o-meter is somewhere between the boiling rage I was feeling during the waning days of the Bush years, and the placid relief I felt after President Obama was first elected. I've even felt relief when going back over some of my early posts, that even though I was a sufferer of Bush Derangement Syndrome, it was a far more honest and reasonable disorder than I see in the right's Obama Derangement Syndrome. I was even fair to Dubya when gas prices spiked to over $4, and the country was wigging out.

So, no, the Obama Era isn't perfect, though I never painted him as a messiah. There's still plenty to bitch about, whether it is disappointment with Harry Reid's lack of spine, or whatever right-wing wacko is calling gay people evil. And of course there are fun things to talk about, and pleasant distractions. I struggle to balance the serious stuff with some good ol' frivolity, to the point that I've actually had complaints that I'm not "newsy" enough. But I'll continue to put up new installments of Blast from the Past every weekend, whenever I have time.

So, as long as Google is still supporter the Blogger format, and I still get a couple hundred readers a day, I'll continue this little hobby. As always, thanks for stopping by, and please bring your friends!

My Remembrance of September 11, 2001 [Revisited]

Photo of United Airlines Las Vegas-based Flight Attendants'
memorial service at Sunset Park, September 2001
(Originally published in the Las Vegas Review-Journal)*

The following is a repost of my personal remembrance of September 11, 2001, with slight revisions. . .

Today is the day when we look at the calendar, and nearly flinch. September 11, 2001 is distant to us in many ways, but now--amazingly--for the 10th time, we've all looked at that calendar page and have been taken back to where we were that morning.

I'm republishing my personal account of what happened to me that day, written in the early days of my blog. My story is no more special than yours, I know. But on a day when the date is sure to be used by many for political purposes, I wanted to have one post up that just remembers the day.

ORIGINALLY POSTED SEPTEMBER 11, 2007

Posts I've made today, and earlier in this blog's short history, have discussed or related to 9/11. I'd rather not let the day go by without giving you the reader--and me the blogger--a little more, minus the political rhetoric.

I've become a deeply cynical person, you might say, at least as it regards politics. This is particularly true lately. But on Tuesday, September 11th, 2001 I wasn't thinking about any of that. Everyone who witnessed that day has their own story. Mine is no more relevant than yours, and is surely less traumatic than many.

I awoke that morning at my usual time, somewhere between 6:30 and 6:45 am. I had finished my morning ritual, and was just buttoning up my clothes when the phone rang. It was our friend, Larry, an American Airlines flight attendant, and he was crying. "Two planes have just hit the Trade Center," he managed between sobs. This was startling news, but not yet sufficiently alarming for me to change my routine.

I passed the phone to The Other Half, and turned on the bedroom TV. There it was, and the slight alarm turned to a sinking feeling. This was big. We quickly learned that it was both United's and American Airlines' planes that hit the buildings, causing high alarm in the room, and on the other end of the phone. The Other Half, and our next-door neighbor/friend, were [and still are] both United flight attendants. And the neighbor was on a trip at an unknown location. My heart sank, and I nearly sobbed myself--with relief--that my partner was right there in the room with me, accounted for.

Not fully realizing the impact of what had happened, I began my journey to work. I switched on the radio, and was very shortly informed that the Pentagon was on fire. They did not yet know the cause. When I pulled into the parking lot at work, the radio announcer said that a plane was believed to have crashed in Pennsylvania. I said out loud, "the sky is falling." I fully expected at that point that a wave of attacks would continue throughout the morning. Thankfully, that did not come to pass.

Shortly after my arrival at work, The Other Half called, and told me one of the towers had fallen. Not long after, we heard the same about the other. We imagined the worst, that the buildings had fallen over, smashing all below. Thankfully, again, as bad as it was, it could have been worse.

We didn't get much work done that day. Someone went home and got a TV, and we spent much of our time in front of that fuzzy little picture. Later that day, we found that most of our friends, and their colleagues were accounted for. Our neighbor was stranded in New Orleans for over a week. We had quite the celebration upon his return.

The following days were surreal. I'd never seen Las Vegas without planes in the sky, and believe me, you notice. We watched hours upon hours of TV News, of course, like everyone else. And the casinos around town knee-jerk fired lots of people. We feared for our town.

Several days later, The Other Half went to a memorial service at Sunset Park, due east of McCarren Airport, with the Las Vegas United Airlines base crew. During the service, the first plane in days landed, flying right over the park. There was a swelling of spontaneous applause, as you'd imagine.

We were very lucky. We knew people who had friends-of-friends-of-friends who died that day, but fortunately (for our little world), were spared personal losses. One friend was quite well acquainted with one of the [United 93] pilots, and we had his wife to our house, but that was the extent of our direct contact. United, of course, had a very rocky ride of it, as did American. Many of the flight attendants left town, or left aviation. Las Vegas, predictably bounced back.

UPDATE, SEPTEMBER 11, 2008:

Las Vegas isn't feeling very bouncy this September 11th. Tourism is down, layoffs are widespread, hours (mine included) have been cut at many jobs. United Airlines and American Airlines are seemingly always under threat of going out of business. The neighbor moved to Florida not long after September 11th. The Other Half and I were married this year, and are doing well despite job worries. Whatever happens on November fourth, I think it will bookend 9/11/2001, and hopefully all of this will seem like a bygone era.

UPDATE, SEPTEMBER 11, 2009:

Things in Las Vegas haven't perked up much in the last year. We have, of course, moved from the Bush Era on into the Obama Era. It remains to be seen how that will play out. I'm not a lock-step liberal by any stretch, but I'm willing to give the President time and space.

UPDATE, SEPTEMBER 10, 2010:

Still waiting for the economy to pick up in Las Vegas, personally and city-wide. We lead the pack for foreclosures, unemployment and several other "worst of" lists. We did place first in a "best roads" in the US story, so that's something. All of these woes are put at the feet of: a) Barack Obama, if you are a partisan conservative, b) George W. Bush, if you're a partisan liberal, c) Harry Reid, if you're Sharron Angle, or d) the snowball effect of many factors, with blame to be shared by both political parties. I'm going with the last one. But I do have to wonder what the state of the economy and the United States in general might have been like if that clear blue skied Tuesday in September 2001 had been just an ordinary day.

UPDATE, SEPTEMBER 11, 2011: 

Wow, 10 years. There are parts of that day that seem eerily recent. And then you remember everything that has happened since. Our two (main) wars--started in the immediate aftermath of 9/11--are still going on in one form or other. The economy noted in the updates above, hasn't improved much. Las Vegas is hanging in there, but a bit beaten and battered. And as I noted in 2010, this economic pickle might have been a bit different were it not for that one day. Maybe we still would have had a housing bubble, maybe the bankers and corporate fat cats would've still been crooks. But the whole deficit/debt sideshow might've been in  much, much better shape. Ugh. I wish things were a bit rosier for the 10-year anniversary of that rotten day. Maybe the 20? Or dare I wish it, the 11th or 12th?

* Full disclosure: photo contains an image of my husband, our friends and his co-workers.