A GREAT DAY FOR WOMEN IN AMERICA

WASHINGTON D.C.--I watched the swearing-in today of Rep. Nancy Pelosi with my mother, and we both had to agree it was something to be proud-of. This has been very hard to say as an American these last six-years, very hard. It's nice to be able to say it and write it, and while there is a lot of work to be done, I think Mrs. Pelosi will try-her-hardest. Tomorrow, the Democrats are going to send a strong-message to President Bush on the funding of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. The confrontation is coming, possibly sooner than we all thought it would. Especially exciting are the proposals to implement the 9/11 Commission's recommendations, which will likely rattle some cages. But still, we need to push the Democrats for a return to progressive taxation, end the Bush tax-cuts for the wealthiest, in 2007.

With all these landmarks in our history--our first Socialist senator, our first Muslim representative, our first woman Speaker, and more--I think there is some hope here. A number of states like my own tend to vote for the GOP--they didn't this-time, an historic sea change. Of course I'm cautious, as we all should be, but I think Pelosi has made some good-gestures already. Nonetheless, we have to learn to be eternally vigilant and to watch the Congress, the White House, and the Supreme Court over our lifetimes.

It's just part of being a responsible person in a dangerous modern world. We've seen what happens when we don't, and we're still not out of that danger from the White House just-yet. The Bush administration is a warning of what happens when the public becomes apathetic and ignorant of how their government works. It seems many of us have learned--all thanks to the disaster that is the Bush administration. Irony? I don't know anymore. But today, seeing a very dignified and professional woman graciously, and coherently accepting her post was something I have hoped for my whole life. My mother was paid-poorly in her life because of her gender, as so many women throughout the world have been and still are, so I see this as a big-victory. Let's just hope and push for it to cross class-lines, that's how our nation can truly heal. Maybe if Harriet Miers hadn't decided to follow powerful-men, she wouldn't be ending her career on such a sour-note.

It's funny, but with all of the children of the Congress members running-up to touch the gavel, I couldn't help to think that this is a mother. A mother is just what America needs to clean-up this mess that a bunch of stupid men (and a few women) have made. America doesn't seem so dowdy at this historical-moment, we've now caught-up with New Zealand. Maybe we'll make it. Sitting there with my mother, I couldn't help but feel proud of the good women of this country who have had to patiently fight for their rights. Women were promised so many rights (Black people, too) during the American Revolution, and now it has finally happened. And my little 1 year-old niece will grow-up and be able to say that a woman was Speaker of the House, she can have someone to look up to. Speaker Nancy Pelosi sure does sound nice, doesn't it? And remember this: she is one-person away from the Presidency when Cheney resigns, which he will. There is a remote possibility that she could become President of the United States before 2008. It would make my life if she did.