Rosie's off the View

It seems like I was just writing about Rosie O'Donnell's return to daytime television, and now she's gone again, and the confetti with her, like a flower floating on the river that just meets your fingertips, but floats away before you can grasp it. (I think someone else came up with this metaphor, and was roundly chastised for it. I like it.)

It was regrettable that Rosie's inevitable departure from "The View" came suddenly and with great volition. I was gearing up to say goodbye, and anticipating a happy sendoff with a Broadway production number, confetti, and kind public words of affection from her cohosts. Now, as a fan, I feel confused and saddened, and robbed of the closure I was selfishly hoping would come.

But bravo to Rosie for walking away when things became ridiculous. I can only speculate, but it just doesn't seem like a coincidence that it happened on a day Barbara Walters was absent. In fact, it seemed almost engineered, with a repeat guest host who had dealt with the panel's contention before, Joy pulling out a laundry list of Bush's sins that set off neo-con Elisabeth Hasselbeck and pushing Rosie to the point where she had to force the truth.

Interesting, too, that Elisabeth Hasselbeck never answered Rosie's questions, but chose to launch into a tirade that might be excused as pregnancy hormones, but sounded more like a desperate push back from someone watching the cracks form in their ideology but afraid to accept what's breaking it.

I do feel some sympathy for Hasselbeck. One of the most difficult things is to accept the flaw in our ideology. People on the far edge of the spectrum, either side, always have the most difficult time accepting that the truths they hold aren't always truth, but point of view.

It has been an interesting year of growth for Hasselbeck. We have watched her go from appearing to be a mouthpiece for FOX News to questioning and challenging. And just when it appeared that she would become a thinking woman's conservative, her star on the rise (thanks in large part to Rosie O'Donnell, who allowed Elisabeth to have her say), she was pulled back into the neocon fold and petted and praised like a puppy. What an insult to an intelligent woman. And she almost gratefully fell back into it, appearing to prefer the comfortable, safe, familiar neocon role, instead of the harder, lonelier, independent thinker.

It was clear, before "Nuclear Wednesday," as Rosie calls it, that she was already moving on to new things.

Ultimately, the damage will not be done to Rosie, it will be done to The View, and the women who remain. The show will not regain the audience it had with Rosie, who, love her or hate her, always made things interesting and fun on the show. She elevated it from an innocuous daytime talk show to a meaningful place where people could go listen to intelligent, thoughtful women carry on the dialogues being carried out in many friendships across this country.

Rosie and Elisabeth were, for a while, proof that some civility remains in the sharp divide that dominates politics in our country. Their falling out only serves to remind us what a sharp divide it is.

Still, it would have been nice to have some closure. I'll miss Rosie on "The View."

In Memory of Gerry Neudeck

The world lost a fine man this week.

Dr. Gerold Neudeck, PhD, was an incredible engineering mind, who held patents in semiconductors and was a beloved teacher. He's one of the people who made the Internet possible.

But when you met him, you met the man from Beach, North Dakota, who loved to fish and bake sourdough bread. He never talked about his professional accomplishments, although he would speak proudly of his students.

To me, he was a friend, and like family. When I was a girl, there was a triumvirate, of sorts, of families, including mine, that formed an extended family. I was the token daughter -- among the collective eight children, I was the only girl.

When I was in junior high school, I would babysit, at my mother's behest, his and his wife's two sons. They were 3 and 5 when I started. I was under strict instructions not to accept payment at first, although as time went on my mother gave in and let them pay me. I never accepted much, however; I was doing a favor for friends, and I rarely did more than turn out the bedroom light and read or watch television.

As was common in that era (am I really old enough to refer to my childhood as an era?), Gerry would pick me up and drive me home. I came to appreciate that time with him -- whether or not we talked. He was a great listener, and an astute questioner. I spent most of my time talking (which I still do), but when he spoke, it was always worth listening to.

Even when I was 12, he listened respectfully, speaking to me as if we were equals. It helped me define my sense of self, and my self respect. He never stopped being the kid from Beach, North Dakota, with a love for the land.

So, here's to Gerry Neudeck. A man who loved his wife, loved his sons, loved Purdue, and loved life. He made the world a better place.

So much! Too much?

I noticed that, early this year, one of my Senators stopped hosting her monthly constituent coffees at her office. It takes little time to conclude that she is too busy now that the Congress is actually doing something while in session.

Just today the Senate passed the Iraq funding bill, in spite of the president's threat to veto when it lands on his desk. Of course he will vetlo it -- this president is determined to follow his own agenda, regardless of its cost to the American people. He seems to forget he's an elected official and not a CEO with a golden parachute.

And that Henry Waxman has been busy! I have lost track of the number of issues his committee has looked into. Why were eight state attorneys fired? Looks like political motivation, especially when a Republican Senator took it on himself to call and complain. Wait, since when does the legislative branch meddle with the executive branch? When the Party is more important than the People.

Of course the biggest joke is Alberto Gonzales glibly claiming to not remember/recall things 75 times when forced to speak under oath as the Senate conducts its own investigation. And what does this president say? Well, kind of like, "Good job, Brownie!" he expresses confidence in his Attorney General. Who, let's not forget, the author of the justification for using torture in spite of the Geneva Convention.

Why does Nero keep popping into my head when I watch President Bush Jr. talk about how things should be his way?

140 people were, tragically, shot dead on the campus of Virginia Tech by a young man who was mentally ill, who was never properly diagnosed, and who was able to all too easily purchase weapons and ammunition. Could it have been prevented? Probably. Would tougher gun control legislation have made a difference? In this case, likely not. It looks like, in this case, the best prevention would have been proper medical diagnosis.

The biggest tragedy in all of it? NBC's decision to show footage from a media package the shooter sent to them. I am all for freedom of speech, and perhaps it was in that spirit that they chose to show bits and pieces (regardless that they could have not, since they were the only ones to receive it), but I was more appalled that they felt it was necessary to show him pointing guns and play his vitriol. A couple of carefully edited stills captured from the video, and the news anchor reading excerpts, would have been all that was necessary. The sad concurrance by the "experts"? There was nothing new, or helpful, in the materials.

Not all the news is bad. Even at this early date, the Democrats have an embarrassment of riches in the candidates seeking the party nomination for president. I would vote for any of them. Given the mood of the country (although the election is still a long way off), it seems unlikely that a Republican will win the general election, so it's important to look at the Democrats.

Good things have been happening, too. But it just seems that there is so much drama now, it's hard to make room for the lighter side.

So, is it too much? Not really! We are just catching up on the backlog.

It's global warming, stupid

Today Al Gore spent the day testifying before Congress about what he knows, after forty years of research, about global warming. See his testimony before and conversation with the Senate committee here.

Since I have known about global warming since I was a kid, reading my dad's copies of Scientific American, I am constantly annoyed by the politicizing of the issue. Especially when their objections stem from the objections of special interests.

One of those special interests, ironically enough, is the Christian Right. The leaders in the movement, including James Dobson (who I used to admire) and Jerry Falwell, recently formally objected to the broadening of focus by the National Association of Evangelicals to include care for the poor and helpless, and to responsible use of the environment. (The Christian Right sees marriage, homosexuality and abstinence as the most important issues facing American Christians.)

The statement of Evangelical Call to Civic Responsibility includes the following paragraphs. While the wording is measured, it says to me that evangelicals are ready to remove the politics from care for our planet. And while I don't agree with everything in the Call to Civic Responsibility, I am proud to once again stand with evangelicals united in stewardship for the Earth.

"Because clean air, pure water and adequate resources are crucial to public health and civic order, government has an obligation to protect its citizens from the effect of environmental degredation. This involves both the urgent need to relieve suffering caused by bad environmental practice. Because natural systems are extremely complex, human actions can have unexpected side effects. We must therefore approach our stewardship of creation with humility and caution.

"Human beings have responsibility for creation in a variety of ways. We urge Christians to shape their personal lives in creation-friendly ways: practicing effective recycling, conserving resources, and experiencing the joy of contact with nature. We urge government to encourage fuel efficiency, reduce pollution, encourage sustainable use of natural resources, and provide for the proper care of wildlife and their natural habitats."