A Path to Greatness lies ahead

We congratulate Rushern L. Baker III on his entry to office as County Executive of Prince George's County.  You can follow the Inaugural festivities at the Baker Inaugural Web Page.  Baker has long promoted transparency and accountability in government for the County.  THIS election it seems that voters heard the message and embraced it, bringing Baker to victory. 

We don't want to rain on the Inaugural parade.  Baker and thousands of activists have worked hard for change and deserve to take time to acknowledge and celebrate the outcome.  Celebrating milestones like this is how activists keep the fire of activism stoked and burning.  It is easy to get demoralized and discouraged when we fail to recognize a task accomplished.

And still, very serious issues face Baker and all of us who live and work in the County.  There is more work to be done than will likely be completed in many months - even years.  It is urgent work and needs to be begun just as quickly as possible.  I've been told that Mr. Baker is a bit impatient, and that is a good thing, under the current circumstances.

While the Transition Team seems to be focussing on the Big Picture, we all need to keep all of the steps along this Path moving forward.  It's not just about our schools and education system, or about jobs, jobs, jobs.  Holistically approaching education and workforce issues means identifying what people really want and need out of their community and their government.

People who need jobs still need to be important to their neighbors and the community.  And young people deserve high quality teaching and educational systems, but they, too, want to be valued in their peer groups and by their parents and the community.  While we work on instituting the major changes in programs in education, we need to agree that changes in programs such as animal control ARE CRUCIAL to changing our culture.  This is because unemployed workers and teens and young children can, and should, be supported to love and look after community animals, dogs and cats who otherwise need to be handled by our County government! 

The unrecognized attitude that if you are poor, or unemployed, or too young, you cannot own a pet, or do not deserve to be allowed to care for an animal, needs to be articulated and carefully debated.  It's not serving our County.  It is creating a culture of disregard for life of every kind.  An animal will listen to your woes, and never tell a single soul what you said.  Animals can rely on people who have very little to offer in some respects.  But what animals can do for us as a community is to help identify the good impulses, and the higher character, of people we might assume don't have them.  And that will change our culture.

It isn't such a small thing, after all.  I hope that with the change in administration, we will take time for these "small things" that lead to true greatness.

Wrongway USA?

As much of the rest of the country's House members fell to Republican candidates, some, egged on by Tea Party sensibilities, Maryland pretty conspicuously held firm to its Democratic, Blue state pattern.  It was a long night, if you are a progressive, but, according to quite a few pundits and more experts, not all that unexpected, for a midterm.  I noticed that early voting was big in Maryland, but still haven't seen reports on what percentages of eligible Maryland citizens voted.  I'm anxious in particular to find out what proportion of the electorate came out by age group.  Did Maryland's youth vote come out as they did in 2008, while around the rest of the country, they were, as Michael Moore opined on Democracy Now, worrying about their second or third job. 

I know a lot more people without jobs, or with two and three jobs, today, than I ever have known in my lifetime.  Unlike some, I remember that those job losses and hard times started under a Republican administration, and perhaps unlike some, I am engaged enough in the local political scene to understand that big change takes a lot of work and usually a lot of time.  I didn't quite entertain a Fairy Tale notion that on his first day in office, President Obama would begin to unilaterally transform the country.  I see in my local governments plenty of areas where the "Yes we CAN!" culture just has not arrived yet.

I mourn the passing of the era of our nation's first female Speaker of the House of Representatives -- and I admit that realization even brought a tear to my eyes. 

I'm more convinced than ever now, that Campaign Finance reform is urgently and critically needed in the US. 

Options for taking your pet WITH you when you travel

Today's Washington Post newspaper opens its Travel Section with Have pet, will travel, a feature on getting away and staying, away, with pets.  You can bone up (pun intended!) on Pet Airways, an airline dedicated to pets; and on the Muse hotel near Times Square, which has a director of pet relations who is a teacup Pomeranian.  And you can also check out around a half-dozen lodging choices from across the nation that welcome and even provide specifically for pets.

Most of the coverage in this feature seems to lean toward dogs.  Well, actually, I think it is exclusively about dog travel options.  It would really be great, since cats are the most popular pet species in the US now, to see some column-inches devoted to catering to people with cats.  Granted that cat owners tend to agree with writer Cocteau, who said cats are the home's visible soul, still there are times when cat owners might want to have Tabby tag along on a trip.

Have you travelled with a pet recently?  What was your experience?  Are there places where your dog particularly seems to like to visit or lodgings where you've felt most nearly at home with your cat?  Leave a comment to tell us about it!