It’s been terrible these past few days watching the fires ravage Southern California. It’s also been amazing to see the community come together to assist, and the brave men and women struggling to bring the fires under control and help the injured and displaced through the ordeal. In such an event, politics should take a back seat. But not according to Glen Beck, conservative talker who also somehow managed to snag a show on CNN Headline News.

Check out the audio clip below…

This is simply the latest in series of incendiary statements made by Beck over the last several months. To believe I spent the better part of a year listening to him in the car just to get a sense of how the other side thinks. In a later broadcast, Beck indicated he was only joking with regards to that little quip about those losing their homes to the fire were America Haters. Funny thing was.. didn’t sound like a joke… Didn’t feel like a joke. It actually wasn’t very funny. Perhaps you should dial in a laugh track when your joking, Mr. Beck. Might be helpful. Then we’d know.

And with any luck, like most recent shows with a laugh track, you’d be canceled.

Well, truth be told, we’ve been back for some time but it’s always difficult getting back into the swing of things.

For those of you who don’t know we decided to go domestic this time around and went on an “east coast tour.” We started in Atlanta and ended up in New York by way of Washington D.C. It was a fun trip despite the abnormally hot weather, and it’s always good to spend time with old friends. I’ve posted some pictures from the Washington D.C. portion of the trip, with New York and Atlanta to follow.

D.C. is a walking city, and there is much to be seen on foot. The architecture and monuments that surround you are both amazing and formidable, their scale more than a little symbolic. And it’s hard not to feel a sense of reverence for the history and sacrifice that envelopes every monument and every historical document, as you stand where MLK gave his famous speech, or look down on the fading words of the Declaration of Independence. For a moment you forget the politics and you’re filled with pride — pride in what we as a people, now and in the past, have accomplished.

That is, until you get back to the hotel and turn on the local news. But that’s another story…

Now, back to the swinging. 🙂

Flat Earthers… I think you have you have finally found your new spokeswoman, newly minted host of the view, Sherri Shepherd.

I’m definitely going to have to revisit my old science books. Could she possibly be right?

We did something a little a little unusual yesterday.

We participated in a protest called Beach Impeach III. Some of the photos I took during the event are available here.

I know many would have considered it a waste of time. And at one time we would count ourselves among that group. Always somewhere to go and something to do, and the bits in between spent trying to make sense of everything else. But I’m afraid that complacency is slowly killing us all, without so much as a blip on our collective radar.

The protest attempted to send a single unified message. It’s effectiveness will have to be judged by others but am hopeful it had some impact. I am sure many of you thought it was a bunch of naked, left-wing crackpots trying to spell out IMPEACH on the wet grass but too high to get the letters right. But it was nothing like that at all. Sure there were hippies, but there were also families, grandparents, brothers and sisters, partners, of all ages, colors, shapes and sizes. All trying to paint an image that represents the anger and frustration they carry, and participating in that act with others of like mind and spirit provides some level of ease.

And I think that was the key for us yesterday. It was more about participating then sending a message. And it was time to stop being complacent and do something. So we participated in a protest.

We were sad that no one we knew could join us, because it was an experience best shared. There was such a sense of community standing on that grass as helicopters floated by snapping photographs. For a moment the phrase “It only takes a village,” seemed to have more than a “bumper sticker” meaning.

But protesting is only one form of participation. Some volunteer. Others become politically active. All our equally important and have their place. Getting involved is key. Standing idly by is not.

Because while people work, consume and sleep, the freedoms we take for granted are gradually taken away. And while the dull thudding of a complacent media pounds what masquerades as truth in our ears, our resolve slowly weakens. It happens almost imperceptibly because we don’t notice the tortoise as it struggles toward the finish line, only the hare as it bounds by, drawing attention to itself. It’s this inexorable crawl we should be wary of, as it never exposes itself for what it truly is, and we never notice the damage it has done until it is too late.

I suspect this will not be the last protest we attend, and hope that others will join us.

There are many roles we can play. But playing sheep, shouldn’t be one of them.