Barack Obama's First 100 Days....

Forty eight hours from now, we'll be beyond the glitz and glamor, the charisma and a horribly expensive inaugural celebration. The figure I heard was $150,000,000 for the day of celebration, speeches and parties.

Personally, during a recession, I find that figure repugnant. There are people in this country who haven't had enough food today. There are people in this country who have lost their homes, their credit, their small businesses and their income. In light of that, I would have preferred to see something more low-key.

But setting that aside for the moment, I've been giving some thought to Barack Obama's first 100 days as president and the change so many of us hope to see.

Here are a few things that matter to me.

1) Bring jobs back from foreign countries and give them back to Americans who desperately need them,

2) Sign an executive order to close Gitmo,

3) Come up with a comprehensive plan to withdraw from Iraq without leaving the citizens of Iraq to fend for themselves after having destroyed the entire infrastructure of the country,

4) Order Leon Panetta, the new director of the CIA, to stop all covert activities throughout the world that are intended only to disrupt sovereign governments. It is time to rein in the Directorate of Operations and bring them back to their original purpose which is intelligence gathering,

5) Get a task force together to come up with a workable national health care program.

*and*

6) Show a commitment, not by talk but by action, to bringing this country in alignment with much of the rest of the world in terms of social justice and economic equality.

I think it's important that he realize people are going to be expecting results. Charisma will only get him just so far... and then it's going to be a matter of seeing substantial change. We're not at Martin Luther King's mountain top yet!

So... you. What change do you hope to see right away?

(Just as an aside, you can write a message to Barack Obama at change.gov .. The messages will be compiled and delivered to him.)


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So where do we go from here....

...and what in the world will we find to blog about?

Seriously though, now that the initial glow is beginning to fade and we all realize that Barack Obama is not the Second Coming of Christ, the real work is ahead of us.

Just a few thoughts: As someone who is closer to the end than the beginning, I spent some time remembering the things we've been through in the past 40 years. We lived through the Civil Rights Movement, the murder of a president and a senator, Kent State, the Vietnam War, the Cold War ... all the things I mentioned yesterday.

I can't help but believe the seeds we planted in those days are sprouting now. Not blooming yet. Sprouting. They're going to grow, those seeds, and it will hopefully grow into a beautiful blooming tree, one that will help shade us from some of the cynicism and hopelessness that has become so much of the national character.

That began in the 80s, by my memory. The national ethos was all about greed, acquisition and power. It was a backlash against the ethos of the 60s. While many people think of George Michael and Pat Benetar, I remember the unwarranted invasion of Grenada and the taunting of the Soviet Union by Ronald Reagan that more than once brought us to the brink of nuclear conflict. I remember that gay people were just beginning to crack open the closet. I remember union busting and human values being translated into corporate values. Women no longer left the home for the workplace by choice. It became an expectation. Kids were left in day care while the mothers adopted the very male values of power and competition. Hedonism was the call word of the day.

Hate became socially sanctioned in those days. It was no longer okay to be racially prejudiced against African-Americans and other Black people so other prejudices took its place. Gay people, Hispanic people and Vietnamese people were at the top of the list. As that lost acceptability, it turned to body size and social position. The harshness of judgment seeped into the commentary of the day. It was just a bit more cloaked and subtle.

The 80s were hardly all about bleached blond hair, layered clothes and drug dealers on speed dial.

It is largely that foundation that we are working with now. Somehow we have to find a comfortable balance between the extremes of the 60s and the extremes of the 80s and 90s. Cultures frequently overcompensate and go from one extreme to the other before coming back to a middle ground.

Now we have the chance to find that balance and create a society in which equality isn't an ideal on paper - but a living reality. We have the opportunity to accept diversity in a way that's not merely politically correct tolerance but true and substantial acceptance. Beyond that, we can learn to embrace them and learn to work with them for the benefit of all people.

It won't be easy because belief systems are usually the hardest to change. There's a lot of emotion and identity wrapped up in our belief systems. It will require a level of vigilance that few of us are accustomed to adopting. It means challenging ourselves to get into alignment with this new stage of social evolution. The magnitude of these changes can't be overstated.

If nothing else, the entire process should provide interesting blog fodder. We'll all have new thoughts over the next several months as we begin to see the changes.

I'll look forward to reading them.

So what are your thoughts?


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President Obama...

President Barack Obama

I have lived long enough to see several major historic events. I watched the country fall apart and begin to heal when JFK was murdered. I watched the Civil Rights Movement. I watched the first human being land on the moon. I've watched political assassinations, the war in Vietnam, Kent State, the horror of the Cold War years. I have watched a culture begin to dig itself out of the quagmire of heartless bigotry.

Never, ever, did I think I would live long enough to see a Black progressive elected president.

He did it! He did it with integrity, honor, truthfulness and a commitment to a higher ideal.

Congratulations, President Obama!

The world feels like a safer place.

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We All Need To Be Inspired....

"I can choose peace, rather than this."
A Course in Miracles

This morning, I was talking with someone about Obama. Well, we were talking about Obama.

One of the things we discussed peripherally is how all of us need to feel inspired by others. No matter how much we claim to be entirely self-contained, that we are all islands, the need to hear words that inspire, read ideas that make us feel hopeful and to live lives that have purpose ~ all of it matters.

Tonight, I watched Obama's TV special and could feel and see the inspiration he provides. People legitimately like him. It was evident in the way they looked at him, the way they talked to him. It wasn't about cheering or turning the interaction into a rally. He's someone they would like to sit down across a table and have a good conversation with.

I was especially impressed when he talked about healing the nation.

It touched something within many of us. This country has been through a lot in the past eight years. What Bill O'Reilly has glibly called "The Culture War" has been an ideological war. It has left scars. Most people (including me) felt and still feel somewhat hopeless about it. Obama makes it seem possible that it might get turned around.

No easy fixes though. No instant solutions. This is damage that runs deep and has become so pervasive that I don't think anyone can wave a magic wand and make it all better. It will take years to turn it around, if that is what American people decide to do.

It will take a lot of willingness to be open, to be able to see a new point of view and embrace it. Creating a national character that includes, as Mario Cuomo said in 1984, love and compassion will have to be a conscious choice.

Barack Obama will be a good beginning but he isn't where it ends. It will require all of us, all of us who are willing, to adopt a new way of life and thought. It will mean reaching outside of the self (and self interest) to include others as part of our human community in a meaningful way. It will take prayer for those who pray, determination from those who are strong and a willingness to inspire by those who are so gifted. We will inspire by the beliefs we hold and the behavior we choose. We will choose by the kind of society we create. Every single day. It will mean challenging ourselves on all levels, doing the internal work necessary to be a part of a national evolution. It will require a willingness to give up harshness and duality, aggression and power-over, the belief that every person is on his or her own, that human value is determined by utility and monetary wealth.

It will be the foundation of the metaphorical village, creating both personal attitudes and public policies that encourage togetherness, the end to separation and simply choosing to love.

That is what it will take after election day, after the votes have been cast and counted. Every single one of us can choose to be a part. I hope we do.


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What's this socialism thing?

After watching last night's debate and the introduction of "Joe the Plumber", I began listening to some of the reactions. Throughout the day today, I also listened. Talk radio, television and even my trip to the DMV this morning provided me with an opportunity to hear what people are saying.

Many people seemed to be afraid that Barack Obama was about to introduce socialism to the US. Their voices shook and their eyes clouded over. When pressed to define socialism, they couldn't. They painted word pictures of a Stalinist state, grey and colorless, a drone-like state. A lot of it was outdated Cold War rhetoric.

I began to search Google for an academic definition of "socialism". I found a few but most were so heavily propagandized that I couldn't cite them. As someone who has written for a good long time (over 40 years), I recognize how language is used and the implications of one word being chosen over another.

To put it in very simple terms, socialism is a political and economic theory or system in which the means of production, distribution, and exchange are owned by the community collectively, usually through the state.

Now that hardly sounds like anything Obama has in mind. Obama has never suggested getting rid of private property. Nor has he suggested that all wealth be redistributed. He has said that those who make over 250K a year will experience a tax increase. So I wish people who have not done their research would stop connecting anything Obama is doing to the now thoroughly demonized socialism. That is a word being thrown about willy-nilly without definition to generate fear among an anti-intellectual population which has been brainwashed into believing predatory market freedom equals real freedom. As I've said here before, your ability to choose between red shoes and blue shoes doesn't constitute real freedom. That's market freedom. Think about it.

In my opinion, Obama is offering policies that would bring the US into alignment with the rest of the industrialized world. The US is the only industrialized, first world country on the planet that doesn't have a health care plan for all citizens. It is the only first world country that doesn't provide an affordable education to all its citizens. It is the only first world country that still has a death penalty.

Real freedom is the right to have a job, health care, housing and food. That is civilization.

It really is time to get rid of predatory capitalism and put it in its proper perspective. Capitalism is great for non-essential products and services. If you can make a better DVD player than me, I'm all for it. Capitalism, in its highest form, encourages creativity and innovation. Survival should not be a competitive event. It shouldn't be a crap shoot when it comes to feeding the children.

As far as I'm concerned, the time has come for someone like Barack Obama. The last eight years, which were really a result of eight years of Ronald Reagan have made this nearly feudal state acceptable. It's really time to turn that around and become a respected member of the world community.

Do you agree? :)


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They can't be serious....

So John McCain said Barack Obama is a decent guy, a good family man and an all-round fine fellow in response to some ignorant woman who called him an "Arab" and that makes McCain a candidate for sainthood?

I can't believe it!

The sad thing is that if it weren't so utterly pathetic, it would be comical!

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Terrorist or Freedom Fighter....

"Our opponent ... is someone who sees America, it seems, as being so imperfect, imperfect enough, that he's palling around with terrorists who would target their own country." — Sarah Palin, to donors Saturday at a private airport in Englewood, Colo.

Sarah Palin made this idiotic statement Saturday because apparently at some point, Barack Obama shared planet space with 60s revolutionary William Ayers, one of the founders of the Weather Underground.

I'd hate to think that any of us, especially those of us who were politically active would be nailed to the cross because of someone we might have been in the same room with at some point in the distant past.

But let's go a few layers deeper on this.

Twenty-first century capitalism requires a docile, compliant population, subject population. "Consumer" is put forth as the ideal type, as the model for individual and mass self-identification. It is the population Sarah Palin continually appeals to.... "Joe Sixpack". Her homesy, folksy presentation is generally directed at those who barely graduated high school, who can be found sitting on his or her couch, drinking beer, watching TV after working at some unappealing, soul-crushing job all day. He or she is strictly a consumer.

A consumer is not a conscious creator, not an activist, nor a real decision maker. Instead, consumers are deferential recipients of someone else's wares and services, someone else's choices or a pre-selected range of choices, someone else's ideas or permitted spectrum of ideas, of someone else's rules and manipulations.

But he's the hero in a market society.

And every hero has to have a nemesis, every type its antithesis. When all else fails to strike fear into a compliant population, someone starts throwing around the word "terrorist".

Yes, terrorist. The demon in consumer heaven, disrupter of law 'n' order, killer of innocents, movie villain supreme.

The terrorist... bullets sprayed indiscriminately... bombs exploding like prehistoric meteors. Consumer serenity shattered.

No wonder someone like this most manipulative woman would start throwing a word like that around to win people to her side. No substance, no validation. She is appealing to emotion.

The terrorist: murderer, plunderer, marauder, pirate, bogeyman, barbarian.

The terrorist is as mysterious as he is menacing because he devotes, even sacrifices, his life to something beyond his material interest, to something transcending his own personal gratification. To an idea. To a cause. A nation. A people.

Not that I am condoning terrorism. That would be a violation of everything I stand for, everything my life is about. Hopefully, that is stating the obvious.

But in this case, I am calling "baloney" because the definition is completely arbitrary. Even Ronald Reagan said that one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. It all depends on the politics of the time. The US has a long history of turning freedom fighters into terrorists when they no longer serve its own ends.

So is William Ayers a "terrorist"? I am aware of the fact that he engaged in some destruction of property.. but I am not talking about malicious vandalism. I'm talking about terrorism. I'm not even saying he's a nice guy. He was a lousy tactician. I'm saying he is not a terrorist. Do I think the Weather Underground expressed themselves politically in a good way? No. But that's a tactical discussion. Simply. I don't believe William Ayers fits the standard and accepted definition of a terrorist.

The term "terrorism" means premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant (1) targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents, usually intended to influence an audience. (Operational definition for the Central Intelligence Agency)

Sarah Palin is engaging in her own form of ideological terrorism. She is deliberately stringing words together in such a way as to strike fear in her target demographic. I happily call her on it and challenge her to come up with some substantial evidence that Barack Obama has engaged in anything even close to "terrorism" and how being in the same room with someone who was a 60s revolutionary (there were thousands of us in those days) is a serious concern.

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Financial Smackdown?

I can't help but wonder this.

It was surprising yesterday to hear that the Bail Out package failed. My first question when I hear about these things is "how will this affect working people and poor people?" That's my primary concern. People complaining about having to pay more taxes makes no sense. People who will be affected by losing their pensions, their homes and their investments is a much bigger issue than my wallet - or yours. People who will lose their jobs, the prices that will raise by a few orders of magnitude by inflation, the "trickle down" effect of this is huge! But this is part of living in a community. Mutual responsibility for each other.

So... I supported it on that basis. It's not a partisan issue. I don't belong to any political party. It's a human issue. And, yes, it's rearranging chairs on the Titanic but it's at least a step toward preventing economic catastrophe.

Later when I thought about the failure and viewed it as a failure of culture rather than a political failure only, something even larger came to mind.

Perhaps there is major change on the horizon. If there is an economic meltdown, community will be essential. Depending on each other will be essential. The culture will have to shift in its values and way of life.

It doesn't seem the lessons were learned after Katrina. Lessons weren't learned after Gustav. Lessons weren't learned by other catastrophic events that have occurred over the past few years. It always goes back to "business as usual" without substantial change.

I'm not saying this is punishment. I don't believe that for a minute and I'm not one of those Pat Robertson types who thinks the Apocalypse is coming. The world isn't going to end tomorrow. That kind of fearmongering nonsense is just an energy sinkhole.

This is about money. And attitudes about money. Value placed on money.

It's just money. At least on the surface.

But what if this is a much larger lesson? Have you ever considered that? How would you live if you didn't have "stuff" and money to depend on? What if neighbors had to depend on each other for sustenance? What if we had to give up the idea that we are independent and autonomous in all things?

What if we all needed each other? What would change?

Now.. at the risk of pissing nearly everyone off, I'll hit "publish".


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Steal this Meme... Politics

FranIAm, a blogger I've recently discovered, offers up this meme. Please be sure to read hers, too! And feel free to steal it and let me know if you decide to do it so I can link you here. It includes seven political questions for Obama supporters.


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1) What is your name (nickname, whatever you're comfortable sharing), your age (range), gender, occupation, income bracket (range), how you identify (gay/straight/whatever)? Married/Single/Divorced? Kids (how many)?

Chani, 56 yo, female. The rest of it is irrelevant. Hopefully my ideas will have some merit, regardless of my position on the social grid.


2) What are the most important issues to you in this presidential election and why?

Foreign policy, education, health care and economic equality. They are most important because I believe any country is only as civilized as the way it treats all its citizens. I also consider it very important to know how that country will behave in relation to the rest of the world.


3) Why do you think voters should vote for Obama/Biden, what differentiates this ticket from McCain/Palin?

Basically the truth of the matter is that there's only a hair's difference in packaging between the two of them. They are all wealthy people who will protect their own class interests. At the same time, I do think of Obama as being a Kennedy-like Democrat who does consider economic equality to be important. His voting record substantiates that. He can inspire with his words and ideas. He is someone who can impact the culture by changing thinking. He will be a softening influence who may begin to smooth some of the rough edges of US culture.

Ultimately, I think the senatorial and congressional elections are probably more important than the presidential election.


4) If McCain/Palin wins this election, where do you see our country going in the next four years?

I don't think it will be a "disaster". I'm not usually given to that kind of hyperbole - but definitely don't think there will be any positive change. If McCain's actions over the past several years are any indication, he will engage in a very dangerous foreign policy. Anyone who can joke about bombing other countries is not someone who is in touch with reality.

Sarah Palin is particularly scary. She, in my opinion, completely lacks compassion for all living beings. She's as hard as stone, seems mean-spirited and I have the feeling she would be the object of many, many scandals. She would be an embarrassment on the world "stage".

I shudder to think of any Supreme Court justices they might appoint.


5) Economically, where do you think this country is today and how do you think Obama/Biden can make a positive impact?

I think this country has become economically predatory. There seems to be little concern for the well-being of people in other countries or the more vulnerable in this country. The elite here have more money in their banquet budgets than most people earn in a lifetime.

Capitalism, by its very nature, is predatory. It's okay for non-essential items because it does encourage creativity but when the right to education, health care, jobs and housing are a competitive sport, something is wrong. Seriously wrong.


6) In the past 8-years, how do you think this country has changed under the Bush regime? Have you been affected by these changes? If so, in what ways?

I haven't been that affected but that doesn't matter. If any of us are affected, all of us are affected. I've seen people all over the world who have been impacted - whether it's by corporate irresponsibility, the export of market culture to other parts of the world or irresponsible military action, it all comes down to the same thing: The US has become a bully nation. There are many countries in the world that are terrified of this one... with just cause.

The cultural changes during the Bush Administration are really an extension of the Reagan years. Greed is good. Prejudice is acceptable. Social Darwinism. That all started in the 80s.

At least Reagan had a personality. He was a kind of affable "guy next door", if not terribly bright. I can't say the same for the Borg-like Bush administration and certainly can't say that for GWB, whom I consider to be a complete buffoon.


7) I have read that Palin is considered the new voice of feminism, which is offensive in my opinion. Of equal concern are her views on abortion and the removal of books from libraries. I'd like to know what you think about all of that and how you feel about McCain choosing Palin as a running mate. And what kind of message you think that sends to women?

If Palin is the new voice of feminism, Gloria Steinem must be wretching and Betty Freidan must be flipping in her grave! There is nothing "feminine" about Sarah Palin. She has used the label of feminism to justify her own raw ambition and as an excuse to adopt all the worst attributes of masculinity. Feminism is all about honoring the feminine, the nurturer, the hearth tender. It's about women, not about women behaving like men.

Honestly, I don't think McCain realizes what he's gotten himself into with her. He's not the sharpest tool in the shed. If he had been, he would have realized that she is far too aggressive, far too bombastic, far too unappealing to really do his campaign any good. If I'd been his campaign manager, I would have talked him out of it. It was a short-sighted and rather idiotic move. While the novelty of it may last for a while, the newness will wear off and people will see it for the transparent move it is.

If McCain/Palin uphold the Patriot Act, they don't need to do anything else regarding the other issues. Since 9/11, this has become a national security state with the domestic intelligence agencies (such as the FBI and NSA) having the power to violate the Constitution at will. In the name of national security, the CIA and other intelligence services continue to violate the sovereignty of other nations.

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Compassion for those we don't like....

It's a hard one. Really.

For the past week or so, I've gotten lost in my own "dislike Sarah Palin very strongly" club. (I won't say hate because I don't hate her. I just disagree with her on the most fundamental things.) I've allowed her to become a focal point for everything I dislike in US culture. To listen to her speak sets my teeth off - particularly since she has a voice that could shatter glass. Like a cat being dragged through a knothole in the fence comes to mind. I mean - truly - I don't like the woman. I don't like what she stands for and I don't like who she chooses to be.

On the other hand, I struggle with that tendencu because she is a product of her environment, just like I am. Just like most of us are. It's unlikely that she stood before the mirror one day and made a conscious decision to be who she is. She didn't sculpt herself from raw clay. She is a product of her environment, her culture, her upbringing and her spiritual conditioning. So far in her life, it's worked for her so I doubt she's done a lot of serious self-examination or made a deliberate choice to be the way she is.

So.. where I'm going with this is that I am trying (really trying) to find a place of compassion for her, to ferret out the good in her so that I can stop feeling the way I do. It's toxic for me, toxic for my environment, toxic for all of us - when one of us chooses to so strongly dislike someone that it overrides our compassion and commitment to our own values.

I'm sure she loves her kids. I'm sure she, no matter how much I disagree with her, cares about her country. She's not Mugabe. She's not Milosevic. She's not Hitler. She's a (in my mind) misguided person with some really screwy values. I'm sure she cares about something I care about - although it would probably take hours and hours of conversation between us to find that one kernel of likemindedness. We'd both have to dig and we'd both have to make a strong effort. Looking at it objectively though, even if we were trapped on an elevator together with no other options for company, I don't think she'd like me all that much, either - so that conversation would probably not take place.

Not so deep within me, I know that my non-acceptance of her as a person is just the flipside of what I perceive she does herself. I'm so rooted in my own sense of righteousness that I can't make room for her or her thinking. I "other" her because it's safer and easier than trying to find any commonality.

I know that's not good. This isn't really about Sarah Palin, although she's an expedient example. It's about me. It's about everyone who finds themselves trapped in "othering" behavior.

So.. what do we do when we find someone who so perfectly exemplifies everything that we find distasteful?

I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on this.

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As an aside, I found this link in someone's comments. It is one of the best articles I've seen yet on the topic of Sarah Palin. The comments attached to the article are good, too.

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A Political Post....

I just spent a few hours watching the Rick Warren special at Saddleback Church during which he asked questions of both presidential candidates. Some of the questions were very good and I picked the most revealing one (in my opinion) to ask everyone at the end of this post.

It's probably no surprise that my thinking is more in alignment with Senator Obama than Senator McCain - although I agreed and disagreed with some of the answers from both of them.

I agree with Senator McCain on pro-life issues but felt only one aspect of the pro-life debate was addressed. Pro-life isn't just about abortion. It is about the death penalty, war and a whole host of issues that involve respect for life. I can't agree with him that sending troops to foreign lands to die for US business interests is in any way "pro-life". I also do not believe that the death penalty in any society that has institutional racism and classism can ever be "pro-life".

I disagreed with Senator Obama about Clinton's "workfare" program. I believe it is little more than indentured servitude.

I disagreed with both of them on the definition of marriage. I support same sex marriage.

Of course, those are just a few things. There's much more but I won't bore everyone with my personal political views. :)

The question I thought was best - and most revealing of worldview and mindset was the following - which I also ask all of you:

Does evil exist? If so, should it be ignored, negotiated with, confronted or eliminated?

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Form Over Substance: Flag Lapel Pins

As everyone knows who reads here with any regularity, I don't usually comment on US politics. At one time, I was extremely political and enjoyed getting involved in the fray; watching, listening, supporting, signing petitions, demonstrating ~ all of it was a fairly significant part of my life. During election results, each TV in the house was set to a different station so I could watch and be right on top of the incoming results.

Since then, I've gone in a different direction. My focus is more global and spiritual now.

Still, if I was going to get involved in politics again, I would support Barack Obama.

But I was drawn in this morning when I heard Mike Gallagher's talk radio show. I'm a talk radio addict and listen to all points of view ~ from Amy Goodman to Mike Gallagher and Michael Reagan. If they're talking, I'll listen.

The discussion involved Barack Obama's "refusal" to wear a flag lapel pin. Remember those little flag pins that sprouted like weeds after a spring storm in the aftermath of 9/11? They were for sale everywhere and everyone seemed to be wearing them. They were a symbol of solidarity more than nationalism. When it comes to things that make people feel a sense of community, I'm all behind it.

After several months though, they were co-opted by arch-conservatives and it became not a symbol of solidarity but a symbol of support for the current administration. Bush, Cheney and all his compatriots could be seen wearing them. Endlessly.

Barack Obama never "refused" to wear one. A few days ago, he wore one that was given to him by a veteran in the audience. Obama wore it as any gracious person would have done ~ as a sign of respect to the veteran ~ but didn't continue after that particular appearance.

The talk show pundits are twisting the truth to say that six months ago, he "refused" and since he "refused", the fact that he did it a few days ago makes him a liar.

The truth of the matter is that six months ago, he simply said that he would not be wearing one on the campaign, that he would prefer to show his patriotism by presenting solutions to US problems.

How that can be twisted into evidence of his "lying" and "refusing" to go along with a truly petty and minor symbol of patriotism in the larger scheme of things is beyond me.

This is a perfect example of form over substance that has become such an integral part of everything in US culture, not just the presidential campaigns.

It leads me to wonder how long people will put up with it. When is someone going to start speaking up about these petty smear tactics and yell, if necessary, "who gives a rat's ***!"

Quite honestly, that was my reaction.

These cultural attributes continue on because people allow it.

I'd like to hear solid solutions to the high unemployment rate, to the housing trouble, the economic inequality, the lack of affordable health care and the lack of affordability of a college education. I'd like to hear about foreign policy and how each candidate will end US aggression throughout the world. I'd also like to hear how each candidate plans to implement his or her solution.

You know.. the things that matter.

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