In two weeks, several members of my family will travel to South Dakota to celebrate my brother's life. Varick's ashes will be dispersed at the Sitting Bull Camp on the Grand River during the Lakota's Sun Dance ceremony.

It wasn't until Varick's death did I know that Tommy Smith and John Carlos were two of my brother's heros. I never had a chance to share with Varick that Gillian and I met Tommy and John four years ago this week at the Track and Field Olympic Team Trials in Sacramento.

Varick, here's a salute to you from your heros!

We love you. Rest in peace

Pierre Cutler & Gillian Parrillo

Posted by Pierre Cutler at 10:26 AM | Permalink

"Did you know Barack Obama is a Muslim!" my Republican friend reveals to me with a whisper-like voice.

"Really?" I feign surprise.

"Oh yes. His middle name is Hussein," my Republican friend replies with force, almost as if he played a high scoring trump card.

"And so what if he is a Muslim? Would it matter?" I ask.

"Well you know, Muslims want to annihilate Americans. All Muslims are extremists. They hate us!"

I hear this all the time. It's like a dirty little secret to them. And they delight in spreading the nasty myth.

But to me it is wicked and mean-spirited. It's downright dirty pool. It's despicable and disgusting.

So there I was this morning - a weekend bachelor, sipping my coffee and reading the Sunday New York Times. I spotted it on page A13, "HELLO. My name is HUSSEIN"! I just knew where this was going. I grew excited. Before I started to read, I thought, "Blog material", and headed for my computer, with the Times in tow.

Jodi Kantor's article caught my eye - the title read "Making a Political Statement by Adopting Their Candidate's Middle Name". Kantor writes:

Emily Hussein Nordling, her entry now reads.

With her decision, she joined a growing band of supporters of Senator Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, who are expressing solidarity with him by informally adopting his middle name.

We felt great. People noticed and wanted to take our pictures.

And now, New York Times Sunday readers around the world are noticing. People do care and are fighting back.

I still have the badge and plan to wear it on the plane tomorrow to Sacramento. I'll wear it with pride.

Pierre Hussein Cutler
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Pierre Cutler at 8:52 AM | Permalink

Here's a look by Joshua Holland
Editor, Corporate Accountability and Workplace Coverage:

CNN tells me that a majority of Americans favor Barack Obama's call to clamp down on speculators and reduce demand through tougher fuel efficiency standards and more conservation. The network also informs me that a majority favor John McCain's plan to open up offshore drilling to expand oil supplies. The take-away: a majority want something substantive done that will lower prices at the pump soon.

Of course, neither candidate has much to offer in terms of short-term relief; the constraints of America's political culture guarantee that price controls and fuel subsidies for transportation-dependent industries -- things other governments might contemplate -- are off the table.
But even in the context of this truncated debate, it's clear that the conservative movement's ideas are utterly bankrupt. They're offering a defense of an unsustainable -- indefensible -- status quo: just pump more oil and we'll keep doing what we've been doing without a hiccup. All they have to offer is drilling offshore and in the Alaskan wilderness.

Let's dig into that argument briefly. Our friend Bill Scher over at Tompaine crunched the numbers offered up by Bush's own Department of Energy and found that opening up the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge would result in a decrease in oil prices amounting to 75 cents per barrel of crude, some 17 years from now. Assuming for the sake of argument that demand doesn't increase -- an unlikely assumption -- and using the rough rule of thumb that every dollar in the price of a barrel of crude oil equals 2.5 cents in a gallon of gas, that works out to a promise to reduce gas prices by less than 2 cents per gallon.
McCain claims that there's another 21 billion barrels offshore. Scher cites a a DOE estimate of 18 billion, but let's use the Senator's figure. Opening up our offshore deposits would result in an additional cost reduction of $1.50 per barrel. So, adding the two, we can conclude that opening ANWR and drilling like Hell offshore would result in cost savings to consumers of about 6 cents per gallon of gas. And that's by 2025, meaning that you could get into bed and conceive a child today, and that 6-cent-per-gallon cost reduction would be included in gas prices by the time the fruit of your loins got his or her learner's permit.

Rush Limbaugh won't be mentioning those details, I think..

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 8:52 AM | Permalink

You get an email. It supports some political rhetoric with which you agree. So, you forward it to your list of friends that you know will gobble up the 'red meat.'

Please read what you send. Please verify the content. Please be responsible.

Today I received a note telling me that the oil crisis is because of liberal democrats and that we cannot elect a liberal democrat to be President because gas prices will get even worse. One of the facts was that the liberals and the environmentalists have stopped the drilling in ANWR and that has caused the problem. Therefore, don't vote for a liberal or a democrat for President.

I was suspicious. I went to John McCain's site. Guess what? John McCain doesn't believe in drilling in ANWR. Barack Obama doesn't believe in drilling in ANWR. Yes, they have their differences, but drilling in ANWR is not one of them.

For instance, John McCain does not support a woman's right to choose. Barack Obama does support a woman's right to choose. That's a real issue. You can forward that note all day, every day, especially to all of your women voter friends, especially the ones who supported Hillary. Hopefully, even the most resistant will come to realize that voting for McCain over Obama will be voting completely against their best interests.

Let's be vigiliant this political season. There are REAL differences between the candidates - there's no need to forward made up issues.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 7:45 PM | Permalink

Oh my! I am filled with emotion this evening. South Dakota has pushed Barack Obama over the top. He is now the Democratic Party's nominee for the President of the United States!!!!

Varick, you must be dancing! South Dakota, my brother's final resting place, has brought Barack victory! How poetic!

Yes we can!

Pierre Cutler
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Pierre Cutler at 6:08 PM | Permalink