Spring Is in the Birds

Forget robins as harbingers of spring. The common grackle, a large, iridescent blackbird with pale yellow eyes, a long, sharp black bill and long tail, is a truer signal that warmer air has arrived.

Flocks of the common grackle have taken over my bird feeding stations, rousting out all but the most tenacious woodpeckers and finches. In truth, these common grackles are nice to observe, their green and blue highlights blazing through in the sunlight. But they sure are domineering.

With forecasts of temperatures almost hitting 70 degrees, I shed my socks Thursday. Like Bill Maher, however, I have New Rules. I’m going to reserve the right to wear or not wear socks depending on my whim, not the weather. So don’t be too disappointed if you can’t see my ankles from now till the next frost in the fall.

Warmer weather also means a change in sheet selection. This morning I put away the polartec bedding in favor of jersey sheets that provide mid-level warmth.

Spring implies rebirth, a season of beginnings, a time for fresh thinking, new opportunities, a chance to break with the failures of the past.

I don’t pretend to understand all the intricacies of the healthcare debate. But I do know that when both sides claim they know what’s best for America, it’s instructive to look at the record, at least for the short term that involves the same politicians that have “led” our country for the last decade.

Why would anyone with a memory and an objective mind trust those who essentially abandoned the battle against Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan to pursue an illegitimate, misrepresented and inefficient war in Iraq, whose cost in lives (American, Allied and Iraqi) and dollars exceeded even the most pessimistic forecasts?

Why would anyone trust politicians who claim to care for the American family when their leaders failed to provide adequate aid and comfort to victims of Katrina?

Why would anyone trust politicians who now claim to worry about burdening our children with deficits when for eight years they piled deficit upon deficit onto our national debt after inheriting a surplus from the outgoing Democratic administration?

Why would anyone trust politicians who cry about the need for bipartisanship when for eight years they rejected input from the opposition?

Sadly, we live today in a world where people are too easily manipulated by slogans and sound bites, by populist TV personalities. Instead of reflection, we get instant analysis. Instead of thoughtful dialogue, we get extreme shouting. What passes as reality TV has diminished our critical ability to think.

The sun shining today does not mask the dark reality that millions of our fellow citizens are without health care coverage, that millions more are vulnerable to action that will strip them of coverage. Just yesterday Arizona’s newly signed state budget eliminated a Children’s Health Insurance Program that covered 47,000 low-income children without coverage. Another 310,000 childless couples are expected to lose Medicaid coverage under the state’s new budget (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/19/health/policy/19arizona.html?scp=2&sq=arizona&st=cse).

The measure of a society is how it protects the less fortunate. Am I supposed to stop putting out bird seed because common grackles are eating most of it? Hardly. The health care bill is far from perfect. But it will be better than what we have now. I’m looking forward to a bill signing ceremony. Perhaps the Rose Garden would make an appropriate springtime venue for the ceremony.