Counting on a Miracle

For being in an active area with lots to get out and do I find myself striking out when faced with thinking about what to write about. Seeing as its setting up to be one of the last nice week and weekends left before the weather takes a dour turn I am thinking that whatever I cover is going to be something out door and active. However I am always tempted by a good talk or a presentation so we'll just have to see how it goes.

Attendees, Coordinators or people in charge, participants

I'll ask them:
Why are you here?
How did you hear about this?
What inspired you to start this____?
What do you think of all this?

Is Congress Embarrassed?

The members of the United States congress should be hiding under their blankets right now. Burying their heads in shame and keeping a low profile when they go out in public. Why? Because they were shown up by an audience on the Letterman show. There are specific congress-people that stand out as should-be-embarrassed-but-aren't but frankly, at this point, they all should be embarrassed. A random collection of people who got free tickets to the Letterman show were better behaved than a room full of grown men and women getting paid inordinate amounts of money to sit there and listen to the President speak. While on Late Night with David Letterman, Barack Obama was able to talk about health care, life and a heart shaped potato while a small audience clapped, laughed and showed respect for the duration. Whether or not they agreed with the President it had to be refreshing to step into a place where you weren't going to be shouted down and disrespected.

It would be one thing to be an loud-mouthed senator well known for making jabs at the opposing party. Its quite another when there is such a large delegation booing and hissing that it became the story, not the topic of the speech. The most embarrassing part for the members of Congress isn't that they acted like children. Its like they acted like spoiled-rotten brats. George Bush was never a popular President, especially in the last years in office, there was never a story about him being shouted down in the halls of congress when talking about and unpopular war, or a declining economy, or torture, or misinformation about WMDs. Granted he had to dodge a shoe at some point but that was at a press conference, hardly the same as in the building that is the symbol of our country. No, the idea of shouting at our previous president would have had senators labeled as "terrorist" or "unamerican" or "unpatriotic." It was that mentality of "with us or against us" that made open disagreements so threatening to political careers for eights straight years. Unfortunitly, no one reminded to tell the Senate and House that the rules still apply. This is one country, people should actually be proud of it, and should show support for the people elected. So this is to the booers, the hissers, the people in town halls screaming like an infant in church; to the unpatriotic, terrorist-loving, freedom hating individuals that will rip the country limb from limb and leave pieces of it dangling from thier jagged mouths. It doesn't matter if everyone agrees but burn the flag in your own yard not on the floors of congress.

Luke- Who believes that whether or not you are a senator you should always try to be civil.

High Moral Values

We are a nation of people that praise the good guy, we love the hero, the savior, the all around nice dude. Its evident by how we idolize Chelsey Sullenberger, how we stood behind the hero's of 9-11, and how we praised the Navy Seals for the rescue of an American hostage. We do all of this for the right reason, we do all of this because its important to define what we deem as good and bad; mostly we do this because they deserve it, and not everyone gets acknowledged for doing the right thing so we beat these news to a bloody pulp to make up for it. We stand for high moral values.
The problem isn't that our values are getting too high, they are getting too distorted. With Micheal Vick's release from federal prison looming many people will speculate about Vick "getting what he deserved." NFL teams are avoiding him like the plague despite the fact that he'd probably add a level of athleticism to many of the teams in the league. Also there is no way NFL teams aren't interested, one of the top overall athletes in football is eligible and no one cares? Please. The fact is teams are so concerned with their image that they don't want the liability of having a dog killer on their team.
There is no doubt in Vick's guilt, and what he deserved can and probably will be debated for years to come but the truth is this: deserved it or not, Vick is being punished worse than any other player in recent history. For what? Not for the dogs, even PETA admitted they wanted to take Vick to the cleaners to prove a point, to make him an example. We bought it hook line an sinker, sure some people complained but they were few and far between swallowed by the animal lover inside most people. The problem is with so many athletes with criminal records how do you decide which is worthy of a thorough thrashing by the American judicial system and who gets off with a slap on the wrist?
Why did we suddenly value dogs' (admittedly several dogs) lives more than humans? In 2000 Ray Lewis was a arrested on murder charges that he denied. In a street fight that left two men dead Lewis and two other men were arrested for the stabbing deaths of both men. When Lewis denied his guilt the Ravens stood behind him. Then in a case with more holes than the OJ Simpson trial Lewis pled guilty to a misdemeanor and let his two lackeys take the fall, hall of famer indeed. The problem is if you get on and Google NFL players: murder charges you get pages and pages of murder, attempted murder, manslaughter and so on. If you make it NFL players: sexual abuse, the list gets longer.
There is no advocating for Vick at this point, what's done is done. There is no feeling sorry for him either, what he did was vile and evil to the highest degree. Somebody should be advocating for our conscience though, when NFL teams are afraid to pick up a dog killer for the image they might have, while suspects to a whole litany of crimes against men, women, even children sit on their sidelines. We let it happen, with our "high moral values", we will boo Vick when he comes back, fans will say things like "I'll never watch another game if my team gets Vick." Then we'll cheer when Ray Lewis rips off an unsuspecting running back's head. Thank god for our high standards.

A Growing Cause for Concern

On my way to class today I was behind a truck that had an Obama 08 sticker in the window; above that was another sticker that read "Impeach"... That certainly didn't take long.
I could only think "Impeach him for what? Being a democrat? Being black? NOT being George Bush?" The modified bumper sticker illustrated a terrifying view point on politics in America. Despite my easy breathing after my candidates winning in this election its a bitter sweet win.
Long gone are the days of John Kennedy and then Lyndon Johnson's victories of 1960 and 1964.
Already an ugly and spiteful campaign, I should say campaigns, especially here in Oregon. This year more was spent in the Senate Election between incumbent Gordon Smith and challenger Jeff Merkley than ever before in Oregon(according to OPB). Even on election day after over half of Oregon and about 75 percent of Colorado had voted there were still ads on tv (CNN no less) that slandered Barack Obama.
In a stunning division of the country this election was not historically predictable. The least poplular president in decades was about to be replaced. historically this was a landslide victory for the opposite parties candidate (see Jimmy Carter, Ronald Regan in 1980). However this didn't quite reach those proportions and, more importantly, it didn't unite us at all.
More than ever this year, bumper stickers, yard signs, even buttons seemed to be all the rage where ever you went, and mostly they were just general support pledges; however there was a deep seeded dislike behind that support.
Friends, collegues, family members all joked (maybe) that they would consider leaving this country if John McCain won. My friend's aunt vowed to move away if Barak won. A girl I went to high school with suggested that "Not all change is good" in regards to Barak Obama winning the election. Where is the faith from any of us? It is hard to imagine a time when this country would actually hate its president, it seems that maybe that time has come.
Buried under the historical significance, under my own jubilation, under eight years of painful leadership without direction is the dark thruth: America has become two countries. One that loves Obama, apparently drives Priuses and was confused about Iraq. The other a country music listenin', truck drivin', non-"g" pronouncin' group that loves America, freedom and doesn't like "sum wussie lib-er-al" in the White House. Laden with exaggeration the last two sentences are what it feels like to live in this country right now. Sarah Palin's down-home honky tonk way of communicating showed the world exactly what the Republican Party thought of thier supporters, and the image of Obama stickers at farmers markets and on hybrids shows how most democrats are percieved.
So while you celebrate or despair the way the election went last Tuesday. Do the whole country; the whole world a favor. Be happy, make the attempt to be understanding and hopeful. McCain's platform wanted to gain the vote of "true Americans" or "typical" Americans, if we were all true American's, we would be willing to give who ever wins a shot.

Votage

Did anyone read the article in The Commuter about not voting? Was anyone else confused and concerned? Not quite ridiculous enough to be a farce and not quite serious enough to be convincing it seemed like it hung in limbo. Honestly if you're not voting then why would you voice any opinion. To not vote is to give up your right to critique and complain. Even if the author had a beef with both candidates he could always vote third party, at least it would be taking a step. As it was, I think the concept of telling college students not to vote is just too dangerous. Even if it was a reactionary piece its still awfully risky for people that may misconstrue the message and take it to heart. Also, the concept that this vote is somehow unimportant and packs little punch is an insult to anyone who has invested time and energy into campaigning and following this election. For all the reasons that the author stated about the decline of this country just made the point that this is a vital election. The candidates may be more similar than we are lead to believe yes, but why risk it, why tell people not to vote for either when this country needs a severe change in direction immediately. If you ask me never before has it been more important to vote, to voice ideas and to be active, not just to be a passive complainer.

My Socialist Self

"Are you a democrat? Or republican?" the lady asked me over the phone. Just one of a long line of queries she had about the up-coming presidential election.
"Neither," I replied "I am a socialist." Listening to the confused, if not stunned, silence on the other end before she continued to the next question I grinned thinking about how rare it must be to get such an answer. It won't be that way for long, soon the socialist party will be the American Party, "I am American! Watch me share!"
True I am getting ahead of myself but after making my brain bleed with hours of political rhetoric both online and on TV it is now evident that our country is stepping towards socialism. If you need any more proof just watch any recap of the last presidential debate between John McCain and Barack Obama, the now-infamous "Joe the Plumber" fiasco (which is almost not worth mentioning is so damned embarrassing). Using good 'ol Joe as a medium McCain illustrated how Obama wants to tax the rich to give to the poor, or to quote Obama himself, "Spread the wealth around."
Such a shameful thing to say, such a shameful thing to suggest that in the world of capitalistic ideals those with more should share. Sharing, a concept most of us learned in the first grade, of course that usually applied to things like cup cakes and gum, but as we get older we seem to realize sharing IS good, provided its not money. As a society we like to give, we love donating to breast cancer and prostate cancer, we give at the food bank and we pay local kids to wash our cars at the local hardware store parking lot. When it comes to raising taxes though, look out Joe Six-Pack-The-Plumber, or whatever your name is. Its not just the fear of raising taxes, its the fear that the taxes would go to those who have less. Whoa now this is not the capitalistic view, this is not social Darwinism, this is border-line Marxism according to Fox News, Bill O'Reilly and the entire McCain- Palin ticket. Rightly so, how dare we suggest that those with more should support the people with nothing, I mean Obama's tax plan applies to those who make $250,000 or more a year, $250,000?!?! Thats it?!?! I mean a person can barely feed thier family with that kind of money, I mean according to John McCain a person would have to make $5 million a year or more to be "rich"... keep workin Joe you'd only have to make 20 times what you make now to be "rich."
Underlying Obama's secret Pinko-Commie background is this. The fact that our government has now bought out several insurance companies and banks meaning that they own these companies. And if the government owns the companies and the people own the government (technically) than the people own the banks... the essence of socialism. So mark it down, in January, if Obama becomes president we will all share our money, but thats OK because we'll own the banks. As for me, I'm just getting a head start, begging for money until I am as rich as my next door neighbor and then when I am richer, giving it all back to him. If you want to find me check the library under Marx.