I love this picture of Sebastian in my borealis yarn bag. :)Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Our country tis of thee.....
I was going to try to avoid blogging about the election. Anyone who knows me- knows where I stand in the political spectrum- but I think I just need to get some things off my chest. so this is my rant about the current state of our country and the hope that I see for the future. when I'm done, my next post will be pictures of kitties- don't want things to be too serious around here!
I love September. It is the gateway to fall. The month where you start curling up in your comforter instead of kicking it off. September hosts the autumnal equinox, and the first changing of our beautiful Minnesota leaves. Following August- the month of sweating, swearing, air conditioning and all consuming misery, September blooms like the sun on the horizon. I start to feel the vibrating hum of September's energy in late August. I begin dreaming of apples and pumpkins, of falling leaves and wearing sweaters. Once the weather cools and the days begin to shorten, I feel more alive than any other time of the year. I feel rejuvenated the same way some people feel after a long winter. Summer is my hell, and Autumn is my salvation. I bring all of this up to say that this year- I got nothing. I've had a few butterflies in my stomach during a cool rainy Saturday, but over all my autumn bliss has been missing. What I have finally determined after the past few weeks as I have pondered my lackluster excitement for my favorite time of year, is that the problem is not the weather, its not the 80 degree weather, it's not the lack of trips to the apple orchard, or the fact that my leaf garland is burnt out. It's the state of our country.
I know it sounds ridiculous. I know it sounds like I making an issue out of nothing, but in reality- in the last week alone, I have had 4 friends tell me that they are depressed, they are angry and they can't shake the funk that they are in. I used to watch the news religiously. Every night at 6 and again at 10. I can't anymore. Our country is making me depressed. I am sad that there are people out there that actually contemplating voting for McCain. I am sad that the majority of my friends work in finance, and we are on the eve of the greatest economic failure our country has seen since 1929. I am sad that the dream of home ownership is slipping further and further away for people in part due to business practices that I was a part of. I'm also sad that although Boyfriend and I have decent paying jobs, and very little debt- we will still be having a stay at home weekend.
Are we spending money differently then when we first moved in together? Nope, we actually have less bills. Hmm, do our jobs pay us less? nope, we're making a lot more. What has changed? Gas Prices. Food Prices. Huge Increases. After Bush was re-elected, I had a bumper sticker in my cube, which read "I live in a blue state" this statement cleared me of all blame for what was going to coming the next four years. Unfortunately, even though I know Bush isn't my fault i still have to live here. which brings me to our $700 billion dollar bail out. first let me wrap my head around this number. there are 6.7 billion people in the world. with that type of money, our government could give every person living at this moment $104- which i am sure would feed starving people in a third world country for quite a while. the population of the US is 305,247,000- which means every man woman and child could be given $2,293.25. now granted- it isn't a HUGE amount of money- not like winning the lottery- but if people used that money to pay their bills to their failing financial institutions, wouldn't everyone be better off? what about a coupon system where we don't even need the physical cash, but we can mail our coupons into our mortgage company and they redeem them from the government- obviously this would never work. as incompetent and inefficient as our government is run- it would just create more problems.
Luckily, all of that being said- we are at a point where we can change things. we can stop the direction our government is headed in. we can end the war which has drained our social security, and ruined our economy. i realize i am simplifying things, but i can not understand for the life of me why anyone would want to continue down the path we are on. Why would we elect someone who has voted with George Bush on more times than not? Why would we elect a man who obviously has no idea what it is like down here in the real world. Do you know how many houses you own? what about the fact that McCain has experienced the horrors of war. I have nothing bad to say regarding his history in the military or the things he has been through- but personally, I'd like to think had that been my experience, i would do everything within my power to prevent another human from experiencing that same hell. But McCain vows to stay in Iraq as long as it takes.
When Boyfriend and I went to the Obama rally at the Xcel Center, i felt hope. I believe that Obama can bring the change that our country needs. I felt for a brief second that i could be proud of the country i live in, with him at the helm. After years of "freedom fries" "evil doer's" and Bush's "we got ourselves a group of folks" aka the Taliban- i finally felt like i could settle into the same pride that rednecks and right-wingers everywhere have felt for the last 8 years. From the beginning, Obama has been a speaker of change. McCain and other opponents attacked this idea. now McCain, realizing he needs to separate himself from Bush is preaching the same thing and has coined himself as the "original Maverick" I'm assuming that is solely referring to his brief stint in the Old West as a Deputy, circa 1843. There is nothing original or maverick about John McCain and frankly i am really freaking sick of the cowboy shoot'em up lingo we have been subjected to for the last 8 years.
what am i getting at? I'm really just rambling, but i do not believe that a 72 year old, bad tempered, Bush supporting, pro-war, alternate reality living John McCain is the future of our country. it is time for my generation to step up to the plate and take this country for our own. our country is on the verge of collapsing and i want a leader in office who can relate to me and my family and make the right decisions for the next 4 years.
*steps off soap box*
I love September. It is the gateway to fall. The month where you start curling up in your comforter instead of kicking it off. September hosts the autumnal equinox, and the first changing of our beautiful Minnesota leaves. Following August- the month of sweating, swearing, air conditioning and all consuming misery, September blooms like the sun on the horizon. I start to feel the vibrating hum of September's energy in late August. I begin dreaming of apples and pumpkins, of falling leaves and wearing sweaters. Once the weather cools and the days begin to shorten, I feel more alive than any other time of the year. I feel rejuvenated the same way some people feel after a long winter. Summer is my hell, and Autumn is my salvation. I bring all of this up to say that this year- I got nothing. I've had a few butterflies in my stomach during a cool rainy Saturday, but over all my autumn bliss has been missing. What I have finally determined after the past few weeks as I have pondered my lackluster excitement for my favorite time of year, is that the problem is not the weather, its not the 80 degree weather, it's not the lack of trips to the apple orchard, or the fact that my leaf garland is burnt out. It's the state of our country.
I know it sounds ridiculous. I know it sounds like I making an issue out of nothing, but in reality- in the last week alone, I have had 4 friends tell me that they are depressed, they are angry and they can't shake the funk that they are in. I used to watch the news religiously. Every night at 6 and again at 10. I can't anymore. Our country is making me depressed. I am sad that there are people out there that actually contemplating voting for McCain. I am sad that the majority of my friends work in finance, and we are on the eve of the greatest economic failure our country has seen since 1929. I am sad that the dream of home ownership is slipping further and further away for people in part due to business practices that I was a part of. I'm also sad that although Boyfriend and I have decent paying jobs, and very little debt- we will still be having a stay at home weekend.
Are we spending money differently then when we first moved in together? Nope, we actually have less bills. Hmm, do our jobs pay us less? nope, we're making a lot more. What has changed? Gas Prices. Food Prices. Huge Increases. After Bush was re-elected, I had a bumper sticker in my cube, which read "I live in a blue state" this statement cleared me of all blame for what was going to coming the next four years. Unfortunately, even though I know Bush isn't my fault i still have to live here. which brings me to our $700 billion dollar bail out. first let me wrap my head around this number. there are 6.7 billion people in the world. with that type of money, our government could give every person living at this moment $104- which i am sure would feed starving people in a third world country for quite a while. the population of the US is 305,247,000- which means every man woman and child could be given $2,293.25. now granted- it isn't a HUGE amount of money- not like winning the lottery- but if people used that money to pay their bills to their failing financial institutions, wouldn't everyone be better off? what about a coupon system where we don't even need the physical cash, but we can mail our coupons into our mortgage company and they redeem them from the government- obviously this would never work. as incompetent and inefficient as our government is run- it would just create more problems.
Luckily, all of that being said- we are at a point where we can change things. we can stop the direction our government is headed in. we can end the war which has drained our social security, and ruined our economy. i realize i am simplifying things, but i can not understand for the life of me why anyone would want to continue down the path we are on. Why would we elect someone who has voted with George Bush on more times than not? Why would we elect a man who obviously has no idea what it is like down here in the real world. Do you know how many houses you own? what about the fact that McCain has experienced the horrors of war. I have nothing bad to say regarding his history in the military or the things he has been through- but personally, I'd like to think had that been my experience, i would do everything within my power to prevent another human from experiencing that same hell. But McCain vows to stay in Iraq as long as it takes.
When Boyfriend and I went to the Obama rally at the Xcel Center, i felt hope. I believe that Obama can bring the change that our country needs. I felt for a brief second that i could be proud of the country i live in, with him at the helm. After years of "freedom fries" "evil doer's" and Bush's "we got ourselves a group of folks" aka the Taliban- i finally felt like i could settle into the same pride that rednecks and right-wingers everywhere have felt for the last 8 years. From the beginning, Obama has been a speaker of change. McCain and other opponents attacked this idea. now McCain, realizing he needs to separate himself from Bush is preaching the same thing and has coined himself as the "original Maverick" I'm assuming that is solely referring to his brief stint in the Old West as a Deputy, circa 1843. There is nothing original or maverick about John McCain and frankly i am really freaking sick of the cowboy shoot'em up lingo we have been subjected to for the last 8 years.
what am i getting at? I'm really just rambling, but i do not believe that a 72 year old, bad tempered, Bush supporting, pro-war, alternate reality living John McCain is the future of our country. it is time for my generation to step up to the plate and take this country for our own. our country is on the verge of collapsing and i want a leader in office who can relate to me and my family and make the right decisions for the next 4 years.
*steps off soap box*
Thursday, September 04, 2008
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