The Audacity of Hope

I’ve been waiting years for this night and I’m absolutely terrified.  I really, really want to believe that Obama’s going to win, but I’m afraid that he won’t and I’ll be crushed.  A world in which McCain is President is scary for me.  I believe that he and his party want to control as much of my life as they possibly can including who I can marry and what I can do with my reproductive organs.  I believe that if he wins, people will die from a lack of healh care and young women who have been raped will be forced to endure back rooom procedures or deal with the possible cconsequences of being a victim. I believe that funding for alternative education will be cut, putting me out of a job and stem cell research will be stunted, putting me out of a sister.

I don’t believe things will be perfect under Obama.  I don’t even necessarily believe they’ll be all that better than they are now.  But they will be better.  If we’re lucky, we’ll get to keep the civil rights we have and gain a few more.  I don’t expect to see a revolution.  I just don’t want to feel like we’re in a hole that we’ll never climb out of.  I need hope, and McCain can’t give it to me.

Are Republicans Good People?

Partisanship has been a huge topic of discussion for the past few years, mosly because when Party A wants to get something done and Party B disagrees, Party A claims that they only disagree because of partisanship.  They don’t stop to consider that what they want to do is financially irresponsible or morally wrong.  The just think the other party is being obstinate, which is pretty insulting, but I digress.  At some point during all of this Us vs. Them fighting, some of us started to realize that there ARE issues in which the parties are diametrically opposed, and agreeing to disagree just doesn’t fly when legislation is involved.

But we all have friends.  And having made many of our friends before we were so partisan or found ourselves surrounded by politics, we sometimes find that our friends are of the opposite party.  Family is one thing.  You HAVE to love them, unless being around them is physically or emotionally damaging. But friends are a gray area. You want to believe that they are good people, despite their political beliefs, but then you have to ask yourself: Can you be a good person if you think it’s okay to deny someone a basic civil right?  Can you be a good person if you don’t believe that everyone should have equal access to health care?  Can you be a good person if you really believe that we’re doing the right thing in Iraq?  Can you be a good person if you drive an SUV or a Hummer for fun?  Can you be a good person if you continually ignore the fact that schools filled with minority students are vastly underfunded?  Can you be a good person if you think automatic weapons are fine in the hands of criminals?

So the problem is this: They think they can be good people and believe all of those things, and I just don’t. If it divides our country, so be it.  If it pits brother against brother and tears families apart, so be it.  But no one, especially not in this country, should be forced to compromise on something they believe in with all of their heart simply to keep the peace.  And they shouldn’t have to pretend that it’s something it’s not.  It is NOT partisanship. It is the difference between RIGHT and WRONG.  The Republicans are just WRONG.

Stop Waiting

One of the most frustrating things that people say about the economy, politics, environment, etc… is, “God will proviode.”  We have intelligence.  We can learn things.  We can support politicians who support education so that we can learn more things.  Knowledge is not a punishment.  We weren’t punished for wanting knowledge, we were punished for disobeying god.  And that’s an allegory anyway. 

God will not fix your roof.  God will not fix the hole in the Ozone layer.  God will not fix the economy.  God will not pay your health care bills.  All of that is up to us.  The closest we get to god is electing the right politicians so that all of that gets done with us having to know as little about it as possible and when all goes well we can say, “See, God has provided.”  It may not all be chance, but it is NOT God. 

If you want something, if you need something, DO DOMETHING ABOUT IT.  Don’t just sit there and pray, then complain about the state of the world.  Find the cause of the problem and figure out a solution.  If you can’t figure it out, don’t say, “It must have been God’s will.”  Find someone smarter than you and ask for help.  Is no help is available , accept that it’s just that way through no fault of your own or anyone else’s.  The devil is not involved.  Let it go.  Stoip waiting.  Provide for yourself.

Festing

Once a year my family takes a three day break from reality and attends Pennsylvania’s tiny little version of Woodstock.  From August 15th to the 17th we will be camping out at the Philadelphia Folk Festival, listening to music and ignoring the rest of the world.  The mood this year is less joyous, more subdued.  People are shorter with each There was also more room to lay down our tent – meaning less poeple could afford to come out this year.  Still, I look forward to a musical break, much like Sarchasm’s stint at Lollapalloza.  By the way, we’re not immune to the crisis in Georgia or Bush’s obviously political appearance at the Olympics, but no one wants to talk about it.  I’ll return to reality soon.  As always, here’s a taste of what we’ll be listening to:

Janis Ian

Hoots and Hellmouth

Steve Earle

Flood of Incompetence

Wouldn’t it be nice if, during this time of a national environmental crisis, in which towns are being leveled by tornadoes and swept away by floods, we had some sort of force – a National Guard, perhaps – to help these towns and cities clean up and rebuild?  Wouldn’t it have been wonderful is some past President had thought of a situation in which we might need such a “Reserve Army” if you will, and had made provisions for such a thing?  And if a President had done so, wouldn’t it be a little irresponsible (maybe even slightly criminal) for a current President to commit that force elsewhere, out of the country which they had taken an oath to serve, to fight a foreign enemy on foreign soil and leave them there for an extended length of time, even when they are needed despareately at home?  Might that not be a reason for impeachment, especially if it had happened more than once during a particular President’s term?

Fair and Balanced

Even the media is admitting now that they have a role in the outcome of elections.  Mentioning the effect that publicity has on elections does not absolve the media outlets from responsibility, but this seems to be the tactic they’re using.  After Hillary’s win in New Hampshire Brian Williams and other talking heads began to discuss the media’s role in the “upset” since they had been making predictions about what would happen.  They didn’t mention that any discussion of politics on national TV plays a role in the election debate, especially when certain candidates are ignored (Ron Paul, Dennis Kucinich) and others are glorified (Barak Obama, Mike Huckabee).  And yet we continue to allow the media to get off the hook.  We pretend that they aren’t influencing millions of Americans on the Media Conglomerate News.  It almost makes you hope that the Writer’s Strike continues and puts these major outlets out of business.  I’ll trade my favorite TV shows for just a little bit of truth.  Won’t you?

3,904 US soldiers killed in Iraq; 28,870 US soldiers wounded in Iraq (not that I believe that these figures are in any way accurate anymore)

Tagged

I promised Todd I would get to this when I could, and now is as good a time as any.

Link to your tagger and post these rules.
Write some facts about yourself: some random, some weird, some just plain fun.
Tag 7 cats (or whatever) at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them).
Let those 7 know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment at their blogs.

1. I would support Stephen Colbert for President if I lived in South Carolina (I like that he’s making a mockery out of a system that has been a mockery for years, especially when it comes to corporate sponsorship), but since I don’t, I’m supporting Dennis Kucinich.  I’ve heard a lot of talk about Ron Paul and some of it I agree with, but I think he’s more dangerous than people realize. I also firmly believe that people should vote for the candidates they believe SHOULD win instead of the candidate they believe CAN win.  That only rewards mediocrity.

2.  I am so disgusted by Americans that I have begun the immigration process to Canada.  I know that their system isn’t perfect and there are things I won’t like there, too, but I believe it’s all about picking your poison.  I want health care and affordable education for my kids.  I don’t want my kids to feel bad about being atheists.  I don’t want their cultural icons to be people like Paris Hilton and Brittany Spears.  I definitely don’t want them to live in or near a city where guns are so common that there are over 320 murders (more than some countries) before the year is over.

3. I am a desert addict.  I have a thing for baked goods.  It’s a sickness. I prefer things with chocolate, but I fall victim to anything sweet.  I make my own ice cream, and I have the Ben & Jerry’s cookbook.  I am worried that my children will inherit this, so we counteract with a lot of fruits and veggies.

4. I don’t like to touch meat.  I like it best when I can’t taste that it’s flesh of some sort.  I’m okay with fish.  I hate to cook and do anything that involves working in the kitchen with the exception of baking.

5.  I live largely in my own mind, which gives people the impression that I don’t like them or I don’t care about them.  When I’m thinking about something, I have a hard time focusing on anything else.  I’m abrasive and socially inept.

6. I believe that some climate change is just the way the planet lives, but that we have greatly accelerated it and there are many things we can do to change it.  It makes me really angry when people refuse to change their lifestyle slightly so that we don’t overfill landfills, deplete resources, and destroy ecological systems.

7. I love my job but it makes me crazy that I don’t have much time to write because I am constantly doing things for work.  we do a lot of fundraising because we don’t have any money and we need a new copier, more books, paper, pencils, and other supplies necessary in the running of a school. Computers would be great, too, but we need a library first.

Wildfires

I have several thoughts about the wildfires.

1. I heard a story on NPR that hasn’t been repeated anywhere else.  Apparently a town was issued a mandatory evacuation order and some people refused to obey it.  The fires shifted toward the town quickly, and while firefighters were rescuing those who stayed behind.  While that was happening, a lot of homes burned down.  I think those who refused to obey the evacuation order should be held accountable.  They should have to repay the people who had their homes destroyed.

2. People who continually build and rebuild their homes in areas effected year after year by the Santa Ana winds and wildfires should not be allowed to get money from taxpayers or insurance companies to do so.  It’s just stupid.  It’s like building houses in areas that constantly get flooded.  Freak weather patterns are one thing, but if your home (or any of those around it) is destroyed once every ten years or more, you’re an idiot.  Build a house somewhere else.

3.  People who start fires that destroy thousands of acres of land and kill people should be charged with crimes against humanity and murder as well as arson.  It is the worst kind of destruction and deserves no forgiveness.

3,840 US soldiers killed in Iraq.  28,327 US soldiers wounded in this immoral war.

Draft Gore!!!

I understand why Al Gore doesn’t want to run.  Someone who actually won the last election and wasn’t elected President probably lost all faith in the American political system.  Besides that, he probably feels that he can affect more change as a philanthopist than as a political leader.  That may have been true 4 years ago, but now enough people have taken up his cause that he can step down and do what America really needs him to do – repair our reputation with the rest of the world.  Hopefully those people who didn’t believe in Global Warming or Climate Change will give it a little more thought now that Gore has won the Nobel Prize.  The truth is, we need a leader.  Whether it’s Al Gore or someone else, we need someone who is respected by the American people and the world community at large.

3,822 US soldiers killed in Iraq.  28,171 US soldiers wounded in Iraq.

Not Good Enough

If, as many Americans believe, we are the best nation in the world and no American would ever want to leave to live in another country, wouldn’t it stand to reason that we would be ranked in the Top Ten in every area that matters, such as per capita wealth, envrionmental concerns (we’re #28), life expectancy (we’re #42), health care (we’re #37), infant mortality (we’re #36), and education (we were #18 as of 2002)?  I would think so, but it’s just not true.  We are in the Top Ten for per capita wealth (we’re number 6), but I’ve taught a lot of people who’s families are way below the $43,600 mark.  This is because the distribution of wealth stays within 1% of the American people, which is one of the reasons we’re slipping in so many different areas. 

What is it about Americans that makes us settle for good enough?  Many people make the argument that we’re better than ___________ (insert name of country here), but why are we comparing ourselves to the worst instead of to the best?  One of the advantages of being a “melting pot” is that we’re supposed to be able to take the best ideas from a variety of nations and incorporate them into our own system.  So why do Americans believe that if it’s not an American idea, it’s not worth trying?  Everyone likes to point out the problems with other systems, but rather than doing that, why not take the best of those systems and improve upon them?  If we took the environmental initiatives from New Zealand, the education stystem from South Korea, the maternity care from Singapore, and the health care system from France, we might actually be able to mean it when we call ourselves the best country in the world.

 3,707 US soldiers killed in Iraq.  27,409 US soldiers wounded in Iraq