Filed under: politics
California . . . it looks like Proposal 8 will pass. This hurts my heart. The definitive factor amongst voters; age.
Why does this hurt me? Because my generation will have to clean up amendments to damn near every single state constitution through out the United States.
I will give “them” a little something – when it comes to economic and political policy, young voters who vote democrat may very well become republican voters in the future. I don’t predict the same trend when it comes to gay marriage – our generation simply feels differently. We don’t see it as a loss for Christianity, we see it as a loss for the opportunity to take part in sharing love and family.
To all of those personally affected by such amendments, I say have faith – a new generation will ring in change in time.
Filed under: politics
A landslide.
I went to bed early with the TV on next to me. I couldn’t even watch anymore! I woke up during Barack Obama’s speech last night and I sleepily smiled and went back to bed.
This morning it is a bit more emotional to watch it all. I feel like this imperfect world which we were all born into . . . well, it isn’t a completely new landscape, but it is a new way of looking at the world. Everything is going to be fine, that is truly how I feel.
I love it!
It is time for another edition of the Daily Dish with your host Oliver. I’m coming to you tonight from the futon where I am trying to watch the election results. It may be time to call one of those election problem hotlines; my human is restricting my ability to watch the poll results. We began the evening civilly enough – munching on nachos and watching the very first results pour in from right here in Indiana.
Problem A) The human insists we watch CNN rather than Fox News. Since I am a Sarah Palin (and that guy running with her) supporter, I have found that in order to get news with a Palin bias, I must watch Fox News. Consequently the human has banned the network from this house.
Problem B) As it became more apparent that the race would be tight here in Indiana, the human began doing some odd, nervous dance, squealed and changed the channel completely – turning it to some ridiculous syndicated show called 7th Heaven. Apparently I will have to resign myself to using the internets . . . or perhaps stealing her remote . . .
Filed under: politics
So everyone is wondering what young voters will do today – I would like to think they will show up in droves. Not just because that would likely mean a land-slide victory for Obama but also because that means that young people are taking an active roll in caring about their government. By simply showing up and partaking in the process they will be that much more likely to vote again in the future and will be more prepared in those future races by becoming more educated on the issues.
However, young people might not show up – as usual.
From my perspective right now, it would seem that everyone within my age demographic is fairly politically interested and will at least go vote, however I am proven wrong over and over again everytime I speak with someone outside of my little circle of daily life.
Brian is very political and between the two of us and his roommate, we can talk for hours about the subject. As far as law school goes . . . well, it is law school! I have a state Senator in one of my classes – I just talked to him 15 minutes ago! I am reminded every other day that law students are just not a typical group of citizens when it comes to their political interests. Then again, sometimes I am shocked at how uninvolved some of my classmates really are. It is certainly possible they just don’t want to discuss politics – things can get volatile quick around. Indiana is a notoriously red state (as I am sure you have heard on the news recently) but college students and professors tend to be left leaning. Combine two such groups and you have large numbers of students here at school who are bright red, blue, and purple! It certainly isn’t like my undergrad experience where you could rest assured that pretty much any individual you struck up a conversation with would be against Bush.
Something I have heard a lot lately from various individuals is that regardless of who wins this election, their lives won’t change. Some of the people who say this, I am convinced just want to pat themselves on the back for not getting caught up in the rhetoric. However there are plenty of people that I am sure truly feel that way. I, on the other hand, know for a fact that the next President will affect my life in a big way – I am going to graduate from law school and be searching for work here shortly. I have school provided health care coverage that is shitty, plain and simple. I have not ruled out running for an elected office one day myself . . . *eyeing an AG position*. I have ZERO income right now. I would like to buy a home one day. I would like to get these loans paid off with the help of a federal subsidy for attorneys who choose to work in the public sector. I’d like to be able to travel out of the country one day and not get bizarre, unanswerable questions from foreigners. How is my life NOT going to be affected by the next President?
Well, it is election day and clearly I am excited. One of my professors has offered us a carrot and has promised not to cold call anyone today – straight lecture all the way for the first time! She didn’t want anyone to have a reason to either not go vote or not show up for class. Personally, I wish she would have opted to give us the day off – I would have gone to work the polls if I could have finagled my way outta there.
After class tonight I am going to head home, curl up with Oliver (my Sarah Palin supportin’ cat), munch on nachos (what better way to ring in the new President!?), and watch for as many hours as need be.
I picked up a NY Times this morning and everyone (at least in the West Coast) will be happy to know that NBC, ABC, CBS, Fox, CNN, and The Associated Press have agreed to keep exit poll data under their hat until . . . . *drum roll*
5pm!
5pm. You know what that means – it means that at 5:01pm someone will not be able to keep their pants on. They will become nervous that another news network will make the correct call before any of the polls even close for the night and so they will begin making those tentative remarks which will turn into full out announcements complete with champagne and caviar before 8pm.
Why do I have a problem with this?
Because I clearly recall going to bed in 2000 secure in knowing that, although I hadn’t been old enough to vote in that election, George W. Bush would NOT be the next President of the United States. I recall going to school the next morning to a flurry of confusion amongst other classmates who had done the same as I had and were only then getting up to speed on the news. I would honestly rather have no clue this evening as to who won than to wake up to that kind of nightmare again!
As for Poon, well that is in reference to another fun e-mail I received this morning from Mr. Joseph Poon offering me a “business proposal” of $22,400,000.00 to “handle” with him from his bank. He wrote to find out if I was able to help him with his business transaction from Hong Kong to the United States and in order to find out if I am a capable individual, he needs my name, contact information, age, and marital status.
It that is all it takes for a millionaire to trust me with him cash, I’m all in!! Once again people, I beg of you to toss this garbage and not respond to it. And if you really must fall for a Poon, let it be the other version.
Filed under: politics
This morning on CNN there was a fairly powerful commercial which aired supporting John McCain. It was targeted toward small business owners and “Mad Mike” told us that he wanted to expand his business but he wasn’t going to do that if Barack Obama became president because he didn’t want to be taxed more or have government intervention in his business practices.
I’ll briefly bounce over the fact that I think anyone who would inhibit themselves from going forward with their business plan due to the possibility of higher taxes is just plain . . . well, not Republican!
Anyhow, I go to the website of the organization that paid for that commercial: Consequences.org. No surprise here – they aren’t really concerned about the economy or taxes. Nope. They care if you vote based on the bible, abortion, and “your values”.
When and how I lead my life in my home will be based on my moral values. How I vote ? Well, I plan to use my head to do that.
There are a number of things I like about the Republican party but I’m on the defensive until this moral-high road kick goes back where it belongs – in our homes, churches, and daily lives – NOT in the White House!
(And yes, I am well aware that if Clinton had kept his pants on while he was President, this morality kick wouldn’t have had so much “shebang” (pun) as it did initially. But is it not time to move on? A little bit? Please?)
*steps down, grabs soap box and walks away in the sunlight*
Wednesday Brian, myself, and a friend from school headed to an Obama rally at the state fair grounds. I have lots of pictures and videos so brace yourself. First of all, recall that I had already voted on Monday. Brian spotted this picture on the local newspaper’s website later that same day! Can you spot me!?!
Wednesday morning, Brian picked me up, we picked up my friend and we arrived at the fair grounds around 8:30am. There was already a pretty decent line heading toward the grandstand. The weather was drizzly and dreary and gray but we were kept fairly entertained by two adorable Obama supporters in front of us in line (two little girls) and the constant flow of people selling buttons and t-shirts.
Around 10am, people began to stream into the grandstand. We had the option of standing in the mud but I was in heels, Brian had a t-shirt on (not great rain gear) and my friend is like, 4′9. We opted to sit in the stands.
People came in after us in a never ending drove. An estimated 21,000 people showed up. During the set-up for the event we spotted snipers on top of a U-haul, prepared to haul U away. hehe.
Andre Carson and Jill Long Thompson spoke fairly early and then things quieted down as we waited for the big arrival. The crowd would spontaneously burst into cheers and then get super quiet as people tried to figure out where he would arrive from. Eventually someone spotted the motorcade and all hell broke loose.
As Obama arrived, Senator Evan Bayh gave a short introductory speech and then madness ensued as Barack Obama took stage.
I couldn’t help but be excited by the fact that everyone else was excited. He isn’t a singer or a movie star, he wasn’t here to entertain us, he was here to give us incentive to choose him to be the next President of the United States. I’m so glad so many people thought it was important enough to show up to a political rally.
Senator Obama gave about an hour long speech. The majority of it focused on health care which made me very happy. While I know that health care will have to take a back seat to the economy for a while, I am glad he hasn’t stopped talking about such a huge issue.
There were a few rabble rousers but nothing that wasn’t quickly and quietly handled and Senator Obama made it clear he was here for those who wanted to listen. He does have an interesting and exciting aura about him and it made it feel like he really cared about every one of us who attended.
was what I wanted to see and feel and I got it.
Sarah Palin arrives in the state on Friday. I would go but it seems that Brian and I will be headed off to the Creation Museum in Kentucky that day and then over to visit our friends in Evansville who just had their first baby, a lovely little girl, arrive last week. We plan to have a great weekend!
And because WordPress is being a &U*)(FHIOY&UE$, the videos will appear in later separate posts – all separate posts. &%$R*)(*U)(%$U)(
Thank you.
I voted yesterday. I was at work and received a city-wide e-mail saying that you could vote early this whole week without any reason or excuse. On my lunch break I headed on over to the city building and 15 minutes later I was done. Quick and easy, even with having to fill out an absentee ballot. Why would I vote early? Well, voting on a Monday (when I have no classes) is a whole lot easier than trying to vote on a Tuesday when I need to be in school all day and can only go to the polls at the same time as everyone else. Plus my polling station is in a very busy school area – when I arrived to vote during the primary I was met with tons of traffic and no where to park – although the actual voting process was rather quick. Now that our state has been moved into the toss-up category, I would rather get this out of the way earlier than later.
Interestingly enough, tomorrow I will likely be going to an Obama rally. I’m probably not the kind of voter the candidates want to talk to anymore but I’ll go nonetheless. It is a rare day that you get to see a Presidential candidate. One of my classmates sent me an e-mail saying she wanted to go and I’m glad she told me about it. Brian has been a pretty hard core Obama supporter since the get go so he took the day off of work tomorrow to go with us. It should be a lot of fun and even if we can’t get in (first come, first served), it should be an energetic place to be either way.
I have a handful of items I have wanted to blog about so I figure I will just make a quick post to get them out of the way.
First item – cartoons and how they have changed through history. I found a Popeye cartoon the other day and was pretty amused to see this:
That would be Popeye with the usual pipe in mouth, being punched out by Bluto who is ashing his cigar. As health conscious as the spinach popping Popeye appeared to be, I am guessing this wouldn’t fly today.
And next up, just something funny I saw on MSNBC.com the other day:
This does nothing to help the media’s liberal image but then again, maybe there just wasn’t anything to say about McCain that day. If you can’t say anything nice . . .
Welcome back for another edition of the Daily Dish. I am your host Oliver and I have decided to share with you my political views about Sarah Palin. I love her!
I don’t usually take an interest in political matters but after my human showed me this video, I was hooked:
The less wolves, the better! After all, a wolf is just a really huge, mean, dog. Who could possibly want those things roaming around?! I know I don’t.
My human does not care for Gov. Palin; something to do with McCain pandering to female voters . . . I’m not sure what she’s so hyped up about. She has even tried to convince me to be an Obama supporter because together we make less than $250,000 a year and Obama’s plan will give us better tax breaks.
*posh* Maybe she plans to be poor for life but I personally am optimistic that she’ll be raking in six figures within the next 4 years!
In closing, Sarah Palin for VP. I’m not sure what else she plans to do while she is in office but we can be sure there will be less wolves around!
Next time on the Daily Dish – pet food recalls and how it affects you!
Ever go to your local video store and check out the documentary section?
If they have such a section, it is probably disapointing. Especially if you are looking for a documentary on a subject that is unpopular in your particular geographic region.
This website offers a great number of documentaries for download, for free. Quick, easy, don’t sign up for anything – in terms of how easy and accessible it is, it is just like YouTube.
The way it ought to be – the free exchange of information and ideas.
(The following links are to the official webpages of the individual documentaries. For the free downloadable versions you have to hit www.freedocumentaries.org.)
I recommend Jesus Camp, Earthlings, Bowling for Columbine, . . . well, I can’t name them all. There are also specials that have aired on PBS, CBC, BBC, etc.
What I love about the website is the fact I can watch these all for free and I don’t have to pay for a cause I may not believe in.
Funny enough there are still documentaries available on the site that I would really prefer to own. I own Supersize Me and I just don’t get tired of it. Jesus Camp and Bowling for Columbine are also movies I would like to own. Bowling for Columbine is exciting to me because of the numerous references to Michigan and the fact that I personally know James and Terry Nichols and their families. I’ve discussed Jesus Camp in the past. It has a great soundtrack and is an amazing look into the lives of a whole other culture within the United States that even the devoutly religious might not be aware of.
Anyhow, I say this is worthwhile to bookmark and check out whenever you have a free moment. I’m thrilled about it.
When Gov. Palin gave her speech moments after John McCain announced her as his pick for a running mate, she stated that Hillary Clinton had put 18 million cracks in the glass ceiling but women weren’t done yet and that she hoped to help bring the ceiling down.
Now we find out that Sarah Palin’s teenage daughter is pregnant. I agree that politically, this should be a non-issue. There is no need for us to probe into every level of a politician’s personal life. However, I worry that this new development hurts not the Republicans or Sarah Palin herself, but that it hurts women in general.
Often when women run for political office and they have young children, people question their ability to be both a parent and an elected official. Governor Granholm of Michigan dealt with this very issue even though the people asking the question totally ignored that fact that the previous Governor, John Engler, had triplets while in office. I am sure Palin had to deal with similar questions when she ran for Governor in Alaska, especially with the number of children she has. When people began to immediately question Palin’s ability to be a mother and the VP, the question was completely swept under the rug by noting the fact that Obama has two young children of his own and no one questions his ability to be a parent while serving as the President of the United States.
So how does Palin’s daughter’s pregnancy affect women? People may not come right out and say it, but I know what they will be thinking; no woman can be a politician and still manage her family. This has nothing to do with being red, blue, purple, or otherwise. The Clinton’s certainly aren’t the Cleavers. And yes, I do remember that Jenna Bush apparently had some wild nights in college. But the difference here is that I doubt it is a shock to any American that the child of a politician might act out a bit . . . or even a lot. That kind of pressure to be squeaky clean is likely immense. However, there is a difference between doing some drinking in college and getting pregnant in high school.
Turth be told, teenage pregnancy is no shock in Alaska. I recall years ago watching a documentary about young people in Alaska and there was a general joke that there was nothing better to do than to have sex. The percentage of teen pregnancies in Alaska isn’t the highest in the country, but for a state with such a small and conservative population, the numbers are surprising.
In the end, I have to say that personally I feel that Bristol’s pregnancy is just a fact of life and should really have nothing to do with her mother’s political career. I just hope that all of the people who say they agree with that statement remember that the next time a woman is running for an election.
Hola – sorry for the delay in updates. The first week of school notoriously is a bit nutty and on top of that, my computer was dead the first day of classes so that caused some un-needed chaos as well.
I have reached for my computer to update the blog at least 100 times this week. I wanted to talk about the Clintons and Gov. Palin. At this point I will instead simply direct readers to two other blogs, each penned by Alaskans with a unique perspective on Gov. Palin, her career as Governor, and the “city” of Wasilla. Enjoy.
So what about classes? Well, Thursdays blow. I guess I should have been prepared for that. I leave home around 7:30am so I can get a parking spot that doesn’t require hauling my loot any further than I have to. My last class ends at 8 which puts me home around 8:30pm. That is a really long day and as fall sets in, it means I will leave home in the dark and return in the dark. Fortuantely, that is my only really cruddy day.
The classes themselves are pretty boring thus far. I am guessing that my sentencing class and psychiatry class should be rather interesting at some point but this first week they consisted of the professor essentially conducting a meet and greet amongst the students (not typical for a law school class I assure you).
My Evidence class is being taught by an attorney who has never taught a class before. I am guessing she was a great attorney but she is still settling into this teaching gig and it is going slow. Fortunately for me I appear to be far ahead of the other students in the practical applications of the rules. Woohoo for me.
My Trusts and Estates prof . . . well, she is damn good looking! It is almost distracting to me and I’m another woman! I know the guys in the class are smitten. Sadly, the material for that class is as dull as they come and she picked the worst text possible. I asked a former student of that class whether or not it was worth while to purchase a supplement – he said “no”, then backed that up by saying, “well, that was the worst grade I ever got in law school so maybe you should.” I will be finding myself a supplement.
That is that for now.
I have been wanting for some time to write my opinions regarding the current presidential hopefuls. As I began writing, I realized I have more to say about the issues and the current climate of our country than I do about the candidates themselves.
I think the United States has gotten very lucky for a very long time - the last time our country really hadto ban together on an issue in order to make progress was during World War II. People sacrificed in thier daily lives for the greater good of the country and the world. The war wasn’t something that was going on in a far off land that only the military and the government was affected by, the whole country was affected by it and knew it every day.
My point (which has NOTHING to do with Iraq by the way), is that the entire country was moving forward on an issue because everyone was in support.
We keep looking to the politicians to make changes for us and then bitch when they don’t. Hasn’t anyone else noticed that the country is split nearly 50/50 on every single major political issue out there right now? How can anyone make changes when there is no majority regarding anything?
I am convinced that the only way for any major changes to take place at this point in time is for it to happen grass-roots style. If every person in the country set out what they would like to see for themselves, their family, and their country in the future and then acted accordingly, maybe something could get done.
It is the “acting accordingly” bit that is the problem however. When I say people should look to what they want for themselves in the future, I don’t mean what car they want or what zip code they want to live in! I mean what kind of values you want your children to uphold. I mean what kind of career you want to follow in order to make yourself feel fulfilled – not rich! I am talking about being able to say one day “I made a difference”, not “I own a 1/2 a million dollar home”!
I think about what I want for the future. Of course money comes into the picture. I want enough money to send my children to college if they so choose. I want to be able to pay the bills. I don’t want to ever be thousands of dollars in debt and look around my home and realize that if I hadn’t been so greedy, maybe I wouldn’t be in that position. I don’t ever want my children to think they are better than anyone else for any reason or vice-versa, and I certainly don’t want them to base any such idea on material possessions!
I wonder what it would be like to work for the satisfaction and not for the money. I hope one day to find out.
And in the end I realize it isn’t about politics or the next President. It is about me and what I can do for myself and my country.
Have you ever given any serious thought to your religion and/or your faith? Whether devout or skeptical, anyone who recognizes the strength of religion and belief will appreciate this moving documentary.
I’ve been eyeing Jesus Camp quite a while now and I finally picked it up Monday afternoon. I have so many things I want to say about this movie… it truly deserves more of my time than I have right now.
As a quick synopsis, this movie follows Pastor Becky Fischer who runs an evangelical summer camp for children called “Kids on Fire”. The movie specifically focuses on a couple of particular children and their families as these kids are trained and prepared to “take back America for Christ”.
One scene which I found highly moving was that of a very sweet little boy who was on stage at the camp in front of his peers. He was emotionally confessing that he didn’t always believe the words of the bible. He admitted it was difficult to always beleive in something you cannot see. Essentially, this little child was asking for forgiveness for questioning those things he cannot see and for questioning those things he doesn’t necessarily agree with.
I personally found this heartbreaking. I believe that children can indeed feel very strongly about faith and religion, perhaps even more-so than adults. But this little boy felt obvious guilt, shame, and remorse for questioning his faith! The questions are what count! Questions bring each of us, personally, to answers; answers which we all come to on our own, with only the guidance of our God. What is more personal than the faith each of us has developed within ourselves over the course of our lives? This child, in the midst of a normal progression of building his faith, felt guilty about it.
I end with this: will this child become a strong, faithful, knowledgable advocat of God, or will he become a sheep?
