The Left Side of the Moon

My Political Apathy

So, the Democratic Convention is tonight. I should really watch it. I wish I was one of those people who really wanted to watch it, who was terribly excited about it, but I'm not. I'd be much happier if politics could move on efficiently without me, if I felt I could ignore it and everything would be fine. But everything is most certainly not fine, in fact, nothing the GOP has had it's hands in for the last seven years is even remotely fine, so I'm trying to pay attention. Because this apathy, this not wanting to get involved, this wishing it would all just work itself out without us having take part in it - that's what's gotten us here. In a war, in a recession, in a housing crisis, with a deteriorating educational system, impending fuel shortage, and an appalling health care system.

Now I vote. I even email my representatives and senators on occasion. Usually that's just when one of the political organizations I belong to prompts me to do it, but it's generally about a cause I can get behind. I also made a few donations over the past few years. I want to see Democrats in office, and I'm willing to email, vote, and even put my money behind the cause. I'm trying very hard not to be apathetic, but the truth is, I'm not all that interested in the Democratic Convention. I don't have an opinion about Obama selecting Joe Biden as his VP. All I know is that I want Obama in office. He's the Democratic candidate and I support him. Short of his inciting genocide, spouting satanic rituals, or deciding to "stay the course", there's not much that's going to change my opinion of him. Actually, I could probably ignore the satanic rituals too, as long as no animals were being harmed. A few Republicans could be sacrificed and I wouldn't shed a tear.

Back during the Primaries, Trouble asked about the elections and what it all meant. We explained that we were voting for the Presidential candidates. Once Trouble had kind of gotten the idea, he asked us laughing, "What would happen if LT were President?"

Without missing a beat, I told him, "We'd have a smarter President than we do now."

Blackstone snorted cereal out his nose.

Eroding Morality or Just Lack of Facade

My mind has been on the issue of morality lately. I look at what's going on in media and entertainment today, and like most parents, I'm concerned. I see Jaimie Lynn on the cover of a magazine, beautiful with her new baby, and I don't like the message it's sending to young girls. Teenagers having babies - that's nothing new, and I don't think it's anything to be ashamed of either. I also don't think it should be flaunted on the cover of a national magazine. Her family may have plenty of money so that she doesn't have to worry about how she's going to support herself and her baby, but for most girls, teen motherhood has got to be a rough road to hoe. And then there's also the group of 17 girls who made a pact and are all pregnant in MA. What a bizarre story. I don't know what to make of that.

I've also been reading Gone with the Wind, and hell, back in nineteenth or early twentieth century, these girls would already be married by now. If anything, society has created this problem by expecting adolescents to delay marriage. Not that I think that fifteen should be the marrying age again, but if it were, that'd change the numbers of people having premarital sex and unwed mothers. Of course, I don't believe that premarital sex is a sin or even that it's immoral. In fact, I think it's crazy for a couple to marry without having sex first. How is the marriage ever going to succeed if you're not sexually compatible? How can you possibly know if you're sexually compatible if you've never had sex with each other? That seems completely illogical to me. And as moral as many people would like to think the nineteenth century was, people had their own ways of dealing with that problem - brothels (and slaves in the South). Well, that was the men's solution mainly. I think that upstanding women were just expected to be rather asexual, which is just downright preposterous. More than anything it was just a society of secrecy and public reputation. They had the same urges, the same problems, they were just taught to hide it better and expected to marry young.

Even the word morality is politically charged today. Morality should be about truth, equality, ethics and kindness. Instead it's become this religious ultra-conservative family values rhetoric for why the middle class should vote Republican. You don't have to be Republican to be moral. In reality, I think most Republicans are immoral. What most of them care about has nothing to do with morals or religion, it's all about money and how they can keep what they have and get more from the rest of us. Family values and morals is just the platform that helps them stay in office.

Our society is far from the days when women could not be out past dark without a chaperon, when it was scandalous to show your ankles in public, and pregnant women were not to be seen once they started to show. Honestly, thank god. I don't want those days back. I think it's wonderful that we have sex education, that I don't have to suffer through the day in a corset that's bound me so tight I can't breathe, that I can work and speak my mind, that we don't teach our girls to act like brainless twits in front of men to lift their male egos. Well that last one is sketchy, due to the likes of certain famous blonde, dim-witted bombshells. "Is it chicken or tuna? It says Chicken of the Sea, but it tastes like tuna." I don't know which is actually worse - that she could possibly be that stupid or that she just acts that way because it makes her lots of money.

I look at the way things used to be - the sexual inequality, the marrying age, so much concern with reputation and social standing - and I don't want it back. I don't think it's the good old days. Then I look at the way teen pregnancy seems to have become trendy, hear about how young girls are expected to make out with each other when the song I Kissed a Girl is played in the clubs, listen to popular songs that incite activities such as "superman dat hoe" - and I'm not exactly thrilled with where we are either. The ironic part is that I actually like this music. I'm just not sure it belongs on the radio in the middle of the afternoon, or that it should be ever marketed to an adolescent audience, though. Why can't we have more entertainers like Wil Smith? He's managed to make his way to super-stardom without any misogynistic songs. He's even said in interviews that he doesn't swear in his music because his grandmother taught him not to swear.

I'm not in favor of censorship. I don't advocate preaching abstinence to teenagers. I think there should always be open and honest dialog about sexuality and marriage. I don't want us to pretend that women are asexual and cover them from head to toe. I'd also prefer fewer girls going to school in tube tops and with skirts that barely cover their ass. Of course, that brings a phrase to mind, something about a pot and a kettle . . . . I guess I'm just getting old.

Maybe I'd do better to compare modern day society with ancient Greece. We probably look almost prudish next to all the nude games and orgies.

I'm Voting Republican

Courtesy of Bookgirl, source http://imvotingrepublican.com/.

Letting Go of the Dream

I have been waiting for eight years to see Hillary run for President. I have looked forward to having the opportunity to vote for her. The anticipation that she could be potentially be the first female President of this country was exciting. But over the past year, watching her campaign for the Democratic nomination, that dream has moved further and further out of reach. And now that she's conceding the race to Obama, well, even she's ready to admit that it's over.

While it's difficult to watch something I've been waiting for fall apart, the entirely maddening part is that I don't even want her to win anymore. That when I actually had that opportunity to vote for her, I found that I couldn't. It's so terribly sad because she did this to herself. I know many people who share my feelings in this matter, who were so pleased to see Hillary announce her campaign, but then quickly grew apprehensive about her tactics, then dubious, then out and out disgusted as it became apparent that she had been blinded by the power. She wanted that nomination at all costs, it was hers damn it - and I think that, more than anything else, is what lost her the nomination. She was her own worst enemy in this race.

I am relieved to see that the woman seems to have finally come to her senses and will be endorsing Obama, and helping to heal the rift she's created in the Democratic party. When I read months ago that she'd stated that McCain would make a better President than Obama (well actually she said McCain was more experienced than Obama, but isn't that what she was getting at?), I was horrified. What could she possibly be thinking. We want a President who has our country's best interests at heart, we want a Democratic nominee who believes in the values of the party, not some embittered, power-hungry politico who puts herself first. When I watched her mock Obama's message of hope in one of her speeches, it made my skin crawl. Regardless of who has the better record, or the more years in office, there should always be room for hope. And what our country needs more than ever after the last eight years, as we brace ourselves for the recession experts finally seem willing to admit we're in, as we mourn the deaths of our soldiers and the Iraqi soldiers and civilians, as we try to care for the wounded, struggle to pay for our gas and energy bills, as the unemployment rates rise, as more families lose their homes - what we need more than anything is hope. We need a President that we not only believe is capable of starting to put this country back together, but that genuinely appears devoted to that cause above all else. I know this is why I couldn't vote for Hillary, and I believe it's why she's lost the nomination. While I think she's capable of getting us out of Iraq, improving health care and education, and reducing the squeeze on the middle class that feels something like a noose around the neck at this point, she was not devoted to these causes above all else. Somewhere along the way, her values and message became corrupted.

So, I have let go of my dream of seeing the first female President of the United States elected this year. I can do that because, more than anything, I want a President who can heal this country. And so the dream has changed for me. Now I'm hoping to see the first black man elected President of this country this year. Now, if someone can only convince Hillary to do the same.

The Green Thing

I've always been somewhat environmentally minded. My family recycled back when I was kid and the town first started issuing recycling bins. Every house I can remember living in had two trash cans to separate the recycling from the regular trash. Rinsing out the cans and milk cartons, checking the bottoms of plastic bottles and containers for the recycling number, it's been ingrained in me for years. It's second nature. My parents my have started it, but Blackstone fostered it even further. So whether or not I would have investigated into what can and can't be recycled, he's constantly there to correct me. And it can be a bit confusing. Whereas most cardboard can be recycled, pizza boxes and frozen food boxes cannot. The little applesauce plastic cups, those can be recycled, but not the yogurt containers. Numbers 1 and 2 can be recycled, but nothing beyond that. So why even bother having any numbers beyond 3? (Here's why, though I don't see why it has to be this involved.) Better yet, why not just have a little Y or N in the little triangle instead of number?

When it came time for Blackstone to purchase a new car about a year ago, he decided to buy a Hybrid Camry. He'd actually always wanted a truck, and it would have made carting the field equipment and large pipes he straps to the roof for soil evaluations a little easier. But he's an Environmental Consultant, and became one because he is honestly concerned about protecting the environment, and gas-guzzling trucks are not exactly environmentally friendly. Couple that with the fact that business-wise, it's a good statement for him to make, and the amount of miles he travels each week can be quite considerable, and the hybrid seemed to be the best option.

Now, I've had people question me on the choice of buying a hybrid vehicle. Sure you save on gas, but the cost of the car is usually thousands more. And what about up-keep they'll ask. How easy will it be to maintain a hybrid vehicle? How much more expensive will the parts be? Why not just buy a compact car that gets mileage that's comparable and doesn't have the sticker shock? Valid arguments, by all means. Yes, the Hybrid Camry was thousands more than the regular Camry. But with the price of gas these days, having a car that gets 500 miles/15 gallon tank, we're definitely seeing that cost being off-set. As for upkeep, well, we don't really know yet. The car's still rather new, so we're not replacing much yet. I know if we need to replace the battery, it will be expensive. But a compact car really isn't an option for a family of four, and even if we weren't a family of four, at 6'3" Blackstone can't even fit in a compact car. Not to mention, strapping pipes to the roof of a compact car might pose a problem too. But hey, if you're a single person whose not too tall and you don't find the need to strap work equipment to the roof of your car, I can see why a standard compact car might still be an ecologically viable solution for you. I've heard people complain that a Hybrid, particularly the Prius, is just environmental bling. So what? If you're going to have bling, you might as well have it make a statement for the environment. And I believe that every dollar we spend on alternative energy products shows we're concerned about the environment and willing to invest our time and money in it. The more big business sees that, the more environmentally friendly products we're going to see on the market.

You hear a lot about the environment these days. The cost of gas at $4/gallon, heating your home with oil costing easily between $600-$800/month. It's starting to hurt. And it sucks. Believe me, I know full well just how badly it sucks and how stressfull it is. But there's a part of me that's enjoying this. There's a part that's smiling in smug satisfaction, because the oil companies and rich Republicans living high off the hog, it's not going to be quite so easy for them anymore. Because sticking with the status quo is becoming more and more detrimental to the middle class. The days of thoughtlessly cranking our thermostats, filling our huge SUV's and driving cross country - we can't afford them anymore. Paying our home heating bills and filling our cars with gas is getting beyond painful and almost impossible. People who never would have considered it before are turning the heat down and putting on another sweater. They're considering which of the two cars they should take to run errands based on which gets better mileage.

Those oil commercials I've heard lately, touting oil as the ecologically friendly energy choice, those annoy me. No way in hell is oil a better ecologoical choice over solar and wind power. Not to mention, we're simply running out of it. In the next few decades, oil won't even be a choice. But the good thing about it is that the oil is getting so expensive, the cost of investing in solar and wind power doesn't seem all that outrageous anymore. You're hearing more and more about other ways of saving BOTH money and the environment, by filtering rain water into your water tank, and geo-thermal heating and cooling systems, and countless other options.

Of course employing these options is still an investment. But that investment is getting more financially plausible every day. And I vastly hope the a Democratic President will help to devise way to make alternative energy more easily accessible to middle class America. Because I would love to have a wind turbine or a solar panel off-setting my energy consumption and my electric and oil bills. But unfortunately that's not a financial option for me yet, stress on the YET. First we need to invest in repairing our leaky bath tub, rotted flooring, old roof and draughty windows. Then we can start thinking about investing in alternative energy. The new roof and windows should help conserve energy too.

So many people complain that it's too much of an inconvenience to conserve the environment, and that attitude is getting us no where. There are many concessions I'm not willing to make either. Using public transportation just isn't an option here, it would cause me way too many problems and headaches. Sorry, Bitsy. I'm terrible about turning off our home computers. Mine is old and takes so long to boot, but I know it's something I should do. But I did buy my own bags to bring to the market and do shopping with. I have no problem shopping second hand for my kids clothes and books, but second hand clothes for myself, not so much.

I know I'm more of a Save the Whales Zsa-Zsa, than a serious environmentalist. But I try to do my part. And I do think that every little bit helps.

Over Simplify Much?

I drove into the parking lot at the grocery store yesterday behind a car with a bumper sticker that read, "Annoy a Liberal. Work hard and be happy." If only it were that damn simple.

I work hard and I am pretty happy . . . until some self-righteous Republican goes and pisses me off. With projections in the vicinity of 1 million Americans having their homes repossessed in 2008, I think it takes a bit more than working hard to be happy. As Blackstone and I struggle to figure out where in the next few years we're going to come up with the money to put a new roof on the house, possibly new windows too, and hopefully take the kids to Disney, it really seems it shouldn't be this hard. Of all the illusions I had growing up (and I don't think I had that many) this one has been the hardest to adjust to - that if you work hard, you can afford a nice, but modest home, which you can afford to heat, be able to keep the refrigerator stocked, take a vacation every couple of years, and with some planning, have savings to help put your kids through college and pay for retirement. So why does figuring out how to do this give me heart palpitations? Why does the smug Republican have to go rub my nose in the fact that I must be doing something wrong? Because if I were a good, moral, hard-working person - this would all just come easily to me, right? Except I didn't just fall off the turnip truck yesterday, mister, and I wasn't lucky enough to have bought my home in 1940, and I know you're completely full of crap. It's not that easy, and you're a complete jerk for trying to make me think so.

How a family of four survives on less than $100,000 a year these days is beyond me. Maybe that could be less if one of the parents stays at home and you don't have the expense of day care. But then, that could cause your family some financial hardships later on, as that parent tries to re-enter the workforce after 5+ years on hiatus, after performing the often thankless and undeniably most difficult job on the planet of staying home with their kids. We never seem to have enough money, and lately that's just been exacerbated. And yet, every time I close my eyes and take a deep breath as I pay for my gas and groceries, every time I brace myself opening the oil and electric bills, I remind myself that I am one of the lucky ones. Because I have a home and I'm not worried about it being repossessed, because Blackstone and I are both employed, because we have health insurance, because we are still way better off than millions of people who are lucky enough to be living in America in the first place.

I hold out hope against hope that next year we will have a new President, a Democrat that will start to dig us out of this hole that's starting to seem bottomless. But Republicans with ideas that all Democrats are lazy, and if they'd just stop complaining and work, everything will be fine - they scare me to death. Because I'm part of a middle class that is quickly disappearing. Because it doesn't quite make sense to me, the money I'm putting away to pay for my kids' college, when I'm still deeply in dept for my own. I've already firmly accepted the reality that I will likely never be able to retire, and that doesn't really bother me. Working hard does not scare me. But the idea that I will work hard my entire life, do my best to spend and save intelligently, and will still be living my life pay check to pay check in my old age - THAT terrifies me. And the possibility that it might even be worse than that, I just can't even go there.

So Mr. Bumper Sticker Man, as my great-grandma used to say, "Gå skit i din hatt och drag den över din öra." Translation: "Go shit in your hat and pull it over your ears."

Great Moments In Presidential Speeches Compilation

The Wal-Mart Boycott

Many of you already know that I have refused to shop at Wal-Mart for more than three years. I vehemently disagree with their treatment employees, refusal to allow unions, paying employees minimum wage so they live in poverty, and providing health insurance with high premiums and deductibles. I understand that there are many people out there that disagree with unions, that there is this idea that union workers are lazy and difficult to fire even when there is cause. But I wouldn't argue in favor of unions if employers provided fair wages and affordable health care. Wal-Mart is the largest employer in Canada, Mexico and the U.S. and makes hundreds of billions of dollars in profit. Wal-Mart does more annual business than Target, Home Depot, Sears, Kmart, Safeway, Ralphs and Food-4-Less (Kroger) combined. And yet each year taxpayers pay more than $3 billion in total just to subsidize Wal-Mart's employees, because over 80% of them live below the poverty line.

Shopping at Wal-Mart does not save people money. It costs us money in taxes to support the thousands, maybe millions of employees living in poverty because they're employed by Wal-Mart. It has been a constant thorn in my side lately to turn on the news and hear how bad the economy is, how foreclosures are up, spending is down (because we're all trying to pay our oil bills and put gas in our cars), revenues for practically every company are down, but Wal-Mart is doing better than expected. RRRRRR!

Wal-Mart is not only cheap and down-right abusive in its treatment of employees and costly to America's tax payers, it's also driving many companies out of business. Wal-Mart's cut throat prices on flat screen TV's have been putting Tweeter, Circuit City, and CompUSA out of business. I think it's Circuit City that's selling furniture now, because they're not making any profit off the televisions. Wal-Mart, being the large and powerful company it is, pressures other companies into selling their goods at prices lower than they can afford. This can force a company out of business, and often forces them to outsource their jobs over-seas, laying off their American workers and closing down their U.S. manufacturing plants. So those low prices Wal-Mart can offer you for pickles, clothes, electronics - it's coming at the expense of your neighbors, your fellow Americans, and also YOU!

As Americans, the most powerful impact we can have on the economy, politics, health care, education, the environment, is not in voting or being politically active - it's in where we spend our money. And to spend money at Wal-Mart is to support the status quo. Buying goods at Wal-Mart implies that you condone its treatment of its employees, its bullying of businesses, outsourcing of jobs over-seas and furthering the unemployment rates in America. It shows that you're okay with allowing one company to become a monopoly on food, clothes, electronics, books, DVD's.

Wal-Mart is the world's largest company, which to me is very frightening. The control and power this company has to put others out of business, to price control multiple industries - it should be illegal. I'm really not sure how it isn't.

I realize I'm standing on my soap box right now, and there are those of you reading this that shop at Wal-Mart and those that don't. And I understand all too well that as the cost of EVERYTHING is rising right now, it's easy and convenient to go to Wal-Mart and save a few bucks. It's why Wal-Mart is pretty much the only company outdoing it's projected earnings. But we're slitting our own throats here, people. In the long run, that money you're saving, it's costing you more. Just think about it. Is it really more than you can handle to shop at Stop-and-Shop or Target instead? And don't be fooled, Sam's Club is owned by Wal-Mart.

Today's The Day

Today's the day I get to cast my vote and have, what is arguably my say, in who gets to be the next President of this country, and I tell you, I'm still torn between the Democratic candidates and so is Blackstone. I've been a fan of Hillary's and both the Clintons for some time. I feel she has a proven track record despite her vote to authorize the war, which I definitely am disappointed about. She's getting a bad rap these days for being part of "Old Washington", and I really disagree with that. The policies we have these days, they are not what Hillary's about. Mostly, I believe she's been fighting the system, not become an entrenched part of it. I don't believe you can be in politics for as long as she has, and not have some dirt that gets thrown in your face. Not necessarily because there has been any questionable behavior, but because politics is dirty and full of gray areas, and it's a breeding ground for enemies who will create dirt out of gold dust if they have too.

But as much as I like Hillary, I'm not too crazy about the campaign she's been running. I saw a clip on the news this past week where in one of her speeches, she mocked Obama's campaign message of hope. How disheartening. I really believed she was better than that. I know she's trying to show that she's the candidate of substance and experience, and Obama is running on promises of hope and a better America without the track record or proof that he is capable of delivering. But mocking him? Making fun of the idea of hope for a better America? What is she thinking? It lacked class, wreaked of negativity, and portrayed her in just the light that could cause her to lose this election - an entrenched politician playing old school dirty politics and bad mouthing her competition. Obama's campaign is already based on a message of hope and change, now she's made him the candidate who has taken the moral high ground, since that certainly isn't where she's standing. And who doesn't want to vote for hope, a better America, and the morally superior candidate?

I've also heard time and time again, people saying that Obama has a better chance of winning against McCain. I'm not sure I believe that. I really have to believe that either of them would bury McCain. I get the perspective that Obama will bring out the younger voters and that that will give him an edge. He can get the people who don't vote to the polls. I don't disagree with that. I think he'd win the popular vote, hands down. But the popular vote doesn't win an election. We should all be too familiar with that since Al Gore "lost" the election two terms ago. The electoral college elects the President. And I'm thinking that Hillary might actually get some of the Republican vote, since McCain does not, and will never have, full support of his party.

I had a young kid at my door over the weekend campaigning for Obama. He couldn't have been more than 18. He was so nervous he stuttered over every word. He really didn't say a thing that would make me want to vote for Obama over Hillary. Not one substantive reason. Except maybe the fact that he was there at all was reason enough. Because it is so refreshing to see a kid so passionate about a candidate to be going door to door. Because I love the hope and air of possibility he has been able to stir in this country, and that in and of itself is a major accomplishment.

Super Tuesday

Super Tuesday, hurray! One step closer to getting a new President elected. You people out in NY and CA are all hitting the polls today, right? Dol, so sorry Edwards dropped out before you got a chance to vote in the primaries. Maybe we'll get to see him as a running mate? Liz, looks like we get to vote together on March 4th. I know you don't share my enthusiasm for the Democratic candidates, but I know you can't wait to get Bush out of office either.

If you need to find out when you vote, check here. This one looked pretty official.

Drop by and make my day a little brighter and tell me you voted. You needn't tell me who you voted for, unless you want to. And if you voted in the Republican primary, kindly keep that information to yourself. Unless, you're registered Independent and you chose to vote in the Republican primary to skew the odds in favor of the Democrats. Blackstone has considered doing that in the past. That will still make me smile.