New President Day 2009.

Happy New President Day! On my Facebook profile, I have my political views listed as “Ambivalent”. The roots of that word are “ambi-”, which means “both” or “many” and “-valent”, which means “attracted”. I am attracted to many political ideologies, is all that means. “Ambivalent” is not analogous to “apathetic”, which would imply that I don’t give a rat’s ass. I do. I just wanted to clarify that, on this quite historic day. Too frequently people have confused the two, and I’m really quite tired of it. Anyone who knows me knows that I’m just as politically involved as the next person [if not moreso], though not necessarily through the most-recognizable channels.

I witnessed this historic event the best that I could, watching a live feed from some news agency projected on a wall in a giant room. The place was pretty packed with people getting really into everything. Some were quietly tearing up; some were crying more visibly; Ella was cheering and pumping her fists exuberantly.

It was a good speech. A good series of speeches, even. Extremely poetic. But in the end, of course, it was just words. I will move beyond cautiously guarded optimism as I start to see more than patriotic heartstring-plucking videos and images and montages with beautifully-crafted speeches reverberating concurrently. It’s not that I hate the guy. It’s not that I loved the last guy. I just take politicking as just that; politicking. And it is great if politicians actually believe in all the lovey-dovey bipartisan let’s-work-together schtick that they’re throwing out there. However, as the saying goes, it takes two to tango, and so adversaries must, as Obama said, unclench their proverbial fists for anything to happen. And in these situations, my experience rails on my hope, guffawing loudly and proclaiming my optimism the fool for having the wool pulled over hirs eyes. So, in commemoration, a haiku.

politics, my dear| burns have left me cynical | the burns are from you

Election Day.

I know, I know. Don’t even say it. I’d give you excuses, but I don’t have any really good ones.

An American Political Quandry.

With all of the fervor surrounding Barak Obama and John McCain and their respective running-mate selections and their respective parties’ conventions, I thought that I would weigh in on the situation and all of the hype surrounding it.

No matter who gets elected in the upcoming election, John McCain or Barak Obama [becuase let's face the fact that third-party candidates are rarely viable in Federal elections and their position has not changed this election cycle], both of these candidates and the parties that they represent are members of business-driven parties. One of my friends, Eric B., brought this up earlier today, and I thought that it deserved repetition. It mostly just makes me think of the Chomsky quote that I put up at some point in the past; remember that these two “extremes” in the American political spectrum [forget the fact that these two could be considered on the not-quite-as-ideologueish end of their political parties' specra] are much closer in the overall political spectrum that we care to remember.

Another very smart man that I know [that my British Life and Culture teacher would call a "ginger-top"], Ben I., also brought up the fact that voting in the upcoming election could validate it, could be a consensual acknowledgment that, yes, I believe that this system is fair and just. I of course do not think that this is the case, and am thus conflicted on whether or not I’d like to vote in it. [Don't get too upset, I probably still will.]

Complex on Top of Complex.

I think they’ve actually passed around a memo. It probably looks like the following;

That stupid little twerp Liz is all hoity-toity and thinks that she knows everything. She’s coming in with this whole “business major” attitude. She also refuses to compromise her beliefs to do simple data-entry and phone-banking tasks, which makes her particularly onerous to The Party. Please treat her with the utmost disdain, as she obviously knows nothing and likes to showcase it with her thinly-veiled positivism. If she had any political sense at all, she’d be a Democrat, and if she had any computer sense at all, she’d have already built us that flux capacitor we’re hankering for.

Niemöllerism.

I’m listening to them right now. Some woman is talking about zoning and property rights and where to put drug rehabilitation centers. The kids are idiotic, displaying the same NIMBY position that the Democrats groom them to spot and disdain so much in their Republican opponents.

Extremophiles Only. [High-Pressure Thermochemical Vent.]

These people are driving me nuts.

Weezer Asks the Right Question: “Why Do They Gotta Front?”

As it applies to the group of Democrats with whom Amy L. [my employer] works, the answer is simple; votes. The Republican Party is cleverly designed in this way. It does not pretend to cater to everyone, at least not hard enough that we have to try to see past it. It is pretty clear who the GOP stands for. Fortunately, this leaves a huge group of people left outside of the Republican tent. Unfortunately, Democrats try to pander to all of these groups, who quite frequently have competing/conflicting interests.

Change We Can Have Serious Doubts About.

I told myself that I wasn’t going to do this. Now I’m rationalizing it, saying that I’d do this for the Republicans if I were there, and I think that this is true. I am willing to organize and clean up things for just about anyone, and when I’m permitted to call it an “internship”, that makes it all that much more wonderful. I had just been hoping to be doing this stuff for an issue campaign, and not a Party Campaign. Because that’s what I’m doing; organizing office/storage space for the Democratic Party. The Party of “Change”.

Reaction Blogging: 30 Days- “Same-Sex Parenting”

Morgan Spurlock decided to cash in on his Super Size Me fame and make a series with FX in which he puts people in situations for 30 days that would make them uncomfortable and then see what happens. In “Same-Sex Parenting”, Kati, a staunchly anti-gay-adoption woman, lives with two gay men [Tom and Dennis] and their adopted kiddos. [For this post I will ignore the "experts" over which GLADD had a minor heart attack. You can read about that here.]

Got Your Tickets to the Gun Show?

I have started working more-than-full-time recently, and I don’t feel like writing about that right now because it makes me really angry and frustrated, and thus incoherent. Therefore, I will write a little bit about the gun show that my father and I went to, and my thoughts thereon.