While driving in to work this morning, I saw a bumper sticker on a red car. It had an American flag motif waving in the background and proclaimed, “Anybody but the Socialist, ’12.”
I have a “don’t pick fights before 9 AM” rule, but I really wanted to follow this guy into the gas station, just to reassure him that the Socialist Party of America stopped running candidates in 1956 (when Darlington Hoopes won fewer than 3,000 votes), and, with 1,000 members, the Socialist Party USA probably won’t be on the ballot in 2012, or pose a major threat to the two party system.
I’ve never been a big Pope fan, and not being from a Catholic household don’t especially feel any ties to him. However, he is an extremely powerful world figure – what he says carries a lot of weight with both Catholics around the globe as well as leaders.
I get it – abstinence is the only way to 100% prevent contracting HIV/AIDS through sex. But what good does it do to tell an entire continent to stop having sex!? The correct and consistent use of condoms reduces the risk of transmission by about 85%.
People are not always going to get it on for the sake of having a baby. Fact of life, sorry your Holiness. Also, people are not going to wait until they’re married to knock boots. But man, what if people just got married before they had sex! Sacred act preserved for the enjoyment between a married man and married woman, after all. And man, if there’s one thing that drives off HIV/AIDS infection, it’s married sex. Marriage for everyone! What a way to revive the economy as well!
Here on the pulse of this new day
You may have the grace to look up and out
And into your sister’s eyes, into
Your brother’s face, your country
And say simply
Very simply
With hope
Good morning.
The day after the 2004 presidential elections, I got onto a bus pretty bummed out, but with my “Kerry/Edwards” pin still hooked onto my lapel. It was suitably gray outside, and everyone on campus seemed to be walking around in a haze. Two older women sat across the aisle from me in facing seats, and one leaned over to the other and said, “I bet she’s sorry her vote didn’t count.” Not only was that awesomely false (since I turned in my ballot, and since Minnesota went to Kerry in the end), but I’m astounded I didn’t explode a crater into the street with my fury. Instead, I think I seethed my way home and tried to get a grip on what had happened and, more importantly, what would happen. I wound up spending two years outside of the country, which was a good thing all around.
I don’t remember what John Kerry said at the DNC convention in 2004, but I know that Barack Obama’s speech (part 1, part 2) continued to move me to tears years after it was given. “Hope — Hope in the face of difficulty. Hope in the face of uncertainty. The audacity of hope!” I feel a bit like I’m grasping for better words to express my support and belief in Obama’s campaign, especially in the face of so many excellent speeches that he’s given. I found this today while blog surfing and have been ringing like a struck bell ever since.
Created by will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas, here is what he had to say, and the video is below:
I was sitting in my recording studio watching the debates…
Torn between the candidates
I was never really big on politics…
and actually I’m still not big on politics…
but 4 years ago, me and the black eyed peas supported Kerry…
And we supported Kerry with all our might…
We performed and performed and performed for the DNC…
doing all we could do to get the youth involved…
The outcome of the last 2 elections has saddened me…
on how unfair, backwards, upside down, unbalanced, untruthful,
corrupt, and just simply, how wrong the world and “politics” are…
So this year i wanted to get involved and do all i could early…
And i found myself torn…
because this time it’s not that simple…
our choices aren’t as clear as the last elections …
last time it was so obvious…
Bush and war vs. no Bush and no war…
But this time it’s not that simple…
and there are a lot of people that are torn just like i am…
So for awhile I put it off and i was going to wait until it was decided for me…
And then came New Hampshire…
And i was captivated…
Inspired…
I decided a while back that my support would go to Obama, and if he didn’t receive the nomination, then I would volunteer with a non-partisan “Get Out The Vote” campaign. I know I can’t just drop out if my guy doesn’t get the nod, because I feel that politics is something you have a responsibility to pay attention to, that the world is run by those who show up. Tomorrow night, at my caucus site, I’ve got a guy that’s worth showing up for.
President Bush’s eighth and final State of the Union address was tonight on television. If I had been faithfully playing along with this, I’d probably be dead. Fortunately for my liver, the wine we had was really bad, and there were big spouts of time where I was shouting at the TV.
Quote of the evening that had me laughing because it was so sad and true at the same time: “Six years ago, we came together to pass the No Child Left Behind Act, and today no one can deny its results.” This is the act that educators, including my mother and aunt, have termed “No Teacher Left Standing.”
