Jaywalking

Last night I watched Jay Leno's "Jaywalking" and I was horrified. There is a reason I don't watch that regularly. It is depressing. These people couldn't name the Vice President, the current Presidential candidates, even the current President.

There was at one point a girl who I had some hope for. I thought, surely after all these people who can't name who the VP is, she will be able to get it right? I was sorely mistaken. It turns out she was the worst one. When asked who the current President of the United States is, she could not answer!!! Her defense? She's not that political. Not that political?! You don't have to be "political" to know who the President is!! You know, he's the one that got us into the blood bath quagmire that is Iraq and helped drag the economy in the shitter and so on and so forth. How can you not know who the least popular President EVER is? It's not as if he's an unremarkable President like Garfield or something (and I don't mean remarkable in a favorable way). It's just sad. I had kind of blanked this out of my mind until a moment ago I saw Jay Leno coming on and suddenly it all came rushing back like the nightmare that it is. I can only hope these people aren't truly that uninformed and that they were putting on an act to be on TV. For once I am hoping they are attention hungry media whores rather than complete dumb assess!!

I LOVE Matt Taibbi!

I don't know if I've ever mentioned that, but I think he is about the greatest, most painfully honest political writer out there. Plus he is funny and his writing is excellent. Today I decided to subscribe to his blog because as I said...I think he is wonderful. There is a recent post that caught my interest, which you can read at the below link:

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/15955

and this is the comment I posted:

The Unfortunate Rise of the Blissfully Ignorant

The sad thing is that all of this goes on right in front of us. It isn't a secret. It really isn't that hard to see it if we are paying attention, but the majority of the public tends to take the "ignorance is bliss" approach to life. The problem with this (other than the obvious) is that while the majority of us are blissfully ignorant, the very people who are supposedly elected to run the country on our behalf take our money and tell us they know better than the rest of us what to do with it, and then they line the pockets of their interests with it. Then the blissful ignorants turn on Fox News and believe everything they are told because why would Fox lie to them? The worst killers are often the most silent and it is done for a reason. The masses can be brainwashed into believing that they too can rise above their "class" and it will keep them blissfully and ignorantly dreaming while their money is funneled into the hands of those who have more than they need. I live in Austin Texas (I could not live in any other city in Texas...seriously) and I have family members that live in more rural areas of Texas. It is always surprising to me to see how well the misinformation machine works. There are honestly people in the town in which my parents live who still believe that Saddam Hussein was behind 9/11. They believe that Obama is a muslim with ties to terrorists and somehow at the same time does not believe in god (that would not bother me, but we are talking about a tiny conservative Texas town where they likely still have revivals...). If they will believe that, they will believe anything. These are the same people that believe gay marriage is a threat to them in some way and that natural disasters target areas because of their "sins." It is no wonder that these same people believe that politicians are using their money to protect them from the terrorists who "hate us for our freedoms," the gays, and well French fries, and gladly give their money to them despite whether or not they can afford their next meal or their medications for the month.

The Road Goes on Forever

So...I'm taking a break from my research paper for a bit. I've been writing. We are at 4 pages, need 7 pages, and I haven't gone back and included quotes, etc. to back up my statements, so I think it will be all good...

I have to say this and then I'll move on to another subject (most likely). I'm so sick and tired of hearing the republican disinformation machine talk about Obama being inexperienced. It makes me sick. So far "experience" has done nothing for us. To me "experience" in politics means career politician which means corrupt. I actually believe it is a positive that we have a candidate that is in serious running that hasn't been involved in Washington politics or even state politics for years and years. Someone who is somewhat of an outsider can give more outside perspective on the issues and is less likely to have had an opportunity to build those lobbyist relationships. To me equating Obama's experience in Washington to his qualifications to be president is similar to saying that the office staff at the doctor's office is qualified to be a doctor simply because he or she has for years seen how things work in the office and the diagnosis that the doctors make and how to do the procedures. He/She has never been a doctor, but hey let's assume they can perform brain surgery just because they've been in the proximity of a brain surgeon, and hey they know how it's done! John McCain has never been president. He is no more qualified and/or experienced than Obama. So let's all just get off the experience train and move on to things that matter, shall we?

On to the next topic....

I've been thinking a lot lately about taking time for the people and things that matter in my life. I've thought about the word "love" and how many times people say it and don't mean it. I don't think a person can mean the words if they don't back it up with action. I was thinking how many times in my life I've been told "i love you" just to later figure out that it was never true, or at least I perceived it to not have been true based on the person's actions. As I was thinking about this, I realized that I don't want anyone that I love to feel that way. I don't want to tell someone that I love them only to have them doubt it because of my lack of action. I mentioned this in an earlier post, but it's something I haven't been able to shake. I think we should all remember that if we need to back up our loving words with action. Our lives are too short to have the ones we love pass on thinking that we didn't really love them....or for us to pass leaving behind people who didn't know how much we really cared.

Life

I was listening to "Chasing Cars" by Snow Patrol and I was thinking about these lyrics:

"I don't quite know
How to say
How I feel

Those three words
Are said too much
They're not enough

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?

Forget what we're told
Before we get too old
Show me a garden that's bursting into life "

The lyrics to this song always invoke some thought for me.

It made me think about the way we seem to rush through life with little thought about actually living it. We say we love people but we don't really do enough to show them that we love them. I think we need to say it and act on it before it is too late. Sometimes perhaps we need to stop and focus on those we love and let everything else go by for awhile. We are taught from a young age that we shouldn't waste time and that we need to hurry, hurry, hurry, but we never realize that when we do that we are letting life and love pass us by.

I hope to try to change this some in myself before it's too late.

Death and not Much Life in a Small Town

I don't often think of home, home being the small town of Hobbs, New Mexico, where I lived for 18 years. I have been away from there for 10 years and occasionally I think about what might have become of the town and people that I knew, but I think of it in more of a detached sense.

There was a family that lived not too far from my house; the Rogers family. The mother was Kathy, the father was Jim and they had two children: Jason and Kristy. Kristy was about my age and Jason was slightly older. Since we lived outside of the city limits in a sparsely populated area, there weren't many people around and I didn't have a lot of children to play with. Kristy was one of the few. She used to ride her bike over or I would ride mine to her house. She was the kind of girl who always seemed drawn to trouble. I know that she always liked the boys that were the "bad" boys and she was one of the first people I ever had a conversation about sex with.

One day, there was a horrible accident. We could hear the crash from our house down the road. We got in the car and drove up the road to discover that Jim had backed out in front of a car that was traveling about 55 MPH on the highway (The car was not speeding. That was the speed limit on the road). Kristy and Jason had been sitting in the back of the pickup and were thrown out. Kristy was thrown into a ditch, landing in the grass, managing to sustain only a broken arm. Jason, on the other hand, had been thrown out onto the roadway. It was a very graphic scene for a girl of around 10 to take in. There was brain matter on the road and Jason was neither moving nor breathing. They managed to bring him back from the brinks of death and shockingly he survived the ordeal, but was permanently brain damaged. He required the use of a wheel chair or a walker in order to move and his speech was severely impaired. He would require constant care for the rest of his life.

A few years back I was told that Kristy had gotten involved with drugs and gangs. She had two children and was living at home because she was not very stable. She had been in jail and did not have a job. Kathy had been diagnosed with cancer and would die soon thereafter, leaving Jim to take care of Jason, Kristy and Kristy's children. Jim was very heavy, had always been a smoker and was in failing health. We all assumed it was only a matter of time before he would pass as well. Kristy said she was going to get sober and take care of her kids. She was dating a much older man. He was around 50 years old and she was in her late 20s. What happened next wasn't entirely unpredictable; however, it was both shocking and tragic. The 50 year old man that she was dating beat her to death with his fists. I do not know what made him do such a thing. What ever makes a person do such a thing?

The children were left with Jim and Jason. The boyfriend was only charged with manslaughter and didn't serve much time in prison. Jim's health only worsened. He died this year leaving Jason and the children. The state actually gave the children to the boyfriend who killed Kristy. Jason lives alone in the family home. A service comes and checks on him and takes him to get groceries and such, since he is unable to take care of himself. I find it ironic that no one expected Jason to live through the accident and now he has survived when the rest of his family has passed.

The reason this story comes to mind is mainly because I only learned today from my mother of Kristy's tragic death and the events that pursued. I do not know when she was killed. I do not know how it is that the man only served a short term for manslaughter and then was awarded custody of her children. I do not think he was their natural father. However, hearing of these tragic events made me think of home and how most of those who have remained there have not prospered. I hear occasionally of a divorce here, a drug addiction there, a car accident that kills entire families and leaves any survivors rendered handicapped for the rest of their lives, but I think that I displace myself from it as if I don't even recognize that life. I wonder how such a small town can befall so much tragedy so often. Is it because it is a small town that perhaps we just hear about it more because word travels so fast or is it a deeper problem?

I think of all the poverty in the town. In Hobbs, there are not many jobs that pay very well. There are very few people with much money to speak of. Most of those that do have money are from old ranching families and/or the oil industry. There are some doctors and lawyers of course as well. You can see; however, the sharp line in that small city of rich and poor. Generally there are well off individuals and very poor individuals and very little in between. I start to think that poverty, while not the lone cause of tragedy, seems to breed tragedy. It is the catalyst which gives momentum to tragedy.

I am humbled by the story of the Rogers family. I know that things like these happen every day, but not to people that you know and grew up with. I remember my childhood and I remember smiling faces of children that I knew. Then I see those same children in my mind as adults and realize how many of them are gone or whose lives have taken a dark turn of some sort. They are all under the age of 30. I am happy that I have made another life for myself, but I will always occasionally think of home and wish there was something that I could have done to save it.

To School And Beyond

To School:

I was recently accepted into Texas State University as a transfer student, so today I went to talk to an Academic Advisor. I, being the ubber geek that I am, was already following the degree transfer plan for my degree and so I already had all my classes planned out and already knew what I had and what I needed. The advisor seemed surprised that I was so organized. I guess she just doesn't know me well enough to know the depths of my geekdom.

And now...Beyond...

I read today that Karl Rove has decided to ignore a subpoena and refuse to testify concerning the firings of U.S. attorneys based on the political affiliations that these attorneys had, or were perceived to have. He claims that executive privilege makes him immune to testimony.

I have a huge problem with so-called "executive privilege" and the way it is seemingly freely given to individuals who have no right to have it. There are in fact legal precedents that have been set establishing the rules of so called "executive privilege." Karl Rove is a snake for hire by the highest bidder with no real loyalty other than to money and power. There are far too many individuals associated with our government who are the same, whether they be aids, lawmakers, vice presidents, or presidents. Does anyone really stand for anything these days other than money and power? Is there anyone left who is willing to stand up for other people without expecting some form of payment in exchange?

John McCain is someone that I once had respect for. He seemed to be a man who truly believed what he said and often he did not vote with his own party to vote instead for what he believed was right. He was a man who had been through torture and didn't feel that anyone should ever have to endure what he had endured. He was a man who believed in the Rules of Engagement and the various agreements that this country had made with the other countries of the world. Now he is a man who sells his soul to the religious right to get votes. Now he is a man who sells out his beliefs that torture is wrong to appease Bush and the GOP. He is a man who feels that there is nothing wrong with attacking a country who hasn't attacked us just because their leader is a "bad man."

Is this what Washington D.C. does to people? Does it turn them into mindless drones without souls who spout the talking points they are fed and forget what they once believed? Have we bred this type of behavior by expecting politicians to be something that none of us is...perfect?