The Necessary Looking-Back 2010 Post

It is now New Year's Eve 2010, and before I go about my day getting ready to go out this evening, I thought I'd take a minute or two to write up something about this year and how I got here.

I moved to San Francisco in August of this year, and I'm now at San Francisco State. It took me a long time for me to get here, and I only just yesterday realized that every single little thing over the past few years led me to where I am now (a place I'm very happy with, thank you very much). Let's go back:

In 2004, I graduated from high school (home-school high school, but still). I started at the College of San Mateo in August, and it was... okay. I liked being at a school, and I finished that semester with As and a B (if I recall correctly). That spring, I had more classes, as is what happens. In February, I got kicked out of my mom's house. It ended up only being for a week, but it was still a fairly unpleasant experience. I spent a night at my step-dad's house, and then spent the rest of the time at my friend K's house on her family's couch. I ended up having a meeting with a therapist and my mother, and I got to move home.

Around this time I was dating a girl I somewhat liked, and it was going fairly well. Spring break rolled around, though, and I found out she'd cheated on me. Things, surprisingly, didn't go well from there. However, it lingered, which drew thing out and left me a little pissed at the world, and took it out on my education. I skipped some classes, and I didn't do as well as my first semester.

Summer happened, during which I made up one of my math classes from the spring. August rolled around eventually, and I got kicked out again. This time it lasted a little longer. I lived at my friend M's house, in her guest room, for a few weeks, until she went back to school. I got progressively more upset about things, and made more bad decisions. I hung out with some less-than-desirable folks, as you do when you're young, I guess. I stayed on K's couch again for awhile, and then I lived in my friend S's mom's house's garage/room for awhile. In all honesty, I stayed there longer than I should have. I had trouble finding a job that paid enough money to get my own place, but finally, in November, I moved out to my own apartment. It wasn't the best. I lived with some people I didn't know who were somewhat off-putting. For instance, they once went to Paris for two weeks, and I didn't notice they were gone until two days before they got back. The whole thing was weird.

Aside from that, though, I was living in my own apartment, I could have people over, and I did. My best friend J came over all the time, and we watched TV and skipped school. We were both at CSM and, while I shouldn't speak for her, neither of us liked being there and being "left behind" by people going away for school. So I failed some classes, mostly due to not having shown up a few times, the being too scared to return.

In the spring of 2006 I had a sit-down with my mother and we negotiated a return home to save some money in order to take advantage of my school's study abroad program that coming fall. If I hadn't been so unhappy with what had been going on, there's no way I would have even considered going away. But I did. I spent the fall of 2006 in London, and it was amazing. I made a lot of friends (most of whom I don't talk to anymore, but one of whom[?] is still in my life and is awesome), and had a good time in general.

During my semester away, J moved down to Santa Cruz with her boyfriend and another friend. She told me that I should move down there with them once I got back, and in January of 2007, I did. It was, at first, rough. I couldn't find a job, I didn't really know many people, and I was just awkward about the whole thing. Finally it took off, though, and I was really enjoying myself. I had a job I liked, I had friends I liked, and I was having fun. Fun was probably the biggest motivating factor at that time, which is probably why I didn't get anything productive done. I wasn't going to school, and I wasn't doing much of anything. 2007 ended with me living up in the Santa Cruz mountains, with some friends, sequestered away from the real world. 2008 began much the same way, only this time I started seeing a girl (L). It was more of the same, fun fun fun, no school, blowing off work whenever possible, generally avoiding any sort of responsibilities if at all possible. I wasn't really happy, but I was having fun.

Then my friends and I had a fight. It was big, it was unpleasant, and I ended up driving wedges between myself and them just to make sure things didn't go back to how they were. It was incredibly immature, but hey, so was I. L and I broke up, and it was a huge mess eventually. Long, drawn out, and unpleasant, at least for me.

So, at the end of 2008, I moved back in with my family to get a fresh start, and thank God I did. I was depressed for awhile, which turned out to be a good thing. If I hadn't been depressed, I would have gone out and got a job. If I'd had a job for the first half of 2009, I wouldn't have been able to say "yes" when I got a phone call asking if I could be on staff at Camp Cazadero summer camp for two weeks.

After that, I found a job, I got back to school, and finally took it seriously. I passed my classes, and I got into SFSU.

Finally, 2010 showed up. Things were going well. I was hanging out with people from Caz more than before, I was working, and eventually I moved to SF. If hadn't taken so long to find my way here, things would certainly not have lined up as well as they have. Who knows where the people I love most would be, or where I would, for that matter. Probably not in the same place, though. If I hadn't taken the long way, I never would have directed summer camp last year, and I wouldn't be friends with the people I got to know there.

So here comes 2011. It's looking like it should be a great year. I'm looking forward to it, and I'm hoping to stay thankful for all the little things that got me to where I am. Even though some of them were highly unpleasant at the time (some still are unpleasant just to think about), they got me where I needed to be to be in this place now. So thanks, universe, for lining things up so well. I hope it keeps trending up for next year.

2010 Ballot: The Supremes

Judges!

My dear friend Brandon pointed out that I left out the Judicial Election part of the ballot in my last post. Why did I do that? Because I knew next to nothing about these people, so I had made a note to go back and learn about them, which I promptly forgot to do. That oversight has now been rectified, and so… here come da judges!

Chief Justice of the Supreme Court –

Tani Cantil-Sakauye is nominated to be Chief Justice, and we get to vote on whether or not that’ll happen. It’s a 12-year term, and it’s one of the things on the ballot with the most far-reaching consequences. Cantil-Sakauye is considered a “moderate” who is notable for her “exceptional objectivity” on the bench. The only arguments against her that I could find were that she has supported “child custody and family law rules” that some claim “favored women,” which I don’t see as the worst thing in the world in a state with an absurdly broken family law system. I’m going to be voting yes.

Associate Justice of the Supreme Court –

Ming Chin is up to be a possible associate justice on the court. Since he’s been on the bench, he’s ruled on a number of different cases including those involving same-sex marriage and parental-consent laws. While I don’t like how he’s ruled on same-sex marriage, I can understand the arguments (legally) behind it. However, he’s ruled to overturn parental-consent laws which can end up getting people killed. I’m torn on this guy, and would prefer someone else, but I think I’m probably going to vote yes.

Associate Justice of the Supreme Court –

Carlos Moreno is currently an associate justice on the court. He has ruled that there is “no reason why both parents of a child cannot be women” and that California’s anti-discrimination laws prevented businesses from treating registered domestic partners any differently than married couples. Additionally he was the sole dissenting opinion in the case which upheld the legitimacy of Prop. 8 under the CA constitution. He’s smart and savvy, and I’m all for him. Voting yes.

2010 Ballot: Statewide

I love voting. Even more than other favorite things: Arrested Development, Mean Girls, and “Kittens Inspired by Kittens.” Because of this, I spend a lot of time thinking about candidates, ballot measures and the like. This is my way of explaining away the fact that I’ve wrote up a whole thing about what’s on the ballot this time around. There’s a summary at the bottom of all this if you scroll past the reasoning I’ve laid out.

So, without further ado, the races!

Statewide Offices

Governor –

We’ve got a governor’s race on the ballot, folks! This time around, it’s Jerry Brown vs. Meg Whitman, and for me, that’s a no-brainer. I’m for Jerry. Why? Because the state government is absolutely totally a mess, and I don’t think that Meg Whitman’s ideas have a chance in hell of fixing the mess in Sacramento. Even if she could get the legislature to work, she’d be cutting important programs while not facing the reality of our budget/deficit problems. Go Jerry!

Lieutenant Governor –

Gavin Newsom all the way! Sure, the Lt. Gov’s office doesn’t exactly wield the power that Mayor Newsom would like, but I’d much rather have eco-smart, education-and-healthcare-friendly, business savvy Gavin in that job rather than Mr. Maldonado.

Attorney General –

There are far too many reasons than I can list here as to why I’ll be voting for Kamala Harris, but let me just point out she’s great on environmental crime, she’s great on LGBT issues, and she’s great on education issues. She’s great, I’m a fan.

Secretary of State –

Debra Bowen. Ms. Bowen has a history of standing up for those in California who need it the most. She is the current Secretary of State. While looking for interesting things to mention I learned that despite the issues ACORN has been through (for instance, no longer existing), she allegedly still has their 2006 endorsement of her on her office wall, which seems to speak to her pluck.

United States Senator –

This isn’t even a remotely difficult decision. Barbara Boxer is awesome. I’m just going to hit my favorites because otherwise there are too many things to list. She’s been a supporter of making more money available for Pell grants for college students, and introduced legislation to reform student loans. Boxer sponsored a bill that protected an additional 275,000 acres of federal land. She voted against the Defense of Marriage Act and the Federal Marriage Amendment. Boxer has been given high ratings from the HRC, ACLU, NARAL, and NOW.

If you need another reason, come on: she made a cameo appearance on Gilmore Girls.

Statewide Ballot Measures

Proposition 19 –

Spending tons of money each year locking people up for smoking dope is idiotic, especially considering that the state has no money. Legalizing pot just makes sense. Now, technically, it would still be illegal since it’s illegal on a federal level, too, but this is clearly a step in the right direction. California should be locking up people who are a threat to society, not a threat to the Ben & Jerry’s in the freezer.

Prop. 20 –

I like the idea of having congressional redistricting being impartial and apolitical. Prop. 20 gives the authority to redraw congressional districts to a 14-member panel. Who is on the panel, you ask? Unless I have lost the ability to find answers using the internet, that process isn’t complete yet. Yes, it’s going to be “multi-partisan” but… still. The whole “the devil you know” saying comes to mind. So I’m voting no. This just isn’t for me.

Prop. 21 –

Absolutely! This would institute an $18/year additional fee when you re-register your car, so while I can understand why you might be inclined to vote against it, that additional $250 million goes to state parks and wildlife. PLUS: Under Prop. 21, any car with CA plates would get to use state parks for free! Considering the cost of parking at state parks (which includes a lot of beaches) if you go once or twice you end up saving money!

Prop. 22 –

I read and re-read this one so many times trying to make up my mind that I had to move on to something else before I could make sense of how jumbled it all seems. Prop. 22 is the “stop state raids on local funds” measure. Boy, that sounds great. I’m all in favor of the state government not stealing for local government. This really doesn’t seem like the way to do that, though. I know that local government needs to be able to hang onto this money, but without an actual budget fix in the makings the state takes this money and pays for crazy things like teachers. We need a budget process that works, not measures like this that tie the hands of the legislature right now. So… No on 22.

Prop. 23 –

No way, José! This little guy would suspend California’s “landmark legislation” [in quotes because while it’s true, I feel like an asshat talking that way] which mandates greenhouse gas emission levels be cut to 1990 levels by 2020. Just… no. Prop. 23 would suspend implementation of the greenhouse-gas rollback until California unemployment levels are at 5.5% or lower for four consecutive quarters. That sounds lovely, but that just doesn’t happen. It’s one of the flaws of our system, but whatever. It has happened only three times since 1980, so in all likelihood 23 would be suspending the rollback for quite some time.

Prop. 24 –

Yes. This measure ends a number of tax breaks that were approved by Governor Schwarzenegger, and would bring in an estimated $1.3 billion annually by 2013. The tax breaks that 24 ends have yet to go into effect.

Prop. 25 –

Yes, whole heartedly. This makes it so that the state legislature would only need a vote of 50% +1 to pass a budget. Currently the system calls for a two-thirds majority. Fun facts: this year’s budget was 100 days late. If Prop. 25 passes a two-thirds majority would still be required for tax increases.

Prop. 26 –

No, no, no. Remember how, in the above section I mentioned that the budget was 100 days late due to the absurd two-thirds rule? Well, this two-thirds business is a mess. So let’s bring it to other areas of government! That’s what 26 would do, anyway. 26 makes it so that “certain state and local fees” would need to be approved by a two-thirds vote, meaning nothing would ever get done. No thank you!

Prop. 27 –

I may have mentioned this, but I’m not a supporter of the way the “independent commission” to redraw congressional districts selects its members. It’s an oddly confusing process for something that’s supposed to be bringing light into the political process. Prop. 27 gets rid of that, and saves the state an estimated $1 million.

Plus it’s backed by the guy who’s responsible for the Power Rangers.

Summary

Governor: Jerry Brown

Lt. Governor: Gavin Newsom

Attorney General: Kamala Harris

Secretary of State: Debra Bowen

U.S. Senator: Barbara Boxer

19: Yes

20: No

21: Yes

22: No

23: NO

24: Yes

25: Yes

26: No

27: Yes

Next Up: San Francisco races, and judges!

"I Think Government Should be Optimistic" ~SNS

Last night I was on the phone with a friend who isn't typically very political. She's relatively informed, but basically she doesn't find politics all that interesting, so she pretty much leaves it all alone. We don't usually talk about political things, because... well, we just never have.

Anyway, we were talking, and Christine O'Donnell came up in conversation, as is her wont. We made fun of Ms. O'Donnell for a few minutes, mostly because she's absolutely ridiculous, and then my friend said something that got my attention [paraphrased, because who takes notes when chatting with a friend?].

"The Tea Party makes some sense. She [O'Donnell] came up and beat up the party. That's great, because nobody seems to have any ideas how to fix things." She went on to say that while younger people are typically socially liberal, they're only just now starting to pay and worry about taxes, and worry about being the ones facing the need to pay off the national debt. "Neither party has any ideas how to fix this mess, which isn't to say I have any ideas, but they certainly don't seem to know what they're doing."

I was kind of blown away, so I didn't really say anything (I may have been snacking, too, but that's beside the point). She's not wrong, but the idea of agreeing with the Tea Party seems so... icky, that I just couldn't not think about those implications.

This morning, I was still trying to articulate why I didn't agree with those folks, so, on my 45-minute train ride, I decided to write down what I believe the role of government should be in our country. I'm gonna do a teensy bit of editing on the fly, but overall this is what I wrote out on my Blackberry notepad app at 8:15 while at the same time trying to balance my coffee.

::::::::::::::::::::::::

I believe that government should exist to protect all Americans equally.

I believe that our government should help to level the playing field.

I believe that our government shouldn't engage in needless wars, and instead should focus on preventing them by supporting human rights and civil liberties around the globe.
I believe that taxes are an important part of our system, and that a system of progressive taxation is what makes the most sense.
I believe that our government should have a strong military, but shouldn't waste money on projects and products it doesn't need.
I believe that our government shouldn't insert itself into the private personal lives of its citizens.
I believe that our government should support environmental conservation efforts globally (including here at home).
I believe that our government should recognize owning a weapon is a privilege.

I believe that our government should support an educational system that would prepare children for the future.

::::::::::::::::::::::::
So what does this mean?

Practically, it means I support the "high" taxes that gave us the economic success we enjoyed in the mid-20th century. It means I'm a big fan of equality for all Americans, straight, gay, black, brown, white, male, female, whatever. I think that we should make the basic necessities available to everybody without forcing people into the arms of corporations who don't have to compete anymore. I'm a big believer in the right for a woman to choose to terminate a pregnancy, because it's her body and LORD KNOWS I couldn't even begin to contemplate having to make that decision. I think that we need to invest in building up our national infrastructure, and improving (creating, in some instances) green public transportation systems. I think our government needs to work to help stop pollution and to clean up our environment.

I'm in favor of stricter gun-control laws, because no one can honestly think the founders wanted people running around with assault rifles. I think our government needs to re-evaluate the way it looks at our educational system, and should make it a priority to make a high-quality education available to everyone, regardless of economic status. I think that we need to take a long hard look at our defense spending and realize that we spend far and away too much money on things that don't do anyone any good, while ignoring ideas that could actually help solve some of our national security problems. I think welfare, unemployment, and job training programs should exist to help pick up the slack when non-governmental aid groups can't do the job.

Basically, I think that government is a tool we have at our disposal to help people compete in the marketplace, get back up after they're knocked down, and prepare for anything that lies ahead.

I think a "government of, by, and for the people" is pretty much what it sounds like. Something that we have, because we want it. It's not big and evil, it's basically something that can be used however we want it to be used.

And because I think government can be used to make our country and our world a better place, I'm a progressive, a liberal, and a Democrat.

So there. Bite me, Christine O'Donnell.

Waiiiit, Which Party are we Talking About?

Last night in the Delaware Senate primary, the outside-the-CW candidate surged to defeat the establishment candidate, deciding that principals were more important than winning. This race could easily cost the party the majority in the Senate in the November's elections.

SHOCKINGLY, we're not talking about the Democrats! The Tea Party candidate, Christine O'Donnell came from behind to beat Mike Castle, who has held elected office in Delaware since 1966. Castle, a moderate Republican who has been able to win statewide office in the face of nationwide Republican losses, was seen as a sure win for the Delaware Senate seat last won by VP Joe Biden. Exit polling from yesterday's election reports that 44% of Castle voters yesterday would rather vote for the Democratic candidate, Chris Coons than O'Donnell.

It was a great night, and I just saw that Harry Reid and Lady Gaga had a little Twitter conversation yesterday, so everything's awesome.

That Was Fun to Sum Up

I have moved. I live in San Francisco, CA now, and I'm excited to begin this part of my life.

I keep telling myself that, because right now, for the past twenty-two hours I've been fighting off a pretty good dose of panic. Cards on the table: I don't like change, period. I don't like it when it involves moving in with (good-natured and very nice) strangers, I don't like it when it means unfamiliar noises all the time, I don't like it when it means I don't wake up and feed my dog first thing in the morning, and I don't like it when it means not seeing my family anymore.

I moved out of my family's house for the first time just after I turned 19. There was a fight, and I was out. I was back a week later, but for the first few days I was sure that was it. I moved out again in August of '05. I hadn't seen it coming (another fight) and I stayed on couches, and in guest rooms of friends for three months. I finally found a place in November, and moved in with a couple in their late-twenties, early-thirties (I'm terrible at guessing in that age range). They kept to themselves so much that they'd backpacked around France for two weeks without me really noticing they were gone. It wasn't a great situation, and it ended with me moving home quickly. I moved home to save money to study abroad, and lived at home for four months. I was in London for a little over three months, and then a month after I got home, I was moving to Santa Cruz.

I lived in one house (staying with friends secretly and hiding from the landlord) for six months, and then moved across town with one of my friends. We were there for maybe a month and a half before I realized it wasn't working: I was horribly uncomfortable with the people there, and I was spending all my time at the house of other friends up in the Santa Cruz mountains. I moved there, kind of screwing my roommate over in the process. I wasn't upfront with him, snuck around, and told him what was going on after he'd figured it out. It wasn't great. The house in the hills ended in another not good situation, one I'd rather not go into right now. Regardless, I moved out in April, and moved in with my girlfriend. After she left in August to for a D.C.-based internship, I moved in with some guys I knew from work, and after a bunch of bad experiences which anyone could see coming in a "moving in with frat guys" scenario. After that I moved home, rebuilding my relationship with my family saving [some] money, and finally preparing to transfer to a 4-year school.

So here I am. Moving out after another twenty months. It's a lot to get used to, and you can see that I'm a little once [eight times] bitten, twice shy about moving to any new place. I worry that this isn't going to end well, and that's not really a rational worry.

It feels a lot better to get that all out, thanks for reading, if you did. If you didn't, it's no biggie.

Tomorrow starts a big day of putting the finishing touches on the apartment, starting the job hunt, and practicing taking the buses to SFSU. Adios!

I'll post some SF pictures soon, I have my camera, but not the upload cable.

Title to Come Later

It's been quite a few days, a roller coaster of a week, really.

Saturday the 15th- Scott Pilgrim vs. The World Day! As was expected, Scott Pilgrim was absolutely awesome. Highly entertaining, and a whole lot like the comics. Okay, technically a number of things were different, but since the screenplay was written before the final book came out, that's something you can just accept and move on from. I definitely have to go see it again, but I've been busy this week, so it hasn't happened yet. Soon!

Sunday the 16th- A pretty big day. I went with some friends (from the summer camp I volunteer at) to a church in Danville to see our campers put on their end-of-summer service to share with the congregation what all their help in funding the camp meant to them. It was a really moving experience, and I'm glad I went. Those kids are pretty amazing, and what they do with the youth program at that church is inspiring. [For instance, they just a new youth room. What is it? It's a room with some couches, a table, some chairs, cabinets and a sink. What does our new youth room have? A big tv, an X-Box, and a DVD player. Something's wrong here.]

After the service, my friend Tyler [girl] and I went with the kids to a service project they had that day. They were going to an interfaith housing complex that provides permanent housing for formerly homeless families so that their kids can be in school, even if the parents aren't in a place [physically, mentally, what-have-you] to hold down a job. The Danville group went out and entertained the kids with games and put together a big BBQ, after which we headed out for the drive home (missing most of the clean-up, oops!).

Monday the 17th- I found an apartment in San Francisco! 10th and Kirkham in the Inner Sunset neighborhood, and it was fantastic! Everything was settled, I met the landlady and she gave me her blessing. I made it home and started packing up in order to move in later in the week.

Wednesday the 18th- No response as to when I can move in.

Thursday the 19th- Email saying unfortunately I can't move in until Sunday the 22nd. Not a problem, just a few more days to get ready. A few hours later? Phonecall saying the landlady had changed her mind, wasn't renting the place out and ::BAM:: that's that. I went back up to SF and looked at two places from Craigslist, both of which turned out to be basement/garages which had [very very minimally] been turned into bedrooms. Dungeon bedroom? No thank you.

Friday the 20th- One more early AM house call, in the Inner Sunset again, only this one was nice! Told the woman showing the room that I'd give her a call in a couple hours. Two hours and one breakfast later I was drawing up paperwork with the owner, sitting in a cafe on Irving Street.

Saturday the 21st- Moving day! Made four trips from the San Mateo coastside up to San Francisco took the whole day, but with the help of my brother's past Christmas-tree-farm-roof-tying skills, mattresses and box springs [the most biggest items] were strapped to the roof of the '92 Lincoln Town Car that used to belong to my eighty-year-old grandmother. We certainly looked a sight driving up the highway like that. It was a rather large undertaking, but I made it! I live in San Francisco now, and that's something I've wanted to say since I decided city living was for me back while studying in London in 2006. It's exciting and nerve-racking, and a ton of things that I didn't want to think about which will be covered in a later post.

First Real Entry

If you're seeing this for the first time, welcome! This is technically the first entry here, but you might notice there are older posts here, too. I've imported everything from my last blog, The DailyBlerg, because I'm generally fond of what I wrote there. Just because a blog with the word "daily" in the title was feeling like a lot of pressure doesn't mean we didn't part amicably.

Moving on.

So this blog is something I felt like I should start up, mainly because I'm moving to San Francisco in a few days, and I need a place to, at the risk of sounding like a pretentious douchebag, "chronicle" my new situation. Also, I just like writing whenever I feel like doing it, so this blog will serve that purpose as well. The 2010 midterms are heating up, so things around here may heat up accordingly.

In other news, today I worked my last shift at the pizza place where I've worked since early 2007. I worked in two different locations, and I've got to say, I'm going to miss it a lot. I'm never a big fan of change, and leaving such a fun environment is a pain. I really care a lot about everyone I worked with in both places (okay, almost everyone) and I hope they know that. I'm not sure I would have grown as much, or as well, as I have these past three years without these people and experiences. There were ups, there were downs, but I'm incredibly grateful to have been a part of that community, learning to be more like myself.

Maybe I'm just being sentimental because it's late and I'm tired and listening to Tegan & Sara. Probably that's a big part of it. Good night.

Pictures To Fill Your Screen [sorry]

Hey folks! So, I don't know how to hide these behind a cut. But, they're Mean Girls meets politics, so I needed to share them. By the way, they are not from me. A Twitter friend (@schmiss) posted them, and I *had* to pass them along.

Enjoy!

These Guys are Just... Rude

I remember exactly where I was when I decided I couldn't support Gavin's run for Governor of California. It was June 29, 2009, and I was sitting in my living room watching MSNBC. Does that date mean anything to you? Well, that's the day South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford told the world he wasn't actually hiking the Appalachian Trail over the National Nude Hiking Day weekend, instead he'd been in Argentina just cold kickin' it with his special lady-friend.

That's when I decided I was sick of it. I supported John Edwards as VP nominee, and in his 2008 run for the presidency. I supported Gavin Newsom (not in his election, but in nearly everything since then) in running the city & county of SF. I thought Elliot Spitzer was really smart and knew how to kick "bad-guy" butt on Wall St. I was only a kid, but I was a big fan of Bill Clinton back in the day.

And I'm sick of it all. I'm a huge dork, but I get really into the political debate in this country. And while this is a democracy and we the citizenry get to voice our opinions every so often, the rest of the time our elected officials are supposed to be our champions, our chosen defenders in all the things we care about in this great country. So I'm sick of our chosen national (and local) defenders taking our trust and dashing it.

Now, as long as no laws were broken, these folks should of course remain in office. Hell, you know what, if somehow, these people (can I just say "men"? They're always men.) actually aren't in any way doing something wrong (like FDR and Eleanor Roosevelt's set-up), then I don't care. But if these people are lying and crushing their best friends and dying wives and what have you, then I want no part of it.

If someone gets elected and then makes a mistake or whatever, I'm willing to accept that. But I don't want to see it coming and just go along with it. It's crap, and I'm out.

Alright, getting off this soapbox now, thanks for reading.

Sent via mobile device.

A Long Time Coming

Well it sure has been awhile, hasn't it? I swear I was somewhat better at this before the Twitter ended up stealing all my real-time responses to interesting news. I've been swamped with "real" things lately though, so I thought I'd take a few minutes and try to cover EVERY SINGLE interesting thing going on, and throw my views out there.
Where to begin? Let's start with the DADT protesters at the Obama/Boxer rally recently. How great was that? Yes, O hasn't just run out and changed it like some had hoped that he would, but he's been constant in saying that the Administration wants to repeal the policy, and regardless of your feelings on the speed of the current repeal process, you've got to admit (I hope) that it's at least actually moving in a forward manner. Hearings have been held, key people have come out for repeal, and O hasn't exactly changed his tune on it or anything.
The other side of this is that I think it's important to take a second to realize we've got a president who doesn't have a problem with debating issues. These folks weren't screened, they weren't locked away, and he actually answered them!
Moving on: my father recently moved to Tuscon, AZ, and now calls me all the time to get an idea how things "really are" outside of an ultra-conservative filter. Yesterday he called to say he'd listened to Dick Morris on some radio show claiming that Republicans will win a majority in both houses of Congress come November. Not only that, he (allegedly) went on to say the GOP will gain 11 seats in the Senate. Now, I know this certainly isn't shaping up to be a Democrat's dream year, certain things just seem out of the realm of what's allowed under the rules of math. I'd post a link here to Nate Silver's list of Senate races that could concievably be interesting, but I am writing this draft on my phone. If I think of it, I'll fix that when I post this. No promises. [If I didn't, then just go over there and check it out.]

[UPDATE: A.) I got this to post, yay! and B.) Here's the link to Nate Silver's blog!]
Anyway, my point is, for Republicans to gain 11 seats in the Senate, they need to take EVERY SINGLE competitive Dem seat, AND hold EVERY competitive R seat. This would include things like winning Patty Murray's current seat in Washington, Barbara Boxer's seat, and the seats vacated by Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Ken Salazar. Some of these are more do-able than others, but getting all of them while fighting it out in NH, FL, MO, GA (and a whole host of others) starts getting tricky. So, basically: shut up, Dick Morris.
What else is going on that I can cover, hmmm? Well, Charlie Crist (Florida's governor), who is currently facing an uphill battle against Tea Party darling Marco Rubio in the senate primary, may do one of three things, apparently! He may drop out of the race! He may keep fighting to get the Rublican nomination! He may quit the primary race to run as an independent in the fall! Basically, no one has a clue what the guy's doing, all they know is that he might (or might not, whatever) do something!
That could very well be the extent of interesting goings-on that I feel like talking about.
I sorta feel like complaining about Gavin Newsom, Jerry Brown, and other CA big shots, but I'll do them later. Probably. Now I just need to remember how to post this from my phone. Hmmmmm....
Sent via mobile device.

SOTU Aftershow

I'm going to keep this fairly short, since I just spent about an hour and a half doing this in real-time. To sum-up:

Obama rocked it. There were jokes! There were jabs at Republican nonsense! There was ad-libbed snark! The President wants monies for community colleges, $10,000 family tax credits for four years of college, reforms for financial aid for students, energy reform plans, financial reform, deficit fixing, and repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell.

Two best lines?

In response to Republican snickering over "Starting in 2011, we are prepared to freeze government spending for three years" Obama ad-libs "That's how budgeting works."

At the end, finishing up, "We don’t quit. I DON'T QUIT."

Overall, the speech was very good, rousing, and clear. There was room for lots of bi-partisan crap, and lots of actual good work (not to imply those are different). AND JOKES!

UPDATE: Totally forgot about this:

President Bad-ass also was awesome by calling the Supreme Court out on the Citicens United v. FEC decision, to their face, with them in the FRONT ROWS:

"Last week, the Supreme Court reversed a century of law to open the floodgates for special interests – including foreign corporations – to spend without limit in our elections. Well I don’t think American elections should be bankrolled by America’s most powerful interests, or worse, by foreign entities. They should be decided by the American people, and that’s why I’m urging Democrats and Republicans to pass a bill that helps to right this wrong."

SOTUFYIUGUYS

It's State of the Union night! I'll try to get in a write-up after the event, but if you're interested, I'll be live-Tweeting the goings on over on @dailyblerg. So, enjoy.

Race to the Finish

This post is about the whole Harry Reid thing, so... the title is a pun, get it?

But seriously, folks.

In cased you missed it, Harry Reid (old white dude, NV) said something "racially insensitive" once, and now it's a big deal. Apparently Reid referred to Obama as a "light-skinned" African American with "no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one," which was certainly a stupid-ass thing to say.

Here we are, in 2010 [although I guess the comments were made in '08 or '09], and still old white dudes say things that minority people find offensive. Because, even though lots of them are lovely people, they are OLD and out of touch. Dear Reader, you know this, you've met old people. Perhaps you are even related to some of them! It really shouldn't be surprising that old people say rude things.

The other side of this, though, is the "OMG, Trent Lott and Don Imus lost their jobs for saying stupid stuff! Why shouldn't Harry Reid?" I would submit to you that hey, guess what, these are different situations. Don Imus said something that was not just "accidentally" offensive, but had a good bit of not nice-ness behind it. Trent Lott? Well, Trent Lott said something nice about someone at the guy's birthday party, and people got pissed. Frankly, I don't think he should have lost his job over it. I mean, Trent Lott voted for Strom Thurmond for President. If we're not willing to kick people out of office for being obviously racist like that, then we shouldn't be surprised that they are proud of the way they are. I mean, really people. Come on.

UGH. Okay, are we done now?