Measi's Musings

Archive for the ‘News & Politics’ Category

Warning – really, really long rambly entry ahead…

I seriously can’t believe the year is half over already. Granted – 2011 has been a very bad one for me so far, and part of me is wishing it would move its butt out of the way so I can get to (hopefully) a brighter 2012, but at the same time, I feel like time is flying past me in a crazy, out-of-control sort of way that leaves me feeling like I need to get my own butt in gear and catch up.

I hope my fellow Americans had a relaxing, fun 4th of July – and that Canadian readers had a fun Canada Day. Ours was filled with activities over the weekend, but the 4th was intentionally quiet for us. Erich’s going to be working the majority of July on big projects for his company, and so his fun and relaxation was really the important thing, since he’s not going to have full weekends for many weeks.

We went to an impromptu BBQ on Saturday afternoon hosted by our friends Marc and Erin (and their adorable baby boy, Jack). It was a small affair with only six of us – honestly a perfect size. I brought my mom’s BBQ Beanpot recipe that is stupid easy and so, so good. I should post that tonight, actually…

On Sunday Erich and Matt went off to play a Star Wars d20 game with the guys (translation for the non-geek readers: think Dungeons & Dragons, but with the Star Wars universe as the setting), which means I had the house to myself for many, many hours. I spent virtually the entire day in my stitching chair working on round robin stitching and watching episodes of the X-Files that I hadn’t seen in years.

By Monday I’d developed a weird cough that had me feeling a bit off. We spent most of the day relaxing in the house due to the heat, nibbling on burgers and dogs all day, playing games and watching episodes of Dexter. The cats, as you can see in the photo at the top of this entry, had wonderfully lazy afternoons cuddling up together in our sunroom. At night our neighborhood exploded with fireworks, as they’re now legal here in Rhode Island, and we watched our next door neighbor’s rather impressive display. The bugs finally drove us inside. The night ended with a slight scramble when I heard a HUGE buzzing near our family room light. I thought it might be one of those big bumblebees that I refer to as “drunken bumbles” because they seem to crash into everything. Anyway… the bug was bouncing furiously around the light, then careened under the dining room table, where I managed to get to it before Noby and Gus did anything to it. It turned out to be a Junebug. It was promptly scooped up and dumped outside.

My cough then decided it really wanted to make me miserable by preventing me from getting any form of sleep that night, so yesterday’s return to work was impressively zombified. I couldn’t tell you what I actually did yesterday, but apparently I did do quite a bit because I have several “finished” checkmarks in my planner list. All I know is that I crawled into bed promptly upon arriving home last night in the 7 pm hour, napped fitfully until after midnight, when Erich found some nighttime cold meds, was up from about 12:30-2 am, took the nighttime meds once my previous round had “expired,” and those finally conked me out for the rest of the night.

I’m feeling a bit better today, although I’m a bit out of it from the weird sleep schedule last night. The cough is still here, although not as bad as yesterday. I have no other symptoms, which is very, very weird. Allergies, perhaps? Or maybe a cold that’s so light that I don’t notice it over my normal allergies? Who knows. Whatever it is, it’s annoying.

In other news, I keep watching what’s happening at home and groaning. Montana is not having a good year. In early June, they had massive storms that flooded virtually every river in the state. The larger problem was that it had been so cold this spring that most of the snowpack was still there – and now it’s melting off, keeping the floodwaters active. And then on Friday, an oil pipeline near the refinery in Laurel (about 16 miles up river from my hometown of Billings) ruptured, sending oil down the Yellowstone River for upwards of – at last check – 125 miles. They’re now testing soil in North Dakota, fearing that the oil could reach where the Yellowstone meets the Missouri. Seriously, it’s like they can’t win recently. Last year, a tornado took out METRA (aka Rimrock Auto Park Arena, as I think it’s lamely named now), which is the state’s largest indoor arena. And now all of this. It’s just a horrid turn of events in a state that was already poorer than most of the country. *sigh*

Anyway. God, this is becoming a depressing entry, isn’t it? It’s not intentional – blame it on my weird cough. Onward to happier things!

It’s July, which means that there are some lovely stitchers doing midsummer giveaways.

Parsley has a fabulous Christmas in July giveaway full of ornament stitching goodness.

Debbie is giving away an amazing die-cutter machine that’s great for quilters and crafty finishers alike. I haven’t joined this one because I know I don’t have the time for another hobby, but still – this machine looks awesome.

I’m itching to do a new giveaway soon. Maybe I’ll put something together on my next wandering up to the stitchy store.

If you haven’t yet, please pop back two entries and give me opinions on what I should stitch for the next square in the Mirabilia round robin!

I’m finding myself, as many other bloggers did after 9-11, having difficulty trying to write about normal everyday things when the news coming out of Japan is so horrible.  The situation is so incredibly unreal and gigantic that I cannot comprehend it enough to form any practical thoughts beyond horror and sadness.   Anything I could say would sound so shallow and trite.  It makes my life seem shallow and trite.

But that is what I have to write about.  I have no first-hand knowledge of Japan, nor would I claim to.  I just hope that the determination I’ve learned and read about the Japanese people shines through and gets them through this tragedy.

So forgive this entry, which probably sounds completely flippant in light of things…

The past week or so has been pretty wild in Measi land.  I swear that St. Patrick’s Day/Evacuation Day is the only reason I know what day it is.  To sum up my week:

• Friday afternoon through Sunday:  Attended PAX East in Boston with Erich (I’ll be putting my recap entry together this weekend.  It definitely deserves its own entry)
  Also during the weekend… 
  • Friday night – severely bruised my right pinky to the point that rubbing nail polish remover hurts like hell… over fake nails.  I’m still worried I may lose my nail completely, but I have hope it’s going to heal.
  • Saturday morning – got the other 9 nails done anyway.  In a pretty green for the holiday.
  • Also Saturday morning – monthly stitch-in with the Rhode Island Stitchers (in which I got virtually nothing done other than drool over the hooked rugs that the Little Rhody Thrummers group had set up in one of the other rooms)
• Sunday night – start the post-con laundry catchup, and suddenly I hear Erich yelling “we got a problem!” from the basement.  Our water heater and storage tank had ruptured, sending water everywhere across the floor.  Thankfully we caught it early, and aside from possibly a couple things at the bottom of a single paper box that was in the water flow, I don’t think we’ve lost anything of value.  Hopefully.
• Monday – Erich stayed home, called the oil company, and they came out to replace the heater.  So much for our tax refund.  *groan*
• Later in the day, he got slammed with a nasty stomach bug that we’re thinking was a case of food poisoning with how it came on.  He couldn’t pick me up from the train, so I ended up on an adventure to get home from downtown Providence (finally ending in a taxi home because there was weird stuff happening at the bus depot)
• Yesterday – Erich’s PT Cruiser starts really making a loud, grinding noise.  Like… really loud.  And today it’s worse.  Bad enough that it’s  now officially at rest until it goes to the shop.  I’m thinking it’s something to do with the wheel bearings.  Hopefully it’s not an expensive fix.
• That, of course, means that we have three people who need to go to work in different places tomorrow – and we have one car.  So it’ll be another fun trek through Massachusetts tomorrow morning – first to drop Matt off in Plainville, then Erich in Dorchester, and finally landing in downtown Boston.

So yeah – it’s been an expensive week and a crazy one.  I seriously can’t wait for the weekend.  I dream of sleeping with no alarm clock.  It will be done on Sunday.  Oh yes – it will.

On the plus side, today was absolutely gorgeous – the first real day of spring (yeah, yeah… Ostara’s a couple days away still, I know…).  Everything just smelled good – nice and clean and earthy.  I love it.  My daffodils, hyacinths, and day lilies are all coming up through the ground.  My mums are already making an effort, too, even though they won’t bloom until August.  I’ve seen a few forsythia bushes in the city heat islands starting to bloom.  During our drive through Milton, MA this morning, I noticed that the yards are starting to green up, too.  I cannot wait for the first night we can keep the windows open.

Needless to say, it’s been quite the unusual week.  I’ve managed to get several hours of stitching in, too – all on Annette’s Mira RR.  My progress is coming along well.  I’m hoping to have all of the cross stitches done so I can add kreinik and the beads starting late this weekend and have it ready to go within the week.  I really don’t want to be stitching up to the last minute on it.  I’ll post a pic once my square is done.  I will say – I’m quite happy with my stitching so far.

I’ll end on a few randoms…

There’s still time to enter my Blogoversary giveaway, too!  Just look at my sidebar for the link.  :)

Also – Rhode Island Stitchers (my local stitch ‘n bitch group) is hosting a Spring Giveaway with some fun stash, if you want to try your chances!

Sue, the organizer of Stitcher’s Hideaway, posted her blog report on the Alumni Retreat (what happens in Mystic stays in Mystic…).  I think the photo of me worshipping my Saturday morning coffee may be about as truthful a photo as you’ll ever see of me.

I’ll write more this weekend, hopefully over a calm cuppa on Sunday morning.  :)

My generation was bitterly divided over something that should have been so clear and right. The majority believed that what the judge said, that it was God’s plan to keep people apart, and that government should discriminate against peopl…e in love. But I have lived long enough now to see big changes. The older generation’s fears and prejudices have given way, and today’s young people realize that if someone loves someone, they have a right to marry.

Surrounded as I am now by wonderful children and grandchildren, not a day goes by that I don’t think of Richard and our love, our right to marry, and how much it meant to me to have that freedom to marry the person precious to me, even if others thought he was the ‘wrong kind of person’ for me to marry. I believe all Americans, no matter their race, no matter their sex, no matter their sexual orientation, should have that same freedom to marry. Government has no business imposing some people’s religious beliefs over others. Especially if it denies people’s civil rights.

I am still not a political person, but I am proud that Richard’s and my name is on a court case that can help reinforce the love, the commitment, the fairness, and the family that so many people, black or white, young or old, gay or straight, seek in life. I support the freedom to marry for all. That’s what Loving, and loving, are all about.”

– Mildred Loving 1938-2008

I am so sick of flood water. You have no idea.

My house? Is okay. Two inches of water in the basement, nothing to worry about.

But getting anywhere near my house is hell. I-95 is closed because it is now part of the Pawtuxet River. (two exits south of my house). The road less than a mile south of my house is closed due to the Pawtuxet. The secondary road I’d use to get around said closed road is ALSO closed because of the Pawtuxet.

Basically? The Pawtuxet has taken over Rhode Island. Or at least a good portion of it.

I couldn’t take the commuter rail home last night because it couldn’t make it through the floodwater on the tracks. The commuter rail train cars are double-deckers, and the lower level’s floor would have been literally at or below the water line. So I took Amtrak home.

I watched a train create a boat wake last night. The water was ABOVE the rail.

9 inches of rain in two days. Sixteen inches of rain since two weeks ago.

So. Sick. Of. Water.

If you’re curious – here you go. Enjoy the psychotic photos: http://www.projo.com

/rant over

First, read this

Then read the proposal.  (I promise… it won’t take long).

Then go to Fark for charts that are FAR more helpful.

My contribution to the cause is here.

Conservatives are already whinging, using the retort “well, we listened to you for eight years.”

Here’s my reply to them, under my “elemenopy” username there:

Here’s the irony – the stuff we complained about? We were right about, for the most part. We went into Iraq under false pretenses. We failed to get bin Laden. The “No Child Left Behind” act was not funded, and schools are ridding themselves of music, sports, and other activities that help develop children’s minds beyond teaching to a test.

Your call.

Thread: http://forums.fark.com/cgi/fark/comments.pl?IDLink=3997520

The black cloud is lifting, and I feel wonderful. Redeemed, even, as I watch Freepers scream they’re running away to Canada (how… ironic). I pray that the Republican party, as it currently stands, evaporates. I pray that the Republican party regains its roots of actually being a party of small government and fiscal conservatism, and that it casts off the leadership by the terrifying “religious right.”

I do believe the Republican party has a future. But not as it is now – it needs return to its TRUE values.

In the meantime, the energy of this nation is tremendous right now – so many people are excited, and people have hope for the future… an emotion that has been kept blanketed by screams of “traitor” or “unamerican” or “unpatriotic” since 2001. We move forward together, and I’m proud again to be an American.

Come gather ’round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You’ll be drenched to the bone.
If your time to you
Is worth savin’
Then you better start swimmin’
Or you’ll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin’.

The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is
Rapidly fadin’.
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin’.

I came, I saw, I voted. And if you’re a U.S. citizen, you should today as well.

Rhode Island polls are open from 7 a.m. until 9 p.m. With our work/commute schedules, we always go first thing, as the polling place is right around the corner from our house.

We arrived at 7:10. Short wait – people had definitely been there for the door opening, as there were a stack of the ballot privacy folders on top of the optical reader already (signifying that people had already cast ballots, for those of you not familiar with them). Rhode Island votes the basic way – pen and paper, draw a line to connect the head and tail of an arrow toward the person you’re voting for.

There were six different candidates, plus a write-in line, on our ballot for President. I voted straight Democratic Party ticket, plus yes on both of our budget concerns – we have bridges crumbling (notably… I-95, which now has a severe weight limit on it) that need to be fixed. I pay taxes for civilization – and fixing crumbling infrastructure is a big part of that.

I’m glad I’m done, I did my part. Now I just have to sit back and watch the results. While yes, it looks good for Obama, I’ve learned never to take anything for granted with some portions of American society.

And I’m damn proud to 1) have survived the nightmare of George W. Bush, and 2) voted for Obama. The last dark eight years are almost over.

Thank Gods.

Well, one candidate gets it.

X-posted from my LiveJournal

There’s been a lot of uproar lately from fandom regarding the suspension of journals, and now there’s a huge cry for people to move en masse to a new site, showing solidarity with the HP fandom whose journals are getting deleted. They’re protesting the right to free speech being trampled, and how LJ doesn’t want them to exist, and how they don’t feel welcome on LJ anymore, and all sorts of other feelings which I respect for being valid…

.. but sorry, guys, I just don’t agree with you.

One of the things that I’ve learned in my years on this Earth is that freedom of speech is not fundamentally free. To say that “you need to accept the free speech of others as well” is too simplifying. The reality is that yes, freedom of speech is a wonderful thing. But freedom of speech doesn’t mean that the speaker/writer is exempt from any backlash for said speech. In this case, since it’s appropriate, the artist can create whatever art, written or visual, that (s)he wants. BUT – others, including the company that owns the servers where the art is posted have every right to respond. The more controversial the opinion, the more backlash can be expected. And that includes having journals deleted without prior notice.

A lot of the screaming right now seems to be coming from the Harry Potter fanbase, particularly those who are creating NC-17 rated visual art and fanfic. I’m having a difficult time feeling sympathy for them in this case, and I honestly don’t want to be lumped in fandom with them, and here’s why.

Harry Potter is, at its core, a story about kids growing up in a fantastic world. They begin the books at age 11, and at the end of the final book (with the exception of the epilogue), end at age 17. Regardless of the audience-at-large, the target audience for these books is elementary and secondary school-aged kids. The main characters involved are underage school-aged kids.

So enter the world of fandom, and particularly the sidebar of fandom that insists that everything has to be smuttastic. They create communities for these adult-natured topics. They play as they wish to play, largely without incident until two months ago, pairing just about anyone up who can be paired up, including some extremely questionable incest pairings and images that blatantly appear to be of underage kids (fictional or not) involved in sexual acts.

And then they get all pissed off when, under recent new management, the server that hosts their material says “hold on, no” and removes their journals. Fandom, contrary to these outcryers’ opinions, is not a significant portion of LiveJournal’s population. And even within fandom, the percentage dealing with underage sex is more miniscule.

It may piss people off on my friends list, but sorry – I don’t have a lot of sympathy here. These fans are dealing with topics that are extremely sensitive, bordering on illegal, and it’s the artist’s responsibility, when dealing with such topics, to prove that (s)he isn’t supporting child pornography. To the outsider, a group like pornish_pixies, which has depictions of sexual acts between underage fictional character, IS going to look like a site which supports child pornography.

And for this reason, the sexual relationships in Harry Potter fandom are walking a fine line. Yes, I understand they’re fictional. Yes, I understand that teenagers have sex. But there’s a huge difference between private sexual relationships in real life and public sexual expression, bordering on exploitation, in the media. And from experience with many fandoms, most of the smut fic out there is written so the fans can get their jollies reading sexual fiction. Are there pieces with literary value? Sure… a few of them. But most of them? Oh heck no. They’re written as porn. And child pornography is illegal.

So yeah, sorry guys – but those of you uproaring about this? You’re dealing with sensitive topics that society – not just LiveJournal – has a problem with. Yes, you have your right to free speech. But so does society, and you have to deal with the consequences of your behavior.

If you want that free speech, you also need to be policing it to keep it in line. And if it’s that accessible from the internet, you’re doing it wrong. So LiveJournal has stepped in, to clean up servers they own. They have that right.

It sucks to be targeted, but as an adult in fandom, I’m squirmish with the topics you’re dealing with. And I find it hard to find much sympathy when it’s pretty evident that it’s been carefree and unpoliced.

I wish you guys well wherever you end up. I won’t, however, be joining you.

Found via the rabbit hole of blog links today… and while I don’t agree with everything, it’s definitely an interesting, thought-provoking read.

Let’s Watch A Girl Get Beaten To Death.
via Whedonesque

This is not my blog, but I don’t have a blog, or a space, and I’d like to be heard for a bit.

Last month seventeen year old Dua Khalil was pulled into a crowd of young men, some of them (the instigators) family, who then kicked and stoned her to death. This is an example of the breath-taking oxymoron “honor killing”, in which a family member (almost always female) is murdered for some religious or ethical transgression. Dua Khalil, who was of the Yazidi faith, had been seen in the company of a Sunni Muslim, and possibly suspected of having married him or converted. That she was torturously murdered for this is not, in fact, a particularly uncommon story. But now you can watch the action up close on CNN. Because as the girl was on the ground trying to get up, her face nothing but red, the few in the group of more than twenty men who were not busy kicking her and hurling stones at her were filming the event with their camera-phones.

There were security officers standing outside the area doing nothing, but the footage of the murder was taken – by more than one phone – from the front row. Which means whoever shot it did so not to record the horror of the event, but to commemorate it. To share it. Because it was cool.

I could start a rant about the level to which we have become desensitized to violence, about the evils of the voyeuristic digital world in which everything is shown and everything is game, but honestly, it’s been said. And I certainly have no jingoistic cultural agenda. I like to think that in America this would be considered unbearably appalling, that Kitty Genovese is still remembered, that we are more evolved. But coincidentally, right before I stumbled on this vid I watched the trailer for “Captivity”.

A few of you may know that I took public exception to the billboard campaign for this film, which showed a concise narrative of the kidnapping, torture and murder of a sexy young woman. I wanted to see if the film was perhaps more substantial (especially given the fact that it was directed by “The Killing Fields” Roland Joffe) than the exploitive ad campaign had painted it. The trailer resembles nothing so much as the CNN story on Dua Khalil. Pretty much all you learn is that Elisha Cuthbert is beautiful, then kidnapped, inventively, repeatedly and horrifically tortured, and that the first thing she screams is “I’m sorry”.

“I’m sorry.”

What is wrong with women?

I mean wrong. Physically. Spiritually. Something unnatural, something destructive, something that needs to be corrected.

How did more than half the people in the world come out incorrectly? I have spent a good part of my life trying to do that math, and I’m no closer to a viable equation. And I have yet to find a culture that doesn’t buy into it. Women’s inferiority – in fact, their malevolence — is as ingrained in American popular culture as it is anywhere they’re sporting burkhas. I find it in movies, I hear it in the jokes of colleagues, I see it plastered on billboards, and not just the ones for horror movies. Women are weak. Women are manipulative. Women are somehow morally unfinished. (Objectification: another tangential rant avoided.) And the logical extension of this line of thinking is that women are, at the very least, expendable.

I try to think how we got here. The theory I developed in college (shared by many I’m sure) is one I have yet to beat: Womb Envy. Biology: women are generally smaller and weaker than men. But they’re also much tougher. Put simply, men are strong enough to overpower a woman and propagate. Women are tough enough to have and nurture children, with or without the aid of a man. Oh, and they’ve also got the equipment to do that, to be part of the life cycle, to create and bond in a way no man ever really will. Somewhere a long time ago a bunch of men got together and said, “If all we do is hunt and gather, let’s make hunting and gathering the awesomest achievement, and let’s make childbirth kinda weak and shameful.” It’s a rather silly simplification, but I believe on a mass, unconscious level, it’s entirely true. How else to explain the fact that cultures who would die to eradicate each other have always agreed on one issue? That every popular religion puts restrictions on women’s behavior that are practically untenable? That the act of being a free, attractive, self-assertive woman is punishable by torture and death? In the case of this upcoming torture-porn, fictional. In the case of Dua Khalil, mundanely, unthinkably real. And both available for your viewing pleasure.

It’s safe to say that I’ve snapped. That something broke, like one of those robots you can conquer with a logical conundrum. All my life I’ve looked at this faulty equation, trying to understand, and I’ve shorted out. I don’t pretend to be a great guy; I know really really well about objectification, trust me. And I’m not for a second going down the “women are saints” route – that just leads to more stone-throwing (and occasional Joan-burning). I just think there is the staggering imbalance in the world that we all just take for granted. If we were all told the sky was evil, or at best a little embarrassing, and we ought not look at it, wouldn’t that tradition eventually fall apart? (I was going to use ‘trees’ as my example, but at the rate we’re getting rid of them I’m pretty sure we really do think they’re evil. See how all rants become one?)

Now those of you who frequent this site are, in my wildly biased opinion, fairly evolved. You may hear nothing new here. You may be way ahead of me. But I can’t contain my despair, for Dua Khalil, for humanity, for the world we’re shaping. Those of you who have followed the link I set up know that it doesn’t bring you to a video of a murder. It brings you to a place of sanity, of people who have never stopped asking the question of what is wrong with this world and have set about trying to change the answer. Because it’s no longer enough to be a decent person. It’s no longer enough to shake our heads and make concerned grimaces at the news. True enlightened activism is the only thing that can save humanity from itself. I’ve always had a bent towards apocalyptic fiction, and I’m beginning to understand why. I look and I see the earth in flames. Her face was nothing but red.

All I ask is this: Do something. Try something. Speaking out, showing up, writing a letter, a check, a strongly worded e-mail. Pick a cause – there are few unworthy ones. And nudge yourself past the brink of tacit support to action. Once a month, once a year, or just once. If you can’t think of what to do, there is this handy link. Even just learning enough about a subject so you can speak against an opponent eloquently makes you an unusual personage. Start with that. Any one of you would have cried out, would have intervened, had you been in that crowd in Bashiqa. Well thanks to digital technology, you’re all in it now.

I have never had any faith in humanity. But I will give us props on this: if we can evolve, invent and theorize our way into the technologically magical, culturally diverse and artistically magnificent race we are and still get people to buy the idiotic idea that half of us are inferior, we’re pretty amazing. Let our next sleight of hand be to make that myth disappear.

The sky isn’t evil. Try looking up.
- Joss Whedon

I’ve been quietly following this case for a while. I was shocked to see it on CNN a couple minutes ago when I was checking the news…

Wiccan symbol OK for soldiers’ graves

I’m honestly not surprised it took so long to get this approved, but at the same time, I was astonished at how absurd the VA was in dealing with the families of these men and women who sacrificed their lives for this country. Well… no, I’m honestly not.

To say no, you can’t have your own religious symbol tastefully put on your marker. Why? Because it’s a pentacle. And therefore, it’s bad. *snort*

In my less than official opinion, someone who has died defending this nation should have the right to put any symbol they want (or their family wants, on their behalf) on their gravemarker – whether it’s a cross, a star of David, a pentacle, or the Discordian apple.

Hell, let them put the Flying Spaghetti Monster on the stone.

I think they’ve earned at least that small little right for what they lost.

Amid the news from yesterday’s horrific killing, I’ve come across one piece that restores some faith in humanity. This man’s name and story needs to be remembered – as a symbol for all that is good and right with the world.

Liviu Librescu, 76, was a lecturer in engineering science and mathmatics at Virginia Tech for 20 years. He was well-respected in his field. He saved the lives of several of his students by blocking the doorway with his body from the approaching gunmen.

Mr. Librescu and his wife immigrated to Israel from Romania in 1978 to escape Ceaucescu’s fascist regime and allow him to continue his work freely. He moved to the United States to start a sabbatical in 1985, and stayed to teach at Virginia Tech.

As a child, Mr. Librescu was sent to a labor camp in Russia, but was saved by the townspeople. His father was deported by the Nazis.

source

It’s been a while since I wrote a political entry. I generally try to avoid politics now, having grown increasingly weary of the pointless partisan mudslinging that has dominated the airwaves since September 11th. In light of the Tuesday election, however, I feel a need to voice why I’m hopeful that America can now make progress, and also voice my concerns about continuing with the abhorred status quo.

I have voted in every election since I reached the legal age to do so. I attempt to make an effort to educate myself on candidates and vote accordingly. I accept that my beliefs and convictions should be under constant self challenge. Am I right to believe in XYZ? Where am I being pigheaded? Where can I learn from the other side of the political spectrum? Such challenges have resulted in my never voting entirely to a single party ticket. I don’t ever expect to do so, and quite honestly hope that in years to come, my vote becomes split as evenly as possible. I want to evaluate each race individually. While my personal political leanings re generally liberal, I try as much as possible to keep moderation the forefront of my viewpoint on politics. Party loyalty is nothing. Personal ethics and honesty are everything. I am just as apt to vote against a Democratic party candidate as I am to vote against a Republican candidate. Incumbents need to demonstrate why they should keep their positions. Give me a reason to vote for you, not just vote for the lesser of two evils.

For the Democratic party, this is not a time to gloat, to foolishly declare they have a mandate, or to start demonizing the “other side” as being anti-American. Over the past six years, our government has done just that, and exactly what has it produced? A fracture of America where the two sides have traded an ever growing onslaught of loaded barbs, never bothering to stop and look around to see what is happening to our great nation.

The vote on Tuesday was not a party vote. It was America finally screaming “enough.” Both sides fo the aisle need to put aside the bickering and get back to work, finding common ground or at least a ground that is a compromise for both sides. We have serious national issues that require discussion and debate, followed by action: the exploding, crippling cost of healthcare, the failures (and needed revisements) of No Child Left Behind, the lack of a minimum wage that accurately reflects the cost of living, the horrendous Eminent Domain ruling… just to name a few. In addition, our foreign policy needs drastic repair- Iraq is the forefront issue, but we have to find a way to repair our relationships with other nations and start proving that America is a great nation, not just a large bully.

Correction and repair takes longer than destruction. It’s unrealistic to think that everything will be fixed within two years. But in two years, America needs the government to truly start working together and making corrections. The system of checks and balances must be restored. Progress must be made. Otherwise, as American voters, we will vote the incumbents out again and send the message again- start working, or you will lose your position. And that goes for Democrats as well as Republicans.

The Eyes Wide Open display is in Copley Square today and tomorrow. One pair of boots for every soldier who has died in Iraq, plus shoes, slippers, and sandals to represent the thousands of Iraqis who have also perished.

The AFSC volunteers were setting it up this morning as I walked across the bricks in front of Trinity Church. They probably only had about 200 pairs of boots out so far, but even the sight of those made me shudder in anger. Tomorrow, I’ll figure out a way to photograph it. It needs to be remembered.

What I try to determine, is what each person sacrificed his or her life for. This war was immoral. It was not protecting America from attack. It was an invasion of a sovereign nation which, although led by a horrible man, was not doing anything to us. So why did we invade? The only thing I can think of is Bush’s need for vengeance because his dad didn’t finish the job with Saddam.

Afghanistan, which was an attack that made sense, has been tossed to the side. Sure, it’s still going on. And the Taliban is slowly creeping back in due to the lack of control by United Nations forces in many areas, but it’s a valid attack that was not completed, and now has few soldiers to continue the fight and succeed wiping out as many Al Queda cells as possible

Was Iraq worth these 2,000+ American lives and counting? The unknown thousands of Iraqi lives? The new growth of insurgence and anti-American hatred that is spawning new cells of Al Queda sympathizers all over the globe?

Was it worth it?