Easy Enough

Image ripped from DC

I live in California. I'm not super religious. I consider myself pretty middle of the road.

Crazy to me that so much fuss is being made over two people getting married. 

Who does it hurt?

I mean really.

Funny thing I know plenty of gay couples that have their shit together WAY more than straight couples--my previous relationship included.

It always amazes me when religion mixes with politics and law in this country. Aren't they (religion/church and state) suppose to be separate? Pretty sure it says something about it in some important document we all are suppose to honor in this country.

time get political all over your ass

I'm done sitting back listening to the BS sound-bites and muck-raking done by...you guessed it..the Republican Party.

Stevil at Bummer Life had this link, and since some of my 6 readers might not know of the sweet site or Swobo for that matter, I am propagating the piece...

White Privilege

...I mean really. Before you jump on the band-wagon, shouldn't you know where it's going?

Pay up sucka

...In an interview with the Politico website on Tuesday George W. Bush said he made the decision because of the war and added that "I don't want some mom whose son may have recently died to see the commander in chief playing golf." 

"I feel I owe it to the families to be in solidarity. And I think playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal."

A true inspiration. How about not sending them to your war in the first place?

Don't forget to spend that "Stimulus Check" on something real important like a TV or SUV.

OK, a little more

I am enjoying the online discussion between my good friend and I, it's refreshing to be able to have different views and be able to freely express them.

My sources on the last post came from a 15 minute web crawl, as I mentioned my research is heavily influenced by my feelings, not my experience or understanding of the system.

A strong word of caution on sources though, Wikipedia is probably the last place I would go for truly credible accounts. To many times it has been shown to be wrong (the price to pay for community involvement/information sharing)---many times the sources are incorrect or misleading...Update: Nature Magazine found the scientific articles reasonable accurate-which was soon disputed by Britannica on BBC (see below), but I still caution single resources, biased or not.

Looky:

Nature Article references from BBC

Wiki Accuracy 1

Wiki Accuracy 2

I'll give you my POV and that will help determine where I am heading socially, politically and personally...

+ I have a family including a 5 year old son whom I love more than anything. Given my current circumstances, they are a primary focus. The fact I could lose them makes it all that more important.

+ I am a graphic designer by trade-not quite an artist, but inclined toward it and very appreciative of the arts

+ I am heavily involved in the outdoors--cycling in any shape, kayaking, hiking, camping---my "religion" if you will, my closest moment to a higher power, comes when I am outdoors, usually alone, but always outdoors. It is when I am the most clear headed, calm and thoughtful.

+ I am working on be a healthier individual, including eating better, understanding my impact on the world and environment, including how my actions influence the world around me both intimately and from afar.

+ A consumer at heart, I find my desires lend themselves to the following: bikes, music, shoes, jackets and more bike related stuff. Toss in a new Mac every 4 years and that covers my compu-side. I look at HDTV's, even want one, but find my money goes to bikes, coffee or clothes (after bills and family fun). My turning point has been paying off my credit cards and living more within (still a WIP) my means. Quite the contrary to the American standard, whether individual or as shown by our own government (deficit spending, borrowing from other nations, the feeling like you are owed an SUV or HDTV, instead of the FACT it is a privilege---NOT a right).

There's so much more, but my point (if there is one) is the parts of me described above, help build the person I am and how I look toward leadership, choices and decisions and the future.

The major problems I see are the usual; the rich getting richer, the poor getting poorer and more widespread (as the middle class begins to be absorbed into the classification), special interests (generally spearheaded by the ultra rich in my opinion) gaining favor and influence (yes, that includes BIG oil as they influence so much of what we do everyday), and a general disregard for personal responsibility and understanding of yourself and fellow man, woman and child.

Problems, blogging, chatting are all fine to ponder, my next step, albeit a very tough one, is figuring out what I can do at even a small scale to make a difference...and that my friend will be a life long endeavor.

Mo' Politiking

A bit more on last post and in response to you K to the Irby...

As far as research goes, I have not even scratched the surface, way below less than 5%. My opinion is heavily based on feeling and loose understanding...in no way shape or form am I versed enough...but I'm going to keep reading (multiple sources) and listening...

Concerning congressional approval, it's understandable-Dubya holds the record for NOT veto'ing anything...interestingly enough for the 6 years his republican party held control...check it out:

NY Times article on Bush Record

Things changed with the new democratically controlled congress, bi-partisanship again took precedence (in my opinion at least) over what was actually good for the people...

Huffington News Post on Congress

As far as congressional approval, it's like Mark Twain said, " There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics". Approval is all of what you make of it, and the record doesn't show the approval ever really high, for EITHER party (although the republican held version did suffer from seriously low ratings).

I looked up congressional approval and found this site (among many):

Democratic Polling Report

And more...

Currently, 32% of Americans approve of the job Bush is doing as president, a far cry from the record-high 90% he received in September 2001. Bush's current job approval rating is just three percentage points above his lowest.

There was a slight interruption in the downward trend in congressional approval ratings at the beginning of this year when party control changed hands from the Republicans to the Democrats following last fall's midterm elections. In January 2007, 35% of Americans approved of Congress, a significant increase from the 21% who approved of Congress in December 2006. That December rating tied the lowest in the 12 years the Republicans controlled Congress from 1995 to 2006.

But that "honeymoon" period for the new Democratically controlled Congress was brief, as its job ratings dropped below 30% in March 2007 and have now fallen below where they were just before the Democrats took over.

Dependence on oil is too huge for this post, but put it this way, dependence on corn=dependence on oil as the crop requires more oil to produce than any other (fertilizer, transportation, refinement...)...to me it's a sham and REAL thinking needs to be introduced NOW to work on this issue.

Socialized health care...I know nothing about, guess I have more reading to do...I do know insurance is beyond my families reach (if it were not provided for by our employers, we'd have none).

I am mainly focused on what we are doing now as a society and how messed up it is going to be for my son, your daughters and many others---a lot sooner than we think.

Gettin' all po' litical and sheet!

Well, I'm no real follower of the in's and out's of politics, but recent events have opened my eyes to some pretty interesting developments. 

It should be noted that I in no way shape or form support our current president, never have, never will. 

His dis-regard for the truth (how there were NO WMD's as claimed and when that reason was shown to be false how Iraq has become the war on terror, even though there was NO links to Al Queda until AFTER we invaded---saddest part? No one questions this, it is now accepted as fact...see G. Orwell "1984" on how to re-write history) and personal liberties (wire-tapping civilians, etc--let's see how easy it is to get back those freedoms we gave up without knowing they were taken--see Homeland Security, etc) and his cowboy mentality make me ill. Oh how sweet it is, we're gonna maybe get up to $1800 in June to help the economy...let me tell you how far that goes now a days...Anyway I digress...

What got me focused was hearing more clearly the talk of a recession, especially in light of recent incidents.

I used to work really closely with VP's and Presidents in Marketing in the Fast Food industry. I began hearing the talk early regarding food prices, not just ours (cost going up), but also the food that feeds our food (namely corn). You see, the new "advancement" in bio-fuels--corn based gas has made it more lucrative to use the crop for that endeavour, thereby raising it's price as "food" for our food. (Don't even get me started on corn though, check out Michael Pollan's "Omnivoures Dilema" to see what the real cost of this crop is for all of us). Anyway, higher food prices abound and less money to spend on it is going hand in hand...long story short, good folks at very high levels (and on down as it surely will) are now out of work...and my eyes are opened a little bit more (not even as wide as they should be to be considered responsible).

Not being too economically "smart" I did a quick look-up on recession, here's the short version from Forbes:

A significant decline in activity spread across the economy, lasting longer than a few months. It is visible in industrial production, employment, real income and wholesale-retail trade. The technical indicator of a recession is two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth as measured by a country's gross domestic product (GDP).
Recession is a normal (albeit unpleasant) part of the business cycle. A recession generally lasts from six to 18 months. 

Interest rates usually fall in recessionary times to stimulate the economy by offering cheap rates at which to borrow money.

Where am I going with this? Mostly rant, but also that it is a great time for everyone, myself included, to get involved with politics and what is really going on. No one contender stands out as "the answer"—as a a matter of fact, with the mess Ol' Dubbya has gotten us into (I pray he doesn't get his last wish to invade Iran)—I wouldn't want to be the next 2 presidents—but it's a good time to really look at what you are voting for and why... and it shouldn't be based on a tax refund check.

Scientist Battle!

Just a quick note on a new section to my blog, the "My Scientistists are smarter than your scientist..." section.

What brought this about?

A couple of things...
First, I just finished a great book by Michael Pollan titled, The Omnivores Dilemma

Seriously good reading on the topic of food and how we use it (and it uses us). Pretty good for a bacon lovin', taquito buying, fast foodie like me. But I do notice the pounds and the feeling I get from eating bad food too much and even if I can apply 10% of what I learned from this book (as well as Fast Food Nation and Super Size Me), I think I'll be heading down a better path...

Next up was a read thru of my good friend's blog and his opinion on the matter of global warming and big oil profits. Although I disagree compltely with the articles cited, I overcame the impulse to scream "No, No, No" and instead took a step back -- OK not a total step, ask Cari, when she challenged my stance and thinking, I only got angry and said I would do nothing. Well, as usual she's more level headed and after settling down personally, I evened my keel and determined my next actions to take on a personal and local level.

I'm not going to point fingers or even openly disect opinions on this site. what I can say is I have not seen ol' Al's movie, I plan to, but haven't just yet. I'm not jumping on his band wagon and god knows he's not the end-all be-all answer or savior. Hell, he's just some rich guy taking another turn in the spot light.

But the fact that his movie/focus/pulpit involves something so central not so much to MY existence, but most importantly to my son's and his family's life, well it is a positive in my book. A positive that it allows this issue so much press and exposure. And in getting that press and exposure, maybe one more of my fellow citizen's will take notice and do one thing, just one, to change their (our) wasteful, selfish existence for the better.

Oh yeah and another thing, I do love the country I live in, becasue for the most part we are free to have opinions (any and all) and voices to speak about issues of many sizes big and small and that is a wonderful thing.

Anyway, back to the new section. Just as everyone is free to express their voice and opinion, I decided, that as I want to know more about my choice to believe that there is a such thing as global warming (and that we as humans have a lot larger role in it than some would think), I would start collecting and researching more resources highlighting that event as well as others I am interested and voicee opinion for (food sources and sustainable living for example). I'm just out to better inform myself on these things and maybe others as I learn more. I'm going all over the net and books as time allows, and learning as I go. I know each side can pull out ascientist here or there to battle or dispute each comment. But I believe that I can do a lot more by learning, reading and acting locally (whether buying food locally, voting and supporting local issues or recycling more)—not only for myself, but more importantly for my son's future...Just as much as I do NOT believe that drilling in protected areas (Arctic), driving Hummers, or Walmart is the answer...

Hell, I even looked into the sun getting hotter and drilling in natural parks and protected wild areas (err, desolated areas...). Trying to get to both sides is a huge challenge, faced with largely partial opinions (ususally argued very childishly I read)—but a worthy journey (get it Journey!...see below) nonetheless...