Just found out that due to the changes in Canadian citizenship law as of April 17....I am a Canadian citizen!!!
Still in shock. I've been upset over this my entire life, to suddenly have it handed to me...I don't know what to say.
Last night was one of those brief shiny moments when we actually get the majority of people to do the right thing but much as I will always treasure the moment of pure joy I was able to experience, today it is once again tempered by reality.
Don't get me wrong, I'm still more pleased than I can adequately express that we've elected Barack Obama. If I were to live another half a century I sincerely doubt that I would have the opportunity to cast a more important vote and if I never did a single other thing in my entire life I would call it all still worth it for no other reason than I was alive to cast that vote. (Yes, it was that important to me).
But...there's always a but isn't there....aside from all of yesterdays problems still being very much with us, a simple glance at other election results is a cold reminder of how far we still have to go.
Anyone mistakenly believing that America has suddenly become a land filled with enlightened human beings should take a deep breath, that has not happened. We did just take a giant step and it is a good start but 60 million of us did not miraculously embrace a vision for a greater future. More likely about 20 million of us did, another 20 million just decided the "other guy" was worse and probably another 20 million looked at their wallets and bank balances and took the plunge. I don't know what the actual numbers for those categories are and there is no way to know for certain but I'm confident they more accurately depict what just happened than the more romantic version that would have us believe 60 million Americans had a dream.
That we have progressed enough to have made last night possible is a beautiful thing and in no way to be discounted but this is no time to rest. Take a few moments to remember the millions who still haven't been invited to the party. Just saying.
I'm exhausted with this. More important, I'm really exhausted with being angry....please, please, please let Obama win so I can be at least a little bit less angry for a few years.
I'm just too tired for another 4 years of kicking everyone in the shins, I just wasn't born with Michelle Malkin's innate gift of hatred which flows naturally from her every oriface. My hatred had to be cultivated over many years and many tears and seriously folks...it takes a huge toll on me.
If you haven't already voted (I have) please do.
If you've already seen the "woman chains self to home to avoid foreclosure" bit on the news you may recognise this woman. Sadly I could not locate a picture of her equally retarded cockroach of a spouse or I'd be making custom dartboards out of the pair right now.
What do we learn from this story? Hopefully we learn that when we hit rough financial times ("rough" being relative here since I've never known anyone going through "rough" times who could afford a french manicure much less a house in Mira Mesa, CA) that we probably should NOT run out and take out an ARM on our nearly-paid-off home of 19 years that 90% of Americans could not have afforded in the first place.
You just couldn't deal with the idea of selling and downscaling to a less expensive home in a "less desireable" location, could you? I'll tell you a little secret Mr & Mrs Dumbass: my home is paid for, been paid for a very long time and one of the reasons we decided not to "move up" was because of people like you. See, we just weren't real keen on spending a lot of money to live in a neighborhood filled with twat-brains like you. That would have been "less desireable" to us.
Mr & Mrs Reyno you'd laugh at my little house I'm sure, my 8 year old compact car would not impress you and my unmanicured fingers would certainly be fodder for a lot of jokes but you know what, I'll still have a home and money in the bank and food in my belly when you and your kind are sitting on a street corner waiting for the next soup line to open. The truth is I've been waiting my entire life to see scavenging pond scum like you in this position and was only afraid I wouldn't live long enough to see it. Your tears are like lemon balm to my heart and probably to the hearts of all the people you "helped" out of their homes over the years.
Sadly you'll probably be okay, more than likely end up still better off than the thousands who lost everything in Katrina or the millions who never had anything to lose in the first place. You should be extremely grateful I'm not running the universe or you'd spend the rest of your waste-of-airspace lives trying to decide between buying Top Ramen or toilet paper.
So what did I learn from this? Not that I'm meaner than a junkyard dog, that I already knew. I learned that it is entirely possible to be mad enough to spit nails and laugh till you pee your pants all at the same time.
Canada and the EU have begun working on a "free trade" agreement which would include the free movement of workers and reciprocal recognition of professional licenses and India is actively pursuing free trade agreements with both Japan and China.
Just in case anyone was still confused enough to believe that our current financial crisis would be resolved with a return to "business as usual", that is simply not going to happen.
I realize this hasn't gotten much (um, try any) media attention what with oh-so-much-more weighty matters in the headlines like Sarah Palin's clothing budget and what the latest ill thought out remark Joe Biden just made but in real-world terms this is likely to have a whole lot more impact on all of us than either of the above. I'm not going to waste anyone's time writing a thousand word essay on why this is relevant to us, a simple look at who buys our goods and who sells us goods and some basic mathematical calculations ought to make it all crystal clear to everyone except maybe Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich.
The days of the US dominating the world economy are done, we screwed the pooch on that one and frankly there is absolutely nothing we can do to change that. So what's left? Try for a seat at the table. A little humility could go a long way here folks.
There is the big question: are we going to start dealing with reality or are we going to continue pretending we are the lords of the universe in spite of all evidence to the contrary? I hope for all our sakes we choose the first option. Or we could just become a giant tax-haven destination offering fine restaurants and cheap real estate to the rest of the world. You choose.
Just something to think about.
Well I certainly pushed someone's button with the last post so let's clarify a couple of things.
Numero uno and most importantly: I have no intention or even any desire of shushing every voice of opposition. What I am saying and will continue to say is that in the name of "freedom of speech" and being "fair and balanced" we've actually ended up sponsoring lunatics.
If you cannot tell the difference between Peggy Noonan and Sarah Palin or George Will and Bill O'Reilly then you are part of the problem. Joe Scarborough may annoy the hell out of me but he is neither dangerous nor an idiot, I'd never mistake him for Lou Dobbs. If the differences listed aren't apparent enough for you then consider the fact that I have heard all of the above express the very same concern I am expressing, albeit in politer terms, over the last couple of months. They are, if anything, more horrified than I am at what the "Republican base" has become, a conglomeration of extremists of nearly every type.
The same comparisons can be made on the left, try Dennis Kucinich versus Al Gore for starters. Sorry fellow Lefties, Dennis is King of silly season and would have us all in soup lines left to do his thing. The difference is no one has given crazies on the left their own television shows, much if any media air time and thus far anyway they aren't holding rallies where followers feel free to call for death to their opponents nor is there a chance in hell I'd support it if it happened. I'm sure that will earn me no love from the left but see that's the thing...I don't care. If the only love I can get is from the deranged or the hopelessly naive then I'd call it a job well done to be detested. On the other hand I'm not inclined to declare war on them for the very simple reason that they aren't advocating for or attempting to incite violence upon anyone nor are they in any position of power to do so. If Cindy Sheehan got her own talk show and gathered the faithful to rally for some crazy agenda would I call for her removal? You betcha.
I didn't sign on to live in Crazy Extremist Land and I'm going to do whatever little I can do to stop anyone trying to lead us down any path heading us in that direction. That ought to get me on just about everybody's kill-on-sight list.
This brings us to the Bill Ayers versus the Alaska secessionist movement. A lot has been made of Obama knowing and working on the same board with Ayers and only a few whispers regarding Palin and the secessionists. In a perfect world neither candidate would have these associations but welcome to the real world where it often becomes necessary to work with, to some extent even socialize with, highly imperfect and sometimes even dangerous individuals.
Blowing up people you disagree with regardless of your intentions is never the correct answer, I know that, most Americans know that and for damned sure Sen. Obama knows that. If you believe Sen. Obama would actually sympathize with such action or in any way facilitate such actions then I have no problem at all saying you are as crazy and dangerous as Mr. Ayers was at his worst. Unfortunately for Sen. Obama, he like most of us, did not get to hand pick who he worked with or who he lives near.
Alaska seceding from the US to form it's own independant nation is kind of a no-brainer for anyone with even half a brain though I confess it would be amusing to see them try to go even 6 months minus their federal subsidies. Even Sarah Palin knows this and if you're thinking she is secretly plotting to gain office to free Alaska then you are also insane. The even sadder truth is that these secessionist movements are neither brand new nor isolated to Alaska and as the public discourse has become increasingly vile they have gained momentum. These groups and their sympathizers are scattered all across the country, in nearly every state and are often heavily concentrated in rural and semi-rural communities. Trust me on this one because we have them here in Pahrumpistan. You'd have a tough go of it getting elected to anything without "making nice" with at least some of them.
Kind of makes my original point: our complete lack of discrimination between "free speech" and "crazy speech" led to a situation in which Gov. Palin would never have been elected mayor much less become the Republican VP candidate had she not been somewhat cozy with a pack of insane secessionists. As much as I do not like Palin and consider much of her rhetoric dangerous even I understand this. You were wondering why we struggle to find decent leaders?
The old saying that "cream always rises to the top" is true when you're talking about a pail of milk but doesn't work out so well when you throw it in a trough full of muck.
