What? A Person with Intelligent Reasons for Voting for Obama!?!

Many mornings I listen to the MJ Morning Show on the radio and for the past couple of days, MJ has had random callers give reasons for why they were voting for the candidate they supported. What shocked me was every Obama supporter that called in did not have a single valid and intelligent reason for voting the way they did. Let me summarize some of the reasons I heard for why Obama was the right choice:

• “I’m tired of the way this country is run and I’m ready for a change. Obama is that change.”
• “I didn’t even look at the candidates, I just voted straight democrat down the ticket.”
• “Now that Obama has been elected, I won’t have to worry about being able to afford gas at the pumps or my groceries.” (Apparently, Obama’s vision of helping those in need means free hand outs for everyone).
• “Bush screwed things up so Obama is going to change this country for the better.”
• Something about how… “Obama represents a change in mindset and how that mindset is going to change the country for the better.”

Through 2 hours of callers, not one had anything more specific to say other than Obama is change (as far as Obama supporters anyway). It sounded as if Obama supporters understood nothing but the catchy campaign slogans pasted everywhere and never once cited a single policy or issue as a reason.

In contrast, far more McCain supporters had solid reasons for voting. The reasons mainly revolved around McCain’s policies towards Iraq and the War on Terror, his ideas concerning the role of the U.S. in foreign affairs, strong opposition to the financial plan Obama presented to “fix” the economy, and strong opposition to the healthcare reform Obama proposed. You can argue whether or not those are important enough reasons, but what you can’t argue is that based on their beliefs, they were reasonably grounded in issues regarding policy and had a decent understanding of how the two candidates differed on those issues. There were some exceptions, some racists, and one crazy woman spouting on about Obama being the anti-christ, but the majority still seemed to know more about the issues than the Obama supporters.

Personally, I found the choice this year tough. First off, I do tend to lean democratic in my views and I definitely have never liked President Bush. I have strongly disagreed with the vast majority of Bush’s policies, but McCain is not a President Bush. As far as republicans are concerned, he’s much more radical and veers away in a lot of respects to what the rest of the party agrees with. I actually liked McCain, as well as Palin, and respected their approach and delivery of their issues. Politics aside, if I were to put my trust in either McCain or Obama as a person, I would trust McCain long before Obama. I don’t really like Obama and I don’t like Biden at all. Due to their associations and political history, I find it hard to trust them. There are a couple issues they seem to flip flop on without holding a solid stance. Furthermore, the financial and healthcare reforms proposed by BOTH candidates worry me. So, why did I vote for Obama if I don’t trust him, don’t really like him, and don’t like his ideas for financial and healthcare reform?

While pulling troops out of Iraq by a time-table may not be the wisest choice, McCain’s views suggesting that the US will always need to have troops in countries to fend off insurgents is too radical and oppressive for me. I believe we should not feed the fires of hate against our country by proving to radical extremists that we are a big country that can do what we want and put our nose in places we don’t belong. We should never have gone to war in Iraq and Obama also believed this. I stand with democrats on pro-choice abortion rights. I strongly oppose the Patriot Act, which McCain fully supports, and agree with Obama’s concern to protect civil liberty without sacrificing the tools for law enforcement to keep us safe. While I would like to see Obama’s policies towards energy strive more towards alternative energies than they do, McCain’s nuclear alternative seems to be a poorer choice long term. I like Obama’s approach to education better as well. But really the main deciding factors were:

• I disagreed with McCain’s approach to foreign affairs and the current conflicts the U.S. is involved in.
• I think Obama has a stronger ability to rally international support and help keep our noses a little cleaner from sticking it in countries where we don’t belong.
• His proposed reforms in education have clearer goals and solid proponents to affect improvement.
• With a democratic majority, Obama has a better chance of getting support from Congress to pass his reforms.
• I find McCain’s willingness to forgo liberty and the ideal of “innocent until proven guilty” in order to find terrorists, as evident in his fervent support of the Patriot Act and comments regarding it, scary and wrong. I could gladly give an entire discussion on the Patriot Act and issues related to it, but that divulges from the topic at hand.

All in all, these strengths were selling points for me and my disagreements with McCain’s policies were simply too important to me. Let’s just hope Obama succeeds in fulfilling his supporter’s high expectations.

Fried Gray Hair!

This post is going to be slightly out of order because I will post some stuff up from last week later. Until then, check out the mad scientist! I know what you're thinking. Is that really your hair? The answer: I drank some strange Halloween concoction and the hair just happened.

A Dreadful Sand Burial

A couple of weekends ago, a few friends came out to visit me. Being the kind host I am, I treated them to a trip to the beach. Being the mischievous friends they are, they buried me and left me to die....


Okay, so now for the real story. I felt like digging a hole so I did. I dug it as deep as it could go (due to water) and dug it big enough for me to get in:



I then had my friends carefully bury me while I held my breath so my chest took up as much volume as possible (so I could breath when I was buried). Needless to say after you see the last photo, I needed help to get out and it was not as nice of a process as getting in.

New Poem - A Lonely Longing

Watched the drama roller coaster that is P.S. I Love You and was inspired to write this, though it doesn't relate to the movie at all. It stems from the movie leaving me with a strong desire to hold my fiancee, who's far away in another country for a year.

A Lonely Longing

I need you baby
     as much as grass needs the sun,
     as people need hopes and dreams,
     as dreams need passion,
     and as passion needs love.
Without you, I'm not whole,
     as a man without legs,
     or a bird without wings,
     as shelter without a roof,
     and as a roof without support.
I yearn to hold you in my arms,
     to turn my mornings into your warmth,
     my nights into your caress,
     my days into your smile,
     and your smile into my home.
Just a little wait longer baby,
     and I'll give you my love,
     I'll then be your support,
     I'll provide your home and shelter,
     we'll make us whole.

Atonement

I watched the movie Atonement tonight. It was a great movie with a lot of symbolism (something not seen in a lot of movies these days) and some great cinematography. I'm absolutely in awe of one of the scenes of English troops on the beach of France...it's a straight shot scene over a few minutes that is absolutely cinematically beautiful yet raw and horrifying at the same time. While this movie was good, it left me empty and sad afterward (something this type of movie does to me easily). So, with an urge to write, I went to the beach to jot some thoughts. Here they are:

Sometimes I feel a deep sadness from this world. The atrocities people commit, the coldness, lack of empathy, disregard, and lack of love all sadden me.

Loneliness. Does everyone fight it? Sometimes, the weight of all the negativity in the world becomes too much for me and I just break down and cry. I cry not only for myself, but for everyone. I cry for the countless atrocities that happen every day, for the lack of empathy, and how so many people can cause so much pain and hurt with irresponsible indifference. My mind simply cannot comprehend how others can treat people with stoic cruelty. I also cry for the pain I, myself, have caused others. From this, I ceaselessly strive to atone for my poor choices that cause harm and unhappiness.

Yet, what is atonement? Is it creating or affecting an increase of happiness in the world equal to the sins and harm from past deeds? Is trading negativity quid pro quo truly measurable within the web of impalpable implications and effects our actions have on this world? Or is atonement merely a mechanism to placate internal guilt and shame? Perhaps in order to maintain our morality and sense of ethics we must each live indebted to the poor choices we make. After all, it is often through these poor choices that our true potential to affect good is unveiled.

I left this open as I wasn't sure I had a solid solution to the questions I raised. But even if atonement is a selfish mechanism to remove guilt, wise acts of atonement benefit others, thus the overall effects can't be ignored. Atonement is necessary despite the motivations driving it.

Painting Excursion Extraordinaire

Once there was this guy who had this certain fiancee who was coming to visit him after spending a year in France. After brainstorming ideas of fun activities for them to partake in, he stumbled upon the idea of painting pottery at one of those places where you buy the piece and they provide all the materials to paint and fire it. After a little hesitation on her part, claiming she was terrible at this sort of thing, the couple went, each picked a piece to paint, and spent the next few hours in artistic bliss while the plain white forms were adorned with a world of color and imagination. Turns out the owners really liked their results and show-cased the pieces in the front window for the local world to see.

Here's pictures for the larger internet world to see.

Enjoy!

WHY OH WHY

I have a confession: I am a So You Think You Can Dance addict. It might be because I'm also addicted to dance. Maybe it's that I'm addicted to artistic movement, or perhaps I'm simply just addicted to music. Regardless of the rhyme or reason, the results of last Thursday's show (which, incidentally, I was finally able to watch tonight) was very disappointing. Not only that, I was utterly shocked at the way America's votes went down and I think the judges were a little shocked too.

For those of you who don't know, the show was down to the final 8 dancers (4 male, 4 female), and all the dancers at this stage of the season are excellent. However, after Wednesday's performances, there were two male dancers that clearly stood out. They had two phenomenal performances each while the other two had inconsistent performances. Will and Twitch have not only been fan favorites from the beginning, but they are amazing dancers who stepped up to the plate and delivered some highly memorable performances. Mark and Joshua (even though I've been increasingly impressed with Joshua's versatility)both had a performance that was not up to par. Based upon both popularity and performance, one would expect either Mark or Joshua to get the least number of votes and be the next male to leave the show, but this did not happen. In fact, not only did neither Mark nor Joshua get the least amount of votes, they both got the MOST votes. That left Twitch and Will as the bottom two dancers...which, completely shocked me. Will is definitely the most technically advanced and the best dancer there, but Twitch has shined time and time again with some of the best performances of the season and a personality to match.

So, before I rant on and on, I'll cut this short and say Will got cut and there's really only one explanation. Pity. So many people must have felt that Will and Twitch would surely make it that they all voted for the underdogs. Of course, this reaction on a large scale yields results opposite the true desires of the people voting. But what is more interesting here is what it implies about Americans who watch the show? Do we root so hard for the underdog that we under-write those that truly deserve the spotlight? Don't get me wrong, all four are amazing dancers that have had some amazing performances that I can't get enough of, but when all is said and done, the truth of the matter is Will has had the most consistent and highest rated run of all the males, without question. Yet, Will wasn't voted for. Even Mark himself was shocked he wasn't one of the bottom two dancers. With Will gone, I think there is going to be a hole that will be hard to fill.

I hope a lesson was learned. Vote for who you truly thinks deserves to win, not who you're afraid isn't getting enough love. I too would have been tempted to vote for Joshua (who I'm secretly rooting for...or I guess not so secretly now), but would have suppressed that urge and vote for who I think had the most amazing performance of the night. For me, that would have been Twitch, so I guess out of the two, I'm glad to see Twitch is still in the competition.

And for those of you who haven't watched any of this show and love dancing...what's wrong with you? There is some amazing dance here. Watching someone like Joshua or Twitch who came on the show with a pretty limited dance background turn around and perform dances exceptionally well in styles completely different from their own is something to marvel at. Do you think you could do the same in such a short period of time?

So You Think You Can Dance, in my opinion, is one of the best reality TV shows out there that pretty much drops the trashy drama that fills so many others. The competitors in this competition may all be competing against one another, but they all respect each other. This show I think also serves to inspire people. The contestants weren't given any special treatment and they weren't picked from some VIP list. They every day people like you and me with a soulful passion for dance. They came from all walks of life and worked hard to end up where they did. Any one of us with the same passion and work could achieve the same feat. And even if you dance for fun and have no desire to be famous, the choreography in these dances is delightful and offer seeds of inspiration for new ways to interpret and express music through dance.

So watch the show. And if you don't have the channel or a TV, download the episodes online. Be inspired.