I Thought the Election was Over

Okay, so stupid me. I figured that since, you know, the votes are cast, the numbers counted, Barack Obama named the 44th president of the U.S. (I totally got 10 cents off of my Starbucks for knowing the number...yay for me being a crazy trivia nut) we would be done with all the mudslinging. I'm gonna say this now, and I have a terrible feeling that I'll be saying this over and over until I'm blue in the face. People cannot be labelled "stupid," "smart," "idiotic," "ignorant," "racist," "naive," etc. because they voted for one candidate or another. Yes, some people voted based on race, some people voted based on appearance, some people voted based on some pretty outlandish assertions. But, just because someone voted one way does not make them stupid! There still is an ideological difference regarding the role of government in people's lives and the role of government in advocating a certain morality. And, gasp, some people vote based on issues and philosophical beliefs and generally who they feel would be the best leader for our country over the next 4 years.

I'm not gonna lie, I voted McCain, but that doesn't mean that I think Obama's supporters are stupid or vapid or following celebrity. And I buy into some of what he says regarding the role of government in things like same-sex marriages and so on. Generally, I'm conservative based on the classical definition of conservatism, basically get the government the hell out of my business. Do what the Constitution says you can do; nothing more, nothing less. (Yes, I recognize this leaves a lot of power to the states, and I'm not very pleased with how my state might legislate these issues either....but I digress.)

So basically what I'm saying is that the yucky, attack-dog partisanship that has come up in the past year needs to end. Regardless of voting, we're all still Americans. And I think we need to start acting like it.

New President

Welp, it looks like it's Obama for at least the next 4 years. I thought I'd be more disappointed, but I've been kinda over the presidential stuff for a long time. I was a lot more concerned about complete single-party rule, and it looks like the Republicans in the Senate will be able to filibuster on at least some legislation. We'll see how it all plays out.

It looks like the PA House is going to keep the same corrupt leadership yet again. I was really watching the 5oth House district in PA due to corruption and such, and it seems that the people of the 50th district remain more concerned about the $$ and special projects a certain Dem. House Leader gives to them than with any of his ethics (or lack thereof).

But Todd won, so I'm a happy person.

Congratulations to the new president of the United States. May you make decisions according to the happy medium between being a good representative of your constituents and doing what you believe is best for them. Understand that cooperation and concession is the way to get things done. And may you recognize the importance of ethical decisions in your everyday administrative and policy tasks. Best of luck, president-elect Obama.

Oooo, I finished another book!

Okay, so I read two and a half books this weekend. I'm proud of me. I finished Middlesex, and it did finally get pretty good. Still not something that I'd pick up on my own, but it was a good read. I like Eugenides. I'm excited to read his Virgin Suicides, but since it's at the York library, it'll have to wait until Summer.

And I read Alice in Wonderland to get ahead for children's literature. Mostly so I could do some really in-depth editing and revising on my personal statement for grad school. (Yes, the first draft is totally done, and I'm super excited. I just need to mess around a little with length for the various schools I'm applying to.) But holy cow, don't ever, ever read that book by choice unless you are drunk, high, or tripping...or preferably, all three. Because it hurt my sober brain. Hell, it still kinda hurts if I think too hard about some of the chapters, and I'm not kidding.

Better: The Quiet American by Graham Greene was so much better than anything else I've read recently (well, except Ngugi, but it may be hard to get close to that one for a loooong time). It really made me think about what the role of the U.S. should be in international affairs. I, personally (and Greene may disagree with me on this), don't think that isolationism it a viable foreign policy for the U.S. right now. But I totally get Greene's message that Americans' idealism overseas oversimplifies some very complicated problems in other countries. The Quiet American is set in Vietnam right as the U.S. is getting involved and France's involvement was petering out. The main character basically personifies the stereotypical American: extraordinarily idealistic and totally unwilling to consider anything that could disrupt his simple picture of how the world works. It's a beautiful book...one of those that you totally can't really pick a "good guy" or a "bad guy," but you can totally recognize some of the crappy things that were happening all over Indochina under the guise of avoiding a trigger for the domino effect in the area. It was a required book for my Issues in World History class, and it's also on the 1,001 books list.

I'm really enjoying the 1,001 Books list. I totally recognize that it shouldn't be used as a complete list of any fiction I should read in my life, but I've come across a lot of good books that I otherwise wouldn't have gotten the chance to enjoy reading. It's also pushing my reading envelope, which is always good.

Am I Weird...

or even a little shallow? Sometimes when I'm having a crappy day, having a pretty tissue box on my desk just makes my day.

It also makes colds suck just a little (like a minuscule) less.