The Eve After Destruction

Katrina has come and gone. Unfortunately, the effects will be more lasting than ever. We are short on National Guard and Reserve troops to help the people in the devastated areas. Months ago the Governor of Louisiana begged the President to bring some or most of them home to help, knowing the catastrophe a bad hurricane can bring. Because there is no one to clean up and secure the cities in the aftermath, looting and other crimes are being committed at an alarming rate. Electricity will not be restored in some parts for two months or more. New Orleans is under water because here were no troops to help secure the levies before the storm and it may never recover. I hope all of you got to see New Orleans before it sank back into the sea. If I were Chavez, I would have called President Bush immediately and offered to send Venezuelan troops to help clean up and secure Louisiana and Mississippi. What a point that would make!

Weeds

After three episodes of the new Showtime series, Weeds, I finally decided to post about it. Bringing an issue like Marijuana use to the forefront is just the beginning. The show suggests that it is difficult for a middle-class person living in the suburbs of America to cope if tragedy strikes. The death of a husband, or a wife, has put hundreds of families in similar situations since the war began, and one wonders what their spouses have to do to make ends meet. Selling marijuana to the lawyers, accountants, and business owners of a community is certainly one way to go, especially if you want to maintain the lifestyle to which you have become accustomed. And another question arises: If no one believes that marijuana should be legalized and fewer people are doing it that we think, how are suburban moms and dads making a living off of growing and selling it? What benefits, if any, do you see from the legalization of marijuana, mushrooms, or peyote? What would be he societal changes involved? Given the looming meth crisis, and the fact that marijuana has been used to treat meth addicts, does marijuana really seem so bad?

Under the Influence

I have come to think of relationships as being "under the influence" of someone. When we are in a relationship with someone, we often see things differently, sometimes from their perspective, and are able to learn and grow in our environment. Sometimes we outgrow our environment and relationships end. The influence that person had on our lives, though, never really goes away. We see things differently than we did before. We have added perspectives and experiences to our own. We have learned to discuss and debate with another type of person, making the whole world more accessible to us. We are never the same, and we can never go back.

To the man who thinks he has taught me nothing: I know you disagree with my opinions and apparently, the way I've been living my life, but that doesn't mean I didn't learn anything from you. My knowledge of Ancient Greece and Rome alone proves you taught me something. The Metallica blasting from my classroom during class changes (when I have a class) can also be attributed to you. My pride in my country and its defenders was always present, but you made it personal. It was you who made me take stock of my life, decide it was going in the wrong direction, and do something about it. The world has become a much different place in the past five years, and I have become a different person as a result. I have not always made the right choices or decisions, but I am at peace with who I am. I keep your lessons with me and use them when they're appropriate. Your leadership style alone has saved my butt with my students on a number of occasions. If you think I still have a lot to learn, you're welcome to stick around and teach me.

Frankencells

Harvard thinks they may have come up with something that could possibly, at some point in the future, solve the stem-cell question. They are combining stem cells with skin cells. I think it's great that we're finding ways around the government's problem with using these cells, but anything involving genetic mutation bothers me. Don't get me wrong, I love scientific advancement, and I'm especially for anything that could make my sister a healthier person, but I'm not sure it's smart to start fusing things together. I don't eat genetically modified foods, and I'm not sure where I stand on genetically modified body parts. I know it will be years before this is even a possibility, but I wonder where it will ultimately lead, and if it will be a place we really want to go.

Back from Oz

As an extension of my immigration post, the questions arose as to whether it is sometimes better for people to stay in countries with emerging economies, especially if they are educated. If they can wait out the current situation, they stand to make a decent amount of money when it's over and have the honor of helping to build their country's economy. My husband's family is from Colombia. Every Colombian I know who is in the U.S. is only waiting for the war to end and the government to stabilize so that they can go home and help rebuild their country. Even my husband and I plan on having a hand in rebuilding, and my husband was born (legally) in the United States. I wonder what makes people from some countries come here and never want to leave while those from others are only trying to take advantage of the economic opportunities America provides for a short period of time. Why do people who flee their country for safety reasons or economic reasons not go back home when the problems have been resolved? I know America is a wonderful place, but what happened to, "There's no place like home? ©

Illegal? No problem?

Immigration policy has been in the background of the news lately with the driver's license laws in California and the out-of-control Citizen's Boarder Patrol. The rights of illegal immigrants have come into question several times . I don't believe illegal immigrants should be able to collect the benefits of citizenship or legal immigrant status, including a free and public education. I also don't believe that the children of illegal immigrants should be able to participate in government programs even if they were born in the United States. The only real consequence for being illegally in the U.S. is to be deported, unless, of course, the person is of middle eastern origin (that is a different matter entirely). Only emergency medical care should be provided to those in the country illegally. For everything else, they're on their own. There is no reason why some people should be able to chose to bypass the legal immigration system and reap any kind of benefits. How do you feel about illegal immigrants receiving government services?

Demand Accountability, Demand Transparency

It is time for the people to finally demand what's been alluding us for years. While this can be seen in a political light, I think it needs to be applied to anyone with any kind of authority. From School Board members to CEO's to the President, we must demand accountability and transparency.

Our schools are suffering, our health care system is atrocious, and social security is dying. The public is not demanding that anyone be held accountable for these things. Senators and Congressmen are re-elected even though it's quite obvious we have some serious domestic issues. Reporters ask questions but don't require actual answers. CEO's embezzle millions and no one goes to jail. The Vice-President virtually disappears and no one asks where he's been. Parents don't get involved in their local schools. People pay thousands a year for prescription drugs and don't ask why they're so expensive. Americans are not demanding accountability from each other or their government. If things are going to improve, this is the first thing that must be changed.

People lie. People in power lie a lot. Especially when they've made a mistake. Demanding transparency doesn't mean needing to know everything about someone's personal life. It means demanding proof of what people say to us. We should see budgets and agendas for people in public office. We should know how every cent is being spent as well as what our Congressmen, Senators, and other federal, state, and local government personnel are doing during working hours. When we ask questions, we need to insist on getting the answers. We cannot allow ourselves to be appeased anymore. We know what we want. Why aren't we fighting for it?

Bush Is Boned!

I think I probably have a healthy distrust for my government. Part of my distrust comes from the number of members within our government, both Republican and Democrat, of the secret society known as Skull and Bones. This may be one of the strongest brotherhoods our country has ever seen. The Masons are also in question, but that's for another post. I don't want to engage in conspiracy theories concerning these organizations, but I do wonder about their success. What is it that has made them so successful, and how can we build our own organizations and mimic their success? I think this is one situation in which we need to fight fire with fire. I have linked this post with information on Skull and Bones. I think we need to discuss this organization and the motivation of its members. Are they only looking out for each other? Why was the organization formed in the first place? What do we know about its members and their philosophies? Are these the kind of people we want running our country?

So what do we do?

I happened to ask someone yesterday what we should do on a personal level to improve our current situation. Not only did he answer the question, but I was guilted into answering it as well. Here is a more thought-out version of the answer I gave him. Please note: clicking on the title of this post will lead you to a list of political action organizations.

I think we need to organize people in our communities by using the library system. Instead of discussing all of our various problems with the government we join together on one issue: Education. I chose education because it is through education that people learn to think for themselves, something I feel the government is trying to avoid at all costs as evidenced by NCLB. It is an issue everyone in the community can relate to, and it is a good way to rally communities around the schools.

So the question becomes: How do we organize groups of people and convince them that their participation in improving education is important? Offering free courses at local libraries in educational law is a great place to start. A lot of people really don't understand the No Child Left Behind Act and how badly it is hurting our students. Teaching parents how their children learn and lecturing on various learning disabilities is also helpful. Teachers and community leaders can volunteer to teach short classes at local libraries in politics, philosophy, and psychology. Finally, we can invite local politicians to speak to these classes and then ask them actual questions instead of the crap reporters ask. Writing Community Corner articles for our local papers about these classes and meetings increases visibility and participation. It's not something that can be done overnight, but it can be done.

No Food in Niger

People are starving to death in Niger. Why? No one paid attention when they begged the United Nations for aid after the locust swarm last year. They knew this was going to happen. They saw it coming. All they needed was a dollar per person in need. Now they need at least 8 because these people must be given health care as well. The harvest isn't for weeks and people aren't getting any less hungry. MSNBC has a list of organization accepting donations to avert the crisis.

This crisis brings up some questions. Why do we respond to tragedies rather than preventing them? Why do we only provide food rather than including the education needed for people in starving areas to find ways to feed themselves? Are we less able to care about the plight of the world with the economic problems we are facing? Have we forgotten that sometimes personal sacrifice is necessary to provide for the common good?

On Jon Stewart

I heard an interesting thing on Jon Stewart this weekend. Joe Biden said that he would have liked to see John McCain run with John Kerry in the 2004 Presidential election. Wouldn't it be wonderful to see a Republican and Democrat running together? It would prove once and for all that the Democrats are not all that far left of the Republicans and we need a third party to really stand up and speak for the people. I have found the position of the Democrats to be weak, and even Howard Dean can't pull it out of it's rut. Dennis Kusinich was closest to what being a Democrat used to mean, and unfortunately, no one paid attention to Ralph Nader. I know he couldn't have won, but don't people realize that if a third party candidate receives five percent of the vote, during the next election that party must receive access to federal campaign funds , lending those candidates visibility and a higher percentage of the overall vote, thereby restoring democracy to the two party system. I guess I'm thinking a little randomly this evening, but at least I'm looking toward a solution rather than focusing on the problem.