Skepticism

So I just read through Obama's news conference from lastnight. I must say... I was quite skeptical of Obama. I guess that stems from his extreme views when he was Illinois governor, and from the fact that it's been quite a few years since I've seen a worthy individual running for office.

But I am impressed. I say, those who are being so critical over his current proposed budget are the very close minded people that he has mentioned time and again. Even the reporters who are asking biased questions... they, too, are the individuals, or are looking out for the individuals, who exemplify the type of person he spoke of. One who only looks at the immediate gain, who is always out for "number one" and who will put down any plan that may tempoarily stifle his pocket without looking at the long-term gain. I see way too many people complaining about the current ecomonomy, and panicking about the future, but still holding on to the shallow values of immediate self-gain. If these are the values that you hold, I can assure you that the current state of economy is NOTHING compared with what is to come if these values are not let go.

I am also impressed with his persistence. I know that he stated that persistence is very important to him, and he is not lieing. Even looking at just this one last press conference, he reiterated his main points several times, even in the face of silly, repetitive, meaningless questions. I like that he is insistent with his proposed plan, and with his world values. Thinking "green" should not just be a trend. We do need to decrease our dependency on foreign oils, and look toward the future and our necessity for other energy solutions. Our government has much too often put off the needed research, or put down the necessary funding, for alternative energy solutions. For example, putting "green" cars by the wayside back in the... 80's?... This must have only been done with pressure from lobbyists, and in consideration of the mark it would have put on the auto industry. But as is seen with every major capitalist organization, and as is the plague of our American society, the leaders of the corporations only looked as far as their own retirements. I bet the auto industry leaders are now kicking themselves - or I should say the children of the previous leaders who are now running the competition - when considering the progress that could have been so long ago, and how absolutely imperitive that progress is now.

Furthermore, he actually cares about the importance of strong education for the country's young people, and how it affects the global market. Other countries are flying past us when it comes to intelligence, engineering, and obviously the job market. It's about time that we have caught up. And maybe if we can get our system to provide quality education, the inner-violence among our own citizens would be cut back. Violence stems from ignorance, and from poverty of one's character. I'm not talking about just economic poverty, I'm talking about the degredation of one's character. It's no question that our American society has long been on a down-hill slope with the appreciation of the arts. As far as painters, writers, musicians, real architects, etc... these people are not appreciated the way they would be if they were born and raised in other countries. They are often looked at as "slackers" because they did not aspire to be doctors, lawyers, politicians, or CEO's. And I am of the strong opinion that cutting the arts in our educational system has extremely detrimental consequences. Without the offering of arts, those whose mental capacity is not geared toward business or the health sciences look for outlets elsewhere, or find themselves disappointed with the environment provides. I've always looked at those that are so sunken into a life of drugs, violence, and cheap thrills, and plainly stated, "Find a hobby. Develop some skills. Take that amazing eye you have for measuring out dope, or that claimed '3rd eye' present when you get your next high, and channel it to something that is actually productive." Don't get me wrong, now. I am not in any way anti-drug. But I am anti-addiction, and I think that any individual who has committed their life to a cheap thrill like drug use probably did so out of frustration, and could turn it around if he/she had an outlet. And this outlet, I believe, could very easily be found when one is young and is fighting his/her way through the dreaded high school experience. With no music education, no art education, slacking foreign-language studies... where do children whose "right-brain" dominates turn?

Now I'm ranting.

Either way... there was no real point to this blog other than I felt a need to express my approval of Obama's opinions and actions. And while I am still slightly skeptical of what is to come, I am proud to finally support a President who cares more about the long-run and about the real people of this country than about his own pocketbook and the big-wigs in NY and Washington. And I am proud to support one who can finish a sentence logically and correctly!

If I had anything interesting to say, I'd write... type it... out here.

I just realized that I have not written in this since I created it, which is pretty pathetic, if I do say so myself. I logged into this g-mail nonsense my accident, and then I felt quite guilty. But I have no hilarous cat stories, I don't communicate with people through most of my day, and I feel as though I'm always way too tired to write anything down. So I shall now record my communications with ridiculous people from the past few days.

Today: So I am trying to find this guy on the internet that has requested a room analysis, but didn't draw out his room. See, I need to write him an email, to beg him to actually include a room diagram... but I don't want to call him by the wrong name. I assumed that since you can pretty much google anything nowdays, finding if this man's name is really Mayphous Collins wouldn't be too hard. I can't find him... perhaps I should just call him Mr. Collins? Where does the name Mayphous come from anyway?

Monday: I had to go to court for a horrible speeding ticket Monday morning in Effingham, of all places. Let me make this clear right now: I hate the town of Effingham. This hate has nothing to do with the fact that I was given a speeding ticket, because honestly, there's no denying that I deserved it. Actually, for the amount that I was speeding, they probably should have arrested me. But I think that my red, puffy eyes and lack of speech had the cop feeling somewhat sympathetic that night. Anyways... my hate stems from the fact that the town has what may be the country's largest cross... completely unnecessary. To add to the giant cross, while driving through the town, I'm pretty sure that I counted more churches than residential houses. I couldn't find ANY gas stations that had a bathroom that I could use... and I had to pee real bad. And then I get to the court house building, try to walk in at 7:59 am, and the security guard quickly ushers me away, pointing toward the door while saying, "We don't open until 8:00 am!" Really? One minute? I looked at my wrist, which has no watch on it, and looked back at him with skepticism. I was amazed. I was about an hour early for the court date, and sat down in the lobby to wait it out and read "Wicked". Fortunately, I found someone to talk to! She just happened to also be from St. Louis and temporarily staying in Indianapolis, though her reasons for fleeing St. Louis were MUCH more dramatic than mine. I never formally introduced myself, come to think of it, so I still don't know her name. But aside from her constant reminders to me to not be nervous in the court room because God will pull through, and to put my faith in Him... she was a great lady. Whatever floats your boat, I guess.

I'm not sure if you can tell yet, but I despise religious fanatics... despise. Faith, in any form that best suits an individual, is important. I understand that. But organized religion is the plague of our society, as far as I am concerned.

She was an awful nice lady though.

Weekend: Well... I can't complain. I went camping this past weekend with Kyle Jones, his friends Ripp and Brett, and Ripp's girlfriend Ashden. We went down to Makanda, Illinois. The park was absolutely beautiful. And the little town of Makanda really reminded me of Ally... it's such a little hippie town... I think she'd love it. Quirky guy number #1, needless to say, came from the sandwich/coffee/ice cream shop in Makanda. This guy was obviously a bit of a burnout, but his sandwiches kicked butt. Perhaps this is because he spent a great deal of time on our five sandwiches, making sure that each sandwich had exactly the same amount of lettuce. I still argue that Ripp ruined his efforts by not eating all of the lettuce, just because it fell off the sandwich while he ate. Quirky family arrived at the camp sites on Saturday. I'm not sure where this family was from, or why they decided that out of all of the open camping lots, they had to pick the one right next to ours... but they were weird. First of all, I'm not sure why anyone would bring a wardrobe of urban-style clothing while camping, or why a father wearing un-attached overalls and a camo hat would justify to himself his eight year old dressing like a full-grown wigger. Interesting. More interesting was the abundance of non-firewood wood that they brought along. They had planks! It looked like they had torn up their living room couch for warmth. And to prove even further their strange obsession with our group, they would not stop staring at us. So we tried to guess what their background was, and told stories about their family life around our campfire. Maybe it was us who was obsessed with them. Either way, I'm sure we kept them awake long past their 10:00 bedtime with our drunken bantering (all six of them slept in the same tent, by the way).

Well, I don't really remember any days past the weekend at the moment.

My advice for the day: Though it may sound exciting to be "mentally equipped for finger-painting" (Mac Sauce, you know what I mean) when you will be hiking through countless trails... it is NOT exciting to be rock climbing in this frame of mind. In fact, it's quite frightening.