Political Junkie: Confessions of a Previously Undecided Voter

Wow… I have a very good reason for not having written in a long time. This post that I’m writing right now has been in the works since the end of the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota, in September, which happened just 30 miles away from my adopted home town of Rockford. Ever since that time, however, I have been too glued to the TV, talk radio, and the Internet, sucking in every ounce of information that I possibly could about the state of our nation. Not just the political election, but our economy, foreign affairs, the national deficit, etc.

And I have to say that the overall tone of what I was going to write in this post has completely changed. “Political Junkie” was its original name, and I was going to talk about how much of an undecided voter I was. I was going to talk about how even though I’ve hated how the Republican party has ground our nation into the ground over the past 8 to 10 years, I wasn’t particularly happy with how the Democratic party was handling itself either. It was going to be about how once again, we’re voting for the lesser of two evils and not one current candidate is worthy of running a country. It was going to be about how regardless of who won the presidential election, I was going to be disappointed and apprehensive about the future of the U.S., its citizens at home, and its reputation abroad. I no longer have that attitude, and as you can see by the title, I am no longer an undecided voter.

I proudly say that I feel I am one of the most informed “average Jane” citizens you could find outside of the political sector or other related fields. I’m not a journalist, I’m not a pundit, I’m not a lobbyist, nothing. Because I’m a freelance copywriter working out of my home, I have complete control over my working environment, and it has been filled with CNN, MSNBC, Headline News, even FOX News. When I’m in the car, I’m listening to either local conservative radio station KTLK or the more liberal-leaning Minnesota Public Radio / NPR. I read news from local, regional, national, and international sources with reputations for reporting the truth. I also read those underground “left wing” and “right wing” conspiracy theory web sources, just to cover all of my bases (conspiracy theories are sometimes found to be reality). I’ve seen nearly every televised speech Barack Obama, John McCain, Joe Biden, or Sarah Palin has given in the past two months. I watched the debates and the analysis. In my search for knowledge, I have used every resource available at my disposal.

With every spin of a story, negative attack ad, and campaign strength or blunder, my decision has incrementally moved more in the same direction consistently. That would be towards Barack Obama. When my conservative friends have found out this independent was voting democrat and why, they said it’s because of media bias. I’m not sure how that could be, considering half of my resources have intimate ties to Republicans. I was no less disgusted with Republicans and their conservative dogma regardless of the spin accompanying it or the source reporting it.

Additionally, most of my decisions were based on real-time statements and actions. Like I said, I watched nearly every speech and saw all of the debates for the last two months. I saw what they said, in the context it was meant, before the media re-cap, before their words were picked apart until what the candidates said was no longer recognizable. At a basic level, Obama has shown himself to me to be worthy of the presidency, “inadequate experience” and all. I have more faith in Obama’s ability to follow-through with his promises.

Half of my decision has been based on Obama’s behaviour, and so likewise, the other half of my decision was based on McCain’s behaviour. I feel more that McCain is saying anything and doing anything he possibly can to try and gain the presidency, with little chance for follow-through on issues that I deem to be important. Additionally, not once have I seen Obama fear monger in the way that McCain has. Ask a democrat how they feel about McCain winning the presidency and they say something along the lines of “4 more years of this non-sense we’ve already had for 8 years.” When you ask a Republican how they feel about Obama winning the presidency, you hear “I’m scared, I’m afraid, this country will fall into ruin if he wins.” Have they not been paying attention for nearly a decade? Our position as a world power has been severely compromised by policies enacted by (or eroded by) a Republican president, Republican senators, and Republican congressmen.

All of this is forgotten by conservative loyalists when you use the Republican Party’s #1 weapon of choice: FEAR. A few months ago, the fear weapon wasn’t out, conservatives were so sure they were going to win. Then when Obama started pulling ahead, labels like “socialist” and “communist” and “terrorist” were being passed around like candy from the Right. Now you have a whole section of people terrified of someone they will have to give their trust to if he wins the presidency. Tell me, is fear of our leaders good for our country? Not in the least.

I hope against hope that this section of people who make their decisions on fear like this is small. I truly hope that when people cast their ballots this year it is based on what the candidates stand for, not what their opponent or the media says about them. With the media, it is all about ratings.

We’ve been fear mongered for 8 years already. It is time for real change.

Dewmocracy: The Revolution Has Passed

I don't even know why I'm writing this. Maybe to blow off steam, maybe for attention, maybe because I'm an addict. I don't know... I guess I should back up a little bit.

I used to love Mountain Dew. I say "used to" with emphasis. I did love it, and now I don't. Like a past relationship, every once and a while I think of Mountain Dew and wonder what its doing. But also like a past relationship, that's where the wondering stopped. I didn't visit Mountain Dew for literally years. Probably 5.

Then a friend coming over for a gathering at our house brought three twelve packs of funny colored Mountain Dew. Two shades of blue, one shade of pink: Voltage, Revolution, and SuperNova. I still didn't bite, at first.

But then my curiosity got the best of me. I tried all three. The SuperNova was strawberry-melon flavored, which didn't impress me at all. Melon has got to be the worst idea for a soda flavor ever and strawberry pop has been sooooooo overdone. Yes, overdone. The Voltage tasted a little flat to me, but was okay. Sort of like blue cotton candy flavored pop. It was the Revlution which really got me. It had such a crisp taste (mixed berry with a splash of lemon) I couldn't just drink a sip, I grabbed myself a whole can.

And that's where it started. That was some time in May or early, early June. Ever since, I have drank at least a can or 20 ounce bottle of Revolution every day, sometimes two. It has been a requirement for me to be able to make it through my day.

I was devastated in August when it was annonuced that Voltage won the Dewmocracy vote. That meant whatever was left of Revolution on the shelves and in the warehouses was all that was to be manufactured. I told myself that it was bound to happen. Just like the Democracy of America, the candidate you want to win never does. I told myself I would get over it and soon my life without Mountain Dew would be back to normal.

Yeah, right. I went out and bought every 12 pack and 20 ounce bottle of Monutain Dew Revolution that I could. At one point, I had half a dozen 12 packs in my living room closet, hidden so no one else could drink them. If that seems small, it would have been more if I could find them! But they disappeared. If I liked SuperNova or Voltage, I could have had my fill. Revolution sold out of stores so much faster than the other two flavors, I still don't understand how Voltage won.

Anyways, I bought as much Mountain Dew Revolution as I could, trying to grab on to every last shred of it that I could. I rationed myself, no more than 2 cans per day. Yesterday, October 2, I drank the last can. I rationalized that today would be my first Revolution-free days in months. I was wrong.

Today, I drove around and found a gas station that still had 20 ounce bottles of Revolution left and I bought what I could find. I have no idea what I'm really going to do when I actually run out, which will probably be very, very soon.

I like the new and improved Mountain Dew. Its sweet, bubbly, and refreshing in a way that old Mountain Dew hasn't been in a long time. I kicked it to the curb at one time and in my absence, Mountain Dew found a whole new life of its own, changed, evolved. Then it strolled back into my life, teased me for a bit, and then left me wanting more, just like an old boyfriend might do.

Does that mean eventually I will get over Mountain Dew Revolution? Perhaps with the passing of time. Will I find a new drink to replace it? Probably. But it could take a little while before I'm ready to start a new relationship.

Mojo Runnin'

I just thought that while I had a spare moment, I would check in with an update since Mojo MIA. I think it is safe to say that it's back. Until I wrote that post, I was slowly working my way to productivity, but like I said, it was slow. After I laid out all of my spinning thoughts in that post, I feel like I've been able to move on with my work.

Instead of being apathetic about what I know I have to do, I've been getting stuff done. Lots of stuff! Press releases, blog post entries, search engine optimized website content. Today I put in a 12 hour work day! I've been busy!

Once I focus my attention on writing another article for The Drummer and get some better content on my website, I'll be as on track as I want to be.... to start. Then it's time to start kicking my motivation into high gear!

Anyways, if anyone is reading this, expect to see more posts in the future. I'm working on one right now that might be up as early as tomorrow!

Mojo MIA

Ugh... Okay, so I haven't exactly been on the ball lately. I haven't had many posts in recent months: 2 in June, 1 in July, and I entirely missed August. I guess if I wanted to I could lie to myself and post-date an entry, but what exactly would that prove? Not a damn thing.

As the title suggests, I feel like I've lost my mojo, my groove, my inspiration, my innovation. A series of events has really messed with my inner equilibrium over a period of time, starting obviously enough in June. Here they are, in order, laid out for my brain to sort through:

10. Week-long vacation in Ohio to visit family (CRAZY!)
9. Favorite feline diagnosed with lymphoma (He is doing great on his chemo!)
8. Bridesmaid in a wedding (I might just get married in Vegas)
7. Star Wars Exhibit Visit (Meh)
6. Minnesota Renaissance Festival (Twice!)
5. Minnesota Garlic Festival (I wrote an article about it to be published in The Drummer!)
4. Visitations from Out-of-State friends (Love You, Z!)
3. High School Friends re-union (no reason to attend my real 10-year high school re-union now, which happens in 3 weeks!)
2. iQualifyNow.com suspended its article writing program (win/lose: I lost an account, but now I have more time to try advancing myself)

And the #1 thing which has messed with my mojo more than anything else?

1. Calvin, our new Siberian Husky puppy, who just turned 5 months old yesterday.

I never said that all of these things were bad, in fact, most of these things were very, very good and in many cases, lots and lots of fun. But I am a home-body. I think I did more out-of-my-home activities this summer than I have in a while.

Plus, my pets are very important to me. I'm pretty sure that I'm not going to have any children, so as far as I'm concerned, they're my kids. Krillin's diagnosis of lymphoma came as a huge, traumatic shock. Then, my boyfriend falling in love with a husky that was headed for the pound completely turned our house upside-down. Who am I to say no, though? I'm a sucker for a good pet-related sob-story.

Needless to say, I've been distracted so writing and work have been low on my priorities. Because I've been completely off of my schedule, I haven't been able to concentrate. I've been doing enough to make sure ends are met and my kitty could get his chemo, but I haven't done a thing all summer to advance my career. In fact, because iQualifyNow suspended their program, I'm down a client compared to when I started in June.

Thankfully, my social life is slowing down a little bit, not that I didn't totally deserve to take a mental vacation for a while for as hard as I've been working for the past few years. In the last two weeks, I've been pulling myself back together. This blog post is part of my recovery, in fact! Laying it all out here in a sort-of journal format has helped me put in writing what I have been unable to place my finger on for the past few months.

I have to get it together, anyway! With the new husky, our house is super-cramped. We rent and want to take advantage of low real estate price, low interest rates, the abundance of homes on the market, and new first-time home buyer programs. I have to get my butt in gear to get my financial house in order and prepare myself to enter a new stage in life by June 30th next year: Home Ownership. Working up some new clients and making more money could really help with that!

Anyways, time to wrap this up. Today, I rededicate myself to this blog, a new webpage I'm creating for myself, and shortly there-after, an industry-related blog to hopefully drum up some more interest in my writing. Not this kind of writing, but something more related to my industry. I've got a few irons in the fire right now which I will probably cross post to here once I have them going.

If anyone is reading this, thanks for listening!

Top 10 Oldest Jokes in the World

Yes, its been a while since I posted. I'm making sure that I at least have one entry in July. I'll explain what sorts of fun and not so fun things that have been distracting me later. For now, let's read the list of oldest jokes throughout the world as compiled by the University of Wolverhampton.

1. Something which has never occurred since time immemorial: a young woman did not fart in her husband's lap (1900 BC – 1600 BC Sumerian Proverb Collection 1.12-1.13)

2. How do you entertain a bored pharaoh? You sail a boatload of young women dressed only in fishing nets down the Nile and urge the pharaoh to go catch a fish (An abridged version first found in 1600 BC on the Westcar Papryus)

3. Three ox drivers from Adab were thirsty: one owned the ox, the other owned the cow and the other owned the wagon's load. The owner of the ox refused to get water because he feared his ox would be eaten by a lion; the owner of the cow refused because he thought his cow might wander off into the desert; the owner of the wagon refused because he feared his load would be stolen. So they all went. In their absence the ox made love to the cow which gave birth to a calf which ate the wagon's load. Problem: Who owns the calf?! (1200 BC)

4. A woman who was blind in one eye has been married to a man for 20 years. When he found another woman he said to her, "I shall divorce you because you are said to be blind in one eye." And she answered him: "Have you just discovered that after 20 years of marriage!?" (Egyptian circa 1100 BC)

5. Odysseus tells the Cyclops that his real name is nobody. When Odysseus instructs his men to attack the Cyclops, the Cyclops shouts: "Help, nobody is attacking me!" No one comes to help. (Homer. The Odyssey 800 BC)

6. Question: What animal walks on four feet in the morning, two at noon and three at evening? Answer: Man. He goes on all fours as a baby, on two feet as a man and uses a cane in old age (Appears in Oedipus Tyrannus and first performed in 429 BC)

7. Man is even more eager to copulate than a donkey - his purse is what restrains him (Egyptian, Ptolemaic Period 304 BC – 30 BC)

8. Augustus was touring his Empire and noticed a man in the crowd who bore a striking resemblance to himself. Intrigued he asked: "Was your mother at one time in service at the Palace?" "No your Highness," he replied, "but my father was." (Credited to the Emporer Augustus 63 BC – 29 AD)

9. Wishing to teach his donkey not to eat, a pedant did not offer him any food. When the donkey died of hunger, he said "I've had a great loss. Just when he had learned not to eat, he died." (Dated to the Philogelos 4th /5th Century AD)

10. Asked by the court barber how he wanted his hair cut, the king replied: "In silence." (Collected in the Philogelos or "Laughter-Lover" the oldest extant jest book and compiled in the 4th/5th Century AD)

The accompanying article for this list can be found here.

Religious Tolerance in America

So, I found this interesting article on Religion in America at the Star Tribune here in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It shows that religious tolerance is rising, to the point that 70% of the 35,000 adults surveyed who had a spiritual affiliation said they're religion is not the "only true religion" and that other belief systems can lead to eternal salvation.

When you read the article though, you get the feeling that the person who wrote it was indeed Catholic and very much against the idea that there are multiple roads to salvation. This makes it a particularly interesting read! Bible quotes and all! And they say the STrib is only a God-less liberal mouthpiece.

My favorite quote, though, is:

"What most people are saying is, 'Hey, we don't have a hammer-lock on God or salvation, and God's bigger than us and we should respect that and respect other people,'" said the Rev. Tom Reese, a senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University.

Wow! Its a human within the "business of religion" that actually accepts that God is omnipotent and omniscient compared to man's puny amount of knowledge. Its rare to find a religious figure that doesn't believe they are "all knowing" and "all seeing" when it comes to God's judgement.

Finally a Sonic Drive-In in Minnesota!

When perusing the Star Tribune today, I stumbled across a blurb which seemed to indicate that at least one of my prayers has been answered. A Sonic Drive-In has finally opened in Minnesota!

Twin Citians with a taste for cherry limeade, tater tots and extra-long Coney hotdogs served up at Sonic drive-ins can quench their cravings. Sonic is to open its first Minnesota store at 6 a.m. today at 1960 Suburban Av. in St. Paul, just south of Interstate 94 and east of White Bear Avenue.

The closest Sonic had been 180 miles south, in Fort Dodge, Iowa. Sonic got its start in 1953 in Shawnee, Okla., as the Top Hat Drive-In, a hamburger and root beer stand. It's now the nation's largest drive-in restaurant chain.

As previously stated, I most certainly plan on partaking in their Chili Cheese Tator Tots, Caramel Apple Bites, and Bacon Cheeseburger Toaster Sandwich. Also as previously state, I will bring my fellow Minnesotan friends who also have had an interest in Sonic Drive-In goodness with me. And if I want breakfast in the afternoon they will give it to me, unlike their inferior counterparts.