No End In Sight

I want to see this movie. It will only reiterate the things we know, but what's better than being told "you're right?"

2008 Beijing Olympics

I am an Olympic Junkie.

When they came to Utah, I became the poster child for couch potatoes everywhere. I was up by 7 to watch morning highlights, sat there all afternoon, and only shut the TV off when coverage was over. Winter Olympics in Italy I was no different. I pulled 8am-8pm shifts on the couch, ogling Olympians everywhere and wishing I could be like them.

This year I'll be watching for a different reason. In the past I watched to see the best compete. In a few short days, I'll watch to see how big a disaster it will be. I'd like to be an optimist, but deep down (ok, not all that deep) I'm a pessimist.

Who thought following Utah, Greece, Italy...with Beijing...was somehow a good idea?

For example...

Internet Censorship
Environmental Disasters
Allegations of Cheating
PR Control (what protesters, where?)
Attempts to control foreign media

...are just a few things challenging the Chinese and my hopes for a successful Olympics.

What do you think?

Canadians Apologize to Americans for...everything

Have I ever mentioned that I'd like to run away to Canada?

Heir Apparent to the USA

I'm going to move the general focus of this blog from political bitching, I swear. Just not yet.

Dana Milbank (Washingtonpost) said it best in todays article when she said: "Barack Obama has long been his party's presumptive nominee. Now he's becoming it presumptuous nominee."

Barak seems to have forgotten that he hasn't won (yet). Polls show him leading McCain, but never by much. American voters chose him over Hilary, but now it seems there not sure they want him or McCain. Basically, he has a lot of winning over to do.

Strutting around the globe, playing King George's first born golden child is not the best way to win any love. At least in my book.

Caveats and fancy promise side stepping

I was afraid this is what would happen if he won the Democratic party nomination.

Throughout this campaign, Obama made tall order promises I was certain he wouldn't be able to fulfill or, in the case of article linked to this post (or this one), would seek to find ways out of ("what I meant when I said that was...").

I'm not telling those who voted for him I told you so, but I will remind you of what he said:

"[Obama] repeatedly said voters should demand a clear plan on how to end the war from all the Democratic candidates. On Sunday afternoon, he flew to his hometown of Chicago for a boisterous rally attended by more than 8,000 people at the University of Illinois-Chicago, where he once taught.

'The time has come for us to end this engagement in Iraq,' he said, saying he was proud he had been "consistent and constant" in his Iraq message" (Washington Post, Feb. 2007).

Now it's,

"[The] United States cannot sustain a long-term military presence in Iraq, but [Obama] added he would be open to “refine [his] policies” about a timeline for withdrawing troops" (New York Times, July 2008).

Oh I give up.

I told you so.

When too much of too little is a bad thing

The other day while at work, I had an interesting conversation with one of my coworkers.

She was writing a story about some LDS (Mormon for you non Utahans) characters. After reading her story and commenting on it, she asked me if I thought any of the terms she used were "Utah/LDS jargon" and wouldn't be understood by an outsider.

A short list of the words she was worried about were: bishop, ward, hymn, and sacrament.

What made this conversation so interesting me however, was that she said that in various creative writing classes throughout her college career, other LDS students wondered whether these words "belonged" if you will, to Utah and Mormons.

I was disturbed. I am by no means the most versed individual in religions and faiths outside of my own. I did attend Catholic grade school, and the majority of my friends growing up were LDS. I have known Buddhists, in college was friends with a Muslim, I took two semesters of world religions, and briefly considered dating a Wiccan. Some of my closest friends today are Jews, and of course, I know plenty of agnostics and atheists, and for a religion class credit, I attended a Jehovah's Witness' Kingdom Hall meeting.

All this experience aside, I have had very little contact with and have very little understanding of other faiths and religions, but I do know that many, many other religions incorporate these aspects into their religious practices.

But what experience I do have seems to, in light of this conversation, be light years more than your average LDS. Why is this I wonder?

I can understand a parent's desire to not introduce their child(ren) to faiths outside of the one practiced at home, because they do not want outside influences eroding the groundwork of belief they are trying to lay.

But this does not explain LDS college student's naiveté.

Extrapolating all this to a broader view:

How are we as a nation ever going to be able to reach out to nations whose ideals, morals, values, and world views may differ from our own, and work with them with honor, trust, and respect in the face of such blatant and willing ignorance?

This is one ship I'd rather not go down with

This will be my second presidential election, and may I just mention that I am a very unhappy voter. Not once has my vote nor my voice mattered.

I am now struggling with a choice: Do I hold my nose as they say, and vote for someone I truly believe with no reservations what-so-ever is a mistake for this country, do I cross party lines and vote for experience at the cost of social advancement, or do I sit this one out and pray like crazy for a better choice in 4 years?

Or do I start a donation fund to myself so I can move to Canada?

I really can't justify not voting - after all, I'm always the one to tell non-voters "when things don't go your way, you don't have the right to bitch about it cause you didn't vote." But if I do vote, I will be voting against what I know to be my self interests, my economic interests, and my county's interests.

How can I just "hold me nose" and vote in the face of all that?