Friday, January 27, 2012

Revelations

Lots of revelations over the past year and a half, two years.  Many of them political.  Let's just say, my eyes have really been opened to the reality that you can give your entire life to politics in some places and you'll never get anything back.  Some of you may say, "Really?  It took you this long to figure that out?" but I enjoyed many years of political work in Ohio where I felt like I gave a lot to politics and I got a great deal in return - satisfaction, knowledge, and the ability to build my future.  I also made friends.  I received none of that while working on campaigns in NH.  It's all very different here, mainly because politics here is very cliquey and there's this huge cabal of individuals who always stick together and it's extremely difficult to penetrate the inner circle.  Every time I go to a political event here (really rare now) I feel like everyone is a backstabber and that I can't trust anyone.  Truth be told, I am more experienced and knowledgeable than many of them, having been politically "raised" in Ohio... but they're all so blind that they would never see that.  They all just kind of was each others' hands and keep helping each other out, regardless of a lack of qualifications.  Many of them have miserable personalities and mistreat each other, but keep advancing because they have a "friend in a high place" or whatnot. 

I finally got out after I was given a huge favor by the presidential campaign I was working on.  It was my most recent campaign, and will also probably be my last really active campaign.  They had me schlep 2 1/2 hours to tell me my job was being "restructured" and that they no longer needed me.  Fine with me, to be honest.  I was losing my passion for the candidate after being a huge fan of his in 2008 once I noticed he was going to be a wet-noodle moderate.  I had vehemently pursued a job with the campaign and was among the first staffers to be hired, then they tossed me aside without a thought.  This campaign really showed little regard for the safety or the feelings of the people working for them.  I also noticed rather quickly that they were not the kinds of people I enjoyed working with, one person in particular, who seemed to take glee in being rude and nasty to me.  It's my opinion that the people who work for a candidate are direct representatives of the candidate.  That's another reason why I've come to lose a lot of respect for this candidate.  It's a combination of ideology and personal feelings about the candidate and the kind of campaign he's running that I would actually consider voting for a 3rd party candidate before I would ever vote for this individual.  I won't say his name, but consider some of the facts I've provided, one in particular, and you'll get who I'm talking about.

Prior to working on that campaign, I worked on a congressional campaign here in NH.  I started out working on the campaign to get my juices going again.  I was feeling so hopeless, living in a state where I knew no one and was going nowhere, and I missed all my friends and everything that was familiar to me.  So I thought the best way to find some familiarity would be to get back into politics.  Turns out, I was right.  Of course, once again I was 2 1/2 hours away from the campaign headquarters and was doing everything by distance, but I was able to connect with the local political organizations, meet more local activists, and make some "friends" (I put "friends" in quotes because, really, how much are political acquaintances ever really "friends"?).  Door-to-door, one of my favorite activities, is actually a nightmare in northern NH, but I did it anyway.  All by myself, because I couldn't get anyone to help me with it.  My parents helped me all the time, and a few other people helped me once or twice.  That's it.  My Dad was always putting out yard signs, and my Mom went out with him a lot, too.  My family was the campaign structure for the entire northern part of this candidate's "north country" operation.  Primary night came along.  Candidate won.  He told me how impressed he was with my resume and all the work I was doing, and that "if we win this, you're in."  I put even more work in, because I saw it as my chance to get out of here.  Worked my ass off, really.  For 6 months of work, I got a check for $1100 that basically covered my expenses and a bonus for winning my county.  Election night came along.  Candidate won.  I was elated, because I was starting to pack and move to Washington, or at least Manchester, in my head.  That night, in the party suite on the top floor of the hotel, candidate once again tells me he'd be in touch with me that week.  Three times.  Guess what?  I never heard from him.  I hounded various members of his campaign staff about when they'd be making staff decisions, and kept being blown off.  Everyone kept saying they'd be in touch.  Nothing.  Finally, I had to read in the paper that he had named his staff.  Wouldn't you know, he picked a bunch of 25 year olds to take to DC with him.  Over someone a few years older who had already worked in DC and had a Masters degree.  Can you understand why I'd be offended?  I guess the worst offense is that a couple of times after that, I was contacted and told "they might have something" for me.  It was always an empty promise.  I just don't trust the guy, or anyone who works for him.  I haven't hesitated to tell a lot of people about my now-congressman and what he and his staff have done.  It's also my understanding that he told a lot of other people that they would have jobs, too.  I guess that's how he got everyone to do his campaign work for him.  Really nice.  Furthermore, he has one really jerky guy working for him (I won't say in what capacity) who INSISTS the congressman never promised me a job, because "he can't do that".  You know what?  I'm not a moron.  I know what he did, and so does my Dad, because he was there every time the guy made one of his comments.  I won't vote for a Democrat, but I'm certainly not casting a vote for this guy in 2012.  Nor is anyone in my family doing an ounce of work for him.  People like this just don't deserve it.  It's not that I didn't get a job.  It's that he's a liar and so are members of his staff.  They are blatantly deceitful.  Frankly, I feel no different with him as a Congressman than I did with his predecessor, who was a Democrat.

I don't mean to say that one of those episodes really bothered me more than the other.  Both of them really, really bothered me, and they ended up turning a dedicated, intelligent conservative activist into an embittered individual who doubts her own party.  NH politics are, undoubtedly, really perverted and different than they were in Ohio. If I went back to Ohio, I would give organized politics another shot.  But never again in this state, where everyone is always stabbing everyone in the back, and these political amateurs know nothing about political professionalism.

So, for now, I'm an armchair political activist, sharing my thoughts on twitter and facebook.  This state isn't worth my hard work.  Hell, I just had surgery for an achilles tendon problem I have had for 2 years that was merely inflamed by the work I did on the congressional campaign.  Do you think it was worth it?  Absolutely not.  I wish I could turn back time and tell him to do it himself and save myself some pain and probably some worsening of my condition.

Revelations.

     

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

I am the worst blogger ever. But I'm working for a leading contender for the GOP presidential nomination. Does that increase my relevancy?

I haven't blogged in forever.  But there's a lot going on right now, so I'll make an effort to keep everyone informed.

There's nothing better than being in New Hampshire during political season.  Well, yeah there is, actually.  Working for a leading contender for the Republican nomination, in New Hampshire, during political season!  And I'm fortunate to be doing that right now!  New Hampshire people, while a little different, are truly the salt of the earth - and generally, you don't hear any better sense regarding political issues than you do from them.  Hence why intelligent candidates (like the one I work for) will spend as much time as they can here, listening to the citizens and endearing themselves to the electorate of this very important state.

I'm hearing a lot.  People who typically belong to liberal "stronghold" groups like youth, gays, and even some religious groups that insist on supporting liberals, are all having second thoughts about voting for Barack Obama again in 2012.  As the daughter of a (conservative) Jewish father, I frequently (and exasperatedly) argue with my Dad over the hopelessness of the Jewish electorate, and how they repeatedly insist on voting for liberals, who seek to befriend Israel's enemies at the cost of Israel's safety.  Case in point, Obama's recent "1967 borders" speech.  I hope Jews wake up in 2012 - yes, even the "Plopping Jew" who seems unable to remember that his/her station as a solidly successful American liberal now is only due to the sacrifice and persecution of many generations of Jews prior to them.  Even a couple of my gay friends (I'm not saying all gays vote for Democrats, but gays as a whole tend to vote for that way, I believe not because Democrats go out of their way to support gays, but because gays feel Republicans are just completely against them.  Which isn't true.  But I digress) are switching over this time.  Youth voters, who are largely responsible for electing Obama, are starting to wake up, too (yay for my generation!) since many of us are or have been unemployed, underemployed, living at home with our parents, and/or working in a field completely different than that we went to school for, simply to make ends meet.  This president has failed us.  He's failed an entire generation.  And if we give him another term, he will fail the next generation, too.  Can we really afford that?  I know I can't.  Neither can many of my peers.

As long as this president is in office, we are a weak country.  We are not embracing the American Exceptionalism of years past - that we shouldn't be afraid to embrace.  The American Exceptionalism thousands of young men and women sign up to defend.  We need a president who supports our exceptionalism and supports those who fight for it.  This president, with his timetables and ring-kissing, does nothing but make us look vulnerable and exposes our troops to attacks, life-altering injuries, and death.  I am very proud of my friends who fight, and I want a president who protects them.  I don't go to sleep at night feeling safe with this president in the White House.  I sincerely doubt my friends in the military feel as safe as they should when they're in the line of fire, because their president isn't traveling around the world telling our enemies they'd better watch out for us.  He's pandering to them.  If, by some miracle, my friends in the military don't agree with this assessment and feel comfortable with the ccoit's certainly not a credit to Obama, but to them and their elite fighting skills.

But to cut this off before it gets too long... people have had it.  And they want someone different.  This country gave "change" a chance, and now that change is all most of us have left, we're ready for a president who infuses our economy and provides the private sector with the tools it needs to create jobs.     

Monday, November 03, 2008

Feelings on who I want to win vs. who I THINK will win (PS Sorry for the lack of formatting, I originally wrote this on my guild's forum)

I've been active in Republican politics since I was 16, and I've been involved in probably well over 100 campaigns on the city/town, county, state, and national level, and have been campaign manager for several. In 2004, I gave my life to Bush's campaign, and was a paid staffer for him. We are talking consecutive nights with no sleep, weeks at a time with no voice because I was campaigning so much. Obviously, as evidenced by the leveling of my druid, I have no loyalty to a particular candidate in this election, or I'd be playing WoW a lot less. Problem is, with this election, people like me aren't jazzed about McCain because he's done nothing for us. As a matter of fact, he has prided himself on ignoring us. I'm not religious, but I am a pretty staunch conservative (even though most of the time people assume the conservative base is all religious zealots, that is not the case with many of us). Obama has a huge following of people who expect him to do stuff for them, becuse as Democrats do, he's promised more social programs ... and he caters to the far left edge of the Democratic party, groups who have been waiting for a guy like Obama to galvanize around. He has also accepted them and their agendas with open arms, and it can be expected that in his administration, his policies will reflect his ties to far left causes (don't even get me started about how his friends... Ayers, Wright, Pflager, Khalidi, etc... will influence his policies). His feelings on the coal industry, released in a tape today, pretty much tell you he's in bed with environmentalists and will attempt to run down industries in his presidency that will interfere with the agendas of those groups with whom he has major ties.

I'm sure you all know about the Rush Limbaugh "Operation Chaos." Well, I think it took Republicans until AFTER McCain was chosen as our nominee (and maybe not even then) to realize that we were the victims of a reverse "Operation Chaos" by Democrats and "Independents" who voted for McCain because they KNEW he'd be the easiest to beat. Unfortunately, the blatant lack of objectivity by the media in this election has allowed the Democratic propaganda machine to be able to say things and have absolutely no accountability for what they are saying. I identify as more of a fiscal Conservative than a social one, honestly, but I am a classic Conservative overall. Therefore, Obama's would-be policies scare the bejeezus out of me especially since, if I get the job I really want, I'll be making well over $100,000/year within 5 years. His consistent lowering of the "magic number" - first $250,000, then $200,000 and recently $150,000 is frightening... and I predict that, no matter how much he claims he won't raise taxes on the middle class he'll turn around and do what Clinton did - raise middle class taxes 26 days after being inaugurated. With the ambitious government programs (about $1 trillion worth) he wouldn't be able to NOT raise taxes on the middle class, and I wish more people saw that his numbers don't add up. It is impossible to grow government and reduce the tax burden on ordinary people. To me, Obama's policies seem very anti-growth. If you penalize people who MAKE money, you discourage them from investing. Many wealthy people are business owners, and if you make it impossible for them to gain profit (and tax them to oblivion) they have to lay people off and cannot provide raises for their employees. Programs that provide people with goods and money but no incentive to work for those themselves are horribly anti-growth. You know what they say... give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, he'll eat for a lifetime. Or an even better analogy my dad told me (that represents the ineffectiveness of bottom-up economic policies): if you pour water at the bottom of a hill, it pools there. If you pour it at the top of the hill, it flows down and covers the whole hill.

Unfortunately, I think Obama WILL win. My hope is that Senate doesn't end up with a supermajority, and even Chuck Schumer thinks that's unlikely... which is a shining beacon of HOPE for me. Everyone talks about how Bush is so terrible, but Bush has had split government for the last 2 years (arguably when things started going downhill). Most people have no understanding of Congress and how it works - and have no idea that a president can do very little without Congressional support. But even though this is probably the lowest-approval rating Congress in history, people aren't putting 2 and 2 together. A unified government with Obama (far left) and this Congress (also far left) will be a disaster. I don't care if Obama wins (well, I do) but solidly unified government with a supermajority in the Senate is BAD NEWS. The greatest policies come from bipartisanship and divided government, and by and large most people PREFER divided government to avoid consolidation of power by one party.

So, I'm that girl I hate - the one who is voting AGAINST someone because they don't like their own party's candidate, but they really hate the other party's candidate. I predict, ahead of time, that if Obama does win he'll be a 1 term president. He is the perfect storm of Johnson and Carter, both of whom were not very successful presidents (unless you count Johnson's "Great Society," the beginning of socialism in this country, as success). Carter failed to have a grasp on Middle Eastern politics... and arguably created many of the problems we face in the Middle East today. I believe Obama suffers from that same hindrance. He is VERY wet behind the ears, has very limited international experience, and I think will find himself, as Biden said, in the clutches of an international crisis. Most Democrats make much better domestic presidents than international ones... and this is not a time for a president who doesn't have a grasp on international affairs. Actually, one of the biggest dangers of an Obama presidency is his ability to appoint judges. I can see it now, he'll appoint radical, legislate-from-the-bench judges (as if we're not dealing with enough Carter and Clinton appointees already) who will rule on ideology instead of constitution. Unfortunately, even though the president has nothing to do with the economy, many people are being pulled in by this "change" thing - not realizing that Obama will have absolutely no say over what happens with the markets, and that punishing a party by voting blindly for the other side can only cause more problems. If anything, his negative-growth policies will scare investors and you watch - the market and the economy will tank soon after he's elected. We are a short-sighted country, though... and many people in my age group weren't around yet when our parents were feeling the burden of Carter's policies. I doubt that even if they had been around, that they would have equated the disastrous Carter administration with the kind of administration Obama might have.

I know this is long-winded, but I've had SO much to say this election cycle, and no one seems to be listening... which is really frustrating.

But I guess our waiting is over tomorrow, right? If you're an Obama supporter and you've been working hard for him, I respect your dedication, because I know how rigorous campaigns are. This election cycle has been so nasty, I can't talk to at least 1/2 of my friends... and that's not how it should be, but it just shows how polarized this election is. And I think the "deciders" aren't even partisans.

And you know what? If for some reason his administration turns out okay and he does positive things, I'll be the first to admit it.

I'm just feeling really doubtful that this is what America needs right now.

But yes, even though it makes me unhappy to admit it... I think Obama will win. So maybe I'll just bury myself in WoW for the next 4 years.

Thursday, June 05, 2008

I never thought I'd be able to sympathize with Hillary Clinton...

Well, it appears as though John McCain will face Barack Osama in the general election. I personally have begun to hate my own party, as they all fell in line and supported McCain even though he is the LEAST conservative out of anyone who was running in the GOP primary. Without us even realizing it (well some of us realized it) the Dems/Indies implemented a reverse "Operation Chaos" - and we ended up with a really lousy nominee that they are well aware will be easy to beat.
Should Osama choose Hill as his running mate, that will be a virtually unbeatable ticket. While John McCain is busy shoving his head up the asses of the left, the moderates, and the media, touting lines of "reaching across the aisle," the left is going further to the left and has made no attempt to reach their hands across the aisle even halfway. Therefore, the GOP is once again left looking stupid, because our candidate is obsessed with making liberals happy, and the Dem candidates don't care a whit about making conservatives happy. Hell, our own nominee doesn't care about his base, and I almost hope he loses just to show himself and America that when you stray from your base, you lose.
But this is not the point of this blog. I would like to discuss the media's fascination with Barack Obama. Consider early on, when they were singing the praises of Hillary - a woman running for the White House! Did anyone think that could be eclipsed? Well, try a BLACK man! The media was practically frothing at the mouth. Who do they support, with a woman and a black running? The more Socialist of the two, of course, who happens to be Osama. I almost feel sorry for Hillary Clinton, because she was openly banished from her party in favor of race. The entire Democratic party abandoned her for someone that is in even more of a protected class than she, and it is altogether unfair to her. In fact, I have heard numerous Hillary-ites proclaim they will vote for McCain because their opinions have been marginalized all so the Dems could embrace a black candidate. Funny how a lot of conservatives feel marginalized since we were left without a choice, too. So maybe the Hillary-ites and the marginalized conservatives can group together and form a coalition. Stranger things have happened. But needless to say, this whole issue is one of political marginalization, and the loss of choice for many people in this country.
This fascination with Osama has lent itself to his virtual untouchability in the news. So Osama keeps company with radicals from Weather Underground, and his church in Chicago... so he is bff with Tony Rezko. Who cares? He's black! Let's support him! Not to mention, he has the single most liberal voting record in congress, right up there with his buddy, Ted Kennedy.
All Osama represents is an attempt by the left to assuage their egos that are heavy with racial burdens. By this I mean, the left's primary target and voter base consists of minorities. So by supporting a minority, they can finally claim that they really want the best for America's minorities. Whatever. If Osama were a Republican, he would be beaten to death unmercilessly by the media and the left. You have to be a far-leaning Liberal black to win the hearts of the liberals in and out of the media - and Osama is it! And, of course, because I'm saying this, I'll be labeled a racist. yet another reason Osama is swimming in a sea of support - he's one of the "protected" classes we've developed in our society - and as such, if someone says something negative about him, they are automatically a racist because he's black. What happened to freedom of speech, eh?
Here is an article written by Michelle Malkin - it is absolutely brilliant, and it sums up much of what I feel about the idea of Osama being "Held up" by the media... meaning, he can do no wrong, and if he does wrong, they correct it for him, or just fail to report it. So, thank you Michelle for writing this brilliant article:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Barack Obama: Gaffe machine
By Michelle Malkin • May 21, 2008 07:43 AM
Here's my syndicated column this week. Hardly a comprehensive list–and sure to grow.
***
Barack Obama: Gaffe machineMichelle MalkinCreators SyndicateCopyright 2008
All it takes is one gaffe to taint a Republican for life. The political establishment never let Dan Quayle live down his fateful misspelling of "potatoe." The New York Times distorted and misreported the first President Bush's questions about new scanner technology at a grocers' convention to brand him permanently as out of touch.
But what about Barack Obama? The guy's a perpetual gaffe machine. Let us count the ways, large and small, that his tongue has betrayed him throughout the campaign:
* Last May, he claimed that Kansas tornadoes killed a whopping 10,000 people: "In case you missed it, this week, there was a tragedy in Kansas. Ten thousand people died — an entire town destroyed." The actual death toll: 12.
*Earlier this month in Oregon, he redrew the map of the United States: "Over the last 15 months, we've traveled to every corner of the United States. I've now been in 57 states? I think one left to go."
*Last week, in front of a roaring Sioux Falls, South Dakota audience, Obama exulted: "Thank you Sioux City…I said it wrong. I've been in Iowa for too long. I'm sorry."
*Explaining last week why he was trailing Hillary Clinton in Kentucky, Obama again botched basic geography: "Sen. Clinton, I think, is much better known, coming from a nearby state of Arkansas. So it's not surprising that she would have an advantage in some of those states in the middle." On what map is Arkansas closer to Kentucky than Illinois?
*Obama has as much trouble with numbers as he has with maps. Last March, on the anniversary of the Bloody Sunday march in Selma, Alabama, he claimed his parents united as a direct result of the civil rights movement:
"There was something stirring across the country because of what happened in Selma, Alabama, because some folks are willing to march across a bridge. So they got together and Barack Obama Jr. was born."
Obama was born in 1961. The Selma march took place in 1965. His spokesman, Bill Burton, later explained that Obama was "speaking metaphorically about the civil rights movement as a whole."
*Earlier this month in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, Obama showed off his knowledge of the war in Afghanistan by honing in on a lack of translators: "We only have a certain number of them and if they are all in Iraq, then it's harder for us to use them in Afghanistan." The real reason it's "harder for us to use them" in Afghanistan: Iraqis speak Arabic or Kurdish. The Afghanis speak Pashto, Farsi, or other non-Arabic languages.
*Over the weekend in Oregon, Obama pleaded ignorance of the decades-old, multi-billion-dollar massive Hanford nuclear waste clean-up:
"Here's something that you will rarely hear from a politician, and that is that I'm not familiar with the Hanford, uuuuhh, site, so I don't know exactly what's going on there. (Applause.) Now, having said that, I promise you I'll learn about it by the time I leave here on the ride back to the airport."
I assume on that ride, a staffer reminded him that he's voted on at least one defense authorization bill that addressed the "costs, schedules, and technical issues" dealing with the nation's most contaminated nuclear waste site.
*Last March, the Chicago Tribune reported this little-noticed nugget about a fake autobiographical detail in Obama's "Dreams from My Father:"
"Then, there's the copy of Life magazine that Obama presents as his racial awakening at age 9. In it, he wrote, was an article and two accompanying photographs of an African-American man physically and mentally scarred by his efforts to lighten his skin. In fact, the Life article and the photographs don't exist, say the magazine's own historians."
* And in perhaps the most seriously troubling set of gaffes of them all, Obama told a Portland crowd over the weekend that Iran doesn't "pose a serious threat to us"–cluelessly arguing that "tiny countries" with small defense budgets can't do us harm– and then promptly flip-flopped the next day, claiming, "I've made it clear for years that the threat from Iran is grave."
Barack Obama–promoted by the Left and the media as an all-knowing, articulate, transcendent Messiah–is a walking, talking gaffe machine. How many more passes does he get? How many more can we afford?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As Michelle so brilliantly writes, he's been absolved of ALL of these gaffes by the protective media. If, as she notes, a Republican would say even ONE of these things, their political career would be ruined forever.
The media has made little note of the fact that Osama is bff with Tony Rezko, who was just recently convicted of several crimes. Instead, when Osama spews his self-righteous, "Oh, I was just a bonehead" excuses, they eat it up and then spit it out to the American people, who are typically stupid enough to believe it.
How about Rev. Wright and Fr. Pflager? Oh, all he has to do is leave the church and it's good enough for the media... no mention of the fact that both of them have VERY questionable ties, including to Calypso Louie (aka the Reverent Farrakhan). Both of them spew anti-American hate speech and are wholly intolerant. He's been friends with them each for about 20 years. But he gets a free pass... why? Oh, yeah, he's black.
You know, I'm half Jewish. And a woman! But I don't count as a "protected class" because the left hasn't ever confirmed Jews as a protected class. Why? Jews don't leech off the system, and unfortunately are already loyal liberals (God only knows why they'd support those that support their enemies). Jews don't have to be promised welfare and special benefits to vote for liberals, so they are largely ignored. True story.
Even if all the above gaffes Michelle Malkin mentions aren't enough, it's his connections. And I haven't even mentioned the most horrific connection yet...
Domestic terrorist, WIlliam Ayers! A bona fide member of the Weather Underground. The beneficial alliances keep mounting. Of course, it's easy to see why the media in particular would support his extreme left alliances, so it's no surprise that they have once again sheltered their golden boy from his own horrible judgment.
I really hope John McCain shoves aside this thing he has about "reaching across the aisle" - because I hate to tell him, but he's going to reach nothing but air, since his across-the-aisle compadres are busy crowding to the left side of their party. However, I doubt he'll come this realization, and I'm quite certain he'll pick someone equally as liberal as himself to be his running mate, which will completely ignore his base and give Osama/Hill an easy victory.
Some people might accuse me of being racist and closed-minded. But I say that those who have fallen in line and supported Obama just because he's a minority are doing nothing to further the ideals of this country.

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Slacker

So, you may have noticed my last post was made about a year ago. Since then, lots has happened, and I'm in one of those phases where I need an outlet for my creative and argumentative side. Actually, that's a perpetual phase, but I'm feeling the need to vent about stuff more now than I have for awhile.

A bit of catch-up. I'm about 1/4 way through my last year of grad school, which is both scary and fun at the same time. Unlike some of my colleagues, I refuse to stay in school just to avoid the "real world." I mean - when you stay in school to pursue a higher degree in something pointless like American Culture Studies or Sociology, you're obviously trying to delay responsibility. It's for that very reason that people in academia can have these idealistic and completely unrealistic political views - they've been isolated by a false academic environment for so long, so it doesn't matter if they are Marxist because what they do has no bearing outside of the university.

So hopefully the first week in May, I will have a Masters in Public Administration with a specialization in National Security and Defense policy (or, as I like to call it: International Relations on steroids). It's weeks like this one that make me want to drop out and play World of Warcraft for a living, although I don't think I'd succeed very much having WoW as a career considering I've played for 9 months and my highest character is still only 53 (a bar away from 54, hehe).

This week: Test yesterday (Tuesday) in International Organizations. Reflection paper for our IMF case study also turned in yesterday (even though it turns out it was due LAST wednesday). Today (Wednesday): not feeling well, had to call in sick to the writing center and ask the students to send me their papers by email. Also have a paper due later today on the IMF and its role as a global crisis counselor. Tomorrow: the first 2 sections of my International Organizations paper on UNIKOM (UN Iraq-Kuwait Observation Mission). I thought it was due Friday, even though ON MY CALENDAR which is right behind my computer, it says THURSDAY. I need to get a grip.

I love my classes this semester, but they are VERY tough. I just got my Public Policy test back last night with an 86.5% - but if you know Dr. Miller, you know that's a good grade :-) I just hope I did well on my IO test yesterday. It was so awful - high noon, 3rd floor of an unairconditioned building. This weekend I can't relax, either.... oh, and I just rememberd my topic for 20th Century American Diplomacy is due today, and I don't even know what it is. AAAAHHHHH. I just had some soup and I'm feeling better. I'm glad I have the ability to do writing sessions online, though. More time to finish my paper.

The class I TA for has a test next week, and we're supposed to review with them on Friday. However, the professor hasn't gotten back to us with a review sheet yet. So I'm not really sure what the deal is. Maybe I'll make POLS 110 mad libs for them or something. It's possible. The questionis: do I care enough about these uninspired children to do something like that, in the hopes that maybe they'll become inspired? Hmm... not sure. But I am being paid for it.

Can we talk about how pretty it is here? It actually borders on COLD, which I love. You can always put more clothes on, but you can't always take them off (and still be appropriate).

Boy, it feels good to blog again. Especially living alone, sometimes you just want to VENT and you can't, because if someone walks by your apartment and hears you talking to yourself, you sound like a bigger freak than you already are :-)

Saturday, July 01, 2006

Riding in the President's Motorcade

Yesterday was exciting!!

I got to ride in the President's motorcade :-) I was supposed to get into the main event, but when we got there, the DeWine people (a bunch of losers) told me "you're not on the list" and "we stopped admitting people at 4:00"

Ummm... how about, "I was responsible for getting the president here, you heiffers"? Ugh. 1 vote for Sherrod Brown. Not to mention, I'm supposed to be a freakin' DeWine co-chair in Delaware County. All the girls were just jealous because I was more beautiful than them. That's what it came down to, ultimately.

I got some great pics of AF 1. We were parked right there on the tarmac, it was a beautiful sight :-) It's great... AF 1 parks, Bush gets off the plane, talks to the special guests waiting for him, then he gets in the limo, and the press comes barreling toward the waiting vans and off goes the motorcade.... and I was like, "let's just leave the press here, we don't freakin' need them" They were really frantic, because the motorcade started moving before some of them had gotten in... and I think some doors were still open with cars moving. Fun stuff! Too bad Helen Thomas wasn't there... just maybe some sort of accident could have been arranged where a door could have accidentally swung upen. Helen Thomas and David Gregory. yes.

So if I didn't already hate the media, I passed over hate yesterday and went into the DESPISE zone. What a bunch of goons. They were making fun of Ohioans for being so patriotic and loving their President, and making fun of George's bike accident. I wanted to turn around and shove their laptops up their asses. Andrew was driving, and at one point he put on the brakes a little heavy, and one of them said, "Take it easy" followed by some other smartass comment... and I wanted to turn around and say, "he'll take it easy if you engage in objective journalism!" Oh yeah! I just got absolutely nauseous thinking that these idiots are responsible for giving the public most of their knowledge base. *vomit*

Not to mention, the media got to spend time in the 13,000 square foot house, dining on fine foods and drinking beer, while watching TV, etc... and then I asked one of them, "did you see the inside of the palace?" and they said they didn't! freakin' liars. One said something about being confined to garages most of the time and I thought, "Well, if you belong there... perhaps someone should start a car and put rags in all of the openings next time."

George hit the best photo-op after the fundraiser.... you might have seen it. We were rollin, then all of a sudden the presidential limos stopped, followed by everyone else, and the press like, ran over each other to get out of the vans screaming, "You gotta be kidding me!" and George had stopped at a lemonade stand across the street to buy lemonade from some little kids. I was so .. I dont know... proud to be a supporter of him at that moment. He's a great man.

I think I'll REALLY get to meet him on August 2nd, when he comes back to Ohio for a fundraiser for Ken Blackwell. Fortunately, Drew is the county chair here for Blackie, and he'll get me in... and we won't have to go through other people... that apparently don't have as much pull as they say they do.

I just googled myself, as I do every once in awhile... and I noticed that a baby with my name was born on June 28th. Good for her. May she accomplish great things :-)

I received an invitation to Commissioner Kris Jordan's July 20th fundraiser in the mail today... a complimentary one... since I AM an elected official. *sigh* Enough with the perks already! lol. I'm excited... Jordan has a contested election, as do a few of the other officials up in November. Even the Auditor has some competition, if you want to call it that, considering the guy didn't even vote for himself in the primary...

I'd really like to post a whole blog on the NYT thing... that's part of the reason this one is so antagonistic toward the media. They're really a bunch of obnoxious people who over-emphasize their role in society. And we allow them to be important. If Americans were more excited about learning and informing themselves about the issues, the media wouldn't play such an active role in our world... but instead, most americans are passive and then find themselves having to rely on the media for information regarding crucial issues... and they don't care enough to fact-check... or delve deeper. This is the one place I agree with Noam Chomsky... if you know the people are wrapped up in idiocy, like they are only interested in watching sitcoms, etc... you can throw them stupidity and falsifications. It's like my dad says... americans are more interested in watching American Idol than they are the news. And that's tragic.

One more thing... I wish I'd spoken more to this guy, but toward the end of the day yesterday I started talking to one of the guys in the motorcade. I had heard he was a Marine and we talked about school and being older students, but how it's important just to get done - not necessarily how old you are when you get done. I mentioned that my perspective kind of shifted when I saw the A&E documentary on Lima Company, which, as some of you know, I took a big interest in. My heart stopped when he said he was a part of Lima Company. You don't want to say, "Oh, I'm sorry" or a bunch of simple, things. I didn't want to tell him that I spent most of that documentary crying like a little baby. He told me about the privat screening they had for the other marines in lima company, and that he actually liked the documentary. He's proabably already forgotten it, but that brief conversation was pretty valuable to me.

I'll write more later. I wanna go to bed, I'm still recovering from yesterday :-)

D