Also a quote!

Hearts can be well-hidden, and you betray them with your tongue. --Neil Gaiman

Oh, the humanity!

I was pondering to myself the awkward situation Michelle Obama recently found herself in while doing P.R. event in a second grade class in Washington D.C. She had gone to promote her anti-obesity campaign with the first lady of Mexico. And was confronted with the innocent concern of a child no more than 7 years old. She told her that she heard that Barak Obama wanted to send everyone without papers home. The first lady rather diplomatically replied that this was something that congress needed to work on, while other students hands shot into the air to ask her other questions. We can hear her ever so softly say, "but my mom doesn't have papers".

Out of the mouths of them babies... This honestly couldn't be anymore heartbreaking to me. Her worry is only for her parent-- that she might be taken away from her, because of something she doesn't have any control over. Right or wrong, these are people--not statistics. They have children, who are probably citizens, who they shouldn't be separated from. I am not a politician. I do not proclaim to hold the answers to all immigration issues. I am just certain that there is a tendency for the villagers to become unruly and attack the issue with pitchforks without a shred of compassion or human decency. Let's remember that these are people (and mostly of the hard-working, tax-paying variety) and that they should be treated with some basic human dignity.

politics politics politics.

Obama's presidency has made me realize one thing. I am not a Republican or a Democrat. Bush was elected to the Presidency the year I turned 18. So from the time I became an eligible voter, Republicans were in power. Like so many thinking people, I disliked the man from the start. He seemed to have a special talent for making bad decisions. He may or may not have been elected fairly, 9-11 happened on his watch, then he started a war that didn't really need to happen. And he did it all while blundering his way through diplomatic affairs and becoming quite notorious for saying stupid things. I'm really not a fan.

I voted for Obama because he seemed so not Bush. He is articulate, smart, and diplomatic. And he has done plenty of things I don't agree with either. I see a real difference in the way Republicans and Democrats deliver their propaganda though. There's a real element of fear-mongering with the Republicans about how people "who aren't like us" are going to attack and eat your babies. It really seems that ludicrous to me at times. This particularly applies to Oklahoma Republicans who have introduced such novel legislation as Senate Bill 402 in the 48th Legislature, also sometimes affectionately called the "De-nutting Bill". This amazing piece of legislation requires castration for pedophiles. We've had some amazingly bad and just unintelligent legislation go through the Oklahoma legislature, but this bill pops up from time to time on a fairly regular basis. And has fortunately been shot down each time, because it is clearly unconstitutional. It pops up here and again on about election time, so they can get the locals out of the house to go and vote.

Let me just state now that I am not soft on sex crimes. And people who commit them should be punished to the maximum extent that the law allows. But really, your going to castrate them when there is no medical science to prove that it would actually dissuade violent tendencies?

To me, this is a perfect example of a pattern. That demonstrates a rigid legalist nature that I find lacking in basic human compassion. All that being said, I've realized recently that I'm not a really a Democrat or a Republican. There's plenty of stuff I don't like about both parties. I just usually find myself voting Democrat because Republican shenanigans make me ridiculously angry.

When did smart become a liability?

Being a smart single woman is the most frustrating thing in the world sometimes.

Blogs are a curious indulgence,

but one I'm inclined to grant myself. I just filed for my Master of Arts diploma today. And I still feel, at nearly 28 years old, that I haven't accomplished that much with my life. I think it's a fairly common feeling. Personally, I think I'm too hard on myself. But like all of us cursed with bodies, I carry around emotions that contradict my more rational side. I went and saw Remember Me last week with Sammie. We went because Robert Pattinson is in it and we like watching him. He quotes Gandhi who says, "Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it". I love this bit of wisdom. Maybe because in the religious tradition I was raised in we could never hope for more than insignificance. And that sentiment always kind of made me feel super depressed. I find a lot of hope and comfort in the thought that all acts, as insignificant as they may seem will be important to someone. I am starting this blog with that thought in mind. Maybe I am insignificant but I matter because I am here. And I speak because I can.