November 27, 2012

Slipping Away



The road is calling.
I want desperately to answer her.
To go.
Feel her, smell her, be her.
Yet, I'm hesitant.
Stuck.
Feeling too far away.
Removed.
Like maybe she's calling to someone else.
Or maybe her cries are those of sorrow.
Regret.
Missed opportunity.
Did I miss it.
Is she gone.
That can't be.
Breath still fills my lungs.
Possibility never dies.
Why then.
Why do I feel her slipping through my grasp.
Further and further away.


Perspective.
It should come in a convenient snack pack sized juice box. If we can bottle up and sell energy in 5 hour increments; surely we can whip up some perspective. Maybe wine bottle size would be better. Although, what would I have to write about if not perspective.

We're still here. In my Grandparents driveway. Teetering between feeling like we could leave "tomorrow", and feeling like we're not any closer to leaving then we were 2 months ago. Most of our RV repair parts came in, but there were several pieces missing from our order (paid for) that we're trying to sort out. We're dealing with the "flood of 2012" in the back room (the kids' room) right now. A musty mildewy smell that has turned my stomach upside down and inside out. The puking is non stop. I think soon I may puke up some lasagna that I consumed when I was 13 years old; there can't possibly be anything left in there. Their mattresses and carpet are soaked. Soaked, soaked, soaked. So that's been a whole lot of fun. And our finances are not at all where we expected them to be before we headed out. All of this has prevented us from being able to hit the road yet.

A shift in perspective tells me that "things" will always and forever pop up. The real question is why are we letting them hold us back. Fear? Probably.

It's been almost 9 months since we first moved into this RV. 9 months of mostly sitting in one spot has lead to some serious meltdowns about even wanting to stay in this rig home of ours. Without the travel, living in an RV is just not enjoyable for me anymore. I'm feeling a need to stretch a little bit. Feel more stable. Seems if we don't get on the road soon; this whole travel dream will be smoke. Smoke because I'll have murdered it. With my bare hands. Or maybe I'll use a knife. I haven't yet decided.

I think this timeless transition period is definitely getting to me.

And digging into fear is not my favorite thing.

Digging in while feeling trapped.

Trapped because of the need to dig in.

Viscous little cycle.

Fear is a bitch.

Shit or get off the pot.

I can't sit still in this thing much longer.

November 5, 2012

My Vote; My Voice; My Reasons



Why are you voting for Obama?

I get that question a lot.
A lot, a lot.
And not just from conservatives or republicans, either.
In fact... mostly NOT from them.

Most people who wing that question at me are liberals. Far left liberals. My comfort zone people, if you will. They hear me talk about this or that through out my days, and naturally assume I'll throw my vote in the "green party" direction. An honest assumption, really. My personal views and beliefs do tend to line up a bit more closely with the green party then any other, but that doesn't mean I'm going to essentially throw my vote away to make a political point. I'm a bit more practical then that.

Yes, me, practical!
Save it!

When we have such a close race, with only two practical contenders (there may be 381 options on the ballot, but one of these two guys is going to win), and the other guy is going to run this country back 50 plus years; you better believe that voting "green" is the last thing on my mind. Even if that were my only reason, to keep the other delusional douche OUT of the white house, that would be reason enough for me to swing my vote in the other direction. An elitist with a religious agenda has NO place in government. You can roll your eyes and claim immoral all you want, as many of you have, but voting "the lesser of two evils" is absolutely a rational tactic in my opinion. In my very loud, and passionate opinion.

That is not the case for me this election cycle. It just so happens that I support Obama. Not on everything. There are things that I whole heartedly disagree with (the continued use of wire taps, and lack of passion to make gun control a priority, to name a few), but we line up on a lot of things. I think he's been great in office. My overly ambitious expectations were not met, but that's not a short coming of Obama ... no one could have met them; I'm sure. Obama has done everything we elect a president to do. And he has done it with less then supportive passion from the left, and an all out block on the right.  I think if people stood back and really took a look at the facts, instead of just rattling off Fox News' agenda, they'd see he's done quite a lot of good for this country in his 4 years. They'd see his plan (an actual plan, not some "see me after the election for the details" bullshit) for our future continues to move this country forward. And isn't that what we want? To move forward.

The right for every person in this country to have access to affordable health care. Affordable being the key word. How is this a socialist agenda? He didn't propose FREE health care, which I personally feel every human should have a right to (see why people assume I'd throw my vote so much further left?), he just wants it to be affordable. Stopping the ridiculous inflation of insurance companies where you can basically buy better health care depending on your salary. So the rich are privy to good health, the rest of us can go fuck ourselves, right? Why is taking care of our citizens with universal, affordable health care a bad thing again? Because I don't get it. I think, as I said, we should be striving for FREE not just more affordable. How is everyone not behind "more affordable"?

He supports rights for every Americans, not just the few that the religious right want to acknowledge. How we can call ourselves a progressive nation when only 5-6 states legally allow gay marriage ... is baffling to me. We are denying a percentage of our people basic human rights that the rest of us have, and yet calling ourselves "cutting edge", "progressive", "leaders".  Bullshit! There is the separation of church and state in this country for a reason. Obama has worked to make that line clear, the other side not only wants it blurred; but will work to decimate it. The effects of rights being stripped, progress being shoved back, and religious supreme court justices being put in place will be devastating and far reaching. Along with his support for gay rights, he also expanded the definition of hate crime to include assault over sexual orientation and gender identity. How this was up for discussion is also baffling to me.

In line with that "rights for every American" ... he supports a bill to restore basic protections against pay discrimination. Basically, he supports a federal law to maintain fair wages for women. Umm, yea! Who in their right mind would be against this. Oh, right, the "other guy".  The guy who also wants to make it his business what women do with their bodies, in every circumstance.  Obama has been labeled "the abortion president", with tactless "shock factor" images of him with bloody babies and a caption that reads "he EVEN supports partial birth abortions" sweeping the internet. Because, ya know, a great huge number of woman decide they no longer want a baby as it's being born. "Nah, on second thought, I changed my mind ... just kill it before it's fully here". That is ignorant. If my life is at risk, you better goddamned believe I want the right to decide which path I'm going to take. It is, after all, my life ... it should logically be my decision to take the risk or not. Piss women off as a whole by not supporting their right to equal pay, and by demanding that the government gets a say in their body, and the wrath will follow. Lets go ahead and ignite a civil war.

He has made great strides in restoring our image around the world. This is huge. Why make enemies? Why give off the impression that we're bad ass mofo's who will fuckyouup if you look at us wrong? He's checked Americas ego, and has put us back on path to be seen as a leading progressive nation. Much better then the title of Global Bully that we donned before.

He understands that in order for this country to make money, it's going to have to spend money. He's not delusional and spouting off empty pipe dream promises of a super fast recovery. We were in a huge hole when he took over office. We were free falling to another great depression and beyond when he took over, and he put the brakes on. He managed to stop our free fall before we broke through to great depression numbers, and he's helped us claw our way back up. Obama oversaw the creation of more job in 2010 then this country saw in all 8 years under Bush's administration. Jobs in our country have steadily increased over the past four years. Not at the rate many of you hoped for, but it is happening. There is no magic answer or quick fix. In an instant gratification, disposable world, people don't want to hear that it's going to take time. But for cripessakes ... it's going to take time. Time and money. Both of which Obama has been upfront and honest about, and both of which he has executed. It's a process I trust in and support. The other way... well, that is what got us in this mess in the first place.

He is invested in green energy. The only LONG TERM solution to getting this country energy independent, and the only option to even have a country in the long term by reversing global warming.

He's made college more accessible for our kids by vastly extending pell grants, and removing banks from the financing of student loans. Sure it costs a bit more money up front, but the payback is unmatched. Investing in our people, especially our children, advances our country.

He's putting money into social programs because he knows that the heart of America relies on them. The right is pushing hard this image of Obama cutting medicaid and social security, cutting welfare and school programs, cutting this and cutting that. And then in their very next breath they push hard the image of Obama refusing to cut anything and spending us into oblivion. Ummm  ???  Which one is it? Oh, right, neither!

He realizes that defense spending doesn't need to be as high as it has been because we're not funding 2 wars anymore. Instead of continue to pour the same amount of money into defense, he's allocating the "no longer needed war money" back into this country. For infrastructure, social programs, and to take care of this nations Veterans. Our troops need support while they serve, yes ... but they also need it when their terms are over. Obama has made this a priority. I live it; I know.

I could go on, but it's sunny out and I'm going to go play outside.
And tomorrow I'm going to watch as this country hopefully makes the choice to continue pushing us forward.

GET OUT AND ACT!

Educate yourself on facts.
Claim your voice.
And cast your vote.




November 4, 2012

Sunday's Songbird ... Mosh

VOTE!
No Excuses!

Mosh ~Eminem
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America
And to the Republic for which it stands
One nation under God
Indivisible with liberty and justice for all...
It feels so good to be back..

I scrutinize every word, memorize every line
I spit it once, refuel, re-energize and rewind
I give sight to the blind, my insight through the mind
I exercise my right to express when I feel it's time
It's just all in your mind, what you interpret it as
I say to fight, you take it as I'mma whip someone's ass
If you don't understand, don't even bother to ask
A father who has grown up with a fatherless past
Who has blown up now to rap phenomenon that has
Or at least shows no difficulty multi-task
And in juggling both perhaps mastered his craft
Slash entrepreneur who has helped launch a few more rap acts
Who's had a few obstacles thrown his way through the last half
Of his career typical manure moving past that
Mr. kisses ass crack, he's a class act
Rubber band man, yea he just snaps back

[Chorus:]
Come along follow me as I lead through the darkness
As I provide just enough spark that we need to proceed
Carry on, give me hope, give me strength
Come with me and I won't steer you wrong
Put your faith and your trust as I guide us through the fog
To the light at the end of the tunnel
We gonna fight, we gonna charge, we gonna stomp, we gonna march
Through the swamp, we gonna mosh through the marsh
Take us right through the doors (c'mon)

All the people up top on the side and the middle
Come together lets all bomb and swamp just a little
Just let it gradually build from the front to the back
All you can see is a sea of people some white and some black
Don't matter what color, all that matters we gathered together
To celebrate for the same cause don't matter the weather
If it rains let it rain, yea the wetter the better
They ain't gonna stop us they can't, we stronger now more than ever
They tell us no we say yea, they tell us stop we say go
Rebel with a rebel yell, raise hell we gonna let em know
Stomp, push, shove, mush, Fuck Bush, until they bring our troops home (c'mon)

[Chorus]

Imagine it pouring, it's raining down on us
Mosh pits outside the oval office
Someone's tryina tell us something,
Maybe this is God just sayin' we're responsible
For this monster, this coward,
That we have empowered
This is Bin Laden, look at his head noddin'
How could we allow something like this without pumping our fists
Now this is our final hour
Let me be the voice in your strength and your choice
Let me simplify the rhyme just to amplify the noise
Try to amplify the times it, and multiply by six...
Teen million people, Are equal at this high pitch
Maybe we can reach alqueda through my speech
Let the president answer a higher anarchy
Strap him with an Ak-47, let him go, fight his own war
Let him impress daddy that way
No more blood for oil, we got our own battles to fight on our own soil
No more psychological warfare, to trick us to thinking that we ain't loyal
If we don't serve our own country, we're patronizing a hero
Look in his eyes its all lies
The stars and stripes, they've been swiped, washed out and wiped
And replaced with his own face, Mosh now or die
If I get sniped tonight you know why,
Cause I told you to fight.

[Chorus]

And as we proceed,
To Mosh through this desert storm,
In these closing statements, if they should argue
Let us beg to differ
As we set aside our differences
And assemble our own army
To disarm this Weapon of Mass Destruction
That we call our President, for the present
And Mosh for the future of our next generation
To speak and be heard
Mr. President, Mr. Senator
Do you guy's hear us...hear us...[laughing] (Hailie)