VOTE OR SHUT UP.

So Kid 1 and Kid 2 are having a "spirited" discussion. What you have to know is that Kid 1 is our resident cynic. He's convinced the world is headed to Hades in a handbasket and that we - my generation - have been the last in a long line of people who've screwed it up totally. Beyond the repair of his generation or his brother's generation. Kid 2 feels pretty similar, but he has a small belief in the "process" so that if enough people get involved, it can be a sea change. He sees his generation as the potential to start that change. Kid 1 is probably not going to vote. But he'll gripe about how rotten the system is, how politicians are corrupt and how we're all eventually going to screw ourselves into premature planetary implosion. Kid 2 just voted early with us - his first time to vote. The discussion, which included a few mutual friends, ended when Kid 2 said, "You know what? It ultimately comes down to this: VOTE OR SHUT UP. "The system is what it is till WE change it. And if you're not interested in VOTING, then you have no right to complain about how crappy the system is. Obviously, it's not crappy enough to make you get off your butt to change it. So then you essentially have nothing to complain about, right? "So either VOTE OR SHUT UP." Out of the mouths of babes...

Links You Need to Read...

One of these is kind of long. But the others are fairly short. Read 'em and contemplate... http://tinyurl.com/McCain-is-a-liar http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/23318320/mad_dog_palin http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/23316955/the_doubletalk_express/ These are things we need to discuss before we have another 4-year disaster on our hands. And the thing is, according to most of the polls (if you ignore the right-wing slobbering hordes who thought she did well just because she read her script and didn't actually answer some of the questions), even Alaskans felt she didn't win the debate. Expectations low enough? THAT is scary.

Am I dreaming???

I want the following in a President and Vice-President. I do NOT want to have a beer with either of them. Both of them should be so smart that they scare the heck out of anyone. I want 'em so smart that they speak at least ONE other language fluently; have at least a Master's Degree in SOMETHING; have a successful career in SOMETHING; and can look any world leader in the eye and say, "No, there's a better way to do this where we'll all benefit." And that way usually doesn't include preemptive invasions and blowing things up. Yeah, Bill Gates is scary-smart and he never finished college, but he's unique. So are Steven Hawkings and Amy Smith, a MacArthur Genius grant-winner. I want all-around-genius-smart. And I want a personality that's imposing without arrogance. Someone that has a clue about what REAL "servant leadership" is about would also be good. I'm not picking on anyone. I'm just saying that someone who will be the leader and second-in-command of such a powerful nation - they have to be pretty special and "not ordinary" people. I am ordinary. I don't want "ordinary" leading this nation. We deserve better. We've had 8 years of Yogi Berra-like malapropisms and near-total cluelessness. We have had 8 years of a puppet government. We've had 8 years of "trying to get my Dad's attention." For the sake of our kids, grandkids and the entire planet, we need better. And we're the only ones that can make that happen. OK, I'm snapping out of my dream.

Intelligent Political Discussion...Is it Possible?

My idea of intelligent discussion, for anyone smart enough to understand words with more than one syllable, is a discussion wherein ANY party's talking points do not become the centerpiece; the only intersections of discussion; the be-all and end-all of any argument; and the only knee-jerk response to anything said by someone who disagrees. That's pretty clear. Once people can actually talk about their beliefs - even owning those that are obviously sexist and racist, though over half the time we don't even admit them to ourselves - then, we talk. Otherwise, it's all hot air. And compost. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As you can see, someone got my goat. If you can't argue your position, maybe you need to re-evaluate your hold on it and your investment in it.