Political ideas seeping into everything

One would hope that I add something to the world- be it good, bad, or indifferent- Me

I love and hate this time of the year. When everywhere I look there is some other thought about the upcoming election. I love that more and more Americans appear to be getting involved every year. This may just be my personal perception, but it's one I really like. I love to see people holding signs, even if I don't believe in them. Having an opinion and using your vote to express it is an innately American ideal, and I'm proud that we are continuing this remarkable tradition.

On the flip side though, I hate it. I hate being surrounded by friends political ideas. I have to admit that there are relatively few things that I feel politically impassioned about. I have my opinions, and while I'm happy to share them, I don't ever feel the need to change some one's mind about their thoughts. I hate it when people tell me that 'I'm wrong.' As far as I can tell, political causes are still vastly about opinion. It's not fact we're debating when you tell me that homosexuals shouldn't get married... I don't mean to be calling light to CA's prop 8, but it seems to be the one confronting me most often. Every time I turn on the TV in my house, there is someone else there to make a snarky and highly inappropriate (in my opinion) comment on the people in the show who are depicted to be homosexual...or even curious.

I just have to say it. It is my opinion that you cannot believe that homosexuality is a choice and believe that you can label a man as gay because he appears to be so to you! You have to make a choice. Either, people are born gay and that means the man you see who is married with a child but appears gay to you is hiding or denying himself. -OR- you believe that you make a choice and then someone who hasn't "made" that choice is not gay.

Yes, I've said it. This is my opinion. I don't care which one you believe in ,but pick a side. I'm tired of people telling me that they don't like people because they perceive them to be gay, but then tell me that being gay is a choice. GRRR..

Okay. Back to the main point. I'm all for political awareness, but let's all remember that we want to be friends when the election ends and that it's all really about personal opinion.


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you know what really Grinds my Gears

One would hope that I add something to the world- be it good, bad, or indifferent- Me

People who go around college campuses to register students to vote. Now don't get me wrong, I'm all for voting. However these people are always encouraging you to register in the state you go to school in.

They seem to not understand that changing where you vote is CHANGING YOUR RESIDENCY! Yes, as a student you probably qualify to have your residency be where you go to school...however, if you do this you are saying LEGALLY that you no longer reside where your parents live.

This may not seem like a big deal. In fact, it may seem like a great thing. Out of your parents house once and for all... HOWEVER, it may change the fact that you are a dependent.

Here's what dependent status means:

Qualifying Children:
To be claimed as a qualifying child, the person must meet four criteria:

Relationship — the person must be your child, step child, adopted child, foster child, brother or sister, or a descendant of one of these (for example, a grandchild or nephew).

Residence — for more than half the year, the person must have the same residence as you do
.
Age — the person must be
under age 19 at the end of the year, or
under age 24 and a be a full-time student for at least five months out of the year, or
any age and totally and permanently disabled.

Support — the person did not provide more than half of his or her own support during the year.

Let's compare that to the requirements to be a legal resident of California:


349. (a) "Residence" for voting purposes means a person's domicile. (b) The domicile of a person is that place in which his or herhabitation is fixed, wherein the person has the intention ofremaining, and to which, whenever he or she is absent, the person hasthe intention of returning. At a given time, a person may have onlyone domicile. (c) The residence of a person is that place in which the person'shabitation is fixed for some period of time, but wherein he or shedoes not have the intention of remaining. At a given time, a personmay have more than one residence..


So, let's review:

The IRS says you have to live with your parents for at least 6 months of the year. Voter registration says that you have to have the intention of remaining, have your status be fixed and that you can only have ONE domicile.

While techincally you COULD swing that you intend to remain where your college is- it would be quite easy to look at your college records and determine that your 'permanent address' is not where you are currently.

This whole argument may seem a little outlandish to some of you...and maybe it is...but I swear- it happened to a friend of mine. She had her financial aid taken away....

It's just a warning. Be careful....

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Are we headed for the destruction of the US as a world power?

One would hope that I add something to the world- be it good, bad, or indifferent- Me

Anyone who knows me knows that just the title of this little blog post is quite out of character. I will be the first to admit that 90% of the time I just don't care about politics, the world-scene, etc. Okay, it's not that I don't **care** it's that I don't care as much as I think I should.

I was driving into work today and I couldn't help but think about the opening scene of Children of Men. The destruction of the entirety of civilization, where people live in fear and the nice 'society' that we've created doesn't actually exist. The end of the human race, and all we can do about it is kill each other.

There has been so much talk about Global warming. I'm not about to say that I don't believe in global warming, because I do, I just don't know if I believe that we are the only cause. This fear of global warming, and idea of a second great depression in the US with oil prices becoming fixed to something other than the dollar, the impending doom of America because of Facebook and MySpace and the fact that the youth of America would rather play a video game than baseball.

Perhaps these things are far beyond my viewpoint, and where I should be looking at things, but I guess I'm just saying that I'm worried.

I'm worried about the trees for my children
I'm worried about the World War III and all the bombs that can go off
I'm worried about America never regaining it's 'good guy' status
I'm worried about the proliferation of hate and violence throughout society
I'm worried that there is nothing I can do about it




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Another long day

One would hope that I add something to the world- be it good, bad, or indifferent- Me

This day was just as long if not LONGER! I just don't have anything positive to say.

I do, however, want to bitch about just one thing: Pink's song "Dear Mr. President"

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm okay with people writing songs about our country. I prefer them to be positive, but it's cool- freedom of speech and all. I just HATE the part where she says something like:

"Let me tell you about Hard Work..."

Does she even KNOW what she's talking about. i'm not saying making songs isn't hard work- I'm saying she's never made a bed out of a cardboard box like the song says.

So- Pink, GET OVER YOURSELF!

And, if you asked nicely, I think the President might go for a walk with you...


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Legislation

I sent a legislative proposal to my state senator today. Of course it's about 4 months before anyone will even really look at it...but it made me feel good. I basically said I think it's ridiculous for USC to charge me to park my car in their USC owned parking lot. BECAUSE IT IS!

The DMV gives free parking... the DAMN DMV! And yet I have to pay for mine? How else am I supposed to get to work. An employee getting minimum wage gives them 6 hours of work for free to park a month. Damn...that SUCKS! The reality is that in my case it's closer to 2 hours, but I'm still pretty pissed off. What a StUPID system.

So, Senator Scott, please- help me out!