Carve a happy face on your pumpkin baby...

An update from the front… It’s a cold night in Arlington and I’m huddled around the last of my firewood. The house is cold but the embers of hope burn still. I can’t help but feel the gravity of the moment as we near Election Day. It’s hard to tell whether or not this will be a pivotal moment in our history as a country, our history as a civilization. Has the high water mark been hit and is the tide slowly receding off the beaches of our collective coast? Will the leader we elect this week coming determine our future and the same for our offspring?

This post may be worthy of a “shut up & sing” type response but seeing as though I have a vote & a blog I see no reason why I can’t fire my guns as I wish. The discussion of our union in the corridors of America is one few are willing to take part in. Intelligent discourse of political issues is most often derailed by hyperbole, questions of patriotism, and the overall lack of mutual respect. I believe this is part of the self inflicted disenfranchisement that is revealed each time the polls close.

I consider myself of average political knowledge, and if I may, I would like to regurgitate my consumption of mass media fed knowledge as we approach this feast of democratic fervor. (What does that mean?) The steady barrage of information can only leave the average citizen feeling like a punch drunk boxer. Looking past the mind numbing colloquialisms thrown out as bait to the masses (i.e. Joe the plumber/hockey mom, Change You can Believe In etc.), I find it difficult to make an educated decision based on policy alone. I feel like I know each candidates interpretation of their opponent better than the planks of either’s platform.

A summation:
Obama has no executive experience whatsoever. If Obama is elected we will witness the dawn of a socialist society, and taxes will be increased enabling the lazy lower class to reap the benefits of those who have worked & saved. Obama hates white people, is a terrorist, and will make concessions to external threats and undermine the accomplishments which our servicemen have achieved in their defense of our flag. Obama will cave to the ultra-environmental lobby and refuse to allow fossil fuel exploration and harvesting within America proper, thus continuing the hemorrhaging of American dollars to China & the Middle East.

McCain if elected will continue on the polices of the Bush Administration which have pandered to the corporate interests and resulted in “golden parachutes” for the masters of the universe as the average Joe’s (I don`t think I can use Joe any more) retirement fund sinks like a stone. The middle class will whither in number while wealth is further consolidated amongst the elite. McCain will continue the alienation of American society from the outside world with heavy handed flexing of American muscle. America’s remaining natural beauty will be trampled and destroyed by the tank treads of the big oil mechanism in its search for minimal oil reserves.

Perhaps naively, my optimism is still tempered by grandiose dreams of this country we call home. I know we are not perfect and our history has been marked with occasions where our better judgment has been bested by ignorance and short sighted self interest. Some are quick to lay blame on leaders who have led the country astray. But the population of America is responsible for the country’s actions. We cannot share the wash bowl with Pontius Pilot. We have all enjoyed the benefits of our country’s previous decisions both domestic and foreign, and similarly we must all share in the blame. We are all stowaways on this ship of fools. Aside our elected officials do we stand in triumph and defeat. Our economy is built upon the efforts of the common laborer; our government is supported by the common taxpayer, and our freedom is maintained by the sacrifices of the common soldier.

Tuesday November 4th we will watch our preferred news provider as each state is colored with its chosen hue. The myriad of issues facing our country; homeland security, foreign policy, the economic crisis, energy policy; (intimate bedfellows all of them), will have to be addressed by the chosen horse.

Let us do this thing.

No Heat, but a fire for online dating...

The house has yet to be equipped with heat so I sit here typing my first blog entry accompanyed by the tortured dancings of a slowly diminishing fire. The cold is descending upon us once again and with its entrance so departs another summer of record. I feel that as I grow older the distinction between the seasons becomes less and less distinct.

This summer was spent at work on my house, drinking, and the odd electronic borne date. I would argue that summer is the slow season for internet dating, what with vacations and the more conventional options for encounters with the opposite sex. With the fall comes sweatshirts, laptops, and a chance to refresh your online profile. Maybe you can post that awesome picture of you and your friends at your sister's boyfriends capehouse dancing to Journey after a long night of twisted teas? Or how about that awesome shot of when you were out at the club with your friend who got you to the front of the line, because she knew that annoying kid with the blow out, and you saw Paul Peirce? Or maybe you are coming off an illconceived summer romance and its time to get back in the trenches and do this thing.

Either way I`m out here and I just bought a new pair of jeans so lets get after it.