We did.

I don’t know what to say. I didn’t think I’d feel such excitement and relief. So amazing. So happy. So speechless.

For those of you who didn’t vote for Obama, who didn’t want him—I’m sorry. No hard feelings? It’s just the presidency, after all. And he’s supposed to represent YOU now too. Tell him where you think he should go, and he’ll consider it. He had better, when he’s the President.

I am so excited. I am so going to keel over if I don’t go to bed.

At Green Bean Dreams, there’s a post entitled, “A Fairytale for Everyone?” It’s a letter trying to explain what gay people are really like—and it’s not what those supporting Prop 8 try to claim. I’d encourage everyone to read it.

Today’s issue: The House rejects the bailout bill. I think I almost went out and danced in the streets upon hearing that. And then my heart started racing and my adrenaline started rushing as I began fretting about the fact that people are going to be angry and want the government to do SOMETHING to take care of things and mobbing the House for rejecting a really stupid proposal… I actually went jogging after hearing this news. (I’ve decided I need to take up jogging, not only as a way to control my asthma, which is why I took it up a little bit over the summer, but to control my anxiety as well. And it worked, for a short while. And then I checked up on Facebook. Oh gods. I’m going to get killed. Anyway, jogging! It stabilized my heart rate, I think, and DEFINITELY stabilized my breathing, which had been far too shallow. Yay!)

Over the weekend I sent off e-mails to my representative in the House and one of my senators (the other senator’s web site didn’t work!), telling them simply that I’m very concerned about the nature of the “economic rescue plan” (as the Bush administration calls it). I realize that among many people, the idea of rescuing the economy right now is fundamental, and for many people probably necessary. But this is not the way to do it. Giving the Secretary of the Treasury $700 billion to do with as he sees fit? No, no, no!

First of all, $700 billion. Oh my gods. That is a TON of money. Where is it going to come from? Since this IS an “economic crisis”, which taxpayers actually HAVE the money required to give to the government to bail them out? Not the ones being forced out of their homes, that’s for sure. Not the ones being laid off from their jobs, that’s for sure. And what else could $700 billion do? We could fix all the infrastructures of everything!!!1! I mean, heh. We could be rebuilding sewer systems, roads, putting money into research, any and every one-time project in the COUNTRY.

You know, if we had that kind of money at the moment. Which we DON’T.

Secondly, whoa. There are three branches of federal government: executive, legislative, and judiciary. These three are there for a reason: each makes sure the other two doesn’t get too powerful. Putting the kind of power requested into the hands of one individual, the Secretary of Treasury? That’s more terrifying than George W. Bush as President. At least he’s got the Supreme Court and Congress on his tail. After hearing about this bailout plan, I had visions of the New Dictatorship of the States. Not a pretty sight.

My last concern about this is in response to the presidential candidates’ reactions that we must DO something NOW. Really? NOW? Emergency response giving “emergency” powers to a tyrant that won’t give up the powers after the emergency is over? I’ve seen this sci fi novel before and it does NOT end well. In fact, I know I’ve been thinking about the current economic recession for months, and I’ve not even taken a decent economics class, ever. So why exactly haven’t you all started dealing with this months ago?! Then perhaps we wouldn’t have gotten to this point. Really, I’m ashamed at the way the candidates put it. And I’m surprised that I agree with Republican party leaders. Ha, ha! I’m not totally partisan! Thank goodness they worked against the bailout.

And you know what? My e-mail to my representative was heard, I think. Representative Barbara Lee voted “No” on the bailout. Thanks, Rep Lee. <3 I'll be sure to vote you back in (in November?). Most people I've heard talk about her are really satisfied. She tends to have a good grasp on the complexity of many issues.

Lastly, I know many are worried about the stock market. NYTimes.com has been harassing me with "News Alerts" about how far it's dropped today. I get it. BUT. There is NO substantial objective correlation between the stock market and the House of Representatives, and no one has EVER been able to convince me that the stock market is anything more than a game of psychology. I've asked people to explain it to me time and again, and I believe there is nothing in it than gambling on how others think. So the drop in the stock market? Well, I see it as a run to the bank when times are hard, in order to stockpile money. Purely psychological, i.e. if people would think straight and not see the lack of bailout as THE END OF THE ECONOMY, there would be no problem (with the stock market—the bank failures, foreclosures, unemployment are other things entirely).

Okay. One last thing. Apparently Sweden went through a similar financial crisis in 1992. I’ve seen suggestions that we should ask them for help. I haven’t read the article yet, but why not? Better than putting too much power in a single person.

Also, again. WHY didn’t we address the economy MONTHS ago? Why must things come to crisis before the government takes notice? Sigh.

The rules are to pass it on to 7 more weblogs and tell those blogs in their comments sections, so as to spread the love and brilliance! (I love this award. SO MUCH positive energy!)

1. Lunsh, of course. I’ve been following Rebee’s blog in one format or another for the last few years. It is an awesome weblog, even though she says she’s confused on what she wants to post. I like everything she posts. And all of her designs. I need to steal some of her talent to make a layout for my blog (just a little bit please Rebee!). Hopefully her portfolio will be up soon so we can all ooh and ahh over her skills!
2. phoeknits: I haven’t followed this blog for long (a week and a half?) but I can tell already that it’s Brilliant. I hope that doesn’t mean it’s already gotten this award. Ah well maybe it has. Who cares! I love spreading the lurve anyway.
3. One Green Generation: Melinda’s posts are seriously inspiring, and she’s so nice about my extra-super-long comments practically every time she posts. Usually it’s a challenge for me to come up with something to say to someone’s posts. On One Green Generation, I almost ALWAYS have something to say. The posts are so thought-provoking. Definitely Brilliant.
4. brokeknits: Her pictures are always so clear. How does she do it?! I’m in awe of her pictures and her projects, even when they’re as simple as a garter stitch cowl. I love her mismatching socks that are on top right now!
5. Jeanne Knits: Jeanne is such a warm person, and it seeps into her blog posts and makes me feel welcome. She’s also always working on something different, so we get to see a lot of variety of projects and enjoy them all. (Yes, having a ton of WIPs is really interesting to a monogamous knitter like myself, Jeanne!)
6. kelp! knits: I love her socks. And her photos. And the blue background in a lot of her photos. ;)
7. The Knitting Harpy: A relatively new blog, but WOW. Look at all that info. And a year of knitting without patterns? What a goal.

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I’ve been thinking lately about the way people are either aghast at Gov. Sarah Palin or in love with her, and how I’m perceived to fall squarely on the “aghast” side. Yes, okay, I am against her as choice of running mate. But that doesn’t mean I’m against her personally. I don’t know her. All I know is that she’s ill-suited to be VP, but I wasn’t planning on voting for McCain anyway. (Yeeeah! My first presidential election!)

However, even though I never planned on voting for McCain to begin with, I’m still deluged with endless e-mails and info against Palin. Like the Women Against Sarah Palin e-mail that Caroline sent me. Like the “Everything you wanted to know about Palin, rape, and pregnancy” e-mail I got from my dad, forwarded from a friend of his from high school, that detailed all the ways Palin has been against sex education, rape (being charged for rape kits!), etc. (Some links from the e-mail: Palin has cut funding on programs to help teen mothers, Palin backed abstinence-only education, Wasilla charged rape victims for exam.) As soon as she was announced my aunt sent me an e-mail asking me to donate to Obama because Barack Obama is not taking any contributions from Washington lobbyists or political action committees. (And yes, I’m planning on donating my meagre $10 once I get my next allowance.)

So… is it because I surround myself with like-minded liberals that I get all these e-mails against her? Certainly I didn’t get any e-mail about Biden when he was announced. But why do we seem so intent on crucifying the woman? That’s not my intention at all. Like I said (when referring to environmental issues) in my last political post, I’m more of a “just get out of my way” type of person. Which would make me truer to Republican ideals, I suppose, in the idea of less government involvement in one’s day-to-day life.

You know, that idea that Palin isn’t into. See: trying to censor books at the library. That’s government involvement if I ever saw it. And I don’t understand those people who say she’s will be right for the government, but doesn’t give actual reasons… see: some of the comments here. A lot of the things against her are well-documented. I wonder which parts those who agree with her agree with. Censoring books? Abstinence-only education? It’s okay to believe in abstinence but fully support your daughter when she doesn’t act out your beliefs and no one points that out? As the Livejournal community liberal_rage points out, And I have to say, if Chelsea Clinton had gotten pregnant at 17, the conservative media vultures would have fucking CRUCIFIED her, I’m not even exaggerating in the slightest..

I mean… I don’t know what I mean. I just don’t get this whole people-based smear campaign. Isn’t this kind of politics left to the politicians? (I hate negative ad campaigns. Hate, hate, hate.) Why are we taking up the negativity? Why are we trying to convince everyone that Palin is a bad pick for running mate, when we can’t change the running mate anymore? (Why did McCain choose her in the first place?)

And what if this is what the majority of the U.S. populace wants as a leader? What if everyone believes in abstinence-only education, charging rape victims for exams (holding the victim responsible for what happened), global warming is not humankind’s fault and therefore not a problem, abortions shouldn’t exist, even for rape/incest victims, etc. etc. etc.?

What a scary world I would live in then.

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Hey! I’m an official German Studies major! Let’s celebraaaaaaate!

I am in the most unfortunate position of having found the only group of people on campus that doesn’t care to talk about politics. Maybe not the only group, but indeed one of the few. I’ve heard a lot about Governor Sarah Palin the last few days, but absolutely no comments from the group I am most often with, try as I might to introduce the subject. Thus, Sunbeam Soapbox is going to have to deal with some of my political discussions and leanings.

My first impression of Palin as McCain’s choice of running mate was, “Huh. He picked a woman. This race is truly historic in every way now.” It amazes me that no matter which of the two candidates are voted in, the new Presidency will have broken out of the “old boy’s school” form of politics. There will either be a black man or a woman as vice presidency. Wow!

I’m also impressed by the idea of a mother in charge of a country. While motherhood is not a career I aspire to, I can respect how much dedication and patience it takes. Men in our society tend to have dropped the ball on fatherhood, and leave all parenting to the mothers, so that politicians have no idea about parenting. And government can benefit from the experiences of parenting I’m sure.

That said, the more I learn about Palin, the more I am horrified by her as a choice of running mate.

Now let’s step back a moment. First, a little bit about my political leanings: Yes, I lean to the left. Yes, I am a registered Democrat (though I’m not entirely sure if I agree completely with them—I just wanted to be able to vote for the primary). However, I think we can benefit from having a wide variety of parties and people/politicians that are open to new ideas and can form a more perfect Union from the varying ideologies. There are very few things I believe to be “evil” (I saw a shirt today that said “Ban A Republican”; I highly disagree that one party or the other should be banned or blamed or held as bad), and the Republican party seems to be stepping away from those platforms that I believe unacceptable.

The first platform I hold entirely unacceptable is this: holding the life of a fetus with more respect than the life of the woman carrying the fetus (/parasite). I am, as they say insultingly, pro-abortion. (Or pro-choice. Whatever floats your boat—I just want abortion procedures to stay safe and legal.) Most especially in cases of rape or incest, even so when the woman’s world is not conducive to bringing up a child in, and acceptable when all other methods of birth control have been exhausted and there is still a parasite growing in her. Yes, I am not a mother in any sense of the word, can you tell? Some women just aren’t mothers, and forcing them to be shows a deep lack of respect for half of the entire population. (As well as their unwanted children. I highly doubt we want unwanted children around. That just creates more problems.) That we still can’t respect people in general horrifies me.

And, of course, our lovely new VP candidate won’t even allow into her mind abortions in the case of rape or incest. I can’t even begin to find words for how disturbing that is.

The second thing I believe strongly in and can’t believe others disbelieve, is the existence of global warming. Now, I’m not here to tell politicians to TAKE MORE ACTION to counter global warming; I believe the process of politics at the moment can’t handle the problem of global warming and therefore go on in my own way and join movements of people that work to create change within their society, not government. But I want the politicians to stay out of my way, not make more problems. This Governor of Alaska favors drilling in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge. I didn’t even think that was POSSIBLE for the Governor of Alaska. I like to compare it to the idea of opening drilling along the California coast: I can’t imagine someone from California, someone who enjoys our coasts, that would favor drilling there.

Of course, they exist too. The mind boggles.

These aren’t the only reasons I worry about Sarah Palin as VP, however. These are only the issues I stand immobilized on.

I dislike that, because she is also a woman, she is supposed to attract the disillusioned Clinton supporters. I hope that all Clinton supporters with half a brain stay home rather than vote, if they dislike Obama that much: these two women are night and day. Yes, Republicans, you heard me right: one woman does NOT equate another. Woman aren’t a different species and do have separate personalities, just as men do. This just goes back to the reproductive rights argument— my god! We haven’t gotten anywhere have we! Women STILL are treated as subhuman! I need to brush up on my feminist movements.

As for her daughter’s current pregnancy proving that the youngest is Palin’s: so, uh, am I really the only person who still cringes when she thinks of poor kids with uncles/aunts only a few months older than they? as well as teen pregnancy? I am really anti-teen-pregnancy. To the point of nausea when thinking of the subject. Palin’s attitude, though, is almost as if we’re endorsing it. What ever happened to good ol’ no sex before marriage?!

(That was a joke, sorta.)

I read somewhere else that pushing your daughter into the spotlight is a really bad way of proving that your kid’s your kid. Read that argument for yourself.

We’ve opened a floodgate of information to a person I’ve never heard of before, and everything I learn worries me. Maybe I read too much from the more left-leaning press. But I can’t believe some of the things I’ve heard. I can’t believe that makes her a good candidate. I’ve heard people say, “I like her”, but not qualify why. Not even, “Oh, just a gut reaction” (which is most of my reasoning for supporting Obama instead of Clinton). I want to figure out what makes her likable, because I sure can’t figure out why in the world she was picked for VP.

As a final point, if I could write this much in half an hour for my first paper due Friday, I would be done in an hour. Why, why, why does the writing fail me in my academics?!!