Facebook & Politics

I recently posted a grumpy post about how much I hate politics and facebook. What I hate MORE about politics and facebook, is when completely uninformed sheeple decide to speak up, which when it comes to uninformed and sheeple, that happens like 100% of the time.

-cough-

So, since I decided to not stir up the pot of raging republicans on my friend Chelsea's post, I'll just post my response here. First, a little review: (sorry for the different sizes. I uploaded the whole thing but it viewed too small, so I cut it up enough to view everything. You can click on them to view them full-size)

I decided to black out their names, since if someone I didn't know screencapped a fb conversation I had and posted it on their blog, I'd want my name blacked out too.

 First off, I think the Tyson person is pretty reasonable and open-minded. While he isn't for universal health-care, he does seem to genuinely want an answer to his questions.

The Aric person is great. His first response was perfect.

I have quite a few responses to Brent, some which I actually typed, then backspaced, then decided to just post on here.

1. It is ironic that someone who is physically incapable of having a child (aka, a male) is saying that birth control is not a right. Furthermore, you'll never get the entire world to practice abstinence. So why not make it a better place by a) reducing the population and conserving resources, through birth control. b)(you might not understand this, because you're a white middle class male, living in a world of the mainly white middle class) give a woman the right to decide when and how many children she wants, without having to have a certain income to afford it. Newsflash, everyone isn't part of the middle class. Sure, you think birth control "isn't' that expensive" BUT YOU AREN'T IMPOVERISHED YOU IDIOT.

2. It is also ironic that someone who (most likely, just guessing) periodically pools a fraction of their resources(money)for a bigger organization and for people other than themselves, doesn't see the connection between mormonism and socialism. What the hell do you think tithing is?

3. Go wikipedia "socialism". Note how it isn't spelled C-O-M-M-U-N-I-S-M? I am not sure you even know what socialism really is...Or communism, for that matter.

Finally, http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/06/heres-a-map-of-the-countries-that-provide-universal-health-care-americas-still-not-on-it/259153

I have a butt load more responses, but I look forward to hearing yours (my readers).

Happy Halloween!

Click to enlarge.

Lists!

I love making lists. I make them all the time. In fact, I waste more paper than I like to admit making lists (but I recycle!). Today I want to make several lists.

Things I Miss:
1. Going to my Grandma & Grandpa Moulding's house. I miss the smell and coziness of their house and I really wish that I knew my grandparents as an adult instead of as a bratty teenager.
2. Kitty, Moochy, Romeo. My fuzzy friends.
3. A different kind of miss-I miss my cousin Taylor and my uncle Mike. They just live out of state so I don't see them much anymore.
4. Disney World. I want butternut squash soup on a rainy day! I want amazing fireworks! I want to hug Meeko!
5. Oslo. Galicia. Paris. Merida. Kirriemuir.

Things I Love About Winter:
1. Hot apple cider. Hot cocoa. Hot chai lattes. Hot soup. Warm pie. Comfort food, basically.
2. Blankies! I LOVE blankies. In fact if I were to be accused of hording anything, it would be blankies. Can't get enough.
3. Apparel. Scarves, jackets, coats, cardigans, layering, boots, gloves, hats. My wardrobe is much more suited for colder weather.
4. Smells. I love the smell of pine cones, cinnamon, nutmeg, eggnog, ginger, all of the wintery-christmasy smells I really like.
5. Presents. Obviously the biggest thing during winter is Christmas. And I really love thinking up presents to give people. I think for one thing, gift-giving is a way I show love and affection. I want to try to make home-made gifts this year. (haha, although don't hold me to that! I'll probably end up buying things. Afterall, up until Dec.14, I'll be stressing out about my senior project) But I always try to put a lot of thought into gifts.

(Bonus: (I didn't make the bonus a #6 in my list, because I hate not having factors of 5) I also love doing puzzles in the winter! Winter is prime puzzle season. Nothing better than watching your favorite classic holiday movie and working on a puzzle while all bundled up in fuzzy pajamas!)

Things I Want to Do This Weekend:
1. Prepare the Cat Apartment for winter. The same for Annie's kennel.
2. Get ready for the Halloween party at my cousin's house. What to wear? What to be? Hmm! I might go for my crazy cat lady costume again...It isn't much of a stretch, really. I just have to wear more-than-usual frumpy clothes. :D
3. Get ahead on my homework.
4. Clean & Organize my room. Including donating a bunch of stuff to the Woman's home.
5. CHRISTMAS SHOP! Although I might have to wait on this for financial reasons. :( If so, I'll at least try to think up of good presents for everyone!

Things I Look Forward to After Graduation:
1. Obvious things like no homework, no due dates, no academic stress, etc.
2. Exercising! I really want to focus on getting into shape and I think it will be a LOT easier after graduation. I notice that I always exercise a lot more in the spring/summer anyway. And now I'll have no school during spring to worry about!
3. Not eating crappy lunches on campus while sitting at my work desk...actually this might still happen. But at least it isn't because I only have 10 minutes between class and work!
4. With not having school, hopefully I can find another part-time job, or maybe quit my current job and find a full-time job. Having more money sure would be welcome.
5. I don't think it is a secret to all that read my blog (Erin, Kiki, sometimes Mom and Justin?)that I plan to marry. This will probably happen in the spring/summer of next year. :)

One more list!

Recent Entertainment Choices: (dorky title, I know)
1. My obsessive relapse into the world of Harry Potter. Rereading the books. Really enjoyed the first four, of course. But I only read the 5th, 6th and 7th one time, and so it is fun not remembering details and rediscovering the story.
2. Part of that obsessive relapse is having an account on Pottermore.com! It is AWESOME.
3. Watching Doctor Who from the very first episode. We are now on the 10th doctor (my personal favorite). I always thought Martha was my favorite, probably because I started watching when she was the companion, but I really miss Rose now. :(
4. I have slowly been watching Once Upon a Time, as sort of a guilty pleasure. It has taken the place of Merlin (which I finished all that was available on Netflix), Robin Hood, (which ended.), Being Human, (which I haven't actually looked into much since the last season ended...maybe I should.) And Pushing Daisies (which  I realize is the only non-BBC show in that list). You always need a guilty pleasure for a show that has iffy graphics and sometimes poor acting. (actually Being Human and Pushing Daisies is fine. I think Robin Hood and Merlin are aimed at a younger audience so meh)
5. Spotify. Okay. I gave in and I got Spotify. And I'm actually really pleased. The only thing that bugs me is that when I close spotify by pushing the red X in the corner of the screen it doesn't fully close it. I can only fully close it if I do the old File>Close. And I guess the ads are annoying too, but they don't seem to come up as often as Pandora. I like that I have access to all music from a band. So it is much more like an iTunes interface than Pandora. I don't like that I forget that I don't actually own that music. Haha! But I did notice there were quite a few unreleased and B-side tracks on there. That made me happy.


-cough- so. seeing as I wrote all of this at work, I better click 'Publish' and be on my way!

Dumb Day

Cold and sad and cranky and tired and stressed and hungry. Feeling really melancholy today. I just want all social and scholarly obligations to go away. I also want a hot bath, fuzzy socks, stretchy pants, a bowl of hot tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich, lots of blankies, the seventh Harry Potter, and everyone to be happy and content and super happy with everything I say and do and feel. I want everyone to stop draining my emotional energy and so I can stop feeling like I can't get things right.

Who I need is Kitty. :'(  Cats always are the best for melancholy days.

Yes, please.

I neeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed it!

Politics

As I scroll through my facebook feed I see a lot of political posts. Usually anti-Obama, pro-Romney. (Not surprising, as most of the people I know live in Utah, most people in Utah are Mormons, and most Mormons are republican. So, with Romney being both republican AND Mormon, he might as well be a saint, right?)
Don't get me wrong, I don't mind the occasional political thought expressed over facebook. And I don't mind at all when people post something political but are very open to other ideas or really just want people to get along. It is the hateful, pointless, flimsy, holier-than-thou arguing that gets on my nerves the most.

So I'm going to post my hateful, pointless, flimsy, holier-than-thou argument on my blog instead of on facebook!

1. I love Obama. I think he is dignified and carries himself well. I'm not stupid. I know this isn't the only thing that makes a president a good president. But it makes it a helluva lot less embarrassing than when Bush would go on foreign trips and meet ambassadors and presidents of other countries. And hey, if the Norweigiens like him, so do I.

2. Despite popular belief, Obama is NOT socialist. With that said, I don't really see what is so bad about socialism. Would living in Canada really be that bad? Or Norway? Denmark? Sweden? Finland? We're not talking about China or North Korea here. We're talking about some of the most advanced, forward-thinking countries in the world. Did you know that in Norway (and I'm sure other Scandanavian/European countries) it is FREE to attend university? It is FREE to get health care? I'm not sure why people would argue this, unless they have some ridiculous concept that there are some lazy bastards who don't deserve health care because they didn't work for it. They are just living off food stamps and taking advantage of the system and us taxpayers are paying for it. OUR hardwork is going to waste on the lazy, stupid single mothers and scared kids kicked out of the house. It is this individualistic, prideful and selfish side of republicans (at least the republicans that post on my facebook wall) that I can't stand. You aren't better than anyone else, including that single mother using those food stamps or anyone else. Yeah, sure, I'm sure there are people who abuse the system. But does that mean you have to assume everyone does? This concept of "Well I had nothing, but then I worked hard and so I deserve health care and those who didn't pull themselves up by their bootstraps don't." is so maddening to me. Chances are you got lucky. Chances are you weren't born into poverty. REAL poverty. Chances are you probably are white and middle class. So get over yourself. Whatever happened to equity? Isn't that something that is supposed to be an American hallmark?

3. I find it ironic that many of the most hateful crap that I hear usually comes from Christians. If you really believe in the teachings of Christ, why is it that you can't apply charity, empathy, tolerance and love to anyone that is different than you? Gay rights? No, they should burn in hell. Health care to all, not just to those that can afford it? Why? The poor don't deserve it. They wouldn't be poor if they just worked harder. Trying to halt human impact on global warming? Who cares? EVEN THOUGH we believe God created everything, it is at our disposal, so he'll just take care of us and who gives a shit about any other creature on Earth except us? (cough. this one has annoyed me for a very long time.)

4. And going off of that last point-I have plenty of family and friends who are Mormon. So this isn't a Mormon-bashing session. But honestly, if you are voting for a candidate for the sole reason that you share a religion, that isn't a very good reason. And really, I don't think Mitt Romney really represents Mormons very well. For one thing, I think he is excessive, gluttonous and prideful. No one, and I mean NO ONE should need a 10,000 sq. ft house with a car elevator in the garage. That is so extravagant and stupid it sort of makes me sick. And that leads me to my next point!

5. I don't think Mitt Romney has a true grip on what life is like for the average American. Because the average american does NOT make that much money. I'm not saying Obama is poor. But I think he is a little more aware and socially-fluent than Romney. Okay. That is my rant. I obviously am going to vote for Obama. I hate all the bashing. I hate Fox news. I hate any news that's sole purpose is to rile people up, for either side. I hate all of the hate. Just shut up and be reasonable. It isn't the end of the world, America isn't going to collapse under Obama, America isn't going to become Orwell's 1984. Just calma llama down. I think I'm going to start posting subtle things on Facebook. Things like "Man, I wish school was just free." or "Just one little check up at the doctor and I get billed a ridiculous amount. Grr!" or "I just wish everyone had equal opportunity to enjoy basic comforts like adequate medicine, education, decent paying job as I do." or "Wouldn't it be nice if we actually took care of the land we have left?" or "It must've been really hard for my ancestors to have to adapt to immigrating to a new land and have to face all the racism" or "Ugh, why do people think it's their business what my love life is like?" and see what people have to say. Chances are my republican friends will 'like' it or something. And not even realize that I'm talking about pell grants, Universal Health Care, National Park protection, Obama's immigration policy, and gay marriage.

I honestly believe the Republicans probably do have some good ideas and points. But the rational, reasonable side now is being drowned out by the hateful, obama-is-a-nazi, tea-party idiots. And for that I kinda feel bad for the Republicans. At least the sane ones.

Chocowalla

Having a serious craving for chocowalla bars.

Fall Schedule

I am taking the least amount of classes I have ever taken before! Only 9 credit hours. I am actually pretty excited because hopefully with less classes there will be less stress and I can focus on working on my senior capstone project. My classes are History of Mexico, Spanish 2020 and Senior Seminar! I am really excited for History of Mexico. And look at how pretty the cover art of my history text book is.

200!

This is my 200th post! Congrats to me! :D

August

Two more weeks of summer classes, one week of vacation, and then 4 months of fall classes and then I graduate! It doesn't seem like I should be allowed to graduate, honestly! I think everything is lining up pretty well in terms of the bigger picture. Feeling very optimistic! In other news, I have started to go to a strength training class, and plan to take a cycling class in the fall. That combined with a schedule I have put together for exercise will hopefully pave the way to my ambition of running a half-marathon. :) And honestly, in a way, I would like to run a half-marathon, but more than that I want to be healthy and fit and confident!