There's a lot to be said for people who really know how to "seize the day." When you think about it, there are just too many lazy people in the world today. This is true specifically here in the United States. Everyone here seems so glued to the television set or to their video games hooked up to their television sets. It used to be that people would sit out on their front porch and socialize with their neighbors. Maybe you could see a family taking a leisurely stroll through the neighborhood every night. Now, the streets are deserted and everyone has found comfort in spending the waning hours of their evening behind closed doors in front of an illuminated tube. And what are they watching, you might ask? Their watching other people living the lives they could be living.

Well, I think it is about high time that we turn the tide here. Let's learn to live for each day like any day could be our last. We don't have to throw caution to the wind. We just need to kill some of those really bad habits and try something different. If anyone agrees with me here, I would love to get a few comments back :-)

Tags: Living Day

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Is anyone else here tired of the same old politics? Recently, Senator Obama mentioned that Americans have become bitter after not having jobs replaced that have been lost as a result of NAFTA and other things. Afterward, Senators Clinton and McCain seized on the opportunity to say that Senator Obama was being demeaning for his comments and is out of touch with people. I looked up the word bitter to be sure that I understood it correctly because I was pretty sure that I fall into that category. Bitter is described as the following:

"hard to bear; grievous; distressful; expressive of severe pain, grief, or regret; marked by intensity or severity"

I look at those definitions and think to myself that this is pretty much how I feel about being on edge over whether or not I will lose my job. This is how I feel about the ever decreasing value of the dollar and the ever increasing price of gas. This is how I feel about an economy that has one of the lowest recorded confidence levels ever by Americans. This is how I feel about a war that takes billions of dollars every week away from the homeless and others in poverty here in America where there is no end in sight. I'm not into the blame game as to whose fault it is that we are over there, but the war was initially to be fought in Afghanistan and now we are still in Iraq a few years later with over 4000 American lives lost.

I think it is difficult for McCain to understand the plight of Americans when his wife is worth over $100 million. How can he understand Americans that have bitterness towards lost jobs or foreclosed mortgages. On the other hand, you have Senator Clinton. Her husband (Bill) and chief strategist (Mark Penn) both support Free trade agreements. Bill negotiated NAFTA, which Hillary was proud of before she was running for office. Separately, Mark has been negotiating free trade with Mark Penn. The Colombians fired him after he stated that he was not representing Senator Clinton, which they thought he was. Bill also supports such an agreement with the Colombians. Can we truly believe that Senator Clinton did not have a part in it? In fact, her first response when this hit the news was that her campaign saw no conflict of interest. How in the world is there no conflict of interest if you state to working class Americans that you don't support something that your chief strategist is negotiating with the Colombians? It should also be noted that the Canadians later told Americans that it was actually Clinton's campaign that gave them the old "wink" over NAFTA instead of Obama's campaign. Sorry, I had to get that out.  The point is, Senator Clinton and her husband grossed over $100 million since they left office. Yet she wants Americans to believe that she is in touch with working class Americans. She states that Americans aren't bitter over what has occurred in our economy. Instead, she says we are optimistic. Maybe she hasn't been looking at the polls, but Americans have NO confidence in our economy right now. There isn't one person I know that is optimistic about the economy. She's correct that we are resilient, but that's because we have NO OTHER CHOICE! Again, it's hard for someone that brings in over $100 million in income to understand where the rest of us are coming from.

I guess I want to say that I am bitter about the plight of our economy right now and I'm not ashamed to say it. It is frustrating, it is distressful, and it is  extremely difficult to bear by many Americans. This is difficult for rich elitists like Senator Clinton to understand because her husband is able to make tens of millions speaking to foreign corporations who aren't bogged down by the value of the dollar and who are glad to support someone who supports sending our jobs overseas. McCain simply has a rich wife, which helped to put him in the elitist category. Unfortunately, I don't have one of those.

If you feel a little bitter about the state of our economy, please feel free to comment on this blog.

Tags: Tired Politics

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The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr., as edited by Clayborne Carson, was a great book. It provided insights into Dr. King's life that really were awe-inspiring. He was such an influential figure, I just had to read it.

 The one thing that stuck out in this book was Dr. King's humanity. Clayborene Carson really wrote about him objectively. I was amazed to find out about his infidelity. I probably could have gone through life and been OK not knowing about it, but then I would have missed the human side of him while being totally awestruck over the complexity of his life, the intelligence and wisdom in his thinking, and the fearless leadership he portrayed in the face of such hatred and racism.

Even after learning of the infidelity, you can't help but admire the many great aspects of his life. Here was a man that met with several presidents, studied the teachings of Ghandi and ushered in the nonviolent demonstration movement during a very violent time in the US. He was courageous in the face of death, having been stabbed by the least likely of "enemy's" only to be gunned down by another.

I give the book 4.5 stars out of 5 only because it is a long read and you may find yourself ready to put the book down at times. The speeches are extraordinary and the book is well worth the read!

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