Wild Weekend

Not for me personally but across the US it was a wild weekend. I was hesitant to blog about it since I don't usually touch on political subjects, but this morning I found myself in a weird position of trying to reflect in my Facebook status how I feel about the historic passage of healthcare reform. I couldn't do it, my feelings are too mixed-up to be distilled to a pithy update. Yes, I'm stoked for reform and happy that thirty million more citizens of our fine country will have access to benefits. What an idea. Still, so many more are left out that it's hard to bust out the party hats, you know?

You've seen the headlines. There was a lot going on besides the Congressional vote, all hot buttons that have me torn up six ways about this insane world we live in. I don't share these to stir the shit or lay some heavy vibe down, that's not my mission, but friends it's my philosophy that it is better to know than not. If that just sounds like a crock, give this one a pass, but like I say, this isn't to sway you to my "side" or any such nonsense like that: draw your own conclusions on these wild times.

The healthcare vote was a milestone and a step in the direction of universal coverage for US citizens. Cool, I'm down with that. Too bad it's still a system designed for profit.

Tea Party folks gathered outside Congress and hurled epithets about race and sex at our elected representatives. Yeah, that's effective. It amazes me how much effort people will put into being hateful and, let's face it, totally unproductive. Really, you think this is adding substance to the issue? Just goes to show that taxation really does bring out the worst in people.

Hundreds of thousands of immigrants took to the streets to march for reform. This is no less important than healthcare but is still buried in rhetoric and intransigence.

This weekend marked the seventh anniversary of the Iraq invasion. Amazing. We're still going strong over there with no sign of leaving any time soon. The sign of international power is most visible in occupying forces, as has been the case for the entire history of civilization. The more things change, etc, and speaking of which...

I get it that if a deity promises a place to live that there is nothing that will prevent you from occupying that land. What boils my blood and breaks my heart (which is super-uncomfortable, take my word for it) is when righteous-minded folks feel justified displacing and killing to fulfill that promise. Billions of US taxpayer money goes annually to support this kind of activity, and what kind of thanks do we get? This weekend the Israeli government (which shouldn't be confused with its populace) continued thumbing its nose at... well, everybody.

Yet another cheery subject: homelessness. It's up thirty-four percent in New York, as was reported yesterday. That's a big leap, and taken amongst the numbers of jobless and uninsured nationwide, these are not happy days for tens of millions of citizens.

Here ends the depressing post. Tidings of joy and sunshine will resume when next we meet. Until then my friends, take care.