July 17, 2004
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Think AgainI heard on NPR the other day that the largest unaccounted for group of voters in the upcoming election is that of young people in their 20′s and 30′s who routinely ignore what is going on in the world (despite those of their age who are fighting and dying in Iraq). Here are excerpts from two exceptions to that statement. The graph was borrowed from charlesmartel where you can read a most interesting comment on the AIDS conference. It shows the percentage of GNP given by each country towards humanitarian causes. The comment below is from thedavidwang who hopefully will become a physician. Both clearly care about the world’s future.
open letter to congress:
let’s review the current state of the world…
a ravaging AIDS pandemic, which is not only a health but human rights crisis,
thousands of civilians still illegally detained in iraq and guantanamo without trial,
political and civil rights crises, armed conflict, economic insecurity, denial of rights, political repression
to say nothing of the fact that 44 million of your constituents are uninsured for healthcare.damn. that’s a pretty broad range of issues to tackle as the most powerful body of legislators/financiers on the face of the earth.
but i’d like to think that you’re handling the job with focus, integrity, and fortitude.
after all, you must be incredibly capable for that many constituents to have voted you to office.to my chagrin, watching c-span this week (yes, people do that sometimes), i discover that the 108th congress of the united states of america has spent the bulk of the past week focused on what REALLY matters:
gay marriage. specifically, that it should be banned. in the constitution.
funny thing, the constitution has only been amended 17 times since the bill of rights, yet you’ve managed to propose dozens of constitutional amendments in the past year. but i digress -i just wanted to remind you that there are only 4 weeks left in the session. nice work congressmen.
Deep Thought: To us, it might look like just a rag. But to the brave, embattled men of the fort, it was more than that. It was a flag of surrender. And after that, it was torn up and used for shoe-shine rags, so the men would look nice for the surrender.
Today I am grateful for: Not having to use the metric system
End of day – 8:29 pm
+ = Was reminded that there has been no word of the West Nile virus yet this summer. Oregon remains one of the few, or maybe only, states not to have any reported cases. Once again, Oregon rules!
- = Some other kind of sticky summer heat bug bit me on the calf and left a nice red welt.
Comments (13)
and the Netherlands just upped their contribution because Bush has halted funds for UN AIDS prevention programs once again. Isn’t that a truly Christian man?
Jeez, yes I was noticing that it’s the little northern European countries who are carrying the heaviest weight in this battle.
Thanks for the eprops!
Sorry, I was not clear enough in my post. The graph is US aid over all, not just to AIDS.
I did try to find a good site related to just US money for AIDS, but to no avail.
Ahh, I wish we were on the metric system. It makes so much more sense. Everything is divided into 10′s! None of this 5/16ths of an inch crap. So much more even and accurate.
Sorry. I took a drafting class from a woman from the Czech Republic. She made me see the error of our measuring ways. When you get down to drawing scaled plans of things, it becomes so clear.
Now I feel all Stepfordish. (*Note: I have not seen the new movie. I’m not a Johnny-come-lately fan. That has been part of my vocabulary for for over 15 years.)
I must be tired.
I have been seeing a lot of stuff in magazines about getting people to vote. Fancy t-shirts and stuff. It’s going to be an important year to vote for certain.
And another thing about the metric system… if we don’t use it here, whenever I go abroad I’ll be so confused…
Okayokay, you convinced me. I’ll vote for the metric system if we can get an amendment, and it looks like we can.
I’m fine with all of the metric system until we get to temperature. I just can’t figure out if 20 is nice or not.
I hear that.
In this upcoming election Bush has a very clearly defined platform and one which I don’t agree with regardless of our agreement on issues of faith, that is about the only agreement I have with him. Kerry on the other hand appears to be running on a platform of not being Bush. Now although that is an o.k. platform to run on, it’s something I have difficutly bringing myself to vote for regardless of my disgust with the current president’s policies. So, do I vote for Kerry just because he is not Bush? Do I vote for Nader because I am an idealist who believes Nader could actually win this election, and in the process help hand the election to Bush? Do I protest, and complain with whatever choice I end up with? I will vote, but at this point I don’t know why. Good site keep it up
Kerry does have a platform and a history of how he votes on certain issues. You just have to get the information. My main concern about him is that he seems to be a hawk on war. But Nader has no chance and Bush is Way Worse. No toss-up for me.
I believe that a move to Denmark is in order.
Or some smarter politicians here. (Ha. Right.)
I cannot watch C-SPAN anymore…seeing those empty seats, a few lonely, angry, sweating voices echoing off the walls arguing with themselves…where are the politicians? getting free lunches? promoting themselves as they great cause for change? as invisible fingers vote for them.