Some sentimental drivel...

Well folks, this is the last "What's YOUR Deal?!?" I'll be writing from Great Falls, Montana. Worry not, I plan on continuing my weekly excursions into the depths of the pitiful colon of humanity when I get to California. I'm sure you're reading the words, "pitiful colon of humanity" and wondering about my mental stability... but bear with me and read this article from:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/05/world/americas/05briefs-9YEAROLDSABO_BRF.html?_r=5&ref=world

If the link doesn't work, here is the full text of the article, dated 5 March 2009, from the Associated Press:

"A 9-year-old girl who was carrying twins, and whose stepfather is suspected of raping her, underwent an abortion on Wednesday despite complaints from Brazil’s Roman Catholic Church. The stepfather has been jailed since last week, the police said. Abortion is illegal in Brazil, the country with the most Roman Catholics, but judges can make exceptions if the mother’s life is in danger or the fetus has no chance of survival. Fatima Maia, director of the public university hospital where the abortion was performed, said the pregnancy, which was in its 15th week, posed a serious risk to the girl, who weighs 80 pounds. But Marcio Miranda, a lawyer for the Archdiocese of Olinda and Recife in northeastern Brazil, said the girl should have carried the twins to term and had a Caesarean section. 'It’s the law of God: Do not kill,' he said in comments reported by the newspaper O Globo."

You see what I mean about humanity's colon? Seriously, I don't care what side of religion you're on, or what side of the abortion debate you're on... this story has more than enough f'ed up aspects to it to infuriate anyone. I'm not sure what's more messed up, the rape, the child abuse, the abortion, or the reaction by the church... or any combination of the disgust I felt in the pit of my stomach for the entire situation.

Well... with that said... the title of this week's rant is "Some sentimental drivel..." so this is actually less a rant than me just pontificating as I'm sitting on the floor of my empty apartment, typing on my laptop which is sitting on a box next to an air mattress that my cat has stolen for his own personal use.

Call me a spoiled capitalist yuppie... but I really miss having stuff. I miss my TV that's usually on constantly as I'm listening to the news, sports, The History Channel, or the Discovery Channel in the background while I read about random topics that pique my interest on the internet. I miss my bed and having a chair. But even sitting within the empty walls of my apartment, with all my stuff on a moving truck heading to California, I realize I have it better than a lot of people in the world. This is especially relevant seeing as how the economy is taking its slow downward swirl along the porcelain sides of the American dream, consuming everything in its path.

I love listening to the debates from conservatives and liberals regarding what to do with the economy... it's actually ridiculous. We have on one side, people wanting to cut goverment spending so as to not deepen the national deficit, which makes sense, the deficit is ridiculous right now and getting worse. We have on the other side people saying we need to stimulate the economy my throwing money at it, which also makes sense because without money, there is no economy. Now... who's right? Unfortunately, people don't see that both sides are right... and bipartisan politics is equally as offensive to me as what happened to that poor 9-year old in Brazil.

I'm not an economist, I suck at math, but this is my take on it all. The issue is really which is more important to people now. Yes, a deficit that we'll be trying to pay off forever is bad. However, without help, there are people that have no jobs right now. Because the banking system is so f'ed up, people can't buy anything, if people can't buy anything, then manufacturing dries up, and those workers that manufacture stuff... they now have no job. And with no job, there's no buying stuff... the swirling sensation you are feeling is your livelihood going down the toilet.

So... the way I see it is that we gotta throw money into the toilet to clog it... to stop the flush of economic doom. "But we're throwing money away!" Yes, I know... but if we clog the toilet early enough, you can reach back in there and grab the money you threw in. Ta-da! I really should seek elected political office. I'm sure I can turn this into a PowerPoint slideshow.

Oh well...

Apologies for this week's rant being not all that ranty, I've been too busy to truly get outraged about something... other than the entire process of moving. It's so strange to pack up everything and just go. But so such is the transient lifestyle of someone in the military. At least this time I relatively lucky and I get to be stationed with a big group of my friends, so it's not really a goodbye to most people at it is a, "See ya in California!" And in today's technology driven world we're never at a loss of contact with people unless they really don't like you enough to hide from you. I mean, how many people do we "stalk" on Facebook daily with what I call the "Stalker Feed." So and so uploads some pictures, next thing you know you're clicking through pictures of the birthday party of someone you haven't seen in years. So... I guess there really is never a goodbye. I'll definitely miss some of the people that I'm leaving behind in Great Falls... folks like my vet (such awesome group of people) and the people I work with (for better or for worse).

Yeah... well, I hope everyone keeps reading my rants and joins me in my righteous outrage over the stupidities of humanity and life in general. Peace.