11.08.2006

Elections And More!

Yes, it's the day after and what an exciting day for those of us who wanted a change in our government. After some despairing elections, finally a victory. And not just in Red and Blues, but also in some key issues.
In a triple setback for conservatives, South Dakotans rejected a law that would have banned virtually all abortions, Arizona became the first state to defeat an amendment to ban gay marriage and Missouri approved a measure backing stem cell research.

- MSNBC
For those cynics who doesn't believe the government will change with Democrats taking the House and possibly the Senate, here's an outline of how the Democrats can make an immediate impact. I'm also excited to have our first female Speaker of the House in Rep. Nancy Pelosi. Overall, these elections were inspiring and relieving. And too bad this genius didn't get voted out of the office, although his term doesn't end until 2008, he should have been voted out for pure stupidity for this comment:
Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Alabama): "“If every American back in 1950 had quit buying novels and invested money in high-yield bonds, today we would be looking at a savings surplus of several trillion dollars, and Social Security would not be in the mess it'’s in. Instead, we know what happened-most of the money wound up in the pockets of one unscrupulous novelist, Pearl S. Buck, with the disastrous consequences of which we are too well aware. The fact that that woman never spent a day in jail is a disgrace to the history of our nation. I would ask every American, before you lavish your next paycheck on expensive novels you may not need, consider the other spending choices available. You could expand your cable service, visit a casino, make a political donation, give to a faith-based concern, or put the money in something the brokers call a flort. I think we all know a little bit better how our earnings should be spent than the average novel-writer does."”
Not only is that idiotic, but I'd also like to point out his hypocrisy. Check out this picture on his website:

Ummm, what's that behind his peanut head? Are those, *Gasp, Books?!?! Wait, so where'd those come from? Did they appear out of thin air, or did someone, um, Buy Them? Okay, granted, they may or may not be novels behind his head, but it could be, you never know. I wonder what's on his approved books to purchase list. Sessions also links to the American Library Association on his Kids Page. Last I checked, those places were oozing with dirty, nasty novels that the Library Purchased.

Despite the craziness of one kooky old man, I found this great article on Powell's Blog by the author of the memoir There Is No Me Without You, Melissa Fay Greene, a book that I desperately want to get devour before I go to Africa but probably won't because I promised to not buy anymore books this year. Damn promises. Greene writes in this article about her large family of seven children, four by birth and three by adoption. She continues by discussing the decision to add even more children from Ethiopia to their already large family and the reactions of their friends and family, one friend called her the old woman in the shoe. I loved this article because that's soooo me, I want to adopt and could see myself having a larger than life family, I want to be the old woman in the shoe! I already have a house overflowing with animals, why not kids too? It was an inspirational article and I can't wait to get my hands on her memoir to be even further inspired.

But for those who wish to be uninspired, check out this page of Demotivators. See, I try to tailor to all my readers, despite their motivation or lack there of preferences. Does that mean I'm bipartisan or an Independent? Ha.

Hot off the wire: Rumsfield quits... or was forced to quit? That is the question. I'd like to know what was said in the series of "thoughtful conversations" between Rumsfeld and Bush about the defense secretary's resignation. Either way, thank the lord. Also, Democrats won the Montana Senate seat, now we're just waiting on Virginia.

6 comments:

owlhaven said...

I loved that interveiw with Greene too!

Mary, mom to many

Anonymous said...

mai wen, can I go off on a tangent here? You know your book-buying addiction problem, is that because you don't have access to good libraries?

I love me my libraries, early and often. But if they haven't got the good stuff (however you define 'good'), I do see that one must procure reading materials in other ways.

mai wen said...

I know, Greene is amazing!

I am very odd, Mas, I'll admit. I don't like reading dirty books. I'm a little bit of a clean freak anyways and when a book has stains on it or is dirty I get very distracted and I don't want to touch it. Plus, who knows what people have done with those books?? I know, I'm totally weird. I also like to own books because I reference them a lot for writing or for other reasons. If I'm struggling with the voice of a character for example, and I remember a book with a character that had a great voice, I go and I reread parts of it to see what the author did and then I steal it! :) Not word for word of course, but I try to copy their technique or learn from it. My creative writing professor always said steal as much as you can from your favorite authors, so I do try. But yes, I may have to be less of a snob and go to the library in these next months to save money if I Have to read a certain book. Hopefully it'll be a new release and won't be "contaminated" yet (my husband teases me because I'm so weird about germs and he always says everything's "contaminated" in the voice of that little girl in 'Signs').

Anonymous said...

Okay mai wen, now I know. And I wasn't trying to make you feel bad, I was just curious. I have about a zillion quirks of my own, I assure you!

I love owning books myself; I have a perennial bookshelf crisis in which I don't have enough room in my small flat for additional bookshelves, and I don't have enough room on the bookshelves I already have for the books I keep adding to my collection.

I collect old-ish books actually; gorgeous English Penguin paperbacks from the 1930s. As Anthony Powell so rightly said, 'Books do furnish a room'. And my mind, much more importantly.

Sounds like your plan of loving the books you've already got is a good one, if you have the self-control to stick to it. Good luck with it, cos books are irresistible, in my experience.

(And yay on those mid-term election results!)

Renée said...

Oh My God. That senator is a complete putz!!

And me and my friends were joyously celebrating in Australia when Rumsfeld quit too! I'm very excited for you Americans, and the world actually. Change is in the air!

mai wen said...

Definitely, Renee, and how refreshing it is!

 

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