Poverty

There was a question about Healthcare, whether or not it was a privilege, right, or responsibility, in the second Presidential Debate on 10/07.  I will not tell you which way to vote, I have faith in you to guide this country.  I do want to highlight something Obama said, "I think it should be a right, for every American.  In a country as wealthy as ours, for us to have people who are going bankrupt because they can't pay their medical bills, (removed Obama's personal mother story), there's something fundamentally wrong about that."  Now there's an idea here and it relates intimately with poverty, in this country and ultimately, around the world.  It's "raising the bare minimum" and what we believe is acceptable.

Here, in the United States, we use our Declaration of Independence to define what we all are entitled to.  "Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" is what that document states, and in its vague terms we understand universal truths.  Every American must have a chance to live these ideals, our laws and rights are built to ensure that.  Programs like Medicare, Medicaid and Wealthfare promise that we will not stand ideally by--while others struggle to live.  Healthcare (prevention, treatment, and management of illness) must be included, because everyone deserves a fair chance; without it, citizens cannot pursue their dreams or breathe their lives.   You've heard the cliche "we are only as strong as our weakest link," if its true then America isn't as strong as we once assumed.

That document also states "all men are created equal;" in that, regardless of what state flag one pledges allegiance to, s/he is entitled to a number of things because they are human.  It is a little known idea that America likes to spread its idea of democracy.  And lately, to say the least, it's put us in a little bit of trouble around the globe.  But the people protected by the border of the United States aren't inherently different than any other in the world.  If they are "created equal" and entitled to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness", than the rest of the human race deserves the same.

It isn't a question of means because we found out what we were capable of during 1942, it is a question of whether or not we choose to act.

The American President

I've kept mostly quiet about this year's presidential election, and it's been mostly out of my character to do so. I haven't personally endorsed any candidate, yet. This is especially odd because two of the prominent candidates being who they are, one an African-American and one a woman. The question was brought up yesterday, "who has more of a disadvantage, the woman or the black man?" and the general census was the woman. Although it thrills me to see that ethnicity places a smaller part under gender, it saddens me because this question should not exist. Not here in America, land of the free. Whose eastern border is marked with a women, holding a lamp at the "golden door"; no, not here in America, not in the land of opportunity. This presidential race should not be about color or gender. It should be about the presidency and this country.

The election itself has never really sat well with me, the whole process of it. The parading, the mudslinging, it all seems unnecessary, but in America this is how its done. I feel like it always comes down to "which is the lesser of two evils", a terrible way to choose a leader. The only president I've ever wanted to be a citizen under was never a candidate. Unanimously, the first president was never elected, he was asked to be president, given the job because he understood what America was--better than anyone else. Perhaps this is the criteria by which we should decide who should be our leader--their understanding of what America is, in 2008.

I would rather avoid anyone that wants to be president and choose the one that has to be president. No, I have not endorsed any presidential candidate and I'm not going to. I'm going to wait and see who resembles the American President most.

I'm really big on public speaking, how anyone can elect a president that can't put a sentence together is beyond me. Obama's speech after the Iowa Caucus was incredible.

And there's something special about Hillary's choked-up response.

"It’s not easy, and I couldn’t do it if I didn’t passionately believe it was the right thing to do. You know, I have so many opportunities from this country just don’t want to see us fall backwards."

"You know, this is very personal for me. It’s not just political it’s not just public. I see what’s happening, and we have to reverse it."

"Some people think elections are a game, lot’s of who’s up or who’s down, it’s about our country , it’s about our kids’ futures, and it’s really about all of us together."

"You know, some of us put ourselves out there and do this against some pretty difficult odds, and we do it, each one of us because we care about our country but some of us are right and some of us are wrong, some of us are ready and some of us are not, some of us know what we will do on day one and some of us haven’t thought that through enough."

Does your candidate know what to do on Day 1?

We the People

Wow… it's been a while since I posted… about 3 weeks, did ya miss me? There's been plenty of stuff that's been keepin' me busy, and I must apologize for that. One of those thangs that happened while I was away from the keyboard, was I witnessed the march against House Resolution 4437.

400,000 immigrants walking down the Jackson Boulevard, in Chicago. Now, this bill does a number of things like requiring a “700 mile fence along the US-Mexican border” and “requiring the federal government to take custody of illegal aliens.” Other such things as “making employers to verify workers' legal status” and “housing of illegals will be considered a felony and subject to no less than 3 years in prison”… those kinda things. Then there's these small details like requiring “all United States Border Patrol uniforms to be made in the U.S. to avoid forgeries”… sometimes I wonder. [Honestly, think about how much time is spent on the little details, what my name should be on myspace.com—I don't know how many times I've gone through this. It's not like I don't get it, I understand the significance… but c'mon man… decide on something a little bit more important… please. I'm beggin' here.] Anyways, for a list of details… click here.

Now, my major issue with this bill is—what happened to being American? I would argue that many people (possibly the majority) are not Americans—as defined by our important documents. For the definition of American, dictionary.com cannot help—instead look to the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and the Bill of Rights to define what being American is all about. Now, I'm not going to make you read these documents (but American is defined in the ideas it holds). I talked to a few individuals, asked what it means to be an American, as this debated heated. And I went through these documents, because to the rest of the world, this is what the United States of America is defined by.

The Declaration of Independence states "we hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness." I take this as "all Men" (apparently women, you are not included… hehheh)—regardless if you are American or not—are endowed with the right to "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness." Is it then, against American policy to ban an individual who is willing to accept a job below the conditions of another man? Lemme ask you this, why do people come to America? What's the number one reason, why people come/came to America? This country was once described as the land of opportunity. I would argue that it still is. With enough work, anyone can make it. [Where else can you have a guy saying "Who is Mike Jones?" and put his own cell phone number on a CD and have people buy his music and get probably the most ignorant following on Earth. I apologize if someone is offended, but seriously… he really does half the work and then repeats what he just said. There are places for that kind of music; intellectual stimulation is not one of them. I got nothing against Mike Jones; his lyrics just don't do it for me.] What I'm trying to say is, our Declaration of Independence says "hey! All men have the right to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness." To deny an individual work in America, to feed her/his family is against the Declaration of Independence—especially hypocritical when it's all about family, in America.

And as always there’s another perspective to this view; if individuals deny themselves the right to “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness,” they are then not American. If I were to deny my own self the right to pursue my happiness, I am then being un-American. Saying things like "oh, it much too difficult of me to prosper in this society due to the situation I was born with," is un-American. And this is simply because “all [individuals] are created equal and endowed by their Creator, with certain unalienable Rights.” If you believe yourself to be under another individual, that is un-American. And the fact is some individuals are born with more resources [money, talent, connections], it just means another individual has to work a little harder; even still, anyone can make it.

In a response to this bill, “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union” [Preamble to the United States Constitution] must reconsider our citizenship. Am I American? Are you American? “America isn’t easy. America is advanced citizenship. You’ve got to want it bad, because it’s gonna put up a fight.” [The American President]

Get on board

So it finally appears that everyone got on that Fort Minor track “Where’d You Go?”, you know the one I was talking about back in November [http://tainteddragon.blogspot.com/2005/11/marital-status-retired-family.html, that’s the proof (November 23rd)]. It appears that everyone is finally realizing the totality of having soldiers leave to another country… I guess it takes that many people to leave for it to really start to hit home. Yeah, the video helps, I know. Don’t get it twisted; I’m not upset that many people just didn’t turn their heads to the guy standing in the middle of a city screaming at the top of his lungs. I guess I’m just speaking a world language and all everyone understands is American, sounds like a sad story… yeah I know. And I was thinking about that post, it’s got some serious meaning to me (the track that is) and like Linkin Park’s track “In the End,” its popularity doesn’t overshadow it’s meaning to me. [You know that song already, I’m going to say that I liked the song before it was popular… but I got no proof. That’s what makes this “Where’d You Go” more of a triumph.] The current frequent circulation of “Where’d You Go” will never take away from its meaning to me.

But since there’s this window of opportunity, I’m going to take this opportunity to give another prop to another Fort Minor track [that I can only hope will get radio play]—it’s “Right Now.” [http://tainteddragon.blogspot.com/2005/11/fort-minor-black-thought-styles-of.html, (November 22nd)] And this blog post is in that direction…

Sometime last year, I told someone I look at music and movies because what’s popular reflects on the society that we live in. The music that we listen to… it sets a general state of mind of/for everyone. For example, what I just said “it takes that many people to leave this country to fight a war many of us don’t believe in.” In the video for “Where’d You Go,” it portrays a family that was left behind; in the song, it’s about what’s happens to a family when someone’s gone away for a long time. See the parallel? It saddens me to see that it took this long… I’m satisfied that most of us got there, but sometimes—the luxury of time won’t be there.

Now you look at this past Oscars… some people say fuck the Oscars, but hold up a second. The five nominations are as follows… Brokeback Mountain, Capote, Crash, Good Night and Good Luck, and Munich. All five of these movies are highly regarded, many will tell you that they’re all a must see. So, how do we pick a winner? [I gotta do this at least once, get on this board and discuss the best movie… but anyways] Many were running around and saying Brokeback Mountain was going to win. I’m not going to say which one I chose, because at the time I did not see all five movies. [I think they’re all great films, by the way.] Now, I had a general understanding of what all the movies were about. From the way it looks, the academy people always pick the one that’s most pertaining to the rest of the audience. They voted for what is most relevant to the rest of the country, and what has more impact. Let’s put it this way, they were okay will the gay issue. Cuz I mean, I’m okay with gay people… it really doesn’t dwell on my mind, but I can’t stand when people are racist. And the academy seems to agree… if it didn’t already figure it out Crash won. And there’s another reason why I liked Crash so much, it was at the beginning. “It's the sense of touch. In any real city, you walk, you know? You brush past people, people bump into you. In L.A., nobody touches you. We're always behind this metal and glass. I think we miss that touch so much, that we crash into each other, just so we can feel something.” That put into words what I've been thinking and saying for the longest time.

I mean, I spent most of my time in the suburbs. Now I’m in the city, and I have this contact with so many people at one time. I witnessed the White Sox drive up my block after they won the World Series. I witnessed the 10,000 immigrants march outside my apartment to argue against a bill that would affect them. I don’t claim to meet someone new everyday, but when I meet someone… its never idle conversation. I detest idle conversation. When a conversation between two people happens, there’s got to be something there. If it’s about something that happened yesterday, please let there be something that was learned. If it’s something about what is going to happen tonight, please let it be about something more. Basically, let the question is asked… is this conversation going to matter tomorrow? Conversation is great, I love it. Talking to someone, getting their feelings about something, getting a different view… I could go on and on about it. But please… I’m begging you, let there be some substance—something deeper.

Now, here is where its gonna get cloudy, difficult… Idle conversation has benefits to it. [As everyone says, “What the fuck man.”] “General conversation” does a couple of things… it initiates conversation; conversation, often begins, with “hey, what’s up? What are you doing?” And even though its not gonna matter what I’m doing at 12:15 in the afternoon tomorrow, I still answer the question. As long as that’s not all the conversation is about, I’m cool with it. I’m just begging for something after that. Sometimes, idle conversation will tell you what a person is about. When I’m asked “hey, what are you up to?” I’ll answer with what I’m really doing. And that little bit of honestly, usually says something. “Chillin’, listenin’ to music,” (a frequent response of mine) that right there… that’s says a whole lot about me. And everyone’s got a story to tell.

Alright, now that you’ve finally “acquired” Fort Minor, Black Thought, Styles of Beyond – Right Now, allow me to speak on it.

Please… be aware of the encounters you have every day. Everyone lives in a world of their own design. Yet, we’re all together on this planet. This conflict with other nations, with other ethnicities, with other people/human beings… it brings a tear to my eyes. And it’s not about sadness, its anger. It makes me upset enough to say, we don’t deserve world peace. We deserve what we get—until we are really take a look at the world as one whole place. One planet. [This is going to come up again, it belongs in that series A part of a whole]
All of us, we’re going through something… we’re all experiencing something… take a moment and listen to what someone has to say. [Nelly – N Dey Say, lemme plug that one too] Stop this mentality of “it’s all about me and my struggle with life because what I’m going through is harder than what you’re going through.” With that way of thinking, you’re only bringing on your own ignorance. And…

Ignorance is not bliss.