The Democratic Failure

As in the NY TImes article re: Obama not being the voice and leader we hoped for ("What Happened to Obama's Passion?"), we have ourselves a leader who wants something but is perhaps too afraid politically, or so worried about his legacy and wanting to usher in a new era of government cooperation, that he ignores the situation and makeup of his political adversaries and does not forcibly defend one opinion, one goal, and the best way to get there. We had a chance. Democrats had the majority at first, but without the figurehead leader, even the rank-and-file congressmen began to distance themselves from, at the time, the singularly defining goal of the democratic party (Health Care Reform). And even with that majority, because Obama wanted to usher in a new era and pass legislation with approval from both sides, he didn't just force it through. And then we Americans got a whittled down health care reform and even his own party didn't believe in it enough to stand up for it enough to get re-elected. 

Then the Republicans took over, and by now we finally realized that we were screwed. Especially now with the economy. It took that long to figure out that the initial stimulus wouldn't be enough to escape possibly the worst recession since the Great Depression, and now without control of both houses, it was too late for Democrats to push through New Deal type legislation. Because the economy will be horrible still come re-election, one can only hope that luck yields back Congress to the democrats and retains Obama, and that the democrats will have learned their lesson, and that a second chance will allow us to pick ourselves back to our feet.

Which is more comforting: believing that God formed you how you are a beautiful creature but with any problems according to His plan, or that you are the product of billions of years and billions of iterations of beings before you, each of which theoretically more perfect than the last.

Well it's probably more comforting to believe in God because it doesn't matter how perfect you are, to have had billions of iterations and to have them in the future requires your death. Only in God's universe does that allow for a happy afterlife.

And even to the idea of perfection. Too bad that evolution is not a clockmaker but is instead the tinkerer, simply screwing with the design randomly, a wire here a connection there a hormone there And another hormone to modify that one etc., and actually making changes quite fast. And ever changing, thus we're not perfect for now we are perfect for yesterday.

Probably better to believe in both. I mean, surely you believe in the Fact of evolution, it is up to you to believe in the heart that may or may not point to God. And you probably feel something. After all, we evolved a belief in God so that with our enormous frontal cortices we wouldn't spend our lives ruminating on our deaths.

The Day bin Laden Died

I cannot help but to feel a profound sense of sadness at the death of one of the worst killers in recent history. As I see the cries of jubilation outside of the White House and on Facebook, Twitter, and news feeds, I cannot help but think to myself just how awful this is.

I am not sad that Osama bin Laden is dead. I am glad my country's greatest enemy has been destroyed.

I am sad that in order to bring Peace into this world, there must be death. I am sad that any person's death is cause for celebration. I am sad that the world is still a place of dictators and warlords and countries that fight a war for ten years because the world is full of these people.

I have hope. One day, the killing will become unnecessary. There won't be a need for tat because there won't be a tit. Young boys just out of high school won't be killing younger boys still, when so much of who each of us are depends so much upon luck.

It is Chaos. I desperately hope for Peace.

Valentine's Day

Love is obviously important to a set of genes existing within us reproductive machines. Without the feeling, the genes can't be sure that they will exist. Actually, they don't give a damn, they're just chemicals. They just have to have coded for an organism that cares, or else they wouldn't exist. Get it?

Any genes that don't code for the perfect chemical balance that causes love, then sex and reproduction, do not survive because they don't get replicated. Culling the herd.

We humans also love those we don't have sex with. We are social creatures. Our evolution lead to a strategy of working together. As one, or even as small families, all we could do is hunt, gather, have sex, and exist. As part of a larger humming organism, each of us may specialize and produce much more on the whole. In order for this to work, we have to be social.

It also means that our mates aren't just quick lays. It means we love them forever. We work with them to raise our progeny and ensure the survival of our genes (if our ancestors hadn't, we wouldn't exist). In that same vein, we do better for ourselves if we work together.

So this Valentine's Day, go out there and love your closest companions, and your friends, and your family. They are what make you human and special. Don't lose them.

The Sad State of News

How is it NEWS that the Republican House leader beliefs our president is a natural-born citizen?

That and half the news is violence.

More Chocolate

It’s okay to be disappointed by the chocolate. That’s the beauty of it. You never know what you’re going to get. You know what the soft centers look like. You know what the cream filled look like. Sometimes they look alike. If you knew exactly what you were going to get, though, would the good ones be so special? If you always had the good ones, would you know what good is?

Change the World

I want you to do something for me today, something awkward, something weird, something you don’t normally do. Every single one of us craves companionship. We crave social interaction. We need someone to love, someone to care for, and someone to love and care for us in return. We need someone to hang out with, someone to feel safe with, someone to feel reckless with, or someone that will take our secrets and keep them safe. We need friends. We need lovers. We need others.

            We are wired that way. Evolution’s solution to man is the social group, the family of brothers, some of whom aren’t genetic brothers even if they are true brothers. Without that raw connection, we are not human.

            Yet some people don’t have that connection. Some crave that which they are unable to take for themselves, be they shy or boisterous. Some lose their words, some are too fearful to mutter them at all. Some never had that connection, some want your connection.

            Here’s what I want you to do. Go to someone that isn’t part of your group. This could be someone who hangs around with your group but isn’t in your group, or it could be someone more removed. Go to this person, today, and say, “I want to be your friend.” 

            Just straight out, tell them how you feel. You will warm their hearts. They will know that you care for them. They will now have that social key that drives us. You will. I want millions of people, today, to make a new friend. Say this to someone you are close to, but not close enough. Say this to the little boy that has no friends. Say this to the most popular person you know. Say this to the band geek, the sports geek, the school geek, the TV geek, the computer geek, the Spanish geek, the punk geek. Say this. Say it. Don’t just think it. Share it. 

When all of you say this today, you will change the world. The world will become a closer place. You will truly meet someone. Someone will truly meet you. You will experience Life, as it was meant to be.