Andrei's Universe

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When I entered the Washington Caucus I did so firmly as an undecided member choosing to support the Democratic Party.

I was so firm in my stance I was prepared (if necessary) to stand as an 'undecided delegate' in the conference. I acknowledge the amount of pressure from both sides of the democratic campaign that this would open me to.

At my caucus location, people were unimaginably supportive. Yes there was a vocal majority of Obama supporters. The Clinton supporters (while numbering less) were no less vocal of their support.

Yet, despite this there was NO pressure on me to pick a candidate. Everyone who was familiar with the caucus process were united in one stance. Showing those of us unfamiliar how the process worked. Everyone had a fair time to speak. I was even given time to speak on why I was undecided in the event people who'd moved to a candidate felt they were actually undecided.

But now, I am supporting Obama.

To me this doesn't just mean supporting my candidate. It means supporting a fair, legal, and (dare I say it) honest election process.

Today I read an article from a Clinton supporter who was at the time of the Washington Caucus undecided in her opinion. Her reasons matched mine.

( Unfortunately, her blog post got ugly. )

Tags: mudslinging, politics
Current Location: FreePeople Kitchen
Current Mood: annoyed

shimmeringjemmy posted earlier today. I'm going to follow up with a bit more rhetoric.

I seriously ask friends and readers to take the time to read this and follow the link at the end.

Like many people I have been very angry at the last 3 elections. My anger has not stemmed from what the Republicans are doing to the Democrats. My anger has stemmed from what the Democrats do about the Republicans.

Personally, I had pretty much come to the conclusion that both parties want nothing more than to polarize the country to take the inevitable decision out of the populaces hand so that they could turn it into a contest to see which side could wield the better legalese interpretation.

And then in my eyes... it got worse. The Democrats would counter with minority candidates. Now personally, I'm not pleased with what government (read the current administration) has done in the past 8 years. But... I really saw no draw from the candidates on the other side of the alley either.

When I entered the Washington caucus I did so uncommitted to a candidate. I was hoping that there'd be more representation at the caucus.. but apparently that is not the time to actually discuss candidate issues. I walked away from the caucus at least feeling like I could vote Democrat but not necessarily feel bound to one candidate or the other.

Over time I moved into the Obama camp. In researching the candidate he actually covered issues that meant something to me. His videos are often subtitled. He talks about problems with outsourcing, education, poverty. But he doesn't simply throw around the issues. He talks about where the problems are coming from, what mechanisms have prevented them from being repaired and how to deal with them.

In the last few weeks, the whole minority issue has been thrown around. X says Y and thats about race. Y says X and that's not about race. And of course the political thing is to look away or doom say those who spoke improperly.

This week, Obama went in an entirely different direction. He stood up and talked about race. He commented about how we have race issues in this country. He commented about how ignoring the issues and side stepping them doesn't resolve them. By politicising them we don't deal with them. He pointed out that by making them non-issues or political-issues... they will never be non-issues, we will never find resolution and things will not change.

He said that once again we can turn this into political partisan bickering. We can worry about if it's a "race" race. We can judge politics on trends. We can do the same thing we've been doing for 8-12-20 years. And at the election we can be in the exact same place.

Or we can face the actual issues. We can look at why there aren't jobs for Americans. We can look at why our education system is failing. We can look at why an average middle class American can't afford a house and work on those issue for the future.

For years. I've begged people to look at what's actually important and stop turning this into a "What the other guy does to make him Evil" race.

Obama has given a speech that make me proud of the country again. Proud of its accomplishments and potential. There is a perspective of reality. And a faith that it can improve.

I strongly suggest you listen and read this speech it is YouTube embedded along with a 99% accurate transcript. It is moving, sincere, and speaks volumes.

Maybe if we can get more people to realize what the issues really are... Maybe if we can remember that picking sides is for sport not for governance... Maybe we as a people can say, "Not this time"

I've got my candidate and I am actually enthused about him

Tags: candidate, politics, president, speech
Current Location: Office
Current Mood: impressed

Last week I walked into the break room. There were two folks taking opposing views on who did better in which debate.

8 days into 2008 and the presidential election is in the break room.

I'd like to take this opportunity early in this hell year to make a request of the readers of this blog.

Be intelligent and not apathetic.

This actually goes a long way. The terms 'democrat', 'republican', 'conservative' and 'liberal' have all pretty much lost their original definition.

The bi-partisan government wants you to be polarized, pick a side, and then see if they can get a 50/50 vote that will require their unbiased hand to help decide.

The issues that will be argued and debated are all things that will not be dealt with. They are simply hot button terms designed to make you pick "one side" or "the other side"... Black or white... there is no middle ground.

Well, the government would like you to believe there is no middle ground.

Last hell-year, I watched as intelligent friends fell right into the morass and backed their candidate based on how well they linked up with their list of pointless issues. I watched as they bickered these points. I saw people in social circles actually come to blows.

This year... think about what's important to you. What are the problems you see on your street, in your town, state, etc. Because I can guarantee you; stem cell research, gay marriage, social security privatization, removing evolution from the school books... will not occur in the next 4 years.

People say that their vote doesn't count. That government doesn't accomplish anything.

Both are unfortunately, untrue. Unfortunate, because we let the government polarize us into a 50/50 split. If just one state did something unexpected the election would change. Visibly.

And before you tell me that government can't accomplish something in a timely manner... get me started on how the Washington state legislature made online gambling a felony in 45 days from law proposal to passage.

I stand by the phrase with which they promoted the move "V for Vendetta"

"People should not be afraid of their government. Government should be afraid of their people."

I am not a Democrat. I am not a Republican.

I am an individual.

Tags: election, politics, rant
Current Location: Office
Current Mood: annoyed

As relayed to me and posted by

shimmeringjemmy

The US Supreme Court upheld a ban on later term abortions that do not take into account the health of the mother.

Personally, I see this as yet another step in law creation that is designed to protect the lawmaker over the people.

In the past year I have seen the following rights of the individual taken away:
rights to put money into playing poker online
rights to carry arms on a college campus to defend oneself
rights to have a medical operation than may be necessary to save oneself

It is far more important for the US bipartisan system to make a daily effort to polarize its inhabitants into abject apathy so that the control of government is firmly removed from its citizens hands.

The principle of popular election is a fatal folly; its results are visible in every so-called democracy. The elected man is always the mediocrity; he is the safe man, the sound man, the man who displeases the majority less than any other; and therefore never the genius, the man of progress and illumination. - Liber 194 - 10.

The average american (sic) no longer votes about issues they care about. They vote about polarized words they've been taught to take sides on.

Why does government even try to legislate school prayer when the actions of one person's religious beliefs should be untouchable by government? Why legislate the question of the life of the unborn child when the religious leaders of the world can't agree on the answer.

A government that has to legislate to protect against the expression of the destruction of its symbolic equivalent is a government that acknowledges that they are failing. Translation without big words: If you have to take away the first amendment rights of free speech to prevent people from burning the flag... you admit that people are losing faith in what the flag symbolizes.

Freedom, independence, liberty refer to an absence of undue restrictions and an opportunity to exercise one's rights and powers. Freedom emphasizes the opportunity given for the exercise of one's rights, powers, desires, or the like: freedom of speech or conscience; freedom of movement.

Personally, when the government makes laws that affect what I do with my life... when the government makes laws that turn personal activities criminal... I for one, don't feel a brimming sensation of freedom.

When it is outlawed, only criminals will profit.

Tags: annoyance, news, politics
Current Mood: annoyed
Current Music: slow beat of drums

Some day... Someone will ask a teen-aged Aiden if he remembers who was president when he was born.

With luck he'll answer, "Nope."

Tags: babyhaving, memory, politics
Current Mood: pleased

... I found a question on Yahoo's Q&A board.

The question was simple:
What do A-list actors, B-list actor, C-list actors, and D-list actors mean?
I heard that B-list are TV actors, and A-list actors are movie actors.
Can someone set it straight?

Unfortunately, someone gave the stock answer:
Okay..obviously you don't understand the social pyramid of hollywood.Dude here it goes: A-listers are particularly successful movie stars or celebutantes or whatever ranging from Will Smith to Paris Hilton, that is how various it is;B-listers are tv actors or other not too successful movie actors or not too known celebutantes like Ashley Johnson or more correctly, Kimberly Stewart;C-listers are rich but they are now probably former tv or movie actors and musicians that might be on some reality show;D-listers are not very important in the hollywood food chain but they do get some recognition they usually include comedians ranging from Michael Ian Black to Godfrey and others....I hope you get it now.

This is dangerously inaccurate. I use the term dangerously because it's close enough to accurate that it will lead people to sometimes correct but more often than naught incorrect assumptions.

( A digression on 'dangerously incorrect' answers )

So.. this was my answer to the question.. Which I had to squeeze down to 300 characters because the window of opportunity had been closed:

( The Short Form )

( But to elabourate: The Long form )

So this is just my general opinion and is a lead in for a post that's about 75% done that I think will be kinda cool.

Tags: film, hollywood, politics
Current Mood: annoyed

Having looked at both candidates and been utterly unpleased with the unclear statements, double talk and finger pointing...

(You see, the internet is a series of tubes)

I'm writing in myself for U.S. Representative. I invite anyone voting for U.S. Representative District 2 (For washington state) to write me in as well. (Andrei Freeman)

Personally I fully expect to capture at least 50% of the eligable voters in my household. Which means.. Well.... Um.. I guess it doesn't mean anything.

I suppose I need a platform. Um. If elected I will be happy to stand in the House and call people on Bulls*&t. Other than that. I guarantee I don't agree with anyone else on all their issues. But then again.. At least I'll admit that.

Write in candidate via LJ. Because the alternatives kinda suck.

Tags: politics
Current Mood: annoyed

I mentioned in the previous post that our government has perfected the polarizing bi-partisan activity of 'us' vs. 'them.

In the 2000 elections I was told how someone slapped a friend of mine in his house because she disagreed with his politics.

In the 2004 elections I read countless stories of election motivated violence.

If this feeling of us vs. them continues... if we poliarize this nation perfectly down the center. 50% of us hating and mistrusting 50% of us. If the violence keeps building...

Now, for those of you who may have taken a history class. Do the words, "Civil War" make sense?

Because sooner or later it will only take one event. That's how these things begin. Let's stop talking about Black and White. Let's go back to thinking for ourselves.

Tags: fighting, politics, teams
Current Mood: uncomfortable
Current Music: <a href="itms://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZSearch.woa/wa/com.apple.jingle.search.DirectAction/sea

In the past few months our government has passed laws along the following lines
Warrant-less Wiretapping
Arrest without due process
State laws making talking about specific topic on the internet a felony

My issue is not with any one individual law but with an idea.

You remember ideas?

We are told to remember the idea, not the man, because a man can fail. He can be caught, he can be killed and forgotten, but 400 years later, an idea can still change the world. I've witnessed first hand the power of ideas, I've seen people kill in the name of them, and die defending them...

There was an idea in the founding of this country that
"One is innocent until proven guilty"

Personally, we as a nation have given leave to our govenment to say,
"We no longer trust innocence."

Our litiginous society is now eager to find and prove guilt. So much so, that we will pick away at the only wholes some people have to prove said innocence.

Everyday, I see pop up windows that ask the question, "Do you trust Bush?"... I have to be honest... because of our society.. I don't trust government. We have allowed our government to become a self-supporting beast that does one and only one thing.. it protects itself.

The bipartisan system has evolved to a state where it is impossible for a third party to grow an interact. By having two parties, there is always that feeling of "Us" (the good guys) and "Them" the bad guys. There's always someone who's fault it is that is making life bad for us and we just need to believe in "our team"

But everytime something passes in govenment that you personally don't like... be assured that someone from your party defecteed to allow it to pass. See that's the hard part because how can you voice your discontent... You can throw them out of office by voting for someone on the other team.

Now all your like minded, politically aligned friends, think you're missing the big picture

Well, I'm here to remind you what the big picture is:

Beneath this mask there is more than flesh. Beneath this mask there is an idea, Mr. Creedy, and ideas are bulletproof.

Most of us (and let me say that is about 80+%) of us. Want to live a life, have people around us we care about, do things with them, and have the basic necessities of life.

Food, shelter, clothing. That's it.

The US Government currently believes that the poverty line for 2006 is $6,400 per household and $3400 per person. What this translates to is that a household is expected to need no more than $533 per month for rent and utilities and $283 per month for food, clothes, and personal necessities.

Less that Ironically the neighborhoods that have the lowest cost housing also have the least amount of taxes to pay for local law enforcement. No cops? Anyone will do anything to get by.

Because, returning the the government... if the government can't take a financial piece of it... it must be illegal. (once again, you are a criminal). One of the current major group of laws we deal with every day is as follows:
vice based laws (prostitution, drugs, gambling, sexuality)

A note of interest here: vice is defined in the Random House Unabridged Dictionary as:
an immoral or evil habit or practice

Well, you know me.. it's all about the words.

Same source "immoral": violating moral principles; not conforming to the patterns of conduct usually accepted or established as consistent with principles of personal and social ethics.

sigh... immoral = not being moral... some definition. But it adds the word ethics in.

Ethics are moral principals, being moral is acting ethically. Call Yosarian we have a vicious loop with no definition, let's let the government decide for us.

An example of all this. The idea behind temperance was that Alcohol was the way of the Devil. Now overlooking the entire part of this where we are basing our legal direction on a religious belief... Oh, I guess we can't. Because of religious and then governmental scare tactics... we went so far as to change the US constitution to tell us what we couldn't do. As pointed out in a letter to notmy congressperson, "The constitution is designed to explain how government is limited, not the people"

But here we are... a nation of victims being scurried around like animals... afraid of our own shadows, willing to stand by and let each freedom be taken away from us. Little rules that tell us when the liberties of free speech and expression are not permitted.

The (TSA) supervisor told Bird he had the right to express his opinions "out there" -- pointing outside the screening area -- but did not have the right "in here," Bird said.

For those who haven't been to an airport recently, I have a link here to a 20 second clip I put together of how going through TSA screening feels. Of course, by making this clip, I open myself to cease and desist action.

How did this happen? How did we let things get out of control. Do we care... Well, obviously, not enough of us do care. Nobody wants to be the squeaky wheel. Well for the most part. Because we're taught to disrespect the noise maker.

This is nothing new, and at the same time it is nothing old. What it is, i one step closer to being impossible to do anything about it when you feel that it's happening to you.

(To be continued)

Tags: decisions, politics, system
Current Mood: annoyed
Current Music: <a href="itms://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZSearch.woa/wa/com.apple.jingle.search.DirectAction/sea

Why!? Why do I listen to A.M. talk radio? I've come to the conclusion that as a liberal I suck, I've gone too damn conservative and as a conservation I suck I've got too liberal and personally liberatarians are too hands off and yet I don't want anyone touching things.

I have so many things that I want to post and talk about if I could only collect my thoughts, If only Mercury wasn't retrograde making words not work this week.

I am currently listening on A.M. radio to a discussion about whether or not people in married couples hide money from each other to keep their own private slush fund. Whatever happened to being honest in a relationship? Is this something that we've lost track of? This drives me nuts and I don't know what to do about it. I'm fighting calling into the A.M. station today because they basically just talked one woman who is actually communicative in a relationship; into lying to her husband and going off and changing the plan. All I could do is call up and say, "Hi guys! Do you enjoy wrecking relationships that are working?" These are things that bug me, these are things I think about, and oh, Gods I wish that I could find someone or somehow to easily caption, subtitle and transcribe audio posts. That's all for now. Is that a good take? Great we'll cut that one out and we'll post it.

P.S. THANK YOU to

ichae for the first transcription. You rock!!!!

Tags: am talk radio, audio, politics, relationships
Current Location: On 520 Floating Bridge
Current Mood: annoyed