Friday, March 20, 2009

People In Glass Houses Shouldn't Throw Stones

So, who watched the President on Jay Leno tonight? Another job well done I'd say. I actually started writing this blog sooner but I became quite aggriavated by some comments I received about the above subject and had to have some tea to relax before I could re-collect my thoughts and write this post. And those upsetting comments are exactly what is propelling me to write this post.

The President said a lot of really interesting and articulate things tonight on Leno. I wish the video footage was uploaded already because I'd love to link and use direct quotes. But alas, I'm going off what I remember and discussions I was having with my parents, mainly my dad during the interview. In fact we were talking so much, we missed some of the funnier things being said. Now before I start, I'm telling you know that this is purely my analysis and opinions and I may get a little frustrated and passionate.

One thing that really struck me that the President talked about today was how what a lot of these banks and credit card and mortgage companies did and are doing is completely legal. CapitalOne can charge me ridiculous amounts of interest on my credit card if they want to. But the President put it this way, and it really stayed with me. "When your toaster blows up in your face, you're protected because appliances are supposed to be safe. But when your credit card blows up in your face, there's no one there to protect you." I'm currently going through some credit card issues and so that really hit home. And he's completely right. Sure, there may be ways to fix the problem, but what if you can't bail yourself out? This is how they trap you. And like he said, its not just about fixing everything at this point, we really do need to start re-writing the laws around here to protect the interests of the consumers.

What we as a country have to understand is that this isn't going to happen in a day. Its all a trickle down effect and it's going to take some time for it to get down to us. First of all, the man has only been in office for two months! Contrary to what some may want to believe, he's not Superman; he can't fix it all instantly. And to those who want to talk about how much further in debt he is putting us in, what do you expect? You have to bottom out before you go back up. After listening to what the President had to say tonight, I know that he knows that. He knows what he's doing people. And he does not have an easy road ahead of him. This current economic state isn't something that he can fix in a month. It's going to take a long time. And yes, my great grandchildren may still be paying for it but guess what people? HE DIDN'T DO THIS ON HIS OWN!! HE'S COME INTO OFFICE AND NOW HAS TO FIX OTHER PEOPLE'S MISTAKES!!!

This is really what frustrates me the most. No one before Obama want to own up to the responsiblity of their wrong actions. He's only been President for fifty-nine days. What about the people who were in charge before him? I don't see them stepping up to the plate. And I'm not saying anything about taking the blame for what happened. Its not about blame anymore. It's about owning up to the wrongdoings that have been commited. My dad was telling me that Obama has asked for the help of those who came before him who were in similar positions because as we both reasoned they're the ones who put him in the situation he's currently in, so the least they can do is to help come up with ways to fix it. Right? I think it's only fair. And like my dad said, it's bad enough that Obama has all this stuff to deal with but he also has to deal with the Republicans throwing stones at him, hoping for failure.

My dad saying that is what prompted the title of this blog. People in glass houses should not throw stones. And I say that because who was in charge before Obama? Who were the people who put the country in the position its in now? It wasn't the Obama administration that's for sure. But no one wants to talk about that. They just want to sit and point fingers about what's happening now. To understand where we are now, we have to look at the past. And what's happening now isn't something that was done in fifty-nine days, a year or even eight years. This is twenty plus years of destruction that is finally come to a head. And I'm not pointing fingers at Republicans, my parents used to be Republicans. But they do all of this damage and then don't want to accept the responsibilty for their actions. May I point out that the last President to leave the nation in such a damaging deficit was Ronald Regan in the 80s? He was a Republican. Destruction yet again. So don't sit there and throw stones, because if we threw them back, it would be more devestating for you.

And now bringing it back to my inital aggrivation. I really hate it when people talk about things that sure they may have a clue of but it's completely one sided. If you only watch right wing news, you're only going to have their side of the story. Look at both sides of the arguement before you pick a side. Because though you may think you know what you're talking about, you may not be getting all of the information. And then you're coming at me with a one sided arguement. I don't take kindly to one sided arguments and attacks. Also, don't talk to me like I don't know what's going on. My father is a JOURNALIST. This is what he does for a living; gathering information and then reporting on it. We talk a lot about what's going on, we always have. And I do my own research as well. So when you want to go on the defensive, you better know what you're coming up against.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Who Am I?

Hello again kind readers! Its been awhile since I last wrote. Well a lot has gone on and I'll write another post about that soon but really I have a specific thought process today.

Kay so I was listening to one of my favorite new-ish albums, Taylor Swift's 'Fearless'. I love love love Taylor and I was super excited that I finally got the cd because I've wanted it forever. One of the songs has really just got me thinking lately and so I figured why not come think out loud on the blog? So the song is called 'Fifteen'. If anyone watched the Grammy's Taylor sang it with Miley Cyrus. That's when I fell in love with the song because the lyrics really made me think back to what my life was like back then. I've recently spent a lot of time reminicising with one of my best friends from high school about the good ole' days. For me, the age of fifteen was the end of freshman year and the beginning of sophomore year. Fifteen was an interesting age.

At the end of freshman year I had a HUGE crush on a boy who was a senior. He was like the BMOC type and everyone loved him. We were friends and we still are friends and like way after the fact, he told me that he had a crush on me back then but it wouldn't have worked out. He was getting ready for college and I was a big dork with a penchant for platform shoes despite being like 5'9". But I thought I was really cool. I had a great group of friends and nobody was teasing me in the malicious way they had when I was younger.

Back to the song. I feel like a lot of the stuff Taylor talks about in the song are still totally relevant to me at the age I am now. Even more so now I think and that's what she's saying in the song I guess. But listening to it made me think so much. Here comes the lyrics! Not the whole song, but the lines I find relevant with my analysis.

"Cause when you're fifteen and somebody tells you they love you, you're gonna believe them." <--- the beginning to the chorus. This is true at that age of course. I wouldn't really know because there weren't any boys telling me that at fifteen...hell there aren't any boys telling me that now. And while that lyric is true of being a teen, isn't that true of love at any age? I mean I feel like it's more true of love in your 20s, 30s, whatever. Because who really knows what love is at fifteen? But when you're older and you think you've figured it out, aren't you more prone to believe someone when they tell you they love you? Because you know what love is? And also aren't you usually willing to believe someone loves you because you want them to love you?

"And when you're fifteen feeling like there's nothing to figure out..." Well hell, I thought I knew everything when I was a teenager. It wasn't until I turned like 21 that I realized I knew absolutely NOTHING. This is truth friends. When you're a teenager you're so sure of everything and no one can tell you anything different. I mean I thought I had the world all figured out. Of course it wasn't until I actually got out into the world that I realized nothing was as I thought it was.

"When all you wanted was to be wanted, wish you could go back and tell yourself what you know now" heck yeah! I mean, I still want a guy to want to be with me but if I could go back and tell myself then that there are a million more important things than getting a boy to like you, I probably would. Even though I kind of liked how I was so innocent that the biggest problem of my life was getting a guy to like me. It was kind of nice to live my life where that was the biggest problem.

And the final one is: "I've found that time can heal most anything and you just might find who you're supposed to be. I didn't know who I was supposed to be...at fifteen" this is pretty close to the end. And I think it is probably the part of the song that speaks to me most. It took me a long time to get over things that happened in high school. Most recently and most importantly, a very good friendship. My best friend in high school and I had a HUGE fight that looking back was so silly and we didn't speak for four years. Now it's like nothing ever happened but I wished she would have been there for some of the big things that happened to me during college. I don't think I know who I'm supposed to be just yet but I think I'm working on it. I know more about myself now at 22 than I knew about myself back then, that's for sure. But I think you have to have some life experience to figure out who you are that I just didn't have at fifteen. I was sheltered and taken care of and there were a lot of things that I didn't have to worry about that I do now.

And so now you know how I feel about that.