Comments on The Spectrum: Where I Blather Like A Crazy Liberal

while I would love to weigh in on all the discusse...

2008-12-20T20:15:00.000-05:00

while I would love to weigh in on all the discussed topics, I can't, as I have to clean up all the oreos and milk I just spit all over my computer due to that hamster video.

Can a brother get some credit for passing on the h...

2008-12-18T23:37:00.000-05:00

Can a brother get some credit for passing on the hamster video?

-Jonathan "the wito" who loves hamsters.

Jennifer - Fear not! Am not totally depressed. I L...

2008-12-18T08:45:00.000-05:00

Jennifer - Fear not! Am not totally depressed. I LOVED hearing your thoughts on these subjects. I suppose I stay away from talking about them because I don't feel particularly articulate, you know? I'm like WAR IS BAD. WALL STREET BLEW IT. THE END.

I just feel like other people do it better but...as an American, I can have an opinion. And I think it's okay for me to point out things I'm not happy with even if I'm not exactly sure how to fix it. I think...yes?

Abbie - It mus tbe genetic. You don't have to be an eco-nazi to love it. It is AMAZING to me but it took awhile for me to figure it out. The interim did NOT MAKE ME HAPPY for reasons I will not get into hear because I'm graphic, but not THAT graphic.

However, once I got the hang of of it--amazing. I can't feel it at all and it makes my life a lot easier.

Anonymous -- I will dedicate an upcoming post to living in NYC! Thank you for the wonderful idea!

WOWWWW!!! If anyone expected to get UTI's from the diva cup, it'd be me. HAAAAAA. However? Not a bit of correlation. At all. I wonder what that's about!? I feel for you. That SUCKS and certainly sounds like the diva cup is causing them.

Veganism is hard to do, definitely. However, I have to say, in NYC, vegetarianism even veganism is probably easier than most places. We have some amazing restaurants and cafes that almost always offer veg options. It did take me almost a year to get comfortable and understand how to eat correctly, making sure to get all my nutrients, products to avoid, etc.

My savior - THAI FOOD. I was always a fan but am now downright obsessed thanks in no small part to Thai food (and Asian cuisine in general) being SUPER veg friendly. And now, I'm going to get dressed and wonder if it would be weird to get some dumplings for breakfast...

Hello!Wow, some really heavy talk. Okay so here a...

2008-12-17T22:45:00.000-05:00

Hello!
Wow, some really heavy talk. Okay so here are some of mine on the lighter side.
1. I want you to write about living in NYC, I know, call me a slow southerner but it just seems so outrageous to live there. I have been there once, granted it was 1986 and my Senior spring trip, I just thought it was the grandest thing and I to this day do not understand how "normal" people live there. In my formal life as a public school teacher I just think, "how does a public school teacher live and work in NYC?" Info PLEASE!!!!!
2. I have tried the Diva cup and LOVE it except out of 4 months of using it I ended up with an UTI 3 of them, did you notice a correlation? I didn't use it this month, and no UTI?????? That really bugs me because I just love it!
3. I have been a staunch vegetarian for 16 yrs and fall on and off the vegan wagon periodically, I think in our society it is hard to do, although getting easier all the time and probably easier in NYC than south-central Alabama!
I know I have more but I am in the middle of holiday baking....yummmmm

Oh man, the Diva cup. What is promoting the Diva ...

2008-12-17T17:50:00.000-05:00

Oh man, the Diva cup. What is promoting the Diva cup in your DNA or something? Every month I think I should make the switch... but I just haven't. Pls convince me that you don't have to be eco-nazi to like it???

Hahaha, well, I didn't want to make it too easy. ...

2008-12-17T10:12:00.000-05:00

Hahaha, well, I didn't want to make it too easy. :-)

Gay people did get screwed this year. It seems that there is always some sort of scapegoat party and this year (as they have been in many others) it was gays. This saddens me as I have very close family members who are gay, they live in the state of Georgia no less, and they seem to be treated better than gays in CA.

In some ways, I think what our demonization of gays (and also African Americans, Latinos, who knows who else) will reflect in history, America as a very insecure nation full of insecure people. These phobias we have, that are often expressed violently or via oppression (this time at the ballot box) say more about the people who HAVE the phobias than the people who are being targeted with the abuse.

I hope in the future, we realize that not only do we have better things to worry about, but that these people that we demonize have a lot to offer us - friendships, services, skills - and perhaps that will take precedent over their personal lifestyle choices or the color of their skin.

You also bring up a good point, one that I have thought about many times and that is your comment about "opening our circle of love wider". I couldn't agree more. Many straight folks are against gay marriage because of it "tainting the sanctity" to me this is funny when it generally comes out of the mouth of a devout person on their third marriage. We straight people don't do a very good job of upholding that sanctity either, we treat it as a game, and we want to take it away from people who might actually view marriage how I think it was intended?

Hear hear, let's abolish the marriage license, if straight people can't get it right and can't share the word then civil unions for all!

HAHA, I wish I could disagree with you on our being fucked in terms of the economy, but I think you hit it right on. I like that you look on the bright side, but also note that it isn't fair. You are right, it isn't in any way, shape, or form fair that folks who get us into horrible messes for their blind greed get to keep on profiting, while people who work, continue to foot the bill and suffer. I am starting to wonder if this is truly all that our controlled model of capitalism has to offer us - the masses getting stuck with the "short end of the stick" to use a cliche, while a few profit from the "joys" of the "free market".

You are right, I was more referring to fossil fuel energy, but the other forms of energy are important as well. Too much food energy is why most of us - who aren't on Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred (seriously, that sounds awful, I just got rid of my car!), are so flippin' fat.

I think one of the biggest problems with oil is that it cannot really be replaced. The resource itself is getting scarcer, at the same time that what is remaining is either in unfriendly places, hard to get, or expensive to extract (or a combination of the above). Alternative energies can do a lot for things like electricity generation (and thus possibly transportation), but hydrogen, ethanol, solar panels, geothermal, etc., none of those can replace petrochemical fertilizers and pesticides/herbicides that grow all the food we eat. They cannot take the place of all the things that are made either directly or indirectly from oil (which is pretty much everything). I think a lot can be done, and I like to hear Obama talking about hard work and sacrifice because I think - in the end - that this is what it is going to take.

I think nationalizing health care is not only a civilized and humane thing to do, it would also save us a ton of money on bureaucracy. And no, I am not a socialist. :-) I too wish we had nationalized health care - I have insurance through my job but still cannot afford the co-pays to go as often as I need. My mother is disabled and our state continues to slash state provided medical funding for people like her. It is pretty sad.

On the topic of war: I am sorry to hear about your cousin. My cousin has served two tours in Iraq himself - but he is an interesting character, he actually enjoys it, so he isn't a model to base an opinion on really.

I think you are more than qualified to talk about politics! This is part of the problem here! We have been seduced and made impotent by "experts" who make us feel as if we aren't competent enough to understand these kinds of issues. BULLSHIT! These "experts" are the ones who continually get us into these messes and democracies are supposed to be participatory - meaning you and I are allowed to have opinions and express them. We cannot expand upon, improve on, or learn more about our world if we only passively take in information from experts and never trust ourselves. Sorry, rant over.

About your feelings on the war: I feel guilty as well, most days actually. But sadly, that is what makes you and I different from many people, unless you are paying attention or have a relative in the service, many people - while they know a war is going on, it isn't something that crosses their mind often. The news media rarely gives it much coverage anymore either, which is unheard of.

Don't kick yourself about your impact. We all have loads of ways we can improve (and I'm a vegetarian and can tell you, if you are eating locally produced eggs, it might actually cause less environmental degradation than eating that tofu from 1,000 miles away). We all begin to slack, especially since trying to live more lightly isn't something most people are doing. While some people are tracking their electricity usage, riding the bus (like me!), shopping locally for food, reusing and repairing things, the rest of this country is in their cars, in the drive-thru to McDonald's, on their way home from WalMart. It is hard to try to live in a lighter way in this country! And you can't do it all, you (and I, I am kind of talking to myself here too) can do a lot of little things, even some big one, but there are limitations, and in the end, you can only do the best you can. Every little bit helps. It is hard to accept that you can only do so much, only tackle one small part of the problem, but at least you are doing SOMETHING. Apathy is far more dangerous than effort that isn't quite enough.

All the things you are doing are wonderful, and while in the grand scheme they might not be enough, you are living by example and doing what you can, that is something to be truly proud of. You live your life how you think it should be lived in accordance to your principles.

:-( I didn't mean to depress you. Sometimes you look at the world and all you see is bad. But reading this post, I felt a little positive, seeing that you are a kind, rational, level headed person, reading all that you have done, THOSE are things to be happy about. Especially in this world where there is so much to be depressed about, the little things can be sanity savers.

I apologize for the length of this comment, you touched on a lot of stuff that is of interest to me.