disalarming

This past weekend, Australia held a federal election. From what I’ve gathered based on my Australian friends’ tweets and skimming related headlines in Google News, Tony Abbott, the leader of the conservative party, is tipped to win by a razor thin margin. Jess has a fairly good summation of the whole election debacle in Australia from a non-conservative’s point of view, for those who are interested.

Several months ago, the UK held an election for a new prime minister as well. The UK had a hung parliament, which was a big deal, and there was a bit of a kerfuffle in sorting out the new governing party. Again, most of the information I got about it was through my friends’ tweets, with a pinch from the Google News headlines.

I wouldn’t know about any of this election information (in Australia, in the UK, or any other country) if I didn’t have friends in those countries, both online and offline, which alerted me to the fact that there was an election occurring and prompted me to do some independent news research. None of this election stuff is really covered in the US media. The only election in recent years I can recall getting any US media coverage is that of Iran in 2009, which is obvious because of what happened with the protests. I know that whenever the US has a presidential election, the entire world covers it in the media. But when other countries have elections, US media is largely indifferent.

I remember in the lead-up to the 2008 US presidential election, a friend of mine from England told me he thought that the entire world should elect the US president, not just US citizens. He said that because the entire world is affected by who the US chooses, the entire world should vote. I guess that’s why US presidential election media coverage is global while elections in other countries get no coverage in the US. Whomever countries like Australia and the UK elect as their leader largely do not affect the US¹, but the decision in who becomes the leader of the free world impacts everyone.

1. I told a friend about the current election debacle in Australia and his response was, “Why should we care? It’s not like Australia is going to suddenly turn against the US no matter who they elect.” [↩]

Cross-posted from breakthesky.net. Please leave any comments there.

I’ve been trying to figure out the best way for me to talk about the fact that late Sunday evening, the U.S. made history when health care reform was passed. I am unbelievably ecstatic that the United States has finally caught up to modern times and is going to provide options for everyone to have health care. However, for me to weigh in as an expert in the situation would be ridiculous as I’m far from it, but I wanted to make at least some note of it on this blog.

I think I’ve found the perfect way to express my feelings about the health care bill passing, though.

For those who don’t know, the photo on the right is of Rush Limbaugh, a radio talk show host and conservative opinion leader. Limbaugh, to put it politely, is six buckets of crazy and shoots his mouth off every chance he gets to complain about liberals and the alleged existence of a liberal bias in U.S. media¹ Earlier this month, Limbaugh claimed he “would move to Costa Rica” if health care reform was passed into law. He later “clarified” his statement by saying he would only go to Costa Rica “for major medical health care” and not move there.

Well Mr. Limbaugh, I think it’s high time for you to make good on your promise. People are even raising money for your ticket out of the country! But I guess you don’t have to move, as the poor people of Costa Rica haven’t done anything to deserve dealing with you. But before you take off to Costa Rica to get major medical health care, I think you should note that Costa Rica has socialized health care provided for by a government monopoly… which happens to be the same kind of health care reform you are protesting in the U.S.

Idiot.

1. Seriously, just Google his name. There are a ton of links that pop up that talk about some batshit insane thing he’s said at one point or another. [↩]

Cross-posted from breakthesky.net. Please leave any comments there.

Washington, DC is currently taking a beating from a blizzard this weekend. It’s been snowing heavily for over 24 hours now and it is predicted to continue snowing for at least another 12 hours. The total amount of expected snow ranges from 20 – 30 inches (that’s about 50 – 78 centimeters for those using the metric system), with some areas even exceeding 30 inches. A blizzard warning is in effect all weekend and residents of the area have been told to stay inside unless absolutely necessary.

I know Canadians (and Scandinavians, and Russians, etc :P) are scoffing about how DC has freaked out about this storm. I’m from Chicago and even I am a little skeptical about how the city has whipped itself into such a frenzy about the blizzard that one would think it was the end of the world! However, this city is not equipped at all to deal with such intense winter weather. Schools were closed yesterday and offices either operated with a bare skeleton staff or no staff at all. And when the snow started to fall, all-out panic began to ensue.

My friend and I went to the grocery store yesterday in an attempt to buy some non-perishable food items on the off chance that we got stuck in our dorms due to the snow. And my God, what a scene there was at the grocery store! Our local Whole Foods had lines that wrapped all the way around the store, customers clutching grocery carts filled to the brim with enough food to feed a third world country. There was even police there for riot control, because tensions were running very, very high. The nearby Safeway was the opposite – its shelves were stripped bare because customers had cleared it out of any and all stock.

One can’t really blame everyone for panicking, though. When the blizzard is described as “the heaviest snowfall in nearly a century,” people are most definitely going to panic! As for me, I am going to spend my day curled up in bed, watching the snow steadily fall outside my window. I already ventured outside once to see how deep the snow was for myself – I sank my leg into the snow and it’s already higher than my knees!

ETA: Final snow accumulation amount for my area is 27.5 inches. I fell waist-deep in a snow bank :(

Cross-posted from breakthesky.net. Please leave any comments there.

Today, January 20, 2009, was the day that Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States of America. I was lucky enough to be able to attend his inauguration today, and it was absolutely amazing.

The inauguration ceremony began at 11:30am EST, but I was there on the National Mall at around 8:30am. It was surprisingly easy to get to the National Mall, even though I had to get up at 3:00am to walk to the closest Metrorail station, and then walk from the station to the Mall, stopping to get breakfast along the way from one of the few places that were open. It was completely dark outside, and the sun only began to rise once I got the Washington Monument, and when I arrived on the Mall it had fully risen. Still, sun or no sun, it was still freezing cold – I was wearing three shirts, my warmest sweatshirt, leggings, jeans, boots, two pairs of socks, a beanie, a scarf, gloves, as well as a hood, and I couldn’t feel my feet due to the numbness for most of the day. I had brought a bottle of water with me, and when I opened it to take a sip the water had frozen into ice!

I had about three hours of waiting time for the ceremony to begin once I found a spot on the Mall, and I spent it trying to conserve heat as well as watching the replay of the Inauguration Concert that took place on Sunday (which I was also lucky enough to attend!) The people that were sitting around me were really nice and the atmosphere was truly amazing – everyone was happy, excited, as well as a little anxious for Obama’s inauguration. Before setting out to attend the inauguration, I was a little worried about how the estimated 1.5 million people in attendance would be and whether or not fights and such would break out, but everyone was cooperating and were extremely friendly, making the long wait for the ceremony a lot easier!

The ceremony began promptly, and I watched from one of the many Jumbotrons placed throughout the Mall as the dignitaries arrived. Officials, Senators, Representatives, former Presidents made their entrance, and it was interesting to note the different reactions each dignitary elicited from the crowd. Al Gore as well as Hillary and Bill Clinton were applauded, while George W. Bush was booed incessantly. When the screen showed an image of Obama and Bush walking side by side, there was a rapid-fire chant that went, “Boo-yay-boo-yay!” to show the crowd’s love for Obama and displeasure for Bush. I was rather amused by that; as sad as it is that Bush has gotten himself to a point where he’s repeatedly mocked by his fellow citizens, honestly all the boos in the crowd couldn’t have come as a surprise.

I was very impressed by Aretha Franklin’s rendition of “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee” as well as the John Williams’ composition of “Air and Simple Gifts” performed by Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Gabriela Montero, and Anthony McGill. And considering the stir Rick Warren caused when it was announced he would be giving the invocation at the inauguration, I thought his speech was brilliant. I’m not a super religious person or anything, but he spoke very well.

Joe Biden was sworn in before Obama, and when he took the oath, the crowd went wild. There was applause, American flags were waved, and people took photos to commemorate the moment. It was nothing compared to when Obama was sworn in though; once he had been sworn in as the 44th president the crowd absolutely exploded with joy. The applause was thunderous, people were shouting “Yes we can!”, and everyone was whooping and hollering in their excitement and happiness. People were brought to tears – I know I was close to crying! It was an incredible moment, and certainly one I’ll never forget.

Obama’s first speech as the President of the United States was superb. I’ve always thought that he was an excellent speaker who knew how to use rhetoric in order to emphasize the major points he wanted to bring across in any speech, but what I really liked about this particular speech was that he was addressing not only the citizens of the United States, but the citizens of the world. The president is not only the leader of the US; the president is also the leader of the free world, and I thought it was very appropriate that Obama talked about global matters as well as domestic matters in his speech. He knows the world is in trouble, and he knows that we are counting on him to fix it – but he is also counting on us, as global citizens, to do our part in changing the world as well. The era of change has now officially arrived, and it’s time to act accordingly. :)

Cross-posted from breakthesky.net. Please leave any comments there.