Political Rant

With the Republican National Convention underway and the vice presidential candidate chosen, I was intrigued by McCains selection. My initial opinion of Palin candidacy is it's a ploy to attract uninformed women voters who will vote for a woman just to have a female in a high political office. After Palin's acceptance speech Wednesday evening, I still hold true to my initial thoughts but add that Americans love "the beautiful people" and she looked good up on the stage in front of the cameras and thousands of adoring devotees. Her speech was exactly what the Republicans wanted and needed from Palin that night; it was empowering to the conservatives.

However, since I am not a conservative, I found her speech appalling on the issue that matters most to me, the environment. The McCain Energy Plan focuses on completion of the Alaskan pipeline and further dependency on petroleum, while the future of energy is in renewable resources. In Palin's speech, she reinforced the McCain energy plan by saying "Starting in January, in a McCain-Palin administration, we're going to lay more pipelines ... build more new-clear plants ... create jobs with clean coal ... and move forward on solar, wind, geothermal, and other alternative sources". This statement seriously aggravates me; laying of more pipelines is not the answer to the current petroleum crisis, only severing the dependence on oil will end the crisis.

One way of reducing our dependence on petroleum is to mandate that all vehicles built in the United States to be able to run on flex fuel. It is easy to adapt any vehicle to run E85. Gasoline made with ethanol is better for the bank account and the environment. The Obama energy plan states by the end of his first term, all new vehicles made in the US will be flex fuel capable. Obama will also work towards including other forms of synthetic petroleum into the national supply. The Obama energy plan includes 10% of the nations energy consumption to supplied by renewable and sustainable resources by 2012. This attitude towards the energy and the environment is exactly the kind of leader this country deserves after eight years of Bush.

Both energy plans call for the completion of the Alaskan pipeline. I do not support the construction of the pipeline running through the Alaskan territory since it will destroy the delicate environment that our future depends on. I read yesterday that an ice shelf in Canada the size of Manhattan broke off. After learning this, I cannot understand how people still believe the pipeline to be worth the risks. But no matter the outcome in November, the pipeline is being built and future generations will pay the consequences.

The Long Weekend

Even with the discouraging weigh in on Friday, I gourged myself with a chinese buffet, various fried deliciousness', ice cream, and even fast food this weekend. I did however, continue to workout at Curves twice over the holiday and walked what felt like 10 miles.

This weekend marks Kevin and I's second wedding anniversary. It is in fact our sixth year anniversary of being together. Since we got married over Labor Day weekend, we decided to make it a very long weekend and both took Tuesday off in addition to the holiday. The weekend started off with Kevin and Lee going to see "Tropic Thunder" while Bethany, Ellie, Taylor, and I went to Santa Caligon Days. This is the first of many afternoons on my feet. I had not gone to SCD since I was a child and did not know the fair consisted of numerous city blocks. Bethany and I both purchased "Vote Obama" pins; mine states "Give Peace a Chance: Vote Obama" with a large peace sign encircling the pin. Since I am a self-proclaimed "Damn Dirty Hippie" this fit very well with my peace symbol on my shirt and my peace sign pendant. I promptly added it to my purse so everyone could see that I am anti-war from every angle. I was surprised to see four different democratic/Obama booths set up throughout the fair and only one or two booths for republicans. In addition to the beautiful pin, I began my holiday shopping. I purchased gifts for my stepmother, my sister, and my aunt and uncle.

As for Sunday, we did not have any plans. Kevin and I decided to visit a local museum. However, the GPS steered us to what looked like a abandoned house in a subdivision in Shawnee. Wishing that we had knocked on the door, we departed for a real museum, the Kemper Museum of Modern Art. This museum is quite small and we were only inside for about 20 minutes. Kevin is not a huge fan of modern art and some of it, I do not get either. After that we drove to the Plaza and walked around for awhile. It was a nice laid back afternoon.