too much news for a friday

Somone gave me a healthy dose of insomnia. This means that I'm on day two of wearing my glasses to work. I feel very discombobulated. I always get comments from patrons and co-workers that I look "so smart" with my glasses on, and yet the irony is that I wear them only when I'm particularly tired. I attribute my inability to fall asleep on seeing how much work is being done on my new apartment, Season 1 of Project Runway (Oh yeah, I'm diggin' that!), or the Tim Gautreaux I read as I was trying to fall asleep.


It looks like the Republican party is attempting to switch things up by electing Mr. Boehner (that is the correct pronunciation, for all of you with the humor of 12 year old boys who only WISH it was pronounced "boner") to the House majority seat. In a glorious move to make it look as though the party is distancing itself from the White House, the Republicans prove once again that politics is perception. Mr. Boehner is not new to the GOP leadership. He was a heavy-hitter in 1994 when Gringrich and Co. stunned the Democrats with their "Contract With America" takeover of Congress. I get shivers (in the Owen Meany sense) just thinking about revisiting that dark time. He presented himself as a reformer in light of the recent lobbying misdeeds and the Republicans ate it up. They are going to attempt to distance themselves as much as possible with midterm elections coming up this fall. Though the Democrats hands are far from clean, Mr. "new beginnings" Boehner's main claim to fame was handing out checks from the tobacco lobby on the House floor in the mid-90's:

"The Wall Street Journal notes that he reportedly has accepted $150,000 worth of junkets since 2000, "more than all but six other members of Congress." He's generally tight with business lobbies (not that there's anything wrong with that). And of course, about 10 years ago Boehner handed out checks from the tobacco industry while on the House floor."
(That is from our friends at Slate. I know how much the popups are irritating so I saved you the pain and agony.)

Bringing this up as much as possible would be helpful.

And finally: This country is not based on a 2-party system. I do not deny that it feels that way, but there is indeed a "rich spectrum of political parties representing the myriad of beliefs and interests existing in a nation as diverse as the united states of america." See here. Want to make it so that everyone gets a fair shot? Start demanding real campaign finance reform. Start voting for people who will make that happen. Vote for another party. Yes, yes indeed, I said vote for another party (this from someone who actually, foolishly, blamed those who voted for the Green Party on GWB being elected. The Democrats didn't need any help losing that election. Or any election for that matter). Diversity of choice will only make the candidates of every party stronger and more accountable. Unfortunately, this is going to take a fair amount of work and dedication from our voting and, more importantly, non-voting citizens. I suggest we start looking at our corrupt and unfair system as a reflection of ourselves. Democracy works like that: you only get out of it what you're willing to put into it.

I'm exhausted just thinking about it.