INTERESTING TIMES

Are you American? Or a United States citizen, more specifically? Have you ever written a real paper letter to your representative in Congress? Or to a Senator? If yes, what fired you up enough to get you to write? How long ago was it? Do you ever go publicly protest, and hold a sign? Been out recently? Do you fill out petitions online? Do you vote? Where do you draw the line in your efforts to influence the course of this nation?

It appears to me that most of us do very little. I fill out a few petitions, and send a little bit of money sometimes, and put some effort into researching my votes, but that's about it. I haven't been putting any real energy into the project. I feel like congress should take care of this stuff for me, that I'm no expert and somebody more expert than me should be making the decisions. I don't really want to OWN my part in a democracy because it's a whole lot of work. But as our nation suffers increasing challenges, people are noticing, and activism seems to be on the rise. I was heartened when I heard support for Audit the Fed on an Occupy youtube video. The new activism is less party oriented than at any time in my political consciousness. There is a chance that we might be able to get something done.
( ruminations )

To Americans: Have you been following the debate? Do you know where you stand? Have you communicated your opinion to your representatives? If the answer to any of these is no, it is time to get on the ball. This matters. Congress is being influenced more by insurance companies and pharmaceuticals than they are by regular people. Even if you are no expert, you must have some basic values that you apply to the question of healthcare. If congress is supposed to represent us, we need to let them know what we believe. We have got to get more people to have an opinion and say so, including ourselves if we're not used to doing it. If we don't, our nation is headed into the deepest fascism. If you have children, or care about the young ones of others, this legislation matters even more.

Now you may think that I am a Republican. I am currently registered as one. I have been registered as Democrat and Independent too, and as far as I can tell it makes little difference what label is applied. You certainly won't be correct if you align me with Palin or Limbaugh. The neocons would label me a socialist. I support single payer healthcare for the US. My positions are not based in belief in anyone's platform, but in my own synthesis understanding of what would be most helpful to us as a nation and a people relative to where we currently stand. The labels don't apply to me because I would like us to take tools from different toolkits depending on the situation and the time. I want us as a people to be flexible enough in our thinking to avoid suicide. But right now we're headed down a dangerous path. Together.

Behind the cut is information from The Pen, which is mainly Dem in slant but often independent and insightful. This time they are working to support an option by which states can put together their own single-payer systems, and opt out of the federal plan of mandated insurance. It sounds reasonable to me. There's some info in here about how to make noise about what you believe---even if you don't agree with The Pen, or with me. I hope that you will get involved. We need you. All the people of America need you.
( Straight from The Pen )

When will it ever be a good time to be called for jury duty? I just received my first summons in Oregon and am supposed to show up in court on 12/23. Nevermind my plans to travel to AZ for xmas... Does the system accommodate professional level studies? Missing a month of classes would put me a year behind in my program, and 20K$ forward on my debt. Does that constitute an unreasonable burden? Methinks it does. I submitted that I would like to delay my service until this upcoming summer, after boards. Then I would like to be in a jury....though I suspect that I may be too educated and opinionated to be selected. The lawyers seem to reject people who have thoughts in their heads. I am as fair and open-minded a person as any accused could hope to have on their jury. If I were accused of a crime, I would hope for a jury made up of people like me.