Civil War II?

In Vermont, nascent secession movement gains traction

Fascinating.

"While neither the Vermont Constitution nor the U.S. Constitution forbids secession per se, few think it's viable.

"I always thought the Civil War settled that," said Russell Wheeler, a constitutional law expert at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C."

Will there ever be another Civil War here in America? How close are we today? In my English class we just had this discussion while studying writings of the Civil War era. We sort of went of on a tangent, but another student remarked that one of his professors said that a potential catalyst would be language. I don't exactly why, but I thought I would throw that idea out there.

In my last history class of the quarter, the professor decided to leave us out early rather than giving us what "experts" think is the future of America. I won't go into how upsetting that is to me me, but the last things he said to sum up that was: Globalization. Bleak Future. Decline as Power. No industry production. Focus on knowlege.

Even though I am admittedly in denial about the bleak future and decline power about my America, I need to hear some thoughts because my professor did not feel it necessary to go into it. I just don't like this thought at all and do not want to acccept it. I think it is very negative and defeatist. We can take actions to not allow this to happen. I like the fact that America is the superpower because America is the best. I will pull away from my patriotic optimism to pose some realistic questions. If this is to be our future, what would you think would happen? What do you think a world would be like if China or India is the dominating influence? How would that affect other countries, specifically America? What impact might this have on domestic policies? Will America cease to be a democracy?

I just don't know. This is mind-boggling. Or is there nothing necessarily to be worried about and am I just getting an alarmist viewpoint? I am by no means an alarmist, but you can't ignore them.

What a nuclear weapon attack would do...

In my history class, we have been studying the Cold War. The professor discovered a website set up by the Federation of American Scientists. It is pretty interesting. You can choose a city, whether your bomb comes from automobile or airplane, and its strength. Then it shows the intensity of the surrounding area. If you are interested the link is:

http://www.fas.org/main/content.jsp?formAction=297&contentId=367

I couldn't figure out the code to put it in.

The Queen came and she left...

but first she made me upset. Not that it matters, but the visit did make me think about government protocol.

Monarchs are interesting in how Europe was connected with them. Did you know that King Henry VIII's first wife, Catherine of Aragon, was the daughter of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabel who sent Christopher Columbus sailing? That is my major monarch fact that I tend to share.

The English monarchs are of considerable interest to me I would say particularly the Tudor era. However, I took issue with this last state visit. There was a great deal of fuss on how President Bush would act and would people remember that you have to wait until the Queen talks to you first. This main problem here. The President of the United States has to follow these rules when it comes to interacting with the Queen of England. I am sorry, but I think our presidential office is better than England's Queen.

I do not understand this. The Queen came to America, the Queen should follow our rules, or lack of. President Bush goes to England, that is her territory and he follows her rules. Or it could go the other way. You respect your guest's protocol. I can see the advantages of both ways. However, this should be some equal thing. Either way, the American president loses. He can't talk to the Queen until she says something to him. This is not right to me. Why does America always have to give in?
I even heard on Fox News this morning with the interview of the First Lady that sometimes the Queen likes others to start the conversation because she gets tired of thinking of topics. It is stupid rule, tradition, whatever it is. Oh yeah, that is going to work when everyone is freaking out because your family is royal and has put themselves in an insane position of superiority and then gets bored with the trap they have tangled themselves into. She could at least be excited that she had a certain amount of control of the leader of the free world.

Seriously. People are people. Did you read the article about President Bush drinking water out of his water bottle at I believe a United Nations meeting some time ago. Colin Powell then had to remind the President to use the glass. Who cares? Seriously. It is the President of the United States and if he want to drink out of his water bottle like most people do, let him.

Random Observation #1: Geography Lesson

Ohio is filled with many, many small towns. There is a lot of rural area in Ohio and it's a pretty boring state. Even the interesting things aren't that interesting.

My observation is that because Ohioans have nothing to do since many of us live or come from a rural area and have left for one of Ohio's not so glorious cities, we want to have a connection to the other Ohio citizens. You live in a small town and you have heard of many of the other small since they are all over. When you know a hundred little towns, you feel confident knowing where places are when they don't.

Therefore, we are going about Ohio's geography. And I hope some I may help some of my fellow Ohioans. I feel I must include a compass to prove I am not crazy, that I really do live in Northwest Ohio.



And here is a simple Ohio map:


When I came to college, because most of us like I said are from rural areas, I found it is a big thing to find out where we came from. Here is the conversation I have had many times. It rather insane how similar these conversations have been. People don't accept the general region, either.

Person ?: So what part of Ohio are you from?
Me: I'm from northwest Ohio.
Person ?: Oh, what town?
Me: It is very small town, called __________.
Person?: Never heard of it. Where is near?
*My town is near NOTHING. It is at least an hour away from anything.
Me: Well, it is pretty close to Indiana actually. (Pay close attention to this next part.)
Person ?: Oh!!! (Acting like they have the general idea.) That's near Cleveland, right?!
Me: Uhm, uh....No, NO. Cleveland is on the other side, sort of near Pennsylvania. My town is between Toledo and Dayton (That is a HUGE approximation but these people clearly just don't know but this could help steer them in a better direction? I haven't figured out what exactly to do yet when this happens).

This isn't just students, either. It is EVERYONE! Everyone I tell to says this if they inquire to know exactly where I am from. I can't even count the amount of times. It is crazy. I don't understand the problem here. Is it a problem between East and West? Toledo and Cleveland? Indiana and Pennsylvania? It is so baffling. I have almost resorted to carry a small map of Ohio with me to pinpoint exactly where I am from. Maybe I should get a tattoo on my hand and hold it it out while my other hand points to the little tatoo house.

I just don't know what to do... I could be like, "Yeah, exactly! Near Cleveland." But that would be misleading and knowing where major cities are in one's own state is important. Really, it shouldn't be that difficult to know where major cities are in the entire US.

*4/7/07: I love sharing this other geography story. Junior year in high school and the students were doing nothing in English class because the teacher is more concerned with being our "friend". (Honestly, we had week vacations of doing nothing). Somehow the topic with the teacher was travel. Then one of my former classmates asks, "Does Egypt still exist...you know with all the pyramids and stuff?" I also had a classmate my senior year and he didn't know where Italy was.

Elect Romney!

America should elect Mitt Romney just so we can just look at him all day long! LOL Just kidding. Wow, he does looks presidential. Maybe if he doesn't get the nomination he could president on a TV show.

*I am not throwing my support behind Romney as of now. But I am really looking into his stance because I think with the current runners, there is a good chance I might. Note the "current runners". I'm fairly unhappy with the choices. I have plenty of time to think about it.

The debate last night was good entertainment. I really enjoyed it because the questions were so odd it made it hilarious. But because it seemed so informal, and although rushed with the amount running, it made me feel more comfortable with them. So any "liberal plan" didn't work on me at least. There were three that stood out to me. I am not talking about who is going to be nominated, just the ones that generally stood out. Romney mostly for his style. Then there was Ron Paul. He was just...different. It was almost, almost refreshing. It is hard to put into words. I don't know. Hmm. I'm very intrigued by his stances. Not by any means do I think he should or would he become the nominee. And of course, John McCain who I thought was a little weird to be blunt. He just didn't come off well to me. I think it had something to do with how he put together his sentences. But then again, President Bush doesn't bother me. Huh. Giuliani was a little weird, too. Maybe because they seemed to look directly in the camera more. Not that it isn't good, but the others didn't and so they stood out.

As for the actual stances, I think better questions need to be asked and less candidates for more time would have been helpful. Heck, not all were even there...I think I heard Gingrich and one of the Thompasons and maybe someone else were missing.

Looking forward to the next debate.

Elections

I am trying to gear up for 2008 by watching the GOP debate tonight. No idea of who I like. I don't know that much about any of them.

I just love elections. All elections. Local to national. Always have...all the way back to 1996 with Clinton vs. Dole. However, I am very ashamed of this fact which I still think about every election. In 1996, at the age of 8, I was for Clinton. Yes, in my mind I was praying for him to win. Silently, sitting there watching TV, "Please God, let Clinton win. Please..." This is not good, I know. Funny, but not good. I've never shared this story before with anyone.

I remember sitting on my parent's bed in their room with my Dad watching the election coverage. My mom was in the adjacent bathroom doing her hair. I believe my parents were going out that evening. And the topic came up about which presidents we were born under. My dad Eisenhower, mom Nixon, me Reagan, my sister Bush, and my other sister Clinton. Before I continue, I need to give you a tad bit of background. I am the oldest and was and probably still am very possessive of my parents. I did not react well to the birth of my two sisters. And my mom, the most unpolitical person, said, "Well, if Dole wins we could have another baby and we would all be born under different presidents." (I know she was being serious and wanted to test how I would react to the idea of another sibling.) At that exact moment, I removed my support from Dole and broke away politically from my father for the time being. Because in my eight year old mind, Clinton being president equaled no new sister or brother! GO CLINTON!!! And you know what happened? Clinton remained president, and I didn't get another brother or sister. But Clinton's term ended and I did get a brother born under President George W. Bush. (Didn't react well to that either...lol).

It is going to haunt me for life.

Math #2

"Do you know the terminology for numbers such as 1, 3, 5, 7, 9....?"

I wait an hour in the math building before class as there is no sense walking back across campus to my dorm to spend 48 minutes of this?!! I finally am taking a math class that I understand and I can't even enjoy the fact I am good at it.

Emptiness, that is what I feel. I gain no useful knowledge and I get to learn something I knew before I even went to kindergarten.

Seriously, of what use is it for me to know what an Euler path is? The supposed application to life that they are giving us as justification is, "Pretend you are a tour guide and you go from point A to B to C to D and you walk back to B. You want to get back to A but that means you would have to walk on "Edge AB" again. You are not allowed to do that and would have to call for a helicopter." What the heck?! (That is almost exactly what the professor said.)There is no outside thinking in math.
Here are my solutions:
1.) Walk the freaking path and get over it. Put up a couple other signs on the other side that you didn't cover on the first trip down it.
-or-
2.) If it is all important, just build another path.

There, I came up with two solutions that involved no math and can hire contractors to do any other math necessary to build the path for me thus helping the economy.

And yet, I know that if I skip class I will probably feel worse.

You can't win in math...ever.