Rooting for your team

I see and read of instances where folks are rooting for their team. Not a sports team, but a political party, arbitrarily chosen just the same. Reminds me of the Onion T-shirt that reads, "My local sports team is better then your local sports team." I've been guilty of this, to my shame. I have heard ideas, primarily from Glenn Beck, about how the party isn't the thing. This is in contrast to Michael Medved's idea that the parties are still important, and that you need to join the party that represents you best and help shape it. Both ideas seem correct and can coexist. Unfortunately, both parties are disappointing, to say the least, and all the third-, fourth-, and fifth-party parties tend to come off as overzealous and, at times, downright kooky. I'm beginning to come to the conclusion that it doesn't matter what party you belong to, or if you belong to no party. It seems that the best thing you can do in almost every case is simply increase turnover. Vote for the new guy. Granted, this is a rather sweeping statement. However, it seems the country would be better off without our career-est politicians, Hatch and Pelosi, Bennett and Reid, insert old republican here and insert old democrat here. There are no term limits for the Senate and House, but we do have the power to enforce de facto limits. So, to summarize: Vote in the primaries, and vote against the incumbent if he or she has been in office for longer than, say, two terms, less if he or she is a certified weasel. And, as always, pray about your decision. There's a fair chance you'll be prompted to vote differently than you would otherwise!

A quick word

Regarding the victim's attitude toward the recent Roman Polanski events, while an attitude of true forgiveness would be a beautiful thing, that's not quite what I'm seeing. I'm seeing someone who is willing to forgive because she thinks it's "ok" and is trying to justify the indefensible. I attribute this wrong attitude, if not directly to Polanski, to the culture to which he belongs and contributes. It took a village of bad people to raise this girl so poorly. Her attitude perhaps could be used by the prosecution more effectively than the defense, if it's even a factor, which it shouldn't be.

Driving

As we were driving home from Grandma's and Grandpa's after dark, I was observing an office building across the way from the stoplights which had sort of an inverted halo from the floodlights at ground level. It was a poetic sight, in a sort of clean, urban, well-landscaped fashion. It occurs to me that the pendulum of life has swung from a time where my main occupation in life was daydreaming, to keeping my head down in my work and my nose to the grindstone. I need to seek balance. I have much to learn yet.