Politics of Suffocation

Funny how I never send any of my Republican friends and family "Al Gore for World President" stuff, but they feel free to start arguments with me by sending me politically biased reports slamming Democratic politicians that I've never actually endorsed. Just because I don't support the moral degenerate some folks put in the White House. So, before any more of you try to convince me how bad the Democrats I don't support are, let me tell you something about my life that might help put this in perspective:

I lose my breath sometimes until I see stars, and at least a few times a year, I have to excuse myself from meetings to stand alone in the hall, tears running down my face, sucking on an inhaler and trying to assure people I'll be fine, "it's just the asthma." I get to decide between suffocating, or the chemical taste and long term consequences of a bunch of drug laden aerosols. I get to wake up at night, coughing until I gag and vomit, probably a dozen times a year. At least once every year, I get an infection in my lungs, which takes a long time to kick when you can't lay down and sleep. I get to lay by myself, on the couch, shaking, coughing, so that my wife can try to sleep. When I start to get better, I usually get to nurse a couple of bruised ribs or strained muscles from the coughing. That's my life with Asthma.

From my point of view, you voted for someone that is a threat to my life, and the lives of lots of little kids that will grow up suffering the same bullshit because they were born in places with dirty air, just like I was. You did it because of (insert your Republican rant about the economy suffering under the Democrats), but you also did it in a time when the world's leading scientists had told us it was a bad idea to "stay the course." You knew the trade off. You picked your side, you won, and hey, good for you. Bush and Cheney held their secret meetings on energy policy with oil and coal lobbyists, Whitman routinely dismissed scientific studies linking pollution to asthma and other problems, and you all lined up to defend the Tobacco industry. Bush just refused to support a program to provide health care to poor kids because it would be a "burden on the economy." You got exactly what you voted for.

Your fellow human beings, including fellow American citizens, can be kidnapped, tortured, held indefinitely without trial, according to the policies of the man you put in office, but we can't trust big government with funding health care for the poor, or setting environmental regulations? A government qualified to torture and kill in secret, isn't qualified to give charity in public? A government that can manage a war that spends more than the cost of national health care, can't manage funds to pay for doctor's visits?

Do you suppose people said "Robespierre is a saint," or do you suppose they said "The King is killing me, and Robespierre said he can kill the King?" What sort of person will your selfish and hateful politics open the door for? Who will run our Committee of Public Safety when too many
of us are too poor to stand it any more?

Whoever it is, it will be your fault. You had better hope that another President Clinton is the worst it can get.

So before you try and convince me that my vote for one of the Democrats would undo our way of life, you should take a minute to think about how much you supported my part of "our" way of life in 2000 and 2004, and which of us would really be the one to "blame" if the Democrats win in 2008.

The More Things Change...

Everyone knows how that saying ends. Most often, it sounds bitter, sometimes it sounds comforting. Sometimes it reminds me of something my boss said: stasis is death.

I'm struggling to transition back to "real life" after a vacation. It's hard to give up the nearly perfect harmony I feel with the world when I'm alone, biking near the shore of the Great Lakes, only to return to... well, people and the way they choose to live here.

Driving is one of the things that annoys me most. Give me a bike any day. I don't mind riding trails, dodging horse shit. I mind people rolling signs and lights. People's lack of manners gets on my nerves. The first time I talked to folks from church, various ones voiced their frustrations about this and that. The guys at work had fallen behind on some things that I knew I'd have to help catch us up on.

I talked to one of my best friends before vacation. He runs the site I used to write for (and who knows, may write for again some day). We had argued, not talked for a couple months, then met up again at a game. It was good to see him, his wife, and their kids. Seeing how much his kids have grown is always a shock. Passage of time and all. It was cool to talk football with him, his father, and his brothers. They all know more about football than I do and it's cool to hear the game broken down by people that have a better appreciation of it. Things like that remind me that there are reasons to stay for now.

Work is busy, but good. I managed to sneak away for a day at the races with my father. I shot a few hundred pictures at the races, some of which came out really nice. Our church held it's big annual fund raiser (a Caribean dinner and silent auction). I got to dance to a steal drum band, bought some imported Rum and a case of wine, and ate some really good pulled pork, rice and beans, and corn bread. I went back to playing hockey. Two wins and a loss this week, including one win behind my friend the Baboon's team. It was good to drink beer in the shower again after a game, and to sit on the tailgate of the truck and bullshit after a game with the guys.

The fact is, though, I miss my island. I'm making plans and crunching numbers, and thinking about how fast 50 will come at me. That's the age when I want to have my house on my island. I'm not a person that ever feels at peace with himself or the world for long, except when I'm there. Lots of trees and water. For some reason trees and water work for me.

Yup, count your days, obnoxious "real life." 50 will be coming up faster than you know.