I just read a blog entitled a Twist of Kate, and it put my in an odd frame of mind. A few years ago, I liked to make fun of how self-involved people from Johnson county, KS were. These days, I look to the people of the east coast and can't help but feel the same way. It's as if there is some entire world there that has nothing to do with the south, midwest, bible belt, mountain zone, southwest, pacific northwest, and california (which I've decided to count as its own region). On the other hand, maybe all of these various regions are that way to some small degree.

I guess the thing that irritates me the most about the whole thing is that old money allows individuals in this region to attend an extremely expensive liberal arts school, secure in the knowledge that they'll be taken care of thanks to the powerful skill of nepotism.

That "skill" part was, of course, sarcasm.

Um. That's all. Happy cinco de mayo.

If you don't know where I stand, here you go.

The following paragraph also appears in the previous post's comments section; however, I thought it might be nice to let anyone else who reads this know exactly where I stand on most issues of the moment. This doesn't cover everything, but it gets pretty close. Also, it's really just one long paragraph, so brace yourself.

As to what you could call me... I guess "small town catholic moderate/liberal" might do the job. In other words, I tend to be for the people, against the corporation, pro-life (in most cases), against the death penalty (which should mean the same thing but doesn't), generally unconcerned about guns (though I do stand in disagreement of the statement "guns don't kill people, people kill people"; I would prefer "guns don't kill people, people kill people with guns"), opposed to foreign oil dependence and coal usage, for the use of renewable resources, a believer of creative solutions, a disliker of oil barons, and a champion of truth (which is, in fact, very rarely a part of either the left or the right). I have no problem with sex or words like "fuck, shit, crap, etc." I believe it is everyone's job to do as much as they can for the nation, but also believe that "as much as they can" rarely has anything to do with military service. I respect our military, if not our commander in chief and his decisions. I don't approve of an us vs. them approach to foreign affairs and wish America were more of a tossed salad and less of a melting pot. I think people should, as some point in their lives, make an attempt to learn a foreign language, especially if that person wants to be in high political office. I believe all children warrant some form of health care, regardless of their station. I fear urban sprawl may be faster to destroy this nation than any terrorist group (I'll let you decide whether that means I put a lot of weight behind my dislike of urban sprawl or almost no weight behind the fear of terrorism). I feel that public education is vastly underfunded and underappreciated. I worry for our children and the children of our children. If I had my political way, I'd argue that our nation is not a bipartisan one. It is tripartisan. You have your extreme left, extreme right, and middle. I identify with the middle and am truly sad that the two extreme groups make so much more noise.

So there you go. Who I am in a basic nutshell. I guess you could call me a democrat, but in my opinion I am to democrats what John McCain is to republicans. Barely one. Though I must say that McCain is much more popular, interesting, and famous than me.