Public Option! Public Option!

I have to admit that I was losing a little bit of faith in Barack Obama. I still loved him and thought he was a great choice for President but I was tiring of him doing nothing about Gay rights and backing down on a public option. He's still not doing so great on the gay rights issue but he seems to be stepping it up on a public option.

As a graduating college student who is unsure of what kind of health insurance situation I will be in after college, I really need a public option, as do many other college seniors. There seem to be a lot of people saying, "the public option is the best option, but it's not the only option." That may be true but I haven't really heard what the other options would be, except perhaps forcing insurance companies to drop the idea of refusing people insurance based on pre-existing conditions. In my opinion though, we NEED the public option. 

It seemed to me that the democrats went from toting the public option as a must-have to posing it as something that might happen if we really really need it. However, in the last few days the House, Senate and White House seem to be returning to the original goal. 

Now, most support a state back-out option. I'm not particularly pleased about that, but it's better than nothing and baby steps are sometimes necessary to reach a goal. 

Including a public option does increase the risk that the bill won't be passed. However, I will be proud of my party for taking a stand. We don't do it enough. The right may annoy me and take a stand on things totally opposite from what I believe, but they take a stand nonetheless. Maybe Bill Maher was right when he said Obama needs to get his W on. George Bush may have fucked up our country, but he did what he idiotically thought needed to be done. It's time for Obama to do what he rightly feels needs to be done.

Ending one of Bush's many fuckups

Bush's war on terror comes to an end

The end of the war on terror, at least Bush's definition of it, is important and profound. The power of the government should not be limitless, even if the new, and illegal if not immoral methods used by the Bush administration were effective.

Their effectiveness is not really important. Torture may be an effective tool in interrogation but that does not make it a good one. Torturing people makes us just as bad as the subjects we are interrogating or persecuting.

ALL people should have certain freedoms and right, an idea our country is founded on. It may seem like those we persecute don't deserve them but we still can't take them away. Such things may make our country safer but they also make is less of a country worth defending.

If the ideals behind out country our destroyed, than what's the point of defending it.

Wish Me luck!

Wish me luck! Tomorrow I leave for Budapest for four months!

The Inauguration continued

To sum it up, the Inauguration was one of the best and most memorable experiences of my life. I can't believe I even considered not going.

My day started at 4:30 and we got to DC around 6:00 and got to the mall by 6:30. We were right in front of the Washington Monument which provided an awesome view. It wasn't too crowded there yet but by the time the ceremony started there was barely room to move.

At around 7:00, I was on Good Morning America! The first time you really could just see my head bouncing up and down but a second time the reporter guy almost tripped over me. It's pretty awesome.

I didn't really get ridiculously cold until 8 or so but by the time the ceremony was over I seriously thought I had frostbite on my toes. It really sucked.

I though the ceremony itself was amazing and Barack's speech was incredibly. There were certainly a few parts where I teared up.

After the ceremony was when it got crazy. The walk was really crowded for the first 20 minutes or so but it was flowing pretty well. Once we got to L'Enfant Avenue, where the buses were, it got really well. There was one part where it was so crowded and there was so much pushing that the group I was with got separated and I was really scared someone in the crowd was going to get trampled.

After about 2 hours we final sought refuge in the American Indian Museum. It was a really cool museum, although lacking in exhibits, and there were people everywhere just sitting around or sleeping on the floor.

We finally left the museum at like 4:30 and started towards the subway. On the way I bought a really cool Michelle Obama T-shirt. I'm pretty excited about it. Luckily enough, the subway was not that crowded and I finally got home around 6:30.

Pictures from the Inauguration

Well I was lucky enough to go to the Inauguration and these are some of the almost 200 pictures I took. Actual commentary to come.

Washington Monument as the light started to come.
Washington Monument early in the morning.There was trash everywhere.The subway in the morning.Our stuff on the ground. We sat on trash bags. We sought refuge in the Native American History Museum after the ceremony. It was like a positive refugee camp. I took a nap and had some chicken tenders.Me in front of the capital at the end of the day. I was ridiculously tired and cold but ecstatic.The guys on top of the wall were changing "Obama!" at the top of their lungs.
There were people under this bridge, on top of it and on the stairs leading up to it. I was blown away. It wasn't too scary because things were moving pretty easily, at least right there.Compared to most places we walked this was as if no people were surrounding us.People starting to leaveThis was just the side of the mall.The flags surrounding the Washington monument were really pretty. It was a great spot to be.Walking by the capitol at like 5PMThe crowd starting to get huge.
Ridiculously early in the morning.
There were a lot of birds. We were worried they were going to poop on our heads.

Barack Obama as seen on the jumbotron. The guy on the tower was ready to shoot anyone who tried to fuck shit up.