rhienelleth | Entries tagged with politics

Are you kidding me?

I'm doing something extremely rare, and breaking my politics free zone with this.

So, President Obama gets to stand with people like Nelson Mandela and Mother Teresa? Giving this award to our President for things he hasn't done yet, is flat out ridiculous. I'm sorry if you don't agree. It doesn't matter if he's the best president we've ever had, or if he's floundering under the weight of everything facing him - (yeah, so let's put more pressure on him by giving him this prestigious award and saying "Now, you'd better earn that, Mr. President!") - the Nobel Peace Prize should not be an award given for what someone might do.

Mother Teresa. She spent her entire life doing things that earned her that nomination/award. Obama won a presidential election, and has been in office for less than a year. I don't think the things he's accomplished in that time quite measure up.

They could have easily nominated him after his four years of service (and it IS service), if his actions in that time warranted it. But no, they did it now, and awarded it to him, and I quote "in a stunning decision designed to encourage his initiatives..."

Yeah, because that's what this prize is for - to push people into doing what you think they should do!

Obama seems stunned and flabbergasted by this, at least, but again, I'm not so sure it's a good idea to put more pressure on him, guys. And that's what this is, especially because he seems to feel (correctly) that he hasn't earned it yet.

Who were the other nominees this year? Well, they won't tell us, but quoted from MSN this morning:

"Until seconds before the award, speculation had focused on a wide variety of candidates besides Obama: Zimbabwe's Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, a Colombian senator, a Chinese dissident and an Afghan woman's rights activist, among others. The Nobel committee received a record 205 nominations for this year's prize."

Possibly because of my recent following of the what happened in Tehran, the plight many women suffer in other countries, the unnamed Afghan woman's rights activist sticks out to me in particular. I want to know her story.

No, I can't believe that Proposition 8 passed. I have no words, really. What makes people think they have to right to tell anyone, of any gender or sexual orientation, that they cannot legally marry their lover? Why is it even a legal issue in the first place? I mean, sure whatever, I get that a marriage certificate is a legal document. WHATEVER. It should be a private decision between two people. Marriage should be JOYOUS.

And let me just say? I don't talk about it much, but I am politically conservative. On a lot of issues. But this? Absolute bullshit. Not all conservatives believe the same. And not all liberals, obviously.

This just highlights how far we still have to go as people, as reasonable, feeling human beings.

So, in light of this, it occurs to me that I just happen to have recently acquired this beautiful, beautiful "rainbow" stone called calsilica. I only have two strands, but I think I'm going to offer them up to make earring sets and perhaps bracelets at cheap,cheap prices, for whoever the heck wants them. Let's see.

ETA: On suggestion, I'll be donating half the proceeds (aka, after materials are covered) to an organization yet-to-be determined promoting gay and lesbian rights. Something of the GLBT, though a quick google search was enough to set my head to spinning. Suggestions would be welcome!

Prices to be determined, and I'll make sample pieces tonight. Drop me a comment if you think you might want one or the other, so I can earmark how many I can actually make.

Pics of the stones in question: