The Wander Girl » politics

Obamicon Me!

Keri — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 15:39:29 +0000

In honor of the end of the longest US election season in history, Paste Magazine has set up an “Obamafier” on their website where anyone can upload a photo of, well, anything, and have it Obamified. After you’re been Obamified you can move your image around in the box to center it however you want, and even adjust the color balance in the image. Then you can select one of the captions or make up your own. There are quite a few interesting custom captions on the site… There are options to share the image on Facebook and to send it to friends with the click of a button, no need to download (although that’s an option too).

As you may know I was not on the Obama bandwagon during the election, but I am cautiously optimistic about the next four years. So I’ve chosen the “Hope” tagline, hoping that in the next few months I’ll see some great decisions being made and I’ll be Obamified for real. But whether you support or loathe Obama, the Obamifier is just plain fun.

Get Obamified!

Yay, It’s Over

Keri — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 15:38:21 +0000

I’ve been avoiding talking about politics here as I don’t want this blog to be a soapbox, but now I can finally say TGIF, as in “Thank God It’s Finished!” I can go back to watching major network television and listening to the radio, and answering the phone when I don’t know who it is. We can all get back to having normal conversations rather than heated debates, and everyone can stop calling everyone else names. What a relief!

If you’re wondering who I voted for, I’m not going to tell you. But I will tell you that I’m neither a Republican nor a Democrat; I’m a Libertarian. I believe in small government. I believe I should decide how I spend my money and what I can do in my personal life. I believe that this country really should be the land of opportunity, not the land of “the more you make, the more they take.” And I believe in equality of opportunity, a level playing field to start on, so that each person has the chance to be all they can be, as opposed to equality of outcome, which is much more of a socialist concept. I’m not alone. The Libertarian Party is the third largest political party in current existence. While the modern Libertarian Party started in the 70s, it’s roots go back to the founding fathers, and the party’s goals are more in line with what the founding fathers had in mind than either of the two more prominent parties. If you’re not finding you can agree with ALL the planks in your current party’s platform, the Libertarian Party might be for you.

So Barack Obama will be our new president. As with any other new president, there are many things still unknown. Will he stick to his campaign promises? Does he really have the solution to the economic crisis? Will he allow the Bush tax cuts to expire without putting other cuts in place, or will he come up with a revised plan that more matches his vision of how taxation should work? Only time will tell. I suppose we’ll know soon enough. One thing’s for sure – people all over the world are celebrating. Let’s hope the majority really does know best this time.

The NRDC

Keri — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 01:18:52 +0000

It’s been a slow-news weekend for me, and I’m desperately trying to avoid writing about the upcoming presidential election, so I thought I share with you some information about my favorite charity, the National Resources Defense Council. The NRDC is possibly the most powerful environmental action group currently in existence. Rather than picketing and giving money to politicians to sway political environmental action, the NRDC inspires grassroots actions, asking the general public to contact their representatives to influence change. And for regulations that have been passed that hurt the environment, the NRDC has a team of highly skilled lawyers, including Robert Kennedy Jr., to fight the battle in court.

So what if you don’t have money to donate and don’t want to spend your time stalking politicians to get them to listen to you? The NRDC makes it easy. They let you know when they have an action going on via email, and they write the letter for you. All you have to do is sign in and send the email. They determine the right politicians or company heads for you to make it easier. You can also choose which initiatives you want to action or which ones you want to be notified about by signing up for certain sister sites such as Bio Gems.

The NRDC also has a blog and a number of sister sites that provide information about environmental issues and causes. At their site you can get information about protecting your pets from environmental hazards or about making your business sustainable. They are a wealth of information and action, and I encourage you to join me in supporting them.