3 posts tagged “opinion”

Someone on the QA list asked what the difference was between contemporary quilts and art quilts, and I , of course added my 2 cents. Barely a rippled was formed, the usual people ignored me. Then, an hour ago the ripple hit my email, 43 emails admiring my opinion. I even got accused of being witty. ( go me!)

In real life, most of my friends tell me I am "amusingly eclectic", which I believe is the PC way of calling someone a smartass. I admit it, I am not always politically correct in my behavior. My adult kids say "MOM!" a LOT in public to me.

Most of the time my mouth opens and my opinion spills out and I find my self thinking,
" OMG did I say that out loud?!?"
Sometimes what I think about the world around me gets out without me noticing at all but I know I said something that hit home when everyone within hearing distance gets REAL quiet. It's kind of amusing to me.

I use to do Cardiac telemetry at a rural service hospital on the coast of Oregon, they always gave me the day off when the big wigs were coming through to do an inspection and talk to the staff. I think I made the department manager nervous. I often got accused of saying what most people are afraid to say, they called my spewing "Andee-isms", and accused me of being blindly unaware of having profoundly deep thoughts and opinions.

I could not figure out what they were talking about... I just call em as I see em. When I left there my best going away present was a box filled with scraps of paper, each one holding a quote of something I had said, a note about the date and what was going on when I said it, and a brief outline of how it touched the person who placed it into the box. I cried and cried when I opened it. We never know whose life we will touch with our words or actions, I am ever grateful I tend to mostly touch people's lives in positive ways. I still have the box and the notes inside, front and center on my dresser, a daily reminder to tread softly through life.... I wish I could say I always make it, but sometimes I leave knee deep footprints. I am working on it though.

Cross posted from livejournal

My pal Dave, an ER nurse I use to work with, just sent me an email directing me to read an article that appeared in Atlantic Monthly in January. I have to say, it is an interesting read. The article is called Surprise Party , and it is about a new third party forming as we speak... It's about the thinking behind the Unity08 Party .I'm not going to do a spoiler here, you REALLY need to read the article for yourself. I will say, these are people with a VERY interesting twist in their approach to how to get things done... at the very least, it will be very interesting to see what kinds of politicians they attract, and the direction their platform travels towards.  Now, I not only have to keep an eye on Barack Obama, I also have to keep a watchful eye on this new group as well, just in case... My pal Dave has always been a little trouble maker ;)

While pollsters and the media debate whether or not a well dressed, skinny black man from Illinois, ( who is fairly new to politics by political standards), is capable of holding his own in the political arena, I wonder if he is smart enough and tough  enough to plow those old white guys (and their cronies) 6 feet under with his principles should he get elected. I see his lack of political experience as an asset. It is less likely he is corrupted or owing a lot of favors than anyone else who has announced they are running for nomination. In fact, this is his greatest selling point....he seems to be fairly untarnished and uncorrupted. I hope he is, and I hope he has the ability hold his ground in order to turn things around, that's all I want of him. Not free health care, not a lot of optimistic promises he hopes to deliver... I just want some good old come-uppence delivery to the GOB's who have been running things and lining their own pockets at everyone else's expense for years. That is all that I hope for. If he can demand accountability in DC, plus give even a slice of renewed hope back to the people, he will have done his job even if he does nothing else.

 I have not voted for a major political party candidate in over 15 years, I have been fed up with politics as usual for a very long time, long before many of my friends. But this man has potential. It makes me rather proud he is coming out of my home state. I have this weird insight into people, the only way to explain it is to say that I see colors around some people, not as often as I use to when I was young, but it does still happen, without warning...and Barack's colors are those of strength and honor, and they are filled with energy. I have nothing else to put forth for why I trust him to be who he seems to be, but in my heart I believe him, in his heart, to be a truly honorable man.

I hope he's smart enough to not get sucked in, to not make promises just to get votes, to not feel the need to defend who he is to appease the blacks like Jesse Big-Mouth do-nothing-of-importance Jackson who is making with noise for the press along the lines of  : "Don't vote for him just because he's black, he's too white to be really black or to represent the black agenda". Hmph! Well Mr Jackson, YOU are too self-serving and full of hot air to keep trying to be MLK, so shut the hell up, who asked you anyway? Geez man, for the first time, in a very long time, we have a potential candidate who seems to want to meet the agenda of the American people, not his friends, or the blacks, or the whites, or the illegal aliens... a man who seems to have principles like we have not seen in a very long time. Oh wait, what would Jackson know about principles? Silly me. 

Still, I hope Barack can stand firm, stay real, and deliver renewed hope for all of us. Bottom line, Barack needs to find himself a miracle and guard it wisely. I sent him an email today to tell him so, and to suggest he talk to Jimmy Carter for advice on how to proceed. I have this interview with Carter from last year stuck in my head, the person interviewing him asked him if he would ever run for president again and he said no, that no one elected to that position could ever implement change because there were people and forces in place to make sure change never happens. I think he could help Barack a lot, what he knows about being president is like live ammo that Barack needs to survive, it could send him in with an arsenal of insight instead of blind to the dangers of being elected. I also asked him the one question in my email that I want an answer to... if nominated, who his running mate will be. I care more about this than anything else, because the answer will tell me if he has a chance in hell of delivering change. I will knock on every door in Portland on my own in support of him if the answer is not Hillary Clinton. And if it is, I guess I'll be voting 3rd party again this year.... because no matter how good he looks on paper or in the press, he has no hope of getting change if he goes into DC carrying an "old bag" full of tricks. ;)