No, Really, Thank You.

First things first, still unemployed. Interview for a P/T position on Tuesday, but hey, at least it's in IT. I'm seriously considering joining the National Guard, at least I could pay off my school loans in one fell swoop.

But on to the meat of the blog entry today: Giving Thanks. I'd like to first thank my neighbor. "Thank you, neighbor whose name will be omitted 1.) because I'm not sure I remember it and 2.) because I'm a coward and I'm going to call you a c-bag in it. Thank you, O neighbor! for training your dog to religiously shit in my yard, in the same place, almost every day. That Saint Louis Zoo monkeyhouse smell really appeals to me when I'm sitting on my front porch, admiring too the ubiquitous dinner plate-sized brown spots of dead grass in the yard from your other dog's awful piss. My wife and I just *LOVE* those. They really tie the yard together in a kind of "white-trash zen" way.

You are a c-bag.

Every time I mow my lawn, my faith in humanity to just *not be assholes* diminishes. I'm not sure by what measure, but it diminishes nonetheless. I don't want to be hyperbolic, either. I'm not even asking for much, not losing my faith in humans to *be awesome* or even *be polite* at all. Just don't be an asshole. Well, maybe next Sunday by some miracle of canine bowel movements the dog will have cut the duke on the other neighbor's lawn.

I almost launched into a metaphorical tirade about how our elected representatives in Congress are also shitting on our collective lawns, but it seemed like an abrupt departure from my cynical rantings as a neighbor. I think I'm just in a shitty mood. Glenn Beck's stupid rally was yesterday, and I've been spending about an hour fighting in forums and honing my rhetoric and logic. It's not going too badly. It makes me sad though, because it means that Glenn Beck's tactics are working.

Americans spend *SUCH* an inordinate amount of time fighting with each other about gay rights, abortion, and religion (not all mutually exclusive arguments either, lol) that we completely dismiss that glaring fact that 60+ year-old-white-dudes in DC golfing with lobbyists from the NRA-ILA and AFL-CIO might not actually have our best interests in mind.

And I like the NRA-ILA and what they stand for, what they represent. I don't, however, believe in their ability to have virtually unfettered access to Congresspeople. I feel like for every minute spent with "interests," those same representatives should be spending an equal amount of time with "people."

It's a kind of backwards idea, I know. The forwards approach is to realize that while we see the NRA-ILA as a group with limitless money and persuasion tactics, that we - the "people" have something the NRA (and any other corporation or interest group) doesn't - a vote.

Remember when a vote used to mean something? It still does. Americans have lost faith in "the system" and feel like their vote is wasted, because all the evidence shows that votes are wasted. We can't come together because we're so divided by a system we firmly believe is permanent. It's not. A third party vote is not a wasted vote. A vote for a dude who sucks less than the other dude: now that's a wasted vote. The third (and eventually fourth, fifth, and fiftieth) party will bring true change to the US. And I got a C in political science. It is remarkable to me, a guy who *never* got into politics, that I only needed a month of unemployment to let my mind roam and actually think about something other than my 45 hours a week. That 45 hours a week consumed me to such a point that I spent all my free time just forgetting about the 45 other hours. Now, I don't have to forget about anything, I am only looking forward.

Sam Adams said this in 1776: "If ever a time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in Government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin."

That's a very exciting notion. Also terrifying. The moral of the story? Keep your dog shit to yourself.

Au Revoir.