word vomit.

sometimes i think there's seriously something wrong with me...i CAN'T shut my mouth when it comes to politics.

it's not even that i think "i'm right you're wrong" it's just... so hard to see how some people truly think the things they do. & why they seem to think THEIR IDEAS and THEIR PERSPECTIVES and THEIR RELIGION work for everyone.

so bear with me, as i begin my once a year solicited rant on this blog (& please read, as i promise it gets nice at the end):

i recently stumbled across this blog post [thanks nicole!] that brought tears to my eyes. EVERYONE needs to read this, no matter what you think about politics. after i read it i felt like the most selfish girl in the world..not because i'd said anything talked about in the post, but because i spent so much of my time nitpicking people about why they were voting for romney or obama...tearing people apart for trying to force their beliefs on others.

when really, terrorists did that same thing to us 11 years ago.

but i still feel the need to try to understand why people seem to think ONE person can solve our nation's many problems...& why that person has to be either EXTREMELY DEMOCRAT or EXTREMELY REPUBLICAN. (or, in mitt's case, claim to be bipartisan but pick a vice president who is....the opposite of that.)

[for those who aren't FB friends with me, i made it clear on there i voted for a third party candidate.]

the night of the election it's safe to say i was relieved romney didn't win...but i wasn't really stoked obama was reelected. my political beliefs have changed a LOT in the past 4 years.

but i do not believe it should ever come to this.

here are a few examples of facebook comments i saw the day after the election:

"well we're ****ed, obama is a muslim he's going to bomb us & slowly take us over & in the meantime take away our civil liberties & rights. he is the epitome of pure evil. who else is hoping for an assassination?" (posted by a friend who quoted thomas s monson in his previous post..i about died.)

"it's all the welfare people who are clueless as to what is going on in this country...they are just looking for a free handout and obama will give that to them." (a friend of my cousin said this about the HALF OF AMERICANS who reelected him...many people you & i know & love...who hold jobs & work hard.)

"great 4 more years of the world's biggest douche who does nothing in the white house all day"

"RIP america, it's over, we've lost, we're screwed"

"well i'll be ignoring politics for the next 4 years until we can vote a republican back who actually knows what the hell he is doing."

"i can't believe how many women are in the senate, & one of them is gay, i mean what is this world coming to."

i saw photos such as these (that made the rounds in the '08 election but i most definitely thought we had grown up a little since then):

& it brought me to tears.

first of all, i had no idea our country had stooped to such a level of racism. half of my friends at utah state were practicing muslims, & were some of the most peaceful people i have ever met.

it's like comparing LDS people to F-LDS people. are they the same? no. does the F-LDS try to use the LDS name to gain acceptance, meanwhile using it as a cover so some of them can rape & abuse women? yes.

no president is the perfect president. no matter what y'all think, romney would have screwed up in office..he would have screwed up bad. what president do we know that was perfect? that wasn't dealt a crappy hand? that didn't have the weight of millions of people on their shoulders?

this is pathetic.

none of us can do the job that president obama has been reelected to do. none of us could even withstand the pressure of running for president the way romney, obama, jill stein, gary johnson, & all the other candidates did.

this has to stop.

on the other end of things, here are some inspiring words i saw...okay, not saw but had to look up since 90% of my feed was people crying over "the terrorist president": 

" ..we MUST NOT be paralyzed just because that event and the events surrounding it are ahead of us somewhere. We CANNOT stop living life. Indeed, we should live life more fully than we have ever lived it. After all, this is the dispensation of the fulness of times....we must never let fear a

nd the father of fear (Satan himself) divert ...us from our faith and faithful living. Every person in every era has had to walk by faith into what has always been some uncertainty....This is the plan. Just be faithful. God is in charge. He knows your name and He knows your need. We must go forward. God expects you to have enough faith, determination, and trust in Him to keep moving, keep living, keep rejoicing. He expects you not simply to face the future; He expects you to embrace and shape the future".

-Jeffrey R. Holland

what better way to embrace & shape the future than by writing your congressmen & asking for compromise? there is such thing as middle ground. 

what better way to shape the future than to cease the hate speech that is teaching our children the president of the united states does not deserve any respect unless he is on your personal agenda?

next on my list of uplifting things:

this video of obama addressing his campaign staff, & being moved to tears. [gets me every time.]

"God isn’t into democracy. Jesus said, “Follow me,” not, “vote for me.” Though we might feel that our prayers for the election weren’t heard, God is bigger than an election. He’s about saving souls and changing hearts."

-Unknown (just saw on a comment feed on the Dalai Llama's Facebook page.)

"The people of our country have again entrusted you with a great responsibility. The Catholic bishops of the United States offer our prayers that God will give you strength and wisdom to meet the difficult challenges that face America."

-Cardinal Timothy Dolan, in his letter congratulating President Obama on reelection.

President Obama gave a great speech today concerning bipartisanship. if you haven't read/watched it yet, i highly recommend you do. 

in a way, the haters/racists on my page were right: nothing is going to change in the next 4 years. however, blaming it on president obama is not the right thing to do. if it weren't for the GOP blocking EVERY legislation obama handed to them...we wouldn't be here. if it weren't for liberals pursuing an agenda that makes some religious people feel their beliefs are attacked, we wouldn't be here. if it weren't for the highly conservative literally buying elections, sitting around buying expensive cigars & going on 6-week vacations, all the while ignoring the constituents they were elected to represent, we wouldn't be here. if it weren't for the gay bashing, hate crimes, racism, attacks on women's freedoms, we wouldn't be here.

obama reiterated one word several times today...a word that each & every one of us, including me, ought to think about:

compromise.

there is no way we will survive if we do not accept each other as human beings, with different beliefs. what does this mean? perhaps it means homosexuals won't get to use the word "married," but will instead use "civil unions." in exchange for that, however, wouldn't it be a nice change for atheists & agnostics not to have to hear what your God says is right every other day? wouldn't it be a true free society if a country founded on embracing religious freedom stopped using religion to persecute freedoms? perhaps it means we'll all have to pay the same amount of taxes. some things will be harder on people than others. but if we unite, if we strive to be accepting, if we strive to seek understanding of the sides we don't understand, if we strive to consider perspectives other than our own....change will happen. & it will come.

lastly, i'm sorry to all my friends/family that truly wanted romney to win. i wrote in gary johnson, though i really was rooting for jon huntsman the whole time. so..i don't really know what it's like to lose something that meant so much to you.

also, i wrote my representatives the house/senate today concerning my thoughts, & asking them to work for compromise that will best represent both parties. if you feel so inclined, you should do the same. :)

& that is all... until 2016! (unless people keep bashing our president who has the hardest job in the world. then you'll hear much more from me.)

election night 2012.

 

this time four years ago i couldn't even imagine where i would be on election day.

four years ago barack obama's acceptance speech brought tears to my eyes as i rocked the twins i was nannying to sleep. i felt so hopeful for the future, & my future.

what do you know, four years later & i have had a pretty successful time during obama in office. now i know most of you have mixed opinions about tuesday's election...but can i just say obama made me cry AGAIN? what a powerful public speaker he is. i didn't even vote for him but i was moved (& relieved romney didn't win. seriously, guys.)

anyways, so this election i worked a 12 hour day...doing basically what you see above. my co-worker bailey & i split up the 50 states & used an online tool to track how many votes were counted for each candidate.

she got the top half & i got the bottom half. which means every time i'd get to ohio, i'd cry out "ROMNEY'S AHEAD!" "OK NOW OBAMA'S AHEAD!" "AH CRAP ROMNEY'S AHEAD AGAIN!" it was so intense! i couldn't believe how close the votes came. but in the end, it didn't matter...obama won the popular vote & the electoral college. it was a close race though, & a night i will never forget! i love my job!

 

here's basically what i looked at for 12 hours.

 

luckily bailey brought bacon maple cupcakes...yes you read that right. they were delicious..they had chunks of bacon in them!

also, i wore pink tights. i think that needs to be noted as well that sometimes i am girly. 

 

here we are, in action.

i can't wait to see where i am 4 years from now! 

fact checking.

 

i have many choice words about last night's debate...most of which my family would not approve of.

but i did think this graphic (if romney & obama switched hair) was hilarious, & brought a lot of laughter to an otherwise dismal situation.

i hate to say it, but both candidates sucked. & it is SERIOUSLY infuriating to me that so many people think romney "won." all i really heard from the guy (who i like to call mittens) was "romneycare is a model for all 50 states, not the entire nation" (huh?) & "i will miraculously create jobs, bring us out of debt, & balance the budget, all while swearing i won't increase anyone's taxes"

i didn't realize having a platform with zero substance was "winning." 

both candidates were filled with lies about each other's campaigns & it was disappointing to me. both of these candidates have done nothing but lie to americans. who really wants a president like that anyway?

i IMPLORE you, family & friends, to begin by reading this article, which is from factcheck.org, the most unbiased website i've yet to come across. we use it almost daily at my work because it seems to be the only source of accurate information.

basically both candidates are a bunch of liar faces.. (i sure hope romney repents for all the lying he did yesterday!!!! seriously, though. i don't understand.)

on that note, i've begun looking into all the third party candidates... gary johnson, ron paul & jill stein being at the top of my list.

i'll keep you posted if i find a candidate that doesn't suck.

 overall i'm feeling completely unpatriotic & saddened by the fact that so many people believe everything they hear without trying to find things out for themselves. also, i give it fifty years before there's complete reform in our government system, because the two party system is an absolute failure...in my humble opinion.

happy voting! 

can't...stop...laughing....

perhaps it's because it's 3:30 in the morning, & EVERYTHING is funnier this late at night, or maybe it's because i like anything that pokes fun at mitt romney ;) but this is the most hilarious thing i've seen in awhile.
i'll forewarn you there are a few inappropriate parts... so don't watch if you'll be offended. but it's nothing too inappropriate, at least in my opinion. also, you can watch bad lip readings of president obama, ron paul & more...it makes politics just way better. (also, the ending of this clip...i die. so funny.)

some favorites:

"that your underwear up there?"
"i'll punch you in the back."
"you mama can't reach my garden, otay? it's my garden, ya dig?"

this may surprise some of you...

i've picked my candidate for the 2012 election, & no it's not obama.

(this is the part where your jaw drops.)

i've always been a fan of obama, & if huntsman doesn't win the nomination i am FOR SURE voting for him again. but just saying, jon huntsman is an awesome liberal-republican! i didn't even think that was possible, but after hearing his stance on gay marriage (he is for civil unions, which i love..makes the gays happy & the religious less freaked out!), job creation (the WSJ has said that huntsman has "the most pro-growth proposal ever offered by a US presidential candidate") and education reform, i am all aboard team huntsman.

too bad he probably won't get the GOP nominee. what do y'all think??? 

EDUCATE YOURSELVES, readers. we can't expect change if we aren't willing to participate in politics & voting. ROCK THE VOTE.

this makes laugh...so. hard.

 

now, I guess I could say I knew Rick Perry wouldn't last long. but this guy was leading the GOP polls a few weeks ago...this was who the republicans thought was capable of running our country.

last night was easily the most entertaining debate I've ever seen!!!! so hilarious. & I must say that while I'm still definitely a democrat, if Mitt Romney were to win the GOP spot it'd be one tough choice on who to vote for. Romney is a smart guy. (Unlike this guy here.)

i found this funny.

ohhh how funny. my thoughts are with everyone worldwide participating in the occupy movement.

occupy slc photos.

today for work i got to go downtown to be part of the occupy slc fun!! getting paid to protest is the best, if you ask me. anyway, they asked me to take some photos for a photo gallery for the website. i was given a NICE camera (and i mean...nice) and a car (very conspicuous, covered in fox 13 decals) and sent downtown to capture all the awesomeness! here are a few favorite photos:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

check out the rest of the photos i took here! also, here's a picture fox 13's ben winslow snuck of me getting pics of all the action. so much fun!!!

OCCUPY SLC.

*from april 2010, when a few friends & i protested outside borders in logan, where karl rove came to sign his new book.*

so i love peaceful protesting. it really is kind of the best. especially in today's world, where it seems like there's nothing else you CAN do. for those who haven't heard about occupy wall street, for 3 weeks now protesters have camped out on wall street, peacefully protesting against the rich crooks of america...the rich 1% who get thousands of dollars for christmas bonuses while the rest of the country still struggles to get on their feet.

it's also protesting the inability of democrats & republicans to agree on anything.. a main reason for why nothing is getting done, and why our country is slowly falling apart.

ironically enough, these protesters are the ones being arrested, not the crooks.

however, the rest of the nation is catching on! starting today, salt lake city will be home to one of the nationwide protests at the capitol building. they will march down to pioneer park where they will protest "however long we have to."

i work today at fox 13, but the second i'm off work i'm heading down there. it's a continual protest, so you can go whenever, at any time, and people will be there.

for more information, visit occupyslc.org or this facebook event. 

OCCUPY SLC!!

we got him.

may we never forget to be thankful for our freedom.

and for those who fight for it!

yesterday was a very historical day indeed...although the war is far from over,
there is hope. we have people who will continue to fight until we have won.
:]

ps i loved obama's speech last night. he is probably the greatest public speaker our country has ever seen. and i loved his point about this not being a war against islam, but a war against terrorists. i have a lot of muslim friends, who hate being compared to people like osama bin laden. it was a great speech, and a historical moment i will never forget!

ohhh gosh.

i was reading msn this morning and read this article about bill o'reilly interviewing obama on superbowl sunday.
my first instinct was to laugh... because in my humble opinion (and keep in mind it's just my opinion), bill o'reilly is an absolute joke of a journalist. my second thought was, "i wonder if he'll tell obama to shut up?" either way this is an interview i can't wait to watch, as i'm sure o'reilly will make an ass of himself, and all the loyal fox news viewers will gush over what a wonderful and unbiased reporter he is.
good luck, president obama.

hope.

it was completely surreal to hear yesterday that don't ask don't tell has been repealed by the senate! i almost cried when i heard. at last there is something i feel happy abut politically. we can all argue day in and out about politics, but when it comes down to it.. every man and woman should be able to serve their country and protect their freedom. why are gays any different?

i am happy for all of my homosexual friends.. i know this was important to a lot of them!! it's interesting to see what the future will hold.

election day!

i sure hope everyone made it out to vote today... the lines weren't terribly long, and although i had to do an absentee ballot (i forgot to change my address, so i'm still registered to vote in logan.... oops), i still felt like i'd contributed to the society positively. :]

days like today always remind me of my favorite quote:

"One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors."
-PLATO

happy election day!

the capitol building.

this building has to be one of my absolute favorites.

yesterday i spent the whole day in salt lake city...i went to parade of homes with my mom, and to my friend's concert at kilby court. [they were awesome. by the way.]

but my favorite part of the day was the few minutes i spent just walking around the capitol building. i lived directly across the street from this building for 3 months, and i never even went inside it! i regret that now, because it's beautiful on the inside.

media shmedia.

sometimes i wonder why i chose journalism as one of my majors. stories like this make me realize how unfair the media is. one false move, and the whole country/world is down your throat. if you work for fox news, you must say what they tell you to say [which is usually conservative bull]. if you work for cnn, you must say what they tell you to say [liberal, and usually bull as well].
where do we get the honest, unbiased news that america needs?? and why aren't reporters or editors allowed to tweet how they feel? do we forget they are people with opinions just as much as the next person?
utter bullcrap.

so excited!!

today i got a fellowship with peter corroon, the democratic nominee for utah's governor.
the election is this upcoming november and i get to be part of the grassroots efforts, including finding volunteers, going to events, doing some PR if i'm lucky, and all around getting to spend my summer incorporating my majors into a campaign.
i'm so excited!!
the program is 10 weeks long, and is going to be a lot of hard work...and also a blast.
here's to a good summer.

more poking fun...

at karl rove.

hey, it was all in good fun.

the group.

aaron conversing with a vietnam war veteran.

this was actually a really fun experience. at first i just went more as a joke, but i ended up getting to talk to some very interesting people. a lot of people supported us and talked to us about their political views. 

except for the guy handing out republican flyers. hannah told him she was "here for peace" and he said, "well i'm on the other side."

whaaaat?

hahah, i thought that was hilarious.

in other news, i move out of my adorable little loft tomorrow.

[all decorated for my birthday]

i am going to miss this little place. it holds a lot of memories.

win.

today karl rove came to logan.

i am not a huge fan of karl rove... so of course i was totally down
for some peaceful protesting. 

most of the people who came to get their book signed were rather friendly

[except the guy in the truck who said "f*** you hippies!" and gave us the finger].

there were actually quite a few protesters there as well.

all in all it was a pretty good day.

and i really do think karl rove is voldemort.

justice stevens to retire.

the oldest supreme court justice announced today that he is retiring this summer.
which makes sense, seeing how he is almost 90 years old.
i'm wondering who president obama will pick as his replacement? rumor has it that Elena Kagan, the US solicitor general, is on the market, as well as federal appellate judges Merrick Garland and Diane Wood.
personally, i'd love to see a woman on the US Supreme Court jury.
either way, these next few months are going to be very interesting. the supreme court is one of my favorite political organizations to follow and learn about. 


happy friday!

can you believe it??

health care passed!

i'm still trying to figure out what all of this means. but i do know that it is expected to be "historic".
today is a good day.