Obi-Won Kenobi, You Are Our Only Hope...

i believe it was The Crystal Method who sampled "keep hope alive" and with examples like "A New Hope" i could go on and on with Star Wars references but lately i've been preoccupied with the concept of HOPE.

Hope, like everything else must be kept in balance. Too much or too little seems to be what gets you in trouble. Sometimes hope is all that carries you through. When everything else seems to be working against you hope can be what gives you the fuel to carry on. That hope of how things could or should be keeps you afloat through murky waters.

Lately, however, i have been thinking about the other side of hope: the hope that ends up disappointing you, the hope that can bite you in the arse. For me it's usually in the form of politics. i really want to believe that there may be someone in politics worth having faith in. As a scientist i should know better as i have seen no proof of honorable politicians at any level of government. Yet i set myself up and end up the fool for it again and again.

i've done it in presidential elections. "Gore can be a voice for the environment at this crucial juncture in our climate problem" i'd tell myself. Well, we all know how that turned out. i even though Kerry might be able to stop the madness. What kind of situation are we in when Kerry seems like someone to get behind. Once the hope wore off there weren't enough showers to ever wash off the slime i felt coated with having just participated in that situation. i became so disappointed an let-down by our political system that i didn't even want to vote, ever again.

This new batch of presidential hopefuls has only cemented any void of hope still present. There is no honor left in US politics, only money. Any time a bit of political hope starts to sprout up through the soil of my brain (or shorts) i stomp it down with the laundry list of disappointments all too fresh in my mind.

Recently i foolishly allowed hope to sprout up surrounding politics, this time at the local level. Sho'nuff i was far beyond enraged. Money came first and WE THE PEOPLE didn't even place. In fact Money seems to have curb stomped us. Contact with local representatives was not enough, even in my own city. Reason and sound arguments was not enough, even in my own city. Even in my own city? Logic and common sense no longer live in the halls of our government, only wide mouthed wallets waiting to be filled. Predjudice of all kinds fills our politics (just look at the headlines surrounding our current front-runners: race, sex, religion all before views and records). Unlike junior i remember how the 'fool me once' saying goes and i've been a fool too many times.

i am hopeful for a great many things, one has to be or else there is not much point in carrying on. i no longer am hopeful about politics on any level, however. Momma don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys... or politicians.

HOT...

While my significant other and i were putting in the air conditioners today i had an epiphany: someone should start a website called "girls in bikini tops lifting stuff". i feel no need to elaborate on the premise, but i for one would check it out. The idea is free for anyone willing to start it.