Why New Years is Over-rated:
1. New Years is a convenient date for a convenience-loving society to decide, "Hey, it's about time I get my shit together." However, most people who start getting their shit together on this day end up giving up within two weeks of the new year.
2. Businesses have capitalized on the concept of the New Year's resolution in order to hook consumers onto products that promise results but are merely psychological distractions intended to gain the customer's pocketbook.
3. New Years is simply another day of an on-going time period. Change your life now and don't jump on the bandwagon.


On that note:
Happy Next Day in Your Life!

What's more American than nostalgia? I'll let Don Draper explain:

The Kodak Carousel

Watching this show makes me feel that if Don Draper were a real person, he would always be thinking one step ahead of everyone else. I wish I could think that fast.

Best show on television.

Craig Ferguson (host of the Late, Late Show) is one of my favorite talk show hosts. To me he is a completely unique and wonderful blend of emotion, honesty, integrity, and class. He never hides his faults and admits his vulnerabilities openly, creating an incredible rapport with his audience. His loveliness lies not in his comedy, but in his relations with the rest of humanity:
Craig talks about his father
Craig talks about his mother
"I am standing upon that foreshore. A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean. She is an object of beauty and strength and I stand and watch her until at length she hangs like a speck of white cloud just where the sea and sky come down to mingle with each other. Then someone at my side says, "There! She's gone!" "Gone where?" "Gone from my sight, that's all." She is just as large in mast and spar and hull as ever she was when she left my side; just as able to bear her load of living freight to the place of her destination. Her diminished size is in me, not in her. And just at that moment when someone at my side says, "There! She's gone!" there are other eyes watching her coming and other voices ready to take up the glad shout, "Here she comes!" And that is dying."
Victor Hugo, from Toilers of the Sea
<3
A comedic great. A great man.

A lovely quote by Lord James Bryce about America's haste to develop during the Industrial Era:

“Gentlemen, why in heaven’s name this haste? You have time enough. [...] Ages and ages lie before you. Why sacrifice the present to the future, fancying that you will be happier when your fields teem with wealth and your cities with people? In Europe we have cities wealthier and more populous than yours, and we are not happy. You dream of your posterity; but your posterity will look back to yours as the golden age, and envy those who first burst into this silent, splendid nature, who first lifted up their axes upon these tall trees, and lined these waters with busy wharves. Why, then, seek to complete in a few decades what the other nations of the world took thousands of years over in the older continents? [...] Why, in your hurry to subdue and utilize nature, squander her splendid gifts? [...] Why hasten the advent of that threatening day when the vacant spaces of the continent shall all have been filled, and the poverty or discontent of the older States shall find no outlet? You have opportunities such as mankind has never had before, and may never have again. Your work is great and noble; it is done for a future longer and vaster than our conceptions can embrace. Why not make its outlines and beginnings worthy of these destinies, the thought of which gilds your hopes and elevates your purposes?”

It seems to me that following a time of haste, whether it be in the life of an individual or the progress of a nation, the time that was not spent relishing in the newness or present of a situation is greatly longed for again.

Twenty-five million people die each year because of diseases they have contracted through contaminated water. * Imagine the entire populations of London, Chicago, and Paris dying each year; all 25 million men, women and children who inhabit these cities.
All of this because people do not have access to clean drinking water--the very basis of our survival as human beings. Our sources for drinkable water (groundwater and surface water) are very limited, representing only about 1% of the amount of water on Earth.** This water is often contaminated through poor care and improper protection of the supply.
Bottled water has also been called into question as the disclosure of contents is kept at a minimum by companies such as Coca-Cola and Pepsi. Perhaps stakes in the $6 billion industry of bottling water has something to do with it? "People tout bottled water as this pure substance that's trickling from clear mountain springs when, in fact, that may not be the case," said Assemblywoman Ellen Corbett, D-San Leandro. Why do citizens of the wealthiest country in the world have to pay for seemingly safe and healthy water through supplies provided by private corporations? If we cannot develop a nation-wide system that keeps our drinking supply safe and removes contaminates, how can we expect those in third-world nations to do so? The debate over tap versus bottle is fueled by the fact that unlike municipalities, bottling companies do not have to provide a yearly report on the amount of contaminants in their water supply. ***
So what might be a solution? Advances in technology. Reverse-osmosis systems are highly successful in removing contaminants, but in the process, they also remove essential minerals such as calcium and magnesium. Cities can add these minerals into the water after purification. Reverse-osmosis has a downside. Every gallon of filtered, purified water needs to come from 3 or 4 gallons of processed water. Measures need to be taken in the agriculture sector to create alternative solutions to harmful pesticides and factories need to find ways to prevent waste from seeping into the water supply. The most important concern to our survival is not global warming or terrorism, but the poor sanitation and increased contaminants in the drinking water on our planet.


*
**
***

Today my mother found out that she is losing her job come October 10. My mother works in the health care field as a registered nurse. She's worked at this particular hospital for 30 years. How are we going to fix health care when we can't even keep our high quality nurses (who I believe are the backbone of the medical field) in their positions? My mother works in the Skilled Nursing Facility which provides long term care for the chronically ill (usually elderly). Where are these people going to go? How did we let this mess get this big? How stupid can America be? Does it make me a terrible American to criticize my country? I think critics are the ones who care the most.
On another note, after watching Obama's speech on health care last night, I got to thinking about those who knowingly participate in unhealthy activities. Let's use smoking as an example. Now we all participate in activities that are dangerous to our health such as driving down the highway or flying in an airplane, but smoking greatly increases one's chance of developing cancer. I am a non-smoker and consider myself relatively healthy, so why should I have money taken out of my paycheck to help pay for those individuals who have developed cancer knowing full well that it was from smoking for thirty years? As a country, should we add more taxes on cigarettes that lead to "smoker's insurance" specifically for the health problems that arise from smoking? Would these increased taxes help prevent people from starting the habit or cause others to stop?
Opinions welcome!

Edit: Because laughter is the best medicine.

Through my photographic endeavors, I have found that sports documentary has shown human nature in its bare bones form:

The parties are at war, and the survivors left standing between the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and Great State of Texas are the rest of us. The right has become so aggressive in their attacks on President Barack Hussein Obama (I think I saw his birth certificate blowing in the September wind) and the left has become disorganized and scattered (insert poorly tasted donkey joke). Whistle blowers no longer lurk within the carefully constructed walls of un-biased, professional journalism (or Walter Cronkite's jowls) but are rampant throughout the cable news networks, searching greedily for higher ratings, more glory, and the sanity of Glenn Beck. The original ideals of America are still there, they are just hidden under thick layers of paint that have been added throughout our history to the proverbial wall of democracy. (But walls are meant to keep us in, right?) Our country does not suffer from a lack of opinions; far from it. Surely I will not be silenced from voicing mine. Everyone has an opinion on how the United States should be run, and there is nothing wrong with that. (Except when those opinions oppose my own. Then we have a problem, people.) That is what makes America the great land of personal freedoms that it is. However, the pendulum has swung too far. We have become a nation that is too individualistic and disorganized (just look at my apartment). We tend to take our argument for personal freedoms too far; impending on the freedom of those who disagree with our opinion (damnit!). In order for a society that champions the freedom of its citizens to work, there must be a steady foundation on which all stand united. (I say burnt brownie batter works the best in these situations.) Without this foundation, arguments will continue forever in endless circles that take different forms throughout the centuries. Any political or social system will never live up to it’s ideals on paper (however, papyrus hasn't been ruled out); therefore, as a nation, we must find that balance between the privilege of voicing our opposing opinions and uniting respectfully on a common foundation. (Again, brownie batter.) Our parties certainly are failing to do so.