Today, my tea is blacker and stronger than usual. First of all, I've been laying in bed since I got home last night/this morning, slept for a few hours, 5 or maybe 6.. Then, with no desire to move, be active, be a real human, I've allowed myself to get sucked into catching up on TV shows, responding to emails, chatting with my girl in Kenya, etc etc etc... I don't feel "100%" today, so the tea is extra black. I'm laying here, with 50 windows and tabs open on my little netbook screen, researching the California state propositions for the elections coming up. For that reason too, my tea is extra black. My mom has my absentee ballot and she is going to fill it out and send it in, once I can finish sifting through all this mumble-jumble bull shit campaign crap. I spent my pre-adulthood with my parents reminding me that "voting is a privilege" you should always vote. I think one time Caleb didn't, and Kelly gave him that look, like the second-nature, much used mom/teacher scowl thing she can do (26 years experience in the classroom with little 'free year odes' which is written phonetically for emphasis) and from 18 I was a proud voting American ready to be a part of the change. I never really questioned it, I am a citizen, I vote. End of story. Well now I have a new opinion.
There are 9 propositions on the state ballot, all of them of course have an opposing and supporting party. That makes 18 different groups, more or less (some of the YES on NO on share funding... 25 and 26 for example). MOST groups have raised (through donations and loans) at least 10 million dollars for the CAMPAIGN! MARKETING! 10 million freaking dollars times 18 is a number I hope I never know. So all that money, somewhere above 100 mil, only passes a bill which "create more jobs" and "provide more money for education." What disgusts me the most is that one group in particular, the California's Teachers Association has donated WELL over 15 million to certain campaigns, 8 million dollars alone on Prop 24. So why then, are educators getting laid off so often and so many children share a classroom with 40 other students and so many more are without books...?
My head hurts and my tea is extra black today.
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