A decision hath been made!

Actually it was made a couple of weeks ago, on a day I've named "Get Me The Fuck Out of St. Louis" Tuesday. Abby got the call that they were offering her the job in DC, and so it was really a no brainer at that point. So she'll have a job doing early intervention work with the deaf in DC, and I'll be going to a great program at a great school, and hopefully will be able to network my ass off so when I graduate I can finally get a decent job. My current job sucks so hard I am trembling in anticipation at the idea of putting in my two weeks.

So with that decision, the dam has burst, and the pent-up waitlist of activities that follows is now flooding us with more decisions to be made. We have to find a place to live, Abby has to fly up there to sign the contract, I'm trying to land a graduate assistant job to help pay for school, we have to find a mover and somehow come up with the money to make this move, which is not going to be easy. The fact that hopefully this will be our last dirt poor move is putting my mind at ease though, and I'm looking forward to a new future of savings accounts and a little extra money to visit friends, family and far flung locales. More than anything I'm looking forward to testing the waters somewhere else. I've moved away from St. Louis three different times, for different reasons, and keep ending up back here. It's not that St. Louis is a bad city, or that I hate being here, because believe it or not, over the past 8-9 years, I've really come to appreciate all that it offers. I am, however, ready to explore again. I'm ready to walk out of my door and have no idea where I'm going, or what areas are like. I can form my own opinions of people and places, and escape the world of preconcived notions you live in when you've lived in the same city for 27 years (minus 5 years). So 22 years, roughly.

I'm ready to ride the metro, see the Whitehouse, visit parks and museums and experience for the first time the capitol of our country.

Life is significantly less interesting...

...when one is not in Peace Corps. No, that's not true. But the sense of urgency to update this blog is no longer there. I guess when something new and interesting happens to you almost every day, be it a cultural observation, a funny story or a trip, it's a lot easier to keep up a running commentary.

Abby is almost done with her program, and in fact, this is her last week. She still has a few classes in the summer (since it's a 15 month program), but she's done with the bulk of it and they have their graduation ceremony here in May, so it kind of feels like she's finished. Amazing, one short year after getting back from the Philippines (1 year on June 1st!), she already has a Masters degree! Her job hunt is still on, but she's received a lot of interest in DC, and DC remains the only place with any kind of job opportunities in Deaf Ed (specially in early intervention). So the waiting game continues. I've been accepted to U's of Vermont, Arizona and Maryland, so we're just waiting at this point to see if she'll be offered a job in the near future. I'm hoping for DC, because even though the cost of living is high, the MPA program at U of Maryland is the best of the three, it would give me great access to DC - non-profit and international development capitol of the US - for both internships/networking during my program, and then jobs after I graduate. DC is a great area because you have a big city (5 million in the metro area), but you're close to the shore, some pretty great looking parks and outdoor activities, and you're also close to other cities on the east coast. After living in St. Louis for so long, being close to other cities is a big plus for me, because I'd love to be able to hop on the train and spend a long weekend in NYC or Philly whenever we have the time.

So we'll see, she should be hearing back this week, and if she's able to get something solid like a letter of intent from the DC program, I very well could be able to let the other schools know and make this thing official already. Considering I started studying for the GRE back in October, I'm more than ready for this whole process to be over!

10 reasons why we should switch from oil to renewable energy as soon as possible

I wrote this list, please pass it on if you find it interesting or want to educate others!

1) Of the top 10 Petroleum exporters, 2 are actively hostile toward the US (Iran and Venezuela) and 3 (Russia, Nigeria and Algeria) aren’t exactly allies (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum#Export). Oil has propped up dictatorships from Latin America to Africa to the Middle East (http://archive.peacemagazine.org/v14n3p08.htm).

2) Saudi Arabia, the world’s top exporter, has been linked to multiple terrorist attacks on the US, including 9/11, and is the source of Osama bin Laden’s wealth (http://www.iags.org/fuelingterror.html).

3) On a similar note, the US is by far the world's largest importer of petroleum (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum#Import) and consumer of petroleum (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum#Consumption). Wouldn't it be great if all that money we spent on oil went into the US economy instead of #1 and #2 on this list?

4) The number of jobs in the oil and gas industry is approx 400,000 (http://www.petrostrategies.org/Learning%20Center/People_Who_Work_in_the_Oil_and_Gas_Industry.htm). The number of jobs in renewables is currently in the millions, and expected to increase by anywhere from 8 to 20 million jobs in the next 20 years (http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2008/09/report-global-green-job-market-expected-to-explode-53686)

5) The burning of oil (not to mention coal, natural gas, etc) has been linked to a sharp increase in CO2 levels in the atmosphere and is considered by many in the scientific community to be the leading cause of global warming (http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/306/5702/1686).

6) Oil is largely controlled by OPEC (OPEC consists of Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Venezuela), an organization that doesn’t have US interests at heart and can dictate oil prices. These radical shifts in price negatively affect the US economy (http://www.iags.org/costofoil.html).

7) Oil spills are one of the many environmental hazards of oil production, releasing millions upon millions of tons of oil into the world’s oceans, killing marine life, destroying coastline and costing billions to clean up (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oil_spills).

8) The emissions that come from cars, trucks etc burning oil (not to mention coal from power plants) are extremely bad for your health and have been linked to a range of illnesses and deaths (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/medical_notes/336738.stm).

9) Plastic, which is made of petroleum, has been linked to a variety of health problems (http://www.ecologycenter.org/factsheets/plastichealtheffects.html), is barely biodegradable (it takes thousands of years to breakdown and leaches chemicals when it does) and accounts for a growing percentage of total landfill volume. It also has other unintended environmental consequences: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Trash_Vortex

10) Petroleum is a finite resource, and at current rates of consumption, is expected to run out by the end of the century (http://www.geotimes.org/nov02/feature_oil.html). Even if it doesn’t, as oil supplies get lower, prices will skyrocket and oil-related conflicts could increase dramatically.

A call to action

It was a great day on Tuesday, the right man was picked for the job in my opinion, and I feel fairly confident that he'll be able to get us moving in the right direction again. And, Obama has finally broken our pattern of only white males in office. About time. But as great as the election was, it overshadowed (and rightly so) an insidious plague in our country. The plague is religious fundamentalism.

We hear news all the time about the religious extremists over there! Watch out, those other people are trying to take away your freedoms! And it's true, Muslim extremists are assholes. But we have been duped into not noticing that our very own country is slowly becoming a theocracy. We mock Iran for their government and policy that's led by religion. We say, "look at us, we're so free!" We pride ourselves on the fact that people can say whatever they'd like, and believe in whatever they'd like to believe in. But like it or not, we are becoming a Christian country. Not that everyone in the country is becoming Christian, but we are increasingly letting Christians fundamentalists dictate policy and laws for us. The entire Republican party depends on capturing their vote, and Obama had to repeat over and over that he was a Christian, that he attended church and believed in god. In a nation made up of dozens of religions, as well as agnostics and atheists, that believes in the freedom of religion and the separation of church and state, why did both candidates have to prove that they were good Christians?

This is from the World Factbook, regarding the makeup of the US population: Protestant 51.3%, Roman Catholic 23.9%, Mormon 1.7%, other Christian 1.6%, Jewish 1.7%, Buddhist 0.7%, Muslim 0.6%, other or unspecified 2.5%, unaffiliated 12.1%, none 4% (2007 est.)

So by that estimate, a little more than %75 of the population is some kind of Christian religion, but that leaves %25 who are not (or in other terms, about 75 million people).

Where am I going with this? Some people might have seen the news that Prop 8 passed in California, banning gay people from getting married. Why was this even on the books in the first place? Because of the Mormon church for one, but also because of a large group of people who's religion tells them that homosexuality is a sin. It is a sin to them, but not against the law in the US. It's also a sin to commit adultery, covet your neighbor's goods and wife, as well as a multitude of other things that are not against the law. So does the fact that adultery is a sin stop Christians from committing that sin? Some yes, but certainly not all, not even a majority. So basically they pushed legislation up for a vote, banning a right for an entire group of people, simply because some people's religion considers it a sin. Does that sound like something that happens in a free country, where people's religion is not supposed to influence legislation and law?

I read a comment about it by a guy telling gays not to sue, because it was the will of the people, the majority has spoken. Yes, all %51 of the majority. The population of Cali is about 38 million, so that means that just less than half of the people, or 18 million people give or take, did not want that prop passed. But if all it takes is a majority, what if it turned out that 51% of a certain state did not want blacks and whites to get married? What if it turned out that since 51% of people thought cheating on your wife/husband is a sin, laws would be passed making cheating punishable with jail time?

The fact of the matter is, no matter your thoughts on homosexuality, being gay isn't a crime. It doesn't matter if you think gay people are born gay, or if they choose their lifestyle, it's still not a crime. And if two people wish to get married, who they fuck are we to say they can't? If they're of legal age, and both going into the marriage willingly, then they should be allowed to marry. Don't people see, this is no different than not allowing interracial marriages? Don't they see that legislation like this eats away at the most cherished foundations of our society and country, that all people are free and have a right to happiness? Doesn't everyone see that by allowing legislation like this to stand, we are no better than any of the "unfree" countries conservatives and liberals alike love to mock?

So my view is this: There are more of us than there are of them. There are more religious and non-religious people in this country who believe in the separation of church and state, who want to be free to live and practice as we see fit. The Christian fundamentalists are louder, meaner and more cutthroat, and that's usually why they're heard so often, but it's time to put a stop to this nonsense. It's time for us to demand they keep their creationist beliefs out of school textbooks and other public places where they don't belong. It's time for us to demand they keep their beliefs about what is a sin and what is not a sin out of our public domain. This is our country, and unlike them we believe in freedoms for all people, that everyone is equal and should be treated as such, and we're not going to let them turn our country into a theocracy. It's time to start fighting back.