Doom and Gloom

Haven't managed to write for this in a while, been a bit busy and lazy. Now that I'm back to writing on this again, I suppose I'm in a fairly pessimistic mood. Perhaps it's the continuing bad news with regards to the economy, the environment or our government, but I've definitely got the feeling that I should be writing more letters to my Senators and Congressmen.

This is somewhat unusual for me as I tend be pretty damn optimistic with regards to the future, but after having a friend spend hours at a party telling me that the US is degenerating into a police state, with Obama voting for that damn FISA bill, watching the US financial sector melt down, and while the Wilkins Ice Shelf is melting, Congress is spending its time banning clove cigarettes. I suppose articles like this are a pretty good expression of what I worry about.

There is a place for paranoia. I'm generally optimistic about humanity's ability to adapt, but the last seven and half years have given me no faith in our government to do anything but make the world worse. I hope this election changes that, we're going to need a huge shake-up in the system. The Democratics won't do it just on their own. Don't get me wrong, I despise the Republican party, but the Democrats aren't exactly a bastion of well executed policy.

So, I suppose I should get around to yelling at my representatives about the budget deficit, farm policy, drug policy, tax policy, energy policy and civil rights, and hope that it doesn't have to get worse before it gets better.

More detailed thoughts to come later, but for now, sleep.