A bit of wandering mind today.

[Cinletharwi]

I'm all over the place in my mind today - thoughts racing, heart racing. Some rants, but I mostly just want to talk.

I am from middle Louisiana, the bottom of Bushland La. God, Guns, Gays, and Blacks are the obsessive preoccupation of white Republicans here.

The thing that the folks here in La. do not "get" about the Gay marriage debate is that to approve (overwhelmingly, as they did) of a constitutional amendment banning it and civil unions defies the very spirit of the Declaration of Independence.

We are in very serious trouble is nearly half of the Nation has no problem denying the other half THE UNALIENABLE RIGHT TO LIFE, LIBERTY, AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS!.

I am not gay, but I will defend to the death their right to pursue happiness - it's the true American Way in contrast to the fake patriotism spewed by the Right today. Almost daily I have to confront the sort of ignorance face-to-face that we are fighting against today with our votes.

They do not think; they react. It's almost impossible to change their minds with reason, logic, and compassion because they DO NOT want to know anything that upsets their ideas. I placed Outfoxed, F-9/11, Hijacking Catastrophe, and Uncovered on the counter and left them there for at least two weeks; they were never touched by my mom. I told her she needed to watch them, it's her responsibility to be an informed voter. She shrugged and said she's voting for Bush, "can't stand the way Kerry talks, hate him."

But every time I have 'cornered' others and made them listen for once in their life, eventually they "see where I'm coming from." Where I grew up, "see where you're coming from" is a gentle, "face-saving" way they admit they're wrong.

My nephew (of 21) last night, who is not registered to vote btw, as we were all sitting around playing poker said "I have a bad feeling Kerry's gonna win."

I laid into that boy with a fierceness I have never voiced. For 3 hours straight I took him to the woodshed about our country, democracy and his responsibility to inform himself and vote, what Bush and Co. are, Iraq, Patriot Act - everything. Afterwords, he said, "I have a bad feeling Bush is gonna win.." Said he is going to register to vote even though it's too late to vote in this election, and try to "find out about things." I gave him DU's URL and said y'all were the best newshounds and critical thinkers I've ever known.

It kills me how ignorant my people are here, even knowing it's not completely their fault. They are never talked to and taught anything by their parents (in addition to being misinformed by Fox), except to hate Blacks and vote for the guy who will "protect our guns."

The white youth here in my home area (East-Central La.) vote with their parents' ideas. That's the tradition. I myself registered Republican at 18 because that's what my parents are. It took me years to learn how to think for myself, then feel for myself, then find some truth in my own feelings.

Our school systems are shamefully impotent. I dropped out of school at 16. They said I had to go see the counselor before they would finalize it. I walked into her office and said I am thinking of dropping out. She never looked up at me once, not even when I first walked in. She said "good luck" while looking down at the papers on her desk. I left there and enrolled in GED classes and went on to become a Paramedic.

Ignorance votes for the likes of Bush. They simply do not comprehend the consequences of their beliefs ("I believe Bush will do better than Kerry") adhered to without critical thought. For kids here today my nephew's age, they see no consequences for what they do and do not do.

Last night, I got them to start watching Hijacking Catastrophe. They yawned and shuffled their feet around, fiddled with stuff, and finally said "let's watch this later, let's play poker."

After my 3 hour stand on the soapbox, my nephew said "sigh...people just don't see it" (the things I was telling them).

My reply: "No, they don't see it... because they would rather 'watch it later'..." I think it finally sunk in then.