Why So Single?

Hey Everyone,

I'm a little hung over from celebrating Senator Barack Obama's first Presidential Debate. I'm one of the people who believe that he not only was able to articulate his strong points to the American people over Senator John McCain, but also that he was able to fully articulate the differences between himself and McCain in a courteous, witty and intelligent manner. However, that is not what this entry is about.

A friend of mine recently wrote a blog post entitled "Why Did I Stay Single?" In the entry, he's basically asking why, you guessed, he stayed single all these years. For all intent and purposes, he's a smart, funny, caring and a real sweetheart. However, he feels because he's not drop dead gorgeous, more focused on the diaspora than diamonds and is a bit of a professed nerd that he gets no love from the ladies. (For the whole thing, you can read it here.)

My friend's entry has me wondering about the love, or lack thereof that the average guy gets from the ladies. Not the handsome types or the rich types or even the "think they are rich" types, but the average guy working a regular wage job, a man who saves a good portion of his check, who drives a used car and is not one to blow his money on material things. How does he line up against a blinged-out, tricked out material based guy. Is it more important to be about something or to have something around your neck?

Well, the answer has to be in direct relation to the kind of girl you want to attract and possibly be with. Too many men I know are looking for beauty and no brain, for style and no substance. It is no surprise that plastic will attract plastic. My point is, find someone with a strong self-worth, who can say an intelligent word or two and not focus on looks. Hygiene, yes. Halle Berry curves, no. Maybe if men don't set themselves up for rejection or even just look for a "model chick", they'd be able to see the pleasure in dating a "real chick" who may not be as gorgeous, but have much more interesting things happening in her brain. 

*Real chicks are not ugly. Many in fact are beautiful but overlooked for all the plastic people. Also, not all attractive women are plastic. I am a prime example, along with many others that I know.

Thoughts?

*Ashley Robin*

Kickin It and Doing the Damn Thing

Hey,

I have been doing the low profile thing for a minute. But today, I decided to go out and handle some business that I'd been putting off forever (don't you hate that), and I just was thinking in terms of myself in relation to the rest of the world.

I realized that even if one person is bummed, depressed, afraid, upset, angry, etc..the world still goes on. I guess I felt like my life was a movie, I was the star, my friends and family were all supporting characters and the random people I encountered everyday and didn't make any kind of connection with were extras. People I knew, but weren't around as much as my friends and family simply made cameos. So, I finally realized that's quite a self-centered way to think. It's more about not letting circumstances cripple you so that you can enjoy your movie, whether you are the focus of it or not. I'd been in the house a little bit too much, mainly because I'm just in that mood...but I guess in some weird way, I felt like the world would have stopped. I guess it makes me feel kinda small, but also urges me to not get into the moods where I want to stay inside more, mainly because I will feel as if I've truly missed something.

So, in my adventures in being local, I think I've made progress in trying to get my kitten Samantha trained. Training a cat is difficult, let me just say. If the cat is stubborn, like how both she and my older cat, Hugh Laurie, are, it is even more difficult. But because I stuck with it, she's just as smart as Hugh was at her age, if not smarter. I've also been doing a lot of reading, with these LSAT books and researching the classes, and all that FUN stuff.

I wish I could go into detail about everything currently happening to me, but I can't. For the first time in my life, I feel a little stifled. It's weird, because no one or nothing has ever gotten me to the point where I felt like I couldn't talk. And now I am. But I digress.

My question for the people who are reading is this-

At what point do you let the things that invigorate your life, and make you what you want to be, isolate you from the aims and focuses of the everyday?

Just a question

Thoughts?

*Ashley Robin*

Seeing the World in Technicolor

Hey,

I've been M.I.A. for a couple of days, just because a lot has been going on. Life is a bit of a whirlwind right now, what can I say. I feel like my view of the world is much more optimistic than other people's. Yes, that may be naive of me, but who cares? I see the glass as half full, and I believe that things can and will get better. 

This economy is f**ked up...almost to all hell. Thanks to Georgie Bush, we're in a war that most of us don't agree with, people are dying everyday, and 60,000 people a week are losing their homes. Now, John InSane said that that number is so high because these people got into mortgages that they could not afford. I got a wake up call for his ass....my mother is in the mortgage industry. She's been in that industry for fourteen years...and I asked her opinion about it. She says that in order to even determine a mortgage payment for a potential buyer, you have to take 33% of their income and use that as a barometer of what they could pay each month. This number is 33%, simply because they figure the average person uses 2/3rds of their income to pay bills, survive and save. Also the future homeowner also has to have very little exorbitant debt, because otherwise their ratios would be off and they'd be unable to pay. She thinks it's unfair of InSane to assume that all these people just jumped into expensive mortgages, but instead to ask the mortgage professional that prepared their loan if they set these people up. Option ARMs are not permanent, and some people forgot that. Others lost their jobs and couldn't afford their mortgage or any other bill. It was sad and terrible to see.

But I believe it will get better. I know it looks bleak, but I know that all the economists will get together and get a credible solution going. I also believe once the Iraqi war ends, it will provide us with a reprieve, that companies will come back to the United States and people will have faith in the American dollar and it will be strong. It will take hard work, belt pinching and some fiscal conservation, but it will happen. So have faith. 

Thoughts?

*Ashley Robin*

Why Do I Over Think the Smallest of Things?

So I started this blog with the idea that I'd share my most inner thoughts and try as little as I could to censor myself. However, along the way, I found that it be best that I not put people's names out there, as well as myself, for the sake of having some privacy just in case someone off the street walked up to me and started asking me about my postings. 

Weirdly though, that has happened, especially when I posted about my ex saving me from the hands of two would-be rapists. But I digress.

I've decided to just go back to my original plan and let things fall where they may. Who cares, life  is too short?! So, with that, I delve into my latest MisAdventure.

I am celibate. Yes, I said it, and no I'm not lying. A long time ago, back in my Washington DC days, I was okay with having sex outside of a relationship, and was okay with the idea of having more than one partner a year. Some people aren't, and considered that slutty, and I pretty much told them to go to hell. Literally and figuratively, I said it. I drank at parties, had a good time, always was at a party or going out on a date, and if I wanted to sleep with a guy, I did. I never had an issue with sex, did not consider myself to be conservative and enjoyed my lifestyle. Just as a side note, I've always believed in protection and safe sex, and have never had an STD.  Nor have I been in any situation where I found myself loathing my annual gynecologist visit, awkwardly waiting any test results. No shockers in that department. 

However, I wasn't sure I liked that person. She was a bit too unfocused on school, a bit too vivacious and liked to spend her nights drinking and partying, her mornings in the bed and drinking tea to calm down her headaches rather than go to class. But the grades never suffered. Both she and I knew that failure was unacceptable, and anything below a B was a problem. It was a strain being both her and me at the same time, because it was draining me physically, mentally and emotionally, so I decided to let the party girl go, and I have to admit, it was really hard to say goodbye to her. She was fun. But she was keeping me from achieving my goals. In letting her (the party girl) go, I embraced my inner nerd. 

But, in the process of letting the party girl go, in 2004, I decided to become celibate. Well, I broke that a few times when I was in relationships, but outside of those, I would not have sex. However, I didn't realize that abstaining from sex would be so difficult. Not for me, but for those around me. Men who I knew as friends revealed their desire to sleep with me, men I dated wanted to sleep with me, women I knew didn't believe I actually was celibate, my celibacy made them feel like whores, and I was cursed out,  along with their opinion of me going downhill, mainly because they figured I was lying about it or they chose to push me down to feel better about themselves Who knows? But I know that I have no reason to lie about having sex, about my lack of a sex life, especially to anyone else. I don't need that much praise from anyone. I've thought often about breaking the celibacy vow just because of the drama that having it entails. I even got close to doing it. Then I realized that I'd be breaking the vow to appease others, and I realized that was wrong. Plus, the guy was a dick. So, I am happy to say that I did not go through with it. 

My over-thinking comes with the fact that I am stressing over this decision to be celibate. I'm not going to be such forever, just until I get the right feeling about the right guy, whether that be on the wedding altar or on the seventh date. I don't know why I think so much about it, but I do. It seriously keeps me up nights. I had a dream that some guy was trying to deflower me, and I woke up in a cold sweat. So why am I over thinking this? Is it because I feel like I'm not sure in my decision? Or just that I'm second guessing it because I made the promise/vow for the wrong reason, just to prove to myself that I could?

(To purchase the "Embrace Celibacy" tank pictured above, click here.)

Thoughts?

*Ashley Robin*

The New Goal

Hey,

Just wanted to say hi, and give a few updates on stuff. Nothing too elaborate today, my head is pounding, I think my cat is sick and I've gotta get up in the morning.

1- My male BFF Kevin is so much better now. Against all odds, he's still here, and he managed to walk out of the hospice they'd put him in after he was basically in a drug-induced coma to reduce his pain. The hospice stay was 3 weeks, he woke up after the first week and immediately wanted to leave. He worked towards it and made that a goal, and he did it. Immediately after leaving, he went to a holistic doctor, and fasted for 3 weeks to get all the toxins out of his body, eating only small organic dishes on the weekends, and drinking only organic juice and water during the week. I haven't seen him, he's still in California, but from the phone I know his voice sounds stronger and he sounds more rested. He has yet to go see a doctor, but when he does, I am hoping the prognosis is good. For all purposes, it is a miracle.

2-I've put up a "Donate" button on the right side of the blog. It's for my trip to Europe after my graduation in May of 2009. I've always wanted to go, and I figure asking for donations, the worse thing that will happen is that no one will contribute. If you have a buck or two that you wouldn't mind sharing, hook me up. The money's going into an account that I'm setting up to save for the trip, and whatever you contribute will be greatly appreciated.

3- I'll be doing my radio show Saturday night, discussing one of my favorite topics, RELATIONSHIPS, (haha) from 7 to 9pm, and I'm going to try to blog as I do it. We'll see how well it works. If you are interested in listening, click here. Follow the prompts on the website, under the "Listen Live" area. If you have a question, you can ask it in the comments or email me here if you want your comment to be more private.

Take care and I, as always, want your thoughts...

*Ashley Robin*

The 'Things I Don't Like' List

Hey Everyone,

So I've been asked to write my first list. It's a list of things I don't like. I'm doing it totally off the cuff and with no real thought to it, to keep it as random and honest as possible. Here goes.

1-Bad breath. Seems simple enough, but the smell of rotting meat makes me vomit, even moreso if it is coming from someone's mouth.

2-John InSain. He's old, he's a liar, and he's Republican. 

3-Talking on the phone. Usually most people who call me have no real point to the conversation, and unless I really like you, I try not to stay on the phone too long. Maybe that'll change when I get a bluetooth.

4-Beans. I hate beans because they remind me too much of the pods from Invasion of the Body Snatchers. That, and most people get really gassy after eating them..which is not cool.

5-Hypocrites. If you are say something, mean it. If you don't, then don't say it. I'll beat a hypocrite up real quick.

6-Thieves. I'm still looking for the person who stole my bike, vandalized my car and tried to snatch my mom's purse. If I even get a gut feeling that they are around, I'm going to snap.

7-Bible Thumpers. While I'm all for religion, and I am happy for you if you love it, but do not force me to drink the kool-aid.

8-Polls. No one has ever called me to ask me my opinion on anything but what alcohol I like to drink, or what clubs I go to...nothing substantial. Therefore, I tend not to believe a single one.

9-Telemarketers. I HATE them! They always call on some bull, they don't understand no, and now they want to start leaving messages on voicemail! GOD! 

10-The black guy in the Head-On ads. I don't know why, he just freaks me out.

11-Send offs. Everyone has been sent off at least once, whether by a friend, relative, potential significant other, period. It's just as bad as being a hypocrite, though.

12-Internet stalkers. People who literally sign on just to see if you're online, then send you messages of randomness for hours, even when you tell them you're busy.

13-The below song/video. I can't stand it! It irritates me to the point of vomiting. On myself.
The artist looks like a Boogie Bear, and is no one's Mack. Sorry.

14- Police. Enough said.

15- People getting donations for moral causes. I don't like them because if you're broke, it's just unacceptable to them. They will sit and tell you that you are a shitty person, just because you can't afford to give them the $200 donation that they're asking for. Dude, I live in Englewood, one of the lowest-income neighborhoods in Chicago. Do some damn geo-tracking before you call me, and please assume that I'm broke!

16- My dad. I love my dad, but I don't like him much. Why? Because he's too much like me and I'm an asshole. So just imagine a 79 year old, 6'1 retired Jamaican who is an asshole. With a potty mouth. Yep, not too popular.

17- Chicago State University. I go there, but I am starting to detest that school. Enough that, I probably will become one of many alumni who don't go back or give back. Terrible, I know, but I don't want any more nightmares.

18- Cilantro and Oregano. Cilantro tastes like soap and Oregano like pencil lead. Put any near my food and you will get slapped, and QUICK.

19- Superstitious people. I walk under ladders, I own a black cat, I've broken a mirror or two and I step on cracks. My mom's back isn't broken, and I've yet to have bad luck. Wait, I got into a car accident, fractured my wrist, almost got assaulted...ok, let's move on.

20- Lames that try to be cool. If you're lame, be lame. Don't try to be cool, because all it means is that you're even more lame. I admit wholeheartedly that I can be the biggest dork, but I'm me. I don't deny my dorky-ness or my corny jokes. It's just me, and that's who I want everyone else to be...100 percent, who they are.

Thoughts? Send me your list...

*Ashley Robin*

Adventures of Life on Bang Bang Row

Hey Everyone,

Now, people who read this blog know that I am a transplant from New York. Not the state, the country or township in England, but the city. I'm from the Southside of Jamaica, Queens. For those not sure where that is, just listen to any song from 50 cent's first album, Get Rich or Die Trying. He, along with another Southside Jamaica native and my favorite rapper, Nas, discuss what life is like there. It's gritty, people are cool to you if they know you, and tend to keep an eye out on their own. Growing up there was like growing up back in the day, all the kids played together, everyone ate at everyone's house and all the kids would hang outside playing tag or riding bikes until the streetlights came on. Now, by no means am I saying it was perfect, but the little block club, five whole blocks full of people both on and off welfare, of Blacks, Dominicans, Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Chinese and Koreans. I grew up as a racial mutt, not sure where I belonged, and I was accepted by these people wholeheartedly. The area, full of bodegas, allowed all these people of different backgrounds mix and learn from one another. I would eat at old Mrs. Liu's house twice a week, and go to Mr. Riaz's house for lunch. All the kids knew everyone, and all the adults looked out for us, whether they had kids or not. Mr. and Mrs Hiu threw the best Halloween parties, transforming their house into a lavish haunted house with creatures, decorations, and all kinds of scary things that made all the kids scared and we all looked forward to seeing what was different from the year before. Chinese New Year dinners with them were literally amazing, lavish feasts with decorations, all kinds of food and laughs. My mom made the best fried chicken at the neighborhood potluck, and everyone always tried to come to our house for Thanksgiving. Granted, this was the early 90's, in the era of New Jack Swing, but still not that long ago. Amazing how things have changed.

Later on in my childhood, after my parents pretty much decided they couldn't be in a room with one another without trying to kill the other or just be evil to everyone around, including me, I hung out at my dad's place. Later, I would go to stay with my dad for the summers and then full-time for a little while. My father, also lived in Jamaica, but in a neighborhood called St. Albans, about 10 minutes west of my mother's home. St. Albans is like the Beverly community in Chicago, full of sprawling homes on smaller residential streets and little shops on main thoroughfares, but far enough away from the commercial aspect to be annoying. Whenever I'm there, in that neighborhood, I forget the hustle and bustle of regular New York, and almost feel as if I'm somewhere else. The neighborhood has a great history and interesting habitants, like Miles Davis and John Coltrane. To read more about it, go here.  (Ironically, my father is listed as one of its prominent residents). In short, it ain't the Southside of Jamaica. People there are warm and open, kids play together in a nearby park and hang out on someone's large porch until the ice truck came. The kind of neighborhood where you could open a lemonade stand and have water fights. These two places are the places of my prepubescent youth, and I look back on them with fondness and reverie. I miss those days, and often wonder what kind of girl I'd have been if I stayed there. Despite the fact that me and  my father don't get along too well, I think I may have been as well rounded as a person could humanly be. Even though I know I'm still a fairly well-rounded individual even with my Chicago/NYC upbringing.

When I came to Chicago with my mom, we lived in Hyde Park. Now, back then, Hyde Park was not the home of muggings, assaults, murders and rapes that it is today, but basically a neighborhood full of students, older folks, young business people and kids. It wasn't Southside Jamaica, for the lack of crime and sadly for the lack of community. I never felt like I knew any of my neighbors, would never dream of opening a lemonade stand, and always got weird looks from the other kids. Maybe it was because I talked funny. [The NY accent I had until I was about 12 or so, I worked on getting rid of it by watching a lot of CLTV]. Anyway, while I was friends with kids in the Hyde Park area, I never felt truly at home, but I did feel safe.

When I returned home from DC, Mom and I lived on the outskirts of Hyde Park, in Woodlawn. While not as name-brand as living in Hyde Park was, and while the neighborhood had no real sense of community, and the occasional shooting or drug transaction a block or so over from where we lived, but with the Chicago Police and the University of Chicago Police constantly on patrol, I felt safe. 

However, our building in Woodlawn went condo, so the owners told us we could move to where we currently live while the unit was rehabbed and updated, and to this day, I regret taking them up on it. We moved from our place in Woodlawn to drum roll... Englewood!  Now, if you are from Chicago, you know that Englewood is the hood. Straight up, no jokes. There's probably a fight or an argument of some kind every night, and people sell drugs on our corner. Now, I've never been harassed or asked to buy crack, anything like that, but gunshots are something that I hear more than I'd like to, and they truly unnerve me. 

The police seems to be cracking down on a lot of the mess, but one of my guy friends happens to call my block "Bang Bang Row", which I have used lovingly as the title of this blog. My neighborhood is full of people who don't work, and rely on the state for benefits, people who are students at Hustling University, and who seem to have no real ambition or desire to change that. There are gangs, drug dealers and prostitutes here, not in front of my house, but a block or so away. Close enough to be real to me, real like ever before. Now that's not to say my block is bad because people still party, sit on their stoops and people watch all day, but the negative stuff usually has me going inside just before dark. (The man in the Drug Dealer shirt is not a real drug dealer, but Toure, and the tee is part of the Keep a Child Alive project towards helping children with AIDS in Africa. Just so everyone knows that I don't promote drug or drug dealing. For more info, or to get the tee, click here.)

Part of me wonders, from my year of living here, why it is that blacks have to war with each other in trying to hustle? I figure there's enough people addicted to crack for everyone to get a piece of the pie not that I endorse illegal activity to get money, but that like most business models, it is simply a case of supply and demand. Enough people demand drugs, so that enough people should supply it. Also, this thing with gangs...why is it so important to kill someone who belongs to another gang? I can remember back in the day if you had a beef with someone, you fought them with your fists in the street until someone either quit, someone broke it up, or you both got so tired you couldn't even remember why the fight started. Now, we have to worry about people carrying knives, brass knuckles, a taser or stun gun, pepper spray or at the worst, a gun. Seems that a coward carries a gun, where a true man, like most of these "bangers" claim to be, uses his fists and mere mental intimidation to get his point across. What happened to those days? Did technology increase our distance from one another so bad, that even when we want to kill each other, we can just defer to a piece of metal?

Thoughts?

*Ashley Robin*

Let's Be Straight Up For Once! I am...

Hey,

I've decided that I'm not gonna sit on my blog and lie about what my intentions are in terms of dating and mate searching. I want a guy who is willing and who wants to take care of me. There, I said it. And before everyone gets all up in arms about me being a girl digging for gold, giving me money is NOT what I mean. 

Wu-Tang said it best, "Cash rules everything around me/C.R.E.A.M. get the money/dolla dolla bills y'all"

I am not a gold-digger. I do not need someone to take care of me to the point where my life style changes, or that I'm dependent on a guy. When I say I want someone to take care of me, I mean that essentially chivalry, the very idea that my parents raised me on, is dead. I want to revive it, not only for myself, but for all the women of the world. When I say I want someone to take care of me, I mean that I want someone that knows more chance than not I won't be able to pay the bill if we go to some lavish place because of my school status so he'd not mind paying for me if necessary. He'd rub my feet after a hard day, to know when to bring me dragon maki rolls if I'm feeling down, to get me a Red Bull if I am on the verge of an all nighter, to open doors for me, to tell me I'm beautiful when my nose is red from blowing it, that I'm sexy when I'm bloated and that my worries are his. I guess I want a partner more than a boyfriend. That's what I mean when I say take care of me. Maybe that's too much for dating nowadays, but there are glimmers of hope. 

Today's MisAdventure is about this need that women say they have for a man with money. I was talking to a group of friends and I'm not going to say who, but pretty much all of them were saying that they needed a man to have money. When I asked what that means, they all looked at me as if I was speaking some language they did not understand. I asked again, "What does that mean?". Basically, I was informed that a man with money is needed because these women like "nice sh*t". But my question is, what are you bringing to the table? If a man is good looking, has a job, a car, a place and has money....he's bringing the "A" game. If you're struggling, just in school with no job, and staying at the parent's house while borrowing their car to get to and fro...what do you bring? Don't get it twisted, I'm all for a guy bringing things to the table, but let's be sure that you aren't just selling yourself to the highest bidder. It disgusts me that the world has become so focused on material, that they ignore substance. More worried about Benjamins instead of IQ points. Sad, sad, sad.

So, of course when I voiced that opinion, I was bullied and pretty much kicked out of the conversation...because I believe that relationships should start on equal footing. That the things that are lacking from one partner should be compensated by the other, and so forth. 

But conversely, I have to ask the question: Why are we as women afraid to demand what we want, and follow it? Why are we lowering our standards for the benefit of a relationship? What does that prove? It only allows more opportunity for heartbreak, emotional turmoil and DRAMA. Bitter feelings, ill will, resentment, all that can be a factor when settling in a relationship. However, in the world, how do we know if we are settling? How do we know if someone is not our equal? In my experience, I've tried to follow my gut and my instinct. I've tried to be as honest and open about what I want in a partner, and maybe that's why I'm single. Maybe my needs, and the needs of other women are so high...that we end up alone. Temporarily or permanently, but it will be and is by choice.

Thoughts?

*Ashley Robin*

Even more "dramatical" things happening

Hello Everyone,

So since I blogged last, I just wanted to let you know that this Palin-gate mess is starting to come to a huge head, as in it's getting better by the second. I couldn't have anticipated this whole election process better if it was a piece of fiction. After the whole "Whose Baby is it?" fiasco, which brings up a couple of questions that I'll address, there's also Trooper-gate and charges of abuse of power and corruption, which I'll also address, there's the question of the LIE that was told. Reports are saying Governor Palin misled, I'll just go on and say it, the b**ch straight up lied! (And when I say b**ch, I don't mean it in the disrespectful way, but the other way, and that will be the subject of an upcoming blog.)

Tonight, along with the coverage of Hurricane Gustav, I watched as the drama unfolded, via CNN and MSNBC, and there are three charges against Republican Party Presumptive Nominee Senator John McCain's Vice Presidential candidate, Sarah Palin, Governor of Alaska. After I watched, I processed the information, did a bit of research to confirm and wanted to blog right away, just so that I didn't forget it later. So, yet again, for all those who ask me, and there are enough, whether via email, facebook or myspace message or text, is the breakdown.

The first problem is Babygate, also known as the "Who's the Baby Mama?" drama. While there is a little less controversy surrounding the younger child, Trig, who suffers from Down's Syndrome, because of the Governor's statement that he is in fact her child and not the child of her eldest daughter, Bristol. The controversy is now with the fact that Bristol is actually five months pregnant. The Governor did not disclose that to the public before or immediately after accepting the appointment to McCain's campaign. They say she disclosed it to Senator McCain when he asked her to be his VP, but not to the national media. However, when the story was first made public, an aide for Senator McCain said that the her was not aware of the pregnancy. They later, I assume because they did not want McCain to look like an even bigger idiot, "renounced" that statement, saying that aide misspoke, and that McCain was fully aware of the pregnancy and felt it had no impact on his choice. Personally, I have to call bulls**t on that one, because the girl was always seen holding the baby in front of her with a huge blanket in between her and the child. She was hiding that baby, and trying to hide it from McCain as well as everyone else. Now, Palin may have told him before she released a statement to the media, but he didn't know that girl was pregnant. He can deny that all he wants, but I know he didn't, because I believe he would not have picked her to be his VP if he had. Simply put, he did not want any one with any dirt on his ticket because the campaign would have to spend far too much time justifying it, and with less than 70 days to the election, time is of the essence. 

The second problem is Troopergate, which is probably the biggest of them all. Why? If proven, it proves that the Governor has a serious problem with honoring the moral and ethical standards of her office as Governor, will affect her credibility with voters, will affect her ability to reassure donors and voters that she is ready to assume responsibility for one of the most powerful positions in American government, and that she is trustworthy and honest. What's Troopergate, you ask? Simply put, the allegations are that Governor Palin asked Alaska Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan to fire a state trooper. There's no problem with that, given certain circumstances, but in this case the trooper was Palin's former brother-in-law. He'd just divorced her sister. That was her sole cause for asking Monegan to fire this trooper. Monegan refused, so he was fired instead. Seems a little weird to me. To make the situation even worse, there seems to have been no background check done on Monegan's successor, because he, Chuck Koop, had allegations of sexual harassment to deal with. I'm not sure if I were Governor of any state, much less Alaska, that I would appoint someone Public Safety Commissioner (in charge of crime prevention and police, as well as the safety of the citizens) who had charges of sexual misconduct in his past. 

This "Troopergate" is starting to come to a bit of head with the announcement of recorded phone calls and emails from the Governor's office to the office of Monegan. As a result, a formal investigation has been launched, and Palin has been appointed legal representation in the matter. This shows that she is not above using pressure and intimidation to get what she wants, and since she touts herself to be a 'champion of reform', proves to be nothing but a hypocrite. Hiding this matter as well, shows yet again that she is untrustworthy and dishonest. If she can lie to the less than one million people who reside in Alaska, she can easily lie to the hundreds of millions who live within the confines of the United States. After all, if you tell a lie a number of times, it starts and begins to feel as if it's the truth. 

The third issue that is the most pressing is that of the LIE that was told. I consider something said once to be construed as misleading, but said more than once to be a lie. At the same speech where Senator McCain announced Palin as his running mate, she told an story about how she turned down an offer from Congress to build a "Bridge to Nowhere". In actuality, the bridge would have connected Gravinia Island in Alaska to Ketchikan International, an airport used by 200,000 people a year and therefore, one of Alaska's main entryways. Governor Palin said just Friday that she told Congress "Thanks, but no thanks." However, in actuality when she was asked if she would continue to allocate state funding for the building of [the same bridge], she replied differently. She said, "Yes, I would like to see Alaska's infrastructure projects built sooner than later. The window is now- while our congressional delegation is in a strong position to assist." Only later, when Congress felt the $@00 million dollar project was met with large disapproval, did Governor Palin start to backpedal and eventually, she canceled the project. She said at the time that they were about 330 million short of the full amount needed to complete the project, and since Congress would not share in the funding, that the project should be shelved if not abandoned altogether. 

There is the additional issue, connected to the Babygate dramatics, that asks the question of parenting. If Palin does not believe in safe sex being taught in schools, only abstinence, and coming from Alaska, a state with extraordinarily high rates of STDs within its teen population, does she not see the fault now in not teaching her child about condom usage? And what kind of impact is this having on poor Bristol. I know if it were me, and everyone was blogging/talking/writing about my pregnancy that I probably had no idea how to handle, I'd be begging my mother to reconsider taking the shot at the Vice Presidency. I personally have to question the judgement of a mother who would leave behind a young infant (the Downs Syndrome diagnosis or not) as well as a young teenager who is dealing with her own lessons in maturity on the world stage, but also with being pregnant for the first (maybe) time. I know that when I am blessed with life growing inside me one day, I will be looking to my mother for support, not to be justifying my behavior to her friends, family and peers. I will want her to help me pick out strollers, and be there for me when I get weepy, not to shy me away from her and pretend as if it's some sort of problem that needs to be justified. We all make mistakes, and unfortunately this young girl has to live hers in the spotlight.

Honestly, this all leads to one result. Governor Palin should step aside, if she's not asked by McCain to do so in the next day or two. I only say that because they both have to be in hiding, and this is not the time to hide, not when they desperately need to be out amongst voters and attending to the affairs of the Republican Convention. CNN gave both Obama and McCain a chance to appear for a short interview on Anderson Cooper 360 to discuss the events surrounding Hurricane Gustav, and only Obama accepted. Cooper made it known that McCain was asked and turned it down. Why turn down publicity at this point of the game? Because there are too many secrets to hide, and this time they aren't McCain's. Besides, Palin needs to be a supportive and loving mother to both Bristol and Trig, and gain real experience. However, if I'm right, and I usually am, the aftermath of all this will leave her out of office after her first term and simply a flash in the pan. And maybe that's best.

Thoughts?

*Ashley Robin*

This Campaign Couldn't be Any More "Dramatical"

Hey Everyone,

So this whole campaign is heating up and getting interesting, and quickly. Today's gaff or factoid is this whole "Whose Baby is It?" scandal involving newly appointed Vice Presidential Nominee, Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska. As you know, there was a lot of backlash and political commentary in  her appointment by Senator John McCain as his running mate. The political pundits claimed her didn't know her well enough, that he had only spoken to her twice, that she was more or less picked for him, that his choice was Senator Joe Lieberman, as revealed on Sunday's edition of Meet The Press. 

The first part of current controversy is the drama I like to call "Who's the Baby's Mama?" In this drama, there are three players, Governor Palin herself, her oldest daughter Bristol, and the baby, young Trig, who is currently 4 months old and suffers from Down's Syndrome. The baby, the youngest of five in the Palin clan, is supposed to be Governor Palin's youngest. However, when many Alaskian news sources reported the pregnancy announcement in which Governor Palin said she was seven months along, also commented that the governor "simply doesn't look pregnant". However, her daughter was removed from school, 6 months ago,  due to having "mono".  This would have been at the same time as the announcement and she had taken pictures for Vogue magazine two months before. Do the math. Also, the actual birth events are unclear, because according to news reports, or rather what was revealed to the press, Governor Palin's water broke in Texas, and immediately after that she got onto a flight and flew to Alaska to have the baby. That's an eight-hour flight. 

Now I don't know about you, because I've never had the experience of giving birth, but could you hold off on contractions for 8 hours? Much less, who in their right mind would let someone that close to labor aboard an aircraft, much less board one, whether it be a private plane or commercial flight? Not only could it cause an immediate health risk to the baby and the mother, but also because there could be complications in-air that flight staff could not and would not be trained to handle! I'm no doctor or veteran of childbirth, but that just makes no sense and I'm not buying it. However, journalists also admit that because Bristol was out of school and afflicted with 'mono', she was not in the public eye. So, some say that she could have easily given birth and her mother take the credibility for the baby. Personally, I don't know. I just am writing what I've heard.

The second part of the "Who's the Baby Mama?" controversy now lies with the fact that Bristol, Palin's 17 year old daughter who has been out of school 6 months, is now pregnant. Some say again, some say pregnant for the first time. Depends on who you ask. The conservatives are probably happy to know that this young girl will keep this baby, and has intentions to marry the father, BUT, I'm sure that many are thinking that being pregnant just shows that there are some severe parental skills lacking. Unplanned pregnancies happen, and some great people came from unplanned pregnancies. Senator Barack Obama and myself, are just two examples.

The bigger issue with the fact that this young girl is pregnant is not that she's going to have a baby, but that she is essentially having unprotected sex. Now, we know her mother (and probably her father too) do not believe in abortion in any shape or form. Not in the case of incest, rape, when the baby is a harm to the mother, when the pregnancy is ectopic and therefore a potential danger to the mother, or even when doctors recommend an abortion (in cases of severe damage to the quality of life, loss of limbs or body parts or genetic defects). We know this, because she's said it. However, does that mean that she's against practicing safe sex in the terms of obtaining STDs? Because let's face it, teens who live in small towns with not much to do, tend to have more sex than those who live in larger cities. Why? Because statistics show they are bored...and in these small towns have practically nothing to do except hang out and walk around. They can't buy alcohol, they can't go anywhere too far away (because the state is so spread out, most mail carriers have to fly to deliver mail to all their sites) and there's not enough decent amusement. Factor in the fact that Alaska is dark most of the time and cold and whammo, you have a sex-edemic on your hands. Studies also show that lots of sex means lots of STDs. Unprotected sex just makes that probability even worse. In order for some STDs to incubate in a body, you just need the right germ in the right place...no carrier required. Trust, I studied it this summer. I know. 

As a result, some pundits are asking why Palin is continuing in the race with all this family drama going on and want her to consider not accepting the nomination at the Republican National Convention. Others wonder why, since she knew about all this before she was asked, did she even accept McCain's offer? If it were me, I'd never have dreamt about taking the position whether it was a losing one or a winning one, because it puts two innocent people under tremendous scrutiny, the young teen Bristol and the even younger baby Trig.

Thoughts?

*Ashley Robin*