Wowzers! There's nothing like a good political entry to find out who's reading your site! Yay! Comments! And they're interesting and insightful, too (even the ones I disagree with).
For those who might be reading this and thinking I'm having an argument/conflict/fight with my family, you're incorrect. We've disagreed on politics since I was weaned. The big sister and the dad are conservatives. Reagan fans. Mom and I are liberals. You should have seen us in '92 (the first election I could vote in). It was a sight to behold as my sister and I lived together (college students) and essentially worked for opposing campaigns. HA!
Anyway, I still don't like W much. I, like the majority of Americans, did not vote for the man. I don't trust him. I don't think he's smart enough or charismatic enough to be president and I think his cowboy tactics have the potential to cause great harm to the world in the future. I think he's manipulating America's post-September-11th fears to his own ends. And he has crappy environmental and education policies that I think are tragic for our children.
I still think the war is wrong - as Gareth astutely points out (Gareth reads my site!?), it won't likely make the lives of middle eastern people better and it will likely cause a lot more tension and hatred for Americans in that part of the world. Additionally, I think it sets a dangerous precident if the US and Britain do go ahead with an attack without UN backing. Even with a UN resolution, I think it's questionable at best.
Enough about that, as Dave said! I do look forward to tonight's Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode, which
*(kinda tiny) SPOILER*
I read in my little preview includes a "tragedy" for the Scoobies. ACK! I'll have to bring an extra hanky to Andrew's to watch!
*end-o-(kinda tiny) SPOILER*
I won't be able to see it tonight, of course. As usual I must wait until our friend Andrew obtains the episode. Tomorrow, our usual Buffy viewing night, we have an exchange dinner at St. Hilda's college, so we may have to wait until another night altogether! ACK ACK! Still, I vow will get my episode this week! ::smiles hopefully::
This weekend a Mrs. Hughey tradition continues: wacky dining road trip! I've been doing these at least since college. I select a restaurant which is far out of the way and we go there for dinner. Usually it's a unique restaurant like those at Disney World or something like that. This weekend we are planning to go to Reading (about half an hour away by train or bus and, incidentally, where my father attended a term of college) to eat at the nearest TGI Friday's or Chilis. We'll be going with some American friends.
In college, I used to road trip several hours with friends to Eldon, Iowa to eat at Tom and Roseanne's Big Food Diner. Eldon is a very, very, very small Iowa town with no paved roads which is famous for exactly two things: Grant Wood's "American Gothic" was painted there and Tom Arnold was born there. When I was in college, he was married to Roseanne and they had a cute little diner there which was run mostly by Tom's brother (who looks a lot like him). It served loose meat sandwiches (I got grilled cheese) and had lots of celebrity photos on the wall, etc. We'd drive several hours in my little Dodge Shadow to get there, then eat and leave. The trip was, of course, half the fun, with the radio blaring and lots of funny conversations to be had. Fun times!
When I lived in Tampa, I would talk my husband and our friends into accompanying me to dinners at Downtown Disney (about an hour's drive away) on a surprisingly regular basis. Sometimes we'd go to the Rainforest Cafe, other times Wolfgang Pucks or one of the restaurants at Epcot or MGM Studios.
I just love wacky dining road trips! Andrew and I have learned over the years that, if we follow our stomachs, we often have a great time.
Posted by Erin at February 18, 2003 04:43 PMBIG FOOD DINER!!! I just want it known to the world that I am the one who introduced that to our college town. Nobody ever went there until my little group of roomies and I did our sophomore year. Jolene, Jean, Jen and I were looking for something to do and had heard rumors about this place. Since Jolene was from Iowa (Burlington), she knew where Eldon was and how to get there - it was on her way home. So, one Saturday we just decided to drive up and see if it did, indeed, exist. The rest, as they say, is history. :)
Posted by: Kim at February 18, 2003 05:46 PMI think that your family rocks Erin! This is a great forum for everyone to voice their opinions, and mom doesn't have to pay referee at the dinner table. :)
For what its worth, I agree with you. I wasn heartened to see all of the active protesters in Spain, the UK, Italy, etc over the weekend. Unfortunately for the red white and blue, we're not going to get out of this one. It would be political suicide for W and he's not THAT stupid. Or at least his advisors don't want to be out of a job in '04. Hopefully, "old europe" will put their collective foot down and something will give. For right now it is a very scary situation.
Actually, Jane, my family hasn't eaten dinner at the table together for about 20 years.
Mom and Dad have been happily divorced for two decades. Disagreeing on politics, it seems, was small potatoes.
LOL
Posted by: MrsHughey at February 19, 2003 01:26 PMYes indeed, our family agreed to disagree on politics a very long time ago. Naturally, I have many concerns with our country’s current state of affairs concerning Iraq. It will come as no surprise to those who know me that I did not vote for W, his father OR his brother who is currently the governor of our state. I don’t agree with their politics and feel W won the presidential election on a technicality. W has many of the same advisors as his father and it often looks to me like they are trying to make up for what they didn’t get done during Desert Storm. There is no doubt in my mind that Hussein is a horrible and evil man. Undoubtedly he is murdering his own people as well as others and I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that Bin Laden is living in one of his palaces and is an authorized user on his American Express card. There is probably a lot of incriminating information Colin Powell did not share with the UN to protect our agents and that this looming war is not just about oil. Hussein must and should be stopped. But is this the way and is now the time? I must agree with Erin. I think W is using our post September 11th fears for his own benefit. My concern is that we could be rushing into a situation that will take us into a no win situation. Just my perspective you understand, not a scientific study.
Finally, Tom and Roseanne’s loose meat sandwiches rocked! (Not that they’d put the Maid Rite out of business or anything.) Kim’s college graduation, Erin’s birthday and Mother’s Day all fell on the same weekend that year. After graduation we had a road trip to the Big Food Diner to celebrate all three. It was a blast! Still have the t-shirt to prove it!
Posted by: Mom at February 19, 2003 02:08 PM