Salin' Palin Comes To Boston

Today is Tuesday April the Thirteen Two Thousand Ten. Big news around here is that Sarah Palin will be here tomorrow with the Tea party. Yay. I dunno, its hard for me to respect someone who thought that changes to the US currency was the work of anti government forces. I am sure she is a perfectly nice lady but that doesn't mean I want her in national government. Even my mother who has been a card carrying member of the LWV since it started thinks she is a dolt and thats saying something. I also have no doubt that its the advisors who really run the show, look how far Bush II went but something just seems off about her. I am interested to see what the reaction will be to her visit and what sort of idiot protest is going to transpire. Just running into the crowd waving a dumb sign isn't the best use of your energy, the Palin people will be ready for that. I am hopeful that something creative happens considering this is where the real tea party happened.

I am all for people speaking their mind but don't speak for me as an american. You don't know my politics which I admit are fucked up. I could be classified as a liberal republican or a conservative democrat. I agree with welfare but think it needs to be reformed. I think that gun control to a point is a good idea. Abortion yes, but not after a certain amount of weeks. Death Penalty ? I dunno, what happens if the person didn't do it ? I think its been proven time and again that our court systems are not all that just. You could call me wish washy about the issues but I am nothing if a realist. There will always be people that are on the government dole, just like there will always be people who celebrate the second amendment. Better to deal with those issues than pretend they don't exist or will go away on their own. And I will never understand pro life people who murder others in the name of their beliefs, they should be labeled pro death or something. If every life is so fucking sacred then why are you killing abortion doctors ? If one doc is unable to perform the procedure then another one will step in.

I will never forget when I heard about Clinton and his various dalliances. What really pissed me off was not that he cheated on Hillary or received fellatio in the Oval office but he did it when he was on the phone with a foreign power. I wouldn't like it if a friend of mine did that, I can't imagine how some diplomat feels that while he was on the phone with Bill, some intern was "relaxing" him. Do your fucking job dude, thats why we elected you. If you want to get some nookie do it on your won time and not on ours. I would guess that being the president of any country is pretty fucking complicated and time consuming and that once in awhile you have a few days off. If you no longer have sexual relations with your wife, then fine, go with someone else just keep it out of the office. There are plenty of men and women out there that are unhappy in their relationships and don't bop one another at work. I am sure there are plenty that do but no everyone gets to fly around in Marine One.

As proud as I was when Obama was elected I was very worried that some idiot would try and off him during his first year. I share a special kinship with Barak because I got sober the day he became president. I hope that he is considered an effective president and that what he has been working on comes to fruition. I never thought that someone other than a white guy would be elected president in my lifetime and it is thrilling that it happened but people, myself included, need to look beyond the color of his skin and hot wife. He appears to be an honest, engaging person who wants to give back to the country that has given him so much. I don't know his history but it appears that he has done pretty damn well for himself and that he is a man of his word. He even admitted to not only smoking pot but selling it once in awhile I think. I could be wrong, but whatever the story is I am glad for his honesty and integrity. It is safe to say that I would be pretty pissed off if something Clintonesque was to happen with Obama.

I decided last nite that I am going to mix up my AA meetings for the spring and summer. I've been going to my regular meetings weekly for over a year and they are beginning to get a little stale. There is a great Wednesday nite meeting at the end of my street thats a "As Bill Sees It" discussion group. That is where I went to my first AA meeting and it was mindblowing. I didn't know what I expected but I didn't expect the other people to look like my friends and neighbors. It made me feel comfortable and relaxed and while I didn't get sober that year it was a great introduction to the program. I went every week for a few months and then my interest petered out. I didn't know that I should have gone to more meetings and program involvement is a great way to maintain your sobriety. I'd really like to write an AA companion book that points out some simple things that would make it easier on folks new to the program. I think that some people stop coming because they don't know how to make the program work for themselves and are too afraid to ask others because they think they will sound stupid. When I first started going to meetings my defenses were up and I was unwilling to take a chance and share what I was really feeling. Thats why I try and talk to newcomers after I've seen them at a couple of meetings before trying to give them advice.

I guess my AA companion would go as follows: 1. Go to a meeting, 2. Listen, 3. Talk, 4. Introduce yourself to others, 5. Enjoy. Maybe thats a little simple but it has worked for me. One thing to keep in mind is that just because someone is in AA doesn't mean you have to like them. I spent my first few months in the program thinking that everyone was wonderful and awesome and fun to be around and while for the most part people are wonderful, awesome, & fun to be around but some are not. Some can be really annoying and its a good use of the serenity prayer when they are annoying. I think that most annoying people don't know they are annoying, it just comes naturally to them and its not like they are making a specific effort. Perhaps I am giving people too much of a benefit of the doubt but I would hope that if a person knew they were annoying then they would change their behavior. There is one particular person who drives me up a fucking wall but I smile and say nice things because thats what you do. This person is an asset to the program and just because this person drives me nuts is no reason for me to be mean to them.

They way I look at it, everyone deserves to be in a meeting if they want to be there. As long as they are not disruptive or smell terrible then its cool. A while back there was a gentleman who was both disruptive and smelly and he made most everyone feel uncomfortable. It was obvious that he needed to help himself but he made it difficult for anyone to help him because he spoke when he wanted to and didn't allow for others to say what they wanted to when they wanted to. As far as I am concerned the worst thing you can do in AA is not speak out of turn, not allowing the person who is speaking to finish what the fuck they were talking about. Its pretty simple really, something you should have learned when you were a tyke. People say not to take people's inventory when talking to them, in other words don't make a mental list of the qualities in a particular person that annoy you but its human nature to do such a thing. I think thats probably my biggest character defect is taking people's inventory for better or worse and its something I am working on. I can accept just about anyone for who they are but acceptance doesn't mean that I am not going to pay attention to what to me, is wrong with them.