Proud to be an American...

So today I could not partake of my beloved daily ritual of reading the New York Times online.  It was all just too frustrating/scary.  You should hear how they talk about us on the news here.  And yes, it is true about the world being American-centric.  Our mid-term election results were one of the top headlines on the local news here.  What did they have to say?  Oh, basically that everybody is clearly unhappy with the state of things and are at odds with each other and everybody is blaming the government who apparently can't get their shit together and the president who everybody had hope for hasn't lived up to his expectations, hasn't fulfilled his promises and so now there has been this giant shake-up, a clear sign that the country is falling apart more or less.  Ok, now read that sentence not in reference to our good old U. S. of A.  Sounds pretty much like South Africa or any other African nation, no?  Way to go America!  Joining the ranks of the developing world!  Woot woot!  I'm normally not too political of a person, but all of this is not making it too enticing to come back... gotta say...

I do want to give a shout out to the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear and all of those that participated.  It looked awesome!  I wish I could of been there!  It has brought a smile to my face and a little bit of faith to see articles and pictures from the event.  Way to go team!  Not all hope is lost!

Ok, enough ranting and raving.  On a more inspiring note and to continue the trend of Times posts, the New York Times Magazine published a women's empowerment issue, on my birthday no less:

http://www.nytimes.com/indexes/2010/10/24/magazine/index.html

There's a lot of great articles in there that are definitely worth a read.  I personally recommend the cover article, "DIY Foreign-Aid Revolution".  It's a little long, but worth it.  First, I LOVE Nicholas Kristoff.  But, to note, this is one of those articles that while motivating you to be a better person and give more of yourself, it also makes you feel ridiculously guilty for not doing and accomplishing more by this point in your life.  The other article I strongly suggest reading is "Studio Kabul".  Both these articles have been known to make people very angry and frustrated at the state of the world and how people can possibly treat others so horribly and how we can tolerate it.  Ok, maybe that is just me, but I wanted to give fair warning. :)  Enjoy!  Would love to hear what you think!