Go out and greet the day today.  It's solstice day!

This is the time when light and darkness are evenly matched.  Think about what this means.

A few words on the presidential candidate speeches.

I watched Clinton and Obama talk on TV at the gym.  It was interesting to see the difference and the similarities between the two.  Something must have happened since last I watched them a month ago.  They are more civilized towards each other.  That is a good thing because the last thing we need to see are vicious and mud throwing president candidates in the current state of things.  We need maturity and for once, these two, and I think all three, have shown more than previous ones in the past.  I haven't seen McCain speak yet.

What it boils to however is that we love sports in this country.  We are raised to "pick a team" and cheer for it.  The problem is that we view politics in the same way.  Knowing the consequences, this is very dangerous.  It isn't about picking a team when it comes down to choosing our country leaders.  It is our  future and how we, as intelligent civilized people can put aside our silly selfish beliefs and work together to regain control of a situation out of order.

This is exactly what scares me about our candidates.  None of them have a team to present.  It is disturbing because we are not in high school voting for the Senior Queen and King anymore.  We are voting for a team of people who will lead our country.  We are surely mature and aware enough to understand that the world of politic is all about subtleties and strategic alliances.  No one does it alone.  The days of John Wayne are way long gone. 

So who is the team behind the candidates?  Who will be secretary of defense?  Vice-President?  Secretary of interior?  These are my fundemental questions that so far, no one has answered.  Yes, there are hints but I need more than hints before I make up my mind.  Until then, it is all talk.

It feels scary that people still vote according to what one person says when we know it takes a tight team to lead a country (or not).  It's sad to hear these candidates say all the things they know people will want to hear, general economy, healthcare and the war.  My real questions are what will you and your team do about it and how?  What can you show us now to convince us?  Who is in charge?  Certainly you don't think we are naive enough to think one person does it all? No, I'm sure you don't, right?

So instead of doing what every politician has done since the begnning of time, tell me who will be in charge of what and how will you all work together.  Before you cater to my dreams, let me know how you will work together to make it happen.  Give me the names of those you will pick to fill the important roles in your administration.  Like millions out there, I have seen through your speeches how words are cheap, actions are worth more.

The other day at the gym…

I heard two ladies engrossed in a serious conversation.  I couldn't help but hear what they were talking about.  They were in awe of certain well-known figures such as Warren Buffet and Bill Gates.  Later I understood their awe was based on how much money they had made.  Since they made a lot of money, they were smart and good people.  Strange logic when you find out more about how people build these empires.  I even heard how great they both were for all the jobs they helped created.

I'm pretty vocal and obviously opinionated.  It was hard for me to resist the urge to ask them how many companies Microsoft had swallowed up and put people out of jobs.  Yet I resisted because I just saw them as people lusting over money and power.  That's all there were to these two ladies at that particular moment in time.

It made me think how our society has raised a generation of people who love successful people with money.  It seems that if you have money then you are smart, a good person and worthy of praise.  While it might be true of some people, many ultra-rich people didn't become that way by being angels.  In fact, if you care to find out enough about most of these people, you will hear horror stories masqueraded under a veil of capitalism.  Capitalism is a good thing, but when kept under control from greedy urges.  The capitalism we are seeing now is far remote from the one imagined by our fore-fathers, I feel.

It was interesting to see these two ladies get all excited about how good people Warren and Bill are.  I wanted to ask them how having money, power and success were values automatically granted to good people.  Money or money with ethics?  Yes, people define their own sense of integrity.  However, I feel what counts nowadays, especially in the current sad state of our society is to clear up the ever growing obvious mess we are leaving our children.  Making money is a good thing but amassing empires that give back very little to society is not a very worthy life in my values.  I value those who make a lot of money, have a fairly low profile and actually help around instead of stocking up.  You can be the judge of that.

It’s interesting how many times this sentence shows up more and more in conversations: “Something has to give.”

It is usually on the tail end of how gasoline prices have gone too far up, or how much groceries are now. Some blame the ethanol craze and I suspect there is a lot of truth there despite GM’s claim otherwise. I guess decades of taking people for idiots is still ingrained in Detroit’s way of thinking. Taxes, gas, groceries and big V8s leaves little after having paid for it all.

Nonetheless, I hear more and more people feeling the squeeze and not just local shops. It’s sad to see America looking into ways of saving here and there in the minute details. It’s something I have never witnessed but looking back at lean times, it is something that has happened before. On the flip side, this will diminish the landscape of bloated SUV, pickup trucks and attitude drivers.

What’s important in the end is to talk and communicate. We realize we are not alone thinking and feeling this. It’s when we let the commotion take over and start feeling separated that we lose track of what is important. After all, we are all in it together. After, we are the ones who decide in the end. We just need to remember.

It’s interesting to see what society is going through as it mimics what the real estate market is doing, readjusting to a new way of living… maybe even a healthier one but in the meantime, something has to give.