fatrockstar

I'm making this public because there's nothing in what I'm about to say that needs hiding. As someone directly affected by the entire situation I feel I am entitled to voice an opinion, and would hope that a hiring manager motivated to investigate my blog would understand my position and respect it. Nothing in this entry is illegal. All figures stated are either mine to share or a speculation.

Recent events that began with a mass firing/layoff at Microsoft have finally reached contract staffing. Microsoft's mandate to reduce billing rates is being passed directly to the contractor by almost every agency that provides such staff to them. I was told earlier today that this manifests as a $10/hour pay cut for people in my line of work with my level of experience. I was appalled. I expected to take a hit, but not such a big one.

( Let's do the math here. )

( Emotions run high on this issue. )

( I worked long and hard to reach the amount of pay I get now. )

( Everyone I know is affected by this situation. )

In the meantime I will wait and see how this whole pay cut thing works out. With the amount of press it's getting, it may fix itself.

Is it just me, or were McCain's supporters really fucking rude during his concession speech? Seriously, I think he deserves better than that. No wonder the Republicans are losing ground -- they can't even be nice to each other.

I like to see that someone running for office is well-rounded enough to cut loose and have a little fun. Our current commander-in-chief can, as we have caught him in the act a number of times. Unfortunately, he comes across as a dufus instead of someone letting his inner child have a day out.

I wonder if McCain is still able to let his inner child come out. Maybe he's too old and set in his ways -- who knows? Sometimes age has a way of killing the part of a person that can relate warmly to other people. He had a soul once. It was enough to make sure the mother of his oldest children had medical care for the rest of her life, even though he wasn't able to do anything else for her.

I like to see candidates have a soul. I like to see them more like me, even if it's only the occasional photo-op. McCain should have his picture taken in jeans and a t-shirt, wearing a baseball cap and playing with his grandkids. I'm sure there's a pic like that out there, there has to be. It would show me that the humanity hasn't been sucked out of him by that freak Sarah Palin.

McCain - old guy, lots of experience, republican, probably would be good as a president ten years ago
Obama - not so old, not as much experience, democrat, probably what the country needs right now to keep other countries from wiping us off the planet

Biden - sexy choice
Palin - sexy choice

I've already made up my mind who I'm voting for, so I'm not really paying as much attention as everyone else is to the campaigning. I caught Bill Clinton's DNR speech by accident last week and was glad I did. Talk about your sound byte for the ages.

To put it in perspective: Politicians are liars and hypocrites. People make mistakes. All politicians are people, but not all people are politicians. We can forgive people's mistakes. Politicians do not get off so easy.

However, I am thankful for all these political missteps. Without them, The Daily Show wouldn't have any fish in their barrel to shoot.

People are griefing Senator Clinton for staying in the election as long as she did and not having anything to show for it. They're missing the point. What would it have said about modern feminism if she had pulled out when everyone else did? What sort of example would she be setting for the female politicians of the future? For our daughters? No matter who won the candidacy, they would have made history, and whoever came in second would have shown to the world just how much strength or weakness their equality movement has in them. In Senator Clinton's case, she has shown us that a strong woman can go the distance and IS a viable candidate, paving the way for women in future elections. Had Senator Obama been in her position you'd better fucking believe he would have done the same thing and stuck with it until the very end. He'd be stupid not to. Not that either of them have much more than Wanting To Be President motivating them, but it's still a point to be considered.

Today on NPR there was a soundbyte of a woman stating that because Obama won the Dem ticket she would be voting for McCain. She had been a supporter of Clinton throughout the race and was horribly put off by Obama's former minister shooting off his mouth. It was enough to make her do a complete 180 from liberal to conservative? How small-minded does one have to be to do that? I could have sworn the Senator distanced himself from that man and his opinions gracefully. She must have been too young to recognize the spin going on there and couldn't ignore it.

I'm on the fence about Clinton. Every candidate has his or her strengths and weaknesses. Everyone misspeaks once in a while. Not everyone can afford a speechwriter or is particularly good at improvising (*ahem* Howard Dean's holler in '04). Throw all of her negative points at me and I'll just rationalize them. Too many of them might solidify my opinion either way, but this country voted for Bush twice, so I'm not quick to adopt the popular opinion.

I don't normally spout off on politics. I figure once I hit 50 I'll be in full politico mode like my dad -- only I hope to make a little more sense. He writes well, but I don't get half the things he feels the need to go on about.

And those of you with the "IF YOU'RE NOT OUTRAGED, YOU'RE NOT PAYING ATTENTION" bumper stickers are right, I'm NOT paying attention. I don't want to give myself a fucking heart attack, thanks. My threshold for outrage extends to about an inch beyond the tip of my nose -- a little further if aroused. It's self-preservation, not apathy.