Slice of life

Life has been very hectic lately. I’m not really sure why, but it just seems that way. This is a brief slice of life, thoughts, and other stuff. I like that word, “stuff!”
+ I appreciate Ron Paul and Barack Obama. I’ve read about the commonality between the two – something like they actually think and talk about what they think. They don’t just spit out sound bites that don’t really answer questions being asked but are force-fitted into questions. Ron Paul is more Libertarian, which frankly I like. Obama is just refreshing.
To be honest, while I don’t agree with his politics, I like Dennis Kucinich because of his blunt honesty and convictions. Of course, he has no hope of winning at this point and like Paul he has nothing to lose from being honest and up-front about what he thinks and believes. I lived through his oversight of the City of Cleveland through its default, but Dennis has remade himself and I respect his convictions and am glad he is in the race, even if I don’t necessarily agree with them all.
All three need to be considered much more seriously by the American people. All the polls suggest that we are fed up with the way things are being handled in Washington. Polls suggest that most of us feel the country is on the wrong path. If, however, we keep electing the same kind of people, whether Republicans or Democrats, then nothing will change. Yet, that is exactly what we do. This is one reason why I voted for Ralph Nader during Bush’s first run for the White House. I really didn’t want Nader to win, but in protest I voted for him because we need a strong third party to challenge the status quo of Republocrates. I’m wondering whether in the long run a parliamentary system might just be better than the system we now have – or at least the way it is being experienced in this time.
+ I went to Providence, RI the last couple of days to help conduct a focus group for the study I’m involved with at The Church Pension Group. It’s a great town, it seems. I was able to spend a good bit of time talking with the bishop. I do have to find a new job and place of ministry where I actually get paid at the end of next year, after all. There is a church on the campus of Brown University in Providence that might well be what I consider an ideal kind of place of ministry, St. Stephen’s Church. They don’t have the best website, but a wonderful place for ministry.
I also traveled on the Acela Express Amtrak train for the first time. Very nice, I have to admit. The train was pretty speedy at times, and the ride was quite smooth (of course, I’m used to New York City subway trains, if that tells you anything about my sense of a smooth ride).