Outrage is met with disgust, quickly followed by a vehement proclamation that I will most certainly not endorse this travesty.

What, you ask, has evoked this strong protestation?

reuters

Not so much the (authorized) sequel – but the inclusion of a certain new character named Lottie the Otter.

I suppose the rational side of my brain is kicking in and acknowledging that these types of sequels usually do have new characters – in fact they often need them. But still – the naming of this character? It just seems so cheesy and smarmy. I’m thinking of the original characters, and okay, so they don’t often deviate very far from the animal’s name…but it worked. Now they work because they have the benefit of being positively embedded in our collective psyche.

At this point as I continue to mull over this turn of events, I have concluded that I will borrow this book from the library to evaluate whether to consider it an addition to my Winnie-the-Pooh canon. But. Lottie the Otter? I remain resolutely unimpressed with this naming.

In honor of the latest Harry Potter film that will be released in the United States in just under a month, I would like to reinstate my request that someone contribute a pensieve to the Keep-Allison-Sane fund. Or maybe I just need to practice compartmentalizing a little more. And prioritizing those thoughts – shoving to the lower rungs panic over a messy desk (ok, so that particular panic is rare).

On Sunday night (almost a week ago; I suppose this is overdue), I was bored and browsing Twitter when I decided to check out the #IranElection trend. I ended up spending well over two hours refreshing the page as new tweets updated me on the situation as it was unfolding on Monday in Iran. While I had not been following the news leading up to the election, or the results, I was astounded by the numbers of people pouring onto the streets, protesting an election suggested to be unfair and rigged. There has continued to be violence and protests and arrests. I have watched from the comfort of my computer, the people of Iran have been blocked from accessing the internet and been prevented communication by the jamming of cell phone signals.

It is not so much that I side with the said-to-be President Ahminedejad or opposition leader Mousavi. I have read articles on both sides of the election fraud issue. However, the government’s refusing to acknowledge the hundreds of thousands if not millions who are taking to the street, the violence of the Basij, the expulsion of foreign media – such are not the workings of a peaceful government. At any rate, besides the buzz on Twitter, if you are not familiar with these blogs, the NY Times is live blogging here and Andrew Sullivan’s Daily Dish is currently devoted to updates from Iran.

What could be a page or chapter from the next generation’s history book is happening now, and I am dumbfounded to be aware of it. It certainly is not the first impactful event that has happened in my lifetime, but it’s the first that I acutely feel its import as it unfolds and not just as a transitory news item (Early on the lack of mass media coverage was also somewhat fascinating – in that I found Twitter more helpful in finding out what was going on than other news sources I might often consult. Perhaps if they could look beyond what the President eats for dessert…not that I think they don’t deserve a bit of custard, but I couldn’t care less and would rather not have it cluttering my news feed).

Over the summer I started reading the news as part of my job (looking for articles that might be relevant or interesting for the Commissioners to know about). And through my news feeds, I started finding an interest in what is going on in the world outside my realm of experience. So even though summer has been over for going-on four weeks, I still page through feeds of headlines from two Seattle papers, BBC, Reuters (and maybe another one). This article on preventing obesity in children caught my eye.

*begin brief rant*

These are the questions I was pondering while reading the article…
- where are the parents?
- why are the parents not teaching their kids how to eat by example?
- why are the parents not buying healthy food?

I’m glad that nine and ten year olds are learning how to read labels and determine for themselves what is healthy and not.  But really, I think there are more effective ways to do this.  Like <i>not</i> buying boxes and boxes of processed, fat-laden snacks that are so available.  If parents are so concerned about their kids health that they give them this video game, maybe they should take an active role in the raising of <i>their own</i> children and *gasp* invest some time in this relationship.

*end rant*

Pretty much I remain completely disgusted by the pervasive abdication of responsibility on the part of Americans (I don’t know enough/anything of other cultures to suggest anything of their practices)…in just about everything.  Everyone is so freaking lazy and wanting the government to take all their problems away.  I’m not disincluding myself from this generalization, although I do hope that as I grow into an adult and develop practices that will become lifelong habits I don’t fall into the practices I rant against now.

//hmm I don’t have a category that fits this post…//

I was randomly looking at news regarding the 2008 presidential race and came across this quote from Hillary Clinton

Only a new president can regain America’s position as a respected leader in the world.

Umm…way to state the obvious.  It would probably be the president since he (dare I shudder to say or she?)  is the representative of our nation.  And it would probably have to be a new president seeing as presidents are only allowed two terms, which George Bush has served.  Oh how I shudder at the thought of Hillary in the White House again.