Lying to Congress

Daylight savings time, fall back: the one day of the year procrastinators get an extra

… It was like any ordinary Saturday. I was home getting ready for work when someone came a knocking on my door. I opened it to see that it was my local Congresswomen, the one I voted against on my absentee ballot.

(On a side note, the Congressional district I live in is right on the boarder of another district. If I lived a block closer to the beach, I wouldn’t be one of her constituents.)

So why did I vote against her? Well she’s had some personal turmoil with foreclosures. It seemed to me that there would be too much going on there to be also working in Congress.

Now you can imagine my shock to see her at my front door. Of course she asked if I voted for her and of course, I lied. Yes folks, there might be a subpoena waiting for me investigating why I lied to Congress.

But the story doesn’t end there. The ironic thing is that it was the day I decided to wear my old School House Rock t-shirt to work. I’ve had this shirt since I was a senior in high school and dug it out recently when I got my suitcase for my upcoming trip (more on that later). It was picture of the bill on Capitol Hill saying “I’m just a bill sitting here on Capitol Hill.”

I had forgotten I put that on until her volunteer with her pointed it out. We all had a laugh about it.

This story has one more twist. As she was leaving I went to pick up the newspaper. On the cover, top strip, was an interview she did with my newspaper, The Press-Telegram, about her problems. I saw her looking at me when I did that, and when I picked it up, I knew why without looking at the entire paper and got somewhat of an uneasy feeling.

So in a moment of truth, I cowered. At the same time, she is pretty much running unopposed and according to cqpolitics.com, it a safe bet she will be elected. If I had to do it again, I’d ask her something meaningful to put her on the spot, not Joe the Plumber like, but get an answer from her.

I have a feeling I’ll see her again in two years, maybe.

… For the first time in my life I’ve donated money to a presidential candidate. It’s should come as no surprise that it was for Barack Obama.

I found a candidate I believed in so much, I willingly gave money.

But why him and now you might ask?

I never saw his “Breakout speech” live at the 2004 DNC, but I read it and I felt inspired by it. At the time I thought, I’d like to vote for him, but he’s just running for his first term in the Senate.

Two years later, he decided to run. I was glad but wondered if he had enough experience to pull it out. If he failed in the primaries, how much would that set him back?

However, in those two years, I’ve seen him do one thing that I admire the most. Despite the politics as usual, he’s tried to become inclusive to everyone.

It’s becoming clear to me that the Republican Party has become what Colin Powell described as becoming narrow. I’ve never been a conservative type but what members have done in trying to portray Obama as something he’s not upsets me. When Powell endorsed Obama he pointed to how some GOP members tried to say that Obama was a Muslim. As Powell said, “What if he is? Is there a problem with being a Muslim in this country? The answer is No, that’s not America.”

Which makes me think, what does the GOP think of me?

With Obama, I get the sense of inclusiveness. And it was at that point, back in 2004 that I felt greatness for this person who was just running for his first term in the U.S. Senate.

You ever get the sense of saying things too much and in time it loses its meaning? It was during his keynote address at the 2004 that reminded me of a meaning again.

It’s when he said “There is not a liberal America and a conservative America. There is just the United States of America.”

The word United I had taken for granted and at that moment I thought here is someone that can remind us what we can become if we work together towards a common goal as opposed to a common enemy which is what the current political landscape had become.

Here I am, two days away hoping everything works out on Tuesday.

… I’m less than two weeks away from my trip to Tokyo. I almost have everything. I need to buy a power converter, but that is it.

My friend and I went to the Japan Travel Bureau in downtown Los Angeles on Halloween to see what information they had, but they seemed to be closed for lunch, we’ll have to try again.

There are certain things I’m worrying about, besides the flight. Am I going to be able to adjust to the time difference? Am I going to like the food and if not, how much weight am I going to lose?

Communication will be another problem. The tour book I’ve bought came with phrases. I just hope it doesn’t turn into a Monty Python skit.