This morning, my alarm clock went off, loudly, at 8:05. I pounded at the buttons, becoming increasingly frustrated when nothing seemed to turn it off. It was a few more seconds before I realized that my alarm clock does not play an excerpt from Vivaldi’s “Spring.” At least, not that I know of. Armed with this new information, I picked up my cell phone, the real cause of the racket.

It was Allison, wanting to know if I was up and getting ready for work (no), to wish me a happy 21 months (how long we’ve been dating, as of today), and to ask me if the earthquake last night woke me up.

Earthquake? Was that what it was? I had thought it was thunder.

Yes, apparently, there was a 4.5 earthquake last night at approximately 1am, centered in Ottawa/LaSalle. Personally, I hadn’t know that we could get earthquakes in Illinois, but I suppose that’s not entirely correct.

This weekend, I participated in the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life, a nigh-on-24-hour walk-a-thon to raise money for cancer research. Allison’s family is heavily involved, so by proxy I’m involved as well. This year’s was good in the sense that the event raised far more money than expected and poor in the sense that I personally did not have a wonderful time. Allison was a team captain, and as such had a plethora of things to worry about. Business trumped pleasure, and it was a somewhat stressful time. Some highlights include

• Two hours of cross-dressing men soliciting money from bystanders
• A girl (possibly on a church team) who was a dead ringer for a porn star
• An all-night grill and free coffee from the Exxon-Mobile team, which almost makes up for Prince William Sound, but not quite
• Earwigs
• Me chugging a 1/3 of a gallon of 2% milk and paying for it later

I should have done this weeks ago, but for some odd reason, I never got around to it.

Ronald Reagan is dead at 93, a victim of Alzheimer’s disease. He was a father, husband, actor, president, sometimes all at once. While the media ran long-winded tributes and two-bit politicians on both sides of the political spectrum eulogized him until they were blue in the face. My problem is this: conservatives (and even some of the more centrist liberals) celebrated not only his role as a father and a warm and fuzzy American icon, but his capacities as head of state as well. This begs the question: why have we suddenly forgotten about Reagan’s faults?

I won’t be one to speak ill of the man like some of the more vicious opponents: “He was a shitty president; I’m glad he’s dead!” Neither will I call into question his fatherly qualities, which were somewhat in doubt but still praised by his children after his death. However, I hardly think it fair to the ideal of free and honest political discourse (if such a thing exists anymore) to give the man tabula rasa as our president from 1980-1988. You can propose that he made the economy boom, stopped the Cold War, and revitalized the American spirit, but I would likewise assert that he wasted billions on Star Wars, introduced supply-side econonomics that patently didn’t work, and oversaw the Iran-Contra scandal.

Why is America so fascinated with Ronald Reagan, then? Because he spearheaded the modern conservative movement? Because he was charismatic? Well, naturally, the man was an actor!

If you want to see some vitriol, check out Greg Palast’s article about him (Thanks to Jeff for the link).

Economic Left/Right: -7.00
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -4.10

Take the test yourself: http://www.politicalcompass.org

What my score means, basically, is that I’m a socialist. Certainly, I understand that there are flaws and limitations in a socialist system, but where aren’t there flaws? Our capitalist system sure as shit isn’t self-regulating: we’ve injected so much government oversight into our politics and economy that the only thing laissez-faire is our goddamn environmental laws, thanks to W. Bush.

For all the critics of universal healthcare systems, I say this: Canada has both a UHS and one of the highest standards of living in the world. No surprise that Canada’s also one of the more socially liberal countries: it’s legalised gay marriage in several territories and decriminalised marijuana.

I’m going to stop writing here before I begin to rant like a madman.