Eight thoughts about the election

I'm writing this from my phone so grammar and punctuation need not apply for this post.
1. Now when the market fails the free market cannot be blamed which it would have been regardless of mitt's policies (as with Bush).
2. There were minor differences between the two candidates fiscally speaking but mitt never gave me anything to make me think he would cut the budget as much and as fast as I would want. Cutting big bird will do nothing to solve the budget crisis. Military spending, medicare, and social security must all be cut if any progress is to be made. Mitt never gave me any hope that he would cut those.
3. People in the middle east are still going to die because we will bomb them no matter who is president. The last debate made us painfully aware of that.
4. We might have a few supreme court justices retire this term. I'm not sure either would have picked great ones but I know Obama won't. This is the important thing that no one mentioned on the campaign.
5. Most of my hope lies with the republicans in the house being as obstructionist as possible. I hope I'm not screwed.
6. For some reason elections make me think that the great majority of Americans are really dumb and bring out all of the elitism and snobbery that I try and hide, especially when it comes to the props in California (also president Obama. He is a completely different politician than the man who ran 4 years ago. People who voted for him four years ago shouldn't have voted for him this year if their values were really that important to them). I feel like I shouldn't think this way but seriously who votes to increase their own taxes. You're stupid California.
I think they fail to understand that a state can never redistribute wealth or hope to effectively effectuate any change in business practices because businesses and wealthy people can always move to a new, more friendly place where they do not have to worry about those problems
7. Hearkening back to a point from my last point. I'm disappointed in all my leftist friend who voted for Obama. He is more George W. Bush on steroids than 2008 candidate Obama. Undeclared wars. Horrible on civil liberties. Horrible on fiscal matters. A complete liar. It disappoints me.
8. Republicans need to be more serious about fiscal policies (ie cutting the budget) and change some policies. War mongering is not cool and Mexicans are pretty awesome so we should make it easier for them to open taco shops near my house and not kick them out of the country.
Well I think I'm done. I might have more when I look at the props more. I'm not excited for a fourth term for Bush/Cheney but I have survived the last 12 years and will survive the next four.

My second annual Easter blog post

I was sitting in an Easter devotional presented by our stake last night and I remembered one of my favorite poems so I thought that I would share it with my loyal readers. It is by the Spanish poet Antonio Machado and shares my feelings about the Christ that we adore perfectly. If you don’t already know Spanish, learn it because you do live in the United States and it is worth learning if only to read the poetry by Machado and others.

Dijo una voz popular:
Quién me presta una escalera
para subir al madero
para quitarle los clavos
a Jesús el Nazareno?

Oh, la saeta, el cantar
al Cristo de los gitanos
siempre con sangre en las manos
siempre por desenclavar.

Cantar del pueblo andaluz
que todas las primaveras
anda pidiendo escaleras
para subir a la cruz.

Cantar de la tierra mía
que echa flores
al Jesús de la agonía
y es la fe de mis mayores

!Oh, no eres tú mi cantar
no puedo cantar, ni quiero
a este Jesús del madero
sino al que anduvo en la mar!.

This poem is a reminder (as is Easter) that we do not worship a crucified Christ but our Lord lives! His Atonement was completed as he rose the third day bringing us all life.
Today I teach the lesson to the Young Men at church and my goal is to provide some way to personalize the Atonement and show them that while at times it may seem something incomprehensible and distant, it is meant for each of us personally and can provide great relief in times of distress. I will point out three times in which the Atonement is particularly useful: sins, sickness, and stuff.
I will not delve too far into my lesson but I will briefly explain what I mean. First, the Atonement saves us from our sins. We have all sinned. We all need repentance. Isaiah said that “he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” D. Todd Christofferson explained that “whatever the cost of repentance, it is swallowed up in the joy of forgiveness.”
Second, through the Atonement of Jesus Christ we can overcome whatever our sickness may be in two ways. We can, like the many people during Christ’s ministry, be healed or he will give us the strength to overcome that which troubles us.
Lastly, the Lord helps overcome stuff. By stuff I of course mean the vicissitudes of life. We can overcome like the righteous people of Alma who were forced to do many onerous things at the hands of the lamanites in the Book of Mormon. Even through our deepest and darkest affliction, through the Atonement we too will be able to “submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord”

Oh, Andalusia.

I was reading an article by Arturo Perez-Reverte this week that I thought was very fascinating (it is in Spanish so if you speak Spanish, you can read it too. If not, learn Spanish). In recent years Spanish has been discussing whether or not it is a chauvinist language for various reasons but mostly because of the emphasis on the masculine when you pluralize a noun. I am not going to enter this debate although I have very passionate opinion that I am right about and you, if you disagree, are wrong.
According to my understanding of the situation Andalusia and others have been trying to create so-called equality in speech (I favor economy in speech)) by changing the rules for pluralizing or generalizing speech. Some of those would be very tedious and I dislike them.
However, my purpose for blogging today is to share a far more fascinating development in the world of Andalusia. This comes from Article 50.2 of the law for Gender Equality. I will provide the text in the original Spanish and then a translation by your truly:

«Los poderes públicos de Andalucía, en coordinación y colaboración con las entidades locales en el territorio andaluz, tendrán en cuenta la perspectiva de género en el diseño de las ciudades, en las políticas urbanas y en la definición y ejecución de los planteamientos urbanísticos»

The public powers in Andalusia, in coordination and collaboration with local entities in the Andalusian territory, will take into consideration gender perspective with regards to city planning, urban policies, and in the definition and execution of the urban-planning approach (if you disagree with my translation, please tell me. It was tougher than I thought it would be).

The question that Perez-Reverte poses and I attempt to answer is how do you take into account different genders in designing and planning a city. I thought about this long and hard and could not think of an answer. Yesterday I went to school and while I was driving around looking for a parking spot I realized what they intend to do to make an area more gender friendly. Wider parking spots. Seriously.