Mexican Strife

Mexico has been in the midst of quite a bit of turmoil lately. First, they had a very contentious and disputed election in which the winner was elected by a 0.57% margin. The whole scene was eerily reminiscent of the events that unfolded in Florida in 2000. The new President is to be inaugurated tomorrow, December 1. Then, a teachers' strike in Oaxaca led to protests, police crackdowns and rioting, which continues as we speak. Here's a brief history of the situation in Oaxaca.

Ode to Idealism

I found these words that I wrote when I was a teenager and wanted to post it as a tribute to idealism:

"You were the first, purely ideal love of my soul,
When I looked in your eyes I felt it.
I thought I saw something:
That capability of deep emotional thought
That all-too-sparse ability
To look beyond the horizon of our everyday experience,
The feeling
That there is something more to life than what is seen,
Some underlying truth,
Some ever-pervading beauty that links us all.

And although I never really knew, whence the ardor grew
It was there--it was inescapably there.

But all my days were trances
And all my nightly dreams
Were turned aside it seems
By you--the one who deems that we must avoid extremes.

Well, what I felt was nothing but extremes
At what I thought was here
The one I needed, the one I heeded, the missing hemisphere.

You say it's just not real,
This world in which I feel,
But is it not true,
That blue is not blue,
And all that we see
Is all that we knew?
Is it not true
That we all lack a clue,
And all that you see
Came from within you?

It is true that I am an idealist,
But I can hear reality's ever-approaching gallop;
Experience is steadily turning me into a realist.

Being an idealist,
I lack tact, it seems so artificial.
I have more faith in intuition
Than I do in practical values.

As for the passing of the day,
I'll find solace in the sunset
and the beauty of each ray."

Scary Historical Quote

"It is enough that the people know there was an election. The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything."--Joseph Stalin.

This is even more scary considering all of the electronic voting machines without a paper trail that are being used.