South East Minnesota had pretty low light pollution at night, and out in the country where we lived, the stars were amazing. That's one of the things I really, really miss being stuck in Atlanta. I miss the nights my family would sit out to catch the August shooting stars.
If any of you have the capabilities to get really neat space photos, I'd be interested in buying prints plz~ I took one Astronomy class in college, which was neat, and we got to go up to our school's little ghetto telescope and they got some awesome pictures of a couple of the planets and a pretty clear one of the moon's surface. I'm not sure what happened to those photos though =/
But on the subject of the thread, the Kurt Vonnegut quote made me think of that other saying; "If you're a conservative when you're young, you have no heart. If you're a liberal when you're old, you have no brain." Or maybe it was republican/democrat. Either way, it doesn't matter. Both sides are awfully corrupt and will spout out nearly anything if they think it will get them a better chance of being elected by whichever popluation they are catering to at the moment. If I were to choose for myself, I'd say moderately conservative. I'm all for personal responsibility and not relying on society to hand-feed us, but on the same token, I believe in a person's right to choose for themselves who to marry (within reason - I'm talking gender, not age), and I am pro-choice.
Also I think this political joke sums up how I feel (father's point of view):
A newly political college freshman considered herself a liberal Democrat and was a passionate advocate for the distribution of wealth. One evening at dinner, she was challenging her staunchly Republican father's opposition to higher taxes for the rich and better welfare programs for the poor.
Finally, Dad changed the subject and asked her about her grades.
"Oh, Dad, it was tough, but I think I'm going to make a 4.0 GPA this semester. I've spent every minute studying; I haven't gone to parties, haven't dated much; I haven't even made many friends because all I've done is study!"
Her father asked, "And how about your friend, Mary?"
"Mary's a party girl; she may not even make a 2.0 this semester, even though she took nothing but easy classes. She never studies. But, she's popular, she's having a blast, she goes to every party, and sometimes she doesn't even make it to class because she's so hung over. We're still friends, but we're so different!"
Her father said, "Well, why don't you help her? Go to the Dean's Office and have them deduct one point off your GPA and give it to Mary. That way, you'll both have a 3.0!"
"What, are you crazy? I worked my ass off and sacrificed everything to get that grade! All Mary's done is party! Why should she get the same grade? That would be totally unfair!"
Her father smiled and said softly, "Welcome to the Republican Party."
