oh, america

funny that john mccain's attack ads make me want to vote for obama. and not because mccain is running attack ads.

unrelated, but still political:
i took a couple of carloads of foreign exchange participants to the airport the other day. and the security people took one look at the jordanian passport and destination of one participant, called over another "special" security person, and sent him through the air puffing machine that looks for explosives. before they went through all of his stuff. they did not do this to anyone else in the airport in the two hours i was there. it made me SO angry at the entire country. and not just because i knew the guy.

because we, as a nation, profess to believe in being open and accepting of people, but what we're actually accepting of is the ease with which we can stereotype and systematically persecute the people of an entire region (which, if you'll recall, we're still moving on from having done before). yes, some people who look kind of like him hate us. and they showed us that hate by doing horrible things. but i don't think their hate is wholly without reason, and reacting with prejudice is no way for americans to stop the cycle. if it can even be stopped, i suppose. but this? is decidedly not helping.

and i will be on that special watch list before you know it.