Thursday, November 09, 2006

I am so sorry for my inexcusible lack of blogging for the past almost three weeks. The problem? I didn't have any time and the few times I did have a spare moment, I couldn't remember my password. I almost lost my blog forever! But then I realized my password was saved on the laptop! I've changed it, so its all good. I know what you are thinking - but Meghan, why didn't you just have them email it to you? Well that is a good question and the answer is, the email address that I used to start my blog is not longer in use. So I was sad, thinking that my blog had died an unfortunate death, but I have resurrected it.

A lot has happened since I lost posted, but I can't remember most of it. Here is a short recap of my life since my last post.... Halloween, party at Maggie's, very fun. Had my parents over for dinner, had Andrew's parents over, work became unbearably stressful (still is), a lot of school work (which you will note I am not doing right now) and that's about it.

I won't get into work here because you read about people getting fired for complaining about work in their blogs and I can't afford to be fired, but when you see me, ask me about it. I would love to bore you with details.

School is the same, getting to the end of the semester so of course projects, papers, and finals are coming up. Boo. I hate that when you are in school you can't really enjoy Christmas. I hate that I have two more falls AFTER this one that I need to deal with school. (that's right, ladies and gentlemen I will have spent 4 fall semesters in school before I am done. But if I think about that, I will start to cry.

So the citizens of MA cast their ballots on Tuesday, and I was pretty upset with the way they voted. I don't want to think that the majority of MA is uneducated and made an idiotic choice in the prefernce for govenor, but Deval Patrick WAS elected, so I almost have to think that. For the life of me, I don't understand the appeal of him. He is going to raise our taxes, give illegal aliens licenses AND in-state tuition breaks? Umm... what the fuck were you THINKING Massachusetts? Why don't I get an in-state tuition break? I am currently attending a state school for my MBA. I don't get a tuition break because I am a legal citizen and pay my taxes? Right, the same taxes that you are going to raise. FYI. I really think people were that gullible that they thought he had decent ideas. He doesn't. FYI. He is going to take your money and give it to illegal aliens. Just so you know. That is not going to help this little "Mass Exodus" problem that we are having. The last time I checked, having young professionals leave the state in droves and taking their taxes with them was not healthy for the economy of the state. The more they get taxed, the quicker they are going to leave. I heard a guy on the radio on Wednesday and the D.J was asking him to say two ideas/programs of Deval's that he liked. He said Stem Cell research and couldn't come up with a second. Well, ALL FOUR of the candidated supported stem cell research, so that wasn't a Deval thing. So basically he couldn't come up with a thing that Deval stood for that he liked. I will admit Kerry Healy wasn't my first choice in govenor, but the only thing that really made me question her was her stance on gay marriage. BUT, I used my head and realized that she would never be able to get rid of it in MA because it is such a democratic state. But MA has spoken, Deval is the govenor, and when he is taxing the middle class to death, please don't complain about it to me. I didn't vote for him.

Also - How stupid do you have to be to believe the ads against question 1. really. First of all the "statistics" in the Vote No on Question 1 ads were not only made up, but they were twisted to make it seem like they were worse than they were. WINE IN GROCERY STORES PEOPLE!! WINE IN GROCERY STORES!! How much can the government possibly regulate us? Should they tell us what we should wear? What jobs we should have? What our salary should be? Hmmm.... sounds like communism to me!!

I have to get out of MA. Not just because I like my money and don't really feel like being taxed so our Govenor can hand it over to criminals, but because I just do not understand the rest of the population in Massachusetts. I am going to see if my brother has any room in the car when he gets the fuck out of this state. :)

So that is my rant on the MA election. I know it sounds like I've gone all republican on you, but I'm really not. I'm still the moderate conservative democrat that you all know and love. I'm just alot more fiscally conservative than before. Of course Ted still got my vote, and I still hate Bush! But that's more because he's an idiot than for his politics. And no, I will not discuss it at the coffee shop on Friday or Saturday night.

Anywho, I'll move on. I know I am not as liberal as most of my friends, so I'm ranting to people who don't get me :) I will accept any comments as to why you think Deval should be govenor. I'm actually interested in what some educated people have to say about it.

Coming up in two short weeks is Thanksgiving! I can't believe it's almost 2007. I was so excited when 2006 came because I was FINALLY going to get married! Now I'm married, broke, and boring. hmmm...... maybe the single life has its advantages! Nah.... who would make my coffee in the morning and get excited about Numbers with me? I wonder what 2007 will bring? But that is really a post for about a month.

Again, I am sorry about the lack of blogging, but I think I have fixed the problem. And I had to get my rant about Deval off my chest. I will be happier in my next post, I promise.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Personally I think Nancy Pelosi is unsufferable and I think the next two years with her and Bush running the show in Washington is going to be an absolute nightmare. Add that to Deval Patrick and it makes me miserable. Why couldn't the Dems just have won the Senate, wouldn't that have been enough? I can't stand this Pelosi lady. Oh well.

Maggie said...

I don't normally talk politics, mostly because I don't know enough and my opinions are based predominantely on local and national media which I know is evil... but here goes!

I don't like Deval either.... but there was no GREAT candidate. You can't question our State's level of education when there was no superstar candidate. People had to go with who they thought the lesser of two (or in this case four) evils was... Truthfully, I would rather have Big Bird running our state than ANY of the cadidates I got to vote for on Tuesday night.

As for you not getting an tuition break at UMASS Boston, that couldn't be further from the truth... in fact, you get a pretty significant one, thanks to the dutiful tax payers of Massachusetts no less. Check it out here... http://www.umb.edu/students/bursar/tuition_fees.shtml

Now, I don't know exactly how I feel about illegal aliens - on the one hand they are here ILLEGALLY, so they shouldn't get hand outs.... But on the other they are HERE... as in if they are here and not getting any education, then they are draining they system on the other end and still getting access to our States resources... causing us to put more money into those resources... so maybe it's a good idea to help them so they can attempt to help the economy and be more than a drain on it.... But like I said, I really have no stance on it since I don't know exactly what Deval is proposing and what will actually get passed....

As for him raising our taxes, I don't use that as a decision point when voting any more because that is always subject to change. Almost everytime they say they won't raise taxes, they still do... And if it's not State income taxes, it will be City and Town property taxes to make up for the individual budgets cuts each town has to contend with since the State doesn't have enough money to go around....

And, I think you have to give Deval an ounce of credit for just saying he is going to do it. The last time I checked you can't fault someone for honesty. And the last time I checked, most Massachusetts residents were bitching about the quality of public education, the condition roads, and the like. You need money in the budget to make Massachusetts a great place to live. Nothing in life is free and I am sorry that you think Massachusetts is an expensive place to live - but it just is.

Regardless of politics, you know I love ya and I'll miss you if you and Andrew move out of state, but don't jump ship yet because if you move before you graduate you'd have to pay almost double for school per year. :)

Unknown said...

to rebut this point:

As for you not getting an tuition break at UMASS Boston, that couldn't be further from the truth... in fact, you get a pretty significant one, thanks to the dutiful tax payers of Massachusetts no less. Check it out here... http://www.umb.edu/students/bursar/tuition_fees.shtml

I pay less than an out of state resident, this is true. However, that is NOT a "tuition break" at all. UMass Boston is a state school. State schools cost less for citizens of that state. That is one of the main points of their existance. Yes I pay less than Matt Vallone would if he were to get his MBA at UMass Boston. But he pays less than I would if I were to get my MBA at UNH. Because both are state schools and both are there for their respective's states people. The ILLEGAL aliens are getting a tuition break FROM THE IN-STATE tuition fees. When the tax paying legal citizens get tuition breaks, then talk to me about the ILLEGAL aliens.

And no, no credit to Deval for telling me he is going to raise my taxes. None. Zero. Zilch. I don't want a promise that my taxes won't be raised, because I know better than to believe that. But at least try to not raise them.

Good points Maggie - but I'm still not convinced :)

Anonymous said...

"Patrick believes immigration is a federal issue and has supported the McCain-Kennedy plan to both tighten border control and create "pathway[s] to citizenship" for immigrants who have established lives in America.[13] On the state level, he supports increased enforcement of employment laws to crack down on employers taking advantage of illegal immigrants, and opposes discrimination on the basis of immigration status for providing state services, including such things as public housing, in-state tuition for public universities, and driver's licenses.[14] "

Not that Wikepedia is the be all and end all of responsible reporting - but this demonstrates how I saw the issue reported all throughout the campaign. It never came accross to me that Deval supported an ADDITIONAL tax break for illegal aliens on top of in state tuition. Illegal aliens canont get drivers licenses and cannot establish residency in our country. Therefore, illegal aliens cannot benefit from the in-state tuition rates (basically the rate you pay for tuition) because they can't establish residency because they are not in this country legally. Patrick doesn't suggest giving illegal aliens an additional tuition break, he suggests allowing them to get licences, and allowing them to take advantage of the existing in-state tuition prices, as a means of encouraging illegal aliens to become citizens, and educating them so they are not a drain on our society. He doesn't want additional perks for illegals, he just thinks they should have the benefit of state services the same way legal citizens do.

Whether or not this seems fair, considering they are in this country illegally is obviously a question. But either way they are going to be in our country, some of them even pay taxes (be it on some dead person's social security number, which I am not condoning), so if they are going to be here anyway, and no, I don't think they should get additional tuition breaks for being an illegal alien - but thats not what Deval Patrick proposed.

Unknown said...

illegal aliens are not supposed to be here. End of story. The shouldn't get in-state tuition, they shouldn't get drivers licenses, and they should not get any special treatment at all. In fact they should be deported. There are legal ways to come into the country. Try those channels.

Anonymous said...

Okay this is my last comment I promise :) I try to stop... but I just can't....

I agree that they are not supposed to be here, and they should come into this country though legal channels, and there should be tougher immigration standards, and if INS is called on illegal aliens they actually do get deported.

But they are here. And its unrealistic to think that they are going anywhere. So the bigger question becomes what do we do with them while they are here?

I do not think they should get any "special treatment" for being in this country illegally. I don't think any politician suggests that either, and I think your original post, and your comment defending your original post argued that Deval Patrick did. The real question is whether they should be afforded the same state services as legal citizens.

I think here is where you do have a valid argument. I can respect the view that because they are not legally in this country, the services our government affords it citizens should not extend to them. For once we've gotten to the point where, though I disagree, I can at least see the basis of your argument and concede that it is a valid point that many people agree with. And the reason I disagree is because I'm a bleeding heart liberal - ha ha - but I am proud that through many comments and dialogue we got to the point where we can agree to disagree.

Unknown said...

Deval Patrick argues that illegal aliens should get licenses and in-state tuition breaks, that much we agree on. But in my view, that IS special treatment. People who do not deserve licenses should not get them. If they do, that is special treatment. Therefore I stand by my statement that the Governor Elect Patrick is affording special treatment to people who should not be here.

I'm glad you think I have at least one valid point. :) I'm glad I know I have more than one!

But, as we are going to have to disagree (you bleeding heart liberal!) I will end the comments there. Because really we could argue all day and I'm not going to agree that just because illegal aliens are already here that we should be nice to them. =)

I'm going back to blogging about Gilmore Girls!