Jennifer Kirk

Over the past six months, we’ve been honored to run Jennifer Kirk’s engaging series about all sides of the presidential election: Land of Confusion. Today, she shares her final thoughts about today’s election…

[Image from RalphSteadman.com]

“This may be the year when we finally come face to face with ourselves; finally just lay back and say it — that we are really just a nation of 220 million used car salesmen with all the money we need to buy guns, and no qualms at all about killing anybody else in the world who tries to make us uncomfortable.”

This quote comes from the late, great Hunter S. Thompson. It was made in 1972 and sadly, it still rings true to this day. Today is a day, that no matter what happens, will remain in our memory for years to come. It is a day that we have to make a collective decision on how the direction of our country will go for the next four years, and perhaps longer. It is a day that we make a statement to the rest of the world as to who we are and who we aim to be. A day that no matter the outcome — we must still stand, united. I sincerely hope that our divisions can one day be mended come January 20 when one of the candidates takes office. Our country and our model of government are still very young in the eyes of the world. So late today, or most likely, tomorrow — we will find out what our statement will be to the world, but more importantly what that statement says of ourselves.

Over the past few months we have looked at several issues that are quite prevalent today, including: race and freedom of speech, military service, terrorist attacks and gun control, our countries crumbling infrastructure, poverty and the economics of touring, the economic and housing downturn, protests, faith in the youth of America, and finally, one of my personal favorites — who Johnny Cash would vote for in today’s election.

READ ON for more of the election day edition of LoC, and be sure to head over to Rebirth of Slack for HT Founder Ace Cowboy’s prediction…

Here we are, finally, less than two weeks away from the ‘big day.’ Judging by the numbers across the country for early voting, I think it’s fair to say that this election will be one for the history books. While I’m excited that so many people are participating, I’m also starting to get sick of it. I’m sick of the hate that we have on each opposing side. I’m sick of the ignorance on either side. I’m sick of receiving stupid, untrue forwards from family members and friends telling me why Obama is either the Messiah or The Beast.

Earlier this week, I drove through the local town square. It’s your typical southern town square complete with court house, law offices, local coffee shop, and did I mention that it’s actually located on Main Street? On this particular morning something struck me as out of the ordinary. You see, the GOP county office is located on the square and I noticed something particularly odd very early in the morning. Some jerks took it upon themselves to throw a brick through the window of their office. The funny thing was, I happened upon it before the police had even responded.

On a morning where I witnessed one of the most beautiful sunrises I’ve seen in a while — I also witnessed hatred and disrespect in its most idiotic form. Why is this? Why does something need to be vandalized to make a point? Why do people have to disrespect each other to try and anger the ‘other side’? I don’t get it. What happened to civilized discussion and debate? Hell, even the candidates crossed that line a long time ago. It seems that they are both banking on fear. Obama’s fear tactic is that we’ll have four more years of the same, McCain’s fear tactic is that we’ll move closer to socialism through Obama’s health care plan, among other things. Is this really what our fore fathers envisioned? Fear breeding hate breeding fear breeding hate.

READ ON for more of this week’s Land of Confusion…

As I write this piece, I’m on a bus returning back home from what has been a completely eye-opening experience. I had the opportunity to chaperone a trip for ten students over my university’s fall break. No, we didn’t go to the binge-drinking capital of the South — Panama City, but instead travelled to a little community called Cranks, Kentucky. Cranks, along with the rural communities of eastern Kentucky and western Virginia make up one of the poorest, most underdeveloped areas in our country. At the beautiful foothills of Appalachia we were on a mission to help along the construction of a home for someone who we had never met.

The group of students traveling on this trip represents, to my best guess, the patchwork quilt of America. They all come from very different walks of life. Pakistani, African American, small-town white kids, a young mother, and Christian. I could go on and try to pigeon hole these kids but there is simply no need as they all came together to do something constructive (quite literally) with their long weekend away from the hustle and bustle of their studies. This past weekend has single-handedly restored my faith in the youth of America, and I’m VERY proud to have been a small part of something this special. READ ON for more…

While I was away on my trip last weekend, I received a text message from a friend and fellow HeadCount volunteer letting me know that Andy Bernstein and Marc Brownstein were featured in a story about HeadCount on ABC’s 20/20. Instead of doing normal publicity for a non-profit, John Stossel decided to do a piece questioning the validity of HeadCount’s work over the past four years and also questioned if the youth of our country should have the ability to vote because they seem uninformed or uneducated.

Well, John Stossel — welcome to America! There are TONS of uneducated people that will be going to the polls on November 4th. They are uneducated not because of their age, but perhaps because of the education they received, the places they get their news, their ability to keep up with issues, or maybe even their ability to actually care about what is going on in our country and our world.

READ ON for the rest of Jen’s Editorial Rant…

I hardly even know where to begin this week. The financial crisis is just plain crazy — but expected. Phish has come back which is just plain crazy — but expected. Last week, I went on a mini-rant on artists coming out to show their support for a particular presidential candidate and I’d like to stick with that theme this week. It all started from a quote I found on my daily tear away calendar aptly titled “Stupid Things People Say”:

“I’m not very politically involved. And I don’t like to talk about it. I mean, if you say you’re a Democrat, that’ll turn off Republicans and that’s half your fan base.”

The quote comes from Lindsey Lohan, which I still have hanging on my office wall next to my George W. Bush quote of “The great thing about America is everybody should vote.” You know what though? She’s actually correct in my opinion. Granted, she has since decided to turn into a lesbian so I can only assume that’s turned off half of her fan base anyway.

READ ON for more of this special bonus edition of LoC…

No, we’re not gonna take it, we’re not going to take it ANYMOREEEEEE!

Finally, I get to use the Twisted Sister song! I really wanted to find a clip from the movie PCU when the “We’re not going to protest” protest occurred, but I couldn’t find any clips from that speech. Relax though, Jeremy Piven is still a genius.

On a serious note related to protests I’d like to introduce you to War Child.

War Child’s mission is the following:

War Child International is a network of independent organisations, working across the world to help children affected by war.

War Child was founded upon a fundamental goal: to advance the cause of peace through investing hope in the lives of children caught up in the horrors of war.

War Child works in many different conflict areas around the world, helping hundreds of thousands of children every year.

Under the Radar Magazine has teamed up with several musicians to make their own protest signs, have the artist autograph them and then auction off said signs for funds to go directly to the War Child organization.

READ ON to check out some of Jennifer’s favorite protest signs…

A few weeks ago John Rich, country music singer and host of the absolutely-horrible-but-I-still-watch-it-TV-show entitled Gone Country, stated the following at a McCain/Palin political rally:

“Somebody’s got to walk the line in the country. They’ve got to walk it unapologetically. And I’m sure Johnny Cash would have been a John McCain supporter if he was still around.”

He then went on to perform his rendition of I Walk the Line.

Unfortunately, Johnny Cash is not around — he passed away just over five years ago. Outraged by these comments, Rosanne Cash responded:

“It is appalling to me that people still want to invoke my father’s name, five years after his death, to ascribe beliefs, ideals, values and loyalties to him that cannot possibly be determined, and to try to further their own agendas by doing so…I knew my father pretty well, at least better than some of those who entitle themselves to his legacy and his supposed ideals…and even I would not presume to say publicly what I ‘know’ he thought or felt. This is especially dangerous in the case of political affiliation. It is unfair and presumptuous to use him to bolster any platform.”

So all of this drama got me thinking — who would Johnny Cash support in upcoming election? READ ON for more of this week’s LoC…