Sometimes my habit of not planning for anything does get in the way of my actually having something to do. I'm broke and in North Dakota until further notice.

I watched the State of the Union Address last night, painful as it was. The hat I was knitting is one of the few things that benifited; as the speech progressed the angrier I became and the faster I knit. The hat is nearly finished.

I have previously commented that Republicans are motivated either by greed or ignorance. I would now like to add bigotry to that list. Republicans are motivated by 1) greed, 2) ignorance, and/or 3) bigotry. Can someone be motivated by ignorance? Yes, I beleive so. To so many who have never been to New York City or even the East coast, September 11th is a fresh memory. These people talk about needing more security and the terrorist threat and supporting the war. All in attempted empathy for a tragedy they can only understand in limited and removed fashion. New Yorkers have moved past it, so should the rest of the nation. That President Bush preaches fear and doom to the country angers me beyond words. There always has been a threat, and always will be, at least in this life. Fear is not what this nation was built around, nor should it be the only thing to shape our future.

I originally made the statement about Republicans being motivated by either greed or ignorance at a table of 10 liberal and educated friends. There was a surprisingly negative reaction. Vinny said he hates blanket statements like that. OK, I said, you're right. Would I be more correct to say 95% of Republicans are motivated by either greed or ignorance? The greedy educated leading and deluding the uneducated ignorant.

I don't intend any slight or PC breech. Many people do not have the educational resources or time to make informed political decisions. This a social problem, not a character flaw. Being ignorant in and of itself is no crime. That being said, being purposelly ignorant, or feigning ignorance is. Exploiting the ignorant is even more abominable.

Later on Vinny made a good point about waste in government programs. "We've got Democrats saying we need more programs and more aid and Republicans saying we need less, when truthfully the programs already in place need to be run more efficiently. There is a middle ground in all of this." Good point, but a streamlining program is going to cost too.

Ariel was irritated at my commented and got angry in Ariel fashion. She asked me how I could be so stereotypical. "Would you say that all Democrats are martyrs?" Martyr is a strong word. Would I say all Democrats altruistically seek social and environmental justice for the greater good? Well, yeah, I would say that. Would you tell me any different?