Soap

The resulting soap granules, which looked as if they would measure less than a gram in mass, looked like cream-colored breadcrumbs, but when rubbed between the fingers were soft and slick like soft damp soap one would have in the bath.

political feelings

First I want to say that I am pleased with the outcome of the election this year. There are many feelings swirling around regarding the historical momentous place we find our selves in. Having grown up in the south, not understanding why people had a problem with race, I find it pleasing to know that the south is starting to change. If John McCain had been elected, I would be in a depression that no financial bailout would have helped.

I generally don't hang my politics on my sleeve or put them on my car. I think quietly about who I think would be a good choice for the issues that I find important. I think a lot of people do that. My number one issue is the environment. If we continue to run our environment into the ground, changing it into something that we, as well as all the other species we live with, have not evolved to be in, we cannot continue as a species. So if we do not have a supportive environment that is conducive to our continuation as a species, it does not matter if we can afford to buy a house, or if we have health care. No amount of health care is going to be able to compete with our own quick and drastic change of our environment. Our physiological systems of homeostasis have evolved to live in the world we are rapidly losing. Evolution just does not happen that fast.

I found it disheartening that most of the candidates did not talk about the environment in the initial outburst of campaigning. I say most, but not all. Dennis Kucinich spoke about the environment. Ralph Nader spoke about the environment. But did we hear media coverage of anyone speaking on the environment? I did not. I did not even know Ralph Nader was running for president until about a month and a half before the election.

I know Ralph Nader is a risky person to put on TV. He is something of an edge dancing liberal. Even some of my liberal friends do not take him seriously. However, how much time has the media given him to tell us what his plans are? How do we know what his ideas for our future would be if the media does not show the public any of his speeches? I am not saying he would have been a better choice. What I am trying to convey is that we did not have the opportunity to even hear what he had to say. He and the other candidates for president that were not in the two major parties were not invited to debate the major candidates. I find that appalling.

It makes me wonder about payola in the media. Do the candidates from the major parties pay off the major news networks to cover them? If the smaller grassroots candidates had more money, they could give payola too. Would that put them in the debates? I really hope that the future holds more debate by more candidates.

I hope that our future is looking better. I feel a sense that good change is coming. I pray that Mr. Obama doesn't give in to the political pressures and turn from the everyman president into the everyday politician. I pray he and his family stay safe.