Literally and figuratively.

I woke up yesterday with my voice beginning to leave me. Today it’s just about completely gone. I don’t have any cold symptoms or anything like that. My throat is a little scratchy but I don’t feel sick. I just can’t talk. It was very difficult to teach today. I actually used my computer hooked up to the sound system in my classroom to talk to my students. I used text to speech and TextEdit to have my computer speak to my students. They loved it. I got a bit tired typing. Because of this I’ve decided to take tomorrow off and not talk to anyone. Maybe that will help. I won’t be recording a podcast either.

I’m also sick of the state of our country. Just a year after inaugurating our first African-American President and winning a majority in the senate, we aren’t much better off than we were then. Of course some things have changed for the good or are on their way to change. But I just feel that we are stagnating. Things don’t seem to be moving like they should. With the male model being elected in Massachusetts health care reform and be thrown out the window. I think something will pass but it won’t be what it really needs to be. It’s been watered down as it is now. I don’t blame this on Obama at all. It’s the screwed up workings of the congress. They simply can’t get anything done. It takes way too long and costs way too much money.

I just can’t get over some of the crap going on. The Supreme Court said today that corporations could donate as much as they want to political campaigns. That means that big business will be in control more than they have been. I wouldn’t have expected anything different from the current court makeup.

While I’m glad to see that Obama is calling for regulations on big banks, I’m scared that the cost of those regulations will be passed on to consumers. It’s guaranteed. Banks will raise fees or whatever before the legislation takes effect. Look what happened on wall street today. The market dropped 200 points.

Look at what happened with credit cards. Congress tried to change how credit card companies fee us to death so they created regulation to get some control. The legislation doesn’t go into effect until next month. What has already happened? Credit card companies have changed everyone’s interest rate to variable rates so they can get more money from us now. Have you seen any fixed rate credit cards lately? None to be found.

This country is even more polarized than it was under Bush. The haves and have nots, the republicans and the democrats, the birthers, deathers, gun rights assholes, and on and on and on. I’m just so sick of all this crap. I’m so sick of stupid people. If I thought I could do it, I’d stop following all the news. But I just can’t. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t blame any of this lack of progress on Obama. I blame it completely on the congress. I still support Obama. If he is just given time and support from the congress, things could change. We might even see some progress on gay rights.