Missed Opportunity

I feel awful right now. I don't mean to rant, but I know nobody looks at this thing, so I feel justified. When I was younger I was offered to participate in the "Make a Wish" program b/c I'm a childhood cancer survivor. At the time I couldn't think of something I particularly wanted, and I kind of adopted the attitude that someone who was in more need than myself should "get my wish." Of course it is only now that I'm twenty, and as informed by the lady at the foundation that I'm too old to get anything from them, by two years... and I don't care if this sounds whiny, but it makes me feel bad, especially b/c what I want to do is to use my wish to help other children anyway. I'm a writer, and I want to be a filmmaker. I write mostly for middle grade children, and my stories involve a lot of my own life experiences (indirectly as I write fantasy), but they contain lessons I learned specifically as a childhood cancer survivor, and I really think other children who go through such experiences, even other adults who go through this sort of thing could really benefit from what I have to say. Unfortunately nobody wants to publish an author with no agent, and I've tried everything I can think of to try to promote my book on my own. It makes me feel bad that they can't/won't help me, and it's because I didn't act sooner I guess. I've missed so many things in my life because of what I've gone through. I thought they could help me just a little, but I was wrong. And I just felt I had to get this out to somebody, to the universe I guess... I asked for help from the people at the hospital back when I was 17/18, when I could have still gotten a "Make a Wish," but I guess I didn't try hard enough, and now it's too late.

BEST MOVIE EVER!!!

I know it has been a LONG time since I wrote about movies on here, but there is one that I saw a few months ago that I give major credit to for helping me recover from a life or death situation regarding my physical and mental health. I'm not really exaggerating here, much.

Back around my birthday, at the end of May, I got terribly sick with some very mysterious illness. I was so sick I had to come home from school to be in L.A. and I eventually ended up in the E.R. b/c I got so dehydrated that I needed to get fluids pumped into my veins. Not a fun experience... even for someone as seasoned as I in the field of getting sick. I'm a childhood cancer survivor, and... I don't want to go into detail... this is supposed to be about this great movie... anyway... point is I was afraid I was going to die, for the second time in my life...

So... long story short the E.R. fixed me up, and I felt so much better, better than I had in years in fact, and that night I watched this amazing film with my family. To preface a little more, my mom had rented it for my brother as he was about to go off to college for engineering, and the movie centers around 3 Indian engineering students ( yes it's an Indian movie w/subtitles... but sometimes they speak English too)

Anyway, we popped in this movie "3 Idiots," and by the end of it I had had an epiphany... I was struggling b/c I had abandoned my life's passion. I hated school in SB, and I then knew if I didn't immediately drop out, it would kill me. So I did, and now I'm at Antioch University, healthy, and happy.

So to sum up the film, besides being about engineering, it is really about friendship, life, and enlightenment. The basics are a group of 3 young men who become friends at an Engineering College in India. One is there in hopes of supporting his family, one is there b/c his parents think he will be happy with the life/money being an engineer will bring, but his real passion is photography, and one is a genius who loves engineering, and is both more and less than he appears to be. The movie starts on the journey of the two friends, and this one other odd and pretentious former student going off in search of the "genius" character as after having graduated, they have completely lost contact w/him. The movie then flashes back to when these characters were in school, and tells how they got to know each other, and why the "genius" "Rancho" is so important to the 3 searchers.
The film is both heartbreaking in places, and truly exalting in others. It is the perfect blend of drama, humor, and a touch of romance. I think everybody will be able to get the message, and yet it doesn't beat you over the head with it. It is a wonderful and unique movie, the best I've seen in a very long time. And the title... "3 Idiots" ... also has awesome songs!!! It is available from Netflix. :)

So if you're in the mood for a moving film, I suggest this one.

Money and Freedom of Speech

Is the right to buy politicians/representatives guaranteed by the Bill of Rights?
Honestly, I don't know. The way we act in America we seem to agree that this right is protected. This is what it says in Wikipedia under First Amendment/Campaign Finance:

In Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U.S. 1 (1976), the Supreme Court affirmed the constitutionality of some parts, while declaring other parts unconstitutional, of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 and related laws. These laws restricted the monetary contributions that may be made to political campaigns and expenditure by candidates. The Court concluded that limits on campaign contributions "serve[d] the basic governmental interest in safeguarding the integrity of the electoral process without directly impinging upon the rights of individual citizens and candidates to engage in political debate and discussion."^[32] However, the Court overturned the spending limits, which it found imposed "substantial restraints on the quantity of political speech."^[33]

Further rules on campaign finance were scrutinized by the Court when it determined McConnell v. Federal Election Commission, 540 U.S. 93 (2003). The case centered on the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, a federal law that imposed new restrictions on campaign financing. The Supreme Court upheld provisions which barred the raising of soft money by national parties and the use of soft money by private organizations to fund certain advertisements related to elections. However, the Court struck down the "choice of expenditure" rule, which required that parties could either make coordinated expenditures for all its candidates, or permit candidates to spend independently, but not both, which they agreed "placed an unconstitutional burden on the parties' right to make unlimited independent expenditures."^[34] The Supreme Court also ruled that the provision preventing minors from making political contributions was unconstitutional, relying on Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District.

In Federal Election Commission v. Wisconsin Right to Life, Inc., 551 U.S. 449 (2007), the Supreme Court sustained an "as applied" challenge to provisions of the 2002 law dealing with advertising shortly before a primary, caucus, or an election.

In Davis v. Federal Election Commission, 554 U.S. 724 (2008), the Supreme Court declared the "Millionaire's Amendment" provisions of the BCRA to be unconstitutional. The Court held that easing BCRA restrictions for an opponent of a self-financing candidate spending at least $350,000 of his own money violated the freedom of speech of the self-financing candidate.

In Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, 558 U.S. ___ (2010), the Court ruled that the BCRA's federal restrictions on electoral advocacy by corporations or unions were unconstitutional for violating the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment. The Court overruled Austin v. Michigan Chamber of Commerce, 494 U.S. 652 (1990), which had upheld a state law that prohibited corporations from using treasury funds to support or oppose candidates in elections did not violate the First or Fourteenth Amendments. The Court also overruled the portion of McConnell that upheld such restrictions under the BCRA.^[35]

So yes, I guess the Supreme Court upholds that Freedom of Speech equates to Freedom of spending. So that means we as citizens of the United States ARE NOT PROTECTED FROM THE OLIGARCHICAL TENDENCIES of those wealthy enough to buy off politicians. Maybe we need to write a new pledge for candidates, "I hereby pledge that I will uphold my duty in equal portion to the individual citizens who elected me, and will not confer any preferential treatment upon those who gave more money, time, or other resources to aid my campaign. I pledge my duty only to those votes, and to those voters in equal portion to uphold the opinions and political stances of the reasonable voting majority."

I would like to bring back some of the Founding Fathers and see what they think of the slow disintegration of their democratic system. Yeah... you can't ban things, but you can EXPOSE THEM... and that is what I suggest we do. What is the real block towards having open, honest government? That is my question.