'primary'

So I have noticed these Montana papers coming out with these stories that Montana is one of 23 states without a "primary seat belt law." Well, well, well, thank goodness there are still 23 states that appreciate individual freedom. I can basically tell you that my number one issue in politics, other than national security, is individual freedom. OK, taxes are up there too, but basically civil liberties have the most direct and immediate impact on my life. I just wanted to post this comment from "MT.Jarhead" from GreatFallsTribune.com:

"Yeah Right....When we didn't have any seat belt law they crammed it down our throat saying it would save lives...When we didn't have a speed limit they crammed it down our throat saying it would save lives...When we had a BAC DUI limit of .15 then .10 and now .08 they crammed it down our throat saying it would save lives...When we didn't have an open container law they crammed it down our throat saying it would save lives...Each time they using the chicken sh** exscuse that we might lose Federal funding if we didn't. Last time I saw the statistics, it appears that highway fatalities haven't changed at all!"

There were plenty of other comments from good freedom loving Montanans that basically said they would rather have their freedom than a government that takes the place of parents.

If I had the power to give freedom back to the people of Montana I would. I would love to roll back the seat belt law, roll back the speed limit law, roll back the open container law. What is this, Europe? We're Americans; we can take care of ourselves. We don't need the government to tell us how to live every minute of our lives down to the most minute aspect.

According to an article in the Billings Gazette "seat belt activists" say that it is costing Montanan taxpayers millions of dollars every year. That is probably a debatable issue but even if it is true that is absolutely no reason to take away freedom from people. If you think that Montanans should give up basic personal freedoms to save a couple bucks, then you and I have irreconcilable priority differences. You can't buy my freedom.

Should our legislature really be worrying about a seat belt law? We have drug issues, energy issues, school funding issues, business issues, growth issues, and these people want to enact a seat belt law.

Have faith in the good judgment of Montanans to make their own decision if they want to put a seat belt on or not.

As long as I'm on this point I might as well confront the issue of the police on the roads. Every person I have ever asked always says that police make them feel uncomfortable, scared even, when they drive by. People tense up, heart rates go through the roof, and blood pressure generally increases when people see a policeman driving by. I believe this is because a lot of people have been hit with large fines for petty traffic violations. This is the exact opposite of what should happen. The police should be there to make people safe and feel safe. Giving police the ability to pull someone over for not wearing a seat belt will simply exacerbate this problem.

Why do the police park in hidden areas and wait for the unsuspecting motorist to drive by going five or six miles over the speed limit? Do they not have anything better to do? Obviously not. I can honestly say that in the eleven or twelve countries I've visited, none of them have such aggressive police on the roads. I guess this is one of a very few areas where I think the United States could learn something from the rest of the world.

I don't even want to get started on the issue of unmarked police cars because I will probably have a heart attack since my cholesterol is sky high.

I honestly can't understand why we have more than one policeman in my hometown of Manhattan, Montana. They literally have nothing to worry about but some high school kids vandalizing something. I'd cut their funding and make them stay in the office until somebody calls with a real problem.

Barrack Street Challenge

It’s been a while since I’ve written a blog because I haven’t had time in the past week and I wasn’t particularly inspired before that. What inspired me today was my half hour walk to my Bodhran class. I have to walk by the Mardyke arena and right by the pitch (aka field) for hurling, the traditional Irish game. I’d try to explain what it is but it’s not worth it. I also have to cross the River Lee on a foot bridge. So I stopped today right before I crossed the river and watched these Irish guys play hurling for five minutes. The sky was gloomy, there were people walking around in ivy hats, I was on my way to a traditional Irish drumming class, I was standing by the River Lee, I was by myself, and it was a moment of absolute bliss. It was a moment of pure happiness. I just wanted to share that with you.

I didn’t have time because my good friend Josh swung through here on his way home from England. It was great to see him! It was great to have a close friend here. Of course the time flew by at lightening speed. The first night we went to Cissie Young’s and saw a crowd of drunken guys singing songs. Then we went to the Old Oak for a Pink Floyd cover band the next night and then took a night or two off. We went to Cobh (pronounced Cove) on Saturday with some of my American friends here. Cobh is the harbor town where a large majority of the Irish immigrants to America left from. They even had the exact same statue of Annie Moore that exists on Ellis Island in New York. It was also the last port of call for the Titanic and the Lusitania. It was pretty interesting. On Sunday we went to Blarney Castle which was quite enjoyable. It’s just outside a beautiful, typical, small town. Monday night we went to An Spailpin Fanac for a trad-sesh (traditional Irish music session) because I figured nobody should come here without going to one of those. So that was that.

There is this Cork tradition that is called the “Barrack Street Challenge” that goes like this: You have to drink a pint at every one of the thirteen pubs on Barrack Street. These aren’t American pints of 16 oz either; these are imperial pints of 20 oz. Considering I live on Bandon Road, which turns into Barrack Street a block away from The Spires, I figured it would be a good thing to attempt. I’d been challenging my fellow Americans to do it with me and they agreed two weeks ago. I meant to write about this sooner but time flies. Needless to say, I didn’t finish, and neither did any of my friends. I did get eleven down though and it was an amazing night of pub crawling. You’re probably wondering what on Earth would possess somebody to try that. Or you might be thinking I've totally given myself over to alcohol. Nay! It's the Irish culture! It's the tradition! Indeed, almost everybody out that Friday night was over sixty. The first pub we went to I saw this old man double fisting a whiskey and a stout. One of the pubs had a couple of about eighty years serving alcohol.

This goes to the heart of something I learned in class the other day. Ireland has changed dramatically in the past twenty or thirty years. One of the major drivers of change was the introduction of the TV. I mean they had TV before but it was never a major part of Irish culture until recently. My Irish roommates watch an unknowable amount of television everyday. They watch American dramas like Desperate Housewives, Australian soap operas like Home and Away, and British shows like East Enders. I can’t understand it. If my roommates are any indication of Irish culture in general, then it’s dead. It really bothers me. I’ll watch CNN once every Super Tuesday, but to watch three or four hours of TV a day just boggles my mind. I thank God that my parents raised me the way they did.

So all the old people are out and about, hitting the pub, chit chatting away, socializing, enjoying the craic, while they’re grandkids are holed up inside watching TV produced half a world away. It’s really sad.

Here are some pictures of the pubs we visited on Barrack Street.


Barrack St.

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Eleven, and that's about how it looked. Two pictures are missing. Nancy Spain's, known as the Beer Garden, and Bradley's, which was the creepiest (and cheapest) bar I've yet to visit in Ireland.

The participants, from left to right: Jamie, Erin, James, Steph, Liam, David, and the picture taker: Sarah

I don't know what my deal is with the "rock on" sign, but it must be a hold over from all those summers I spent obsessing about and attending Warped Tour.

Another important fact about our challenge is that we started between 1530 and 1600 and ended at 2400, so it's not like we had eleven pints in two hours. Josh and I were on a kick about 24 hour clocks if you're wondering why I just used military time.

America to the rescue, but I'm just here for fun

I don't understand why the environmentalists have stopped talking about the real reason for environmentalism. Isn't it about living in a place where you can walk outside and not have to wear a gas mask to prevent respiratory problems? Isn't it about having a place where you can wear a white t-shirt outside and not have it turn gray? I thought it was about keeping the rivers clean enough to swim in or float down. I figured it was about maintaining an area of wilderness where a father can take his sons for a five day hiking trip to get away from it all and appreciate the beauty of God's green Earth.

I don't hear any of that anymore. Frankly, the reasons above resonate much more with me than global warming, dooms day predictions, or life and death scenarios. What happened to the core values of the environmental movement? Look, I'm from Montana; I believe in saving the environment. I want China to stop ruining the world's atmosphere.

I don't put complete faith in the scientists who say global warming is real, but that is no reason not to want to protect the environment. It makes me feel like climate change is a smoke screen, a diversion, or some other dishonest move. You'd think that these environmentalists wouldn't give two cents for the environment if it wasn't going to kill them.

Anyway; moving on. After my first month in Ireland I've made one major realization: I can't afford to go to pubs four or five times a week. So, I'm not. Problem solved.

I'm taking this fourth year government class called European Framework, and the other day we were discussing whether or not the EU should have a military. We had just got done talking about Europe's complete failure to solve the Kosovo crisis, and how NATO (read: the USA) had to come in and save Europe's butt.

As a side note, I am amazed at how realistic people are around here about their indebtedness to America. For example, in class the other day the professor asked if anyone had a laptop he could use because he forgot his. I volunteered mine. Then he asked if anyone would help him keep track of time, and an American girl volunteered. He quipped, "Ah, America to the rescue again."

In this EU class we do a discussion exercise at the end of each lecture and when it came to me I said I thought the EU should have a military, so they could take some pressure off the US and NATO in situations like Kosovo. The 26 year old TA guffawed at me and said, "Typical American response." I was flabbergasted. I shouldn't have been I guess, considering she had protested in Spain against the war in Iraq, which she was quite proud of. I should have asked her, "Yes, I am an American, is that OK?"

The next topic was similar but it was about what role the EU should play in foreign affairs. Before it got to me some kid had said that he figured that the UN should be the one doing humanitarian assistance and not the EU. When it came to me I started to say that was unrealistic because there were two undemocratic countries on the security council with veto power, and one is a leading human rights abuser. The teacher had to interrupt me to ask who I was talking about. I obliged her and said Russia and China, but before I found out she was only interrupting me to make a joke about the extent of American democracy. When our true professor comes back I'm going to tell her that the TA showed a complete lack of professionalism, rudely interrupted me to crack a joke, and was unabashedly anti-American, to the point where she offended me. On the way out of class I overheard this Irish girl commenting on how much the professor hated America, so I started talking to her and when I told her I was the one that the TA had confronted, she told me I should complain and say I'm being discriminated against. Thank goodness some people here have some decency.

We have this young girl one more week, and naturally, I won't back down.

I have been staying up until three or four in the morning the last three nights. First it was for President Bush's State of the Union Address, then I had to stay up for the Florida Primary, then I had to stay up for the Republican debate, then I had to stay up for the Democratic debate. It is really quite tiring when 1 a.m. here is 8 p.m. on the east coast; when the coverage usually starts. I guess I should keep my sleeping pattern going like this until Super Tuesday, because I'm sure that will be an all-nighter.

I was cruising the UCC website the other day and found out that they have this student group thats all about dancing, and they offer free salsa lessons Wednesday night. Of course I went last Wednesday, had a great time, and I'll be going every week from now on. There were about five guys and twenty girls. We spent the first 45 minutes doing the basic step so by the time class was over I had to ask the female instructor for a dance to see if I could still do any of the moves I learned last semester. After that she tried to convince me to be on the competitive team, but I said, "No, I'm just here for fun."