INSOMNIA and US POLITICS
I have always considered myself to be nocturnal. My brain seems to be more alive at night, and trying to go to sleep when your mind doesn’t want to is quite challenging. In fact, many of my works were written on those sleepless nights, and I’ve written about this constant struggle to get undisturbed slumber. On top of that, judging by my dead beat look and dwindling energy level in the morning, it is safe to say that I am definitely not a morning person.
Aside from my personal concern that excessive drinking of coffee is bad for my health, I gave up coffee many years ago for herbal tea because it didn’t help me with my sleeping problem. I used to be a coffee addict and it has served its purpose well a long time ago, during those times when I was cramming for projects and exams, and when I was desperately trying to fight the desire to sleep at work when I was part of a tv production crew.
I don’t really know what it is but I find it very hard to retire to bed early. Back then, aside from the net and the telly, my addiction to certain PC games kept me awake. I used to exhaust myself playing THE SIMS, BEJEWELED, WORD TWIST, SCRABBLE, CHECKERS, SOLITAIRE and HEARTS, even missing meals and avoiding the loo at times. I remember going online searching for random people to play scrabble or checkers with. So in a desperate move to ground my feet back to reality, I deleted THE SIMS and BEJEWELED from my PC. I find that reading tends to tire my eyes and make me sleepy, no matter how much I like the book so that helps a bit. However, the use of the mobile phone to play games, read and watch the news, and surf the net is a different story.
Things haven’t improved much for me. I still stay up ‘til late. At one point, I even stayed up watching GIRL INTERRUPTED on YOUTUBE ‘til dawn. After I finished watching the movie, I realised that the sun was rising up and the birds were chirping to greet the morning. I laughed, then panicked, and then forced myself to sleep. By that time, I was already beginning to feel light-headed. But now, it’s normally my addiction to news that’s disrupting my sleeping pattern. I spend too much time watching the news whenever I can. I watch or read the news in the office on my PC when there’s not much work to do. Then, I go home and watch the early evening and late evening news so I’ve slept on the couch numerous times. Sometimes, I even go online and watch some more. I normally fall asleep in the process. Moreover, I also watch the news on my mobile before shutting my eyes, lying down on the bed. But I’m beginning to think that it’s getting out of hand because there was a time when I stayed up ‘til past 3:00 in the morning, on a weekday-- very much aware that I got work the next day--listening to the OBAMA and MCCAIN’s speeches on their Individual Party Conventions. Then, there was a time when I fell asleep on the couch, watching the telly. I woke up at around 4 am, with the lights still on, and headed to my bedroom. But hang on, I found myself half-asleep, fiddling with my mobile phone, trying to watch or should I say, listen to the news sound bites. Sounds insane? Perhaps.
I’ve been closely following the US Presidential Election, obsessing over US politics. I find the whole OBAMA vs MCCAIN contention very interesting. And oh, let’s not forget about Hilary Clinton’s crushed dreams of becoming the first female president of such a powerful country. Poor Hilary. Can you imagine the agony of keeping a fake smile on your face, while standing in front of your crying supporters and international media, proclaiming support for a candidate you once criticized for his lack of experience and credentials to lead the country? The agony of the fallen heroine… It’s so entertaining. It’s like watching a soap opera.
But what I find even more interesting is how the two candidates play their cards. Obama tries to play down the issue of racial discrimination in the Land of the Free because he’s trying to win the white votes. In doing so, he’s distanced himself from a former family friend and pastor, Rev Jeremiah Wright Jr. who was criticized for his inflammatory preaching, calling the US a racist country. It’s worth noting that this Pastor wed Obama and his wife, and also baptized his two children. After Obama’s denouncement of the Pastor’s controversial sermons, Rev Wright retired from his congregation. Go figure!
Mccain, on the other hand, desperately tries to distance himself from Bush and portrays himself as an experienced politician. But wait, he’s got an ace hidden up his sleeve, or at least, he thinks he does. He tries to close the gap in the polls by capitalising on the woes of disappointed Hilary supporters by choosing a female running mate, Alaskan Governor, Sarah Palin aka “hockeymom”. I still can’t think of any good reasons why the Republicans would choose to have Palin for the Vice Presidency other than she’s a woman and that she was very popular in Alaska. Okay, in fairness, I don’t think she’s a complete “redneck” like most people consider her to be. In fact, I don’t want to refer to anyone as a “redneck”, due to its derogatory implications. However, I must say that the famous Tina Fey - Saturday Night Live Spoofs that are currently spreading like wildfire on Youtube are not so far from the unfortunate truth, which makes them even funnier. And oh, watching the farcical CBS Interview with Palin by Katie Couric was like having a nightmare. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I didn’t know if I was going to laugh or get upset after Palin embarrassingly tried to expound on her Foreign Policy credentials by stating that “Alaska has a very narrow maritime border between a foreign country, Russia and on our other side, the land boundary that we have in Canada. It’s funny that a comment like that was ….. mocked.” Duh! Well, I live in Australia and it’s near New Zealand and Indonesia so I guess, that gives me foreign policy credentials! Wow! I guess I can become the next Prime Minister!
Okay, fine. That wasn’t entirely a bad comment but watch this video to see how she tried to clarify this by adding, “Putin, where does his head come into the airspace of United States of America... where does he go? It's Alaska...” Hahaha. I swear this is a crack up.
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=nokTjEdaUGg&feature=related
She can’t even cite specific examples of Mccain’s leadership record of pushing for more financial regulations. All she could say was, “I’ll try to find you some and I’ll bring them to ya…” Note, she said this in her trademark “hockeymom” way.
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=RM72M62jAUc&feature=related
And although nothing beats her comments on her foreign policy credentials, I reckon, her verbal diarrhea to explain the significance of the recent $700 Billion Wall Street Bailout just gave me a massive headache, if not a brain hemorrhage. Mates, please watch this video and try to see if you can make out anything from this rubbish.
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=txfqWzGMgmY
God Bless America!