Misguided Patriots, U.S. Sweatshops and Why Jet Lag Sucks

The picture is of my neice and two of my brothers at my 30th birthday party (a little early). My parents threw a little family shin-dig for me to celebrate my milestone. It's nice to still be given the kid treatment once in a while.

I am home for a good long while however! I flew in yesterday and am feeling incredible jet leg for reasons unbeknownst to me. There's only a two hour time difference between St. Louis and here, but I woke up this morning completely exhausted and shaky. Maybe I didn't drink enough water, maybe I wasn't sleeping well in Missouri, maybe my nerves were shot as I have recently become a terrible white-knuckle flier. On my flight from Dallas, I was sitting next to two little kids flying alone. The turbulence was quite minor compared to other flights I've been on in the recent past, but I was forcibly trying to regulate my breathing and gripping the side of the seat. Both of the girls were playing video games and lolling off to sleep halfway through. What's happened to me? I used to be like that.

So, I'm exhausted and lazy today. I guess I deserve a day of respite but feel pretty upset with myself for taking it. Tomorrow I will get more done.

Two things I wanted to touch on that I've been thinking about since the race. One raised my dander at the track. Being Memorial Day, we always have representatives from each faction of the armed forces march around the track before the race, and various military planes do flyovers during the National Anthem, and sometimes after "Taps" is played. It's all part of the pomp and circumstance and I have no problem supporting these men and women for the sacrafices they've made to be the force of protection for our country. I am glad to give thanks to the men and women of earlier wars who gave their lives to help keep our country free and safe. What irked me this time, was that every time a flyover happened or military men and women marched in front of us last Sunday, huge factions of the crowd stood up, pumped their fists and started chanting "U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!..." Banging their feet on the ground and grunting out each letter as if they were calling for an encore at a heavy metal concert or rooting for their favorite sports team.

What is that all about? Why do so many people feel the need to chant out their country's name while standing in the heartland of their own country? What do they hope to achieve by this jingoistic display? Do they realize that our country is in a war it cannot win right now, that we aided and abetted a huge civil war in Iraq? Are they rooting for our country to win as if we were all in some giant video game in a country they can barely imagine on the map? Why do we need to thrust our patriotism into the faces of other citizens of our own country? For that matter, why do we need to thrust our fanatic patriotism into the faces of citizens from other countries? Doesn't that make us look arrogant and a little bit stupid, or perhaps we look like we're scared of our own shadow - we have to obnoxiously affirm our patriotism to believe it ourselves? Do these people realize that almost half of the drivers of this race are not from the United States? I watched the rest of the opening ceremonies for the race (however beautiful) with a bad taste in my mouth.

The other dander raising moment for me was on the plane home. I read an article in Ms.Magazine about Saipan and the Marianas Islands, a U.S. Territory in the Pacific that imposes most U.S. laws on those living there except for minimum wage. This chip in the law, supported by people like Tom DeLay, allows sweatshops and indentured servitude to persist on this U.S. soil, and it goes by unnoticed because garments made there can display a tag stating, "Made in the U.S.A." According to the Article, J. Jill, Elie Tahari, Ann Taylor, Liz Claiborne, The Gap, Ralph Lauren and others subcontract production to factories on the island so they can have a U.S. product made at sweatshop prices. Three bills are wending their way through the House and Senate to make the minimum wage laws apply in the Marianas, but they need our support. DeLay and his cronies have done an excellent job of making other such bills die on the floor. The link to the article is below.

The more I read and see pertaining to our current administration, the more sick to my stomach I get.

Tomorrow I start work on my many projects happening in the summer and fall. Hopefully they will help my mood elevate and my jetlag fall away.