The Plan

I recently had a conversation where I learned about the mandatory volunteer programs that Obama and Emanuel have proposed. Obama proposes that junior high kids do 50 hours of community service in a year and high school kids do 100 hours. This shouldn't be a big deal because most of us have already had to do community service through school - I volunteered at a library! Emanuel proposes young adults from 18 - 25 to complete three months of civilian service where they would learn the basics in emergency situations, like how to evacuate people, what to do if a levee breaks, what to do in the event of a biochemical or nuclear attack... things I'd like to know now, actually. There's also the idea, which passed before Obama was elected, to allow the option for federally approved volunteering to cut student school loans if they have difficulty paying them off.

In the heat of this exciting conversation extreme words were used, which made me really curious as to what the hell all this volunteer crap was all about. My side of the conversation went like, "uhhhh, really? I don't know, that doesn't seem legal...hmmmm, der der der." So with a little bit of googling (that's right, I didn't capitalize "google," should I?) I found the answers I was looking for.

Now. What was I thinking about before all this? Oh yeah, I hope we kick the pants off of North Korea, or that Kim Jong Ill (I looked like him when I was a baby) dies. And over in Iran. My heart goes out to the protesters and to Neda's memory. Dear Khomeini and Ahmadinejad, I don't see you winning this one.

And because I love ending things with "In conclusion," In conclusion, I hope the world doesn't explode from all our explosives or implode from all our crazy-dummy heads.

Here's a picture of my brother in law with his new baby to end on a lighter note. He's eight pounds three ounces. Poor mom was in labor for 72 hours getting this little rascal out!