Moms Are The Best!

In a Pre-Thanksgiving thank you, I wanted to share this fantastic clip sent me to me by my Nana about Moms. They're pretty great. Enjoy!


The Mom Song- LIVE from Northland Video on Vimeo.

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Kyle Taylor

Wait, Where Do I Live?

If I gave you one guess to tell me where this picture was from, I'm guessing you'd say China. The "People's" Post Office and so forth and so on. This notion would most likely elicit images of me fumbling from taxi to bus with passports, "official forms" and the like in hand, doing my best to pick up a box sent far across the Pacific for me to enjoy the goodies inside. Alas, you'd be wrong.

The above image refers to the UK's post office. Not the actual postal service itself (The Royal Mail) but the place you visit to purchase stamps, boxes and so on and so forth only here in the UK, the Post Office sells EVERYTHING. You want car insurance? Done. Homeowner's insurance? DONE. Travel insurance? DONE. Currency Exchange? DONE. Neck pillow? DONE. Birthday Card? DONE. It's like a CVS/Alldays/Target/Dollar Store in one. The one thing not like China: LINES. There are usually 15 to 20 people queuing at any given moment to buy a stamp or perform one of the above tasks, which means no visit lasts for less than 20 minutes. Oh glorious England and their glorious lines!


It's so odd to be in London and yet have constant reminders of China. Maybe it's because I've hit the 6-week mark (the longest I've been in the same place since leaving China) and I'm getting antsy, with nothing but reading and essays in sight. Maybe it's because a hot chocolate costs as much as a fancy dinner our in Shanghai. Or maybe it's just because everywhere is a lot more like everywhere else than I originally thought. In the meantime, I'll just queue up and buy a few stamps.

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Kyle Taylor

I Miss China...

A friend sent these my way and I just had to share the love. Sorry for the lack of person interest stories, but my life is overly routine: Class, Gym or Swim, Eat Something From Mark's and Spencer's, Read, Check Email, Read, Cry About Having No Time To Travel, Read, Shower, Read, Sleep, Repeat. Gotta say though, I'm having a ball. Miss you Zhongguo. Wo ai ni.

Keith Olbermann Is My Hero

Watch this. I couldn't have said it better myself:



Click here if that doesn't show up.

Come on people, get with the program!

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Kyle Taylor

Equality For All? Not Today

This photo shows suporters of "Yes on 8" cheering and whooping upon learning that Proposition 8, a Constitutional Amendment in the state of California to ban equal rights in the form of marriage, was most-likely going to pass. The leader of the campaign was quoted as saying "Tonight, we won!"

November 4th started out as an amazing evening for me. It was 4am in the Student Union at LSE and I was surrounded by thousands of people from every country on earth, most of them hoping Obama would be victorious. All of a sudden CNN's fancy "Breaking News" graphic flashed across the screen and Obama was declared the President-Elect. The room went crazy! Jumping, screaming, crying! I was in shock and disbelief! Never in my adult life had I been a supporter of the President. How did this work? What did we do now that it was time to set the agenda and get the country back on track? What is it like to NOT be cynical? McCain spoke and was gracious. Obama spoke and was hopeful. It was amazing!

At 6am I walked down the Strand through Trafalgar Square absolutely beaming. I wanted to be there in the mix of it! It was time to take back America. This would be a new frontier and I wanted to be right in the middle of it. I got back to my room and went online to check results of other issues that mattered, only to learn that Yes on 8 was winning. A quick phone called to a friend in California was reassuring - "Don't worry yet, LA and San Fran have yet to report in." I went to bed optimistic.

Three hours later I woke up to my worst nightmare - Yes on 8 had won 52% to 48%. I was officially a second-tier citizen no longer afforded equal rights under the law. Depression began to sink in and for the first time in my adult life, I was made to feel genuinely "different" than the majority - less of a person. Here are a few excerpts of what the "Yes on 8" Discriminators had to say:

"Now, if they want to legalize gay marriage, what they should do is bring an initiative themselves and ask the people to approve it. But they don't. They go behind the people's back to the courts and try and force an agenda on the rest of society...And I think we made them realize that there are broader implications to society and particularly the children when you make that fundamental change that's at the core of how society is organized, which is marriage."

And what might that core of marriage be, exactly? That 50% of them end in divorce? And whose backs were we going behind when we used the 200+ year old legal system to preserve equal rights for all citizens? What might these broader implications be on the rest of society, and particularly children? Fewer loving homes to grow up in? A fundamental understanding of tolerance, acceptance and "liberty for all?"

At the core of there argument was this concept of morality, yet the way "Yes on 8" won was by spreading blatant lies. The first was that churches would lose their non-profit status if they refused to marry same-sex couples. The second was that teachers would be "forced" to tell children gay couples were normal. Also not true, but if it was, so what? Exit polling data showed that these were the top two reasons people voted Yes, and both of them were untrue. How dare they ramble on about "morality" and "character."

What's even more disturbing is that in the same election, 62% of Californians voted in favor of legislation that would require farmers to let caged animals run free for a certain amount of time every day (legislation I too supported). Mind you, these are animals that most of these people are going to eat eventually. In that same breath, 54% of them voted to eliminate equal rights for all human beings. That effectively means that people think farm animals that they are going to eat deserve the freedom to run around while their fellow human beings do not deserve equal rights. How, exactly, is that supposed to make gay Californians feel? It's clear where we stand, and it's apparently below prime rib.

I'm 24. I've worked hard my entire life in school, sports and work. I was a finalist for a Rhode's Scholarship and am currently serving as an US Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar in the United Kingdom. I've dedicated my working life to helping young people reach their full potential, traveling to 46 US States and 44 countries around the World to spread that message. I've never done drugs and I've never cheated on a partner. I've always strived to be a categorically "good" person.

The gay community as a whole has done all it can to prove itself as well. We represent more economic spending per capita then any other group in the United States, which is crucial to the economic recovery happening right now. We donate to charity in greater numbers. We're just as committed in relationships as everyone else. We give homes to children who need them by adopting from across the US and around the World. We're educated, generous, caring and have backed every major minority group in history in their historic fights for equal rights and yet now we sit here, on the eve of the first African-American being elected President of the United States - seemingly a huge step forward - as the most recent minority population to be subjected to blatant discrimination by a more powerful (and more numerous) majority, not to mention 54% of African-American voters and nearly 60% of Hispanic voters who voted "Yes on 8." What more do we have to do?

For the first time in history, blatant discrimination has been enshrined in a Constitution - a body that was meant to guarantee basic rights, not strip them away. So then, what, exactly, was the Yes on 8 supporter referring to when he said, "we won?" The right to oppress a minority group? The right to legally discriminate? Please tell me.

So yes, lets celebrate the major step forward that we took as a people on Tuesday night by electing an African-American to our nation's highest office, but remember what Obama said: He can't bring change by himself. It's going to take each and every once of, chugging along little by little, to truly shift the direction of America. All I can hope is that the direction involves equal rights for every American. As he also said, "If there is anyone who still doubts America is a place where all things are possible...tonight is your answer."

Sadly, for me, Tuesday night was the first time in my life that I actually had doubts.

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Kyle Taylor

Photo from the LA Times

Al Franken Is Awesome

So I received this email from Al Franken today. Naturally, there was a photo of a puppy included, so imagine that additional dimension. Isn't this hilarious?

Dear Friend,

Over the past 22 months, I've sent you a lot of emails. And I've tried to encourage you to support our campaign for change with a variety of tactics: kitschy holiday-themed gimmicks, fancy thermometer graphics, and my personal favorite, being pretty shameless about just coming out and asking for your help.

(Which reminds me: PLEASE SUPPORT OUR CAMPAIGN WITH ONE LAST CONTRIBUTION BY CLICKING HERE!)

But this is the last fundraising email I'll send you before Election Day. So I'm holding nothing back. That's right, I'm going to use....AN ADORABLE PUPPY!

That's Carl the Victory Pup. And he's asking you to make one last contribution to our campaign for change. Whether it's $100, $50, $25, or whatever you can afford, every last dollar you contribute today goes immediately into the field to help us pull this thing off tomorrow.

So, please. CLICK HERE TO MAKE ONE LAST CONTRIBUTION TODAY.

Do it for our country. Do it for change.

Do it for Carl.

Thanks for all you've done to build this campaign. Now let's go win it.

Yours truly,

Al

My Closing Argument

In less than 36 hours it will all be over and we in the United Sates will have a new President. It's no secret that I indeed hope it is Barack Obama. I could go on and on about why he is absolutely the better candidate, but I'm sure you've heard it all before. I could also go on and on about why I am a Democrat - a belief in privacy, freedom of speech, equal rights and social justice all stemming from the core notion that every single child deserves a fair shot at making it in this world. Until that is true then we have to do our best to try and level the playing field. The notion that all people have a fair shot from birth is absolutely false and I challenge anyone to even attempt to prove that theory.

Still at this moment, I'm not going to try and appeal to anyone with that argument. Even if you don't share my worldview, I can almost guarantee that you'll be better off with Obama as President. So, for a few moments, shed your "Republican" hat and think about these facts without considering the person behind them. Just think about you, your family and the world you'd like to hand to your children, grandchildren, etc.

The following assertions are all based on non-partisan third-party organizations (and even some extremely conservative organizations)

If you make less than $200,000 a year your taxes will be LOWER under Obama than under McCain (and even lower than what they are now under George W. Bush).

Even if you currently have employer-supplied health benefits, your health care costs (and prescription drug costs) will go DOWN if Obama is elected. If John McCain is elected, all health care benefits will become taxable income and overall costs will rise by approximately 10%. Independent business owners will be affected the most. Under Obama, health care companies (who are currently the second most profitable industry in America) will be forced to cover every American, even if they have a "pre-existing" condition.

Under Barack Obama, college loan interest rates will be locked at 4.8%. McCain has suggested that interest rates should float freely in the marketplace, which would put them at 6.8% at this moment. How much do you want your kids and grandkids to owe when they graduate?

McCain has suggested offshore drilling as a solution to the energy crisis. Even the McCain campaign acknowledges that this effort will not produce any usably oil until 2016. If the nation invests the same amount of funding in renewable energy (as Obama has proposed) we will be able to produce 500% more energy in the same amount of time. Isn't that real energy independence?

John McCain does not believe in equal rights for all Americans. Separate is not equal. The Constitution states "All Men Are Created Equal." Shouldn't we live up to our values? By voting for John McCain you are effectively supporting discrimination.

Barack Obama wants to restrict access to semi-automatic weapons in cities and suburbs. John McCain does not. How safe would you feel knowing that anyone can go into a store and buy a rifle?

Finally, John McCain wants to invest your Social Security in the stock market. Need I say more?

Given the facts, I don't know how the choice could possibly be difficult. At the end of the day, I urge you to VOTE above all else, even if it isn't for Barack Obama. Just know that in voting for McCain you're voting against your own economic interests, against the foundations of our Constitution and against a better future for your children and grandchildren.

I just wanted you to be aware of that.

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Kyle Taylor