I feel like Katie Couric is alternating between trying not to smirk and trying not to hit Sarah Palin.

I’m getting tired of the United States. I know that makes me sound ungrateful, for I’ve been quite fortunate to have been born into life in a developed country where I had the ability to make a good life for myself.

But I am getting really fatigued with a less-than-critical, less-than-educated population making stubborn, pride-filled, uninformed decisions that lead to bad policies for me and my family and an even worse reputation abroad.

I mean, I don’t think I’m asking for a lot. I want:

• Religion out of my government and out of my schools
• Guaranteed health care for every tax payer
• Guaranteed health care for every child
• Respect for intelligence and analysis
• Countrymen and women who vote based on issues other than abortion
• Countrymen and women who won’t try to intervene in the lives of two consenting adults
• A stable economy
• A president who thinks education and elitism is an asset, not a liability
• Comprehensive, accurate, and agenda-free sex education for our children

Having realized that the Right is steadily out-breeding the Left and that common sense and logical, enlightened thinking are taking a backseat to religion and “morals,” I have been trying to convince the Ex that we should become expats. Not in the “I’m fleeing to Canada” sort of way - more in the “Now seems like a good time to expose our son to other cultures” sort of way. I think Americans are really ignorant to the rest of the world and I want to absorb myself (and my family) in an international - not a national - world.

The recently proposed stop-gap for the banking and economic crisis we’re facing is expected to cost upwards of 1 trillion dollars. That’s 12 zeros. A whole lot of money.

I’ve been hearing a lot of (stupid) conservatives complain that this is a terrible idea and that we shouldn’t be bailing out companies for making bad business decisions. While I empathize with their frustrations, I vehemently disagree over whether the government should “bail out” these financial institutions. All these naysayers see are more taxes - which will be inevitable, no matter which party we elect in November (regardless of how much Sarah “I don’t think economics is a prerequisite for the Vice Presidency” Palin says otherwise). What they don’t see are the exponentially worse consequences that we’d face if we didn’t prevent these institutions from failing. For its not the actual companies that Congress is working to save, it’s the very stability of the US economy.

At the same time, the Ex and I are considering buying a condo. It’s not that we’re stupid - we understand just how bad the housing situation is right now. But there is a condo right across the street from us being auctioned off by its owners. They’re starting the bidding at $249,000 for a property that is easily worth twice that much, even in the current housing environment. I doubt we’d get it at the price we’re willing and able to pay, but we’ll see. I’ve got my fingers crossed!