Politics is a favorite subject of mine. It's a tough topic for me to avoid, since there is so much injustice and misinformation out there, so much evil shit happening right under our noses. The public is ill-informed, unaware, or willfully ignorant of how lives are affected by the unchecked reckless greed and lust for power that corrodes our political system. With the Supreme Court recently deciding to lift the limits on corporate campaign expenditures, it's going to get worse; one can only hope that the buying and selling of government positions will become so blatant that the public finally recognizes what's been going on for decades, becomes nauseous and outraged and demands new laws, new representation.
Whether it was manipulation or outright collusion, the banking giants (whose actions helped to precipitate the current recession) were able to skip the line and get what they needed out of the government in order to continue reaping astronomical profits, while middle and working class Americans were left waiting at the back of on line, empty-handed. Combine this with the anti-government fervor that usually accompanies economic downturns, and trust in government is at an all-time low. Of course, the disconnect between the mood on main street and the mood inside the Capitol bubble is so nearly complete that it's taken weeks of very public scoldings by the President to shake the Democrats out of their lethargic ineffectiveness. There is no waking up the Republicans. Their behavior is so erratic that they cannot pretend to have a plan; if they have an agenda, it's to cause confusion and to disrupt government business in order to make the President look ineffective.
It's with this frustrating nonsense in mind that I look for mindful diversions. A great one I've recently found is hubblesite.org.
Turbulent Gases in the Omega/Swan Nebula
Source: Hubblesite.org
The Sombrero Galaxy in Infrared Light
Source: Hubblesite.org
Light Echoes From a Star
Source: Hubblesite.org
The Surface of Jupiter
Source: Hubblesite.org
After looking at the vast beauty of celestial interplay, it's hard not to feel foolish for giving politics so much of my attention. There are individuals around us trying hard to figure out the secrets of the universe, who are looking backward into time in order to predict how the future will unfold, while others are examining the very nature of time and space. A man sits quietly in his home contemplating the nature of existence, trying to attain enlightment, while a group of men and women brainstorm over how to create an oxygen-rich atmosphere on Mars. Meanwhile, the rest of us call each other names and wrestle over money.
Check out these image tours. They help explain what it is you're seeing in these incredible captures of outer space.
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