Going out west

It doesn't seem like it but it has now been 4 months that I have been living in D.C. It has been an amazing time and I will always remember the experiences that I had here.I am sad to leave but with every ending comes a new beginning.
On Monday I was playing basketball with a co-worker and friends and I badly hurt my knee. :( I could barely walk Tuesday and Wednesday but I am starting to be able to get my ability back. Work has been winding down. Yesterday we had intern appreciation day in our office. We had a lunch with Jim and got letters from the staff. It was a great time. I couldn't have asked for a better office. The staff in my office are amazing and I will miss them. I have loved every part about working with them.

I started packing some of my bags and I have no clue how I will get everything back to Utah. I bought to much stuff out here.

I plan on writing a memorandum of my time out here, so look for that in the coming days.

The Countdown

Worst Thanksgiving break ever. I was sick the entire time and tried writing my paper, but didn't get very far. I think I have strep throat or some sickness that wont go away. Yesterday and Today have been busy at work. A lot of things are going on around the hill, especially with the Auto bailout coming up.
The other day I was eating my favorite food of pizza in the cafeteria in my building. And a lady from a newspaper came and interviewed me about the new visitor center. In case you haven't heard today they opened the brand new 621 million dollar Capital Visitor Center(CVC). I have been in the visitor center a few times sense it was finished but it doesn't open to the public until this afternoon. Its really amazing inside, but not worth the 621 million and for sure not worth the hassle of doing tours. I usually do the capital tours in my office and I have been working on a way to do the new tours with the addition of the visitor center. In fact the CVC is the biggest expansion to the capital ever and it takes up more ground space than the capital. But, they built it completely underground so it wouldn't obscure the view of the capital. Part of the CVC is a massive cafetria that will be some of the priciest cafeteria food you will find. This lady interviewed me about food in the Longworth cafeteria and the new CVC cafeteria. Here is an excerpt from todays addition of Politics-

On Wednesday, while eating his slice of plain cheese pizza and drinking a 24-ounce fountain soda — a $3.80 lunch at the Longworth cafeteria — Andrew Hoyt, an intern for Rep. Jim Matheson (D-Utah), called the CVC’s pricing ridiculous. A similar meal would cost him $7.50 at the CVC.

You can see the entire article here http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1208/16108.html
Who ever thought I would be in the newspaper for pizza?

Everything is starting to wind down for me here in D.C. I now have less than two weeks before I head back west to the great state of Utah. I hope you are all ready for me there. haha. Have a good week.

Well its Thursday night and it has been the lamest Thanksgiving ever. I haven't done much today besides see a movie and try to recover. I'm sick but I am hopefully getting better. Work was pretty busy this week, we were trying to get ready for the Thanksgiving break. I had a half day of Wednesday off and I also have tomorrow off. Tomorrow and Saturday I plan on locking myself inside the Library of Congress and writing my 20 pg. paper for my internship. Hopefully it goes well.
Last week Congressman Matheson volunteered to give us a dome tour. What that is is a tour of the capital dome. To go up into it you have to have a Congressman or Senator escort you. So, not many people get to do this. It was an amazing experience going up there.
Besides the Washington Monument the Capital dome is the tallest point in the City. There is a law in DC that no building can be taller than the capital and that no building can obscure the view of the capital. So once at the top you can see everywhere. Check out the pics below. Hope everyone had a great thanksgiving.

Inside the top of the dome. Apotheosis of Washington behind me


Looking down into the Rotunda


The Supreme Court behind me


David and I looking out at the mall

Starburst

Tons and tons of things have happened since I last wrote. My Mother and Judith as well as my friend Bryan came to visit. Dc has started a transition period to the new President and we are back in session.

My Mother and Judith a family friend came and visited me in DC last weekend. We had an amazing time. I felt like I milked my Mom for all the food I could get. haha. I think I gained a couple pounds. We had tons of fun and did some things that I haven't done yet in DC. One of the highlights of there trip was we decided to do a Segway tour. All three of us got on segways and toured the sites around the city. Everyone that we passed kept looking at us and would take pictures haha. Also while they were here we took a nice trip to Mount Vernan, George Washington's grave and home. It was fun to see how Washington used to live. One night after we ate dinner we were walking around Dupont circle and decided to go into Dupont circle. And we saw all these people dancing so we decided to go investigate and see what was going on. In the non running fountain was all these high school kids dancing but what was funny was they all had headphones on. So about 100 kids were dancing but all to there own music. Judith and Mom got into the fountain and dance with them(see pic below)

The weekend after my Mother, Bryan Liston came to visit. We had a great time. We did a White house tour, Pentagon tour and also toured around the usual places in DC. It was fun to go into the White House and the Pentagon. Friday night was a meeting between Bush and leaders of other country's for the G20 summit. We were near the White House right before it began and we saw motorcade after motorcade filled with presidents of different country's. It was awesome. I don't have the pictures yet, so when i steal them from Bryan I will post them.

On the hill we are go back in session tomorrow. It will be an interesting lame duck session. I was able to do a dome tour with Congressman Matheson today, I don't have the pictures either so I will post about it when I get them.

Hope all is well. On Saturday I hit the one month before I get home mark. So in less than a month I will be home. Have a great week.

Andrew

YES WE CAN

There are no better words to say right now than YES WE CAN. We did it, we got Obama into office. It has been a very emotional last day. Right now I am on a huge high just so excited that Obama won and that this country can start going in the right direction again.

A little story now. 4 years ago I spent election night laying on my couch in my basement watching intensely as Bush won. 2 years ago I spent election night in the Iron County clerks office being a "watchman" for the Democratic party making sure votes were counted correctly. Now, this year has been the best year so far. I don't think it could get better than this. The chief of staff in our office, her child got sick and in turn gave the 2 interns her tickets to the best election party in DC. I have never been so excited for a party in all my life. It was DCCC/DSCC election night party. This is a very exclusive party to get into and it consists of Democratic staff and leaders. Some of the attendees were Nancy Pelosi, Harry Ried, Steny Hoyer ect.
It was an amazing night. It was at the Hyatt here by the Capital, Because of the people that attended there were tons of secret service people everywhere. Also every news station had cameras there to take the comments by the leaders. In the big ballrrom they had projector screens that were turned onto the news and every time a state would be announced we would all react to it. The night just kept getting better and better every time Obama won a state we would get riled up and just scream and cheer. When they announced that Obama was the projected winner everyone just went crazy. We started jumping and screaming and people were crying and hugging. It was an amazing sight. Most of the people at this meeting had been working on the Obama campaign for the last 2 years and were just enthralled at the outcome. We watched McCain give his speach and then we all waited and danced and partied waiting for Obama's speach. When Obama came out we all got riled up again and screamed and cheered. Obama's speach was amazing. Thats the only words I can really say about it was that it was purely amazing. If you haven't watched it, please do. His speech touched me personally as I'm sure it touched millions. After Obamas speech it was fun to watch and cheer as thousands from all over walked to the White House and cheered and chanted in front of the White House.

This is history in the making!!!!!! It doesn't get much better than this. America showed the world and each other that we need change and YES WE CAN make change. I want to end this blog with part of Obamas speach he gave last night. Its parts that touched me and brought a tear to my eye.

"It's the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled. Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been just a collection of individuals or a collection of red states and blue states. We are, and always will be, the United States of America."

"To those who would tear the world down: We will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security: We support you. And to all those who have wondered if America's beacon still burns as bright: Tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope.
For that's the true genius of America: that America can change. Our union can be perfected. What we've already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow."


The stage behind me


News stand behind me



Steny Hoyer, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Ried speaking to the American People


YES WE CAN


Blaine and I at the Party

The land of the Free and the home of the Brave

I recently started writing a few paragraphs about what I believe in politically and why i am voting the way I am. These few paragraphs turned into more than 6 pages. I edited parts of it and condensed it greatly to help give you a perspective on why I believe the things I do and why I voted for Barack Obama.

I have received a lot of flack from Utahans and conservatives alike for my very liberal views. I am a Democrat I’m not afraid to say that, if you look at my voter registration you will see a big D next to my name. I believe in the truth and I know what I believe is right. Like it’s often said the truth has a liberal bias. I grew up in a very conservative city and state. My parents, siblings and extended family are all very conservative. I love my family to death but, I feel like most of there political views are very off track. Before I get too into this I would like to say that I believe everyone has the right to there own opinion and the right to vote for whomever they choose. This blog is about what I believe in and about whom I am voting for and why I think we should vote for this person. I don’t intend to attack anyone personally I am just trying to push my view across.

As I was saying I grew up in a very conservative surrounding. I often as a teenager engaged in political discussion to grow a fundamental knowledge of politics. Of course most all of these discussions were with republican/conservative people. So all I learned about from these people were the republican side of every issue. It was as almost as if I was coerced to think this conservative way. But later on when I left to college I decided being the free thinker that I am to look into what I personally believe and how I personally feel about issues. I learned a great deal about myself and about what I believe during that first year of college. I looked into issues and researched both sides and came up with what I believe. After reviewing issue after issue I kept finding myself leaning greatly to the democratic side. I looked at abortion, government, health care, gay marriage, equal rights, energy, environment, guns, free speech, immigration, foreign policy ect, and on most of these issues I leaned very liberal.

I believe that everyone has the right to be who they want to be. Everyone should have there own choice on whether or not to have an abortion. Government or citizens shouldn’t take away peoples right to marry the one that they love. No one should be restricted from immigrating to our country. Health Care should be open to everyone. American cannot police the world. I could go on for hours about issues but ill spare you the time.

As the presidential vote comes closer and closer I can only watch and hope that we as a country make the right decision. Our country is falling apart, I first learned this when I started to become educated in American government. And it continues to be shown now that I live and work in our nation’s capital, I can only now fear that America will make our country tumble and be destroyed if they pick the wrong candidate for president.

I first heard about Barack Obama on the news as he became a runner for the democratic ticket. I being the open person that I am looked into all the candidates running for president and I could only choose one that truly could change our country for the best and inspire America to become a better country. I met Obama in Park City, I heard him give an inspirational speech and than shook his hand. I have been inspired many times in my life, but there was something about Obama that just made me tingle and be excited like none other. He inspired me to be a better American and to be a better human being. I will be voting for Obama in this presidential election.

John McCain preaches more of the same. But it’s real simple to look back at his record and see that he is just more of the same. America is not better off than it was 4 or 8 years ago. Our country’s livelihood is at stake in this election and we can’t give this election to a Senator that has continued to lead our country in the wrong direction. McCain has been in the senate for too long, he has lost the fire inside to do anything right. We must look to the future, In 4 years were will our country be? Under McCain we will still be paying billions of dollars to pay for a pointless war. Under Obama we can start to get our country back on track.

Sen. McCain picked Sarah Palin for his VP as you know; this pick alone has made me loose all faith in the Republican Party. In my few years in politics I have never seen a more under qualified and out of touch candidate. The fact that McCain picked Governor Palin shows he has no chance of making right decisions in the White House.

The United States can not continue to police the world, It can not continue to borrow money from China to buy oil from the middle east, we can not continue to discriminate against equal rights, we can not continue to allow a political party that has driven our country into the ground continue to lead our country, It is time to pick Obama and change our country for the better. I’m sure everyone has already picked who they will be voting for, but just remember when you push that button to choose your candidate that you are remembering what that candidate will do to our country. Yes we can Barack Obama. I know I used a few scare tactics in my writing above. If we take the scare tactics out of both candidates we come to see to very fundamentally knowledgeable men. One opposed Iraq war from the start the other could see America being in Iraq for another 100 years. One wants to decrease taxes for 95% of Americans and one wants to lower taxes for huge profit gas companies. One wants to change our economic policies and one wants to keep Bush’s policies. It really comes down to how each of these candidates is going to change our country for the better. I think it’s very well known that our country is headed in the wrong direction. Let’s get it back on the right direction and continue to be the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave. Thanks for reading. Vote- Obama-Biden, Benion Spencer and No on Proposition 8(if you live in CALI).

The UTES

This picture was taken during our midterm meeting. The gentlemen in the middle our Kirk Jowers the Director of the Hinckley Institute of Politics and Rich Mckeown Chief of Staff to Secretary Leavitt. The Chinese students are all from Shantou University in China they are out here in coordination with the U of U. They are journalism students and are working with other journalism students from the U. Most everyone in this picture is an intern besides the 12 or so Journalism students. 4 of us are interns for congress, Me with Matheson, One with Rep. Wexler, One with House committee on Foreign affairs and one with Senator Hatch. The rest of the interns work in many different places around the city. A couple are with the Democratic National Committee(DNC). A couple are with the Department of Energy(DOE). A couple are with Government relations offices of major companies. One with the Republican Governors association. That is not all the internships that are from Utah but that should give you a grasp on how different and diverse of internships we have out here. Its fun to discuss with other interns from Utah what they do in there office's and what there office does.