A...unique... way to support your candidate

I happened to come across this and thought it was hysterical...her singing isn't too bad either!

What about the children?

Several states have some very controversial things on their ballots this election...two of the biggest, of course, involve abortions and gay marriages. In fact, in California, Proposition 8 (banning gay marriage) is in for a *very* close race. Another state is attempting to outlaw any single parent or non-married couple from adopting children (aimed primarily at...you guessed it - gay couples).

So, I don't get it. Beyond the fact that people are people and should be able to love whom they wish and make whatever choices about their body that they wish...where are the kids going to go? You know the kids...the hundreds of thousands of children in this country with no families and no homes?

Here's my thinking...there are already so many children waiting to be placed in their own "forever homes", and so many more already in foster care, that the system is already overburdened trying to keep track of, and take care of, them all. So, let's presume abortion is outlawed. You are now creating a situation where there will be thousands more of unwanted babies - many of them possibly special needs (Down's Syndrome, etc.). Because even if the child has significant health problems, abortion is not longer an option. Where are they going to go? Who is going to take care of them? The already over-burdened system? The same system where kids can just fall through the cracks until they are found chained to a bedpost, or beaten, or starved almost to death?

Then take the gay couples, married or not. Many of these couples want a family. They're not going to raise children to be gay. They're not going to raise them up as satanists. They just want to have children for the same reasons as other folks - to love them, to hold them, to be there for them and help them grow. Now, many of these gay couples adopt children from the foster-care system, thereby giving these previously unwanted children a home and parents who love them.

So, you're outlawing abortions and creating a potential crisis with the adoption system, and then you're taking away the rights of some people to adopt these children. Talk about stuck between a rock and a hard place! Now we have more children with no homes and no family and fewer people able to adopt them. Hm. Sounds like a terrific idea, doesn't it?

Then, while you're at it, we can decriminalize prostitution (Nope. Not kidding. See *California* above) and put a whole new meaning to "endangering the health of the mother" in the abortion clause...

Just a blurb...

I read this last night and thought is was so beautiful. Regardless of which candidate someone might be voting for, this is a historic election. It is one that our children are watching much more closely than ever before - the good, the bad *and* the ugly. Unfortunately, there has been far too much of the bad and ugly (mostly coming from the Republican camp) than there has been good.

Obama is, whether you like him or not, the personification of the American dream. The man was raised in a dirt-poor family with a father who was mostly absent. Food stamps were not unheard of for him...his grandparents ended up mostly raising him. To have gone from those beginnings to where he is now, as a candidate for President of the United States (Well, those of us who aren't "real" Americans still believe it anyway) of America.

Here it is (as heard by someone else on an NPR radio show):

Rosa sat, so Martin could walk…
Martin walked, so Obama could run…
Obama is running, so our children can fly!

My son asked me yesterday why I voted for Obama. I stopped and thought about it - there are so many valid reasons, but how do I explain it to a 7-year-old child?

Fear. I voted for Obama because I'm tired of being afraid all the time. Our nation has spent too much of the last 8 years in fear. Some of it justified...Much of it created and exaggerated by the people in charge to further their own agenda.

The war in Iraq. Why are we there? Because we were played - our fear and our anger were used against us in order to justify a war that has cost us the lives of thousands of Americans. Men and women who had a job to do and died doing it the best they could.

The economy. I'm tired of feeling like my husband's paycheck, the same military paycheck that thousands of others receive, is getting stretched tighter and tighter. Watching groceries skyrocket. Watching the oil companies bring in BILLIONS in dollars of profits while everyone else is sinking. Losing a couple of thousand dollars within the space of a month - money that to us represented almost 2 years worth of savings, meant to help send our kids to college.

I feel like a little kid who is in the middle of a nightmare that mommy and daddy said didn't exist. It's still here, it's getting bigger, and the monster seems poised to jump right out of my closet and into my bed. I want the nightmare to end. I want the monster to go away...lost in the depths of my closet. I want *good* dreams - dreams where my children and all children have the chance to go to college. Dreams where everyone in this country, particularly those children, have access to good healthcare. Where the rich aren't getting richer by taking from the rest of us. Where we don't have to choose between doing fun things as a family and putting groceries on the table.

From fear to hope...that is my dream. That is why I voted for Obama. To see my wonderful country once again united in hope instead of fear.

How's your health?

What is the truth?

I was in a toy store a couple of weeks ago with my family, when I overheard a conversation between the clerk and a couple of the customers...Basically, the little chat revolved around which candidate was best. It being a VERY small and fairly conservative town, the answer for all parties was "McCain". OK, I have no problem with that. I do, however, have a problem when the reasons given to support one candidate are based on ignorance and racism.

Seriously. I had to walk out of the store, or risk getting involved in a confrontation. I heard one lady "whisper" (you know - the one that is designed to be heard as far as possible, while making it appear that it's a secret?) that she heard that Obama recently said he was a poor man. Well, she goes on, he has millions of dollars, and he says he's poor?!? Just more lies...at which point the man next to her pretty much commented that he won't vote for the black sonofabitch. There was more, but it aggravates me just thinking about it all.

Can you say ignorance? To the best of my knowledge, Obama has not ever said that he is poor *at this time*. He has said, repeatedly, that he was extremely poor growing up - to the point of living on food stamps at times. Something these people could certainly relate to, since this town has not had a viable industry since god-knows-when (logging? fishing?).

And to decide who to vote for based on color?! You may not be an active skinhead, but you're not too much different after all. Particularly after the arrest recently of two skinheads who planned on going on a killing spree that was to end with the attempted murder of Obama. As far as I'm concerned, anyone who judges another person based on the color of their skin is no different or better than a skinhead. They might not be planning murder, and they might even frown upon what those boys were planning...but at heart, under all the lies and facades, if they judge another by ethnicity and/or race, then they are just as wicked and wrong as those who would actively show the hatred and scorn.

It makes me sick, how many lies and labels have been bandied about. Even worse, that so many people actually BELIEVE them without questioning their validity or their authenticity. And these ignorant folk are planning on putting pen to paper on election day based on bullshit. I have so much hope for this country and our world as a whole - but it's hard for me to explain to my children why someone else believes that color is more important than character. It makes me wonder if we will EVER get to the point where the inner person is acknowledged as being so much more important than the outer.

The worst part is, these people who believe so much in their "knowledge" would all be prepared to defend it. They believe just as strongly in their position as I do in mine. And while I'm a firm believer in "middle ground", this is one of those things that I just can't justify as a grey area. Either all humans are created equal, or they are not. Period.

Bless the little children...

So, I read the news this morning where an 8-year-old boy shot and killed himself while shooting an Uzi submachine gun at a gun show. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?

What kind of flippin' idiot allows an 8-year-old child to handle an Uzi without assistance? Expanding on that, what kind of ("properly certified and licensed) idiot just stands there and watches? I have a 7-year-old son, and I know damn good and well that there is no way in hell he would have the strength to hold the weapon steady or the knowledge of how the weapon would handle when fired.

Don't get me wrong - I have nothing against guns. My husband and I both enjoy firing them and doing some hunting. Our children will be introduced to them and taught to fire them, if only to teach them about the damage they can do and how to handle them responsibly. But as far as I'm concerned, responsible education DOES NOT include using an Uzi at the age of 8.

Reports say the father was standing behind his child - but where were the knowledgeable people who should have said "Sir, you'll need to help your son actually HOLD THE GUN"? Or the people who might have expressed a little bit of concern over a child that young firing a submachine gun? And how certified and licensed was the idiot who stood there and watched the whole thing without INSISTING upon either the father helping to hold the gun, or preferably, doing it himself?

I am just sick over this. What a waste of a child's life, for something that was totally preventable and absolutely asanine in the first place. I feel for his parents to the extent that they have lost their child. But part of me truly hopes that this father and this instructor are haunted by guilt for quite some time to come. Mean? Maybe. But there is a high degree of responsibility that comes with having and raising a child, and too damn many people are bowing out of that responsibility. And when you abdicate your responsibility, too often the child is the one to suffer. I only pray that this child, Christopher, did not suffer and was gone before he knew what happened.

Someone ring a bell - Christopher just got his angel's wings.