Two weeks to Go!

Two weeks to go before the big decision, and I wonder how we will make that decision. I know that campaigns run negative ads, it is the way of the political world. But how negative is TOO negative? And if a campaign is too negative, is that enough to disqualify the candidate from the office they seek? I would say that is up to each individual voter. But for me, the way a candidate runs his or her campaign does impact how I feel about that candidate and my ability to vote for them, at least in part. I do think there is a line that can be crossed, and if crossed exclude that candidate from my ballot.

Another aspect to this election is the choice of running mates. Yes, of course, I am speaking of Sarah Palin. It is hard to fairly compare Gov. Palin with Joe Biden, or either of the Presidential candidates. Yes, we would all like to believe that anyone can be President, but do we want ANYONE to be President? We want everyone to aspire to be their best. We should help our children reach their dreams, with hard work and determination, we should be an inspiration to them. But we should always want the best of the best to be the President, the leader of the free world. We don't want Joe six-pack to be President, no really. So when Sarah Palin is compared with the other candidates, she comes up short, not because of how she looked in her television interviews with Charlie Gibson or Katie Couric, but because her resume is lacking the section called experience.

Is race important? I want to think that it is not. However, I believe that in segments of the country, it is. I believe that when words like "welfare" are used it is used as code to rile the racists in the country. I saddens me to think that race could still be an issue in this country. I hope that people who try to use race to manipulate an election, learn that this country can be so much more as a collective of all races, cultures, and religions than as individual people. It is time to put the divisive times behind us and take back this country. No matter your politics, no matter your religion, no matter your gender, don't forget to VOTE!

I'm a Pain to Live With!

I must admit, I'm difficult to live with. That's hard to say for someone like me, I am the kind of person who is rarely wrong. So if I am rarely wrong, it must be great to live me, right? Hell no! I'm a pain in the butt! First I know I can't be right as often as I think, statistically I know I right! Second, I have to have things situated in just a particlar way. Not everything, just some things. For example I have recently taken up cooking. So, I have re-arranged the kitchen so it is efficient. And everything has a place. And if I can't find things, I'm sure I have a skowl on my face becuase it didn't get put away in the right place. I don't me to skowl, I can't help it.

I know that I don't pick fights or bitch (too often) but when I do say something, that makes my words very sharp. So when I decided to stop holding things in, well let's just say, my household though the world was coming to an end! Seeing me with emotions is not good. And I always understood that, like all women, I could give a "look". Sometimes intentional, sometimes not. Well I underestimated their power. Those looks can be like a loaded weapon!

Ladies, here's a little adivise. Don't change too much, too quickly, on your spouse. It scares them, it really does. Don't over use the "look" or your spouse, children, co-workers, etc, will become immune to it's potential effects. Speak softly as long as you can, or not at all if really angry. Scream when they least expect it. They call it "shock value" for a reason. (Don't over use it!)

Most important: Love your families, friends and pets. They may not be here if you blink. Have fun! That's why we are here. Have faith in yourself to do whatever itis you want to do, if you fail, it's ok, it's just a lesson on how not to do something. Keep tryng. But keep having fun!

Dumb Question

Well this evening CNN asked the public (in it's poll question) "Which party will be more successful in attracting evangelicals?". Well I think that kind of question is the type of question that dumb downs the rhetoric in the political discussions going on out there. For a cable news station to try to categorize people into one political camp based on their religious affiliation alone is awfully simpleminded. The Republicans are stronger on their abortion issue, but the Democrats are much stronger on taking care of their fellow man, taking care of this earth, (both issues are actually in the Bible), and they are better at taking care of pocket book issues of the regular Joe. But Republicans seem to have a more credible record on killing, profits for corporations, and keeping regulations away from corporations in order to save them as much as possible and past the costs to consumers. I would hate to be raising children right now. What can you hope to leave your children? I admire people who are having kids, I really do. But please don't hate me, but I don't think people with kids deserve taxes breaks for having so many kids. Get a tax break for one, maybe two kids, but that's it, after 2 kids, no more tax breaks, no deductions, not at my expense! If you have kids you must be able to afford them, if not don't expect the rest of the country to pay for them! It's all on you.

The Evangelical voter, in fact ALL voters, should vote with their own brain, not their religious leader's brain. We live in America where we vote for ourselves and each of us should vote our own mind. We need to make our own decisions, and be willing to defend those decisions with violence if necessary, but with our minds first.

"Bobby" Made Me Sad

I promise I'll be brief. I watched the movie "Bobby" Saturday night and I came away angry. And you may wonder why, let me tell you. Bobby Kennedy was shown talking to children who looked to be about nine or ten years old. He was discussing the ENVIRONMENT, forty years ago! He was using words like "refuse" instead of "garbage" with basically fourth graders! Do you think a candidate for national office would do that now? Do you think a candidate COULD do that? Our politics have made the conversation between politicians and the voting public so dumb it makes me crazy. Just go and listen to the speeches of John or Robert Kennedy, Martin L. King Jr. or even their polar opposites at the time, Richard Nixon or any other Republican, and at least they discussed the issues of the times. You might have disagreed with these people, but they spoke to us like we were adults, they didn't dumb down the conversation and they spoke about whatever the issue was. Nowadays, it's always about the politics not the issues, it's all about the negative crap that someone has done in their past or in private. Hey, John F. Kennedy was prolific at sleeping out on his wife and the press managed to keep that out of the press and where it belonged, between a husband and wife (and who ever else was involved). It is not my business who he slept with and it's not yours, just like it's not my business who the ex-governor of NY slept with either. That doesn't mean I don't think he was as stupid as they come for targeting whores and whore houses and then sleeping in one, with one. Anyway, I said I'd be quick.

If Barak Obama or John McCain are going to occupy the White House for the next four years, shouldn't we at least ask them to be able to speak eloquently, or at least well? Shouldn't they at least expect us to understand the basics of the English language and not have to dumb down their speeches so "all" can understand? Maybe "all" shouldn't be voting unless they get tutoring. Just a thought.

TV Stinks!

You know TV today is terrible. Even the good shows stink. They only have new shows for a few weeks and then they leave us with reruns for months or with crappy fill ins. It just stinks. And then shows you like, well they just disappear.

What's up with these reality shows? I mean how "real" are shows like Big Brother, Survivor, or American Idol? I'm sorry, but that's not reality for me! How about a show that follows someone from the time they get up and follows them all day either to work and around work or while a mom takes care of the kids? Pay the most entertaining real person a cool million. Sounds real to me!

And then take the news, well there's reality for you! How many times in the past 4 weeks have you heard Paris Hilton's name? Crazy isn't it? And why is she famous anyway? She's not even pretty anyway, she looks more like a spoiled, rotten bitch to me. Am I bitter? I don't know, I'd like to see how I'd behave if I had her cash. But I would venture a guess I would behave a lot better than she behaves.

And of course we hear about the idiots in Washington, from both parties and all branches of government. How inspiring! It's no wonder I don't watch TV, it's sickening. And now they want me to watch the Candidate Debates! How about when hell freezes over! And with global warming that won't happen anytime soon. If the candidates could get sometime to actually answer a question in full instead of only a few seconds, I might start watching. I want them to get the time to fully insert foot and swallow!

Education: Then and Now

Yes I have a degree, a relatively new Associate degree in a relatively hot field. And yet the week before my check comes, we are literally pinching pennies. I wonder if staying blue collar wouldn't have been better? Yes we were still pinching pennies, and we were still requiring help from time to time, but nothing has changed from a financial perspective. What a fool I've been.

Don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed going back to school, it gave me a sense of purpose and I loved learning what I learned. However, I learned it so I could make money. Yes it was interesting, but I took up that subjected for the income potential. So now, while I struggle to make the ends meet, which they usually don't, I wonder if I should have just followed my own path and let it lead me where it may.

I'm not advocating a reckless, thoughtless path. In fact, I am suggesting a profound and profane amount of introspection to find out what really makes a person's heart sing. I may sound a bit crazy, but I believe that if you do find out what it is that truly makes your heart sing, then that is what you are meant to do with your life.

You need to have faith in yourself and your own gifts. You have the ability to do so many great things. You have the intelligence to learn anything if presented to you in the right way. I am always going to advocate for school first, for almost everyone. But there are some for whom school (University) is just not the proper path. Let these people follow their own path. Help them as you would college students. They will make up the foundation of our society and a good portion of our elite.

The problem is, how many young people get to this stage? No as many as you might think. Too many students drop out of high school because they can't read or do math. Others drop out so they can work, or to take care of their families. The problem really is that too many children are being left behind by the "No Child left Behind" program. And don't get me started on the little children.

For me there is no excuse. I was raised in an era when schools taught students and we learned. We didn't all learn everything, but most learned most everything that was taught. And they had discipline. It all seemed to work, the only problem with it was we might have learned too much. Finding something to settle on has been difficult.

Congress get's a golden retirement and we get SS?

I just wonder why Congress can't fix the problems with Social Security. Actually, I believe I know. They have no incentive to. They aren't stuck swallowing Social Security like we are. In fact they have a golden retirement plan! And it's free for them, we foot the bill!

Yes, on average, we can expect to get a mere $1000 a month from our Social Security accounts when retire. That is if it is still there when we retire. (And it is not an entitlement, we've been paying into it all our working lives!) But a Congressperson will receive their full pay at retirement until they die, and it costs them nothing. They may get pay increases for cost of living increases and their spouses also draw about $275,000.00 a year for being a spouse of a Congressperson for their retirement years.

Now why would they care about changing the Social Security System? They aren't invested in it. Now if they had to retire on the same system we had to retire on, well now, they might have some reason to work on fixing it. Or even better, why not scrap Social Security and give the American people the retirement plan that Congress has? Why are we swallowing this system that is handed to us? Why are we just accepting the status quo? And not just on this issue but on Medicare, Prescription Drugs prices (and being able to buy them from Canada), the war in Iraq, illegal Immigration, warrantless wireless wiretaps, the erosion of our civil liberties in the name of security? No matter how you feel about these issues, participating in the conversation is your patriotic duty. Have an opposing opinion to the Administration does not diminish you patriotism, expressing that opinion is your duty and your right as an American citizen. So express yourself, be an American CITIZEN! Stop swallowing the status quo. Get up and do something. Start with Social Security. Question your representative or senator, find out why they are so much better than you to deserve such a great retirement.