Something to think about...

I came across this entry last night from an amazing woman, and asked if I could share it. I have it here in its entirety for your reading enjoyment (the bold statements are what I find especially important and/or thought provoking). Thanks Donna!

"I vote in caucus, primaries, and general elections etc. I do not vote in election media polls, on the phone, in the mail, through email, or on the street. My ballot is a private one and I feel media pols are a mockery of the election process. They encourage people to rely on the consensus of others rather than think for themselves. They also lead people to be less responsible citizens. Some people who are polled lie about who they’ll vote for. Others look at the polls and see that their candidate is doing well, then they fail to vote, thinking the other majority of those polled will do their work.

All Americans have access to mandatory 13 years of eight hours a day, 180+ days a year of school at the expense of the government, which is taken out of our taxes and taxed on businesses who pass this on in higher prices. You would think that in that gross amount of seat-time children could be taught our American process of selecting representatives. Somehow the important things like how to read, write, calculate, know world geography, understand the history of world governments, and the duties of citizenship, get bypassed for the more racy stuff like how to put a condom on a banana, someone has two mommies, some prince was married in a royal wedding to some other prince, and pseudo-science. We pay dearly for this as citizens. So we have paid a high price for this Emperor and His New clothes.

The NEA want carte blanche. They do not want parents/clients tampering with their pedagogical agenda. They are in desperate need of oversight and accountability to those they serve. I am not talking of standardized multiple guess tests. I am talking about rethinking the purposes of public offered education. In the financial times we are entering, we need to make sure that education is not being hijacked and watered down by every social agenda. We are cheating the children if we do not prepare them with basic knowledge that will prepare them for the responsibilities of adult life. We have to stop every special interest group from using school as a Trojan Horse to get their agenda planted in children’s minds. We have to stop using our educational dollars on educational fads. There is no excuse for low literacy and numeracy, and no excuse for not understanding our form of government. When children are properly prepared for adult life, are reared to have a good work ethic,
and understand the freedoms they enjoy, they will better prepared to keep them.

Some insane voting conversations:

Case 1.
I had a family member who prided herself on having voted for the winner in every election since she had reached her majority. We discussed what our voting responsibilities are,” Doctrine and Covenants 98:8 I, the Lord God, make you free, therefore ye are free indeed; and the law also maketh you free.
9 Nevertheless, when the wicked rule the people mourn.
10 Wherefore, honest men and wise men should be sought for diligently, and good men and wise men ye should observe to uphold; otherwise whatsoever is less than these cometh of evil.”
Our responsibility is not to just seek out the winner or the person we feel has the best chance to win. Nor is it to vote for the lesser of to evils. I am always intrigued by those who call voting for the unpopular by better candidate as throwing your vote away. When we do what God commands us to, His hands are bound. When we do not, we have no promise. We simply do not live up to our privileges.

Well, after our talk, she did not vote for the guy she thought would win. Funny, the one she voted for did win after all.

Case 2.
I was in the check out at Walmart. There was an unshaven guy with huge tattoos and wearing a tank top, in line behind me. All of the sudden he mentioned that if “they” would let him vote he would vote for Obama. OK, from what he said and by his appearance I surmised that he must be one of those men who had broken the law, and by the fact he was right there, he had done his time, but was disenfranchised as a voter the rest of his life. So, I asked him, “why?” Then he told me because it would be historic and he would be part of history! Of all the lame reasoning for voting for someone.
Every president is historical and deals with new challenges. In times like these our choice needs to based on sound principles, not on ridiculous reasons like being part of history.

Case 3.
When JFK became president I was in Kindergarten. I have heard that some people voted on him because he was young, others because he was good looking, others because he was a war hero, and others because of a beautiful wife. Again, how do any of those things qualify you to run a country?

I believe that we have this wonderful gift called freedom. We need to pray to understand just what that means. Then we need to do the work to keep it. Voting in a General election is only a fraction of what it takes. I believe that the gift of freedom is God given. I also believe that we will be held accountable for how we use this gift of voting and other freedoms."

The presdiential candidates and the military

My friend Kate brings up a good point (thanks Kate!) Would either candidate be better for the military? Tragically, while I have my reservations, I think that McCain wins this one too.

Nathan's been in the Air Force for 7 years now. Currently the AF is putting him through school to be an officer, and because of that we have 5 years to "pay off," which for all intents and purposes means that we are "lifers" or "married to the military." As such, I have an invested interest in job security and finances associated with the military profession. So, that being said, here are my thoughts on the matter:

The fact that Obama wants to bring the troops home is okay by me. I think for myself and most of the military spouse community, we actually don't like our other halves being deployed on a regular basis. Especially when we don't know exactly when they are coming home and there's a good possibility that they'll be shot at while there. Not fun. I don't know what the implications of a pull out will mean. I don't know that a time line is necessarily the best option. Unfortunately, I don't see how anyone can foresee the implications of doing so. Iraq may fall apart, we may get attacked for pulling out, I just don't know... I DO know that if we do pull out that the lives lost in Iraq have not been in vein. The soldiers who gave their lives did so while fulfilling the wishes of their Commander and Chief. I also know that we can't be the stewards of every nation. Of course I think we should do what we can to protect ourselves (I won't go so far as to say preempt everything, but we should protect our nation and our liberties... which are actually being destroyed by our own government.. ironic, okay, okay... that's a subject for a different day), and others, but we can't go guns blazing into a territory not ready to accept and sustain democracy. I think it's a great way of life, but they are used to living under dictatorships (I got this realization from a friend who has ties to Lebanon).

Anyway! So, I appreciate Obama's plan for this war, I think. HOWEVER, he laid out some specifics for his health care plan, and that WOULD NOT be good for the military. We have pretty rockin' health care. Honestly, I'd say health care is one of the top 3 reasons why we stick with the military. Can you imagine what'll happen to it if EVERYONE can by into the government insurance plan? If we end up embracing a type of universal health care, health care declines for everyone. Doctors lose their compensation, and as we've seen in other countries, that doesn't work out so well. So, if you like TriCare, then you don't like Obama.

The other thing he talked about was cutting useless spending in the military. So, he's not going so far as to say that he's cutting our budget, but I think this is probably his PC way of doing so. I'm sorry, but any organization that has a use or lose budget is going to "abuse the system," and quite honestly, it's out of necessity. Just like I have to use every penny of my church funds so I can get them again next year, the military doesn't get a pat on the back for being frugal. In order to have funds for the next quarter they literally have to blow their money on anything they can think of because they next quarter something may come up that would require their full budget, and they'd have less if they didn't use every penny allocated to them previously. The person who installs incentives for saving money will be the one who can better control the cash.

McCain makes me a little nervous. Like you've noticed, I'm not his biggest cheerleader, but I'm finding him to be the lesser of two evils. Due to his Vietnam experiences I'm both skeptical and encouraged. I wonder if he'll be able to accept "a loss" in Iraq. I don't know if he'll be able to walk away from the situation and be able to stay out of things if another bad reigme takes over once we leave. Will he be able to pull us completely out, or will we have Korea all over again for decades to come?

My hope is that between the two of them, McCain and Palin, that they'll be able to make the right choice for our nation. I'm all about learning from the past, but I don't think that this situation has a pretty ending since we didn't learn from Vietnam in the first place. So, hopefully they can handle that.

Where I think we're safer with him lies in the fact that he does have an invested interest in the military, and so does his running mate. Neither Palin or McCain will hurt the military, I'm almost positive of that. Historically, we've seen the Republican party grow the military, and the Democratic party shrink it... that's just one of those party line things that is expected. However, the Republicans this time around are personally involved with how the military is treated. While Obama is proud of his grandparents who helped in previous wars... even though his pride couldn't actually help him remember what campaign they served in... he doesn't have ties to things personally. McCain will want us to have a good life, and good retirements since he personally knows the sacrifice, and Palin has a son who's currently serving and isn't going to want to take away from him.

So, the two second recap:

Obama's Pros:
-He'll pull us out of Iraq (theoretically anyway)

Obama's Cons:
-His health care plan will destroy the benefits we have and flood the system giving sub-par care and longer wait times for procedures.
-His ideas to cut useless military spending is just another way of saying he's going to cut funding across the board.
-He doesn't have personal experience with the military, and thus is more likely to make decisions that will have an adverse effect on us, simply because he doesn't understand what the implications to our families will be.
-Has so many programs that he wants to install that are going to need MAJOR funding, and will probably use them as an excuse to pull more of our "useless" money. (Which kills me, the DOD has a school system too! We have kids that need money, I don't see how we're not an entity that needs funding.)

McCain's Cons:
-His experiences in Vietnam may prevent him from making unbiased decisions about our current, and possibly future, war situations.

McCain's Pros:
-He understands the military and the sacrifices we make (pay included).
-He won't try to pull our funding.
-The military flourishes under republican presidents.

So, these are my observations. You can take them or leave them like everything else I rant about, but as a military wife, I'm going to have to take my chances with McCain.

More on Palin and the Today show

So, here's an article from the Washington Post that was left for me on the Palin interview . In a nutshell the guy states that he was the first to use the phrase "Bush Doctrine" and that Charlie Gibson's definition of it was incorrect.
While I can appreciate what was written, I still don't think the interview went well. Palin DID look confused. From what I know, what defines "Bush Doctrine" now (even according to Wikipedia which the author above refers to) is basically a culmination of many different policies our oh so somewhat confused President has put into effect.
I don't expect everyone to know everything. I learn many knew things everyday and wouldn't have it any other way. I also don't expect Palin or any other presidential candidate to know everything, but I DO expect them to say when they don't know something.
I appreciate Palin's moral character, and can align myself with what I know of her ethics and thoughts on family. (McCain doesn't get any respect on that one from me.) However, from my feeble minds point of view, I would have appreciated a "I don't know what you mean by Bush Doctrine" or "The Bush Doctrine means a lot of different things Charlie...." Instead she just starts talking like she's in a huff. I don't care for how she interviews.
Agree with me or not, it was just kind of uncomfortable to watch her. I've enjoyed her speeches, and if she keeps giving those I'd be happy, but in a Q and A session I find her too jumpy.

I HAVEN'T WRITTEN PALIN OFF. I stated this in my initial criticism. I expect some changes though and I'm sure the campaign people are working with her on what I think would make her a lousy leader in today's world. Everything is televised so heavily and you never know who's watching. Everyone has moments of notsogreatness, I WANT for her to be better. I think she could be a good running mate, but for now I see an inexperienced person who needs to better define he knowledge of a question even if that means saying "I don't know what that is."

On a side note, I'm really not looking forward to a "First Lady McCain." Her answers to questions are ones for the history books.
Q: "Does Palin have Foreign Policy experience?"
A: "No, but she is the Governor of Alaska, and Alaska is the closest part of our country to Russia."

Wow! She's a winner. Let the blond jokes commence!

I think Stephen Colbert had it right in his "The word" segment: That's the ticket! Palin/Romney.

Disappointment is inevitable

Like I've said before, I don't get my hopes up when it comes to people vying for positions. Yet again, those with aspirations of political grandeur have inevitably shown their lack of ability to fill the position they're jockeying for.

That's right friends. My inkling of hope that Palin could make my decision in November easier has now been dashed, and I, once again, am faced with choosing "the lesser evil." Now you may find my criticism of her harsh, but that doesn't change the fact that she isn't in a place (knowledge-wise) to take over as VP.

After watching her first interview on the Today Show it's pretty clear that Palin lacks simple knowledge about this country, ie policies that are a pretty BIG DEAL. Most people probably don't know what the Bush Doctrine is, that's okay your schooling didn't provide you an interest in politics sufficient to make something this big and inclusive matter, I think a governer... especially one "that close to Russia" and who is out to be VP of the US, should probably know!

Her input would matter as VP, and I think that in order to change the future you need to have a clue as to what's happened in the past. "If you don't know your history you're doomed to repeat it." The world has been dealing with the Bush administration for 8 years now, and you can bet full well they know what the Bush doctrine is all about. I'd even bet that the lay citizen of other countries know more about Bush's actions then Palin. She literally looked like she was going to throw up when Charlie was asking her questions. I really feel sorry for her that she was given questions she didn't know the answers to because it made her look ridiculous. It was nice to have Newt Gingrich to defend her, but really, I think my kids would be able to figure out that she was stalling.

I feel sorry for her that she's being attacked in stupid ways. I mean really, to try and hang her out to dry because of her daughter, is dumb. They were really scrapping the bottom of the barrel with that one.

I do think it's a legitimate concern that as motivated and confident as she is, that she really is lacking political knowledge. I'm not writing her off for good, I'm leaving the possibility open that she'll start opening some books as she continues on the campaign trail with old what's his name (who found that campaigning without her was useless and thus NEEDS her in order to get ANYWHERE.... perhaps even turn on the computer?... see my education part 1 post).

I hope you'll weigh in your political thoughts here. I'd like to read what debates you're thinking about as you decide who the best candidate is for the next term. So, PLEASE COMMENT! It'll be fun for me, and probably fairly educational for others. Knowledge is power!

THE FIRST SCHEDULED PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE WILL BE SEPTEMBER 26th.

Loving Palin...

Today I've already experienced my favorite reason for having a blog, and twice nonetheless. I love having a forum where I can spout off what's on my mind and that allows others to respond when they have a chance. While I would love to have hours and hours a day to be able to research everything I'm interested in, the reality is that I get what I get and am happy for it! So, here I can write about what I know, and then others can add what they know, and I have a more narrow search area to grab what I'm looking for.

My father-in-law, Bruce, read my blog and sent me a link for Glenn Beck. Glenn had interviewed Palin before she was announced vice-presidential running mate for McCain, and had some interesting insights into her. Again, while I haven't been able to delve terribly deep into the subject I am even more a Palin backer (yes a Palin backer, McCain's just along for the ride as far as I'm concerned with this one). Anyway, after reading a post by Glenn (there are several video/audio files if you have a chance), but I just pulled out his last paragraph of commentary which pretty much summed up the article... the article is still worth reading since it gives you way more information, but the gist of it is:

"She knows how to run against all odds. This woman ran against not only the Democrat, she ran against the incumbent Republican, and she won. She won against the Republican in the primary and then she won against the Democrat. She has bipartisan appeal. She's a woman, but she's not a feminist. She's a strong woman, but she doesn't hate men. She is so pro life that when the doctors came to her and said, "Oh, boy, you've got a kid with Down Syndrome, what do you say, should we kill him?" She said, "Absolutely not." And she wouldn't allow them to perform any more tests. "We know he's going to have problems; we'll be able to deal with any of them."

Like my blog headers says, I'm neither blue, red, black, or white.... I'm a pretty good mix of everything, I am what I am, think what I think.... and what I think is that it's time to look towards a female candidate who is pro family, pro life, and pro male... I'm so sick of feminist women, give it up already! Yes, women's rights is a good thing. I'm thankful to live in a country where we're not oppressed, but let's define oppression. Having a loving relationship with my husband and taking care of my family isn't my definition of oppression. To each his own, but I find it to be pretty rewarding.

Anyway, thanks again Bruce for the information.... and if anyone has any other information to pass along I'd love to read it. Boy am I excited for Sarah Palin, I hope that I can continue to be in her corner. Of course I'm prepared for a let down, but I do have a glimmer of hope that she'll regain my hope in the political system.

Oh Brother Obama.... Hello Sarah Palin! Originally written 8/29/08

Of course, Obama had to go and disappoint me.... oh well, I suppose he and McCain get some kind of kick out of their elementary school brawl, so be it.

McCain has renewed my hope that I can cast a ballot and feel mostly peaceful, for the moment anyway, we’ll see how the coming months go. Governor Palin was not someone I expected to see by the Senator, but I’m encouraged by that fact that she was. Here’s a woman with 5 children, who’s the first female Governor of Alaska, is pro-life, and while you can tell she’s a strong voice, she doesn’t come off scary like Hillary did. While McCain doesn’t really do it for me, so far I’m feeling drawn in by her. Shocking I know. I’m sure that wasn’t at all McCain’s intention. Again, all my little eggs aren’t in one basket at the moment, but they are playing a wild game of hot potato.

Things that don't make sense... Originally written 8/28/08

Senator McCain’s campaign tactics: How childish can you be? I’m about to discount him just based on the fact that since we’ve hit the real presidential campaign and all he can do is tell us not to vote for Obama. Umm... k... hows about you start telling my WHY I should vote for YOU and layoff trying to discount Obama. I know neither candidate is perfect, and I can’t say that my views are reflected well in either one, but I lean more on the side of the guy who’s out to promote himself. Isn’t that what we’re voting for here? The way I see McCain at this point is as someone who can’t win on his own so he’s trying to make the other guy look bad. Is this really true? Not necessarily, but he’s not making a good argument as to why I should vote for him.

American kids diets: Why are we so insistent on killing the next generation? Seriously, do we have some kind of grudge against them that makes in necessary for us to let them do whatever they want for “happiness” even if it means their utter demise? There are 4.5 million obese kids/teenagers in America right now and that number is raising. Aren’t we just a fabulous nation! Yuck, makes me sick. Only in America (and now that our lovely bad influence is being inflicted, yes inflicted, on other Westernized nations) do kids have whole meals made separately for them because they “don’t like” what’s for dinner. You’re joking right? Not only do they get separate meals, but those meals consist of macaroni and cheese (so glad my kids don’t ask for this meal by name), Spaghetti O’s, Ramen, PB & J (that is if your kid “tolerates” the peanut butter... there’s probably no problem with the jelly, there’s usually a good amount of sugar in that to make it just right), lunchables, oh, and my favorite HOT DOGS, chips, sugar cereal, soda, and fruit snacks. I think a laser hit Earth right over America and erased our ability to use common sense. No kid ever liked anything that wasn’t repeatedly presented for their palate to figure out, and no kid is picky who’s learned how to eat right. Want to get rid of a picky kid? Stop rolling over and babying them over food. Oh, and if you’re having problems with your own weight take a gander at the foods you keep in your house and your portion sizes.... just for funsies! Maybe someday we’ll say goodbye to the processed foods and try to live a little longer. Enough said.

Public Schools: Shall we call as spade a spade? Don’t try and feed me the story about my child’s “academic education” because that just makes me laugh. Public schools try to help kids with their “social education” and that’s fine and dandy-like I’m sure for most. However, here’s my problem. There is an epidemic of dual-income household which for most, probably not all, people means that they’re not all that big a part of their kids education be it academic or social. So, these cute little kids have some really fun behaviors that they bring to the mix, and us in our infinite wisdom say, “hey wouldn’t it be a great idea to stick a bunch of 6 year-olds together so they can learn social skills from one another.” Yah, that’s special. I would love to have my kids learn from another kid, who also doesn’t know how to act. If I didn’t believe in foreordination I would swear that I was born in the wrong time frame. My mind itches for the days before WWII changed our schooling as a nation. It’s interesting, the “great minds” of our times were home-schooled through mentors, private teachers, and parents and did INCREDIBLE things. PUBLIC SCHOOLS WERE FOR THE POOR, they weren’t meant for the masses. Now it’s just fine and dandy to hand our kids over no questions asked to someone who may not have a clue. Nice. You know, I don’t want the surgeon who barely passed working on me, but we’re more then happy to hand our kids development over to the kid who may have barely passed college. Yes, yes “but I supplement my kids at home.” Should I roll my eyes back in my head now or later? Why send your kids AWAY for 6 + hours a day in the first place? This is what stress looks like to me....
Somewhere between 6-8am: scramble to get kids ready, breakfast, all school items together.
8-3-ish: school... complete with scrambling to learn what’s on the government tests so that the school will get adequate funding, teachers dealing with discipline issues, the “ADD” kid acting up because he can’t sit still (Why did we learn about different learning styles if all we’re going to teach to is one type and leave the other ones hanging?).
3-8: After school activities.... sports, sports games, dance, homework, oh and let’s not forget “supplemental learning” (which is another way of admitting that the school isn’t sufficient), maybe dinner is in there somewhere.
9pm or maybe a little earlier if your extra-curricular schedule permits: bedtime

So, I am a self confessed control-freak, but in all the running around I just don’t see enough time to RELAX and enjoy time as a family each day. I’d rather have hours of just being together then sending them to a “babysitter” <-- how I think of public schools and including private schools who do nothing more then just turn kids out on a conveyor belt without allowing proper development of them using their own brains. Where have all the leaders gone? Where has the ability to think for ourselves and develop our own interests and LOVE learning gone. Why aren’t books our nations’ favorite thing to turn to then the t.v., computer, or virtual games? Our society is just a whole new definition of lazy.