Too Blessed to Be Stressed!: October 2008

If you are completely sick of politics right now, then you may want to go on to the next blog address because I am devoting this post to my worries with our next election. I don't consider myself Republican or a Democrat. I like to get all of my facts straight before I choose someone to be a leader. Being a mom of four children does not allow much time for fact digging but I do try to read what I can and watch the debates. This year I have had a hard time deciding who to vote for, until I started worrying about the type of person and their history more than some of the policies and platforms. If you are voting for Barack Obama, I would like to hear why. I like some of the things that he has to say but I worry about the person he is and if he is telling the truth. I would like to believe that all people and politicians are honest but lets face the facts. I don't think John McCain is the perfect man either but I feel like he is a true American. If nothing else, at least we will only be paying him 200,000 dollars a year for maybe the next 10 years. Barack Obama is a very young man and we will be paying him 200,000 per year for the next 40 years. That might be enough to convince me.

I do want to include an article that I read that has pointed me in the direction of John McCain. I have read up on Thomas Sowell and he isn't just some guy who has an opinion. He is well educated and has taught at many Universities and is the author of many books. He completed his degree with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Harvard College, where he graduated magna cum laude. He went on to receive a Master of Arts in Economics from Columbia University, and a Doctor of Philosophy in Economics from the University of Chicago. This is what he has to say:

Thomas Sowell

Rose and Milton Friedman Senior Fellow
The Hoover Institution
Stanford University
Stanford , California 94305

~~~~~~~~~ Professor Sowell's Article ~~~~~~~~~~

"Senator John McCain could never convince me to vote for him. Only Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama can cause me to vote for McCain.

After long and serious thought, I have decided to endorse Senator John McCain for President.

I have always voted for the person and have not voted for anyone because some political party was telling me who I should vote for.

We all know the choices by now and, that said, I do believe that the process of selecting a chief executive is deeply flawed. The words 'money' and 'special interests' come to mind, among many others.

Here's the way I see it.

Barack Obama, you are a fine public speaker. You are also an extremely liberal Senator from the State of Illinois , which has a long and rich history of political corruption of the first magnitude. You are indeed a child of that system.

You have finally insulted my intelligence far beyond my capacity to tolerate your insults. It has nothing at all to do with your skin color. As a matter of fact, it would be so COOL to finally have an African-American for President. What a great statement that would be to the entire world that we are indeed the greatest country on earth!

But, unfortunately, General Colin Powell is not running, and YOU are NOT the man for this job!

Barack baby, you want me to believe that you have never heard the sermons of your own pastor, the Right Reverend 'God Damn America' Jeremiah Wright. It is a matter of record that this has been your church for over 20 years. It is a matter of record that you were married there by this very pastor, and that your children were baptized there.

The good Reverend saw fit to visit Khadafy in Libya with you and to give a lifetime achievement award to Louis Farrakhan, of all people.

We have all now seen excerpts of his sermons all over the airwaves by now. And you have publicly stated that this man IS your 'spiritual mentor. BUT, your pastor is NOT the reason I am NOT voting for you. His words were disturbing enough, but it is your own HUGE church congregation, seen jumping, hooting and howling to his words in the background that disturb me the most. And please don't tell me you attended church there and never once heard a 'discouraging word' in the 20 years you attended there. Don't tell me, that in addition to the good reverend, that you are now not having anything to do with all those other people seen hooting and howling out in the audience in the background of his fiery tirades. Even Oprah Winfrey got disgusted and walked out on your campaign. I am no Oprah fan, but st! ill she did the right thing.

Now YOU look me in the eye and ask me to believe that you never heard such language in all the years you attended there! This is like me telling you that I attended dozens of Klan rallies and never once heard the 'N' word. Yep. And Bill Clinton 'did not inhale'.

Yes, Mr. Obama, we all have friends who have said stupid things that embarrassed us, but NOW you have asked me to believe something that is so incredibly stupid that you are telling me that I am just stupid enough to believe you. THAT is the main reason that I will never vote for you.

I am deeply sorry, that in a country teeming with enormously talented African Americans who would make a good President, that the political system has chosen YOU. You are a pathetic and plastic excuse for an American, who will not even salute the Flag during the Pledge of Allegiance. God forbid you ever get near the Oval Office.

Which leaves us with Senator John McCain.

John, you are a flawed man. You are a bit old, a bit loony, and you have a notoriously bad temper. This perfectly qualifies you, in my humble opinion, to lead us for the next eight years. I WANT your trembling hand on the nuclear button.

Think about it.

We have Kim Jong IL, Chavez and Ahmadenijad all running around like lunatics, threatening America and threatening to plunge the world into nuclear Armageddon. We have Putin and the Chinese blustering and rattling their sabers at us. I want John McCain in the Oval Office and I want him to be really ticked off at all these other nut jobs around the planet.

John, once you are elected, I want you to go into the Oval Office and throw one of your perfect FITS. Jump up and down and throw something through a plate glass window. Rip the drapes down and foam at the mouth a bit. And I want the whole thing on camera so that Ahmadinejad can see it. I want ALL of these 'world leaders' to lay awake at night and to break out in a cold sweat every time they think of messing with the United States of America

I want the nuclear button sitting right next to the alarm clock on your nightstand. I want pictures of this to be sent to Iran , Russia , China , Venezuela , Cuba , Libya , Syria , Pakistan , and those other dopes in the sheets, the Saudis.

On the domestic front, poor John did try and reach across the aisle to the opposition in a desperate effort to compromise and to get the Congress to do something. You may not agree with his efforts, but at least he TRIED. For all his efforts, all he got handed to him was his head in a basket. The liberals are ticked at him and the conservatives are ticked at him. Just my kinda guy.

I predict that John will select Senator Joe Lieberman as his running mate. Good choice. I want a Jew whose memory of the Holocaust is still fresh in his mind and who is royally ticked off at all of these towel-headed morons in the Middle East to be the next in line if something should happen to John. Shalom, Vice President Joe. One heartbeat from the Oval Office.

Finally. John McCain knows on a most personal level what it is to suffer horrible torture for years and to see others die, right in front of you, for their love of America When you ask him about it, he will tell you that what he did was 'nothing special.' Even more incredibly, he states that ANY American who truly loves his country would do exactly the same as he did in that situation. You and I will have a hard time believing that, but the real point is that John McCain believes that about the 'average American,' and that, dear friends and neighbors, is why I will cast my one poor ballot on election day for John McCain -- warts and all."

Wow, if you made it this far, you must have questions also. I guess after all of that being said, what do you think?

In reference to the spider, I have never seen a spider like this before in my life. This is why I was so enthused and had to take pictures. I am sure that because we have lots of trees on our property that we will see our fair share of spiders. I will just have to always keep a gallon or two of spider killer in hand. I lived in Colorado and found a black widow on the side of my house, and if it wasn't for living on the third floor of my apartment building in Idaho, we probably would have seen a few HOBO spiders. I hate spiders no matter what but at least the one I found in my yard wasn't very poisonous. I hate them, but I have to admit that I am always curious to see cool creatures.

We are getting very excited for Steve to own his own business again. I know he wanted to be a teacher and there is still hope. In the mean time, Steve has passed both portions of the plumbing test and has sent in his application and required documents. Now we are just waiting for the plumbing board to let us know he can start bidding for work. With 18+ years of experience in plumbing, I can't imagine that he won't do well.

TC is doing well in school, even though I am very disappointed in Ooltewah Elementary School. I think Ooltewah used to be considered one of the better schools in Hamilton Co. and after being exposed to other schools in Colorado, Idaho, and Steve being able to substitute around the school district in Hamilton Co., we both know that Ooltewah Elementary is lacking in many areas. I wish we could just send our children to private schools but I don't think that would solve the problem for all of the other children in Ooltewah going to such a poor, run down school without any new technology. Steve and I have

decided that we are going to join the PTA next year. We hope that we can help bring a bit of hope to the parents of Ooltewah Elementary. Too bad the government only decides to give the funds to low income areas. Steve and I know that in order for TC and eventually our other children to keep up in society, we will have to do much of the work to help them stay ahead. READ, READ, READ!!!! We are happy with his teachers, but they can only do so much.

I know that politics is on everyone's mind right now and I guess we are all getting sick of it by now. I personally don't think that either of these men that we will be voting for can single handedly get us out of the situation we are in. I think that it is up to individuals to make better choices and make sure that we don't get ourselves in the same situation that America is in or at least be working on getting out of those situations.