Hallelujah!

Just months ago we were paying close to $5.00 per gallon for gas, now we are down to this; I never thought I'd ever see this price again! Last time we were here we were all freaking out about how expensive it was getting. And that was so long ago that I can't even remember when it actually was. Now we are excited about it...How long will it last?

Where were you when...?

History is full of "Where were you when's?" Where were you when Kennedy was shot? Or Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.? Where were you when the first man walked on the moon? Or the morning of September 11th? There are more, and when people live through such events, they can tell you many years and even decades later exactly where they were when it happened, how they felt, what they said, or couldn't find the words to say. They can tell you who they were with, even what they were wearing or eating.

I just watched tens of millions of Americans elect a black man as the 44th President of the United States of America. This election transcended race! No...an election doesn't do anything on it's own...the people of America transcended race in this election. For generations, we have lied to our young people; we have taught them that in American anybody can be anything they want to be, and today that is no longer a lie. We have risen from a nation once wrenched with slavery into a nation where all men truly are created equal. It has been a long, hard journey to get here, but we have reached another milestone...one most of us never thought we'd live to see take place. What about our grandparents who are still with us? They have seen much, much worse times than we have...I'm sure not one of them thought they'd ever see it in their lifetime.


I never stopped believing in Barack Obama's ability to lead this nation to unity, but I did stop having faith in the people. But I watched people celebrate last night. All kinds of people, all together (maybe not a whole lot of Republicans, but I didn't see the bitterness I thought I would see). In the midst of all the celebration, I was reminded of how much "coming together" it took to make this happen. (I'm just going to throw party unity out the window because I don't know that that will ever really happen, although there were many Republicans that crossed over for Obama in this election). But I watched people, young and old, black and white, rich and poor, all crying and jumping for joy and hugging one another. In those moments, there was no demographic that mattered to any of them. I didn't see any fights, or smoke in the distance. All I saw was unity. I saw people put their differences aside and come together for a common purpose.


I've got to come clean and say that although I did vote in this election, I chose not to vote for a President. Choosing not to choose was not an easy conclusion for me to draw. Policy-wise neither candidate had my full support, and that's the only way I, in good conscience, can vote. But my heart always wanted to see Obama stake his claim for America.


This country is forever changed...and we ARE headed in the right direction. If you read my previous blog, right now you are probably thinking I'm bi-polar; I assure you I am not. I just see things happen sometimes, awful things that make me shudder, things that quake me to my core. And when I'm lucky enough, I get to see something that contradicts it, and calms me down reminding me that it doesn't have to be as I imagined. Last night I was lucky enough to watch people come together, and I listened to our President-elect talk about change one more time. And all the fear and turmoil festering inside of me subsided. I have complete faith that this man will change America for the better (he's already surmounted tremendous obstacles, therein starting that cycle of change) and I once again have faith that the people will do what they can, too. I know we have to take it one baby step at a time, but we have just made a huge leap forward. I don't know how there can be anyone that isn't excited about that!


Many times I have expressed my gratitude to God for choosing this country and this period in time for me to be born into. I don't think I could have made it in any other time or place. I'd be too "soft" or too "rogue" or too any number of other things. And I have even more reason to be thankful today. I was born with this strong desire to see true racial equality. I can't even explain it. It wasn't something I had to be taught, I just knew what was right and what was wrong, I knew what should matter about a person and what shouldn't. And today a piece of that desire was satisfied. This is not only an important event for Americans in general, but this is an especially important event for black Americans. I could never begin to explain the depths of it's significance for black people in America because I will never be able to fully understand their struggle. And I would never cheapen it by pretending.


So, where were you when the people of America voted the first black man into the Presidency of the United States of America? For me, it was 8:01 PM PST on November 4, 2008 when Keith Olbermann announced the winner. I sat on the couch in my living room next to my husband, with a laptop in my lap and tears streaming down my cheeks. I wore a pink shirt with pink tweety bird pajama pants and stared at the television in awe, in disbelief, in amazement and pride and joy and hope. I could hardly speak; all I could say was, "America did it." Then I watched Barack Obama walk across the stage like he was born for this very purpose; he was born to break the barrier. This is a story I look forward to telling my children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren. And I hope that as I tell them this story that it will blow their minds to even imagine that we once lived in a world where the color of a person's skin was such a big deal. Now, someday I will be able to tell my mulatto children that with dedication and hard work, they can be anything they want to be...even President of the United States. And it won't be a lie.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/27546437#27546437 (Obama's victory speech)

A Nation Divided?

Here we sit, on the eve of one of the most important, history-making Presidential elections...I would say THE most important one in my lifetime. I'm pretty certain about who our next President will be; if it turns out that I'm wrong, I already have several theories about how and why the numbers would swing in the other direction, but I'm not going to get into that. What I really wanted to talk about today is what this election has done to our country.

I feel like we have been divided during this race. Republicans hate Democrats, Democrats hate Republicans. There never has been unity between the parties, but at least we used to be somewhat civil towards each other. All decency and tact has now been thrown out the window. So much hate with regard to party affiliation, race and religion has surfaced and escalated.

Towards the beginning of the Primaries, both McCain and Obama advertised themselves as agents for change. Obama talked about change in many different areas, but the one I particularly liked was for party and racial unity. It just struck a chord with me; it's something I'd really like to see happen. Because of his background and his way with people, I thought that if anyone could do it at this point in time, HE could. But as I've watched this Presidential election unfold, I see that we are running full speed ahead in the opposite direction. I see a divide much greater than the one previously there. A divide between parties, races, religions, socio-economic classes...Maybe it was always there and it's just been masked or maybe I've just been blind, REALLY blind. But has it always been this bad? Have I been naive? Living in a fantasy world? Or has it gotten much worse, as I suspect?

It's great that this election has inspired so many; that so many have found their passion because of it, but how did that passion cross over into hatred? Have you ever heard of a group of little old ladies ganging up on young men and beating them down for supporting the opposite ticket? Well, it happened. And that doesn't even begin to tell the story of the past year. I don't even want to get into it in detail.

This country is not coming together at all. Will that POOF! just change overnight when we finally know who our next President will be? I doubt it. Tomorrow we find out which man that will be, and I could bet that no matter who it is there will be riots and fights in the streets all across this nation. There will be fires and vandalism and chaos. And there will be hate run rampant. There will be hate and there will be no such thing as being too naive to see it. It will be like the red koolaid stain on your new white carpet. Not only is there no possible way of missing it when you walk into the room, but when you close your eyes and try to pretend it's not there, you still see it, etched in your mind's eye. Even when you blot it up, soak the carpet in club soda and stain remover and everything else that you can think of, the stain remains. There is no way of going back to the pre-koolaid stain days...your carpet is forever changed. And so will be our country. No missing it, no ignoring it, no fantasy worlds. That's change alright, but not the type of change I wanted to see.

All I have left to say at this point is that I sincerely hope that I am wrong...REALLY wrong.

Is Michelle Bachmann Anti-American?

Okay, so it's taken me awhile to get around to writing this...BUT...on October 17, 2008, Michelle Bachmann (a Republican representing Minnesota in the US House of Representatives) was interviewed by Chris Matthews on Hardball and she word vomited all over the place on national television. Filthy, nasty words continually spewed forth from her mouth.

She set out to attack Barack Obama; she called him anti-American, and as she began to explain her reasoning, she dug herself into a deeper and deeper hole, which ultimately resulted in the NRCC (National Republican Congressional Committee) pulling all their funds from her campaign for re-election. Anyhow, her argument was based on a "guilty by association" theory. She says Obama is anti-American because of his close associations with Jeremiah Wright and Bill Ayers whom she called radical leftists with anti-American views. She went on to imply that all leftists are anti-American. But let's back up just a second here...Jeremiah Wright may have some views that are a little twisted, he may have said some things that weren't right and even offensive, but first, if you sit in any church long enough, you'll hear the Pastor say something you don't agree with or something that offends you; Pastors are human, too. Secondly, this man served in the US Marine Corps and Naval Academy and was entrusted with the care of post-operative then-President of the US, Lyndon B. Johnson. This is a man who has served our country and important people to our country; no matter what things he may have said, we should never call him anti-American. He put his life on the line for the United States...that sounds pretty pro-American to me. Bill Ayers, on the other hand, I think we can call anti-American.

So back to lefties and righties. If we viewed all possible political beliefs on a spectrum, as most do, we will have a far left being as liberal as it gets, and a far right being as conservative as it gets, and every point in between. Every point along this spectrum is American no matter where it falls because it is built upon the foundation that we have the right, as Americans, to decide on our own where our personal views will fall. It seems anti-American to me to call another American anti-American because they hold views that differ from your own. HELLO!! Amendment numero uno! I've got to take it back to the tried and true. The First Amendment tells me that I can believe whatever I want. If this is part of the US Constitution, that which provides the basic framework for the organization of the US government, then it is an American concept to think for yourself and to hold any view you see fit. I take serious issue with her implication that all liberals or leftists are anti-American. Leftists can be called anti...well, a lot of things, just as rightists can be called anti a lot of other things, but not one of those options should ever be anti-American.

So, when is it okay to call an American "anti-American"? Well, when they hatefully terrorize and/or kill other Americans who are working to ensure the successful management of this country or destroy buildings, files or other intelligence used for the same purposes...Would you like an example? Bill Ayers. He bombed the New York City Police Headquarters in 1970, the US Capitol in 1971 and the Pentagon in 1972.

Even though I think it is wrong to call another American anti-American because you disagree with their views, and the whole idea of it sounds pretty anti-American in itself, I am not going to go as far as to call Michelle Bachmann anti-American. During the infamous Hardball interview, Chris Matthews asked her how many people in the Congress she suspected of being anti-American and she responded with this: "The news media should do a penetrating exposé and take a look...at the views of the people in Congress and find out, 'Are they pro-American or anti-American?' " So, based on my previous explanation of the 1st Amendment, what is it about her that makes her so profoundly pro-American?

Why would she even want to sit in Congress to serve alongside and "pal around with" so many she believes to be anti-American? If she were on the outside looking in, she'd label herself guilty by association much like what she has done to others. She obviously doesn't seem to respect the authority of the US Constitution in its entirety. Is that pro-American? In fact, it seems as if she would prefer it to be revised regarding freedom of belief...while we're at it, why don't we start convicting people for the crimes of the people they know?

Well, I was planning on going in a slightly different direction with this topic, but this is where I wound up. This is blog #2 that talks about the 1st Amendment, I guess I'm a little more passionate about it than I thought. Below I have pasted a link from YouTube of the interview. It cuts off the first few minutes, but it contains the "meat" of the interview; I'm sure you can find the full length version on there if you haven't seen it, yet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESdA52S4Dbg

Sarah Palin and the Women of America

I debated long and hard whether or not I would even bring up the subject. I've wrestled with a lot of thoughts about what is going on in the political arena regarding Sarah Palin and after so much has taken place, I think it's time to say something. First, I have to say that it is amazing to watch this election transpire. I am honored as an America citizen to be able to watch history be made no matter who wins this election. I am so proud to see America move forward and look past race and gender to place those they feel are most qualified into office. Which leads me to why I started writing this in the first place...

When John McCain first announced his choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate, I thought, "Wow, he's just trying to pick up all the Hilary supporters that just jumped on the bandwagon because she is a woman." Then I listened to Sarah's speech at the convention and loved her, I felt like I understood why he chose her. Nobody knew who the heck she was, unless they were from Alaska or visited there often, but that didn't matter, she really seemed to win over the hearts of many, at least me, I know that for sure. But as she started to do interviews and speak with the press, when a speech wasn't written out for her, when she had to think for herself, I began to feel embarrassed, as a woman, which I'll get back to later. She doesn't possess a working knowledge of what is necessary to run this country if John McCain died. All she knows is what has been drilled into her brain by others. She has no opinions of her own because she doesn't understand what is going on. I am not saying she is stupid, I don't believe that, she has obviously done a wonderful job governing Alaska, I just think that she never cared enough to know what is going on with America as a whole, and you can't just learn it all in 6 weeks. Even if you could, do we really want someone who hasn't cared all this time to be in charge of it all?

Woman have come so far, especially in these past few generations, and I felt like she was giving women a bad name, like she was making us all look bad. Women were given the right to vote only 88 years ago, and now we have women running this country along side the men who have been running it for the past 225 years (the sovereignty of the United States was recognized in 1783, not in 1776 when we declared our Independence). That is so hard to believe! 88 years is not a long time to make that much progress. Women have struggled to gain acceptance and equality in the workplace and everywhere else in this country and as soon as we are really beginning to see a commitment to change, she goes and, well...does what she did.

As I listened to more and more people talk about her, ones that have known about her for years, they all say she is competent, intelligent, a great politician and that we just need to give her a chance and let her be herself, then everyone will fall in love with her...again, in cases like my own. I still really like her...as a person, not necessarily as a politician or Vice President, specifically. Maybe she's just been nervous all this time because she's being watched by all of America, maybe she just needs some time to get used to celebrity on such a large scale and all the scrutiny in the press. So I thought I'd give her one more chance to prove herself to me and all the others who are skeptical...the Vice Presidential Debate. And that was it for me. She, at this point in time, is incapable of the job for which she is aspiring.

Before the Vice Presidential debate, Joe Biden had been discouraged (at least indirectly) from full on attacking her on the issues because she is a woman; he was supposed to take it easy on her because she is a woman, which he did, but that should have never been suggested. Gender should not be an issue. If she is competent, give her a chance to prove herself so we can all be confident that she is qualified; if she is not, we deserve to know. Don't protect her, don't let her hide, treat her as an equal. Treat her how she deserves to be treated. The suggestion alone about going easy on her tells me that we, as a country, have not progressed as far as I had hoped. How do I know that the next time I walk into a business meeting that I am not going to be more heavily scrutinized and have to put forth even more effort to prove my competence and intelligence to the men sitting across the desk from me, because if a woman can be considered as qualified to run for the Vice Presidency of the United States and not know what the heck is going on and people are okay with that, then how can they (the men sitting across the desk) be confident that I know what I am doing. How can they know that I have gotten where I am because I am capable and not because I've been given privilege because of my gender. And that goes for all women.

If you muted the television and just watched the debate, she looked amazing. Do I really need to say anything else? No, but I will, of course. If you are one of those people who don't really get into politics or follow what is going on, or if you do, but don't really understand it all and how it works, you will probably think she did a fabulous job, even if the television wasn't muted. She didn't do any of the oohs or uhhs or let's sees, there weren't any awkward moments of silence as she flipped through the files of her brain to find what she was programmed to say; she spoke in a way that made you FEEL like she knew what she was talking about. Which is pretty good for the Republican ticket because a lot of Americans don't really understand how it all works, anyway; it's complicated and confusing and people would rather just vote for whoever they like as a person. But for those who follow and understand, she hasn't made any progress from the days of the Katie Couric interview, and I think I'll leave it at that.

I have pasted a link below from YouTube that is the first part in a series of 11 segments that make up the debate in its entirety. Please watch it for yourself if you haven't already. Disregard any opinions written on the pages, along with mine, and form your own opinions. Don't be a robot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTC55Wv9paw

The Katie Couric interview can be found in segments on YouTube as well, although I have not linked it here.