President-Elect Obama!

I just can't believe it! I feel like I really made a difference. All those doors knocked on and all those calls made by people like me changed this country. I'm so excited about what the future holds.

McCain/Palin's "trickle down" effect at work

So what's managed to trickle down from McCain/Palin to their supporters? Mean-spirited, nasty, divisive, and narrow-minded attacks on children just trying to enjoy a fun holiday. Country First.

Fruit fly research and Governor Palin

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081023175137.htm

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/11/051122093217.htm

http://www.physorg.com/news103997061.html

All I can say is...reading is fundamental. Wow. Vice-President of the United States, huh?

Dr. James Dobson will not vote in this election!

Main Entry: hyp·o·crite
Pronunciation: hi-pə-ˌkrit
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English ypocrite, from Anglo-French, from Late Latin hypocrita, from Greek hypokritēs actor, hypocrite, from hypokrinesthai
Date: 13th century
1 : a person who puts on a false appearance of virtue or religion 2 : a person who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs or feelings

Baseball and politics

“I heard that Senator Obama was showing some love to the Rays down in Tampa Bay yesterday,’’ Mr. McCain told a modest crowd at a manufacturing plant on Tuesday morning here in this battleground state vital to his election on Nov. 4, as is Florida. “Now, I’m not dumb enough to get mixed up in a World Series between swing states, but I think I may have detected a little pattern with Senator Obama.’’

As the crowd booed, Mr. McCain added: “It’s pretty simple really. When he’s campaigning in Philadelphia, he roots for the Phillies, and when he’s campaigning in Tampa Bay, he shows love to the Rays. It’s kind of like the way he campaigns on tax cuts, but then votes for tax increases after he’s elected.

Maybe it's time Senator McCain's and Governor Palin's speechwriting staffs talk to each other. Yikes!

I'll just let Senator McCain speak for himself

In an interview Thursday with The Washington Times, McCain spoke of Bush in tones bordering on contempt, ticking off a litany of what he said were the president’s failures.

“Spending, the conduct of the war in Iraq for years, growth in the size of government — larger than any time since the Great Society, laying a $10 trillion debt on future generations of America — owing $500 billion to China, obviously, failure to both enforce and modernize the [financial] regulatory agencies that were designed for the 1930s and certainly not for the 21st century, failure to address the issue of climate change seriously,” McCain told the newspaper.

“We just let things get completely out of hand,” he said of the past eight years of Republican rule.

Wow, Senator, that's a very interesting line of defense. How exactly are you going to be any different? Oh, that's right, we just have to go by what you say, not how you voted. Righhhhttt.

It's called progressive taxation

Curious, very curious indeed. So, Senator McCain, when you say it, it's good politics, but when Obama says it, it's socialism??

He was a Muslim, and an American hero

Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan was a 20-year-old Stryker soldier based at Fort Lewis. He was killed last August in Baqouba.
Khan was a Muslim. And Powell made a correlation to the decorated Stryker Brigade soldier and Obama in context of negative Republican campaigning somehow insinuating that Obama is a Muslim.


In a moving statement, Gen. Powell posed the rhetorical question to Meet The Press host Tom Brokaw:


"I'm also troubled by, not what Senator McCain says, but what members of the party say. And it is permitted to be said such things as, Well, you know that Mr. Obama is a Muslim. Well, the correct answer is, he is not a Muslim; he's a Christian. He's always been a Christian.
But the really right answer is, what if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer's no, that's not America. Is there something wrong with some seven-year-old Muslim-American kid believing that he or she could be president? Yet, I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion, He's a Muslim and he might be associated with terrorists. This is not the way we should be doing it in America."

Who's calling who a Socialist?

So let me get this straight, Governor Palin, you can take enormous amounts of money from the federal government for Bridges to Nowhere, while also dipping into the oil company's coffers, but you only share that wealth with Alaskans. Hmm. Really?! Is that a tenet of democracy, socialism, or the AIP?

In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes ~ Ben Franklin

The next time I hear someone complain about paying 39% for every dollar over their first quarter million rather than the current 36%, I think I will scream. You're telling me that 3% more, over that first 250K NET, is going to bankrupt these folks or stop small businesses from growing? Wake up people! Think about this a minute: if your house is on fire, you EXPECT the fire department to be there and put it out. If you've been victimized in some way, you EXPECT the police to investigate and bring the perp to justice. If the roads are full of potholes or full of snow, you EXPECT the road department to fix it. Do you get the running theme here? We've come to expect many things in our society to keep us safe, and productive. Where is that money going to come from if everyone's not paying their FAIR share of taxes? If you feel that paying that police officer, or firefighter, or teacher or road worker is "spreading the wealth", then you aren't looking very closely at the demands you put on your government.

A great empire, like a great cake, is most easily diminished at the edges ~ Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin sure got it right. These fringe types totally ruin the "cake". Questioning someone's patriotism without cause is about the most un-American thing you can do. As I've worked the phone banks for Obama, I've talked to one or two of them myself. In one call, I was questioned about mine too, but heard silence on the other end when I asked if they'd served their country in the military, like I have. Unless you're a seccessionist or have denounced democracy and the American way, then where's the problem?

"I think we need a little bit of reality from Wasilla Main Street" ~ Sarah Palin

Well, NOW I know why Sarah's qualified. It's just so crystal (meth) clear. Thanks Wasilla! Now I know what a pro-American town really looks and feels like.

John McCain, Sarah Palin, and the scary liberal feminist agenda?

Asked if Gov. Sarah Palin has become a drag on his ticket, McCain said, "As a cold political calculation, I could not be more pleased."
"She has excited and energized our base. She is a direct counterpoint to the liberal feminist agenda for America. She has a wonderful family. She's a reformer. She's a conservative. She's the best thing that could have happened to my campaign and to America," he said.

As one of those "liberal feminists", I REALLY resent the implications in this statement. Sarah Palin is the direct counterpoint to the liberal feminist agenda? It's because of feminism that any of us are able to interact equally with our male counterpoints in the workplace, it's the reason I can choose to stay at home or other women can choose to work (neither is wrong or right, rather what's best for each individual family is what's important), and it's the reason that any woman could ever be considered for one of the highest offices in the world. I am SO SICK of this divide and conquer strategy. Now the campaign has to resort to pitting women against each other. Great. And don't even get me started on the "cold political calculation" thing. Country first??

Madam Governor, I'm exasperated! Your lack of basic knowledge of the English language is confouding!

http://www.adn.com/sarah-palin/story/553680.html

I hope this guy Monegan hires a lawyer for defamation of character. It's completely incredible to me that she believes that if she just says that she's vindicated and no laws or ethics codes were violated enough, it'll be true. Compound that rhetoric with her constant whining about what everyone else is doing wrong without paying any attention to her own "backyard"...

2 : corrupt , dishonest Definition of "rogue" as an adjective in the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, i.e. "rogue" cabinet member

So, in your view, Madam Governor, being corrupt and dishonest is not neccessarily a negative thing???? Talk about a character issue. Nice.

You hypocrite! First remove the beam from your own eye, and then you will see clearly enough to remove the speck from your brother's eye."~Matthew 7:5 (International Standard Version)

Alaskan Independence Party leader, friend of Sarah Palin

All I can say is, wow. Maybe McCain needs to think more about how slinging mud could affect his ticket and start talking about issues. Character questions are easy to pose. Ask your running mate.

An open letter to Pastor Jody Hice

I believe, as a Christian Democrat, that when you pit congregants and Christians against one another from the pulpit, you do nothing to further understanding or love for thy neighbor. Jesus spoke out for those who were suffering, the poor, and society's outcasts. Isn't it more beneficial to the world that you do the same, as a man of God? Sir, we live in a democracy, not a theocracy, and when you start believing that some Christians are better Christians because of their political beliefs, you are no longer preaching God's word, but your own.

McCain's ties to gambling make me wonder where evangelicals values truly lie. Talk the talk, yet no walking the walk?

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/28/us/politics/28gambling-web.html?ref=us

Evangelicals and Conservatives should REALLY know their candidate. Christian Coalition members fought hard against him in 2000 because of his ties to gambling, yet they're now ready to vote for him and sidestep proclaimed values? He's the "maverick" who wielded his power to stick it to the guys who screwed him in South Carolina. Was he really in it for the Indian Nation, or for his own revenge? Revenge seems to be a running theme with the McCain/Palin ticket.

Note: I personally don't oppose gambling and think that it could be a financial bonanza for the city of Cleveland. I think it's an exercise in futility to oppose it, since we are losing millions of tax dollars to Michigan, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and most especially, Canada.

Senator McCain, I have a question about your values?

You profess your belief in the American Worker, yet you want to make it easier for corporations by not making them pay their fair share of taxes because you think it will promote those jobs going out of the country. I know of a very successful, multi-billion dollar company that took some of it's production out of the U.S. to find that the work ethic they were accustomed to, wasn't there. The dedication to quality they were accustomed to, wasn't there. The American Worker they were accustomed to, wasn't there. Well, that same company ceased operations and brought back the jobs. So, tell me Senator, instead of giving the benefits to the companies that operate here and employ the American Worker, how about telling the companies the benefits of hiring the American Worker, even if it's at a higher cost, because in the end, the quality and work ethic is worth every penny you pay. You don't have to worry about shutting down operations for a month-long "holiday". You don't have to worry about finding good hardworking people that have pride in their work. You don't have to worry about making babies sick because of melamine in their formula, is that blunt enough for you. It's time the President starts promoting the people!

Now welcome to the world's stage, Sarah Barracuda, show pony extraordinare in the McCain Magic Maverick Tour

So, Sarah finally got her chance to meet with some world leaders, like Hamid Karzai above. What did they talk about you ask? It has been rumored that this exchange above what about Karzai's new baby and their shared experience with newborns. How exactly does that further her campaign's message or give credibility to her "foreign policy" clout? Who the hell knows what they're thinking, but whatever it is, it isn't working. Just keep prancing, just keep prancing, just keep prancing, prancing, prancing....

The Republican National Convention aka The Sisterhood of the Traveling Trophy Wives

I love being lectured to by a bunch of old white men about family values and what it means to be a God-fearing, patriotic American while they have their sweet little trophy wives on their arms, cooing in their ears, boosting their egos by telling them how wonderful they are. Would the First, Second, or Third Wives Clubs like to chime in?

Hockey Moms

M: Hey Sarah!

Sarah: What, M?

M: Do you know the difference between a Democratic hockey mom and a pit bull?

Sarah: What, lipstick?

M: Nah, lipstick and a human brain.

Factcheck.org is the best website to stay informed on reality based politics

This is a public service announcement for responsible education in political truth, especially in regards to the recent Democratic and Republican convention speeches. There was a whole bunch of misleading information, and even some out and out lies, perpetuated by people expecting our respect and voter trust. Buyer beware!

McCain had criticized earmarks from Palin

Three times in recent years, the Arizona senator's lists of 'objectionable' pork spending have included earmarks requested by his new running mate.

By Tom Hamburger, Richard Simon and Janet Hook, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers September 3, 2008

WASILLA, ALASKA -- For much of his long career in Washington, John McCain has been throwing darts at the special spending system known as earmarking, through which powerful members of Congress can deliver federal cash for pet projects back home with little or no public scrutiny. He's even gone so far as to publish "pork lists" detailing these financial favors.Three times in recent years, McCain's catalogs of "objectionable" spending have included earmarks for this small Alaska town, requested by its mayor at the time -- Sarah Palin.

Now, McCain, the likely Republican presidential nominee, has chosen Palin as his running mate, touting her as a reformer just like him.McCain has made opposition to pork-barrel spending a central theme of his 2008 campaign. "Earmarking deprives federal agencies of scarce resources, at the whim of individual members of Congress," McCain has said.But records show that Palin -- first as mayor of Wasilla and recently as governor of Alaska -- was far from shy about pursuing tens of millions in earmarks for her town, her region and her state.

This year, Palin, who has been governor for nearly 22 months, defended earmarking as a vital part of the legislative system. "The federal budget, in its various manifestations, is incredibly important to us, and congressional earmarks are one aspect of this relationship," she wrote in a newspaper column.

In 2001, McCain's list of spending that had been approved without the normal budget scrutiny included a $500,000 earmark for a public transportation project in Wasilla. The Arizona senator targeted $1 million in a 2002 spending bill for an emergency communications center in town -- one that local law enforcement has said is redundant and creates confusion.

McCain also criticized $450,000 set aside for an agricultural processing facility in Wasilla that was requested during Palin's tenure as mayor and cleared Congress soon after she left office in 2002. The funding was provided to help direct locally grown produce to schools, prisons and other government institutions, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense, a nonpartisan watchdog group.

Wasilla received $11.9 million in earmarks from 2000 to 2003. The results of this spending are very apparent today. (The town also benefited from $15 million in federal funds to promote regional rail transportation.)

The community transit center is a landmark: a one-story, tile-fronted building with a drive-through garage. Its fleet of 10 buses provides service throughout the region. Mat-Su Community Transit Agency officials say the building was made possible with a combination of federal money and matching gifts from a private foundation.

Taylor Griffin, a McCain campaign spokesman, said that when Palin became mayor in 1996, "she faced a system that was broken. Small towns like Wasilla in Alaska depended on earmarks to take care of basic needs. . . . That was something that Gov. Palin was alarmed about and was one of the formative experiences that led her toward the reform-oriented stance that she has taken as her career has progressed."

Palin, he said, was "disgusted" that small towns like hers were dependent on earmarks.

Public records paint a different picture:

Wasilla had received few if any earmarks before Palin became mayor. She actively sought federal funds -- a campaign that began to pay off only after she hired a lobbyist with close ties to Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), who long controlled federal spending as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. He made funneling money to Alaska his hallmark.

Steven Silver was a former chief of staff for Stevens. After he was hired, Wasilla obtained funding for several projects in 2002, including an additional $600,000 in transportation funding.

That year, a local water and sewer project received $1.5 million, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense, which combs federal spending measures to identify projects inserted by congressional members.

When Palin spoke after McCain introduced her as his running mate at a rally in Ohio last week, she made fun of earmarking. She said she had rejected $223 million in federal funds for a bridge linking Ketchikan to an island with an airport and 50 residents, referring to it by its derogatory label: the "bridge to nowhere."

In the nationally televised speech, she stood by McCain and said, "I've championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress. In fact, I told Congress thanks, but no thanks, on that bridge to nowhere. If our state wanted a bridge, I said, we'd build it ourselves."

However, as a candidate for governor in 2006, Palin had backed funding for the bridge. After her election, she killed the much-ridiculed project when it became clear the state had other priorities. She said she would use the federal funds to fill those needs.

This year she submitted to Congress a list of Alaska projects worth $197.8 million, including $2 million to research crab productivity in the Bering Sea and $7.4 million to improve runway lighting at eight Alaska airports. A spokesman said she cut the original list of 54 projects to 31."

So while Sen. McCain was going after cutting earmarks in Washington," said Steve Ellis of Taxpayers for Common Sense, "Gov. Palin was going after getting earmarks."

*Need I say more?

McCain's Speech and Sarah's ironic theme song

What a yawn! Even his own party pundits are saying he won't win based on his soaring oratory, and boy were they right! The "across the aisle" rhetoric after listening to Shrill Sarah last night was a pretty disgusting display of pandering to the Independents. Sorry, I just don't buy it.

Ironically they played "Barracuda" by Heart for Sarah Barracuda. When the lyrics fit, I guess????

Barracuda
Heart
(A.Wilson/N.Wilson/R.Fisher)

So this ain't the end - I saw you again today
Had to turn my heart away
You smiled like the Sun - kisses for everyone
and tales - it never fails!

You lying so low in the weeds
Bet you gonna ambush me
You'd have me down on my knees
Wouldn't you, Barracuda?

Back over Time when we were all trying for free
Met up with porpoise and me
No right no wrong you're selling a Song - a name
whisper game

If the real thing don't do the trick
You better make up something quick
You gonna burn it out to the wick
aren't you, Barracuda?

"Sell me sell you" the porpoise said
Dive down deep to save my head
You... I think you got the blues too.

All that night and all the next
Swam without looking back
Made for the western pools -silly fools!


I think they should have listened to the song and lyrics before they adopted this theme for Sarah. Not a wise bunch. roflmao!

John McCain has lost his honor

I have always been very insecure with the idea of John McCain becoming Commander-in-Chief, and were it not for the very words he has spoken being recorded with video, I don't know that most people would believe it. This man is beyond dangerous and now he wishes for us to believe his slogan "Country First"? Or is it "Ambition First", even if that means sacrificing your honor, Sarah Palin, but most importantly, the country you profess to love so much, and the one that I DO, in the process?

Wasn't it flip-flopping that the Repubes used against John Kerry??

Anyone who actually votes for this guy should really re-evaluate their priorities.

The two faces of Joe Lieberman

I guess as long as you're using Obama to help yourself get elected, then he's the man. What a two-faced bastard. And this is who McCain surrounds himself with. Nice.

Things that make you go hmm....

So which is it Sarah? Are you expecting special treatment? You can't have it both ways!

Sarah Who?

All I can say is that the first executive decision McCain wanted to make was not his own. He wanted Joe Lieberman or Tom Ridge but caved in to his "handlers". Whatever. Shows your mettle, John. Political pandering to women will not work. Thanks for thinking I'm that gullible. Maverick, my ass.

Sarah Palin is a woman who expects privacy for herself and her family, yet believes that other women shouldn't have that privacy, even after being violated and victimized by a rapist or incestuous pig. What's feministic about that?

Sarah Palin was FOR the "bridge to nowhere" before she was against it. She ran on it to gain her Mayoral position, then bailed out when the Feds weren't going to grant the earmark.

Speaking of earmarks, which McCain has been so outraged by, Ms Palin hired a law firm from Anchorage to help her gain the earmarks that she felt her little burg deserved...6.1 million dollars worth, only $800K less than the city of Boise, who has a population of 190,000. Hmmm, against earmarks and political corruption?

Reports the Chicago Tribune:
This year, Palin, who has been governor for nearly 22 months, defended earmarking as a vital part of the legislative system. "The federal budget, in its various manifestations, is incredibly important to us, and congressional earmarks are one aspect of this relationship," she wrote in a newspaper column.
In 2001, McCain's list of spending that had been approved without the normal budget scrutiny included a $500,000 earmark for a public transportation project in Wasilla. The Arizona senator targeted $1 million in a 2002 spending bill for an emergency communications center in town -- one that local law enforcement has said is redundant and creates confusion.
McCain also criticized $450,000 set aside for an agricultural processing facility in Wasilla that was requested during Palin's tenure as mayor and cleared Congress soon after she left office in 2002. The funding was provided to help direct locally grown produce to schools, prisons and other government institutions, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense, a nonpartisan watchdog group.

So which is it? I'm so confused. This lady has gotten herself into more than she ever bargained for and frankly, her cracks are showing and I can't wait to hear her spout off about the Republicans and then have to debate everything she's said and done.

Why hasn't she allowed herself to be interviewed by the press? Why has she allowed her daughter to be put in this critical light and not expect discussion? Why did she want to secede from the Union as an Independent for Alaska, which is against the constitution of the US, and is what Abraham Lincoln sacrificed so much for? Why is she not scrutinized for rhetoric spoken in her church? Why is she forcing another tragedy on her daughter and this poor 18 year old kid, to further her political ambitions? Why has it not been revealed that baby Daddy is already the father of one? Why has she allowed herself to be involved with people like Ted Stevens, until it wasn't politically prudent?

Many, many, many questions have to be asked and if this woman chose to be vetted by the Press, then that's her problem, not the Media.

(Note: I love how they had Bristol covering her pregnancy with the brother, Trig. Were they really expecting people not to find out?)

The Hallelujah Chorus has broken out in sound and their song is "Joe Biden, Joe Biden, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelu-u-ja-ah, YEAH!

I'm thrilled that Barack Obama has proven his intelligence and ability to make good decisions by choosing the man I believe to be the "Statesmen among Statesmen". He is the epitome of what a great politician can be...a real man of the people. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Hallelujah!

Tim Russert, my intellectual crush, has died and I'm devastated

My heart is absolutely broken. Even my husband knew about my crush on Tim. I love love love to talk about politics (much to the chagrin of many of my friends and family) and I could always count on Tim to fill that need. This was not a man of pretense, or ego. He was truth and honesty personified. I will miss him greatly.

Speaking of Hagee, here's a question for you Pastor

Hey Big Boy,

When did gluttoney become any less a sin than any other? Do the seven deadly sins apply less when you're Republican or a
"preacher"? Buddy, you need to practice a little more and preach a little less. I'm no McCainiac, but the best thing he ever did was drop you like a hot rock.

I get so tired of the barage of so called "Christian ideals" by the likes of this idiot and others, including people like Robertson and Msgr. Lisante on the right, and Wright and Father Flegar on the left. These people sure are opinionated about politics at the pulpits of their churches that reap the benefits of tax policies that save them millions of dollars a year. When did mocking political candidates become Christian? When did attacking people for their beliefs become American? What the hell is going on?! Aren't pastors and priests supposed to be above political rhetoric? This is really starting to become a circus of the sick and twisted.

Sincerely,

Another sinner

Sharon Stone is an asshole

"I'm not happy about the way the Chinese are treating the Tibetans because I don't think anyone should be unkind to anyone else," Stone said Thursday during a Cannes Film Festival red-carpet interview with Hong Kong's Cable Entertainment News. "And then this earthquake and all this stuff happened, and then I thought, is that karma? When you're not nice that the bad things happen to you?"

Wow, I didn't realize that Sharon Stone subscribed to the Robertson/Hagee School of Political Discourse? Is she serious? Was Hurricane Katrina a result of some bad karma? How about the tsunami in SE Asia, Sharon? What did they do? The poor villagers of Myanmar surely deserve their fate due to some cosmic shift, right? You're an asshole, Sharon Stone.

An open letter to Barack Obama about separate but equal

Dear Mr. Obama,

As a man of color, I'm sure you appreciate the idea that separate but equal, is neither equality nor justice. As the sister-in-law of a lesbian, I can tell you I share that same sentiment when it comes to the issue of gay marriage. I do have a problem with the heterosexual notion that we have some sort of Biblical entitlement to the word "marriage" but according to most Americans, marriage should be between one man and one woman. Okay, whatever. My proposal to you is this: Require all couples to seek out civil unions at their local courthouse. Easy as that. From the courthouses, they can move on to have their "marriages" in their houses of worship, parks, tents, wherever, and the government has finally separated themselves from the Church, in what I view to be a separation of Church and State issue. I have enjoyed a wonderful 20-year marriage with my husband, without the encumbrances of having to seek out and pay lawyers for the right to be at my husband's bedside if he's in the hospital, or the medical coverage afforded to us through marriage, etc, etc, etc. This is much more than a gay-straight issue, it's a humanity issue.

If people in America's past hadn't stood up for minority issues, where exactly do you think we'd be right now? I believe that as we remember the brilliant and ever-inspiring Dr. & Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. this week, we should also remember what he stood up for and died for...the right for all people to be respected and heard, and part of this great landscape we call America.

Deviants, sadists and perverts, oh my; deviants, sadists and perverts, oh my!

Every newsman's pulse was racing with the news about Gov. Elliot Spitzer yesterday. The sense I got as a viewer was this was better than any juicy story they could have dreamt up and it was happening in real time. Now granted, here was a man who spent a good portion of his career weeding out the worst of the worst on Wall Street, including their associates and "playthings" but the way they were acting reminded me a little of hyenas on a carcass. And the whole time he's up there admitting to his many transgressions, with the little wifey by his side, and the vultures just waiting to pick him clean, all I could think to myself was, well, at least he was with a woman. Geez. That's how immune many of us have become to this parade of our politicians' sex lives by the media, hypocritical rivals, and other attention-seeking agenda carriers. You know, it's not like the pervert was in a public bathroom looking for it, he was keeping his indiscretions to himself. I had a heated discussion about a similar subject with my older, yet not wiser mother, who believes that Hillary wouldn't make a good President because her husband got a hummey from someone other than her under the Oval Office desk. "What the fuck? Are you serious?" was the last thing I said before Mom changed the subject. My point-I don't give a RAT'S ASS how my leaders get their freak on, I just want them to spend my tax money wisely, to not give in to special interests, and to help those who need a leg up in life. That's it. Don't tell me anymore because I know, in every walk of life, there will be men in positions of power who will lead double lives. Does that in and of itself preclude them from having successful careers? Let's just put it this way, if we eliminated every CEO, CFO, Congressman, Priest, Minister, etc, from his position due to the deviant, sadistic, or perverted lifestyle he led, well, the world would be run by women.

“Much of the demand for women in combat comes from female officers who are eager for medals and promotions.” ~ Phyllis Schlafly

While reading the news this week of 19-year-old Army Specialist Monica Lin Brown being awarded the Silver Star, I thought of this quote and another came to mind too, by the notorious Ms. Schlaffly. In it she states, "History offers no evidence for the proposition that the assignment of women to military combat jobs is the way to win wars, improve combat readiness, or promote national security." Well, we do have evidence now Phyllis. I bet if you ask those soldiers who made it that day, due to Monica's heroism, if they thought she should be out there with them, they would gladly tell you what they think of your opinion. Truth be told, some of them may have thought the same as you before she saved their lives. Now they have a reality to base their feelings on rather than a fear. It's truly unfortunate that in 2008, so many people can still have fears like these about women. It hurts to know that this could be the same fear that keeps the first truly viable woman candidate from seeking the highest office in America. My opinion being that of not only a woman, but a mother of a young teenage girl AND as a veteran who served her country proudly. It's time to move past fear and embrace truth. Truth is, anything you can do, I can do equally as well. Gotcha.

Bitch is the new black! ~ Tina Fey, SNL Weekend Update on Hillary Clinton

I have to admit when I watched Tina Fey's roundup of the media and gender in regards to Hillary Clinton, I literally cheered out loud, much to the chagrin of my sleeping husband. Exit polling this week has finally proven what many women, including Clinton, have been saying for a long time...it's more difficult for women to break those "glass ceilings" in politics than for men, including minority males. In the poll, 8% said they wouldn't vote for someone because of their race, but a whopping 12% said they wouldn't vote for a woman because of her gender. To be taken seriously as a woman, in many cases you must be better at everything yet still maintain your composure, lest you are addressed as hysterical, and keep your demeanor demure, lest you be known as a bitch. Well, I'm here to embrace all about me that is woman and fabulous and I say Hillary should too...including that compassionate side that can't always stay stoic, that motherly side that wants to fix what hurts (whether it's our kids, or our economy), and that bitch that just doesn't want to take it anymore, from those that don't want to believe in what the future for all Americans, including women, can be and want to keep others down. As it has been so beautifully put before, I'm a bitch, I'm a mother, I'm a child, I'm a lover, I'm a sinner, I'm a saint, I should not be ashamed...you know you wouldn't want me any other way.

First Joe Biden, now John Edwards?!

I have to admit that I was very saddened by Edwards' departure from the race yesterday. He seemed to have brought humanity and humility to an otherwise sterile, corporate-funded political orgy we call the "Campain to the White House".

Now, it's down to Hilary and Barack and I just don't know which one I buy into, more or less. Sure Obama is smooth, and inspirational, but some of the most charasmatic leaders of our time have also proved to be the most dangerous, politically speaking, with Vladmir Putin being a perfect example. I'm not trying to draw a line between the two, but there are still many questions I have about Obama, since he really hasn't been on the scene for very long. And sorry Oprah, but I wouldn't take your word for what color I should put on my bedroom walls, I sure ain't gonna listen to you for advice on the next leader of the world's only Superpower. Thanks, though.

I guess I'll just have to keep watching and reading.