Sunday, October 26, 2008

Messiah

According to Mr. Oliver North, when he was in DC the other day, Barack Obama's motorcade came by as he drove down the 'Dulles Greenway'. People were directed to the side of the street and when they realized whose motorcade it was, many supporters got out of their cars and started taking pictures. Some of them started to shout, according to Mr. North: '"The Messiah! He's coming! Obama is coming!" The shouting only intensified as the candidate and his entourage — motorcycles, police cars, black Secret Service Suburbans and busses — roared past us.'

People, if any of that is true...please get a proper perspective. He is not a Messiah...umm...er...at least I don't think he is...so let's stick to reality.

Have a nice week and get to the polls early!!

Sunday, October 19, 2008

'Let the Circle be Unbroken'

Today is the 18th birthday of my eldest child. Happy birthday, sweetheart. May the spirit of our ancestors guide you to your destiny.
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If you didn't get the pleasure of seeing and hearing Colin Powell speak on 'Meet the Press' today, you missed what I believe to be one of the best moments in this entire presidential campaign. The following is an excerpt of a portion of Colin Powell's words leading up to his endorsement of Barack Obama:

"Senator Obama has demonstrated the kind of calm, patient, intellectual, steady approach to problem-solving that I think we need in this country," Powell declared.

"I think he is a transformational figure, he is a new generation coming onto the world stage, onto the American stage, and for that reason I'll be voting for Sen. Barack Obama," Powell said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

Powell said Obama "displayed a steadiness, an intellectual curiosity, a depth of knowledge and an approach to looking at problems ... . I think that he has a, a definitive way of doing business that would serve us well."
So very eloquently put, I felt a sense of pride as I sat literally leaning on the edge of my seat, not wanting to miss one single word. It gives me hope that maybe all isn't lost and maybe at some point we can make a difference...I could not have expressed how I feel any better...Change that we need indeed.

Ase!
(So shall it be!)

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Start your own PAC

I read a very discouraging article today. It was about the low number of black voter registrants and reasons for the problem. Although I am already aware of the problems and most things discussed in the article, I thought it noteworthy enough to pass it on. The link is below and I suggest you read it.

http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=c22598f2e13ed9421a7933e8d9d25977&from=rss%20

Although it highlights minority voting problems, I think this is one of the reasons why our country is now run by economic elites. The average American is very un-American, very unpatriotic because they no longer participate in the political process. I was very interested in the information presented about voting in Europe. It is also interesting to note that for the country that claims it is the most democratic, it is low on the totem pole when it comes to voter participation.

Here’s my suggestion: When you vote on Nov. 4, bring at least one person with you. In fact fill your car. Make it a voting party; then come back home and watch the results and the annoying political pundits (talk about nothing)…make a cheese and cracker plate, order some Buffalo wings, pizza or whatever floats your boat. I have already requested half the day off for this event and am thinking of taking the next day off (in celebration –or in sorrow…depending on the results) too.

Please also remember that you can vote early if you don’t want to bother with the crowds (or worry about running out of ballots and hanging chads). Check out this link if you are not sure about your state laws:

http://www.earlyvoting.net/states/abslaws.php

If you can do this for the Superbowl why can’t you do this for something that actually matters?

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Dumb and Dumber

I wrote the following observations in response to an article siting the Princeton Reviews study of the grade levels of language used in the debates. The writer indicated the he or she will be watching the next debate differently because he or she did not realize that the language used was devoid of any intellectual challenges:

Everything these days is 'dumbed' down. Society is less intelligent as a whole and most people do not seek out knowledge, they believe what they hear on TV. I pay attention to the public school education my children are getting and it is very different than the public school education I received. There are a lot of bells and whistles, gadgets, computers, etc...all deflecting from the fact that our public education system is worse. The children graduate knowing less and acting less mature. Thus the reason the candidates have to talk down to America. We no longer expect our leaders to exhibit intelligence. We examine their personalities. We need them to be able to have a drink with us. All silly reasons to vote for anyone whether democrat or republican.

Our leaders need to be intelligent, competent, and able to conduct meetings, interviews with people from all over the world. The funny thing is that people from other countries tend to speak English more intelligently than those born right here in the good old USA. They also tend to do better in our own education systems. I don't need to watch differently because I already noticed that we are a nation that thrives on the lack of knowledge.

I thought I would share because this has been one of my biggest problems with political elections as of late. Here are the debate statistics as they relate to reading levels:

2000 George W. Bush: spoke at a sixth-grade level (6.7) Al Gore: seventh-grade (7.9)

1992 Bill Clinton scored in the seventh grade (7.6), President George Bush in the sixth grade (6.8), and Ross Perot at a sixth-grade level (6.3).

1960 Kennedy and Nixon, both of whom spoke in a vocabulary appropriate for tenth graders.

1858 Lincoln vs. Douglas: Lincoln spoke at an eleventh grade level (11.2); Douglas 12.0


Looking at these results reinforces the fact that America is getting dumber. Sad indeed.

Friday, October 3, 2008

Why do I have a Job?

I was watching a show on television the other day about women who are overwhelmed with their lives because they have careers outside of the home in addition to taking care of their family. One woman described how she hated being the financial officer of her company and another explained how she spends most of her time completing tasks for her teaching job. I could not help thinking about my own struggle with my desire to have a career while still being a mother. Of course, the next thought was then why should they struggle like this when they could simply choose not to work. None of the women seemed to be in financial danger if they quit as they had spouses who were also employed.

My husband’s words began to ring in my ear. He believes that I should choose to stay home because we will never be rich from our jobs and my income just makes it easier for us to be better consumers. I began to question all of my arguments for having a job: It enables me to save more money for our future; I can save for retirement; my children can have summer vacations; I can go on the occasional shopping spree; it gives me something to do in the days; I can make friends and converse with adults like me; blah, blah, blah it goes. As I sit here writing down all these excuses, the reality I see and feel is that my husband is right--I work to consume. When I initially started working, on payday I would think about the new outfit, new purse…the new shoes. I thought about going out to dinner more than once in the week, perhaps treating the children to a movie with dinner. Why are these things so important to me? Why are these consumer driven desires so important to our society? Does this make us better people? Are we better parents? Of what real advantage is the effect of our willingness to give up our lives at home for a few extra dollars that are mostly used to increase the wealth of those that are truly wealthy? Could our desire to consume more than the neighbors and co-workers be driving the economic problems so many of us are feeling today?

Did you need the house you are living in or just wanted to show off how much you can afford? Could you have purchased your car slightly used and saved several thousand dollars? Did you have to go out to eat tonight? Do you realize that you spend at least 2.5 hours on a typical night out to eat at your favorite restaurant? Just think of what you could have done with the time had you stayed home. Cooking dinner may have taken 1 hour. You would have had an additional 1.5 hours to spend relaxing with your family. So tell me…why are we OK with the idea of sitting at a restaurant waiting to be seated for 2 hours? Crazy, isn’t it? So why do we do it? Why do we do all we can to make money and have a nice home then make up all these reasons to not be in it? My husband asks me that all the time. I no longer have an answer.

I must admit that I have gotten to be a lot more frugal over the years since I started working. I want to keep as much of my hard earned money as I can. So now, I don’t go on shopping sprees; I don’t go out to dinner twice each week (I’m watching my girlish figure too!!); I try to spend only when I have to and it is almost painful to see how much is left, even after being careful, by the time the next payday rolls around. Granted, I save before I spend, but it sure would be nice to save even more!!

Every day at work is less tolerable to me. Is there anyone who truly loves working? So why work when we don’t have to? Why can’t we just let go of a few things, stop consuming so much and be satisfied with less?

Hmmm…let me know what you think. Post your comment below.