Voting Eve...(kind of like Xmas Eve, only more nervewracking!)

So...here I am...in the library of all places (Olivia is at cheerleading and I have 2 hours to kill). And all I can think of is how badly I want it to be tomorrow night so the returns can start pouring in. I have never been so excited to vote, or so nervous about results. I so badly want tomorrow to be a landslide for Obama, just to show those dumbass conservatives! oops..sorry..I guess this is the sort of division that we are trying to avoid.

But I can't help it! Over the past 2 months, I have basically been told that since I'm a liberal, I am unpatriotic, I am lazy and I am anti-feminist. I have to say, I really believe that none of those are true.

Let's start with the anti-patriotic statement. First of all, in my humble opinion, Obama is one of the most patriotic men there are. He is literally risking his life and those of his beautiful family to run for the highest office in the country. He knows that there will be numerous attempts on his life (this is an unfortunate fact that very few want to speak about) and there will probably be attempts on his children and wife. Yet, he pushes forward. THAT is how much he loves his country and wants to see it change and succeed. Yet, he is called unpatriotic. I'm confused.

And I love the lazy one - this stems from his "spreading the wealth comment" that the republicans have run away with. Did you know that if you are a liberal, you sit on your ass waiting for a handout. That must be why I can't ever get together with any of my friends...we are all too busy being lazy. Frankly, most liberals I know are the least lazy people around. On top of jobs and raising open minded children, most everyone I know does some sort of volunteer work, whether it be in the school or other places, there is a lot of giving back to the community going on.

I am so sorry that this blog doesn't make much sense, but I just have a lot of junk in my head. I am really hoping the outcome tomorrow is the one I want to see. I know that I'm planning on getting up at the ass crack of dawn to go to Faith Temple to vote. I can only hope that the majority of Republicans around here are either late sleepers, or figure that SC is in the bag for McCain and don't show up..haha. Won't it be funny if McCain only wins SC by a slim margin...that would be the best gift ever!

AND DON'T FORGET TO VOTE!!!

It has already begun....

Today we get the new American Girl catalog. And in the spirit of trying to APPEAR efficient, I ask my oldest child (who is almost 9) to circle the things she likes and I'll mail it to Santa. And while I was mailing it to Santa, why doesn't she make a list on what else she would like, preferbly in order. Now, we have had the discussion in the past of how Santa just uses the list as a suggestion, and it is unrealistic to expect to receive EVERYTHING on the list.

(Soooooooooo...did I mention she is only 9? The prices are approximate, but you get the idea!)

1 - American Girl of the year Doll along with ALL of the accessories and clothes. Cost - $150
2 - Cellphone (WTF??!! did i mention is only 9? I guess her friends need her at a moment's notice that I'm not aware of) Cost - I have no idea and don't care because it is NOT going to happen!
3 - Nintendo DS, and I'm guessing when you purchase one you must purchase a game as well? This is one of those purchases that I have been trying to avoid. Call me old fashioned, but I am ok with the fact that my children read, color and do other IMAGINATIVE things in the car and to pass the time. But did you know that "everyone else" has one?? I wasn't aware of that either. Cost - $200 - 250
4 - Laptop. For all the travel she does for work, you know. I guess the brand new iMac I just bought a couple of months ago with the 24 inch screen just didn't do it for her. Cost - $$A-helluva-lot (yeah..let's see Santa cough this one up).
5 - Earrings, but only gold ones. ok..this is definately one I can pawn off on a grandparent
6 - Trampoline - actually, I'm pushing for this one. Chris is against it, stating we don't have anywhere to put it when in actuality he doesn't want to spend another xmas eve putting one together.
7 - Another pet like a turtle, along with some food. I suppose having to remind her EVERY SINGLE DAY to feed the one three legged cat is not enough of a chore on me. Now I have to have some smelly reptile to have to clean up after as well. ummmmmmmm...NO. I actually enjoy being practically pet free, and the only reason we have the cat is that he caught me in a moment of vulnerability.

I knew this day was coming. The day of the expensive gifts, the gifts that were going to be very hard to fulfill. SIGH....at least my 3 y.o. can't write yet!

The humanity of it all...

So, here I am...up at 4 am after getting NO sleep the night before and taking a melatonin last night in order to get a good night's sleep. I think I woke up though because I was sweating like a menopausal woman due to the fact that we shut the AC off but did NOT open the windows. Pretty smart, I thought. Anyway, back to our regulary scheduled programming...

So, here I am doing some surfing, checking out my new favorite blog by this person in Alaska, becoming more and more outraged by the unbelievableness (is that even a word) in this campaign and the pure stupidity of the American people (more on that later), I go to my facebook page, join a new group, change my status, read Beth's blog, read Jen's blog (who will need donations soon to get her kid out of the slammer...haha), go the Obama site and see if there are any events happening around here that I can help with, and then pop onto CNN to see if there is anything interesting there.

I come accross this article regarding an overweight death row inmate. Before I go off on this article, let me clarify that even though I am completely pro-choice, I am definately pro death penalty. I feel that if you have done something to someone else's liberties, you have lost all rights in my eyes. I am a true believer in an eye for an eye, and that I shouldn't be paying for you to have the privilege to breathe. I think this is where the Italian mob side in me comes out. To summarize this article, this particular inmate is apparantly too fat to kill due to the fact that they will have a hard time finding his veins in order to get the IV in.

Yes...you read this correctly. This animal, who raped, beat and killed (along with another person) two college girls, is avoiding the death penalty because they CAN'T REACH HIS VEINS. ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME???!!! They are concerned with the HUMANITY of it all??? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?? I'm sorry...were they thinking of the humanity of those two innocent women as they were beating them? Were they thinking of the humanity of those women before or after they carved "Xs" on their stomachs after they killed them?

Now, in the article he states that he did participate in some crimes leading up to their deaths, but denied beating them. Oh..ok...well, that makes a HUGE fucking difference in my mind.....NOT! They are still dead, you are still alive, and you have been sitting on death row since 1986. For 22 years this fat ass has been sitting there, being fed 3 meals a day, with a roof over his head, access to free medical care, and will continue to stay there because it is too inhumane to access his veins.

I remember when I went into the hospital to have Olivia, I was "lucky" enough to get a brand spanking new nurse to find my veins to put an IV in. Umm...she couldn't do it, but we didnt find this out until she stuck me and dug and dug and dug for it. And I didn't kill anyone to deserve that honor.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS COUNTRY??

So...Here we are...

It has been 7 years....7 years since NY and the country has been changed forever. I guess I took it very personally, since I just love that city more each time I visit it - I would give a lot to be able to go back there and live. It is the only place I have ever lived where I actually feel like I belong there, so it is very near and dear to me. I remember so much about that day...where I was (thankfully, I didn't have access to live footage, which I'm glad for because I had a chance to digest it just a little before watching TV), and what I was feeling. But the biggest thing I remember is the overwhelming feeling from so many people about how so many things, and issues, and just general CRAP just mattered so little. And then one year went by, and on that year anniversary, I, like so many others, relived that day over and over...and you just thought about it. Then year 2, and it wasn't in our mind as much..but still and important day. Years 3, 4, 5 & 6 came and went...and each year you thought about it less and less. I guess that is what grieving is all about...time eases the pain. Now, year 7..what did I do today? Well, I delivered my child to school and had to hastily haul my ass inside to scribble a note because my in laws were going to pick her up, then I left and tried to figure the best way to get from Pelham Rd to 123 (btw...there is no easy way, really), made it to Easley. Once there, I dealt with figuring out where I'm going to put an auditor from the SCDOR who is going through (ironically enough) 7 years of records - and did I mention that someone decided to get rid of years 2001 - 2004?? That is going to make for a very interesting story. Stressed over having to get some other invoices split correctly (boring accounting stuff), and rushed home to relieve my in laws, make dinner for the kids, yell at my daughter for being on the computer when she should be doing her homework and cleaning her room, and then get my oldest to her piano lesson. The funny part is I was thinking about doing a post about how I multi task so much better than my husband (and I still may do that..just not today) when I came accross an interesting blog. This particular post is written by a man who was in the midst of all of this, and the post is a repeat of what he wrote a couple of days afterwards so that he could capture all of his feelings. I hope you can take the time to read it, because after reading it, it truly gives you a reality check. At least, it humbled me a little, even for a short time. And it just angers me more about all the pettiness going on with the conservatives: "lipstick on a pig", sex education for kindergarteners, experience, no experience....ARRRGGHHH... ENOUGH!! http://arkangel3.wordpress.com/2008/09/10/memories-of-two-towers-struck-down/

My first blog..and my first political rant

I'll be honest - I have never been THAT involved in politics. I have always known that I have leaned to the left, but I have never claimed a political party. I have always voted in the major Presidential elections, because I have an internal rule that states that one is not allowed to complain unless they vote, and since I love to complain, I must vote. That being said, the past few elections have been less than exciting. I ended up voting for the Libertarian, because I couldn't bring myself to vote for either major party candidate (and I have to say that I am PROUD to say that I never voted to put our current idiot leader into the office).

That being said, this election and the past few years have changed me a lot. I am much more aware of the seriousness of the state of affairs our country is in, and it just pains me that the majority of people in office just DON'T GIVE A SHIT about the people they are supposed to represent. I have tried my best to educate myself on the candidates and what they represent and how closely I relate to them. After watching the DNC this week, I have grown more and more towards the Obama camp, however, I was going to do my due diligence and wacth the RNC this coming week and try to make the most educated decision I could with my one little vote.

That all changed yesterday.

For those of you living under a rock (or in Alaska, haha), John McCain announced his VP candidate yesterday. I had a gut feeling all along that he was going to pick a woman, and it pained me because I knew that it would make my decision that much harder. I would love, love, love to see a woman in the Oval Office. I was in a meeting Friday morning and didn't have my phone with me. When I returned to my office, my husband sent me a text that simply said "McCain chose a woman as vp". I immediately signed onto CNN expecting to see Kay Bailey Hutchinson or Olympia Snowe or even Meg Whitman, as her name had been tossed around as well. So when I saw Sarah Palin, my first reaction was "who"?? After doing some research (and I'll admit at the time, it was brief), my outrage began.

Does McCain truly think that any INTELLIGENT woman will not see through this very transparent political move? If a man had been presented with the same resume, he wouldn't be considered for the mayor of Chicago, much less a VP spot. Even though all of her views are the complete opposite of mine, I would have been ok with that if she would have been the least bit qualified for this post. What an incredible insult to all of the women of America. And if a woman is not truly insulted by this pandering, then she is a woman who just wants to see someone with a vagina in office, whether or not they are qualified to be there.

It enrages me more to think that the republicans are grasping for anything they can to justify her "experience". One such argument is that she has more executive experience than Obama, therefore, she is more qualified. Really?? She was a city councilwoman and a mayor for a city in Alaska which has, at most, 9,000 people. She is now governor of a state that has a population which is less than that of Chicago, and a state which the richest in our country. And she has only done this for less than 2 years. A second rebuttal to the fact that she lacks in foreign experience is the fact that since she is in Alaska, she is right next to Russia, therefore, she is qualified. HUH??!!!

Again, I ask: does the McCain camp really think we are that stupid??!!

I have spoken to a couple of women who are in favor of this choice. I don't get it. One of these women said to me that she likes Palin because she is "just like me". THAT IS THE PROBLEM!!!! What other housewife is ready for being the leader of the free world? I truly can not think of any, housewife or working mom, who is prepared for such a position, me included. For that matter, most men are not ready for that either, so I'm not just picking on my fellow sisters.

What I truly fear is that McCain gets voted in, and now she is a heartbeat away from being President. And I don't buy into the arguments that it hasn't happened for over 100 years, blah blah. The fact of the matter is that it CAN happen - and this is very scary. And to have 4 more years of republican rule is almost as distressing.

I found this blog from an Alaskan to be pretty eye opening as to what is really going on up there: http://mudflats.wordpress.com/2008/08/29/what-is-mccain-thinking-one-alaskans-perspective/

I will say, it is very disheartening to know that my vote doesn't count for much in this right winger state. But it won't stop me from voting in the manner that I think is best for myself, my girls, and my country.