Lame Duck

Whilst I am trying to enjoy the holiday season and keep my stress levels down, I can't seem to turn on the news without hearing something of the latest nonsense happening during the lame duck session. Do people really know what that term means anyway? I mean, I had a general idea but the other day I just decided to see exactly what was happening.

The U.S. Senate website defines it for us:

"lame duck" session - When Congress (or either chamber) reconvenes in an even-numbered year following the November general elections to consider various items of business. Some lawmakers who return for this session will not be in the next Congress. Hence, they are informally called "lame duck" Members participating in a "lame duck" session.

Yeah, so THAT is why there are crazy 2000 page bills that nobody has read pending the week before Christmas. Deja Vu. The people who have been making the mess still have the power, even though we voted them out. What a strange system...shouldn't they have packed up the day after? So pretty much nobody is listening to the American people at all and there is zero accountability for behaving badly.

We put our votes out in November. We fill out the polls, we put stickers on our cars and signs in the yard, we knock doors, we participate in phone banks, we "like" things on Facebook to make our opinions known all year long and really we just want to chill out and bake (and/or eat) some cookies with our families about right now (if we've finished our Christmas preparations.) I always find Congress extra annoying in December. Guess I should go have another cookie...

Laying it All Out There

This is the yard sign my County Republican Party was selling during this election cycle. I had a love/hate relationship with the sign. At first my mixed emotions made me think I was a chicken. I mean, I'm against the nonsense happening in Washington for the past 2 years. So why wouldn't I just run out and buy one of these signs for my yard?

My hesitation lasted up until last week when I made my final decision and voted Republican. Luckily I live on a cul-de-sac so the traffic who missed my very important, but chicken, message was not great. The bulk of my concern about the sign was it's simplicity. It seemed to completely forget that Republicans long misbehaved in the name of power and pandering to what they 'thought' people wanted for far too long, helping us along the road to where we are today.

So why did I go ahead and cast the Republican vote?

1. I'm looking ahead. The Republican vote that will be tallied tomorrow is simply a step I think must be taken. Vigilance on the part of all of us will be just as necessary even with Republicans and I honestly hope it stays that way. It will for me.

2. I once called myself an independent/moderate. I thought I was somewhere in the middle because neither party fully represented my ideals. The way our country has recently been turned upside down has forced me to do my research. Now I realize I'm so far to the right that voting for a Democrat is worse in my case than not voting at all (which I don't believe in!)

3. Referring to 2 - Just because I'm not crazy about the options out there doesn't mean I should check out and not vote. I did the research. I wasn't pleased with my options. The discomfort I felt while casting my vote made me even more dedicated to supporting good candidates when I see them.

4. The Democrats at the top are far more liberal than my Democrat voting friends who are usually moral Democrats more than anything. Those running our country today make the Clintons look conservative. I really don't think they are stupid, as many say. I think they are evil with evil intentions of usurping the rights of Americans. I know, I know. Yes, evil is a strong word. But it is morally reprehensible to want to remove a right from one human being even if you say you're going to give it to someone else. The health care takeover really solidified this for me. It was huge. It was unpopular. They wouldn't scale back. They wouldn't back off. They told us they knew better than we did what we needed. That's not okay coming from either side.

5. While many of my ideals fall in line with Libertarian views, the Libertarian options on the ballot were weak. Voting strictly on that ideology would have been a vote for a Democrat. Further, I disagree with the Libertarian ideological views on war. While those on my ballot wouldn't have the power to stop funding troops it bothers me to know that they might if they could.

6. A vote for a Democrat feels like a vote for Obama, Pelosi, or Reid. That just feels bad.

So there. The good, bad, and ugly of my thought process. It is not as intelligent and smart as I might like but it's the truth. I think sometimes people sit out a vote because they don't know what they'd say if someone asked why they voted as they did. I don't think you have to have all of the smartest, most educated reasons for your choice but if you do your research and then go cast your vote then that is the best you can do.

I guess I should have made my own yard sign:

"Stop Government Expansion: Vote for the most conservative candidate you can find (but not a Democrat) who pledges to limit the size of federal government, reverse the health care takeover, lower taxes, stop Cap and Trade, protect our sovereignty, take terrorism seriously, drop political correctness in favor of the truth, protect all American life (yours, mine, our troops, and the unborn), put the opinions of Americans above the opinions of foreigners, refuse to make the poor comfortable in their poverty, allow Americans the freedom they need to create jobs, allow businesses who make bad decisions to go out of business, limit executive power (especially czars), protect states' rights, stop legislation from the bench, and read the Constitution. Then after you've voted, stay engaged to make sure they do what they said."

Favorite Candidate of the 2010 Elections: Rand Paul. He says things that are sometimes unpopular and the media eats him up for it, but I like it and so do his voters. I think if people would have the guts to say what they really believe, they would be shocked at how well it was received. I'm so tired of politicians who talk about feeding the hungry and educating our children, then once elected they go straight to tea with Hugo Chavez. If you like everything a politician says when they are campaigning, maybe something is wrong.

Register!

Today's the last day to register to vote on November 2nd!!

Happy About Taxes?

I was doing a search tonight and somehow stumbled upon this article: Taxed Enough Already?. It's on the Pew Research Center website and it highlights recent polling data that 50% of Americans say they pay a fair share of taxes. The article goes on and on with a lot of numbers discussing the irony of this in light of the Tea Party movement and current outrage at the federal government. The author seems to be trying hard to make the point that we don't really mean what we say.

So 50% of Americans believe they are paying their fair share of taxes? Sounds shocking I know. But what about that 47% of Americans who don't pay taxes? Seems like there might be a little crossover there. I mean, I guess some of those folks might not be able to do the math and maybe they feel like they pay too much, but my guess is that they feel pretty good about their current taxation situation. So maybe there is a whopping 3% in the mix that believes they are getting what they pay for. Then again, that's probably within the margin of error so you could argue that there are no actual taxpayers in America who feel they are getting what they pay for.

I wonder what our current situation would look like if you had to pay taxes to vote.

Enraged vs. Exhausted

On the plane to California last week, my husband handed me this article by Peggy Noonan in the Wall Street Journal and said I should read it. It refers to this video, which was widely publicized last week.



Obviously the only video I could find was a little edited. It was the best picture I could quickly find so you could really see the look on Obama's face when he realized he wasn't getting complimented by someone in his hand picked crowd.

This part of the article was interesting. I would like to believe it is true everywhere. From my corner of the world, it's right on. It feels true. The only thing it doesn't click with is how CNN and MSNBC paint the picture.

First, Washington is being revealed in a new way.

The American people now know, "with real sophistication," everything that happens in the capital. "I find a much more knowledgeable electorate, and it is a real-time response," Ms. Blackburn says. "We hear about it even as the vote is taking place."

Voters come to rallies carrying research—"things they pulled off the Internet, forwarded emails," copies of bills, roll-call votes. The Internet isn't just a tool for organization and fund-raising. It has given citizens access to information they never had before. "The more they know," Ms. Blackburn observes, "the less they like Washington."

Second is the rise of women as a force. They "are the drivers in this election cycle," Ms. Blackburn says. "Something is going on." At tea party events the past 18 months, she started to notice "60% of the crowd is women."

She tells of a political rally that drew thousands in Nashville, at the State Capitol plaza. She had brought her year-old grandson. When the mic was handed to her, she was holding him. "I said, 'How many of you are grandmothers?' The hands! That was the moment I realized that the majority of the people at the political events now are women. I saw this in town halls in '09—it was women showing up at my listening events, it was women talking about health care."

Read the entire article - it's good! Noonan also has another good article from this last month that well illustrates the Tea Party. Click here for the link. Good reading folks!

Pulling Out The Big Guns

Ecclesiastes 10:2

"A wise man’s heart is at his right hand; but a fool’s heart at his left."

The choice is yours this November!

Just 50 days away!

Raving Lunatic

Tonight my husband said I should start doing a video blog as I'm watching or reading the news. Apparently he thinks my off the cuff, raving lunatic monologues are more exciting than my writing. Don't hold your breath! I'm not sure I can stand seeing myself in that mode.

Tonight's commentary was sparked by MSNBC's reporting on the salmonella outbreak from Iowan eggs. They kept repeating how, "people are crying out for the government to do something" and "if the government only" bla bla bla. Have you heard one person "crying out for the government to do something" about these eggs?? Crying? Really? Maybe if Obama would just bless all of our food before we eat it we could all rest assured we were safe.

Getting Out There

Okay, so you know how I said I was super inspired by The Obama Diaries and Laura Ingraham's thoughts on how we can all make a difference at the dinner table? Still true, but not necessarily my focus for the next 75 days or so. November 2 will be here in no time so I got my little self out of the house today and over to my County Republican Women's Club meeting. It was a "tea", but let's not split hairs.

Congressman Ralph Hall was present and spoke for a while, as did his Congressional Staff Director Leslee Gilbert. Ralph Hall is very funny. My favorite line, "They keep calling us the party of 'No'. That's not all bad. Eight of the Ten Commandments say 'No'." Nice one.

One of the subcommittees Leslee Gilbert staffs is Space and Aeronautics. An informed attendee raised her hand and asked about the following subject while the rest of us whispered, "when did that happen?" and "what the heck?" Some snippets on Obama's mission for NASA:

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said in a recent interview that his "foremost" mission as the head of America's space exploration agency is to improve relations with the Muslim world.

"When I became the NASA administrator -- or before I became the NASA administrator -- he charged me with three things. One was he wanted me to help re-inspire children to want to get into science and math, he wanted me to expand our international relationships, and third, and perhaps foremost, he wanted me to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with dominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science ... and math and engineering," Bolden said in the interview.

He said the United States is not going to travel beyond low-Earth orbit on its own and that no country is going to make it to Mars without international help.

That's most of the meat, but you can click here for the full article. Or just search "NASA mission Muslims". It's everywhere and I had NO IDEA.

Crazy me. I just figured that since the United States is still the world leader in science and technology with China (gaining ever so quickly on us), Japan, Germany, Britain, Russia, and France coming behind us we might turn towards those countries first if we actually needed to turn to anyone at all. But where's the fun in that? My favorite part about the three charges President Obama gave to Mr. Bolden: None of them have anything to do with space exploration. We've got some smart cookies running the show in Washington. It's just jobs, oh and our position as world leader in science and technology, that hang in the balance. But hey, as long as the Muslims feel good about their contribution...

On a positive, less ironic note...the meeting today was great and I highly recommend that everyone who possibly can just go to a local GOP meeting. Getting there is half the battle. I was educated, informed, and inspired to do more while I met a lot of like minded fellow citizens. Our County Republican Women's Club is holding a special Saturday event at a high school for any citizen interested in getting involved. There they will explain what you can do, how to get involved, how to become a delegate if you are interested, etc. I expect similar meetings may be available everywhere. I will be dragging as many friends as I can with me. So much hangs on November 2 that everyone who can needs to participate.

Book Reporting

Been trying for months to get through this book:

It still hasn't happened. I've left it aside as I hit some fiction, then returned again. Then left again. Then decided maybe I needed to spice up my political reading.

Ahhh, more like it. While I don't pretend that Laura Ingraham's book is all true, it was such a fun read. Truth was gained as it was artfully woven with fiction that merely humanized it. I really enjoyed this book. She lays out the dangers of the Obama administration, the things we're all scratching our heads over, the things nobody is talking about, and the things everybody is talking about. She puts her own spin on it and the satirical writing is fun. I even laughed out loud several times.

The thing I like the best: After each of the ten chapters in this book she offers a positive message of what the reader can do. This may very well be in Mitt Romney's book (which I WILL get to the end of) but it must be at the end. After stirring me up over each specific area of our lives Obama poses a threat to, she offers encouragement that a lot can be done on an individual level. In your home. In your neighborhood. It's not necessary to do anything elaborate that would gain attention on a national stage. We can all make a difference.

Final messages: Don't accept what is happening to our country. Don't despair about it either. November elections DO count. Republicans DID screw up before Obama, but even they wouldn't have done what he's done. Pure conservative values will win in November if GOP politicians can stick to them instead of pandering to special interest groups (Hispanic voters, environmentalists, abortion rights activists, etc.) I so agree with that. All of those groups have members who will be attracted to pure conservative values if candidates will present them.

I'm not dogging Mitt...his book is a great read on foreign policy. Tons of information that would benefit each of us if we'd read it. And I will. I WILL!!! After a day chasing a 2 and 4 year old around, reading about radical Jihad, Vladamir Putin, and Hu Jintao (mixed with brief 20th century history lessons here and there) can make deciphering my 2 year old's language of only the first syllable from each word seem easy.

Cost Effectiveness

I was caught in the act this week. The act of complaining. I was complaining to my brother about the bill we recently received for a recent surgery. I'll admit, he stopped me in my self-pity tracks when he said, "Just be glad you had the chance and pay it." So much truth it hurts. I should be more grateful our health care system overhaul-to-be is still largely empty promises and I'm hoping he's wrong about me not having a chance in the future.

Without divulging all of the nitty gritty details, I was a non-textbook case with something that could have become very serious in just a matter of days. Within 2 hours of symptoms I'd seen a doctor and already had a number of tests performed. I had two ultrasounds and 3 rounds of blood work done in just 12 hours. Just to ease my doctor's mind, I stayed overnight in the hospital for monitoring. In the morning, there were still a lot of questions but my doctor felt strongly that she should operate. She wasn't sure at all. In fact she was 90% sure she was performing an unnecessary surgery but her gut was telling her she should operate. As the patient, I listened and weighed my options. I made the decision to go ahead with the surgery knowing full well I might be recovering from something completely unnecessary - which is a huge risk for a mother with two young children to care for.

Without the professional freedom on the physician's side and the individual liberty of being able to choose to take on the expense and stress of surgery, I might not have the opportunity to be caring for my children today. This really hit me right after the surgery, which proved to be more urgent than anyone thought. If I lived anywhere but America I would have found myself in serious trouble as I waited for appointment times and tests, but things moved quickly and smoothly so everything went really well. So now we will be altering our finances for a while to pay for my surgery. While I realize we are blessed enough to be able to handle the blow, I also believe that if our financial circumstances were different I would take monthly payments to the hospital for the rest of my life over losing the opportunity to raise my children.

The freedoms we enjoy in America are the reason we have the best health care in the world. I'm glad I had access to the best and the opportunity to purchase it, even if it was really expensive.

I thought I should share this, even with my teeny readership. My thoughts were further stirred this week by a "guide" released in Britain on how to handle American tourists and other nationalities for the 2012 Olympics. Click here for the full report. I found the advice on Americans interesting: "They can appear 'informal to the point of being very direct or even rude' and won't ever hesitate about complaining, the guide says."

The informal part - if we weren't there already, the Obamas and their disgust for all things traditional and proper sealed the deal. The complaining bit hit me hard though. We complain. We complain so much that people start thinking normal life's struggles are unjust. Then they move on to feeling entitled to something better. So instead of complaining about the high medical bills I'm just going to be happy more cost effective measures weren't taken due to the federal government's new health care regime and enjoy making my own personal medical choices.