Thankful

Happy Thanksgiving!

.

In mourning - and hating it.

.
Seriously, where did we go wrong?  In my neighborhood there were very few yard signs, very few bumper stickers.  I was thinking that was a good sign, while there wasn't a ton of support for Romney, there seemed to be even less for Obama.  And we're talking Illinois! 

Since the election every time Barack Obama's voice comes from my radio or TV, I turn down the sound.  I cannot bear to hear his voice.  Do I hate him?  Almost.  What I do hate is his smug - smartest guy in the room - attitude.  His thin skin and his - how dare you question me - posture.  I hate all the things he is wrong about that the media won't report, and the lies he tells that they cover up.

I hate that the media gives him a pass and that people who only watch the MSM don't understand what he's doing to this country.

I hate feeling helpless to do anything to stop the slide we're on.

And I am sad.  Incredibly, terribly sad.

I believe Mitt Romney is a truly decent man who would have been a good president.  Not dynamic, not charismatic, but a man who would have rolled up his sleeves and worked as the turn-around expert he is.  He could have done it.

But too many people believed the lies, too many people wanted the cool guy, too many people wanted rich people to pay, more access to abortion, and gay marriage. 

I'm so tired.  It's going to take some time for me to feel the ability to fight again, mostly because I know there are going to be 4 more years of the most insufferable president ever.  Not sure I can take it.

.

The day after. Preaching to the choir. Or not.

I did not go to work today, I had taken the day off in anticipation of winning election coverage and maybe some hanging chads drama. Instead I would be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed. I was horribly sad last night and today, and slept a good part of the day. That's what my family does with depression, we sleep. Now, after being awake for several hours and gaining some perspective, I am angry. And tomorrow I will go back to work and deal with my day. However, I work with some people who have beliefs contrary to mine and I do not want to have this discussion with them. So I wrote it instead.

I'm just tired of trying to explain my views to people who do not take the time to get fully informed.

It is so hard to explain to someone who is not willing to look past the main stream media reporting, what the difference is between the left and the right in this country.  The left does not have the market cornered on compassion. The right is not racist or pro-wealthy. There is just a fundamental difference in how we want to deal with the monumental issues at hand.

People who are not willing to look at what brought the country to financial free fall in 2008 and only want to blame Bush, will not be willing to listen to how conservative principles could have prevented what happened. President Bush tried 17 times to address issues with Freddie and Fannie but the left stopped him. Yet when the crash came, it was his fault.

You give a man a fish and he eats for a day. You teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime. Even Yellowstone Park warns people not to feed the bears as they will lose the ability to feed themselves. Why is it so hard to take that lesson and apply it to people as well - and to realize that if we help people TOO much, they lose their resourcefulness and willingness to try everything before looking for government assistance?

Who should we be taking care of with our tax dollars? In my view we should take care of our elderly, our veterans, and our disabled. I have no problem with temporary assistance for the unemployed too. But should my taxes go to propping up someone who has been unemployed for over 2 years? No. Because that is a person who is not willing to take 2 part time paper hat jobs until he finds the good job he wants. That is not a person who cannot find a job at all - it is a person who cannot find the job he wants - and I am not responsible for that.

We have made it entirely too comfortable for people to be on government assistance, to the point where people think that because their circumstance makes things difficult for them, the government owes them a roof over their heads and food on their tables. What happened to the fierce pride of Americans who would do anything they could before they would ever accept a handout?

Liberals happened. Oh - we shouldn't make these people feel bad, we shouldn't hurt their feelings and act like there is a stigma attached to needing help. Except that "caring" attitude also removed the stigma from people taking help when they didn't really need it. And it contributed to a whole generation of people growing up that believe they are entitled to things simply because they exist. They ARE. And everyone gets a trophy.

But that is only a small part of the differences between left and right. The right believes that the founders intended for our government to remain small, to be there to protect our nation, not to run it. The left believes government should take care of us, not just protect us. But that belief contributes to growing government, out of control spending, and loss of personal liberty. Everything you give government the power to do, takes power away from you as an individual.

I would have considered myself a liberal once, until I started to realize what it really means. Liberalism is supposed to be about tolerance, but tolerance to the point of suppressing things like religion, the free practice of which we are guaranteed by our constitution. Tolerance of any idea unless it is a conservative value, at which point whatever it is - is deemed hateful or hate speech or racist and will not be tolerated. Gay marriage? Sure! Unwed motherhood? Why not? Atheism represented at Christmas? Hell yes! A nativity scene on public property? AN ABOMINATION! Don't test on animals, let a whole farm community's irrigation water run dry to save a 2 inch fish, spray paint fur coats, don't execute murderers, but please - do not take away a woman's right to kill her baby!

Americas values are upside down. Its direction is wrong and goals are UN-American. We are not Europe. We expect to work for what we get and hope to retire in our early 60's because we worked hard enough and planned well enough to do it, not because the government has promised to take care of us. And when we do not get what we want we work harder, we do not protest and resort to violence.

The right believes in creating an environment that is friendly to business, less regulations and lower taxes, so companies want to stay here in the U.S. and hire American workers and pay them a good wage. A good business environment creates more jobs. More jobs means more people working and when there are more people working there is more money flowing into the government coffers. There is no need to raise taxes when there are enough people working. When there are more people sitting in the wagon than those pulling it, THAT is what is not fair.

The left believes in punishing those who are successful by forcing them to give more of their wealth to the less fortunate. In point of fact, conservatives give more to charity on their own than liberals ever do. True. But they want to choose who and what they contribute to. Being forced to give more money to the government takes away from that giving, and the money is never spent wisely. Look at Solyndra .. and thousand dollar toilet seats or whatever that was .. the government cannot spend your money better than you can. But the left believes they can. And doggone it they will force you to believe it too. The left wants equality by force, the right wants equality by creating the right environment to let it happen naturally.

Look at the cities and states in the country that are doing well and look who is running them. Wisconsin - a republican governor who has balanced the budget and avoided laying off workers at the same time. Illinois - business is leaving in droves, taxes are through the roof and unemployment is high - democrats have run the state and especially the city of Chicago for decades. Indiana - doing better than most states during the recession - republican governor. Ohio - in the last 2 years the budget has been balanced and the economy is turning around. Because of Obama? NO! Because of republican governor John Kasich. Look at Detroit - run by democrats for years and years and years. The point is, democrat ideas are not fiscally sound. They want all these programs but have no way to pay for them except by raising taxes. People seem to forget that government makes no money of it's own, it comes from us. Republicans are traditionally the grownups in the room who are holding back their democrat teenagers - reminding them they have to pay for what they want to buy.

So .. it's not that conservatives favor the rich - that's just what the left throws at them when like a child that isn't getting their own way they stamp their feet and cry "it's not fair!" No, it's not fair. The world and life is not fair. Never has been. But everybody has the ability to work and to succeed and very few people actually need to be taken care of. And like the parent who is unpopular when they have to lay down the law with their kids - conservatives are not winning a popularity contest. Good thing they aren't looking to.

Lets address the breakdown of the American family, the war against religion - specifically Christianity, the intolerance of conservative values .. wait - I hear we're almost a minority now - maybe the left will start to hear us now!

And one more thing to this already disjointed post. At work the other day I was listening to John Gibson on Fox Radio while doing some work on my laptop. I mentioned to my boss about the non-union workers who were turned away in New Jersey after the hurricane because they would not join the union. His response was "where did you hear that? Anywhere other than Fox?" I was insulted. I went online and did a Google search for the story. I picked the first news site that came up and it happened to be NBC news. I turned my laptop around and showed it to him. I asked whether that would prove it to him and he made some comment about - you know, Fox isn't always .. and he let that comment hang out there.

My answer is this - I read NBC news, ABC, and CNN, USA Today, AP Mobile, as well as Fox. Sometimes I read news from UK sites as well, and skip around to see how different outlets are covering the same stories. Where does the idea that Fox lies come from? Because they are the only news source that does not favor the left? That makes what they say and write untrue? Wouldn't someone who wanted to be well informed and well rounded in terms of information want to look at all the sources? Fox News has the highest ratings in cable news. There is a reason for that. But even as a Fox fan I do not rely only on Fox for my information. And since Fox is the only news outlet that does not lean left - you are not informed if you do not include it in your news gathering. So do not imply that I am some kind of right wing crazy because I get my news from Fox. I am not always very articulate about my views, but I AM better informed than someone who only goes to the mainstream media outlets for their news. Period.

Just sayin'.

Wow this is long. Sorry.

Hoping this is a Dewey defeats Truman moment..

Because you know this is what he's doing.

.

Accuracy.

.

Republicans need re-branding. BADLY!

.

Driving to an appointment with my boss recently, politics came up and though we both avoid the subject knowing we are on different sides, I could not help myself when he said "I just believe republicans are for the rich.  I just do."

This is a smart guy who pays attention to the news and educates himself.  But obviously if he believes what he said, he is listening to the main stream media and holding to that old axiom that says republicans are for the rich and democrats are for the working man.  I used to believe that myself at one time.  Not sure where I heard it but it stayed in my mind and formed my opinions for a very long time.  It seems that people who have grown up with that general idea continue to hold it as truth unless they become political junkies and really see the truth.

I launched into the idea that republicans care and are "for" everyone ..  and ended up talking about the 2008 meltdown and the Community Reinvestment Act .. when I was interrupted by a rest stop visit.  After that break, I changed the subject realizing I had traveled far from my resolve to not discuss politics.

The question remains, how does the republican party counter the idea that has been around forever and pounded into the public consciousness by democrats for as long as 2 parties have existed?  Why is it so hard to advance the notion that the main difference between the Republicans and democrats is that one believes in small government, and the other believes in big government?  That republicans believe in curing societies ills just as much as democrats do, just not by having the government do it?

A quote from Benjamin Franklin says

"I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the means. I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. In my youth I travelled much, and I observed in different countries, that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer."

He understood welfare and how it has hurt the poor, before welfare existed.

Patrick Henry said

"The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government -- lest it come to dominate our lives and interests."

And Abraham Lincoln said

"We the People are the rightful masters of both Congress and the Courts--not to overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution." 

Our job as citizens is to not become lazy by letting the government take care of us as that becomes tyranny.  Statistics show republicans give more to charity than democrats do, because we are compassionate and giving people who want to help our fellow man.  Democrats allow the government to take care of their fellow man FOR them, and believe that is government's role.

The difference between the parties has become so distorted by politicians trying to keep their jobs and media no longer remaining objective that the truth is no longer obvious.

The republican party needs re-branding.  It doesn't help that the GOP is not seen as "cool".  In a society so heavily influenced by popular culture, even young republicans are not seen as having new ideas.  I do not have the answers but I do know that many smart people do not truly understand what the party believes and stands for.  So by default, because the democrat party is construed as the party "of the people", republicans are thrown into the role of the bad guys.  We're not.

But how do we convey that?

.

Romney "Mitt-slaps" Obama!!

,
Okay so maybe I am the 12,324th person to say that.  BUT I LOVE IT!  What a time for Romney to come out swinging!  And somehow, he was still gracious about it. 

When the debate was over, President Obama greeted Michelle as she came up onstage and I swear she looked to me like she was about to throw up.  She had to know how bad it was.  (Think she was still proud of her country?) 

But instead of writing about how wonderful the debate was (and it really really was) - what struck me was the comparison between Obama last night - and Obama today.  Next to someone who really understands the economy, he was hanging onto his talking points by his finger nails, repeating the same untrue figures over and over again and trying to sound intelligent while not making sense. 

Today - in front of another hand-picked adoring audience - he was arrogant, sarcastic and full of himself as usual.  Next to Romney who was uber prepared and articulate Obama was simply outclassed in every sense of the word.  Today without anyone there to call him on his untruths and misdirections - he was rallying the crowds of believers, in his element. And I am afraid that is where he lives.  In a bubble where those around him let him believe his own press and prop up his ridiculous ideology.  But out in the real world on a stage with only one challenger, he crumbled.  He knew he could not defend his record and seemed stunned that every time he said something that was not accurate - Romney called him on it.  Every. Single. Time.

One of my biggest problems with the Obama campaign is that it is all smoke and mirrors, no substance and full of flat out lies.  It was a joy to see the POTUS silenced because someone dared to point out that he was not telling the truth.

Today - Obama went right back to the campaign trail where he feels most comfortable with the swooning crowds, dribbling sarcasm out of one side of his mouth and condescension out of the other. He is back to doing what Mitt said his boys have done - saying an untruth over and over again in hopes that people will believe it if he says it enough.  It's a little frightening to realize that the man who holds our great country in his hands right now, is horribly delusional.

He needs to go.  The suit is totally empty.

.

Dream Team

,
A long time ago, before all the Republican candidates had announced, I told friends my dream team would be Paul Ryan and Allen West.  I really didn't care which one was at the top, or the bottom of the ticket.  Either way would have been fine with me. 

Here is one reason Allen West has my respect:

 

 

I truly hope he goes places.

 

.

 

ARGH-H-H-H!!!!!

.

Joe Biden has put me over the top.  He is being beamed to me through my cable service onto my TV and he is lying to the American people.  Romney/Ryan doesn't want to preserve Medicare?  The plan they have on paper will bankrupt Medicare by 2016?? 

I am sick to death of being accused of being a bigot, of not caring about women, the middle class, and the poor!  I AM a woman!  I AM the middle class!  I HAVE been the poor!  But one thing I have never been is a BIGOT!

Liberals see everything through rose colored, emotion fueled glasses.  And when they take those glasses off every once in a while and see the actual truth, the cold hard facts, they scream about color, victimhood, and try to claim that no one actually CARES besides THEM!

I AM SO SICK OF IT!

WE ARE THE GROWN UPS IN THE ROOM.

We CARE.  We just disagree with the methods of helping people and taking care of our nation.

So, Joe Biden, just SHUT THE HELL UP!

Okay, I now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.  Ahem.

Oh dear God it's Dick Durbin.  Give me strength.
.
.

A Democrat sent this to me..

.

 

To which I replied .. I KNEW you were a conservative deep down! 



 

 

She didn't get it.  :/  But I know YOU will!

 

.

Slip sliding away ...

.

... on a river of NyQuil, I fell asleep last night as balloons were falling at the RNC.  I heard a lot of Mitt Romney's speech, but mostly it had a dreamlike quality about it.  Not sure if what I heard was really what he said.  But earlier in the evening when the couple who lost their son spoke, and the woman who Mitt helped with her laundry when he came to her house - oh I cried.  I couldn't help myself.  And I wasn't crying simply because the stories were so touching.  I think part of the reason I was crying was because I knew these stories had to be out there.  I surmised a long time ago that Mitt did not talk about his good deeds because it is part of his faith to minister to other people, to do it, not talk about it.  And some of it finally came out.

Full disclosure, I was baptized as a Mormon, when I was a mere 17 years old.  Truthfully, I had a crush on one of the young 'elders' who came to our house and converted me.  So .. my conversion lasted about a year, and then I went back to being your basic Protestant.  But my experience with people of that faith has always been positive and I was SO hoping some of Mitt's goodness would come out.  His reluctance to talk about himself in that fashion has made people accuse him of not having a heart, of being uncaring and only being interested in making money.  I knew that couldn't be true, but I was afraid the truth would not come out.

Now it has.  And now I'd like to see Barack Obama show his compassion and love for his fellow man demonstrated in a personal way - where are his stories?  Does he have any?  Honestly, I doubt it.

.

Representing the White House

.
Ugh.



 

I am NOT proud.

 

,

Tomorrow's voters

.
I started a new job in July, after leaving a company I worked for - for 25 years.  It was a tough decision but one I needed to make.  One of the biggest adjustments has been to find myself in the midst of several twenty-somethings, right out of college and full of knowledge they think they have. 

Sometimes I feel out of place.

My job is health care, health care I.T. to be more precise.  One of my co-workers in 22 years old and her specialty is medical billing, CPT codes and all of that fun stuff.  That's great but she doesn't know how any of it applies in the real world which is to be expected to some degree.  But what frightens me is how she will say things so casually as if they are fact.

"Y'know Mitt Romney wants to get rid of Medicare."

Before I sprayed my tea out of my nose, I managed to calmly say "No, no he doesn't.  He will have to make changes to it so it can survive, but he does not want to get rid of it.  And if those changes aren't made, Medicare will go broke anyway."

She looked surprised that I apparently disagreed with her "fact".  I mean, wasn't this just KNOWN?

My boss, who knows me from my prior job jumped in and gently explained to my young colleague that it's generally not a good idea to talk about some things at the work place.  Things like - oh - religion and politics.  She seemed surprised by that too but on the other hand, this is the person who looked at me the other day and said "If you don't mind me asking, how much money do you make?"
Yikes!

People wonder why I am so concerned about the youth out there.  They have been told over and over how important a college education is, but no one has told them that every scintilla of information they get there can actually be questioned.  So many don't.  That frightens me. Especially since most universities these days are bastions of liberal thought. 

They learn, are influenced, and they vote. 

.

I'm glad I didn't vote.

.
Not too many years ago people would say to me - don't complain - you didn't vote.  And my reply would be that I didn't have to vote to be able to complain, that's what's great about the United States - free speech extends even to people that don't vote!

Why didn't I vote?  Because politics bored me silly and when I tried to pay attention it just didn't sink in.  My eyes would glaze over and off I'd be onto something else.  I'd convinced myself it was all too enormous - the economy, foreign policy, domestic policy, the house, the senate, secretaries of this and secretaries of that.  I knew who the main people were but beyond that - the whole subject didn't compute for me.  I reasoned that I was uninformed and would rather not vote than place an uninformed one. 

I thought I was a democrat because at some time in my life I remembered someone (no idea who) telling me that democrats were the party of the working man, and republicans were for the rich.  So I must be a democrat, right?

Then September 11th happened.

Suddenly I paid attention.  I found myself drawn to the news, day in and day out.  Suddenly, people who I rolled my eyes at in the past when they said they were political junkies started to make sense to me.  I was hooked and I realized - I wasn't a democrat.  Not sure I'm actually a republican either but much more on the right than the left.  It took the next few years for me to realize what I believed and who I believed in and to form strong enough opinions to confidently feel like I could vote as an informed member of the electorate.

In November of 2004 I voted in my first election, ever.  And I voted with both of my children who were voting in their first national elections.  We went together.

Every citizen in this nation has the right to vote.  But I sincerely wish that if they cannot say they are truly informed - they would wait to vote until they are.  Especially in this election.  It is too important to be a popularity contest or a response to the slickest campaign.

I'm glad I didn't vote before I educated myself.  Because I wouldn't have been voting for the right reasons or with the correct information.

I mean really - the People of Walmart vote.  It's scary out there.

Do you allow dissent?

.
Many blogs I frequent are of the crafty sort, full of vintage images and clip art, home ideas, decorating and feminine decor.  Most are not political blogs but sometimes in between the yellowed lace and recipes a political opinion slips in.

Apparently the photo ID thing has some people up in arms, enough to sully their pretty blogs with strident calls to spread the word - thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of people may not be able to vote because 11 states now have voter ID laws on the books.  The writer also noted that the idea that there is voter fraud is ridiculous, as only 10 cases have been prosecuted in Pennsylvania in the last such n' such years. GASP! 

I confess that I generally do not comment on most of these blogs, I look at the pretty pictures and read a bit of the fluff and move on.  That is what I enjoy about them, not a lot of commitment, they're nice to look at.  But I commented on a post about picture IDs - something to the effect of -

do you really believe that citizens will not be able to vote? Today I went to a casino for lunch (not my usual practice) with some co-workers, and we had to have picture IDs to enter.  If I wanted to buy a pack of cigarettes in the next town over, I would have to produce a photo ID to do it.  And if I wanted to fly on an airplane or buy a bottle of wine, I would need a photo ID to do those things as well.  Also, I live in the Chicago area where people brag about voting early and voting often, so I suspect voter fraud is out there, it's just not being acknowledged or discovered.  So .. the law may keep non-citizens from voting, but citizens?  Not so much.

Curious, I went back to the blog today.  There were several comments agreeing about the voting thing, how requiring photo IDs was unfair and horrible .. but funny .. my comment was not published.  Made me wonder - did anyone else have the position I did - but like the main stream media, they were just ignored too?

Obviously, a blog is rarely objective, and the only rules are ones the blogger wants to have.  But a different opinion that isn't vulgar or abusive or rude being left out?  Seems it's easier to ignore the facts and just play to people's emotions.  Seems to be a lot of that going around these days.
.
.

MIA and Dear Sweetpea ..

.
I haven't written here in so long .. and I find myself longing to, daily.  Changes in my life have given me less spare time but one of the main reasons is my daughter.  I could not love this child more, but on politics we disagree.  We don't just disagree, when we try to discuss the issues it makes her cry. I have never quite understood why except that she feels just as strongly about her views as I do about mine, and it distresses her to be so opposed to all I believe, and it distresses me too.  But I never meant for her to see this blog, I created it using a pseudonym to keep it separate from my other non-political blogs and mainly - from her.

But she found it quickly, due to stupidity on my part.  So Honey - please - do not read this blog.  I don't want you to.  I don't want to feel that what I say is directed at you - or worry about what you may be thinking or feeling about what I do write. 

For this post I just want to say the difference between us can be described by some wise words from Rob Lowe - yes - Rob Lowe.  He said "Democrats are long on empathy and Republicans are long on logic." 

So Sweetie - you are a tender-hearted, dear, wonderful woman.  I love you more than I can ever express.  But please - allow me this space - this place - to talk about my beliefs without worrying about hurting you.  And if you read this post and read on anyway - please try to be logical and not emotional about what I say.  If it hurts you - just don't stay.  Please.

I love you.

Mom~
.

Nobody wrote a headline like Breitbart!

.
Today is the first day of a two and a half week stay-cation so I was out of bed later than usual this morning. On my way to the kitchen I turned on the TV only to hear the last bit of a sentence and as I turned it was accompanied by a full screen picture of Andrew Breitbart with the ominous 1969 - 2012.

After a quick about face I sat down and quickly stumbled over the keys trying to sign onto my computer all the while unknowingly mumbling "not Breitbart, not Breitbart, it can't be Breitbart .."

But the time I realized I was saying it, I had confirmed it was indeed, Breitbart.

I just started to cry.

Did I know Andrew Breitbart? No. Was I a huge fan? No. Did I realize what a huge force he was in the conservative movement? Yes. But I took him for granted like oh so many other things in life.

And now he's gone.

Thank goodness he lived life to the fullest with enthusiasm and passion, loved by many and hated by an equal number. He wore that animous as a badge of honor so while I find the vile commentary all over the internet to be repugnant and disgusting .. we need to remember that up there in heaven Breitbart is repeating every remark with glee. He fully enjoyed retweeting all the filth thrown at him on Twitter to reveal the character of the progressives who attacked him.

Yes, Andrew Breitbart is gone from this earth, but he has left behind an army.  #IAmAndrewBreitbart

RIP Breitbart. Your work will continue.

.