Much ado about several things

We've all been hearing far too much about what President Bush might do in his last remaining days in office. He appears to be cooperating nicely with President Elect Obama, which while it surprises me a bit, makes me a little nervous too. I'm sure he's worried about his legacy and since there is not much else that's very good in it, maybe he'll slip under the radar if he appears to be playing nice.

However, there is the notion of how many folks (and who they are) that he'll be pardoning on his way out of town. That in itself isn't new, President Clinton had his fair share of pardons as he departed as well. But there is also the notion of what type of legislation he's going to enact on his way out. He did give a deadline for all new requests that has since past, but that isn't stopping this one new rule that he would like to see enacted. The rule is to protect health providers from having to perform abortions, be in any way related to those performing abortions, be involved in dispensing contraceptives, etc. if it is against their religious or moral beliefs.

The argument is that this is already covered and these folks are already protected under the equal employment rules. If they try to take this further, it will be very difficult for woman to get the services they might need (and I don't just mean abortion) if every place they try to go someone is screaming it's against their beliefs to service them. There are lots of things in everyone's jobs that they don't like to do, but we do get paid for what we were hired for. I would believe that if anyone has a huge objection, they've probably already worked that out, and are already protected. So the question is... why is this new rule important enough for Bush to care about now? My guess is that he has to further his agenda to squash the rights of women before he leaves because we have an incoming President who appears to actually care about our rights, even if he himself doesn't have the same beliefs about them. That's what we need in office. I'm glad there is only 64 days left.

Ladies weekend

I spent this past weekend with 4 other ladies in Albany. They were friends from High School 26 years ago. We talked and laughed and shopped and laughed and drank and laughed and ate and laughed (you get the idea). So much has changed in everyones lives since then. But one thing hasn't changed... we can obviously just pick up with the same conversation and laughter that was always there no matter what we were going through.

It also amazed me how a couple of them have still kept up with so much of the comings/goings of our other classmates. I think they know where most everyone is and what they've been up to all these years, with one exception. None of us can still seem to locate Todd. But we all agree we really want to know what's happened to him. He was one of my really fun friends in class. In fact, my girls have even heard stories about him. Maybe by our next large class reunion, we'll track him down.

Even though you plan these things so that you can spend a lot of time catching up with everyone that doesn't live close by, it's hard to not spend much of the time talking about what we all did "back then". It seems like it was all so long ago. We as a group have made it through (and are still going thru) so much... marriages, divorces, kids, infertility, cancer, parents dying, kids having brain tumors, partners having brain tumors... the list goes on. But in all that we went thru as a group... the best part is that we did it as a group. We all had the other four to lean on thru our issues in varying degress. It makes it all so much easier to know that you still have people that know "way too much" about you, to help ease the pain and share the laughter through the good and bad times. I love them all and am so happy they are still in my life. I hope this trip truly does turn out to be an annual thing. If nothing else, it's great stomach exercise to laugh that much (:-)

Thanks ladies... it was a great weekend.

This one's for Tyler...

It's over

I couldn't be prouder tonight. In my opinion, the right team won, and won big. No team will ever be perfect, and they've been left with an enormous mess to clean up. My hope is that everyone will now stop being so divided and rally as a country to get us all back on track. So, pray hard for guidance and courage for President Obama and VP Biden, and patience for all of us.

from freshman to jv... for my sake

Gone are the days of the junior cheer teams for my daughter as she is now on Freshman. However, she (we) had to work at a junior cheer competition this morning and they apparently hand out the jobs based on what team you are on. Freshman (or I should say Freshman parents) "get to" run concessions. So, I did my part and worked the stand for 3 hours. The ladies I worked with were very nice and everyone that came in was very nice, polite, patient, etc. I was in charge of money. How hard can that be, right?

Despite the fact that there were things on the menu that ended in 50 cents, no one really thought of getting quarters for the money box. So, being moms, several of them were able to dig many dollars worth out of their own purses to help out. All went very smoothly with the exception of the fact that you should never put someone with OCD in charge of the money box at a function like this. It's really unbelievable to me how some people keep their money. It was given to me by adults in the smallest wrinkled up balls of bills you could imagine. Others were throwing money into the box in every which way you could think of. For someone like me, that was a disaster. Money is supposed to not only be sorted by amount, but also must all be facing the same direction. One of my girls completely understands this as her wallet looks like mine and stacked as I stated above. The other one... not so much. But all in time. So, my biggest thought when I left was... will my daughter please be on the JV team next year, so my volunteer position will not cause me so much concern.

BTW... when I left. All money was separated by value, faced forward and standing up-right. Ahhh. I felt better.

the last bit of integrity gone...

In the past...

"Sen. John McCain repeatedly said he does not believe Obama's relationship to Wright should be an issue -- to the ire of some Republicans who feel it raises questions about the Illinois senator's judgment."

Today...

I guess that very last bit of integrity is gone based on this article. Apparently, when the last minute surprise didn't work, McCain will just go back on this issue to see if it will help him win the election. Enough already. We've beaten this one to death during the primaries. Not to just defend Obama, but I've sat in churches where I haven't agreed with what a pastor is saying. I would be ashamed of the rest of the parisheners if they did agree. But, I don't think I'd condemn all of them and claim they are just like him for continuing to sit there. (For full disclosure, I've also gotten up during a service and left based on the things that were being said by pastors).

Now, maybe McCain will come out and "repudiate" the PA GOPs behavior for putting this out, as he says he's "repudiated" all the terrible outcries at his rallies (by the way he hasn't done that either). But, somehow it won't matter if he does. It will be a little late as the ad is out, and he knows that. He may say it's bad, but he'll love that it's been done.

I will stand by what I've said in the past. I'll pray for whomever wins so that they can lead us through all the wrongs that have been done in the last 8 years, but boy... I'll also pray it isn't someone as hypocritical as McCain/Palin seem to be. I don't think, as a nation, that we can handle 4 years of this.

Is this the October surprise...really?

There is a story that started circulating yesterday stating that Obama's Kenyan Aunt is in the U.S. illegally. It states that she should have been deported 4 years ago and is still here living in public housing. My question is this...

Is this the best that the Republicans can come up with as their October surprise. If she is here illegally, can't the republicans handle it as they want to handle all of the illegals here... let them stay and have a path to citizenship? Or... do they just want to handle her differently simply because she's Obama's Aunt and the election is in a couple of days?

The other note worthy portion of this story is that this is the Aunt of Obama's father that he met once for a month when he was 10 years old. Did he even know she was here? Maybe he did, maybe he didn't. We don't really know much of anything yet, including whether or not it is really even the Aunt that he's spoke about in his book. All we do know is that it is now... 4 years later... finally a story. That's kind of convenient.

If it does turn out that she is his Aunt, it's a legislative issue, not a criminal one. But if McCain wins on Tuesday, maybe Obama can just pay that fine for her and help her with that path to citizenship that McCain supports. Then, all will be settled.

Oh boy... only 3 more days. I can't wait until this is over. Oh yeah... the other big story is will Biden and McCain still be friends after all the lies and smears are over. My suggestion to Mr. Biden... no matter who wins, realize that the way McCain has treated you, he was NEVER really your friend. His campaign has proven that.