DECISIONS...DECISIONS

October 7, 2008

“The only thing in the middle of the road are yellow lines and dead armadillos” ~ Jim Hightower

Geez, I turn my attention away for a few days to celebrate a couple of birthdays and look what happens…the entire country falls apart! I have been monitoring the country’s economic woes very closely. My hope had been that the House would have held firm and not voted the $70 Billion bill into being. I believe we should have watched Wall Street fall and find out what it is like to depend on each other again, however, more on this later.

I will admit I missed the Vice Presidential Debate. I was in an airplane while it was happening and have not had the courage to watch it on Youtube.com. The few news clips I have seen have provided me with all the information I need. Sarah Palin did not disappoint—more on this also later.

Tonight, I have to write about the second Presidential Debate which I just finished watching. I do not wish to comment about who was the winner or loser. If you are voting for Obama, he was the obvious winner. If for McCain, you probably think he won.

No, this blog has to remark on the follow-up commentary with the “Undecided/Independent” Voter Panel after the debate during which the people interviewed still were unable to indicate a preference for either candidate. The election is 28 days away. These individuals had a front row seat to the Second Presidential Debate. AND THEY STILL DON”T KNOW WHO TO VOTE FOR! Come on people, what is the dilemma here?

We are not talking about the difference between Hillary and Obama – two individuals who really were very close in their ideology. We are talking about Night and Day, Rich and Poor, Black and White, Left and Right, Up and Down, High and Low kinds of differences. How can anyone STILL NOT KNOW WHO TO VOTE FOR?

Is there not enough information out there for you? Each of the candidates has a well-written, highly organized web site where you can read about their policy positions on everything from Health Care to Religion. The daily newspaper provides detailed information about what each campaign is busy currently feeding to the American People along with opinion pieces about what it all means. Radio and television news is up-to-the-minute as is the internet. Add to that the plethora of magazines with feature stories screaming for you to pick them up and read them. And have you walked into your local bookstore lately? It appears publishers have quickly released tomes with all the latest facts about Sarah Palin, Barack Obama et al…

What could possibly be left that leaves a person undecided? The following two items came to me via e-mail – your typical “Oh, not another one!” message. However, these were both quite interesting and caused me to stop and think. So much so, that I decided to include them in my blog. Perhaps they will help a few “Undecideds” out therebecome a little clearer. Here’s the first one:

CONFUSED

I'm a little confused. Let me see if I have this straight.....

* If you grow up in Hawaii, raised by your grandparents,
you're 'exotic, different.'

* Grow up in Alaska eating moose burgers, it's a
quintessential American story.

____

· If your name is Barack you're a radical,
unpatriotic Muslim.

* Name your kids Willow, Trig and Track, you're a
maverick.
_____
* Graduate from Harvard law School and you are unstable.

* Attend 5 different small colleges before graduating,
you're well grounded.

_____

· If you spend 3 years as a brilliant community
organizer, become the first black President of the Harvard
Law Review, create a voter registration drive that registers
150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law
professor, spend 8 years as a State Senator representing a
district with over 750,000 people, become chairman of the
state Senate's Health and Human Services committee,
spend 4 years in the United States Senate representing a
state of 13 million people while sponsoring 131 bills
and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public
Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you don't
have any real leadership experience.

* If your total resume is: local weather girl, 4 years
on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with
less than 7,000 people, 20 months as the governor of a state
with only 650,000 people, then you're qualified to
become the country's second highest ranking executive.
_____

* If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years
while raising 2 beautiful daughters, all within Protestant
churches, you're not a real Christian.

* If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress,
and left your disfigured wife and married the heiress the
next month, you're a Christian.
_____

* If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex
education, including the proper use of birth control, you
are eroding the fiber of society.

* If , while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence
only, with no other option in sex education in your
state's school system while your unwed teen daughter
ends up pregnant , you're very responsible.
_____

· If your wife is a Harvard graduate lawyer who gave up a
position in a prestigious law firm to work for the
betterment of her inner city community, then gave that up to
raise a family, your family's values don't represent
America's.

* If you're husband is nicknamed 'First
Dude', with at least one DWI conviction and no college
education, who didn't register to vote until age 25 and
once was a member of a group that advocated the secession of
Alaska from the USA, your family is extremely admirable.
______
OK, much clearer now.

And here’s the second one…

“How Racism Works”

What if John McCain were a former president of the Harvard Law Review?
What if Barack Obama finished fifth from the bottom of his graduating class?

What if McCain were still married to the first woman he said "I do" to?
What if Obama were the candidate who left his first wife after she no longer measured up to his standards?

What if Michelle Obama were a wife who not only became addicted to pain killers, but acquired them illegally through her charitable organization?
What if Cindy McCain graduated from Harvard?

What if Obama were a member of the Keating-5?
What if McCain were a charismatic, eloquent speaker?

If these questions reflected reality, do you really believe the election numbers would be as close as they are?

This is what racism does. It covers up, rationalizes and minimizes positive qualities in one candidate and emphasizes negative qualities in another when there is a color difference.

You are The Boss... which team would you hire?

With America facing historic debt, 2 wars, stumbling health care, a weakened dollar, all-time high prison population, mortgage crises, bank foreclosures, etc.

Educational Background:

Obama:
Columbia University - B.A. Political Science with a Specialization in International Relations.
Harvard - Juris Doctor (J.D.) Magna Cum Laude

Biden:
University of Delaware - B.A. in History and B.A. in Political Science.
Syracuse University College of Law - Juris Doctor (J.D.)

vs.

McCain:
United States Naval Academy - Class rank: 894 of 899

Palin:
Hawaii Pacific University - 1 semester
North Idaho College - 2 semesters - general study
University of Idaho - 2 semesters - journalism
Matanuska-Susitna College - 1 semester
University of Idaho - 3 semesters - B.A. in Journalism

Now, which team are you going to hire?

PS: What if Barack Obama had an unwed, pregnant teenage daughter....

I do not want to believe that “Undecided” voters are hesitant to make their decision because one candidate is white and the other candidate is black. I do not want to believe that Hillary did not win the primary election because she is a woman, either. Nevertheless, there are times when the elephant standing in the middle of the living room must be recognized. We are days away from electing the next President of the United States and there are people WHO STILL DO NOT KNOW WHO TO VOTE FOR? We are in the midst of the greatest economic crisis of our generation and there are people WHO STILL DO NOT KNOW WHO TO VOTE FOR? Surely, in looking at these two candidates you can see the clear divisions between the two men. I encourage you to get educated and make a decision. Today.

Thanks for Reading,

Kathy B.

LADIES, LADIES, LADIES…

September 22, 2008

Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not. ~Dr. Seuss

I had planned to write about God and Lipstick tonight, but I just read an article on Politico.com that says that McCain is closing a huge gap with women and I feel I must write about it. It appears that John McCain’s choosing of Sarah Palin as his running mate has women thinking that he has “a better understanding of women and what is important to them” than Barack Obama. Yes, you read that correctly.

But take a minute to go back and read it again.

Take your time, I know it is a little hard to swallow.

The mind definitely reels.

How can this be true? Have the women of America been learning about Sarah Palin? Are they reading the newspaper reports or watching the television broadcasts about the type of campaign the Republicans are running? Do they understand that "Country First: Reform*Prosperity*Peace" actually translates into "White House at All Costs: Regression*Depression*Conflict"?

Apparently the women of America are not keeping up with this blog site, because according to a poll conducted for Lifetime TV September 11-15, McCain and Obama are virtually tied 44-42%. You can read it all for yourself here at Politico.com

There is some good news in the poll. Women do seem to understand that, “It is the economy” and that Obama/Biden will “help middle class families the most.” That’s refreshing, but we are not gaining back the lost ground fast enough. We must get to work and get to work quickly.

Look, this is no more difficult than organizing the Girl Scout Cookie Sales for the troop, no more complicated than arranging the school bake sale and not nearly as complex as those Halloween costumes you sewed a few years ago. This is definitely not brain surgery and I should know because I have had brain surgery!

All that is required of you is that you visit the Barack Obama website and sign up to volunteer. Here is the link: Volunteer. You will be contacted. Or you can call your local Barack Obama office (which will be listed on the website) and find out what you can do to help. Just fill in that form or make that call. It really isn’t difficult. I promise you’ll feel great having done it.

Let me know how it works out. I'll be sure to write about my experiences.

Kathy B.

ONE BILLION DOLLARS

September 19, 2008

If You’re Not Outraged, You’re Not Paying Attention – bumper sticker

According to OpenSecrets.org “For the first time ever in U.S. history, the candidates for President have raised more than $1 billion.” ONE BILLION DOLLARS! $1,000,000,000.00. $1000 Million Dollars. That sure sounds like a lot of money…how much is it you might ask? Well, I went to About.com to get some help with putting that number into some perspective:

• A million dollars ago was five (5) seconds ago at the U.S. Treasury.
  A billion dollars ago was late yesterday afternoon at the U.S. Treasury.

• If we wanted to pay down a billion dollars of the US debt, (which as of this writing is $9,666,440,318,030.02 - that’s 9 trillion, 6 hundred 66 billion, 4hundred 40 million, 3 hundred 18 thousand 30 dollars and two cents) paying one dollar a second, it would take 31 years, 259 days, 1 hour, 46 minutes, and 40 seconds. To pay off a trillion dollars of debt, at a dollar a second, would take about 32,000 years.
• A tightly-packed stack of new $1,000 bills totaling $1 billion would be 63 miles high. In comparison, jet planes fly at 30,000 - 40,000 feet (5.7 - 7.7 miles high).
• About a billion minutes ago, the Roman Empire was in full swing. (One billion minutes is about 1,900 years.)
• About a billion hours ago, we were living in the Stone Age. (One billion hours is about 114,000 years.)
• About a billion months ago, dinosaurs walked the earth. (One billion months is about 82 million years.)
• A billion inches is 15,783 miles, more than halfway around the earth (circumference). The earth is about 8,000 miles wide (diameter), and the sun is about 800,000 miles wide, not quite a million.

Now that that’s clear-er…the candidates for President have raised $1 Billion dollars which they "NEED" to use to finance their Presidential campaigns. $1 Billion dollars to get elected for President. $1 Billion dollars spent on campaign teams, field offices and data collectors, survey results, polls and focus groups, TV, radio and newspaper ads, Billboards, posters and mailings. $1 Billion dollars spent on NOTHING really important at a time when people are losing their homes and their jobs due to the economic crisis, communities are being destroyed because of weather catastrophes, individuals cannot afford gas for their cars or food on their tables and parents cannot get loans to send their children to college. That is just in the United States. What about the troubles in the rest of the world, where children are starving, unclothed and uneducated…WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE!

Obama says, “We are a better country than this.” Well I damn well think we should be and I damn well think our Presidential candidates should be our role models for being better than this. $1 Billion dollars to put a person into the White House. Ridiculous! There has got to be a better and far less expensive way to elect someone for President.

Whew! I just had to get that off my chest. Thanks for reading. Moving on...

Kathy B.

Making a Difference

September 10, 2008

It certainly appears that people are heating up over the political situation. One would think that Sarah Palin was the Republican candidate for President of the United States rather than Senator John McCain. My inbox fills daily with emails expressing concern over the latest discovery about Governor Palin, her comings and goings and the most recent speculation regarding the Republican’s chances of winning the election in November. Fear and anxiety are running rampant through my social network.

The good news is that people are taking action. Just as I began writing my blog – a wonderful therapeutic tool – others have done the same thing. Check out the following, if you haven’t already received the links in your inboxes:

http://womenagainstsarahpalin.blogspot.com/ - a fantastic blog where you can read the outrageous responses of thousands of women to Sarah Palin’s nomination.

http://womenagainstsarahpalin.org/ - A website/blog that is trying to give factual information about Sarah Palin as well as a place for readers to discuss their feelings.

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/NO-Sarah-Palin - a petition you can sign to send to Senator McCain telling him why you think that Sarah Palin is the wrong choice for his Vice President.

And please don’t forget to tell your family and friends about my blog, http://throwbackthebone.blogspot.com/, where you and they can also comment about the news of the day and also find articles of interest and ways to get active in the election. As John F. Kennedy said, “One person can make a difference and every person should try.”

I’m trying in my own way. I would love to hear about your ideas.

Kathy B.

CHEWING ON THE BONE

Saturday, August 30, 2008

My husband and I went on a very long walk. As my energy was clearly flagging, my spouse turned to me and asked if I wanted him to come back for me in the car. I immediately responded, "No! I'll be fine. I'm chewing on the bone John McCain threw me yesterday."

That is how I view Senator McCain's selection of Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate for the Vice Presidential slot. A bone. Here, my friends. You couldn't have a woman Presidential candidate to vote for, so I will give you a woman Vice Presidential Candidate. No matter that she is the polar (forgive the pun) opposite of Senator Hillary Clinton:

• Lacking in experience
• Anti-abortion - Even in the case of Incest & Rape!
• A Lifetime Member of the National Rifle Association
• An Evangelical Christian, who supports teaching Creationism in public schools
• An anti-environmentalist who does not believe humans have caused global warming

Need I go on? But she is a woman...Yes, she and Hillary do have that in common. But that is simply not enough.

Senator McCain, you apparently don't get it. It is not about having a woman somewhere on the ticket. It is about having the right woman in the TOP SPOT on the ticket. The goal was to put a woman in the WHITE House not the BLAIR House. Our hope was not to put 18 million cracks in that glass ceiling but to shatter it.

As Ellen Goodman, columnist for the Boston Globe wrote recently, there has been " a race between two people to open the door of history. A door that could only admit one at a time." I accept that during the 2008 election, history will be made by a Black-American rather than a woman.

Senator McCain, nice try, however this is one former Hillary supporter-now Obama supporter who will wait for the right time and the right woman. Thanks for thinking of me, but I am throwing your bone right back at you and since wrapping up a real dog bone and sending it to you in the mail seems somewhat impolite, I decided to email this picture of a dog bone to you at info@johnmccain.com.

I am also making a donation to the Barack Obama Campaign in your honor, because only a Democratic team in the White House will enable women to finally achieve the dreams we came so close to this year.

Rather than be upset and outraged by what I consider a political ploy on your part, I am turning to Hillary and Barack for my inspiration. It is not about Hillary and it is not about Barack, it is about me and I do not intend to sit idly by and watch political games be played with my emotions. Thus this website. Next stop, I volunteer my time to get Barack Obama elected.

So thanks again Senator McCain, not for the bone, which I really did not appreciate, but for the kick it gave me to get re involved in this election. I needed that.

Sincerely,

Kathy B.