Left Behind

This has been a stressful week.  I can't even remember the days before Saturday.  We didn't get raptured that day ... not that any of us REALLY thought that was going to happen that day ... but every one of us gave it a thought or two.  You see, the guy who came up with the Judgment Day predictions was originally from Grand Rapids.

So Saturday, six o'clock came and went.  The Christians are still here, to struggle right along with the rest of humanity.

Sunday morning Mike and I went to church.  We have a new church since last August, and we like it very much, and never want to miss the chance to "hang with the saints."

We drove out I196 to Lake Michigan Drive and I took a glance to my left as we passed the downtown area, because I knew the Rob Bliss Grand Rapids LipDub was going on that morning.  You needed to gather by 9 AM to be part of the crowd.  We were at church already by 9 AM.  It was "Dispensationalism 101" Sunday.  We had a grill-out/potluck afterwards.  I brought my bff Kathy's recipe "Barbecue Beans" ... they were a big hit.  I wished the LipDub would have been not on a Sunday morning because I'd have loved to be downtown.  I really love Grand Rapids; I really love Rob Bliss's energetic community events; I really love how my little town has gotten so cultural in my adult lifetime.

Sunday afternoon there was a bad tornado in Minnesota; and we were under "watches" for tornadoes here.  There was a deadly tornado in G.R. when I was a little girl.  I've had bad dreams about tornadoes.  Before I went to bed Sunday night, I took a bunch of stuff down to the basement.  I always do that during tornado season.  I took my scrapbooks, my strong box, my jewelry box, my purse, my laptop ... this time I even took some canned goods down there, and a box of raisins, box of crackers, some silverware. There's bottled water down there left-over from my original fear-stash in the days after 9/11.

Woke up Monday morning to the images of the Missouri E-5 tornado.  And by tonight I have realized that tornadoes chew up everything and spit it on top of your head ... if you even survive ... so I brought the crackers and the raisins back upstairs.  The treasures are still in a plastic tub in the basement.  Tornado season doesn't really start in Michigan until June -- when the air here gets hotter.

Well, Tuesday night, I got a text from my almost-daughter-in-law, Amy.  (Josh and Amy are getting married on 6/25. That's my son Scott, who died 2 years ago on 6/18/09's birthday. Josh & Amy chose that date on purpose.  Amy's shower is 6/18/11.  Why? Just sayin' ... but not to them, of course.)

Anyway, the text from Amy was asking me to pray for her friend, David, whom I've never met. Amy's parents are church-building missionaries, so Amy grew up living all sorts of places, and she has friends all over the U.S.  David had been "swept away" in a river in Arkansas.  So I prayed.  And prayed.  And this 21-year-old has been in my heart and on my mind all week.

Over on Facebook, David's brother's future-mother-in-law had, by Wednesday night, created a special "page" for prayers for David and updates on the search effort.  So I've been praying, and visiting that page, multiple times each day.

Hundreds of people are praying for David.  Many of us, like myself, have never met him, but are friends or relatives of David's friends.

From Tuesday night until tonight ... constantly in our unanswered prayers, is a young man swept away in a river.  Sonar has determined, the Arkansas authorities claim, that there is no body in the river, so the family should not give up hope.  Cadaver dogs have also determined that there is no body in the river.  So last night they started searching the forest with volunteers and bloodhounds.  Everybody has been praying.  I am not used to prayers this heart-felt, humble, and fervent going unanswered!  How in the world can a person simply vanish when his whole community is searching for him day and night?

The bright spot in the week, for me, has been the YouTube release yesterday of our Grand Rapids LipDub video.  I really want to share that with everybody!

On YouTube the response has been very favorable. It was featured on several network newscasts tonight, to my surprise.  A very few YouTube comments were criticizing the "under-representation of minorities."  Well, in Grand Rapids, a LOT of people go to church on Sunday morning.  I had personally wished that the Bethel Pentecostal Choir would have been in the LipDub -- they are really cool, and mostly African-American.  Would have liked to see the Three Fires tribes in it, too. PaWaTing MeGedWin senior citizens meet twice a week at the church where I work (not the same church that I attend on Sundays).  The Three Fires Annual Pow Wow will be at Riverside Park in June ... The church I work at is quite multi-cultural; and the church I go to is, too. The happy, clean-cut faces of several races that you'll see in this video are mostly people who either don't go to church at all, or who played hooky for the Rob Bliss event.  Grand Rapids is a cool city.  I love living here.  I love going downtown. I hope you will enjoy the video I post in the comments (because I can't post it in the body of this blog).

Hey! I actually wrote a BLOG!

I've been surveyed

     President Obama (via the Democratic National Committee) sent me a survey today.  He/they wanted me to rank his/their performance on various "issues" that he/they had chosen to statistically rank. The survey is NOT anonymous - it has my name & address on it.  It was up to me to let them know I am a female.

The final section of the survey left some blank lines for comments about the president, the party, or the issues our nation is facing.  Here is what I wrote:

"The federal response to the BP oil spill has been a farce.  BP never intended to cap that well until they had their "relief well" drilled.  That's been clear to me for months now, and I am neither a scientist nor a politician.  I'm more disgusted with the "watchdog press" for not yapping about this, than what I am with Congress or the President for just using existing laws & saying BP has to pay.  But whatever the gov't's reasons -- you did turn a blind eye & let the pollution continue (in a very Republican manner, it seems to me).  Shame!"

... On second thought -- guess I won't mail back the survey.  Ranking a total of 13 issues in order of their priority is something I am not pleased with my answers to.  Several categories were repetitive actually. We had the economy, unemployment, and regulation of financial institutions & markets.  I have regulating institutions & markets #1, lowering unemployment #4, and America's Economic Situation #10.  Well, if I'd rated them all way up there, then Energy Independence and Fighting Terrorism couldn't have been in the top 3.

... Okay, on third thought -- maybe I will mail back the survey.  I just think that 3 categories that are all the same kind of skews the stew.  Ah well, they will have their statistics once we've all mailed back our surveys.  But how do they even know if they've got the mind of the people if they don't realize that they may not have asked the right questions?

Afterthought -- Back when Clinton was first elected, I had written him a letter (regarding his pro-abortion position).  He sent me back a response that was probably his pat answer to pro-lifers like me.  And for months thereafter I was CONSTANTLY being surveyed by the "President's commission on this- or-that" until I finally started to refuse to participate in their surveys.  These were phone surveys at the time -- and at that point, I had NEVER voted for a Democrat in my life.  At least this survey is by mail, and I did vote for Obama.

Just so you know, I'm pretty sure the democratic party doesn't actually know I voted for Obama (unless they read my blog).  They've been hoping to get me to donate to their cause ever since I voted in the Democratic primary the year George W. Bush ran the second time. Bush already had the Republican nomination as a done-deal.  I wanted to help choose the Democratic candidate, in case the dems would win the election that year.  In Michigan, you can vote in either the Republican or the Democratic primary -- not both -- but you do not have to be a card-carrying party member to vote in one or the other.  My guy didn't make it through the primaries, and turns out that was a good thing anyway, since it was John Edwards I had voted for.

Sigh.  I don't want to discuss the various issues here, BTW.  I vote fairly regularly, and try to keep up with the current events, just because I'm American and believe I ought to.  I don't at all enjoy political discussions, though.

I vote for the person, not the party; lately I do seem to lean a little more left than right on some issues; but I'm not necessarily proud of that fact. 

So I'm just going to keep this blog private for the time being.

Heads Up, Writers!

Heads up, Writers! 

It’s time to save the world! We need a Charles Dickens, to show us what the census numbers really look like walking; we need a Thomas Paine to tell us just what might really work; we need a Rachel Carson to bring us to our senses; we need a Martin Luther, to bring us back to God.

We’ve had plenty of minor players.  Who’s going to write the story that brings us fully back to center?

People who are great in their various professions, skills, and callings think profoundly but narrowly.

Only writers think of all the connections and the what-ifs; and some of you must wrap your imaginations around all our ideas, events, and characters, and write the words that will save the world.

You know who you are.  Heads up!

Health Care Bill

Some of my Christian friends are glad that the health bill passed.  

Some of the glad friends are glad for altruistic reasons, or at least they think so -- they work with people who are very poor, and they empathize; perhaps they think, "but for the grace of God, that would be me."  

Some of the glad friends are glad for personal reasons -- they have lost their jobs, or lost their spouses, and find themselves without medical insurance.

Some of my Christian friends are mad that the health bill passed.

And some of my Christian friends are not vocal on the matter.  Most of the time, that includes me.  Since I am a member of a very conservative Christian congregation, my silence implies solidarity with the vocal ones who opposed the bill.  I realize this.  I see that they are SO angry, so I don't want to discuss the matter with them, because I suspect they will transfer their anger to me.

I have heard and understand their reasons.  I have sensed the extremity of their emotion on the matter.  I realize they think they have the mind of God.

I think they don't.

Someone is pulling their chain, I think.  Someone is pushing their buttons.  They are not opposed to citizens forming governments to oversee the roads we all use; and they do not judge public road-use as "entitlement mentality," nor do they see it as socialism, nor do they realize that once-upon-a-time roads were private property and private enterprise.

Some of my Christian friends think that the passage of this health care bill equates with Biblical Armageddon.

Random Thoughts

Well, it is Purim.  This is a fact I discovered on my Yahoo home page.  Purim is number 8 at the moment in Yahoo's category called "Trending Now."  Number 1 is Chile Earthquake.  Number 2 is Tsunami.  Purim is a Jewish festival, having to do with the Biblical book of Esther.  That is my first random thought.

The second random thought is that nowadays I have to watch my typing more than what I used to.  In days gone by, my fingers knew if they had made a typographical error.  Nowadays I have to use my eyes.  Why this is, I do not know.  I began to notice this new deficiency after Scooter died.  What the one has to do with the other, I cannot guess.

The third is that I have "1 Friend Online" ... and by that I mean on Multiply.  If I were to flip over to my MySpace page I would likely find a friend or two online there also.  And on Facebook it would not surprise me to find quite a few still online at this late hour (the time being 1:05 a.m. Eastern Standard).

Hmmm, I need a 4th Random Thought.  This is not randomly thought about - I am constantly aware of this fact - I do not communicate so very well verbally anymore.  I can often not think of a thing to say to anybody.  My random thoughts are so empty (if empty is, indeed, the proper word) that I am at a loss for much beyond hello.  This phenomena is also since my Scooter died.

Nevertheless: most people do not notice, because I have always been relatively quiet, socially.  And furthermore, I am a relatively high-functioning airhead.  At the moment my verbosity is being enhanced by 2 or 3 ounces of Mogen David Concord Wine (Kosher, alcohol 11% by volume ... oh my, I am such a lush!)  Said wine is intended to put me to sleep, and make me quit thinking about Scott's funeral bill. And yet the thing that I had to write myself a note about, so that I will not FORGET is to tell the funeral home (either voluntarily, or only if they call again ... depending on which thing I later decide would be most appropriate) that SOMEBODY killed Scott with a motor vehicle and that when the police figure out WHO, their auto insurance should pay Scott's final expenses.  (Did you know it costs over $4,000 to drive a hearse 50 miles to pick up a body and then deliver it to a donated grave?)  The funeral was supposed to be billed to Scott's estate.  I am not the executor of Scott's estate.  I was Scott's estranged adoptive mother at the time of his death.  And I am a compliant person.  The medical examiner told me I had to tell them what to do with Scott's body.  My pastor worked something out with a local funeral home.  Scott's ex-girlfriend was going to handle his estate.  She absconded or something.  Sigh.  If you want to know the truth, I was expecting a living prodigal son to come home and say, "Mom! I've missed you!"  Death was never my honest expectation.  Sigh.

Random thought 5: youngest son told me tonight to give $33 from him to church for his tithe this week.  So I went to mybank.com to transfer $33 from his account to mine, and dang if mybank didn't insist this time that I fill out their "enhanced security questions."

And that is something I have ALWAYS been incompetent at doing.  Online security questions always want to know your favorite this or that.  I have never, to my knowledge, had favorite this or thats!  So first I have to try to figure out what a reasonable answer would be, and then I have to worry forever that I will not remember what my answer was.  So of course I have to write down my answers.  And then, of course, I will need to remember where I put the list of answers.  For which if I were truly to act in character I would make a file entitled "Answers to Security Questions," which, of course, defeats the purpose of security questions.

And I feel inept, when really I am not inept in the slightest; yet I wonder if anybody else on earth finds answering simple security questions challenging.

I recall at a job once-upon-a-time, my boss wanted to hand out plastic bracelets to put your office key on.  She came to me, not telling me her true purpose, but only said, "Rani, what is your favorite color?"  (Holy crap!!!! I DON'T KNOW!)  "Favorite color for WHAT?" I said.

Back when security questions amounted to "What is your mother's maiden name," I was challenged even by that question.  My mother's father died when she was 3.  So she has gone by 2 last names, both of which I know about.  And I have answered that question 2 different ways over the years.

And as to what color was my first car (this year's security question number 2 of 3) well, it had an exotic name (which I can remember, even 30 years after the fact) and of course it has a generic color name.  I gave the generic color name as my reply to the bank's security question.  Will I be sure to remember that someday (say in 2525) when my bank doubts my true identity?  Probably not.  I will have to answer, "Uh, it is either 'exotic-name' or 'plain vanilla name.' "

The only security question I knew the definitive answer to was "In what year did you meet your significant other?"  At last! A question that requires knowledge of a FACT, not an opinion!  I KNEW the answer to that one!  (But then, so does everybody else who actually knows me, I think.  Well, hopefully, those who would wish to steal my airheaded identity are people who do NOT know me.)

I should probably rephrase the airheaded descriptor.  People do not generally consider me airheaded.  On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being airhead and 10 being geek, I am probably scored by those who know me as 11.

What I am, according to my husband, is, well, literal.  (Is that a fault?  I try to say what I mean, and I anticipate others doing so as well.  Except for when I am trying to tease somewhat, because people like to tease somewhat, and even I can do so once a month or so.  Well maybe it is only 4 times a year.  But hey! I can make people laugh with my wee jokes.  4 times a year, anyway.)

Random thought #6:  The Mogen David is working!  I think that I shall go to sleep if I try again now.

Random thought #7:  With only 2 friends online, it is not likely I will get much feedback from my random thoughts tonight.  Oh well.  It is Purim.  There's an awful lot of grace in Purim, even though Esther never mentions God.  Funny how that works, eh?  Oh, BTW, the photo attached to this blog is Scooter, in his teens.  When he was still my son.  He left home to go to his homecoming dance when he was a junior in high school, and never did come home until he died, at the age of 31.  Prodigals, beware.

Speaking for the Disenfranchised

I hope that I am old enough, and that society has become tolerant enough, that it will not adversely affect my father and my mother for me to publicly confess that I was born illegitimate.  As a 1952 unplanned pregnancy to an unwed mother, before Roe v. Wade, I would like to speak for the unplanned children of today, please, if I may.

To quote my grandmother (she told me this is what she told my mother):

"You made one mistake.  Now don't make another one."

I realize that abortion is now legal.  Before it was legal, it was available, and it was dangerous to the mother.  It has always been dangerous to the child.  Legalized abortion has not changed that fact.  Abortion is dangerous to the child.  Her life is snatched before a breath is drawn.  Her voice will never be heard.  She cannot do any evil.  She cannot do any good.

My new president, for whom I voted, and in whose vision I see hope, has made two bold acts during his first days in office, to reverse the decisions of our former president.

He has ordered the closing of Guantanamo within a year, and ordered the trials be stopped for 90 days so he can review the situation.

I wish he would have attached a 90 day window to his decision to lift the ban on embryonic stem cell research.  Polarizing voices of the pro-life movement have never, to my knowledge, bothered to table their passion long enough to persuade as though they expected the so-called pro-abortion camp to be open to reason.

I believe, and am convinced, that the "liberal" people I know personally are open to reason.  Have some respect, my conservative friends, and talk without acting all injured self-righteous.  Get your pious pride out of the way of actually making a difference.  There is fresh air blowing.  Add your breath to it.  If you'd get the chip off your shoulder, you might be surprised to discover real human beings who are willing to listen to your reasons for believing embryonic stem cell research is a bad choice.

The same ethics that demand legal advocacy for our presumed enemies, demand a voice for the unborn. 

I'd just like to quote from David McCullough's 2001 biography of John Adams, and then open the floor for discussion.

" 'Do you expect he should behave like a stoic philosopher, lost in apathy?' Adams asked.  Self-defense was the primary canon of the law of nature.  Better that many guilty persons escape unpunished than one innocent person should be punished.  'The reason is, because it's of more importance to community, that innocence should be protected, than it is, that guilt should be punished.'

" 'Facts are stubborn things,' he told the jury, 'and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictums of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.'"

 

America Does This Really Well

"... and you know what? 
America does this really well -- the transfer of power."

-- David Gregory, on NBC Nightly News

The sky is NOT falling

Listen up, kids.  I have suffered under self-proclaimed prophets.  I have lived through a number of losses of various sorts.  I fed a family of five, plus 2 dogs, on $30 a week in the late 1980s.  I have been promoted beyond my wildest dreams, then had the whole office closed in a corporate restructuring.  I have gone from well-paid management to learning how to make donuts at minimum wage, and then back up again to corporate accountant, and then laid off by a whole new company.  I have built my own house with my family, and then lost both the house and the family in a divorce.  There's more, and I ain't gonna tell you.  But the sky is NOT falling.

I am not a pollyanna.  I am realistic.  People can survive without a lot of things.  A LOT of things.  Some things matter a lot.  And some things just don't really matter much at all, even though they take up a lot of time and energy.

If you have a particular gripe with religion, or even with God himself -- get over it.  You've probably bought a line of bull.  Prayer is a GOOD thing.  You should try it.  You don't like the way it's gone for you before, or you don't like the way some people who have preached to you in the past have done their preaching or their teaching or whatever -- get over it.  You WOULD be better at coping with all this latest nonsense on earth if you knew it was okay for you to talk to God as if you mattered to him.

Give it a try.

I've got other practical advice I'd be willing to hand out free for nothing.  But the thing you need to know most is what I just told you.  God made you.  God does care how it goes for you.  Have a word with him, even if you start out by yelling.

Breaking News in India

Haven't seen this on CNN yet, but here's what the BBC knows:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7753726.stm

Wednesday Note to Self

Re: Email from Marcia at ACCESS -- remember to watch WGVU tonight at 8 p.m.

Marcia wrote:

"Thanksgiving wishes to all of you.  Despite the media focus on how difficult things are, I am hoping each of you has something you can think of to be thankful for.  There is so much positive we can focus on that will help direct our energy in a more optimistic fashion. 

 

"Despite the increased numbers of individuals visiting the food pantries, we are still receiving calls and emails from families wanting to provide a holiday food basket.  Our pantry volunteers and directors are stepping up to the increased need but if you get a chance to visit any of the pantries, please let them know how much we appreciate their willingness to give of themselves.

 

"Every day, our mail brings us surprised and welcomed donations that will help ACCESS continue to provide the services for the community and it's congregations.  We continue to hear God stories of those who offer to help and are surprised when they find themselves receiving as much satisfaction as the individual they are working with.  God continues to work through the people of our community and it is for that we are very thankful.

 

"I saw the premier of a locally produced film called, The Gift of All: A Community of Givers.  It will be shown on WGVU this Wednesday, Nov 26 @ 8pm.  In 2004, the Chronicle of Philanthropy recognized Grand Rapids, Michigan as the nation's second most generous city, per capita, next to Salt Lake City, Utah, with Grand Rapids residents giving 10 percent of their income to a variety of charitable causes. The Gift of All was a researched, written and produced by a group of local citizens to learn from and honor a generation of givers as well as to inspire everybody by showing the history and potential of giving and voluntarism in our community.

 

"We have so much to be thankful for..... May God continue to bless you and your family with grateful hearts."

Economics 3

Towards the end of the depression/recession of the 80s, I remember thinking, "This thing has to end soon -- too many people need to buy new cars.  Sooner or later, they are going to replace their broken-down cars, and then everybody will be back to work."

I have lately been noticing a lot of unrepaired vehicles on the road in mylittletown.  Fender-benders that are staying bent.

Michigan got a head start on the latest depression several years ago already, in case you didn't know.

But before this latest round of hard times, everybody (except me) was driving SUVs that cost as much as I paid for my house back in 1974.

A couple of fellows came to my front door yesterday, asking could they rake my leaves for $7.00.  I told 'em no, I'd have to rake them myself.  (There were not $7.00 worth of leaves on my lawn ... maybe 50 cents worth.)  But afterwards, I wondered if maybe I should have hired them.  These were not teenagers.  These were 20-something men.  Probably unemployed.

There's people who can work and do stuff.  There's people who need to buy stuff. 

Lots of houses for sale here.  And that was before the bottom fell out nationally in the housing market.  Bunch of people moved south because there weren't a lot of jobs in Michigan the past several years.

Construction was booming here all summer, at least.  Building our "Medical Mile."  (Grand Rapids is becoming a medical research mecca.)

There's people who can work and do stuff.  There's people who need to buy stuff.  Seems like there's a simple solution in that duplex of statements.  But it eludes me.

Economics 2

Link

Please read this excellent analysis by my Multiply buddy.

Economics

I watched the News Hour on pbs a couple of hours ago.  I am going to post links to transcripts of two stories I thought were quite helpful and informative:

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/business/july-dec08/stimulusplans_11-10.html

I thought the ideas expressed in the above-mentioned link were excellent.

And then this:

http://www-tc.pbs.org/newshour/rss/media/2008/11/10/20081110_china.mp3

Unfortunately, pbs did not offer a transcript of the china story; and so the link is in mp3 format.  It was, however, a very informative and hopeful story for the world economy.

What I did special on my birthday -- I voted

I think our governments (that’s we, the people, on the local, state, and national level) should pass laws to protect the weak, the innocent, and the idiotic.  I think euthanasia should be against the law.  I think abortion should be against the law.

 

So I am a right-wing conservative, Republican.

 

 I think our governments (that’s we, the people, on the local, state, and national level) should pass laws to protect the weak, the innocent, and the idiotic.  I think business practices and profit-making ventures should be regulated by government.  I do not trust business to keep uncooked books, and I do not trust those who wish to be rich to care for anyone but themselves.

 

So I am a left-wing liberal, Democrat.

 

I believe in the first amendment.  I think Christians have a right to be heard, and seen, and to live according to their beliefs.

 

So I am a right-wing conservative, Republican.

 

I believe in the first amendment.  I think Muslims have a right to be heard, and seen, and to live according to their beliefs.

 

So I am terribly left-wing ... incredibly liberal.

 

I think all of your rights stop at the tip of my nose, and that all of my rights stop at the tip of your nose.  That’s how my mother used to explain “rights” and “freedom” to me.  We have “rights” in America ... but we do NOT have the right to harm each other.

 

I am GLAD Obama was elected President of the United States.  I have always voted for Republican presidents.  (I did not vote for Richard Nixon, however ... Jerry Ford was the first person I ever voted for, but he lost.)

 

Yesterday, one hour before I went to vote, I realized that although I was planning to vote republican, as usual, I was hoping for the good of the nation I love that Obama would win the election this year.  So I looked myself in the eye in my car’s rear-view mirror, and I decided to put my vote where my heart was.

 

And I did.  I voted for Obama.

 

I do NOT think he is a “terrorist”

 

I do NOT think America will go to hell in a hand-basket because a democrat is presiding.

I do not understand why anyone would want to be the president of the United States.  But he wants to be, and he is qualified to preside over our government of checks and balances, and he is an intelligent man, and a charismatic leader who has shown his ability to lead and to inspire in the midst of adversity.

 

If I remember correctly, a Republican was in office when Roe v. Wade was decided.

 

If I remember correctly, Republicans have held the presidency for the majority of the years since Roe v. Wade, but we people have NOT yet managed to overturn Roe v. Wade by an act of our collective will.  Apparently those of us who see moral outrage here have not yet successfully persuaded our fellow-Americans to view this issue as we do.  Maybe we should think some more and then use thoughtful words to persuade instead of inflammatory words to polarize.

 

If I remember correctly, our “great national nightmare” was when the Republican Party pulled shenanigans trying to ensure a republican re-election.

 

Checks and balances, People.  And the watch-dog press.  And Yankee ingenuity. That’s what defines America, in my mind.

 

And now, apparently, a lot of white, usually-Republican voters, have left the ranks of the party they usually vote for.  I can’t speak for all of them.  I can only speak for myself.  I wanted Obama to win.  I think he will be good for America.  So I voted for him.  Because he is a good, decent, qualified, intelligent, charismatic, patriotic, young, black man.  And maybe also because he’s a democrat. 

 

I’ve lived long enough to see that we need to shift the balance of power between the parties from time-to-time, because both points of view have their inherent weaknesses.

 

And I guess I’m just going to be brave enough to admit out loud what I’ve kept in my heart for most of my adult life.  I am SICK of racism.  I think it is high time we had a black president.

 

One of the BEST, most helpful mentoring bosses I have ever had in my life was a black woman manager when I worked for Michigan Bell.

 

One of the most self-centered, arrogant, and ignorant bosses I have ever worked for was (like me) a white Anglo-Saxon protestant.

 

Obviously character is what counts ... NOT race.

 

Dry your tears, fellow-Republicans.  If you want other people to see the world as you do, then persuade them!

 

And as for what to do about President-elect Obama – well, how about praying for him.

Dang I love this country!  I can tell you I think you ought to pray.  And you can tell me to go to hell (if you want to).  But I don’t have to go there just because you say I should, and you don’t have to pray just because I say you should.

My mom used to say ...

"If you don't bother to vote, then you aren't allowed to gripe."

My dad used to say ...

"I may not agree with a word that you say ... but I will defend to the death your right to say it."

(He was probably quoting somebody else, but it had a big impact on me as a child.)

Thanks, Dad!

Research and Think for Yourselves!

I've read a coupla blogs about a certain candidate for president who's supposedly a radical Muslim who won't say the pledge of allegiance and got sworn into office on the Quran instead of the Bible and supposedly this is verified at Snopes.com.

So I went to Snopes.com on my own (not through a link).

And the tale is not true.

Snopes.com checks the facts on "urban legends."  You can go there yourself, and look up whatever you've read in round-robin email or whatever about all kinds of things.

Do your homework, kids, and THINK.  Thanks, Rani

 

If you know how to pray -- tell a child

The news online tonite is bothering me so much:  Some lady killed her children and even though a teacher had reported the family to Protective Services, nothing happened in time to save the children.  Some man threw his children off a bridge.  A marine killed his girlfriend and her unborn child.  Near where I live, a police officer whose wife had a restraining order against him snuck into his house & waited for his kids to leave and then killed his wife.

Seems like a lot of this goes on.  Seems like we need more angels!  And maybe too many people don't even know they can pray.

If you know how to pray, tell a child.  A long time ago, most children at least knew about prayer.  I don't think enough kids even know anymore.  If you know how to pray, even if you don't do it often enough -- please, tell a child!

Thanks.

Candidate Match Game

I really haven't thought much yet about who I hope runs for president, and I thought I was leaning towards the democrats (I was raised to be an independent voter -- you vote for the person, not the party, my parents always said). But a quiz I took today at USA Today shows me that, based on my own views on various issues, John McCain is the candidate whose views on these issues most closely match my views. Interesting. Click on the link to take the quiz yourself.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/candidate-match-game.htm?s...

Military Honors

 

Here's the link for the YouTube video of the Ford Flyover:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siw02xXhokY