You Can Vote However You Like!

You may or may not have heard this kids on CNN or YouTube already, but my husband had me look them up yesterday, and I'm hooked!



Those are some informed, happy and talented kids!

Overstuffed Ballot Box!

I was home sick with the flu, and thought I was going to cough up a lung, but finally the antibiotics started to kick in and I decided to finish filling out my ballot.

In case you're not familiar with Oregon voting, it is ALL done by mail in ballots. So, after filling it out, I stuffed it in its secrecy envelope, and then into the signature confirmation envelope.


I just had to document it for historic purposes! And then my husband and I drove down to the local police department.

That's where the Official Ballot Deposit Box is located, and usually I go there because I procrastinate till the last day. Tonight, I just wanted to make sure nothing happened to it on the way.

I dropped it in the box, but when I peeked in to make sure it had dropped all the way in - IT WAS JAMMED! I could see at least four other ballots sticking up! I almost stuck my hand in to shove them down, but I could see the officers inside looking my way. All my picture taking must have caught their attention. I walked my wrinkly, sick self down into the station and told them what was going on. They said they would call the County, and send an officer out to push them in. I decided to document the stuffed box, and snapped this before the officer got there.


I thought it was my ballot sitting there, but on closer inspection of the photo at home, I realized it was not. The signature was illegible to me, but just in case others might recognize it, I've pixelized it. It looks like there's GREAT voter turnout this year! Is your vote included?

James Dobson - Prophet?

The Matthew 25 website sent out a request to respond to the letter put out by the Focus on the Family Action website. Honestly, I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

This letter, from an imaginary Christian in 2012, is so insanely biased and fear based, that anyone who takes it seriously would certainly not be voting for Obama to begin with.

On the other hand, I can see how many Christians could have their eyes opened to the spirit of fear spread by James Dobson. Perhaps this would give them a reason to look more closely at what Obama has actually said? Or perhaps that is just wishful thinking.

I listened to Focus on the Family's radio program when I was a young mother, but completely quit when I heard him laughing about the surprised look in a boy's eye when his shoulder was pinched in Dobson's recommended surprise discipline method. I know how much it hurts...I've had it used on me a couple of times. I understand that discipline is important, but laughing at a child's pain passes the line of acceptability in my book.

The following quote is not exactly the one I heard on the radio in 1996, but it describes the same act:

Dobson obviously enjoys the power that goes with authority, and, as we have seen, a bit of sadism is evident in his depictions of experiments on animals. We catch of whiff of it too, in relation to punishing kids, especially when they are teen-agers. His anatomically detailed instructions on how to squeeze a particular muscle in a toddler’s shoulder to administer a bolt of pain is inexplicably decked out with a gratuitous anecdote about how he himself (with his “rather large hands”) used the technique on some rowdy adolescents—this story reads like a soft core Death Wish script.

Perhaps because I am familiar with his "love of dicipline" I am particularly drawn to the passage in his 2012 letter that describes the horrors of liberals delving out punishment of their own: "The Justice Department soon began to file civil and criminal charges against nearly every Bush administration official who had any involvement in the Iraq war."

This is a bad thing? If evil was done in the dark, and hidden in secret papers, Dobson who proclaimes to work for a just and loving God, would surely rejoice when justice brought the wrongdoers to light! And why else would the Bush administration sign an "executive order that [has] prevented presidential papers from being released," unless they had something to hide?

I for one, hope that in this one instance, James Dobson's word is prophetic.

Woe to those who go to great depths
to hide their plans from the LORD,
who do their work in darkness and think,
"Who sees us? Who will know?"
Isaiah 29:15

The Funnies!

I find Doonesbury awesomely logical:

And with the stories of faulty voting machines The Wizard of Id rings too true:

Don't forget to vote!

A colleague sent me this great video:

Isn't that hilarious? I sent a version of it to my sister and got back this great response:

....[that's] so funny! I am a permanent absentee voter & I've already half filled out my ballot. As a matter of fact, I'm so involved in this election that I drove Will at 11:15 pm at night to the San Diego Registrar of Voters to register with our new address on the very last day you could! We felt it was something we would be telling our grandkids:

"Your grandfather made me watch political television for 6 months before the election. On the very last day to register to vote he realized that he hadn't registered yet. So we left in the dark of the night to drive through the quiet streets to the registrar of voters before it closed at midnight. On the way there we were stunned that the freeway was closed! So we had to detour to get there. We thought the republicans had done it on purpose! When we got to the registrar of voters we were stunned because there was a line to park - at 11:30 pm! The registrars were still outside the building helping people to register. The majority of people registering were young & ethnic. We knew at that point that Obama would win the election!"

:-)

Post Partum Depression

I was reminded of this post I made on my MySpace blog a while ago, and had a very hard time locating it due to the categories not working. So, I am re-posting it here for easier access, and to spread the word.

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A friend's blog yesterday brought my attention to the Mother's Act I do not have time to write much now, but you can check out the links. I think this sounds like a very a dangerous Act and should be stopped!

Here is the video of the personal story of the mom who started the petition against it:

I posted a bit of my story in the comments. (I do not assume that anti-depressants are wrong for all people, but it does seem that they often do more harm than good.) If you agree please take time to sign the petition here:

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/stop-the-dangerous-and-invasive-mothers-act

Here is video of NBC News coverage of this issue:

Wallowa

I've been wanting to post some of the pictures I got on our trip to Wallowa Lake over Labor Day Weekend. I'm finally making time.













Go kart rides coming later. ^_^

Help is Better than Hate

Can I be both Pro-Life and Pro-Obama?

This week I was told by two people that they were voting for McCain because abortion is just such a terrible thing. I totally agree that abortion is horrifying. I've seen the pictures. I've been pregnant, a joy for me each time. I know people for whom it was not a joy and abortion was the only option they saw available. I wish they would have felt differently, but I will not judge them for their decision, because I have no way of understanding what they were going through.

On the other hand, I really would like the amount of abortions in our country to be reduced. Realistically, I understand the number will never be zero, but what could be done to limit that number?

Faced with the two McCain supporters basing their votes solely on their pro-life convictions, I headed to Google and found some statistics. I was thrilled to find the Matthew 25 Network expressing the views I have held for so long:

Studies Show that Economic Support for Women and Families Reduces Abortion

• Economic assistance to low income families is correlated with a 20% lower abortion rate. Across the entire United States, this translates into 200,000 fewer abortions.
• In the 1990s, states with more generous grants to women, infants and children under the age of five as provided by the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program had a 37% lower abortion rate.
• Higher male employment in the 1990s was associated with a 29% lower abortion rate.
• The abortion rate has declined most rapidly from 1990-1996 when there was an economic boom under President Clinton. While rates have continued to decrease, they have declined less rapidly in recent years when poverty rates have been climbing.

What this says to me, is that help is better than hate. When women face an unplanned pregnancy, do we say: "Wow - too bad for you. Don't ask me for a hand out - but you'd better not be a baby killer," or can we say: "Wow - this is a huge moment in your life, here are some programs to help you be the kind of mother you would like to be."

In conclusion, YES, I can be an Obama supporter and be Pro-Life! I haven't even gone into the topic of supporting life in other ways, such as less war, and less pollution. I believe this is a very important point to make this election year! Please don't be a single issue voter, and spread the news that you can support LIFE and OBAMA!