SandBlog

Our feelings about our loss of the wonderful Miss Turtle have a page of it’s own.  So I will direct you to that if you want to read about her and why we grieve.

Work goes on, as it does and will forever I’m afraid.  Gov Perry tries to cover up the execution of an innocent man, hopefully this time it does not go unnoticed.

Football … this year, I’m watching football.  TTU won last night, not a pretty win but it was a win.  (New Mexico)  Houston Texans playing Oakland Raiders as I type.  Dallas is later.  While my heart is not in it this weekend, I will watch, and things will eventually get better.

And so…. I think I’ll go finish cleaning the kitchen and then find something to cook to mess it up again.

I’m so angry.

John McCain said on Fox News show today (Sunday) that the Robo calls are completely accurate.  No they are not.  He said when used against them “they worked”.  He has since hired those very people who ran them against him to run them against Barack Obama.  And when asked if he would continue running them, in spite of being asked by several people, including some GOP to stop running them, “of course” he will continue.  Those calls are disgusting, dishonest and dishonorable and it will cost him dearly.

I’m so happy.

General Colin Powell has endorsed Barack Obama and will be voting for him.  But what makes me even happier is his eloquent and thoughtful reasoning as expressed on Meet The Press today.  Obama will indeed make a good President and I will be happy when this absurd caricature of a campaign is over.

I’m aggravated.

John McCain also questioned Barack Obama’s campaign funds.  When asked directly if he was saying there was something illegal he said no, no.  But he mentioned Watergate in connection with Obama’s fund raising at least 4 times.  He continually attached that name saying there is always a scandal when you have that much campaign money.  Ok, so you think there will be a scandal you just haven’t figured out what it is yet.  Or your underhanded, despicable campaign aides havent’ made it up yet.

I couldn’t be more pleased.

Gen. Colin Power said something that we’ve needed to hear today.  Obama is a Christian but so what if he wasn’t?  What if he was a Muslim?  That does not mean he’s un-american.  He spoke beautifully about a documentary he saw that showed a mother with her head on her son’s grave.  He’d fought bravely, he died in Iraq, he received the Bronze Star, and yes he was a Muslim.

You see, this country was founded on freedom of religion.  The Pilgrams came here to flee religious persecution.  They were not part of the state church in England.  They wanted to practice their own religion free of the state telling them what church they must belong to.  That is the basis of our country and our freedom.  The separation of church and state.  It should not matter if you are a Christian, a Methodist, a Baptist, a Catholic, a Jew, a Muslim or an agnostic.  I do not care one whit what church our President attends and I wish he would not bring his religious views into play in the process of running our country.  (I do not like “Holy Wars” no matter who is involved in them.)  We should all be allowed religious freedom in this country.  People often speak of Roe v Wade as the litmus test for Supreme Court Justice appointments.  I disapprove of that as well as the unspoken religious “litmus test” we now use in choosing our President.  And yes I belong to a proper “Christian” church.  So what.  I belong to the church I belong to based on our religious freedom in this country.

And last but not least:

Barack Obama is not “black” he is of mixed racial background.  He is as much white as he is black.  Colin Power is of mixed race ancestry as well.  For those who say Colin Powell only endoresed him because they are both black, perhaps if not for his own expanation, I think you’d have to say they are bothed mixed so…. maybe Colin Powell endorsed Obama because they are both of mixed race.  Or maybe it’s because they are both men.  Or maybe it’s because they both have two eyes, two legs, two arms, a nose, a mouth and a heart.  Colin Powell, Barack Obama, John McCain, indeed Sarah Palin along with you and I are all human beings.  We are all a part of the human race.  That’s the only racial requirement that I know of for being the President of the United States.

The Constitutional requirements are clearly stated:

No person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty-five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.

Both John McCain, born in Panama to US Citizens and Barack Obama born in Hawaii to a US Citizen fits all of these requirements.  Qualifications not specified that I consider necessary are the ability to speak coherently, understand complex issues and the ability to use good judgment and represent our Nation honorably.  For those qualifications, I find I must agree with General Colin Powell and will be voting for Barack Obama.    Now I’m sure AP, Reuters and the Networks will be announcing my endorsement any minute, along with Gen. Powell’s, but if we don’t see it, I’m content to see them talk about his for the next two weeks.

Whoever you choose to vote for, please vote.

Skip it if you’d like, again.

I watched the 3rd debate between John McCain and Barack Obama and in the early part of it I was surprised but must admit McCain was doing well.  At least I thought so.  Then came the eye rolling and facial expressions.  It seemed to me that wasn’t what one would call “Presidential”.  Then I saw, to my surprise that Obama was considered the winner by a lot of people right after the debate.  That pleased me but I was a little surprised at the extent of his favorability.  I certainly agree that McCain didn’t get the “knock out punch” that he needed.  It will be nice to see Obama win, I hope he does.  He has warned his supporters not to be too “cocky” and I certainly agree with that.  It’s not over til it’s over.  However, I suspect after what I read tonight it’s over.

McCain seems to want to go out in a “blaze of glory” but I’m guessing he’s actually going to “go down in flames” after this last stunt.  According to CNN they have launched one of those massive “robo-call” campaigns now.  Not only are those things annoying, this one is to be sure people are told that Obama was friends with Bill Ayers.  Um, Senator McCain, have you completely lost your marbles?  Have you not seen the backlash that this negativity has already produced?  Have you not read that most people are saying not only do they not like the focus on attacking Senator Obama personally, they don’t care and/or don’t believe the smear campaign you are running on Obama and Bill Ayers.  Did you not hear Sen. Obama explain last night that he was on that board with a number of other strong conservatives and it was funded by Annenberg?  Did you not check the stock market and the economy today?  Did you notice that people are having big financial problems and want to know how we are going to get out of this, or when?  Hello?  The lights are on but no one is home?  This phone call thing can only hurt your bid for the Presidency.  This particular line of attack already has hurt you.  And you are going to compound it with annoying phone calls that misrepresent the truth and are irrelevant to the majority of voters.  Oh sure, Sarah Palin will be happy with you, so there’s one vote.  And apparently there are some staff members and advisers that want you to do this so there’s another 100 votes I suppose.  In the mean time you are losing states that have been solid Republican states.  Toss up states are now leaning Obama, leaning Obama states are now solid Obama and solid Republican states are becoming toss up states.  What is the matter with you?  You are not going out in a blaze of glory sir, you are going to go down in flames.  You should be embarrassed.  I predict you will be embarrassed in a very short period of time.  And you want to talk about judgement?  With an unethical running mate and now this, and even your hero Joe the plumber who’s first name is Sam and he’s not a licensed plumber nor is he anywhere near owning his own business but no one checked into that.  Oh what’s the use.  Your senile dementia is showing sir.  You need to go back to one of your homes if you can figure out which one is closest, and stay inside for a while.  Probably about 3 weeks  That is apparently the only way you are not going to completely self destruct in public and it’s painful for us all to watch it happen to a man who was considered a hero by so many for so long.  And tell your adviers…. thanks for nothing!

Truly a sad sad time when a man gives up his reputation that he’s built for years for a slim chance at winning the prize.  Not knowing apparently it’s not a “prize” but a very big, complex job that you are obviously not up to filling.

Obama/Biden 08

I have decided to express my political views about the upcoming election.  I’ve placed it on a seperate page.  Go read it if you want, skip it if you don’t.  On this page, I want to put only one thing.

If you want the truth, click this link:

Fact Check

“The Annenberg Political Fact Check is a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. The APPC was established by publisher and philanthropist Walter Annenberg in 1994 to create a community of scholars within the University of Pennsylvania that would address public policy issues at the local, state and federal levels.

The APPC accepts NO funding from business corporations, labor unions, political parties, lobbying organizations or individuals. It is funded primarily by the Annenberg Foundation.”

I am a big fan of Big Brother.  I often use the initials BB to refer to Big Brother, such as BB10 for the latest season, number 10.  BBU for the Big Brother Updates website that I like to visit and where I discuss BB daily when it’s on.  But today BB means Brat Baby,  or Big Baby, or Brat Boy as in… Cowboy.

He is a brat.  He is a baby.  He likes to play and doesn’t know how big he is.  He doesn’t jump up really bad unless he gets really excited and thinks you have something that he is supposed to get from you, and you are playing keep away.  He can be a brat when HE wants to go and he’s on his leash and he flips out of his collar.  Away he goes, never looking as he runs into the street causing me to have a heart attack.  He is getting better at coming back in though.  He runs after a ball out in the back yard, then runs past it, into the house.  Don’t ask me what he’s thinking, he’s just running.  He IS learning to sit.  He is not a dummy.  However he is a big baby.

He climbs in bed with me everynight.  Actually I often sit in the bed with laptop on my lap, with my feet up relaxing long before bedtime.  And Cowboy is right there.  Actually he really is… right there in the MIDDLE of the bed leaving about 1/3 or less for me.  Then he leans.  He leans on me, on my legs and tries to put his head in my lap.  Of course there’s actually a laptop in my lap so that means he’s laying his head on the side of the computer, trying to get his head ON the computer because that’s where my lap is.  sigh

The more I try to push or nudge him over, the more he leans into it, so to speak and ends up pushing the cd/dvd button so the dvd thing tries to open which it can’t so it closes then opens or tries to and then closes… repeat steps 1-3 several times.  He lays on the cord from the computer to the wall.  He lays on the cord from the computer to the speakers.  He looks up at me with golden eyes and expressive eyebrows begging to be petted and cuddled.  What a baby!  And it really would be precious except for one small thing, well not so small thing.  He weighs 60 pounds!   He is a  baby but he’s just such a BIG baby.

How can ya not love him?

But be warned, one more thing….. he’s a thief.  Whether it’s a snack, a remote control or a Webkins.   I had to move all of MY stuffed toys to a shelf or location he can’t reach because he seems to think ALL stuffed toys are his.  He takes his out of the “toy box”, he takes Turtle’s oldest and most ragged stuffed toys out of the toy box and he takes any stuffed toy off of a shelf if he can reach it.  All toys must be taken to the living room floor and left there scattered around.  I guess that’s the brat in him.  The not so little brother doing what comes naturally, being a brat.

Other events in our life here in the flat land:  I got my voter registration done for this address in time to vote.  My choice is not something I’m going to discuss here.   But it’s not a surprise if you know me.

We still feed the neighbor cats on the front porch so they don’t come in to our house to get food.

We still feed the birds and enjoy watching them from the bedroom window and the kitchen window while doing dishes.

We are still posting on the Wolfie’s reality blog about my favorite reality shows.

And we are trying to ignore the upcoming birthday in hopes of remaining 59 forever.  That will work won’t it?  I sure hope so!