halloween! and election in 2 days...

as i went around distributing flyers and voter guides to registered republicans in our precinct, i crossed paths with trick-or-treaters and their moms, and in some cases, their dogs! most of the time i would just be one house ahead of the trick-or-treaters and sometimes they would give me a funny look (they must have been wondering whether i was competition). and a couple of times i received treats!!!

this is my first halloween here and i had fun watching people have fun.

the neighborhood i went to was a busy one. most houses had halloween decor and had their lights on. and some of the residents were also in costumem and were waiting for trick-or-treaters. there were a lot of kids and you can feel that the people were really into the spirit of things.

back in our block it was more quiet. not much decor and not much kids. but eric and i got back home with enough time for some to trick-or-treaters to catch us and rid us of half  of our cache of candies.

i'm already thinking ahead to next year. no distribution of flyers for me on halloween. i think it will be more fun to take the dog trick-or-treating.

Received this from the FilAmGOP maillist.

Why Democrats Should Vote for Bush
 29 October 2004 | Tammy Bruce

As a Democrat and a pro-choice feminist, it’s time for me to explain why I support the president, and why other thoughtful Democrats should join me in doing so. I can’t tell you how many e-mails I’ve received from other Democrats either condemning me for not toeing the line, while others write who are genuinely curious, after all the hate-mongering and demonizing of Republicans and the president specifically, they hope I can ease their fears about what their inclination to vote for the president means about them.

The simple answer? It means you’re a confident liberal, a thoughtful person who realizes that game of party loyalty takes a back seat to the safety of your family and this nation. It also means you take the slogans of “choice” and “radical individualism”seriously. Isn’t it ironic that there’s nothing more radically individual these days than a liberal who doesn’t conform?

For me, Authentic Feminism is rooted in making it possible for people to make the choices that best suit them. If you have recognized the weakness of John Kerry, and know in your heart a vote for the president is the right thing to do, join me and do it! It can be done with a clear conscience as you embrace the radical individual inside you that attracted you to liberal causes in the first place.

Because some things simply transcend party lines, when in front of that Early Voting touch screen, I stood there as an American first, and voted for George W. Bush. This nation, our lives, and the lives our children require nothing less.

I explain to detractors and supporters alike that President Bush is the man who will keep this nation safest. The president and I hold dramatically divergent views on a number of social issues of importance to me, and yet for the 3,000 people who died on September 11th, abortion rights and same-sex civil unions mean absolutely nothing to them now. These issues, while important to me and ones on which I will continue to speak out about, are luxuries in the face of a world war where the enemy is a stateless savage who hunts children and cuts off people’s heads.

We have a responsibility to leave this nation as great as it is to the next generation. We all know, and must reflect on, the fact that the joy we have in our lives today is due to the sacrifice of hundreds of thousands of other Americans who died fighting for this country. Those soldiers did not die because they were promised 72 virgins in the afterlife, they fought not for themselves—they died in the most noble of American causes— so future generations—us—could live in freedom.

I do not take that action for granted, and I have learned that generosity of spirit and commitment to freedom is inherent in each of us, and a duty we cannot shirk.

Those of you with children have a more immediate concern, which is the literal safety of the light of your life. That little face looks up at you as you tuck her in, and sleeps gently knowing that Mommy and Daddy are there. That same face stares at you in the morning, with a heart full of hope, limited only by her imagination because you confront, for her, the harsh realities of every day. And these days it’s not just about making a living, it’s about the Beslan school massacre, it’s a new al-Qaida tape threatening Americans at home, it’s about war and mad savages who have specifically targeted children.

I voted for President Bush because having a Pacifist Internationalist in the White House will only embolden those who salivate at the sight of our blood. Having a man in the White House who stands for nothing will only excite Islamic Fascists who revel in torture and the cutting off of heads. I do not want a man in the White House who is so cold, when asked by a New York Times reporter how September 11th changed him, answers “It didn’t change me much at all.”

While I know a Bush presidency makes my work as a feminist more complicated and demanding, I will love and be grateful for every day I have the luxury of working on those issues. And frankly, it’s not necessarily a bad thing to have a president who encourages social activism on issues. Liberals make the mistake of thinking a Democrat president is indeed Daddy, who can be trusted in all things. Apathy soon follows that false comfort.

Bill Clinton showed us the decline of the Democratic Party into a gang spouting slogans to make women, gays and blacks feel Daddy was in the house, to our grave regret. What did we get? A sexual compulsive who put Monica Lewinsky on her knees instead of cutting bin Laden off at his.

Yes, there were plenty of Democrats, feminists, gays and blacks in the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and on those fateful flights. I’m sure you would agree that in their last moments their literal lives were more important to them than party affiliation.

I want a president who will be strongest making sure tomorrow comes, that this nation not just survives, but emerges from this war like the others we have fought, in a world that has been transformed for the better. I want a president who understands this is war, not a “nuisance.”

I know George Bush has made many in the world angry, and frankly, I am dismayed at the hard feelings. A recent poll of Europeans revealed their general belief that Bush has made the world a more dangerous place.

Upon hearing that, I remind myself of the time President Reagan increased arms production and installed more Pershing Missiles in Europe as we faced down the Soviet Union. President Reagan grappled with European polls, anger and resentment, all of which evaporated when the Soviet regime collapsed.

Yes, they hated Reagan, but he plodded on, never swayed by those polls or made doubtful by others’ hatred. His resolve freed Europe from the shadow of a bear which had no mercy and the blood of tens of millions on its paws. As a man of faith with a love of this country, Reagan stayed the course, and did what he knew had to be done. He was a leader, and I’m proud to say, one that only America could deliver.

Today, President Bush faces the same polls, the same anger, and the same resentment as he, too, recognizes and engages a rabid enemy of civilization, Islamo-Fascists. Europeans felt Reagan was leading them to Armageddon, as they now insist Bush is doing. We can’t know what it’s like for Europeans to see such a young nation doing so many things, but one thing Europe will find, again, is that while we may be wild, young and even cowboys on occasion, we have a pretty good track record of making the world a safer and better place.

With George W. Bush at the helm, this time will be no different.

I voted for President Bush because he has freed 50 million people, 25 million of which are women and girls. The feminist establishment, in a shameful exhibit of their hypocrisy, has ignored that fact. As a feminist, I thank the president with my vote, in solidarity with the millions of Afghan and Iraqi women who now, courtesy of the president and our astounding military, finally have hope, liberty and freedom.

Like all of our presidents, George W. Bush is quintessentially an American. He’s a Cowboy. A Texan. He will never be mistaken for a Frenchman. He’s a Yalie. He’s a man of faith, a husband and father. He’s a man who has fought with and overcome addiction. He’s a man of strength and character.

And while he is also wrong on some issues, if I have to work harder on social issues, I want it to be against a man whom I can admire, who I know, despite our disagreements, honors me in his work to keep this nation free and great.

For those of you who are Democrats and liberals—and I know through my years as a leader in left wing causes, including feminist and gay activism—we all have gone through a sort of conditioning that makes dissent or difference a frightening prospect. Republicans and conservatives have been decidedly demonized in your circle—perhaps by your own friends and family.

Let me tell you this--voting for the President does not change who you are or what you stand for. I stand for the classical liberal concepts of personal liberty and individualism, and have spent a great deal of my adult life working for those causes. I have found that “Choice” and “Individualism” are only slogans if you never act on them. Sometimes being yourself means straying from the expected, standing apart from your crowd.

November 2nd is a good a day to be a Democrat who’s an American first

i

am so loving

married life!

(whowuda thought?)

got props from BloggingForBush for "being informed of the issues" based, i guess, on the comments i left on his blogs. i'm pasting one of those comments here (with some additions) since they concern topics i've been wanting to write about but was never strongly compelled to do until i had to reply to someone:

psykomeyeko: why are we talking about vietnam again? why not ask john kerry? wasn't he the one who made it the central theme of his campaign?

citations with several signatures? yeah, right. secretary of the navy lehman said that he did not write any citation.

i wouldn't trust the john kerry site to be a source of truth. if it is, then i would have believed it when they said (i guess, in their desperation to make john kerry look strong on anti-terrorism) that he served as vice-chairman of the senate intelligence committee when, in fact, it was not him but  sen. bob kerrey. (and i have a screen capture of that! hahaha! thinking about this still makes me laugh .. )

here is a man who wants to be president yet, he is absent from work most of the time (86%), so much so, that he didn't even know he was not the vice-chairman of the committee!    no wonder he decided to run on his vietnam record.

i can go on and on and deal with details (ie inconsistencies in his own book, his war hero status among the north vietnamese, his work to get POWs out of vietnam which ended with a lucrative business contract with the north vietnamese for his cousin) but the bottomline for me is:

a man who threw away his war medals, declaring that they are not something to be proud of, and years later runs for president because he is war hero with medals to prove it is just like a dog lapping up its own puke. if you want to believe in a man like that, fine. get licked!

oh, but of course, he later revealed that the medals he threw were not really his (since his medals are on display in his office). it was all a show. and the vvaw officer he followed? not even a vietnam veteran. and some of the testimonies? coerced.

did it matter to john kerry that he was still a naval reserve officer when he met with the north vietnamese? did it matter that he made it look as if committing atrocities was the norm at that time and true of all vietnam war vets, so much so that they were treated like pariahs when they got back home? if jane fonda has apologized for her activities during that time, why hasn't john kerry? doesn't it matter to him that there were people who suffered because of what he did?

do you think it will matter to john kerry if he gives all the promises that he can now and not make good on them if he gets elected?

does character matter to you?

insomnos: i admire you for being proud to be a liberal. i personally don't think that it's something to be ashamed of. that's why i don't understand why john kerry (and his campaign) behaves like it's synonymous to another  'L' word -- LOSER.

liberals believe in civil rights and equality.
even conservatives do. that is basic. it will boil down to: what are those rights? when does pushing for someone's right becomes stepping on somebody else's right?

...abortion
this is not just about the right to bear a child or not. this is about the right to life vs the right to kill.

if life begins at conception then there is no justification for abortion. if you don't believe that life begins at conception then i can understand why you don't think abortion should be banned.

john kerry, though, says that he believes that life begins at conception yet he does not work to prevent abortion, saying that he cannot legislate based on his faith. which faith was he referring to? his catholicism? hipprocates (who made the original hippocratic oath which has been revised by the american medical association) was not a christian (i think they were pagans at that time) but he was against abortion.

so john kerry's statement is just another way of saying: i believe in something but i will not make a stand on it nor fight for it. (that, i think, is what you'd call a hypocritic oath.)

abortion is against the core beliefs of his religion -- his faith -- but banning it will work against his ambition. in the case of john kerry, ambition wins.

here is a man who would say what is politically expedient. a man who is driven, not  by conviction but by ambition. a man like that can be bought.

with george soros spending so much of his money for bush's defeat, doesn't it make you wonder what he has to gain from a kerry presidency?

-----

my previous question about plants being living things was, in part, to answer the question: does life begin at conception? what does science really say about this? does a fetus pass the criteria of a 'living' thing according to science?

I need a biology review. Wish I were back home with access to 3rd-grade books and to my 6th-grade niece. I'm sure she could easily answer these questions for me:

What is a living thing? Is a plant a living thing? If it is, why?

Anybody out there who knows the answer?

Subject: Vote John Kerry

Dear Voter,

I am a concerned senior citizen.  When President Clinton was
in office, I had a nice house, a good job with many benefits,
health insurance and even 2 vacation homes.  In short, things
were good.

Since President Bush has been in office, I have lost my job
and my health insurance.  I have also lost 2 sons in Iraq.

To add insult to injury I am now homeless and have lost
everything I once had.

We must be willing to do whatever John Kerry asks us to do.
We must remove President Bush and get a Democrat back
in the White House.  Please consider my compelling personal
story and vote for John Kerry come election day.

Sincerely,

Saddam Hussein 

(This was forwarded from the FILAMGOP network. )

Just thought this would be of interest to fellow IT workers out there

IT JOBS CHILL

SEPTEMBER 13, 2004 - The annual IT workforce study is out from the Information Technology Association of America. And for once, it's genuinely useful. Gone is the rah-rah boosterism of years past. Gone are the million-new-jobs estimates that never came true and the predictions that most new IT jobs would go wanting because there just weren't enough U.S. IT people to fill them.

Instead, it's a sober assessment stuffed with information of value to anyone hiring or looking for work in corporate IT. Much of that information is clearly presented in the report, which you can get at www.itaa.org/workforce/studies/04wfstudy.pdf.

And then there's the stuff that's hidden between the lines.

(Read more here.)

The amazed woman asked if she got three wishes.

The genie said, "Nope, sorry, three-wish genies are a storybook myth. I'm a one-wish genie. So... what'll it be?"

The woman did not hesitate. She said, "I want peace in the Middle East. See this map? I want these countries to stop fighting with each other and I want all the Arabs to love the Jews and Americans and vice-versa. It will bring about world peace and harmony."

The genie looked at the map and exclaimed, "Lady, be reasonable. These countries have been at war for thousands of years. I'm out of shape after being in a bottle for five hundred years. I'm good but not THAT good! I don't think it can be done. Make another wish and please be reasonable."

The woman thought for a minute and said, "Well, I've never been able to find the right man. You know, one that's considerate and fun, likes to cook and help with the house cleaning, is great in bed! and ! gets along with my family, doesn't watch sports all the time, and is faithful. That is what I wish for .. a good man."

The genie let out a sigh and said, "Let me see the map again.--

this is just to say "hi" to everybody. been away and still have to catch up on blogs and comments and emails!  

moments before i went to sleep the other night, i had a thought: if that was how they check for breast cancer, how do they check for prostate cancer?

if asked, I would say that my biggest sin is Lust;
but, I know God would say that, just like everybody else,
my biggest sin is Pride.