For those who don’t know this about me yet, I am a political junkie.  I listen to many podcasts about politics, stay glued to NPR (and no it is not the Democrat’s FOX – far from it), and of course am a huge fan of the Daily Show. 

Anyhow, I want to share with you that last night was the first time in my life that politics made it into my nightly prayer.  Today is “Super Tuesday” and it is very likely that the 22 states voting will chose the presidential candidates.  My state of NC doesn’t vote until May, so I am a afraid I have little say in this election.

Instead, this is sort of a plea to anyone living in any of those 22 states.  I feel it is the only thing I can do to affect this election, so here goes.

If you don’t know about the candidates, and where they stand, all you need is about 15 minutes on the internet and any search engine, like Google, to look up where these guys and gal stand.  And then let me offer my opinion.  I think the next best thing our country can do is vote Barack Obama into office.  Let me tell you why….

To begin with, Barack is more genuine and likable than any other politician.  In addition, he is talking about working with Republicans and Democrats to make changes every American can be proud of.  My biggest problem with politics today is that we are all so divided that if you are a democrat you are meant to hate the republicans, and vice versa.  Instead of focusing on what divides us, Barack wants to come together where we can to actually make changes we all want and need.

And he can speak!  When you go to his website, you can see samples of his speeches which have the power to actually inspire.  When was the last time you heard our president speak and were inspired?  His victory speech after winning in South Carolina just about brought me to tears.  If he can rally individuals like he has at every single campaign event he has attended, just think what he can do with our congress!  He is inspiring because he is talking about thing we all want, and about ending the demonization of the “other side”.  With this kind of president, who could actually hear what the other party is saying, imagine how far we could go! 

Finally, take a look at the other candidates.  I must admit I was a Hillary fan going into this.  But now I can see that Republicans have too much of a grudge on the Clintons to ever elect her in to office.  And even if she were elected, she is going to have to fight the Republicans tooth and nail to get anything done.  She surely isn’t going to be inspiring them to follow her lead.  As for the Republicans, I once had a lot of respect for John McCain as a presidential candidate.  I think we all respect his military service and I thank God he survived his ordeal as a POW.  As a marine wife, this fact of his history hits very close to home.  But as a politician, I have lost all respect for him.  He no longer has his own opinions, but instead fights with the others on who is the most “conservative”.  Having a president who is further to the end of the spectrum of their own party will not bring us closer together as a country.  Finally, Mitt Romney.  Oh….Mitt.  He was the governor of Massachusetts, known for being a “liberal” state, for goodness sakes!  And if you haven’t heard, he is now in the fight with McCain on who is more conservative!  He has changed his position on almost every issue just in time for this election.  To use the fun words of the other side, isn’t this the definition of “flip-flopper”?

I don’t want a president that is only trying to appeal to the left or the right.  I want a president who can focus on what we all want for this country, our safety, our health, more jobs, a balanced budget, etc.  If we elect another far-ender, we will go another 4 years fighting instead of getting things done that we can all be proud of.

In my humble opinion, Barack is the candidate that is going to bring us back together and make this country something we can all believe in.  Please, check to see if you are in one of the 22 states voting today.  If you are, please get out and vote for Barack.  We could all use a little more HOPE!

This is a family blog, but I feel compelled to bring up two “political” issues.

The first one is for all those out there who (wrongly) assume that for whatever reason Republicans support the military more than Democrats.

President Bush vetoes military pay raise: President George W. Bush vetoed a measure giving pay increases to U.S. troops because of a provision he said would expose the Iraqi government to lawsuits for crimes committed under Saddam Hussein.

Lautenberg said today the provision isn’t aimed specifically at Iraq and noted that Iran has been targeted in lawsuits, including one seeking damages for the 1983 bombing of U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut that killed 241 servicemen.

“My language allows American victims of terror to hold perpetrators accountable, pure and simple,’’ he said.

I guess my fellow service members aren’t working hard enough to deserve that pay raise. This isn’t the first time Our Dear Leader has suggested we don’t deserve the raise.  Now the democratic congress is working to override the veto. I’m not trying to suggest that one party supports the troops more than the other, rather the opposite. There are more ways than one to “support” us and NO party has the monopoly on that. The actual difference in pay is not that important to me, but it says a lot about our country’s priorities.  I’m very disappointed in the veto (especially if the dispute is with protecting middle eastern wealth). If you are too, write your congressman or the president himself.

The second issue is Michael Moore’s Sicko. Shannon and I saw it over the weekend. If you have not seen this movie yet, do so now. I’m not one to promote anything from Moore, but I feel Sicko was an important work. There are some of his usual theatrics there, but there’s too much good stuff in there to miss it. I challenge anyone to watch that movie and not be furious at the health insurance industry. I have the luxury of socialized health care as a Marine, but we saw the challenges and difficult choices others had to make during Sonia’s stay at CHOP. The idea that these companies make their money by denying needed care is disgusting. Just go see the movie. If you have issue with “supporting” Michael Moore, just steal the movie. Moore even encourages it. If you can’t deal with that, let me know and I’ll pay the rental fee for you.

OK, I’m off my soapbox now. I hope everyone had a happy new year.

Shannon and I picked up this magazine while we were in D.C.  We thought is was a political journal, but it turned out to be more of a tabloid rag.  I wouldn’t particularly recommend it, but the cover alone was worth the cover price.  It’s so classic, I had to share.

Enjoy!

So this friend of a friend is dating this girl who has a friend that works for a big-shot lawyer in Corpus Christi that happens to be involved with politics.  You still with me?

This friend of mine invites a few of our friends and me to a lunch with the “Governor of Texas.” I thought it might be an interesting afternoon, so I told him I’d tag along.  We all had a vision of a big banquet hall with the governor giving a speech up on stage.  As the event approaches though, it seems that my buddy has gotten some of the facts mixed up.  It’s not the governor of Texas, but rather former governor and new head of the DNC, Howard Dean, who will be speaking at the event.  Oh yeah, and it’s not at a banquet hall, it is at some guy’s home!

Granted, this guys house is like none I’ve ever seen before.  From the fingerprint recognition front door, to the custom chopper in the front foyer, to the 3/4 million in cars in his garage, this is no ordinary Joe.  All things considered, it was still a relatively intimate gathering.  There were only about 30 people there (including some Texas politicians) and we did everything in his living room.  I’m still wondering how I was invited to this thing.

While I’m a registered republican, I like to think of myself as more of a moderate.  I’d like to think that I can appreciate the views of both parties.  Having said that, I really enjoyed Dean’s talk.  The main purpose of his visit was to raise funds for the DNC, so 99% of those in attendance were die-hard democrats (they didn’t check IDs at the door).  I think because of the audience, Dean was able to speak a little more informally and from the heart, instead of the standard rhetoric we are fed by the news everyday.  It was interesting (and refreshing) to see a politician speak with his guard down a bit.  I might not have agreed with everything he said, but he had some really good points and I thoroughly enjoyed the event.  Oh yeah, and the guacamole was amazing!

Check out some of the pictures (including the incredibly cool cars) in the photo gallery.