The Morning After

I didn't stay up last night to watch Obama's speech, but I did watch McCain's. I thought he gave an eloquent and well thought out speech. I like John McCain, even if I disagree with him. His speech last night reminded me of why I like John McCain.

There are three reasons I didn't vote for John McCain:

1. He said he didn't believe in gay people adopting children. People who think that are too narrow minded -- yes, Arkansas, I'm speaking to you -- to be able to think clearly.

2. His healthcare plan.

3. Sarah Palin.

Here's what I'm hoping will now happen to the Republican Party while they're at home licking their wounds. Maybe, they'll try to get back to the Republican Party of Lincoln and Roosevelt. Maybe, they'll come back even stronger and with fiscal responsibility on their lips. I love it when an uninformed moron says to me that Democrats are tax and spend while we have the highest deficit ever.

Obama has a long way to go to help fix our broken America. We didn't allow our nation to be torn to pieces overnight and we won't be able to fix it that way, either.

I like the way McCain said he's going to work with Obama. I like that he said we're all Americans, because that's what is important. If we all work together, we can build this great lady back to the shining nation she once was.

God Bless

I Voted -- Did You?

I leaped out of bed this morning because today is election day! This is the most important day of any American's life. This is the day we join together to decide who will make the government decisions for ourselves. Anyone who has been following my blog will not be surprised to find out that I voted for Obama. I wasn't surprised that the line was long. Nor, was I surprised at how friendly everyone was.

What actually surprised me is that there were two positions in Racine -- Register of Deeds and Country Treasurer -- that only had a Republican running.

Are these the only two people qualified in all of Racine County for the positions?

Next time, a Democrat needs to step up to the plate and run. What good is an election if no one ran against you? And, does anyone know what happens when the voter votes straight party and that party doesn't have a candidate?

God Bless

Confusion -- Thanks Walter!

I received this in an email and it hits the nail right on the head, so I'm posting it here. BTW, if you wrote it, please contact me. I think we have a lot in common. In the interest of full disclosure, I cleaned up some spelling and grammar mistakes and I added a couple of notes.

I'm a little confused. Let me see if I have this straight.....

· If you grow up in Hawaii, raised by your grandparents, you're "Exotic, different."

· Grow up in Alaska eating moose burgers yours is the quintessential American story.

· If your name is Barack you're a radical, unpatriotic Muslim.

· Name your kids Willow, Trig and Track, you're a maverick.

· Graduate from Harvard law School and you are unstable.

· Attend 5 different small colleges graduating, you're well-grounded.

· If you spend 3 years as a community organizer, become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drive that registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor, spend 8 years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, become chairman of the state Senate's Health Human Services committee, spend 4 years in the United Senate representing a state of 13 million people while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you don't have any real leadership experience.

· If your total resume is: local weather girl, 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people (where less than 1,500 actually voted in the election), 20 months as the governor of a state with only 650,000 people, then you're qualified to become the country's second highest ranking executive and next in line behind a man in his eighth decade.

· If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising 2 beautiful daughters, all within Protestant churches, you're not a real Christian.

· If you cheated on your first wife with a rich, pretty heiress, and then left your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you're a true Christian.

· If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, including the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society.

· If, while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with neither option in sex education in your state's school system while your unwed teen daughter ends up pregnant, you're very responsible.

· If your wife is a Harvard graduate lawyer who gave up a position in a prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family's values don't represent America's.

· If you're husband is nicknamed "First Dude", with at least one DWI conviction and no college education, who didn't register to vote until age 25 and once was a member of a group that advocated the secession of Alaska from the USA, your family is extremely admirable.

OK, much clearer now.

Hey You...

Yeah, you. The one reading my blog who still hasn't decided how to vote in November. Or, you -- the guy on the couch, who is going to vote for the third party candidate. This blog is for you, so pay attention.
DON'T VOTE FOR MCCAIN Period. End of Sentence.
First, don't vote for McCain if just to keep that Palin out of the West Wing. Can you imagine her with her backwards ideas visiting heads of state in other countries? Sure, she looks nice, but then she'd open her mouth and that would be it.
Second, take a good look around, are you really happy about the state of our country? The economy is in the toliet. Seriously, in the toliet. Not that you'd ever hear how bad it really is from anyone in the GOP. Those guys want you to really, truly believe that everything's okay. But, I did the math and I double checked my figures. My salary in 12 years has more than doubled and I'm still living paycheck to paycheck and just barely keeping my head above water.
Third, McCain has just chosen a great story to be his running mate. A mother of five? A hockey mom. Someone who rose from City Council to Mayor to Governor of the State. Damn, that is a great story, but she's isn't an honest Vice Presidential Candidate. She truly does not belong a heartbeat away from the Presidency.
Finally, we need to take back this nation from those who want to see our freedoms restricted and I never thought this would ever be the case, but it's the Republicans who are trying to restrict our freedoms. Can you say the Patriot Act, boys and girls? In the past sixteen years, the Republican Party has grown from the party of small government to the party of intolerant, uneducated masses. A vote for the McCain/Palin ticket will only strengthen the right wing Christians' hold and make it that much harder for real change to happen in this country. The party of God, guns and gays do not care if you can feed your children or if your small business survives in these hard economic times. They care that they can slam God down your child's throat -- whether you want them to or not. They care that anyone can purchase a weapon and can fill that weapon with armor piercing bullets (and the only thing an armor piercing bullet is for is killing a cop). They care that gays are punished for being born and have no rights whatsoever in this country.
A vote for McCain/Palin is a vote for the end of progress. And, if that happens, God help us all.

God Bless

Support Obama

I hadn't designed a shirt or mug in support of Obama because I wasn't going to get into the mess of designing campaign shirts, but this stuff with Palin has really gotten my panties in an uproar and I feel that I have to show my support for Obama. So, I've updated a couple of my earlier posts with links to the shirt and here's the new design. There will be more to follow.

Women are NOT interchangeable!

In 1920, women finally gained the right to vote (144 years after the nation was formed). In the last 88 years, you would think that men would've learned something about women -- anything. Yet, in a US News & World article I was reading this morning, a male writer (and I would tell you which one, but I left the magazine at home) wrote something to the effect that disillusioned women Hillary voters will now back McCain because of Palin.

I hate to burst his bubble, but Hillary supporters aren't going to vote for McCain because of Palin. That would be tantamount to slitting their own throats. Women who supported Hillary believe what Hillary believes -- they're pro-choice, against the war in Iraq and for public healthcare coverage. This is everything Palin isn't.

The battle between the two would be interesting.

The lawyer who stood by her philandering husband versus the sports reporter who is forcing her 17 year old daughter to marry to save face.

The Senator from the 3rd largest state versus the Governor from the 3rd smallest state (by population, not land area).

Except this race isn't about Hillary and it isn't about Sarah; it is about Barack Obama and John McCain and which MAN we think will lead our country into a bright future.

It's really too bad the election isn't between Hillary and Sarah. It would make for a more interesting race. And, since it isn't about the two of them, let me just shout this out to the men, WOMEN ARE NOT INTERCHANGEABLE!!!!!!

God Bless

Could we discuss the issues?

I've got to say, I'm really, really tired of Sarah Palin. I'm tired of seeing her picture on magazine covers. I'm tired of hearing about her pregnant daughter. I don't want to hear about her religious past, present or future. I want to know what McCain plans on doing if he's elected President. I want to know what Obama plans on doing if he's elected President.

That said, since we're on the topic, I think Obama has taken the high road in all of this -- not that anyone will give him any credit for it. I'm not exactly sure where Obama was when he made the remarks -- the article is vague, but someone said that Obama should make a statement that candidates' families and religion were off limits. Obama responded that he had all ready said families were off limits. He, also, said, "... don't give people some sort of religious litmus test because I don't want somebody to question my faith and I'm certainly not going to question somebody else's."¹

Too bad no one took this into consideration when people decided to question Obama's Christian faith.

On the other hand, why is it that the GOP doesn't want us questioning Palin's faith? Why shouldn't we ask questions about what it is exactly she believes? Why did she belong to a Pentecostal faith for twenty years and then in 2002, she suddenly switches to a non-denominational church? What happened in 2002 that made her change faiths and churches, but not completely cut the Pentecostal out of her life?

If Obama had to take the punches about his religion and his religious beliefs, why shouldn't Palin?

Palin said just a couple of months ago: "Pray for our military men and women who are striving do to what is right. Also for this country, that our leaders, our national leaders, are sending them out on a task that is from God. That's what we have to make sure that we're praying for -- that there is a plan, and that plan is God's plan."² She invokes God, so why shouldn't we ask her about her beliefs?

I guess we shouldn't ask her because Obama should have never been asked. Obama wants to take the high road. He wants us to leave Palin's family and religion alone, but no one will notice those remarks. Even the article from where I took the quote is leaning toward McCain: McCain camp angry over Obama's 'lipstick' comment. If you just read the first couple of paragraphs, you'd never know that Obama wants to leave Palin's family alone.

But, Obama takes the high road doesn't sell newspapers and it doesn't make you click on the article link.

Only 56 more days until this is all over.

God Bless

McCain's Health Plan

Right now I work for an employer that #1. Doesn't know how to get the best deal for their employees for healthcare and #2. would love it if they didn't have to provide health insurance for their 5,000 plus employees. I purchase the highest health plan and that means I pay more in premiums than some of my co-workers. I don't use the HSA, so I can have a better health plan and I do use the FSA. I don't have a lot of health issues. I do have asthma and thank goodness I haven't had to use my healthcare much because my healthcare plan sucks. Believe me, when I leave this job it will be for two reasons and one of them is the lousy insurance.

I've heard of jobs where the pay is a little lower, but the benefits packages (tuition reimbursement, healthcare, etc.) are excellent. These positions have made me stop and think about whether I would jump ship to gain better benefits, but not gain much more in money.

Let me say this: I don't want the government supplying me with healthcare -- I want my employer subsdizing it. Right now, one of the few tax breaks I get is the pre-tax healthcare benefit for which I pay $84.49 per month or $1013.88 per year. Remember, this is completely tax free.

McCain wants to take that little tax break away. According to CNN Money, the amount my employer pays "would become taxable income. But anyone who buys insurance would receive a refundable tax credit worth $2,500 per person ($5,000 per family). That's a dollar-for-dollar reduction of your tax bill, or, if you don't have a tax bill, a dollar-for-dollar increase in the amount of money Uncle Sam would send your way."

Except it isn't. Right now, my employer pays $276.82 per month or $3321.84 per year. Under McCain's plan, I'll be taxed on that amount. So, I won't get the out of pocket pre-tax break and now my income will look like it has gone up and I'll be paying even more in taxes. But, McCain gets to tell you that he's offering you a tax break. Let's take a look at that.

McCain wants to give a single person a tax credit (and by the way, there's a difference between a tax deduction and a tax credit. A tax credit reduces what you owe and a tax deduction reduces the amount on which you pay) a total of $2,500. So, if I purchase the insurance I have now, it will cost me $4335.72 -- because the tax break is only for those people who buy their own insurance. The government will be giving me $2500 back, bringing my grand total to $1835.72, which is not only $821.84 more than I pay out of pocket now, but it's all taxed, which adds to the amount that I give back to the government.

Let's just see how much more someone who makes $50,000 a year will pay our government and for health insurance.

I'm using last year's tax tables and I'm going to make the assumption that I'm still allowed to put tax free money into flexiben, which'll keep some figures the same. I'm, also, assuming that I can even purchase the insurance and maintain at least the same coverage for the same price as my employer, but we know that won't be true. Also, keep in mind, your salary goes up on your Federal form, it goes up on your state form. (And, yeah, I know, some states don't have income tax. Bully for you.)

Under the current system, taking off the $1,013.88 for current healthcare costs and $2,500 for Flexiben a single person's taxable income (with no deductions, but the standard) is $41,136.12. The tax amount is $6,705.00. That comes to 16.29% for Federal Tax. And, I've only paid $1,013.88 for healthcare.

Now, the new system:
$50,000.00 salary
$ 2,500.00 flexiben
$ 5,350.00 standard deduction
$42,150.00 taxable income

$6,955.00 taxable amount

My tax amount is now $250.00 higher under the new system. I'm now taxed at the higher amount of 16.50%. Oh, wait, I did forget to take the tax credit off.

Okay, now, I'm paying $4,455.00 in Federal income tax. That's a lowering of my taxes by just under 6%. Hey, that sounds pretty good, doesn't it?

Except my state income tax rate is 6.5%. Under the old system, I report $41,136.12 in income and I'm taxed: $2,673.84. Under the new system, I report $42,150.00 in income and I'm taxed: $2,739.75. A difference of $65.91. So, now, I've paid more in taxes -- not much more, but still more AND I've paid more for my insurance coverage: $821.84 more.

And, what did I get for it? $821.84 could pay for a new laptop or pay for a gifts for my grandsons. Maybe, I might give that money to charity.

But, who benefits?

My employer. They now get to save $3321.84 and if you think they'll pass that savings on to me in the form of a raise -- think again. It goes in their pocket. Multiply that by 5,000 employees and they've saved $16,609,200.00. It isn't going to be in the employees' pockets -- I can guarntee you that. Some companies might be willing to pass the savings along, but most won't and you know they won't.

You know who else benefits?

The insurance companies. They can then charge me more for insurance because I'm no longer a part of a group.

You know who won't benefit?

American workers. They'll have even less in their pockets than they do now. According to McCain, that'll be a good thing. But, then, the Republicans are acting like our country is chugging along just fine and we don't need to fix it. Life is good. And, if you think the economy is bad, you have a mental condition.

Someone recently called me a single issue voter, but I'm not. I have loads of reasons for no longer backing McCain. His ideas are not good for me. Ask yourself, are they going to be good for you?

God Bless

Stop Questioning Palin

Okay, I'm confused. Sarah Palin has been selected by John McCain to be his Vice President candidate. Until McCain picked her, 90% of this nation never heard of her. No one knew her name -- for the most part -- outside of Alaska. Yet, McCain's campaign engine has "declared heatedly it was time to stop questioning her background."¹

Are they kidding?

The woman is running for Vice President of the United States of America. I think she needs to answer some questions. Like, how is she going to do in energy meetings when her husband works for an oil company? According to "Tucker Eskew, a senior McCain advisor"² she is "someone with both hands on the steering wheet of America's energy economy."³ Probably because she sleeps with someone who works for an OIL COMPANY.

The campaign is trying to play the sex card because the media is just out to "destroy the first female Republican nominee."⁴ When Hillary tried to play the sex card, the media and the GOP just made fun of her, but I guess you can play it when the female is a Republican and it is okay. If she isn't tough enough to answer questions now before she's even officially nominated as Vice President, how the hell is she ever going to be tough enough to be Vice President?

And, by not asking her questions, by not looking into her background, is the GOP just wanting us to accept four more years of secrecy and lies? Are we as a nation supposed to just lie there and blindly agree with our government? Haven't we had enough of that?

And, another thing, I don't think people should have us ignore Palin's inexperience and then knock Obama's. That's being a hypocrite. And, if you're wondering, Yes, I'm talking directly to you, Fred Thompson. (But, if you're reading this, I loved you on Law & Order.)

God Bless

I've looked far and wide and all I see are hypocrites...

Sarah Palin's seventeen year old daughter is pregnant. Now I know that Obama states that Palin's family is off-limits, but I disagree. Palin supports abstinence education, hmmm, how's that working out for you, Sarah? The Palin's are going to compound the issue by having their 17 year old daughter marry the father of the baby. Well, that sounds like a match made in Heaven.

What really burns my butt on this is the wrong-wing Christians who are rallying behind Palin. Oh, this just shows she's human. This can happen to any family. Blah, blah, blah. This is BS because you and I both know if the shoe was on the other foot and it was a Democrat's child, they would be all over it like white on rice. This, also burns my butt because this is a clearcut example of how abstinence education DOESN'T work.

I'm sorry this seventeen year old girl is going through a pregnancy the whole world knows about. I can only imagine how thrilled she must be that her mother's running for VP, so this is no longer a private family matter. I wonder if she even loves the guy she now has to marry to help her mother save face?

And, on top of all this, I have to hear from my mom that: 1) Palin should resign, so she can take care of her family and 2) if she wasn't governor, her daughter wouldn't be pregnant out of wedlock. Like somehow working mothers are to blame when their children are pregnant out of wedlock and the fact that my mom was a stay at home mom is the only reason I didn't end up being a pregnant teenager. (Trust me, Mom, that had nothing to do with it.)

God Bless

Interesting Politics -- Possible Running Mates

I went to log into my Roadrunner account and there's a bunch of headlines at the bottom. One of them says, "Sen. Joe Lieberman to speak at GOP convention." Well, that's an interesting way to start the day. If you know your recent history, you know that Lieberman ran for VP in 2000. When he lost the Democratic primary in his home state of Connecticut, he ran as an Independent and won. Now, there's talk that he might be McCain's VP choice. Lieberman certainly would be an attention-grabbing choice. And, McCain could use a little more attention.

On the other side of the fence, yesterday, I received a public email from Michael Moore to Caroline Kennedy begging her to consider becoming Barack's running mate. I don't know a lot about Caroline Kennedy. I remember a picture from her wedding day where she was standing outside the church -- looking radiant and beautiful as all brides do -- and she's trying to get the crowd of well wishers to be quiet. She looked really poised for someone holding her finger to her lips.

I wasn't alive nor were my parents married or even knew each other when John F. Kennedy was President. I didn't watch Caroline grow up like so many of my friends did. She doesn't feel like an old friend. Now, her brother, John, that was different. He was everywhere when I was growing up. He was like the older brother I wish I had. When he died in that horrible tragedy, it was the only time in my life I said a prayer for a famous person -- an honest to goodness down on my knees, please God, let him be okay prayer. I could see an Obama/Kennedy ticket if John were still here.

But, Caroline? She's never -- that I've noticed -- shown any interest in politics . She's written books and I know she's heading up the selection committee to help find Obama's running mate. She might be a good choice. She's the only one left from Camelot. She's shown in very hard times that she's level headed. (I don't think I could've been that poised on my wedding day if I had a bunch of people disrupting my service.) And, Caroline doesn't come with a lot of the baggage a different running mate might have. Also, because she hasn't held a political office, she would represent a big change.

Maybe, Michael Moore is right and Caroline should become the next Vice President of the United States.

God Bless

Celebrity and Campaigning

I haven't seen many campaign ads this year. Come to think of it, I've only seen one campaign ad - McCain's Celebrity ad. Have you seen this ad? He compares Obama to Paris Hilton and Britney Spears, claiming that like Spears and Hilton, Obama has no substance.
Let the negative campaigning begin.
You know what ad I'd like to see? I'd like to see an ad where McCain blows smoke up my skirt to tell me how he's going to make my life better. I'd like to see the samething from Obama. I don't want to see negative ads.
But, as Bush proved in 2004, you don't win an election without negative ads. They resonate. Do you know there are still people in this country who believed the pack of lies sold by the Swift Boat attack ads on Kerry?
Couldn't we try something different? Couldn't we get a real understanding of our candidates?
Because based on this one ad, my understanding of McCain is that he has nothing to offer, so he's going on the attack.
God Bless

T-Shirt

I saw an advertisement for a t-shirt that says, "If Hillary is elected, I'm moving to Canada." What kind of jerk would wear a t-shirt like that? You're going to change countries because you don't like the President? If we all thought like that, 49% of us would be in Canada right now.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for showing your support or your non-support for a candidate or party, but leave the country? Isn't that going a bit too far? Plus, it just bugs me because the guy wearing it probably doesn't know anything about Hillary Clinton except the fact he doesn't like her. He probably can't even tell you why if you asked him.

So, I say, let's all vote for Hillary to get morons who wear shirts like that to leave the country!

:-) It might make the USA a better place to be!

Oh and one last thought, could we try something a little different this election year. Could we try to be civil to one another and make decisions on Candidates based on issues? United we stand, divided we fall and we have been divided for far too long.

Just a thought.

God Bless

The Upcoming Election Year...

Unless you've been living under a rock, you know that next year is a Presidential election year. It's all over the news.

I'd like to try something different this election. Let's not pick a front runner until all the facts are in. Let's not let the media pick the two people we should like.

Also, let's agree on some basic items with which our next President has to deal. Here is my top three list and I have more, but I'll save them for later.

1. The War in Iraq. Anyone who thinks we'll be out of Iraq by the end of 2008 is fooling themselves. We can't leave this country until it has a stable environment. That means more troops and more money spent. (and, yes, unfortunately, more lives lost). We've started something that we just can't leave. Not winning in Iraq means more terrorists, not less. This isn't like Vietnam. The Vietnamese weren't going to get on boats and planes and attack us. Terrorists trained in Iraq eventually will. Should we have started the war? No, but now that we have, we can't just take our football home and not play anymore because it's too hard to finish the game.
2. Health care. 45 million Americans do not have any form of health care. I'm not necessarily advocating a national health care plan, but let's find ways to reduce costs, while not reducing coverage. The company for whom I work is touting their new health care program for 2008. Smaller premiums, but they are encouraging each employee to put money into a tax free savings account -- that translates to less is going to be covered. We shouldn't have to lose coverage for lower premiums. Also, I'm tired of these rich companies complaining about health care, like it's some great sacrifice to cover their employees. These same companies pay their CEOs so much money that if they got themselves a cheaper CEO, they could put that money into health care for their employees. (You know, the ones doing the work.) We need to offer better tax breaks on the employers' portion of the premiums, maybe even credits (which is better than a deduction).
3. Dependence on Foreign Oil. Enough is enough. We need, since our car companies can't seem to do it on their own, to mandate higher MPG on our cars. If we have to subsidize some of this, take the money back from the oil companies to do it. We need more research into other alternative fuels -- including electric cars. GM (correct me if I'm wrong about the company) had one, but they concluded that it was too expensive to mass produce and there wouldn't be a large enough buying public. Are they kidding?!? I would've purchased the car. Also, let's do real tax credits for buying electric or hybrid cars. Not this only the first so many buyers need apply and that it had to be by a certain date. Further, let's encourage companies that provide company cars to purchase hybrids/electrics -- give them a tax credit for doing so.

There are many other items we can agree upon, but these are a fairly good start. Let's find the candidates that come up with the best solutions to these issues. Let's not care about political parties. And, above all, let's not let the extreme right wing Christians hijack our country for another four years.

God Bless