It's not only a historical day, but a birthday as well!

It is a day, like many before us, where someday, somebody will say "Where were you the day Obama took office?" I know where I was the morning of September 11th, I know where I was the minute news broke that the Challenger had exploded, I know where I was the moment I heard John Kennedy Jr's plane went down, I know where I was when a jury made the mistake of pronouncing OJ "not guilty", and I will always know where I was and what I was doing on January 20, 2009.

I am taking the rest of the day off from blogging to listen/watch the Inauguration events today. I will either have a TV at work, or be tuned in via the Internet all day long.

I'll be back tomorrow when President Obama begins his first full day in office!

Oh, and by the way...it's my BFF Elizabeth's birthday today. She doesn't have a blog of her own for me to send you to for birthday comments, but she does manage to read my blog so feel free to leave them for her on mine. Just to let you know more about her, you can read about her HERE and HERE TOO.

How special is she that she gets a new President for her birthday?????? She *always* gets the good men. LOL Happy birthday, babe! Love you!

This is why I am not a fan...

...of organized religion. I shall keep my comments about how I feel certain religions are akin to cults, to myself...

S.C. priest: No communion for Obama supporters
Friday, November 14, 2008 12:27 PM


COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- A South Carolina Roman Catholic priest has told his parishioners that they should refrain from receiving Holy Communion if they voted for Barack Obama because the Democratic president-elect supports abortion, and supporting him "constitutes material cooperation with intrinsic evil."

The Rev. Jay Scott Newman said in a letter distributed Sunday to parishioners at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Greenville that they are putting their souls at risk if they take Holy Communion before doing penance for their vote.

"Our nation has chosen for its chief executive the most radical pro-abortion politician ever to serve in the United States Senate or to run for president," Newman wrote, referring to Obama by his full name, including his middle name of Hussein.

"Voting for a pro-abortion politician when a plausible pro-life alternative exists constitutes material cooperation with intrinsic evil, and those Catholics who do so place themselves outside of the full communion of Christ's Church and under the judgment of divine law. Persons in this condition should not receive Holy Communion until and unless they are reconciled to God in the Sacrament of Penance, lest they eat and drink their own condemnation."

During the 2008 presidential campaign, many bishops spoke out on abortion more boldly than four years earlier, telling Catholic politicians and voters that the issue should be the most important consideration in setting policy and deciding which candidate to back. A few church leaders said parishioners risked their immortal soul by voting for candidates who support abortion rights.

But bishops differ on whether Catholic lawmakers - and voters - should refrain from receiving Communion if they diverge from church teaching on abortion. Each bishop sets policy in his own diocese. In their annual fall meeting, the nation's Catholic bishops vowed Tuesday to forcefully confront the Obama administration over its support for abortion rights.

According to national exit polls, 54 percent of Catholics chose Obama, who is Protestant. In South Carolina, which McCain carried, voters in Greenville County - traditionally seen as among the state's most conservative areas - went 61 percent for the Republican, and 37 percent for Obama.

"It was not an attempt to make a partisan point," Newman said in a telephone interview Thursday. "In fact, in this election, for the sake of argument, if the Republican candidate had been pro-abortion, and the Democratic candidate had been pro-life, everything that I wrote would have been exactly the same."

Conservative Catholics criticized Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry in 2004 for supporting abortion rights, with a few Catholic bishops saying Kerry should refrain from receiving Holy Communion because his views were contrary to church teachings.

Sister Mary Ann Walsh, spokeswoman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said she had not heard of other churches taking this position in reaction to Obama's win. A Boston-based group that supports Catholic Democrats questioned the move, saying it was too extreme.

"Father Newman is off base," said Steve Krueger, national director of Catholic Democrats. "He is acting beyond the authority of a parish priest to say what he did. ... Unfortunately, he is doing so in a manner that will be of great cost to those parishioners who did vote for Sens. Obama and Biden. There will be a spiritual cost to them for his words."

A man who has attended St. Mary's for 18 years said he welcomed Newman's message and anticipated it would inspire further discussion at the church.

"I don't understand anyone who would call themselves a Christian, let alone a Catholic, and could vote for someone who's a pro-abortion candidate," said Ted Kelly, 64, who volunteers his time as lector for the church. "You're talking about the murder of innocent beings."

Ridiculous. That's all I am going to say, anything else will get me in trouble.

Now this sickens me.

Arkansas voters approved a measure banning unmarried couples from serving as adoptive or foster parents. Supporters made clear that gays and lesbians were their main target.

Wow. So in order to discriminate against gay and lesbian people, they'll just make sure that nobody can adopt or foster children who need parents. Let's make innocent children suffer rather than allow loving, caring people (regardless of sexual orientation) to raise them.

And voters actually approved this. You've got to be kidding me.

We have far bigger things to fear in this country than who our new President is, clearly.

The morning after.

:::yawn::::

Good morning, blog readers.

I'm half asleep, thanks to staying up til 1am doing the whole election thing! Congratulations to President-elect Obama. As a country we've put our faith in you...now keep your end of the bargain, do what you said you would, and don't let us down.

I admit, I'm such a sap that I cried through 90% of his speech last night. I thought it was very moving, and it made me proud of our country.

I still feel that Palin killed McCain's chance of winning. He was running on the fact that Obama was unprepared to take on the highest office in the land, and then he chose a running mate who was even less experienced. I personally believe he sealed his fate with that one. Had he chosen another woman, such as Kay Bailey Hutchison, (assuming he really wanted to get the women who would have voted for Hilary on his side) he very well could have won last night.

And I'd be nauseated as hell today if he had. LOL

So how do you feel about the outcome of the election? I know all my readers are not Obama supporters, so please do not feel as though you can't express your opinion in comments. All parties are welcome here!!!

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Hahahaha...I think you guys with all your comments trying to be the Top Commenter, broke my widget yesterday!!! I see it's not working today!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Get out and ROCK THE VOTE, baby.

What are you doing reading my blog if you have not voted yet today??? Come back when you have!



I've made no secret about who got my vote this morning but whatever party line you vote, whoever you think is our best candidate..just go make your voice heard, and make your vote count.

In other news...

Vinnie semi-proposed yesterday and I half heartedly accepted...so if we are both still single this time next year, we have a BIG announcement to make!!!! Right, honey? LOL

Meanwhile, he's totally still in love with someone else and I'm consistently on the lookout for a great guy, so don't let our pre-engagement throw anyone. If there are any single men reading this who are interested...I can totally break up with him to date you!!!!!!!!!!!!

I crack myself up.

The Wizard of Odds

Wow...that speaks volumes!

With T-minus 8 days and counting until the election, things are not looking good for the Republicans.

One of Alaska's largest papers (read that again, folks...ALASKA'S) - the Anchorage Daily News - has just announced its endorsement of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

Ouch.

They called their own Governor, Sarah Palin, "too risky" to be one very close step to President of the United States. And that even though the state may have been "captivated" by her nomination, they should not let her "overwhelm their judgment."

She is indeed seductive to some! But the paper said voters need to keep their eyes on the prize.

In other words, McCain is the "wrong choice."

Ummmm hmmmm.

And to take us out of this bulletin, please enjoy the song stylings of Ashford & Simpson...

"That's why we're solid...solid as Barack" LOL God bless Saturday Night Live!

Oh crap, these accidently got posted to my blog. If you are a Republican you might not want to look....

But this is funny as hell:



And this just speaks for itself:

This made me laugh today.

A little boy goes to his dad and asks, 'What is Politics?'

Dad says, 'Well son, let me try to explain it this way. I am the head of the family, so call me The President. Your mother is the administrator of the money, so we call her the Government. We are here to take care of your needs, so we will call you the People. The nanny, we will consider her the Working Class. And your baby brother, we will call him the Future. Now think about that and see if it makes sense.'

So the little boy goes off to bed thinking about what Dad has said. Later that night, he hears his baby brother crying, so he gets up to check on him. He finds that the baby has severely soiled his diaper. So the little boy goes to his parents' room and finds his mother asleep. Not wanting to wake her, he goes to the nanny's room. Finding the door locked, he peeks in the keyhole and sees his father in bed with the nanny. He gives up and goes back to bed.

The next morning, the little boy says to his father, 'Dad, I think I understand the concept of politics now.' The father says, 'Good, son, tell me in your own words what you think politics is all about.'

The little boy replies, 'The President is screwing the Working Class while the Government is sound asleep. The People are being ignored and the Future is in deep shit.'

Yep. I'd say that just about covers it. LOL

Why Women Should Vote

This is an email I just received, and I felt that it needed to be turned into a blog post.

This is the story of our Grandmothers and Great-grandmothers; they lived only 90 years ago.

Remember, it was not until 1920 that women were granted the right to go to the polls and vote.

The women were innocent and defenseless, but they were jailed nonetheless for picketing the White House, carrying signs asking for the vote.

And by the end of the night, they were barely alive.

Forty prison guards wielding clubs and their warden's blessing went on a rampage against the 33 women wrongly convicted of 'obstructing sidewalk traffic.' They beat Lucy Burns, chained her hands to the cell bars above her head and left her hanging for the night, bleeding and gasping for air.

They hurled Dora Lewis into a dark cell, smashed her head against an iron bed and knocked her out cold. Her cellmate, Alice Cosu, thought Lewis was dead and suffered a heart attack. Additional affidavits describe the guards grabbing, dragging, beating, choking, slamming, pinching, twisting and kicking the women.

Thus unfolded the 'Night of Terror' on Nov. 15, 1917, when the warden at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia ordered his guards to teach a lesson to the suffragists imprisoned there because they dared to picket Woodrow Wilson's White House for the right to vote.

For weeks, the women's only water came from an open pail. Their food--all of it colorless slop--was infested with worms.

When one of the leaders, Alice Paul, embarked on a hunger strike, they tied her to a chair, forced a tube down her throat and poured liquid into her until she vomited. She was tortured like this for weeks until word was smuggled out to the press.

So, refresh my memory. Some women won't vote this year because- -why, exactly? We have carpool duties? We have to get to work? Our vote doesn't matter? It's raining?

Last week, I went to a sparsely attended screening of HBO's new movie 'Iron Jawed Angels.' It is a graphic depiction of the battle these women waged so that I could pull the curtain at the polling booth and have my say. I am a shamed to say I needed the reminder.

All these years later, voter registration is still my passion. But the actual act of voting had become less personal for me, more rote. Frankly, voting often felt more like an obligation than a privilege. Sometimes it was inconvenient.

My friend Wendy, who is my age and studied women's history, saw the HBO movie, too. When she stopped by my desk to talk about it, she looked angry. She was--with herself. 'One thought kept coming back to me as I watched that movie,' she said. 'What would those women think of the way I use, or don't use, my right to vote? All of us take it for granted now, not just younger women, but those of us who did seek to learn.' The right to vote, she said, had become valuable to her 'all over again.'

HBO released the movie on video and DVD. I wish all history, social studies and government teachers would include the movie in their curriculum I want it shown on Bunco night, too, and anywhere else women gather. I realize this isn't our usual idea of socializing, but we are not voting in the numbers that we should be, and I think a little shock therapy is in order.

It is jarring to watch Woodrow Wilson and his cronies try to persuade a psychiatrist to declare Alice Paul insane so that she could be permanently institutionalized. And it is inspiring to watch the doctor refuse. Alice Paul was strong, he said, and brave. That didn't make her crazy.

The doctor admonished the men: 'Courage in women is often mistaken for insanity.'

Please, if you are so inclined, pass this on to all the women you know.

We need to get out and vote and use this right that was fought so hard for by these very courageous women. Whether you vote democratic, republican or independent party -remember to vote.

History is being made.

To my readers...our country needs each and every one of YOUR votes. Please, register now if you aren't already registered, and please make sure you get out to the polls this year....it's probably onen of the most important elections of our lifetimes.

Well...I tried.

I gave it a shot.

Just so my confused and mislead Republican friends can't say that I'm too liberal...

I turned on the TV and attempted to listen to McCain's speech.

After five felt like days minutes, I found my eyes glazing over, and my mind drifting to really interesting things, like the idea that there actually is such a thing as belly button lint.

My gosh, that man has the personality of a loaf of bread, doesn't he? I have never heard a speech given in such a monotone! The only time I saw him get excited was when he realized he was at the end of it! "Woohooo, I'm almost done boring myself!!!"

And is it just me, or does his wife look like she's 2 martinis and an Oxy away from rehab?

Yeah, I gotta post this.

I just have to.

Looks like the lipstick wearing pit bull proved herself to be just like the typical politico types she slammed!

She's a liar and exaggerator!

The Associated Press closely watched Governor Sarah Palin, the GOP's VP pick, at last night's RNC convention and has outlined the many ways she exaggerated and lied.

Right or Left, a lie is a lie. It doesn't matter where on the political spectrum you are, right?

These are not 'personal' digs, mind you.

She's lying on the 'professional' stage, y'all.

Check out Pinocchio Palin's claims and the truth:

PALIN: "I have protected the taxpayers by vetoing wasteful spending … and championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress. I told the Congress 'thanks but no thanks' for that Bridge to Nowhere."

THE FACTS: As mayor of Wasilla, Palin hired a lobbyist and traveled to Washington annually to support earmarks for the town totaling $27 million. In her two years as governor, Alaska has requested nearly $750 million in special federal spending, by far the largest per-capita request in the nation. While Palin notes she rejected plans to build a $398 million bridge from Ketchikan to an island with 50 residents and an airport, that opposition came only after the plan was ridiculed nationally as a "bridge to nowhere."

PALIN: "There is much to like and admire about our opponent. But listening to him speak, it's easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform — not even in the state senate."

THE FACTS: Compared to McCain and his two decades in the Senate, Obama does have a more meager record. But he has worked with Republicans to pass legislation that expanded efforts to intercept illegal shipments of weapons of mass destruction and to help destroy conventional weapons stockpiles. The legislation became law last year. To demean that accomplishment would be to also demean the work of Republican Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, a respected foreign policy voice in the Senate. In Illinois, he was the leader on two big, contentious measures in Illinois: studying racial profiling by police and requiring recordings of interrogations in potential death penalty cases. He also successfully co-sponsored major ethics reform legislation.

PALIN: "The Democratic nominee for president supports plans to raise income taxes, raise payroll taxes, raise investment income taxes, raise the death tax, raise business taxes, and increase the tax burden on the American people by hundreds of billions of dollars."

THE FACTS: The Tax Policy Center, a think tank run jointly by the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute, concluded that Obama's plan would increase after-tax income for middle-income taxpayers by about 5 percent by 2012, or nearly $2,200 annually. McCain's plan, which cuts taxes across all income levels, would raise after tax-income for middle-income taxpayers by 3 percent, the center concluded.

Obama would provide $80 billion in tax breaks, mainly for poor workers and the elderly, including tripling the Earned Income Tax Credit for minimum-wage workers and higher credits for larger families.

He also would raise income taxes, capital gains and dividend taxes on the wealthiest. He would raise payroll taxes on taxpayers with incomes above $250,000, and he would raise corporate taxes. Small businesses that make more than $250,000 a year would see taxes rise.

The AP report also showed how Palin's champions have exaggerated the Alaskan governor's 'acheivements':

MCCAIN: "She's been governor of our largest state, in charge of 20 percent of America's energy supply … She's responsible for 20 percent of the nation's energy supply. I'm entertained by the comparison and I hope we can keep making that comparison that running a political campaign is somehow comparable to being the executive of the largest state in America," he said in an interview with ABC News' Charles Gibson.

THE FACTS: McCain's phrasing exaggerates both claims. Palin is governor of a state that ranks second nationally in crude oil production, but she's no more "responsible" for that resource than President Bush was when he was governor of Texas, another oil-producing state. In fact, her primary power is the ability to tax oil, which she did in concert with the Alaska Legislature. And where Alaska is the largest state in America, McCain could as easily have called it the 47th largest state — by population.

MCCAIN: "She's the commander of the Alaska National Guard. … She has been in charge, and she has had national security as one of her primary responsibilities," he said on ABC.

THE FACTS: While governors are in charge of their state guard units, that authority ends whenever those units are called to actual military service. When guard units are deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, for example, they assume those duties under "federal status," which means they report to the Defense Department, not their governors. Alaska's national guard units have a total of about 4,200 personnel, among the smallest of state guard organizations.

FORMER ARKANSAS GOV. MIKE HUCKABEE: Palin "got more votes running for mayor of Wasilla, Alaska than Joe Biden got running for president of the United States."

THE FACTS: A whopper. Palin got 616 votes in the 1996 mayor's election, and got 909 in her 1999 re-election race, for a total of 1,525. Biden dropped out of the race after the Iowa caucuses, but he still got 76,165 votes in 23 states and the District of Columbia where he was on the ballot during the 2008 presidential primaries.

FORMER MASSACHUSETTS GOV. MITT ROMNEY: "We need change, all right — change from a liberal Washington to a conservative Washington! We have a prescription for every American who wants change in Washington — throw out the big-government liberals, and elect John McCain and Sarah Palin."

THE FACTS: A Back-to-the-Future moment. George W. Bush, a conservative Republican, has been president for nearly eight years. And until last year, Republicans controlled Congress. Only since January 2007 have Democrats have been in charge of the House and Senate.

We say if the 'means' are shady then it must mean the 'end' is shady.

No more shade!

Wow, check out the email I got last night

This is a direct quote....and the funny thing is that I have no idea who sent this. They emailed me through my blog.

I have been reading your blog for awhile now, and most of the time I find you to be funny and entertaining. However, your post about John McCain and his "mistress" was completely uncalled for.

You are not a political analyst, or a politician yourself, and you have no business turning your blog into a personal platform to bash Republicans, or to make up lies about Senator McCain having affairs. Shame on you. His personal life has no reflection on his ability to lead our nation.

If you want to be an Obama supporter, do it quietly. The rest of the world could care less about your opinion.

Well...let me just respond in a very public manner.

Dear Reader: (I considered putting the actual email address here, but I wasn't sure if I could get in trouble for that or not!)

Thank you for reading, it makes me happy to know that people find me entertaining and fun. I enjoy writing it, and while I obviously do not know everyone who reads my blog, I am glad that so many do.

The key words in that previous sentence are...MY BLOG. And being my blog, I can write anything I damn well please in it. You, as my reader, have the choice to walk on by. If you see a post with a title that offends you, it is my suggestion that you simply do not read it.

Everyone who knows me in real life, knows that I am quite opinionated and I have no desire to hide it. Everyone has their personal feelings about the upcoming election, and I have chosen to share mine with my readers. You do not have to agree, you do not have to read it. But make no mistake, it is my 1st Amendment right to say it.

And I will.

So I will happily turn my blog into whatever political platform I choose. Deal with it.

And as for Senator McCain, it is well documented that he cheated on his first wife (who was paralyzed fron an accident at the time, no less) with current wife Cindy, and that he has had two affairs with staffers since he's been married to her. I'm not making this stuff up just to show him in a poor light. He has done just fine without my help in that regard. And based on his track record of having relationships with staff members, who's to say that he doesn't have his wandering eye on Mrs. Palin?

I have said before, and I will say again, if a man cannot be trusted to uphold his commitment and promises to one person, how on earth can he be trusted to do so to an entire nation???? So yes, dear Reader, his personal life DOES have bearing on his ability to lead our nation, in my opinion.

So...here's what I can tell you for sure today. As we get closer to this election, my blog will have political viewpoints on it. I welcome comments from everyone who reads it...good or bad...and I will gladly publish viewpoints other than my own. (Such as my friend Penny, who is probably reading these entries about McCain/Palin and screaming at her computer "Julie!!! Have I taught you nothing in 25 years of friendship???", because she supports the Republican platform and I clearly don't).

As for the rest of the world not caring about my opinion...clearly YOU do, or you would not have emailed me in the first place.

Sincerely,

Julie

Sarah "Palin Comparison To Hillary"

The more I thought about this last night, the more scared I got. I'm scared for the women of this country, and pray that they will follow their heads, and not vote for McCain/Palin JUST because one of the candidates has ovaries.

Especially when I read this morning that Mrs. Palin had a child in April who has Down's Syndrome and she's being hailed as brilliant and hardcore for not aborting when she knew the baby would be born with health issues.

Good God, I would not abort my child for that reason either, but that does not qualify me to be the leader of the free world!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

She is so completely unqualified to be President....what on earth was John McCain thinking? His choice to choose someone who is so unprepared is shockingly irresponsible. To me, it calls into question his judgement, and makes his age and health even more central issues in this election!

I read a quote today that summed it up beautifully:

For months, the McCainiacs have said they will run on his judgment and experience. In his first presidential decision, John McCain has shown that he is willing to endanger his country, potentially leaving it in the hands of someone who simply has no business being a heartbeat away from the most powerful, complicated, difficult job in human history.

So I'm addressing my blog post today to all the women who read it, and I implore you to vote with your HEAD, not your uterus.

I want to see a woman President in my lifetime just like you do....but this is not the way to go about it. Sarah Palin is not Hillary Clinton. Not even close. Please, please do not confuse the two.

So McCain picked himself a new mistress... running mate

Ooops, did I say that outloud? Damn this "Infidelity Tourette's" problem I have now!!

I will give him credit....his advisors are leading him in the right direction.

Why not try to pick up the Hillary supporters who wanted a woman president, by getting a female VP and hoping to swing those votes his way? Because she will be a heartbeat away from the Presidency if he happened to get elected...and let's face it, dude isn't getting any younger!

If I was even remotely on the fence about who I would vote for, (and let's be honest, I was democratically feeling 80/20 but I was trying to keep an open mind) my decision has just been made for me. I was almost certain I could not bear another Republican in the White House and at least four more years of Bushstyle politics...now I have no doubt which way I'm leaning.

Funny, all Mr. McCain can do is harp on Mr. Obama's inexperience. Yet he selects a running mate with less than 2 years experience as a Governor, and previous experience as Mayor of a town of 9,000 people. Oh, and she's "just your average soccer mom from Alaska".

With all due respect to Mrs. Palin, as much as I'd love to see a woman President in my life time, she is not who I consider to be a good choice to lead this country. And being a heartbeat away from the Presidency, there's a damn good chance she could at some point. Frankly, I am not willing to take that chance.

Are you?