The first Presidential Debate in Mississippi happened as planned, in spite of all the plot twists over the past 24-48 hours.

Obama, true to form, was well versed, so some of that time he spent practicing his lines in Florida over the past few days before going to Washington payed off, and there’s no denying he is very eloquent.  We all want a President that cares about us, and he knows everyone is worried about money, and he played to that very well just as he always does.

When I listened to McCain, I felt like a Mom who was watching her son up on stage (even though I’m much younger) and rooting for him because he is my favorite, but cringing at times because I wanted him to be able to PERFORM as nicely as Obama did.

That’s just never going to happen, McCain is a straight shooter, but he’s not a great performer…and I don’t care about that EXCEPT for the fact that appearances are so important to people who don’t want to look past the facade.  I thought McCain repeated himself a lot, and thought both candidates, instead of bringing something fresh and new, often reverted back to the speeches that they give during their Campaign stops, lines I’ve heard repeatedly as I’ve followed closely during the past many…too many…weeks.

So round #1, as far as performance, goes to Obama, but I know deep inside that I want experience, and someone who has has had the courage to stand up against even his own party when he doesn’t agree…so at present, my November vote still goes to McCain.

Now we look forward to the VP Debate next week on October 2nd…where did September go anyway? Have a great weekend!

Here’s the debate:

Guess it’s a “statement of the obvious” to say it’s been quite a week.  The twists and turns in politics and the economy have been interesting, if not challenging to keep up with.

As usual, when it comes to anything related to money and the economy I’m confused…I’m just happy that somehow we manage to pay our bills each month, and tithe plus at church and to help those in need.  We have a bit of credit card debt that I keep moving from one 0%  card to another, and had my little pile of offers in a file as it was time to do that again (we get one or two almost every day) and thought, oh no, there’s no way now that we’ll be able to open a new card account with all that’s going on.  But I went through the pile anyway, found the best offer (0% until January, 2010, no transfer fees, no any kind of fees, etc.) and called, and within minutes, was all set up…one thing we do have is a great credit rating and a good bit of equity in our home, so we’re a good risk.

I’m babbling, I know, just sitting here waiting for the debate to start in 25 minutes, then maybe I’ll have something worth saying.

Earlier today, I listened to Joe Biden give what he stated was an important foreign policies speech while I put away our groceries.  It was quite a good speech and set my republican-leaning mind thinking about a few things.  He did the expected bit of bashing of the Bush administration, but he also shared quite a few things that the he and Obama would like to accomplish if they are elected.  I think I take back what I wrote two posts ago.

I was in a bit of a discussion with my sister,  as we try to sort out specific issues, and frankly can say that after I hear a speaker, it’s hard to remember each issue and address it.  I suggested that it’s times like this when commentators are helpful, even if I don’t like all of them.  At least by listening to them, whether liberal or conservative, I come away with a clearer idea of what the issues are, whether the speaker was correct in what they shared or stretching a point, so I do rely a lot on what those in the media say, on both sides of the aisle to help me sort through the confusion.

As for Obama, he’s spending some concentrated time preparing for the debate on Friday, can’t wait to see that, and while Biden is giving speeches on foreign policy, McCain and Palin are meeting with World Leaders at the UN, something they have been doing this week.

With fairly good candidates in both parties, it’s no wonder that the polls are almost a 50-50 split, not including approx. 18% of voters who remain undecided.

I just heard a heart-warming story today on TV about a woman, Martha Roskam, who has spent the past 7 years returning Dog Tags to the families of the Viet Nam Veterans they belong to…whether it be the original owner of the tag, or surviving family members. I had never heard about this before, though it appears from their website that it has been in the news…she has a son who is an Illinois Congressman, former State Senator, who was able to help get the effort started. Just another one of those relatively quiet things that people do that make a difference.

Mrs. Roskam was in Viet Nam on a business trip with her husband, and like any woman, decided to do some shopping. She passed someone selling things on a street in Ho Chi Min City in a flea market setting. She came upon a wicker basket full of coins, and on top of the coins she found 37 dog tags strung on a plastic string, she was deeply moved as she looked through them, knowing what they meant, but wasn’t certain what to do, so left them. She went home and told her husband about the dog tags, and he insisted that she return and pick them up the next day, which she did for 54 cents each.

She returned the last one to it’s owner last week, a 7 year mission that started in August of 2001.  Some dog tags were returned to families that had lost their sons, many to the original owner.

For more on this effort and story, please visit roskamdogtag.com. I can only imagine how many hugs you have enjoyed, Mr. & Mrs. Roskam, and may I add my virtual (((hug))) and thanks for what you’ve done to bring smiles to faces of those who gave, and saw so much during a very difficult time in our history, heroes that didn’t necessarily receive a heroes welcome when they returned home.

Today someone who means a lot to me wrote and asked me some questions about who I’m voting for and why, with some specific questions about some of the current issues, and how my Christian views play into my decision.  I wrote a long reply, sharing some of my thoughts.  They are a bit random at times, and  I’m not saying all of them are right. Since I spent so much time on that, I thought I’d share some of it with you below, enjoy getting into my head a bit…now that’s a frightening thought:-)

It’s funny you are writing this, I was just thinking about these things. Hubby is more in tune with some of the specifics that you ask about, and when he is of the frame of mind will answer them I am sure. I hope you can follow this, as I re-read it, it goes on some tangents :-)

For a time, both of us were not feeling terribly excited about the election this year as each candidate isn’t quite what we’d (I’d) want. I’m concerned about the needy, and where the line should be drawn between personal responsibility and helping those in need. I see many Christians volunteering to do wonderful things, and think there should be more of that.

I always want to be a Nation that welcomes people to come to our country LEGALLY to enjoy it’s freedoms, and have always loved the fact that we have been a nation that embraced what is on the Statue of Liberty (*I copied and pasted below), yet it’s hard to know the enemy any more in this strange war we find ourselves in that has been brewing for a long, LONG time while we were complacent.

As for abortion, it is an extremely important issue, and so are all the other things. It’s just that there are plenty of voices on both sides for the other things, economy, etc., but only Judeo-Christians will stand up for babies forming in their mother’s wombs that are not yet born, so that may be why they are a voice for that one issue that wouldn’t be heard otherwise.

I was just today thinking about whether having a Christian -v- non as President mattered, and why it is such a big issue, I don’t remember it mattering that much when our parents were voting, except for the talk about Kennedy being a Catholic when he was elected, but I was too young to really understand why that was an issue.

At first, I just put the “Christian” part out of my decision, and listened to as many speeches by the candidates as I could. I came away believing McCain was the tough, yet in some ways gentle, type of person we need in office at this time in history because we are a Nation at war whether we like it or want to acknowledge it or not, and he will not duck and run, but face it head on. He has been refined by time and experience in a way Obama has not. We CAN’T take our guys out of Iraq sooner than is wise, and we need a President who will admit who the enemy is and face the enemy head on.

I want us to continue to be the Nation that helps other Nations by giving our lives for them, that is what we are doing, just like we did in past wars, as agonizing as that is……

It wasn’t until the confusing years of the 1960’s and the Viet Nam war, a war with a Draft, that we changed…at least in my lifetime…when we did leave before the job was finished and had soldiers who had given their all, and are were forever marked by it, come back to anti-war protests instead of an appreciative America. I have long believed it is the grown up anti-war hippies that are making up many of the philosophies of the democratic party…at the same time that doesn’t mean there weren’t any lessons to be learned, I’m talking about the extremes.

Yes, we wish we could go back to the days gone by when everything SEEMED fine, the days when Clinton was screwing around in the White house, or the days when Reagan was President and we saw the end of the Soviet Union (at least for a while), but that’s not where we are, and just voting for the guy on the other side of where we are now isn’t going to change that. The “present administration”, a term used often, is at a stand-still because of politics…the Democrats are the majority in the congress/house and holding up almost anything our Republican president wants to do, while they constantly speak against him.

Anyway, I digress, I came to terms with McCain as President…Obama simply does not have the experience, and there are to many things he says that I simply don’t agree with, and I am concerned about the brain-washing he received while in the church he attended.

Sarah Palin was a nice addition to the ticket, I like her, she is REAL, someone you feel like you could comfortably sit down and talk to, and she is a Christian, yes, yes, that is important to me. I’d be a fool if it wasn’t.

When I think of Bush, who liberals and some media have been brain-washing us to hate for about 8 or more years, I think of Moses….just because Moses lead the people, and was before God all the time on their behalf, it didn’t always guarantee “change” because people are stupid, we all want our own way, especially when the going is tough like it was wandering in the wilderness. God had to intervene many times with his judgment, and I wonder if we are seeing some of that today.

I have rambled…. Bottom line, at least for today, I’m voting McCain/Palin, I think that they are the people for the time that we are in even if I don’t agree with every single thing they say.

God bless, and God bless America,

[Me]

PS - I thought I heard not that long ago that the ozone layer was doing better, and the “hole” in it was smaller now? I don’t trust all scientists. Did you see the movie “Expelled” with Ben Stein yet?

——————–

*The New Colossus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

I was listening to Sarah Palin on TV today during McCain and Palin’s visit to Ohio..oops, I mean Iowa.  In it she shared that John McCain had been talking with her about some of the responsibilities that she would have as Vice President.  I’m sure there will be more things revealed over time, but here is what she shared today (nice to hear some specifics, by the way!)

• Help lead the mission of energy security.  She shared how the cost of energy is affecting many aspects of our economy from the price of food, living (up)  and paycheck (down).   Her experience in Alaska will help in the area of providing energy within our borders.  It is now a matter of National Security, we need American resources provided by American ingenuity and produced by American workers!
• Reforming Government - making government more transparent, more accountable, more acceptable for those who want to  serve.  Will recruit the best people to run agencies, regardless of party affiliation or Washington experience. As Alaska’s governor she put Alaska’s checkbook online so people could see where money was going, will bring that kind of transparency to Washington.
• Funding for students with Special Needs - she shares that this is an issue that touches her heart, starting 13 years ago with the birth of a nephew with autism, and then of course the birth of her own precious special needs child in April, their son, Trig.  (Personally, as a sister to a special needs brother who is now in his 40’s, I am especially attuned to this need, after spending several years researching what was out there, and learning what was needed to make sure that my dear brother was placed in the best group home setting available where we live…and he was this past June.)  She is going to make sure that government is working on behalf of special needs families.

These are just a few things she shared, I look forward to more of this, actual things that are going to be done, from all of the candidates.

No? Not yet?  Well there must be something wrong with you then, keep listening to the news, you’ll get there eventually.   I get tired of hearing the fear put forth in the news day after day, yes, I’m concerned, but it isn’t going to solve a single thing to live in panic mode.

Please don’t think we’re untouched by the challenges to our economy, my husband had to leave a company that he worked for for 30 years because of cutbacks after the 9/11 tragedy.  He then went on to another company that realized that it didn’t need the skills he had after all, then moved on to another job that needed him only for a time…something he didn’t realize fully when he first started.  So what does that mean?  He’s getting ready for yet another job search.

He searches for jobs using the paper, and online using some of the popular job search sites, but I’m going to be telling him about another up-and-coming classified site called Fresho.com that has a lot of job ads, like tax accounting jobs, in fact just about any type of job you might be looking for. I just visited, and clicked on my State, New Jersey, on the map on the home page. They give a nice review about the State, it’s major cities and business trends, and then a list of all jobs available, and there were a lot. You can drill it down to specific jobs and areas by refining your search. You can post resumes, and more…in fact I see it was launched in January of this year, and it’s amazing how far they’ve come. By the way, the service is free, whether your posting a job or looking for one, only a small fee if you want your listing to receive special attention.

So tomorrow, I’ll be telling hubby about this site, he was pretty down tonight when he came home from work, but not afraid, we know things will work out in good time…so will the economy, we may have a bumpy road ahead, but we’ve experienced worse in the past, and always learn from our mistakes.

Be sure to listen VERY closely to the candidates and their running mates as they speak to the issue of the economy.