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?

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*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!”

Stem Cell Research has become a scientific method that is challenged by those who promote a pro-life agenda because most associate it with the use of embryos, a human life at it’s earliest stage in development. With the election of our next President just around the corner, the candidates have already expressed their their pro-life positions.

It excited me to find that there are a number of studies going on in the area of Stem Cell Research that provide an alternative to using embryos, please read on, this is interesting, at least to me, and I’m delighted to have stumbled upon this opportunity.

One of the alternatives being researched is the use of menstrual blood as reported in an article at CNNmoney.com. Woman don’t realize that they, their children, or their siblings, may benefit from their own blood, turning what most of us woman look at as a drudgery into a blessing. Amazing!

This research is done by C’elle, and through them, you can receive a kit so that you can, from the privacy of your own home, collect what is needed so that your stem cells can be preserved in case they are needed in the future for your own health or the health of the ones you love. It’s simple, painless, and anyone can do this without having to drive to a medical facility, and no matter how busy your schedule is.

This may sound beyond belief to you, if so, I encourage you to read the article at CNN Money through the link posted earlier, and to read this C’elle Client Testimonial. I am amazed, and wish I was still young enough to have something to offer.

LoudLaunch - Compensating bloggers for their unbiased opinions, reviews, and analysis. View the LoudLaunch campaign release this post was based on.

Yes, I know the Pennsylvania primary is upon us, and so do you, and if you are anything like me, you’re on PA Primary overload, so here’s another “Where I Stand” for you, and we’ll talk about the primary when the primary gets here.About 20 years ago when my children were very young, I volunteered for a group that helped people who had unplanned pregnancies. A free pregnancy test was offered, and counseling. Often when the young women would arrive, they thought we may be offering abortions, but that wasn’t the case. I met with many young ladies, delivered food to some needy pregnant woman, and offered as many options as were available at the time in order to encourage these dear woman to preserve the life within them. In many cases, I have no idea what the outcome was, as they were left armed with choices, but ultimately, what they did was up to them.

I remember clearly sitting in my living room (usually we met in an office, but sometimes if someone was close, at that time it was okay to meet in my home) with one young lady. She knew she was pregnant, and hadn’t told her parents yet. She wanted to know what “help” I had to offer, so I told her all of the options available to her…none of which included abortion. She broke down in tears, feeling guilt and shame at what she had done, and told me she was 100% sure that when her parents found out, they would make her have an abortion. I re-assured her that God loved her, and that God loved the life that was in her, to always remember that God forgives us when we ask and wanted to walk through all of this with her. I sent her home with the usual literature, and some verses from the Bible that I hoped would help and comfort her, and no, I don’t know the outcome, but God does.

These were eye-opening experiences for me, and heart-wrenching in many cases, as I do believe that abortion is murder. I hate to see a world so messed up that sex is worshiped and one of the many ugly outcomes is that a beautiful life, full of potential, comes into existence, then is unwanted and destroyed.

So what does this have to do with politics? It is an issue in every election, and I believe it should be. Some say this should be a matter of personal choice, private, but when the Supreme Court who’s Justices are appointed by the President of the United States made a decision to legalize abortion through Roe -v- Wade, it became a government issue to the highest level.

I’m sure by now it’s very clear where I stand, and believing the Bible and obeying God makes life choices so easy, you know exactly what to do, consider these words from Psalm 139:

“For you created my inmost being, you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful… your eyes saw my unformed body, all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” Can it get any clearer than that? Even the unformed body is a life, and precious to the Creator, God.

If you DO NOT have God and the Bible in your life as a guiding compass, then you follow human guidelines, man-made ideas, which have lead us to the sad state of affairs that we find ourselves in…killing thousands each year. This explains why the Pro-Life issue is so important to Bible believing Christians, they call us the “religious right” now. I prefer to say that I have a “relationship” with God that is “right”.

So there you have it, that’s where I stand on the issue of Abortion. How about you?

I don’t have strong feelings about who I would like to be President yet…Thompson’s out of the Repub. race, Hillary and Obama are boring me with their arguments. What I do have strong feelings about is the significance of January 22, 1973, when the Supreme Court decided it was okay to kill babies. 35 years have passed since that date, and approximately 50 million precious lives have been thrown away in trash cans and other ways, and disposed of like pieces of garbage. Those that are behind the “pro-death” movement try to justify it as something that saves many woman who have life-threatening pregnancies. You can’t convince me that the lives of 50 million woman have been saved, I think we all know better. Most abortions are a matter of convenience, a precious life doesn’t fit into the picture right now, so it is done away with.

After all of that, let me tell you that I spent a good bit of time volunteering with a pregnancy center, trying to help young girls see that there were options to abortion, it broke my heart to see their tears, it broke my heart to hear some tell me that they had to do this because their parents wanted it, it was hard. But nothing justifies killing. Because I believe in the forgiveness God provided through Jesus, I know there is forgiveness for even something as ugly as this, but first one has to see it for what it is, wrong, and seek that forgiveness, and help stop the killing.

Millions marched in Washington DC today, many were teenagers, providing great hope for the future, and President Bush has done his part by appointing justices that are pro-life, that is part of his legacy. He has spoken to the crowds remotely each year, click here to read his thoughts, shared more eloquently than my blunt words, thank you, President Bush.