Is it a lie or an exaggeration when a politician s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-s the truth? Like the statement Joe Biden made at a recent speech in Baltimore:

“If you want to know where Al Qaeda lives, you want to know where (Osama) bin Laden is, come back to Afghanistan with me. Come back to the area where my helicopter was forced down with a three-star general and three senators at 10,500 feet in the middle of those mountains. I can tell you where they are.”

or where he stated at a fundraiser:

“the superhighway of terror between Pakistan and Afghanistan where my helicopter was forced down. John McCain wants to know where bin Laden and the gates of Hell are? I can tell him where. That’s where Al Qaida is. That’s where bin Laden is.”

Impressive until you learn that the helicopter was “forced down” by a snow storm in the mountains of Afghanistan.  According to a quote by John Kerry who was also on the trip:

“It went pretty blind, pretty fast and we were around some pretty dangerous ridges,” Kerry told The Associated Press afterward. “So the pilot exercised his judgment that we were better off putting down there, and we all agreed.”

“We sat up there and traded stories,” Kerry joked. “We were going to send Biden out to fight the Taliban with snowballs, but we didn’t have to do it.”

He added: “Other than getting a little cold, it was fine.”

Or how about when Hillary Clinton claimed that she came “under fire” during her visit in Bosnia, also since proven to be false, including video footage of her smiling and greeting the people of Bosnia?

Are these just innocent little white lies or exaggerations of the truth?  Either way, they are childish, and if you have to do this to win an election, shows a bit of desperation, I’d say?

Though FAR from perfect (who is?), I consider myself to be extremely honest when I state something in a society that seems to find it easy to lie.  Even on a job when a boss or higher-up would ask me to tell someone who called “just tell them I’m not here” or some other lie, I’d find a way to respond to the caller honestly, yet maintaining the integrity of my boss.  I’m not saying I’m perfect, I’m sure a lie has passed through these lips at times, but not without great guilt and making sure I make it right later.  All that to say, I despise dishonesty, no matter what person or party is lying to me.  It makes me suspicious of anything else that comes out of that persons mouth.

If you want to read one of the sources of the info I posted, you’ll find it here along with a few more lies.

Each time I listen to the speeches made at the Democratic Convention, especially the past couple of nights when speakers list the economic and other problems we face in our Nation, I never, ever to my memory have heard mention of the attack on our Nation on 9/11/2001.  We’re only weeks away from the 7th anniversary of this assault on the USA and nothing has been said about it, unless I’ve missed it.

No one seems to consider the fact that economy and EVERYTHING is affected by war. Some are even foolish enough to think that it is an “un-necessary war”. It seems that some want to forget about what has happened, and just get our nation back to the “comfy” years of the ’80’s…comfy for some, that is.  It was during those comfy and complacent years that our enemies were planning their attack, it is while we sit in our homes and wish for days gone by that they continue to plan and prepare to attack.  I don’t mean to post “gloom and doom”, it’s just a reality, and we need a leader that is willing to face this fact and face it head on.

Which one of the candidates to you feel is most ready to take this on?

Who Is Ready to Be a Post-9/11 President?
	John McCain
	Barack Obama

I know, I know, the negative beat goes on by many people and many in the media, but I don’t care, I voted for George W. Bush, and I’d do it again. I know that posting this will set me apart, slot me, put me in a category…and guess what? I don’t care about that either. Here’s a bit of background, and the first reason why I’d vote for Bush again…the war.

About 9? 10? years ago when the candidates were just beginning to be named, when I heard George W. Bush was on the list, lets just say I had a feeling, call it woman’s intuition, a sixth sense, or just something resonating in my spirit (I like that last choice), I knew he would be our next President. There was really no reason for that feeling, I wasn’t one to follow politics back then…until then. I’m afraid I don’t have any sense about who will win the next election, but I did then.

Almost as soon as he became President he was under attack…and then on September 11th we were under attack. I still find it surreal to think that about an hour from my home planes crashed into two beautiful buildings that graced the horizon on many of our travels; that a plane headed for Washington DC crashed in PA; that a plane crashed into our Pentagon; that people died from letters that contained Anthrax. The mind doesn’t like to remember such things, we want to block it out and get on with our spoiled American lives, but we can’t, we shouldn’t.

At that time we were a united Nation, and wanted one thing, to get the people that got us. And President Bush lead us into war first in Afghanistan and then Iraq, and the rest is history. Oh, I know that every single decision made was not perfect, who has ever heard of a perfect war? War is never, ever pretty, and no leader has ever handled every decision with perfection…read your history books…not the ones altered by the new wave of “revisionist history”, the old history books. Some new history books and biographies are good too, but keep a close, and skeptical, eye out for the spin.

I do believe this is a necessary war, and am so thankful that President Bush was in office during that time…and President Clinton was out. President Bush is determined and not swayed by negative press, he isn’t a people-pleaser. You can’t be a people-pleaser and lead a Nation at war, especially in our spoiled Society. (Yes, I know that not everyone reading this is spoiled, I am generalizing.)

And the economy….what do you people who think that it’s all the “present administration’s fault” whenever anything happens expect during a time of war? What time in history when we have been at war have we not had to make sacrifices? Spoiled, spoiled Americans, that is what we have become.

Thank you, President Bush, for not swaying, thank you for spending time on your knees before God throughout your Presidency, thank you for the emotional sacrifices that I’m sure you have made by sending young men to war, and most of all thanks to the people who have willingly made sacrifices.

As we look ahead to the next election, think, what is more important, “change”, or staying the course? What will you sacrifice in this “gimme-gimme” society? Perhaps this is why McCain is closer in thinking to Bush when it comes to our involvement in the war (please don’t be ashamed of that, McCain…stand for what you believe!) and perhaps this is why we see Obama slowly changing some of his positions on the war in Iraq (flip-flop away, as long as you flop in the right place).

Today I was talking to my Mom…she’s a woman of great faith.  We were talking about a wide range of things, including politics, and the upcoming election.  From there we somehow found our way to talking about war.

It started with talk about pulling our troops from Iraq, mention of how that would lead to consequences like the war in Viet Nam, an unfinished war.  My Dad was in Korea, and that, too, was a war that wasn’t quite finished.  I made a comment about how tragic it is that so many lives are lost, and it appears to some to be for nothing, because we just can’t seem to see our wars through to the end.  Believe me, I hate war, it would be abnormal not to, but they are a necessary evil if we are to protect ourselves, and to help our neighbors around the world…which is okay with me, by the way…I am happy that we are helping the oppressed people in Iraq.  I am happy that we are also helping people here in the USA too, we have so much!  We are spoiled, it is selfish not to want to see that for other people, other countries. But getting back to my conversation with Mom…

My mom said something very simple, yet very profound, she said that the wars that we won were won during times when we were more of a God honoring Nation than we have become. That’s all she said.  But it set my mind spinning with thoughts…we have taken God out of our schools by not allowing prayer; argue about whether we should or should not have ten commandments displayed in some places; see the Bible, God’s Word, presented in distorted ways in the media; worship materialism; do not show respect for our President and leaders…I wonder if people even know what the word respect means anymore. Oh I could ramble on, and maybe have offended some, if so, that’s okay if it leads you to do a little thinking of your own.

That was about the only political discussion I had this weekend.  I went to a local political beef-steak fund-raiser with my hubby last night, it was nice, but the music was too loud to talk, so political discussion was hard to hear…maybe that is a good thing.

Hope to be posting more, life’s been a bit little crazy lately…and dang, I have to get our income taxes done tomorrow, almost there!

This weekend we mark 4000 deaths of American Soldiers in Iraq, after marking 5 years in Irag since the invasion of that Country.

It hurts my heart to hear of the deaths, I’m a mother and feel the pain of the mothers who have lost their sons and daughters…based on that pain, it is so tempting for me to want to turn against the war, wonder how it all started…so much time has passed, that I tend to forget, as I’m sure many of us do.

My husband, the one who inspired this blog because he has more of a handle on political things than I do, has a way of bringing me back around by tracing how it all started, how it all fits together, and why we are there today. I hate the deaths, but by the time I’m done listening to him, somehow, as hard as it is, I .. can .. see .. that .. they.. have .. not .. been .. wasted .. deaths…or do I? It was really hard to type those last few words, so maybe I’m struggling, maybe I need to have him talk me through it again..and when I do, I’ll post it here for all of you.

Until then, my heart hurts for the loss, and at the same time is thankful for the freedom that we have brought to Iraq at a great price.

It’s been a treat to hear about the wonderful soldiers who are happy to go back to Iraq and finish the work they have started…yes, you heard it right, they’ve been there, and they want to go back. Today it was Wayne Leyd who won a million dollars with a scratch-off ticket, he wanted to go back and it was in the plans before he won the million…he feels blessed, and wants to pass that blessing along by continuing the good work being done in Iraq.

Then there are the soldiers who return to active service after having lost limbs. Oh sure, the media says that’s because the military, who used to let these guys come home for good, are now rehabilitating them just to get them out in the field again…but be careful with the spin they put on this…wounded soldiers are given the option to return, and many chose to. If you had joined the military by choice (remember, no more draft), had been in active duty, and lost a limb, would you just want to be sent home as someone who is now pretty much useless to the military? I don’t think so…I’m not sure I’d be half as brave as these men and woman, my thanks to you all!